Stalingrad Pocket II VASSAL AAR

GroggyGrognard · March 30, 2014, 02:22:49 PM

I'm playing the awesome classic SCS Stalingrad Pocket II with a friend of mine over Vassal. He is playing the Russians and I'm playing the Axis.

We are playing the full campaign game (Operation Uranus) which is 16 turns.

This is the situation at the end of turn 2. He has punched a couple of good holes on both of my western and eastern flanks. Several of my Romanian units have been encircled and are out of supply, while others are still trying to escape in the lower left(western side)of the map. Both my 16th and 24th pz divisions tried a couple of minor successful counterattacks slightly south of Stalingrad.

TacticalWargames · March 30, 2014, 03:14:58 PM

Looks like fun.

GroggyGrognard · April 01, 2014, 09:25:03 PM

The situation at the end of my Axis Turn 3. The Russians have almost completely formed the pocket. My 16th and 24th pz divisions have retreated near the Don River to lick their wounds.

Ubercat · April 01, 2014, 09:43:56 PM

I was checking this game out on Vassal a couple of years ago and then discovered OCS, the big brother game system to this game system. I played some Case Blue and was hooked

Staggerwing · April 02, 2014, 05:10:52 AM

Quote from: Ubercat on April 01, 2014, 09:43:56 PM
I was checking this game out on Vassal a couple of years ago and then discovered OCS, the big brother game system to this game system. I played some Case Blue and was hooked

Let me guess- you are retired and only need 1 hour of sleep a night...

... 'cause that is one big game!

Ubercat · April 02, 2014, 08:35:34 AM

Nah. My job leaves me free most mornings though, so we'd play for a couple of hours a day. Vassal and Skype is almost like playing face to face!

GroggyGrognard · April 02, 2014, 09:31:09 PM

Quote from: Ubercat on April 01, 2014, 09:43:56 PM
I was checking this game out on Vassal a couple of years ago and then discovered OCS, the big brother game system to this game system. I played some Case Blue and was hooked

Ya, OCS is a wonderful, but very involved system. I've only played some smaller scenarios of Guderian's Blitzkrieg and a friend of mine aspires to play the GBII/CB monster when he finally retires.

There is a recent fantastic AAR of the GBII/CB monster over at bigboardgaming.com. I believe the gentleman is playing it solo.

http://bigboardgaming.com/?s=7.1%2F7.2

Groggy

GroggyGrognard · April 07, 2014, 11:42:46 AM

This is the board at the end of my Axis Turn 4. The pocket is pretty much formed. My boys in Stalingrad are surviving on little supply points represented by markers underneath some of the units. One of my airfields has been taken already, and my other airfield at Gumrak is barely hanging on. With a bold move and some help from air support, my opponent crossed the Chir river in the southwest part for the first time during his turn. I had some successful barrages and counterattacks up and down the Chir and Don rivers during my turn, just almost throwing the Russians back across the Chir!

Tinkershuffle · April 07, 2014, 12:05:45 PM

Looks great indeed. :) Could you tell us a bit about the victory conditions?

GroggyGrognard · April 07, 2014, 09:44:07 PM

Quote from: Tinkershuffle on April 07, 2014, 12:05:45 PM
Looks great indeed. :) Could you tell us a bit about the victory conditions?

The Axis have to hold on to certain victory condition hexes on the map by the end of the scenario with supplied units such as Stalingrad city hexes, Nizhne-Chirskaya, a couple of bridge entry hexes, and several others which are listed in the scenario victory conditions. Each victory condition hex is 1 point and there is a total of 17.

Total VP Hexes containing Supplied Axis Units:
Victory Type: 13 or more Major German Victory
12 to 10 Minor German Victory
9 Minor Soviet Victory
8 to 7 Major Soviet Victory
6 or less Massive Soviet Victory

Tinkershuffle · April 08, 2014, 02:27:45 PM

Sounds like a tough job or is Stalingrad also a supply source at the same time?

GroggyGrognard · April 08, 2014, 08:35:42 PM

Quote from: Tinkershuffle on April 08, 2014, 02:27:45 PM
Sounds like a tough job or is Stalingrad also a supply source at the same time?

Stalingrad isn't a supply source. You have to bring the supply points to Stalingrad. Both the Russians and Axis have a certain amount of air points each turn. The Axis can use their air points in order to airlift supply points to their two airfields. The supply points are represented by a counter which can move around the map like a unit. The have 5 MP.

It's quite a challenge as the Axis player. I've played the Axis before and managed a German Minor Victory. However, it was hard earned and I had some luck with my dice rolling.

Groggy

GroggyGrognard · April 14, 2014, 11:09:01 AM

Sorry folks and much to my chagrin, I accidentally deleted my photobucket images from my previous posts. And I don't have the image files anymore on my drive. :(

But onward anyway!

This is the map at the end of my Axis Turn 5. The Russians are preparing for a second assault and they will be getting more Katyushas on turn 6. In the southwest around the Chir I wiped out his remaining cavalry units that were across the Chir. In another successful counterattack, I managed to wipe out two of his guard regiments and a motorized infantry brigade while disorganizing his other stack outside Nizhne Chirskaya with the 24th Pz.. I rolled pretty well this turn, but there are still ALOT of Russians on the board!

The last image is a picture of the 'Casualties' box. The air, supply, and DAM markers don't count. As you can see, the Hungarians and Romanians have taken the brunt.

GroggyGrognard · April 25, 2014, 06:35:12 AM

This is the situation at the end of my Axis Turn 6. During his turn, the Russians managed to cross the Don with a few armor brigades and an infantry division north of Nizhne-Chirskaya. But a successful counterattack by my 24th Panzer and 16th Panzer divisions killed a few of those bridades and the infantry division. Meanwhile, the German hold on Stalingrad continues to crumble as the units in Stalingrad run out of supply. My motorized group in Gumrak is still hanging on as I continue to air lift supplies into the airfield. The last screenshot are the current casualties.

GroggyGrognard · April 29, 2014, 06:32:36 AM

Here is the situation at the end of my Axis Turn 7. My hold on Stalingrad will not last much longer as my units feel the effect of attrition from being out of supply. My motorized group in Gumrak continues to hold on. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to dislodge me around the Don river, despite a tactical error on his part causing his 4th Mech to be out of supply. During my turn I took advantage of this by staging a successful counterattack with my 24th Pz division, 60th Mtr division, and elements of the 1st Pz and 14th Pz. This resulted in the 4th Mech having a mech brigade eliminated and a couple of other mech brigades being reduced to one step. Moreover, his out of supply 4th Mech was forced to retreat to the northeast a couple of hexes.
Despite this, the Russians continue to roll up the Don river...