Spring Awakening 45' - Questions for Designer

[ComradeP]

- the Bulgarian 16th ID releases on 0400 March 9.  However, its sister divisions of the same corps, 3rd Bulgarian, remain fixed until 0600 March 12.  

Edit: you meant the 3rd Bulgarian Corps, not the division.

Without a crossing of the Drava, I don't think I could've threatened the position of the 12th before it was released, but releasing them at the same time seems like a good idea.

Releasing the various Corps assets and the HQ on the 9th as well would also help.

- the Soviet 6th Guards Rifle Corps starts unfixed, except for the 10th Guards AB Division, which doesn't release until 0600 March 11, when 57th Army is unfixed.

Ah, I had missed the separate Fixed trigger for the 10th Guards Airborne Division. I was wondering why its support units were still there when the two regiments of "Hohenstaufen" met, but they couldn't move. Unfixing them should solve the issue, with a T trigger there's still a risk of the Axis advancing into the rear of the unit.

These are all front-line units.  It just seems that when part of a such a corps releases the whole corps should release. 

Normally, the Axis units in front of them are permanently Fixed. With increased visibility, a handful were released, but most are still sitting there in our game. 

Unless a formation is intended as the Corps reserve, I agree about releasing entire frontline Corps at the same time.

It isn't a big issue. I think shifting the main Axis attack to the west also has some real drawbacks, basically because so few high-value victory objectives are attainable in those areas. The Axis will need to get most of its victory points from Soviet casualties, which I think probably gets to a draw at best. Moving all the German armor around probably also causes a lot of vehicle breakdowns (Axis breakdown value in this scenario is 8). Finally, once a Soviet side player sees this "west strategy" once, there are some basic steps he can take to make it much less threatening (even if you don't touch any of the current Soviet release times in the area). It takes a very patient and skilled player like yourself to pull it off! I can't imagine the amount of reworking of corps reattachments that were needed.

One good thing about most Axis armoured units being small: fewer breakdowns. There were certainly some, but I parked most of the armour for 10-20 turns until the weather improved. Moving them there and expecting them without giving them time to recover a bit would be more problematic.

I'm also still aiming for a Draw. Barring a complete Soviet collapse somewhere, I doubt I can reach the ambitious minor victory threshold at this point.

I agree completely that carrying out the historical Axis attack in the north, between equal opponents, just leads to a bloodbath that the Axis will eventually come out on the losing end of, basically because of attrition to the Axis infantry. The Soviets have a LOT of artillery in that area. Historically, the German plan of attack looks insane. I suspect the designer may need to fiddle with the VP values and victory levels a bit to give the Axis player a better chance of a victory in "game" terms (e.g. by matching or exceeding historical performances).

The Axis have serious issues with sustained operations in the campaign scenario, due to unit size. I could imagine reaching Cece, but not holding it. The staggered release of Axis units doesn't help. 

I guess the Axis could delay the offensive for a few turns until more units are released, but at that point the Katyusha's will zap any engineers clearing mines.

Even if I hadn't moved most SS formations south, I don't think I would've attacked along the entire front. 

The initial "offensive" in the northernmost part of the map was a clear sign of things to come.

I guess the dynamic campaign scenario with less movement penalties during Mud turns will be more fluid, but it doesn't change the punishing nature of the artillery on both sides.

Also agree about losses. In the other game I am in, as Axis, the historical northern frontal assault has left both armies in tatters by the end of the third day.

LSSAH and some of the larger battalions in other formations might recover, but it takes forever for the 250-300 Men Axis infantry unit to regain strength. I'm looking forward to hearing how that game ended.

Someone registered an Axis victory in the campaign scenario and my first thought was: "how?"