Bitter End - Turn 4

Turn 4 - the spearhead approaches Budapest.



Turn 4 - Supply lines restored around Lake Velence.


Turn 4 sees the skies turn clear once more, and the Luftwaffe arrives in full strength. The Hungarian 1Pz division clears the main road south of Lake Velence, and fans out to form a screen against any future incursions. The 711 Infanterie division, newly arrived in Szekesfehervar, is sent to drive back the Soviet incursion to the north of that city, and in vicious fighting succeeds in clearing the situation. At the front of the advance, the 3Pz and Wiking divisions, with Luftwaffe support, continue to attack to the west of Erd, pushing the remnants of the 7th Mechanised Corps back and coming within 10 miles of Buda. Soviet attacks are few, but succeed in weakening the hold on Pest a little more.


Game Notes: I ran out of Out of Supply markers this turn :)
The Germans rolled well in their attacks; who needs supply when you have hot dice. However, the 711th Infanterie had to go through two rounds of same-hex combat before they were able to push the Soviet infantry division back, losing a step in the process.
Because of the supply situation, the Axis were unable to declare a breakout from Budapest (this depends on the proximity of supplied Axis units), but they will probably do so next turn; a breakout supplies the Budapest garrison for two turns, meaning that they can launch a counterattack. There is really only one hex between the 13th Panzer (holding the southwest of Buda) and the 3rd Panzer; the ZOCs mean that it's near impossible for the Soviet player to get more units in the way (the ford across the Danube from Czepel Sziget to Albertfalva is clear, and the Rumanian cavalry division is heading that way). However, the relief spearhead is equally tight; the infantry division in Erd will have to be cleared out before the way is truly clear.

A brief comment on being out of supply. I'm more used to games like OCS, where losing a supply line can result in rapid death. In Bitter End, being OOS halves your attack and move factors, but never kills you. You therefore need to kill units by attacking them, as they won't wither away from lack of food. In this game, the Axis were able to continue with an effective attack at the point of their thrust despite having their supply line cut. In OCS, the panzer divisions would likely have suffered minimal losses (good units cope better without supply), but there is no doubt that that single tank battalion would have had a very deleterious effect on the attack, both through the inevitable step losses from the units, and because any attack would have had to be supplied through the use of internal supplies (which, in OCS, cost double to replenish.
Of course, the OCS rules are currently undergoing a redesign to prevent exactly that sort of manoeuvre - the single unsupported unit used as a sacrifice to cut a vital supply line. But at some point you have to define what is a sacrifice.