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Yet Another After Action Report

This time with Buzzs modded FitE, version 7 I think. I am playing as Soviets and all house rules are in effect.

My strategy so far has concentrated on holding the three major cities: Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. From previous games I know losing Leningrad is easiest, since it's a short way there plus there aren't many troops there. Losing Leningrad also causes a load of other problems, as it does free up another route to Moscow, releases the finns and releases a lot of German troops.

Moscow is pretty easy to defend since a lot of reinforcements appear there. Losing Moscow means losing the game, thus it needs to be heavily defended.

Stalingrad on the other hand is pretty far away to be taken in the first 30 turns. However I need to make sure the enemy does not gain a foothold in the caucasus, because that will cause a great deal of problems.

Now the first objective is to build a solid line, and then to reinforce it so that limited counter-attacks are a possibility. However, with the house rules certain units can't fall back as in vanilla FitE, and thus it's gonna be harder to build that line. That's why I went with heavy roadblock strategy in order to win time. I also tried to concentrate on making sure the axis have as bad as possible supply situation, so that when they run into my fresh units I have some chance of counter-attacks.
For the first 30 or so turns, the objective is quite simple: stop the Axis. And while doing so, cause as much casualties as possible.

Turn 1

Arctic Front:

Keeping Murmansk is the promary objective here. And that canno't be accomplished without reinforcements...unfortunately those reinforcements are not coming soon, so I have to delay and cause some losses here in the meantime. Unfortunately there isn't much space to be lost here either.

But luckily the enemy does not have a decisive advantage in manpower at here, so it's possible to even launch a few attacks to slow him down...maybe.

Northern Front:

As I said earlier, this is the hardest area to defend. There are not much troops in the baltics. And what little there were, my opponent pretty much wiped out. Scattered remnants of a few divisions are all that remain. And those that were able to counter-attacked. This means pretty certain destruction for them, but on the other hand it buys me time, and there's little else I can do with those units.

A few units are used to garrison Riga and Pskov, hopefully serving as strongpoints to slow down the enemy. The main defensive line is planned to run from the Gulf of Finland Lake Il'men along the Luga river.



Central Front:
Minsk. That's the city I need to keep right now, as it is a railroad hub. Keeping it for as long as possible means less suply for axis units. Blowing bridges and setting up roadblocks is main priority here. Wilno is another important city, but there aren't enough units to garrison it. I am withdrawing every unit I can(mainly artillery) but due to house rules all units stationed in 'Polish area' canno't leave. So they will sell their lives at highest possible price.




Southern Front:
Not a pretty sight. Luckily there's a good number of units here that can be used as roadblocks, so that when the enemy encircles and destroys one unit, he can advance 3-4 hexes before running into another unit. I've tried to set them up so that there's no 'free movement', every possible route is under my zone of control. That or then it's terrain that will use loads of movement points.

Currently I am strenghtening the Stalin line, but it won't stop him. Two strong points: Odessa and Kiev. Odessa can be hold for long if it is properly defended, Kiev will last only a few turns after it's cut off supply...but even so, they will slow him down and even more important wear him down.




Overall situation:
About 1700 aircraft lost. Loss penalties are 67 Soviet to 27 Axis. Nothing spectacular thus. Rail capacity is minimal, shock is way down for me...I've got units but no way to move them. Situation very bad...but it'll improve...hopefully.

Turn 2

Arctic Front:

Enemy advances and I try to bring in some reinforcement. Situation not good as the enemy is one hex from Murmansk. However I do have two fresh dvisions here that might be able to counter-attack. And the enemy seems somewhat exhausted.

Northern Front:

The few tank divisions that counter-attacked last turn were wiped out. Enemy continues advance towrads Riga.

Central Front:

The enemy captures Wilno and approaches Minsk. Plenty of divisions acting as roadbumps still, and those will hopefully slow him down a bit. Starting to build a frontline around Smolensk.

Southern Front:

The enemy is eliminating roadbumps and approaching Stalin line.

Overall situation:
Situation is just as desperate as last turn. I am waiting for the rail capacity to go up so that I can start moving my reserves.
Close to 1000 planes were lost again, and loos penalties are 95 Soviet to 33 Axis.