For the Infallible Koba GAME #1 (Soviet team game GC)

[Hardradi]

Wow, lots of interesting swirling encirclement battles going on.

Some strong looking Soviet units are already appearing.

[Beethoven1]

The turn 4 screenshot didn't show up for center accidentally, here it is:

In the center, Panzer_Freak continued to advance with the most caution of any of the 3 Axis ground commanders. He also was the only Axis player who was mostly avoiding using regiments for his Panzers/motorized. However, he was advancing here on somewhat of a narrow front (only 1 hex wide on the northern part, and only 1-3 hexes wide on the southern part) which would give Bread an opportunity to potentially cut off some AGC units.

[FortTell]

First of all, your team's meme game is on point.

Then there is a massive amount of units on the Soviet side. I wonder if giving up ground early is just a trap for the Germans to overextend, but if they don't follow the retreating Soviets quickly, they get met with strong rested units. A hard choice.

[Beethoven1]

First of all, your team's meme game is on point.

Then there is a massive amount of units on the Soviet side. I wonder if giving up ground early is just a trap for the Germans to overextend, but if they don't follow the retreating Soviets quickly, they get met with strong rested units. A hard choice.

My guess is that in the north in particular, the Axis team might have been surprised with how many units there were for our northern commander IGB to hit back with. This should have been visible to recon to some degree. But there were probably more than usual there in the first few turns, because we gave the north initial priority for reinforcements. I think it is a good idea to reinforce the north first, because there is a lot less distance to Leningrad than there is to Moscow or Rostov, so the north is under more time pressure. For example, I think on turn 2 we had 18 infantry divisions to deploy to the map. 15 of them were sent north, 2 to the center, and only 1 south. However now that the north is stabilized, center and south will begin receiving more reinforcements.

[Beethoven1]

These were the turn 4 orders issued from STAVKA to ground commanders:

Turn 4 Orders

Northern Direction - Continue to hold on to Pskov itself - however you should pull out of the salient to the south of it, so that if Pskov gets encircled, not too much gets encircled with it. Counterattack insofar as you can, in particular against the SS regiment to hopefully cut them off. you have authorization to put Zakharov in charge of the 31st army (should be 10 AP cost) for counterattacks if you think you can use/need him. The reason for 31st army in particular is it is under STAVKA, so it is cheaper to replace now, and then switch to a front after he is replaced. I want to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED, so REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED next turn... unless there is some really good use for it (if so mention it). REDACTED REDACTED has enough REDACTED to not be worth REDACTED REDACTED, but it is REDACTED.

Central Direction - Counterattack the Panzers near Smolensk insofar as possible. You have some good generals like Purkayev/Malinovsky, so I don't think we need more good generals immediately in the center. Also put Batov in charge of any tanks/mech used for attacking, because he has a 6 mech rating. His corps will become an army in a few turns, so basically Purkayev + Malinovsky + Batov armies will be all good generals under western front. Other than counterattacking, the main priority is to avoid REDACTED REDACTED and in particular avoid REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. Last turn you REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED, make sure REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. Look at REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED before doing the turn.

Southern Direction - The pocket must be, at minimum, opened. That should be fairly easy to do since it is held by regiments. However, what we really want to do if possible is open it in such a way that allows some units to also get out. For that, you will need to open it at least 2 wide and maybe 3 wide. It looks to me like the places with most potential to do that are in the north-west of the pocket or else the north- east (the 2 places I reconed). You are authorized to put Tolbukhin in charge of 8th rifle corps (6 AP cost) for use in breaking the pocket and hopefully somewhat breaking out of it if there is any possibility of that. Similarly to the north, the reason for that particular corps is it is under STAVKA and the leader has a bad political rating, so it is cheap to change. Also it will become an army in another 5-6 turns or so. After switching leader, put it under the SW front obviously. You have first priority for support units for breaking the pocket. REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.

[Beethoven1]

Wow, lots of interesting swirling encirclement battles going on.

Some strong looking Soviet units are already appearing.

I think there will be some more of this to come, on both counts.

[Beethoven1]

END OF SOVIET TURN 4

In the north, IGB's thugs of the 10th rifle corps sprang into action and set about their counterattacks. The thugs benefited from the leadership of not only their corps commander, but also of a new army commander - General Zakharov, who had been assigned to the 31st Army by STAVKA this turn.

The previous turn, STAVKA had also mobilized tens of thousands of hardened streetfighters from the rigidly rectangular and colorless concrete apartment buildings of Leningrad and organized them into militia divisions, which had been sent towards the front and were chomping at the bit to get in on the action.



Here we can see the thugs setting about their brutal handiwork, attacking yet again the poor 2/36th motorized regiment - the same regiment that had also lost 3 battles the previous turn.



It was then attacked again, along with a Totenkopf regiment (which had also lost another battle this turn), resulting in a rout that cost Germany 272 trucks. This was loss number 5 for the 2/36th. No doubt in future turns IGB will keep a sharp lookout for the 2/36th in order to punish it further.





Similar measures had been taken in Moscow with the mobilization of the Moscow militia, but it was Maksim Purkaev and his 2000 tanks that led the charge against the Panzers of Army Group center:



Malinovsky's infantry attacks also beat back the 3rd Panzer division as well as the Grossdeutschland regiment to the south of Smolensk, resulting in the isolation of the 3rd and 18th Panzer divisions.



In the south, STAVKA made General Tolbukhin available to fracas, as the new commander of the 8th rifle corps. STAVKA planned to turn Tolbukhin's corps into an army soon, but for now it would remain a corps. Tolbukhin was then put into action to lead the crucial attacks to break the pocket. This he did with great success, managing not only to break the pocket, and not only to break out a good number of the units to (relative) safety, but also managing to even isolate 7 German motorized and Panzer regiments. Tolbukhin personally led all 4 of the necessary attacks to achieve this (he gets around, we allocated him a private gulfstream jet to facilitate his rapid travel from battle to battle, and he also coordinates remotely with his men on his 4g smartphone using top secret encrypted mobile videoconferencing software), and needless to say, he was operating under an assault front equipped with the latest fully effective precision-strike laser guided artillery:











The Sunday edition of Pravda hailed the tremendous Soviet success in the week's counterattacks and proclaimed that this proved that the invaders would be promptly thrown back and the Red Army would soon be in Berlin. STAVKA hoped that the Germans would continue to advance using regiments, on a narrow front, and that Germany would not stop to rest and regain CPP, thus continuing to leave themselves open to powerful counterattacks and in some cases isolation. Breathless promises were made that the thugs of the 10th rifle corps would be the first to be bestowed Guards status, when the time came.

[Beethoven1]

START OF SOVIET TURN 5

In the air, over the past turn the Axis lost 415 planes, while the Soviets lost 1,296 planes. Both sides were taking unsustainable losses, but in different ways.



For the Axis, around half of the losses continued to coming from ground attack bombing missions, mostly against Soviet railyards and ports, but also a mix of other missions. Whereas for the Soviets, basically all the losses came from ground support missions. Here are the losses just from he Axis air phase, which included 183 flak losses from bombing raids:



The Axis flak losses did come from all around, but in particular seem to have been heavy near Kiev, where the Luftwaffe conducted interdiction raids in an attempt to hinder Soviets from retreating across the Dnieper:



The problem is, there was a lot of flak in this area, both from all the units and also from the cities of Kiev and east Kiev. Luftwaffe bombers braved 227 flak guns just in this one raid alone, and the other raids were similar and led to high losses:






In the north, the Axis took Pskov, but otherwise advanced slowly, mostly with some infantry attacks, pushing the front line forward a hex or two here and there. So, nothing too dramatic. The advance also continued into Estonia, but only a slow advance:



In the centRE (centER), the Axis advanced mainly on the northern flank of Smolensk, and managed to isolate the city and 9 Soviet infantry divisions. However, fortunately for General Bread, the pocket was not tightly sealed. The 2 blue hexes had no units in them at all, and the red hex had only a single 7=7 Panzer division on clear terrain. While Smolensk was clearly doomed within the next turn or two, this did mean that it would be fairly straightforward for Bread to rescue most of the isolated units.



In the south, the Axis re-sealed the pocket near Kiev and took Odessa, but otherwise made little advance. A couple of the German regiments started forming back into divisions, which was probably a good idea to do sooner or later:



By the way, if you are wondering how effective/useful the German interdiction bombing was, the answer seems to be, "not very." Infantry divisions could move across the Dnieper at a cost of only 3 movement points. That is maybe 1 or 2 more than usual, but nothing of particular significance. Other than this negligible MP cost effect, I suppose maybe it destroyed a few trucks here and there or something:



But personally, I doubt it was worth the loss of the bombers... much less the freight used to supply the bombers, which probably would have been more useful for the poorly supplied Panzer regiments of Army Group South.

[Beethoven1]

On turn 5, STAVKA issued Ground Commanders the following orders:

Northern Direction - Despite the loss of Pskov, do not simply abandon all the nice terrain around it (particularly heavy forest/rough/swamp. We want to continue blocking the double rail in particular. It is raining and rain is also forecast for next turn, so this should help ensure they get bogged down. Do not under any circumstances give them REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED without a fight. In addition to that, be sure to defend REDACTED REDACTED in depth to make sure they cannot get a breakthrough. And under no circumstances should they be allowed to break through REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. That is all great defensive terrain, and we want them to get bogged down. You don't necessarily need to retreat to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. Let's keep the north a brutal cage fight.

Also however... last turn your REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED was in a dangerous REDACTED. Make sure to put any REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED in a safe REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. We don't want them REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED... the reason I am REDACTED REDACTED is for REDACTED REDACTED, not REDACTED REDACTED.



Central Direction - Counterattack the 7=7 Panzer that is to the east of Smolensk if possible and get it to retreat to the Southwest, so that you can get most units out of the pocket. You can leave a bit in Smolensk, but it is probably not worthwhile to leave too much. If possible, maybe shift things around to put Moscow Militia divisions into Smolensk rather than regular divisions... that way we won't lose as many guns. In general, other than that your priority should be to avoid any large encirclements REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED in places where it doesn't benefit us to just REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. You may not need to retreat much in the northern part because of the rain.



Southern Direction - If you move the pocketed 211th airborne brigade to the airfield, we should be able to air evacuate it out of the pocket. In addition to that, you have permission to try to break the pocket if you judge it to be viable and sensible enough. We might be able to beat either the 7 CV motorized or 7 CV SS, if you attack from both within and also outside the pocket, and if you use Tolbukhin. Probably the motorized is safer to attack since SS is so OP. However, if you do this, make sure to do it in a way that the units from outside of the pocket can subsequently retreat across the Dnieper (for any tanks) or at least into Kiev (for any infantry). We don't want a huge Kiev pocket, in particular one with tanks. Other than that, try to REDACTED REDACTED somewhat REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED from Kiev REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED, and start trying to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED and put infantry REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.

[tm1]

On turn 5, STAVKA issued Ground Commanders the following orders:

Northern Direction - Despite the loss of Pskov, do not simply abandon all the nice terrain around it (particularly heavy forest/rough/swamp. We want to continue blocking the double rail in particular. It is raining and rain is also forecast for next turn, so this should help ensure they get bogged down. Do not under any circumstances give them REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED without a fight. In addition to that, be sure to defend REDACTED REDACTED in depth to make sure they cannot get a breakthrough. And under no circumstances should they be allowed to break through REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. That is all great defensive terrain, and we want them to get bogged down. You don't necessarily need to retreat to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. Let's keep the north a brutal cage fight.

Also however... last turn your REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED was in a dangerous REDACTED. Make sure to put any REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED in a safe REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. We don't want them REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED... the reason I am REDACTED REDACTED is for REDACTED REDACTED, not REDACTED REDACTED.



Central Direction - Counterattack the 7=7 Panzer that is to the east of Smolensk if possible and get it to retreat to the Southwest, so that you can get most units out of the pocket. You can leave a bit in Smolensk, but it is probably not worthwhile to leave too much. If possible, maybe shift things around to put Moscow Militia divisions into Smolensk rather than regular divisions... that way we won't lose as many guns. In general, other than that your priority should be to avoid any large encirclements REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED in places where it doesn't benefit us to just REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. You may not need to retreat much in the northern part because of the rain.



Southern Direction - If you move the pocketed 211th airborne brigade to the airfield, we should be able to air evacuate it out of the pocket. In addition to that, you have permission to try to break the pocket if you judge it to be viable and sensible enough. We might be able to beat either the 7 CV motorized or 7 CV SS, if you attack from both within and also outside the pocket, and if you use Tolbukhin. Probably the motorized is safer to attack since SS is so OP. However, if you do this, make sure to do it in a way that the units from outside of the pocket can subsequently retreat across the Dnieper (for any tanks) or at least into Kiev (for any infantry). We don't want a huge Kiev pocket, in particular one with tanks. Other than that, try to REDACTED REDACTED somewhat REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED from Kiev REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED, and start trying to REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED and put infantry REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED.

My Diary

German Air Force no longer flying, 1941 Comrade Stalin

Finally After weeks of constant bombing by The Enemy Air Force they seem to have given up attacking Moscow, seems The Fascists have gone into hiding I can finally have a bit of rest and relaxing reading my favourite paper Pravda.

Stalin reads is favourite paper.jpg (78.27 KiB) Viewed 2642 times

Note to :

@Comrade General Beethoven1 " stop pointing those bloody lights through my window the glare is blinding me I cant read my favourite carton sketches, or the next time I read the paper it will be the obituary section with your name in IT!!!!!! "

Kremlin.jpg (186.28 KiB) Viewed 2642 times

[Beethoven1]

My Diary

German Air Force no longer flying, 1941 Comrade Stalin

Finally After weeks of constant bombing by The Enemy Air Force they seem to have given up attacking Moscow, seems The Fascists have gone into hiding I can finally have a bit of rest and relaxing reading my favourite paper Pravda.

Stalin reads is favourite paper.jpg

Time to wake Stalin up from his little nap + reading break for an AAR update!!!

The game is now on turn 10 in real time. i let some more time elapse in the AAR without updates, because the front had been relatively static, so we now have a bit more delay in the AAR.











END OF SOVIET TURN 5

In the north, despite nominally high Axis CVs, IGB managed to attack and re-take Pskov:



Likely the only reason this worked was the sheer scale of the Soviet 10:1 numerical superiority. A good commander (Berzarin) with artillery also surely helped.



In the center, Bread counterattacked the Panzer division successfully, causing it to lose 56 AFVs (plus additional damaged) for a cost of 274 Soviet AFVs:



This opened up a 3-wide path out of the Smolensk pocket, which enabled all units to escape other than 2 Moscow Militia that were intentionally left in Smolensk. Other than that, Bread retreated slightly and re-formed his defenses.



In the south, Fracas elected to not attack to try to break the pocket (success would have been pretty chancy if he tried, it did not look like an obvious win), but instead to pick on some low hanging fruit. A Hungarian motorized brigade was forced to retreatt west of Kiev, which also had the effect of isolating the Slovakian mobile brigade. Fracas also beat back on a German infantry regiment a few hexes from Kirovograd - another easy wins for his future Guards divisions. You can also see the airborne brigade was evacuated by air from the pocket towards Kirovograd (red line).



You can see from the screenshot that by this point, fracas had a lot more troops than he had even just a turn or two ago. While the north initially received priority for reinforcements, which had helped to stabilize things there, the south had now started to get a lot more reinforcements as well, which was starting to stabilize the front line in the south somewhat more as well. So the policy of first reinforcing the north, and only later the south, seemed to be working well here.

[tm1]

My Diary

German Air Force no longer flying, 1941 Comrade Stalin

Finally After weeks of constant bombing by The Enemy Air Force they seem to have given up attacking Moscow, seems The Fascists have gone into hiding I can finally have a bit of rest and relaxing reading my favourite paper Pravda.

Stalin reads is favourite paper.jpg

Time to wake Stalin up from his little nap + reading break for an AAR update!!!

The game is now on turn 10 in real time. i let some more time elapse in the AAR without updates, because the front had been relatively static, so we now have a bit more delay in the AAR.









END OF SOVIET TURN 5

In the north, despite nominally high Axis CVs, IGB managed to attack and re-take Pskov:



Likely the only reason this worked was the sheer scale of the Soviet 10:1 numerical superiority. A good commander (Berzarin) with artillery also surely helped.



In the center, Bread counterattacked the Panzer division successfully, causing it to lose 56 AFVs (plus additional damaged) for a cost of 274 Soviet AFVs:



This opened up a 3-wide path out of the Smolensk pocket, which enabled all units to escape other than 2 Moscow Militia that were intentionally left in Smolensk. Other than that, Bread retreated slightly and re-formed his defenses.



In the south, Fracas elected to not attack to try to break the pocket (success would have been pretty chancy if he tried, it did not look like an obvious win), but instead to pick on some low hanging fruit. A Hungarian motorized brigade was forced to retreatt west of Kiev, which also had the effect of isolating the Slovakian mobile brigade. Fracas also beat back on a German infantry regiment a few hexes from Kirovograd - another easy wins for his future Guards divisions. You can also see the airborne brigade was evacuated by air from the pocket towards Kirovograd (red line).



You can see from the screenshot that by this point, fracas had a lot more troops than he had even just a turn or two ago. While the north initially received priority for reinforcements, which had helped to stabilize things there, the south had now started to get a lot more reinforcements as well, which was starting to stabilize the front line in the south somewhat more as well. So the policy of first reinforcing the north, and only later the south, seemed to be working well here.

Much better Comrade General @Beethoven1

Stalin Aproves.jpg (95.09 KiB) Viewed 2440 times

However I'm still holding a one way open ended Train ticket to one of my famous winter resorts in Siberia for you ! First Class seating

Gulag.jpg (55.71 KiB) Viewed 2440 times

[Beethoven1]

START OF SOVIET TURN 6

There was the usual bombing. This turn Axis lost 208 planes. Soviets lost 711, basically all from ground support. Axis bombing was mostly concentrated on Crimea and Gomel. Sevastopol is at 86% port damage, but it nevertheless received 13,000 freight. In previous turns I had it set on priority 3, but I raised it to 4 at the end of last turn. But it is unclear how much of this was shipped by rail and how much by sea.



In the north, XRAM took back Pskov - and this time occupied it with 2 infantry divisions rather than just one... The paranoia! As though IGB would attack Pskov! Axis also grinded slowly forward with infantry, but the Panzers and motorized rested. As a result, you can see in the screenshot one of the Panzers is at 22 CV. It is frightening wha a turn of rest and CPP regain can do for a Panzer division.



In the center, Panzer_Freak similarly did a few atacks with infantry, and re-pocketed Smolensk, but otherwise he rested amidst the rain.



In the south, Intelligent attacked Kiev, but Moskalenko's brave defenders managed to hold it. Other than that and clearing the pocket, there were not a lot of attacks here though. So probably a good number of units rested.



However, some other Axis forces rushed south towards Nikolaev, and ZOC-locked a few Soviet units, perhaps hoping to catch fracas unprepared. However, fracas was prepared, with quite a few strong and rested divisions positioned on the Ingul river. One particularly daring German motorized division (the 60th Motorized Division) rushed forward all by itself, despite having only 3 CV. Fortunately for fracas, the fact that it was only 3 CV made it look much easier to counterattack than, for example, that 22 CV panzer division we saw in the north. And moreover, since it advanced on only a 1 hex wide corridor, it looked like it could be cut off and then routed. And if it were routed, it would lose a lot of trucks, and then have lower movement points until, probably, 1942. This screenshot shows the CPP soft factor, so you can see that these German units had low CPP, which is a big part of why they are weak:



Meanwhile, a lot of the Soviet divisions were yellow (about 50ish CPP) and a few were green (close to 100 CPP). So this advance put the Axis forces in a dangerous position.

[Beethoven1]

Stavka issued the following orders on turn 6:


Northern Direction -

It doesn't look too complicated and I don't think you particularly need to withdraw. However, you should probably shift a bit away from Pskov and more towards the path through the area between Soltsy and Lua (lots of light forest). It would be good to have up to 4 layers of depth or so there to make sure his Panzers are not going anywhere significant next turn. If you think you can do a counterattack on one of the infantry, go for it.


Central Direction -

Prioritize REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. I would expect more of an attack this next turn probably since he rested. I would suggest maybe attacking the 9=9 inf and the 6=6 inf and flipping those hexes back, since that will limit how far his infantry can advance towards either Yelnya or along the double rail. IMO you are defending too much between Gomel and Roslavl... it is clear REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. I would personally say rotate some of the units there more northwards to strengthen your depth near Yelnya and the double rail a bit more, but you are experienced enough to judge it for yourself I think.


Southern Direction -

Smash (and rout) the fascist 60th motorized division which has wandered directly into the middle of your teeth, and if possible probably also the 25th motorized so that your ZOC locked units can escape. On the Dnieper, put infantry on the front and tanks/mech on the 2nd line where feasible, and continue to hold the Dnieper and of course Kiev. Leave some sort of a unit in Kirovograd, but you may want to retreat your other units mostly back towards Krivoi Rog and the Ingulets river other than maybe some screens. Do any other counterattacks that you can see if you have sufficient MP.

[Beethoven1]

END OF SOVIET TURN 6

IGB did 2 counterattacks in the north. He is doing his best to get the first Soviet guards division, because whoever gets it will be awarded a Red Banner Army for their sector of the front:



2 Red Banner Armies are on the way from the Far East, due to arrive on Turn 9:



Naturally this provides a powerful competitive motivator for IGB, Bread, and fracas. There are 3 ground commanders, and 3 directions. But there are only two Red Banner Armies. Who will emerge with a Red Banner Army? Only 2 of 3 will end up being able to have one. One player will have to go without a Red Banner Army.

If we could build more Red Banner Armies, we would, just for the stylish name. Even if it cost 100 AP. But unfortunately, Red Banner Armies are one of the few things that Soviets cannot build. There are only 2 armies with names this based. Shock Armies and Guards armies are not bad either, but you will never be able to match the swaggering panache that comes with leading your men into battle under the scarlet shadow of the Red Banner.


IGB also attacked a security division near Velikie Luki. The security division provided a nice juicy target which let him get a win in an area where otherwise he probably couldn't have:



And you can see in the screenshot, Bread also did 2 attacks in the center. Clearly Bread wants to get a Red Banner Army also.


Fracas, not wanting to be left out of the competition, also counterattacked. Because he 60th motorized division could be easily cut off, he was able to rout it (although this battle was only barely a win), which cost Germany 396 trucks.



Another motorized division was also pushed back, which allowed some of the Soviet units to escape ZOC lock, though there was one division which had to be abandoned.

Clearly, with performances like this, fracas will also be a prime contender for a Red Banner Army of his own.

[FortTell]

Ah, a true socialistic competition, where whoever outperforms the plan by the biggest margin is a victor.
Indeed, a Red Banner Army is superior to a regular 40-whateverth army (Insert "the cooler Daniel" meme). So it should come to no surprise receiving such an army is an honor and a recognition of the commander's prowess.

[Jeff_Ahl]

Stavka issued the following orders on turn 6:

Central Direction -

...

IMO you are defending too much between Gomel and Roslavl... it is clear REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. I would personally say rotate some of the units there more northwards to strengthen your depth near Yelnya and the double rail a bit more, but you are experienced enough to judge it for yourself I think.

Not to jump ahead of time...but that was interesting. Maybe some thing to get back to later in this AAR.

[Beethoven1]

Ah, a true socialistic competition, where whoever outperforms the plan by the biggest margin is a victor.
Indeed, a Red Banner Army is superior to a regular 40-whateverth army (Insert "the cooler Daniel" meme). So it should come to no surprise receiving such an army is an honor and a recognition of the commander's prowess.

[Beethoven1]

Stavka issued the following orders on turn 6:

Central Direction -

...

IMO you are defending too much between Gomel and Roslavl... it is clear REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. I would personally say rotate some of the units there more northwards to strengthen your depth near Yelnya and the double rail a bit more, but you are experienced enough to judge it for yourself I think.

Not to jump ahead of time...but that was interesting. Maybe some thing to get back to later in this AAR.

Yeah, things definitely changed there subsequently. FYI for readers, we are currently on turn 12, I let more of a delay develop so we can post without (much) censorship.

Also I think Jeff_Ahl = Panzer_Freak, the axis agc commander, right?

[Jeff_Ahl]

Stavka issued the following orders on turn 6:

Central Direction -

...

IMO you are defending too much between Gomel and Roslavl... it is clear REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED. I would personally say rotate some of the units there more northwards to strengthen your depth near Yelnya and the double rail a bit more, but you are experienced enough to judge it for yourself I think.

Not to jump ahead of time...but that was interesting. Maybe some thing to get back to later in this AAR.

Yeah, things definitely changed there subsequently. FYI for readers, we are currently on turn 12, I let more of a delay develop so we can post without (much) censorship.

Also I think Jeff_Ahl = Panzer_Freak, the axis agc commander, right?

That is correct. I usually always uses my player-ID, but at Matrixgames it became different because of random events.