The Great Patriotic War (STE78 vs 821bobo)

[sillyflower]

Units unfreeze when (if?) he gets within 3 hexes of them

[timmyab]

Where are the German mountain divisions? They were never needed more than they are here.
The Axis player will have a lot more of them in the next patch because I believe jager divisions will become mountain divisions. Too late for Bobo though.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: timmyab

Where are the German mountain divisions? They were never needed more than they are here.

I will spoil the AAR.... they are on the way...

[jwolf]

The Germans can cut the rail but they can't actually move there without extreme supply problems, especially during any bad weather. This looks like a great game; congratulations to both of you for putting on quite a show for your fans! [8D]

Regarding your frozen units I would think a better rule at this point would be some trigger to unfreeze the entire theater rather than the 3 hex rule unit by unit.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: jwolf
This looks like a great game; congratulations to both of you for putting on quite a show for your fans! [8D]

Thanks, I have a lot of pleasure with this game. Not sure when I will be able to take initiative back on a large scale... we are currently end august and I'm already waiting for mud!

Regarding your frozen units I would think a better rule at this point would be some trigger to unfreeze the entire theater rather than the 3 hex rule unit by unit.

+1

[STEF78]

Turn 59, 30th july 1942

A global view of the southern front. We are fighting from Novorosiisk to Astrakhan... but my rail line is heavily threatened in at least 2 points.

In fact there are 3 frozen MtnInf...



And this battle review just to show that it's an active game

[STEF78]

Turn 59, 30th july 1942

This time it's over, I won't be able to reopen the Pocket... Next and last step, the Don!



And the OOB, mine will sharply decline soon...

[Michael T]

It's cool to see a fight in the Caucasus, not often we see that.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: Michael T

It's cool to see a fight in the Caucasus, not often we see that.

You're right, it's a cool game but the fight won't last on the western part of the Caucasus....

[STEF78]

Turn 60, 6th august 1942

Let's have a look on the the 2 hottest spots of the war

Baku
Another direct assault on my line is stopped by the russian troops. Note that they are under direct command of the Front as the army HQ has been "expelled" to Astrakhan and is actually reaching Guriev....

I don't like the german Mtn Infs arriving



Boguchar

The pocket is cleaned and the germans drive directly to the Don. I didn't enough garrison Boguchar and the city has Fallen [:(]



And the OOB... -220K men!

[STEF78]

Below, the evolution of the OOB during the last monthes. Despite the recent losses the gap of power between our armies is thiner than at the beginning of summer 1942



I know have the ability of creating lots of new units (mech, arty, FB....). What would you recommand?

[STEF78]

Turn 61, 13th august 1942

The main battle of this campaign occurs from Voronejh to Stalingrad but we are also fighting on secondary théatres

First example:

Astrakhan

At this place, I had a weak army fighting a weak opposition of romanians and slovakian units... but something unsusual happened.

They were surrounded and others bad news are coming from the north west....



I succeeded in reestablishing the lines but felt unconfident. An extra infantry div scheduled from Guriev to Baku is sent to Astrakhan

[STEF78]

Second example:

Baku
The situation is critical for the units in western Caucasus. 2 germans Mtn Infs are arriving and the the RR is near to be cut near Tbilissi...



I do my best to prevent my western units from isolation. Remember that we are still holding Novorosiisk! and I like the X in Derbent [:)]

[STEF78]

And now the main battle. The germans are dividing their mobile units in 2 groups. The first is heading to Voronejh, the second to Stalingrad. I suppose that they are looking for the weak spot on the Don. Keeping this natural defence is the highest priority for me.

[STEF78]

An overview of the Stalingrad area. I will obviously fight for the city...



...even if the city is now empty

[jwolf]

The Germans have about 7 or 8 more moves until the mud. At that point, their supply will be hopelessly bad -- unless they have achieved really great local victories before then. It looks like a "do or die" German offensive. Are you conceding any ground along the Black Sea?

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

The Germans have about 7 or 8 more moves until the mud. At that point, their supply will be hopelessly bad -- unless they have achieved really great local victories before then. It looks like a "do or die" German offensive. Are you conceding any ground along the Black Sea?

We are playing random weather so the beginnig of the mud isn't fully predictable

His RR team are working hard! See below the limit they have reached



But in fact you're right, this summer is the last chance for the germans to achieve a decisive victory

[Mamluke]

So nice to see the ARR go on, I need my AAR fix!

some question as there are some things that are bunging me.. in what turn the the Germans capture Makhachkala? and in what turn did the German Mountain Divisions arrived?

it seams, to me that there is quite a time gap until the Mountain Div. arrived, in the early stages when derbent was being fortified, those Mtt. Div could have been a game changer! the Soviets had few units and forts adjacent to Derbent and the closes Mountains.
with hindsight its easy to talk, but couldn't bobo motorize his mtt. Divs? also, don't the Germans have like 3 or 4 Mtt divs in the summer 1942? how come there are only 2 in this decisive ( as much as the Germans can achieve) Drive to Baku?

speaking of Baku, even if the City and the surrounding territory hold, (its like the new Leningrad!) the rest of the Caucasus can fall to the Axis, I think this is a very serious setback for the Soviets in terms of obtaining the initiative for 1943. Not to mention there should be quite the Manpower the Soviet could use, is that Manpower much BTW?
I mean, Stef is losing almost all of the Don basin, that means the Germans have a strong AND WIDE defensive position, on which the Soviets can only conduct offensives in the blizzard, then the Germans will calmly give ground step by step (Blizzard is hard on Soviets MP's).

I have not played MP so, maybe Im underestimating what a player SOV can do came winter 1942. still. I say the Sov winter offensive will be just as interesting as this German Summer offensive.

On Astrakhan:
wow you actually had enough MP's to cross contested Hexes!? Lucky! (I think...)

[STEF78]

I think bobo should reply to your first question. Maybe he was as surprised as me with the fast advance in Caucasus... Nobody has a lot of experience of such fights.

The loss of the Caucasus give a lot of ground to trade for the german but the "master" of the german players (Pelton) always count from the closest road to Berlin...

As long as I hold Moscow, everything is possible.

[821Bobo]

it seams, to me that there is quite a time gap until the Mountain Div. arrived, in the early stages when derbent was being fortified, those Mtt. Div could have been a game changer! the Soviets had few units and forts adjacent to Derbent and the closes Mountains.
with hindsight its easy to talk, but couldn't bobo motorize his mtt. Divs? also, don't the Germans have like 3 or 4 Mtt divs in the summer 1942? how come there are only 2 in this decisive ( as much as the Germans can achieve) Drive to Baku?

Germans have only 2 Mnt divisions and 2 more arrive during 42. From the beginning of my advance towards Caucasus they have been moving that way. When Derbent has been fortified I had only fast units w/o fuel there and maybe 2 IDs. If every turn the mountain divisions have had 16 MPs they could arrive a turn or two earlier. But that depended on die rolls, not my actions. If something saved Baku it has been my mismanagement of fast units moves and air resupply, not mountains units coming to late.