Advanced Tactics After Action Report - Part 1

By Victor Reijkersz

Advanced Tactics is the successor of People's Tactics and is due to be released some time in September 2007.

What follows is an after action report from Victor Reijkersz, the designer of Advanced Tactics, playing versus Tom Weber, beta tester. The scenario played is Russia 1941.

The AAR was originally published on the Advanced Tactics section in the Matrix forums and for brevity's sake the German part of the AAR has been omitted. However you can read it on the matrix games forums.

It is June 22, 1941 and the Advanced Tactics designer, in the role of Stalin's supreme general, is about to find out that his beta tester Tom is a better panzer general then he is.

Turn 1, 22nd of June 1941

The Germans have launched their attack on the unprepared Soviet forces. Casualties have been appalling. The Soviet order of battle is shattered before I can make my first turn.

Below the Pripiat marches, in the south, the German drive seems to be going for Kiev and secondarily to the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

Above the Pripiat marches, in then north, the German drive seems to go mainly for the Dvina river bridgeheads and Kiev.

First of all I need to rescue what's left of my initial air fleet and artillery. Due to limited readiness this was not a success. Then I need to start preparing defensive positions further inland. I figure I will not be able to hold all initial German objectives so I chose which ones to defend. I plan to defend the area behind Kiev in the Center, while falling back closer to Leningrad in the North. In the South I must defend Kiev while giving up space in the plains of the Ukraine. Hopefully later a stand can be made at Sebastopol and Kharkov.

I have 200pp available and bought infantry level II research (80pp) and medium tank level I research (40pp).

I switched production to mainly infantry defences and medium tanks (for counter attack armoured formations). Though when setting production I found out I need quite some production power for making extra trucks, engineers and fighters. Those are needed to get the reinforcements to the front, blow bridges and provide some air cover in key areas. I also order production of cargo ships at Leningrad and Sevastopol. Those will come in handy to harass the flanks/supply routes in the South and in Finland.