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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG

 
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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 12:44:33 PM   
HardLuckYetAgain


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quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

But at the same time I feel it wrong that the Russians can pretty much stack 3 corps per hex.



The stacking in the game is off. But that is the nature of the beast and just have to deal with it. I know it has been brought up on more than a few occasions and the reasons given and won't be changed :( I personally love it when you have 2 HQ's stacked with a regiment and another regiment can't retreat to the hex because of stacking.

(in reply to AlbertN)
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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 1:11:25 PM   
HardLuckYetAgain


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quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

T82 - Soviet Flak over Leningrad

I am not sure what Flak losses have been changed over - but I tried to bomb Leningrad, and the Luftwaffe lost almost 200 bombers in a single turn by enemy flak.

And the gain has been 0.

Or well I define the effect of the bombing 0.

Of all Leningrad, my 180 bombers have hit a field kitchen, some administrative office, and barely spotted a few artillery emplacements!

I am sure when the Soviets will be doing the Ground Attacks that German forces will suffer immensely and that the German flak will be ridiculous... just my gut vibe.

I could post all other bombing runs, but they've gone exactly like this one. Lots of bombers destroyed for no result achieved.

If this is what the Luftwaffe 'experten' pilots do, technically the Soviet pilots should just crash their planes into the ground at this rate, trying to damage the enemies that way instead of bombing them.

Anyhow it is clear that my 'bombing plan' to weaken Leningrad and have it consume ammunitions and supplies is simply non applicable. A few days over the long isolated City of Leningrad costed to the Luftwaffe as I do not know how many raids over London in 1940! And without a single Soviet fighter taking off to intercept the bombers!



I hope you at least sent them in with "blindfolds" to the firing squad. AA is super crazy in the game :(






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< Message edited by HardLuckYetAgain -- 1/6/2022 1:12:24 PM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 1:16:46 PM   
HardLuckYetAgain


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quote:

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

T82 - Soviet Flak over Leningrad

I am not sure what Flak losses have been changed over - but I tried to bomb Leningrad, and the Luftwaffe lost almost 200 bombers in a single turn by enemy flak.

And the gain has been 0.

Or well I define the effect of the bombing 0.

Of all Leningrad, my 180 bombers have hit a field kitchen, some administrative office, and barely spotted a few artillery emplacements!

I am sure when the Soviets will be doing the Ground Attacks that German forces will suffer immensely and that the German flak will be ridiculous... just my gut vibe.

I could post all other bombing runs, but they've gone exactly like this one. Lots of bombers destroyed for no result achieved.

If this is what the Luftwaffe 'experten' pilots do, technically the Soviet pilots should just crash their planes into the ground at this rate, trying to damage the enemies that way instead of bombing them.

Anyhow it is clear that my 'bombing plan' to weaken Leningrad and have it consume ammunitions and supplies is simply non applicable. A few days over the long isolated City of Leningrad costed to the Luftwaffe as I do not know how many raids over London in 1940! And without a single Soviet fighter taking off to intercept the bombers!



I hope you at least sent them in with "blindfolds" to the firing squad. AA is super crazy in the game :(








I know there were more than just a few studies that were done of how many rounds of ammo was needed to shot down an aircraft by AA in WW2. I read it many many many years ago but maybe someone more up to date on that knowledge could share it outside of this AAR. Thank you in advance.

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Post #: 333
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 1:53:22 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T82 - Fall of Leningrad

Feeling the time ticking for some cities, as Rhyazan is pretty exposed as VP location, I decided a first assault on Leningrad.

After all since 2 turns it is full isolated, the Soviet airlift shrunk (some assets located elsewhere) and the Flak seems to hit more LI-2 now too.

Like an idiot I forgot the siege guns there, which got butchered among the 500ish German guns lost. Given the grand chunk at AT guns that in their attempt to get in firing position and whatnot seem to severely suffer from combat.

But to have lost multiple Karl-Franz Mortars and 300mm+ Skodas may we well worth the seizure of Leningrad, with its relevant net of port and railyards.

Quite puzzling, during the assault the Soviet losses were relatively small, only 4k troopers.

But I think MSAG elected to fly out of the pocket Vatutin and replace him with a less competent leader (I am not sure who this guy is but I suspect it is some very disposable leader). I was thinking it would have required 2 attacks -at least- to grab Leningrad, considering its starting massive CV.

Yet it is also the first time I see so many German guns packed together. I favored to attack with winter because the river is frozen and allows a smooth attack from all directions possible.

Also the whole attacking units have been shifted to the 4th Panzer Army (That is still assault from '41). On that note I am juggling Corps to keep 4 Armies still in Assault status, at the cost of overloading other armies.








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Post #: 334
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 2:03:26 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - Leningrad Combat experience

I'll post this as a sample of Urban Combat with the latest patch - not sure if it can come handy to anyone as in general a single combat rarely helps, and supposedly the supply situation is unusual, etc etc.

But I can see some situations through the numbers:

The 105s sK18 Field Guns hit a grandtotal of 0. That's a first in my experience.
The FH18 of both 105 and 150 caliber pratically did nothing. 400ish and 175ish 105s of the Germans hit only a grandtotal of 2 ground elements?

If I go on the big calibers, somehow the 305 fired 0 times BUT have scored hits? (FPE is 0...)

I am not sure if I should have left the artilleries home here. IF there is some external phase of artillery fire before to combat proper, it should be here as well or somehow registered.
Because the impression one gets here is that the bazillion of German guns did little.

The defenders, isolated for real since 2 turns and relying on air supply since long have put up a grand and fierce fight by the numbers.
The flamethrowers squads being the most lethal it seems, in the close combat environment of urban warfare. But somehow all the Soviet infantry behaved in exceptional way, even their baseline rifle squads being more successful than the German Pioneer units.




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< Message edited by AlbertN -- 1/6/2022 2:12:24 PM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 2:56:22 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - Don River Bend

As the skies cleared up some - snowing but not blizzard - intense air recon was launched in the sector to detect enemy build up of forces.

But there is strong, strong suspect that the Luftwaffe pilots and cameras have someone grown blind - the Soviet presence is barely spotted despite the map signaling an amount of known fortifications from previous interactions.

On the other hand I saw an amount of units at Saratov without recon. Thus I assume that's 'tracking' of known units that were adjacent to my own troops previously.

Some major refit situation I feel is undergoing and these units brought at a NSS are getting good replacements, and will be ferried to other locations of the front. I am not sure why it is going on the map and not via the 'Reserve' cycle that does not busy railroad capacity though.

It can also be that MSAG is opting to let the German forces lose more morale as gradually the fatigue / logistic strains will normalize their Morale to National Morale and below that.




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 3:15:09 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - Curses on Goering...

When there is someone to blame, the Luftwaffe supreme commander is the easy target!

Obviously, his pilots and cameras MUST have been excellent sighted and perfectly working and could not be wrong!
There are almost no Soviets ahead, that is told. And an offensive is commandeered in order to brush and cast away the scarce Soviet forces spotted by the massive air recon!

Well - the Panzers that converged there as reserves and to stem the Soviet rampage sets in motion ... but there are more Soviets than originally predicted.

The German attacks for the most proceed well - but as the first line of Russian forces is worked through, even stronger second line appears ... what probably is their attack force that was resting and recovering to continue the offensive.

No grand complaints in my own turn - BUT I expect heavy counterattacks now that I'm the one that have moved onward and departed my own fortifications.

Air supply incoming (as per usual)




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 3:51:19 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - Caucasus experimentations

Since a while you know I am tracking with you this sector situation.
The Soviets retreated for a while and I do not think a level 3 fort is that badly needed there - any 'thrust' that comes here from Soviet forces, I doubt would go far due to mountains and obscene logistics on their end (In fact I am even caressing the idea to regiment down some divisions there to hold the line and shift troops elesewhere.

Admittedly the Italians won't remain around that long for all I remember - yes T90 - but depending on how things go I can keep them around.

Historically these divisions were pratically ceasing to exist in the follow up offensives of Uranus - but clearly it's not the case here and the Italians may remain.

In fact the Italian alpini maintaned their initial morale of 70 or dropped to 69 at worst. (I've tucked them all under Messe though that is the best Italian leader around).

Anyhow - my intent is to see if the Logistics or the Attrition will change if I do not have adacent enemy hexes.




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 4:13:04 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - SU to Disband?

I admit here I am not very knowledgeable - but at this stage, considering no new Karl-Franz can be produced, should I just disband the SU?
1 Admin Point to recycle some support units is a honest trade off.

Or are there other 'weapon systems' that can fill it?




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 4:29:53 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T82 - Artilleries in Stock

This is just the Active Pool - which means ready to be used artilleries.

It seems that for now I've some decent stock of artillery pieces - so despite the losses of 105 and 150s for now I am still nicely set for what concerns guns.
The opposite for the Panzers that pratically are churned out of factories and delivered to the front without stockpiling for anything that is not the Tiger.

I believe a real Pro-Gamer here observes what is produced, what goes in overabundance, and tries to put into the hot zones.

For instance I've a massive pool of these mega 280/320 Nebelwerfer that are not anymore in production ... and I somehow suspect at this stage they'll be swapped out of the TOE and get destroyed for ... 'obsolescence' or the like.
I suspect I've placed the Nebelwelfers in locations where they're not truly used or barely used them somehow.

On the other hand Flak and Infantry Guns I've nothing in stocks, anything that is produced is delivered to units on the spot!

This is where I feel the min-maxing of time can cut some sensible difference between players.
A more intense use of Nebelwelfers ... should be something I am to work on.

The 'problem' is that I need to hound them, and somehow I lack a grand 'select them all, move them to OKH' unless I go the longer route, via the Reserves...

I am worried that these 2 units with the massive Nebelwelfers also swap to the 150s ... and then the bigger ones get in disuse.




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< Message edited by AlbertN -- 1/6/2022 4:51:02 PM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 5:01:21 PM   
Joel Billings


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quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

T82 - SU to Disband?

I admit here I am not very knowledgeable - but at this stage, considering no new Karl-Franz can be produced, should I just disband the SU?
1 Admin Point to recycle some support units is a honest trade off.

Or are there other 'weapon systems' that can fill it?





Check your production screen. There are 4 types of super-heavy arty and no substitutions and no production. If you don't have any in the pool, than disbanding is the thing to do.

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/6/2022 5:08:35 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		@Joel: Thanks, suspected disband is the way to go already.

T82 - Romanian Tanks

Factually more a curiosity than a relevant bit - but the Romanian Cavalry divisions demand Recon Tanks, that are not anymore produced. And they change ToE in '44.

On the other hand there is plenty of Light Tanks, including 'Foreign' ones that are sitting there.
Given the Romanian Armoured Division could use them but needs to be brought on a spot where it can receive them. (Which is about to be done now before I forget!)






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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/7/2022 12:06:45 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Joined: 10/5/2010
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Status: offline 		T83 - Don River Bend

As predicted the Germans got smacked back, and hard as well.

The second line behind is far from being ready even.

It is definitely not a sector where I can risk further grand pushes. There is only a Cavalry Corps that seems attackable; and some divisions at the side where the Romanian Guards have endured the Soviet aggression.

Almost 200 German AFVs saw destruction in these 3 combats, for how many are Panzerjager of this or that type.




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< Message edited by AlbertN -- 1/7/2022 12:08:22 PM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/7/2022 12:13:28 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T83 - Moscow - Tambov sector

Here the Soviet tide has been stemmed for now.

The flow and ebb of the Brown and Red squares has crashed into the relevant German emplacement, only a regiment of the LW-Feld forces has been suffered its first defeat as its first blood was spilled as well.

Soviet massive assaults on the 'corners' with 3 divisions in have been met with a fierce resistance and the Germans kept their grounds there.

The single division that would have been way more vulnerable has been attacked in a lighter way - 1 corps and 2 divisions - and thus kept its grounds too.

I expect some battering somewhere each turn by now til mud arrives.




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/7/2022 12:22:02 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T83 - Leningrad Sector

Here the Russians are retreating and deflating their own front by the looks.

With the fall of the former Tzarist capital and no desire (I believe) to mount an offensive in the sector the Soviets are thinning their forces or hopping back some.

These woodlands are not exactly precious either - there are barely any manpower centers and the like, and I suspect MSAG has readied infiltration assets consisting of the weak Cavalry divisions that are just waiting for some gap to be left open.








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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/7/2022 12:29:14 PM   
Stamb

 

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Status: offline 		I like that lvl 1 export port with more freight than lvl 4 depots

< Message edited by Stamb -- 1/7/2022 12:32:41 PM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/7/2022 1:35:20 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T83 - Air Supply ... brings fuel to Infantry?

I admit I rarely check about what type of freight is shipped - and I even placed some infantry divisions there as 'Refit' to see if 'Air Supply' can bring freight in the guise of some replacements on the go.

But with grand surprise one of the divisions got 300% of its needs of Fuel.
Now probably that is still not much out of an infantry division but I question the way the type of needed freight-conversion is specified and requested.

As probably the adjacent Panzers may have well used the Fuel (I assume they failed some admin test though)





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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/8/2022 10:09:53 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T84 - Panzer Defeat!

Ruinous losses in panzers there - but my fault and a learning lesson!
These panzer divisions repelled an attack previously but were left loaded with damaged AFVs, I was not deeming the Soviets ready to hammer then again and I've not even bothered to cycle them around (not to damage more panzers by moving in blizzard).

But a good 90-100ish of the panzers there are retreat losses so pratically damaged equipment from previous and current fight that could not be salvaged.

Considering the Rostov / Don zone seems already struggling with supplies, the 'Leningrad' Army will be slowly relocated in the sector between here and south of Moscow.




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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/8/2022 11:07:15 PM   
Stamb

 

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Status: offline 		I wonder if it might be a viable strategy to send panzers to some quite TB and take ID from it for a winter. And after a winter make a swap again. It will cost a lot of rail capacity to move panzers by rail but maybe it is still worth it...

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(in reply to AlbertN)
Post #: 349
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 12:41:36 AM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		Been short of time so made the turn without AAR - but the Panzers had successes in the southern sector.

It can be viable as possibility, yes, to withdraw some Panzer divisions to the Reserve for.

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Post #: 350
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 10:38:57 AM   
MSAG


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Status: offline 		SOVIET COMMENTS CONTINUED (3)

FALL 42 and WINTER 42
Autumn has brought slowdown in the Axis offensive operations across the front. AlbertN kept attacking Leningrad (beyond reasonable hope to rescue by then) but in other sectors his actions become a little … opportunistic. He pounded to oblivion (in many ways he has been doing so till now) any weaker spots in the front but it seems that the “great offensive” mindset that was clear in his playing style is not there anymore. Probably it is unavoidable. We all suffer from “historical hindsight” (and WITE2 hindsight as well by now) – we know what to expect from our troops and from enemy’s.
I have my hindsight as well I admit – so I prepared the great Stalingrad offensive and a bunch of smaller ones in other sectors to make sure Axis reserves are engaged in other places as well. I decided for the frontal push without any fancy surrounding attempts because first, I believe that the balance of power is clearly in favour of Axis comparing to history (so they can break any kessel easily), and second, my supply situation in the south was not as good as I could wish. I also wanted to gain experience and morale for my troops and get some Guards upgrades (I have only about half as many Guards Rifle troops as I could have had had my army been more successful).
The URANUS offensive was, in general, the major disappointment. Only limited local successes were achieved. Plusses first. Going after Panzer and PzG Divisions (the latter are still called Mot Infantry but seem to have their own Armor units now) and causing them to retreat can to be really rewarding. In any panzer battle there seems to be a lot of damaged tanks and in case of retreat big portion of them is left on the battlefield and lost. So it is always (from T1) worth to make Pz Division retreat.
Negatives – almost all the rest. Axis skilful counterattacks pushed my forces back. The losses balance was like 3:1 or 4:1 against me. And my units started to go on “limited supply” in no time. My offensive lacked the power. And it should have had it! (power that is). I have Depots aplenty. And most of the action was happening not far from the National Supply Source in Saratov.
I slowly realized that something was wrong. I must have been mismanaging some aspects of my army. After 2-3 turns all my mighty Rifle Corps became the “10+” shadows of the former selves (fully rested and supplied, 60 morale GRC can have AV of 35). I tried to shuffle the SUs, beefing my GRSs up for a turn to AV of 15 lets say. But that does not work really. The transferred units have no CPP. And they require supply themselves. So supply situation becomes worse on the next turn. Something is clearly not right …

SUPPLY and VEHICLE (MIS)MANAGEMENT
I believe that Vehicles are my “Achilles heel”. The game does not report any “hard” limits of Vehicles needed in the Pool and in the Depots so it is a little difficult to formulate strong opinions. However, for the first time during my present game with AlbertN I stared to see units very close to the Depot with supply status of 50% and sometimes less (Soviets have the advantage of fighting on their own soil with developed rail network and the National Supply Sources close).
I am afraid I over-mechanized my army. While I refrained from building more than a dozen of Tank Corps I have created all possible Mech Corps + a lot of Artillery units. That has increased substantially the demand for Vehicles in the units. I was hoping that the increased lend-lease Vehicle allotment should help (from 800 in 1942 to 4500 in 1943), and it probably will, but most likely only in time.
During the last 2 turns I have performed the vehicle demand driven downsizing. Some Tank Brigades, 2 Mech Corps, lots of motorized artillery units have been disbanded. I went with “unit vehicle demand” from 220K to 190K. That should add up to 50% to my transport capacity for Depots.

I will see how it works in the next couple of turns.


< Message edited by MSAG -- 1/9/2022 10:39:43 AM >

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 1:01:40 PM   
Jango32

 

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Status: offline 		Set all armies on priority 4 and keep most depots at the front line on priority 4.

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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 1:08:03 PM   
Sardaukar


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quote:

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain


quote:

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

But at the same time I feel it wrong that the Russians can pretty much stack 3 corps per hex.



The stacking in the game is off. But that is the nature of the beast and just have to deal with it. I know it has been brought up on more than a few occasions and the reasons given and won't be changed :( I personally love it when you have 2 HQ's stacked with a regiment and another regiment can't retreat to the hex because of stacking.


In this sense WitP-AE (of course totally different came) stacking limits are better, since they are based on troop numbers, not number of units.

I think that'd have been better approach for WitE 2 also.

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(in reply to HardLuckYetAgain)
Post #: 353
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 2:26:14 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T85 - Calm over the front

Appreciated the comments above - I do agree stacking should work differently.

And ... I was very, very worried when the first Soviet attacks came and saw the big numbers. Especially as the German divisions in some zones were quite 'weak' in their nominal factor.

But after the first panicky attacks the momentum was lost from the Soviets, and I could even do counter-pushes; at least not the most convenient thing to do either.

In general my expectations were to have to face a sector of the front holed (somehow historically trained mind was thinking of the Hungarians or the Romanians). I do not know of the logistic situation on the Russian end there but I deliberately kept Romanians afar from sensitive spots and the Hungarias in the furthest spot from Soviet railways.

Trucks are a hard thing - I've read in other guides for Soviets to avoid the rocket artillery because it drains trucks, but I am far from expert. Germans are short of 50k trucks on units if I am to go by the Turn Report so I am not well off either!

Here a small bit to help me with the logistics - where I can afford to regiment down the defence and start to pool some strataegic reserves at sectors. But the Caucasus is also very tranquil!





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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 3:16:32 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T85 - Caucasus 'Lightweight'

As part of the 'reorganization' it was decided to shift assets away from the Caucasus.
The local logistics seem very ... aleatory and casual (and it was sufficiently debated previously) to make the situation here in general a nightmare for sensible forces.

The Italians will be taking over the hills or something somewhere around there - they're pretty much expandable dead meat that will surrender no matter what in not some months time even if they do not know of that yet.
Thus supposedly Italians can be mauled, or be in pristine conditions - it should not make a grand difference; that from a pure gameplay perspective. Considering historically they were pretty much obliterated... it's good to have them around and the real Alpini divisions are combat capable at least if not left in open plains.

I trust the Romanian regiments in the south (and the divisions on the coast) to keep the mountains.

But this whole sector - considering that Oil is non relevant and the VP will soon not hand out a bonus anymore to the Soviets out of Maikop and Krasnodar ... - is potentially a place where I can evacuate at my own convenience.

Not to be understimate is the manpower value of cities and towns but that's a 'long term' benefit.

But this turn 1 Romanian INF and the Armour divisions and 2 Panzer Divisions were issued to the Reserve from this sector.

Maikop repairs are at 19% but I've not seen a sensible oil incraese in my gains and it perdures around 260k stock, only recently having gone up to 290k.





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RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/9/2022 4:23:52 PM   
AlbertN

 

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Status: offline 		T85 - Werfers...

On the map pratically nothing happened, just in the north some minor fights that pushed away some Soviet cavalries and some German infanteries getting a bloodied nose.

Ultimately my 'limit' is that I only want to devote some hours a turn and not an excess of time for each and every minutiae so even if I get to think 'Hmm I should do a major reordering of my frontline' I end up doing it only in part, etcetera.

A risk I want to avoid is to turn a game-turn into a chore.

On the other hand I realized that the Werfers have been entirely swapped out - the big ones.
I've 400+ sitting in the pool that no unit will ever take. It seems to me a forced waste of equipment.
Are they obsolete? I really do not think so. Some Panzer Divisions still have Panzer I in them. The Axis minors have WW1 guns or so...
And rarely in wartime one trashes things just because. (I understand some equipment goes to training schools as old tanks and biplanes etc)

But here I cannot wrap my head around the somehow historical rigidity of a few aspects of the game.




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Post #: 356
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/11/2022 12:26:49 AM   
AlbertN

 

Posts: 3693
Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T87 ... All quiet on the Eastern Front

A full turn skip, and probably few notions here.

The Soviets have ceased pratically hostile activities of active type and only the 'hugging' where it happens produces attrition.

I am factually impressed the Soviet Army ... has not grown up.

Definitely I've realized that the 'Winter Offensive' of 42-43 went better than originally predicted for the Axis - and MSAG as per usual has been an ace in posting his own perspective there.

But by now I'd have expected the Soviets to have a well larger army. I recently discovered that via the graphs I can even see their manpower pool which is peculiar (but probably a right choice by the gameplay perspective, as ... the data graphs are what they're).

I admit I am not even sure where the AFVs on map are for my end, as my on map Panzer Divisions are quite mauled, some are not on map ... but I suspect a lot are Stugs and PzJagers in fact that can somehow get easy replacement by shifting back and forth into the OKH.

Now with Leningrad bagged before I lost other VP zones and a pretty high High Watermark Score I am quite hopeful.
But the Soviet Army is undergoing a severe reorganization I feel - 3rd turn in a row of non activity. And the German logistic problems are still perseverant and present.

Sooner or later the Italians will go - and they've nice air transports!!!




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Post #: 357
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/11/2022 1:17:51 AM   
AlbertN

 

Posts: 3693
Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T87 - Caucasus

The Russians made an appearance across the mountains.

I am not sure that is something they truly want, as axis of advance. That logistic route appears a nightmare at first glance. But maybe it will be paired by a more severe attack from the west and a descent from the north, forcing a quick route from the Caucasus.

It can be a viable battleplan - but of limited scope and purpose. It certainly would be more relevant and impactful whereas the Maikop oil rigs were factually relevant instead of redundant - and each turn of prolonged possession of them to net more oil.

On that note - I feel that the oil should be able to be moved away via ship or the Kerch ferry too and not just train. (ONe can ferry the rolling stuck there too...)




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Post #: 358
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/11/2022 12:27:05 PM   
AlbertN

 

Posts: 3693
Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T88 - Caucasus

Russian presence increases.

The 'Romanian Wedge' there can be easily erased via brute force and then the railroad coming from the East can supply the Russian forces better, even those that come from the mountain range in the south.

I assume thanks to the easy Russian logistics the Soviets are ammassing freight before to start an offensive, while the Axis forces despite being absolutely static seem to be oft famished with yellow and green tickers.

The freight just do not arrive there in adequate amount even if I am sure it could because all that needs to be done is to ferry it over turns in the wanted direction. But I've no control over that.






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(in reply to AlbertN)
Post #: 359
RE: A tale from '42 - AlbertN vs MSAG - 1/11/2022 12:31:51 PM   
AlbertN

 

Posts: 3693
Joined: 10/5/2010
From: Italy
Status: offline 		T88 - Moscow Sector Front 'Straightening'

This actually took place the previous turn, ideally the desire is to liberate a railroad from enemy zoc.

With a mass of Engineers free once Leningrad fell, the level 3 fort was a piece of joke (and able to attack from many hexes).
I expected an immediate counterattack here this turn but apparently it was not the case to be.

Now I just need to repair some rail hexes and I can have a depot right into Klin too.





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