Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

[Stamb]

We decided that we can overcome current issues by adding new house rules:

- no GA/GS/recon in bad weather (heavy rain/blizzard)
- no usage of transport planes in bad weather (heavy rain/blizzard)
- when the weather is clear/rain/snow then we limit recon to 1 area of lets say 5, it will be 5x5 hexes per sector
where sector is North, Center, East, South
- no usage of naval HQ to block naval freight shipment

[Stamb]

I was trying to use good old trick but there were enemy planes (mentioned above house rules starts from a next turn, as i just completed this turn) and most importantly our army leader failed some checks as a result only 1 arty SU gets into battle

disaster.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1666 times

[Stamb]

Also i decided to replace Zhukov in Stavka with another leader. Gonna find better usage for Zhukov skills.

[Stamb]

in terms of weather
this is forecast

weather.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1648 times

definitely not what i want to see for the first winter
and especially first month of winter when Axis has the biggest penalties

[Stamb]

i wonder if i should continue to hide forces that are not on the frontline?
or should i show everything, which will require to have a pretty big delay?
maybe ~10 turns

what would you like to see?

[Stamb]

looking at the weather and on a pretty short distance of a front from a starting borders i was worried that blizzard might not even reach some parts of a battlefield, like in the South and if it will then it will be the end of December and Axis will avoid most of the turns when penalties are the most brutal

but there is nothing what i can do about it

[Stamb]

turn 24

it means there is this awesome event

more manpower.png (383.46 KiB) Viewed 1546 times

as a result Soviets reach pretty impressive numbers

map men.png (1.84 MiB) Viewed 1546 times

oob.png (2.52 MiB) Viewed 1546 times

and the most important graph - man power

because of a muddy turns and pretty good overall situation i was able to stockpile some manpower before
and now it just skyrockets

manpower pool.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 1546 times

[Stamb]

action near Velikie Luki

VL.png (8.03 MiB) Viewed 1544 times

battle with a hold

VL losses.png (5.8 MiB) Viewed 1544 times

and more examples how deadly (broken) flak 88 is
only 8 guns are almost in the top of any other weapon
including arty

des.png (5.83 MiB) Viewed 1544 times

flak.png (5.83 MiB) Viewed 1544 times

[Stamb]

Armies with a good leaders that are in an assault western front were shifted to Bryansk
As bad terrain + close depot near Smolensk means that i do not want to fight there

Some action here

center.png (7.36 MiB) Viewed 1543 times

And weather forecast for a next turn

weather.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1543 times

Looks like i will have to wait for many more turns until blizzard gets to a frontline

[Stamb]

turn 25
Harsh winter begins

Unfortunately no heavy snow - no penalties for an Axis

But Stalin orders to attack no matter what

And we have following results

battles north.png (7.65 MiB) Viewed 1539 times

battles smolensk.png (7.71 MiB) Viewed 1539 times

battles center.png (7.13 MiB) Viewed 1539 times

battles south.png (5.83 MiB) Viewed 1539 times

[Stamb]

i thought that ski battalions might be useful and because of a huge manpower pool i ordered them
all of them
until a limit, 102 units in total
and now they are all ready and refitted

ski battalions ready.png (2.17 MiB) Viewed 1537 times

they require only manpower and armaments with ar:need
it means that there should be no problems with production of this armaments

only during next turns i realized that i confused them with ski brigades

[Stamb]

also during this turn i match Axis total men

total men.png (1.91 MiB) Viewed 1536 times

and forecast shows that blizzard will avoid most of the front

weather.png (1.97 MiB) Viewed 1536 times

[Stamb]

t26

first guards division!

first guard RD.png (388.43 KiB) Viewed 1532 times

and 6 mil map men

6 mil oob.png (2.44 MiB) Viewed 1532 times

[Stamb]

more attacks were launched this turn

only 1 reserve activation in the North
it was panzer division
and later on this panzer division alongside with some corps HQ were forced to retreat
as a result - leader of that HQ died

north.png (7.78 MiB) Viewed 1530 times

in the Center one panzer and SS divisions were isolated

and enormous amount of troops were concentrated by different assault armies to try and win that battle that would make this 2 divisions route
and Rokossovsky did it, even in a snow

center.png (6.81 MiB) Viewed 1530 times

Soviet tanks are made from paper, as a result almost all of them were wiped, i hope one time developers will take a look at their performance as they did it with a panzers
other than that it is a huge win for us!

in the South no blizzard as a result only exposed targets were attacked and Axis allies

south.png (5.81 MiB) Viewed 1530 times

same in Crimea where we meet Italians for the first time and greet them with deliberate attacks

crimea.png (5.39 MiB) Viewed 1530 times

[Stamb]

losses during Soviet action phase

action phase losses.png (2.67 MiB) Viewed 1529 times

53 150mm howitzers were destroyed
German produces 15 per turn
it is almost whole month of production is gone in 1 turn

[Stamb]

t27

finally heavy snow across whole front

as a result massive attacks

but before showing attacks i would like to show our mighty divisions that soak damage and most importantly 50% CPP

strong airborne.png (4.21 MiB) Viewed 1528 times

literally 0 elements in it

[Stamb]

back to attacks
couple of close battles from our side with 2:1 combat odds

couple of holds due to reserve activation
but mostly wins

north.png (7.32 MiB) Viewed 1527 times

smolensk.png (7.29 MiB) Viewed 1527 times

orel kursk.png (6.29 MiB) Viewed 1527 times

kharkiv.png (5.92 MiB) Viewed 1527 times

[Stamb]

d-z-south.png (5.64 MiB) Viewed 1526 times

also i was not showing battles with an Axis allies as i think by this time we are all aware of their combat capabilities
but this one, this one is worth showing
its hilarious

lol.png (5.41 MiB) Viewed 1526 times

no support units cuz i do not use them in cav armies
+ some random leader with less than average stats, or maybe he is an average, i do not remember, but definitely he is not a top tier

Soviets best allies never disappoint

[Stamb]

Losses during this very successful turn:

soviet action phase.png (2.68 MiB) Viewed 1517 times

113 sFH 18 150mm howitzers were destroyed

7.5 weeks of German production gone!

in addition to a losses from a previous turn

[Stamb]

t28

looks like the end of a blizzard for a next turn

weather.png (1.71 MiB) Viewed 1514 times

i read in other threads that Soviets can not sustain attacks after attacks each turn but this is not my case

Axis forces looks pretty weak in terms of displayed CV
it is time to attack them more while there is still blizzard across whole front

North:

north.png (7.08 MiB) Viewed 1514 times

tried my luck again near VL

VL failed attack.png (6.95 MiB) Viewed 1514 times

again huge losses, i should stop attacking in this area
probably