The Iceman Cometh

[The Great Santini]

Is there a way the Axis can get around the catastrophic losses their units take when the Russian winter hits? I'm thinking of a declaration of war against Russia in the winter of 1940 as an idea. If need be the Germans could operate units to protect Romania and their border against a Russian attack, which would probably be ill advised anyway. What would be the diplomatic ramifications of this strategy? Would Finland and Sweden be imperiled? Is there someplace in Russia German units can be garrisoned to mitigate this nasty attack of frostbite?

[Liam]

yes, all the same places the Russians use, reverse it, some more advantageous than others. The real trick is timing, I think '40 is much too soon, Axis need to dig-in, entrench, build forts... Though to what ends? In truth if you cannot kill the USSR or the UK then the game will likely end... So ultimately the whole game is decided on how well you manage pesky partisans, supply, winter and your conquest of the USSR as the Axis

SO why Defensive, unless your strategy is somewhere else

[The Great Santini]

I'm referring to the popup that appears in the first winter after a German invasion; "Soviet Winter Strikes". When the Axis player looks at his units all units in Russia have suffered one, two or more losses in unit strength. I'm trying to figure a way to get around that.

[arado234]

I dont think you can get around the first Russian winter.Best bet is to make sure your troops are in defendable positions and in good supply when it hits or you may suffer the same fate the bad guys really did.

[SeaMonkey]

This may be a good time to explore whether an adjustment is appropriate.

I have no problem with the current scripted "Russian Winter Strikes", but maybe there should be some deviations to the percentage of the possibility.

For example, let's assume that as the Axis player you should like to delay your current Barbarossa to a later date than when it actually occurred, June 22, 1941. By doing so, your justification is that because of Napoleon's debacle, you have taken the historical lesson to heart and prepared for the winter combat situation.

So the longer you delay, as the USSR prepares, the lesser degree of the winter consequence culminating with no "Winter Strike" if you wait until the USSR DoW's Axis and joins Allies.

Awaiting the USSR unification with the Allied effort signifies a competently prepared(for winter conditions)Wehrmacht.

[JerseyJohn]

I'm not familiar with the game system but I think there would be an easy way of dealing with this:

Germany alots MPPs for the a long invasion of the USSR and it's army is prepared to deal with severe weather -- the more MPPs alloted in advance the less effect Russian Winter would have on the invading army.

-- Historically, I remember reading that the German Quartermasters wanted to know, sometime in late September 1941, when they'd be given winter supplies, uniforms and other equipment to send forward. The high command told them those items wouldn't be needed and they were not to ask about them.

[Scook]

When you say "getting around it" are you meaning a way to counter the effects, or not have them happen at all? If you dont want it, I do believe it's a script you can turn off. If you want to limit the effects, sometime in October or November, don't spend money for one turn. For me, it takes me about 600 MPP to replace the losses from the Soviet Winter, if you have about 400, you can replace the essential front line losses and slowly build up your rear echelon the next few turns.