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Turn 6 Epilogue: 12 hexes to Osinovets, 28 to Moscow.
Current/Total losses at end of Soviet Turn 6:
Axis 23223/93941 men, 418/1278 gun, 151/721 afv, 24/92 spac. His losses are considerably higher than last turn.
Soviet 134397/1196371 men, 1441/15258 gun, 836/7978 afv, 194/2354 spac
Net loss of about 6100 vehicles this turn: 4.9k lost, 1.3k captured by the invaders, 0.1k seized.
Air losses: Axis 34 (this turn), 187 Total. Soviet 564 (this turn), 5263 Total. 16:1 ratio, dropped. 60% Axis losses were Bf-109 (21). Getting close to German net fighter production sent each turn to Ostfront.
Important Soviet type losses: 74 MiG-3 (ouch), 22 LaGG, 2 SB-2 Rcn, 17 IL-2.
Unit Losses: 2 TankD, 4 RifleD. Disbanded: 1 SecRgt, 16 Corps HQ.

Pool of modern planes: 297 MiG-3, 179 Yak-1, 340 LaGG-3, 73 IL-2, 249 IL-4, 365 SB-2R, 20 Li-2. Numbers still going up
German OOB: 3366474 men (flat), 34033 gun (-), 5025 afv (-), 3807 plane (+).
Sov OOB: 4126998 men (+70k), 53098 gun (+), 13639 afv (-), 5587 plane (-1k).

Red Army only gave up one hex towards Leningrad and two towards Moscow this turn - that’s really good. Axis is making progress but no huge gains; if things keep on at this rate we may have something close to historical advances. I’m doing well in keeping unit losses down - avoiding huge pockets has kept my on-map unit destroyed count to 12 or less since Turn 3.

Surprisingly, I’m still holding most of the river lines I’ve been defending the past several turns. Dnepr south of Vitebsk still hasn’t been crossed or outflanked. The Dnestr is still partially held near Odessa, though farther north I did fall back. I didn’t expect to be able to keep defending these good forts and terrain obstacles this long - a pleasant surprise. In my previous turn, I wanted to see how badly I got whacked in these areas if I didn’t withdraw. The answer was - not too badly. It looks like my skills in estimating when to defend are improving. Looking at things at the end of this Turn 6, I expect to see some penetrations and small pockets around Vinnitsa, west of Smolensk, and possibly east of Pskov. We’ll see how accurate this guess turns out to be in a week or so.

Nice update and probably a good decision to fall back some in the Northwest Front though I think there still might be some risk there. If I were the Germans I'd probably try to drive straight towards Novgorod with both of their forces as the defenses are pretty weak there and it avoids crossing lots of rivers and swamps (possibly create a pocket from Pskov to Ilmen then along the Luga). It wouldn't be a huge pocket, maybe 10 units max. This would split your line in 2 and threaten to flank both of them. But I guess we'll see how aggressive he chooses to be and how much MP he has.

After finishing unit moves and setting Toe% levels, I spend some time fiddling with Support Levels. No change on Corps, which are set at 0. Some armies have grabbed extra SUs (one had 21) so some of them are set to 2. Others are left locked. I may unlock the rest next turn. Fronts are looking good, with the active fronts left at 4, Orel Kharkov and Moscow MD set to 3 (they only have 36 CP) and the frozen ones at zero, other than North Caucasus which is bumped up to 1. It can start stocking up for the future armies it will control in Crimea defense.

Can you clarify a bit why you are setting army HQs to 2 and locking some rather than letting them flow up the chain further or locking some at the Corps level? Trying to better understand your overall SU strategy as I'm just learning how to use them.

ORIGINAL: redrum68

Nice update and probably a good decision to fall back some in the Northwest Front though I think there still might be some risk there. If I were the Germans I'd probably try to drive straight towards Novgorod with both of their forces as the defenses are pretty weak there and it avoids crossing lots of rivers and swamps (possibly create a pocket from Pskov to Ilmen then along the Luga). It wouldn't be a huge pocket, maybe 10 units max. This would split your line in 2 and threaten to flank both of them. But I guess we'll see how aggressive he chooses to be and how much MP he has.

After finishing unit moves and setting Toe% levels, I spend some time fiddling with Support Levels. No change on Corps, which are set at 0. Some armies have grabbed extra SUs (one had 21) so some of them are set to 2. Others are left locked. I may unlock the rest next turn. Fronts are looking good, with the active fronts left at 4, Orel Kharkov and Moscow MD set to 3 (they only have 36 CP) and the frozen ones at zero, other than North Caucasus which is bumped up to 1. It can start stocking up for the future armies it will control in Crimea defense.

Can you clarify a bit why you are setting army HQs to 2 and locking some rather than letting them flow up the chain further or locking some at the Corps level? Trying to better understand your overall SU strategy as I'm just learning how to use them.

Thanks for the feedback, Redrum. You're right that the door is still slightly open for AGN to surround some troops. In the next turn, you'll see that GamerDad did indeed attempt to do that, but didn't have enough MP in his mobile divisions to make it work.

As far as clarifying about how I'm using SU level settings, I have to start by saying that, like you, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to manage SU level settings and moving them around. It is a lot harder for the Soviets, as they have Army and even Front HQs appearing all summer and fall. What I've been trying to do so far is get decent SU numbers in each army, then lock it. I don't try for an exact amount, but on average I want each army to have about 10 SU. A mix of something like 4 arty, 1 mortar, 1 sapper, 2 construction, and 2 whatever else is handy. That's for the front-line armies. Ones farther back might have only some construction SUs to buff entrenchment work.

Corps HQ were mostly set to zero as I wanted those SU filtered back up for more balanced redistribution. There are several reasons for that - SUs in a corps are only available to say 3 divisions, while SUs in an army are available to around 8. Corps commanders tend to have lower ratings so SUs get activated less often. Finally, Corps HQs are almost all disbanded in the Turn 5-10 period. There are some exceptions to the above - for example, I have my airborne corps kept well to the rear as I'm saving their brigades. Those get assigned some engineer/const SU to help dig in and make fallback defensive lines. 7th Rifle Corps is currently the HQ of the divisions digging in at Odessa, so it has sapper/const as well.

With the Front commands, the rear area MDs are set to 0 (Urals, Transcaucasus, Volga). North Caucasus is set to 1 because it does have some divisions digging in at the mouth of the Dnestr. MDs actually fighting get SupL 3 (they can have 18 divisions max), Fronts get SupL 4 (they can have up to 36). I could spend hours more time tweaking things even further - Southwestern Front probably should have SU level turned down as it currently has 14 SU, and they have a severe penalty to ever get activated since they are currently 30 CP over their command limit.

As far as building new SUs, I find that I'm building mostly Construction battalions, along with some sappers here and there plus arty once in a while. The pool is usually very low on available artillery guns so I try to build within the limits of what is in stock. My personal favorite when I need a new combat support SU is the MG-Artillery battalion - I try to make sure every Army gets one of these. It is a nice mix of MG, AT, and light Arty guns, and is one of the very few ways to give a little more anti-tank firepower in 1941. Usually the pool has enough in it so several can be built and filled if I need them.

I haven't found a scheme for handling SUs that I am satisfied with. I may do a grand SU reorganization when mud comes around - send everything up to STAVKA, then pull down and lock things. Or I may just decide that I have better things to do with my few precious gaming hours and set Army HQs to SupL 2 and not worry about it, other than for special case needs. That new guide from xhoel about Axis Support Units is awesome, and most of those points apply to the Soviet side as well.

Hopefully that answer is somewhat useful, Redrum, and doesn't ramble too far afield. I do appreciate the question, and it reminds me that I haven't done an in-depth review on my SU assignments in a couple of turns. I just added a reminder to my Turn 11 to-do list.

It is also worth adding that in 1941 the Soviets are retreating onto their rail lines so there are fewer logistical savings. And with fewer specialised SUs the benefits to pooling SUs, while still significant, is a lot smaller than it is for the Axis.

ORIGINAL: Shalkai
With the Front commands, the rear area MDs are set to 0 (Urals, Transcaucasus, Volga). North Caucasus is set to 1 because it does have some divisions digging in at the mouth of the Dnestr. MDs actually fighting get SupL 3 (they can have 18 divisions max), Fronts get SupL 4 (they can have up to 36).

Are you sure about these? Construction/Sappers do not follow the support levels you set, so putting them to 1 will not give any different help to the units digging at the Dnestr? And similarly if all the divisions in a front are first assigned to an army or corps, the support units in the front or MD can never be activated in any of their combats. So all SUs of the other types in those HQs are simply wasted.

Indeed? Thanks for the tip, Telemecus. My understanding was that Front HQ was able to send SU to a battle as well as Army HQ. I'll have to reread that part of the manual. If activation from Front is impossible, then yes I certainly need to change settings on front commands. I don't think any combat units up on the line are attached directly to a front (though in the first few turns that was sometimes the case).

Corps HQ were mostly set to zero as I wanted those SU filtered back up for more balanced redistribution. There are several reasons for that - SUs in a corps are only available to say 3 divisions, while SUs in an army are available to around 8. Corps commanders tend to have lower ratings so SUs get activated less often.

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about as well, whether pushing SUs down to Corps HQs or keeping them at higher levels is better or some mix (for example with say 6 SUs and an army with 3 corps: 6 SUs in army hq vs 2 SUs in each corp hq vs 3 in army hq and 1 in each corp hq). Outside of say really important attacks/defenses, not sure based on the SU commitment formulas if having slightly lower odds across more divisions or higher odds on fewer divisions is better.

@Telemecus - Any thoughts on that? I had a hard time following all the SU commitment language in the manaul. Are there any good examples explaining the chance of SUs being committed to battles?

Yep, SUs can only be activated from the immediate HQ, says so right there in Section 15.4 - "HQs can only commit support units to combat units that are attached to the same HQ". There's still plenty left for me to learn about this game, but at least I've learned one new thing today. Thanks Telemecus! I've got some fixing to do next turn (and in all future games!)

ORIGINAL: Shalkai
My understanding was that Front HQ was able to send SU to a battle as well as Army HQ. I'll have to reread that part of the manual.

ORIGINAL: redrum68
@Telemecus - Any thoughts on that? I had a hard time following all the SU commitment language in the manaul.

I think very valid points as when I first got onto the game and tried to work out that part of the manual I had to spend so much time on linguistic analysis to tease out the meaning from there - and I still think it was ambiguous. Ultimately I had to establish it from questions on these forums and by testing that I could never get a higher HQ to commit an SU (ignoring the special case of construction that can daisy chain through a chain of command).

ORIGINAL: redrum68
Outside of say really important attacks/defenses, not sure based on the SU commitment formulas if having slightly lower odds across more divisions or higher odds on fewer divisions is better.

@Telemecus - Any thoughts on that? I had a hard time following all the SU commitment language in the manaul. Are there any good examples explaining the chance of SUs being committed to battles?

I believe the chances of an SU committing to a battle are independent of which other battles/units they have been committed to. At least the developers have never denied that in response to questions. If that is true then you would have the same odds whether spread across more or fewer divisions. So in theory armies with more units should find it easier to commit SUs many times than a corps if the number of units they have correlates to how many battles they are in, and that they remain within five hexes of the HQ etc. This would go with the history as the Soviet Union found it difficult to maintain the corps level organisation at that part of the war and abandoned it precisely because army HQs were better able to deal with support units and the complexities of mutli-divisional command than corps HQs.

@redrum68 - I'd advise a different Corps strategy now that Telemecus has pointed out my error. Having a couple SU in each Corps HQ at the front line would be a good idea. Maybe either lock them if they start with appropriate amounts, or set them to SupL 1 so they either get a couple or send their extras up higher. There probably isn't enough time to make a full-scale reorg really viable in the first few game turns.

Thanks everyone - this kind of discussion is EXTREMELY valuable to me, and one of the main reasons I'm putting so many hours to making this AAR!

@Shalkai - That makes 2 of us. I thought non-immediate HQs could commit SUs down the chain as well just at a lower chance. So this is very good to know and I see that in the manual now but it definitely isn't super clear.

I'm going to try to post some guidance on SU commitment in my AAR this turn and an example of a battle so the experts can then tell me what I did wrong and help give better tips

Turn 7

18Feb2020: Real-life issues for both players made February a slow month, but didn't stop us cold.

First glance shows decent advances by the Axis only toward Leningrad and in Ukraine. Northern Front did fine. The Lake Jan line held against two Finn attacks, but the fortifications went from 2.54 to 0. On the Baltic coast I was pushed back a single hex from the Narva River to the Luga. Panzers from Pskov blitzed north but didn’t make it to the Luga. German infantry moved up to regain contact with the withdrawing forces of Northwest Front, and Vitebsk has finally fallen. South of the Dvina, AGC did little except mass against my landbridge and Dnepr river lines. Dnepr forces are still not outflanked. Strong infantry stacks should be able to force crossing next turn - I don’t know why they didn’t try on this turn, TBH.

Southwest Front suffered the only major setback this turn. Vinnitsa and seven divisions were pocketed by the combined effort of 1st PzG. Four of the six divisions trapped in the hills southwest of Vinnitsa were routed (but not destroyed); two hold out for one more turn in the hills at 67,91. Southern Front lost only what they gave up in tactical withdrawals, and still holds strong on the Dnepr south of Kishinev. Pleasing results, all things considered. Axis is pushing but my defenses are slowing them down. They are still 50 miles from Smolensk and Odessa.

Vehicle Pool: 165k (48k needed), no worries. RailCap starts at 36374/151540. Reserved rail will be turned down if there is surplus this turn.
Manpower-3370, Port-138, Railyard-292, Vehicle-150, HInd-232, Oil-128, Fuel-149, Resource-196, Armament-366.

Arrived Unit list shows 7 divisions, 3 brigades, and 3 new Army HQs. Four Corps HQ were disbanded along with two NKVD regiments. Six air units upgraded to late model planes. One air battalion (10 plane) units renamed and upgraded to air regiment (20 plane). Next turn, ground arrivals should be 12 divisions and two empty armies. Turns 9, 10, 11 will have slightly more arriving each turn.

Key stats from EvLog production totals: 83.6k Armaments produced, 1362 vehicles, 312 aircraft, 109 afv, 185k manpower. About 750k armament surplus left after replacement phases. Down at the bottom of Event Log, Resource Status shows Rail at 100% - 202k free, 192k needed. This will be checked at end of the turn and possibly adjusted. 18 partisan battalions now formed, and 14 supply drops done from VVS airbases. Doesn’t look like any of them are actively blowing things up yet.

CR Battles tab reports 115 battles of all types. Only around 35 Axis recons; escort still on. 25 bombing attacks so the Luftwaffe is doing more. 35 ground battles across the whole front - biggest fights were near Vinnitsa with ~20k Soviet casualties. The fights up at Lake Jan were bloody, with Finns and Red army each losing over 1k men. Soviets can afford that. Eight interdictions by Soviets with minimal results.

Axis main-line rail repair progress: 72,30 (switched back toward Pskov). 68,56 next to Minsk. 70,61 S of Minsk. 64,88 nex to Proskurov. 73,105 E of Kishinev, right up to the Dnestr River front line. No change here , so a wasted turn for Rumanian Rail. Should I try to hold this section yet another turn? This would be risky as five German infantry divs are 50 miles north, and panzers are 120 miles north and should get decent supplies. ‘Twill be pondered.

Looking back at my Turn Six risks and expectations, I called things pretty well. Vinnitsa was pocketed. AGN panzers didn’t pocket anything but did advance toward the Luga line. AGC did almost nothing except stage - Vitebsk was the single ground battle in that zone. I’m surprised AGC was that deliberate. A clear weather turn with zero progress towards Moscow is a Soviet success. My Lake Jan line looks like it won’t be able to hold forever; he should be able to retreat one hex next turn. Maybe not though - I could disband the fort region, then move in another good RD. He’ll be facing 3 divs (or maybe 4 if reserves activate).

Oh, let’s check Hanko - still sitting there and isolated. Defensive CV down to 8.

Repoooort and spreeeadsheet time.. Two partisan battalions are at 50% or higher Toe and Morale, with four more at 45-49% Morale. Still watching to see when they start running around.

214 total infantry units. Average morale is 45 (flat), EXP is 36 (+2). A little better. Still at about fifteen RDs above 50 Mor+Exp.

Satellite map view for turn start. This pic emphasizes how slow the AGS advance has been in Ukraine - AGS lines are about 100 miles farther west than AGC and AGN.

Looking at Vinnitsa, I’ll be able to open the pocket but not rescue anything. Nearby units aren’t strong enough to successfully counterattack this turn. However, by moving forward a couple of units east of the pocket I should at least be able to isolate two PzD, and put the supply path of another 8 mobile divisions under Soviet ZoC. Choking supply to all ten 1st PzG mobile divisions will be a victory of sorts.

Pic below is an example for newer players of how to plan movements - normally this is all done in your head as you make mental plans before starting to actually move units, but this seemed like a great example to take a screenshot and put in some arrows.

Very nice example of showing unit movements and explaining using your ZoC to reduce enemy supply. Out of curiosity, could you have moved one of the infantry divisions from the northern most units you show arrows with ("10-12" stack) 2 hexes south to be just west of the SS Mot there to ZoC his supply through the north end?

Looking at it, you might be playing with fire around Vinnitsa. Not sure where all your units end up at the end of this turn but hopefully you aren't risking a much larger pocket especially since it appears he has his infantry moved up this far already. Fighting to break pockets and slow down the Axis early game can be a dangerous proposition so interested to see how it goes.

@redrum68 - Yes, I'll show the actual moves (and a couple of fights) later in this turn's AAR reports. You're right, breaking pockets is a high-risk endeavor, yet can reap rewards in stalling panzer advances, or even just allowing Soviet units to be able to rout the next turn.

I can see several places I’d like to build fort units - Kerch, then near Moscow and maybe Leningrad. Northern Front needs more divisions as noted last turn. Air unit spreadsheet shows about 20 fighter/tac and 10 bomber units that need reserve time. I’m not pleased by how few modern fighter/tac (MiG, LaGG, Yak, IL-2) I have at the front. I’m nowhere near even a local challenge over a single front command. Reserve should be able to supply 40-50 fresh air units, so slightly more than I need to rest.

Play continues the next evening, though it was a short night after I had a busy day medical-wise. I got the ground unit ToeM set previously; now I need to pull out air units marked for reserves, then recon and ground ops can begin.

Strategic plans for the Soviets are going to be a bit on the bold side this turn. I’m going to start with SWFront, and see if I can manage to isolate or at least hamper all the AGS panzers as noted in the pic a couple posts above this. If this can be achieved, then I can keep units in more forward positions in nearby areas. Specifically, the Kiev defenders won’t have to retreat as far, and I can hold the lower Dnestr River defense line (Kishinev south) one more turn - forcing the Rumanian attackers to assault across a major river and mostly into Fort 2.0 or higher positions. It will also delay usage of the Rumanian Rail Repair unit for another turn. Every rail hex east the Axis misses a chance to convert is worth a division or two to the Soviets.

Farther north, I may hold the strong line on the middle Dnepr yet another turn. Axis forces are positioned for an assault but did not attack this turn. I may change my mind if the land bridge defenders can’t be made strong enough but I think they can. I could trade space for vulnerability, but there’d have to be a withdrawal of 50+ miles to get my forces to another line of decent defensive terrain.

Northwest and Northern Fronts are going to withdraw a bit and consolidate their lines along the Luga-Novgorod-Valdai-VeliLuki line. A decent amount of my reinforcements will be sent to this zone. Pic below is Ground Losses screen at start of Soviet turn - this will give everyone a good sense of losses due to attrition and Axis offensive operations.

Southwest Front attacks west, and by moving one weak armor and three cavalry divisions (two of those weak) a complete isolation is achieved on six panzer units. The other four panzers, a bit farther north near Zhitomir, can’t be isolated but at least have Soviet ZOC impeding their supply lines. Axis interdiction was effective, stalling one cavalry division and forcing me to use a strong cav unit in a sacrificial attack. I’m trading off 4 or so mostly weak Soviet units for up to ~8 turns (they’ll reform if lost) to cripple six Axis panzer divisions for a single turn. Since it simplifies and strengthens my defense plans for the entire Ukraine, this is worth it. A closer look finds that I *might* even be able to pick a fight this turn on the ‘lucky’ 13th PzD, which if successful would isolate two more panzers. Comrade Stalin, should we...Yes, of course. Immediately, Comrade!

I think this attack is going to fail, as base CV isn’t going to be much over 2:1. Before I can even attempt that, I’m going to have to air-transfer in PVO forces from other fronts - most SW Front air units were beat to crap last turn and just got sent to reserve. All active NorthCauc and a few Southern Air units are transferred north. Once that’s done I have 250+ available planes, including two ShAP tac regiments. Ground attack results aren’t great, maybe a combined 120 casualties and 80 elements disrupted. Two AP are spent before the attack to transfer RDs, so all five I can muster are in the same Army.

The assault is successful, retreating 13th PzD, while vindicating Comrade Stalin and slightly surprising me. Soviet losses are nearly 2000 men, but five German tanks and several hundred veteran fusilier troops balance the scales. That is probably all for a short Episode 7 of Pick on Panzers. STAVKA is still pleased - most of the enemy 1st Panzer Group is completely cut off from supplies and reinforcements this coming week, and the remaining 13th PzD and 1st SS MotBrg have supply difficulties. Attrition losses on these valuable units should also be high next turn.

ORIGINAL: Shalkai
Every rail hex east the Axis misses a chance to convert is worth a division or two to the Soviets.

I disagree with this. It is worth far more than a division or two.

Normally this is a tactic available to the Soviets on turn 1 or 2. And at most that usually means sacrificing some units to flip the rail hexes back to soviet control so that the rail repair units have to spend a point or two more movement points to travel through them to reduce total rail repair. That I would call a big win and well worth the sacrifice already.

Here you are not only reducing rail repair by a hex or two but by whole turns. Translate this to where the rail repair would be on turn 16 or 17 - four hexes further away. Those are the four hexes that mean those Panzers will not get the fuel to encircle Moscow or your other objectives. In effect you have robbed one of the 17 summer turns of advance the Axis have. Quite simply this is massive.

You're right, Telemecus. Stalling the rail advance like this is way more important than I realized at the time. The Rumanian rail unit can only convert 2 hexes/turn, but I think they ended up stalled for two whole turns. Between that and the Odessa stronghold, this entire southern rail line out of Rumania is going to be a non-factor all summer and even beyond. Less supply reach into Crimea or toward Donbass, no redundant rail loop, Rostov probably unreachable in '41, and a single lucky partisan strike could cripple AGS for a couple weeks. Yep - stalling rail lines is a big deal.

After the strike on 13th PzD, I turn my attention to defenses. Most of my new arrivals this turn appeared in central Russia - the Kharkov/Orel area. Inconvenient for my needs in the north. Only a few arrived in the Urals so rail transport still has nearly 26k left. I’m going to work from south to north, using as few of those central arrivals as I can then rail what’s left to Leningrad/Novgorod.

NorthCaucasus Front gets one of the newly arrived Army HQ. The 49th Army rails south and will be in charge of defending the mouth of the Dnepr River for now, and later on Eastern Crimea. 51st Army will arrive soon near Sevastopol and become the other Southern Side-show Army.

Southern Front pulls back slightly on the right wing, falling back to the upper Yuzhny Bug River, but holds fast along the Dnestr line from Kishinev south. Axis forces will be able to advance 10-30 miles, but they’ll have to fight hard for what they get. Once they do force my line, I’ll be withdrawing all the way to Nikolaev and Ingul River. I manage to screw up and move the wrong stack, getting one of my reserve units interdicted while getting it back to where it started. Annoying, but fortunately I don’t make many errors like this. With no panzers in the area there isn't much to worry about here. Fort level is up to 4.22 in Odessa - it gets tougher each week that goes by.

Southwest Front can’t make very strong lines after using five of their good divisions to attack panzers and four others to isolate. East of Vinnitsa I have to settle for a three-deep checkerboard. I’ll settle for that since his mobile forces are going to be seriously discombobulated next turn. The middle and north sectors of the Front are in much better shape - Zhitomir should hold, and I don’t expect more than 10-20 miles lost on the roads to Kiev, which is already strongly held. No additional STAVKA reinforcements sent here (so far, anyway).

Up in the Pripyat Marshes, I've called out the deployment of the Long Range Cossack Group. Monty may have Desert for his LRDG, but Stalin has LOTS of Cossacks! The Axis has not moved any units all the way through the marshes so Soviets still have nominal control stretching west nearly to Poland. I've been eyeing this situation since Turn 4. I didn't have a spare cav that turn, and Turn 5 showed Axis ZOC extending into the marshes. Last turn they didn't complete the cutoff and there were no ZOC changes there in Axis Turn 7 as far as I can tell. So, this turn I rail up a spare cavalry unit and send them west. If GamerDad doesn't notice, then this unit could get near Brest and cut the southern AGC rail line running along the north edges of the marsh. Stay tuned to see if this gambit works.