A look at Barbarossa. (AAR)

[composer99]

Germany's o-chit will be in its pocket for next turn...

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: composer99

Germany's o-chit will be in its pocket for next turn...

Shhhhhhh! [:-] (That's supposed to be a secret)

[Joseignacio]

.

[Joseignacio]

ORIGINAL: Orm

The turn ended. 50% chance for it to end. This is this turns losses.

Edit: The game is tied in victory points at this point.

Picture taken at end of turn, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Plus a pilot, I guess. If that planes were overrun, and I think they were, pilots were lost.

[Red Prince]

Walkin' in a winter wonderland. Yes, friends and enemies alike, it's coooold outside. Winter has come with a vengeance, and If I get 5 impulses between now and the end of the game, I'll count myself as lucky, assuming they are useful impulses. I have the initiative, still, and I'm taking the first impulse this bleak November. There is still work to be done.


Picture taken at start of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[composer99]

Blizzard means no action by Germany on northern front (none that seems feasible, anyway, unless Prince's luck at low-odds attacks holds).

Snow, on the other hand, still means possibilities in the south.

[composer99]

The real question is, how much winterized force does USSR have and is there anywhere they can concentrate it for attacks?

[Red Prince]

I'm not using my O-chit, of course. I'd like to be able to use it in Snow or better, and I just don't have the forces in the right place right now to make use of it. I saw some tempting attacks I could make, but the USSR has all its air-cover available, and with reduced odds, even those reduced Tactical Factors will hurt me. I'll just hold onto it, and if I haven't had a chance to get some excellent use out of it by next turn, I'll have to use it to get another Victory city or two.

In the meantime, I've railed some forces to cities closer to where I might face attacks, Kharkov and Pskov.


Picture taken during Rail Movement of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Sorry, everyone, but that's it for now. I have to secure my line, trying to plan for something to happen next impulse. That's going to take some study, and right now I have some other work that I really want to try to finish up tonight and tomorrow.

This evening, when my brain is mush and my fingers have had enough typing, I'll probably look at this again. Then I'll post what happens in the morning. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't do this when my brain is mush. Well, we'll see.

[Red Prince]

Back on the job! I got a lot of work done yesterday, and my mind is refreshed, so it's back to business.

The weather is not great for attacks, so I'm only making 2 of them. I thought I was only going to make one, having decided to save my O-chit. That's this one on the Tashkent Militia between Rostov and Voronezh. This is a 30:4 attack. Even with the 2 lost columns for snow, that's still 5:1. With little hope of improving the odds due to bad weather, and because it's probably time to try some counter-attacks soon, Orm is commiting no air-support here.


Picture taken during Land Combat Declaration of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

As for my second attack, my goal was to bring my troops back into useful formations, preparing for some counter-attacks that are targeted toward cities. I didn't realize I could actually get 102 factors to Bryansk for an attack. Kind of wish I had used my O-chit here. There's only 16 factors defending, with Zhukov still disorganized from last turn (no way to get him any oil between turns), which in Fine weather would have been a lovely 6.375:1 attack.

Well, I'm impatient, so I'm willing to take the 3 column shifts for the Blizzard. I can't add any air support, but neither can the Russians, and that to me is worth an extra column shift in his favor (seeing as the best I could hope for is -2 for Snow). He also can't gain HQ Support from Zhukov, and since my units have a very good chance to be disorganized if I don't win the Fractional Odds roll, I'm going to try to gain a column with von Bock.


Picture taken during Land Combat Declaration of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Well, for HQ Support I rolled a '10' and that doesn't make me happy. I'll have to pray for the Fractional Odds roll, or for a high attack roll.

The southern attack may have used up that luck, though. I got the Fractional Odds roll there, which really wasn't needed, making it a 6:1 Blitz, and then rolled a '9' which was overkill. The reason this attack was important to me can be seen below. I don't trust Orm to simply roll over, not with the game this close. I'm vulnerable in places, and I was worried about Krasnodar. There are 2 Siberians nearby, and other units that could make it there if the weather is Snow or Fine. This Blitz attack allowed me to put a few units out of supply. They can regain supply, but at the cost of leaving units in less-than-ideal positions. Even then, these troops can only move a single hex. My blitzing units, of course, ended up out of supply, but that can probably be fixed next impulse.


Picture taken during Land Combat Resolution, Advance after Combat, of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Back to Bryansk, where this is the ugliest attack I could have come up with. I have 17 units commited, including HQ von Bock. It's a 3:1 +1 Assault, with a 3 in 8 chance to be 4:1 +1.

At worst, I do have a 40% chance to take the city, but only a 20% chance to keep all of those units fighting for another impulse. If I'm lucky, that changes to 60% and 40%, respectively. If nothing else, this game has truly taught me how important it is to get those 3:1 Assaults boosted up to 4:1, by any means possible.

(I added the CRT to this screenshot so you could see the exact results possible).

Time to pray, soldiers!


Picture taken during Land Combat Resolution of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

And the survey says . . .

Mixed results. I failed the Fractional Odds roll, leaving me on the 3:1 CRT, but then I rolled a '7'. That, too, is a mixed results kind of thing. It was the minimum I needed to win this battle, since the +1 made it an '8', killing 1 and Shattering the rest. Of course, since the city is surrounded, I'll convert the result to a Retreat, eliminating all 3 defenders. That, I like. What I don't like is leaving 17 units disorganized. That's most of my Army.

This is the city that finally puts me in the lead for the first time in the game, but it feels like I sacrificed a lot to do it. Hopefully I can hold on to what I have for the last two turns, and maybe take another city or two, for insurance.

Picture taken during Land Combat Resolution of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Feeling a little nervous, I decided to rebase 2 more fighters and another bomber to the Novgorod area, and sent my ATR down south, for potential reorganization duties later on. I want another city, but I'm not sure where I'll be able to get one.


Picture taken during Air Rebasing of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Also near Novgorod, I decided my Infantry has more mobility than Mannerheim, and is in a better position to block any attempt to leave the city and bypass these troops, so I used his points to reorganize the stronger unit.


Picture taken during HQ Reorganization of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

The above post shows you the Novgorod - Leningrad front, so I won't bother showing that again.

With an O-chit still in my pocket, I still feel like there are 2-3 cities I have a legitimate chance to take. Orm, however, has been frustratingly tricky, and I expect to have to defend against something I was not prepared for. I particularly don't like the Paratrooper sitting in Rostov. [:(]

Here's how things look in the North. Most of my troops here are disorganized, but I'm pretty sure Orm can't get enough forces concentrated on any of them to make good use of the +2 or +3 he'd get from attacking them. I tried to set up a sufficient screen before making the attack on Bryansk.


Picture taken at end of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

Here's a closer look at my "Gap of Vulnerability"


Picture taken at end of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

And, last of all, a look at the Southern Front. Not a whole lot of useful troops here, but enough to keep some of the Soviets in place, instead of making any large-scale attacks on my troops (I hope!).


Picture taken at end of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

[Red Prince]

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

And the survey says . . .

Mixed results. I failed the Fractional Odds roll, leaving me on the 3:1 CRT, but then I rolled a '7'. That, too, is a mixed results kind of thing. It was the minimum I needed to win this battle, since the +1 made it an '8', killing 1 and Shattering the rest. Of course, since the city is surrounded, I'll convert the result to a Retreat, eliminating all 3 defenders. That, I like. What I don't like is leaving 17 units disorganized. That's most of my Army.

This is the city that finally puts me in the lead for the first time in the game, but it feels like I sacrificed a lot to do it. Hopefully I can hold on to what I have for the last two turns, and maybe take another city or two, for insurance.

Picture taken during Land Combat Resolution of Axis impulse #1, Nov/Dec 1941 (Turn 4 of 5)

Yet another reason I'm really glad we're doing this game here:

Orm sent me a note, reminding me of the Shatter rules, and I'm glad he did. Since there was no place to retreat these units anyway, I didn't need to convert it to a Retreat, since they can only be 'shattered' if they could have retreated. Since they can't, they would have died, anyway.

Since this was an Assault, it didn't really matter much, but if it had been a Blitz, with a Breakthrough, it might have made a difference.