A tale of three cities (hooooper vs Bomazz)

[Peltonx]

The HUGE problem in the south is the minor allies that surrender do not return and are needed in the south to hold flanks along rivvers ect.

With them gone this will really hurt come late 42 if SHC survives.

GHC in this game is going for the kill in 42. If he doen't get it hes in deep truoble by early 43 and for sure by summer 43.

He is hell bent on taking Moscow ( 100 ManP pts) when there are 200+ in the south.

I would consider building some Corps to hold flanks and make him assault Moscow, the longer he is there the longer he will not have time to roll the south.

[hooooper_slith]

Turn 28

In the north and centre, the Russian slowmotion counter stroke lumbers on as divisions worn down to stumps flounder through the chest-high snow drifts against defences manned by a skeleton crew of Germans, their uniforms stuffed with back issues of the Volkischer Beobachter.

Leningrad

[hooooper_slith]

At Moscow, the Germans are dug in in strength. I'll be lucky to push them back to Vyazma before March.

[hooooper_slith]

Fighting is under way at Tula. The Bryansk Front appears to be riding donkeys, armed with mops.

[hooooper_slith]

Kursk. We still have a breakthrough under way, which might turn into something in a few turns.

[hooooper_slith]

In the South, as predicted by the kibitzers, the Axis minors have collapsed.

[hooooper_slith]

And as predicted by Mr Pelton, about a corp has been wiped off the Romanian order of battle, shattered in combat.

[hooooper_slith]

Still fairly even, I think. The front is breaking down into a series of individual battles in the centre: Tula Orel, Kursk, Kharkov. In the south the Red Army is meeting little opposition on the Dnepropetrovsk Zaporozhye axis, which is certainly fun for me, and morale building for the troops, but we don't want a huge vulnerable salient to develop, do we? On the Moscow front the Germans are getting the better of the fighting. The Soviets are doing a little better in the north and north-west, but although they may reach the Valdai, Leningrad is still looking a long way away.

Finally, I would like to nominate the unit of the war so far. It's the plucky cavalry division that was landed at Pushkin in the final days of the German offensive, and has fought its way south through German supply lines and airbases, and which has just repelled yet another attack. Whatever happens, I do want to rescue this unit ....

[hooooper_slith]

Turn 29
The Soviets continue to grind forward in the north and centre. The lack of men, machinery, artillery, planes, administrative resources and energy restricts the number of attacks that can be made to a small number, however a notable victory is scored in the Leningrad sector when 61st Army punches a hole in the German line north of Novgorod, thus creating an escape route for the 9th Cavalry Division, which is now down to 25% of its full strength.

[hooooper_slith]

Moscow: biting on granite.

[hooooper_slith]

Tula. An unimpressive breakthrough is made, but gains are measured in hundreds of metres. Fourth Army, which blocked the northern pincer, was taken out of the line to rest and refit. This will be committed north of Tula in an attempt to get the German out of their fortifications.

[hooooper_slith]

Kursk. Southwest Front does what it can, and some pressure is applied south of Kursk, but its armies are too weak to launch a wider offensive.

[hooooper_slith]

Kharkov. The battle for this city is becoming the most important in the blizzard offensive. If the Soviets can take it, they have a reasonable chance of holding the Germans in the summer. The city itself will anchor a line and two further defensive lines are being constructed behind it. I'm expecting the main German focus in 1942 to be in the Moscow area, but there will have to be attacks in this area as well ... surely ...

[hooooper_slith]

In the south, the offensive continues, and the Axis minors are left to take the weight alone. A hasty attack by a brigade is enough to route a Romanian or an Italian division.

[hooooper_slith]

The big picture.

[hooooper_slith]

Now that a salient has been created west of Dnepropetrovsk, the aim will be to strike north and south. I'm not expecting to create pockets - Soviet tank brigades aren't strong enough, the infantry divisions aren't fast enough and the cavalry corps aren't numerous enough, but it may force the Germans to give up their prepared defences at Kharkov and Nikolaev.

Order of battle. The Red Army's manpower needs to grow by an average of 40k/week to reach a reasonable size in June - so far it's more or less on course. The Rumanian Army now has seven working tanks at its disposal.

[Scook_99]

How many turns of blizzard left?

[hooooper_slith]

The first snow turn is 38, I think. But I gather the Germans begin recovering CV in February.

[Peltonx]

Nice job you are forsing him to keep his armor in the field. I would consider completely cutting off the Rumanians.

You could possible take them out of the war. This is huge in the long run. The Rumanians, Hun and Italians are allot stronger then poeple think if used right because of the numbers of SU's that can be added to a defending hex when stacked with a German unit. Removing them from the table is really a big deal. It also cuts down on the # of German replacements from the disable pool that return 1% per turn. If the minors are not taking loses then 25% of the 1% per turn goes to minor allies. 10% to Rumanian.

It doesn't seem like allot but its huge after 150 turns when the germans need every single replasement they can get there hands on.

They are right there for the taking at this point, I am guessing there is zero GHC rail lines into the area. He would have to commit whatever reserves he has left to save them at this point.

If he does nothing u bag them head for Rumainian.

The move north will do little in the long run.

[hooooper_slith]

I didn't know any of those game mechanics. But don't you mean that 25% of the 1% goes to allies if they are taking losses?

Nice job you are forsing him to keep his armor in the field.

One of the characteristics of Bomazz's playing style is that he goes for extreme plans, like concentrating all the German mech divisions in Army Group Centre after T15. I think this is another example of that: using regimental battle groups to hold the line, especially the mountain division, putting those panzer divisions that are deployed in cities and urban centres, or fortified hexes, and letting the Rumanians and Italians go the the wall (but not the Hungarians). There may be consequences down the line, but the advantage of resting a large percentage of the German army ready for the next campaigning season are obvious, and there may be opportunities to do serious damage to the Red Army long before T150. I'm certainly going to try to take advantage of the situation in the south, but I'm also planning to err on the side of caution.