Stalin's in the gulag, I'm in charge! II - vs 2ndACR (Axis)

[TulliusDetritus]

In the center he is going to make the last push to isolate (I guess) Smolensk.

[TulliusDetritus]

The eastern part of the Center.

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, I attacked 1 motorized regiment and 1 panzer division in the center. Both counter-attacks were successful.

[TulliusDetritus]

And near Stalino he will try a last effort I guess. I am cutting 3 panzer units off. I have concentrated some hordes in this area. In theory he should be very prudent. I mean, a bold movement now might be dangerous. On next turn his panzers will be stuck... NO 7th Cavalry thing [:)]

[Klydon]

Did you have any industry left in any of the cities by Stalino? (or Stalino itself for that matter). You may have gotten a reprieve if you can get some rail repair guys in there to fix the rail lines AND keep him away from those cities long enough to get the industry out before snow.

He got fortunate with the panzer routing rather than being destroyed.

[TulliusDetritus]

I've got only the armament industry in Stalino: 25... a lot [:(] He should be surrounding the city, I guess.

Humm, as for the routed panzer division, no, no luck, I think. The rescue thing was part of his plan so my hat is obviously off to him [:)]

I thought that all you needed to destroy a unit was a) surrounding it and b) attacking it (a successful attack that is) = destroyed. But it MUST be 100% isolated at the START of the turn [:(] Ths means killing a German unit is hard... A German player only needs to send the 7th cavalry. Given that the Soviet basically has only ants, you can't stop him from rescuing this unit. You can cut it off again but the cycle begins again... rescue etc.

[Mynok]

Yes, non-isolated units can rout out even if surrounded. And you are exactly correct on the the difficulties of destroying German units....at least until the winter. You will find the 7th cavalry turns into the Wretched Sisters of the Poor and Blind during blizzard.

[randallw]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

AGGHHHH!!! I told you I should reread the manual! The case is I surrounded the panzer division I wanted to massacre then attacked but it was routed, it did not surrender... Looks like the units MUST be already surrounded at the start of the turn!!! Looks like I didn't know this! [:D]

Really, I thought you knew.

[TulliusDetritus]

[center]Turn 17[/center]
[center]9 october 1941[/center]

MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Mud will be here on next turn [&o]

I thought my situation would be worse. I thought Smolensk would be isolated: it is not! And Stalino... I still can evacuate the armaments industry! I have a question. All my armies have RR Brigades. But in order to repair rail hexes they need to be in Front HQs or these brigades assigned to armies will repair these hexes too?

Randall, no, I didn't know they [the units you want to massacre] needed to be surrounded before you move [:)]

[raizer]

Tullius bring out the demon

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Mynok
Yes, non-isolated units can rout out even if surrounded. And you are exactly correct on the the difficulties of destroying German units....at least until the winter. You will find the 7th cavalry turns into the Wretched Sisters of the Poor and Blind during blizzard.

Yesssss... definitely, he should be getting some during the blizzard [8D] As I already said, I will be using Big Anorak's blizzard rule.

Anyway, I think the designers got it right here. Destroying a German unit before the blizzard should be really hard (if not impossible).

Raizer, demons are indeed part of my arsenal. The problem is they will be stuck too (mud) [:)] But I should unleash them during the blizzard.

[TulliusDetritus]

Ok, now that the summer offensive is over (he still can do some sort of limited offensives during the snow turns, I guess), a summary.

The North. Well, I don't think he really wanted to take Leningrad. Interesting thing: Novgorod is in my hands

[TulliusDetritus]

The Center. Like in the north, he also more or less avoided this place. He only made a more or less serious push on these last turns.

Interesting thing: I still hold Smolensk (NOT surrounded)

[TulliusDetritus]

The Bryansk, Southwest general areas. In theory this is where he made his main push. Notice how he's emptied this place: he sent the panzers to the south, near Stalino.

[TulliusDetritus]

And finally the South.

[TulliusDetritus]

My overall conclusion? Soooo, he apparently avoided both the north and the center: the places that are VITAL to me [:)]

Therefore his main advance was in the south. As you may remember, when he annihilated my Southwest Front with that sophisticated mega pocket (during the Frontier District Massacres that is), I had two choices...

1) stick to my original strategy: concentrate forces in the vital areas (Leningrad & Moscow approaches that is) = send few STAVKA strategic reserves to the South [;)]

2) reinforce the south = weaken ALL the fronts [;)]

I chose 1). And I knew that was a gamble... The thing is I think my opponent has been somewhat erratic. And even in the south his advance was not decisive. So I am obviously happy and possibly lucky as well [:)]

[Klydon]

The repair guys will work out of armies. Big thing is to make sure that you don't have 3 units in a hex that you want repaired. Unfortunately for those 4 hexes to be repaired, it will likely take 4 turns (automatic repair units will only repair a hex next to a intact rail hex that is in supply in to your rail net).

The Axis has a lot of work to do during mud and snow to get his lines in shape for the Russian onslaught. Right now, he is going to get crushed I think with the way his lines are.

[TulliusDetritus]

Klydon, yes, I guess the Stalino industry is possibly 70% captured - 30% saved... Making attacks during mud = CV divided by 8 [X(] That is going to be my best shield, indeed [:)]

As for the blizzard and him being crushed, humm, I'm possibly good at defending but attacking is another thing. Let's see if I can be half competent, it's all I ask. Because to be honest this I don't know [:D]

[76mm]

I think you're going to beat him up badly during the blizzard--what is your strength at right now? If you think it'd be helpful, I could give you a few pointers based on my on-going blizzard...

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, and Crimea.