The Soviet side:
M60A3TTS
Suffers from multiple personality disorder. At times, he is I.V. STALIN, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR and Chairman of the Committee for State Defense. Stalin receives nightly briefings previously within the Kremlin, now in the provisional capital of Kuybyshev from Marshal KLIMENT VOROSHILOV, Chief of Staff of the Red Army, also referred to as the RKKA (Red Army of Workers and Peasants). Since Voroshilov is also another personality belonging to M60, he talks to himself rather frequently. Fortunately IRL he is recently retired and has time for such idiosyncrasies.
With the loss of Moscow, Voroshilov does not have the level of confidence with Stalin that he previously had, but as long time comrades, Voroshilov's life is safe enough. Still, Stalin told him "we can no longer blame dead men (read Panzerjager Hortlund) for our current situation. It is up to us to get ourselves out of this f'd up situation."
Among the remedies applied after the start of the war, a directive was issued to all army commanders to create and maintain a direct link with the STAVKA at all times. Consequently, Stalin, Voroshilov and the STAVKA (read M60) have the means to bypass normal command channels and issue direct orders to any unit within the Red Army. This is by no means the norm, but it is absolutely historical.
Voroshilov is responsible for issuing weekly operational orders. These orders have all been reviewed with the Committee for State Defense beforehand, so Comrade Stalin knows what orders our commanders have been issued and with the command channel can easily verify whether such orders are carried out. He is also briefed on all communications coming from the three field commanders. If there are problems, Stalin will often leave them for Voroshilov to deal with. But there are times when Comrade Stalin gets a little peeved and may deal with the commanders directly. That is the way of things, the First Secretary isn't a "hands-off" kind of guy.
Sparkley Tits
I call him S-T for short. Commander of the Northwestern Direction. Our most recent addition. Hangs out on Discord a lot where the Fascist dog Telemecus also does. Still, the NKVD hasn't found anything incriminating...yet. Controls Leningrad and Northwest Fronts currently. He needs a bit of care and feeding but is learning a lot quickly, and that should discomfort his opposite number.
EwaldVonKleist
Commander of the Western Direction. Commander of Kalinin, Western and Bryansk Fronts. His failure in the early battles near Leningrad have been forgotten. Although he operates in the Moscow area, the loss of the capital was blamed on Voroshilov, after which time EvK took over. Stalin recently gave EvK a mild chewing out, but again, the First Secretary is never responsible for problems. It's always the subordinates who are at fault.
Lictuel
Commander of the Southwestern Direction. Commands Southwestern, Southern and Caucasus Fronts. Hero of Sevastopol which is still controlled by Soviet ground forces. Saw his command virtually wiped out during the summer but held on with dogged determination. The STAVKA since then has been rebuilding the command which is now almost at full strength. The quietest of the commanders but always dependable and ready for orders.
Honorable mention- Sardaukar
Former commander, now moved to the retired rolls of the Red Army. Unable IRL to really do more than the occasional lurk.
Honorable mention- Panzerjager Hortlund
Former commander of the STAVKA and one of the key reasons this game exists in the first place. Shot at the orders of the First Secretary for failures during the first 9 weeks of the war because someone had to be accountable, and it was not going to be Comrade Stalin.
Overall, these three players have been great, we definitely are past the days of people disappearing for weeks on end. If I cut into any of them as Stalin, it's all meant as good fun and maybe even a lesson to be found somewhere. There's still room for all of us to pick up things about the game from one another.
After the fall of Moscow, we did at least discuss whether the team should go on with the game, but there was not a single "no" vote to be found. So while the Red Army is a little down, if the fascists believe victory is in their future because we have no industry, not enough men, territory...we have other ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIBmrDUK_RU&t=81s
