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This is what's going on SE of Leningrad right now. I've blown a hole in the Soviet lines last turn and now I'm spreading out from there to get a better footprint and try to isolate that small group of Soviet units so they will be out of supply when I destroy them. That will keep the wounded equipment from making it into their pools.

Here's what's going on NW of Moscow right now. I've run into some stiff resistance so I've put together the 30th Motorized Div and the 19th Panzer Div into Task Force BLACK MIRROR and I've given them the mission to blow a huge hole in the Soviet lines and start rolling up the lines going north and south and destroy as many Soviet units as you can until the next mud season. They started operations last turn and now this turn several of them are yellow and red so I need to give them a day off to recover their moxie.

It's now T75 round 5 here's what's going on near Rostov right now. I've used the Romanians to force my way into and through the city and now I'm spreading out and my aim is to help clear out the Kerch Straits.

It's now T76 round 4 and here's what's going on east of Bryansk right now. The Russians / Soviets have finally gotten enough reinforcements that they can build a fairly solid front line and I've run into it for a fairly large stretch of the front lines. The supply levels go from 20 on the rails down to 2 at the tip of the spear. If the rails hadn't been repaired all the way to the front over much of it, I wouldn't have the supply to operate here at all.

It's now T77 round 1 and here's what's going on east of Leningrad right now. I'm slowly digesting that small group of Soviet units and they will likely be gone this turn or the next. I'm thinking of sending the Finns to the NE with the goal of the capture of Archangel. I'm not at all sure that they have the moxie to do that but we'll see. The Germans will drive to the SE toward Moscow repairing the rails as they go.

It's now T77 round 2 and here's what's going on SE of Leningrad right now. I've made some progress and Soviet resistance is getting stiffer. I've got 20.1K HRS's assigned and 300 HRS's on hand so far. The rivers are no longer frozen, it's the middle of March 1942 and the weather is getting warmer slowly although it's still snowing lightly in this AO.

It's now T78 round 5 and here's what's going on near Moscow right now. I'm running into more and more Soviet units. And I'm facing a proper front line for the most part. Progress has slowed to a crawl and I'm fighting over one hex at a time now. A lot of my units are red and even more of them are yellow so I'm going to have to give them a turn or so to get healed and gather their supply etc. I have 19.8K HRS's assigned and 364 HRS's on hand. Which is way too low for my comfort level. So next turn I'll stop everything going on except for the digestion of already surrounded Soviet groups, etc.

Here's what's going on SE of Leningrad right now. I've overcome the group of Soviet units and I'm mopping them up right now. So I'm starting to shift all the Finnish units to the top of this image to get them ready to head off to the NE on their way to Archangel up on the north coast north of here.

It's now T80 round 1 and here's what's going on SE of Leningrad right now. I've moved my units far enough to the SE to run into some Soviet units and I'm planning on making short work of them and continue to the SE. I'm going to rail all the Brandenbergers up here to convert enemy hexes in my backfield since they can't fly any longer. My shock is 100 and the Soviet shock is 100 and the pestilence penalty has ended. I've got 20.4K HRS's assigned and 64 HRS's on hand. The bad news is that the Soviet side has reached maximum production in T79. I've got to stop the Soviet side and check out what their production rate is now.

EDIT: The Soviet production rate is now 1475 Rifle Squads per turn.

It's now T80 round 2 and here's what's going on east of Moscow right now. I've discovered that most of the Soviet units are red in health....I suppose that's because they have only recently respawned and moved to here as fast as they could go only to arrive here low in supply and red in health. That's a good thing. So far so good.

EDIT: I only just now checked the air war panel from the above post and compared the numbers of losses of both sides and found out that the air war is terrifically hot right now. Elmer has gotten into the habit of attacking my stacks with his aircraft alone and invariably loses a lot of planes. I'm not complaining, just reporting the facts.

It's now T81 round 2 and here's what's going on northnortheast of Moscow right now. I've caught and surrounded several Soviet units and they will be gone this turn or the next and progress is being made. I have 20.4K HRS's assigned and 214 HRS's on hand.

It's now T81 round 8 and here's what's going on southeast of Rostov right now. I've forced a lot of the existing river crossings and I'm streaming everybody to the SE to the oilfields to the south. I'm repairing the rails as I advance to keep the supply situation nominal. I've got an assortment of different national armies in this AO and I need to get them sorted out better. There are Italian troops off map to the north that I need to move down here, if possible.

TF525 ( a minelaying TF ) is now leaving Tokyo ( 13Dec41 ) that has a relatively short range and I need to monitor it as it makes it's way to Hong Kong to lay 305 mines there. I've got 3 waypoints laid in and you're only allowed 3 at a time so I'll need to change the waypoints from time to time. At least once more before the TF will arrive at Hong Kong.

It's now T82 round 2 and here's what's going on west of Moscow right now. I found a gap in the Soviet lines and started to stream some units through it when I ran into some Soviet units that are trying to plug the hole. I don't really have a reserve of troops that I could now commit to the action to help unplug the hole. Maybe I can rail some troops to here from somewhere else. The problem with that is that almost everybody is fully employed already, somewhere. Maybe I should halt the progress of some section of the front lines and ship a bunch of those people up here. This is the first day of April, 1942 and everything is thawing out, which means that the roads have turned into mud, which means that the spring mud season has started this turn.

Here's some of the front lines as of T82 round 2

It's now T86 round 1 and here's what's going on west of Moscow right now. Here's what the supply situation is west of the city. Operations have slowed down to a crawl and I'm going to have to wait until after the mud has gone away to make any real progress at all. I've got 22.5K HRS's assigned and 138 HRS's on hand. I've never gotten this far into the game before so all of this is new for me. That makes it a LOT more fun.

It's now T87 round 4 and here's what's going on west of Moscow right now. This image looks a lot like the previous one. That's how slow the game is going during the Spring Mud season. Fortunately the rails are repaired all the way to the front of the front lines in this area. The pestilance penalty has been lifted on the Axis side, I'm pretty sure the Soviets don't suffer from it either.

popejohnpaul wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:18 pmThe pestilance penalty has been lifted on the Axis side,

This event is such a relief. The effect is so pronounced that it consumes almost the whole replacement rate for HRS every turn. It's only after this point that Axis infantry strength starts to rebuild a bit after any Winter losses.

It's now T88 round 2 and here's what's going on west of Stalingrad right now. I'm fighting over the river crossings with the troops I have at hand. I'm not sure I have the manpower to force my way to the port at Stalingrad. There's a large gap that Elmer may take advantage of sometime soon.

golden delicious wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 5:56 pm

popejohnpaul wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:18 pmThe pestilance penalty has been lifted on the Axis side,

This event is such a relief. The effect is so pronounced that it consumes almost the whole replacement rate for HRS every turn. It's only after this point that Axis infantry strength starts to rebuild a bit after any Winter losses.

I had no idea that the Pestilance penalty was so severe, but I believe you. I'm glad it's over already because the number of my HRS's is rising slowly and my units are gaining back their strength slowly. Most of them are at half strength right now.