Clash of Steel: 1941-1945: Q-Ball vs Bletchley_Geek

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Kamiman

How do you get the circle factories and small town names to show up on the map?

Hi,

I'm using redmarkus4 map mod. You can find it here:

tm.asp?m=2755516

[Tarhunnas]

Excellent AAR! Keep it up! I know from experience that it takes some extra effort to make a good AAR, and it is appreciated!

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas
Excellent AAR! Keep it up! I know from experience that it takes some extra effort to make a good AAR, and it is appreciated!

Thank you to you and the others who have expressed their appreciation. Yes, it's some work, but it's also quite useful.

I also take that as a hint that the latest issue wasn't as good as the previous ones [:)] Well, things aren't always as exciting... it was sort of a "slow news turn". If anybody would like me to show some particular thing about the game, please feel free to ask me about it.

I'm currently looking forward to start some some analysis/discussion on Ground element fatigue and how important it looks to me and how hard is to "manage it": that is, to what degree it constrains and conditions decision making.

[ComradeP]

You dug in on the "wrong" hex of the Perekop area, so I wouldn't expect your forts to hold for more than a turn, if that. He can concentrate 6 infantry divisions against the stack you have there, which should be more than enough to remove it. You should've dug in on the hex where the fortified region is, which can only be attacked by 3 units.

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: Bletchley_Geek

I also take that as a hint that the latest issue wasn't as good as the previous ones [:)]

No, that was not my intention at all! [X(]

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP
You dug in on the "wrong" hex of the Perekop area, so I wouldn't expect your forts to hold for more than a turn, if that. He can concentrate 6 infantry divisions against the stack you have there, which should be more than enough to remove it. You should've dug in on the hex where the fortified region is, which can only be attacked by 3 units.

I always fortify both hexes, the idea is to fall back as soon as he gets adjacent, into the hex with the FR, leaving a div to hold up the two stack attack you mention.

[BletchleyGeek]

Turn 9 – 14 August 1941

The situation is getting more critical with each turn. I'm losing roughly an Army command each turn, and this is way too much for the Red Army to endure for long. This turn Q-Ball has captured 250,000 prisoners reaching 1.5M prisoners in less than two months. Western, Southwestern and Southern Fronts have received heavy damage this turn again. The only place where I'm making trouble for the Wehrmacht is in front of Leningrad.

This turn there have been 120 battles – 1. PzGruppe has moved forward again – and 83% of them have resulted in an Axis victory. German losses are mounting, and I'm surprised to see that KIA and WIA ratios are 2:1 and 2.5:1 favoring the Axis. German AFV losses ratio is still quite high, being steady at 150 per turn. I need to cut the hemorrhage of prisoners, though. Q-Ball is attriting me faster than I can attrit him. The war in the air is looking way better than usual, though. The Luftwaffe has lost over 1,300 aircraft, which is about 4 times less than VVS losses.

Operational Situation Report

The Finns are looking forward to do some mischief on the Svir line, with a cavalry brigade

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I will need to divert a division here, rather than sending it to Leningrad, where it is sorely needed. To the southwest, a brutal battle rages at the gates of Leningrad

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German infantry and armor has teamed up and make considerable headway east. A massive counterattack is is needed: the 13th PzDiv and 36th Motorized Div are tenously holding a wedge between 28th and 31st Army. It's a very good opportunity to cause substantial losses on the assaulting forces.

On the southern shore of the Ilmen the 11th and 8th armies are still offering an spirited defense

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I need to slowly disengange, these two armies are becoming flanked by the developments to the south.

Q-Ball has shifted his axis of advance in the center

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he's clearly aiming at Tula. The 3. PzGruppe joined forces to push through the hasty defenses I had deployed around Spask-Demensk, a breakthrough was barely avoided. 2. PzGruppe south and north groups are poised to meet between Bryansk and Sumy

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I need to fall back towards Kursk, while covering Bryansk flank. This is becoming a nightmare without end.

The battle for Kharkov hasn't started very well for my interests. The 26th Army has been shattered, and its failure doomed their comrades in the 5th Army

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This has created a massive gap in Southwestern Front lines, and I don't see where I can bring troops to cover the direct approach. This is a complete and total disaster.

The 1. PzGruppe seems to have done good of the rest that Q-Ball gave to it, and the 32nd Army defending the bend has been defeated, scattered, and a sizeable chunk is going to be destroyed

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I won't make commentaries on the shape of the hexes turned around by those motorized divisions holding out next to the Dnepr. Hex art anyone?

Factory Evacuation

This turn I get 131,133 railcap points, plenty to move a substantial part of the T-34 factory at Kharkov. The question is, how much? Right now it has a capacity of 59 T-34 per turn and each points consumes 1,400 railcap points. I will take out 50 points, which is perhaps too much, perhaps not. I've made some headway evacuating Armaments, so I think I can afford this expense. It gets 58% damage, which is not bad at all. This means that until Turn 29 it won't be expanding again, and I don't expect it to be producing much until Turn 18 or so. Besides that, I move out the last 9 Armament factories from Stalino. I've just spent 124,000 railcap points. I really have to move very little troops...

Operations

I feel really helpless in the south. My troops have been completely defeated so many times down there that I've lost count. This is really one of my saddest moments in e-mail wargaming.

The Zaporozhye – Stalino strategic defense operation starts this turn, with a checkerboard

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not even a good one, there are obvious gaps in it. But to be exploited they require the German spearheads to deviate to the south, deflecting it somewhat from Stalino itself, whose defenses are very precarious

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most of the forces I had been assembling on this area are either to the east, or already destroyed on the west bank of the Dnepr. This is sad.

Southwestern Front is almost destroyed. Trying to defend the rivers that flow from north to south just west of Kharkov is not feasible, so my only option left is to fall back towards the city itself – its defenses are in better shape than those in Stalino – while covering its flanks.

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Q-Ball maneuver is sort of obvious. If he goes for a double pincer envolepment of Kharkov I will retreat towards Voronezh. I haven't got much more options, either.

2 PzGruppe forces threaten Orel and Kursk from three different axis

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so I deploy in a hedgehog yet again. Bryansk Front has received some reinforcements, but they're ridiculous when compared with what Q-Ball can throw into this region.

If 3. PzGruppe wants to bypass Rzhev and Vyazma, fair enough. The battle will take place in the forests, swamps and along the rivers between Spask – Demensk and Tula

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Reserve and Western Front are completely mixed. I don't know when I'll be able to rationalize the deployments here. The retreat here means that the lines between Rzhev and the Valdai Hills need to retreat as well

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When I see how thin I'm here I'm horrified. German infantry will be wondering where the enemy is, with all those thick forests.

I reinforce the position south of the Ilmen

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though I'm quite happy with my troops performance here, they were starting to buckle under the pressure. If Q-Ball allows me, I am to retreat next turn along the river that flows from south to north just west of Demyansk.

Last turn assault was fearsome, and two German motorized divisions were in a very exposed position. Counterattacking is not an option, is a must. A powerful force with elements of 28th and 31st Armies launches a vicious counterattack

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prepped by a hasty attack from a Tank Division – this feels like slapping someone with a tuna fish – and several VVS attacks, 11 divisions, supported by a lot of artillery and tanks cause important losses on 6th PanzerDivision and 36th Motorized Division. Engineering and Combat values were pretty high.

The battle lines are arranged as follows

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I continue with my strategy of not giving away one hex for free in front of Leningrad, and being more flexible to the south, trying to bait Q-Ball to pursue the path of least resistance.

Summary & Final thoughts

Was glvaca right after all? Sincerely, I don't know what to think now. Thinking the campaign as a re-enactment of Napoleon's 1812 campaign in Russia, does really make sense? I mean, throwing massive 6 hex deep hedgehogs that retreat at least 6 hexes per turn and setting up for a massive Borodino-like showdown. Napoleon won Borodino and got "the cigar" as Empire101 said in another thread (too bad that cigar fell into some curtains and the city got burnt to its foundations).

By doing what I've done, with a debatable skill and luck, I've achieved a few things. I've saved a lot of industry, yes. I'm giving a lot of trouble (or was, let's see next turn) on the road to Leningrad. Average panzer strength is of about 50 per PanzerDivision. The Luftwaffe seems to be being bled white. But, in exchange, the Red Army is on the verge of being destroyed. And Q-Ball is about to break out into Central Russia, and my chances of defeating a major push towards Moscow - the cigar/cherry on top of the cake - are quite low. Is it a good deal? Now this is somewhat doubtful.

I've launched 19 ground attacks this turn, and only won the one I have shown before. Losses have been very high, especially between pocketed units and this is good: “Better dead than hiwi” is the lemma of the Red Army soldiers.

I've got Q-Ball turn 10 on my inbox. Time to open it and get my eyes watery again.

[Priapus1]

Great AAR! Would it be possible to see an image of the whole front?

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Priapus1

Great AAR! Would it be possible to see an image of the whole front?

Sure, next turn

[M60A3TTS]

Any commander who countenances retreat before the capital should be liquidated without mercy.
 

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Any commander who countenances retreat before the capital should be liquidated without mercy.

[:)] Kutuzov got away with it.

[Flaviusx]

The capital at the time was St. Petersburg. So Kutuzov didn't get away with it. [;)]

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

The capital at the time was St. Petersburg. So Kutuzov didn't get away with it. [;)]

Good catch, Flavio [:D]

[Encircled]

Once the Dnepr has been crossed, with the new rules, its going to be very hard to stop a German player who goes for it.

I'd suggest defending deep, but to do that, you have to run for the Dnepr so you have some units. It might be a bit late for that!

Until someone proves otherwise, just concentrate on pulling out your arnaments points with the rail.

Oh, and start fortifying the Don!

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Once the Dnepr has been crossed, with the new rules, its going to be very hard to stop a German player who goes for it.

I'd suggest defending deep, but to do that, you have to run for the Dnepr so you have some units. It might be a bit late for that!

I was sort of running towards the Dnepr, perhaps too slowly. And the Germans are very fast. In my next GC I'll be counting MP's systematically. I've been sort of underestimating German spearheads reach.

ORIGINAL: Encircled
Until someone proves otherwise, just concentrate on pulling out your arnaments points with the rail.

I'm almost done with the Armaments evacuation, I'll comment on that in the next update (coming this evening or so).

ORIGINAL: Encircled
Oh, and start fortifying the Don!

Kharkov and Stalino are most certainly lost, next stops are Voronezh, Voroshilovgrad and Rostov.

[BletchleyGeek]

Turn 10 – 21 August 1941

The turn with the least number of battles, though pretty intensive. Q-Ball has launched just 64 attacks this turn, winning 89% of them. German AFV losses continue to go down, this turn a third less than on Turn 9. I see that Q-Ball is now a bit more conservative with its motorized units – I see more of them on reserve, well behind the frontline. Major events in Leningrad and Kursk. The former I didn't really see it coming, the latter I've been expecting it for a couple turns now.

Operational Situation Report

AGN has shifted its axis of advance and has routed 31st Army just south of Leningrad

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all units but one of 31st Army have been routed. Fortunately, Eremenko was its commander and has managed to rally several divisions. A bit to the south, has fared slightly better. I'm most worried about 3 divisions – marked with a red circle – which can't reach the “good side” of the Volkhov.

Q-Ball has almost isolated Leningrad, but I still doubt he wants to try to cut it off from the Ladoga ports. Most likely he's going for the hex just east of Pavlovo: Leningrad's Achilles heel. Units need to be shuffled to make this a expensive proposition. On the bright side, he smoked the FR I had deployed on Turn 1. I got the level 3 forts just in the nick of time.

Northern Front aviation has suffered a lot this turn: quite a few air bases were displaced. I don't have the numbers, but I estimate that about 100 airframes have been destroyed on the ground.

There has been heavy fighting around Spask-Demensk

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interestingly, Q-Ball hasn't used the Panzer Divisions. This looks to me as he's preparing an HQ Buildup, more so when looking where he's been sending recon planes

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but he's not sending the recon flights where I expected, Tula, but to Kaluga and Mozhaisk. Maybe we'll have a Borodino after all.

I've been speaking about defending Orel and Kursk for three turns now... and as is becoming the norm in this game, the pace of events far surpasses my ability to react properly

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not because I've been seeing it for some time now, it hurts me less. On the contrary, it hurts more. But it's much better than seeing whole armies encircled and not being able to do anything to help them. Let's take a look at the whole picture

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I find my troops in a really dangerous position. No matter how much I would like to launch a counterattack over the motorized divisions southwest of Kursk it's out of the question. Locally it looks like a good idea, but when looking from a bit further away, it isn't.

Q-Ball has taken it easy on the Donets basin

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I'm not sure whether he's waiting for his forces to clear the Crimea or just waiting for the FBD's to bring forward the railhead. The armor he has east of the Dnepr is more than 20 hexes away from it (according to the UI). And ComradeP was right - again [:)]- that I shouldn't have the FR in that hex. The Romanians did a short job of the forward division and then a blazingly fast LIV. ArmeeKorps assaulted my fortifications in mass

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This was a tough battle for the Germans, I think. Should I had one more Rifle Division there, I'm not sure what would have happened. In any case, having broken through Perekop, the peninsula is no longer tenable

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Time to decide who goes to Sevastopol and who goes to Kerch.

Priapus1 asked me for a picture of the whole front. I'm not fond of these, because they don't really allow to appreciate the details, but there you go guys:

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you asked and I just comply [:)]

Factory Evacuation

Railcap is degrading noticeably, this turn I get 124,702, that's one less Armament factory out this turn... Time to get some of those 25 points out of Tula. I'll take out 15 points, spending 90,000 railcap points up front and 4 out of Kaluga, leaving it empty. This leaves me with barely 10,000 railcap, more than enough to shuttle the few troops I have to spare.

I'm nearly done with the Armaments evacuation. Here's a brief summary of what is left and where:

Moscow ( Moscow, West Moscow and North Moscow ) : 20
Rostov: 15
Tula: 10
Gorlovka, Kalinin, Kramatorskaya, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Voroshilovgrad: 3 each
Taganrog: 2

That makes a total of 63 Armament points still lying on the “Danger Zone”.

I think next turn will be time to focus on Kharkov vehicle factories (if Q-Ball doesn't do anything to prevent it, of course) and to look into airplane factories (the 22-point LaGG-3 factories in Taganrog, for instance, the IL-2 at Voronezh and Moscow, the Pe-2 at Moscow) and Heavy Industry. Yes, I know there's plenty of supply. But I plan to play the campaign to the bitter end, and who knows what wonders can bring the future with it?

Operations

I must admit I was a bit surprised by the violence of the German penetration just south of Leningrad. He is obviously aiming at reaching the Achilles heel hexagon, and I'll do my best to discourage him from trying

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Both Schlisselbürg and the light woods hex to its west are key to this. Therefore I pile up as much stuff as possible on both hexes. Just west of Kolpino there are two fat Tank Divisions with a lot of tanks and in Schlisselbürg three fresh Rifle Divisions. It was very useful to remember that I can use naval transport across the Ladoga: I ferried three depleted divisions from 31st Army and used them to replace three divisions that were holding the no move line against the Finns. I could use FR's as well, but that takes time (one turn before it gets a CV of 1) and 24 AP's which feels like a King's Ransom.

Having Eremenko at the reigns of 31st Army has been very important. Not only rallied most of the army, but also awarded them some good MP's which allow to deploy on the swamps and in a formation that will suck the most MP's out of Q-Ball forces. He can actually achieve both things with the forces he has at hand. That is, push a bridgehead across the Neva and push east across the Volkhov.

11th and 8th Northwestern Front armies are reinforced and they start to fall back towards the Valdai hills

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south of the Seliger lake I'm really thin. But Q-Ball doesn't have much menacing that, either. Not that it can't change, of course. Highlighted with a red circle you can see 133rd Rifle Division, the finest division in the Red Army order of battle

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as soon as I can send it somewhere else, the better. These guys have brilliantly fought a delaying action since turn 3 against German infantry. They deserve better than becoming hiwis.

Given the German operations I foresee, I think it's better to discuss Western and Bryansk Front togethers

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You can see that I just ran away... well, sort of. I decide to fight just a delaying action for Vyazma, an rather fall back along the course of the Ugra river. The line is longer, but the terrain is much better and it'll be quite hard to flank it. The key of the whole deployment lies on Kaluga, where I think Q-Ball will be striking next turn.

Bryansk is abandoned: with its industry evacuted and being flanked, it was suicidal to hold onto it. Bryansk Front does a massive operational retreat towards Orel and the Oka river, a much better and tenable position.

Note as well that I've formed up two armies under the Moscow Military Department, the 52nd under Rokossovsky and the 40th under a less notorious but fairly solid Soviet commander, K. Galitsky. While the 52nd is going to be more of the strike force – or rather, counterstrike force – both are meant to fortify as well. I plan to add two more armies under Moscow MD (though that will get it badly overloaded) with commanders with high Morale (and Admin when possible) ratings.

With all that German armor massed on Kharkov right flank, I don't think I want to try my luck

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next turn I'll be retreating east, along the bold line (if Q-Ball allows, of course) and set up a secondary line along the dashed line. It is hard to see the forts go without hardly a fight, but well, at least I attracted Q-Ball attention, didn't I?

I retreat towards Stalino

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while Kharkov is lost, not all hope is given up for Stalino. To the north lies the Oskol River and Voronezh (which is becoming quickly the hub of the Red Army in Central Russia), and to the south the Sea of Azov. It's not a bad position to entrench and fight hard if I don't do anything dumb.

Being Perekop lost there's little point to fight in the Crimean plains, I know that historically the Soviets put a lot of resistance here, but sincerely, I don't really see where. This is flat as a billiard board

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I stack a lot on Sevastopol: I want to force Q-Ball into engaging in a heavy siege operations. If he sents there the Romanians... well, then I'll get some fun. Sealing off Kerch seems easy, let's see if I don't have to eat my words and see the Germans on the Kuban in 1941...

Conclusions

As you can see, this is the most “sir Robinesque” turn so far in the campaign. And I hate it. Really hate it. But the Red Army really needed a break. No attacks either this turn – grrr – only the harassing of VVS aerial attacks.

Next turn I'll have to make some harsh decisions regarding manpower and armament pools. Flavio gave some good advice on this topic elsewhere in this board, and I'll apply the basic principles.

Oh, I almost forgot... Lend Lease shipments from our friends the British have started to arrive. I'm really looking forward to the Matildas and Valentines to compound for the T-34's I'm not producing...

[BletchleyGeek]

Turn 11 – 28 August 1941

The action this turn has concentrated in three areas: the Volkhov river line and Leningrad, Tula region – that recon misled me badly – and Stalino, where in yet another incursion Q-Ball has raided the cities of Gorlovka and Makeevka, which I hadn't evacuated yet.

Interestingly, this has been the turn with the lowest success ratio for Q-Ball: he just fell short of achieving an 80% of victories. His AFV losses have stabilized around the 120 per turn mark, but the infantry exchange – excluding POWs – still looks strikingly low to me, about 2:1 in the KIA department and 2.5:1 in the WIA department.

The resources “crush” is starting to be felt. This turn the RKKA reaches its peak so far in Infantry units – either Division or Brigade – reaching a count of 237, of which about 25% have TOEs below 50%. For the cavalry, about 33% are below 50%, which is quite bad as well. Extreme measures as the ones suggested by Flavio will have to be taken.

Operational Situation Report

Nothing really surprising north of the Ilmen lake. He's cleared the southern bank of the Neva river, and his motorized units have cleared the ports of Kobona and Novaya Ladoga

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I see something missing... and wait, what's doing that motorized division just west of Novgorod?

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Things just got extremely serious for the 11th Army, defending the city of Demjansk. Q-Ball sending south of the Ilmen one PzKorps, just at this moment, is extremely dangerous. The Volkhov front units could handle one single threat axis, but two is just too much. Much worse is that 4. PzGruppe divisions here, have full support from German infantry. The possibilities of holding here are exactly zero.

Attached with the turn, Q-Ball wrote me a note commenting that he had “casted the dice”. You can imagine how much I fretted about what those “dice” were... Well, I think I thought too much about the recon flights sighted in the vicinity of Moscow:

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I have left selected one of the three units from 10th Army in the pocket, and highlighted the two divisions I need to defeat. This can be critical. Even if he manages to free those units – more than likely, it's a sure thing – next turn I should be able to counterattack strongly his spearheads, unless he retreats. The alternative is to run... and do nothing about the panzers. Either way, I'll have to retreat between Rzhev and Vyazma, just too few forces.

Around Kursk he just harassed me with the motorized Division I think he's attached to 2. Armee

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that's actually something highly recommendable, in my opinion. 2. Armee is badly understrength, and it's usually deployed, come winter, in the middle of a plain. Not a good place to stay during winter for the Germans.

My intuition told me that it would quite strange that Q-Ball decided to launch a frontal assault on Kharkov, and it's been confirmed

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He's done – yet again! - that thing of pushing around my hedgehog, and going for a stroll in my rear, to go back to the “hotel” before I can react. These kind of maneuvers are really getting on my nerves, makes me feel I'm being bullied. I have to think how to take revenge of this =) Here I don't have the same options for encircling and avoiding Q-Ball from bringing upon my forces brutal retribution. Isolating them and sacrificing a pair of Cavalry Divisions – which will be back, eventually – doesn't look to me as a bad idea at all. Let's those Germans move their Panzers by PUSHING them!

Industry Evacuation

Q-Ball move on Tula is threatening, but I'm trying to counter it. So I'll try to think up there aren't 10 Armament points still in that city. Especially when Taganrog, with its LaGG-3 factories is there, and after it, Rostov, with 15 Armament Points. Railcap allowance has decrease sharply: I've got just barely above 100,000 points this turn.

Regarding the LaGG-3 factories in Taganrog, the thing is I have there 25% of the production, which does not upgrade to nothing at all, and stops producing on July 1942. It's almost a year until then and these are good planes. Each factory unit requires 1560 railcap, and has an expansion rate of 1. If I evacuate half of it, I'd just lose 10% of the production and I think it will have time to grow back to its original size by Spring 1942. I get a bad roll, and it gets 75% damage, that is, 25 turns until full production (and expansion).

I decide to invest 60,000 railcap points in evacuating 10 Armament points from Rostov. Let's hope the Tula operation works as expected.

Tula Operation

This counterattack is of the utmost importance, and on it does rest my other moves this turn. I assemble two powerful forces on the flanks of 3. PzGruppe, in the north Western Front 10th Army under Malinovsky, in the south, the 49th Army under Tobulkhin. Both armies have plenty of SU's attached:

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and I'm “successful”. Battle #1 involves 4 Rifle Division from 49th Army (the same divisions defending Bryansk last turn):

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and the 14th Motorized Division suffers substantial losses and retreats to the east. Battle #2 involves two hasty attacks by one of the divisions which took part in the previous battle and had 7 MP's left, and two massed raids by the VVS

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this one was VERY close. Tobulkhin has really earned a place in my heart now. To the north things are a bit easier, mainly because the bulk of 10th Army was behind the Ugra river, and several of its divisions had had time to recover fatigue and gain some experience. Battle #3 involves three strong Rifle divisions

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as you can see, I had here plenty of stuff. Surprisingly enough, the 18th Motorized division decides to retreast east... which means I have to launch another attack I didn't really want to. For Battle #4 I muster 4 divisions, I really want to hurt these guys

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I don't really mop the floor with them, but getting a 10:1 exchange ratio in the attack in 1941 is not too shabby.

I said “successful” I lack the strength to tighten my forces grip around the German motorized divisions. If I had just more forces around Tula, perhaps I would have been able to fight back the motorized division in the south further getting an extra hex to sneak cavalry (or the German infantry division in the north, just southeast of the swamp hex with the level 0 fort. I've got the feeling that in this game I'm getting right just half of the things I try to achieve.

Operations

Having panzers south of the Ilmen radically changes the situation in the north. It's about time to get the the better defensive terrain at hand – or in other words, run for the hills and swamps – especially for Northwestern Front 27th, 22nd and 11th Armies

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I'm ready for the final stage of the Leningrad campaign. I don't think the city will hold more than two or three turns.

Since Q-Ball only has infantry along the Vyazma – Moscow axis, it's time to go light in this sector. I need to concentrate around 3. PzGruppe porous kessel

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note that I'm forming a defense line aligned with the city of Mozhaisk. The situation is very messy, I hope I've bought off some time to get the position prepared for battle. The kessel itself is far from perfect

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this is no Korsun pocket, guys. He'll have to do some fight to open up a path to relieve the kamerads trapped east of Sukhinichi, but I think I'll lose 4 divisions or more. Q-Ball retribution will be merciless.

I do another operational retreat, more or less following the guidelines sketched last turn

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I abandon Kharkov, without looking back. Southwestern Front really needs a break, or it will get its back broken. 17 vehicle factory points and 4 heavy industry points in Kharkov are gone. This is the first GC where I lose Kharkov.

1 PzGruppe advance didn't really mind its flanks... and ignored that I had a lot of cavalry in this theater

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I used six cavalry divisions to slice up the German spearhead into two chunks, two had enough MP's left to rejoin the main body of Southern Front, and four are going to become heroes of the Soviet Union. This should stop Q-Ball for at least one turn. You can see the grizzly math of the Eastern Front at work: you want 1 turn to regain your breath?, that'll be 40,000 guys, thank you.

Kerch straits defense is in place

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if Q-Ball wants to set foot on the Kuban, I'm ready to contest that.

Closing remarks

A crazy turn, with some spectacular events going on in the center and a dramatic situation becoming tragic in the south. This game is perhaps the best GC I've played so far, not so much by its results, but from the fun – yes, at the end of the day, it's fun, even if somewhat painful – I'm having with it.

[Flaviusx]

I think that you should probably be more sparing in your fortified region purchases. They don't do you much good in a fluid situation and placing them too far forward results in wasted APs.

Unless the front has stabilized some and you've got level 2s up already, then their potential isn't realized. I certainly would never build them in the Ukraine in 1941 anywhere west of the Don. (And not even there until I've got some level 2s up already.)

The ones you have by Moscow make more sense. And I would also build one in Moscow proper and drop three divisions there (one in each hex) so you can get level 3s in all the urban hexes.

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

I think that you should probably be more sparing in your fortified region purchases. They don't do you much good in a fluid situation and placing them too far forward results in wasted APs.

Unless the front has stabilized some and you've got level 2s up already, then their potential isn't realized. I certainly would never build them in the Ukraine in 1941 anywhere west of the Don. (And not even there until I've got some level 2s up already.)

The ones you have by Moscow make more sense. And I would also build one in Moscow proper and drop three divisions there (one in each hex) so you can get level 3s in all the urban hexes.

Sound advice, will take the point home. In my defense, I must say I wasn't really expecting the clusterf*ck that the Ukraine campaign has turned out to be.

[Flaviusx]

The south is just tougher this patch in general. The Germans are more mobile now than they used to be due to morale changes.

Even in a game where the Axis doesn't go all in in the south, they can do very well down there. PG1 + 1 panzer corps from AGC is more than enough to keep hustling you out of one position and another until they run out of gas.

There's no quick recovery from the Lvov opening. It's just a long, long delaying action.