Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

You almost need a team of players to try that scenario there is so much to think about.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
The scenario I'm about to begin will be my first experience with rail movement and I'm hoping to remember to use it to get my forces into defensive locations faster. It is very interesting watching your planning about the rail network.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Well done getting Leningrad.

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

quote:

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
You've done amazingly well playing the red green yellow thing. I didn't think it would work. Personally I'll attack with a unit if it is at yellow or better, assuming the attack is necessary. Orange and red will only fight or move if things are desperate. The game does account for this itself though, since I believe the way it works is that units in poor supply will make weaker attacks and take more casualties. So moving and attacking with red and orange units is punished automatically.

I can't find anything wrong with what you've said and on the other hand I think it's accurate. I didn't
think the red green yellow rule would work either but the only drawback I've found is not attacking
when you want to. I know guys that run their units in the red for the entire game. They try to do
what the Axis did in real life and to do that you have to take chances and drive your units when they
really ought to rest and that just feels "gamey" to me. It's not realistic I think. I've been in the
military and I've seen how particular they are that the equipment is kept in the green and that the
people are treated with respect and empathy and it's rare that something beyond the call of duty is
required. And taking risks is rare in real life. The US spends so much on the planes and tanks and
the training for the people that run them that they don't want to lose any. Especially for no good
reason. The military has changed since I was in. It's all volunteer now and they treat their people
right for a change. Oh, and thank you so much for your kind words. I like to get praise every once
in a while. It's good for the soul.

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Here's the northern front lines right now and the idea was to follow a rail line
to Moscow as the next priority project but then some Soviet units started ganging
up on the NE corner and I've redirected the Panzers up there to fight off the
threat. I've got to find enough units to build a front line from here to Moscow.
I don't think there's enough people for that. I'll have to take the broad-front
approach instead of a finger pointed at Moscow. It's a lot slower but you don't
have to fortify the flanks as you go.

As soon as the Finns are done mopping up near Leningrad I'm going to set them
on a mission to the NE of here to ArchAngel to see if they can shut down Lend Lease.
It's a long journey and I expect them to take the rest of the game getting there
and doing something about Lend Lease. It's not a crisis if they fail and it's
something positive for them to do.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Here's the northern front lines right now and the idea was to follow a rail line
to Moscow as the next priority project but then some Soviet units started ganging
up on the NE corner and I've redirected the Panzers up there to fight off the
threat. I've got to find enough units to build a front line from here to Moscow.
I don't think there's enough people for that. I'll have to take the broad-front
approach instead of a finger pointed at Moscow. It's a lot slower but you don't
have to fortify the flanks as you go.

As soon as the Finns are done mopping up near Leningrad I'm going to set them
on a mission to the NE of here to ArchAngel to see if they can shut down Lend Lease.
It's a long journey and I expect them to take the rest of the game getting there
and doing something about Lend Lease. It's not a crisis if they fail and it's
something positive for them to do.

Don't forget that a few of your Finns are going to be frozen in place soon as a notional occupation force for Leningrad.

Unless Elmer cooperates by acting blindsided I think Arkhangelsk is going to be a tough nut to crack. Supply on the coastal road is going to be miserable by the time you get to the city. That means in addition to needing to advance to around the stop lines on either side of Lake Onega to get your rail supply in place you're going to have to also advance along the roadless railline through the woods from Onega to Arkhangelsk and will need to set up 3 blocking groups along your southern flank as you advance. One on the road between Onega and Kargopol, a second southeast east of the Y in the rail covering troops moving north via rail from Konosha, and then a 3rd on the road heading out of Arkhangelsk to the SE itself.

If I didn't expect you to decide to restart again before getting that far. I'd suggest initially only going as far enough east to cover the rail junction near Belomorsk, and instead first advance up the rail line toward Murmansk rolling up each Soviet blocker to the west as you do. Freeing up all of those troops will give you enough Finns to cover all of your additional flank routes as they open up on the main push to the east afterwards.

A few general thoughts on the rest of your plan. The terrain between Leningrad and Moscow is heavily forested and swampy making for a much better situation for the defense. Unless you're able to sustain a continuous rollup of the Soviet line - and if nothing else I'd imagine the pending Soviet counter offensive once the snow gets heavier will let Elmer shore up his lines you'd probably be better off letting that segment of the line go into indefinite hold in place and rail your armor south to attack Moscow either directly from the west or to come up from the southwest where the terrain is more open and tank friendly.

To the south the area norht of the Don has nothing of value unless you can reach the production point of Saratov, and the lack of suitably aligned rail means that unless you advance on a very large font keeping supplied is going to be a major problem. Your proposed rail path runs through the middle of the huge no-rail zone on either side of the Don. The one you need to attack Stalingrad is closer to the southern end of the Don as it flows towards Rostov. The potential rail line leading to Stalingrad to the north is even farther out of the way.

The western half of the area between the southern Don and the mountains has a decent potential supply net with two prices in the form of the Production city of Krasnodar and the Supply city of Maykop (+2 for you???). Assuming you don't get chased out in a counter attack, Grozny is in reasonable reach, and if the soviets being to crumble the -5 supply penalty they suffer for losing Baku will really help keep them down.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
The majority of that was just looking at what Jukipo did and why when he dismembered the Soviets.

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

quote:

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
The majority of that was just looking at what Jukipo did and why when he dismembered the Soviets.

I tried to read his AAR but kept having to scroll to the right to see the rest of it and that
became aggravating so I stopped. I try to not have my AAR readers scroll because of that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TPOO
Remember, Larry is playing the updated version of the scenario. Much different than the version that shipped with the game. The PO will perform somewhat different now than before and may require different strategies. There were several PO formations that did not fire as intended and have been adjusted. Thanks to all the great AAR's for the scenario help in tweaking the PO to perform better. I will even have another updated version to release shortly that have fixed some more things. Thanks to everyone.

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

quote:

ORIGINAL: TPOO
Remember, Larry is playing the updated version of the scenario. Much different than the version that shipped with the game. The PO will perform somewhat different now than before and may require different strategies. There were several PO formations that did not fire as intended and have been adjusted. Thanks to all the great AAR's for the scenario help in tweaking the PO to perform better. I will even have another updated version to release shortly that have fixed some more things. Thanks to everyone.

Hey Rick...thanks for all your changes and your keen intellect, your ideas, this scenario. If I recall correctly this is version 4.5 that I'm running. If you would like me to restart to test your new
changes now is the time to tell me before I get too much further along. I want to see what happens in
the Soviet Winter Offensive however. This is my favorite scenario and I don't really mind restarting
again but let's stay real here and admit it would be really nice to get to play this bad boy into 1943
at least. I've never gotten past turn 63.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TPOO

quote:

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

quote:

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
The majority of that was just looking at what Jukipo did and why when he dismembered the Soviets.

I tried to read his AAR but kept having to scroll to the right to see the rest of it and that
became aggravating so I stopped. I try to not have my AAR readers scroll because of that.

Remember, Larry is playing the updated version of the scenario. Much different than the version that shipped with the game. The PO will perform somewhat different now than before and may require different strategies. There were several PO formations that did not fire as intended and have been adjusted. Thanks to all the great AAR's for the scenario help in tweaking the PO to perform better. I will even have another updated version to release shortly that have fixed some more things. Thanks to everyone.