AshesFall

Thank you for the comments guys! Let me know if there is any interest from newer players in some discussion around the different moves and counter moves, strategies and failures of both players.

Turn 7 - 10 Early August I suffered setbacks in both the south and the north, I forgot the cardinal rule near Kiev, always lead with infantry into unknown territory. As a result, three light armour destroyed one of my Panzer groups. They were promptly destroyed in turn. Those paratroopers got away by transport ship, disappointing. Soviet strat bombers are causing issues in the north, making supply difficult. One corps of infantry fell victim to more light armour. Those two are my sole losses over Early august, and progress have slowed. This is pretty natural though, as the exposed and weak soviet units have all been killed, and the rest will have to be fought in more organized forms and in good defensive terrain. Nonetheless, there is progress. The counter attacks have hurt me, but as of mid august 20 light tanks are down, leaving four on the map. Some real battles are developing on both fronts. In the north this is the start of the battle for Smolensk and the approaches to Leningrad. That fight first raged around Vitebsk, which has now been taken. Will is, sensibly, attacking me where I am weak and have surged forward from behind the river. However, “weakness” at this point is a relative term. Two soviet medium bomber and one strategic continues to be troublesome, hitting HQ’s in the main. I am slowly consolidating and sending reinforcements to stiffen the lines. Realistically, I aim to take Smolensk. Ideally, I would like to take everything up to the Velikaya river, an excellent defensive position for winter. The south is falling. Will has made strong blocks of defenders around Kiev and Dneprotovsk, and I am somewhat slowed by paying careful attention to maintaining elite steps on my Panzers. Despite the loss of time this has proved to be an excellent move in the past, if you can keep losses to the first “11” step, and then rebuild it, you soon have a “12” step. And that’s when the panzers really get nasty. Even though the going is slow now I am aiming to burst through both Kiev and Dneprotovsk by the end of August, which will leave me September and October to have a go at the soft area behind where it is much easier to flank and destroy. The ultimate goal, optimistically, is Maikop and the Pyatigorsk-Morozovsk line in the South, and Kursk in the East. I’ve managed to build units more or less every turn, a corps on some, on or two divisions on others. I also elected to try the “Arctic Fox” operation for 90mpps. Yeah, the chance of success is really small, but the payoff if it succeeds sounds very nice (I’ve never actually seen it hit those 10% if the Soviets reinforce Murmansk). We’ll see if it does this time!

I'm pretty much the other side of the coin from Will. I seldom (it does happen though) surrender unless it is absolutely, definitely lost and there is no room to learn anything from the position. Also, sometimes my love of storytelling and the narrative that always develops while playing these games compel me to see it through regardless. Sometimes, rarely admittedly, surprising things happen and you can turn things around. I do think you can learn quite a lot from playing to the end. Practicing defensive technique and strategy, testing out tech and units you otherwise wouldnt. A lost game becomes a practice field, go wild! That said, I think SoE, along with many other of the WW2 scenarios, could use some comeback mechanisms for the Axis side. There are plenty of them for the allies, there has to be, but it would be fun to see the Allies get hit back and have to fight for it even once they get rolling. I have some ideas to that effect, such as a "fortress Europe" event that the germans pay for by turn for an extended period and that spawns fortifications early and an army group or so once allied units land in France, belgium or holland. That would also have several interesting effects, such as the Allies trying to look for alternate invasion points (italy looks like the soft underbelly eh?) and preventing "oh look, I'm doing amphib invasions with a corps and taking cities you dont have the units to defend" shenanigans. ^^

Turn 4-6, July I am resting and reinforcing units in stages across the map, attacking with some while paysing with others. The transfer of a lot of strength south is complete, and revealed as Will tried to build a position around Odessa that would have otherwise been very hard to break. With the newly arrived armoured forces, Guderian swept three armies and another HQ off the map in a turn. Another hard point is emerging around Kiev, and I am gathering forces before attacking. Leningrad and Minsk both fell painlessly, but it looks like Will is trying to build a line On the approach to Leningrad in the north, and to Smolensk in the east. Eight HQ have now been destroyed, half of what the Soviets start with. Two paratroopers bagged is also very good, with a third about to be. These can create a lot o trouble if the reds can save them and use them all in concert.

Seconded. I tried to play the WW1 scenario once, and after the tenth turn the CP AI was in a huge hole. PBEM is the way to go

Turn 3, July 4th (the last turn was June 28th) 1941 Will, going on the counter attack as much as he can all over, found my misplaced fighter. Crap! I tried to recon ahead of my forces, slipped and klutzed it up so that the fighter moved there instead. And then I found out I couldn’t reach to cover it. All I could do then was to cross my fingers. These are the kinds of mistakes that the Germans just cant afford, at any point, in this campaign. Ah well. Looking on the bright side I think will is playing into my hands with the counter attacks. Sure, I’m taking some losses, but then He’s exposing a lot of his HQ’s to counter attacks and many of his troops to encirclement and destruction. Despite everything, I’m well pleased. I’m setting up to start the second phase of the attack, shifting my attention to the south…

Turn 2, July 28th 1941. As expected, I did take some losses. Will, ever keen on the counter attack, threw away quite a few units, both directly and indirectly by leaving them stranded in low supply to hurt few of mine. One armour unit in the south got reduced to 2str, Schubert HQ near Pruth got hit down to 4, and a single Romanian corps destroyed. Not insurmountable. In return, A good number of soviets were bagged out of supply, and more hq’s destroyed or damaged. By hurting the HQ’s in the first turn, most of the counter attacking units were low on supply and readiness, and the effect was small. Here is the list of lost units so far, not bad! Then again, the Soviets get a –massive- boost when the great patriotic war kicks in, and all of these units will definitely be back. I have to do much more damage before winter. The numbers in red are significant, especially the amount of fighters and light tanks this early, which should hopefully mean less damaging counter attacks towards the end of 41. @ Hyazinth von Strachwitz I also like upgrading the Romanian infantry, I think it’s really about what you want to do with your 1st turn treasury of 400mpps. I find that you can either upgrade the units in the south, buy units, or invest directly into tech. The downside of upgrading is that it buys the Soviets a turn to move away from immediate danger, reinforce and consolidate. That might to some extent counter the advantage of upgrading the axis minors. I often find that I have too few units at end of 41 start of 42, as other demands and tech draw my attention away. That’s’ why I’m trying the “buy units first turn” route this time. If possible, I’ll try to buy at least one unit and invest in one tech chit per turn. Either way, I think that you have to upgrade the minors at some point, probably in some breathing room in between offensives.

Operation Barbarossa, July 22nd 1941 The start of the Scenario is a setup of the historical positions. From playing this scenario twice before, I know that the historical route is a difficult one. Last time we played this, I just barely scraped out a victory after managing a huge encirclement with a full complement of elite panzers. This time, I’ll try something different. Now, I’ll provide a first turn shot taken from the Soviet perspective in hotseat mode, and then one of my progress. I’m thinking that regardless of my ultimate goals it would be a large mistake not to destroy the Soviet frontline forces when I have the chance. If I leave too many of them alive they will certainly be back to haunt me. I’ve always favoured hitting all of the aircraft I can reach and the HQ’s, breaking through many units and then dealing with them behind me in bad supply. After a few test rounds in hotseat I came up with an attack I like. It aims at the total destruction of every single air unit the Wehrmacht can plausibly reach the first turn. Why this obsession with air you ask? Well, come 1942 and 43, the Germans have two and only two advantages left. Don’t trust the tech numbers, they are a lie. Soviet armies have intrinsically better stats than German corps, even with a one step infantry tech advantage, the Germans have the same statistics aside from Tank defence, which is one higher. Also, the AoC tech system makes two things very obvious. The basic progress amount is 2% per turn, no matter your tech level. This means that the 1% bonus the soviets get for “being behind” in technology is extremely significant, and will result in them catching up sometime 42 or 43 at the latest, especially if they manage an intelligence level advantage for even 10 turns or so (which is all down to the luck of the draw). This means that even your tanks will stop having an edge in technology by then, and your infantry will even be inferior. So what are these two advantages? Experienced troops and generals and a stronger, better air force. It’s a really good idea to make absolutely sure to keep the red airforce down as low as at all possible. So, aside from spending the first three or four turns destroying as many Soviet units as possible to manage the troop count, what is my general strategy? Well, at this point I want to have the armour in position to operate down south, and from then on my main focus will be to get as far as possible in that direction and take as much many as I can. I don’t really care about Moscow, Leningrad or Stalingrad, just those nice mines and oil fields. Eventually, I would like to be in a position to use the strat bombers I get by event to hurt the Soviet Ural mines. Then attrition, attrition, attrition. We’ll see how it goes! As you can see in the above pictures, my initial attack achieved my purposes. Getting all the air units really isn’t that hard if you know just the right order to do things. I took fairly few losses, and built three corps to join the southern thrust later on. Leaving so many units behind my lines means that I will take some losses on Wills turn, that is inevitable. I know from experience that I will soon feel like I have too few units everywhere.

Hello guys! This time around me and Will are taking our perpetual fighting (very good natured in real life, if not in the game) to the East Front. Together with the WWI scenario this is the one we really like. The scale of the map and the scope of the fighting are both very good. Since I’m a bit worn out after two full length AAR’s (check out the ones in the WW1 forum if you haven’t already) this one will be a bit more periodical and cover lengths of time and larger events. I’ll be commenting a bit on strategy, thoughts on the campaign, and provide some pictures for your viewing pleasure ^^ I hope you have as much fun reading this as I do playing!

After this turn Will messaged me and surrendered! Allied Victory! I also realized I missed the fact that southern forces could escape through the sevastopol peninsula and straits. *facepalm* Oh well, live and learn! Hope you guys have enjoyed this AAR as much as I enjoyed playing the game!

Turn 59-60, September 1943 By the end of September, operation “Red Sun” had trapped and destroyed much of the German Southern front. Zhukov had closed his fist on Rostov, with only a few kilometres left that the Germans fought desperately to keep open for supplies to reach the remains of the armies retreating that way. Konev had secured the area around Moscow, and was moving a massive army group south towards Kursk, Voronezh and Kharkov to link up with the Southern front. The CAA had suffered repeated lessons in armoured warfare with each and every engagement between allied and axis armoured forces. The 2nd US armour had been utterly defeated outside Pristina along with the Macedonian army, and it looked like the advance may stall indefinitely. This changed with the arrival of General Eisenhower, who took immediate and direct command of the CAA. Within the month, efficient air support doctrine under command of General Bradley served to hunt and destroy axis armour formations, while allied tanks were to engage infantry and attempt to avoid any heavy AT concentrations. A static line was implemented as a defence against axis forces in Yugoslavia while a massive uprising bloomed and captured the city of Banja Luka, and two distinct Army groups under Eisenhower personally and interim general O’Connor struck into Romania. After being mired in Greece for most of the year operation “Burning Fields” had begun at last. Moscow forces moving south to link up and start pushing towards Kiev/Dneprotovsk. Unfortunately I failed to close the line entirely around Rostov, but unless Will has significant forces ready to the west It’s only a matter of time. I’m happy to have reclaimed all of the southern oil fields and to have solved most of my own sticky supply issues with the capture of Stavropol. I’m not sure how many Germans are left, or how many managed to escape by way of Rostov, but with any luck I’ll be able to bag the rest of them. I’ve taken a few nasty hits in Greece with American and British armour going down to German panzers. The airforce is devastating though, taking out an armour group more or less by itself. I finally managed to shift the majority of the offensive forces into Romania, and there are more US armies and armour coming if the Yugoslavian front should be in trouble.

Turn 58, August 20th 1943 The unexpected weight of the Soviet offensive continued to force the Germans stumbling back, breaking through the lines and engulfing entire armies behind its advance. Zhukov fought a desperate struggle around Rostov to keep the way out closed, and the Wehrmacht could not find its footing… In the Mediterranean, the aftermath of Italy’s’ last naval sortie played out with cruisers sunk by the largest concentration of allied naval power in the area since operation Spartacus. In Greece and the Balkans German pressure steadily increased, but the CAA was slowly sorting out its initial supply and reinforcement problems… Timoshenko and Konev consolidates the area surrounding Moscow and gather the front before continuing forwards. The south is still chaotic, Will does like to continually surprise me by throwing away armour groups hoping to get HQ kills. Zhukov survived at 1 str, but even if he hadn’t I would have been cool with destroying another Armour group here on low supply. I’m going the other way around, trying to withdraw damaged armour off the line to reinforce. Fighters are surprisingly effective against ground units, at least in low readiness and low on str. I lost one tankovy army though, lvl 2 tacs wiped it from the map. Despite that, my losses have been much lower than expected, two or three armies and one armour group so far. Manstein went down, and with any luck four German armies will soon be destroyed for few losses, The picketed units are still at 55-75% readiness, but without HQ influence and at supply 0 that should drop quickly. I’m starting to get the supply issues in Greece under control so I can complete reinforcements. I hope the CAA is stabilizing. I just sort of wanted to point this out again, the doctrinal difference between me and Will is very evident here. I concentrated on two key units and reinforced and waited with the rest until German readiness is down and I can destroy them with fewer losses.

Thank you guys! Though I dont think we're completely our of the woods yet. As this game has shown until now, its not over til its over! I think it was really a combination of things, both Norway, Greece, and that I hung on to Stalingrad.

Turn 57, August 6th 1943 The initial stage of “Red Sun” was a large success for the red army, and a much needed one for both morale and the continuation of the offensive. While the German southern front proved numerous and skilled on the counter attack, it failed in turning aside the deep armoured thrust between Pyatigorsk and Gerigiyevsk and in breaking Zhukovs hold on the Rostov rail junctions. No reinforcements would be arriving by train, and Mansteins army group Caucasus was trapped deep in a soviet pocket. During this offensive, the Red Eagle airforce proved its worth in countless sorties that savaged German panzers at every turn. While the Soviets enjoyed success on both fronts as Moscow was taken and consolidated without resistance, the CAA faced serious trouble. The German counter attack shattered the 2nd US armour group, and threatened the Romanian flank. The Italian navy made its last foray truly effective foray. Having built a battleship on secret, the very state of the era, an aircraft carrier and having refitted its old cruisers, the Regia Marina struck deep towards Crete. Contacting the Hughes destroyer group and sinking it. Despite the Italians technically superior ships, the pure numbers of the Combined allied navy in the area proved telling and in a swift response the “Roma” was sunk in a fierce clash on the waves. Well, Moscow has been recaptured, and I’m taking a moment to let the army catch up and consolidate. This is where lacking Motorization is painful, but on the other hand that has also let me buy a lot more units as motor is very expensive. The combined arms approach worked wonders this turn, with artillery and tanks destroying a special forces unit, and planes and anti tank units hurting a german armour badly enough to let a soviet tank finish it. It still got seriously hurt, down from 10 to three hitting a german panzer at 7, but I got it! As an extra bonus, Manstein was caught and mauled. With any luck that will now mean low supply and certain destruction for an army group worth of units. Will just barely failed to destroy Zhukovs forward armour at Rostov, and I sent units force marching to occupy the rails. I don’t want any German reinforcements railing here. I'm also pretty happy that the germans failed (just) to destroy any armour groups. They were badly mauled though, and wont be back until turn after next... Greece is very congested and supply continues to be an issue. Eisenhower arrived with another army and artillery. Losing an American armour group, the only ones who can compete with the germans at equal tech, hurt though. This turn showcases a large doctrinal difference between me and Will. Mostly, I prefer to concentrate forces to make sure I kill one or two units entirely. Will on the other hand likes to spread the damage around in situations where the fighting is relatively even. I’m not sure either is really better, as continuous casualties really saps readiness and morale and takes time to replenish. I like to take as few hits as possible on the attack, concentrating down a few targets usually with arty or something to help. I do attack a bit spread with units who cant contribute to the concentrated attacks, and that have at least 1-3 attack odds, or when absolutely necessary like in Greece and around Rostov just now, to slow down armour units or an offensive until reinforcements arrive. I guess its mostly a matter of preference! Excuse the rambling.

Turn 56, July 23rd 1943 July saw STAVKA launching the plan drawn up by General Zhukov. “Operation Red Sun” struck an unprepared Moscow, caught a Romanian Headquarters in Rostov while cutting the rail, and saw a massive frontal assault in the south. The result of this offensive would shape the course of the war in a definite manner. The Allies were experiencing problems in Greece, with German armour hitting forward American forces hard and defeating them in detail. Bad supply and rough terrain made offensives difficult, but the main goal of the CAA had already been accomplished, drawing much of the Wehrmacht from the eastern front. Looks like my cheeky partisan shenanigans pulled one of the defending corps off Moscow, Soviet tanks rolled right into the city! I should at least be able to take it, then we’ll see what the response will be. The southern front was a bit tentative to be honest. It seems the German forces withdrew, and I am not sure how many are around Stavropol. I only destroyed a single armour unit, attacking head on into those elite steps is suicide. Better to try and block and contain stragglers. Greece is getting really sticky, most of the allied units here are in pretty bad shape readiness wise, and they take forever to replace with the transport times. The strong air arm in the area is my one saving grace, and it helped a lot in defeating the german armour that struck and destroyed an American army. More units are coming steadily, but not in any huge mass. A nice success research wise, Americans got heavy armour 3, and the British lvl 2. Lets keep at it!

Turn 55, July 9th 1943 Disaster struck the combined allied navy as they fought to blockade German forces in Norway. Both the Courageous and Glorious carriers sank as the kriegsmarine launched a brilliant ambush. Luftwaffe forces flew high enough to avoid entanglement with carrier air, and reported positions. The graaf zeppelin launched a flight of fighter bombers, while packs of submarines and destroyed snuck out from the fjords and straits of Benelux and Norway. The fighting raged fierce in several battles around the sounds and the North sea, with heavy losses on both sides. The axis forces struck from Romania as well, causing limited damage but threatening the allied positions. Meanwhile, the red army was finally ready to begin moving… Double crap. Those submarines I’ve been chasing all over the seas turned up and sank two carriers! Not good at all. With any luck I will be able to maintain the blockade however, and the Kriegsmarine is down to 8. These are probably mostly submarines, with one of them stuck in the black sea and at least two around the North sea and one in the English channel. That leaves four unaccounted for. Will might have forgotten about all the forces that retreated from Moscow and Leningrad, but I certainly have not! I’ve built a new army group here, which will soon attack Moscow. I set the wheels rolling in the south, We’ll see what will does, and how strong his forces really are. The Tac bombers seem to have left for elsewhere. Some of my planning for the summer then. The Northern Front under Konev will attack Moscow, and if successful, keep attacking down the line until it reaches the Kiev/Kursk/Dneptotovsk area. Then We’ll see, it depends on how everything else goes. In the south, I aim to cut off and destroy the forward German forces. Even if this fails, Zhukov has returned and will lead a weaker army group (1 or 2 tanks, four armies) against Rostov. With that rail link cut, the southern German army group will be cut off from reinforcements and I should hopefully be able to overwhelm it. The Allies will keep trying to push out of Greece and the Balkans. The Germans are here in strength now, and it will be difficult, especially as the Brits are rather technologically retarded. The final goal of the Balkans campaign, whether this summer or the next, is to topple all the axis minors, liberate Yugoslavia and ultimately reach Vienna with one army group and push out from Romania into south Russia with the other. Meanwhile, I will continue to do my best to deprive Will of resources, bombing Europe, attacking Narvik port and Norweigan mines with carriers, and throwing some diplomacy at Sweden. Game on!

Turn 54, June 18th 1943 As summer of 43’ crept around, the fighting intensified. The Royal Navy, stung by the loss of comrades ashore, located and destroyed two German air wings with precision off shore shelling and a coordination of several carriers. With air cover gone, the stranded German forces were vulnerable to attack. In Soviet, the stage looked set for another titanic clash. Carriers. Holy ****. Anyway, I located a tac and a fighter around Kristiansand in Norway. Will had left them by the coast, probably by mistake, and I shelled them with the navy and flew a full four carriers worth of strikes at them. Both went down, and the HQ was damaged. German paras jumped ashore unharmed, not much to do about that! I suspect the low readiness and str of the air wings helped, along with the fighter being lvl 0. Either way, a nice win! Five flights of the Red Eagle Air force couldn’t quite manage the same unfortunately. The German tac was only damaged, I don’t quite know how much. I got four “hits” so it might be pretty low. Buildup here is almost complete, and the armour has been upgraded. Something of a troubling situation is Brewing in Greece. The German army group has now taken up stations along the Romanian border and I’m not quite sure how much of an army there is. I will find out shortly I suspect. There is also a buildup around Belgrade.

Turn 53, May 1943 May of 1943 was quiet on all fronts. The Axis prepared for new offensives, the Soviets their defence. The CAA consolidated gains and set upp lines for supply and reinforcements. North. Empty. Gone. The South is a lot more lively. Buildup is continuing. I kept Rokossovsky deep in the Caucasus to draw the German line thinner if Will strikes this way, easier then to break it with the southern front gathering around Stalingrad. Also, last I saw will didnt have adequate fighter cover for his tacs near Stavropol, so I've moved all air assets into range to strike those tacs. I have some difficulties with supply in the Balkans, so I spent the turn arranging things so I can receive replacements. Will is backing away in Yugoslavia, and I just might try to take Belgrade. American intelligence shows buildup of a German army group in Romania. The plan is to (perhaps) strike Belgrade and then shift the majority of forces towards Romania, leaving a smaller battlegroup moving towards Hungary. We’ll see how it goes. USSR got a hit on armour, so lvl 3! With luck this might mean armour as well as infantry parity during the better part of fighting in 43, unprecedented to this date!

Turn 52, April 1943 The 14th of April will always be a day of mourning in Britain. On this day, the last of the B.E.F army surrendered in Oslo, faced with German armoured forces. Most of these captive survivors would never make it back home. The Royal Navy, just days late, arrived in the Kattegat sound and blockaded the German forces. They would not escape to trouble the mainland… This tragedy overshadowed successes in the Balkans. Skopje fell, a German armour group trapped behind the lines destroyed, and fleeing Germans encircled and captured on the Road to Nish. In soviet, nothing had changed… it still teetered on the brink of collapse, receiving yet another shock as Finland joined the war on the side of the Axis. Boldly brave sir Stalin, rode forth from… ahem. Running away. Yep. No I didn’t! I never did! Rokossovsky sent two corps to recapture Grozny and its oil fields from the retreating Germans, its more of a consolidation however. It seems like will is set on breaking the Union this summer, and it will be in the South. Buildup on both sides! I really didn’t think Will would sacrifice his armour here to damage my HQ, but he did, and will slow my move into Romania slightly. Nevertheless, a tank group and two armies destroyed out of supply is no mean prize! Despite the loss of two armies here, in total I believe I have come out well ahead. Counting transport costs for HQs and Armour as well as lost convoy income. I saw will moving all his tacs to soviet (I think its all of them, two moved to the south and one appeared in the north), and moved the fleet in to blockade the port of Oslo. Now I just have to keep an eye on Kristiansand as well. Any time extra that it takes for Will to get that armour and HQ back to Europe will be a win. Besides, I have already thought of another way to deny him those convoys…

Turn 51, February and March, 1943 Military operations crawled to a near standstill during the first part of 1943. Even the German army made little headway in Soviet, despite thin opposition. The CAA made little more progress, capturing an undefended Nish and disrupting local German headquarters. For the most part, manoeuvres aimed to prepare larger action in spring. The retreat of the tattered Northern front continues. I’m hoping to save three armies and the tank group, along with HQ’s. That can be building blocks for a new force later on. Wills attack left three armies cut off and pretty much encircled. I stirred the pot a bit and sent Rokossovskys army group forward, setting up for attacks next turn. A scouting expedition towards Nish found it empty, and a route to the German HQ open. By encircling the city I’m hoping to push Will into a retrat. Skopje is a great defensive wall, and I plan to use it. Of course I’ll happily capture all the ground I can, but the stronger arm of these forces will be heading to Romania.

Turn 50, January, 1943 In freezing cold and snow the Wehrmacht and the Red army continued a bitter war of survival. A large and well executed strike at Vatutins southern army group saw much of it seriously damaged, and the HQ forced to retreat hastily. Rokossovsky continued to build his forces in Baku, readying an opportune advance. The North saw further retreats and casualties, with desperate men freezing, starving and dying. The British defenders of Oslo wavered under the assault of an entire Fallschirmsjaeger army group. Intelligence revealed German armour in the area. Home opinion grew steadily against Churchills decision to leave the men behind, and pleas were made to bring at least some of “our boys” back home alive. As the CAA (Combined allied army) rested and refitted it became clear that no relief was coming to the Bulgarians as German forces withdrew into the mountains around Skopje. Betrayed by their axis overlords, Bulgaria surrendered. The road to Romania lay ahead. More damage done on the northern front. I’m definitely outnumbered and outclassed here, and I cant do much aside from withdrawing. I’ve decided that it might be worthwhile to try and save some of these troops, a threat in being somewhere here could be useful. To that end, I’m pulling forces from the area and starting a slow move towards Tikhvin. I’ll place some defenders in and around Leningrad, at least it will take a turn or so to go down. Will made a very successful attack here, no doubt he got tired of my backline harassment. Vatutins HQ got badly hurt, and as a result many of the armies here are in very low supply. We’ll see if I can manage to save them. I upgraded and reinforced the CAA, and Bulgaria surrendered supplying the British with much needed MPPs.

Turn 49, December, 1942 As the year drew to a close the allied forces fought their way to Sofia. Constant air cover escalated into a furious bombardment, and the Bulgarian capital fell on the 12th. The Wehrmacht knew that time was of the essence if their allies were to stay in the war. Equally furious fighting on the approach to Skopje saw the 1st Canadian armour division and the Royal marines badly mauled, and German special forces soundly defeated. The soviets used the bad weather and stretched enemy supply lines to conduct harassment tactics, an annoyance, but not yet a true danger to the invader… My forces are getting badly mauled in the North despite the weather. Bad supply and operational difficulties make defence impossible, though it will also hopefully stall attack. I’ve decided to try to withdraw, and leave obstacles in the Path. Having two HQ’s, an armour unit and some Armies around somewhere in the North can be a useful distraction. It annoys me that I could not hold anywhere on the map, and especially here where I would have very much liked to prevent the entry of the Finns. More successful guerrilla tactics in the south. Georgiyevsk was temporarily recaptured by armed militia as German armour left the city to recapture Pyatigorsk, and I even got a corps in to hit Kuchlers HQ! Any trouble I can cause with supply will chip away at that superior readiness of the Germans. The real win of December was in the Mediterranean theatre. As I sat around planning I took a better look at tactical air support properties and realized that their de-entrenchment is as high as 2. Strikes with the three I have reduced the defended unupgraded corps in sofia to 0 entrenchment and 8 str, and then it was fairly easy prey for American tanks and British armies. Unfortunately they didn’t surrender straight away so I can probably expect a German attempt to retake the city. In other news, the US developed heavy armor lvl 2, and the Soviets infantry weapons lvl 3. That means an end to that disadvantage going into 43, which is nice! The US is catching up in tech fast, lvl 4 intelligence does help… A slightly more worrying development is italian deployment of an aircraft carrier...

Yup, thats the plan!

Thank you! It does inspire a bit of hope in the face of all those soviet defeats Turn 48, November 20th, 1942 Winter would put an end to effective military operations, and the allies strove mightily to make land gains before then. US tanks, advancing up the valleys towards the Sofia were attacked by the 2nd panzerjaeger, suffering significant losses. Half of the US armoured forces withdrew the rest received reinforcements. Coordinating with Allied forces advancing between Monastir and the mountains, the Germans had to fall back or risk being cut off in the rough terrain. American forces took up the chase and with the help of heavy aerial bombardments destroyed the enemy. The Greek army, supported by British commandoes and tanks brushed aside weak Italian forces in Durazzo, captured Scutari and outflanked skopje to encircle and defeat the Hungarian 2nd army. Despite these gains, the advance towards Sofia stalled. In Russia, Vyshniy Volchek fell to advancing Germans, the Path to Leningrad through the swamps and wetlands of northern Russia lay open and Timoshenko fought on alone in fruitless attempts to block the German advance through Velikiye Luki. Will is advancing quicker than I’d like toward Leningrad, and I deployed a few reinforcements to see if I can block him for a while at least. I’ve been looking a lot at the map, and I might try to simply withdraw northwards instead and preserve the troops. I haven’t decided, but the window is definitely closing fast with the Germans approaching Novogorod. This time the random retreat roll went my way, and the troops guarding the railway line evacuated and left it open for capture. A lot of German forces are converging here, and I might shortly have to either withdraw of attempt to push out and combine the two army groups. Greece is going forward, albeit slowly. German armour and more and more German armies are arriving, so at least I’m succeeding in drawing them here. I’m building tac bombers and armies in the US, I cant fight German armour in any particular number directly, so I need the support of a strong air arm.

Turn 47, October 23rd, 1942 The allied advance continued throughout October, closing in on Sofia and defeating a german army in the field. Likewise, Tirana was taken from the Italians. Despite these successes, more and more of the Wehrmacht deployed to the region, and further gains would come at cost… Vatutin continued his efforts to break the rail link between Grozny and the main body of the axis forces. Significant reinforcements now flooded the Baku area, and the link severed near Georgiyevsk. As you can see, the situation is pretty precarious in the North. If I can keep the Germans away until the summer of 43’ I will be pretty happy. Things may of course change, depending on Wills commitment to the area. If he seems weak here an offensive buildup might be in order, but I figure he will drive hard to take Leningrad, and I wont be able to stop him. I scored a good hit with AT versus a low readiness Panzer, and shifted troops to cut the rail line. If I’m lucky, I might be able to halt the German advance here and maybe even start to push back come summer. Tirana is a step to outflank Skopje, and I am now close to Sofia. I’ve realized that the initial wave of western allies here isn’t enough, and have begun building a new army group in the US.