8/21/2006

The Curse of Pskov

I’ve won Pskov Major Victory with 1 auxiliary BT-7 as my only loss (I was robbed) and then gone to Vyazma with $2,760—but that’s campaign mode where you only need 2 German cities for a Major. In scenario mode, the best that I’ve done is holding all 3 Soviet cities while taking both German airfields and 3 out of 4 German cities but this still yields “Axis Victory.” I’ve taken either Kaunas (in the far bottom-left corner) or Riga (the most northern) as the 3rd city but it seems like I need at least 2-3 more turns (after resupply, etc.) to take the 4th city unless I’m doing something wrong.

There are more than usual surviving Germans here because I lost a T-34 on Turn 2 to bad luck (that hurt). I did not use any paratroopers or aircraft here:


I keep thinking that with some slight variation I can take that last hex by the end of Turn 10.

Pskov is nettlesome for many reasons:

  • There are only 10 turns
  • Every solution requires something the Soviets lack (half-tracks, self-propelled (SP) artillery, SP air defense, SP tank destroyers, good fighters)
  • Luftwaffe planes almost always find any “covert” moves on the small map
  • Luftwaffe planes almost always escape with 1 point left, no matter what the expected results
  • Wehrmacht 1939-40 infantry in the open sometimes act as if they have panzerfausts
  • There are bugs in the map at the critical city of Polotsk (bottom-right) that hamper redeployments and ruin timetables: Hex 20-14 at 10 o’clock reads as “clear” terrain but acts like a river hex and Hex 21-13 at 12 o’clock reads “clear” but acts like a swamp hex
  • The alternative back road must be used immediately after taking Polotsk to avoid the ZOC of the reinforcing 3 Panzer I, Panzerjager I, and 88mm Flak.
  • The back road is a tortuous zig-zag that burns fuel for modest distance while your convoy lingers as Luftwaffe and Panzer I bait.
  • There are a number of critical junctures where a few “bad die rolls” can ruin the schedule and thus the game
  • Panzer I act like Tiger tanks as 45mm shells bounce off their hide and their 30cal machine guns seem to outrange high-velocity 76mm AA guns

Update 7/20/10: How to take 6 of 6 in AG-PGF Pskov

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4 Comments

Anonymous military forum said...

Wow dude, I'm amazed that you got a major victory at Pskov. I've played the scenario several times and I've come close to getting 2 German cities, but never pulled it off. I suppose if I had bought auxiliary units besides the usual 3 or 4 air defense guns I usually buy, maybe I could have pulled it off.

At least it's a relief that you don't unlock a secret mission for MV in Pskov. You can play some missions really aggressive, like Leningrad, but the style I've settled on is just to mow them down without spending money on auxiliaries besides air defense and conscripts just to sit on victory objectives.

Anonymous military forum said...

By the way, I'll tell you what kind of game I would really like to see:

Libya Uprising 2011

That's an awesome idea, isn't it? I'm the man, I know. ;) How much fun would it be to play a campaign as the rebels, fighting on a local level to take over Benghazi, then military campaigns on Ajdabiya, Brega, Ras Lanuf, Sirte, Zawiya, and eventually Misrata and Tripoli.

You would get to do things like diplomacy with NATO, and other world nations, getting your oil running and trying to sell it so you can buy weapons. You could play as Gaddafi too and try to keep the West from bombing you.

The Gaddafi shit is too cynical perhaps to make it into the game, but playing as the rebels seems pretty solid for now.

Blogger AGW said...

Thank you, Pskov MV requires defense in most areas but a very carefully timed early offensive (in the south for SSI but more complicated in PGF).

I think someone suggested 2011 Libya for PG2.

Anonymous Hartmann said...

There are more hex bugs in Pskov

(05,03); (3,4); (2,4) - hexes with clear but have parametres as sea.