Matrix Games Forums

It's now T52 round 1 and it's finally here. The Soviet Winter Offensive has begun. Now we see what the Axis side is made of. I have 18.1K HRS's and 623 HRS's on hand so it's not looking so very good for the Axis side.

Oh, and by the way I found the event that doubles Soviet production. So it's not a bug, it's a feature.
Event: 91, Soviets Gear Up Production.
Trigger turn: 48 (December 3rd, 1941).
Effect: Replacements 1* (Soviets).
Value: 200.

I thought I'd take a look at the expected reinforcements for T54 and these are them. Lots of river boats, which I don't need. I've drawn a line through the two Turk units since I've been disbanding them left and right. I'm due to lose the services of PzAbt(F)100 next turn. It's a flame tank and has been working out just fine.

It's now T53 round 4 and this is the Rostov area right now. I'm using the Slavs, Hungarians, and Bulgarians to push south from the port. I'm repairing the rail(s) as I go so that the supply situation will stay adequate. So far so good.

It's now T55 round 1 and this is the Ryazan area as it is right now. The Soviets blew a big hole in my front lines and have plenty of units to stream through it. It looks like this is the big break that the Soviets needed to change the course of the war in a big way. I have nothing near the resources to contain a break like this one so it looks like I'll have to start moving my entire front line to better defensive positions. I'll move all the Axis non-German Allies to the Bessarabia area behind a major river somewhere to protect my southern flank and use the Germans to defend along the river near Kiev leading all the way to Riga.

It's now T56 round 1 and this is me retreating to the west. I'm dividing the units and retreating two of them and digging in with the third. I'm hoping that they can hold the Russians back for at least one turn to give me a chance to get away with everybody else. I'll probably lose that third unit that defends but I'll eventually get it back in the future reinforcements. I don't think the Finns respawn so when they get killed they are gone from the game. I believe that's right.

It's now T60 round 1 and this is what the Leningrad area looks like right now. I'm lining up the Finns and some German units along the river to take advantage of the defensive terrain available. A similar thing is happening down south as well. I've gotten seperated from the Soviets for the most part so now I'm in the process of building MLR's to defend behind. Mostly along a river. A lot of my units are low on supply from so much movement when retreating and hence need rest and refit. There are now 18.5K HRS's assigned and 92 HRS's on hand. I've lost several formations so far and several more are in harm's way still. But most of them got away so defending for the rest of the game is definately possible. I may win this game yet.

This is what the Moscow area looks like right now. I'm astonished to discover that there are lots of units that are holding out still. After about 5 turns of punishment from Soviet attacks they are still there holding their positions. Although the Soviets have made several breakthroughs almost everywhere. I've been blowing the bridges as I move to the west and that's stiffled the moves the Soviets are trying to make to pursue my units. Although the rivers are still frozen over. This view is before I have moved anybody at all.

Here's what the front lines look like early in T62:

It's now T63 round 1 and the Soviet Winter Offensive is kaput. My shock level is still slightly lower than the Soviet side so I'm treading lightly on attacks. I have 18.9K HRS's assigned and 77 HRS's on hand. The last time I checked the Soviet production of Rifle Squads it was 983 per turn. I'm making 428 HRS's per turn so it won't be long before the Soviets will have a lot more units than I have and the character of the war will change significantly. But that may be as far away as a year or more. Meanwhile I just need to survive this winter. We've already arrived at January 25th of 1942 so it'll be spring in another couple of months game time and surviving will be a little easier.

This is the Smolensk area as it is right now. I've almost got my MLR built in this AO but there are gaps yet and the rivers are frozen over. I'm going to need a lot more boots on the ground if I'm going to try to hold onto this section of the front lines. The good thing is that I'm retreating back into the area(s) where my supply levels are highest. And the Soviets are advancing into areas where their supply is lacking. The Soviets have been using their aircraft in their attacks and even been striking individual units at seemingly random places. They seem to have a thing for my ships near Sevastpol so I'm using my naval unit as bait to get the Soviets to strike it so I can intercept their bombers with my best fighters and inflict remarkable losses on them.

It's now T64 round 1 and this is the Rostov area as it is right now. I've lost control over the Aydar river so I'm now basing my MLR on the Mus river and the Soviets are advancing as fast as they can go. I've now got 19.1 HRS's assigned and 161 HRS's on hand. We've had bad storms for the past several turns but it's now late January ( 28th ) of 1942 so the storms will probably continue for several weeks yet. Soviet shock is 100 and my shock is 95 so I don't have that advantage any longer. Plus the pestilance penalty is still applied to the Axis side. I have my RR engineers repairing all the rails in my backfield so the supply levels will be excellent everywhere behind me as well as at the front lines. There are over 100 broken bridges in the Soviet area and Elmer has fixed none of them. I'm wondering if he ever will fix any of them. I've yet to see it happen in any of the previous games I've played.

This is the Smolensk area as it is right now. The Soviets have caught up with me NW of Olenino and I've allocated 4 separate divisions of infantry to hold them back for a while. If there is any danger of getting outflanked I'll pull them back blowing the bridges behind me. The weather is blustry with blowing snow and ice forming on every exposed surface. The rivers are frozen over so the Soviets can just walk across them with ease. This makes it harder to defend.

This is the Parakhino area as it is right now. The Soviets have caught up with me and I'm defending as best I can. I have several units that were overtaken and are now trying to make their way back to German lines but it looks like they are all goners. At least I may be able to blow some more bridges with them. I've got 5 Panzer Divisions assembled in my backfield for a reserve. I may have to use one or more of them soon.

It's now T66 round 1 and this is the Porkov area as it is right now. The Soviets have caught up with me and I've managed to build a rude MLR to block them. There's one more major river to my west that I can defend behind if this one gets compromised. The Soviets don't seem to be in a big hurry to move most of their forces to the west. Maybe it has something to do with the low supply situation for them.

This is the Rostov area as it is right now. I've broken a lot of bridges as I backed up and there's more to blow as I give ground to the west. I could have sworn I blew the bridge just south of the city of Rostov but I checked it just now and it's fully repaired already. I don't remember seeing an enemy engineer unit ever occupy that hex so I guess one of the Soviet LCU's repaired it as it passed across the river. So I guess Elmer DOES repair blown bridges. I'm going to try to remember to stop the Soviet turn and check out the Soviet supply situation.

This is WNW of the Moscow area and as you can see the supply situation for the Soviets is miserable. In the far backfield it's 49. If Elmer doesn't start repairing blown bridges pretty soon his units are going to be overextended.

It's now T69 round 1 and this is the Smolensk area looking north and Soviet units are starting to show up at my main lines already. The rivers are frozen over still so I need to build a solid line so Soviet units can't sneak through but I don't have such a line built yet. But I'm working on it. Those reserves are coming in handy for those places that are threatened the most.

Larry, I have a question - why the HQs on the front line? I try to keep HQs behind the troops, but maybe I'm playing too inflexible or not utilizing them correctly/to their fullest. I view them more as logistical support pieces with artillery.
I await your...pontification...

It's now T71 round 1 and this is the Smolensk area looking north and more Soviet units showing up at my main lines. The rivers are frozen over. So far so good.

Cpl GAC wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 12:58 am Larry, I have a question - why the HQs on the front line? I try to keep HQs behind the troops, but maybe I'm playing too inflexible or not utilizing them correctly/to their fullest. I view them more as logistical support pieces with artillery.
I await your...pontification...

I've been using the Corps HQ units to repair the rails and to provide arty support on the front lines. Sometimes the rail to be repaired is just in front of the front lines and those units may temporarily appear there but almost immediately are brought back to the rear of the front lines. I am usually careful to never leave them in harm's way but I do take risks from time to time. I've been moving them toward the places in the front line where their arty will help out to hold onto a position or bombard a Soviet stack that's showing a yellow or red flag for concentration of equipment in one stack.