Here we have completed four turns in our first play of this game.

The Germans only have 3 victory cities at this point; their starting two and the gimme - Mogilev.
They haven't taken Rogachev; an elite T34 (red) 4-3-6 and a corps (tan) 3-4 remain in the city, but no PVO.
In Velizh, the Soviets hold on with only a one step 2-4 corps (they just lost their PVO here).

Looking at it now, I regret my last 9th army activation; advancing toward Smolensk rather than forming a good line.

Most of the German activations (and Soviet for that matter) on turns 2-3 were around the XXXXVII Corps (red) of the 2nd Panzer Group in the mass of units south west of Smolensk. They were caught out in the open by a string of Soviet activations and I nearly lost both 9-2-10s (both took a step loss, but were saved by stukas). The 7-7-10 of XXXXVII Corps (red) of the 2nd Panzer Group was lost to rockets on turn 2.

So far the Germans haven’t gained much ground, but can the Soviets hold out?

Note: We are using Out of Control markers for the blue victory chits; one on my blue victory chit markers is printed off center, so we substitute the OOC markers and we’ll randomize with a die roll which blue chits end up where at the end of the game, or if one is needed with a Soviet Victory City Retake.

Nearly a month later, we were able to sit down for another session. The results: the Germans were able to take Moscow on turn 9 for the win.

Some key factors:
Ineffective Soviet Artillery: In the last 4 turns of the game there were no significant successful artillery rolls.

Timely activations for the 3rd Panzer Group: The 3rd Panzers were able to get around the northern soviets with two early activations in turn 5. On turn 6 there were two open windows for the 3rd Panzers; they could attack Smolinsk or turn toward Moscow (or split the groups, one toward Smolinsk and one against Moscow). I chose to move them all toward Moscow.

Ineffective Soviet counter attack: The soviet forces stalled in the south around Rogachev. With one or two successful attacks or artillery results they could have opened up the door to Minsk. And the big blob of Soviet units southwest of Smolinsk was never able break through the German 9th army.

Timely activations for the 2nd Panzer Group: At the end of turn 6, the 2nd Panzer Group made a gambit between the mass of Soviet units southwest of Smolinsk, and another (smaller) mass of Soviet units lead by Timoshenko on the road around Krichev. Then they were fortunate to get the 2nd Panzer Group activation early in the next turn, after which I was able to play the Guderian chit to allow the 2nd Panzer Group to drive right by the Soviets.

Objective Moscow! Another big key in the game was the Hitler Directive Roll, which was a 3. Had Hitler become distracted (1 out of 3 chance), it would have been a scramble to get enough Victory Chits. I was clearly aiming towards a Moscow victory (and I needed the extra turns and activations to get there).

Untimely activations for the Soviets: There was a decision point for the Soviets midway through the 7th turn, after the 2nd Panzers zoomed past the majority of the soviet army. The Soviets could either attempt to pursue the Panzers or attempt to breakthrough the 9th Army (or a little bit of both). They choose to send everyone after the Panzers, but were unable string together the activations to catch up.

It was a great game. The overall game time was about 6 hours, over two evening, but I’m sure we would move a lot quicker the next time through it.