Slitherine

For a long time I was wondered which scenario should I try to present in this AAR and of course which country should I play.
Almost every option is tempting:
Grand Campaign gives a lot of possibilities, as Germans I might try to conquer Europe earlier than it historically happen, and as Allies I might try to hold the steamroller.
Personally I also like to play Fall Gelb as Allies, trying to hold the Germans on the Maginot Line, then at the outskirts of Paris and finally on the unsinkable carrier.
Barbarossa is really, really good one to be played as Germans or Soviets, eastern front is one huge battlefield. German tanks rolling over Soviet infantry is unforgettable, but also stopping Panzers before they will reach Moscow in winter 1941 gives you a lot of satisfaction.
Gotterdammerung is really really hard to be played as Germans, pushed from east and south, already blooded out, just before opening of the third front. It is a real achievement if you will be able to hold Berlin for a year or two.

As you might realized from the title of this thread, there is one more starting year for the campaigns - 1942. I have decided to play as Soviet Union in Clash of Steel.




Here is the story of my game.

To make my game a little bit challenging I decided to play on the Hard level.



Almost whole rest of the gameplay settings are default.
I left the fog of war on three hexes, and autocalculation of naval battles turned on. Just the speed of the AI turn has been increased to max.




The most attractive look of the map in my opinion is the Natural skin, so I changed it to this one.
This is how it looks:

TURN 1:


Germans pushed on the whole front and massacred my units, even before I was able to do anything. The clash has started far worst that I initially hoped.
Many of my divisions were just wiped out, hundreds of thousands soldiers killed or captured. Lot and lot of equipment has been lost.




Good news is that the Leningrad is still holding and Axis minors (especially the Finns are taking the leading role here) are not doing so well.

Here is the strategic situation at the beginning of my turn:



Great, I have got pretty large amount of Production Points. This will allow me to patch the front, and to buy some new units.

First thing I have done was updating strength of the units in the Leningrad area. I will try to hold the city and surroundings as long as possible.





I have also performed couple of limited, local offensives to buy some more time, before Germans advance or to take advantage over the lonely enemy units.







Last thing I have done this turn, was spending rest of PP (around 280) on the new Infatry Corps. I have ordered total number of 18 units.

Looking forward to seeing more!

BTW given the rules of Russian grammar those new units should be called "Strelkovy korpus" (masc. ending) and not "Strelkovaya" (fem.). Presumably the same thing with the armored, etc.

When you see the way these units perform it will be clearer.

Chuck

PS : Just joking, Soviet females performed well in the Great Patriotic War.

TURN 2:


Germans gave me another hard time during their turn.
Frontline has been pushed again more to the East:



Many of the Soviet divisions were pushed back or just destroyed. Another thousands of soldiers were killed or captured. Thousands of guns and tanks destroyed. German war machine seems to be unstoppable.



Soviet Production has been heavy crippled due to the early months of war and German advance. Not every factory has been evacuated. Also the difficulty level is crippling the output.



Good news is that the soviet soldiers are cheap to upkeep.

Sevastopol is still holding



but the situation seems to be hopeless in longer perspective



But what is even worst the road to Stalingrad is almost completely opened. Only single units are guarding it.



The situation near Moscow is not much better

I have spent all my Production Points to reinforce damaged units and to supply Airborne unit with new equipment.



I must seriously think about the strategy for me, as the end of the Soviet Union seems to be close.

TURN 3:


The Finns started to break through our northern Leningrad’s fortifications. The battle report shows, they have got a huge local advantage over our exhausted unit.





Isolated German forces west of Tula, are going to be released very soon. Soviet covering forces were smashed by couple of large enemy armored units.


Siege of Sevastopol has been temporary lifted, however, can be back any time.




The only way to save the dramatic situation on all fronts was to rallying 10 new infantry division. All of them should be ready within 4 weeks

TURN 4:


Information from Africa are very positive. Looks like our allies, The British are giving hard time to Germans and Italians.

The frontline almost completely doesn’t exists, huge gaps between units allowing enemy to freely penetrate the interior. Only hope is in the new units which should be rallied in three weeks from now. Number of casualties already reached over 700000 men killed or taken as POW.

Another 15 divisions are ordered to be rallied within one month.



Looks like my greatest mistake was reinforcing units at the very beginning instead of buying plenty of infantry division, which will be able to patch the whole front at the beginning of the next turn.

TURN 5:

Fortunately the map is huge. Soviet Union is spanning for over hundred hexes from west to east, so even the German’s Blitzkrieg needs some time.


More and more divisions are destroyed. This is not a war, this is a pure slaughter. Germans are trying to attack with as huge advantage as possible. They are using better equipment, better tactic and if we will add better coordination of units, there is nothing strange in continuous victories of Wehrmacht over the Red Army.


A large number of German units achieved outskirts of Moscow. Looks like nothing will save the capital.


There are still at least two weeks before new units will arrive.

TURN 6:

Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow are about to begin. Current situation lefts no illusions about the result. Germans are going to attack Moscow next turn, and Stalingrad should be attacked one week later. Germans are pushing on the whole front, and they are pushing hard.

Stalingrad is defended by two lonely Airborne Divisions. Hopefully it will be enough until reinforcements arrive.

A new NKVD division has been formed.

TURN 7:

Finally couple of new division were deployed on the frontlines. Most of them around Moscow and in Stalingrad, just enough to patch the front and keep the enemy busy until more troops will be ready. Red Army is only a shadow of what it was 15 months ago.


Germans took Volhov by the siege.

TURN 8:

More divisions are already deployed to defend Stalingrad and Moscow.
Capital looks to be already doomed, but there is still hope for Stalingrad.

Doomtrader,
Often in games the AI has a lackluster performance when it plays on offense vs. when it's on defense. In your AAR it looks like it's doing a very credible job. Will your game be the exception to the rule? I only play vs. the AI. Also, you are playing on the hard difficulty level. What changes between levels?
Thanks for any info.

stormbringer3 wrote:Doomtrader,
Often in games the AI has a luckluster performance when it plays on offense vs. when it's on defense. In your AAR it looks like it's doing a very credible job. Will your game be the exception to the rule? I only play vs. the AI. Also, you are playing on the hard difficulty level. What changes between levels?
Thanks for any info.

The AI is always trying to use it's advantages over the enemy. The same goes to offense and defense. Germans are the more powerful side here. There is no doubt about that. The Soviet's strength is cheap infantry and very low upkeep cost. I think you can expect the AI to doing well job, but you shouldn't expect miracles.

Hard difficulty means that the side is gathering 25% PP less and units are having effectiveness reduced by 25%.

TURN 9:

MOSCOW under siege!!!!
The capital of Soviet Union is cut off!