Moscow '42 balance opinions thus far?

[ComradeP]

Liquid Sky: the Panzer replacement issue also seems to be present in Normandy '44 as in a screenshot (I believe you posted it) the Germans had lost almost 2500 vehicles, whilst the Panzer units were in fairly good shape according to the comments. The historical Germans were about done for after losing, I believe, around 1700 AFV's.

The problem in many wargames with a replacement system mostly based on time spend on refitting is that in a full campaign game, the defender can generally pull back, trade space for time to recover and still win. The problem is amplified if there's a large gap in quality and mobility between the attacker and defender. A setup where the defender has more mobile, higher quality units than the attacker is going to be very, very difficult for the attacker even without terrain aiding the defender.

On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that casualties from regular combat are so high that if the Germans try to make a stand, they will suffer greatly.

As to capturing the objectives along a historical timetable: it is probably possible for many objectives close to the initial frontline (you would have around 10 days to clear the greater Klin area for example, as well as a similar amount of time to capture Kalinin and surroundings), but with a refitted enemy, the objectives in the rear are going to be more difficult to take.

We thus have the odd situation in Moscow '42 that the Germans will be hard pressed to achieve a historical result in many smaller scenarios, but are at an advantage in some ways in the full campaign.

The replacement modifier needs to be generous in some ways to cope with the higher losses during attacks, but it is problematic in a larger campaign. Depending on the firepower of both sides, casualties can end up being higher than historical losses by a significant margin. In a recent discussion of the historical outcome of France '14, for example, the casualties as quoted for the advance to - and the fighting at the Marne seemed to be two to three hundred thousand above historical losses for both sides.