Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of playing Mitch Osborne in
 CG's EastFront at Wade Hinkle's house.  Wade and Jerry Taylor (playtester
 for Bobby Lee) were engaged in the Summer '43 Scenario of WestFront while
 Mitch and I began with the Barbarossa Scenario.

        I was the Germans.  Using a slightly more aggressive German  first
 turn, I blitzed both HQ North and HQ South.  This proved to be profitable,
 for the German airstrikes were remarkably successful, and six hexes were
 blown away in the normal move turn.  The South was the primary focus of the
 Wehrmacht, and HQ Center was moved south to provide a second punch for the
 July I turn.  The all but one Southern front hex was breached in the intial
 assault.  Four full strength Armoured Corps had been thrown into the fray,
 and consequently, all four broke through.  Three armoured corps, supported
 by an infantry corps, assaulted the Soviet HQ Ternopol, wiping clean all three
 armies stationed there.  HQ Ternopol was destroyed.
        In addition, a single armoured corps advanced into Vitebsk(or is it
 Vinnitsa, I always reverse the two...) and engaged and destroyed the Odessa
 HQ.
        In the north, the typical results occurred: breakthrough on two
 hexes, followed by a blitz move to encircle the Russian frontline units.
 Howeve, the committal of two HQ's to the Southern front left the North
 stagnant, relying on Supreme HQ moves to take advantage of the vacated Riga,
 and to advance to the Russian lines behind the river (forget the name) west
 of Leningrad and Moscow.  The initial thrust had the Soviets so disorganized,
 that Kiev was a German city at the end of the first turn.  However, the
 Wehrmacht was not without mistakes, as no unit was East of the Neman river
 AND adjacent to Riga, so Riga remained Soviet for the July build phase.

        July saw the conservative use of the Center and Rumanian HQ's,
 advancing units into rapidly retreated Ukrainian soil.  The mineral hex
 SouthWest of Dniepropetovsk was quickly taken, and Odessa surrounded.  The
 lack of Soviet HQ's severely crippled their ability to react, and on July II,
 many more Soviet Units were destroyed.  August saw another fury of German
 activity, as Soviet units disintegrated and German forces drove into the
 Marsh by Sevastopol unopposed.  However, the Germans also crossed the river
 East of Kiev, and air units combined with armour to smash the lone Soviet
 mechanized army defending the Dnieper.

        In the North, Germans maneuvered and did little to the ever-strengthen-
 ing Soviet line.  (Once again, an error on the German's part  --  to be
 explained later.)  However, September found two German Armoured Corps in the
 marsh by Sevastopol, and German forces a mere two hexes from Rostov.

        Then came mud.  Every turn mud could be the result, it was mud.
 October and November were miserable months, but it saved the Soviets from
 complete disaster.  With winter came a new soviet counter-offensive, which
 saw the total destruction of a German Armoured and an Infantry Corps.  On
 the other hand, Sevastopol was engaged in December, and fell in January.  The
 Russians built an infantry and an armoured army West of Kerch, but it was too
 late.  By then, the Rumanian HQ smashed the feeble line, and crossed in
 February along with two full strength armour and two infantry corps.  There
 were no Soviet units south of Rostov, and an armour unit raced to Batumi to
 capture the port, and thus a vital supply link.  The Soviets countered with
 the building of three units in Baku and another entrance hex.  The Germans
 engaged Rostov with aan armor and infantry corps, and the russians countered
 with throwing in two weak armoured armies into Rostov to save the city.
        Meanwhile, in the center, the Russians countered with a thrust with
 two shock armies and aan armoured army at a single German mech corps.  It was
 a bold and rather unexpected maneuver.  If it worked, the German OKH would
 be destroyed by the breakthrough, as well as a possible encirclement of
 army group center.  However, for the first time in history, an entire Corps
 was awarded the Iron Cross.  One step remained, and the Germans quickly
 threw in two infantry corps to stop the assualt, losing one.  The Germans
 countered with the Stalingrad strategy.  They held the Russians engaged, and
 tried two pincer moves to cut off Russia's center armies.  The first was
 underpowered and too ambitious, and resulted in some steps being lost  and
 river assaults repulsed.  However, the second, although not quick, did punch
 its way through, using the fresh army group north armour, and the Soviets
 lost seven armies in the process, including the two shock and one armoured
 army.
        Spring saw a renewed German offensicve, this time, in the North.
 Lenningrad was engaged, and found to have two VERY weak infantry armies and
 an HQ.  The Germans waited 'til June to assault, so that it could use its
 newly upgraded Siege artillery.  When we quit the game, the Germans had 3
 steps of siege artillery, 3 of armour, and five infantry steps left against
 one step of Russian infantry, and a 0 step HQ.

        Probably the biggest single mistake I made as the Germans was being
conservative with Army Grp North.  Since the Soviets lost two HQ's in the
first turn, it would have been worth the lesser effect to burn North if it
was at two steps, maybe blitzing it.  The Russians were barely hanging on, and
the extra, albeit small, threat could have not been addressed.  The German
doctrine has been reduced to "blitz with one HQ each month" and not do very
much else.  Obviously, if you can get your hands on the enemy's HQ, attack
everywhere--he can't do anything about it.  (Or at least, not against
everything.)    A small break in the fragile line north of Moscow would not have
led to Moscow's capture, but it would have led to Rostov's.  (The theory being
the two armoured armies moved into Rostov would have been replaced with two
armoured armies being moved to the North to plug the line.)

        The Russian player didn't make very many mistakes.  His setup was
almost standard, which is why I blitzed in the South.  The standard setup
was devised in reaction to the standard German 1st move, which is to concentrate
on the north.  Although I was lucky a few times with the dice, a few minor
changes in Russian setup will prevent this:

        Ternopol units should be placed in the two hexes the Germans are able
to attack with two units.  Although it makes it harder to pull them back, it
makes it nearly impossible to blitz through on the first turn.  (I've tried,
too.)  Also, the HQ in Vitebsk (Vinnitsa, whatever) should be set up a hex
closer to Odessa.  Those are the units it would command anyway, and it puts
it further out of the reach of German panzers.

        These two differences would have saved at least the Odessa front HQ.

        Arius