Back in the East STEF78 (Axis) Oshawott (USSR)

[STEF78]

Turn 137, 27 january 1944

2 months after my major disaster, I've clearly not recovered. A lot of units are like 1941's soviet ants.



Only good news, my FW190A have evolved. Of course, the first unit to get them is my favorite FB

[STEF78]

Turn 137, 27 january 1944

North

Grinding continues.



Center

Oshawott is mainly attacking NW. Some mountain units are also active at the hungarian border.



Romania...
... has Fallen. No worry.

[STEF78]

Turn 138, 3rd february 1944

A general view of the front. Most of the pressure is in the north.

I'm very surprised that there is no attack in the South... where are the units which caused Romania surrender?

[STEF78]

Turn 139, 10th february 1944

Still trading space against time to built a decent defence line in Poland

North
Grinding my line. One successfull fight in front of Konigsberg



Poland
Steamroll is on. Maybe my 2nd line will be reached too fast.



Hungary
Relatively confident



Romania
No german unit lost

[STEF78]

Turn 140, 17th february 1944

My major line of resistance was obviously built too close from the front. Most hexes will have ontly level 2 forts. Within 2 turns the soviet will reach it and destroy it.

[jwolf]

On the bright side, partisans are no longer a problem.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

On the bright side, partisans are no longer a problem.

in fact there are a lot of good news
- reinforcements are on the front line the turn after their arrival
- I don't have to worry with all these useless romanians, italians ... units
- I can focuse on 20% of the map
- FBDs will be disbanded and used as Manpower.
- I don't need to plan big offensive moves. It's a good time to rest my brain.

What a wonderful part of the game!!!

Unfortunatly, I will not last till end 1944...

[STEF78]

Turn 141, 24th february 1944

North
Some heavy fights => 1000+ russians AFV



Center
Always trying to counterattack whenever possible



Hungary
Carpathians mountains are very useful... a pity that they don't extend to the baltic sea

[STEF78]

Turn 142, 2nd march 1944

In the east nothing new...

Poland
I wanted to show the amount of soviet pressure through some fights display. Oshawott has a lot of mighty AFV stacks. They have often 700+ AFV

My 2nd fort line has been crushed north east of Warsaw and the momentum of soviet advance is really worrying.

I will give ground in east prussia



Hungary
Attacking moutains against good defenders isn't an easy task. In fact I'm surprised that Oshawott didn't made a single attack in Romania. I know that Berlin is the key of the game and that the fall of Hungary will lead to the evacuation of Romania but I find it weird.

[smokindave34]

That area southeast of Prasschnitz is very worrying. Oshawott is probably only one to two turns away from encircling the 16th and 18th armies unless you pull out of East Prussia quickly. It won't be easy marching out of East Prussia and leaving it to the Soviets but I agree with you that it must be done. Keep up the fight!

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: smokindave34

That area southeast of Prasschnitz is very worrying. Oshawott is probably only one to two turns away from encircling the 16th and 18th armies unless you pull out of East Prussia quickly. It won't be easy marching out of East Prussia and leaving it to the Soviets but I agree with you that it must be done. Keep up the fight!

In fact he went south...

[STEF78]

Turn 143, 9th march 1944

Back to the future, another significant encirclement.



I've got a serious lesson in Ukraine, I counterattack strongly but keep my Pzd/Mot hard to encircle. I extract the Pzd which were in the Pocket. Inf divs are doomed.

[STEF78]

The bad guys arrive in Romania

[STEF78]

And the view of the northern part of the front after my moves. I give ground in east prussia and do some counterattacks in southern Poland. Western bank of Vistula is fortified.

[caliJP]

STEF, it looks like Oshawott has mastered the art of Blitzkrieg soviet-style. That's not a good sign for you! Until the Elba river

It looks like you have a lot of manpower in the Carpathian mountains. I am wondering if you are getting close to the point where you should pull a lot of that up to Germany to provide more depth to your defense, and just leave some speed bumps down there. I am thinking ship all the Hungarians to the mountains and repatriate a bunch of Germans back to Germany? Poland and Eastern Germany don't have too much good defensive terrain besides the towns and cities, and a Vistula defense is easily rolled back from the south, you are going to need all your good units there to defend!

Just a thought

Good luck!

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: caliJP

STEF, it looks like Oshawott has mastered the art of Blitzkrieg soviet-style.

It's especially dangerous this time of year at the border of mud and other weather. Oshawott can be bold, even a bit reckless, in any good weather turn knowing that the odds are high that Stef will be stuck in mud, unable to counterattack, during the next turn.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: caliJP

STEF, it looks like Oshawott has mastered the art of Blitzkrieg soviet-style. That's not a good sign for you! Until the Elba river

It looks like you have a lot of manpower in the Carpathian mountains. I am wondering if you are getting close to the point where you should pull a lot of that up to Germany to provide more depth to your defense, and just leave some speed bumps down there. I am thinking ship all the Hungarians to the mountains and repatriate a bunch of Germans back to Germany? Poland and Eastern Germany don't have too much good defensive terrain besides the towns and cities, and a Vistula defense is easily rolled back from the south, you are going to need all your good units there to defend!

Just a thought

Good luck!

You're right, he is very strong and a very skilled player. I also keep in mind the beginning of the 43/44 winter campaign. I think he will be able to pierce any kind of line that I will build. Vistula won't help, I learnt it from my game against Schascha.

And he will now have the mobility of clear weather!!!

Concerning the german army in the South, I already sent back 6 divs from Romania to Poland but in fact I'm still too strong in this area

Another problem is that he will soon reach the hungarian plain near Ungvar. He can also target the Ostrava/Troppau gap. Once in the plain, it's over for me. I will have to fall back at least to Budapest

I will do my best to be still alive mid-July 1944. I won't reach september.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

ORIGINAL: caliJP

STEF, it looks like Oshawott has mastered the art of Blitzkrieg soviet-style.

It's especially dangerous this time of year at the border of mud and other weather. Oshawott can be bold, even a bit reckless, in any good weather turn knowing that the odds are high that Stef will be stuck in mud, unable to counterattack, during the next turn.

He did it very well in may 1942 and the cost was the end of my dreams of victory...
Next time I will try random weather. It adds uncertainty and that's good.

[STEF78]

Turn 144, 16th march 1944

Pocket in the north: some security units surrounded
Pocket in front of Warsaw, no Pzd trapped [:D]
Almost a Pocket South of Warsaw...

And the reinforcements arrive in Lodz, major counterattack is near!



Carpathian line holds

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: STEF78


He did it very well in may 1942 and the cost was the end of my dreams of victory...
Next time I will try random weather. It adds uncertainty and that's good.

Not much to say about your main up date - all looks very grim but glad you can still see options to strike back

but about random weather - not only does it make for a better game, I think all in all it favours the axis, especially in that spring phase of 1942 when you can do quite a lot of damage while the Soviet side needs to be a lot more cautious