wie201
Posts: 793
Joined: 11/9/2002
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Status: offline
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Thanks Peter! It really helps to get thanks as this is a much more time-consuming project than I originally thought! But I am determined get to the end, one way or another.
As the war progresses, I will try out different strategies as some decisions simply fall flat.
In response to your posting, it is just easier if I post my original thread (I think others are wondering the same thing about how I got here). It's only 1 page long.
NOTE - PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS MY ENTIRE POSTING UNDER "AAR - RUSSIAN ONLY AAR." THEN THE BEGINNING AND REMAINDER OF THIS THREAD SHOULD MAKE MORE SENCE.
I really enjoy AARs such as Warspite1's latest (great!), but do not have time right now to do the same. So I will do a quick and dirty AAR on my game as of the start of the war (September, 1939) to 1945.
Playing Russia only, I selected the historical options as they were presented to me. Germany did the same (as far as I know) on the Eastern Front. The easy stuff first.
Poland fell in 4 turns
The Western Allies were attacked in early 1940, with the typical results. Vichy France declared.
Now for the fun stuff.
Africa – literally no action on either side until the arrival of Rommel a few hexes from Tobruk. The Germans immediately attack eastwards entering Egypt and, once a few hexes from El Alamein, a Second German HQ (Schoemer) shows up in Libya with 7th Panzer, an Inf. Corps, 2nd FSJ (paratroops) and more planes. Uh oh. The British gave little effort to defend El Alamein, satisfied that Bomber Command and another air unit could stop Rommel and the advancing nightmare. The next turn Rommel is in Alexandria (the British only have an HQ and two Inf. Corps). Cairo falls soon thereafter. Next was Port Said and Suez a few turns later. The British fell back into the Sinai, but fell back too far, not defending the Suez Canal. Germany crossed, and on to Palestine. For whatever reason, the British were not giving North Africa a good go. The Italian Navy more than held their own. Curious.
The Balkans – again, the typical fighting in Yugoslavia and Greece. The British sent one unit to assist Greece.
Russia – I was getting very nervous about the lack of Soviet troops, and hoping that the German effort in North Africa and still being tied up in the Balkans would afford me some time to get comfortable. No such luck. Germany launched its offensive in May 1941. One thing that frustrated me was that all these Russian units all of a sudden appeared (where were they when I needed to set them up) almost all right into the teeth of the German onslaught. My strategy was to build both garrisons and armies to hole up in cities. An army in a city can last a long time, even when surrounded for many turns.
The strategy was working, as the German advance slowed to a crawl, as they would not penetrate too deep without first covering their rear. No jokes guys. But momentum was starting to build, and Russia’s production could not keep up with the casualties.
August 1941 – Greece falls. Yugoslavia fell weeks earlier. The British navy quits the Med., and moves out to the Atlantic. Finland is still neutral, and Russia has Odessa and Minsk. Army Group North is just past Riga.
October 1941 – Finland enters the war. Army Group North is at Tartu, 10 hexes from Leningrad and only 14 from their starting point, five months after the invasion. Army Group Center is advancing slowly, not much more progress than Army Group North. Army Group South is making the most progress with Kiev and heading for Kharkov. Meanwhile Rommel now has Jerusalem, and now I worry about my Southern Front. German subs seem to be having an impact.
November 1941 – Army Group North has barely moved. Finland the same. Army Group Center has just taken Smolensk, six months after the launching of Operation Barbarossa. Army Group South had Kharkov. Germany had Iraq – the Allies Persia. The British also seemed to be getting the upper hand on the submarine issue.
March 1942 – skipping ahead here. Army Group North still not at Leningrad. Army Group Center at Vyazma. Army Group South is still 6 hexes from Rostov, but the Crimea is holding. Germany takes Syria, and here they come.
May 1942 – Army Group North now four hexes from Leningrad. Army Group Center six from Moscow. Army Group South at Rostov. Crimea holding. The bad news is that Schoemer cuts thru the Caucasus with Rommel heading to Basra. Russian production appears to me to be very low, and my lines are thinning fast.
End of 1942 – By the end of 1942, Rommel shifted north and he and Schoemer linked up with Army Group South. Leningrad finally fell, but the Crimea was now advancing. More bad news however, a ton of German heavy tanks appear.
May 1943 – Moscow falls, is re-taken, but falls again. The Capital is moved to Kuybyshev. Army Group North is just past Leningrad, and Stalingrad is holding. The only help Russia gets (and has all game long) is from the Pacific. I never lost Murmansk, but I assume the Western Allies chose not to ship there.
Fall of 1943 – First the Western Allies invade North Africa and start moving East. Then they invade Normandy in force, along with the Canadian 1st Tank Corps just outside of Brest. Hope at last for some relief. Army Group North moves eastward but then just holds in place. Army Group Center is a few hexes east of Moscow, while Army Group South captures Stalingrad.
Winter of 1943 – Sweden joins the Axis. What next! The new Russian capital is threatened, but that I am confident will hold.
NOTE – I cannot fathom how many German troops there are. As I desperately try to build up an effective counter-offensive army, they just show up in ever increasing numbers.
Start of 1944 – Western Allies land in Sicily. They are bogged down in Normandy, and the Canadians are STILL just outside of Brest, all by themselves.
Mid-1944 – Russia is finally able to make limited attacks, and drive inexorably towards Moscow. As time goes by, I am cutting off swaths of Germans, but even isolated they take time to reduce. Leningrad should soon be in my hands again. Fortress Crimea pressures the German Southern Front. Can do nothing in the Caucasus except for annoying them with Partisans. The West is still stuck in Sicily, although they have reached Tobruk. Very little progress is made in Normandy, and the poor Canadians still wallow outside of Brest. A new wrinkle, German subs are at tech four and are very hard to pin down.
From then to 1945 – I have recaptured Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. But there is too little time to push very far. Casualties are horrendous. German tanks are at tech 4 and are almost indestructible. Bury one in a city and woe be unto him who approaches.
The Western Allies have gained a few more hexes in France (Canadians remain where they are), but have not taken Sicily and have but one city at the toe of Italy. They are going nowhere. None of them. German subs are at tech five and virtually unsinkable.
British production is at 250, the Americans at 2,300+, and the Russians are still under 500. The paltry help received by the West has cost us. Fighting Germany from the Artic to Turkey, while being vastly outproduced and technically inferior, left too many gaps. Their decision not to defend North Africa was bizarre.
I may continue till the end of 1945 and if so, will update this AAR. By the end of the year I should be back to my start line. I am sure that the 1st Canadian Tank Corps will be sitting where they have been since September of 1943.
< Message edited by wie201 -- 1/6/2017 10:25:00 PM >
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Printable Version
Russian AAR to 1946, with pics! - 
RE: Russian AAR to 1946, with pics! - 
Definitely will buy this game as soon as I will have finished my current one (War in the east). 
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