Polynike vs Becker

[Polynike]

Going for a historical game and with little saturn on turn 3 or 4. wil hold back guards tank army as long as possible and then bust through the italian lines.

one question though(may have been answered but due to work pressures i havent had much time to browse the forums) how much value should be put in crushing the stalingrd kessel early, in my games vs the PO or myself there seems to be a very unrealistic strong artillery for the 6th army, or should i wait till later in the game

[Southern Dandy]

You'll want to take Stalingrad by turn 30. After turn 30, the Axis gets 1 VP per turn that they hold the pile of rubble that has our great leader's name on it. Plus, this also likely means that you haven't collected the 10 bonus VPs for von Paulus, et al...so, there's no great rush unless you haven't made much progress in doing so by turn 20-ish.

I'll point out that in my experiences playtesting the Axis side, 6th Army is deceptively weak...that is to say, it can more than hold its own unless steady pressure is applied against it throughout the game.

John

[Polynike]

just sent my turn 2

he has a schwerepunckt that has managed to breach my line upto genarlov on the askay river. i beat the crap out of his brandenbergers occupying the bridge to the sw of shestakov. im worried about the punch of his tiger unit in the second rank of his thrust. using units of the 13th and 4th mechanized corps in intened to put speed bumps in his way and hold until i unleash little saturn on him, im especially eyeing the romanian postions to the south to disrupt his supply to the schwerepunckt.

units aorund stalingrad have taken a pummeling and ive treid as much as possible to unstack all red hexes, i stll believe however that there is artillery that is far too powerful inside the pocket. anyway ive unfortified some of his units through bombardments and LA/ML attacks.

air force in massive reorg in turn 2 and ive began to deploy the 2nd guards tank army for an encircling movement on the italians

[Polynike]

57th Pz Korps has almost obliterated the souhtern front. i have moved 3 Gdcav corps and 4th tank corps form the kessel area to beef up the defences in front of 57th pzkorps and im hoping they can give me an adequate punch at his flank as he advances. i have also shuffled units of the don front closest to the advance of 57th pzkorps in order to meet this threat

i have also used units of the SW front to make spoiling and decoy attacks in order to get becker to think of other areas and captured lissinki. i have chosen to start little saturn next turn and unleash the forces in the north west of the area.

[Heinz57]

Interesting to see another 57th S with a front all the way to Shestakov -- that should work more to your advantage than his.

[GunnerC]

Please report back on how effective Little Saturn seems to be - I have deferred mine for a turn or two ...

[Polynike]

turn5

encirlced some his units around Abgarerovo
Punched my way through romanian 8th army- lots of ants grrr :mad:
Assaulting Italian II corps
7th tank corps supported by 2nd Gds Mech Corps across river in force
1Gds Mech corps heading Sw to deal with 57PzKorps and help roll up his flank

Aim is to batter him everwher at once to fully commit his reserves or weaken his line somewhere. bulk of my forces have still to come into plsy

Polynike

[laszlo.nemedi]

maybe you could post a save file zipped...

[Polynike]

heres the situation at the end of turn 6
looking good in the far north and managed to hold winter storm, made him retreat and shorten his line.

italian lines in disarray and romaninas to the far south also being poushed about

[laszlo.nemedi]

North looking very good, central and the kessel is freezed, south tricky, be careful there, but you opponent don't seem dedicated to attack...

[laszlo.nemedi]

North looking very good, central and the kessel is freezed, south tricky, be careful there, but you opponent don't seem dedicated to attack...

[Polynike]

turn 7 and more pummeling of italians but he is beginning to support his line with german troops. air force is starting to recover and for the moment the kessel will not be relieved.

[Polynike]

3Gdsarmy and 1Gd corps make contact and now in a position to push onto bokovskaya. Italian front soon to collapse