Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:09 am
Made a lot of progress yesterday:
Late November 1919. Allied involvement 0, Red morale 79, Southerners 116, Siberians 83. Resources 46 EPs, 435$, 282 companies, 70 WS. One requisition mission complete. Whites rush down from Staryy Oskol to try to retake Kharkov but Kamenev drives them off with considerable losses. Bronch-Bruevich drawing replacements and reorging in Voronezh. Trotsky and Tukachevsky having trouble moving into Belgorod because the bloody armored trains can’t move into an area where the rail lines have been destroyed. And for some reason, Tukachevsky’s army, which I had intentionally deprived of armored trains for precisely this reason, won’t go in any faster. I took him off “combined move” and last turn it said he would be there in 8 days, now it says he’ll be there in 7 days. Maybe it meant 8 months… It is quite late in the year to be running around in the steppe without a source of supplies, let’s hope the southern white army will now proceed to starve between Kharkov and Belgorod. But somehow I doubt it – I remember last game where the Komuch army spent the whole winter out in the open and came out without having suffered any losses at all, apparently. I have the historical attrition option checked – I wonder if it is actually working? Stalin has moved forward an area but still can’t make it to Novocherkassk. Voroshilov is pushing forward again in the Caucasus. Blucher will take the cavalry of the East Siberian Front and try to push towards Archangel, now that the Brits have apparently gone.
Early December 1919. Red morale 78, Southerners 112, Siberians 84. Resources 51, 559$, 329 companies, 60 WS. Five requisitions, four recruiting, five subversion missions complete. White army tries again to get into Kharkov and Kamenev turns them away again. Trotsky and Tukachevsky take Belgorod. Next turn, Tukachevsky and Bronch-Bruevich will converge on the White column; they must be low on org and replacements by now since they are out of supply and have moved and fought each turn for the last three. Stalin may be able to move into Novocherkassk next turn. Don Front under Antonov-Oseeneko moves down from Tzaritsyn to Salsk and finds it unoccupied. Voroshilov is also finding the western Caucasus unoccupied. A regiment marches down and takes Tikhoresk. I wonder if the Whites sent everything they had north? Ekaterinodar beckons! Reinforcements now pouring in to the fronts in the eastern Ukraine.
Late December 1919. Red morale 77, Southerners 112, Siberians 84. Resources 57 EPs, 255$, 68 companies, 37 WS. One requisition, one subversion missions complete. Tukachevsky defeated in a close fight in Chuihuv, we lose 4500, they lose 2600 casualties. Still, the large white force of a couple of turns ago is now down under 20000 men. Kamenev will attack next turn from Kharkov while Bonch-Bruevich takes over the task of defending. Blucher moves north towards Archangel. Ekaterinodar is defended by a small force, but next turn Voroshilov will hit there with 900 strength points. Hopefully, we can take it and push the Southern whites entirely out of the Kuban. Stalin has to stop short of Novocherkassk and reorganize after a small White spoiling attack knocks his org down big time. He is looking across the river at another small white force but it is just too big for him to think of an impromptu assault. In any case, he is no attacking leader.
Early January 1920, Red morale 84, Southerners 107, Siberians 84. Resources 67 EPs, 409$, 57 companies, 57 WS. Five subversion and two requisition missions complete. Not building much aside from artillery now. A few cavalry divisions from the new stockpile last turn. Kamenev beats up on the remaining Whites in the pocket east of Kharkov. Trotsky to head down the Donets to Lugansk next turn. Stalin will attack Novocherkassk (finally). Voroshilov defeated the Whites and Greens in Ekaterinodar, apparently the Greens were besieging the town. Should have let them get done…too late now. The town is besieged but Don Front is down to about 20 strength points thanks to serious loss of organization.
Late January 1920. Red morale 81, Southerners 107, Siberians 84. Resources 45 EPs, 280$, 283 companies, 84 WS. Two subversions, a requisition, and the partial mobilization event. Stalin takes Novocherkassk, Greens drive us back from Ekaterinodar. Remnant Whites in the east Ukraine pocket retreat to Staryy Oskol, pursued by Kamenev. Frunze begins a slow advance towards Chelyabinsk. Blucher crosses the Northern Dvina to get in position for an assault on Archangel. Stalin is reorging in Novocherkassk. Voroshilov falls back one area and reorganizes for another push on Ekaterinodar.
Early February 1920. Red morale 88, Southerners 102, Siberians 85. Resources 53 EPs, 590$, 181 companies, 91 WS. Four requisitions complete. I’m really feeling the lack of Tcheka missions now, the reform missions are not a sufficient substitute. Kamenev runs the fleeing White forces from the Kharkov-Belgorod pocket to ground in Staryy Oskol and destroys them, winning us a good deal of NM. He will now transfer to the Donbas front, pushing in via Donetsk towards Rostov. Trotsky is about ready to capture Lugansk, and Stalin will probe the defenses of Rostov. The Greens seem to be besieging Ekaterinodar and there are a few small White columns roaming around, but I think I may have destroyed the main Southern White field force.
Late February 1920. Red morale 92, Southerners 98, Siberians 83. Resources 63 EPs, 364$, 56 companies, 80 WS. Can’t build anything now but replacements and not enough of those. The Greens appear to have taken Ekaterinodar from the small Southern White garrison there – Voroshilov had a run-in with the Ekaterinodar garrison in the region to the NE of Ekaterinodar. I think I must have softened them up a couple of turns ago and the peasants came out of the woodwork and sacked the white “capital”. Tough luck on the Southern faction. Stalin takes Rostov, Trotsky takes Lugansk. Mai-Maievski is in the Lugansk region but he only has 87 strength points (to 1400 for Trotsky) so he intelligently avoids action. I’ll leave Budenyy behind to deal with him if he gets frisky.
Early March 1920. Red morale 110, Southerners 81, Siberians 83. Resources 85 EPs, 370$, 34 companies, 77 WS. Eleven subversion and three requisition missions complete. Voroshilov and Antonov-Ovseenko take Ekaterinodar. Trotsky bashes Mai-Maievski in Lugansk but gets held up there and does not advance to Rostov. Bonch-Bruevich takes Donetsk, advancing on Taganrog next turn. Tukachevsky transferred to control of Northern Front under Kamenev; to advance towards the Crimean isthmus next turn. He will prepare the route for Kamenev, who is still reorganizing after his tough fighting against the Whites in the east Ukraine pocket. The main Ukrainian army is now besieged in Poltava. Ashkhabad still besieged, neither of my leaders have been active for four turns now. Maybe this is why the Japanese waited so long to attack Khabarovsk? Blucher fails in his assault on Archangel, will withdraw for reorganization and resupply. I now have a full division committed to chasing Greens around between Rzehv and Smolensk.
Late March 1920. Red morale 108, Southerners 81, Siberians 82. Resources 91 EPs, 615$, 195 companies, 70 WS. Three requisitions, two recruiting and a reform mission completed this turn. The Ukrainians forces in Poltava proved to be more powerful than expected and launched a sortie but we managed to hold the siege lines. A battle broke out in Ashkhabad despite our defensive stance – perhaps they were trying to break out as well, but the siege also held there.
Stewart King
"There is no substitute for victory"
Depends on how you define victory.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]