[EotS] Enemy of the State - Israel 1950

[chopak]

Against the Coup!

The army has always been a state within a state, but recent action of several generals have shown that the army wishes to be above the state. Those generals have acted against the Israeli government and when confronted, they rise in arms against our people. Herut has shown that they do not care about elections, they do not care about peaceful cooperation with other political parties, they do not care at all about organised, civilised government. They just want to be in power, not matter the cost. We shall not bow down to their unlawful demands and their sociopathic lust for power.

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((There are 24 hours left to pick your side in the coup. So the current tally is:

For the Coup:
Barak Holst ((Janha))
Abraham Hayim ((Adamgerd))
((DragonOfAtlantis))

Against the Coup:
David Rabinovich ((Andre Massena))
((Dexander))
Adrian Wiechoczek ((adriankowaty))
Izaak Blaumberg ((chopak))

Undeclared:
John Abrams ((BlackCrown))
((Terraferma))

Please declare yourselves one way or the other.))

 

[BlackCrown]

John Abrams is Against the Coup

 

[Terraferma]

FOR THE COUP!

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((That leaves the final listing as:

For the Coup:
Barak Holst ((Janha))
Abraham Hayim ((Adamgerd))
((DragonOfAtlantis))
((Terraferma))

Against the Coup:
David Rabinovich ((Andre Massena))
((Dexander))
Adrian Wiechoczek ((adriankowaty))
Izaak Blaumberg ((chopak))
John Abrams ((BlackCrown))

Update will be in roughly 12 hours as it is late here.))

 

[ThunderHawk3]

1961 Coup, Part 2​

1. Putschist generals inspect Jerusalem following its capture by Herut troops.​

When Barak Holst launched his coup in the early hours of the morning of 1961, his troops swiftly seized control of city centers, arsenals, military bases, government buildings, radio and TV stations, ports, major road junctions, railroad stations, airstrips, and other needful installations. His coup had been well-planned and well-prepared, and was backed by virtually the entire military officer corps - almost all of whom were Herut. Since the end of the war of independence, Ishmael Leblin had virtually built up the entire military to be loyal to the Herut agenda and Holst continued the tradition. Almost to a man, all Israeli military officers were Herut through and through, and controlled every aspect of the armed forces, from the armed border police to the coast guard to the air force. Every IDF general supported the coup, as did the civilian Defense Ministry.

When David Rabinovich was urgently shaken awake in Tel Aviv that morning, he was left without much to fight the coup with. He was already aware that essentially the entire IDF was against him. The majority of Israelis probably did not want a coup, but without any support whatsoever from within the Israeli military, Rabinovich had nothing to fight back with. Complicating matters, Rabinovich had even lost control of the Defense Ministry, the national police force, and the Mossad - though he didn't know it - even the Mossad agents he'd sent to tail Barak Holst had actually been Putschists. Moreover, the conspiracy had heavily subverted the Interior Ministry, which had nominally been handed over to Adrian Wiechoczek - but Wiechoczek had barely arrived in the job, and virtually the entire rank and file of the ministry had been replaced with Putschists. Yet another complication was that Wiechoczek and Rabinovich were unable to, or failed to, coordinate their responses to the coup. Rabinovich chose to remain in Tel Aviv and try to mobilize ordinary Israelis against the coup, while Wiechoczek also agitated against the coup but fled Tel Aviv, leaving the government physically divided.

2. Israeli Putschist troops in the Negev talking to UN crisis monitors dispatched from the Sinai.​

It was still early in the morning, January 10th, 1961, when Holst - in full military uniform - addressed the nation by television and radio to explain his reasons for the coup. In his broadcast, Holst railed against the Soviets and Zentrum, accused Zentrum of holding Communist sympathies and mismanaging their own interal projects, and claimed Zentrum would bring communism to Israel. He spoke of the importance of the military and how the government wished to decapitate it. Lastly and most sensationally, he accused Wiechoczek of having murdering Samson Rouvin. Rouvin, the ineffectual former leader of Mapai known for his never-ending campaigning, had been assassinated by a gunman in 1954. The perpetrator was never found. His death had allowed Wiechoczek to assume control of organized labor in Israel and break the dominance of Mapai over the Israeli left. After finishing his broadcast, the rest of Israeli TV and radio for the day alternated between patriotic music and Abraham Hayim. Hayim generally called for the arrests of Rabinovich and Wiechoczek, made some favorable remarks about Israeli unity and nationhood, reminded everyone of the Holocaust, then spoke about the coming martial law and state of emergency. Then the patriotic music would start up against while Hayim came up with a new speech.

Rabinovich was still at liberty by the time the broadcast went out and wanted to issue a competing broadcast to call the nation to arms. He drove to a radio station which was thought to not be in putschist hands only to discover that it was. He was arrested. He later learned his own driver had betrayed him.

3. Female militiawomen from Wiechoczek's northern estates. Israeli collectives traditionally kept their own militias.​

Adrian Wiechoczek fared considerably better. None of his inner circle had been infiltrated by the Putschists. He escaped to the north of the country where he hid in a fruit orchard on one of his estates until he was able to make contact with the rest of his loyal Zentrum members, where he rallied estate workers and the kibbutzim and other collective farms against the coup. Kibbutzim had traditionally been heavily armed and carried their own weapons since the birth of the Israeli state (and even before that). Wiechoczek militarized his holdings in the north.

Virtually all other national politicians were arrested before they could do anything useful. John Abrams, who the putchists suspected had betrayed them, gave a public speech in Jerusalem (somewhat close to the Wailing Wall, on the Jordanian side) and evaded capture for several days before he was arrested. Izaak Blaumberg evaded capture at his own home but discovered he was unable to flee the country and that his factories and businesses had been placed under armed guard; he too was eventually arrested.

4. Israeli Putschist troops on the old Burma Road.​

Wiechoczek was left as the leader of the resistance against the coup. His plan was to funnel weapons to his supporters throughout Israel and organize militias against the putschists. Weapons were in short supply for Wiechoczek's men, but limited numbers were smuggled in through the black market - money was a bigger problem than actual supply, since Wiechoczek only had access to his own limited budget. The Israeli treasury was controlled by the Putschists.

Holst and Hayim bloodily put down a small uprising in Tel Aviv, then went after Wiechoczek. The rest of the year was spent in bloody fighting between anti-Putsch mostly Zentrum militias and the IDF regulars. After the several week long battle of Haifa, this fighting mostly took place in fields and rugged urban hills. Several thousand Israelis died; many more were injured. However, Wiechoczek failed to secure meaningful international support for his cause while Holst successfully portrayed him as a socialist, and he was radically outmanned and outgunned. Holst controlled the military, most of the country, and all Israeli population centers, as well as virtually all Israeli industry - Wiechoczek's cause failed to gain support with urban trade unionists who had once supported Samson Rouvin.

5. Defendant at an Israeli show trial, concealing his face.​

Wiechoczek's resistance was crushed by October and he was himself captured, although some fighting continued into the next year, it was scattered and leaderless. Rabinovich and Wiechoczek were put on trial and accused of having murdered Samson Rouvin. Rabinovich vigorously denied the charges. Wiechoczek, for his part, said little - because he had, in fact, murdered Samson Rouvin. Herut had found evidence linking the gunman - who had escaped all those years ago - to him. The NIP Defense Minister was an old friend and colleague of Rouvin's and had turn against the government for that reason, essentially dooming the government in the process.

Rabinovich and Wiechoczek were shot. John Abrams died in prison. It was an open secret he'd been murdered on Abraham Hayim's orders as a reprisal for his betrayal of the coup. Izaak Blaumberg remained under house arrest.

Holst and his people assumed control over Israel and consolidated their grip on the nation. Holst had, to all intents and purposes, gained dictatorial control of Israel.
--------------

((Putchist victory. The entire year 1961 is lost to fighting, so no orders for anyone this year, including the Nemesis. I'll explain what happens next a little more in a minute.))

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((So...

Game Over!

Reason: The Nemesis or one of his conspirators has gained dictatorial control of Israel.

If the Nemesis and his conspirators would like to introduce themselves, they can go right ahead.))

 

[Terraferma]

Its no surprise to some, but yes I am the NEMESIS. A mix of luck, purposeful stupidity and plausible deniability won out. Come on out fellow conspirator.

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((Here's my post-mortem for the game.

First of all, I should have listened to Andre when he said to keep the card system. The Nemesis RP system never had much flavor, and it was clunkier than the card system. Oh well. A missed opportunity. That said, the Nemesis and his conspirators did a highly effective job slowly subverting the military, the police, and other aspects of government they needed to perform a coup.

I will say I'm not going to GM another EotS. This game has too many flaws and I don't know how to fix them, and its glacial pace makes it intolerable. We often require a real-world month to go one in-game year. Most players dropped. The stat system was finnicky and felt cumbersome. Everything took too long and was typically boring. The Faction system was a bad idea; the parochialism was so intense, almost no one ever crossed faction lines.

On the Werewolfian side of things, most players didn't use their abilities. The highlight of the game was definitely Adrian's assassination of Terraferma. Some players did engage in worrying anti-state activity even though they weren't members of the conspiracy, which was sort of the same as last game. I don't really know what to say about that.

On the stat side of things, you all probably needed more state power but didn't seem to have a clear idea of how to get it. You were highly successful in creating a lot of economic growth, though, and that's probably because the business faction basically was focused on nothing but economic growth. I should have seen that coming.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that game, but I'm not GMing another one. I'll come up with a better game concept.))

 

[Andre Massena]

((Btw I was not involved in the Rouvin murder!

Good game, can't believe I had two conspirators in my cabinet...))

 

[Caspoi]

I probably shouldn't feel so proud considering that the nemesis won but I am.

 

[Adamgerd]

((Good game, never expected Janha of all the people to be the conspirators))

 

[Janha]

As Adamgerdie said, I was the other conspirator.
'Twas really awesome game, thanks all for the experience!