Questions about Moscow '42 Campaign Fall Kreml (North)

[Strela]

Has anyone played Fall Kreml (North) through? We are about 77/118 turns through. Currently I'm on the cusp of a major victory with the axis. My opponent is getting quite frustrated by his inability to get any releases which means I am generally overrunning and destroying in detail any soviet formations I encounter.

I haven't looked at the soviet side, so this is mostly just me running along roads until I bump into a mine/bunker location; clearing it; and moving on.

We're trying to understand how both the releases work, and the expectation of how the Soviet player should defend in this case.

Any information, suggestions, thoughts welcome. I know I've only provided basic info here. Happy to provide more once I know what's needed. And my opponent should also be posting to give you the perspective from the Soviet side.

It's a great scenario, but seems a bit frustrating for the soviet player.

Hello,

As the scenario designer I am probably best to answer some of your questions;

As far as releases, here is a consolidated table of the releases in the scenario. You can see this level of detail under the menu item 'Units / Releases'.




A couple of things to note here. There are four different types of releases; 0%T, 5%T, 100%T & 100%.

All the items marked XXX%T have that percentage chance of releasing from the date/time shown OR if they sight an enemy unit. For example the units marked 0%T will ONLY release if they sight an enemy. They are essentially locked down unless an Axis unit comes in their general direction. The items marked 5%T will roll every turn from the date/time to release. With a 5% chance they should be available within two days of starting to 'roll the dice'. Finally both the 100%T & 100% are guaranteed to be available on the appropriate date/time. The difference between these two is that if the 100%T sees the enemy before the date/time the whole formation is released while the 100% units will only release the units that sight the enemy.

Does that make sense?

For the Soviet player it will feel like he is speed bumps at times to the Panzers. He has to play like a Soviet, continue to throw units in front of the Germans to slow them down. Target the German infantry & Panzer Grenadiers at every opportunity with artillery. The Germans do not have a lot of these and will need them when the time comes to fight in the bigger towns and cities. The other priority target is German engineering units. They are key for clearing minefields or leading assaults against bunker lines. The Soviet has to attrite them every time he sees them.

The German also runs into some bigger challenges as they approach Moscow. If they haven't cleared their flanks as they move forward (easier in this scenario than the full Kreml campaigns) they will start to have very long defensive lines. The arriving Hungarians will help here but at C & D morale are worthy targets for an aggressive Soviet. Supply also dwindles the closer you get to Moscow and more units will be unavailable/low ammo/low fuel just when you need them fully operational.

Finally, it looks like the victory points are wrong if you have a Major Victory so far from Moscow - you have killed more enemy troops than expected. It looks like you're at Kubinka and just cracking the second defensive line. In my opinion, if you haven't taken Moscow by the end, I would say that is a clear victory for the Soviets...! You've got forty turns left to do it and quite a few enemy forces starting to activate from July 6th....!

Interested to hear how the rest of the scenario plays out - this & the Maximum Effort North scenario are the most likely to get to the Soviet capital.

David

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This would be his opponent and all he says is true, as the soviet side over half my forces which should release have not, which has tied down many troops which i could have used to attack the german spearheads. Now i can understand some delays but it have been almost a week in game time and no releases, and now most of thos units are either surrounded or in the front line unable to move until it is way to late. I am going to lose this game without being able to do anything, which sems very wrong to me. Is this as intended or do we have a problem with the release mechanism in the scenario? We have sunk a lot of time into this game and now it seems a waste.

Thanks for any input.

Miller41,

If you want to send me a save file (and password) to the email in my contact details, I'll look over it and see if there are any issues with the releases you have/haven't had.

Thanks,

David