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I'm working on the 2nd turn still. I have an opporunity to put a Panzer division on the East side of the Dnepr river just east of Mogilev. By doing this I give up forming a pocket to the North of Vitebsk. I have to think about this one but I'm leaning toward the Panzer on the East side. Being able to undo the best Defensive barrier in Russia appears to be more important than bagging a few Russians atm. I'm getting a feel for using the admin points.

Sath

Best thing to do is grab a beach head across that river. Nothing worse than letting the Russians form a line there.

Ok, so I played through the 2nd turn and got to the beginning of the 3rd turn. I can say that doing all this has taught me more about the game than just reading the rules alone. It's more a process where you do a little then read then do and read some more but you have to see things run there course to really learn. I'm going to post some screen shots for turns 2 and 3. I'm across the Dnepr near Mogilev and have captured Vitbesk as well. In the South I formed many pockets and ran a Panzer division far South. I give myself an A+ for operations in the South and really I had no idea how to appoach this area. I could have done slightly better with AGC some issues and would say A- for that area. Then comes the AGN debacle. I truely mishandled my Panzers. I got greedy and honestly still could have done just a couple of things to handle the situation and prevent it from happening. Well one of the Panzer Corps was isolated around Pskov(1 Panzer and 2 Mot). I added the SS mot to this corps. I could have move another Mot division the area to most likely prevent the isolation. The worst thing was my mishandling of admin points. I'm not certain if other people go this way but I could have and should have motorized one of my infantry divisions for this area. I could have done it turn 2 and didn't as well and it cost me greatly. I need to read up on supply and air resupply as well and get a better handle on all this. I might restart this thing or play on a bit further just to learn a little more.

Sath

Playing the AI taught me some bad habits - like pushing my Panzers way to far ahead of the follow-on infantry. If you play vs. a human the game will feel completely different to you and you will be severely punished for leaving your spearheads vulnerable to being cut off.

The game is designed such that you don't get a turn in which your surrounded units can attempt a breakout - their CVs drop immediately, so you have to rescue them. (My views on this design decision are well known). If your infantry are more than a few hexes behind the Panzers, you'll lose the farm, especially after Turn 2.

My suggestion would be that you try a smaller scenario vs.a human to get a better feel for how a PBEM game plays out...

The 3rd turn was crazy. I crushed many huge Russian pockets particularly in the South and have 10 division across the Dnepr. One Panzer division on the and the east side next to Kiev and have Pocketed more huge chunks of the Russian army in the South. Odessa is isolated. In the north Narva is reach and the majority of the Baltic states are cleared. The isolated Panzer group is freed and even pushes forward a bit. In the center 9 divisions across the Dnepr and most of the infantry closing in on the Dnepr as well. I know all this is against the AI. I do see the AI digging in Deep around Lenningrad. A direct aproach here will be hard sloging.

I been reading and following many of the player vs player AAR's and it would seem that the axis are doing somewhat worse than historical in most cases. Perhaps I'm wrong but it seem that the Germans have to take chances and push hard early on or the Russian might stuff them at Dnpre or other places.

Sath

It is very easy to knock the AI off balance with very deep thrusts, If she is unable to recover, she can be swallowed up and beaten fairly easily - there is a 57 turn decisive victory AAR, which used these techniques. Andy our main tester used to be in Moscow in 7 turns, using the "path of least resistance" technique

These techniques very rarely succeed against a human player.

Well it is the logical approach in war to use the path of least resistance if your not giving up other things.

Sath

Unfortunately the AI isn't logical and she doesn't know she is leaving paths of least resistance to be exploited. If you intend to play PBEM, the deep penetration approach may not be as effective - very aggressive Soviet players will find the ways and means to rout over-extended panzer spearheads.