barbarossa 41 supply

[jasonrice]

Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I am an intermediate-level player-- I understand how to play the game, but I have little knowledge of the "nuts and bolts" behind the engine like many of the posters here.

I am currently playing the Barbarossa 41 scenario as the Germans. It is mid July. In order to save my units for the final push to Moscow, I have been withdrawing spent units to the reconstructed railroad on the Smolensk-Moscow highway. I have noticed two odd things.

First, my units are not recovering supply. For example, I have had several armor units resting for three or four turns, and their supply has not significantly increased. Moreover, on the last turn, I actually think that my resting units lost supply. Second, when I view the supply, the amount of supply in the hexes reduces throughout my turn (i.e. the supply rating on rail hexes is "12" at the beginning of my turn, and "6" or "8" after two or three rounds of attacking.

What am I missing here? I understand that to model this campaign supply is a significant factor, but I can't figure out why my units are not refreshing.

[sPzAbt653]

Welcome to the Forum Jason!

Barb 41 does have some awful supply (as it should). Its the main reason that in this scenario you will lose (not that I'm the best player, but I've played it a bunch of times and have never won). But that's historical, so no complaints.

You can try playing with 'High Supply' ON (found in the 'Game Options' menu). This gives a 50% boost to supply levels across the map. However, a 50% boost to 1 or 2 is nothing, so not much will change.

Moving your units back from the front and letting them rest will not work. The numbers you are seeing on map for supply levels (you are seeing 12, in this shot you can see it has dropped to 1 or 2) are the maximum that could be delivered. This number is further affected by the Formation Supply Distribution Efficiency number (hit 'F' to display formation info when a unit is selected).

Supply will reduce as the turn progresses based on Transport Asset Sharing (seen in the Situation Briefing report). This number changes as you conduct normal movement and move units by rail (reflecting horses, trucks and trains being used to move troops instead of supplies).

It's a fun scenario to get the basic idea of Barbarossa. Good Luck

[jasonrice]

Thanks for the info sPzAbt653. I have played this game pretty consistently since I purchased it, and am amazed at the breadth and depth of the game. It still could be a little more user-friendly though

A follow up question: given the Transport Asset Sharing concept you have explained, would it help to replinishing my units if I a) moved fewer units, and/or b) moved my units a smaller distance? Or is it more or less impossible to replinish a spent unit in this scenario?

by the way, from perusing the forum, I understand D21 and FITE are the ultimate East Front scenarios. I'm just not ready to take that plunge yet.

[Oberst_Klink]

ORIGINAL: jasonrice

Thanks for the info sPzAbt653. I have played this game pretty consistently since I purchased it, and am amazed at the breadth and depth of the game. It still could be a little more user-friendly though

A follow up question: given the Transport Asset Sharing concept you have explained, would it help to replinishing my units if I a) moved fewer units, and/or b) moved my units a smaller distance? Or is it more or less impossible to replinish a spent unit in this scenario?

by the way, from perusing the forum, I understand D21 and FITE are the ultimate East Front scenarios. I'm just not ready to take that plunge yet.

A good alternative to FITE, D21 might be Rob Kunz's 'Road to Mosvow' series where the focus is AG Centre; divided into interesting and digestivable chuncks. Unit's are Div, Mot/Pz Div are represented in their Rgt units. It resembles the boardgames 'Panzergruppe Guderian'; highlt recommended.

kLInK, Oberst

[sPzAbt653]

...would it help to replinishing my units if I a) moved fewer units, and/or b) moved my units a smaller distance?

I seem to recall trying this at some point, and I seem to remember it didn't help much. You can test it yourself by picking a couple of units to monitor, then run the scenario for a few turns in hotseat without doing anything to see how much they recover.

... D21 and FITE are the ultimate East Front scenarios ...

As far as scale goes, yes. But as Klink said, there are many others that are good, depending what your gaming interest is.

[samba_liten]

Personally i am quite partial to Drang Nach Osten, which doesn't have any PO unfortunately.

[jasonrice]

Thanks for all the tips. I will probably have more questions in the future. An absolutely superb game, though.