I agree with Guido, and Bergstrom is a bit controversial as to his conclusions. His books are very good reads, but the detailed information needed to build campaigns will probably be lacking. That's not really surprising though, considering the scale of the Eastern Front, covering it satisfactorily would require more and thicker volumes and at a price that would sell even fewer copies.
The question is, are there any real alternatives?
Interesting
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Re: Interesting
It appears there was nothing up till 2001, when James Corum wrote this review of BC/RS, reproduced on Bergstrom's website:
"The 1941 air campaign deserves a detailed, scholarly treatment similar to the one that Joel Hayward gave to the 1942 air campaign in his outstanding work Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (University Press of Kansas, 1998). In that book, Hayward was able to put the air campaign in the context of the grand strategy and the ground operations, in addition to detailing the operations at the tactical level."
Corum is pointing out the stuff that Bergstrom doesn't provide but it bodes well for 1942 at least. To be honest, 1941 is likely to be a bit of a mishmash of history adapted to the game because of the plane sets, use of radios and the general competence of ACG pilots* in relation to the competence of the VVS at that point. A series of "representative" scenarios, more balanced than reality, might be a better / easier aiming point. I guess it depends on where people are happy to set the bar for historical accuracy.
*I exclude myself from that generalization - my survival rate on BoB missions so far makes me an excellent candidate for the VVS...
"The 1941 air campaign deserves a detailed, scholarly treatment similar to the one that Joel Hayward gave to the 1942 air campaign in his outstanding work Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943 (University Press of Kansas, 1998). In that book, Hayward was able to put the air campaign in the context of the grand strategy and the ground operations, in addition to detailing the operations at the tactical level."
Corum is pointing out the stuff that Bergstrom doesn't provide but it bodes well for 1942 at least. To be honest, 1941 is likely to be a bit of a mishmash of history adapted to the game because of the plane sets, use of radios and the general competence of ACG pilots* in relation to the competence of the VVS at that point. A series of "representative" scenarios, more balanced than reality, might be a better / easier aiming point. I guess it depends on where people are happy to set the bar for historical accuracy.
*I exclude myself from that generalization - my survival rate on BoB missions so far makes me an excellent candidate for the VVS...