Unity of Command Zitadelle PVP

This evening I faced off against Doug from the Cry Havoc! blog in my first PVP battle in UOC using the Zitadelle scenario, a six turn affair that features overwhelming Axis forces up against a wall of Soviet units fronted by entrenched infantry. The battle attempts to mimic the German offensive in the summer of 1943 in an effort to maintain a strategic offensive achieved after the third battle of Kharkov. The objective was to encircle the Soviets and destroy their mobile reserves.

The scenario consists of three objectives: Orel Outskirts (controlled by the Germans at the start, decaying by 10 points per turn after turn 3), Kursk (controlled by the Soviets at the start, decaying by 25 points per turn after turn 2) and Road to Voronezh (also controlled by the Red Army, decaying by 50 points per turn after turn 4). The margin required to win is 99 points and if there is no change from the start, the Soviets win outright.

The Germans begin with two massed armor contingents, one in the north by the Orel Outskirts objective and the other in the south just below Kursk in a small bulge surrounded by Red Army infantry units. The bulk of the Soviet armor units are arrayed around the Kursk and Road to Voronezh objectives.



This is how both sides were aligned at the start of the match.

End of Axis Turn One


Doug makes a push with the armor units in the south to threaten the Kursk objective.

End of Soviet Turn One


I consolidate my armor units on the Kursk and  Road to Voronezh objectives and pull back a number of frontline infantry units that were entrenched so they can assist in interfering with the German thrust.

End of Axis Turn Two


Doug pushes forward with the attack in the south and takes out a large number of Red Army infantry units while his armored force in the north begins a movement south towards the Kursk objective.

End of Soviet Turn Two


In the north I push a group of five Soviet infantry units through an opening in the German line and threaten to disrupt supply lines while in the south I bring forward all of my forces from the Road to Voronezh objective in order to smother the Axis armor below the Kursk objective. Doug now has a clear shot to the unguarded objective to the east.

End of Axis Turn Three


The Germans take the Road to Voronezh objective and the Axis advantage shifts to 100 (100-0), meaning if nothing changed from this point forward they would win the scenario.

End of Soviet Turn Three


In an effort to encircle the Germans below the Kursk objective my Red Army forces take out two of the Axis armor units and encircle a third, while in the north by the Orel Outskirts objective my infantry units come up from behind to cut off the supply lines running to Doug’s infantry located there.

End of Axis Turn Four


The Germans take out two of my armor units and sweep to the left of my force in the south to take control of the Kursk objective, going up 150-0 (but abandon the Road to Voronezh objective in doing so). In the north the Axis infantry units surround my forces that are now completely cut off from their own supply.

End of Soviet Turn Four


Go big or go home: I seize dual opportunities by some out of position enemy units and take control of the Orel Outskirts and Road to Voronezh objectives, depleting the Axis advantage to -40 (50-90) which would result in a Soviet Victory if nothing else changed.

End of Axis Turn Five


Doug doesn’t slouch and immediately takes back the Orel Outskirts objective while running over my forces around the Kursk objective on his way to threaten the Road to Voronezh objective, shifting the Axis advantage back to his favor at 50 (50-0).

End of Soviet Turn Five


I vacate my remaining armor units that were defending the Road to Voronezh objective to threaten the Orel Outskirts objective, leaving only a token force of two infantry units behind to take one for the team.

End of Axis Turn Six


Doug surrounds my armor units in the north cutting off any hope of pushing forward while taking the Road to Voronezh objective back, however it is too little too late as the Soviets maintain a suppression of victory points to seal the deal.

End of Soviet Turn Six


Although I manage to reach the perimeter of the Orel Outskirts objective, it really was not necessary as the die was cast when taking back two objectives during my turn four. This causes a shift in victory points that the Germans could not recover from, even though they controlled all of the objectives at the end.

After-action Report


Post Mortem

At first I was not sure how I had won as I it was my first Unity of Command PVP game and I was not accustomed to the advantage concept with a predetermined point margin required to win. Effectively the Germans needed to take one objective and never lose it to win, with no margin for error.

The scenario was a lot of fun to play and I appreciate Doug taking time out of his busy schedule to fight it out on the virtual battlefield with me.

3 comments:

  1. The screen capture sequence has been corrected.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks great! Very jealous. Nice job Tim!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent AAR and an excellent game, Tim! Looking forward to a rematch!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.