Eastern Front AAR. governato vs SMK

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Norm Koger's The Operational Art Of War III >> After Action Reports >> Eastern Front AAR. governato vs SMK

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Eastern Front AAR. governato vs SMK - 6/24/2013 2:07:31 AM

governato

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This is a short Eastern Front 41-45 AAR of my ongoing game with Mike ('SMK' on the forum). This game is being played with v1, which I posted last December. (The current update v2, is here). I am playing the Axis, Mike the Red Army. We started about four months ago and with the game now at turn 104, two full years into the campaign, I thought that it was a good time to assess the scenario realism and share a few notes. Mike is a very competent TOAW player, and he plays the Russians with a certain panache (i.e very aggressively) and the game feels balanced with some fun e-mail bantering. The plan is to post short updates for every season. The gif animation shows screen grabs at the end of every Axis turn (so it only shows a fraction of the Red Army troops). SMK, feel free to comment and add some Soviet propag..er perspective.

Turns 1-10 I opened Barbarossa with the classical disposition of the Panzer Groups, one attached to Army Group North, with the goal of reaching Leningrad, two assigned to AGC, with Moscow as the ultimate target and one assigned to AGS, headed for the Dnepr and hopefully beyond. The opening turn the Lufwaffe is mainly used to bomb enemy airfields (but be careful to send your bombers beyond the range of fighter cover). Hundreds of russian planes are shot down or destroyed on the ground! Border troops from the Baltic and Western Military district are destroyed or encircled and the Panzer Korps and divisions advance deep into enemy territory. However I quickly realize that playing the Axis side is hard, the Axis player has to take full advantage of all available combat rounds to keep the historical pace, also, one has to be extremely careful to push the panzers hard, but not so hard that their supply level gets too low. The Infantry Korps are powerful, but the replacements are nowhere near able to replace combat losses, so one cannot be too reckless. In the following turns, the advance of AGC is rapid, with several armies pocketed and destroied (taking advantage of the Axis low ZOC penalties), but AGN is stopped at Pskov. SMK diverts very few forces South, while fighting several meeting engagement West of Kiev with his Mech Corps. His tank losses
are epic, but the Corps put up a fight and a few survive.

In the south Kiev and Odessa are encircled, but will not fall until the rain season. Odessa and the South Ukrainia are very expensive to take, costing several thousand squads. The Rumanian Corps suffer staggering losses. (Note: in v2 Kiev is not a supply point anymore, Odessa still is, but the fortification values in these areas and then West of Leningrad have been decreased a bit).

By Turn 16 AGC is in Smolensk (on schedule) , I divert PzG4 from AGN to AGC, to increase the pressure in the direction of Moscow, virtually ending the chances of reaching Leningrad, but it was just not happening. PG2 moves South and encircles the South West Front, SMK is playing by the book or he is underestimating the mobility of my tanks. This is great fun! Pz Group 2 nets three armies worth of Red Army troops, but I stop it from moving further East, too far from the rail lines, I suspect Mike does not have strong forces East of Kursk, as he concentrated everything around Moscow, but the scenario gives a very low level of intelligence to both players (decreasing for the Axis, increasing, if slowly for the Red Army) and I do not feel like leaving PG2 low on gas with fully exposed flanks. This might have been a lost opportunity to take Moscow from the South, with insight. Instead I rest my AGN and AGC troops for a couple turns, waiting for the rail lines to catch up. One can actually see that in the movie, as the Axis advances in leaps and bounds. The Red Army counterattacks continously, especially around Vyzma and the 'land bridge'.

Turns 17-24 Fall 41. After the Fall rains I send three Panzer Group with the objective of taking Moscow, with a southern hook via Tula, as the direct access is barred by the entire Western Front and most of Stavka reserves. On turn 23, spearheaded by PzG 2 (Guderian!), my units are just two hexes from the Russian capital! This is as close as they will ever get to the Kremlin. With historical insight I pushed my forces hard, but did not run them to the ground and the infantry started digging, in preparation of the blizzard. I feel the scenario worked as planned so far. The Wehrmacht suffered great losses and advance is overall a bit behind historical, but the Red Army fought forward the whole time, with several counterattacks in the Smolensk region (this is encouraged by penalties if certain Russian cities are captured ahead of schedule). Odessa is still under siege, and the Crimea proved impossible to reach. The number of German squads dropped significantly, from 35k at the start of operations on June 22nd, to 28k in January.

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T23 at the gates of Moscow. - 6/24/2013 5:21:37 AM

governato

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Turn 23: this is as close to Moscow as Panzer gruppe 2 will get. The Axis is down to 30k German Rifle squads.

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RE: T23 at the gates of Moscow. - 6/24/2013 8:16:09 AM

SMK-at-work

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Ah...I remember those days,....seems so long ago!! :)

Yes there's not much to say about 1941 as the Soviets - you get away with as much as you can, pick off any Axis units that seem pick-off-able, and gird your loins in the expectation 1943 will be better! :)

Here's what Moscow looked like for me at the end of T23 so after my reaction to Fabio's attack from the south...

Leningrad had a reasonable line of defence at Luga at this stage, but south of here was essentially nothing - the southern armies were being destroyed around Kharkov, and there was only garrisons left after that, plus whatever could be scrapped up as reinforcements and replacements.

Fortunately there were a few of those - I had 80k rifle squads in service (lost 102k), and 16.5k available in reserve!

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RE: T23 at the gates of Moscow. - 6/24/2013 8:22:41 AM

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And here's what the south looked like at the same time - Soviet troops were fairly thin on the ground!!!!

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Blizzard and Spring 1942. T25-44 - 6/25/2013 2:07:17 AM

governato

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Turns 25 -32 Winter 41-42

The animation shows how Mike makes rapid progress along the Leningrad and North West fronts, as I have stripped AGN of PzG1. The infantry is pushed back all the way to Riga, which is brifly retaken by the Red Army As an effect Finland drops out of the war! That is a major blow that will come to haunt me in Fall 42. AGC is pushed back about a hundred miles. The Whermacht loses this battle, but it's not defeated. I have a suspicion that SMK, being a very aggressive player, is becoming overconfident. He has so far played rathera historically, with broad offensives and disregard of losses.

Turns 34-40 The Battle for Karkhov. The end of Winter sees the Blizzard penalties for the Whermach decrease. AGN is at the breaking point, but AGS has suffered relatively light losses and its supply level is good. Some probing attacks reveal that SMK has left large gaps in his South and South West fronts, while busy hammering AGN. This is a great opportunity and PzG 3 attacks South after assembling in the Belgorod area. I think SMK waits one turn too many
to withdraw from the salient and I pocket three armies and several corps around Karkhov. The real prize is the destruction of two HQs full of support squads. The destruction of the logistics network will cripple the Red Army supply in the South for the rest of the year. AGS and especially the 6th Army receive a lot of reinforcements and start a slow advance to anchor the front West of the Don, with almost no sign of the enemy, but some spent formations. I feel the Werhmacht is making a good come back. In the North AGN is finally holding its ground and Riga is retaken.

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< Message edited by governato -- 6/25/2013 2:11:51 AM >

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RE: Blizzard and Spring 1942. T25-44 - 6/25/2013 7:54:44 AM

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Fabio lept forward a few moves with the picture above - it's T35, not T32 as his post is titled - you can't trust the Nazi propaganda!! :)

And those 3-4 moves from 32-36 were quite important - with Finland out and Moscow no longer threatened the border and militia troops garrisoning them were rapidly shipped south o shore up a shaky defence of Stalingrad - the fascist aggressors had been crowing so much about wiping out the armies in the Don bend they took their eye off the prize, and would never get another opportunity!

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RE: Blizzard and Spring 1942. T25-44 - 6/29/2013 7:21:13 AM

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I can't stop watching the movie.

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Summer in the South T48-60 - 7/11/2013 4:26:48 AM

governato

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After the Spring rains (shock penalties for both forces for about a month) I decide to start Summer operations early, using two Panzer Armies with a limited offensive in the South, and the goal of destroying the Maykop oilfields and the port of Novorossyk. I feel that the Wehrmacht is too weak to start anything more ambitious, but the Red Army does not
seem too strong either, and its units are still 'red', i.e low on supply and tired. The good news is that I am getting new tanks and some real AT guns (the 50 and the 75mm). Btw, Novorossik and Volkhov in the North are marked by golden symbols. If they are conquered by the Axis the supply points in Sevastopol and Leningrad are respectively withdrawn.

This offensive proceedes very well, crossing the Don South with limited losses. All objectives are taken in true blitzkrieg mode and Rostov falls about a month after. My South front is now robustly ancored and troops will dig along the Don and the Volga, just one hex from Stalingrad. I think SMK was too worried to cover a thrust in the direction of Moscow and only left limited reserves in the South. Red Army losses have been very large with two armies encircled. Infantry losses have been minimal, while the old Pz kws III and IV tanks are finally being replaced with the newer, long barreled models. East of the Volga The Whermacht meets with the early Tank Armies, (one in its assembly area,
while still being filled up by replacements! Not a pretty scene. There are some fun tank battles, but I decide to withdraw to the Volga line. I think the T34s will be back next year.

I feel a lot more optimistic about the campaign now. The Axis losses have been low, especially for the Infantry. By the end July I decide that a thrust South to Baku is not doable and I start railing North two Panzer groups. Objective: Leningrad.

Btw, there are two TO options available in this period, they allow to the Axis player to increase the U-Boot fleet and reduce the number of heavy tanks in return, or just replace them with more Pz Kw IVs, but I decide for this game to stick to the historical production.

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RE: Summer in the South T48-60 - 7/16/2013 10:48:04 AM

SMK-at-work

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As always one needs to understand that the Fascists paint a prettier picture than reality......in this case of the height of their invasion of the Kuban and Caucasus a few turns before T48 that the title reads - and by T60 the so called "voluntary withdrawal" (cough) from this area had been accomplished by the RKKA :)

However things were not so rosy in the north, where advancing to Riga and putting Finland out of the war had not been followed with success - the brave defenders of the motherland had over-reached, and had been steadily pushed back to the outskirts of Leningrad!

......but worse was to come...

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The Siege of Leningrad T60 - 7/16/2013 11:29:44 PM

governato

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The campaign in the North proceeds very well, Again I am not sure SMK is expecting that concetration of forces, as he stays heavily fortified around Moscow. (This is also in part due to the low recon level for the Red Army, which does not allow him to see much beyond the front lines). The German Landsers break the line of defence under the air superiority of the Luftwaffe and the tanks ride deep South-East of Leningrad (this is the 'right hook' as they call it on the WITE forum). The Red Army send the first Guards Army and other reinforcements, but it is never able to regain the initiative. The port of Volkhov is captured on Turn 60 (?) , bottling up almost an entire front including one HQ inside Leningrad! This port (marked by a yellow diamond) needs to be captured to activate an event that removes the supply point in Leningrad, which would otherwise help the defenders to withstand being encircled, as historical. Instead, out of supply the city falls after a one month long siege, just in time for the the beginning of rain season. I consider 1942 a success, although the chances of winning the war in 1943 seem slim. After damaging the Soviet production (the fall of Leningrad decreases production and railway capabilities for quite a while)) I expect the Red Army to take the whole Winter to recover, while I will be able to dug in all along the front, with rifle squads hovering around 40k.

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RE: The Siege of Leningrad T60 - 7/18/2013 9:19:33 AM

SMK-at-work

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Fabio's picture is the end of his T63 I think - because my picture is the end of my T63 - and shows the massive mistake I made with the 1st Guards Army.

Not having written the game or read the literature nearly enough I hadn't clicked that holding Volkov meant supply to Leningrad was maintained - so I took a cheap shot southwards with the 1st GA......which Fabio then lept on to surround the army, destroy it and capture Volkov over the next turn or 2....

ooops!!

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Winter 42-43 - 7/25/2013 5:00:24 PM

governato

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Winter 42-43: Most of Winter is spent counterattacking a series of Red Army attacks along the Volga and the Vorhonez area. The Red Army gains a solid bridgehead across the Volga in the Hungarian sector (helped by the 'Uranus' ), but it is repulsed with heavy losses. I note two worrying trends though: the Luftwaffe can only achieve local superiority and while I push back a couple of tank armies, I am not able to create pockets anymore. I try to keep my Panzer Korps in reserve, but Panzer Group 2 and 3 are involved in counterattack operations the whole time and suffer heavy losses. The area of AGC remains quiet, with some minor activity (for now, sigh) on the Valday Hills and in Finland. Nothing to worry about, but the strategic initiative is slipping away. The Red Army is still too weak after the Summer setbacks to mount a concerted effort, but I spot the first heavy SU-152s, while the number of my medium tanks is low (SMK sends propaganda messages of thousands of T34s in the replacement pools, surely lies!). I also spot the first Red Army artillery corps. That is bad news.

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RE: Winter 42-43 - 7/26/2013 8:10:17 AM

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As at the end of January 1943 (T85) the most action had taken place on the Volkov front - where Leningrad had fallen, but another front had been opened in north Karelia.

There were plenty of T34's at this stage - 5100 in service and 3900 in reserve!

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RE: Winter 42-43 - 7/26/2013 8:21:35 AM

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Fabio mentions seeing SU-152's and they arrive T94, so here's where I am on T96, with 120 or so of those beasts in service and 4 dead already!

The forces in the north Karelian have swept around to pressure Leningrad from 2 sides - but there's not much movement from hte Volkov facing entrenched Germans. The occasional airborne or seaborne landing tries to upset the fascists.

In the centre new style tank armies re adding punch to the slow grind forward.

And at this stage there are 6850 T34's in service, and 4999 in reserve

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Spring 1943, to turn 104 - 8/11/2013 11:26:00 PM

governato

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Spring 43. This is a transition period, with many units of the Red Army reforming as Guards. The German infantry receives new AT units as well, which makes them more resilient against the mounting numbers of T34s and heavy self propelled tanks. Pressure is mounting in the Vorhonez area and across the Volga, where the Italian and Hungarian sectors are breached again. This time the tank reserves are committed in Vorhonez, where the Rumanians are pushed back. On Turn 103 I decid to withdraw the Hungarian forces and Army Group A from the Don bend back to the Donets. Shortening the lines will allow me to build mobile reserves. The retreat is successfully executed over the course of just a few turns, although a few Korps and the Italian screening forces get mauled in the process. Eventually the Red Army forces run out of steam and I am able to fortify behind the river. In the Kursk-Orel area I station the SS Panzer Korps, with the goal of stopping the Red Army armored spearheads, but a couple of substantial counterattacks fail to achieve more than tactical success. The number infantry squads drops precipitously, from 47k to 41k. North of Leningrad and around the Valdai Hills the situation is also precarious, but Mike is mostly trying to divert my forces and nibbles at an hex here and there. The front around Army Group Center remains stable.

Overall the initiative has definitely passed hands and while the Red Army was not able to strike a decisive blow, the Summer of 43 will not see a renewed Axis Offensive.

Note: around Turn 95 we adopt a house rule: 'no Fortified units can be set on Ignore Losses unless the occupy a Victory Point hex or one triggering events'. I have done extensive tests and I think it's a fair rule that gives historical loss ratios for this scenario. I surely could have used it in 41 and 42, but hey.

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RE: Spring 1943, to turn 104 - 8/12/2013 1:21:40 AM

SMK-at-work

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Yes T104 and the hunting horns are blowing as the chase is on - Hungarians and Italians are bravely selected to be sacrificial rear guards, and perform both parts of the role admirably.....staying at the rear and becoming sacrifices :)

Eventually the line stabilises along the Donets.

North of here there is a little excitement as a Soviet offensive beaks through to the outskirts of Smolensk, but nothing much comes of it and the lines are reestablished soon enough.

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January 1943 to January 1944 - 9/20/2013 5:11:11 AM

governato

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This is a new animation showing the evolution of our game from January 1943 to January 1944 (turns 81 to 135). More details in the next posts!

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Summer - Fall 1943 - 11/30/2013 5:08:24 AM

governato

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Summer 43. The pressure of the Red Army is relentless, but lacks focus. I know Mike is collecting a significant reserve (most Guards
and Tank Armies are conspicuously missing from the front lines). Mike tries to strike decisive blows against defending Wehrmacht forces
simultaneously along several strategic axes. This is quite similar to what Stalin did in November 1942, when he authorized the twin
operations Mars and Uranus, and in February and March 1943, when he ordered the Red Army to conduct simultaneous multiple front operations along the entire front! Fun, but not working so far. However, Vorhonez is lost in July to the Russian hordes... no big deal
says the propaganda!

Fall 43 The Wehrmacht has started a slow and so far ordered withdrawal, hoping that the Red Army will become overextended and
eventually run out of steam (yeah right, but the loss of Leningrad was significant, with a cut in Red Army replacements, so a man can hope) The pressure around Leningrad is slowly mounting, but the infantry troops of Army Group North are solidly entrenched behind rivers. During this period I make an extended use of strong mobile reserves to repel attacks. However, these successes are now limited to the tactical level. They lead to the repeated shattering of Red Army tank forces, but this comes with heavy casualties and any real pushback of the frontline is now
impossible. The 'Army Groups' HQs, as they suffer weak penalties when moving out of the enemy ZOC are becoming really useful at extricating
units from precarious positions. For now am refraining to use the Army HQs for this, as they tend to lose precious Support squads in the process. In EF one can see the Army Group HQs as abstract multi task operational support units (bridge crossing, rail repair, AT battalions) while the Army HQs is where more fragile, non-frontlines units, including army level artillery reside. One should rarely commit Army HQs to direct combat as losses of support squads are barely replaced, especially for the Axis, leading to lower supply to the formations affected, with
lower MPs, higher casualties and more difficult disengagements. This is bad...and by design, to represent the slow loss of efficiency of the Wehrmacht.

The image shows the the bend of the Dvina being abandoned by Hungarian forces after the Red Army established a bridgehead across
the river and threatened the railway connecting to Stalino. Lacking mobility and risking to be pinned against the sea of Azov the
Hungarian need to withdraw. Rostov will now get under pressure.

The Italian expedition force, which did not get shattered on the Don in Winter 1942 (as in the real campaign) is about to withdraw back to Italy following the invasion of Sicily. For now, with the help of German SS units they are withstanding strong attacks from Guard armies and suffering heavy casualties (the Italian forces have a decent amount of replacements).

Regrets: not having dashed for Stalingrad in Spring 42, while it was almost undefended. A daring raid would have cut the Red Army
production! But the other hand I got Leningrad, so things perhaps balanced out. As a result Soviet production should be pretty close to historical. Mike claims that the number of T34s sitting in the replacement pool is now in the thousands (I pretend not to care) He then
activates a couple of production options to boost the number of infantry squads and heavy guns in exchange of less tanks. While
definitely advantageous for him in this game, this choice will be a little more costly in in v3+, where tank attrition losses have been
introduced and both sides will end up with less tanks.

Maybe I will be able to hold Leningrad until Spring.

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RE: Summer - Fall 1943 - 12/1/2013 2:19:40 AM

SMK-at-work

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Ah....1943......a good year for Reds :)

The Fascist invader started the year entrenched in Leningrad and at the gates of Stalingrad.....and ended it fleeing in ignominy out of Russia proper almost entirely - barely holding at river lines in Ukraine and Belarus and Estonia - thus proving the efficacy of Secretary Ioseph's brilliant pre-war diplomacy!

That and 7700 T34/76's in reserve will get you to T135 as the Soviet Union in this game :)

Fabio's analysis of Soviet offensives couldn't be further from reality - in THIS war the Soviet aim is to keep the pressure on everywhere - take advantage of every small opportunity to inflict losses on the invader, and allow them no rest, no ability to build up reserves, no breathing space.

Yes it is hard on the Red army too - losses are heavy.....but every battle where they are less than 3:1 is a proportionally heavier loss to the Fascists!

And so they flee....seeking respite, seeking time to regather, reform, refit - seeking to trade space for time for a rest. But there is no respite, and the only rest will be the cold endless one they find in the grave!

URRAH!

Fabio's withdrawals were not a problem - often they could be disrupted and turned into confused melees resulting in fairly easy "wins" for the Red Army - for example soon after his screenshot above the situation was as below (T120) - and although most of the Axis units did get away from what was only a nominal pocket they were actively harassed in the process

To be honest I don't really recall Fabio's mobile reserves, because I was never trying any grand offensive!

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RE: Summer - Fall 1943 - 12/1/2013 2:25:55 AM

Hartoflions

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Keep up the great work guys, really a great read so far!

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Turn 125 - Winter 1943. The tide turns. - 12/15/2013 5:49:54 AM

governato

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The animated map tells the story best. I have started to dig fortifications East of the Dnepr, as the Dvina line is untenable and I have a feeling that they will become useful soon. The front of AGC and AGN is still holding and 18th Army, dug in around Smolensk has been able to hold the line. However AGS and AGA are pressured by the Red Army and with armored reserves dwindling, a major breakthrough in the Kursk, Orel area is becoming a matter of time. In what perhaps will turn to be a costly mistake I decided to abandon the well dug in positions and pull back to the Dnepr just as the weather is about to change.

Is [like] one that taketh a dog by the ears...

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RE: Turn 125 - Winter 1943. The tide turns. - 12/15/2013 8:46:29 AM

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Much as I hate to preempt Fabio, I did enjoy T125-130.....:)
It is only a Cavalry division adjacent to Kiev, but pretty much everything else consists of armies.

Note also Leningrad is finally recaptured!

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RE: Turn 125 - Winter 1943. The tide turns. - 2/11/2014 9:14:03 PM

governato

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In January 1944 (T135) the front lines were rather pretty close to historical, with the Red Army maybe a couple months beyond schedule in front of AGS, but my reserves were all committed to the front line or rather spent. Maybe the Red Army will stop to regroup or pull some units back and wait until the railheads catch up, as I am pretty sure that its supply rate is dismal, but the future looks grim!

Around turn 145 we switched to the Opart3Xb version, which makes retreating when on 'Ignore Losses' a little easier. Accordingly we lifted the house rule to limit axis units to 'Limit Losses' when defending.

The withdrawal to the Dnepr line was indeed very costly as moving over snowy hexes is slow and supply dropped quickly. There were several small pockets with lots of casualties, although I was able to eventually entrench behind major rivers before Spring mud. In perspective I should have withdrawn the Axis before the Fall rains or in Spring 44, but who knows if that would have been possible without risking a major encirclement. Losses were too high, with German infantry squads dropping from 43k to 32k and then just 20k by turn 146! What was worse is that the constant use of HQs to help on the withdrawal cost 200 Support squads. That will considerably impact the supply rates of the Axis! Another decisive change in late '43 is the overwhelming amount of artillery that the Red Army can field, which causes large losses even to well dug in units. Some of the Infantry Korps have been pretty much pulverized. The images show the front for turn 146 and squad inventory between turns 125 and 146.

[Added 12/2/14] Designer's notes: the fact that the frontlines follow the major rivers is a good indication that the speed at which units can entrench is roughly historical (in scenarios where units can dig too fast the frontline is 'too straight' compared to historical). In EF 3.4 the german cavalry and recon squads will be reduced starting in Fall 1943, and replaced with more infantry and AT squads. That will better reflect the historical change in units TOEs and help the Axis a bit.

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RE: Turn 125 - Winter 1943. The tide turns. - 4/9/2014 5:26:49 AM

governato

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The Red Army is now launching deep attacks in Ukraine, while AGN are well entrenched and AGC still hold. For the Axis is vital to keep armored reserves able to counterattack within the same turn, before the Red Army has time to take defensive positions and 'dig in'. The Red Army is not very careful at this point and some of the armored spearheads are pushed a little too far and outside the umbrella of fighters. In this turn we manage to isolate, encircle and destroy two tank armies. Permanent losses amount to more than a thousand Red Army tanks in a single turn! Mike is not impressed (we are still playing version 1...in further versions the Red Army has to be a bit more careful with tank losses...). Romania is lost and Hungary is next. With the fall of Buchurest and Budapest the Axis minor allies will withdraw from the war. The capture of the oil field in Ploesti causes a strong supply penalty for the Axis.

The game is starting to feel like those Wehrmacht generals memoirs..isolated episodes of operational success, but with an overall strategic picture that points to impeding doom. The Red Army simply can't be stopped.

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< Message edited by governato -- 4/9/2014 6:29:23 AM >

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Post #: 24

Turn 160 July-August 1944. The Collapse of Army Group C... - 4/9/2014 5:32:09 AM

governato

Posts: 1079
Joined: 5/6/2011
From: Seattle, WA
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It is July 1944. Mike, takes a couple of turns to regroup his southern armies, the railheads must be far behind, and all his units are tired and low on supply. So he renews his offensive in the sector of AGN, which rapidly collapses...Army Group Center, including the battered remnants of two armies has to disengage fast, but at this point most Axis units are very slow...

But I have got my jet fighters, a unit of Me-262...all 64 of them. At this point the VVS is probably close to 10,000 airframes.

By the way, update to version 3.4 of Eastern Front will be released by the end of the week.

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< Message edited by governato -- 4/9/2014 6:46:47 AM >

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Late Summer 1944. Army Group Center is destroyed. - 4/13/2014 2:43:27 AM

governato

Posts: 1079
Joined: 5/6/2011
From: Seattle, WA
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AGC gets surrounded and its retreat turns into a 'moving cauldron'. I succeed to extricate the faster units but most infantry and the heavy artillery get destroyed before making it to the Vistula. After the destruction of AGC I decided to salvage what forces I have left and fortify behind the Oder. Koenigsberg and Danzig are abandoned and Hungary is now out of the war as well.

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November 1944. Gotterdammerung! - 4/13/2014 2:54:51 AM

governato

Posts: 1079
Joined: 5/6/2011
From: Seattle, WA
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This is the end! Strong tank forces of the Red Army crossed the Oder and broke through the German lines North, near Stettin, and then South, surrounding Berlin. A counterattack with weak SS reserves fails and the capital of the Thousand Year Reich falls on Turn 176, late November 1944. The gif animation shows the last 70 turns.

This was a great game! It took about one year from start to finish (yes it can be done

) and Mike (SMK) has been a fun and reliable player. We used 'version 1' of Eastern Front 41-45 and this was an invaluable test, especially of the last parts of the campaign, which get rarely played human vs human. Mike provided me with lots of suggestions on how to improve the scenario and together with feedback from other players and some additional research I made several updates to it.

Speaking of which...I will post EF v3.4 tomorrow!

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< Message edited by governato -- 4/26/2014 8:17:12 PM >

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