Russia! Why not? (Morvael welcome)

[morvael]

That would involve a great moment of risk (2-3 turns?) when I would have to withdraw troops from where all the Axis are concentrated to a quiet sector of the front. During that time, I'm afraid my lines would not hold in a fashion I like (no more than 3-4 captured hexes per turn, which before the introduction of Rifle Corps was 5-10 per turn).

I'm waiting for '43 to:
- have my truck situation fixed (currently at 123K (180K))
- get better TOE to be introduced for Tank Corps, Cav Corps and Separate Tank Bns
- get cheaper Rifle Corps
- build artillery divisions

With my truck pool low I have decided against building any Arty Divs for now and focused on Rifle Corps, which are costly now but at least don't want so much trucks as mobile units AND they were great for slowing the Germans down by 50% (measured in captured hexes per turn).

[cpt flam]

you are so true timmyab
turn 76 to explain my problem
in the north i have to attack 4 hexes
one had 2 Arm X in the others: 3Rifle +1Tank corps and 4Rifle div
3hexes in the south : 3Rifle +2Cav corps and 4Rifle div

pool
50 360 men, 212 800 VEH, 162 513 ARM & 5 Hiwis

losses from these attacks
5 700 men, 110 ART, 30 AFV & 95 AC
18 530 " ", 390 " ",124 " " & 98 ""

[morvael]

In this place the Germans are pushing further east than they did in history!

[cpt flam]

12-3 again some success in pushing
Wiking become our first PzG division
Goering asked us for a lull

losses are again fine (for the moment)
4 910 men, 70 art, 36 AFV & 2 AC
16 980 " ",300 " ",338 " " & 3 ""

pool
58 590 men, 208 k VEH, 167 074 ARM& 15 Hiwis

[cpt flam]

turn 78 action allways in same place
otherwise some moves around Narva & between Belev-Stalinogorsk

losses this week
5 700 men, 130 art, 32 AFV & 34 AC
11 450 " ", 210 " ",136 " " & 47 ""

[cpt flam]

OOB end of turn

pool
70 550 men
201 600 VEH
172 762 ARM
17 Hiwis

[HITMAN202]

This may be a dumb question, but why do you have so many hexes with a single unit adjacent to powerful Soviet stacks? Reserve activation will not be consistently triggered. I see you are forming a deep fort network, but those single units will get decimated.

[morvael]

Those "powerful" stacks are usually equivalent to that single german division in level 3 fort Even if my offensive CV is a bit higher, it's not enough to allow a chance for victory. And for morale and guard reasons I attack only with 3:1 base chance. That usually means no attacks on fort levels 2 and 3. I'm strangled by lack of vehicles for now, waiting for '43.

[HITMAN202]

MT versus Pelton turn 75 or so on revealed MT attacking very powerful Geman stacks with some sucess. Why not in this game ??

[morvael]

Mainly because I'm a defensive type of player. I need to cover everything, before advancing anywhere Also, the situation is not fluid, both sides sit in level 3 forts everywhere, except in the place that has 90% (or even more) of Axis mobile forces concentrated (first it was around Tula now Voronezh to Voroshilovgrad). Attacking there would be a suicide, due to powerful counterattack ability of massed panzers. Therefore I try to make defense there the strongest there to stall Axis advance. This makes it impossible to reinforce any other area to gain offensive capability. I need to have more corps to fight on even terms. Stacks of 3 divisions backed by even more stacks of 3 divisions are costly to the Soviets because of routs and retreat losses. I need to reduce counter density. Next reason - advancing in blizzard is hard - first it costs a lot of movment points, second the units won't dig in, and without digging in it's impossible to hold against a counterattack. Due to "passive" 42 (no units lost for both sides for the entire year), both armies are very strong. I am now coping with the massive surge in airforce size (regiments max size from 20 to 32) which created mess with plane pools. Due to vehicle shortage (since September) I can't build any mech, tank corps or artillery divisions. Also, my arm pool is at 0 now (because of the rifle squad mess).

[randallw]

Both sides should not forget to rotate units ( with high fatigue ) off the front with rested units.

[morvael]

I have a procedure that I follow each turn which involves rotating units. But it doesn't work with corps (not enough to rotate).

[cpt flam]

one more thing
unit alone with level 3 fort keep attrition high for 5-6 russian
some others having attack can't go back, they will provide attrition then "retreat" probably
but no attrition as Morvael take too much care from his pixel troops [;)]

[cpt flam]

12-17 few hexes to arrive at Boguchar (?)

losses in attack
7 090 men, 150 art, 34 AFV & 5 AC
15 390 " ", 315 " ",264 " " & 41 "

pool
76 440 men, 196 k VEH, 180 075 ARM & 17 Hiwis

[cpt flam]

Christmas 1942 only 7 attacks (and 1 where they held)

butcher bilt
9 960 men, 200 art, 62 AFV & 48 AC axis
14 210 " ", 300 " ",192 " " & 63 ""

pool
78 290 men (growing)
191 300 VEH less
182 228 ARM
17 Hiwis

[cpt flam]

I wanted to show what i see when i open the turn

[cpt flam]

12-31 Russia has been cautious and glad [&:] as I forget to move back some units

losses from our fights
8 150 men, 185 art, 28 AFV & 26 AC
18 960 " ", 410 " ", 88 " " & 42 ""

pool
83 040 men, 184 700 VEH, 182 280 ARM & 18 Hiwis

[morvael]

And what is so special here (on the start of turn screen, I mean)?

[morvael]

GENA Dmitry Pavlov political rating improves to 2

The guy is trying to win back Stalin's favours

[cpt flam]

quite a long way to keep his head
turn 82 allways glad to see some russian routs
we begin to fight against new models (Yak 9, IL 2M)

losses (too much for not enough)
7 770 men, 140 art, 52 AFV & 15 AC
10 090 " ", 185 " ",190 " " & 46 ""

pool
93 180 men
181 500 VEH
190 691 ARM
8 Hiwis