Konflikt 47: Die Konfliktparteien

Warlord Games haben ein paar Infos zu den Konfliktparteien der ersten Welle vorgestellt.

Konflikt ’47 – Introducing the United States

Since being dragged into the Second World War by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States has experienced a period of enormous societal change, driven for the most part by the discovery of the Rift by Manhattan Project scientists. In their quest to produce the Atomic Bomb, American scientists tore a hole in the fabric of the universe. What has issued forth from the Rift at Los Alamos is viewed by most Americans as nothing short of the word of God. Initially, however, the strange energies and anomalies emanating from the nuclear test site promised only a new and terrible weapon – one which was swiftly employed to raze the German city of Dresden to the ground, opening a second Rift at the centre of the dead city. The Rift was a closely guarded secret, known only to a select few scientists and top military officials, and the devastating effects of nuclear weaponry were seen as America’s best chance of concluding the war.

All this changed when the ailing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, given no hope of survival by his doctors, visited the Los Alamos Rift site, to better understand the strange new developments. When he emerged, he was transformed – strong, healthy, miraculously healed by, as he claimed, the divine intervention of the Almighty through the Rift. This unprecedented recovery was seized upon by the press, becoming a national sensation, with 22nd April 1944 declared ‘Miracle Day’. Religious fervour gripped America – and it has never relaxed its hold since. Roosevelt’s declaration that the ongoing war was a new Crusade against the blasphemous horror of Nazism, Japanese treachery, and godless Communism whipped the US to a fever pitch, with the nation consumed with the belief that America had been chosen by God to lead the fight for freedom, justice, and truth.

The United States has the will to take the fight all the way to the heartlands of its enemies, and it has the tools to do so. With an abundance of natural resources, and an industrial base now fully dedicated to the war effort, a seemingly endless procession of weapons and vehicles – now enhanced with the Rift-tech advances being made almost daily at Los Alamos – are being turned out by factories across the nation, arming both America and its Commonwealth allies. Elite Firefly troopers soar through the air on repulsorlifts, while armoured walkers like the Linebacker and Grizzly wield crackling electricity-projecting weapons first imagined by Nikola Tesla. The Paragon programme has begun to make super-men a reality, and American troops now fight all over the world with greater determination than ever before.

America is a nation of utter self-belief. There is no room for compromise or doubt. The Rift-tech abominations spilling forth from Axis and Japanese laboratories have only reinforced the United States’ determination to bring the wrath of God to the enemy, while the Soviet Bloc remains an implacable ideological foe. Even the British Commonwealth, jealously guarding their research into artificial intelligence, must recognise America’s divine mission, or be swept aside by the tide of righteous fury. Only one nation – one nation under God – can triumph in the end.

On the Konflikt ’47 tabletop, US forces are all about manoeuvrability, adaptability, and most importantly firepower – lots and lots of firepower! American troops have access to some of the most lethal Rift-tech infantry weapons in the game in the form of the M1X1/2 Thompson, while the Tesla weapon family lets you zap enemy troops and vehicles to your heart’s content. That’s before we get to all of the more conventional weaponry that still has a niche in K47 – it doesn’t matter how big or scary that monster is, a .50cal HMG is still a .50cal HMG!

US commanders also have a great variety of ways to build their force. Jump-capable Fireflies and superhuman Paragons might be the poster boys of American propaganda, but they’re by no means the only trick in the book. American forces have got perhaps the widest variety of walkers in the entire game, meaning that no matter the tabletop situation you find yourself facing, you can be sure that there’s a two-legged solution ready to roll.

PFC Edward K. Williams, 118th Jump Infantry Regiment, 108th Airborne Division

Seen in combat in the outskirts of Stuttgart during Operation Valentine, PFC Williams reloads his M1X1 submachine gun during an effort to push Axis forces back into the city centre. A member of the elite Firefly corps, Williams’ equipment is typical of a jump infantryman of 1947 – lightweight and stripped down to the bare essentials for rapid movement. PFC Williams and his squad would be declared missing, presumed killed later during Operation Valentine when their platoon was cut off by the massed advance of the Totenkorps. Their bodies would never be recovered.

Konflikt ’47 – Introducing the Axis

The atomic annihilation unleashed upon Dresden took only an instant, but it was one that had been three centuries in the making. Since the rule of August the Strong, the destiny of the Fatherland has been led and shaped by an organisation known as the Green Vault, always operating in the shadows to manipulate the course of history. With the opening of the Rifts, the need for secrecy has gone. The politicians of the Third Reich have been discarded, their purpose served, and their imagery remade anew. A similar revolution, engineered by the far-reaching hand of the Green Vault and its network of secret societies, has taken place across Germany’s European allies, consolidating the nations into the monolithic Axis, centred around the ruins of Dresden and the hellish Rift at its core. Now marching under one sinister banner, Axis troops wage war in the name of the Green Vault, and final victory.

The Axis were the first to truly harness the power of Rift energy, with their forces joined first by the unliving legions of the Totenkorps, followed by the Stahltruppen heavy infantry,  ever-increasing numbers of armoured walkers, and advanced new weaponry. Axis Rift-tech is inextricably intertwined with the occult studies of the Green Vault, and sinister rumours circulate about the upper echelons of the new regime and their arcane practices. Beneath these new masters, politicians and generals still vie for position and influence, and little if anything has improved for the average civilian on the home front. Brutal repression and endless propaganda are simply a part of everyday life, and every aspect of industry is geared towards supporting the war effort.

The Axis’ military situation remains a desperate one – the Allied landings in Normandy and Italy, and the relentless Soviet onslaught from the East have brought the war to Germany’s doorstep. In the East, the relationship with Imperial Japan appears to be fracturing as the Emperor pursues his own dreams of dominion. Now, with its legions empowered by the Rifts, the Axis lashes out in all directions. New offensives and counter-offensives lay waste to Europe, as enemies attempt to storm towards Dresden and its dark secrets, and Axis forces lunge forward to drive them back. For the Axis soldier at the front, the war is still one of survival, often against desperate odds, but in a world far more lethal than ever before. There is no question or possibility of negotiation or surrender – for the Axis, the war can end only in total victory, or utter obliteration, a fact reinforced constantly by the Green Vault’s propagandists.

As the old world tears itself apart in a Rift-fuelled orgy of destruction, new horrors issue forth from the hell that sits at the heart of the old Reich. The dark mobilisation of Axis forces gathers pace with each passing day, while the Green Vault’s finest minds dream of the impossible glories revealed to them in the flickering fires still burning in Dresden’s charred corpse. Their motives are unknown – perhaps incomprehensible to the uninitiated – but their will is clear, and hard as Krupp steel. The war will continue. The Green Vault demands it, and their Rift-scientists and generals will ensure that it is so.

On the Konflikt ‘47 tabletop, Axis forces benefit from being the first to harness the power of the Rifts – they’ve had a head start on everyone else, and this is reflected in their national special rules! It also manifests in the wide range of Rift units they can bring to bear, from the horrifying Nachtjäger and monstrous Schreckwulfen to high-tech walkers and powered armour.

Schwerefeld gravity weapons can crush flesh and steel with equal ease, while the Schwarzlicht programme makes infantry small arms deadlier than ever before. An Axis force is versatile and powerful, able to be tailored to your exact specifications, with two distinct ‘flavours’ to be explored. Will you field the latest Rift-tech units and weapons to obliterate the enemy from afar, deploy your monstrous legions to tear them apart with tooth and claw, or combine the two for a truly terrifying ‘greatest hits’ selection? The choice is yours!

Oberfeldwebel Dietrich Rühl, Stahlgrenadier-Regiment 206 ‘Theodoric’

Depicted in the thick of the action at the Fourth Battle of Smolensk, Oberfeldwebel Rühl wears the Panzerhärnisch heavy armour of the Stahltruppen, painted in disruptive urban camouflage. The extra communications equipment incorporated into his helmet marks him out as a squad leader. Armed with an MG 44 light machine gun, Rühl was last observed defending a street corner against Soviet troops when his position was overrun by Ursus infantry. His body was not recovered. His unit would later be annihilated, along with many of the advancing Soviet forces, during the Luftwaffe’s saturation bombardment of the front line.

Quelle: Warlord Games