The latest (and maybe the last one!) chapter about the intrigues and maneuvers of KGB Colonel Fabrizio Leonidovich Vianello.
As usual, developed and written by Grognard Emeritus Thomas Gaul!

Time: 9pm, Moscow time, 13 Sept. 1985
Place: Special restaurant of the KGB officer’s club of Dedicated Socialist, soon-to-be-Hero-of-the-Soviet-Union, soon-to-be-KGB- General-presently-KGB Colonel Fabrizio Vianello

Feet propped up on his table, boots off, head back KGB Colonel Fabrizio Vianello savored the moment. He had allowed himself a rare luxury (well to others it was rare; to him, as a true son of the Communist system, less so) and richly deserved it. Vodka was, of course, well and good and necessary, but a true French wine (Bordeaux, of course) to wash down the chef prepared gourmet meal, complete with the best prepared steak in Moscow, was a special part of the non-existent heaven of decadent capitalist religions. Of course, such things only existed to dull the minds of the exploited workers of the Capitalists pawns, but, if they did exist, surely this would have to be part of it.

As special waitresses, several on whom were known to the Colonel in more intimate, private, areas cleared away the meal, the Colonel was content. Ah, the justifiable rewards given by the masses to dedicated Socialist geniuses such as KGB Colonel Vianello. And for true believers in the Communist system such as KGB Colonel Vianello. To those who were constantly fighting against the Capitalist exploiters and oppressors of the people, nothing was too good, no reward too large, no luxury too extreme! Yes, other, lesser, men than the Colonel would, perhaps, become decadent and jaded, but, with his special KGB training, KGB Colonel Vianello knew he was immune to such sicknesses. No, with him the dachas, the women, the meals, the cars, these did not weaken him, but gave the him the strength and energy to continue his fight for the Glorious Soviet State and its inevitable victory!!

Here it was, three weeks after “Operation Potemkin” had been launched from his personal computer and it could not have gone better. Accolades had been showered on the Colonel from all sides. All acknowledged the Colonel’s genius in solving the “logistical shortages” that had been noted by the braying,whining, jackel generals of the front lines. Tanks! Planes! Ammunition!! These had been “found” and sent forward to the battle in seemingly unending numbers!! With such reinforcements, only an idiot or wrecker could fail to win the battles to come.

And, smiling his secret smile, KGB Colonel Vianello contemplated the “magic” that had made this possible. The reinforcements were coming, of course they were. The “computer printouts” said they were there, so, therefore, they were there. Who would dare question what the computer said in black and white? A computer, much like the 5 year plan and the Communist system as a whole, did not lie. It was a computer; it could not lie. Even those who did not understand much about what a computer was “knew” this. All knew this.

Ah, the Colonel’s foresight! His genius!! Truly, at times the Colonel really did think he was a prophet, able to foresee the future. Most of the time, those who tried to defame him ended up shot. Or at least in the gulag, forgotten. But for “computer genius” KGB Major Marco Josevich Cimmino, for him, he had arranged merely to be sent to the gulag. And, he had not forgotten him. He had even cultivated a friendship (definition- those who could be useful to KGB Colonel Vianello) with the Major.

And such “friendship ” had paid off. Frankly, the Colonel had not completely understood all that the Major had said about “hacking” and “worms” and “extra computer code”, but it had not been necessary. All that was needed was a very special program devised by the Major and implemented by KGB Colonel Vianello , and ‘presto-chango’ war materials appeared! Now that the “program” was in place, anytime he wished the Colonel could “create” new war material and “send” it to the front. All now looked to him as the “Miracle Man”. Nothing was beyond him now. The power, the glory, the fame….

“KGB Colonel Vianello! Sir. Sir! SIR!!!”

Abruptly, the Colonel awoke with a start. He realized both that he had dozed off and that someone was addressing him. And not just someone, but two someones. Two someones in the uniform of the KGB “special services” branch. This was serious! Having employed them himself on occasion, the Colonel knew that no person, no matter their rank, was immune from their power. The power to arrest. To interrogate. To shoot.

“Yes?”

With an overt air of menace, the goons thrust into his hands a special folded envelope:
“For you, sir. And we will wait”

Tentatively, as if it were a dangerous snake, the Colonel opened the envelope. What he read dried up his good feeling with all the power of a spider sucking out the blood from its prey.

TO: KGB Colonel Fabrizio Vianello
FROM: KGB Major Eleonora Olivares, Special Branch Division

Your presence is required at once.

Signed
KGB Major Eleonora Olivares, Special Branch Division

The Vassal module for 1985: Under an Iron Sky is ready and available for download!

Download 1985: Under an Iron Sky Vassal Module

Created by John Rainey with the same graphics used in production print, the module contains ready-to-use setups for the four scenarios and two campaign games of the boxed version. It also adds several handy functions:

• SAM coverage overlay
• Air Superiority Areas overlay
• Automatic “Return to Base” for Air Squadrons
• Integrated Sequence of Play

No feeble excuse can now save you from the final showdown between NATO and Warsaw Pact. You had a lot of time for visiting Russia, today it’s too late. Russia is visiting you.

Yesterday we had a BBQ Party to celebrate the success of the 1985: Under an Iron Sky adventure!
Thanks to everyone attending, and to all the Grognards who supported us during these months!

Kev Sharp from Big Board Gaming brings us a detailed report of the heavy fighting in West Berlin:

Checkpoint Charlie

From Thomas Gaul, Grognard Emeritus, another chapter in the world of deception and subterfuge of KGB’s Colonel Fabrizio Leonidovich Vianello!

Time: A couple weeks after the beginning of the war against NATO Neo-Fascist Capitalist exploiters
Place: KGB Colonel Vianello private office, secret KGB location deep within the Kremlin

KGB Colonel Vianello sat deep in contemplation. His keenly honed sense of danger, which had served him so well in the arcane and deeply complicated, interwoven, maneuvers of Party, KGB, and Kremlin politics, was going into overdrive. The meeting of the Committee for Review of Analysation and Planning, headed by General Beriaski, had just been completed and all was in flux.

The war itself was fluid, as all military situations were in the beginning. Some successes, some less than that. The launching of the preemptive strike to deter NATO aggression had struck the Capitalist Swine hard and viciously. The beauty of “The Plan”, his Plan, or at least the parts that had gone well, had been acknowledged by all. Normally, this would be the time when he would be basking in the glow of the accolades, taking credit for the goals reached, pinning the failures on the less talented or less well connected.

And yet, and yet….. There had been an admittedly major shortcoming. The amount of ammo, supplies, oil, replacements, spare parts, etc…. had been vastly underestimated. Reports of glorious Soviet advances had been soured by major and (in KGB Colonel Vianello’s mind) strident and shrieking complaints from the front lines about “running out of essential materials”. Demands had been made for war materials that were simply not available.

Questions were being asked. Worse, investigations were being launched. Talk was that “heads would roll”. Such talk was treasonous but there it was. But, far, far more dangerous was what would actually be found. And, most important of all, who would be blamed.

KGB Colonel Vianello knew, that, of course, he was not to be blamed. After all, if the troops on the line were wasteful, was that his fault? Who could have known what the demand would be for war materials? And, alright, perhaps some of his “side deals” with black market weapons dealers had contributed to the shortage, but, truly, could a few SAMs, tanks, AKs, have made that much of a difference? No, such things were not to be foreseen.

But, there were those (secret Fascists in the Colonel’s mind), who would demand answers. And inquiries. And, in extreme cases, shootings. In dealing with fanatics like the generals, who bayed like hyennas when they did not have enough material, who failed to understand complicated logistical matters, anyone, even someone as dedicated and true as KGB Colonel Vianello, could fall victim to revisionists. He had made enemies, and, killed most of them. But some may have survived.

Abruptly, KGB Colonel Vianello came to a decision. Slowly, he reached into his boot, into the secret compartment where “the paper” was concealed. He reached over to his desk, complete with the new, glorious Soviet computer, stolen from the decadent Capitalists (such a decision like this could not be trusted to the typing pool) and began to enter the “numbers”.

His plan within a plan would begin now.

This is a contribution to the “1985: Under an Iron Sky” background by Thomas Gaul, old Grognard and reader of my “The Next War – Operation Attila” AAR. 

Time: June 01, 1985
Place: Deep in the secret bowels of the Krelim, KGB section

Comrade KGB Colonel Vianello signed with the contentment of a well stuff pig. The meal, wine (vodka also, of course), and cigars of the late night repast were the justifiable reward for all the hard work he and his team had put into the war plans for the coming destruction of the Capitalist-Neo-Fascist NATO powers. As such, his team and especially himself had earned this splendid feast. Yes, the workers might have to worry about a poor harvest but, after all, some of the masses were more equal than the other masses and as such should not have to worry about such mundane matters as the price of bread. When victory came, as it must, there would be plenty for all. Just plenty more for him.

All was in readiness. The plans, down to the most minute detail of mis-information given to the corrupt Western media had been prepared. Logistical, propaganda, rail movement plans, strike sights, airdrop zones, training, reserve call-ups, and all the thousand and one details that constituted the greatest military operation in history were all completed. Victory to the Glorious Socialist State was assured!

And, to himself only, Comrade KGB Colonel Vianello allowed himself his secret smile, the one he let no one, not the party elders, not his children, his wife or even his many mistresses see. For, though anything other than complete victory was inconceivable, it was the nature of the KGB to conceive even the inconceivable.
The “plan”, which, of course, would become “his” plan when it overran Europe, with the inevitable errors easily able to be fobbed off on incompetent underlings (some of whom might have to be shot as “wreckers” if it was an especially bad error) was never complete without the secret “out” clause he built into all his plans.

Not for nothing had he been nicknamed “The Survivor”* by his KGB colleagues. Just as his father had survived the Stalinist purges, his grandfather the Cheka before the Revolution, and some distant ancestor Napoleon’s invasion, so he too knew how to ensure his continued existence. Even if the inconceivable happened and somehow, no doubt through the failings of others, the “plan” failed and the Capitalist swine rolled into Moscow, he had a plan. With a grin he believed his British mistress might call “the Chesire Cat grin”, invisible to all, he patted the paper hidden inside his boot. Such an “insurance policy” was worth its weight in decadent capitalist gold.

• *Those associates who had instead referred to him as “The Weasel” had long since been identified and sent to the Gulag or developed a severe and fatal case of lead poisoning.