I achieved Stalingrad BV in turn 6, and was in reality surprised by how easy it turned out to be.
So, the idea is to ignore north and just fortify it. Extend supplies through your north and south as needed (I started from north). It's ok to have your units push out to lose supply for one turn, but make sure to return them into supply the next turn to remain useful (except if they are infantry which is expendable and which is crucial for holding a line).
So, the first turn is crucial. I knock out the Katyusha infantry on the south and use the break to create a pocket of most of the south-west Soviet flank. I use most of the south units to create the line for the cutoff, but in all except a single point it is only 1 unit wide. In the center battlefield, I focus on the two Soviet tanks holding the central south river crossing. If in any way possible, I try to knock out the bridge-holding tank (or make it retreat) so that I can get control over the entire bridge. I also focus on getting as far into the central-northern bridge too, to create pressure. As regards the west-central Soviet army, I just focus on keeping it away from supplies and from breaking into my supply chain.
If you succeed in the two breakthroughs (south and central), you will have two large Soviet armies out of supply and win easily, like I did.
Which shows some problems with the AI. By all counts, the southwest AI should have attacked my tenuous supply chain cutoff with its numerous units. It did not, the southwest units were just standing there doing literally nothing. In one of my attempts, the kv2 Soviet tank nuked one of my southern units and broke the cutoff, but in another try, when I made a good advance on the north-central bridge, the kv2 unit went north to reinforce that bridge (which might conceivably make sense in terms of tactics).
There is also a huge role for luck overall in the game, as all it takes is two unsuccessful aircraft strikes in the first Stalingrad turn to make BV literally impossible (no breakthrough, enemy repositions for better defense, game over).
PS. Several tips:
- use the space bar to extend the range of your units - needed for breakthroughs
- use expendable units to eat away at enemy's zone of control - also needed for breakthroughs
- make sure to add recon to strong units as it adds another armor step
PS. Svaka cast na igri decki, genijalna je
. Golemi gust ratovanja!