Q-Ball
Posts: 7336
Joined: 6/25/2002 From: Chicago, Illinois Status: offline
|
Turn 8 COMRADES! I have made a critical mistake around Leningrad; I failed to adequately protect our Comrades fighting on the Neva line, and as a result the city of Lenin shall be lost. I will explain to Comrade Stalin that it was an honest mistake; I'm sure he'll understand. North: Yep, I messed-up. In hindsight, I shouldn't have attempted to defend Kolpino and Pushkin. I figured the units would retreat into, and cover, the Leningrad city hex, but instead they routed like the traitorous cowards they are. We are rounding up their virtual families to send via rail to several off-map Gulags as punishment. I kept Kolpino and Pushkin to restrict the breadth of the German advance, and take away room to maneuver in there. I didn't factor the fact that 18th Army Infantry has alot of blasting power at this stage, it's probably the best infantry in the Wehrmacht. Against a good opponent who can spot that weakness and take advantage of it, that's fatal. That's Tarhunnas. I had hoped to slug it out along the Volkhov line for a few turns, but now, I'm pretty sure the whole northern thing will fall apart quickly. Pz Gp 3 is rounding Lake Ilmen, so the Volkhov line is about to flanked anyway. Tarhunnas will need Pz Gp 4 next turn to clean-up Leningrad, but starting Turn 10, they will be free for another mission. I doubt he will send them into the woods and swamps East of the Volkhov; I think he'll us them to push me back from the V-L salient, or send them to Moscow. Hats off to Tarhunnas, Leningrad is his. Center: Things are slightly better in the Center; Panzers made very limited progress around Vyazma, smashing a few units but encircling noone. German units are all showing "RED" fuel, so I know gas is a problem here. This is a good thing, because I am still short on units, though we have enough to put 3-deep against the Panzer spearheads. Around Bryansk, Pz Gp 2 advanced a little, but also bogged down in the hedgehog of forts I had built around Bryansk. The industry in Bryansk is long-gone, as well as the factories at Kaluga. South: Here Tarhunnas scored a minor victory as well, though it's not all roses for him. He managed to get adjacent to Z-Town, trapping 2 Heavy Industry there. Everything else from Z-Town, D-Town, Poltava, is all moved. Nice job, though. Take a look at the screen, though, and he has some problems there. He finally crossed the Dnepr way back at Kiev, mostly because I am pulling off it. He has one hex crossed near Cherkassy. Everywhere else he is still on the West Bank, putting AGS behind in my estimation. Next turn, he has to leave a stack next to Z-Town. The Panzers are in a position where they are unlikely to get much fuel, and will probably have to expend MPs just to blast the units I left on the West Bank. He will probably get a bridgehead this turn, but probably just a small one, and probably will need Infantry on Deliberate attack to do it. I have reserve armies digging around Stalino and Kharkov, so I am pretty sure I can save all the industry in these key places.
Attachment (1)
_____________________________
|