Soviet Defense advice needed

[gwgardner]

My game with Battlevonwar has reached a critical point. Here's the situation:

January '43

1) Neither of the Western Allies is in any position to give the Germans a fight right now, except in Iraq - the Axis took Egypt. It will be some time before the US has enough strength to launch any attack against the continent.

2) Soviets hold Leningrad, Moscow (partially), Stalingrad, Rostov, but in a grinding winter offensive the Germans are taking Moscow suburn by suburb.

3) Soviet armor and airforce is completely destroyed;

4) Soviets getting approx. 155 PPs a turn, war level 3, 45% social unrest, which is soon to go much higher with the loss of Moscow. I'm using all of that 155 PPs every turn just to reinforce the front, and to build 2 or 3 infantry corps and 2 or 3 divisions;

5) German war level is higher, I think. The Soviet infantry can no longer make attacks along the front, as they did in the Spring and Summer of '42, because the German line is much stronger now everywhere.

So, it looks like Moscow will fall by about Feb '43. I'm going to see a reduction in PPs then. What should I do?

1) keep holding that front, reinforcing my infantry and building more infantry?

or

2) start falling back with the infantry I have already, and put every PP into armor? But then I could only build like one armored corps every 3 or 4 turns.

3) forget any armor and infantry, fall back, and try to hold Stalingrad and Leningrad, even if it means letting the Germans cut the RRs between the two cities? and just keep building infantry?

this 1.4 revision makes the Eastern Front really interesting, but I suspect that my Soviets will not be able to hold beyond the winter of '43. I shouldn't have squandered my armor earlier in defensive actions.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner
My game with Battlevonwar has reached a critical point. Here's the situation:

January '43

1) Neither of the Western Allies is in any position to give the Germans a fight right now, except in Iraq - the Axis took Egypt. It will be some time before the US has enough strength to launch any attack against the continent.

2) Soviets hold Leningrad, Moscow (partially), Stalingrad, Rostov, but in a grinding winter offensive the Germans are taking Moscow suburn by suburb.

3) Soviet armor and airforce is completely destroyed;

4) Soviets getting approx. 155 PPs a turn, war level 3, 45% social unrest, which is soon to go much higher with the loss of Moscow. I'm using all of that 155 PPs every turn just to reinforce the front, and to build 2 or 3 infantry corps and 2 or 3 divisions;

5) German war level is higher, I think. The Soviet infantry can no longer make attacks along the front, as they did in the Spring and Summer of '42, because the German line is much stronger now everywhere.

So, it looks like Moscow will fall by about Feb '43. I'm going to see a reduction in PPs then. What should I do?

1) keep holding that front, reinforcing my infantry and building more infantry?

or

2) start falling back with the infantry I have already, and put every PP into armor? But then I could only build like one armored corps every 3 or 4 turns.

3) forget any armor and infantry, fall back, and try to hold Stalingrad and Leningrad, even if it means letting the Germans cut the RRs between the two cities? and just keep building infantry?

this 1.4 revision makes the Eastern Front really interesting, but I suspect that my Soviets will not be able to hold beyond the winter of '43. I shouldn't have squandered my armor earlier in defensive actions.

Buy a holiday home in the Urals. [:D]

First thought is that you need to turn PPs into as many units as you can get, as quickly as you can, armour would only help if you have plans (and the opportunity) for large scale manoeuvres. If your'e into a grinding battle I suppose you need to make your enemy fight for every mile. Difficult to say without seeing a map.

[baloo7777]

So, it looks like Moscow will fall by about Feb '43. I'm going to see a reduction in PPs then. What should I do?

1) keep holding that front, reinforcing my infantry and building more infantry?

or

2) start falling back with the infantry I have already, and put every PP into armor? But then I could only build like one armored corps every 3 or 4 turns.

3) forget any armor and infantry, fall back, and try to hold Stalingrad and Leningrad, even if it means letting the Germans cut the RRs between the two cities? and just keep building infantry?

My vote is for option 3 (sort of). Without seeing the map, I still think your best (only?!) chance of survival is to fall back with your infantry, while building as many Inf corps as you can. Sacrifice several smaller units (divs or reduced corps each turn to slow the Axis advance, and make him take a turn to finish off moscow. Territory is only marginally valuable...attrition is very valuable. Each unit you kill/maim has to take several turns to get back to the front buying more time. Attack with any favorable odds (but only if you can maul/destroy the attacked unit...especially german infantry). Armor, without infantry support can be allowed to go deep into your territory if you are able to cut off his supply. If the Axis moves at the pace of the infantry, you have succeeded in slowing his advance (buying time). The real part of this equation is that if the Allies don't wish to lose the war, they will have to attack the Axis, ready or not, and somewhere risky (to have the greatest effect). This will draw off at least some german armor/air power, and will begin attritioning the Axis. If this game/scenario doesn't allow the US manufacturing (PP's) to start making a difference by mid 43, then the game design is seriously flawed IMHO.

[gwgardner]

I'll probably do 3. Yeah, there may still be a slight impalance in PPs for the majors, favoring the Axis. But it's close enough now to make it interesting, for sure.

[Razz1]

First impulse ins Option 3

Your problem is the civil unrest.

What is your unit efficiency right now?

[gwgardner]

I'll check on the efficiency.

Wow, It's four turns later since the original post in this thread, and the fight is absolutely vicious all along the line. Neither the Axis or the Soviets can advance much, but the fighting continues. The Axis has taken another Moscow hex, but there are still two left in Soviet control. The Soviets have blown open the line where the Axis is using minor allies, but again, can't advance due to the weather. And to be perfectly honest, it looks like there are plenty of Axis reinforcements to plug the gaps.

This has the feel of what an Eastern Front fight should be at this stage in the war - still a German superiority, but the Soviets not completely down on their knees.

Battlevonwar seems to have elected to hold his panzers at the front, rather than pulling them back to Germany for a complete refit. All the panzers that are in contact are at 50% or less strength, except for one. I'm hoping that will make his advance in the coming summer much less. If only I had some bombers ....

[gwgardner]

Soviet efficiency around 130%. I was mistaken in the first post - the date was more like early December.