Stalingrad 42 Breakout Group Zhuravlev

[ComradeP]

German losses remain surprisingly high, you're doing a good job in that area. Considering that a lot of your losses came from units that lost 50% strength with each Axis assault due to being unable to retreat, actual losses from combat are not that different it seems.

As supply checks are performed at the start of a side's turn, you can be Isolated at the start, end the turn with friendly units adjacent and still be Isolated until the next friendly turn as the supply check during your opponent's turn only checks his units (this is also why your units are not immediately Isolated when they end up in a position where they would be Isolated during your turn, which happens from time to time when assaulting).

[Plain Ian]

German losses remain surprisingly high, you're doing a good job in that area. Considering that a lot of your losses came from units that lost 50% strength with each Axis assault due to being unable to retreat, actual losses from combat are not that different it seems.

As supply checks are performed at the start of a side's turn, you can be Isolated at the start, end the turn with friendly units adjacent and still be Isolated until the next friendly turn as the supply check during your opponent's turn only checks his units (this is also why your units are not immediately Isolated when they end up in a position where they would be Isolated during your turn, which happens from time to time when assaulting).

Yes German losses were high but then if you assault they should be high sometimes. A lot of of factors involved and we just have to hope that the PzC engine has them all calculated so that assaults feel correct. Sometimes however I feel that assaults that win easily still let the attacker off easily in terms of losses. Now if fatigue was not tied to losses then it would be better if assaults cost more in fatigue so that assaults which won easily still had a cost in higher fatigue losses?

Supply checks. Yep I know. Maybe someone should make up a chart of all the tests in the game and at what time they occur?

[Plain Ian]

Turn returned to Mike tonight. Knowing Mike it will be back tomorrow. Scores below.



Breakdown below.



Edit: chart is wrong. Russian losses are 8725. Will correct tomorrow.

A quick map of the situation. I'll add comments tomorrow night. The turn went as planned and I've pulled the units out of the southern pocket just. That probably was the easy part. The hard part is probably retreating south with the German hoard held back by the pocket about to descend. However since Mike has already won then I suspect he won't play too hard.



I isolated a couple of his units this turn. Just to keep him off balance. It would be nice if I could push west to Monoylin but thats just to get him to pull back in the south west.

[Plain Ian]

A bit premature but I couldn't resist it. 

I used the powerful 5th Gds in the south west as I was hoping to mount a mini offensive here. 
The 1105th and 1158th were used to disrupt the unit from the 113th which had halted my assaults last turn. In fact the unit Broke after two barrages! Artillery was then switched to his Nebelwerfers. Just for good measure I also used an air unit against them holding one back for next turn...if its available.



I cancelled the mini offensive in the south and just went over to the defensive. 

The 358th and 364th had full supply so i used them to mount a small attack towards Manoylin and isolate a Pioneer unit. I may regret this as the 358th is now stuck.

The 365th made an easy assault.

The 650th made an assault to clear his blocking units away and the the 378th moved in to allow the 'pocket' to pull out. The 378th then moved to the flanks leaving the 1/40th to hold. IF the 1/40th had been disrupted then I would have had a problem trying to withdraw the units AND hold the line. As it is I have 3 strong T-34 units holding a line which should allow me to withdraw south...I hope.

In the east I moved the 133rd into position losing a tank. The 3/22nd finally undisrupted so is now available as well. 

Time to look at Mikes moves. His turn came back this afternoon.....

[Plain Ian]

News from the front...



Well losses were low and the Svechinkovskiy VP hex was overran but the orderly retreat from the pocket is not going to be a walk in the park. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but........

I guess Mike has switched from auto pilot to manual. The pocket has been restored. As usual in PzC the units attempting the withdrawal are being sucked into a new pocket. I'm not sure its going to be possible to pull back with hoards of Jaeger supermen chasing me. 

In the south my worst fear has happened. He has swarmed me with his small units. Ugh. 

Ok so lets look at the numbers then I'll stick a few maps up....maybe a white flag. 



So massively negative now but 50 of those points are from Svechinkovskiy.



Well Russian losses are low. the 2 vehicles I think are T-34's from the 378th which he has pushed back. Give me an hour to look at the replay and post the map.

[Plain Ian]

Mikes moves below with some of the losses highlighted.



Yep he's definitely taking the game seriously now. No more artillery then a few assaults then a few moves. 

His very first move was to assault the 378th. (Assault 1) No prep artillery or air? And it won easily? The 378th was Ammo Low but I was a bit surprised to see him push back 16 T-34's. And not all the attacking forces were 100th Jager!

He followed this up with further quick assaults (Assaults 2/3) both of which thankfully failed. 

He then fell back on artillery and direct fire against the cut off infantry in the new pocket. There was one more assault (Assault 7) which looked like it was made by two German companies against the cut off units? Both German units disrupted and the assault failed badly. 

The Svechinkovskiy pocket was eliminated with 3 assaults.

South of Manoylin he started probing aggressively and in the far south he gave in and has started running units around my south flank.

At Verkne-Buzinovka he made quite a few moves not all of them I have noted. he seems to have moved all his small armour units east. However it seems he is determined to hold on to V-B until the end.

[Plain Ian]

I think we are nearing this stage folks. I'm not sure if I have a white one but I guess any colour does. 



I've clawed back 15 points. I am resetting my target now for the game. Instead of ending the game with positive points I think I'll try to end the game with less than -100 VP's! 



Breakdown of his losses. 





Quick map above. I'll update it with details tomorrow night. Mike will probably have his turn back by then. 

Given that retreat is a lottery there is a good chance that things will go more pear shaped and I'll end up losing most of my armour. I've tried to minimise this by packing the rear area and crossing my fingers. There was no point leaving units behind since Mike could have assaulted the units which had moved and they might retreat bACK into the pocket! 

I'll see how many units are trapped and how bad it is next turn.

Edited 12/2 for clarity...

[Plain Ian]

Ok here is some detail. First the south.



The 59th Gds Artillery were forced to fire over open sights. They did plenty of damage but did not disrupt the attackers. My AA unit moved out to protect the flanks and the 3/91st came down to help plug the hole. 

The 1/91st traded blows and ended up disrupted.

The 2/91st did better.

I left the 359th alone to face the assault if it comes. The 1/20th would have been chewed up if Mike decided to stand and fire.  He has heavy artillery so the T-70 will disrupt if targeted I think. 

Since his AT unit was disrupted I decided to take the damned village which has been a thorn in my side. Artillery was used and I brought down the 364th for direct fire support. (not much) The 166th (full Ammo) was brought up for the assault....and disrupted under defensive fire before it could even assault. Frustrated I threw the 1413th Sappers (Low Ammo) at the village and they suffered badly! Obviously his infantry are not disrupted. 

I didn't like the look of that 100th Jaeger Pioneer unit so I've padded things out with some rag tag units in a bid to prevent him isolating the 364th. 

And that is that. Turn 24 and 3 to go.

[Plain Ian]

The situation in the north.



Artillery and air was used on units I hoped were vulnerable. 3 definitely disrupted however two of these did receive direct fire as well from T-34 units. 

I used the 378th and 397th to pull out the isolated units. The 650th is disrupted so it will be easy to assault and push back...or sideways whichever way the random odds generator dictates! I thought about stacking a T-70 unit with it but then I would not have had a unit to sit behind the front line.

The units pulled out do have one non disrupted tank unit but it only 10 T-34's and is AMMO LOW which means its halved! So an assault should win here and they will fall back. Of course if the Random generator God picks the wrong hex then they might not be able to retreat because of stacking limitations? That's a tactic I've seen used by players but its not one I'm deliberately trying to play here!

Anyway I've set up as best as possible. Nearly every T-34 unit is at the party apart from one in the south. (364th) 

IF he pockets anything I'll struggle to free it. Yes only 3 turns left to play so it doesn't really matter. Its probably just as well as I don't fancy fighting south 1 hex at a time.

[Plain Ian]

The east.



Not much happening here. I tried an assault after artillery and my luck seems to have ran out. My PzC spider senses usually tell me when an enemy unit has disrupted but the spidey senses ain't working. The 3/893rd slipped to moderate fatigue but it did not disrupt. 

The 2/893rd and 3/884th were rested. 

I've also called time on any attacks. I pulled the 133rd  armour back without even firing. I didn't want to risk being disrupted by his 88's. 

Mike will see this as a sign of me giving up. Whether he just sits tight or comes out against me for the last 3-4 turns is up to him. 

No turn back from Mike....I forgot to send it last night.   So expect something tomorrow night.