Command Ops: Operation Hubertus and Soviet Estab file Take Shape

My work is progressing on my new Operation Hubertus scenario.  Hubertus pits elements of 6 relatively fresh German Pioneer battalions and supporting infantry and armor units against the shattered remnants of the Russian 62nd Army.

The scenario takes place on the west bank of the Volga inside Stalingrad.  It is November and ice is beginning to form north of the city and is floating down the river.  The ferry traffic that has kept the 62nd Army resupplied with men and equipment is almost non-existent.  The foot bridges to Zaitsevski Island swept away by the swollen river.  Supply is now driven by air but the ring of German anti-air defenses has made dropping supplies difficult.

After almost 3 months of continuous fighting inside the city, almost every armor or mechanized formation inside the 62nd army is wiped out.  Whole divisions have disappeared.  The 62nd army is a shadow of itself.

My challenge then during the estab file creation process has been to flesh out what the 62nd might have looked like without certain components of their TO&E.

I am happy to report things are progressing and I've  actually fought two times with elements of the Soviet OOB.  The screenshot below shows the map for the scenario as well as the Soviet OOB to the left. I am only jut beginning to flesh this out and deploy units on the map based on their historical positions.

A peak at the new Soviet counters for my estab file. I chose an olive drab as the background color with red edging and blue lettering.  I saw quite a few soviet uniforms online with this color scheme so I tried to match it. I would have chosen a red background, but it was already assigned to the British Airborne units.


Comments

Jozef Kundlak said…
Nice! East front was always the next logical progression for Command Ops for me and although there are features that the devs need to implement to reflect the russian doctrines and fighting styles, I guess in this particular battle they do not count much (when the single best thing you do with the russians is to try to hold on :).

From a graphical point of view I would perhaps alter the counter color for the russians to something less dark - or change their font to white.

Keep up the good work! Have yet to try your other scenarios :)
December 6, 2013 at 2:41 AM
Chris said…
Hi Jozo. Thanks for your comment! I appreciate it. Setting aside tactics and doctrine, it seems clear based on the 1941-42 constructs of a Russian Rifle division the line units (rifle companies and rifle battalions) don't have the firepower to stand up to the Germans if they are isolated and without the rest of their regimental support. In the game their anti-personnel numerical fighting value is about half of what a similar German line company is. However with their artillery, machine gun battalions and support companies they are a different story. At Stalingrad, absent the heavier weapons at this late date of the battle, I am going to have to account for that by adjusting their individual stats (training, tenacity, experience, etc.)

Thanks for the message about the counters. I will try it!
December 6, 2013 at 6:48 AM
RangerX3X said…
You can use the estab editor to create the baseline and then create battle specific force lists in the scenario editor with further tweaking in the reinforcement schedule by using the min and max fields on the far right.
December 6, 2013 at 12:35 PM
Chris said…
Thanks Tim will take a look. I've got two units for each in Estab. Stalingrad version and non-Stalingrad version.

My goal is to actually integrate some captured weapons into the Soviet estab to reflect the nature of the battle and the Russian supply situation.

December 6, 2013 at 2:23 PM
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