Summer Offensive - Oshawott (Axis) vs Griefhead (Russia)

[Flaviusx]

What I don't get is why he doesn't have 3 units in Rostov. Seems to me it could be taken with just two in there and being attacked on 3 sides.

[Oshawott]

I believe he is overly concerned with units being routed. You will see the same defensive behavior in front of Moscow. It tends to be 2 units in front of 1 unit.

[Michael T]

In addition to what you said plus good leaders up the chain of command and loads of art. I assume its a level 3 fort. But you are way past this point now right? So did you manage to take it?

[Flaviusx]

That would be spoiling the tale, Michael T. [;)]

[Oshawott]

T17 - North

Valdai is occupied. I will move the Finnish allies in after mud.

[Oshawott]

T17 - Center

More held results even with offensive reserve activation. But I'm getting closer and closer. He did break the Kaluga pocket and some of his units escaped. I resealed the pocket and will capture the city after mud.

My attack on Kalinin was a failure. I will move II Corps into this sector to capture the city. I desperately need this city for the blizzard.

[Oshawott]

T17 - South

Rostov fell. He did put three decent rifle divisions into the city. But I had nine divisions with lots of pioneers and excellent leaders. This attack would have been a failure with a single reserve activation and/or fighter/bomber coverage but he had none of those.

Before combat I flew two bombing missions on the city to soften the defenses. I find the Romanians to be particularly useful for this purpose. They get really good disruption values.

I also cleared all the troops out of the Don bend.

[Oshawott]

T17 - OOB

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Oshawott

T17 - Center

More held results even with offensive reserve activation. But I'm getting closer and closer. He did break the Kaluga pocket and some of his units escaped. I resealed the pocket and will capture the city after mud.

My attack on Kalinin was a failure. I will move II Corps into this sector to capture the city. I desperately need this city for the blizzard.

Given that you have cleared the flanks and have terrain that is easy to give up (in the north and south) in the winter, are you going to keep on pushing at Moscow in the snow turns?

Looks like you might be able to stop him preparing for the counterattack by making him fight actively in November.

[Flaviusx]

Keep grinding all the way down to the wire, imo. The Soviet has to be hurting on armaments.

Oshawott might even take one hex of Moscow here. Won't keep it, but surely helps slow down the blizzard counteroffensive.

Was Rostov empty of factories when it fell? Or Voroshilovgrad? For that matter, what is the status of Kalinin and the westernmost hex of Moscow?

If Oshawott can take Kalinin and Kaluga and that one hex of Moscow he's going to be sitting pretty come December. Kaluga is a given, the other two not so much.

[Oshawott]

I'll keep pushing but there is a twist to it. At one point I lose hope and pull out Manstein's Corps but then unexpected things are happening. There were factories in Rostov, Voroshilovgrad and Kaluga. Some stuff is left in Moscow as well. Griefhead wrote me that by the end of the 41 campaign I had destroyed 63A-94HI-15V. But for more information you will have to wait.

[Flaviusx]

Those are decent numbers on the factories, but not decisive.

[charlie0311]

Hey Flav,

Can the Sov player lose all those factories and still take Berlin? How much production can the Sov lose and still build the 2.0 Red army? ie xHI, yA, and zV?

[Flaviusx]

This is a rule of thumb thing. My rule of thumb is this: 50+ lost armaments starts to pinch. 75+ results in significant delays in transitioning over to Red Army 2.0 and therefore getting to Berlin. 100+ is Katy bar the door and possibly leading to an outright Soviet defeat.

Oshawott had a strong but not decisive showing here. He's got good momentum going into 1942 but the Soviets are still in the game.

The HI losses I think might hurt supply down the line and make it difficult to maintain a large red army.

The vehicle losses are irrelevant. The actual Soviet vehicle factories are located in Detroit.

[charlie0311]

thx flav, most useful, i love these forums.

[Oshawott]

T18 - Mud Combat

It's mud now. Griefhead sends units my way and I don't know why. Does he want to flip hexes? Does he want to encircle me? Does he want to prevent me from entrenching? Anyway, I bomb the units and attack them. Only one attack fails and incidentally that is the one attack without bombardment.

[Oshawott]

T18 - Overview North

No major supply problems.

[Oshawott]

T18 - Overview South

No major supply problems in the south either. Just two units at Rostov in swamp will suffer for a short period. I started preparing for the blizzard.

[Oshawott]

T18 - Losses

[Oshawott]

T18 - Production (Germany)

Not sure if these numbers are good or bad.