DC3: Barbarossa Barthheart vs JasonPratt - No Jason

[Barthheart]

First bit of work doesn't seem like it should be on my desk at... Who left this here? Korber!



Well let's read what all the invested parties have to say anyways.





Hmmm... still not sure what my input should be... I'm trying to start a war... more oil is always good... but we do need the Rumanians as cannon fodder... err... helpful allies.



I think I'll just send a note "suggesting" they give us more oil and see how that goes over.



Well no more oil soon but at least they seem happy to help out with bullet stops... umm... bodies...

[Barthheart]

What's next? Ah yes, fuel allocations for each of the fronts.



I won't bore you with each of the Front commanders whining for more fuel and just show how the PP costs are calculated for this.



This seems like a lot of PP's to pay just so I can piss two Generals off more then the other one. So I'll just shuffle that off to the shredder.

[Barthheart]

Oh Crap! I hate getting letters from Himmler... the little weasel.



And these attached notes should be good for a laugh... or a bullet to the head....





I am a soldier, not a politician! I don't need to belong to the Party to get my work done.

[Barthheart]

Next up in this report from the Luftwaffe. What's Chubby up to these days?



I'll spare you the boring support letters this time and show what we can expect from the different choices.



I'm going let Goring continue to blow up trucks and such for awhile yet and hope this slows the Russians down enough that we can surround large pockets.

[Barthheart]

The last three decisions involve the security forces that are assigned to each Front. Need to chose when to have them switch from mop up operations to anti Partisan duties.



Here's what can happen in either case.



For all three Fronts I choose to have them continue to mop up for a week after the offensive begins. I plan on lots of Russians left behind my streaming forces.

[Barthheart]

Right, with those out of the way I can now read some interesting, though dry, reports on the status of our troops.
This one is from Army Group Center. Like I said dry, but it pays to read these every day to make sure things are running smoothly.



And this is a sample of the logistics reports each day. Very important stuff here. Must keep the Panzers feed with fuel.. and how they love to burn through it!

[Barthheart]

Ok, can I now start to blow stuff up? No? What the...



Oh with I need to setup some offensive capability for the Armies by playing some cards.
First up is Giving Focus in each Army Group. Since the Generals in charge of each Army Group are old infantry guys they won't let you give focus to the Panzer Groups if you are on bad terms with them.
So far Leeb likes... well doesn't hate me so he agrees that the 4th Panzer Group can get the focus.



Then I need to assign the Front's artillery assets to and Army or Division. This can't be a Panzer Group because the artillery is mostly horse drawn.
Here I give AGN's artillery to the 18th Army to help them drive for Riga. I can change this later by playing this card on a different unit.




All these cards cost PPs to play so I must be careful not change my mind too often.

[Barthheart]

Look at this! All our forces poised for the great dive East.

[Barthheart]

OK, finally we get to the fighting. Honour of first combat goes to the 253rd and 32nd Infantry Divisions. Their target is to move the Russian 5th Infantry Division so the Panzers can breakthrough.



The attack goes off flawlessly! Lots of damage to them and they retreat and we take no casualties.



Here is the position of AGN after the first 4 days (each turn is 4 days) of fighting. Not a bad start. Shown also is the command radius of the 4th Panzer Group HQ. The farther out side the green ring a Division is, the less action points and other benefits from the HQ it will receive.
It's always a juggling act of driving hard and keeping the Panzer Groups together.

[Barthheart]

Here is the result of AGC's initial drive. Great progress! I owe von Bock a cognac.

[Barthheart]

And in the south von Rundstedt does equally well.

[Barthheart]

Even our Finish allies make some head way.





That's it until we receive reports of the Russian response to our... visit.

[Barthheart]

God damn it!  No dessert for you until you've finished your Wing Leader!

Don't worry that's tomorrow night's fun.

[Barthheart]

MD and Carl, thanks fer reading. Do you like all the detail in the decisions or should I just show what the question is and the result I pick?

There will be more combat shots I promise but the first few turns have lots of "paper work" to sort out.

[Barthheart]

Oops! I should have zoomed in on all those reports...  :-[ Sorry about that. I'll make sure it's more readable next entry.