DC3: Barbarossa Barthheart vs JasonPratt - No Jason

[Cyrano]

You must announce atari...more than once by the look of things.

[Barthheart]

You must announce atari...more than once by the look of things.

Ahhhhh.... sorry Jim I have no idea what that means....  ???

[bob48]

You must announce atari...more than once by the look of things.

Ahhhhh.... sorry Jim I have no idea what that means....  ???

Its a term from the ancient game 'Go', similar to 'check' in chess.

[Barthheart]

You must announce atari...more than once by the look of things.

Ahhhhh.... sorry Jim I have no idea what that means....  ???

Its a term from the ancient game 'Go', similar to 'check' in chess.

Thanks Bob.... being a younger man I wouldn't know such things...  ;)

[Barthheart]

Aug. 21, 1941

Well, the old saying "Just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean you SHOULD do a thing." has come back to haunt me. My adventure towards Moscow may have just sacrificed 2nd Panzer Group.... but I can't stop now....

In the North, a new conscript army appears near the eastern most border with Finland. So we shift some troops back that way to make sure they stay honest.



18th Army continues to trade punch with the Leningrad Military District forces near Tallinn. I was actually able to strike at the HQ this week.

16th Army takes Ostrov and with 4th PG starts to reduce the pocket. The SS take a drive north looking for... loot...

[Barthheart]

The center has become a very fluid, very scary mess...

The Russians finally make a push to save the troops in the swamp (yellow). Unfortunately the only thing in their way is the 4th Army which is severely exhausted since it has been unable to pull out of the line since the start of the offensive. These units are extremely brittle and not much more than speed bumps.

He's also managed to move some troops out of the line and try and counter 2nd PG, which is strung out and mostly out of command range now. 17th Panzer Div reached Moscow just in time to see the creation of a massive garrison unit there. Oh well, hopefully that cost him some badly needed Political Points. Now out of command range they will try to pull back but it will be slow, only 30 action points while OOC...

Das Reich makes a dash for Gomel. If they can reach it before the Ruskies then the supply for his rescue attempt will be cut off.

9th Army and 3rd PG try to reduce the bulge near Orsha... and maybe take the city so my supply lines can be shortened!



Here's the Russian supply situation right now...



With everything in motion now this has become very unstable and potentially very dangerous for us....

[Barthheart]

In the south things are starting to heat up as well.

1st PG is still in refit and should be ready to fight next turn... I hope... because the conscript pile just appeared out of Stalino! (red)

6th Army starts to push hard north to trap the rescue attempt and help take Gomel, while 17th Army continues to push North East to relieve 1st PG.



And in Crimea this pocket is still holding up the better part of 2 armies! I've sent the siege arty there to help break the stalemate... but it will take 16 days to get there... I hope to have broke it long before then...





My gamble in the Center may have just cost me the war but we'll see. A large part of the learning curve of this game is pacing. I still don't have that down and it can cost you dearly as you over exert your troops....

[Sir Slash]

That's one aspect of the game that's not changed with the larger scope-- the supply problems and the ease with which this game allows you to hang yourself. Those vast open Russian steppes look beautiful until you start to run out of gas, then they become scary places. I think you're still doing great Barth.

[-budd-]

Looks like no breathing room for either of you, good stuff. what kind of condition is 2nd and 3rd PG in? Did you refit them earlier?

[Barthheart]

3rd PG was refit back in mid July, and I think 2nd was as well but can't find anything in my notes....
But that's a long time ago now and they really need it again. I should also refit 1st PG once the pocket up north is reduced.

4th Army still needs to change stance and then refit.... if it survives his current push.

Yeah with my breakout I've kind of put us both in a tight spot... I think this will settle matters one way or the other. If I trap the huge pocket he'll be in real trouble... if I don't, well then my units are really exposed... just hope the Russians are still having problems with activations.....

[Barthheart]

August 25, 1941

Good weather holds so it's Panzer Time!

First though the story in the North:

The Russians thought they'd get frisky and have moved a new conscript army up to the Finnish border. Just to keep them honest we attack across the border and force some cavalry to retreat.



A little further south 16t Army and 4th PG have reduced the pocket near Ostrov so 4th PG drives north while 16th will finish the stragglers.

18th Army continues to have great effect against the Leningrad MD Army and the 52nd Conscripts. We have been getting reports that Commissar Khrushchev has been in the area for weeks trying to "encourage" their men to fight better... but to no apparent avail.



If we can capture Luga it will make an excellent airbase for the Luftwaffe to strike at Leningrad.

[Barthheart]

In the center General Bock and myself are not seeing things eye to eye and as a result he's interfering with operations. (Bad relations can result in penalties for subordinate Armies.) In this case 2nd PG is the focus of his wrath and they don't get enough fuel to act properly. (Penalties are huge reductions in action points.) With the fast encircling units far out of comms they are severely hamstrung and only able to move a short distance.

However with the help of AGS the massive pocket has been closed. And in fact split into two less massive pockets.

The northern one has only the city of Orsha within it. If I understand the supply rules correctly, once pocketed only troops in cities get any supplies, the rest outside the city slowly run out. In any case I need to take Orsha to shorten my supply lines or all my trucks are going to break down driving across country.

2nd PG HQ pushes dangerously forward to try and get comms back with the forwards units, while 3rd PG and 9th Army continue to reduce the Finger, barely a knuckle now near Orsha.

2nd Army has push farther across the Dnepr River to form the middle wall in the pockets.



The southern pocket contains only the city of Gormel. It is a long thin pocket with not very wide borders so it maybe harder to maintain in the short term. But most of their units are far forward and out of place to open a supply path. 6th Army from AGS continues to plow into the southern wall of the pocket pushing towards Gormel.



This southern pocket also contains the Russian valiant attempt to rescue the Swamp People. I only have the exhausted 4th Army units as blocking and the most they an do is use up action points. Hopefully the relief of the Swamp arrives just as the supplies drain up from being in yet a larger pocket.

[Barthheart]

1st PG comes out of rest and refit swinging. The Russians boldly throw a Conscript army in the lower gap between 11th Army and 1st PG (yellow). But that will come to a grinding halt as I have managed to destroy their HQ and block any forward motion.

So now the plan is for 1th Army to take up positions along the orange front, while 1st PG and 11th Army start the drive on Rostov by rolling over the 40th Conscript Army.



Further south the Russians with draw their HQs and the majority of their troops out of the hold out city. Of course because I have siege arty on the way...
So the new plan here is for the 11th Army unit to pull out and slide North East while the 4th Rumanian Army finishes taking the city then holds this southern front.

[Barthheart]

We are now at the end of August and I'm really worried about the weather. Especially when you get a forecast like this:



If it rains in the coming weeks the central front will become a real cluster ____!

[Barthheart]

August 29, 1941

No mud! Not much action either really.

Some reports that I haven't shown in a while:

First is a report showing how much of the Red Menace we have removed from the fight, and a spy report:



Next we see how much my pointless attack with the Finns cost me....



Never again.... I'll retreat back from the border next time and let him come to me....

Then we have my reports card for that war so far... not bad... never was a "people" person....



Here we can see that my worthy opponent seems to be panicking again as he's taken another helper... good sign for me... I guess..



And lastly is the overall causality report... Reds still on a steeper slope than me....