Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (Full Version)

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HardLuckYetAgain -> Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/2/2018 12:21:48 AM)

Pre-game warm-up

I have no doubt this game will be a long one. I also know that what BrianG does with the Soviets he will be equally deadly, if not by a factor of 10, with the Germans. Game rules are the following;

* 41-45 Grand Campaign
* Standard combat
* No Soviet +1
* No para drops
* No naval invasions prior to June 1942
* Random Weather
* Full blizzard

I wish BrianG good luck even though I should keep that luck for myself since BrianG is a very skilled player.



beender -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/2/2018 6:14:12 AM)

Obviously you never run out of fancy names for aar!



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/2/2018 1:22:46 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: beender

Obviously you never run out of fancy names for aar!


Oh? I thought this name was not that good. Why??? Because the Red Star could be "descending" too ;-P But I have to stay optimistic.



dcaflak -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/4/2018 12:08:42 PM)

I've been reading the AAR on this forum and I must say, I'm really looking forward to this (and the other one you started HLYA) [:)]

Though I have something to ask: may I humbly request that, from time to time, if it isn't a bother to you, you show us the ''Captured Equipment'' poll? just so we can have an idea of what and how many German equipment you claimed for your righteous cause.



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 12:23:48 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: dcaflak

I've been reading the AAR on this forum and I must say, I'm really looking forward to this (and the other one you started HLYA) [:)]

Though I have something to ask: may I humbly request that, from time to time, if it isn't a bother to you, you show us the ''Captured Equipment'' poll? just so we can have an idea of what and how many German equipment you claimed for your righteous cause.


Interesting request and will see what I can do for you. I have not been able to do my turn yesterday and today since the wife wanted to do things. Such things as shopping, carrying bags of items she bought and driving her around. See if I can get turn 1 back to BrianG tomorrow.



dcaflak -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 9:30:52 AM)

Thank you very much for considering doing it [:)] I'll be eagerly watching and supporting the mighty Red Army!

Also yup, when the Supreme Commander has direct requests, all other operations are put on hiatus, I know about that too [;)]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:21:23 PM)

Soviets caught napping June 22 1941

[image]local://upfiles/53556/C623EDEAD79041E5986C6FF4BB707B5D.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:24:33 PM)

Turn 1
Northern Front Riga area beginning of turn

German forces are over the river and Riga taken with Soviets surrounded in the middle. Quickly notice that BrianG's rail line is NOT going to a direct northern route. Just looking at this from experience no pocket should be breakable in the North :(

[image]local://upfiles/53556/48364F1A33E447799018C532ED2100F8.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:38:19 PM)

Turn 1
Western Front Minsk area beginning of turn

German forces are on the outskirts of Minsk. The rail conversion is going through Kaunas which BrianG was able to convert too. So my first thought is is Moscow the intended target with the rail conversion going this way. Time will tell in a few turns. Just looking at this from experience I don't believe any pocket should be breakable in the central area :( But will take a more in depth look during my turn but magic 8 ball says "highly unlikely".

[image]local://upfiles/53556/AFC1924D0C33462ABDC18DD5831486A7.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:46:08 PM)

Turn 1
Swamp squatters area beginning of turn

Germans have made a MAD Dash down swamp alley. Too bad the Cav unit to the north is routed still or this could have turn interesting. Will disband what I can and the rest will fight. Rail has gone through Brest Litovsk and one hex beyond because of the Soviet units to the south. So will the rail conversion go North-East from here or will BrianG take the path under the Mountain(through the swamp). Time will tell ;-) But this coupled with the northern conversion could be pointing to a large center push. But of course I don't have all of my Tarrot cards in yet and all of this is highly speculative.

[image]local://upfiles/53556/AF797CA8AC4C4ECD951A123E5A0A42C1.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:54:10 PM)

Turn 1
Southern Mayhem area beginning of turn

Germans have done a mad dash to the Rumanian border. From experience looking at this this can be broken in a few places. This is a good and it is bad to be honest. It is good because the pocket can be broken and get some SU's out. It is bad because it is like a honey pot that draws you in, you start eating and forget that the bear is behind you ready to take the little bit of honey you did get. So I am going to think long and hard of what to do down here since it is a semi opportunity but too many times have I sprung the "honey trap" on people in this area and boy does that hurt. Unfortunately, I will lose the same amount of physical counter units in the end. It is the draw in affect that kills many people when those extra units above and beyond what would normally have been caught are added to the fray.

[image]local://upfiles/53556/EF83E075C9C6409DB7BF5F48D1588D8E.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/5/2018 7:58:53 PM)

Turn 1
Southern Mayhem Rumanian border beginning of turn

And of course the units that mad dashed to the Red light district area of Northern Rumania ;-)



[image]local://upfiles/53556/578E5139ED474E80AD9D585ECB3CBF62.jpg[/image]



dcaflak -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/6/2018 7:19:30 AM)

Oh wow...this seems bad, but then again every time I see the first turns from the Soviet perspective, it is ''atrocious'' at best and ''potentially game-ending" at worst (so I guess it IS historically accurate), and I do not have nearly enough experience with the game to judge the situation efficiently.

Stay strong, we'll follow you to the end commander HLYA! Not a step back!

Ha ha I'm kidding let's get the HELL away from the mean panzers, so we can come back to kick their teeth in...later.



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 1:52:24 AM)

To FEED the Beast

Turn 1 was just sent over to BrianG. I did what I said I would do in my last AAR with ST. So we will see how it goes. I have no illusions that I will lose a great deal but I have my plans of what I am doing and will see if it works for better or for worse.

My 1st Soviet objective in this game is not send the Airforce to Reserve. I did this the first couple of games as Soviet but I no longer cater to that line of thinking. You are just giving the German Airforce time to rest. Get off of you azzes and manage the Airforce like a true commander. You have to stay active in the air even from turn one. As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber" on turn 1 and will not relent until I either have no aircraft left or I won the game. I can replace my loses & I want experience. So Fly I WILL!

Here is a Bomb run on the first turn for your viewing pleasure. Yes, I did micro manage my airforce & have it set up. Yes, I do have Interdiction turned on. I advocated before for turning it off. I now say turn it on since the Germans are licking their fatigue from the first turn Air bombing. PLUS, and this is a big one, if you have interdiction on and a mover gets hit you can't keep trying to place it in an optimal place. It is stuck where it got hit. Thus it is a constant reminder you better make it work ;-)

This bomb run was on an SS Moto unit too :)
[image]local://upfiles/53556/124D6B58CF974520B0FCFD8EB18E6A9C.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 2:01:40 AM)

To FEED the Beast

My second objective is to constantly attack the Panzers/Moto units. I will end up losing thousands, tens of thousands, and hundred of thousands of men doing so for very little. Other than to use their supply and for fatigue. The less supply these BEAST have the more damage I will do to them and less they will do to me. I will get surrounded, I will lose units, I will just have to manage my manpower to my unit count of what to lose. I have my calculation of how many units I can lose a turn and I will try and stay under that. Here is a picture of what I am talking about to keep the unit low on supply. I was able to get this PZ to yellow supply on the first turn. He wont hurt as much turn 2 ;-P Well...... at least I hope so......

[image]local://upfiles/53556/B1F5CAF96BC64CA2A5CD564D9825921B.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 2:10:30 AM)

To FEED the Beast

Another objective of mine playing the Soviets this time. Which is the real reason I am going to lose a great many units is that we are going to love the Germans by "HUGGING" them. We are all one big happy family, sorta kinda ;-) Of course I am going to use discretion on this one of when, where, and how long to do this. Because too much hugging is a bad thing you know.



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 2:21:57 AM)

To FEED the Beast

This game is going to be totally different than my "Defense of the Soviet Union begins ONE hex west of Pskov" AAR. In that AAR I built the defense from Pskov down. This game will be trying to defend all three fronts at the same time, be aggressive with counterattacks, and hold the Germans at bay, which in and of itself the Soviets just don't have the resources for. I will attack PZ's and Moto units to waste their supply but my real target the WHOLE game is the German infantry. I will go after them the hardest to cause causalities. Every opportunity I will take to inflict any type of loses to German infantry. Even attacking a German infantry over a Rumanian infantry unit. At the end of 1941 I suspect I will have lost at least 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 men.

Thus is this enough To FEED the Beast to keep it sedated? OR is this just self inflicted suicide on my part with my crazy way of thinking. Either way it should be an interesting ride. Sit down, buckle up, and enjoy the feeding frenzy. I am sure this is going to get bloody.



Telemecus -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 12:06:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain
As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber"

First it was U2VS, then I saw you Hungarian maraud, and now this. I just know spreadsheets are coming up ...



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 12:50:47 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

quote:

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain
As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber"

First it was U2VS, then I saw you Hungarian maraud, and now this. I just know spreadsheets are coming up ...



Ya, I changed my mind on the U2VS. Soviets need everything they can get their hands on to cause losses. Dinglir was correct in this. I hardly call my couple hex pass-through of Hungarian territory a Hungarian Marauding expedition ;-P As for spreadsheets I have yet to add to my repertoire...... yet. I never cast my way of thinking in stone.



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 4:12:49 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here are some housekeeping items I did during the 1st turn.

First off I want all of my SU's to go up to Stavka, so I set the support level to 0(zero) for everything but Stavka which will be a 9. Please note that Sappers won't end up in Stavka. These little boys love to stay in Armies and fronts. If they do get up to Stavka and you still have the Support level set to 0(zero). Then Stavka will push them back down to Fronts and Armies. I have noticed this on more than a few occasions. On turn 2 and/or turn 3 I will turn the support level to -1 which essentially turns off the flow of support units. My goal is to have every Army on the map in contact with the enemy, no matter what, have 2 artillery pieces at a minimum. Artillery causes losses :) Armies in high tempo combat with the Germans will get more SU's. I will go through every Army and make sure each is allocated to it from the Stavka pool during turn 2/3. Bear in mind that the Soviets still have the Corps HQ's until turn 5/6 which can complicate the allocation of these artillery pieces. So I have to painstakingly go through this process. You will see this in my video when I post it on Youtube.


Note **** As with the Sappers the RR Construction Engineers are handled in the same way. They never stay in Stavka unless it is turned off *****


[image]local://upfiles/53556/BF69E7DEC43A44A8A0003DB1307978EE.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 4:38:54 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Since the Soviets have a problem with overloaded HQ's most of the time the Soviets will use AP points to get units under this limit so as to not incur penalties. Well this time for me in this game that is not going to be the case. I am going to rely on the Germans fixing my overburdened HQ's with the units they eliminate in the pockets. By turn 3 the Soviets should not have any overburdened HQ's except for one without spending AP's. Thank you Germany

Soviets will also use AP's to get good commanders in key places. Well, that isn't going to happen here. Which is going to translate into even more loses because of sub par leaders. I have noticed in all my games as Soviets it really doesnt matter who or what you have in command the first 10 turns. The Germans can pretty much hasty attack it out of place. So I have watched numerous battle reports and basically in 100 battles you will be lucky to get 12-18 holds. Which is an 18% ratio. With sub par commanders that ratio stays pretty much the same but you take a great deal more loses. Therefor I won't be changing out commanders any time soon for my Soviets. I can hear all the commotion going on now across the internet. The second reason they aren't going to be changed is because these guys are going to be losing battles, A LOT of battles. I don't want that resume attached to my good commanders ;-)

Now let me tell you what I am going to do. I am going to take the AP that was saved in the above two examples (no Command Control optimization(let the Germans do it for you) & no changing of the Commanders to do something else which in my opinion which is huge. I am going to spend my AP points on Forts. Yes, you heard me. Step right up and take a look. I built 5 fort areas around Leningrad turn 1 & stocked them with diggers. Yes they will take up replacements but I would rather those go there and get the benefits of the forts. I will have an entrenched area to retreat to. I will have 60+ gun 45mm Anti-tank guns to help foster some kills on German tanks. So for turn 1 at a cost of 8 AP I am going to build as many as I can to get my defenses set up. I have liked the results from some of my games with these forts. Lets see how they do in this game. So essentially I am going to be a Fort buying digging maniac :) My game with ST I purchased 140ish points worth of forts in that game when the Soviets got the big 175 AP dump.

Here is the picture of the forts I built. I placed 4 in the clear terrain since those hexes are always a pain to defend with no fort in it. Also the fort behind the river. The next couple of photos after this one are some of the diggers I placed in those forts to help assist in the digging. By turn 4-5 these will be at fort level 2. Turn two I plan on building another 4-6 Forts in the Leningrad area to turn this into a WWI style battle in this area. Turn 3 I will probably build a few more but Moscow will be most focus of Fort spam since the cost will come down to 4 AP on turn 3.

[image]local://upfiles/53556/423AFB37642446108AA2B115E9C73FA5.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 4:47:10 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here is one of the forts with attached SU diggers. 14 isn't bad and with the fort itself diggers coming online turn 2 this will easily be at 20 or above on digging.

[image]local://upfiles/53556/CD3161AFDC674D25832B920DCE1024CB.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 4:53:45 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here is another fort build Turn one with a dig value of 13. Not too bad and should be in the 20 range turn 2.

[image]local://upfiles/53556/8D4C63ABE39E4ABB8D151EAC0E2B984A.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:30:54 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Next I play with the TOE of my Soviet Units. I set all Corps HQ's, Army HQ's, Front HQ's, and Stavka to 100%. I do the same for all the Airbases.

For Armor I set TOE to 50% (I have a ton of Armor that are all low on TOE across the board. Once I get comfortable on a front I will pick a few of these armor Divisions and nurse them up to 100% TOE monsters and pray they don't get auto disbanded ;-P) It is going to be difficult this game since there is going to be a ton of loses across the board. I want to stay at the 55-60 range is my nice spot

For Infantry I have set the TOE to 55% I dont' want to go lower than that until a decent front in which time I will raise up to 60% for any infantry under 30 Rifle squad experience. For any Inf division with higher than 30 to 40 rifle experience I will up this TOE% to 75-80%. For Inf Divisions higher than 40 rifle experience squads I give full TOE based on where they are on the battlefield. I am not going to give full TOE to a division that has the likely-hood of getting surrounded and forced to surrender.

For Cav, Art, and AT and pretty much everything else I have set at 55% TOE AT & ART will be raised to 75% TOE around turn 4ish then to 100% TOE turn 8-11 depending on what I see.

Just a note that the forts I build are set to 100% TOE & when a new turn happens with the new units I once again reset all the defaults to what I wrote above. It is a pain in the azz but I will have to manage where my replacements go to. I want them going to my good divisions instead of being pissed away on an Experience 15 Rifle division. At these levels of TOE it keeps my units from getting shattered on the first couple of battles. Makes them more likely to retreat with this low of a TOE since some will be in the "unready" state which they will retreat automatically. Without further ado here are some pictures of TOE


[image]local://upfiles/53556/2A63C5EDBD284D2F9E489F8D39B89338.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:34:36 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here are my Infantry TOE picure

[image]local://upfiles/53556/0B9B2225469948648BB101CBB9B1CF15.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:36:21 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here are my Cav, Art, and AT TOE picture



[image]local://upfiles/53556/82A679984EEE40708001B731CFC77C5D.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:43:50 PM)

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Just a disclaimer here that a great deal of what I am doing in this game goes against traditional practices. I have read many posts on the forums recommending the opposite. And that is good advice to newcomers to the game. So please realize that I have tried different parts of this strategy in other games and this is the first time I am putting everything together here in this game. Especially the part on HUGGING the Germans. I don't recommend this strategy to any new person since the skill level for this type of defense is higher than normal. I more than likely will get my azz handed to me this game but if I can glean a few things then that is a good thing. If you as the reader can get understanding from my madness then it makes it worth it.

Thank you much!



Telemecus -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:48:41 PM)

How much of this different strategy is down to v1.11.03?

For example the forts and digging was less useful when sappers and fort levels in general were nerfed. With the latest versions having gone back a bit on this, is this why you are going back to that kind of a defence. If the developers go back to trying to reduce "siege warfare" in the game again, would you change this strategy again?



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 5:49:52 PM)

Turn 1 Results

I will share a few High level information screens but I won't post any map pictures until turn 2 or 3 depending on what happens. I will say I did defend up front on all fronts. I have no illusions on the coming results of such a folly. Anyway here is the loses done to Germans during my turn with attacks and air bombardment. Pretty much the ratios are pretty sickening. I was able to capture 17 vehicles from the enemy in my attacks!!!!! This report is just my attacks done during the turn. You can see the column on the far right to see total loses for the turn.

Men killed is pretty much 15 to 1 :(

[image]local://upfiles/53556/7AB33628821E46A5B010802C81A6AACB.jpg[/image]



HardLuckYetAgain -> RE: Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome (8/7/2018 6:03:33 PM)

Turn 1 Results

Turn 1 end OOB for both sides

I have 17,735 Tanks!!!!! (too bad they sux)

[image]local://upfiles/53556/A6761C4649C946B98DBAF0BCA3864795.jpg[/image]



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