interesting how fast things shift, a while back it looked reasonably under control, now its all falling apart again ... which of course is great fun for your readers.
Its odd to see those HOI Old Guard generals (that I tend to tuck away where they can do no damage) in their prime. When I read you were sending Blucher, I instantly thought there must be some one with better traits ..
You know things are getting nasty when you have no more reserve and have to make decision like "letting that city without defense or that one". That's what is happening in my RoP game (we are playing November now, and there have been some huge battles finally, including a 45 days long one (!)).
Narwhal: Yes, exactly! I'm scrambling. No other game makes me scramble in quite this way.
loki00: Agreed. Blucher, Timoshenko etc are actually my rising stars, which feels more than a little weird. I guess the old guard has to make its name somewhere.
Turn 20: Late March 1919
Disaster!
Stalin has utterly botched the defence of Tzaritsyn! 17,000 men lost in a day, the 10th army completely destroyed!
This is a big, hard blow. I lost 7 national morale because of that battle! 7!
Okay, enough hysterics from me. There are some bright edges to the dark cloud. Stalin, at least, won't go on to commit any mass murders - he's been completely discredited in the eyes of SOVNARKOM, not to mention nearly killed.
As well, those reinforcements I sent did arrive. Ghai-Khan led the Iron Division into battle at Ilovlya and died for his trouble, but he cleared the northern route out of (and into) Tzaritsyn. If there was any army left, it could retreat this way.
Instead, I'll be sending all the reinforcements that got through - the remnants of the Iron Division and the 25th Fusiliers, all under Chapaev - powering straight into Tzaritsyn from the north. The city itself is still ours, though just barely - a thin line of Red Air Force personnel hold it. I expect the battle-worn Volunteer Army to stumble into the city and get hit head-on by Chapaev's screaming 17,000 men. Or it could be another disaster. Going to be fun either way!
One last thing. The enemy is advancing in the east as well:
That's a big force - including British-made tanks - heading straight for my smallest eastern group, Makhin's at Penza. I have reinforcements - Trotsky and Berezin - rushing from the north on trains, but it will take them 6 days to get into position. Will they make it? Tune in next time, on... To Hell on an Armoured Train!
Holy... Stalin's performance at Tzaritsyn... That's some incompetence... At first glance, the armies seem pretty evenly matched, and the leaders: 4-1-2 vs. 3-2-4 - are they so disparate? If not, then what caused this massacre? I think I know that White troops tend to be better than the fighting proletariat, but to such a degree? Or are there more random factors in determining combat results?
Oh, and as if Tzaritsyn wasn't bad enough, the situation in the East looks pretty dire, too. This is certainly entertaining on a grand scale.
Turn 21: Early April 1919
The Siberians have struck hard..
.. but not hard enough! Penza holds! Trotsky and Berezin's boys arrived literally the day the battle begun, so I've just barely averted a breach in the Siberian front here. A day later, and the entire line would have been unstrung. I would have had to withdraw from Kazan and Simbirsk just to maintain a coherent front.
So, whew. We both bled, but as Michael says, I can afford it more. Or can I? I'm taking casualties at quite a rate lately. See this?
That's the result of my ballyhooed counterattack at Tzaritsyn - a brutal repulse. Chapaev will have to pull back to Saratov and try to hold the city - Denikin's 30,000 will require at least twice that number of Reds to defeat decisively if they stay concentrated like this. Blucher will hold the railroad to the northwest, at Tambov. If he can.
So. Repulse and defeat in the south, barely hanging on in the east. No real action in the far north. Anything I'm missing? Ah, yes, Ukraine:
It's chaos, and worse than that: FRAGILE chaos. Whites advancing from the south, yours truly from the north, and Ukrainian nationalists trying to hold what is in between. This is a difficult front. Kharkov is mine, but weakly held. Kiev may soon be mine - I'm hitting them with Budyenny's cavalry and about 10,000 infantry. If I can hold it, it'll provide a much-needed boost to my morale. Other towns in the northwest have fallen, and I'm now fanning partisans out south of the Dniepr. Still, my positions are all very weak. I've been advancing into a vacuum, more or less, and even now I need to call forces away from the northwest to deal with the Greens.
Ah, yes. GREENS ARE EVERYWHERE!
For those of you who don't know, Greens represent peasant uprisings, general banditry, and more organized forces not allied with either the Whites or the Reds. And right now, a huge series of uprisings has hit central Russia, paralyzing my railroad networks around Moscow. The newly built force I had earmarked to reinforce Ukraine is going to have to run around suppressing these forces and repairing railroads for a few months.
This damn game gets harder every turn.. Fingers so very, very crossed...
well done on offing Stalin ... but yes overall this looks really tense but at least you've shored up your Siberian front
Thanks loki
Turn 22: Late April 1919
I'll make this update short, as I have a new turn sitting in the inbox. First, the Ukraine:
The two most important cities in Ukraine are Kharkov and Kiev. As you can see, my attempt on Kiev failed (stupid Budyenny) and I lost Kharkov to Shkuro's White Wolves. Just a bad turn.
The White Wolves are tough, but they're a small cavalry force nonetheless. I'm combining all my boys who just attempted Kiev into one force under S.S. Kamenev. He'll ride the captured Ukrainian railroads east to Kharkov and try to take the place back. Due north from Kharkov is the Moscow railroad.. can't let them get an early toehold there, can we?
Oh, here's something interesting:
Tambov is on the rail line north of Tzaritsyn (which is now firmly in White hands, sadly enough). Right now it's the sight of a three-sided battle between Blucher's infantry-heavy army, Egorov's cossacks, and a Green peasant militia. So far it's a bloody stalemate.
Here's one bit of good news. Remember the White Northwestern Army that I was so concerned about? Threatening Petrograd? Well, Bonch-Bruevich tracked them down near their base at Pskov and inflicted a nice little defeat in a series of small battles. I do feel content with this front.
The problem is, well, everywhere else. I'm building units as fast as I can and sending them out as emergency detachments. I've got plenty of men, but no cash - I'm broke! To raise more money, I've had to compromise on national morale, which makes my armies weaker in the field...
Turn 23: Early May 1919
Things are getting rougher every turn. I'm starting to see why my history books call 1919 the "YEAR OF THE WHITES".
Anywho. I didn't post a screenshot of the Eastern front last turn because nothing had changed since the enemy was repulsed at Penza. I figured that the stalemate would persist.
I was wrong!
The result: my line is totally unhinged. Trotsky is falling back, he'll meet Blucher (who has cleared Tambov) and try to recapitulate his force. Tukhachevsky and Vatsetis will pull back as well and try to form a new line west of the Volga. This is not good!
This is not good, either:
Miller hit Antonov-Ovseenko with British support this time and outnumbered him quite thoroughly. A-O fell in battle, British and White aeroplanes strafed and bombed, and the routed troops are now dispersed in the forest. Another disaster.
This is a zoomed out view of the whole North/Western theatre (a front I am, incidentally, no longer content with). As you can see, Bonch-Baruevich suffered a repulse himself, although at least he's still alive. The boys are retreating north towards the Estonian border. Meanwhile, with both of my main forces here in trouble, a new force - 3 divisions under Stalin and Voroshilov, both recently disgraced - is heading west from Moscow to cover Petrograd.
Oh yes, and Kamenev's attempt on Kharkov failed. Argh!
I have to say, it's pretty gloomy here at SOVNARKOM. We have taken counsel of our fears. The Whites are advancing on every front and new Green revolts pop up every day. The Soviet State may not survive this test.
I'm just trading space for time. Or rather, I'm having space taken from me, and I hope I'll have enough time!
On that screenshot above I thought they had taken Petrograd already. But its just Petrozavodsk.
You'll need a bit of luck I think. However with your new three divisions you will save the city. Hopefully.
Btw, where do you see if a leader died?
And how does the PBEM system actually work?
Anyways, dont give up, keep up the fight and the good AAR
God will know his angels by the Tone of their voices and the sadness hidden in their hearts
- Honore de Balzac
Visit my Guns of January Brazil Multiplayer AAR
great stuff ... time to dust down Lenin's 1919 proclamation - "The Socialist Motherland is in Danger".
in-game are the various imperialist forces like the British & French powerful but quite fragile (& with fairly limited interests) or are they a flexible and generally useful part of the White forces?
LeCare: Yes, fingers crossed! Check the bottom of the third screenshot, it shows the notice of Antonov-Ovseenko's death.
PBEM is pretty easy. First, the host processes a turn and sends the files to the other players. We all play our turn and save the .ord file (our orders). Email it back to the host, who places them all in his save game folder, processes the turn, sends out the new files.
loki: Yes! All out for the fight against Denikin!
Powerful but fragile is pretty correct. Especially the French and Greek forces in the south - they're often paralyzed by mutiny and lack of supply. Other forces are locked in place (such as the American Polar Bear expedition in Arkhangelsk) but will defend themselves if attacked.
Ouch! I assume that those three divisions can hold Petrograd, and that you'll be able to form a line in the East somewhere, but... You seem to have lost the initiative on all fronts. And you've suffered some brutal defeats. This will be - interesting.
The Soviet Republic continues to resist the last dreams of the old world.
Turns 24 + 25: Late May - Early June 1919
The Whites are closer to Petrograd than they've ever been, and right now, only Stalin stands in their way. Shudder.
Those five innocuous green pips represent a dagger pointed straight my heart. Once again, it's down to the wire. Can Stalin hold? His record seems to say no. If he can last one turn, Bonch-Baruevich and the remnants of Antonov-Ovseenko's force can join him. We'll just have to see.
I do have some good news this turn, however. Kharkov is ours once again!
I've learned my lesson. Instead of dispersing and trying to hold a line all across the Dniepr, I'm sending the partisans out to raise havoc across the breadth of the Ukraine and holding Kamenev and the main force here in Kharkov to fortify this most important position. Ukraine will remain a battleground for a while yet - although the Whites are moving up my eastern flank, into Voronezh.
This is a shot of the evacuation of Astrakhan. As you can see, Denikin's coming at us with a large force. The division under Kirov holding the city would be annihilated or forced to retreat into what is essentially a desert. I've therefore picked them up with the southern Volga flotilla and run them into the Caspian. I have plans for these guys..
Oh, one last thing. The most important thing!
I've planned a three-sided counterstroke to the enemy at Penza. As you can see, Trotsky and his men never retreated. They've fought a bloody street battle for weeks now. I'm hoping that the Siberians in Penza are tired enough that the sight of 3 convering Red forces all arriving within a 2 day timeframe of each other causes them.. well, extreme discomfort.
this is one tense game, the way that utter disaster turns into not too bad is fascinating
I once read quite an interesting article on the development of revolutionary art from the civil war to the Stalin period. The author made the point that the Bolsheviks put a lot of effort into Graphic Design as the populace were used to using Icons as a means to capture strories. The other point it made was the early stuff was realistic in that it presented real people as opposed to the emphasis on the unreal in the Stalin era (lots of muscle bound well fed workers and rows of identical soldiers etc). Your opening picture really reminds me of that.
In those places where you can concentrate your forces (such as Penza and Kharkov), you seem to be in good shape. But I can't help but worry about the vast expanses that make up the rest of Russia... The Whites seem to be everywhere, slowly prising the country from your grasp, one city at a time...
You are in dire straights, and 1919 is not over late. Against two human controlled Whites, I suppose it is very difficult to resist.
At least it looks like that
- Ukraine is yours
- There is no junction between the White forces.
I have the impression you don't really concentrate your forces, but don't raid the supply lines much either, even though cutting the supply lines is extremely efficient against all White forces except the NorthWestern ones, due to the distance between their starting areas and the Russian "mainland". Am I right, or is it just that you don't want to send too much details ?
I'll admit it is very difficult, but I'll also say this is my first PBEM game against two humans in this scenario, so I beg ignorance.Originally Posted by Narwhal
Early in the game I botched several anti-supply line operations. Blucher's partisan force in the south urals was completely annihilated, and the others have been largely dispersed. Ever since then, I've been too concerned about forming a defensible line to take any risks with raiding operations.
I suppose I should concentrate my forces more. The problem is my numerical 'superiority' - right now it's a very close margin, and the Whites can sometimes still win head-on battles. Too many theatres means I have to keep spreading out and covering new disasters rather than building a reserve army and looking for a decisive victory.
Turns 26 + 27: Late June - Early July 1919
This is another two-turn update. Let's have a look at the results of the Penza battle.All Out for the Fight Against Denikin!
Comrades,
This is one of the most critical, probably even the most critical moment for the socialist revolution. Those who defend the exploiters, the landowners and capitalists, in Russia and abroad (primarily in Britain and France) are making a desperate effort to restore the power of those who seize the results of the people’s labour, the landowners and exploiters of Russia, in order to bolster up their power, which is waning all over the world.
The foreign capitalists are now making a desperate effort to restore the yoke of capital by means of an onslaught by Denikin, whom they have supplied with officers, shells, tanks, etc., etc.
All the forces of the workers and peasants, all the forces of the Soviet Republic, must be harnessed to repulse Denikin’s onslaught and to defeat him.
SOVNARKOM
The first battle, from 6-8 June, was a rather bloody defeat for our boys, but they held fast and failed to retreat, keeping the enemy pinned in at Penza. Trotsky rushed in from the north with further reinforcements in an attempt to hold the enemy at the town.
Unfortunately, even with reinforcements and the inspiring leadership of Trotsky, the second battle - on the 18th - was a disaster. The Whites are taking half or less of the Red casualties - that ratio cannot stand.
Cursing the blood-soaked town, sight of so many Red defeats, Trotsky orders a retrograde maneuever.
I'm not sure what to do in this theatre, now. The Siberians are firmly over the Volga (except in the far north, where the Latvians still hold Kazan).I have a large force, but it has just been soundly defeated. I can only hope that my enemy gives me a chance to pause for breath. Timoshenko is on his way with 20,000 fresh troops, but he needs time to repair railroads and clean Green peasant-militias out of his path. In the meantime, defend and delay.
So, that's the east. The Ukraine was quiet - Kirov, Budyenny and Kamenev seem to have it under control. What about the North?
Stalin and Voroshilov have granted us a victory! Miller's merry men came down from Karelia and tried to push Stalin and his blocking force back into Petrograd. Stalin pushed back - hard. That's a lot of units eliminated.
With one of the two White forces badly mauled, and the other force cut off from its base of supply (through careful maneuvering of Bonch-Bruevich's force), we are presented with a splendid opportunity to destroy the Northern and Northwestern White Armies in detail. Stalin will move out of his blocking position at Tsarskoye Selo and try to finish off Miller. This runs the risk of exposing Petrograd, but the garrison of the city can defend it against the NW Army operating independently. Bonch will keep the lines of retreat for said army firmly blocked while Stalin deals with Miller.
If I can clean up this front and eliminate the threat to Petrograd once and for all, I'll have lots of reinforcements for other fronts! And I NEED those reinforcements...
Big victory near Petrograd and a splendid opportunity to clear the Northern front. But what a mauling in the East... I wonder how much further you'll be pushed back there before the forces from the North become available to staunch the White Tide.
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