Case Blue: Panzers To Caucasus. From Joni Nuutinen: by a wargamer for the wargamers since 2011.

In spring 1942, the Wehrmacht was preparing to launch Case Blue, the German summer offensive on the Eastern Front. The plan outlined an advance to Stalingrad, and then the main force would turn south and drive to the Caucasus to seize the crucial oil fields of Maykop, Gorzny, and Baku. As a preliminary step for Case Blue, the Wehrmacht was gearing up for two pincer attacks to cut off strong Soviet forces in the Izyum bulge, south of Kharkov, meaning German forces in the area were in offensive positions. However, just six days before the start date of the German operation, the Red Army launched a massive campaign of their own from Izyum to retake Kharkov, smashing directly into one of the two German armored pincers preparing for their own attack. German generals wanted to go on the defensive, but Berlin HQ ordered the Wehrmacht to go on the offensive, and the resulting victory in the Second Battle of Kharkov wiped out the strong mobile forces of the Red Army in the southern sector of the Eastern Front, allowing the following Case Blue attacks to advance fairly effortlessly towards Stalingrad. This lack of fierce Soviet resistance misled the Germans into splitting their force into two: one group moving towards Stalingrad, the other south towards the Caucasus. The split caused fatal logistic issues: the Germans could not know which corps would be advancing how much at any given week, so there was never enough fuel at the right time at the right place, forcing entire corps to stay put even when they faced only token Soviet formations, giving the Red Army time to rebuild their defenses along the Volga and Caucasus mountains.

Please note that this campaign has a lot of units and logistics, plus the map is fairly large, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced play-through, Operation Barbarossa or Kursk might be more fun for you.

FEATURES:

+ Historical accuracy: Campaign mirrors the historical setup.

+ Good AI: Instead of just attacking on direct line towards the target, the AI opponent balances between strategic goals and smaller tasks like encircling nearby units.

+ Settings: A ton of options to alter the gaming experience: Change difficulty level, hexagon size, Animation, choose icon set for units (NATO or REAL) and cities (Round, Shield, Square, block of houses), turn supporting unit types like Generals/Airforce/Minefields ON/OFF, allow Storms and supply depots for combat units, and much more.

The game only requests the permissions it needs to function.

“All available forces will be concentrated on the main operations in the southern sector, with the aim of destroying the enemy before the Don River, in order to secure the Caucasian oil fields and the passes through the Caucasus Mountains… The purpose is, as already stated, to occupy the Caucasus Front by decisively attacking and destroying the Russian forces stationed in the Voronezh area to the south, west or north of the Don … individual breaches of the front should take the form of close pincer movements. We must avoid closing the pincers too late, thus giving the enemy the possibility of avoiding destruction.”
— German Directive 41 on April 12, 1942