[AAR] No Retreat - Berkut vs. Tamas

[szmik]

I've played about 6 turns solo to get the grasp of it. The game has great balance, as Axis you are on the verge of autovictory, but you lack armies to get this single lacking point in time. Maybe one should go with more, but less sure attacks and let die rolls decide?

[Tamas]

Now this is an exciting game.

it actually is. Now Berkut has one turn to conquer Stalingrad (impossible due to deep snow and Soviet line of defense), or a lot of other cities to get enough VPs for his very last auto-victory check at the start of next turn.

Assuming he can't pull that off, he will need both Stalingrad and Sevastopol to auto-win, and keeping Moscow and Leningrad of course.

But that will be a much harder proposition than just stopping me from winning.

Because before you might think otherwise, this was the easier half of the Soviet game. Now comes the challenge of gaining as much VPs as the Germans did, before 1944 ends. And with Berkut's performance, that will take some effort. And that only warrants a continuation to '45. I can win an auto-victory a few times before that of course but again: it would be quite the achievement.
We will see. Berk can still pull of a trick and knock me out for good.

[Tamas]

I've played about 6 turns solo to get the grasp of it. The game has great balance, as Axis you are on the verge of autovictory, but you lack armies to get this single lacking point in time. Maybe one should go with more, but less sure attacks and let die rolls decide?

I think the balance favors a full play until the end of '44 or '45. The Germans have a lot of chance at winning this by stopping a historical Soviet success, assuming they can perform well during their heydays. While a berserk style certainly has a shot at autovictory, a slow but steady flow of VPs until Turn 12 seems to be a perfectly viable strategy.

[Drakken]

Which version of the rules are you using? 2nd edition?

I'd be interested in playing it through Cyberboard and ACTS, after assimilating the rules.

[Tamas]

Which version of the rules are you using? 2nd edition?

I'd be interested in playing it through Cyberboard and ACTS, after assimilating the rules.

the latest living rules

[Drakken]

Got them. Seems rather similar to Paths of Glory, so I won't be that lost.

[Berkut]

The Germans have pulled out of Moscow. We did not think we could hold the city in the winter, and the risk of losing out best unit to encirclement was simply too great...now we shall see how the other side does on the offensive...

[szmik]

Got them. Seems rather similar to Paths of Glory, so I won't be that lost.

Counterblow rule would work perfectly in PoG, no more silly corps cutting off supply. 

[Tamas]

TURN 11 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1943

Not much happened this turn, the deep snow made sure there would be no chance for big advances despite Soviets gaining the ability of extra hex of armor advance the Germans have had since the outset.

Moscow was regained, but the scheduled utter failure of the attack north-west of it did not fail to happen.

Voronezh was also liberated but the mere retreat of the enemy army was a dissappointment considering the overwhelming odds it faced.

The iniative changed at the start of the next turn. Berkut achieved 23VPs, I have 12 at present. I missed the auto-victory mark by 4VPs. To be honest, the future auto-victory requirements can be made unreachable to me by Berkut assuming his defensive line will not break in a decisive way. So the most realistic goal is getting to and hopefully through the border by 1945, and win the game then.

[Habbaku]

Got them. Seems rather similar to Paths of Glory, so I won't be that lost.

Counterblow rule would work perfectly in PoG, no more silly corps cutting off supply. 

The only PoG players that let corps cut their units OOS are the bad PoG players.

[Tamas]

needless to say, Leningrad will be a huge pain in the ass. Seriously I am starting to think it is a bigger loss than Moscow. It gets perma-suppiled via the black sea, it has 2 column shifts when defending, so you need some major force-concentration against it, and you can't even stack until '45, and you need every unit to push push push anyway. Annoying. 

[The Brain]

needless to say, Leningrad will be a huge pain in the ass. Seriously I am starting to think it is a bigger loss than Moscow. It gets perma-suppiled via the black sea, it has 2 column shifts when defending, so you need some major force-concentration against it, and you can't even stack until '45, and you need every unit to push push push anyway. Annoying. 

WTF?

[Kleves]

The Black Sea. You know, the sea over which Sweden sent all those ball bearings. Don't you know your own history?

[Tamas]

needless to say, Leningrad will be a huge pain in the ass. Seriously I am starting to think it is a bigger loss than Moscow. It gets perma-suppiled via the black sea, it has 2 column shifts when defending, so you need some major force-concentration against it, and you can't even stack until '45, and you need every unit to push push push anyway. Annoying. 

WTF?

Ok so I did a typo, and I meant the Baltic Sea.

Insignificant sea is insignificant.

[Tamas]

TURN 12 MARCH-APRIL 1943

This was to be a turn of lull, with spring thaw mud setting in, but alas, Berkut drew a weather changer card and so winter snow stayed a while longer.

He continued to optimize his defensive line.

Which was a good decision, as I was helding my Major Offensive card, allowing me to draw 4 extra cards (doubling my handsize for the turn, basically), in exchance of having two initiate at least four voluntary attacks. It was playable in Clear or Snow weather only. So the lengthening of winter allowed an early start of what the Grand Marshal (me) called the Donets-Don Offensive.
With lost units replaced, the heroic defenders of the Union of Workers' Paradise set off to punch holes in the German lines along those two great rivers, while also the trench warfare near Moscow continued.

The map, before Berkut placing Counterblows: