Stalingrad Trap - I just don't get this one???

[kverdon]

**Spoilers Ahead**

Having played through the previous 2 scenarios that I thought were well made, I encountered the "Stalingrad Trap" scenario and this one really had me thinking "What is the point of this?????". I thought it was to rescue the defenders of Stalingrad but that turned out not to be the case (and yes, I missed the change of the objective from primary to secondary, that might be better pointed out)

The first time I played this through I deployed a breakout force to the East to break through to Stalingrad while holding on against the fierce Russian attacks in the Northwest. This worked and though my corps got heavily bloodied I held off the NW Attacks to breakthrough and rescue the defenders of Stalingrad except that this managed to accomplish absolutely, positively NOTHING. The supply status of the defenders did not change even though they had a clear supply line to the west, it did not increase until the next LW resupply plane flew in. Huh?? I then thought I'd get a nice RP reward for rescuing the Stalingrad garrison but no, just a measly 100 at the end of the scenario which gave me a total of 370, far short of being able to repair my units with non-elite replacements.

I then decided to ignore rescuing Stalingrad completely and this worked fantastically. I concentrated my units in the Northwest with a small garrison in the SW and handily beat back the Russian attacks while taking minimal losses. When the Russian attacks against the NW were wiped out I took this force and easily attacked SE and captured the obscure bridge in the middle of nowhere that suddenly has become more important then rescuing 600,000 troops in Stalingrad. They is no explanation of WHY this bridge is so important and with the rivers all frozen over it does not accomplish anything to capture it except tick off this obscure victory condition. As a pure afterthought I then attacked NE and with some help from the Stalingrad garrison opened a supply route to the city which, again, failed to accomplish anything. My reward for pretty much leaving the Stalingrad Garrison to rot was that I finished the scenario this time with 760 RP.

I guess my point is that the focus of the scenario should be about liberating Stalingrad, I can see that it should be ok if you fail but if you succeed there should be SOME reward. It would have been a HUGE accomplishment and a HUGE impact to have extricated the 6th Army from Stalingrad. Instead, there is no urgency to do so and you are greatly rewarded by just leaving them to rot (which actually does not happen, they do quite fine on their own and stay in supply). This just seems wrong and an odd scenario design.

[Andy2012]

@kverdon: Alright, these seem to me very valid points. Has anybody actually made it this far yet and can comment or offer help? I havent reached Stalingrad and will probably not for the next few days.

[bebro]

There is a CP reward in 1943 if the 6th army is relieved. It's not *huge* by any means, but it needs to fit in with the rest of the future scenarios of course, where you're core has already gotten larger.

[13obo]

I agree that not every secondary objective should provide an awesome reward. This and a few other scenarios' secondary objectives provide very questionable benefits for completing them, apart from the satisfaction of completing it. In this case, you are literally altering history because the 6th army surrendered! How cool is that.

[13obo]

I agree that not every secondary objective should provide an awesome reward. This and a few other scenarios' secondary objectives provide very questionable benefits for completing them, apart from the satisfaction of completing them. In this case, you are literally altering history because the 6th army surrendered! How cool is that.