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Joined: 12/14/2010 From: Bristol, UK Status: offline
It would be interesting to see some maps bobo. I know it's difficult sometimes when you've got your back to the wall but I think the second half of 42 is the most exciting part of the game if playing the 260 version and the Soviet player should be feeling the pressure in a closely contested game.
First little disaster. Clear weather in South zone was exploited by Axis and 11 rifle divisions are doomed. I have launched few counterattacks but most of my mobile forces were in the mud zone and therefore had not enough MPs. 1 Panzer division was forced to retreat and the Rumanian armor division 3 times (w/o routing ) My most exposed units have retreated to north and east.
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quote:
ORIGINAL: 821Bobo
It is worth to rebuild cavalry corps if destroyed? It's 70APs(I need to rebuild the cavalry divisions as well) per corps.
I like to have several cavalry armies. The Pro's have 5 with a total of 20 cav xxx in our game against Disgruntled Vet ( compared to 4 armies with 16 tk xxx)and I'm thinking about army no.6.
They are only 35 AP not 20 once the costs of new units goes back to normal in Dec '41(????) - divs are 10 each and 5 to make the corps. Then another 3 for the SUs.
In '42 you can expect CVs of between 6-9, and they become 12-14 after the big upgrade in early '43. These are higher than the tank xxx at this time.
The first advantage of CCs is mobility. Inf xxx can end up with only 9 MPs or so if they fail their admin roll. Tanks are faster in the open (if they have the fuel) but not in bad terrain and need 16 MPs for a full attack instead of 6. Tanks are also a lot more brittle in defence.
The 2nd advantage is that they use very few trucks which are the only resource the Russians lack after Spring '42 unless the game is going really badly for them. The fact CCs cost loads of ARM is therefore an irrelevance by then.
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I did rebuild them. However it seems to be problem to get them to 100% TOE and therefore the CVs are only 4-5. Railing them to Ural would probably solve this but I can not afford it.
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there are always shortages of things like MGs. Best way to build CV is to win combats. Use their mobility to pick off the weaklings or the over-exposed and morale and experience will rise. With that, CVs rise.
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No chance for that, he is very cautious and only exposed units are panzer spearheads(and few times Romanians). Of course I am hitting them if possible from turn 1.
Well end of May and we have snow in North zone. Panzers broke through my defense line which have resulted in my retreat. I have done successful attack for boosting my morale.
Last May turn and mud everywhere. Axis motorized units are concentrated in Orel and Donbass sectors. There is a huge bulge containing 3 fronts with very weak flanks(basically no forts). Because of bad mobility in mud and the unpredictable random weather I could not have retreated from there. Looking back I should have had railed some units out of there at least. I saw the disaster coming but failed to react.
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Joined: 12/14/2010 From: Bristol, UK Status: offline
Ouch! That's got to hurt. This is still only a temporary setback though if you get your 42 strategy right from now on. When playing strong Axis players, I think Soviet players should not be looking to hold position in the South, but should continue the summer 41 strategy of strategic withdrawal. It's going to get realistically uncomfortable playing the 260 version, but those last cities are very tough nuts to crack. Stalingrad, Yaroslavl, Saratov. At least one of these will be needed and by the time the Axis player gets to them (if he ever does)the red army will be a monster. Basically you need to continue trading space for time until Autumn 1942.
With random weather, I find the late spring-early summer 1942 is a bit like playing chicken ... made worse as the German player sort of knows the weather for a given turn while you have to guess. If you're lucky with the mud, it may take him a few turns to digest that huge pocket and time is now your friend.
In general, adds to my fears about trying to hold anywhere west of the Don bend after the winter battles. One turn with well rested Pzrs and you can be faced with a major crisis. But of course, you also need to keep the Germans as far west as possible so that time and distance can come to your rescue in the rest of 1942 ... never an easy balance to strike
In the other sectors Brian in doing only few attacks here and there. Then he usually falls back one or two hexes to avoid my attacks. However sometimes I have the opportunity to strike back.
The Panzer ball moved towards Rostov. I had 2 tank corps positioned in the marshes northwest from Rostov and all the marsh hexes were occupied by Soviet units. I thought this may be safe position and once again I was wrong. Brian managed to displace the rifle divisions from the marshes and cut off my 2 TC.
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I'm disappointed, I've seen nothing happening in this game. Is it over or just on break? I was really hoping to follow this game from start to end for clues on playing both sides.
Axis have crossed Don near Rostov in 3 hexes area. I would be for sure able the throw them back from 1, maybe 2 hexes but not from 3. Checkerboard and retreat is back on the menu.
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I'd be very happy to see him heading South into a cul-de-sac like this. A big mistake I think. You can retreat all the way to Baku without hardly needing to risk losing anything. He should have forced the issue in the center for any chance of a win I think. By the way, I would like to see the Southern oil fields turned into VP's. Also there needs to be some VP's in the Crimea. One small bit of advice which may turn out to be wrong anyway. You should have kept the Don crossings in ZOC to limit supply to the pz divisions there. I think that's right?
< Message edited by timmyab -- 6/29/2014 11:51:14 AM >
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There is nothing north of the Terek river that needs defending in the Caucuses. (In extremis you can pull back even further than this.) I see too many Soviet players making this mistake time and again and trying to defend the northern Caucuses and get gobbled up in the process. It's pretty much like Timmyab says.
The one thing you do need to be concerned about is the eventual loss of a rail connection once you run away to the foothills. But that can be managed. You don't need a ton of forces to hold on to what is essential down there.
Baku ought never fall if the Soviet knows his business.
< Message edited by Flaviusx -- 7/1/2014 6:52:51 PM >