Saper (Axis) vs Tyrone (Soviet). (no Saper)

[tyronec]

T30 after recon.

12 new guards divisions.
Transcaucasus unfrozen.
Manpower in the pool has gone down 5k instead of up 20k so guess it will be used eventually.

Axis have made several attacks to open up the Tula pocket and against SWestern, all good as their attack values in blizzard are more penalised than for defence. Loss ratio was about 1:1.

Leningrad & NWestern. Axis have a few anchor points, don't think there is any entrenchment in between them. Will work to push through the gaps.
Moscow area. Have been pushed out of their line of level 2 fortifications so should get a good number of attacks along the line.
Tula pocket. Will try and herd the two 'red' divisions further East and seal them off. If I can make the other 4 attacks will possibly isolate the two 'green' stacks.
Will also push towards Kaluga with the right hook and extend the left hook further West.

Expect there another 3 or so panzer divisions coming to reinforce here but otherwise think Axis are short of reserve troops available to AGC.

SWestern. Continue to attack along the line and build up a solid front line.
Southern. Was expecting to see some of the Crimea reinforcements but no sign, so a chance to give the Romanians a hammering.
Crimea. Will follow up the retreat.

I see the front as being split between North and South. Axis have about 12 armoured divisions coming out of the Crimea, the next couple of turns will see if they will use them in the South or rail up through Smolensk so support the North which IMO is in more difficulties.

Am getting few partisans from Kursk and Sumy so will take them this turn.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Nice blizzard offense. But I have a feeling that it is going to get even more interesting in 2-4 turns. Just never let your guard down on Sapper is all I have to say

[tyronec]

Nice blizzard offense. But I have a feeling that it is going to get even more interesting in 2-4 turns. Just never let your guard down on Sapper is all I have to say

Not sure how much damage he can do with a stack of panzers in the blizzard, expect I will find out. Will not hold back on any attacks out of concern for where they might turn up.

[tyronec]

T30.
Leningrad & NWestern. 8 wins, with defensive CVs dropping have been able to push a stack forwards next to the rough terrain. Am sliding the two cavalry armies to attack to the East of Velike Luki where the terrain is more open.
Moscow area. 11 wins. Am past the Volga Reservoir which will opens up another line of attack.

Tula area. On looking at the position further thought I could do better than just sealing off 2 divisions.
First attacked from both north and south to squeeze the throat, and pulled back my ZOCs from the eastern most units. Some from these defenders from first attacks retreated into the pocket. Then closed off the pocket with the last 3 attacks, 10 1/3 divisions cut off.
Axis can easily break the pocket next turn but hope they will not be able to extract anything.
With a lot more units coming up then extended the threatened encirclement with both left and right hooks.

SWestern get in a few attacks continue to occupy empty terrain.
Southern make good progress against the Romanians.

Ground lossed: 15k for 42k.

[tyronec]

T31 after recon.
Half way through the blizzard. The pace of the attack is similar to the beginning of December, Axis modifiers are better but their front line units are losing some strength.
8 divisions promoted to guards.
No sign of all the reserve armoured units, only 1 committed this turn. They could be anywhere.
First partisan attack, just need one in the right place now.
Manpower pool is beginning to drop, guess they were building more heavy weapons the last few turns.

Leningrad & NWestern. Defences reinforced by a mot division. Can still push forwards.
Moscow area. Just a few attacks.

Tula pocket. Has been reopened. Am not sure whether to rout out the 7-stack and try and seal the pocket securely OR reseal it full sized. Will do my flanking attacks first and see how farthey are progressing.

SWestern. Axis have made 5 counterattacks, 3 out of Stalino (keeping their morale up). The rail line from Kirovograd to D'town looks vulnerable, guess there must be a line of units guarding it. Will continue to advance there and push down along the line to threaten the railway to Stalino.
Southern. Romanians looking very weak, no reinforcements.
Crimea. Axis holding their line, will attack and outflank.

[smokindave34]

I'd rout out the 7 stack to try and seal the pocket for good but I'm not as aggressive as others. Seems as though he has some fairly strong units trying to breakthrough there.

This is one WILD game.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: tyronec

Nice blizzard offense. But I have a feeling that it is going to get even more interesting in 2-4 turns. Just never let your guard down on Sapper is all I have to say

Not sure how much damage he can do with a stack of panzers in the blizzard, expect I will find out. Will not hold back on any attacks out of concern for where they might turn up.

Wasnt in reference to the PZ stack you are looking for. But whatever. Good luck.

[tyronec]

T31.
Leningrad take one of the two critical swamp hexes SE of Pskov. A couple of infantry divisions are ZOC'd in the hills.
NWestern make good progress, Germans have a reserve activation which loses !
Moscow area. Some progress.

Tula pocket. I rout out the 7-stack, so 7 divisions left. Just miss one attack that fails on a 1:1 result. Should be hard work for Axis to relieve the pocket this time.

SWestern. Reach the axis rail line, am interdicting it so AGS will get low supplies. My tank division converted to a brigade this turn, otherwise the rail would have been cut. Three new panzer divisions NE of D'town but west it was just covered by Romanians and I pushed back the cavalry unit. There is just the one rail line to Stalino.
Southern. Five good wins, the defence is crumbling. Had a 1.8:1 attack that won and was converted to 'scouted'.
Crimea. One push back, still strong German forces here.
Ground Losses: 24k for 45k.

[tyronec]

T32 after recon.

No more guards rifles, must be at quota. 9 Guards cavalry promotions.
My manpower in the pool is only dropping 10k a turn, could definitely done with more Armament Points. Is going to be a long time before am going to be building any artillery at all.
Ground losses: 7k for 9k.

Leningrad. Clear terrain in front, should be able to make progress. Am bringing up all available tank brigades.
NWestern. Will cut the rail line this turn.
Moscow area. A few attacks.
Tula area. The pocket held. Am inclined to leave it there to delay their regeneration and continue the attack. Not sure what Axis have covering the railway around Smolensk, will continue to send cavalry in that direction.
SWestern. My valiant cavalry division held off 5 attacks and got promoted to guards, the tank brigade was routed. So the rail line to Stalino is still obstructed. Three new German armour divisions arrive on the railway. Will continue to push down along the length of the rail line.
Southern. Also facing 3 new armour divisions. Will try to set up to attack Stalino next turn.
Crimea. Also spotted a panzer division. Should get one attack in.

Think it is going to be difficult for Axis to win from this position, even assuming there are no more major losses during the blizzard. Their army is getting quite a battering, think they have nothing being preserved during the blizzard. Have been averaging 40 battle wins a turn since December so morale and experience for STAVKA is going well. Their N/S railway is cut which is going to make the '42 campaign difficult; they probably cannot launch two full offensives in different areas because of the delay in railing troops around.
So they can probably manage to take Leningrad (which will be heavy going because my fortification levels are growing) and then attack around Moscow OR ignore the North and go for Stalingrad. Either way their lack of rail links makes my defence a lot easier.

[SparkleyTits]

Stellar work bud

[STEF78]

Well played against an agressive axis player... leaving such a hole in the center was a huge mistake!

[smokindave34]

Nice work! Seems like you have really battered Saper badly. Will be interesting to see if he can recover in '42

[tyronec]

T32.

Leningrad & NWestern. Good progress, some areas of the line are too weak to hold.
Moscow area. Some units thinned out to the NW so am making progress there.
Tula area. Take an additional 2 hexes from the relieving forces. 4 hexes from the Smolensk rail line, which is the only one to Moscow.
SWestern. Still interdicting the railway, though expect that to be cleared this turn. Otherwise get a few good attacks in.
Southern. Romanians are crumbling, however there are 3 armoured units there to prop up the line.

Ground losses: 16k for 38k.

[tyronec]

T33 after recon.

11 cavalry divisions promoted to Guards.
Quite a few Axis attacks, no particular damage.

Leningrad. Looks to be taking a risk trying to hold on to the last swamp hex.
NWestern/Moscow. Usual range of attacks.
Tula area. Pocket has been abandoned. A few screening units to block my drive on Smolensk.
SWestern. Several counterattacks, can still get through to inhibit the rail line.
Southern. Defences south of Stalino are weak.

[tyronec]

T33.

Standard turn, 44 ground wins.
Pskov should be cut off in 2 turns.
Still 3 hexes from the Smolensk rail line.
Have a cavalry division cut off near Kiev, however am still interdicting the Stalino railway.
Prospects of cutting off Stalino next turn if they don't pull back.

Ground losses: 13k for 39k.

[tyronec]

T34.

12 cavalry divisions promoted to guards.

Axis surround some of my extended cavalry units, am going to lose at least a couple next turn and probably more the turn after.
At the same time am close to pocketing Pskov and Stalino - crazy game !
Stalino rail line still interdicted.

Into February so more of my attacks fail, though still manage 48 wins.

Ground losses: 12k for 35k. during Soviet phase., 53k for 100k for the turn.
Air war is hotting up, 45 for 269 for the turn.

[Sardaukar]

There is slight potential for "Little Operation Bagration". Germans look bit overextended and vulnerable. Destruction of Army Group Center would be devastating.

If you can encircle both Rzhev and Moscow salients...you'd be in really good position for summer 1942.

[chaos45]

Honestly short of an amazingly disastrous 1942, you have this game in the bag at this point. With Mild Blizzard really surprised at the results achieved. Also surprised at how the German offensive basically did nothing the last month or so he had of time to conduct additional operations.

The huge gap he left in his center was a disaster in the making IMO, as it allowed you to flank his established defensive lines and forced lots of german units to move in the blizzard which is esp bad for the germans in the first winter.

Congrats and well played.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Honestly short of an amazingly disastrous 1942, you have this game in the bag at this point. With Mild Blizzard really surprised at the results achieved. Also surprised at how the German offensive basically did nothing the last month or so he had of time to conduct additional operations.

The huge gap he left in his center was a disaster in the making IMO, as it allowed you to flank his established defensive lines and forced lots of german units to move in the blizzard which is esp bad for the germans in the first winter.

Congrats and well played.

The HUGE gap along with +1 Soviet Attack. The +1 Soviet attack in winter is deadly with almost a guarantee the attack will succeed.

[tyronec]

There is slight potential for "Little Operation Bagration". Germans look bit overextended and vulnerable. Destruction of Army Group Center would be devastating.

If you can encircle both Rzhev and Moscow salients...you'd be in really good position for summer 1942.

Not going to happen - forces in the Moscow area are fairly equal and with two turns of Blizzard the balance of power will soon swing to Axis, will just do what attacking I can and damage some rail track.

Honestly short of an amazingly disastrous 1942, you have this game in the bag at this point. With Mild Blizzard really surprised at the results achieved. Also surprised at how the German offensive basically did nothing the last month or so he had of time to conduct additional operations.

The huge gap he left in his center was a disaster in the making IMO, as it allowed you to flank his established defensive lines and forced lots of german units to move in the blizzard which is esp bad for the germans in the first winter.

Am not sure but possibly mild blizzard with +1 gives Soviets a stronger offensive over the winter in terms of taking terrain though with less damage to Axis.

It is difficult not to be over confident, have to keep reminding myself that I need to go defensive in a few moves as am sure Saper will be ready to take advantage of any opportunities I give him. Somehow this game seems to make people think their armies are stronger than the actually are, a good simulation of history !