Stalingrad'42 via Vassal - Turns 4 to 6

The summer Germans and their allies continue the onslaught.

The Axis are trying to liquidate the Soviet forces 

before they can retreat to the Don and form a new defensive line.

In the south the focus is on breaking the Soviet line.

The Axis have continued their success in the North.

In the South the Axis now seem to have the upper hand.

The Soviets make a disastrous attempt to break out in the south.

Matched only by the dual failures in the north.

A bad few days for the Soviets

and it is about to get worse.

The situation in the north at the end of the Soviet's fourth turn.

Numerous isolated forces have surrendered.

The big picture in the south

showing the glittering prize of Stalingrad.

Turn 5 and the 6th Army starts to drive east while 4th Panzer Army mops up.

 

In the South 17th Army fights to break through north of Rostov supported by the Italian 8th Army,

while the Rumanian 3rd Army covers the 6th Army's southern flank.

The mopping up was very successful and 4th Panzer Army is now ready to join the 6th Army 

as it heads towards Stalingrad.

In the south a hole has opened up that the Soviets will find hard to fill.

The Soviets are busy trying to defend the north bank of the Don.

But the south bank is wide open...

Turn 6 and 6th Army is overrunning the meagre Soviet forces before it.

In the south the first attack is made against Voroshilovgrad,

but in a bold move the Slovak motorised division has broken through and headed off into the sun rise,

with the Italians close behind.

After the Soviet's turn the situation in the north seems relatively stable.

They have moved their counterattack force from Area A to Area B ready to rail it south.

But in the centre what is left of the Soviets are in full retreat.

But wait, there's more.

This is a very big game (with still more to come)

The big question is whether the Axis will get the VP for climbing Mt Elbrus.

 

Carthaginians versus Middle Navarrese

Keeping on with the practice of taking on all comers, last night was the turn of the Navarrese.  A thousand years apart, but at least in the same locale.

Mark B has cobbled together the Navarrese and I warned him the dice Gods would not take kindly to a mix of Sassanids, Persians, Greeks and Burgundians being passed off for Navarrese, now matter how nicely painted they were.

Mark B rolled a double six forcing the Carthaginians to deploy first.

The dice Gods were taunting him as after that he only managed to roll sixes for Cohesion tests.

The Carthaginians step sideways to correct/fine tune their deployment.

Turn 2 and the Carthaginian light cavalry charge.

It was not to be a good day for the Numidians.

Turn 3

The Carthaginian slingers shoot up the opposing crossbowmen 

who were then taken out by the Carthaginian cavalry.

The wrecked Numidian cavalry were revenged by their supporting javelinmen.

The main bodies are almost in contact.

Turn 4.

The Navarrese foot have been thrown back, pushing a lot of their comrades to the rear.

The Numidian light cavalry has escaped.

Turn 5.

The Navarrese are close to collapse.

Their general fights on with the foot,

but the rest of the army takes the opportunity to flee.

Stalingrad'42 via Vassal - Turns 1 to 3

After playing this game with Richard last year I was very keen to play again.  A Vassal version was promised and I kept looking and looking but no luck.  Turns out I was looking in the wrong place and not looking very well at that as it was released in April.

Now that Holland'44 is finished and hopefully with a bit of time over the festive season, now is the time to tackle this large game.  The size of this game is going to make blogging it a challenge, but I feel up to it, so here goes.

With a defined set-up, the initial attacks are only limited by how brave the Axis player is feeling.

I went for six attacks in the north in the hope of creating a pocket around Staryy Oskol.

Success.

The Soviets react, carefully pulling back.

The 4th Panzer Army renews its attacks in the north.

The 6th Army keeps attacking (north centre).

The 1st Panzer Army now starts to attack in the south.

Along with the 17th Army.

It looks like some Soviet forces have been trapped in the north.

The challenge will be to stay and liquidate them or press on east (to you know where)

The Axis attacks in the south also meet with success.

The Soviets in the Staryy Oskol pocket attempt to break out.

The situation in the north end of Turn 2.

The Soviets are busy building up a defence line around Voronezh on the Don.

Will they have enough troops/time?

In the South the Soviets are rushing troops to defend Rostov 

which is at the other end of the Don.

The Axis continue the attack in the north.

They had an 10:1 automatic success near Voronezh,

but it is unlikely to enable them to stop the Soviets continuing their withdrawal,

eh retreat.

Things are also hotting up in the south,

with the Italian 8th Army now committed to the offensive.

The Soviet forces trapped in the Staryy Oskol pocket continue their attempts to breakout.

There is even a relief attempt coming down from the north.

The Soviet attacks have been very successful.

The Starry Oskol pocket has been largely evacuated and the few troops remaining,

although out of supply and some isolated,

have spread out requiring the Axis to commit more troops to containing and eliminating them.

Worse, the northern flank has been compromised.

The Soviets can easily bring troops in from Reinforcement Area A.

1st Panzer Army will have to review its priorities/targets.

In the south the Axis progress, although solid, 

has not been as spectacular as that to the North

World in Flames via FB - 7

Not much happened as the turn ended abruptly much to the Soviets' acute embarrassment. Worse the Axis secured the initiative which gives them a double impulse (murder for the Chinese and French who had holes to plug.)

AUSGAME 2020 - 1940 M/J (EOT)

With rain in the Temp, the CMWLTH forgoes a naval and elects to take a Combined in order to withdraw the Egyptian TER back to Alexander – it’s getting at bit too lonely in the desert, and in Europe the BEF evacuates Antwerp as the BELG units are about to surrender with the fall of the Capital. Their two naval moves see a fleet head out to the W Med in search of the Italian CA Bolzano – a soft find inflicts a Damage on her as she vacates the sea area, a small fleet enters the Italian Coast led by the CV Furious and searches for 2 Italian Convs, a find sinks them but fails to find the escorting Italian Acft – which is not a bad thing as it has an air rating of 3 v 0 for the CV’s air group. The Brit is happy to find ships but not the Italian air. France takes a naval to help with escorting the US LL resources and take some pressure off the British Navy. Russia conserving her oil, moves an ARM towards Tehran and strats an ARTY to help with what is a very, very slow campaign in the mountains of Persia.

The axis roll a 10 – CLEAR – everywhere – ‘its on!’ as the Axis War Machine rolls forward! The GERM takes a land and launches ARTY and GS against the Allied French front line, the GERM ARTY miss their targets but a single inversion in the Ardennes against the French defenders sees the GERM launch a low odds attack at +6 Blitz chasing a big roll, but gets a mid-range roll which sees a 1 loss and full inversion as the Berlin MIL pays the toll with the French forced to retreat. However, with a full inversion and not wishing to risk his ARM/MECH in the forest the GERM do not advance, leaving the hex empty for the French to simply walk back in on their next impulse. A bonus for the GERM as they again shoot down another French FTR – it would seem that the Luftwaffe is now sending trained pilots to the front rather than trainees. The GERM has now, in military term culminated as all their HQ’s are all inverted and their ACFT have mostly flown. The full inversion has for the moment ended the GERM advance into France for M/J.

The Italian takes a Naval and goes after the British Convoys, but rolls two 10’s, but in sympathy and sharing the frustration of ‘failed searches’ the British rolls a 9 and a 10 as well – but off the Italian Coast the Italian has sailed his BS squadrons and some CA’s into a high box without any air cover, hoping for a low roll, yep they roll a 1! The CV Furious with its CA escorts is found in the 2 box as the Royal Navy helps the Italians again and rolls a 10 for 1/10 split, fabulous – not – the Italian Naval Commander who could not believe his luck converts to surface, selects target and gets a sink on the CV Furious – averting a complete disaster the damage control parties on the Furious work tirelessly and the Brit rolls and saves the sink! The now damaged CV and her cruiser escorts, abort and limp home to Gibraltar. This is becoming a disconcerting trend for the Royal Navy – in just a few encounters with the Italian’s he has rolled 4 x 10’s and a 9 – if this continues the Royal Navy won’t be ruling the waves. Japan takes a land and pushes in the N Monsoon AO as he knows the clear weather is a huge bonus. With a +10 their attack eliminates the defenders of the Southern City of Kweiyang and the Japanese are well pleased as the Chinese will now have to step back another hex to straighten their line, this will also free up captured resources. The assaulting troops are well disciplined and there is little interest in the US Press – no chit.

Japan on behalf of the Axis picks up the die for the EOT Roll (1) – and to everyone’s surprise it’s a 1 – the turn ends after only 3 Axis and 2 Allied Impulses. The initiative moves -1 Axis, and the Allies will win ties. The Allies are not impressed as they had a lot to do, the French wanted to reoccupy the Ardennes, the Brit needed to do a naval to escort convoys and send reinforcements to Egypt and the Chinese needed to block the Japanese advance in S China. Despite the turning ending early for the Axis this could be a significant advantage if they can follow up and win the initiative to achieve the ‘double move’. The Partisan roll of 9 means there are rumblings in Burma and Iran but these are swiftly dealt with by the local security forces, but in China another one turns up. The US senate hoping to limit Japanese aggression decree a strategic embargo on resources after considering the option of rebasing the US fleet to Pearl, the former was decided after a long debate and tension was placed – the first tension chit in the Jap pool – but Japan is now on notice. Belgium surrenders to the Axis as their capital is in GERM hands, rebase and production.

1940 J/A - …and a great start for the Axis!

J/A Reinforcements placed, and the GERM rolls another high initiative roll, an 8, France is unable to match this, rolling a 4. Both Axis players are elated as they now get two impulses in a row, and GERMs failure of not occupying the cleared Ardennes Forrest hex is rewarded by lady luck as they can now reoccupy the vacant hex and from their launch an attack against the French Armour caught in BELG. Japan can also exploit its last successful attack and walk towards Kunming as the mountain hex is uncontested. The weather roll is a 4 Fine mostly everywhere, except in the N Monsoon – campaigning in Southern China will have to wait – it would appear that 1940 is shaping up to be much better for the Axis after their slow winter start. Next week will see a land for GERM as they will launch multiple, three hex attacks against the French Line, Japan will probably attack Si Ann and drive to Kunming – possibly using O Points for a land offensive. Italy will focus on Egypt and retaining control of the Med, capitalising on their recent successes against the Royal Navy, although there are now 4 CV’s in Gibraltar which will keep the Italian’s honest as long as the British can stop rolling 9’s and 10’s!

Not many new photos posted as few changes from the last post