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Center-South

Not much happening here. Big gaps where both of us have left empty. Im starving Kursk right now and will take it soon. Otherwise 2nd Army is just laying low. The bulk of 6. Army has turned South but 1 Corps remains to keep the line honest.

You were asking why any Soviet player would waste an army holding back the Finns at the chokepoint. Look at your map now and you'll see why. Imagine those same Finns at the Svir river.

Soviet players now count on Leningrad falling. It's practically an autoloss if the German really wants it.

But with the Finns contained up north, the loss can be managed and the line immediately stabilizes at the Volkhov river.

Not everybody agrees with this, a distressing number of Soviet players still buy into the false economy of a runaway to the Svir (which turns into a runaway to Yaroslavl) but more and more players are switching over to a forward defense up north.

T19 South

The Crimea is sealed off but he has some decent numbers buried inside. Not sure If I trust the Romanians to hold that gap or not. Im kind of in a dilemma as 11. Army is spread out everywhere. Were pushing to Rostov and holding the trapped Southern Front divisions. I've eliminated 2 of them so far but the rest can wait until November.

Right now I count 4 pockets awaiting destruction:
Leningrad: 11 Rifle divisions, 5 FR's, HQ staff
Kursk: 1 Rifle Division
South: 2 pockets containing 11 military formations with 10 being divisional level. The last may be a HQ..couldn't recon it.

He's at 2.93m losses so far and so when these units are destroyed it should knock off at least 200k more.

The Romanians won't hold anything against a determined Soviet assault. I'd be wary of leaving them without pre-planning some reserves to send in case they break down.

The only person worse at Garrisoning citys then you is me

ORIGINAL: Disgruntled Veteran



Right now I count 4 pockets awaiting destruction:
Leningrad: 11 Rifle divisions, 5 FR's, HQ staff

sorry to disappoint but Lgrad is not isolated or starving as A game still controls the port and it is being supplied across the lake

and you seriously need to garrison cities properly

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

ORIGINAL: Disgruntled Veteran



Right now I count 4 pockets awaiting destruction:
Leningrad: 11 Rifle divisions, 5 FR's, HQ staff

sorry to disappoint but Lgrad is not isolated or starving as A game still controls the port and it is being supplied across the lake

Isolated. Map might be a bit too abstracted to see correctly. The only supply hes getting is air.

T22 North

Leningrad is ours. 5 Divisions destroyed. Sweet!

X Corps is castling to 16. Army right flank and I. Corps will move to winter vacation spots. LVI Panzer Corps has moved to Koenigsburg to act as a deep strategic reserve. The Grind in the Valdai hills has won the AGN/AGC some good defensive terrain and some breathing space. Winter positions going up everywhere.

Center

Let's face it. Moscow is perfectly safe this Winter. All Im doing is grinding away his blizzard strength. Ive set up winter positions but the line isn't manned so its going to get dicey in December. I didnt have time or initiative to position 2nd PzGp anywhere truly effective so I just had them attack to destroy units and win space. I really didn't play AGC correctly in the late summer.

South

The last of the pockets are gone. Rostov wont hold past next turn. AGS has done well. To answer my critics about garrisoning...most of my security brigades were used to box in that 25 division encirclement while AGS kept pushing East. He still managed to cut my line with one of his damned cav units before he died. I believe waiting until November to destroy these units was a mistake in hindsight. Having my Romanian units tied up really hurt my overall advance. In Leningrad it made sense but not here. Either way...

Im moving more 11. Army units to backdrop the Crimean "Gates" I'd hate to have a strong Soviet breakthrough in the Deep Flank.

Obituary

5 divisions still bagged in Leningrad with HQ and FZ's

Are you going to secure the cities that give you Army Groups A and B?
You have your neck sticking out there at Rostov come blizzard, and I believe A-Game may have learned a thing or two about the utility of cavalry corps in our game (he's Axis).

ORIGINAL: Seminole

Are you going to secure the cities that give you Army Groups A and B?
You have your neck sticking out there at Rostov come blizzard, and I believe A-Game may have learned a thing or two about the utility of cavalry corps in our game (he's Axis).

I'd love to but I dont think I can get all 3 and get back to safety before blizzard. Not with the major river in my way and all. Do you have to hold the cities for a turn or is merely raiding them good enough to release the AG? I just used one turn of snow and made good progress but If I have to hold those 3 for a turn it ain't happening.

You have to have all 3 at the start of a turn to get AG A+B.
Dnepr not an obstacle to your retreat ( or his advance ) come blizzard.

Good game looks to be a draw so far.

You plan on with drawing a hex or 2 a turn or stand and fighting?

ORIGINAL: Pelton

Good game looks to be a draw so far.

You plan on with drawing a hex or 2 a turn or stand and fighting?

Not sure. I just read several AAR's during blizzard and its quite scary. Not sure the best approach tbh.

One thing I couldn't find in the manual. Is December particularly bad for the axis during first Winter or are all blizzard months the same? Either way I really don't want to lose ground.

Each month the blizzard becomes progressively weaker. By February you can actually stand your ground. In December and January it's best to give ground, though, and limit the number of units that can launch attacks on you. Basically if you give up 2 hexes a turn most rifle units won't have the movement to catch you and attack. Only limited numbers of mech, cavalry and mountain units will be able to keep up.

All that being said, the blizzard isn't near as scary as it used to be. Look at Kamil's game. He wrecked the Germans, killed literally dozens of divisions, and the Wehrmacht bounced back quite smartly in summer of 42 and he's rather in trouble. The Germans did preserve their mech, the landsers took it in the chin.

Just a heads up! A-game and I decided to do a restart so this AAR is going to conclude. The Reason?

Well we were both doing well. I think we were at a operational tie depending on how blizzard went. The main reason was that we both learned a lot and we just wanted a redo. Another big reason is that we decided upon Random weather instead of non-random. I realize that by doing this I am probably going to regret it, but the idea of knowing every single weather turn does seem kind of silly.

Right now were in T7. Once A-game returns next turn I'm going to start another AAR. After all most of the first few opening turns are the same sequence anyways. Were off to a good start so look for my next AAR posting soon!

bad news: we will miss a very intresting blizzard.

good news: the game is going on.[:)]