Back in the USSR

[Flaviusx]

You don't know how lucky you are.

Forgot to take screens of turn 1. Micheal T's opener is typically brutally efficient, although he didn't bag 10A in the Bialystock salient. Irrelevant, really, it'll die next turn.

The new setup for AGN is kind of nasty and allows for a much deeper penetration by PG4 on turn 1.

The south is in some trouble already.

So far as Soviet Marshals go, I got Voroshilov as a -1, -17, and he is awfully tempting to keep as a soak off for Stalin's paranoia. -1 isn't terrible. Timoshenko is 0,0 as always. Budenny is -3, -5.

I drop a minor garrison on Vilnius, play the partisan card in the center, send Khruschev to the center to replace Timoshenko, Zhukov to the south to bolster activation there, and spend my 10 PPs on putting the focus card in the south. I also play the freebie card for Stalin's speech to improve activations across the board next turn. Finally, I also play the freebie card to redirect 21. army, due to arrive in the center next turn.

I'm very likely not even going to bother trying to build the iron wall in the center. The staggered Soviet reinforcements make this much more difficult, as intended. Not sure where I will send 21. Army to. Probably south. But possibly Leningrad will need some help quickly if he can cut off enough stuff south of Riga and Dunaberg.

Next turn I will replace two marshals, Timoshenko and Budenny. Going to keep Voroshilov.

Praying that Zhukov is not delayed en route to the south, really need him to arrive next turn. There is a 29% chance he fails to arrive. If he makes it, I'm getting a total net +48 activations bonus down south next turn for the entire theater, so I can run the hell away and save as many regulars as possible. That's a strong bonus. Without Zhukov it drops to +28 net, good, but not maybe not good enough to offset the Lufwaffe. In that case, I will lose 26. Army.

This is the place where I miss not being able to monkey around with retreat priorities the most in the pre game turn.

[Flaviusx]

Just got turn 2 back from Micheal T, and was dreading opening it...but the news is good. Zhukov made it. And look at those activations down south.

[Iñaki Harrizabalagatar]

Have you noticed if the Soviets are tougher in this version as has been reported?

[Flaviusx]

I could run in the south...but this is too damn tasty. Setting up this attack on 9. Panzer and 25. Motorized divisions...

[Flaviusx]

Lol. Wasted 'em. Dosvidanyia, German scum.

But this is gonna cost me in terms of retreating SW Front.

[Flaviusx]

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar

Have you noticed if the Soviets are tougher in this version as has been reported?

Micheal T is the better guy to ask here, but the opener struck me during my own practice play as ever so slightly more difficult.

And Micheal T in fact had problems duplicating his prior openers, 10A didn't die on turn 1, as he has been able to do in the past. This is with no monkey business on my end.

So...I don't know.

[Flaviusx]

Final dispositions in the Southern Theater. I replaced Budenny with Shaposhnikov, who is a respectable 14/7 Marshal. Kiev is empty...that's kind of scary. I sent 21. Army to the northern theater.

SW Front is rather exposed. 12. Army is marching hard northwards to join them. I'm going to leave Zhukov in this theater for now, do intend to transfer him in the center soonish.

PG1 is badly mauled this turn and I'm hoping its fuel situation isn't good, either. Lvov continues to hold, although it should fall next turn.

In addition to killing those two divisions in PG1, I pasted 13. and 14. panzer divisions and forced them to retreat.

This bear has claws. With the command resources devoted here, I should be in good shape for activations next turn, too. Especially if the Luftwaffe goes away. Yet this is a high wire act, and I could wind up losing all this stuff west of the Dnepr.

Everyone is on 100% retreat priority here. I've got to soak his APs as best I can.

[Flaviusx]

I run in Romania. Odessa has 2 divisions parked in it, furiously digging in.

[Flaviusx]

Final dispositions in the center. I fired Timoshenko and got Rokossovsky clocking in at 14/18. Between him and Shaposhnikov in the South, that's a lot of threat. Stalin doesn't like the pros very much, does he?

Western Front doesn't activate and cannot run, which would be my preference here. It's not going to get away. And with reinforcements in the center dribbling in at the rate of 1 army per turn, I can forget about the iron wall. Not happening. That's assuming no further diversions. I probably will redirect at least one more army to another theater.

10A managed to survive one more turn, much to my surprise. Thanks, guys. They're goners next turn for sure, though.

[Flaviusx]

Final dispositions up north. 36. Motorized had cut off Riga and gets cut off in return. The pace of this advance is rather alarming. Not shown: 21. Army deploys in Pskov. Dunaburg will fall next turn for sure if Micheal wants it. He may also wind up bagging most of 27. Army in the process. I'm trying to get BMD out through Riga. Micheal will contrive to bag this whole ball of wax in all likelihood. Hence the reinforcements. I may indeed need to send more up here. We shall see.

[Flaviusx]

T3 North. Glad I sent 21. Army up here. Tallinn falls, presumably to the motorized division I had cut off last turn. It still had gas, evidently. Hopefully it doesn't anymore because Narva is quite vulnerable.

[Flaviusx]

In the center Micheal does his patented move into Polotsk-Vitebsk corridor. He also flips Orsha. This did not surprise me, he's done it before. Western Front fails to activate for the 3rd turn in a row. I drop a garrison in Smolensk, and a new army in Vyazma.

[Flaviusx]

In the south all armies activate. Unfortunately they can't quite get into position to attack PG1. I isolate them, but frankly I am not sure how effective that will be judging from what happened this turn in AGN. This could be very bad indeed. I'm forced to drop a major garrison in Kiev.

He's got to be running on fumes here. Right?

[Flaviusx]

Further south run away from 11. Army and the Romanians and get clean away with those troops, leaving a garrison in Odessa. Forgot to take a screen for that.

I also spent 8 PPs to change 4 armies in the south to neutral posture. I began the turn with 14 PPs, which is odd, because I had zeroed out the total last turn. Killing enemy units awards extra PPs, I guess.

Paranoia is getting high and I wouldn't be surprised if Stalin goes on a bender next turn. Otherwise I might've banked some points this time around aside from the garrison in Kiev. Too chancy.

[Speedysteve]

I certainly feel compared to WiTE cutting off units doesn't have the immediate effect. I find it's not until turn 2 that real effects begin to show most of the time....

[Flaviusx]

If I'm reading the rulesbook correctly, those cut off units should be limited to 70 APs next turn. So those guys aren't going far.

But I'm scratching my head over that motorized unit in AGN that got to Tallinn. It must have flipped control of hexes during the start of the German turn in order to reestablish supply.

I made a mistake in switching postures down south: forget this involves an AP hit in addition to the combat penalties. -40 APs next turn. Ouch. Shouldn't have done that.

But hopefully Micheal can't get too far either. He's got maybe 3 uncommitted fast divisions that are in supply. Most of his infantry is lagging. His logistics are getting very tenuous. How much longer can he delay a change of supply base?

[Speedysteve]

Hmm. I swear I've seen one of my Mtr Div's with at least 100AP after being cut off....

[Flaviusx]

Turn 4, July 4. Independence Day in the USA. A considerably less festive day in the USSR this year.

Up north my sense is AGN is consolidating its gains and getting ready for an FSB transfer. Not much activity here, just clean up. BMD is stuck in Riga, but he's going to have to send the big guns to clean that out.

21. Army assumes positions along the newly fortified Pskov line. I spend 5 PPs to divert another army from the center, probably in this direction. None of the border armies got away, unless you count a few remnants of 27. Army south of Ostrov.

Khruschev is on his way to the Northern Theater. Stalin is unhappy with Voroshilov's performance, and no amount of late night parties at Stalin's dacha is going to save him. He's going to be terminated with extreme prejudice. This will at least temporarily lower Stalin's paranoia, which is now at 40 and he's very much on edge and could lose his marbles at any moment.

[Flaviusx]

In the center the hapless Western Front HQ is destroyed, paralyzing that Front for good. Not that it had done anything of note up to this point. I play another partisan card here. This theater is now up to +6% on partisan activity. The enemy seems to be consolidating gains here as well and no real forward movement appears to have happened this turn. I expect Micheal will send his FSB to Orsha soon, if he hasn't already.

2 new armies deploy here, for a total of 3. New line is running roughly from Rhzev to Vyazma to Bryansk. I'm throwing up forts between the forest areas. You may consider the iron wall problem resolved, at least against somebody who knows how to plow through the Polotsk Vitebsk gap early on. Between that, the need for diversions in AGN, and the staggered reinforcement schedule, the Soviet line must naturally be made further back now.

With my other 5 PPs, Stalin gives a rousing speech, leaving 1 in the bank. Wish I had saved my PPs last turn. I could've have 20 in the bank and done something bigger like reorganizing the Red Army. But paranoia is the destroyer and this isn't a good time for such tricks.

[KenchiSulla]

Looks like he has sent his FSB to Vilnius...