Once you have decided your strategy, proceed to deploy your forces. Some general guidelines first. If you are planning to stay on the defensive in an area, set up a little back from the enemy line: 2-3 hexes, enough so you can reach them quickly when you attack, but are not exposed to hip shots unless the Germans advance into your jaws. Take advantage of defensive terrain whenever possible. You don't want your troops getting ground under by panzer assaults.

Where you are planning to attack, set up as close to the enemy line as possible, and consider how you can attack effectively and quickly. Be sure to deploy some forces back from the enemy line to form reserves; these will magnify the weight of your attack tremendously as they follow up the main combat phase and attack shattered enemy units. Note that infantry divisions form a perfectly good reserve attacking force! In fact, they will frequently have more combat power per supply token expended than move-mode armor (which is about as strong as combat-mode infantry in the open, but must be fueled as well as supplied for combat.)

In the north, assuming you are not planning to attack, you should probably set up to take advantage of the woods as much as possible: it's harder for the panzers to attack you in the trees. Any units in the open should definitely be stacked with tanks or anti-tank units. 9th Mech's 4-3-6 tank battalions work very well for this purpose. You want some armor reserves (just on general principles), and probably an artillery division from the operational reserve as additional protection in case the Germans attack (which they may well do, trying to distract attention from your other offensives). The Guards corps are worth considering. 6th Guards should probably be the Front reserve: set it up somewhere near Zhitomir (important because the road running off the map edge here is likely to be your main supply source for this front until you get the rail lines repaired) or Berdichev (a nice central location where it can support multiple offensives when you're finally ready to launch them). 8th Guards Mech and 11th Guards have more freedom in setup.

Near the northwest end of their deployment zone they can support a drive toward Vinnitsa or Lyubar, though this has the problem of heading into the teeth of the German armor. Near the southeast end, they can support a drive on Uman, or race east and help close a deep envelopment of the Korsun pocket. Or they can drive southwest for the main rail line (though see my comments on that strategy earlier).

The units north and east of the Korsun pocket have almost no armor; if you plan to attack with them early, you will probably want to deploy the armor (4th, 5th, and 7th Guards Tank Corps-be sure to consolidate these as much as possible) from the operational reserve in support. You will need one of the artillery divisions as well, for either defense or offense.

Look for weaknesses in the German setup you can exploit: German infantry near Tarasum, Boguslav, or Mironokva can often be pocketed by determined attacks on Turn 1, and there are very few panzers nearby to rescue trapped units. If 5th SS does head north to do so, it's not interfering with your operations south of the pocket. If 6th or 17th Panzer drive north from the center, they will be very vulnerable to counterattack next turn.

A word here about rear area security: Garrison the major cities. In particular, garrison Kiev and the bridges and roads leading up from the south toward it. I lost one game of HP on Turn 2. 1 sent the infantry north of the pocket charging forward on Turn 1; Scott responded by moving three more panzer divisions into the Korsun area to join 5th SS. Turn two, the rivers froze. I won initiative and decided to go second. One of the panzer divisions blew a hole through the infantry line; one blew away the (8)-3-1 UR brigade guarding the road south; the last two exploited north and captured Kiev, which was guarded only by four UR brigades. End of game.

Do not let this happen to you. You may want to put one or two of the Turn 1 reinforcement divisions in Kiev. Once you have dealt with the pocket, you can rail them forward. Likewise, make sure to guard the Dnepr bridge at Cherkassy and the road and railroad going off the east map edge. On the safety of these three points your entire southern flank depends, and while the German may not want to risk the game on an attempt to take them, you definitely don't want to risk losing them. Keep troops with some anti-tank capability in the open hexes to the south (especially given the vulnerable off-map air base from whence you can fly extra supply); make sure that you have a wagon extender near Cherkassy so you can supply your troops around there (you will not be able to reach troops near Smela or in the woods beyond it from the HQs near the southern railhead.)

Last come your strong forces south of the Dnepr. Here there are several factors to consider. First off, how much artillery do you want? You have two divisions, but one of them (Ilth Artillery) is half-strength. I recommend using it to support the operations around Smela, while the full-strength 17th supports the Kirovograd operations. I would also allocate one artillery division from the operational reserve to this sector. 3rd Guards Rocket is not a bad choice; it can move into position next to Kirovograd on Turn 1, and flip and fire on Turn 2. Since the Katyushas cannot move in combat mode, you want them in a position where the enemy will be stationary for some time; locations where they can cover both Kirovograd and the gap between the rivers just north of it fit the bill quite nicely. The second artillery division allows you to cover the entire theater with artillery and still have enough to concentrate force in the decisive sector, or have one division support the combat phase and the other, perhaps in move mode, supporting exploitation.

Attack ferociously: the idea of the Turn 1 offensive is to so batter the German line that he will have to spend all of his half of the turn recovering, so it will be safe for you to let him go first on Turn 2, setting up a series of possible double turns. (You don't want to go out on a limb on Turn 1: if you do and the Germans win initiative on turn 2, things could go very badly for you.)

One thing to consider: the river lines protect you as much as they protect the Germans. Use them. The German army will never be stronger than it is on the opening turn of the game, so you want to ensure that its counterattacks fall on strong lines, not vulnerable ones. In particular, do not attack south of Kirovograd on Turn 1 unless you have some way to derail the GD division's counterattack. The entire area is a wide-open panzer playpen, and you will suffer severely if you cross the rivers there too early.

A minor note on logistics. I usually deploy five wagons on each wing, allowing extender formation if necessary. Since Cherkassy has no working rail lines at the start of the game, the southern extender usually goes near there (an HQ in Cherkassy can support operations around Smela till you repair the doubletrack line through it.) Five trucks go in Kiev, where they can shuttle supply to either wing or race to form an extender anywhere on the board. The other trucks and wagons are set up as necessary to move small amounts of supply forward. For the first ten turns of the game, though, you can usually supply everything without trouble from your rail lines. It helps considerably if you have HQs in position to draw and throw directly from the locations where supply enters the map; it saves rail capacity.

I prefer to start three rail repair units in the northern sector. One pushes southeast from Fastov to open up the rail lines supplying the northern flank of your assault on the Korsun pocket (and threatening to drive towards Uman), while two fix the rail line from Fastov to Berdichev (one working southwest out from Fastov, the other coming east to meet it). There's a lot more unconverted rail line up north than down south, and most of the southern theater is well within HQ throw range from the starting railheads anyway. If you put two rail units in the south, they'll quickly fix all the rails in reach and then hang around for several turns doing nothing while you try to clear away the German units squatting on the line in Shpola, Kirovograd, and the Korsun pocket.

And repairing the northern rail network makes it much easier to supply and support a surprise push forward. The more you can threaten that, the more forces the German player is likely to hold up north waiting for an attack while you pummel him in the south. Remember that you want to threaten attacks everywhere, thus forcing the German to try to cover all the possible avenues of attack, which he can't do.

Author's Note

I would like to thank Perry Andrus, Kurt Gillies, Stephen Poitinger, James Sterret, Guy Wilde and all the other people on the Gamers' mailing list whose discussion of their Hube's Pocket games, and the proper tactics to use, and some appalling disasters, helped me write this article. And above all I'd like to thank the long-suffering Scott Johnstone, who not only beat and was beaten by me, but discussed our relative strategies and tactics at great length.

[Editor's note: This is the first part of a two-part article on Hube's Pocket. After reading posts on the gamers-1 list and appreciating the thinking and play experience behind them, I asked Tony to prepare an article. I hope you're all as happy with the result as I am.]

More Setup and Strategy in Hube's Pocket Part 1

Introduction
The German Setup
Soviet Opening: North, South, or Deep?
The Soviet Setup

Part 2