larryfulkerson
Posts: 39932
Joined: 4/17/2005
From: Tucson, AZ
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Larry,
I've read your AARs with interest before, but this is the first time I've been moved to comment. This kind of experience for Soviet players in '42 is very common, and I've been through the disasters and resultant morale failures myself. I feel your pain.
Thanks for your kind words. I guess I was just having an off day or something. This game will go on. I've been through worse situations than this. All is not lost. Thanks for posting by the way.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
You get all sorts of toys (corps) to play with, and after the horrendous events of '41 you feel payback of the blizzard turns should continue. Unfortunately this is entirely the wrong attitude. The German army still has one more good summer in it, and you have to prepare accordingly. You've obviously learnt well from your previous experiences in '41 - this is just the next lesson.
Yeah, I'm thinking the Axis army is still dangerous myself. I thought about maybe extending the winter '42 - '43 offensive but I've been looking at the CV's of the Axis units and I'm wondering why he isn't attacking me on his own. Lots of his units have the moxie to do some damage and I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Hindsight, or Too Late Now Department: You should spend the last two turns of the blizzard tidying up your line, pulling out Reserve armies (at least three full strength) and all your Shock armies. Keep one Reserve army in each zone (north, centre, south) and the Shock armies in the centre. They are your strategic reserve. Guards divisions should withdraw into local reserves.
I agree......it's time to start thinking defensively and maybe build some forts to excellerate the strength of the hexes held. Also, I like your idea of having reserve armies to put out brush fires. I'm wondering if KLilly is going to concentrate his tanks still and hit some weak spot of miine. I hate it when he does that.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Corps: Tank and Rifle Corps should be Guards wherever possible, so use 2 Gds div/bde and 1 regular to form as many as you can. Concentrate Rifle Corps in your Shock Armies, and Tank Corps in Front reserves until Tank Armies are available.
I've been building rifle Corps like mad but I'm perpetually short of AP's so there aren't as many as are needed yet. I've put the defenders against the Finns on static mode since they don't usually do anything at all up there. That gave some much needed AP's so I'll be able to build more Corps units.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Summer '42: Wait for the German breakthrough and swamp it with Reserve armies. Look for an opportunity to hit the spearhead or safe flank with your shock armies. Perform local counter-attacks elsewhere in the line, but do not step out of your fort double/triple line. At this point the Germans will be looking for opportunities for the back-hand blow - do not give them to him. Attrit, but do not conduct offensive operations.
I like the idea of attacking the Axis line and then pulling back into the safety of the forts before the turn is over. I have no idea where the next Axis attack will come from but I suspect he's going to use his tanks in a major way again. He still have them gathered in the south so I'm guessing that's where they will operate. Although he CAN rail them to somewhere else entirely. Moscow isn't out of the question.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Autumn mud '42: Start planning your offensive arm. The important thing is not to learn from the Germans - they use Finesse, you must use Mass. Rather than committing Armies to an offensive you must commit Fronts. I use 2 Shock + 1 Tank Army in a Front command, and usually have two of these. These are my breakthrough units (yes, a front is a unit in Soviet scales) - I keep independent Tank Armies for exploitation above this. Later you can add artillery divisions to taste.
Farfarer and I have switched sides so I'm now the active player in that game and I must say I really am shocked at the small size of the Axis Armies. Just a handful of divisions. I'm used to about two dozen divisions in the Soviet Army. It's really a different combat climate.
I like your use of the word finesse as applied to the Axis. That does seem to describe them. I've had trouble getting the separate arty units to receive all their tubes. I remember building one arty division and even five turns later it was still at 48% of it's TOE for 122mm tubes. I don't think it's armaments points holding it back from 100% TOE but I can't imagine what else it could be.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Winter '42: Look for a target. It doesn't have to be a Stalingrad - not many humans will give you the opportunity. You don't even need to form a pocket (though it's nice). Where did he put his allies? They have to go somewhere, and they're always the weakest units on the line. Hit them with the steamroller, force him to commit his reserves. Expect your Tank Corps to get bounced around, but hit back with your Rifle Corps - bleed him. Plan to withdraw and refit all offensive units in the mud.
Yeah, I have big plans for the Axis Allies. I like to eliminate them because they don't reconstitute. That makes the Axis even shorter on units for the front line. There doesn't seem to be enough Axis units to form a front line AND a second defensive line behind the first one. It's tough finding enough units to be able to rotate them out of the front line to refit from time to time. Maybe I can take advantage of that somehow. The Russian units have enough and to spare most of the time. After KLilly's having pocketed so many Soviet units there's places in the front line where we're down to just one thin line of defenders but I intend to remedy that soon.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Summer '43: Watch for a German offensive, and swamp it with Reserves. When he runs out of steam, grab the initiative and keep it for the rest of the war.
I dred the '43 summer season because the Axis is still dangerous. He will attack somewhere I'm pretty sure, he's got the strength for it. And God knows he has the units with high enough CV's to do it. Part of the problem is the Crimea doesn't have the active rail lines for supply to expand very far for the Soviets. I'm looking forward to the time when the initiative is with the Soviets.
quote:
ORIGINAL: horza66
Executive summary: Bide your time. Build the right tools and you will be able to dismantle him. Do not lose heart.
Thank you for all your excellent advice and keep those good ideas coming. You can post stuff that will help KLilly too if you'd like. I like to be fair to my opponents. KLilly is one of the better opponents and posts stuff here from time to time.
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RE: 1.05.32beta KLilly vs Fulkerson T84 - 
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