New Campaign Game for Rzhev '42 Gold

[Indragnir]

My reply in italics

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Cesar,

It may be a while before I have a chance to actually play your Rzhev '42 campaign but I have had a look and have some comments.

Firstly, I think the Fixing of those units that did not actually affect the battle, is a great idea. It will make this campaign far more playable and at the same time closer to history. This alone should radically improve the game.

I think so.


I see that the 337 Inf Div is not Fixed although the 312th Rifle Div opposite to it is Fixed. Hard to imagine this Division moving away but I mention it in case it was not deliberate.   

This an inteteresting question. Since that dividion junture with 78th ID was attacked by elements of 29th Army I decided against fixing the unit in case russian player put in that area more troops than they historically did.



One concern I have (not specific to your Mod) is the rate units can travel along Primary Roads. Because they are exempt from Ground Conditions, it means that moving on Primary Roads is no different than it would be in Summer (unless there is a Storm). Were any roads in the Russia really that good? In your scenario the weather is always Snow or Frozen, so all other terrain is subject to a modifier of 200%, 250% or 300% depending on terrain type and movement class. The only two exceptions are Ski which is not modified and Horse which is 150% in Snow but 200% in Frozen.  

Reading Glantz, the impression is that the main roads were not so easy to use. For example;

"The fact was that 1st Panzer Grenadier Regiment had begun its long march to Belyi late on 25 November, and on the 27th its columns stretched for almost 50 km along the snow bound roads..."

In this game, even though this unit is not Released until 0800 26 Nov, it could travel the necessary distance in just 4 turns, and so be in place by 1400 26 Nov (unless other road traffic slowed it down). If it was released on the 25th as suggested above it would arrive well ahead of this, even allowing for possible Night Move Disruption and the fact that its speed is halved due to the Storm conditions on the 25th.

Given that the conditions in this campaign never get better than Snow, I think you could increase the Primary Road movement cost without causing any anomalies. For instance, you could double it (except for Ski and Horse) and it would still be faster for travel than any other terrain. There would be an impact on supply but a minor adjustment, principally to the map edge sources, could compensate for this. Might be worth thinking about, unless you think my assumptions are wrong.

You're right. PzC units moves too fast in the snow, even in Primary roads.
I ruled against raising Primary road movement cost because I didn't remember Snow condition is the best condition in the scenario and didn't want to slow things when the Snow was over... so mistakes were made.

I will change it.  
Supply is not a concern, in general, forces are better supplied than in history.



I like the idea of giving the Penal Companies the ability to clear mines. It may be a bit too much as it makes them as good as engineers at clearing mines but their low Morale should make them easier to Disrupt. It is a nice touch as it gives an incentive to use them as they were historically (as gruesome as that is).

They were employed like that, the poor bastards.



I am sure you have good reasons for all the changes you have made to Release dates but the one that stands out for me is that 9.Panzer Div. This is no longer Fixed on 25 Nov but my understanding was that Model did not release the Division until the evening. The earlier release seems to allow it to reach the fighting sooner than it did historically.  

Another interesting question. In this case after a long time thinking about if that area would hold until 9th PzD arrives (which is critical for the game) I decided releasing the division a little earlier to ensure germans have reasonable chances to block the main thrust there.



And on a trivial note I see that Gr.Rgt.14 of the 78.Inf Div has been renamed Gr.Rgt.141. Is this correct?

IIRC (I don't have my sources here) Gr.Rgt.14 was part of the division in 1943. Since 1939 but prior to the 1943 Sturm conversion, there were another Gr.Rgt. (the 238) however in some some sources I recall they stated GR.141 was attached to the division for make up the casualties of the hard fought summer offensives. Since I didn't found any other source claiming otherwise I decided to change it.

As you say it's quite minor but if anyone can provide sources claming GR.14 was with the division by November 1942 I will change it.


That is all I have at the moment. Cannot wait to give it a try. It looks seriously good!

John

Thank you very much, the mod will be better with comments and checks like you are doing.

César