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Novorossisk - Ozereika


Renaud

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Alright, this beast is ready for testing. I've hotseated it all the way through. There are 3 versions, v1=HtH, v2=Russian vs Axis-AI, v3=Axis vs Russian-AI. v3 probably has negligible playability and is not yet tested.

Novorossisk_Ozereika

I would love to playtest with me as either side, preferably in 1-2 minute TCP for brevity. Let me know if interested.

From the general briefing:

By late 1942 the Axis advance in the South had ground to a halt at Stalingrad on the Volga and Tuapse in the Caucasus. The Soviet high command executed operations designed to surround and destroy the over-extended axis armies, with stupendous success on the Volga. Farther south in the Caucasus, operations were planned with the goal of bagging even larger Axis formations currently withdrawing northwest toward Rostov and the Crimea. These operations called for amphibious landings behind Axis lines west and south of Novorossisk on the Black Sea in conjunction with an overland attack. These landings would constitute the largest Soviet amphibious operation to date, and the 2nd largest of the war.

References:

1. Miroslav Morozov, "The Fate of Amphibious Assault Tanks", Tankomaster no. 1/1999 (www.battlefield.ru)

2. Wilhelm Tieke, The Caucasus and the Oil, J.J.Fedorowicz, 1995

3. Yu.S.Bondarevskiy, "Landing of Amphibious Forces in Offensive Operations of Great Patriotic War", Military Historical Journal, No.4, April 1986 (www.redarmystudies.net)

4. I. Korotchenko, "Wartime Experience in Amphibious Landing Operations", Military Historical Journal, No.3, March 1982 (ibid)

5. Admiral N.Kuznetsov, Memoirs, Progress Publishers 1990. Translated by Vladimir Krivoshchekov: http://admiral.centro.ru/

6. Charles B. Atwater, Jr, "Soviet Amphibious Operations in the Black Sea, 1941-1943", CSC 1995

7. 1:50k & 1:100k Soviet Topo Maps, Genshtab, Pulkovo-1942

8. http://www.navweaps.com/ (Russian Naval Guns)

9. http://www.worldwar2.ro/arme/?article=13 (Romanian Perspective)

10. http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com

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Excellent scenario. I played it H2H, got a draw. Here's a slapdash AAR:

********SPOILERS FOLLOW**************************

I played Soviets. Very credible Marine force. I was a bit surprised at the lack of support weapons, and also at the lack of TRPs. But that made sequencing the attack more challenging.

I created one glitch: Two of my tanks I repositioned on one of the assault craft before kicking the game off, and as it turned out debris on craft tile made it impossible to move the tanks inland. My bonehead move, but I suggest the landing craft be pavement to protect stupid Soviet players like me.

The spread-out nature of the Soviet landings really made it hard to gather enough force to do anything. There were several excellent firefights before I controlled the line of the shoreline road. Red casualties weren't much of a problem, but small arms ammo was.

As a Soviet player, I would love to have had my Marines maxed out in small arms ammmo.

Moving inland was more or less by the numbers, the main limitations being distance and time. Once I broke through (more like: killed in its trenches) the shoreline defenses, it was a matter of drive up the road and find and kill whatever was in its way.

Another big problem was that I planned my barrages assuming too fast Red advance, and so I got to see my barrages land and shift inland too quickly, just like real life.

The Romanian counterattack recaptured the flag on the left and then stalled. The Red boat crews were a nice touch, but their quality made them less than useless. Maybe they don't need to be weakened/unfit?

The paratrooper landing was really cool, and they put together a great ambush at the final objective, shooting up I think three trucks and a gun, and killing everything Romanian in sight. I was a little surprised they had limited ammo, seeing as they had just jumped. Also, I counted about 22 of them and as I remember there actually were 44. Maybe that was a design decision, I dunno.

The game ended with the Reds controlling all the flags but the clumped pair towards the back, and the one the Romanians recaptured. Result was a draw. It could have gone either way and player skill and errors were the determining factor of the result.

An outstanding scenario, tense from beginning to end. From the Soviet POV I would recommend more small arms ammo, TRPs, and infantry support weapons; but of course you'd need to compensate that on the Romanian side.

I recommend the scenario highly.

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Playing this head to head via IP. Slow going due to its' size and length. Currently at turn 22.

I'm the Soviets and will provide a more detailed report later. For now it's been very enjoyable and challenging, interesting map and force mix (from my side).

I have not looked at the history of this operation for over twenty five years, but if I remember it was a Soviet shambles with most of the force shot within sight of the beach, gaining little if any ground. Seems I am making steady gains instead. Curious.

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Bannon DC, BigDuke6, PFMM,

Thanks very much for your comments and interest.

I can assure everyone that this this scenario and it's successor was researched intensively (probably 200+ hours total, not counting the actual scenario construction). Naturally, there are time and game-mechanics constraints, but these maps and scenarios are about as close to the real events as humanly possible within the CM game engine.

The download package includes an essay by me summarizing the historical outcome. It's a spoiler of course, so be careful not to read it until you have finished the scenario.

Note that on 1/1/2007 I uploaded a substantially changed version (see my post above) with enhanced accuracy which however preserved the original version as a 2nd seperate 'what-if' scenario file (aka, the 'fleet option').

If you liked this one, you should like the companion scenario even more (Novorossisk: Stanichka). More freedom of choice in unit placement, particularly for the Soviets.

I will post my spoiler-type info in TPG comments rather than here.

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Well, we've finally finished this one with 79-21 loss to me as the Soviets.

I opted for a steady and sustained push up the valley by collecting my troops near the shore and then pushing on as one up the road to the objectives.

I timed one set of artillery to blast what I thought was the front lines and another set further back in an attempt to interfere with any enemy reinforcements (the first achieved little, and the other nailed a truck and about twenty men).

Much too my suprise my opponent mounted an aggressive defence by moving to the sides of my advance and heckling at range. I allowed myself to be distracted by this and became involved in far too many shooting matches. My progress didn't suffer much buy my supplies did.

As his reinforcements arrived, rather than meet me head on he again seeped them round me and engaged at range. As my supply situation became desperate he moved in, and despite my armour, routed my entire force at close range. Only the end of the scenario prevented me from swimming.

We both enjoyed this from start to finish. Lots of choices in both stratagy and tactics for both sides, interesting forces and interesting terrain. Might go for a rematch if time permits, but know it's time for bed.

Many thanks.

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