Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: composer99

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

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ORIGINAL: composer99

If the Germans go in in March/April, unless they get a long clear-weather turn they probably won't kill a whole lot of USSR units.

So I agree with Steve in building MOT and HQ-I Koniev. Also, the MECH should be produced. All of these units will arrive in the key July/August turn, as will any INF/GARR builds in March/April.

I found this post (#1299) while searching through for my last End of Turn report, since I like to do things in the same order each turn.

Well, it was a short turn, only 5 total impulses, and the Germans . . . hmmm . . . would you say they killed a whole lot of USSR units?

I am forced to concede this point (I don't like being wrong, but I'd rather be correct than be right, so to speak).

In my defence, there were an awful lot of USSR units sitting around in Bessarabia which were not able to escape in time due to the rain.

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ORIGINAL: composer99

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Allied impulse #1, the USSR has railed out the Dnepropetrovsk factory and is looking to rail out the Vitebsk factory in Allied impulse #2.

This should be achievable by putting a sop unit in the Dvina bend hex (the one with rivers on four hexsides), and maybe a sop unit in one of the forest hexes south of Vitebsk. As long as the Axis can't get around to cut the rail line and as long as there are units in Vitebsk they should be able to rail out the factory even if the Axis are exerting ZoC. The GARR and CAV would be ideal sops

You should not need any of those INF currently shown (in the screenshot upthread) to be stuck in clear hexes facing down ARM/MECH.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

On the South Front:
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Here I've swapped positions of the 4-3 INF and the 6-3 INF (dark blue arrows). I'm pretty sure that the 4-3 can't be overrun. Even if it can (I could be wrong), the only 2 units able to do so can't move up to the front, and there aren't enough other units with the range to make terrific attacks on the river lines or the 2 cities here.

The other unit with a light blue circle, the Sevastapol MIL, I moved into the port to prevent a paradrop into Crimea.

As you can see, I've pulled most of my ARM and MECH units down from the North Front to try to make some heavier stacks. This is a long line to cover, and the USSR just hasn't got a whole lot of units to work with. If the sacrifices up north can buy a little extra time there, that's good, but this is the line that needs to hold as long as possible. I think I've got enough flexibility to adjust things next impulse. The biggest problem is that I can't keep a strong line and still have a secondary line behind it.

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Again, just a noob here, but if it becomes possible to overrun the 4-3, does that make it possible for LII mech to waltz into D-Town since there is just a plane there? It appears the 110 can do a ground strike for a flip (not a high chance, but if it works and gets you D-Town without a fight, why not?).

It won't necessarily compromise the river line, but it saves the Germans a city fight in the trees and also punts the only Russian fighter in the area.

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ORIGINAL: composer99

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

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ORIGINAL: composer99

If the Germans go in in March/April, unless they get a long clear-weather turn they probably won't kill a whole lot of USSR units.

So I agree with Steve in building MOT and HQ-I Koniev. Also, the MECH should be produced. All of these units will arrive in the key July/August turn, as will any INF/GARR builds in March/April.

I found this post (#1299) while searching through for my last End of Turn report, since I like to do things in the same order each turn.

Well, it was a short turn, only 5 total impulses, and the Germans . . . hmmm . . . would you say they killed a whole lot of USSR units?

I am forced to concede this point (I don't like being wrong, but I'd rather be correct than be right, so to speak).

In my defence, there were an awful lot of USSR units sitting around in Bessarabia which were not able to escape in time due to the rain.

quote:

ORIGINAL: composer99

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Allied impulse #1, the USSR has railed out the Dnepropetrovsk factory and is looking to rail out the Vitebsk factory in Allied impulse #2.

This should be achievable by putting a sop unit in the Dvina bend hex (the one with rivers on four hexsides), and maybe a sop unit in one of the forest hexes south of Vitebsk. As long as the Axis can't get around to cut the rail line and as long as there are units in Vitebsk they should be able to rail out the factory even if the Axis are exerting ZoC. The GARR and CAV would be ideal sops

You should not need any of those INF currently shown (in the screenshot upthread) to be stuck in clear hexes facing down ARM/MECH.

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: composer99

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

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ORIGINAL: composer99

If the Germans go in in March/April, unless they get a long clear-weather turn they probably won't kill a whole lot of USSR units.

So I agree with Steve in building MOT and HQ-I Koniev. Also, the MECH should be produced. All of these units will arrive in the key July/August turn, as will any INF/GARR builds in March/April.

I found this post (#1299) while searching through for my last End of Turn report, since I like to do things in the same order each turn.

Well, it was a short turn, only 5 total impulses, and the Germans . . . hmmm . . . would you say they killed a whole lot of USSR units?

I am forced to concede this point (I don't like being wrong, but I'd rather be correct than be right, so to speak).

In my defence, there were an awful lot of USSR units sitting around in Bessarabia which were not able to escape in time due to the rain.

I agree with Composer99. When you look at that body count, how many of them were down there trying to save the Odessa factory?

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

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ORIGINAL: composer99

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

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ORIGINAL: composer99

If the Germans go in in March/April, unless they get a long clear-weather turn they probably won't kill a whole lot of USSR units.

So I agree with Steve in building MOT and HQ-I Koniev. Also, the MECH should be produced. All of these units will arrive in the key July/August turn, as will any INF/GARR builds in March/April.

I found this post (#1299) while searching through for my last End of Turn report, since I like to do things in the same order each turn.

Well, it was a short turn, only 5 total impulses, and the Germans . . . hmmm . . . would you say they killed a whole lot of USSR units?

I am forced to concede this point (I don't like being wrong, but I'd rather be correct than be right, so to speak).

In my defence, there were an awful lot of USSR units sitting around in Bessarabia which were not able to escape in time due to the rain.

I was just doing a bit of teasing. I was very surprised, even with those units in Bessarabia that weren't able to escape, at the number of casualties.

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ORIGINAL: composer99

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Allied impulse #1, the USSR has railed out the Dnepropetrovsk factory and is looking to rail out the Vitebsk factory in Allied impulse #2.

This should be achievable by putting a sop unit in the Dvina bend hex (the one with rivers on four hexsides), and maybe a sop unit in one of the forest hexes south of Vitebsk. As long as the Axis can't get around to cut the rail line and as long as there are units in Vitebsk they should be able to rail out the factory even if the Axis are exerting ZoC. The GARR and CAV would be ideal sops

You should not need any of those INF currently shown (in the screenshot upthread) to be stuck in clear hexes facing down ARM/MECH.

I'd have to check on this, but it was my understanding that all you need to do is get the factory itself into a ZOC to prevent it from railing out.
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Edit: But even if I were to leave them there, and retreat everyone else behind the river, all it would take is these 2 moves to prevent the factory from being railed. If I put another unit or 2 where the FTR is, it can still be Blitzed and end up with Vitebsk unable to rail the factory out, so it's an all or nothing thing. The factory gets railed and units die, or it doesn't and they hopefully survive.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Okay, the next 6 posts show what I've set up for the Soviets. It's the best I can do, I think.
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Starting off with the Far North, Leningrad should be able to hold against the enemy, so I sent the Leningrad MIL to keep tabs on Novgorod. Now that snow is extremely unlikely, I've put the black print 5-3 INF into position between the lakes, where it should stay until supply runs out -- and maybe even after that. The white print 5-3 INF (the one that might have been better off in Baku) is moving south to help with the failing Northern Front. Although you can't see it in this image, he's within range of adding protection between the swamps NE of Vitebsk, or he could move closer to Smolensk as part of a continued retreat.

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ORIGINAL: composer99

Seeing an HQ invading a hex by itself did give my heart a pause. Good thing you rolled a '10'.

Probably the strongest play would have been to have a division invade alongside the HQ just in case you got that 10% chance of taking a loss.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Next up, the Northern Front:
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The 2 FTRs in green circles are getting the 2 remaining Air Missions to rebase behind the lines.

The 2 units in blue circles can be blitzed, but they can't be overrun. Both are cheap units, same cost as a MIL unit. These will buy a hex or two extra for Yeremenko to get behind the river line behind Smolensk, or even to rail somewhere much safer. The reason I think it's important to buy those hexes is that it limits the locations the German bombers can get to. If the river line needs to be abandoned, this means all of the Soviets can get out of Stuka range next impulse.

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ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Okay, the next 6 posts show what I've set up for the Soviets. It's the best I can do, I think.
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Starting off with the Far North, Leningrad should be able to hold against the enemy, so I sent the Leningrad MIL to keep tabs on Novgorod. Now that snow is extremely unlikely, I've put the black print 5-3 INF into position between the lakes, where it should stay until supply runs out -- and maybe even after that. The white print 5-3 INF (the one that might have been better off in Baku) is moving south to help with the failing Northern Front. Although you can't see it in this image, he's within range of adding protection between the swamps NE of Vitebsk, or he could move closer to Smolensk as part of a continued retreat.

I like this except for weakening Leningrad.

The 3 units in Leningrad should be immobile; consider them all to have a movement factor of 0. Leningrad is as important as Gibraltar. Occupying Novgorod is pointless at this time. If you move the 6-3 back to Leningrad in the next impulse, it will become disorganized: giving the Germans a successful ground strike against a unit in Leningrad for free.

At the first sign of a possible Finnish attack on the 5-3 in the north, that unit should retreat towards Moscow. He IS the northern frontline.]

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I told you that I was going to make 2 invasions with the USA during the Surprise impulse against Germany. Here is the first one. It's a semi-risky attack on the Azores. This is also one of those situations which gives the defender a better chance if they do not include the Notional Unit. Since it is both surprised and out of supply, it would add no combat factors while giving the USA a +1 die roll modifier.

The mechanics of the game favor the attackers here, though. The 2.5 attack factors get rounded up to 3, and the 2.5 Shore Bombardment factors also get rounded up to 3. So a 5:1 attack becomes a 6:1 attack . . . and while it may not be the most brilliant idea, I'm going to take the 40% shot at HQ Support. If that succeeds, this becomes a 7:1 Assault. In most situations, this is better because it increases the chance of remaining organized from 50% to 70%, but in this case, I'm doing it to reduce the chances of losing the HQ from 20% to 10%. I figure that even though a disorganized HQ can't reorganize units or make more moves in the turn, a dead one can't do that either. Anything that improves the chances of survival is a good thing.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince
You're the one who told me that Leningrad could survive on 2 units.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

On the South Front:
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Here I've swapped positions of the 4-3 INF and the 6-3 INF (dark blue arrows). I'm pretty sure that the 4-3 can't be overrun. Even if it can (I could be wrong), the only 2 units able to do so can't move up to the front, and there aren't enough other units with the range to make terrific attacks on the river lines or the 2 cities here.

The other unit with a light blue circle, the Sevastapol MIL, I moved into the port to prevent a paradrop into Crimea.

As you can see, I've pulled most of my ARM and MECH units down from the North Front to try to make some heavier stacks. This is a long line to cover, and the USSR just hasn't got a whole lot of units to work with. If the sacrifices up north can buy a little extra time there, that's good, but this is the line that needs to hold as long as possible. I think I've got enough flexibility to adjust things next impulse. The biggest problem is that I can't keep a strong line and still have a secondary line behind it.

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ORIGINAL: lordzyplon

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I told you that I was going to make 2 invasions with the USA during the Surprise impulse against Germany. Here is the first one. It's a semi-risky attack on the Azores. This is also one of those situations which gives the defender a better chance if they do not include the Notional Unit. Since it is both surprised and out of supply, it would add no combat factors while giving the USA a +1 die roll modifier.

The mechanics of the game favor the attackers here, though. The 2.5 attack factors get rounded up to 3, and the 2.5 Shore Bombardment factors also get rounded up to 3. So a 5:1 attack becomes a 6:1 attack . . . and while it may not be the most brilliant idea, I'm going to take the 40% shot at HQ Support. If that succeeds, this becomes a 7:1 Assault. In most situations, this is better because it increases the chance of remaining organized from 50% to 70%, but in this case, I'm doing it to reduce the chances of losing the HQ from 20% to 10%. I figure that even though a disorganized HQ can't reorganize units or make more moves in the turn, a dead one can't do that either. Anything that improves the chances of survival is a good thing.

The bold sentence is actually incorrect. You only get 2.5 land factors, so you can only add 2.5 shore bombardment and/or 2.5 air support. Afterwards, you round to either 3, 5 (no rounding), or 8. The game engine calculated the odds correctly in the combat screenshot, 5:1.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

You've already seen the Persian Front, so moving on to Siberia . . . it's about to get cut off from the rest of Russia. Japan is going to have to take a Naval Action with its first impulse (Axis Impulse #2), but then they can move into Chita. It will disorganize the Manchurian Territorial, but it will cut the only rail link to the Far East. Assuming the weather remains Fine for the next few rolls, the Irkutsk MIL will continue its trek across the mountains until it is at the end of its supply line. It should be able to hold there until next turn or longer, depending on whether Japan decides to rail an HQ up this far (probably not worth it for Japan, but we'll see).