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Hello,

I need some tips on Road to Smolensk. My last playthrough I had about double VPs over the Soviets on Turn 4, with my panzer groups N and S of Mogilev. I waited one turn (4) because my Armored formations were critically low on fuel and supplies and I wanted to catch my infantry corps up as well. At the beginning of Turn 5 I started trying to drive one panzer group across the Dneiper and another up between the gap in the two rivers West of Smolensk. Both efforts bogged down terribly pushing against dense groups of Soviet units and their ZOCs and I ended up at Turn 10 across the Dneiper and at the gates of Smolensk but unable to take any of the heavily held cities (at least 2 divisions dug in to 3 or 4 level fortifications) or close a pocket I kept trying to form between turns 6 and 9 that barely included Smolensk and a huge chunk of the territory to the South of Smolensk that contained 50+ Soviet units. I kept failing to seal it completely and the Russians would pull back a bit more each turn and encircle my penetrating panzer groups, making them fight through thick ZOC again.

What could or should I have done to keep my momentum going during Turn 3 as I feel like that brief pause might have been the difference, or should I have kept both panzer groups together and tried to form smaller pockets?

Tips appreciated. I think I did really well up till turn 3 or so, so I hope to have some success using a save from the beginning of that turn.

It's a tricky scenario.

I'd suggest trying to keep your mobile units together for a stronger punch, but a carpet of Soviet units can be very hard to dislodge. However, if you pocket all the forces west of Minsk on turn 1, the carpet shouldn't be very thick all across the map, so you do have some options. It all depends on Soviet dispositions, you should try to strike where the enemy is not present in significant numbers, but given the limited scope of the scenario and the strategic problem facing the Germans it's very difficult to win a convincing victory as the Axis.

Alonso has an AAR that got a minor victory, if he had got Gomel, that might have moved it up a notch.

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

It's a tricky scenario.

I'd suggest trying to keep your mobile units together for a stronger punch, but a carpet of Soviet units can be very hard to dislodge. However, if you pocket all the forces west of Minsk on turn 1, the carpet shouldn't be very thick all across the map, so you do have some options. It all depends on Soviet dispositions, you should try to strike where the enemy is not present in significant numbers, but given the limited scope of the scenario and the strategic problem facing the Germans it's very difficult to win a convincing victory as the Axis.

Yeah I was thinking once they linked up between Minsk and Moglilev I should have kept them together and just blasted a hole between the rivers to Smolensk.

ORIGINAL: BigAnorak

Alonso has an AAR that got a minor victory, if he had got Gomel, that might have moved it up a notch.

Ah I see that AAR. My thinking was I needed to keep my panzer forces seperated to have a chance of capturing Gomel and other objs in the south, but he did keep his together as I was thinking about on my replay.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Glad to hear I'm not the only who thinks 'Road to Smolensk' is a tough cookie.

In my 1st try I created a large pocket west of Minsk and captured dozens of Red Army divisions, but only managed to capture Mogilev before I ran out of time. Just couldn't punch through the wall of Red Army units around Smolensk and east of the Dnepr. Probably took too much time cleaning up the pockets. Next try wasn't much better.

Then I just raced my mobile units east as fast as possible without worrying about pockets, and it worked better. Captured Vitebsk on turn three and advanced on Smolensk. Got cut off for one turn but managed to relieve my spearheads in time. Took Mogilev on turn 5 and Gomel on turn 8. Battled through a gazillion soviet Divisions and finally captured Smolensk on turn 10!

Still suffered a minor defeat though.

Next time I'll try to take Velikie Luki too, that should at least grant me a minor victory.

Note that the AI will probably abandon Velikie Luki and Gomel (and maybe Smolensk) when you get adjacent to them with significant forces.

Henri