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Turn 17,

The last turn before mud.

The only action is in the North and in the South, the rest of the front prepares for mud.

In the North all his forces west of Yaroslav are cut off. I'll decide where to form the line when mud hits, as I haven't a clue what the supply situation will look like.

South of Leningrad an FBD has returned to help the Finns. It is 2 turns too late, but I prioritised creating a loop east of the Pripyat marshes, as I will not be able to deal well with Partisan attacks during mud.

In the South I take the city north of Stalino and surround the Stalino garrison.

I am not happy with my force disposition here for mud, but it has been a conscious decision, which is good.

The Army that I trapped on the shores of Azov, I expected to go into a pyramid shape on the Osipenko port, but instead it decided to use its supply status to do 2 deliberate attacks on a Pz regiment and get itself back into supply. I would chosen to dig in and be a thorn in my side for as long as possible, would be interested to hear your opinion on that.

Here the supply situation in the Centre. I had managed to get 7 or 8 divisions in place for an assault on Voronezh, for which I freed up a bunch of artillery and engineer units. But against 2 divisions (1 cavalry, 1 infantry) with 22 engineer value, the attack failed as the Soviet leadership rolls tripled the CV of the stack, resulting in a 1.2 or so CV ratio.

Unfortunate, but I guess I have been long overdue for a major attack failing.

A continuous front has been created and most Pz Corps that were involved in the attack on Moscow have been pulled off the line or will be next turn.

I will move as little as possible during mud, with exception of finishing up the operation west of Yaroslav with infantry.

As this is the end of the sumemr campaign, some more background screenies.

Ground losses. Almost exactly the 3.5M that I figured last turn.

Destroyed units:

Air losses:

Production:

VP

The most successful commander of Operation Barbarossa is General von Mackensen. Due to the stiff resistance in the south, his Corps has seen the most action.

The Wiking division is undefeated in battle with 35 victories. Stories of the mighty Dutch, Belgians and Scandinavians are buzzing throughout the Reich.

Turn 18, mud

As this is completely up to date, not giving too many comments on exactly what I have been doing.
I would very much like to get your guys' input on the the things I should be doing these coming turns:

- With how many casualties I have made in the summer, how strong of a first blizzard offensive can he pull off?
- What prep should I do for the first blizzard? (mild rules)
- Is there any managing I should focus on these turns? For example with the Luftwaffe? Also, I have been contemplating assigning 4th Rumanian Army to RM High Command to reduce the command load on AGS and be able to use the repair Bn.'s that are attached to RM High Command. Thoughts?
- Should I prep some (limited) offensive for snow? Or should I fully focus on prepping blizzard?

I think this game is over IMO...he has sacrificed to much manpower to recover. You can form a line and slowly give ground in the south all winter once u take Stalino. Then just smash him in the south for the final win in the spring/summer of 1942.

I honestly see no way for him to recover he has lost far to much in 1941 and he wont have enough troops left to even have a moderately successful winter offensive. Thats my 2 cents.

The following screenshots show the supply situation. Encircled in red are newly forming Soviet armies. I intend to keep track of this.

Centre:

South

A final comment for tonight. Pelton wasn't joking about trucks. 24k of them in repair this turn.. ouch

Your fine......you still have some frost turns after mud before he can really counter-attack...and as weak as his army is....I dont factor his assault ability as all that high...with mild winter you might even be able to hold close to where you are now.

ORIGINAL: Aditia
- Should I prep some (limited) offensive for snow? Or should I fully focus on prepping blizzard?

I'm not really that experienced, but I certainly think you should attack. Purpose would be to inflict further losses on the Soviets before winter.

1) With your FBD's advancing your supply lines should be somewhat shorter at the end of Mud season.
2) Your panzers can get into position and then rest up before the attack, leaving them fully fuelled and with little fatigue.
3) Any losses inflicted on the Soviets will not be returned as new divisions as your are now beyond november.
4) If you can get the Soviets to commit some of the forming armies, you have effectively spoiled the preparations for the Soviet winter offensive.

You'll have three turns.

1) Break through and encircle.
2) Destroy and encircle some more.
3) Destroy and pull back to winter lines.

But that's just what I would do.

I would urge caution, just finished a mild winter (41) under 1.09.00 & the German losses were a lot more, than I have experienced under previous rules, especially in the armored formations. You look as though you are using a lot of regiments to hold your front line, & they
prove very brittle under the combined weight of the blizzard & soviet attacks, especially if he unleashes the airforce @ the same time.
Dig trenches!
You have almost knock him out, finish the job nest year.

For anyone that's actually looking forward to an update. Blizzard has now started. I am holding off on posting until we are a few turns in, as I want to give some comments on how I have prepped for the blizzard (even though it is mild rules..).

I do have 2 questions, why were mild blizzard rules ever introduced? Anything with the normal rules?

Also, the Soviet 1:1 = 2:1 rule for Attack, was it ever considered to only apply it during the first winter period?

Turn 20

So during mud, not much happening obviously.

The only operations happening for me are far north and deep south. In the north I am finishing off his forces west of Yaroslav, in the South I am finishing off the army that didn't withdraw from the Dnepr bend in time and taking Stalino.

Here an overview of the front. The forces in red are suffering quite a bit , but overall I am really happy with how short my lines are.

Oka North:

During the first 2 turns of mud I did not do dilligent supply drops on mud-isolated units and they have suffered quite a bit. Starting turn 20 I have been doign supply drops where I can to help out units far from the rail heads and help fort building.