Road to Moscow - SMOLENSK

[MikeJ19]

More reinforcements are arriving for the Soviets - hopefully it is too little too late

[MikeJ19]

The push for GOMEL continues

[MikeJ19]

Less than a week to go. My objectives are in sight.

[MikeJ19]

Things continue to move slowly in the South

[MikeJ19]

The push continues and I am very happy with the current situation.

[MikeJ19]

The situation in the South

[John B.]

Looks like the Russians are really starting to cave in!

[MikeJ19]

The Soviets are starting to get some better units, but yes, they are being overrun.

[MikeJ19]

Victory!

What did I do right?

Repair rail lines

This was key to my success. Getting the rail lines up and running helped with supply and the moving forward of reinforcements. This let me get them into the battle much more quickly and this helped keep the pressure on the Soviets.

Flow like water

I was able to find ways around the Soviet defences, which preserved my firepower.

Surround and destroy

I was able to use the mobility of my units to surround the Soviet defenders in many cases. Using HQ units, and other non-manoeuvre units to help encircle Soviet forces made it much easier to destroy them.

Maximizing rounds in a turn

I was able to get four to five rounds of combat in on many turns. This was through careful management of my attacks so that I did not burn through the turn. On a couple of turns, I got more rounds then I could actually use. I did have at least one turn where a fail proficiency check cost me at least one or two rounds of planned attacks.

What could I improve?

Initial Plan

It was not very good – I did not really understand when and where my units were. I’m glad I dropped it.

Air Battle

I left this in the hands of the AI. Overall it went okay, but I should have moved them forward earlier.

Final thoughts

This was a great game (Thanks Rob). It was a good challenge and the battle in the South did not go as anticipated.

It was fun to see my reinforcements arrive in time to take the lead for a bit.

I had a blast!

[John B.]

Congrats!

[StuccoFresco]

Your AARs are truly beautiful.

[MikeJ19]

Thanks guys,

It was a good challenge and an interesting battle! Moving onto the third game in the series. Looks like fun!

[tcarusil]

Congratulations! You were able to kill more Ruskies with fewer loses than I was able to achieve. I did not do as well in the north as you did, but was able to have better success in the south. I will need to study your reports to see if I can improve my play.

TomC

[MikeJ19]

Tom,

Thanks, I was disappointed by my lack of progress in the South, but I was happy with how many Soviet units were tied up in that area.

All the best,