RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (Full Version)

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's War in the East Series >> After Action Reports



Message

karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 1:50:51 PM)

Start of turn 27: A couple more German Infantry Divisions are needed to stabilise the front in front of Ztown.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/422E0E398E3847748FC8BA2BBF5E72CD.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 1:55:45 PM)

Start of turn 27: Casualty report shows losses in the battles that took place during turn 26. The left hand column - "Recent Battle and Non-combat losses" represents attritional "wear and tear" losses. Recent codes changes have seen these losses double.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/AB5BC4B6E9874CADBB11DB9AA7611DAA.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:09:02 PM)

Start of turn 28: I hope you don't mind me posting more, but we are waiting for a hotfix before we can start testing in earnest. On "Normal" settings the SU will generally getting fewer MP's which means they can't always advance into a hex I've retreated from, so I can move back in.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/74904CDB9CF3415DAF630B5287F1DA44.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:11:10 PM)

Start of turn 28: I had to evacuate Kalinin to avoid encirclement - my mistake caused this.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/4179C609C03040D3B42C50A4118C03A1.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:17:20 PM)

Start of turn 28: The routs begin as Tula is threatened from north and south. In take 1 the bug caused about 40 routs in this turn. My defense reduced the routs to 6-8 per turn. With the bug fixes the risk of rout should only start occurring about 2 months into the blizzard, but if you rotate units into the line and out of the line to cities where they can get R&R (and replacements if they are on a rail line) you can probably keep everyone apart from Axis Allies above the rout threshold.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/556C66EE532C4928A03EE4C5ABB319DC.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:21:15 PM)

Start of turn 28: The Kursk sector is going to need some of my strategic reserve and soon. there are operational reserves available for now.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/A059F70540B24C638A520995AC3CA916.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:25:06 PM)

Start of turn 28: But I also need operational reserves for the hole that has been ripped in 17th Army's front.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/FB8C0B52AAA44257816585B055FEEDCA.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:28:57 PM)

Start of turn 28: Fortunately the rail network means I can get fresh troops to 17th Army pretty quickly, and get the routed units up to strength and ready for frontline duty.



[image]local://upfiles/21516/237BE4C6A5F44ED9AC0878750073A845.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:32:37 PM)

The Front Lines Christmas Day 1941 North:


[image]local://upfiles/21516/F770E1A6170F451885824A12986FB7F2.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:33:37 PM)

Frontline Christmas day South:


[image]local://upfiles/21516/FD1F2368F61B43B1990581377E80D1F1.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:34:39 PM)

Losses:


[image]local://upfiles/21516/DADA2E3788934955AF175D212E16F0B1.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 2:35:36 PM)

OOB:


[image]local://upfiles/21516/078869CF316E4252BF07528466CB4B3F.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 3:52:52 PM)

Start of Turn 29: 1942 begins with AGN getting smacked around again. Note that units with higher defensive CVs do not get attacked.



[image]local://upfiles/21516/36A9FCD4CF5348ED9BB99C0A59DD55B5.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 3:54:33 PM)

Start of turn 29: The regimental defence in depth line thins out as units have to take their turn on front line duty.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/1B9E4B82FFFF465396FE6F31CD3C8604.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 3:58:40 PM)

Start of turn 29: Tula falls - regimental reserves all gone.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/9B81E7A7684B401BB463594C66B62250.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 4:03:13 PM)

Start of turn 29. 6th Army takes a hard punch. In this test the rout threshold was about 9k men, The 2 divisions shown here should not really go into the line but I don't have much choice.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/F71E8FF4C38145FA900CF37D897467B3.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 4:06:29 PM)

Start of turn 29: The problem for 6th and 2nd Army is that the rail net makes it harder to get fresh troops in, and I have to send them further back to rest and refit. I really messed up my rail conversion in this test.




[image]local://upfiles/21516/F7EB3C9C77344C368575E34C3129B791.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 4:09:35 PM)

Start of turn 29: 4 panzer and motorised divisions had to hold the line in 17th Army's sector. Less reserves available.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/CCF9D3B44AF94A719B24A1C2F547152D.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 4:12:40 PM)

Start of turn 29: I am still managing a better than 50/50 hold/retreat ratio. This will get harder and harder as reserves get sucked into the front line.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/E2FBE14C6C4242109192CB763B2C91BE.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 4:13:19 PM)

Retreats:




[image]local://upfiles/21516/D81CDEA67E5F4107A0E120712C793E2C.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 6:42:36 PM)

Start of Turn 30: The attacks are unrelenting. The wooded terrain continues to help AGN hold the line.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/19D66AA0AE55442D85E7CB4FAD1BC237.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 6:44:55 PM)

Start of turn 30: Now 40 Miles from Moscow.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/DC7F0AFD9A354AFBB5F10EAE47DD2F25.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 6:46:44 PM)

Start of turn 30: Some of 2nd Army get a much needed rest.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/1619CD1E1D07411C9F98E1F34BD6118E.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 6:51:32 PM)

Start of turn 30. The * next to the refit button means that 212th Division is "Unready" and not fit for front line duty. This is a recovering routed unit. Front line units can be forced into unready mode from combat, so you have to check each unit.


[image]local://upfiles/21516/A7164ABEAE3245419853C56CB9663DC0.jpg[/image]



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 6:54:32 PM)

There is a shortcut for this via the Commander's report. The testers have lobbied Pavel to enable players to change other settings via this report.




[image]local://upfiles/21516/9C75B6274D3E4F1CB1217E409B2474B1.jpg[/image]



Pipewrench -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 8:55:57 PM)

wonderful play by play. keep it up![:)]



Endsieg -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/25/2010 9:11:06 PM)

very readable AAR. good narrative style, less is more. most instructive so far.



ComradeP -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/26/2010 10:30:41 AM)

It's not heartening for future Axis players to see that a whopping 900.000 men are temporarily disabled.

By the way, wouldn't it have strengthened AGN's front if German units garrisoned Leningrad and the Fins had been placed in the line (perhaps with divisions broken into regiments, to cover more hexes with a unit that doesn't get a first winter penalty), considering that they don't get a serious winter penalty?



karonagames -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/26/2010 12:06:43 PM)

@ Endsieg and Pipewrench. Thanks for your comments, I am operating on the basis of "A picture speaks a thousand words", and trying to illustrate a broad range of the mechanics within the game.

@ComradeP. Trying to simulate the effects of the First Winter using the structural mechanics of the game is pretty tricky. Currently a combination of morale (Very buggy in this test) and the damaged unit mechanic are used. The number of temporarily "disabled" men is more a reflection of the weapons the men are carrying not working in -40C temperatures, rather than the men themselves being disabled - as you no doubt know there were "only" 110,000 casualties from frostbite, I don't have the figures for those suffering various degrees of frostbite who subsequently returned to active duty.

When the fine tuning is done, I am fairly happy the Wehrmacht will emerge into the spring/summer sufficiently weakened. At the moment I think we need to find a way to put a brake on the Soviets when playing the Challenging level. As you saw in Lee's AAR, his army was wrecked in 4 turns of Blizzard. At the moment I can only get half way through (6 turns), before my reserves are swallowed up and the Army disintegrates - not a pretty sight.

With regard to the Finns, in my alternate reality, it had been agreed that the Finns would take over occupation duties for Leningrad. Yes I could have used the better blizzard fighting abilities of the Finns better than I did - I'm still Field Marshal Noob. The Finns do suffer a morale penalty for every hex they are away from the "no cross" line that exists until Leningrad is captured - apparently they get very homesick.



Flaviusx -> RE: Alpha AAR - A year at the front with Field Marshal Noob (7/26/2010 4:49:47 PM)

Looks like the blizzard is a bit overpowered even on normal settings.

I'll reiterate my suggestion that the blizzard penalties vary in accordance to distance from primary supply sources or major ports. As the Germans fall back to those the logistical breakdown caused by the blizzard should diminish. As things presently stand the effect is too binary and will cripple the Germans regardless of their actual position on the map. It shouldn't be nearly as devastating as they retreat, say, towards Smolensk and Kiev as opposed to points further east.

This gives the Germans a real strategic choice: they can fall back preemptively and dig in on a line that can be supplied reasonably well. (Their actual logistics functioned well enough up to about the Dnepr in 1941.) Of course, that comes at a price: they'll have to capture more real estate in 1942 and fight against a stronger Red Army.

For more thoughts along these lines, I suggest reading van Creveld's Supplying War.

I find it especially doubtful that Army Group North should be so easily pushed back in this game when it has Leningrad nearby as a major port to draw supply from. This, indeed, is a very good reason for taking Leningrad in the first place. Aren't Helsinki and Leningrad ice free during winter?



Page: <<   < prev  6 7 [8] 9 10   next >   >>

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI
9.28125