Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lothrim

Had i been playing USSR rundstedt would have been attacked.
Placing your hq alone in frontline hexes is too tempting.
Lucky for germany that zhukov is in persia rather than at the dnepr looking at his offensive chit.

I belive you have effectively demonstrated that the game is playable.
We are talking strategy here, not game flaws.
Only problem seems to be that it would be nice to have a feature to print a map full of units in a less complicated way.
Perhaps an "expand All flyouts and allow Them to be repositioned"
That said i woul rather have the game finished :-)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lothrim

Had i been playing USSR rundstedt would have been attacked.
Placing your hq alone in frontline hexes is too tempting.
Lucky for germany that zhukov is in persia rather than at the dnepr looking at his offensive chit.

I belive you have effectively demonstrated that the game is playable.
We are talking strategy here, not game flaws.
Only problem seems to be that it would be nice to have a feature to print a map full of units in a less complicated way.
Perhaps an "expand All flyouts and allow Them to be repositioned"
That said i woul rather have the game finished :-)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince
It's actually very easy in-game to veiw units this way. The only reason it looks complicated is that I have to cut and paste to show you what I see on the screen. Flyouts can easily be set so that every time you scroll the cursor over a hex with more than one unit in it, the flyout pops up. That keeps the map clean, so that the "extreme-flyouts" displays I'm showing you never happen in the game. There is also a "Units in Hex" form that you can leave open (anywhere on your screen) which shows the same thing the flyouts do, and for Naval units, there are even more options with the Naval Review Details (NRD) form.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lothrim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince
It's actually very easy in-game to veiw units this way. The only reason it looks complicated is that I have to cut and paste to show you what I see on the screen. Flyouts can easily be set so that every time you scroll the cursor over a hex with more than one unit in it, the flyout pops up. That keeps the map clean, so that the "extreme-flyouts" displays I'm showing you never happen in the game. There is also a "Units in Hex" form that you can leave open (anywhere on your screen) which shows the same thing the flyouts do, and for Naval units, there are even more options with the Naval Review Details (NRD) form.

I am sure it is very easy in the game, but I suspect that people will want to produce AAR just like this, and in that case they will have to make a lot of screenshots just like you do.
Having the ability to produce screenshots like you do, but without the cut and paste would make it easier.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince
As for an attack on Rundstedt, that could have been done with as much as a 48:7 set of odds, reduced to 48:8, given German Ground Support. Add in 8 Ground support of your own, and you've got an attack of 56:8 = 7:1.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lothrim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince
As for an attack on Rundstedt, that could have been done with as much as a 48:7 set of odds, reduced to 48:8, given German Ground Support. Add in 8 Ground support of your own, and you've got an attack of 56:8 = 7:1.

An attack with 12 factors would be nice enough. I was thinking of a suicide attack, not a fullblown counter attack. A "3:2-1" blitz attack would have a 30% chance of killing Rundstedt.

I am not advocating that you do the attack, only that under most circumstances that counterattack would have been a bold move by USSR. Given that you have 3 HQ's south and only 1 north it is less tempting. Also it is still early in the campaign and the supply situation is good for the germans. Later though when the lines get stretched having your HQ disapear could be a serious problem.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

I think US should send around 4 CV to India.

Not without backup and going the long way around! Bay of Bengal is pretty much owned by the Japanese right now.

However, since the moves had to start from San Diego and Honolulu, they could only get so far anyway. The moves I made can be used to direct the fleet to Australia and then on to India, probably with the spare SCS from Norfolk heading the other way to meet up with them.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

The CW made 2 more attempts at Strategic Bombing raids this impulse, sending a 3-factor LND with escort to Brussels and a 7-factor LND to Paris. Paris no longer has any air cover, so that gets a +1 on the die roll.

I could have added another FTR to counter-intercept the mission to Brussels, but it wouldn't have made any difference, so I'm glad I didn't. The CW lost a LND but not its Pilot, and this made it possible for both strikes to be repeated if either or both failed (and this one did), since the FTR Germany intended to get to the West Ardennes before this could become a problem is now disorganized.

As you can see below, the raid on Paris succeeded, and there are still 3 CW and USA LND within range to challenge against the single remaining German FTR in the region.
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The reason Germany chose to destroy the LND is that the CW has 2 more FTRs coming in next turn, but their next LND is 2 turns away.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

The CW made 2 more attempts at Strategic Bombing raids this impulse, sending a 3-factor LND with escort to Brussels and a 7-factor LND to Paris. Paris no longer has any air cover, so that gets a +1 on the die roll.

I could have added another FTR to counter-intercept the mission to Brussels, but it wouldn't have made any difference, so I'm glad I didn't. The CW lost a LND but not its Pilot, and this made it possible for both strikes to be repeated if either or both failed (and this one did), since the FTR Germany intended to get to the West Ardennes before this could become a problem is now disorganized.

As you can see below, the raid on Paris succeeded, and there are still 3 CW and USA LND within range to challenge against the single remaining German FTR in the region.
-----
The reason Germany chose to destroy the LND is that the CW has 2 more FTRs coming in next turn, but their next LND is 2 turns away.

CW should avoid having a FTR3 as front fighter when the enemy has a FTR2.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

quote:

ORIGINAL: Orm

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

The CW made 2 more attempts at Strategic Bombing raids this impulse, sending a 3-factor LND with escort to Brussels and a 7-factor LND to Paris. Paris no longer has any air cover, so that gets a +1 on the die roll.

I could have added another FTR to counter-intercept the mission to Brussels, but it wouldn't have made any difference, so I'm glad I didn't. The CW lost a LND but not its Pilot, and this made it possible for both strikes to be repeated if either or both failed (and this one did), since the FTR Germany intended to get to the West Ardennes before this could become a problem is now disorganized.

As you can see below, the raid on Paris succeeded, and there are still 3 CW and USA LND within range to challenge against the single remaining German FTR in the region.
-----
The reason Germany chose to destroy the LND is that the CW has 2 more FTRs coming in next turn, but their next LND is 2 turns away.

CW should avoid having a FTR3 as front fighter when the enemy has a FTR2.

It's all that the UK had available. It used up its FTR-2 units already.

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ORIGINAL: Red Prince

quote:

ORIGINAL: Centuur

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

I don't think this is what Steve was talking about. What you can do when you are defending the Vitebsk - Smolensk region is to use the Swamps as points you don't have to defend, since the attacker usually flips when he enters that hex. This than means you can use that hex as a point from where you might start a small defense line.
For example you put units in the following hexes:
West of Gomel
NW of Gomel
NW of the previous hex
NE of that hex
The woods hex NW of that hex

You than get a frontline which is anchored onto swamp hexes at the sides and every unit can only be attacked from two hexsides max. Also: you than use the terrain as optimal as possible (the river as long as possible, the wood hex).

What you have done is put units into swamps, which won't be able to move again and might even be put OOS (the turn is a long one) and are therefore just sitting ducks...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Only 3 screenshots of the Soviet lines this impulse (they're shrinking!).

The North Setup:

In an attempt to hold the Leningrad region as long as possible, or at least to delay the Germans from the main front, I decided to rail the Sverdlovsk MIL to Novgorod. This creates a ZOC between Pskov and Novgorod that should help to buy that extra impulse. In the meantime, I railed the Lenigrad factory to Archangel, just in case this doesn't actually hold the rail lines.

I also figured out what Steve was talking about with using the swamps as end-points for the every-other-hex line. The top hex has 10 factors defense and the bottom has 6 factors -- as long as they remain in supply. I only used the MIL at the bottom because it is not likely to be attacked no matter what is put there. A MIL unit that can come back to fight another day is not appealing at all.

The most vulnerable hex is the clear hex to the east of Vitebsk. I placed 2 units with the ART in the hex behind it because if the ART gets used and an attack on that hex succeeds, this force is still something to be dealt with, and the ART will get to keep its full 3 factors. Then this hex can be part of the "new" line of defense, whatever that is.
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This area, for the Germans, is definitely going to need another HQ from somewhere. The approach to Leningrad and Novgorod is no longer looking like an easy ride. More on this in the next post.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

The South Setup:

I tried to get at least 5 factors per attackable hexside arranged here. I came close. Both cities have the abilitiy to defend with 18 factors (including the ART in the south). Of course, Kiev only gets 16 factors of defense if the Germans don't use any armor for the attack. Either way, it's likely to be costly for Germany to take anything here. But I haven't actually run those calculations. I'll do that when I'm into the German impulse.
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As Germany, I think I may need to move up to the lines, see if I can successfully attack anything (probably not), and then take an Air Action next impulse. It may seem like a waste of an impulse, letting the Soviets retreat if they so desire, but right now I have 10 organized aircraft too far behind the lines to be of any use. Additionally, since it will be getting toward mid-turn (maybe), I could even use HQ-I von Bock to reorganize 3 of the LND that I've already used up.
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As the Soviets, I don't know how I would respond to this. I should play the next Soviet impulse as if I don't expect an Air Action by the Germans, I think. That means holding the line, doesn't it? Because if I do begin what I "expect" to be 2 impulses of retreat to the Don, the German player (me) can always change his mind and take another Land Action.

So, after trying to hold the river line next impulse, if Germany takes an Air Action after that, what do I do? Hold the line? or try to retreat?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lothrim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince
It's actually very easy in-game to veiw units this way. The only reason it looks complicated is that I have to cut and paste to show you what I see on the screen. Flyouts can easily be set so that every time you scroll the cursor over a hex with more than one unit in it, the flyout pops up. That keeps the map clean, so that the "extreme-flyouts" displays I'm showing you never happen in the game. There is also a "Units in Hex" form that you can leave open (anywhere on your screen) which shows the same thing the flyouts do, and for Naval units, there are even more options with the Naval Review Details (NRD) form.

I am sure it is very easy in the game, but I suspect that people will want to produce AAR just like this, and in that case they will have to make a lot of screenshots just like you do.
Having the ability to produce screenshots like you do, but without the cut and paste would make it easier.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

Only 3 screenshots of the Soviet lines this impulse (they're shrinking!).

The North Setup:

In an attempt to hold the Leningrad region as long as possible, or at least to delay the Germans from the main front, I decided to rail the Sverdlovsk MIL to Novgorod. This creates a ZOC between Pskov and Novgorod that should help to buy that extra impulse. In the meantime, I railed the Lenigrad factory to Archangel, just in case this doesn't actually hold the rail lines.

I also figured out what Steve was talking about with using the swamps as end-points for the every-other-hex line. The top hex has 10 factors defense and the bottom has 6 factors -- as long as they remain in supply. I only used the MIL at the bottom because it is not likely to be attacked no matter what is put there. A MIL unit that can come back to fight another day is not appealing at all.

The most vulnerable hex is the clear hex to the east of Vitebsk. I placed 2 units with the ART in the hex behind it because if the ART gets used and an attack on that hex succeeds, this force is still something to be dealt with, and the ART will get to keep its full 3 factors. Then this hex can be part of the "new" line of defense, whatever that is.
-----
This area, for the Germans, is definitely going to need another HQ from somewhere. The approach to Leningrad and Novgorod is no longer looking like an easy ride. More on this in the next post.

Almost what I would have done.

I would have railed the Mil into Leningrad instead of Novgorod. I would have put 2 units in the southern swamp hex. I believe that rail movement bonus means they could have gotten there organized. The southern part of this front is weak. One of the Siberians stacked with the artillery should be down near Gomel to give it more balance.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red Prince

The South Setup:

I tried to get at least 5 factors per attackable hexside arranged here. I came close. Both cities have the abilitiy to defend with 18 factors (including the ART in the south). Of course, Kiev only gets 16 factors of defense if the Germans don't use any armor for the attack. Either way, it's likely to be costly for Germany to take anything here. But I haven't actually run those calculations. I'll do that when I'm into the German impulse.
-----
As Germany, I think I may need to move up to the lines, see if I can successfully attack anything (probably not), and then take an Air Action next impulse. It may seem like a waste of an impulse, letting the Soviets retreat if they so desire, but right now I have 10 organized aircraft too far behind the lines to be of any use. Additionally, since it will be getting toward mid-turn (maybe), I could even use HQ-I von Bock to reorganize 3 of the LND that I've already used up.
-----
As the Soviets, I don't know how I would respond to this. I should play the next Soviet impulse as if I don't expect an Air Action by the Germans, I think. That means holding the line, doesn't it? Because if I do begin what I "expect" to be 2 impulses of retreat to the Don, the German player (me) can always change his mind and take another Land Action.

So, after trying to hold the river line next impulse, if Germany takes an Air Action after that, what do I do? Hold the line? or try to retreat?

Nice.

The weak point is the hex with the artillery [there isn't a lot the USSR can do about this; there is always going to be a weak hex somewhere]. Germany should try a 3:1 Blitz on that hex. If they succeed with a B result, they can advance and cut off the bottom hex in the line - which will have to retreat towards Sevastopol. What the Germans really need on this front are some divisions.