Time of Fury beta version Barbarossa solo AAR
Moderators: Slitherine Core, Time of Fury Design
In the Libyan desert, the AfrikaKorps has maneuvered continuously to stop two British probes, but now the Italians have finally brought up infantry support to man the fortifications around Al Buraqayah. Rommel took this opportunity to stand down and reorganize, infusing new equipment personnel into the ranks. This has the dual effect of increasing overall strength of the Korps, but reduces experience (previously at 2 stars, now down to zero).
While there are portions of the Eastern Front that I can call 'secure,' there are others where only the terrain and the weather are holding back a Soviet onslaught. Southeast of Novgorod my line is VERY thin, and every week the Soviets methodically hit one division or another, reducing it to a condition where it can no longer maintain the integrity of the line. This is exacerbated by my inability to quickly reinforce so far away from German production areas.
What I'm doing is rotating in fresh or reorganized units from the homeland to the front, and sending those trains back with the decimated units. Of course my rail capacity is limited, so it is not always possible to hold a line.
I think I'm going to have to fall back all along the line from Novgorod to Kalinin.
What I'm doing is rotating in fresh or reorganized units from the homeland to the front, and sending those trains back with the decimated units. Of course my rail capacity is limited, so it is not always possible to hold a line.
I think I'm going to have to fall back all along the line from Novgorod to Kalinin.
Dec 8
Things have been going fairly well for the German war machine, but hidden beneath all the reports of victories has been one nagging realization: the Soviets Union is not going to surrender, and indeed soldiers at the front are sending back letters filled with their weariness and concern that the enemy is fighting back ever harder. They're also sending back stories of friends frozen in the Russian winter.
One such story made it into a newspaper in Koln. Along with an editorial declaiming against the war. The editor was arrested and the newspaper shutdown, but not before a protest riot broke out. The unrest then spread to other cities throughout the Reich, with labor protests, work stoppages, marches in the streets.
The internal security apparatus of the Reich was mobilized, and the demonstrations were crushed, but unrest is seething beneath the surface still.
The whole series of incidents on the home front has cost the Reich dearly, it completely disrupted war production - and of course the news has made its way to the front, lowering morale there.
[players note: I just got the War Weariness event, in which I had the choice of doing nothing, with the threat of continued unrest and lowering of morale, and of using every effort to quell the unrest, costing 500 PPs. I took the latter. End result, I get a one-time (hopefully) -20 Social Unrest penalty, and the loss of all those PPs. Social Unrest is a major factor involved in calculating PPs per turn.]
Things have been going fairly well for the German war machine, but hidden beneath all the reports of victories has been one nagging realization: the Soviets Union is not going to surrender, and indeed soldiers at the front are sending back letters filled with their weariness and concern that the enemy is fighting back ever harder. They're also sending back stories of friends frozen in the Russian winter.
One such story made it into a newspaper in Koln. Along with an editorial declaiming against the war. The editor was arrested and the newspaper shutdown, but not before a protest riot broke out. The unrest then spread to other cities throughout the Reich, with labor protests, work stoppages, marches in the streets.
The internal security apparatus of the Reich was mobilized, and the demonstrations were crushed, but unrest is seething beneath the surface still.
The whole series of incidents on the home front has cost the Reich dearly, it completely disrupted war production - and of course the news has made its way to the front, lowering morale there.
[players note: I just got the War Weariness event, in which I had the choice of doing nothing, with the threat of continued unrest and lowering of morale, and of using every effort to quell the unrest, costing 500 PPs. I took the latter. End result, I get a one-time (hopefully) -20 Social Unrest penalty, and the loss of all those PPs. Social Unrest is a major factor involved in calculating PPs per turn.]
Dec 16
Take a look at the situation map shown below, of Army Group South's winter offensive. Anything disturbing?
Field Marshall Rundstedt's enthusiasm for the offensive grew with the addition of the 4th Panzer Army to his force. He employed it immediately, along with his 1st Panzer Army, to take Rostov, then to blow upon the front with with a push towards the oil fields of the Caucasus.
On May 16th, 1st Panzer recon units actually entered the Maikop oil fields, only to find that the Russians had done their job thoroughly, had capped wells with cement, blown up pumps, disassembled refineries - estimates are that it will take six months to get the oil fields producing again.
Meanwhile Rundstedt reviews the maps and comes up with some dismaying facts. The snow flies thick and steady. The Panzers can advance, but with no infantry support. The rail lines are not being repaired at the rate they were in the campaigning season, and everywhere one looks there are fresh (albeit green) Soviet troops AND tanks blocking the way.
Is it time to admit that the advance can't continue? Time to pause for reorg, reinforcement? Time to get some infantry support!?
Take a look at the situation map shown below, of Army Group South's winter offensive. Anything disturbing?
Field Marshall Rundstedt's enthusiasm for the offensive grew with the addition of the 4th Panzer Army to his force. He employed it immediately, along with his 1st Panzer Army, to take Rostov, then to blow upon the front with with a push towards the oil fields of the Caucasus.
On May 16th, 1st Panzer recon units actually entered the Maikop oil fields, only to find that the Russians had done their job thoroughly, had capped wells with cement, blown up pumps, disassembled refineries - estimates are that it will take six months to get the oil fields producing again.
Meanwhile Rundstedt reviews the maps and comes up with some dismaying facts. The snow flies thick and steady. The Panzers can advance, but with no infantry support. The rail lines are not being repaired at the rate they were in the campaigning season, and everywhere one looks there are fresh (albeit green) Soviet troops AND tanks blocking the way.
Is it time to admit that the advance can't continue? Time to pause for reorg, reinforcement? Time to get some infantry support!?
Dec 24 '41
Nail-biting time again.
I never have taken the Russkies seriously east of Leningrad. Even that tenacious tank corps that anchored their line between Novgorod and Mga seemed like more a nuisance than a threat. So I transferred AGN's 4th Panzer south, leaving it with nothing but infantry to essentially hold through the winter. Oh, and I relied on my Finnish allies to do their part.
Well the Soviets are now pushing hard all along that stretch of the front. I've lost 1 Finnish and 1 German infantry corps, each 5-3 units, due to poor positioning along the front (no retreat route!), and now the 61st Soviet Tank Corps has been reinforced again and is moving against the southern end of the Finnish line again.
Combine that with the political turmoil in Germany itself over the last two weeks, and my complete inability to reinforce my units, since all my PPs are going to quash the near rebellion on the home front, and Leningrad is now up for grabs.
Ok, ok, I'll calm down now. But as the situation map shows, I need to get some power into the Leningrad sector, and quick.
[player's note: Dang this is a good game! This is the Eastern Front as it should be. No holds barred. An AI that just will not quit.]
Nail-biting time again.
I never have taken the Russkies seriously east of Leningrad. Even that tenacious tank corps that anchored their line between Novgorod and Mga seemed like more a nuisance than a threat. So I transferred AGN's 4th Panzer south, leaving it with nothing but infantry to essentially hold through the winter. Oh, and I relied on my Finnish allies to do their part.
Well the Soviets are now pushing hard all along that stretch of the front. I've lost 1 Finnish and 1 German infantry corps, each 5-3 units, due to poor positioning along the front (no retreat route!), and now the 61st Soviet Tank Corps has been reinforced again and is moving against the southern end of the Finnish line again.
Combine that with the political turmoil in Germany itself over the last two weeks, and my complete inability to reinforce my units, since all my PPs are going to quash the near rebellion on the home front, and Leningrad is now up for grabs.
Ok, ok, I'll calm down now. But as the situation map shows, I need to get some power into the Leningrad sector, and quick.
[player's note: Dang this is a good game! This is the Eastern Front as it should be. No holds barred. An AI that just will not quit.]
Just as my budget is thinnest, I need it the most. With research ongoing in every area of technology, the need for upgrades is constant. Recent advances in aircraft tech especially mean that I can leap forward and blast the enemy even harder - if I can pay for the upgrades. And I'll need to continue investing in more aircraft research.
And we peasants shall rise up, tens of thousands of us, to burn the castles and manors of the hated aristocracies and their occupants within them, after first dealing harshly with the running dogs and lackeys of their hired thugs and mercenaries who support the corruption of the privileged regimes. 
Tremble in your foul-smelling boots and clutch your ill-gotten gains to your diseased bosoms while you can, for the days of your primacy are surely numbered and retribution, swift and comprehensive has lit the fuse of your extermination!
To Arms, Comrades and crush your oppressors - you have nothing to lose but the chains of servitude that bind you!!
Tremble in your foul-smelling boots and clutch your ill-gotten gains to your diseased bosoms while you can, for the days of your primacy are surely numbered and retribution, swift and comprehensive has lit the fuse of your extermination!
To Arms, Comrades and crush your oppressors - you have nothing to lose but the chains of servitude that bind you!!
One week has made a big difference in the south. The sitrep for Dec 16 showed that AGS had clear sailing to the southeast. Maikop was wide open.
Now on Dec 24, AGS is in danger of losing Maikop, due to an aggressive counterattack by the Soviets.
With the threat against Leningrad causing a panic at OKH, Rundstedt is feeling intense pressure to pull back in the south. It's time to get all the armored corps time to refit and prepare for the '42 campaign, and to shore up the north.
Now on Dec 24, AGS is in danger of losing Maikop, due to an aggressive counterattack by the Soviets.
With the threat against Leningrad causing a panic at OKH, Rundstedt is feeling intense pressure to pull back in the south. It's time to get all the armored corps time to refit and prepare for the '42 campaign, and to shore up the north.
Last edited by gwgardner on Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
AGC has a big problem on its hands also. 2nd Panzer was attempting to drive on Ryazan, south of Moscow, with too little infantry support and very little to guard its flanks. The Soviets have taken advantage of the situation and have counterattacked both north and south of Tula.
Fortunately, I have rail lines paralleling the front, and can bring reinforcements in immediately. It's going to mean that 2nd Panzer is going to have to fall back, however.
Note that the 7th Panzer Division is on the verge of disintegration, having taken the brunt of the Soviet assault on the northern flank of 2nd Panzer.
Fortunately, I have rail lines paralleling the front, and can bring reinforcements in immediately. It's going to mean that 2nd Panzer is going to have to fall back, however.
Note that the 7th Panzer Division is on the verge of disintegration, having taken the brunt of the Soviet assault on the northern flank of 2nd Panzer.
Son-of-a ... talk about nuisance! If not a threat. As reports come in overnight, there were snippets of info about fighting in Moscow itself, fully 100 miles behind the front. The capitol had been quiet, and AGC had obviously grown complacent, leaving the city without a serious garrison. Now the full report is in. The Soviets have dropped a unit of commandoes into the city center itself! Is this the first round in some kind of rising? Or is it an attempt to sabotage half of the Luftwaffe!? Whether or not, it IS a nuisance, since I'm going to have to pull forces off the front line and ship more in to retake what should have been secure.
[Wastelands, what kind of dirty fighting is this!]
[Wastelands, what kind of dirty fighting is this!]
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