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Crimea 13

Here, again, things are closest to being on track. Al lthe corps of the 11th Army assault the lines only a couple of turns late. Again, stacks of three german infantry in 1941 with support can smash almost any stack. JAM's defenses are breached. While costly, in the next 4 turns most of the Crimea can be at least made less habitable. If he doesn't hold tenaciously (I rather doubt this, given the nature of JAM), I will clear it and defend. If not, the digging in begins in earnest.

Note to German players - it is not in your best interest to stack up the mighty German infantry too much in 1941, but when you do so, make it count. There is a psychological victory when a level 3 or 4 fort gets blown away, do not underestimate this. The best of the Germans in 1941 can do far more than go face to face with the Soviets, they can wipe the floor with them.

I am old enough and grumpy enough to admit that I have made a lot of mistakes in this game. However, at this point I did feel like some of my plans might pay off. I expected the Dnepr pocket to take at least a couple more turns to firm up, but the north seemed to have great potential.

It was not the weather that stymied me in this game, it is JAM. My own incompetance has made things worse, but that is alright. I feel that someone learning needs measures of success and loss to truly understand what it is they are doing. I am firmly in the latter camp in this game!

Starting from the bottom, up.

Here is a picture with some details about the second relief of the North Ukrainian pocket.

The "big picture" in the South.

The "big picture" in the Center.

The northern pocket, with a slight tear in it, that the tailor neglected to sew up...[:D]

Leningrad looks safe, but looks can be deceiving...

The losses and OOB shot.

Turn 14 - The Good, the Not so good, and the Really kinda Ugly

Opening 14 gave me a pause, the bad kind when I see mud where I don't want it and run around the apartment screaming. My girlfriend says I care about the envelopes too much, but that is my style anyway...

The right hook/4th Panzer pincer ends with a thud. Mud in the region means again (yes, AGAIN) that I lose all momentum and I am borked. At this point the probing of 3rd Panzer means they are in danger of being killed, they are weak and out of supply, and if that old 1:1/2:1 magic takes hold, the forward elements could surrender!

I pull back what little I can, spin the prayer wheels and hope...

14 North

The only good to come from this is the bombing of Osinovets is having a decided effect. 55% damaged means that in a turn or two they will not be able to support the troops in the ithmus, and then it will be like taking candy from a reasonably fit, but kind of tired, and maybe a bit shagged from too much partying Soviet.

For those who play with the house rule of only 1 bombing in a city per turn, I would suggest ammending it to not cover port attacks - the German can and should use these as a good method of harming Soviet naval supply. Well, it worked for me at least...

Turn 14, the "Kiev Pocket"

Well, here the folly of losses have meant that closing this pocket has become a 3 turn affair. By the teens in turns, I usually expect pockets to take 2 turns to close, 3 turns means I am being an idiot. Playing against someone who gets the game as the Soviets means my approach has cost me.

Still, by the 3rd turn the pocket seems better sealed.

Crimea 14

The 11th Army rampages into the peninsula, caution to the wind...I forget that I am playing JAM and that a coastal rush might be bad, but for the moment all seems good!

The mud on 14 in the north meant that my plans for the campaign season ended with a whimper and not a bang. Any hope of taking another 10-20 units (I am always hopeful!) died there, and by the time I hit "end turn" it seemed as if there was a 50/50 chance of an even odds loss of a tank division or two.

I cannot blame the weather in this game other than turn 4, which unhinged a lot, but this is just one more example of that old navy adage concerning fortune changes (edited for those of weaker constitutions) "that is when the ice cream turned to crap."

There has been a lot of crap I helped facilitate in this game so far...

PDH has recently been admitted to that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the WITE playtesters. Since he's now able to get his hands on the newest beta version that we're testing out, we're going to be restarting our game using the latest and the greatest. Expect him in Moscow by turn 8.

Anyhow, I told him that the condition for a restart was for us to finish up our AAR, so I'm not sure how organized we will be here. We had actually completed through my turn 20, when the decision was made to restart. That said, the next few turns of presentations here may just be a jumbled mess - much like our game was...[;)]

Saving the best for first. The shot of my little Crimean adventure.

The rest of the south. Not as exciting...

The other end of the map.

No chewy centers here.

The losses and OOB.