Players:
German: Cliff Bekar
Russian: Fred Ferris

[Note: Throughout the game the HQ activations are placed at the top of
each move, so AGS(II) would mean that Army Group South activated as a II
CV unit.  Also, production decisions weren't recorded every turn, but
they were commented on from time to time. However, the Production Points
(PPs) of each player are noted at the beginning of each month.  In
addition, the first paragraph of each move was usually written during
the non- writing players turn, before the writing player had moved.
Thus, the first paragraph is more often just  a comment on the other
players move.  Both players agreed to a free setup both of unit
strengths and positions.]

Pre-game Comments:

German:  My plans for this enormous battle will remain concrete only for
the first few turns, as the maxim that even the best laid plans won't
survive contact with the enemy enjoys a special force in EastFront.  So,
for the first turn my only goal will be, in addition to destroying as
many Soviet units as possible, the securing of Linsk and the forest hex
to the northwest of Linsk.  This will allow me to control all of the
German forces from Vilna to Kiev with a single activation.  This type of
flexibility facilitates German mobility in the all important early game.
In some matches between me and Fred the Russian has employed what Fred
calls a 'slack defense'.  This just means that the Russian sets up with
the minimum of force on the front line and concentrates his forces near
Moscow, by the time the German can make it to Moscow he is outnumbered
by the Russian troops who are entrenched in the forests ringing the
city.  I'm sure Fred won't employ this tactic in front of an audience,
but if he does I will simply Blitz at least once a month to try and
close the distance as soon as possible, and maybe head south to the open
terrain where my panzers are put to best use.

Now, at a more general level, Army group North (those units north of
Lublin) are charged with advancing on Leningrad with a view to isolating
it, and putting themselves in position to threaten Moscow from the
north.  Those units in Lublin, or to the south are to advance on an axis
towards Kursk, and Smolensk in order to both effect a link up with Army
group north and threaten Moscow from the south.  Now, if everything goes
according to plan the reader should find me in September praying for at
least one dry turn in order to enable my armoured divisions to make one
last crack at the Russian capital.  Hopefully I'll be closer then my
historical counterparts, close enough that mister Stalin himself will
have to question the idea of staying with the troops in his beloved
capital.  However, you are just as likely to see me stalled in front of
Minsk and Kiev in September like I was recently in a game with Fred, but
that's another story.

Russian: Cliffs massed the Germans in front of the Pripet marshes--near
the critical rail junction of Lublin and along the Bug--and North in
front of Konigsberg, most likely for an assault on Leningrad.  I'm sure
his Leningrad push, if it comes, will end up aimed at Moscow.  My
initial setup throws the majority of my strength forward, either on our
near the front-line. However, the majority of my units are protected
from Cliff's initial strike. This is accomplished by placing my most
valuable units in favorable terrain or behind rivers. Of course I will
bleed heavily on a blitz, but no breakthrough potential exists, or
should exist, for at least two full German turns.

My weak spot is the area north of the Pripet Marshes.  Simple math tells
me that the sheer number of German units facing me, along with the fact
that most German units start the scenario at full strength,  will
subject this portion of the front to severe pressure.  Since this
scenario dictates that the Russian player sets up first, the German is
better able to concentrate his units along the front, while the Russian
must try and hold its entire length. Thus, a withdrawal of any
disengagable military front will be my next order of business, diverting
it north to try and keep the line from Riga to Minsk solid for as long
as possible. My summer begins with the hope of offering stiff resistance
for a short time, hopefully through July, before withdrawing to protect
the strategic rivers Dvina and Dnepr June II

German: I activate AGS(III), OKH(III) and blitz AGN(III), AGR(II). My
goal for the first turn is to get a HQ in position to effect a link up
of the armies North and South of the PM.  This allows for maximal usage
of HQ's early in the game, and is essential for the German.  The reason
for this is simple, if one looks at the EastFront map its clear that an
advancing German army will be split in two by the Pripet Marshes.  If
the German can control the marshes, along with the surrounding forests,
it will turn two separate armies into one large army.  This will let you
use those German HQ's to their best effect, covering the whole front,
instead of having to use two HQ's every turn to move the army.

I start by rearranging my units in Rumania to protect both Bucharest and
Ploesti, adopting a purely defensive posture.  From the very beginning
it looks like my plan is running into trouble.  The reason for this is
that Fred has effectively defended Linsk, and thus split my army in
half.  Thus, my HQ activations have been very inefficient.  Basically
I'm stalled on a line that runs along the axis Riga-Minsk-Kiev-Odessa.
Although my air fire has gone OK (5 for 11), and I have shredded a
number of front-line units, he has placed a number of strong units along
the Bug and in the forest just North of the Pripet Marshes.  I'm not
used to this move on Fred's part as he usually leaves these hexes empty,
I hate having to rethink my plan so quickly in a replay.  Fred's smart
initial placement of his units has already served to isolated my armies
from each other.  The assault is almost bloodless for me (only 1CV in
damage). This is important for the German player as he must walk a
razors edge to victory. To many early casualties, as unimportant as they
may seem early in the game can seriously impair the Germans hopes for
victory.  The initial dice rolls bode well for the rest of the game.
However, having said this, it must be noted that positionally I'm in a
deficit position at this point in the game relative to my 'usual
timetable'.

During the blitz I run into a couple of strong mechanized units and take
some damage, but he might be putting to much force too far forward,
however its a little early to tell yet .  South of Riga, in front of
Kaunas, I rip open his line exposing a two hex wide corridor which I
don't think he'll be able to cover.  Still, I can't help but think that
my 1st turn was very uninspired, I haven't linked my armies up, and I
only put one unit out of supply (a lowly 1 CV unit in the mountains of
Hungry).  He isn't using his unit in Riga, I'm making public my guess
that its an HQ, I'll definitely have to engage it to find out. Russian:
Activation's, Stavka (III), AGW (III).

Cliff Blitzes North towards Riga and Center in the direction of Kiev.
While the center assault is non-threatening, the Northern advance may
crack the line wide open, depending, of course, on Cliffs dice rolls.
First round casualties, 7 dead infantry units, Blitz round kills 3 more
and a fully loaded mech.  Still, it could have been much worse.  The
line south of Riga has been shattered.  To rebuild the line Stavka sends
in two high CV units which are nearby.  Since I won't be able to set up
a second line I have to use sturdy infantry units and hope that I can
hold the initial German assault, this is the difference between a tough
forward defense and a defense in depth.  Army group west moves 2 armor
units and 2 mechanized units out of the southern Ukraine toward Kiev.
As mentioned, he can crack the northern line near Riga, however, his
HQ's (if I'm guessing correctly) are out of position, and thus cannot
support an extensive exploitation.  Still, it is something he has to do
in order to deny me the Dvina for the defensive line I planned.

July I: Russian 64 PP, German 74 PP.

German: AGC (III), OKH (III), blitz AGS (III)

Production for the Whermacht is fairly standard for the Summer of '41, I
build up 5 HQ's and turn up one infantry.  I face only a single line
both in the North, just South of Riga, and in the Center in the town of
Korosten (NW1 of Kiev).  I'm pretty sure that the units that make up the
line in the North are 4 CV units and my HQ is out of position for a
blitz to do much good.  Thus, a single unit near Kiev, which is the key
to the entire Russian line, becomes the focus of intense German
planning.  The plan runs something like this, if I can take Korosten on
turn 1, I can run my panzer divisions north to Bobruisk (S1 of Minsk)
and west across the Dnepr southwest of Gomel.  This will accomplish two
things.  Firstly, it will pocket all of the Russian forces currently
defending the Pripet Marshes and the forests surrounding it (a large
pocket of Russian forces including some armour divisions). Secondly, it
will allow me to flank Kiev and destroy what can become a very stiff
river defense on the Dnepr by getting a free bridgehead of three units.
Of  course the lone unit in Korosten is probably a strong CV unit
itself, but I can get two loaded armor units there along with the
concentrated airfire of Army Group South--3 triple fires--and put my HQ
in a position to activate the breakthrough units on the blitz.  If the
plan works I will have cut off the Russians in the center and have
crossed the Dnepr unopposed.  I don't think he expected this, I have to
try, and hope for good rolls.

Drat, the unit in Korosten has held, much to the delight of Fred I'm
sure!  Now all I'll be able to do is hopefully link up with my units in
Rumania by punching through the Russian lines at Ternopol. Since I set
up defensively there, this really doesn't do me any good as it frees up
only a few under strength German infantry corps along with my infamous
Rumanian allies (which can only go one hex outside of Rumania until I
take Sevastopol.  Worse then this is that I have violated my own
personal rule of HQ activation in trying to exploit the weakness of the
Russian line.  Now I won't be able to do anything next turn without
running my HQ strength to a dangerously low level.  In this game you
can't really let the Russian have two weeks free in order to rearrange
and rebuild his line.

Although I'm a pessimist, and usually talk myself into thinking that I'm
losing every game I have ever played, in this case I'm obviously in
trouble.

Russian:  Stavka (III), AGW(III), AGBalt (II), AGLen (II), Blitz AGUkrn (II)

I rebuild all but three of the units I lost, I also build the two HQ's I
activated (Stavka and AGW). Note, the building of AGW to a III
facilitates a shift of units to the north while retaining positive
control of the center.  He blitzes in the center, which, while
unexpected, is apparently easy to defend against.  I fear that the
expected audience has thrown off the best general I have ever played
against.  With good airfire he can push through into the south, but that
is easily defended against.  The fact that he can't see my HQ positions
has hindered his advance for now, since he must think that they are full
strength units.  The Russian position is secure for now, however the
severe attrition which the German Whermacht is certainly capable of
producing, may reduce my army to a fleeing pittance before the winter
sets in.

The center holds!  He tried to encircle the Pripet Marshes and cross the
Dnepr in one fell swoop, but a well placed Guards infantry unit
withstands the assaults of a full flight of Stukas and He 111's in the
air along with six full strength panzer divisions (3 triple hits, and 8
double hits) to protect and serve the motherland.  On the Blitz he
engages two full strength armors, though one is (now) safely in the PM.

My North and center must be held more strongly. Multiple HQ
activation's, especially the blitz of AGUkrn in Odessa, allows me to
pull up my reserves from the Moscow area as well as arrange a strong
force behind the Dnepr along with a screening force on its Western bank.
By screening the Dnepr the German will only be able to cross the river
on a Blitz, this means he will only be able to support any attempt to
cross the river and establish a bridgehead with two airfire dice instead
of three.  In the North I fall back to the Dvina and the line seems
reasonably strong, but a blitz would enable him to reach Leningrad's
doorstep.

July II
German: AGR (I), OKH (II)

He shows his hand by activating five HQ's, and one of those was a blitz!
That's a total of 60 PP's burned in his current retreat, that's a lot of
production to make up, even for the Russians.  Nonetheless, it has
enabled him to reorganize his forces, and once more, it seems apparent
that I haven't made enough progress in dislocating his forces.  The only
good news is that pursuing German infantry destroyed a 3 CV infantry
that was attempting to retreat in the direction of Riga.  Looking at his
defense I turn south as it seems I will not be able to punch through the
strong line facing me in the north.  My activation of OKH violates my
personal rules concerning activation's (2nd time this game) but it lets
me move my HQ's around so that I have a better presence in the south.
Note, I haven't hit him for one point of production damage yet!

Russian: No activation's.

No blitzes!  My dead total grows totaling 1 armor, 1 mechanized, and 13
infantry.  Still, I can wait out this kind of attrition.  If he doesn't
start doing some damage I may win this thing.  I still hold along both
the Dvina and Dnepr although neither river posses a screening force in
position as of the last German move.  No matter, by not activating this
turn I save enough production to bolster my river defenses to the point
where I'll probably outnumber any force he can throw across.

August: Russian, 62 PP's, German, 54 PP's

August I:  
German: AGR (I), Blitz AGC (III).

I really wish I had a better Blitz position, positionally it looks like
Fred has won the early battle.  By denying me the forests around the PM
he has effectively split my army in two and therefore doubled my
required HQ activation's.  To be quite honest, this is starting to look
quite hopeless, my only chance is to blow through the south as this is
the only part of his line that is thin (only one unit deep) and weakly
held (I'm guessing the units are low CV units). In addition to my poor
positional situation, I'm really starting to feel my high command being
at II instead of III.  I thought that it wouldn't matter if I activated
it early since we were only playing the summer scenario, but that was
wrong.  The logic of the decision might hold, but clearly it should have
been done later in the game.  As it is I'm limited to one OKH activation
per month unless I want to drive it to 0, which, of course, as any
EastFront player should know, is simply not an option.

I take Minsk in a rather weak thrust which surprises me since Fred
usually garrisons cities with large forces and often takes me to task
for not doing the same.  Thinking Minsk was more heavily defended, I
basically engaged it as a defensive measure.  I know now that my
original plan of cutting off Leningrad is simply folly, my only chance
now is to campaign through the south and get to rail entry hex N.  By so
doing I cut off the entire southern portion of the map, including the
oil rich caucuses.  Since production plays such an important part in
determining VPs it hits the Russian player hard to lose so much
economically valuable territory.  The tactic is more then a little
gamey, but its obvious that I'm not going to win this one any other way
at this point.

His line in the south is held by an empty HQ, it must be the one that
blitzed north from Odessa, sheer luck, things may be turning around!  I
have taken Kiev though he holds me NE of Kirvograd.  Though my Northern
assault has completely stalled near the Riga- Minsk axis, the south
looks wide open to me now! I have forced the Dnepr and advance elements
of sturdy German infantry hold deep bridgeheads in force.  He didn't
have enough force behind the river to repulse my attempted crossings.
In every game of EastFront it is my experience that there comes a point
when the Russian player simply has to swallow his pride and retreat
east.  I wouldn't be surprised if this is the time for Fred.

Russian: Stavka (III), West (III) 

He Blitzes center towards the south.  now any hold on the Dnepr may
become tenuous, but nothing to fear, I can surrender the deep south.  On
his blitz turn he may tear open my southern line exposing the production
rich Ukraine.  A important hex in clear terrain is held by only a empty
HQ.  Sevastopol has been isolated by a German panzer corps driving to
the swamps of Perekop.  Since I cannot fight to clear a rail line
through to the city it has effectively fallen.  Kiev has also fallen,
though much later then what would be considered normal.

The activation of my higher gives me the flexibility I need in order to
respond to the German move.  Army Group West activates on the north side
of the Desna river, one hex north of Konotop to facilitate the
withdrawal of a battered Russian center and a few stragglers in the
south.  My plan now is to abandon the flanked positions on the bank of
the Dnepr while continuing to hold the Dvina in strength.  To this end I
plan to make a stand at Kharkov and Stalino.  I do this for at least two
reasons.  First, fighting in a major city this far east may well drain
the German of valuable armour and infantry CVs.  Second, and perhaps
more importantly, I can't afford to give up the 5 PP's that these two
cities alone represent. Note also that Kharkov is an important railroad
center and essential to the German if he wishes to supply a major push
east towards Tula and Moscow, therefore I must effect positive control
of the line running Kursk-Orel-Bryansk.  I've left a screen of weak
units behind to slow the inevitable assault.  The south is exposed with
a single unit holding Kharkov and Stalino, the flanks of both cities
being empty.  Although he'll be able to reach the coast of the sea of
Azov at Mariupol unopposed, and push to Izyum in his movement phase, I
do remain in strength along the Dvina and retain a strong force from
Moscow to Riga.  Thus, the map board really breaks down into two halves,
the southern portion of which is very exposed, the northern portion of
which remains very much in my control, about three hexes from his
original jump off point.  Leningrad is safe in this game!

August II:

German: AGS (III), normal.

He ran, but not far enough!  While I considered a blitz this turn, as he
can't stop me from taking Vornezh, I decide instead to activate
normally.  I won't be able to get very far but I will be able to drive a
wedge between Stalino and Kharkov at Izyum .  He has no reserve left to
defend the river hexes that face me, and he won't be able to hold either
Kharkov or Stalino if I can turn their flank and cut his rail
communications.  His mistake, in my opinion, was to leave a screen of
units near the Dnepr, where I can get to them, and not pull them back to
hold the line running Kursk-Kharkov-Stalino-Rostov. If he had done this,
he would have had a line anchored by Stalino and Kharkov, as it stands
those two cities are extremely vulnerable.  Note, the panzer corps that
I sent south to isolate Sevastopol has been moving eastward constantly
and no the Russian lines are threatened from both the south and north.
Since his line isn't continuous, my movement alone punches holes in his
defense that he will have to struggle to fill.  By not blitzing I'll
have two full strength HQ's next turn which should enable either a
double blitz next turn, or facilitate a move to a better jump off point
for a later blitz.  I'm betting he won't be able to respond quickly
enough to stop my well positioned full strength HQ's next turn.  So for
now I just set up my units, and the HQ's that will lead them, in their
jump off points for what will be my main offensive into the caucuses in
September, and kill what's in range.  Time to tear into the south.

Situation: North of the Kiev-Bryansk axis Fred has a very solid line
remaining.  In most places its two hexes deep and the units which make
it up take maximal advantage of the terrain in the area, I would expect
little else from Fred.  South of the Kiev-Bryansk axis his line has been
ripped apart.  In fact, the Russian army really doesn't exist as a
fighting force south of Tula in the eastern Ukraine.  What I really
hoped to do this turn was to force his hand and make him activate in
order to attrition away his HQ's.  As always in our games, looks like I
will have to get a dry turn in October in order to win this one.

Russian: Stavka (II), Army Group Ukraine (II)

He takes the south with a fast mover (i.e. tank or mechanized)
positioned between Stalino and Kharkov with nothing in front of him but
the undefended caucuses!  My job this turn will be to cover the many
holes and gaps in both the center and the south with an eggshell thin
line.  September is almost here but my strength is beginning to
seriously dwindle.  At least I'll be able to build Stavka back to II at
the end of August.  My dead total is growing (1 HQ, 3 mechanized, 1
armor, 2 cavalry, 17 infantry) and can be expected to explode after
September.

I am horribly exposed in the South and have been forced to try to sneak
half of my Dvina river defense away to protect Moscow from a soon to be
exposed southern flank.  I expect the main push to come equidistant
between Stalingrad and Moscow, near the lightly defended city of
Voronezh.  In this way Cliff leaves his options open, enabling him to
try and surround Moscow our cut off the south.  This Means I will have
to cover both approaches and will stretch my battered line to the
breaking point. September: Russian 57 PP's, German 62 PP's

Sept. I: 

German: OKH(II), AGR(I) blitz AGS (III).

Construction 5 HQ's, 1 armor, 1 infantry. I'm going to blitz a full
strength HQ, and my higher command in order to setup a make it or break
it blitz next turn.  Note, he made absolutely perfect use of his cities
in his placement of newly constructed cadres,  doing a remarkable job of
rebuilding his line.  I went from facing a shadow force with large gaps
to exploit without combat, to facing a solid wall of units, I didn't
expect that.  That said, however, the German is still the 900 pound
gorilla here, and you know the old cliché about the 900 pound gorilla,
it goes wherever it wants.

I have to get across the Donetz as crossing the Dvina and reaching any
objectives to the north of Bryansk is out of the question.  My plan has
three main components.  The first is to take Kharkov and the hex to the
NW (Poltava).  Exploiting the resulting gap I will move to take Story
Oskol and the hex due south.  This has two effects, it opens up a four
hex corridor that he will have to cover for the upcoming turn--which I
don't think he will be able to do (and even if he does it will cost him
a lot of his higher movement. It also limits the movement of my units
such that they will be in a position next turn to be fully involved in
the blitz, no reason to send them to far forward yet.  The second part
of the plan involves breaking through to the NW of Sumy and surrounding
Kursk.  This should limit the number of units he has available to
respond to the southern breakthrough with.  Lastly, I will activate AGR
in the north to harass his troops there and hopefully make him think he
can't ignore the sector (which of course he can, and probably knows that
full well).

I capture Kharkov and clear out all the units in the breakthrough hex to
the immediate north of the city, so far the Adolph must be pleased with
my progress, perhaps a field marshalship?  My blitz goes OK but instead
of surrounding Kursk I throw 2 full strength armors and 7 factors of
infantry at it.  A 1 CV infantry in Kursk holds!  Damn, there goes my
promotion...I should have surrounded it, that's a big mistake.  I'm
still in a position to do damage in the south but this move leaves him
with an extra defended hex and my failure to capture the valuable
railroad junction has put the lead elements of my spearhead out of
supply.  The damage they suffer isn't that troubling, its the fact that
next turn they will have no ZOC to cut Russian rail lines.

Russian: Stavka (II) AGUkrn (II), AGWest(II)

I hold the Donetz river heading into September, but he can go around it,
through weak armor and into Voronezh.  My situation looks good though.
Since I have saved my strength throughout the game by avoiding
counterattacks I have enough strength to put together yet another
defensive line.  Thus, the fact that I have not launched any costly
counterattacks may save me from losing my homeland.  On the 1st turn of
his move Cliff takes Kharkov and breaks through west of Voronezh, the
good news is that my units on the eastern bank of the Donetz hold fast,
blunting the exploitation opportunities available to the Whermacht.
During the blitz turn a valiant defense is conducted by the sons of the
revolution in Kursk, which leaves Cliff muttering, "I should have
surrounded Kursk, I should have Surrounded Kursk..."

In light of the disintegration of my line in the south and center its
time to pull back to the forests in front of Moscow, leaving a screen of
weak infantry to soften the coming German blow.  I use my last long
distance rail move to protect a naked Leningrad from a blitz.

German II:  AGC(III)

He's falling back on the Russian capital with the majority of his army.
I have to admit I entertained thoughts of a power move to the Russian
rear, attempting to surround Moscow, its one of my favorite moves.
However, Fred has played me too often and knows that this would be my
preferred move and has covered the southern approaches to the Russian
capital, trusting that his Northern line is more then solid enough to
hold me.  Oh well, I'll just have to stick to my original plan and head
for the South, time to cut the pipelines carrying all that oil from Baku
north.

This is a slow turn. I destroy some Russian front line units, but mainly
I concentrate on surrounding the Russian line holding the
Rostov-Stalino-Kupyansk line on the Donetz. this is accomplished with
the help of an armor unit I sent south through the Crimean peninsula, it
is now threatening the caucuses and cutting the southern rail lines into
Rostov. As September comes to a close I'm in position to do a great deal
of damage.  Only problem, these huge thunder heads have been gathering
and troops in the northern portion of the front have reported
scatterings of snow here and there, didn't the German high command tell
me I would have campaigning weather into November?  Oh well, the Russian
winters aren't that cold, these roads look solid, and OKH assures me
that winter supplies are on the way...
	
Russian: No activation's.  

He's pocketed my Donetz river defense, I have to write them off, there
as good as dead, there's nothing I can do to save them. Included in what
is rapidly becoming known as the Donetz pocket back at Stavka, are my
last decent units in the south, including a full strength armor unit.
Meanwhile, Nazi armor idles across the Don some forty mile northwest of
Stalingrad, and panzers occupy Kalach on its eastern bank .  I'll need
mud for the Baku oil supply to be running when the victory points are
tallied.  Since I haven't activated anybody I have to hold in place, my
dead pile has grown but not terribly so: 1 HQ, 19 infantry, 2 cavalry, 4
mechanized, 2 armor.  I will build up Stavka to deal with all the
movement I will need in the isolated theater's of the front, along with
some infantry in order to avoid there VP penalty.
	
October: Russian 48 PP's, German 72 PP's.

German I: No activation's. 

I build 5 HQ steps, 3 infantry and a armor.  Drat, the roll cam up odd,
which means my army is stuck in place.  If it comes up mud next turn I
might as well pack up and head back to Germany.  I pass this turn.

Russian I: No activation's.

October mud, glorious mud!  The Rasputitsa has left the Hun drowning in
a lake of mud. The Germans face a catastrophic winter if a second mud
turn comes up.  As soon as the winter freezes the ground solid I'll tear
into the German line up and down the front.  Pass.

German II: AGS(III), AGN(III)

Snake eyes!  That means dry weather, the sun will give me the chance to
do some major damage to the forces of old uncle Joe.  I drive my panzers
just East of Stalingrad and isolate the Caucus's, that hurts his
production.  I don't have much of a line South of Tula, but I do have
units in key positions and most of my key railroad junctions are
garrisoned. I'm almost certain he doesn't have either the HQ steps or
the manpower to respond to my latest move in any event.

In the North I kill off his screening forces in front of Moscow and
capture Tula, an unexpected bonus, it only contained a single CV unit.
In the center I have driven to the eastern edge of the board just NE of
a small village called Kirsanov, ready to exit East and take two units
off the board with him.  Given one more dry turn, with the units in
Tula, and the deep eastern penetration south of Moscow, coupled with the
lack of a screening force in front of Moscow, I could take the Russian
capital in a walk.  But that's a cheap shot, if I had 3 more dry turns I
could wipe the Soviet off the map, what German  player couldn't?

This is a very tense part of the game.  Fred plays a very offensive
Russian player and my units are spread all over the board!  The
possibility of a counterattack exists along my entire front, and in many
places Fred wouldn't even have to engage my units to do a great deal of
damage to me, just simply infiltrate my lines and cut supply.  Again, as
have said, I'm assuming he doesn't have the movement capability to do
so, but that's the great part of EastFront, I've only killed on HQ and
there's at least one HQ out there that I don't think I've seen all game.
I'm assuming this HQ has simply slipped my memory, if it hasn't, it
could be poised to exploit deep into my rear areas and wreak havoc with
my rail lines, with the coming winter I would be frozen in place and die
a long death.

Russian (II): Stavka (II)

	Dry, so long oil supply...

Well the Germans will claim a decisive victory at the end of November,
but the Russians are in good position for a strong rebuild phase.  I am
counter attacking in front of Moscow, into the hex east of Smolensk.
Double sixes on my two air fires from Stavka does one point of damage to
the defending German infantry (its an unsupported battle) and shows how
the winter battles may proceed.  I may have spoke to soon as the
resulting ground combat results in no further damage).
	
November Production: Russian 34, German 74
	
German (I): No activation's.

I build 5 HQ's, 6 infantry steps, and one satellite step.  He activated
his high command and launched a counter attack to the east of Smolensk,
doing a step damage to my full strength (4 CV) infantry unit sitting in
the clear.  I think he just wants to kill one of my units, I would have
used the movement capability to maneuver in the south.  His two sixes on
two dice prior to the actual ground battle gave me a bit of a start (the
hex had to hold for one round) but it turned out OK.

Pass.
	
Russian (I): No activation's.
Mud...Pass.

Russian (II): AG West (II)

I can only come close to liberating my oil supply, but can't quite pull
this off.  The hex to the east of Smolensk has fallen, and this results
in a gap in the German line that will be very hard for the German, now
inflicted with command paralysis due to the snow, to respond to.  The
German still holds a critical rail junction which would hold up my
advance, but I've seen much better German positions crumble over the
winter.

German (II): OKH(III)

Its hard to tell what will happen concerning VPs, Fred seems to think I
have it wrapped up.  The fog of war extends, in this case, to the very
last move of the war.  He has killed off the unit dug in front of
Smolensk.  I am tempted to hold up, knowing that the game is over, but I
activate in order to tidy up my line so that it doesn't look too bad at
games end.


Victory Determination:

Formula = Production Total + 2(HQ steps in play) +/- VPs for destroyed
units +/- scenario handicap.

German VPs: 75 + 18 - 42 = 51  
Russian VPs: 53-40=13     
Total =  +38  

Result: German decisive victory.

Russian Post Game:

OK, so I suffer a decisive loss, the interpretation of which is that the
Germans have won a war winning victory.  This implies that I have no
chance of coming back from the current situation.  This is ridiculous.
All of Germany's penalties are about to reduce his army to the dead
pile, Oh for the chance to play out this winter.

Excuses for my dismal grade.  I've never played a summer '41 scenario,
we usually play the campaign game and only quit when it becomes evident
when one side has won a crushing victory.  In this case I believe
victory would be mine.  Further, I allowed the south to cave in, with
the cold weather paralysis Cliff cannot survive any sort of a push into
the South.  He would be forced to retreat and the oil would flow again.

	Final Dead Count:
		3 Mechanized
		1 Headquarters (Ukraine)
		3 armors
		12 infantry
		1 cavalry

German Post Game:

Well it turns out that Fred was right, I do win a Decisive victory.
When he knew that was the case he started his offensive in front of
Moscow and ended up tearing a hole in the German line near Smolensk.
Indeed, if we played this game into the winter I have to concede that I
would endure tremendous casualties throughout the Russian campaign.  In
fact, I have played enough campaign games with Fred to see that if this
game was extended I would have little hope of salvaging the victorious
position I now enjoy.  The reason for this is that I didn't do enough
damage to the Soviet forces in the field.  My campaign concentrated on
the southern half of the board, the result of this is that the Soviet
enjoys a great position in Moscow from which to launch a winter
offensive.  However, having said all this, it must also be noted that I
knew I was losing early in the game and took advantage of the fact that
we were playing a scenario in which I wouldn't have to defend the my
southern possessions.  In so doing I was taking advantage of a temporal
edge of the world phenomenon well known to wargamers who play scenarios,
but not well known to my opponent who has only played EastFront, and
then only the campaign game.  The two mistakes I would note as being
deadly to the Russian player is his insistence of leaving a screening
force on his first turn of August.  If he had used these to build a line
further back he may have been able to hold my advance near Stalino and
Kharkov, at a minimum it would have made it harder for me to advance.
Second, he let my lone panzer corps float across the Crimean peninsula
into the far south.  From this position it was able to ensure the
forming of a large Russian salient on the Donetz late in the game.  In
any event, it has been another first rate game, and I hope this replay
has shown you the fun you can have with this infinitely 'playable' game.