Let’s Play Decisive Campaigns : Barbarossa – Suddenly then Slowly

The first month was definitely the goldilocks days. We had plenty of fuel, short supply lines, a steady blitz, and the encirclements were epic.

Now though, well, those same Panzers are running out of endurance, spare parts, fuel, and supplies. But most of all, they’re tired!

Down in AGS I’ve had a fuel hiccup that I don’t entirely understand. They should have the shortest supply line but were gaining nothing from Lvov. It appears to have resolved itself, but just in case I’ve rested the 4th Panzergruppe. They’ve gotten terribly beat up with the lack of supply.

AGC and AGN have both punched nice holes that, if it was a month ago, would be an awesome encirclement. Now though they’re tired and worn down. On the plus side the infantry is catching up. I might do a rest and refit on AGC and AGN.

From what maps I can study, I’m behind. Historically AGC had taken encircled Smolensk by the 17th. Can I make up that time? We’ll see. Once we’ve refit maybe we can Blitz again. Maybe.

I have a potential for a big pocket. Both I’ll have to link up AGC west of Smolensk with AGN. It’s big, really big, but I’m not sure if we can swing it. Though we just gained good bridgeheads, so that’ll save us some effort.

It’s feeling like a different game now, and it’s feeling rather historical. I’m very excited to have an Atlas of the Eastern Front arriving today. Tracing my position in comparison to history has been tough, so this should be very cool. On the downside I’m likely to feel very far behind.

I’ve also been forced to dig into the manual. Good gods! That’s right, up until now I’ve mostly been going off what information is in my face. It wasn’t until I hit a swamp I couldn’t cross that I dug into it. Once again, I’m impressed with the depth and the fact that you can play without needing to read a manual. I’d still love some tooltips, the whole supply issue with AGS is frustrating me.

The plan for now, push onward, seal up some pockets, and give our Panzers a chance to rest. The ground troops are catching up, but Soviets are bringing in more reinforcements any day.

Shit’s getting real.