Thriumph or Tragedy? (D21)

[Jukipo]

Turn 133, 9/27/42 AGA

We have pushed several enemy units to the mountains. Railhead is moving slowly forward.

[Jukipo]

Turn 134, 9/30/42 AGB

Only one enemy unit remains in the swamp area South of Stalingrad. We can’t move much further towards Astrakhan, our supply lines would become too long.

[Jukipo]

Turn 134, 9/30/42 AGA

Only 100 km to the coast of Caspian Sea. Unfortunately, railhead is 230 km behind the frontline. We are receiving a very little supply.

[Jukipo]

Turn 135, 10/4/42 AGB

We have captured entrenched positions on the East bank of Volga. We have now contact to Stalingrad ferry area. We are receiving more supplies to the bridgehead.

[Jukipo]

Turn 135, 10/4/42 AGA

October, time is running out. We have captured Kizlyar. Road connection between Caucasus and rest of Russia is broken. Grossdeutschland moved to the mountains South of Gudermes, cutting enemy supply lines to Grozny area.

[Jukipo]

Turn 135, 10/4/42 AGA

We are moving towards Gagra.

[DanNeely]

FYI on one of Larry's AARs and then in the docs for the latest scenario release. TPOO clarified that the no stacking rule for minors land units is that they're not allowed to stack at all, even with a second unit from their own country.

Edit: Not intended as a criticism, no one else on the thread read the old wording correctly either.

[Jukipo]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

FYI on one of Larry's AARs and then in the docs for the latest scenario release. TPOO clarified that the no stacking rule for minors land units is that they're not allowed to stack at all, even with a second unit from their own country.

Edit: Not intended as a criticism, no one else on the thread read the old wording correctly either.

I don't like the new rule interpretation. It leads to difficult situations.

- Can you stack two divided regiments from the same division? If yes, then what about one divided regiment and one separate regiment? Why not?

- Can you stack a Finnish HQ with divisional infantry? Why not?

- Can you use engineers to cross major rivers? Crossing unit is stacked with engineer regiment.

- Can you stack Finnish Assault Gun Bn with infantry division? If not, then Assault Gun Bn is totally worthless unit.

I would not like to spend my time thinking that kind of questions. It's making game play more tiresome. If axis allies are too strong, make them weaker. Or make a house rule certain Rumanian units are not allowed to move past Odessa until 1942.

[700851McCall]

I was thinking that reducing the effectiveness rating of the Rumanians would accomplish the same design goal, but there is probably something I am missing.

I assumed the rule does not apply to the Finns. They were not technically an Axis minor ally and in any case their divisional HQs only have 1 hex range so it makes no sense.

[larryfulkerson]

I have no idea what the background is for the decision to not allow stacking
for the Axis minor allies but it seems kind of severe for the function it's
performing. I've never heard of units that can't stack with their own nation.
That's strange, and yes, those weapons that have a range of one....let's
stack those bad boys, or yes they are worthless.

[700851McCall]

I think it is possibly to simulate the fact that the Soviets liked to attack the German lines where the minors where holding them. Every time they did that they broke through. Single stacking may be the only way to simulate that effectively. I've only been playing with this rule for a few turns but it has already caused me problems defensively.

[TPOO]

Finland is not an Axis Minor so the rule does not apply to them. Common sense plays here so auxillary units are not part of the stacking rule. Units that have been divided the rule does not apply. It is for division level ground units.
700851McCall is 100 percent correct in his analogy. If this were a PBEM scenario there would be no house rules but the PO in TOAW is not that capable in making its own decisions and sometimes the scenario designers have to help it out when possible. Me and Steve put this rule in almost 10 years ago and it was also a rule in the original FITE scenario.
That said everyone is free to play the scenario the way they wish, this is just to make the scenario more historic in playability,

[Jukipo]

700851McCall is 100 percent correct in his analogy. If this were a PBEM scenario there would be no house rules but the PO in TOAW is not that capable in making its own decisions and sometimes the scenario designers have to help it out when possible. Me and Steve put this rule in almost 10 years ago and it was also a rule in the original FITE scenario.

Ok, it makes sense now. Thanks for explaining your thinking behind the rule. I'll try to follow the rule when possible. Thanks again for a great scenario. You have been doing a great work putting it all together.

[Jukipo]

Situation on 10/4/42 after 135 turns.

Fall rasputitza begins on turn 136.

AGN: Situation remains stable
AGC: Situation remains stable
AGB: We have established a bridgehead over Volga River.
AGA: Grozny is surrounded. We have isolated Caucasus area. Our next objectives are Sukhumi and Makhachkala.

Losses in the first 135 turns: (last 5 turns in parenthesis) [replacements in 5 turns]

70995 (+1610) Heavy Rifle Squads [repl 2155]
7701 (+112) Rifle Squad – Rum [repl 280]
2949 (+0) Rifle Squad – Hun [repl 155]
5142 (+8) Rifle Squad – Fin [repl 125]
986 (+0) Rifle Squad – Ita [repl 90]
9698 (+181) Engineer Squads [repl 225]
2430 (+45) Panzers (all types) [repl 425]
3438 (+140) Fighters (all types) [repl 205]
719 (+36) Stukas & Hs-129 [repl 75]
3407 (+134) Bombers (all types) [repl 105]

[Jukipo]

Situation on 10/21/42 after 140 turns.

Rasputitza continues. All activity is suspended.

Losses in the first 140 turns: (last 5 turns in parenthesis) [replacements in 5 turns]

71290 (+295) Heavy Rifle Squads [repl 2155]
7701 (+0) Rifle Squad – Rum [repl 280]
2949 (+0) Rifle Squad – Hun [repl 155]
5148 (+6) Rifle Squad – Fin [repl 125]
986 (+0) Rifle Squad – Ita [repl 90]
9726 (+28) Engineer Squads [repl 225]
2430 (+0) Panzers (all types) [repl 425]
3513 (+75) Fighters (all types) [repl 205]
730 (+11) Stukas & Hs-129 [repl 75]
3407 (+0) Bombers (all types) [repl 105]

[Jukipo]

Turn 142, 10/28/42 AGA

Gagra was captured. Railhead has reached the frontline. We are receiving supplies despite rasputitza.

We are now receiving new FW-190A/D planes, 23 planes per turn.

We got our first Tiger I battalion. Tiger I production is only 4 per turn.

[Jukipo]

Turn 144, 11/4/42 AGA

Rasputitza is over. Railhead is already near Gudermes. It’s time to continue towards Baku. 8th SS division reached the Caspian Sea!

[Jukipo]

Turn 144, 11/4/42 AGA

Our troops capture Sukhumi airfield. Mountain divisions move to Marukh Pass.

[Jukipo]

Turn 145, 11/8/42 AGC

Soviet winter offensive begins near Moscow. We had to withdraw two places, near Zagorsk and near Kolomna. Reinforcements arrive by train.

[Jukipo]

Turn 146, 11/11/42 AGC

It seems that Soviet winter offensive is over after only two turns. My shock level is 105%, theirs 98%. Is there a bug? Scenario briefing said Soviet shock 120% would last 10 turns. I took Grozny on turn 145, adding my supply +2%. Maybe capturing Grozny messed soviet shock?