General Goofy Does Barbarossa

[Aurelian]

You can't move units that are grayed out. (plus it's the pre start turn, so you can't move anything anyway.)

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

You can't move units that are grayed out. (plus it's the pre start turn, so you can't move anything anyway.)

warspite1

Ah... thanks for the explanation emperor [:)]

[warspite1]

That's handy!

Within this screen is access to tutorials that cover the basics. Nice.

[warspite1]

I will need to look at some of these at least. Before I do, I click on the Report Tab.

I click on Summonsed to Berlin and am presented with the letter below. I assume from this that I am playing as General Jodl? No hang on - he's signed the letter too.... so who am I?

I need to be at the Reich Chancellery for 1000hrs, so I best get a nice early night on Sunday - it would not do to be late for the Fuhrer now would it?

[warspite1]

Right, I click on Make a Decision and I get the answer to that question.

I am the operational commander of the entire Eastern Front.... which was nice [:)]

As such, it looks like I have a number of choices now. It looks like I can pursue Hitler's strategy or develop my own ideas. Let's face it, if I succeed it will be down to Hitler's genius no matter what route I take...and if I fail....

I think for the sake of my own health I will adopt a strategy of supporting the Fuhrer. At least when it all goes to crap I can say "I was only following orders...."

[warspite1]

So having decided in my own mind that I am fully behind the Fuhrer, I rock up to the Reich Chancellery in good time for the meeting.

There, Hitler Directive No.21 is made crystal clear to me. The objectives are:

Leningrad
Destruction of Soviet armies
Rostov
Moscow

Right so that's clear then....

It sounds like I have a whole load more work to do before I leave Berlin. Because those backward Soviet peasants use a different gauge railway, I have to let the Construction battalions know the route of advance for Army Groups North and Centre.

This looks like hard work [:(] I thought being a German general was all about ordering other people around while carrying a baton, wearing shiny black boots that make a nice sound as they come together, and being chauffered around in a black Mercedes...

[warspite1]

Mmmmm I click on make a decision and have four screens to review:

One gives me the Option cost breakdown, on is a sarky letter from Keitel telling me to do nothing as I have better things to do with my time. the third is a map showing options for the route, and finally an explanation (presumably historical) on the railway problem.

I have the options of routing toward Narva (via the Baltics) or Luga (via a route through Pinsk). I like the idea of my armies staying close, so I will order the engineers to convert the line Kaunas-Dunaburg-Luga (which apparently costs 2PP (political points?).

[warspite1]

I am asked a similar question for Army Group Centre - and intend to advance along a Brest-Minsk-Smolensk axis, and those are the orders given accordingly. This costs 6PP.

Apparently General Gereke is pleased with all this and my relationship is +6 because of it...

A final(?) decision is being asked for. There is apparently sufficient material to beef up workshop facilities in one theatre only. I decide to go for Army Group North as Leningrad is Hitler's no.1 priority. This costs a further 10 PP.

Apparently Jodl is unimpressed with this decision and my relationship with him has taken a -4 hit. No idea what all this means but no doubt will become clear in due course. Jodl has the Fuhrer's ear - along with that donkey Keitel, so maybe he will be spreading poison about me in the Fuhrer's ear...

[warspite1]

Having done all that, the Rep tab has disappeared so that must be all taken care of.

Right then. Next job tomorrow morning is to look at these tutorials and work out how to get Barbarossa underway [:)]

[Barthheart]

The Reps tab shouldn't "disappear"!?! [X(]

You should be able to look at it at anytime during your turn. It's right next to the Cards tab, or should be.

There are a lot of other reports that you should become familiar with. Lots to read as the Guy Whats in Charge. [;)]

[modrow]

Warspite1,

thanks for doing this. It will be very helpful for me to decide whether to get the game or not. I truly appreciate it.

Hartwig

[Speedysteve]

Ditto!

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Barthheart

The Reps tab shouldn't "disappear"!?! [X(]

You should be able to look at it at anytime during your turn. It's right next to the Cards tab, or should be.

There are a lot of other reports that you should become familiar with. Lots to read as the Guy Whats in Charge. [;)]

warspite1

From the Guy What's in Charge [:)]

You are correct! The Rep Tab disappears when open. As soon as I close the report down, the tab re-appears ready for reading or actioning. Thanks.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: hartwig.modrow

Warspite1,

thanks for doing this. It will be very helpful for me to decide whether to get the game or not. I truly appreciate it.

Hartwig

warspite1

No probs! Just need to apologise that the early days will be slow while I await the hard copy manual - which I can then read on my journey to work.

However, in the meantime I will continue to explore the game.

[warspite1]

First things first; what troops do I have for this great enterprise before me?

I see an OOB tab and click on this.

This appears easy to read. I can click on each unit and the subordinate units appear below – so below OKH we have the three army groups + the Finns.

I click on AGN and then one of the three army formations within. The divisional units appear. I see there are no Corps HQs here so assume that is a non-feature of the game. Not having visited the Eastern Front in many years, I have my Osprey Campaign series in front of me. All the divisions are there for this formation: three Panzer Divisions, two Motorised Infantry and two Infantry Divisions + the SS Totenkopf unit.

[warspite1]

So I click on the 1st Panzer Division

The unit detail appears at the bottom of the screen: troops, tanks, artillery etc. This is all very easy to read in a sensible size font. Clicking on each gives detail about the unit and factors for Defense, Hard Attack/Defence and Soft Attack/Defence – whatever that means. You can also compare factors with other unit types – both Allied and enemy.

So here I have clicked on the 5,000-strong Heavy Infantry and compared with Italian Infantry. I don’t yet know what these numbers mean exactly, but my Italian friends compare badly (quelle surprise).

[warspite1]

To the right of the Unit Troops tab, there is the Unit Detail tab. As the name suggests, this goes further in terms of stats for the unit – supply stats and other - and is not something I intend to look at at this stage. Too much detail presented as long lists of numbers - especially in small font - tends to turn me off so I will skip over that for now.

To the left we have Unit Base Info. This all seems pretty straightforward and is presented nicely – and the font size is adequate for an old geezer like me. So for the 1st Panzer from left to right we have:

- Action Points (necessary for movement and combat) – this shows as nil
- Supply Consumption
- Integrity (likelihood of the unit breaking)
- Readiness
- Experience
- Morale
- Entrenchment

There is also further detail for retreat, supply and replacements.

[warspite1]

I take one more look at the Reports. I see all my Decisions (mentioned above) have been ticked, so its a case of looking at the other four tabs. These are:

- Geneva Convention. This is a reminder I have selected to play a 'Dirty War' and that I will be required to make Moral judgements in this game. Not sure where this will go or what it involves but at the end of the day we are all grown-ups, this is a (hopefully) realistic war GAME and I have a huge interest in every facet of WWII, so I have no issues with behaving here as the Germans behaved on the Eastern Front.

- A brief explanation of who 'Red Beard' was.

- The Pre-start turn options (already made)

- Some detail on 'Friends and Foes'. This confirms that I am Field Marshal von Halder. It details the state of my relationships with: Keitel, Goebbels, Wagner (Quartermaster General), von Leeb and von Rundstedt. No von Bock?? Why is that then?

von Rundstedt and General Wagner like me but von Leeb is not my friend. I will have to see how important all this is once the campaigning begins.

[warspite1]

Back to the map. If I click on Army Group North (AGN) HQ, the HQ for its three armies are highlighted. I am then given similar detail for AGN as before.

There is a quite lengthy bio of the Army Group commander Field Marshal Ritter von Leeb - which is a nice touch.

von Leeb has bonuses totalling 65% (no doubt this will all become clear in due course).

Similar detail is then available when clicking on each of the three Army HQs

[warspite1]

Finally, there is some further detail at the very top of the screen to check out.

From left to right there is:

Political Points - I spent some of these on my decision choices previously and have 66 remaining.

I click on the 11th Infantry Division and see some of the numbers to the right of the screen have changed - these are:

- Recon points
- ZOC points
- Action points
- Stack points (over 200 and the hex is overstacked) - interesting as currently 219
- Victory points

Finally there is an available fuel figure for Army Group North (currently 6,000).