I guess people are still interested in Scorched Earth game reports! I got a large enough response that I decided to post it. FitE/SE Game Log - Compiled by OKH (Ed Nam) Germans: played by my roommate and I. He had AGN (and then some) and Finnish theatre. I had the rest. Russians: played by two other dudes. Same seperation of fronts. For all of us, this was our first Europa game, but we are all experienced wargamers. There is some analysis at the end. game begun: Sep '95. End Jul `96. Jun II 1941 On the surprise turn the Germans exploded into russia. The first objective city, Lvov was captured. Russians lost 161 strength points of which 41 were non-isolated. Germans lost 6 strength points and 2 planes. In the surprise air 69 German wings attacked Russian airbases with ~130 tactical bombing points. The German/Rumanian first turn saw the fall of the dot cities, Wilno and Cernauti. Riga fell after a valiant defense which led to an exchange. Minsk and Kaunas were isolated. An effort to strangle the fronts at Minsk and south failed as the bombers could not break the rail lines. Army group south barely joined hands with the northern Rumanian flank. At the same time it managed to isolate 4 Russian c/m divisions within the Pripet. Russians lost 170 strength points of which 12 were non-isolated. Also 3 fighters were shot down. Germans lost 9 strength points and 1 bomber. In the Russian counter-attack 9 isolated strength points were exchanged in the Minsk pocket. Scorched Earth policy began. In total, Russians lost 342 strength points and the Germans lost 24. 45 Russian wings were downed to the German 3. Germans have 11 VP (they started with 9). [russians receive in total, 53/5 = 10 special RPs with a remainder of 3: notated 10r3. remainders are carried over till the next turn.] [germans receive 15/4 = 3r3 special RPs.] Jul I '41 This turn was a mop up operation for the Germans. Chisinau and Kaunas were taken. 148 Russian strength points were lost plus one fighter. The Russians used the time to reinforce their defensive line running almost north south from Pskov to Odessa. The counter-attack killed 5 strength points of German infantry. Jul II '41 The Axis took Minsk, Hango, Vinnetsia, and Zhitomir (dot cities). Kiev and Odessa were nearly cut off in the Exploitation. Russian counterattacks fizzled as Goering's flak took a bite out of Russian bombers and panzer divisions retreated in good order. Russians lost 226 strength points of which 83 were non-isolated (16r3) Russians lost 4 fighters, Germans 2. Aug I '41 The Russians got full ZOC this turn as well as the largest reinforcement strength for the game but failed to prevent the encirclement of almost the entire front north of Minsk (out to Velikye Luki) by a combined effort of the Panzer groups from Army North and Center. About 150 - 200 strength points were caught in this pocket. Talinn, Kiev and Odessa were also isolated. The Oktober Revolution in Talinn was sunk by the Luftwaffe, but a massive bombing campaign against the Black Sea fleet in Odessa was a failure. On the Russian turn, counterattacks had reasonable success. The V-Luki pocket was resupplied and a U1 attack against an armored division led to the first German Tank exchange! 189 Russian strength points were lost of which 156 were non- isolated. Germans lost 20 strength points of which 18 were non-isolated. Russians also lost 2 fighters. Aug II '41 In another mop up turn, Pockets of resistance were eliminated around Velikye Luki and Kiev. Smolensk was isolated by tanks from Center. The V-Luki pocket was helpless by this time. While managing to bag a HUGE Russian army out of this, it delayed the progress Army North's toward Leningrad. Army South made a dash for Dnepropetrovsk. Talinn (which was evacuated), Vitebsk, Mogilev, Kirovograd, Krivoi Rog, Nikolaev dot cities were captured. Army Center joined hands with South on the eastern edge of the pripet. Russians resupplied Odessa by sea and the front fell back to a more secure line. The Leningrad line was made pretty solid with bought time. Russians lost 220 strength points, 51 were non-isolated. Germans lost 8 (Finns 6). Russians lost 6 fighters, Germans 1. Sep I '41 Arctic turned muddy early this year. Continuing to mop up, Kiev and Odessa (U2) were finally taken after their long siege. Gomel, Dneprodzerzhinsk, and Poltana dot cities were captured. Army North started the slow fighting march to Leningrad. The Soviet counterattack in south destroyed a motorized stack, thus isolating the armored corps at Poltana. Russians lost 246 strength points, 61 were non-isolated. Germans lost 20, Finns 3, Hungarians 3. Russians also lost 5 fighters (grounded in Kiev), CL squadron, and CA heavy cruiser docked in Odessa. Sep II '41 Zone B turned muddy early! Germans in north and center floundered to get back into supply, with the Luftwaffe airlifting in tremendous (but insufficient) amounts of supply to the panzers up front. In center (V-Luki pocket) there was more stubborn resistance by the last U2 NKVD stacks. Army South managed to get its tanks across the Dneiper at Dnepropetrovsk out to Kharkov, isolating the entire front shielding Kharkov. Partisans started popping up in response. Russians counterattacked near Dnepropetrovsk wiping out two divisions. Russians lost 102 strength points 47 of which were non-isolated. Axis lost 14 strength points. 2 Russian fighters were exchanged for a Finnish fighter a Roumanian bomber and 2 German Me 110s. Oct I '41 The weather turned mud in the south! With the whole German line out of supply, there were few offensives. There was little progress in the north. In center, Smolensk was finally taken after some stiff resistance. In south, the Kharkov pocket was mopped up to some degree. The Russian counterattack was fierce this turn. Taking advantage of NO AEC, they attacked many hexes at 3:1 -1. A foiled attack against a 6-10 was all that saved the Poltana/Kharkov salient for the wet Germans, but there were still heavy casualties holding the line as an isolated stack managed to break out back into supply and the spearhead SS Wiking division was pushed away (with heavy losses) from the suburbs of Kharkov. Russians lost 73 strength points, 24 of which were non-isolated. Axis lost 37. 2 Russians fighters were exchanged for 2 German ones. Oct II '41 The weather didn't let up. In south, the entire Axis line reorganized after turning black U2. There were few attacks with little success. The counterattack consisted of similar battles of attrition. Soviets lost 64 strength points out of which 54 were non-isolated. Germans lost 26 strength points. 3 Russian fighters were exchanged for 1 German. Nov I '41 Still muddy in B and C, the Germans were unable to make much ground. The Finns continued their slow but inevitable progress toward the north/south railway. Russian troops in Estonia (isthmus) were in threat of being isolated. In center, a few holes were poked into the Valdai Hills and two forward towns were captured: Vyasma and Bryansk. The Russians turn saw the reinforcements arriving from the now quiet Manchurian front. Their fighter numbers nearly doubled giving them clear numerical superiority over the skies on all fronts! Guards air units arrived to demonstrate their experience. On the ground, the first hint of a Non Overrunable Double Defense Line (NODDL) was formed in front of the German Panzer corps for fear of frost weather. Another unsupplied Axis Corps was wiped out in the south. Soviets lost 47 SPs, (41 N-I) Germans lost 20. 4 Russian fighters were exchanged for 2 German mainly in the heated air battles near and over Leningrad. Nov II '41 The snow finally fell in zone B leaving C in frost. The continuing withdrawl of German troops and the ever broadening front made it difficult to cover the entire line. However, lack of concentrated supported Russian tank mobility continued to make the Teutons bold in their offensives. The German turn was a tremendous success! Most units came back into supply. Winterized units in Finland made the dash east. The first arctic offensive pushed Russian units back to the rail line near Kandalaksha. The Finns, encircled a small Russian army with their backs to Lake Onega. Army North isolated the remnants of the Baltic Red army in Estonia. Meanwhile, North expanded its jurisdiction to include the Valdai Hills and pushed to within 2 hexes from the Moscow-Leningrad rail line cutting off a small pocket of Russians in the process. Army Center started its slug fest with the determined Russians blocking Moscow, hitting the NODDL hard just south of the Valdai and Vyasma. With frost weather, Army South took revenge for weeks of starvation and pounding. Striking at the weak point in the line, an armored group broke through and captured the dot city of Kursk. The NODDL in front of Kharkov was pushed back a hex taking tremendous losses. And finally after eliminating the defenders of the hexes north of Dnepropetrovsk and south of Zaporozhe, motorized units streamed through the holes simultaneously isolating both major cities and cutting the rail supply line to the Crimea. The Russian counterattack was not as lucky as the German's. A small advanced German infantry corps was wiped out south of Valdai and the Valdai and Dnep/Zap pockets were resupplied. The rest of the attacks fizzled with heavy air casualties in the north. A large salient was created around Kursk. And finally, the lower Dneiper line retreated in good order south and east. Russians lost 110 N-I strength points to the German 21 (with alot of lucky German dice rolls). Russians lost 4 fighters. Another factory came on line in the Urals. Dec I '41 Snowy everywhere, the Germans tried a different tactic and made fierce 4:1-1 (equivalent) attacks all up and down the line. Casualties were heavy on both sides and the front was pushed back 1 hex in many places. Most notably Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe, along the frozen Dnepr, were isolated again, this time with little chance of relief. The guards counterattacked! The Winterized Russians replied by inflicting the heaviest losses as yet on the Germans. Army North suffered most when the troops outside the Estonian pocket fought their way back in, resupplying the isolated troops, and in the process cut off the hapless German troops that formed the spearhead. A forward airbase was also recaptured. In the Kursk salient a lone German tank division on the front was mauled. Russians lost 149 strength points (142 N-I) to the Axis 51 (more than half in the Russian turn). 4 Russian fighters were exchanged for 2 German. Dec II '41 The holiday season saw no let-up in combat. The Germans continued their aggressive low odds attacks to gain one hex. In the Arctic, Murmansk was isolated. In North, ZOC was finally exerted on the Moscow-Leningrad line. Attempts to cut the other rail into Leningrad ended as did most of the past attempts - failure. Goering was relieved. In the south, the northern passes of the Crimea were both blocked, and a CL squadron delivering supplies was sunk. The Russian couterattack destroyed another motorized corps near Kursk. The turn's losses could have been worse if so many NEs hadn't been rolled. Russians took 142 sp in losses (130 N-I) to the Axis 23. 2 Russian fighters were destroyed. 1942 Summary: The following statistics refer only to strength point values, thus are not completely indicative of the progress of the game. Overall the Axis powers managed to destroy the entire at start Russian army and then some. (Russians started with roughly 1300 sp and Axis with roughly 1500). Counting reinforcements and losses the net gain for Axis has been ~260 sp against a net loss of ~260 sp of Russian. The Axis have 19 victory points so it's still difficult to say how either side is doing. Jan I '42 On the Finnish front, the hold on Murmansk was made more solid. A relief attempt from the south would entail a fairly major operation in the Arctic. Meanwhile the hapless Russians are running low on supply. The Attacks from the Axis were more numerous than in any other turn. AGN made progress all along its front putting many hexes of the Moscow- Leningrad line in ZOC and pushing to within 5 hexes of the city limits taking few losses. AGC succeeded in supplying Kursk and destroyed several divisions of Guards units that were making trouble. AGS finally managed to take Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe. The troops in Zap put up a good fight taking many German engineers with them. AGS also pushed into the Crimea while paratroopers landed in the Simferopol dot city in force. The Soviet counterattack was once again bloody. Miraculously, the Murmansk rail line was re-opened! A couple of corps were also pinched off and destroyed in center. Losses were heavy on both sides: Russians lost 205 sp (165 N-I) to the Axis 85. 2 Russian fighters were destroyed. Axis now have 22 VPs. Jan II '42 With the 15SP/hex Russian defense along the Leningrad front, it was difficult making any decent attacks. There was still plenty of action on the Valdai Hills though. The Russians were just about pushed out of that defensible terrain and the first road hexes on the Moscow-Len line were taken. With some relatively poor dice rolling, AGC and AGS had a less than stellar turn even with 33 attacks! The Luftwaffe however was much more successful; by downing many fighters and preventing Sevastapol from being supplied. The Russian counterattacks were less effective this turn. The only notable success made by the concentrated troops around Kharkhov who helped destroy yet another hapless corps attempting to flank the city. The second lines along the Russian front are getting weaker and weaker, now being held by many 3 and 4 SP hexes. Russians lost 159 SP (150 N-I) to the German 46. 8 Russian fighters were shot down. Feb I '42 Continuing the attrition warfare, the Germans attacked. Most notibly Karkhov was nearly isolated and the largest air battle of the game occured over the skies south of Leningrad. Russians lost 105 strnength points (93 N-I) to the Axis 30. 4 Russian fighters were shot down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, we decided to end the game. The Russians clearly took too many losses in the summer months to do an effective winter offensive. Worse, the 5 SP defense line from Valdai to Zap made it easy for the Axis to inflict heavy casualties on the Russian line at a 1:4 loss ratio), hence softening the Red Army up for the final blow in the summer of '42. Much of the Winter attacking units were wiped out in the early turns of '42 thus stopping the Soviet offensive and the Red Army lines are getting thinner and thinner... According to FitE victory conditions though, this game was a stalemate! A little analysis: Axis: The Germans conceded that they had used their tanks too conservatively. The way the CRT is designed an NE falls in between EX and HX. And many times Germans couldn't afford to roll an NE! So a 5:1 (equivatlent) attack was often necessary. This kept the German losses small, at game end, Germany had 30 armor replacement points stored. In addition, deep thrusts were hardly ever taken beyond supply range. Perhaps we should have flipped more trucks, but I personally think that that is unrealistic. Soviet: The Red Army was very aggressive in its defense! Lines were held within reach of the German juggernaut infantry. Often places, AGC had more firepower than it knew what to do with! So the stronger the Russian lines were held, the bigger the bag! Due to sticky ZOC a retreating line was difficult to make, but this skill seems to be the acquired art of a good Russian player. POssibly two offensives killed the Russian player. 1- AGS armor pushing to out to Vinnitsia and south Pripet. This cut off 6 divisions of first class tanks plus some motorized inf divisions. 2- The double pincer massive encirclement of the entire western front from Pskov to east of Minsk. Here the terrain hurt the Russians more than helped. But this movement prevented the encirclement of Leningrad in '41. We also concluded that the Russians should have tried to harrass the Railroad engineers. Those guys are EVERYTHING to the army!