Target Leningrad - opening moves

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Today's focus is on the opening moves for Target Leningrad. Specifically, figuring out a best initial setup for the Germans.

Initial set up

Five initial battles result. From northwest to southeast:

  1. 38th Infantry Corps against 10th Mech Corps at 6:1. This is an auto-elimination for 1 step unit. 38 advances.

  2. 41st Panzer Corps against 1st Infantry Corps (Russian) at 6:1. Auto-elimination. 41st advances.

  3. 10th and 23rd Inf. Corps against 24th Inf. Corps at 4:1. Roll 4 for DRL, eliminated. 10th Corps advances.

  4. 1st Infantry Corps (German) and 56 Pz Corps against 11th Army at 2:1, with 1R for Air Support yields 3:1, roll 2 for DR. 56 Pz advances. The slightly over-the-odds 18:8 ensured that any EX result would be soaked up by the German infantry instead of the Pz division.

  5. 2d Inf. Corps against 52 Army at 1:1. This is a dicey business here, but it can't be helped. The Germans have to be bold. With a little luck on the dice, they'll push them back. Roll 2 for EX, a good result for the Germans.

Turn 1 German combat results

The key here is to elmininate the Russian 1st Mech and 24 Inf. Corps to be able to advance into the vacated spaces. Then a 2:1 + Air can be mounted against 11 Army. The will be a guaranteed step loss on the 3:1 column on the CRT, as the 11 Army must retreat through EZOCs established by 0209 and 0410. (10.7 Advance after Combat, the play example specifically illustrates this technique.)

Here's the result of German special movement phase:

Turn 1 German special movement results

Now the Russians take their turn, which is mainly try and get as far east as possible as fast as possible.

Turn 2

Germans drive deep:

Turn 2

Not really sure what the best strategies are for either side.

Turn 3

Germans now in position to threaten Leningrad. This will be interesting, I haven't been in this position this early in this game yet.

Turn 3

The Russians move to prevent Germans from flanking.

This is the last screenshot from this game. I have what I wanted out of it initially, which is details on the German's opening move, and it's getting late on a Sunday afternoon before going back to work after a holiday weekend, with large release looming in mid-January. Keeping it set up to do detailed analysis turn by turn could easily result in just bailing from the game. I'd rather play it out fast and put it up instead.

Turn 4 - Germans take Leningrad

The Germans took Leningrad with a roll of 6 on the 3:1 table, which is a DRL. The R is canceled due to the Fleet presence, but there was only a single step unit in Leningrad, so it was lost. This is a lesson to the Russian player: have more than one unit in Leningrad. Losing Leningrad means the powerful Leningrad Workers' Militia unit cannot come into play.

Since this was the first time I've been able to take Leningrad, I think it's worthy of writing up a few more notes. Now to see if they can keep it.

AAR

The rest of the game played out nicely, with the Germans holding Leningrad, the rail junctions, but losing Novgorod resulting in a draw. I probably should have moved one of the armor corps out of Leningrad by Turn 6 to have it available for, e.g., retaking Novgorod.

Note: I played this game such the friendly units did not negate EZOCs. I think that's correct. It wouldn't have changed the outcome much if I got this wrong, at least in this game.

I think my next play of Target Leningrad will be a study on all the possible ways to set up the game. The restriction on Soviet armies to be separated renders this quite tractable with (off the top of my head) only 4 or 5 different combinations of setups that the Soviets can use. It should be possible to configure the German attacks to do as much damage as what they did in this game.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.