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Turn 104: December 4, 1942. Weather clear and cold.

The Russians have launched a few attacks..and punched a couple of holes in my lines. However, with my reserve panzers, I have managed push him back. We are beginning to suspect a problem, or perhaps it is just from the way we play....

Because of the fairly high losses of combat, the Russians are unable to build up any experience with his troops. The low value of replacements drives his experience down faster then he can build it up by attacking/defending...and even when he uses cards to build up his experience, combat will drive it back down (from replacements).

In contrast, the Germans do not get replacements. As a result, my experience is around/below 60 for the Germans, and 40 for my Axis minors. Morale is all over the place, but mostly above 50 and below 70.

My fighters have been practically eliminated. I have maybe 9 steps of German fighters left. I also have around 9 steps of stukas left as well. I still have plenty of level bombers, and lots of Ju-52's.

Losses for the Russians are around 1.3 million infantry...to my 350k. So I still seem to be following a 4-1 ratio.

On the plus side, I am starting to get reinforcements again...having received an Italian cavalry division, a Tiger battalion, and the 6th Panzer Division.

Turn 126th mid January, 1942. The Russians surrender.

The Russians were unable to take and hold terrain. Anytime I got 3 hexsides on the Russians, I would counterattack and drive him back inflicting massive casualties. With all the extra divisions showing up over the winter, I had a reserve of 6 panzer divisions. With 3 more (and two more SS) panzer divisions coming as reinforcements. The Germans were getting stronger while the Russians were getting weaker.

What was happening is that the Russians could not gain any sort of momentum because whenever he suffered casualties..the experience of the divisions would plummet when they received 10% exp replacements from STAVKA.

I suspect a similar problem is what happens to the Axis air. Once you suffer enough losses, your exp drops, and your casualties in combat rise. Causing a vicious circle.

In quiet areas of the front, the Russians had grown to 30% exp. My Axis minors had grown to 40%. A lot of my Germans were at 60%. And with next to no replacements coming in, my exp was staying at 60%.

Anyways..we have a new game going. Same sides. I changed all the Russian infantry and tank replacements to be 25% instead of 10% exp. I changed the German air replacements to be 50% instead of 20% exp. I also changed the German infantry and tank replacements to be 40%.

Congrats and good AAR. It seems that yeah, causing massive casualty and keeping Russia's XP low works... Well done!