Turn 11: Early November 1918
Wow, big turn! Suddenly, all eyes turn south!
We lost Ekaterinodar in a massive battle! Well, actually, we won the battle, though at great cost. Sorokin prudently decided to retreat when ANOTHER white force was spotted on its way. They'll head back to Novorossisyk for their Last Stand. See image:
I say I'm very pleased by this result, compared to what I've seen in other games. Concentrating a force and entrenching it inflicted a whole lot of casualties on Denikin's boys. Normally I view Sorokin and his army as a purely delaying force.. and I'm right.. they are. But they can delay through damage, too.
A close observer might be wondering, "so where's the Taman Army in all of this? Aren't they usually entrenching/gathering dust in Novorossisyk right about now?" Well, here they are:
I shipped them out through the Don a few turns ago all the way up to Voronezh, where they met Avtonomov, a truly awful officer. It's early November now. Over the next few turns, the Ukraine will unlock, and I intend to sink my teeth in ASAP. At the very least, I'm guaranteed Kharkov with this headstart.
While we're looking at stuff that Pariah has charge of, lets examine the Finland Front:
I can't be sure, but I think Antonov-Ovseenko and Miller's forces are roughly equal. I'm taking the defensive, and so is he it seems, at least until he's ready. I expect and hope for this to be a quiet front, as in OTL.
Now, the east!
Another fight at Syzran, as expected. The Latvians didn't break through, but they inflicted casualties, and more importantly...
THE IRON DIVISION CROSSED THE VOLGA! Woohooo!
Now, to explain what all those arrows and numbers mean:
1)Bonch-Baruevich and Tuchachevsky's combined force. ~500 power points. They're heading up the railway to assault Kazan next turn.
2) The location of the Syzran battle, obviously. The Latvians aren't badly hurt - they're moving north a hex to try and check the enemy force in Simbirsk. Don't want them interfering with the Kazan operation. Meanwhile, the Iron Division and Frunze et al will move to Kuznestk for some R&R.
3) Blucher's unactivated, so he can't participate in the attack on Kazan. He'll move here and take a shot at it when he can.
I'm really enjoying this, as you can probably tell. If I rescue Trotsky and Berezin too I'll be positively ecstatic.