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The front as a whole. I was forced to abandon my Oder River retreat plan, It would have been super, but when I learned that the Soviets would just advance all blizard and I couldn't come back to the winter start line, I had to give that up. Instead, by craftily falling back and allowing my divisions to be totally decimated by winter, I have managed to claw my way into a somewhat ok position.

Now, I just have to spring back into full 1941 effectiveness and march to the Pacific.

Losses comparing turns 24 with turn 37 (my part).

OOB in turn 37

Finally, squads through 37

Now for the fun part. What to do. Snow will see the "setting things to right" phase of winter. I do not expect huge things here. Even though I have not been to badly hurt, I have been hurt. Units will not just snap back, and whole portions of the line have been filled up with crybabies who demand I give up.

Some of the problems of deciding where to strike in 1942 have been decided. Some armies are so weak they make the romanians look like elite stormtroopers. I have managed to horde some troops, and I expect the refitting during the mud will help morale a bit.

Mostly, think a good plan for 1942 is to take all my strong forces, and strike toward Stalingrad. To the south I will have wide open spaces undermanned by a few regiments, while the Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians guard my flanks along the Don. I see nothing that can go wrong with this.

God I love the snow. Pics coming up.

try to listen to your inner Manstein when planning

Actually the Stalingrad idea has merit as long as you come close enough to force the factories to leave and then well... leave yourself.

Well, the snow saw the Panzer Armies come out nicely, as it should since they were roasting marshmallows in the cities when the foot-sloggers were freezing. Well, it was time for them to do their duty. Playing with BigA's house rules, I could attack with one armygroup - I chose South. Here I had the combination of two Panzer Armies and a host of crappy infantry. My initial plans had been to cut off the bulge east of Kharkov, but Cpt Flam sensed this and started a pull back. Still, I had the tanks and a plan...wait, a plan?

To get the Decisive, you need every city between Moscow and the Volga.

The attack kicked off with the 1st Panzer striking north. The infantry of IV corps and the Mountain boys did what they could, it was up to the pampered tankers with their suntans from the UV lamps I gave them in December.

Note, I am still using the "panzer bludgeon" offensive tactics. I don't have infantry, and really those panzer IIIg models are pretty invulnerable, aren't they?

Eventually, the 1st and 2nd Panzer met. Ersatz cheese and tinned mutton was enjoyed by all!

Recovery. I said the winter was harsh, it was not nearly as bad as it has been. The damage I caused in 1941 meant that my troops died in droves going to the latrine, but not so much from enemy fire. Here is the Moscow region, showing some of the recovery. Army Group Center is next in line to try and attack, though here the fortifications are much higher.

Finally, the boring stuff that BigA wanted. Sheesh, I could have just made up the numbers, but he wanted "data" that "meant something" and was "useful." (imagine the finger motions for each set of quotations)

Losses, turn 24-38. As I said earlier, I got out lucky from this.

Now I don't know how things will feel after the nearly 247 turns of mud, followed by the annoying mud-clear-mud turns, but right now things look Good. Competitions such as "Race to Kubyshev" are being planned for the nice months. In a fit of generosity I have turned over my "escape stock portfolio" to the local orphanage. No need for that, nothing can go wrong!

Finally, the boring stuff that BigA wanted. Sheesh, I could have just made up the numbers, but he wanted "data" that "meant something" and was "useful." (imagine the finger motions for each set of quotations)

I can imagine the little waggly finger movements, but I think you need to hide this so-called "data" from all the whiney "The Blizzard is broken" gang, because they won't like what they are seeing![8D]

ORIGINAL: BigAnorak
I can imagine the little waggly finger movements, but I think you need to hide this so-called "data" from all the whiney "The Blizzard is broken" gang, because they won't like what they are seeing![8D]

Pfft, they will say it is an aberration, that I got lucky...facts won't deter a good idea.

Oh, and Color? I wasn't totally faithful to your Rubberband notion. But note this, for what it is worth. The 2nd Army and the 6th Army in the Big Empty Middle followed this the most, and they had a far larger "bounce back" of CV than did the 16th and 9th Armies in the north that held the line.

I think you should go back to T25 and play without the house rules - go for the iron man game!