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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber - Round 2

 
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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/16/2014 6:22:13 PM   
sealclubber

 

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The Axis continued pouring reserves into the battle and managed to contain the Red Army. However, these defenders are unable to entrench. The Red Army grinds away and eventually the Axis run out of reinforcements to throw into the meat grinder. Slowly but surely the Red Army forces the Axis lines back.







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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/16/2014 6:24:17 PM   
sapper32


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From: Warminster England
Status: offline 		Nice AAR i love EA,Looks like your opponent is on the receiving end of a very early disaster i cant imagine the Axis can regain the initiative??

Keep it comming

Thanks Ian

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/17/2014 4:27:01 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		You'll have to keep reading to find out! A bit of foreshadowing but the trigger of Barbaroussa before the spring mud would prove very costly, since it enabled the Red Army to entrench in depth and prevent the loss of most of its non-reconstituting early war units.

It also led to Mark attacking (in my opinion) longer than he should have... I'm sure he felt like he was "behind", being unable to make significant headway into Russia, but this was largely because I had enough depth where he was attacking due to 5 weeks of mud to prepare...

If you look at the screenshot just prior to the encirclement being closed, you'll see that the Axis corps in the area are hurting pretty badly from months of bashing their brains out against fortified belts.




< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/17/2014 5:30:07 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/17/2014 4:28:19 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The fall muds arrive and put a stop to the Red Army offensive. Unfortunately, the muds arrive before the Red Army can bypass the Dneister River.






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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/18/2014 12:36:30 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The fall muds end. The Axis straighten out their lines in several places. STAVKA was expecting a costly grind to Berlin... but an opportunity presented itself...

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/18/2014 12:37:07 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		Expecting a resumption of the offensive in the south, the Axis have strongly fortified the frontlines. The Red Army maintains a force of opportunity here, but has no plans for action in the South, to be re-assessed in the spring.






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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/18/2014 1:38:57 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/18/2014 12:37:32 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		In the North, the Red Army expects to launch an offensive, but much of the would be attacking force has not fully recovered from the fall counter-offensive. The Red Army plans to continue to rest through to the spring.

However, the Axis launches a number of limited assaults in the central part of the front. Their intentions here are unclear, and the assaults generally fail, but the real cost to the Axis was uprooting their fortifications along 60km of the front. With strong forces already in the area, the Red Army takes advantage of the opportunity and launches a major offensive. This offensive registers an immediate breakthrough.






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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/18/2014 1:38:39 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/19/2014 12:00:07 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Axis pour reinforcements into the central front in an attempt to contain the Red Army offensive. The offensive does not produce significant territorial gains to this point, but a serious bloodletting occurs and the Axis army, already short replacements from the campaigns in France and in Russia, are facing severe shortages of manpower and equipment.

To add to the bad news for the Axis powers, winter sets in and graces them with a major negative shock penalty. Negative shock is so much more damaging than positive shock for the other side because of the unit reorganization. Using this shock advantage, the Red Army presses forward and is on the verge of achieving operational freedom.





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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/20/2014 6:30:53 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Red Army achieves a front wide breakthrough. Reorganizing Axis forces are unable to reinforce critical sectors in time.

Axis forces in the north begin retreating as Red Army forces press onward to cut off their escape. The Red Army advances along the entirety of the north and central fronts.

The fighting has been hard and many Red Army units are off the front line, resting to recuperate and give the offensive a "second wind". Fortunately, the Red Army has plenty of corps!




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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/20/2014 7:32:38 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/21/2014 5:42:32 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Army Group North is pocketed and will ultimately be destroyed as the rest of the Red Army presses the advantage and advances as far and as fast as possible. With yawning gaps in the line, the Axis fights a desperate rear guard action with whatever units are available resulting in a number of smaller encirclement actions.

Axis resistance is generally piecemeal but the last of the fresh Red Army units are on the frontlines. Still, with the Axis in a state of disarray the order of the day from STAVKA is simply "forward".














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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/21/2014 6:42:58 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/22/2014 12:37:10 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Axis winter shock penalties end.

In the south, the frontline along the Dneister river remains unchanged. In the center and north, frontline resistance by the Axis is stiffening, although not yet solid. Muds will arrive soon and STAVKA calls an end to the offensive for rest and consolidation, with the exception of rear area mopping up operations.






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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/22/2014 1:37:53 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/22/2014 12:40:19 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		At this point, the Axis army is in dire straights. The loss of Army Group North and numerous combat units from Army Group Center is a death blow. While the front is relatively short (given the Dneister's strong defensive value), the Axis are facing major shortages of equipment. Even more decisive, Allied heavy bombers based in Norway are within range of most of the frontlines in the East.

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/22/2014 7:38:02 PM   
sapper32


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Status: offline 		OMG February 1942 and the Reds are in east prussia thats not good,From what i can see a lot of Red Army units that normaly get wiped out in the opening year slowing the Axis down are still in play on the map.Im guessing you have a lot of the Early war Mech corps and all your reconstitute forces will appear in Sovit held territory bad news for Mark.

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/22/2014 8:58:26 PM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		Yeah, out of the 25 early war mech corps, I had 24.66 early war mech corps left by the end of the game (in real time, the game just ended). I suffered very few evaporations (of any kind) during Barbaroussa. You can't see it from the screenshots of the last offensive, but I have all of the Opolcheyne and all but one of the Osoaviakhim and they are basically holding the Dneister, so all front-line worthy combat units are participating in the offensives.

Normally all of the militia and reserve units are gone and maybe 1/4 of the early war mech corps would survive Barbaroussa... the triggering of Barbaroussa before the spring mud had a huge impact on the game (and in hindsight, the sporting thing to do would have been to let Mark replay that campaign). During the negative shock phases when the Red Army faces encirclement after encirclement I pretty much just shuffled a few units that could still move, dug them in and went about my business since I had 4-5 hex deep fortified defensive belts right where the main attacks were coming.

I also think the Red Army Mech Corps (early war or late war) are far and away the best units in the entire Russian OOB. The early war mech corps become monsters by late game (if they survive) since they have a ton of early war tank slots and large numbers of slots for late war tanks (whereas the late war guards mech corps are mainly T-34s). Mech corps are also the only realistic way for the Russians to attack fortified Axis units en masse without incurring massively disproportionate losses and thereby become the best Russian unit in v3.4. I think all-in I had something in the range of ~35 Russian mechanized corps(early and late war) before the Axis surrendered.

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/23/2014 12:15:49 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The spring, summer and fall of 1942 pass completely uneventfully. The Axis dig in their frontlines and attempt to recover from the prior winter's losses. The Red Army does not launch any offensives waiting on:

- Major US ground and air reinforcements
- The availability of Operation Overlord
- Sufficient T-34s to fill out all active combat units and build up a significant reserve.
- Sufficient build up of Red Army LRS and SMG manpower reserves
- Axis shock bonuses on land and air to come to an end.

There is a massive force strength disparity at play here. The Red Army has almost all of their early war non-reconstituting units and have inflicted heavy manpower and equipment losses on the Axis. The saving grace for the Axis at the moment is that they still hold the Dneister and the Red Army isn't keen to try a super river crossing. In addition, the front is relatively short, but...

Here comes the Red Army steamroller:





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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/23/2014 12:16:21 AM   
sealclubber

 

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/23/2014 12:16:45 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		The next offensive is about to start. The Allies will wait for winter shock bonuses. Once these arrive, the plan is for the Allies to launch an overwhelming offensive to end the war. The Red Army will open hostilities during the winter shock bonuses. After the Red Army has sufficiently occupied Axis reserves the Western Allies will initiate Operation Overlord and invade continental Europe.

The operational campaign objective: cause a catastrophic collapse of Axis resistance across the European Theater of Operations. This will be achieved primarily by extending the front lines forcing the Axis to defend ever increasing lengths of frontage both in the East and the West, which will amplify the force strength disparity.

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/24/2014 3:08:59 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Winter shock arrives and the Red Army initiates its grand offensive. 11 Red Army artillery corps are in readiness. In addition, Allied heavy bombers based in the UK and Norway are within range of the frontline in the East. Although there are cooperation penalties reducing combat effectiveness by 17% when Allied Heavy Bombers support Red Army ground units, this is a small price to pay. The Allied Heavy Bombers are extremely potent when it comes to killing soft targets. The Red Army mechanized corps carry the fight to the fortified Axis troops. Flanking bonuses with massed support from artillery corps and Allied Heavy Bombers obliterate the defending infantry where they stand.

Based on the Axis deployment (particularly where the Panzers are deployed and where their stronger positions are located), it seems they are primarily concerned about the salient at Brest-Litovsk and adjacent to the Masurian Lakes being pinched off. This is the obvious attack if the Red Army was interested in a limited offensive.

Tactically, the Red Army is interested in cracking the front somewhere, anywhere, as quickly as possible. Once the battle goes mobile the Red Army's force strength advantage will carry the day. The focus of the attack is in the Pripet Marshes where the weakest Axis forces hold the lines and panzers are nowhere to be seen:





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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/25/2014 2:10:03 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Red Army pushes forward in every direction. In the North, the short term objective is to close the Grodno pocket and cut the northern Axis units off. Everywhere, the order of the day is to simply advance.







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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/25/2014 3:10:36 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/26/2014 2:22:10 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Axis, recognizing the threat in the Grodno salient, reinforces the shoulders heavily. There are insufficient mobile forces at this spot, at this time, to successfully close the pocket. By the time infantry reserves could be brought forward the opportunity would pass.

STAVKA obliges the Axis defensive effort and abandons the attempt to close the pocket. The mobile forces moving this way shift south-west to avoid the panzers and joins the main stream of Red Army attackers tothe south-west, towards Lodz and Krakow - the path of least resistance.





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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 3/26/2014 3:23:56 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/27/2014 12:28:11 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Red Army achieves operational freedom. Having crossed the Dneister hairpin, infantry forces are pushed southwards to attack the Hungarian and Romanian homelands. The main thrust of the mobile units is West in a movement that continually extends the length of the front. The Axis are unable to defend the extending line and the piecemeal defenders serve only to slow, but not stop the advance.





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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/28/2014 1:35:01 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Western Allies invade Europe! Commonwealth units invade the Cotentin Peninsula. With shock bonuses, the Allied invasion force overruns the Axis defenders and establishes a solid beachhead:






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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/29/2014 1:08:51 AM   
sealclubber

 

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The Western Allies invade Europe again! The invasion of the Contentin was a feint (albeit, a strong one) intended to draw Axis reserves further west. US Army forces invade Holland, overrunning the weak defenders on the beach. Airborne units drop to secure the beachhead and inland roadways:






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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/29/2014 1:09:32 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		In France, the Commonwealth forces expand the beachhead but mostly sit back content to occupy Axis forces.







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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/30/2014 8:34:31 PM   
sealclubber

 

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The Italians join the war, convinced that if Germany falls, the Allies will simply press onward to eradicate every last trace of Fascism in Europe. The Red Army continues to expand the front. Any time resistance is encountered the Red Army continually wheels to the West. The Axis army is running out of men and machines to oppose the onslaught.






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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 3/30/2014 8:35:00 PM   
sealclubber

 

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Status: offline 		In the South, the Red Army pushes towards Budapest and Bucharest in an attempt to knock them out of the war. Situation in the South:






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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 4/1/2014 1:42:37 AM   
sealclubber

 

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Hitler blows his brains out. Germany surrenders and their Axis allies follow suit. The war in Europe is over!

Cotentin Peninsula:





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< Message edited by sealclubber -- 4/1/2014 2:43:08 AM >

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 4/1/2014 1:43:12 AM   
sealclubber

 

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 4/1/2014 1:43:40 AM   
sealclubber

 

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RE: Europe Aflame 2012 AAR: Mark Stevens vs sealclubber... - 4/1/2014 1:44:08 AM   
sealclubber

 

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