Most fluid PzC East Front games?

[Strela]

Hi David, thanks for your comments; I totally understand that this type/number of fortifications are realistic for this type of scenario...I just don't find these battles especially fun.  To make matters worse, I only have 1 km visibility, so I'm kind of stumbling around blind.  That said, I'm only 15 turns in (only 235 to go!), so hopefully things will open up soon.  

I've read the primer on bunker lines, but found that I'm already doing most of that.

My one question about assaults is that they never seem to result in quick a surrender or reduction of the whole position, which seems like it would happen every now and then, especially when a bunch of disrupted units are surrounded and assaulted by several battalions. While presumably some of the massive casualties suffered by the "assaultees" represent prisoners, usually large numbers remain fighting, and have to be assaulted over and over again to take a position.  Of course sometimes you can just push them out of a bunker, but in these initial stages if you let them leave one bunker they just end up another hex over in another bunker, so you have to repeat the process...

Also, it can get frustrating to pound bunkers with heavy artillery turn after turn only to receive one "No result" after another...do these bombardments really have no effect at all, or do they incrementally  increase fatigue, reduce the bunkers a bit, or have some helpful effect?

Also, any thoughts on Kharkov 42?  I'm not completely familiar with the campaign, but my impression was that it was fairly fluid as well, if not as fluid as Smolensk...

[EDIT] I wanted to add that the Gold editions of these games are absolutely beautiful, so thanks for putting them out.  They are head-and-shoulders above the original games, at least in terms of visual impact.

Firstly, thanks for the kudos for the Gold editions. The game system is too good to allow to fade away. We've been lucky that the series can be very easily modded which has allowed a level of upgrade-ability along the way. Pulling together some of the excellent work done by the community as well as art changes etc has given additional life to games that really have had a huge amount of research to get them released. If you look at the equivalent hex and cardboard games, the Panzer Campaigns series is an absolute steal. I shudder to think how much it would cost to get a Moscow '42 published with physical components.

As far as artillery barrages and assaults - here again is one of those fine lines we walk. It has been shown in real life that artillery barrages will only severely impact units that are out in the open. Units with overhead cover and/or prepared positions will dramatically reduce their losses. Actions in the First World War as well as set pieces in WW2 have demonstrated this. That said, artillery has a chance to increase the disruption chance on units in bunkers or pillboxes. It also a very useful to harass units particularly during night turns to prevent them recovering fatigue. So there is a use for it, it just won't kill units by itself. 

For assaults, I tend to try a few things. One is to isolate a unit and hopefully get it to go low ammo as Rick suggests, but then before I assault it, I move back to allow a retreat path for the defenders. They are still down two morale levels at this point and that will usually induce them to probably retreat when immediately assaulted. Any retreat will usually be into an open hex (due to bunkers being two hexes apart) and their maybe a chance to trap the unit in the open by moving exploiting units forward. If in the open, the unit is now vulnerable to artillery, so this is an ideal time to hit them. Engineers can also have a big impact in any assault, but if there is one thing you could use more of its engineers in Fall Kreml. Keep the non-combat engineers for only mine-clearing - never use them in assaults.

Finally, if you know there is a single disrupted enemy unit in a bunker, you can break down your battalions into companies (or pairs of companies) to increase the number of assaults on the hex. Each assault will induce half the defenders to surrender and a couple of broken down German battalions can kill even a full Soviet battalion in fortifications in a turn or two.

The bunker line become much more brittle once one of the front hexes is taken and there is actually limited options for the Russians to counter this. Counterattacking Germans in newly captured bunkers is immeasurably harder, so there is a lot less options for any Russian player.

It's worth soldiering on - I promise it!

David