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rchora -> RE: I am still a novice... (4/6/2011 6:05:24 AM)
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Guys, something about my last GC is bothering me...I'm even thinking about changing my approach in my next play.
Well what happened was this:
I was playing Axis, vs the AI and used a leapfrog retreat from strong point to strong point, rotating my rearguard units in and out of "havens" as much as possible and pulling all non essential units to within German or Romanian borders as fast as I could. In this I used rail, port, and foot march, only leaving these retreating units outside for a single turn at most.
I planned ahead, and had the "havens" well fortified by the time Blizzard set. So there was no panic, nor from my little envelopes :) nor from me (So different from first 2 blizzards...I don't even like to remember those...).
Anyway I managed to hold Minsk, Kaunas, and Vilnius and both town ports Riga and Tallin (these totally cut off except by sea) in the northern and Central sectors of the front when the winter finally abated.
In the South, Kiev held, isolated, and garrisoned by 2 inf divs plus Corps. My line Held in a Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, all the way to Kyshinev axis in the southern sector. Odessa also held albeit cut off.
So now you have an idea where the line stood at the spring thaw. I would just like to add that casualties from winter/blizzard effects were minimal. Combat casualties were more than acceptable as I never, ever attacked unless in the case of the most favorable of local counterattacks (usually after the soviets had spent their offensive capability in a previous attack against that position), or in the most desperate cases (saving an encircled garrison or retreating unit from encirclement...) Gladly I had to resort little to these last kind of operations which were always costly on the relief force ( Precious panzer power cant be dissipated )
So this finally brings me to the thing that is puzzling me...
In early 42 I was strong in both infantry and panzers. And what I've done was to use smashing odd infantry attacks, to kill as many soviets as I could while keeping my own infantry casualties to a minimum. Thus diverting some soviet power from the spots I had picked to attack with the panzers.
You all know what the Axis player is facing by then... A carpet of Soviet units dug in 4 or 5 hex deep. So we can't hope to achieve anything by going against that in an all out offensive, we get nowhere.
We have to look for a weak spot then drive a panzer wedge in there, followed by infantry and then, wherever we can to start "chopping" chunks of that unit carpet wherever we can until we start getting to those rearguard hexes with little or no fortification.
Also its important knowing when to change the focal point of an offensive whenever we get bogged down...Its better to lose one turn than continue hammering a solid wall of units, 5 hexes deep without any hope of achieving a breakthrough, least of all a pocket...
So what are my questions?
Were those infantry attacks a good call? Do you use them in Spring 42 to "help" the task of the armored offensives elsewhere along the front?
Should I hold the line and only use the panzers and infantry in the focal points where I look for a breakthrough?
Is it better in the long run?
Was my initial strategy sound? During Blizzard? Trading space for lives?
One last aspect that may be useful, I have said where the line was in the Spring thaw of 1942. But blizzard hit when I was in :
North - Narwa (no Leningrad...), Novgorod, Pskov
Central - Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Chernigov, Kiev.
South - Cherkassy, KirovGrad, Krivoi Rog, Nikolaev
Thank you in advance, I hope my questions fit the thread, as certainly I'm still a novice.
btw - One last note one the games learning curve...its steep, no doubt, but for me from all the computer games I have played the game I found the harder to master was 12 o'clock high...Still one of my favorites. WitE is easier to master mainly because its, in my view, more polished as a game its in no way less complex or deep.
The shortfalls of Wite will get in the most part get solved by patching as they are mostly bugs and not design or mechanics faults... Mostly ,the issues I have seen as attributed to faulty mechanics or poor design are a matter of subjective discussion and view. Again its been a very long, long time since I said anything like this regarding a game.I have played pretty much every ww2 strategy game that came out. If I think about it Its what I have been doing longer in my life. Longer than marriage, profession, anything...If i'm at least half decent in my job, and my wife still puts up with me after all these years and I'm not a husband or a worker for nearly as long that I am a ww2 strategy game player, well then I have to be a better player than I am husband or worker, and I feel say with some confidence we will not see a game as good as this one in a long, long time...I'm enjoying every try, every scenario.
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