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Situation and initial plan
Across the river Bug : starting situation and plan of attack...
The Bug is impassable except on hard bridges, canoes or pontoons...
The XXX corps Mot ( 14eme Pz and 44 and 298eme div ) will have Volodymir as objective and will benefit from the help of the brandenbugers to take the bridges ( red arrows ) . A pontoon will be in reserve to let the panzers pass in case.
The XXIX corps will manage with the oar and a pontoon and will take the other objective : Porytsk
The surprise assault: the 44th division succeeded in a masterly passage. The other divisions, asleep, are lagging behind !
Middle of turn 1
The crossings were not a total success, due to weak activations and bad draws. Fortunately, the 44th division passed and opened the way for the panzers.
Start of turn 2
The 299th Division has broken through, but the bridges over the Bug are not yet open to the panzers. The objectives still seem far away!
the infantrymen and Stg III sacrifice themselves and take the city of Ustiluh with great difficulty. The way is clear for the 14th Pz !
Start of turn 3
After the passage of the Bug, the border troops were crushed.
Only 3 divisions were still holding the access to the main objectives.
On the German side, the divisions have already difficulties to ensure the offensive pressure while continuing to make the troops go up in line!
In the south, the XXIX Korps seized Porytsk after several repeated assaults and under the threat of overflow from the north.
The assault against Volodymir is not going well. The panzergrenadiers are pushed back by the 41st Tk division
But the counter attack is terrible. The T26's don't weigh much against the Pz's and are surrounded and destroyed.
In the end, it is the 13th Pz that enters the city !
Start of turn 4
The main cities have fallen, the 2 Pz divisions have regrouped...
On the side of the defenders, a 2nd line of defense is trying to be set up. Now it is a question of exchanging time for space...
The Germans are far, very far from having reached their objectives !
The successes achieved have created a vacuum in front of the attackers. They must now redeploy to attack the 2nd line of defense.
Start of turn 5
The Germans came back into contact to break through the 2nd line.
But new Russian reinforcements are coming: 1 mechanized division and 1 division of tanks.
On the other hand, the Stukas are out and this strongly penalizes the maneuver capabilities of the Soviets.
Full center: the 299th opened the way for the 14thPz . The defenders retreat ...
Start of turn 6
Start turn 7
During turn 6, the German troops will deploy a lot of activity, begin a movement of encirclement, and try to break through on clear ground.
Despite favorable activations and positive combat results, it seems that the general staff has largely underestimated the resistance of the Soviets. The battalions have good numbers that are slowly wearing out. The breakthrough proved to be much more difficult than expected, supported as it was by villages and rivers...
end of game
The turn 7 was catastrophic for the attackers, the effort of the Pz being broken by an apathy of the command (dice of activations very unfavorable). On the contrary, the Soviets benefit from a favorable mobility...
The push continued, but the expected breakthrough did not happen.
In the end, with only 11 victory points, it is a decisive victory for the defenders!
On the system : it is extremely well thought out and elegant. By a simple adjustment of the activation points allocated each turn, the movement and attack potential of each formation is directly calibrated to take into account their historical strengths and weaknesses, the weight of the air force and the general situation. A well-equipped division will have little chance of being effective if it lacks activation.
Nevertheless, the possibility to "save" allows to try to build up a reserve for the next turn...
We thus obtain a situation where the formations are obliged to make choices and cannot engage all their forces, for lack of means...
Then the random part is very strong on the acquisition of the possible actions, based on the level of activation. it is also very strong by the drawing of "chits" multipliers on each combat. We can like or not? personally, I am rather fanatic, avoiding the systematic optimization of the combat reports...
In the end, one reproach : in solo, the multiple and split activations are rather repetitive. This must be a great quality in "face to face".
also : I have a doubt about the fact that a complete formation, or one or two battalions, can obtain the same number of activations per turn ....
On the situation : the crossing of the Bug and then the race to the objectives is a very interesting situation, with numerous and very different troops on each side. We are in the first days of Barbarossa, you can feel it right away !
In my game, I have VERY largely overestimated the impact of the Panzers against numerous and long to destroy troops. It is really necessary to try to create deep and risky breakthroughs to unbalance and destroy the defense.
The directions were probably also wrong, underestimating the impact of the forests and rivers on the resistance...
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