1942 Soviets too powerful?

[Phil1204]

I have played 10 Barbarossa campaigns now and have got to the point where where I have no problem in exceeding the 575 victory points needed to continue past 1942, normally capturing Rhvez, Kharkov, Kursk, Kalinin and Stalino ( I have never managed to capture Rostov!). I get pushed back quite a way in the Soviet winter offensive but in the last 2 campaigns I have nevertheless managed to capture Leningrad during that period. My army is quite battered at the end of winter but is still a coherent whole and I manage to pull out and rest much of my panzer forces.

After winter there is normally two turns of good weather but then in May and for all June there is mud again and the German army is reduced again. This is when I find the Soviets do the most damage. At the end of this in July 1942, my Panzer forces are full strength and ready to attack. However, the Soviets are just too powerful and the panzer forces are quickly ground down without making any meaningful progress. Basically the Soviets are able to push back my entire front and there appears no way back for the Germans. By end August 1942, even though the Germans hold Leningrad, defeat is inevitable and certainly there is no prospect of a major offensive like Operation Blue.

This is a brilliant game, one of the best I have ever played and I am desperate to be able to play the campaign right through from 1941 to 45. However I am either missing something very significant about marshalling the German forces for 1942 or the game is flawed in simply making the Soviets ahistorically powerful in 1942, both in terms of strength and capability. Any comments or help would be most gratefully received!

[Karri]

Is this against human player or the AI?

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Phil1204

I have played 10 Barbarossa campaigns now and have got to the point where where I have no problem in exceeding the 575 victory points needed to continue past 1942, normally capturing Rhvez, Kharkov, Kursk, Kalinin and Stalino ( I have never managed to capture Rostov!). I get pushed back quite a way in the Soviet winter offensive but in the last 2 campaigns I have nevertheless managed to capture Leningrad during that period. My army is quite battered at the end of winter but is still a coherent whole and I manage to pull out and rest much of my panzer forces.

After winter there is normally two turns of good weather but then in May and for all June there is mud again and the German army is reduced again. This is when I find the Soviets do the most damage. At the end of this in July 1942, my Panzer forces are full strength and ready to attack. However, the Soviets are just too powerful and the panzer forces are quickly ground down without making any meaningful progress. Basically the Soviets are able to push back my entire front and there appears no way back for the Germans. By end August 1942, even though the Germans hold Leningrad, defeat is inevitable and certainly there is no prospect of a major offensive like Operation Blue.

This is a brilliant game, one of the best I have ever played and I am desperate to be able to play the campaign right through from 1941 to 45. However I am either missing something very significant about marshalling the German forces for 1942 or the game is flawed in simply making the Soviets ahistorically powerful in 1942, both in terms of strength and capability. Any comments or help would be most gratefully received!

Have a look at this AAR:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5063609

I had a distinctly less than stellar 1941, turned it around in 1942 simply by taking on the Soviets as a sequence of small problems, got enough pts towards the HWM by the end of the summer of 1942 that it now looks like I'll win in late 1944 (hopefully).

key is the Soviets are plagued with low NM in 1942 so exploit that, go for small 2-4 divisional pockets and repeat - keep an eye on the manpower metric screen and their reserve numbers on the OOB screen - in combination will give you a good idea how far you are to tipping them over. Don't fuss re the VP time pts, they will come (or not) its the Red Army you need to target

[Phil1204]

The AI

[Phil1204]

Many thanks loki100. I will look at this. My 1941 strategy has been dictated by the concern from my experience in my early games, that trying to pass the 575 HWM in 1942 looks impossible, so I go for it in 41. Perhaps I need to rethink that. Thanks again.

[miljkovics]

What Loki said...go after as much soviet divisions in 1941 and '42 as you can. If you keep pocketing and destroying them, summer of '42 can be still good offensive for Germans (I took Leningrad and Moscow in summer '42), winter of '42 is much easier to handle, and by summer of 1943 Soviet manpower will be quite depleted. Then you can wreck havoc on Soviet army, since they won't be able to keep stable front line everywhere.

[Phil1204]

Cheers - thanks Miljkovics. I think I have been focused too much on the HWM VPs and that whilst I have surrounded and destroyed many Soviet units on the way to hitting the 575 HWM in 41, it is obviously not enough and perhaps has over extended the German Army. I will try the approach you and Loki are suggesting. Thanks again.