The key to the game for the German player is to plot a strategy - and, just as important, make your initial operational deployments - in such a way that your forces' ever-deteriorating mobility can still get the job done. Above all, that means deploying your forces so you can drive on Moscow and all the other cities on the map at the same time. More than one play test game was lost when, during the final turns, the German commander realized he was only one city away (usually Kursk) from a victory based on rule 4.4. The thing is, it doesn't matter how under-defended a Soviet city is if you can't get anything there to attack it in time. If you just kind of 'mob up' your combat power in the center of the front, figuring you'll send out expeditionary forces toward the flanks as circumstances evolve - which seemed to be the dominant approach among first-time German commanders - against competent Soviet play you will lose every time.
When it comes time to make the 'November Offensive' decision, study the map. Essentially, if you decide for that offensive, you'll be giving up one turn of normal operations in order to get a doubled-up turn of operations. Whether that trade off is worthwhile will depend entirely on the distance you still have to go to reach your objectives.
The key to winning for the Soviet player is found in that side's Guards formations. Don't attempt to use them to create some kind of massed, counterattacking 'Guards Army' - this isn't yet that phase of the war. Spread out the Guards into the key locales (again, see rule 4.4, as well as 11.30), while also establishing a main reserve of them in Moscow.
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