Stalingrad to Berlin historical capabilities and play balance

[s2tanker]

I've been playing as the Red Army in the Stalingrad to Berlin campaign against a human player and, while I've played many other games over the past couple of decades that simulate the Stalingrad campaign -- just not this campaign on WITE -- I am shocked by the power and mobility of the Axis in blunting my attacks around Stalingrad while surrounding many formations. It appears to me that the scenario is severely unbalanced. Should Axis forces in the north be frozen for a bit longer?

The ease with which my effort was turned back makes me view this scenario as unworkable as the Red Army against a decent human opponent with the foreknowledge of what's coming.

Anyone else seen the same?

[SigUp]

tm.asp?m=3396973

Doesn't appear unbalanced going by this AAR. Tough to say what the issue is if you don't provide more information. Things like screenshots and a more detailed description of your/your opponents moves would be helpful.

[RedLancer]

The scenario set up allows you to encircle Stalingrad on T1 as the Soviets. As it's IGOUGO the Axis cannot prevent this.

You are correct the Axis player has hindsight so can fight to get 6th Army out and also withdraw quickly from the Caucasus. On the other hand the Soviet player has more freedom to attack the Italians and Hungarians. Finally don't forget that the Soviets launched concurrent attacks in November against Demjansk and Rzhev which prevented large numbers of reserves moving south.

[Cavalry Corp]

I have played the winter 42-43 scn twice
I played once with leaving 10 Divs at STGD to see how it went - soviets pressed forward but suffered an spearhead cut off late in the scn around the Italians
In the next one I only left 2 Divs in stgd - soviets advanced on a broad front.
Soviet player failed to close the pocket on turn 1 or 2 - he is quite cautious ad we are both inexperienced.

BUT if you get the panzers out of the pocket and can get them in reserve somewhere with good commanders then you do have a good mobile force for the backhand blow. 2SS PZC arrive in a while - those guys rock and I have them with 94 morale just now.

IRL Axis made a severe blunder. But VM did deliver a severe blow.

Rzhev - Soviets cannot break it in fact I have attacked out of it and North of it near Demjansk.

Demjansk - I found as Germans need to evacuate or they will bag a few divs.

[s2tanker]

I noticed that the Soviet Combat Bonus is set at "NONE" vs. the default of "ATTACK +1" -- is this enough to skew the play balance significantly in favor of the Axis in a human-to-human match?

[Blubel]

No, not in this scenario. If I remember correctly, the attack bonus only applies until April 42.

I played the scenario quite often from both sides and I think it is well balanced. Breaking the pocket repeatably is not as easy as it looks from the Soviet point of view. The pocket is designed to be breakable at turn 2, as otherwise the German player wouldn't have a chance and, WitE pockets being what they are, it would be wiped out by turn 4. Against a good player it is unlikely, that one can destroy all of 6th Army, but one can destroy quite a few divisions. I think that is ok, as 6th Army wanted to break out at the beginning and probably would have been able to get at least some of its units out. And, of course, with hindsite the German player is likely to do better as in real life, just as most Soviet players do better in terms of casualties in 41.

I have found that the following - more or less historical - approach works quite well for the Soviets:
The Soviet player has to keep the Germans occupied in the north, as they did historically. In my experience, most Soviet players don't do this, as they know Operation Mars didn't work that well for the Soviets and therefore don't attack much. Quite often they rail most mobile units south themselves. However, one has to keep the Panzers occupied, as you will struggle against them massed in the south otherwise. Also, while the fortifications around Rzhev are good, they are only one level deep and the infantry units are static. I think attacking south towards Smolensk is the best option to do this, as it is the only German railline towards Rzhev and they have to react to such a move. It will also cost them trucks. The infantry in this region is very weak. Another good attack spot is Velikie Luki and of course the Caucasus. Also one should hit the Italian 8th Army hard and with good mobile units, as in real life. But don't get the mobile units, especially the ones with good morale, to far ahead of your rifle corps, as otherwise they might get destroyed or routed easily. Generally try to get them out of the front ranks after turn 2.
It is also advisable to reduce parts of the pocket as fast as possible, even if you rout some divisions out. One should especially try to get the airfields out of the pocket. If that isn't possible, sending lots of fighters that way and bombing the start airbasis might help. Finally, don't try to advance to much, better to stick many rifle units around the pocket. And, of course, one should do lots of recon to see were the Panzers are.

On a sidenote, the German mobility decreases quite a bit after the first few Blizzard turns, as they repair only about 11.000 trucks per turn and way more are damaged or destroyed. Also, with the latest patch, the German rail capacity has decreased. Therefore, a railroad destroying raid might be worth the loss of a tank corps.