THE BROKEN WEST & THE SOVIET REVOLT
SYSTEM STATUS: ONLINE // CLEARANCE LEVEL: COMMAND TRANSMISSION ID: OTB-LORE-1987-04 SUBJECT: THE BROKEN WEST & THE SOVIET REVOLT
In our previous briefings, we examined the nuclear flash over Hamburg and the D10 mechanics that power the SKL 10 System on the tabletop. Today, we pull back the curtain on January 1987—the dark month where both global superpowers were struck at the top, leaving Europe paralyzed and clearing the path for the rise of the Modern Prussian Empire.
The Geneva Peace Talks: January 12, 1987
By late December 1986, public unrest was mounting across the United States and Great Britain as the Cold War dragged through its first brutal year of open conflict. Seeking a diplomatic exit, NATO and Warsaw Pact representatives agreed to a temporary ceasefire and convened for peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
On January 12, 1987, those hopes were shattered.
An unidentified aircraft executed a precision strike against the Geneva facility. The blast destroyed the compound instantly, killing the The United States and British Heads of State, and nearly the entire high command of NATO's diplomatic and military leadership.
Three days later, on January 15, a mysterious entity known as Der Schwarze Adler (The Black Eagle) claimed full responsibility for the attack. They issued no demands, leaving Allied command structures in utter chaos.
Plaintext
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INTERCEPTED LOG: NATO C3I NETWORK // JAN 18, 1987
STATUS: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE
REASON: UNMATCHED CLEARANCE PURGE DETECTED
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[ALERT] USER: V-ZITZEWITZ-MOLTE_E [CLASSIFIED LEVEL 5] HAS LOGGED OFF.
[ALERT] PURGING DIRECTORY: /IRON_CROSS/DEPLOYMENTS/SWEDEN_SCANDINAVIA/
[ALERT] PURGING DIRECTORY: /IRON_CROSS/LOGISTICS/WEST_GERMAN_DEPOTS/
[ALERT] 100% OF SCANDINAVIAN THEATER TROOP POSITIONS SCRUBBED.
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On January 18, Baronesse Elena von Zitzewitz-Moltke—a top NATO strategist—resigned and vanished without a trace. Before her departure, she systematically wiped all intelligence regarding Iron Cross Security Solutions from NATO databases, leaving Allied military remnants blind to the massive private army operating within their borders.
The Soviet Revolt: January 31, 1987
While NATO reeled from the loss of its senior leadership, the Soviet Union was collapsing from within.
Following his military coup in March 1986 and the imprisonment of Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary Marshal Anatoly Volkov had narrowly avoided the Geneva attacks by remaining in the USSR. However, his iron grip on the Eastern Bloc was short-lived.
On January 31, 1987, Volkov was assassinated at his family's winter residence.
With Volkov dead, Gorbachev imprisoned, and hundreds of senior officials eliminated in the initial 1986 purge, central Soviet authority disintegrated. The Soviet government and Red Army descended into widespread, open revolt:
Loyalist Echelons: Hardline Soviet military commanders clung to power across Eastern Europe, relying on massed armored doctrine to hold territory against external and internal threats.
The Slavic Alliance: Non-aligned border states across Central and Southeastern Europe—including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Yugoslavia, and Albania—rebelled against Moscow's rule. Regional officers seized localized armaments and military infrastructure, giving birth to the Slavic Alliance.
The Current State of Europe
By February 1987, the global balance of power had ceased to exist:
The Broken West: NATO exists in name only, its command structure dead and its databases scrubbed of vital operational intelligence.
The Fractured East: The USSR is locked in civil conflict, pitted against mutinous garrisons, breakaway states, and remnant NATO units.
The Shadow Armed: Stationed in Germany and Scandinavia, the heavily armed forces of Iron Cross Security Solutions sit quietly in vital supply depots and West German research hubs, awaiting orders to strike.
The stage was set. The old world order was dead, and on February 15, 1987, the Shadow Junkers would step into the light to declare the Restauratio Borussica.
In two weeks, We are going to look deeper in Momentum, the mechanic the drives the game allowing commanders to push their units to victory.
END OF TRANSMISSION // PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT
