Part 31: Turn 5 - Soviet Org Phase: Velikiye Luki Pocket Closes

The 9th Army is moved to Smolensk and ordered to prepare a defence of the city. This critical supply juncture may come under threat again and the OKH is determined to prevent such a thing.



Meanwhile, the Soviets deploy their strategic reserves to the north of Kalinin. Even the unit commanders are kept in the dark as to the exact goals of the operation, be it reinforcing Leningrad or striking against the units holding the Velikiye Luki pocket.


The Soviets have one card in hand, so they don't need to discard. They draw 4 new ones.



The South Front is put out of supply.


Leningrad is eligible to be flipped to its Fortress side at a cost of 1 card.

The Soviets receive one reinforcement unit, the returning Ostatky 1. They go straight to the Cadre Units Holding Box and are available to be deployed from this point on.


Here are the units available to be reconstituted this turn.



To recapitulate, Fangz may now:
- Fortify Leningrad at a cost of 1 card,
- bring back any of the Destroyed/Surrendered Units at regular costs,
- remove Disorganised markers from those units at a cost of 1 discard per unit.

The deadline for this is Thursday, January 2, 7 PM GMT.


The Soviets were better prepared for the winter, although its severity surprised even them. They had learned their lessons from the Winter War of 1939 against Finland, which manifested in various ways: their tanks ran on a special solution of motor oil that was less likely to freeze, their troops had ample winter gear (with the instantly recognizable ushanka hats), they even distributed skis to some units to better navigate the deep snow. Not to mention generous rationing of vodka to heat the troops from the inside as well!* A lot of the advantage came from playing in the home field, however: the Wehrmacht had to bring their winter coats a long, long way, which took time and valuable supply train space, while the Red Army had their warehouses right around the corner.

*Drinking alcohol when it's cold is actually a very bad idea, from what I've read. Can't recall the exact reason (something to do with blood vessels getting bigger and thus bringing more blood closer to your skin and therefore giving out heat faster, I think), but I felt the disclaimer was necessary.