This can't be right in a blizzard. I think my game is broken.

[AltCampaigner]

In this image, the army supposedly suffering blizzard penalties just smashed one of my Russian divisions as if it was made of paper.


How can this be right?

I played a game against another guy who was Soviet and I was Axis. And I wondered why he hardly attacked me during the blizzard. It was because he couldn't! The average CV for a fully rested Soviet Division is 5. About the same it was during the autumn period before the rain. Where were my Blizzard bonuses? Where were his blizzard penalties?

After one turn of combat, the Soviet CV's drop to 1. And stay there, easily counterattacked next turn. I don't get it. This is supposed to be a short window where I can can drive the invader back. But in 2 months of blizzard, I haven't managed 2 hexes in most places. Only by turning a corner can I do anything.

[56ajax]

Don't get me started. Welcome to my world. And most Axis players want morale bonus to play.

I had one Axis opponent who remained on the offensive all through the blizzard with Pzs in the front line. I got smashed.

To be fair though my opponent understood supply backwards and probably had 20 to 30 depots behind the front line filled to the max.

There is no Soviet bonus during the 1941 blizzard.

There are equal penalties to both sides in terms of attrition, frostbite and weapons malfunction.

The Axis has a defensive combat penalty where by defense cv is reduced by half in December, a third in Jan and a quarter in Feb (roughly) as a minimum, provided fort is < 2. But you have to attack.

The Axis has supply penalties but with 30 depots full to the brim the impact may be minimal.

There does not seem to be an Axis offensive penalty so the Axis would be mad not to counter attack. This smashes your army and reduces the chance of Guards creation.

[Wiedrock]

There are equal penalties to both sides in terms of attrition, frostbite and weapons malfunction.

At least AFVs in Heavy Snow Axis is much, much worse.

In this image, the army supposedly suffering blizzard penalties just smashed one of my Russian divisions as if it was made of paper.

The only direct combat affecting penalty Axis gets in attacks is the pre-battle DISrution.
The reduced CV of that is already seen in the Combat window.
Axis in your case got 1600 elements being dirupted out of 2700.
The DISrution should also cause the Axis to fire less since some patches ago (I did not test this for Heavy Snow DISruption myself).


And your Division is not made out of paper... but your OOB seems to be missing some paperwork.
...and therefore missing GS, SUs, failing rolls (not just in Combat).

And anyways.
This are 3x the Germans with 3x the guns and 2x the CV (even after Heavy Snow DISruption). So why would you expect a different outcome?

[56ajax]

There are equal penalties to both sides in terms of attrition, frostbite and weapons malfunction.

At least AFVs in Heavy Snow Axis is much, much worse.

In terms of damage to AFVs in Heavy Snow I cannot see any rule in the manual that is specific to the Axis.

[AltCampaigner]

And anyways.
This are 3x the Germans with 3x the guns and 2x the CV (even after Heavy Snow DISruption). So why would you expect a different outcome?

Let's see:
Summer uniforms... supposedly very worn out.
Frozen lubricants...
Worn out guns...
Broken down AFV's...
Poor rations and supplies...

I've read the books... the soldier's memoirs... Seen the documentaries... and not one dang thing points to large-scale counterattacks being possible by the Wehrmacht in blizzard conditions during the winter of 1941-42.

[Wiedrock]

There are equal penalties to both sides in terms of attrition, frostbite and weapons malfunction.

At least AFVs in Heavy Snow Axis is much, much worse.

In terms of damage to AFVs in Heavy Snow I cannot see any rule in the manual that is specific to the Axis.

8.6. SPECIAL WINTER RULES
8.6.1. First (Harsh) Winter Rules

• Impact on movement
  These rules apply in any turns from June 1941 up to the end of March 1942 but will
  have particular effect during the winter turns.
  
  • Resupply.
    When carrying freight, Axis vehicles pay double the normal weather movement costs. They also pay an additional 8 MPs for each Blizzard hex entered.
  • Rail System.
    When Axis trains are moving freight by rail, the MP cost for each hex is increased by 10 plus the snow level in Blizzard hexes. In non-blizzard hexes if the snow level in a hex is over 5, then the MP cost per hex will be increased by the snow level/2.
  Note that both these rules apply from 22 June onwards, just they become more of a problem once snow and blizzard conditions start to occur.
• Impact from attrition.
  These rules apply in any turns between 1 December 1941 and the end of March 1942.
  • Frostbite/Weapon Malfunction.
    Ground elements can suffer increased fatigue and/or
    damage (but not destruction) during the logistics phase if in Blizzard hexes or in hexes
    with snow levels of 6 or more (the more snow the more fatigue/damage). Support
    elements are much less likely to suffer fatigue/damage, while infantry type elements
    are more likely to suffer fatigue/damage.
  • Extreme cold
    ...will affect ground elements, aircraft and AFVs. Both aircraft and AFVs
    will be particularly vulnerable to breaking down. AFVs also have an increased chance
    of breakdown (damage) during combat when the combat is in a blizzard or snow level
    6 or higher hex.
    Units in protected hexes suffer less damage (protected in this sense is one of: a fort
    level 2 or more, city, urban, heavy urban hexes).

Errata: Undocumented rules: Axis units in heavy snow have their defensive CV
modified as follows:
Dec 1941 - /2
Jan 1942 - /1.5
Feb 1942 - /1.33
This is reflected in the CV values shown on the map.
In addition, once in combat, there are admin and land combat rating checks
made. For each failed check, the defence value is modified an additional time.
So a unit in Jan 1942 in heavy snow can have their CV divided by 1.5 up to 3
times if it fails both checks.
Errata 01.02.39 - Entrained units are no longer susceptible to first winter rules
Errata: Undocumented rules (First Winter Disruption): Non-Finnish and non-
mountain Axis units, in combat where the defending unit is in a heavy snow hex
from December 1941 through February 1942, suffer significant disruption at the
start of a battle. The amount of disruption reduces each month and is higher for
an attacker than a defender.
Errata 01.04.03 - Support units and reserve units committed to battle, now
suffer First Winter Disruption. Also, the start of battle CV values now reflect
the amount of disruption done by First Winter Disruption for all units fighting
in a heavy snow hex (used to only reflect this for attacker on-map combat
units). Some of this disruption may be removed before final combat odds are
calculated, per the previously undocumented rule in section 23.10.1.

[Sammy5IsAlive]

And anyways.
This are 3x the Germans with 3x the guns and 2x the CV (even after Heavy Snow DISruption). So why would you expect a different outcome?

Let's see:
Summer uniforms... supposedly very worn out.
Frozen lubricants...
Worn out guns...
Broken down AFV's...
Poor rations and supplies...

I've read the books... the soldier's memoirs... Seen the documentaries... and not one dang thing points to large-scale counterattacks being possible by the Wehrmacht in blizzard conditions during the winter of 1941-42.

Much of the stuff you read about the German winter struggles is referring to December which is where they lost control of the situation. By mid January the Soviet offensive was running out of steam. Model was put in charge of 9th Army in mid January and started counterattacking on a tactical level. The Soviets tried a large offensive around Rzhev in Jan-April and it failed to get anywhere, with very heavy Soviet losses.

It's important for the Soviet player not to see the first winter as being an "I win button" where they crush the Germans purely by virtue of it being winter and that being what happened in real life history. As Wiedrock has posted you get some heavy advantages as the Soviet player, especially in December. If you play it correctly against an over ambitious Axis commander you can cause some really heavy damage. At worst, against a conservative Axis player, it will slow down their offensive for a couple of months and give you breathing space to rebuild your forces. But this requires proper preparation and planning well before you reach December.

A few pointers off the top of my head

1) pacing your defence correctly during 1941 - you have to strike the right balance between maintaining a viable OOB (so avoiding catastrophic encirclements) and being sufficiently aggressive in your defence. There are two main reasons that mean that you need to be taking chances to be aggressive. The first is getting enough victories to get some of your divisions promoted to Guards. Whilst you can't build normal infantry corps until later in 1942 you can build Guards corps from the beginning of the year. Those corps are important if you want your counter-offensive to carry any weight past December (and will make a big difference to your defence later in 1942). The second reason is because you want to be able to put some pressure on your opponent to keep attacking in November. If you retreat too far/too quickly and they reach their objectives by October they will have more than enough time to stop where they are and prepare their defences. Ideally you want them to have to keep attacking after the mud freezes so that when the tide turns they don't have lots of level 2/3 forts to protect them from the weather.

2) getting a large enough force concentration. As you observed individual soviet formations lose their offensive power very quickly due to losses and spending their CPPs. It is worth noting that they same is true to some extent of the Axis forces - those two divisions that gave you a headache this turn will be half as strong on the offence next turn. What that means is that if you want to really put pressure on the Axis player you have to have a lot of force concentrated in one place at the start of December so that you can attack in force every turn of the month. If you have to stop attacking you waste a turn where you have the most advantage and give the Axis a chance to regain their footing and regain CPP to counter attack with. In turn what this means is that you have to take some risks in November in order to achieve that concentration. There may be areas of the front that you need to strip for good forces and accordingly give up ground and/or take a localised bloody nose.

3) OOB planning - you need to make sure that you are building and training up the units you are going to use in the winter. The two obvious examples are the ski support units and cavalry - both corps and divisions. Cavalry is really important once you have made a break in the Axis line - it has much more mobility than the infantry units and in my experience often takes much less losses when counter attacked. Artillery is really important as well as it tends to be less affected by the winter attrition and as it's role is not to provide CV it's effectiveness is much less reduced by CPP loss than your on-map units.

4) House rules - if you are playing open TBs an Axis player can send all their panzer units to TBs and replace them with infantry units which significantly improves their winter situation. I'd suggest either playing with closed TBs or having a house rule restricting them from doing this.

[56ajax]

4) House rules - if you are playing open TBs an Axis player can send all their panzer units to TBs and replace them with infantry units which significantly improves their winter situation. I'd suggest either playing with closed TBs or having a house rule restricting them from doing this.


Do NOT play with locked TBs. They get priority in terms of replacements and you are locked into historical events. In my game 2 of my locked TBs are at 180% at 100% TOE. Use a house rule like one in one out eg if you take an infantry div out you must put one back in.

[Wiedrock]

This has nothing to do with priority of replacements.
It's just the issue that TB values are not properly tailored to the actual/current game version's CV which the historical Divisions in the TBs have/should have/had.