tyronec (Axis) vs Grognard1812. Grognard welcome.

[Grognard1812]

The screenshot from the Kursk area.

[Grognard1812]

Throwing all caution aside the Soviet offensive towards Dnepropetrovsk continues.

[John B.]

No sense in holding back now, the clock is ticking!

[tyronec]

T38.
AGN and AGC. Not much action, Soviets take a few hexes and are pushed back.
AGS. Position before my move, air to push into both flanks of the salient and see how far I get.
End position, get a bit further than expected. 30 off units cut off, though the pocket is very open. Another 30 or so routs.

Can anyone explain how the air supply works.
In '41 was getting 50% delivery, as expected.
Jan to Feb '42 was getting 100% with an airbase next to the target.
In March am now getting 30% with the airbase - so they work better in the blizzard !
The other annoying feature is that all the LBs I used for resupply now have most of their planes out of action and have to be sent to the reserve to fill up.

[Stelteck]

Isolating most of the soviet cavalry corps is certainly very interesting for the german !!! [X(]

If they are destroyed they will be out of action a long time and will miss the dangerous spring 1942.

[Nix77]

ORIGINAL: Stelteck

Isolating most of the soviet cavalry corps is certainly very interesting for the german !!! [X(]

If they are destroyed they will be out of action a long time and will miss the dangerous spring 1942.

I think the whole Red Army will miss it since there's only 4 turns until the Sudden Death if no cities are taken before that. Both players are playing "make it or break it", so I doubt the game will continue if the Sudden Death gets fulfilled.

[John B.]

Unless the soviets have a general Stefon Diggs I think it may be too late.

[chaos45]

yep once march hits the Soviets again suck and the germans get a good boost...basically the last 1-2 turns of FEB the soviets almost need to run or just entrench for the german early spring counter attack they use to prep for summer 42.

That should be game set match....

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

yep once march hits the Soviets again suck and the germans get a good boost...basically the last 1-2 turns of FEB the soviets almost need to run or just entrench for the german early spring counter attack they use to prep for summer 42.

That should be game set match....

Yup yup. There may be a few sparks left but that should do it. Even if able to get that last City point the position will be awkward to say the least.

[Grognard1812]

Soviet GT 38

First turn of March 1942

Snow in all Soviet weather zones.

The Soviet advance towards Dnepropetrovsk was not successful as the leading armies have been surrounded by
Axis forces. Screenshot at the beginning of the turn.

[Grognard1812]

Screenshot at the end of GT 38 in the Kharkov area. With only 3 more turns to go in March before the first
week of April 1942, the chances of the Soviet army successfully avoiding a sudden death campaign game loss on the
first week of April are negligible.

[iwolfhound]

Keep going please. I still have some fingernails.

[tyronec]

T39.
Screenshot at the end of Axis T39, 30 units irrecoverably pocketed and some routs.
Game over, we both just processed the next couple of turns until April and the auto victory.

To avoid the 'Sudden death' victory conditions the Soviets would have had to advance some 13+ hexes during the blizzard and then take and hold at least two cities, just too far in the time available.

Grognard was very successful at preserving his army during the Summer offensive however the cost is - Less recruitment from the population centers lost early and Lower unit experience levels.

Have just played the one game under the recent patch, my feeling would be that the Soviets should have good prospects of holding a line from Moscow to Rostov during the summer if they can conduct a careful retreat during the early turns.

[John B.]

Congratulations Tryonec! You played a good game and held off a mad dash Soviet Winter offensive to pocket the victory.

[DeletedUser1769703214]

ORIGINAL: John B.

Congratulations Tryonec! You played a good game and held off a mad dash Soviet Winter offensive to pocket the victory.

Yup agree both great players and good fast paced Winter. Grats to both of you.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Very dramatic game, thanks for sharing and congratulations Tyrone!

[STEF78]

very tense game

thanks for sharing!

[Mamluke]

Thank you for sharing!
Tense game till the end, but giving up so much ground with out a fight felt so wrong as a Soviet player .
In my opinion, as long as you DO NOT risk losing the really good divisions (+40 experience +45 morale). one should try to put a defensive in dept were ever it looks favorable. losing 5 or 10(or more)- minus 30% experience rifle divisions is an acceptable risk.

I want to ask tyronec, do you believe the damage done to your army was great in the winter campaign? how would you feel about the prospects for a 1942 summer campaign if you had to keep playing? let's also assume for the sake of argument that no such grand encirclement happen in the last few turns.

[tyronec]

I want to ask tyronec, do you believe the damage done to your army was great in the winter campaign? how would you feel about the prospects for a 1942 summer campaign if you had to keep playing? let's also assume for the sake of argument that no such grand encirclement happen in the last few turns.

My play from around T15 was totally committed to the 'sudden death' victory conditions. If the Soviets had met their VP target then my army was not in great shape - aside from the pocketed divisions had lost a lot of tanks and also wasted several 100's of APs.
However if instead had played a more balanced game from before the blizzard I think Axis would have been in a advantageous position for '42.

[lastkozak]

It would seem that the "run away" strategy does not work very well! I would have thought that it would have led to very poor supply conditions for the Germans, leaving them with little option but to retreat back to better supply, or die in the Russian winter under the treads of the T34!