Red Army Fanboy takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque...

[Flaviusx]

The deadpile. The little corporal is pleased with the mounting kills on Army HQs.

So far as total casualties go, the Soviets are now just north of 600k. But the easy kills are over now.

[Flaviusx]

Mud. Lovely. Nothing like a little offseason Rasputitsa. PG4 has just enough fuel to take Dunaburg, finally, and flatlines. No more gas. We are cutting things way too fine up here. FSB will relocate next turn.

I contrive to get into von Leeb's good graces and play the focus card on PG4, but it's almost a moot point. By the time I get any benefit from it, they'll be stalled waiting for the FSB to relocate.

[Flaviusx]

PG2 seizes Minsk and stakes claims a bit further east from it before the Soviet hordes show up to the party. We have fuel to do no more. PG3 makes minor adjustments and I am strongly considering sending it north to aid AGN, that bumbling Bavarian Leeb obviously cannot be relied on to do the job alone.

FSB will relocate to Minsk next turn.

I set 4. and 9. Armies to sustained offensive posture. Probably should've done that last turn in fact, but I wasn't sure if the Soviet would put up a real fight for Minsk. Now I must worry about consolidating my gains.

[Flaviusx]

AGS. More mud! And PG1 is of course stalled thanks to the FSB relocating.

The Soviet shows me a clean pair of heels and 6. and 17. armies advance as best they can.

[Flaviusx]

Gradually making my way towards Odessa. Not really in a huge rush here. The seige arty is heading towards Riga in any event and it's unlikely I can take Odessa without it. Although intelligence indicates only 2 Soviet divisions in the city for the moment. So far the Soviet commander hasn't played a major garrison card and is keeping me guessing as to where he'll drop it. He's a crafty one.

I set the two Romanian armies to sustained offensive posture, 11. Army remains in blitzkrieg mode for the time being.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 5. Lots of marching, little fighting.

I invest Riga, and where the hell is my siege arty? The Soviet 8A is trapped in there, nice.

FSB moved forward. PG4 mostly takes a breather. 16. Army joins it, with some of it tasked to Riga.

And...Hoth joins the party. The whole of PG3 takes positions nearby. Both panzer groups will be immobile next turn due to the FSB transfer, but they'll be ready to rock an roll. 16. Army can clear a route through the marshes in the meantime, allowing for both PG to leap forwards to Pskov. Then...Leningrad. Time is of the essence here, wish I could do it in a single bound without another FSB transfer, but it's too far.

Since the seige arty will arrive in Riga, it will be close by for operations in Leningrad. I might not need it for Odessa.

[Flaviusx]

With Soviet hordes gathering strength nearby and AGC down to a single panzer group, I content myself with taking defensive positions and waiting for my FSB to arrive in Minsk.

[Flaviusx]

PG1 is back in business but the Soviets have fallen so far back that it can do no more than catch up to these runaways. 6. and 17. advance into empty space. The Romanians occupy an empty Proskurow, much to my surprise. At the rate this runaway is going I'll have to transfer the FSB again very soon over there. From there I can reach Kiev.

Odessa is invested. Still only 2 divisions there. So long as the enemy doesn't drop a major garrison there, easy peasy. I hope he doesn't. Really need the big guns up north.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 6. Siege arty finally arrives next to Riga, setting me up to take the place next turn. Limited activity in both AGN and AGC due to FSB relocations. All infantry armies in both sectors now set to sustained offensive.

Intelligence indicates a huge build up of forces. I'm very wary of doing much in AGC, especially in the middle of a logistical transition. Infantry has caught up with PG2, which is most welcome.

My relationship with von Br. has deteriorated badly and he is interfering with orders, costing me APs here and there. We cordially detest each other. I remain quite surprised at how inefficient German staff arrangements are compared to the Red Army. Stalin would never tolerate all this backbiting among generals. These German aristocrats are all prima donnas. It must have been like this in Tsarist Russia before the revolution.

[Flaviusx]

PG 1 seizes Vinnitsa. The Luftwaffe relocates to Proskurow; I frankly already want to move my FSB forward again to this location. Fuel constraints limit my maneuvers here as is. The Soviet commander is skillfully withdrawing towards Kiev in such a way as to prevent large scale envelopments. But he is running out of room to do this.

Further south 11. Army takes a whack at Odessa but fails to take it. The entrenchment levels of the garrisoned are reduced to the point where it should fall next turn.

[Iñaki Harrizabalagatar]

I wonder, Have you found the fatigue of Blitz posture noticeable? Against the AI I had the Finns not moving at all but on Blitz posture up to August without any fatigue showing up

[Flaviusx]

I have in the past. I don't like it when it starts eating away at APs. I therefore have made it a point to switch armies to sustained offensive posture before it gets to that point. The Finns are a special case, you could leave them in blitz more or less forever because they come to a rapid halt on the stop line. But I switched them too, just on general principles and to avoid having to worry about it later.

As of now all the infantry armies excepts 11. and 17. are on sustained offensive. And those two are going to switch over to it soon. This way you avoid ever having to rest and refit them. The panzergruppes remain permanently in blitz mode more or less, although I can imagine situations you might want to switch them over to sustained in order to save fuel. But fatigue isn't really an issue for them aside from their attached infantry.

I think it is important to keep the infantry armies in action permanently and with their APs unimpaired given the stop and go nature of the PG. And fatigue will cripple them in time.

[jjdenver]

Is it worth it to move FSB forward before taking Minsk or better to just wait then leap it forward to Minsk?

[Flaviusx]

Minsk seems like the natural place to do it to me, and if you move the FSB forward before taking Minsk, it could considerably delay grabbing it.

You have just enough fuel to get there with proper play.

But it is early days yet and it may not prove to be the optimal play. We just have to wait and see. Michael T appears to be going with Vilnius in the alternative, and he's a sharp guy. I don't like that route, and am not quite sure what he is seeing in it.

He's a hyperoptimizer and can often see things others don't. I'm more broad stroke simple common sense solution sort of fellow who swears by William of Occam.

[Flaviusx]

I should add to this that in my strategic vision, Leningrad takes early priority and I've more or less accepted the logic of the game that AGC is limited in what it can do simply by the sheer mass of Soviet reinforcements arriving in the center early on, and in the distances involved.

So for the moment my idea is to get to Minsk, send PG3 to Leningrad, and cool my heels in the center for a while.

This may or may not be the right play. The first time I tried it wasn't ideal due to errors, inexperience, and a really nasty bug they have since fixed in 1.01. When you diverted a PG from AGC to another theater, AGC stopped getting any fuel at all lol. I got Leningrad, though.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 7. Riga falls. As a bonus, I catch the Soviet 8A in there. 16. Army storms Ostrov, clearing a path through the swamps for follow on panzer forces. FSB due to arrive next turn at Dunaburg.

The Soviets are advancing in strength towards 9. Army covering the northern edge of AGC. This concerns me. Am now considering whether I should recall Hoth to AGC since PG3 is in excellent position to strike SE in the rear of the Soviets in the direction of Polotsk. But that means cancelling their advance towards Leningrad.

[Flaviusx]

AGC seizes Mogilev with the little fuel it has available. FSB due to arrive in Minsk next turn. 2A is now available and is played on Minsk.

Soviet numbers are becoming rather alarming and look like they want to launch a counteroffensive.

[Flaviusx]

Odessa falls, and I set 11. Army to sustained offensive posture. The enemy has backed up all the way to Kiev and dropped a major garrison there.

I'm going to have to send the heavy guns to Kiev. Sigh. Not what I want to do. This Leningrad op is getting shakier all the time. 6. and 17. Armies should be in position to surround it on the west side of the Dnepr.

PG1 requires a fuel drop to advance towards Kiev. I run out of PPs to relocate the FSB to Proskurow. In retrospect I wish I hadn't relocated to Lvov and just waited until Proskurow fell before relocating the FSB.

[Flaviusx]

Skipping ahead a couple of non eventful turns to turn 10.

PG4 storms Tallinn, which had a garrison dropped on it. It then tries to take Narva, but fails. Ugly place to drive a PG into, but it's the only good route to Leningrad at present. The Soviet created a nearly impregnable line near Pskov, dropping forts adjacent to the marshes nearby. Furthermore, Hoth is needed elsewhere.

16. Army is content screening the area while 18. marches as quickly as possible to Narva to assist PG4. PG3 is still detached from AGC but probably going to rejoin it next turn.

[Flaviusx]

Hoth attempts an end run around the Iron Wall in the center driving SE from AGN. Guderian pushing north with the intention linking up with Hoth.

With a little luck this might just unjam the whole theater, and I can bag some significant number of troops and then work my way behind the Iron Wall. Am taking some risks here, if the enemy gets some good activations, he could really trash PG3.

PG3 is still detached but half of it is in AGN and the other half in AGC and I am not sure if this will result in PP penalties.

Otherwise this is a static front.