T30 - North

T30 - North (Full Version)

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Oshawott -> T30 - North (6/6/2014 11:41:36 AM)
T30 - North Leningrad holding. Another failed attack on the city. TOE of these units is down to 30% so mostly hand to hand combat. [:)] But every failed attack boosts morale of these units. The push northwest is almost impossible. He has a lot of firepower here and units are entrenched not to mention the horrible terrain. The push southwest is much easier. A bulge is forming which will have to be corrected at some point. [image]local://upfiles/46668/4C914F0CA0484FC7B44A4C9C73E0EE2E.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - Center (6/6/2014 11:45:14 AM)
T30 - Center The same goes for the center. Only deliberate attacks against heavily entrenched units are possible and these have to be carefully calculated. The most important thing is the sequence of attacks. I always try to do the attacks first which I think are guaranteed to succeed and hope I can get all the reserve activations out of the way. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. [image]local://upfiles/46668/E4BDBAE005464B5194B00AAB43EE651C.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - Southwest (6/6/2014 11:48:24 AM)
T30 - Southwest Very good progress in this sector. He gives up Orel without a fight to avoid encirclement. Next on the list are Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov. [image]local://upfiles/46668/AF1FCB93373E4222B132FFC45B4062C6.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - South (6/6/2014 11:51:02 AM)
T30 - South In pursuit of the enemy trying to reach the Crimea. He obviously pulls out troops to reinforce Odessa. There are mostly Romanian and Italian divisions in the far south. They always rout with massive losses. But so far none of them shatter which surprises me. [image]local://upfiles/46668/A7654492EABE49898BCDACE8ECC60B02.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - Crimea and Odessa (6/6/2014 11:56:14 AM)
T30 - Crimea and Odessa I am now able to break out of Crimea because he has to weaken this sector. I push north with tank brigades but I know they will get pushed back or routed. At Odessa I do the one and only amphibious landing of this game. One division lands at Ochakov and the port damage is relatively low so it is an immediate supply source. I think one amphibious landing is OK. I land additional troops in Odessa and continue to attack. [image]local://upfiles/46668/9B59773D177A4463B8C49FB47B954542.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - Battles and Guards (6/6/2014 11:57:42 AM)
T30 - Battles The list of held results. Even deliberate attacks are sometimes not enough. Many units turn guard this turn. [image]local://upfiles/46668/2FAE2EECC68A4AF18EB619FD28F33012.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T30 - Data (6/6/2014 11:58:48 AM)
T30 - Data OOB, production and losses. [image]local://upfiles/46668/662552DE250A4E0D9D476B7A03FE456D.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - North (6/8/2014 2:31:09 AM)
T31 - North This continues to be very interesting. No attack on Leningrad this turn. My troops are slowly withering away but they are too strong for a bunch of regiments. I make progress throughout this sector. There are reserve activations with almost every attack. Breakthroughs are not possible. [image]local://upfiles/46668/BCE432DC84FE49D0A54FAF42BE94BB08.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - Center (6/8/2014 2:32:51 AM)
T31 - Center Same situation in the center. I am slowly grinding through fortifications. Lots of reserve activations and many, many 1=2 battles. [image]local://upfiles/46668/4FE1B054E5174ED58499866B0943175F.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - Southwest (6/8/2014 2:34:51 AM)
T31 - Southwest I reach the outskirts of Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov. Frontal attacks of city and light urban hexes are not a good idea so I plan to encircle the cities. [image]local://upfiles/46668/3B956C91536644288629D6112B4637FB.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - South (6/8/2014 2:37:49 AM)
T31 - South I have almost linked up with my troops in the Crimea and Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye are not out of reach. My plan is to capture the cities before the blizzard ends and use them as anchors for the March counterattack. [image]local://upfiles/46668/9D55C309AD3F4B3C8062B5E266DE541C.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - Crimea and Odessa (6/8/2014 2:42:25 AM)
T31 - Crimea and Odessa Very chaotic situation. At this point it looks like his southern front has almost collapsed. The Romanians are routing at almost every battle with huge losses. However, they are not shattering. I land more troops at Odessa and Oshakov and fight multiple battles. I still plan to land two full armies there. [image]local://upfiles/46668/F7B5A3EBFED14D91839686EB44DB451E.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - Wins and Losses (6/8/2014 2:46:10 AM)
T31 - Wins and Losses A quick overview of the wins for my Rifle Divisions and Cavalry Corps. I like 5th Guards Division with a ratio of 27:0. I must admit that this is slightly absurd. [image]local://upfiles/46668/55F18100432F4C56B037E36558F80F21.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T31 - Data (6/8/2014 2:49:27 AM)
T31 - Data OOB, losses and production. Armament points have bottomed out and are now rising again. [image]local://upfiles/46668/7C00C087BC7A468783697A763521CDFF.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - North (6/9/2014 12:58:41 AM)
T32 - North Yet another attack against Leningrad is repelled. Morale of one unit increases to 46. He evacuates Novgorod. I am not sure if I would have been able to encircle the city. I am trying to cut the Pskov rail line but progress is painfully slow. There is very little resistance further south. The bulge is getting bigger. [image]local://upfiles/46668/EEADF61FEF764B7E9541722A481D8043.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - Center (6/9/2014 1:00:05 AM)
T32 - Center Overall, good progress. Numerous held results at VL. Many forts west of Vyazma. Instead of encirclement I herd his troops so that there are maximum retreat losses. His reserve activations are getting much weaker now. Most are just adding between 6 and 10 CV. [image]local://upfiles/46668/49F590229836415DA2504E3381414B36.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - Southwest (6/9/2014 1:03:07 AM)
T32 - Southwest Kharkov and Belgorod are encircled. However, it will be easy for him to escape. I am trying a bigger encirclement operation at Kursk. [image]local://upfiles/46668/1F7052B9369247B4AFFDFC7A8BF2CC5E.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - South (6/9/2014 1:06:46 AM)
T32 - South I linked up with the Crimea and the two remaining goals are Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. It would be really nice to have these to light urban hexes under my control. [image]local://upfiles/46668/DC11C7E2A38443429E31C67F86B0A695.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - Crimea and Odessa (6/9/2014 1:11:00 AM)
T32 - Crimea and Odessa I am almost at the lower Dnepr. There is very light resistance. The Romanians are taking extreme losses. However, supply is now getting restricted. The spearhead is 40 MP away from the railhead. More troops are landing at Odessa and I am preparing to break out to the west. But as you can see he is heavily reinforcing this area now. [image]local://upfiles/46668/D978B4E8556B438B98D228153EFB24A9.jpg[/image]

Oshawott -> T32 - Data (6/9/2014 1:12:32 AM)
T32 - Data OOB, Production and Losses. Armament points are continuing to increase. [image]local://upfiles/46668/162832E525234C27BCF36F555DE2B47A.jpg[/image]

Priapus1 -> RE: T32 - Data (6/9/2014 7:26:59 AM)
Wow, this is looking like a disaster for the axis.

Flaviusx -> RE: T32 - Data (6/9/2014 8:24:17 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Priapus1 Wow, this is looking like a disaster for the axis. Or a glorious opportunity for the Axis come May/June. That line in the south won't be easy to hold. It's probably a good dozen hexes longer than I'd be looking to hold, and this is only partly offset by terrain. We'll find out if the Axis player knows how to put together a proper panzer ball to go wrecking with.

timmyab -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 10:55:43 AM)
I have a theory that the Axis player should more or less allow the armies from Odessa to expand as far as they want to. The more armies the Soviet player piles in and the further they go the greater the slaughter come the Spring. I think all the Soviet player has to do in this game now is to avoid large scale losses during the Summer and we'll see a steamroller starting sometime in the second half of 42.

STEF78 -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 11:17:53 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: timmyab I have a theory that the Axis player should more or less allow the armies from Odessa to expand as far as they want to. The more armies the Soviet player piles in and the further they go the greater the slaughter come the Spring. I think all the Soviet player has to do in this game now is to avoid large scale losses during the Summer and we'll see a steamroller starting sometime in the second half of 42. Your first point is right and I hesitated before denying the opportunity for the soviet to rescue Odessa by ground. But then I looked at the number of german Inf divs available and at their shape. I couldn't afford a 15 more hexes long front. Oshawott won the 2 first sets of the game, even if the blizzard was more equilibrated. Let's see if I can breakthrough in May. He has built a different way of 1942's defence than my previous opponents. the first line is strong, the we have a line hex free then a second line.

morvael -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 11:23:39 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: STEF78 He has built a different way of 1942's defence than my previous opponents. the first line is strong, the we have a line hex free then a second line. That's the kind of line I was building in my game as well. I don't believe in ant carpet defense.

timmyab -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 12:41:28 PM)
Yes it's good defensive technique. Ant carpets can be manipulated by experienced German players. One of the problems is that units can be easily forced to rout once you start to bite into the carpet. When I was still playing the Soviet side my standard defense technique was a strong front line, say 2 rifle divisions in a level 2 or 3 fort with an even stronger second line (MLR) and a gap between them. The MLR should only be stack two high wherever possible. The gap should have forts maintained if possible so that retreating front line units will need to be whacked hard again. Behind the MLR you create strong points wherever suitable to catch any breakthroughs with brigades covering vital points behind that. If necessary, like in front of Moscow this can be stepped up to a three line defense. quote: ORIGINAL: STEF78 Your first point is right and I hesitated before denying the opportunity for the soviet to rescue Odessa by ground. Like I say this is purely theory and it could be a disastrous mistake but I would allow the link up if the Soviet player insisted and sever it in the Spring. In fact I'd let him wander around the Ukraine virtually unmolested during the Winter. (that's the theory anyway)[:D]

Flaviusx -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 3:23:57 PM)
I lean towards a two division defense in the front. Partly to reduce attrition losses, which can get kind of high if you go full out with a frontal defense. But I agree that a pure ant defense can too easily be wrecked. Even in the rear you should try to place strongpoints (again with 2 units) here and there to impede a breakthrough, particularly if the terrain is good.

Oshawott -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 6:18:05 PM)
All very interesting comments. I started with stacks of three after blizzard to build fortifications as quickly as possible. I am not sure yet how many defensive lines I will build. I agree with the the two division defense. Carpet defense is just an invitation to build up morale. He is doing the same by the way. I can already tell where he will NOT attack come June but I will remain cautious. Odessa is now (T40) mostly evacuated. Three units remain in the city with a CV of 57. It was a nice distraction with some good combat back and forth. Linking to the main front would have been interesting because the supply situation for the troops coming from Crimea would have been so much better. But it all takes too much time and I wasn't even able to hold Oshakov. I doubt I will hold the lower Dnepr. I like all the swamp hexes I occupy right now but there is one very weak spot where he could just hammer through during clear weather.

morvael -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 6:41:47 PM)
Watch out for supply range from Crimea and Odessa. It's only 25 MP or something, because it's port supply and repairing rail does not extend it (besides giving lower supply movement cost).

Oshawott -> RE: T30 - North (6/9/2014 7:02:16 PM)
quote: Watch out for supply range from Crimea and Odessa. It's only 25 MP or something, because it's port supply and repairing rail does not extend it (besides giving lower supply movement cost). Thanks, I just reread this in the manual. 1 MP is added per hex for port supply.

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