T110-The long road to Berlin - hooooper welcome

[rmonical]

Starting this at T26 as a counterpoint to my narrative as Soviet.

This is the old blizzard rules and from the Axis perspective. This will be my third standard blizzard as Axis (four if you count a blizzard against Bozo as "standard").

The campaign as Axis went fairly well (for me) until Hoooper cut off my raid on Vorenez and destroyed several PG 2 divisions. In November I tried for Rostov but could not get the city nor isolate any Russian units. That left PG 1, 17th Army and 11th Army far forward. The November battles were varied and complex I think that left Hoooper disorganized so the Soviet counterattack got off to a slow start.

[rmonical]

T26 - Center and south. The Romanian mountain brigades are in front of Sevastopol.

[rmonical]

T27: a few more Soviet attacks.

[rmonical]

T28: Pulling AGS back from the Donbas. Broke contact in the center. Preparing for a fight for the Valdai hills.

[rmonical]

T29 preliminary - Crimea battles.

[rmonical]

T29: A lot more combats in than in my mild blizzard AAR. Hard to compare because the Russians were in slightly better shape and Axis in slightly worse shape going into the blizzard. Almost all of the Axis attacks were against tank brigades.

IMHO, once the disruption bug is fixed, the automatic morale loss on any combat in the standard blizzard still makes historically unrealistic retreat mandatory for me.

[rmonical]

T30 preliminary. I think the image is self explanatory. Will be interesting.

[rmonical]

T30. The Valdai. Will I hold it? More experienced voices welcome.

[rmonical]

T30-battle summary.

[2ndACR]

If with normal blizzard rules, odds are no, your line will collapse anywhere you try to stand and fight. Have not tried the new blizzard yet, heck have not even reinstalled the game yet.

[rmonical]

T31: Main front actions.

[rmonical]

T-34: After an embarrassing turn which I seemed to have hit end turn prematurely, we are finally into February, I continue to fall back across much of the front but am fighting for the Valdai. I will try to hold Smolensk. His units are 10 hexes plus from rail and I hope it slows him down. The Crimea action is exciting. I hope to be aided by snow.

[rmonical]

T36 - all of the action is in the Crimea. First 46th Army isolates III PzK and V&Mtn Romanian Corps. After that pocket is procken by the timely arrival of XXXX PzK and fresh infantry, then LAH slices across to isolate 46th Army (temporarily).

[rmonical]

Blizzard is over this turn and I'll slow down on the updates. Crimea continues to see the major action though I did get an aggressive cavalry corps up north. The Valdai looks like it will hold.

[hooooper_slith]

Ah, I've just come across this, after talking to a friend in Bolivia. The Crimea was a disaster for me - I was much too aggressive. Also, rmonical played a very careful blizzard - all I could do was snap at his heels. The German's 42 offensive was brilliant, though. My opponent was very resourceful ...

[rmonical]

The German's 42 offensive was brilliant, though. My opponent was very resourceful ...

Not! I have screenshots and will post an AAR. Honest. In this game I am spending all of my time tracking German production.

[hooooper_slith]

Some problem with tanks, perhaps? I have a manpower pool getting on for 700,000 and I can't seem to get them into units. I'm sure the Red Army doesn't require a college degree for infantrymen

[rmonical]

In a complete break from Toidi's style, I go for a major breakthrough.

[rmonical]

Hooooper cuts of part of the breakthrough force, but the next turn I complete a thin pocket.

[rmonical]

T56: Hooooper opens the pocket. I close a bigger double pocket.