The Sun Also Rises ( D21 )

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T46 front lines before I have moved anybody and now that Sevastopol has
fallen I cam leave the rest to the Rumanians and move the 11th Army to the front
lines around Stalino where it appears that the Soviets have finally found a hole that
I left in my lines. The 11th Army needs some rest too while they move. I'd like to
see how that's done.

[larryfulkerson]

I abandoned some of my forward positions last turn and this turn there was a news
string about the cold decreasing Axis supply so I look around the supply net and
I'm finding places where there's no supply at all now, especially this one up north.
It's a good thing I pulled back because there's no supply at all out there.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought the Soviet Winter Offensive was to start this turn and it didn't so I looked
it up again in the scenario briefing and found that it's actually T49 so I have three
more turns to get all my units to 100% or better to get ready for the SWO.

And I notice that there's like, 4 months of pestilance imposed starting 30Nov which is soon.
D'oh. So I'd best not move anybody unnecessarily during that time. Just defend. I guess.
Somebody inform me about pestilance.

[larryfulkerson]

I believe I can stem the breakthrough temporarily by moving some paratroopers into key
positions. They will then have to hold for a turn while I get some heavier troops moving
this way. Who knows there may be somebody nearby.

[larryfulkerson]

Near Kursk right now there's a huge gap in my front lines and so far it's been working
out but with the Soviet Winter Offensive just about to start I'm beginning to wonder if
Elmer has any designs on this area. It would take more troops than I have to cover this
gap and they just aren't available. I haven't been breaking down my divisions into pieces
because I agree with Jukipo that the pieces of units don't have enough juice to stand on
the front lines by themselves. But if Elmer does have designs on this area and I have to
start defending all this territory then I may have to consider that.

[larryfulkerson]

The SS Polizei Division has volunteered to help out with the breakthrough spot and
they are on their way and will arrive in a turn or two. I'm hoping the paratroopers
can hold that long.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets did their attacking and didn't get anywhere but now it's T47 and I'm
going through the opening-turn screens and here's one that says that their shock
level is now 120. So I'm guessing the Winter Games has started now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the very next screen that pops up and it describes the changes that have taken
place for this turn.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T47 front lines before I have moved anybody. So far so good. The Soviets have a shock of 120 and my
shock is 90 so I don't intend on attacking anytime soon. 10 turns from now I'll be surprised if the front lines
haven't moved.

[larryfulkerson]

There's a section of the front lines that has a huge gap and the Soviets have found it
and they are starting to move units into that area so I obviously need to move some
people that way to see if I can't build some kind of screen with the available units.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets got two turns in a row just now and I've got a lot of things to report
and I'll get to them all I just need to do one at a time. This one is the over-
extended radius....it''s now 5 so I need to find those units that are in hexes
with 5 or less and move them so the pestilence effects won't apply ( moving them
into hexes with more than 5 supplies ). Also, the supply radius is only 4 hexes
which means there's probably areas along the front line that may not have any
supply right now. I'll have to check out the entire length of the front line to
survey the supply levels. This is the wrong time to be moving people around though.

This is the second day of the SWO and so far things are manageable I think.
Except for in select places that are going to need an infusion of people to fix.
And fresh people not doing anything special are few right mow.

EDIT: SWO = Soviet Winter Offensive

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the news strings from the briefing right now. None of it is good.

[larryfulkerson]

The Soviets instigated over 100 attacks the last two turns in a row and it's looking like they are going to do it
some more.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the differences between T47 and T48 before I have moved anybody in either one. This means that the display in
T48 represents the moves of the Axis and Soviet troops in T47, also where they are now.

You can see how the Soviets have gained a couple of hexes just north of Leningrad and
I happen to see a couple of Finn units evaporate so I'm expecting a drive on Helsinki
pretty soon.

A lone Soviet unit has driven himself through my lines and is now in my backfield but
I think I may be able to move some units to contain him.

And down south the front lines are changing as we speak. It's very dynamic and there's
way too many units on the move. There's a pestilence penalty that applies to my dudes
when they move, I think, so it's best for me to find a way for them to stand their
ground where they are or close to it.

And you can see the long line of Rumanians leaving the Sevastopol area heading for
Stalino.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the expected reinforcements and of all of them probably only three of them
are possible because the rest of them have been there since the beginning of the
game. I need to look up each of those places to see if it's possible I might be
able to get it easily to allow the unit to spawn.

[larryfulkerson]

The first place on the list is an hex adjacent to Rostov that says it's a frozen
marsh, a super river, and something else that escapes me now and I'm wondering if
it would spawn if I owned it if it's frozen. Does the frozen part of the attributes
disqualify it from spawning at all? Anybody know?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the Axis losses so far. I've annotated the image
with some comments that are relevant.

[larryfulkerson]

Oh yeah, I was checking the expected reinforcements screen list of T49 locations and
the second one in the list ( the first one was that frozen marsh near Rostov that's
supposed to get a riverine unit ) is the Moscow hex itself and it's frozen river too
and I'm not sure it will spawn there if it's frozen. Not to mention that I'm not
going to own that hex for quite a while yet, if ever.

[larryfulkerson]

The third location in the list is Krasnodor or however you spell it. I'm not likely
to visit that location until the spring sometime. I'm going to loiter for the length
of the pestilence penalty period and that doesn't end until sometime in March of next
year. That's a lot of loiter. Which reminds me to look up which unit are overextended
in supply. I'd best make a not of that.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought maybe I should look into the overextended units first before I forgot to do
it again. And this is what I find in the southern front lines. I've got to pull all
those units back to better supply or they will eventually suffer from desertion and
so on. A permanent effect on the unit.