XP Smolensk Revised Campaign - game in progress update

[Turner]

Posted some time ago looking for an opponent to play the soviet side of this campaign, hoping to find someone who was as new to this game as myself. After a few days me and 'alaric99x' got into this 168-turn campaign of panzer frenzy.

A few turns into the game I found out that, while alaric99x was new to PzC as a game, he admitted to have about 40 years of wargaming experience and 21 years of service in the U.S. Army! Tough opponent, I thought, still thinking I had a chance of taking this guy, perhaps in a strike of beginners luck or something I don't know what I was thinking. Tide1 had told me earlier that it'd be a cakewalk with the 'quality fatigue' rule on and I felt secure knowing that historically the Wehrmacht pulled off astounding victories in '41.

Shame on me! Eric put up a severely tough defensive line. I made a series of mistakes starting from the very first turn which he didn't hesitate to exploit to the fullest! I lost many recon units by not securing their rear. With my experience limited to playing a short 16 turn scenario (which must have been comparatively easy) and playing a few short scenarios against the AI, I continued to make several major mistakes leading up to a pretty much hopeless situation.

By turn 23 this is the loss count:

Russian Losses
Men - 13 024
Guns - 176
Vehicles - 242
Air - 2

Axis Losses
Men - 9449
Guns - 28
Vehicles - 167
Air - 5

Total Points: 186 (Axis Major Defeat)



At this point, after recieving my turn #23 from Eric with a joyful (at least that's how I took it :rolleyes:) description of how he'd torn apart some other guy playing the same game as axis, I threw a :hissy:. The frustration got to me, knowing I'd made serious irreversible mistakes that would only cost me more losses trying to correct. I told him I was on a steep learning curve and was looking for help to learn the game. I'd thought the Smolensk campaign to be a good scenario to learn from. I'm sure it is too but I found an opponent a bit more capable than I thought. I have nothing but respect for Eric, he's a great guy. We talked about the situation and decided to start over. So we have gone from turn #23 to #1! Ouch, but hoping I'm able to offer Eric more of a challenge now. Had a great time in the first game, this one can only be better (or so I let myself believe ).

So far so good, I lost round 1. Learned a lot though! Eric may be new to PzC but do not underestimate this guy!

:bow:


My long-term goal with these games is to play through all east front campaigns in chronological order. It seemed logical that the early campaigns would be easier and give more room for a new guy to learn, considering I'll play axis (at least first time around).

Love the PzC games! Also involved in the current Ostfront tournament. I'd also like to thank the numerous people involved in making the PzC series what it is. I don't even know half of them.

Great map mod by Jison: http://web.telia.com/~u87221892/