Eastern Front 1942: Not won!

Talk about a winter of discontent. The only real battlefront has 17 of my units, including four Fliegerkorps which are borderline useless in the winter. The combined muster strength of the 13 ground units is 623, with 451 points of combat strength which will increase and decrease as supply lines randomly fail and recover.

Orel, Voronezh, and Kharkov are lost, and Rostov will be soon. Taking any territory by force is absolutely out of the question. I may yet be able to conquer a few cities by stealth, and I intend to try. The line from Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk is fairly stable for now, but who can say how long it will hold if/when the full might of the Red Army comes crashing down on it?

I basically see three strategies moving forward, none of them winning. I can hold the line for as long as possible, gradually moving it back west to minimize casualties and delaying the Soviet advance. Or I can try to encircle and destroy whatever Soviets on the front expose themselves, but even if this works this will cost me and probably become impossible to sustain for very long. Or I can just make a mad rush east and try to slip through the cracks in the red wall and score points by taking the fight close to Stalingrad, casualties be damned.

 

Leningrad:

Axis	Current strength	Current strength	USSR
2 Finnish Infantry	81
4 Finnish Infantry	76	108	8 Militia Army
		36	19 Infantry Army
		?	2 Militia Army
5 Infantry Corps	13	110	4 Militia Army
		235	9 Militia Army
		?	11 Infantry Army

 

There isn't a thing I can do here except keep 5 Infantry entrenched until they die or the game ends.

North group:

Axis	Current strength	Current strength	USSR
26 Infantry Corps	22
7 Infantry Corps	18

 

These two infantry are on the run from tanks but far away enough that the tanks may stop their pursuit. There's a straight shot across the river to two unguarded cities; Gorky and Kazan.

 

Voronezh:

Axis	Current strength	Current strength	USSR
56 Panzer Corps	23

 

One Panzer unit waits all alone in the desolate plains of Western Russia, his only company the Soviet infantry in every direction. But lack of supplies doesn't affect his speed, and may be able to evade them while moving east for who knows what purpose.

 

Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk:

Axis	Current strength	Current strength	USSR
34 Infantry Corps	55	122	6 Infantry Army
1 Hungarian Panzer	19
3 Panzer Corps	59
5 Flieger Corps	28
2 Flieger Corps	58
11 Infantry Corps	43
13 Infantry Corps	63	129	16 Tank Army
41 Panzer Corps	14
4 Flieger Corps	60
30 Infantry Corps	29
54 Infantry Corps	20
40 Panzer Corps	28	77	1 Guards Infantry Army
5 Rumanian Infantry	12	164	9 Tank Army
2 Rumanian Infantry	50
4 Italian Infantry	13
3 Flieger Corps	63
35 Infantry Corps	46

On the last week of fall I allowed a few Soviet units to get close so that I might have the opportunity to ensnare them, but if I choose to follow through, it will take time to finish them off with these weak units, which is effectively all I've got at this point. And during this time, many, many more Soviets will undoubtedly get close as well.

 

November 1 - November 28

Leningrad:

 

Axis	Old strength	Current strength	Current strength	Old strength	USSR
2 Finnish Infantry	81	111
4 Finnish Infantry	76	51	108	108	8 Militia Army
			33	36	19 Infantry Army
			?	?	2 Militia Army
			?		18 Tank Army
5 Infantry Corps	13	13	110	110	4 Militia Army
			235	235	9 Militia Army
			?	?	11 Infantry Army

Yep, everyone here is still helpless. Doubt that's going to change.

 

North group:

 

Axis	Old strength	Current strength	Current strength	Old strength	USSR
26 Infantry Corps	22	50
7 Infantry Corps	18	36	175	?	1 Guards Tank Army

7 Infantry managed to take a minor city - Kazan, but now we have a choice - hunker down and be overrun by tanks in a matter of weeks, or abandon it, lose it immediately, and be chased down by tanks.

27 Infantry has a clear shot to Voronezh which is once again undefended.

 

Kubishev: 

Axis	Old strength	Current strength	Current strength	Old strength	USSR
56 Panzer Corps	23	23	?		33 Tank Army

That we're even alive here feels like an exploit. Dare I push my luck further?

 

Ukraine border:

 

Axis	Old strength	Current strength	Current strength	Old strength	USSR
			?		48 Infantry Army
			82		6 Cavalry Army
34 Infantry Corps	55	23		122	6 Infantry Army
			126		15 Tank Army
1 Hungarian Panzer	19	19
3 Panzer Corps	59	63	96		13 Infantry Army
5 Flieger Corps	28	71
2 Flieger Corps	58	137
11 Infantry Corps	43	18	?		37 Infantry Army
13 Infantry Corps	63	24		129	16 Tank Army
41 Panzer Corps	14	14
4 Flieger Corps	60	123
30 Infantry Corps	29	38	141		14 Tank Army
54 Infantry Corps	20
40 Panzer Corps	28	62		77	1 Guards Infantry Army
5 Rumanian Infantry	12	10		164	9 Tank Army
2 Rumanian Infantry	50	53	171		79 Infantry Army
4 Italian Infantry	13	21	?		19 Tank Army
3 Flieger Corps	63	88
35 Infantry Corps	46	60

Even in winter, air support really makes a difference, and we killed all four of the units that we had ensnared in the mud, but I doubt there are many opportunities for this left. We lost one, and a second is stuck and lost for certain (unless the Soviets do something dumb).

Remaining units: 22

Remaining muster: 1437

Combat efficiency: 77%

Starting in December, we completely abandon the fight and switch to the "mad rush east" strategy, using the now-unguarded Kerch Straits to cross back into the Caucasus region while the Soviets stack up along the sea, unable to find their way around it. Three units are lost very quickly, and others go north.

November 29 - December 26

After this, I just didn't feel like taking and stitching together 16 screenshots for all of the remaining 13 turns, so here's some highlights.

Moscow is isolated and I have air support. Dare I risk it?

 

It's tempting!

Crossing the strait - one straggling unit is left behind.

Moscow looks really vulnerable, but I keep moving.

Crossing the straits, continued

The north group reached the end zone but are about to get sacked hard.

3 Panzers sneaks west to grab some unguarded cities

11 Infantry single-handedly blocks all of those Soviets.

Stacked up on the east border and about to lose another one.

The end state:

The south group certainly fared better than the north, several of which got splatted against the east border in the end, but the north group did manage to conquer many unguarded cities during their east rush, and the Soviets were only interested in taking some of them back. I might have even been able to take Moscow in mid-January, which had been guarded only by a single militia unit that I could have easily encircled and possibly worn down with air support, but decided not to risk it in the end.

Final stats:

Remaining units: 15

Remaining muster: 1058

Combat efficiency: 50%

Score: -65 

This end state is clearly impossible to sustain. My armies are all surrounded or isolated, and the bulk of what's left are gathered in the southeast of the map where they are relatively safe but unable to really do anything, and I have to concur with one of the insights of Arcade Idea in that I cannot see any analogous real-world value to victory points in a losing state such as this. Hypothetically we are 66 points better than we were at the start of the scenario, but realistically we'd have been better off staying put all year.

Were I to replay this scenario, I'd try being more defensive up north, but be aggressive in the middle and south until a hole opens up in the Soviet lines, and then try to push through, and from then on only attack units which can be supply-deprived first, preferably with air support. It would take longer, but the muster strength would last longer, and with 1942's extended summer season this is a reasonable trade. I suspect that any winning strategy needs some luck in order to work, but I'm not testing this theory, and I'm not going to try William T. Farmer's expansion disk scenarios. I've had enough.

 

Crawford playtesting Eastern Front, c1981