Napping Panzers

Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is a turn-based World War II strategy game stretching across the entire Eastern Front. Gamers can engage in an epic campaign, including division-sized battles with realistic and historical terrain, weather, orders of battle, logistics and combat results.

The critically and fan-acclaimed Eastern Front mega-game Gary Grigsby’s War in the East just got bigger and better with Gary Grigsby’s War in the East: Don to the Danube! This expansion to the award-winning War in the East comes with a wide array of later war scenarios ranging from short but intense 6 turn bouts like the Battle for Kharkov (1942) to immense 37-turn engagements taking place across multiple nations like Drama on the Danube (Summer 1944 – Spring 1945).

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usersatch
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Napping Panzers

Post by usersatch »

I think it's conventional wisdom (or at least my wisdom) to attack on every turn with every unit during 1941. I'm "shocked" to see such low Panzer levels in my TO&E come December. So I am wondering if there is any merit to keeping my armored formations in reserve for several weeks to months starting in mid- to late-September so I have fully stocked units come spring? Will the production and replacement system work that way? Will the Blizzard keep me from doing this?
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smokindave34
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by smokindave34 »

I'd recommend pushing your panzers to the limit until the blizzard hits. You need to inflict as much damage on the Red army as possible during the first campaign season. Also when possible keep them out of ZOC of Red army units and place them on refit - you'll be far from a railhead for a good portion of the summer but keeping the panzers on refit will keep reinforcements trickling through to them at the front.

Once the blizzard hits move them behind the lines in major cities and refit them and use them as reserves during the blizzard. Your goal will then be to refit them back to full strength for summer '42.
janh
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by janh »

Some people argue that the tank models used in 41 are obsolete by 42, so you ought to push hard since the 42 refit will render them outdated anyway. I wouldn't go that far, in part because the production rate of light tanks is quite poor. These are the ones in my experience to suffer not only highest combat losses, but seemingly also most non-repairable operational breakdowns. In my last game I ended up starting my spring offensive in March, but my tank formations suffered from a severe shortage of PzII and Pz38. In theory I would have had sufficient PzIII left in the pools to make up for that, though. That lack certainly cost me a few CV points.

My recipe for Armor and Mech formations is to keep them moving, and only rather rarely involve them in combat directly (easy preys for morale building, or if needed to clear the way where no infantry can do the job). Sometimes I also use (single) Panzerdivisions also as heavy support in cracking fort lines, such as at Leningrad or Sevastopol.
Otherwise, their primary job is to isolate the battlefield, and make the job for the infantry easier. Heavy toll in tanks by December already accumulates from the large movement distances traveled all summer. If you add in some heavy fighting, you may end up with severely depleted ToE as you mention. That is quite related to what happened historically, even though I usually can preserve my tank numbers a lot longer than our contemporary counterparts.
Denniss
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by Denniss »

A problem with german/axis tanks is scrapping - those with an end date of 1940 or earlier are eligible for scrapping in 1941, those ending in 1941 will be scrapped in 1942.
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vinnie71
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by vinnie71 »

ORIGINAL: janh

Some people argue that the tank models used in 41 are obsolete by 42, so you ought to push hard since the 42 refit will render them outdated anyway. I wouldn't go that far, in part because the production rate of light tanks is quite poor. These are the ones in my experience to suffer not only highest combat losses, but seemingly also most non-repairable operational breakdowns. In my last game I ended up starting my spring offensive in March, but my tank formations suffered from a severe shortage of PzII and Pz38. In theory I would have had sufficient PzIII left in the pools to make up for that, though. That lack certainly cost me a few CV points.

My recipe for Armor and Mech formations is to keep them moving, and only rather rarely involve them in combat directly (easy preys for morale building, or if needed to clear the way where no infantry can do the job). Sometimes I also use (single) Panzerdivisions also as heavy support in cracking fort lines, such as at Leningrad or Sevastopol.
Otherwise, their primary job is to isolate the battlefield, and make the job for the infantry easier. Heavy toll in tanks by December already accumulates from the large movement distances traveled all summer. If you add in some heavy fighting, you may end up with severely depleted ToE as you mention. That is quite related to what happened historically, even though I usually can preserve my tank numbers a lot longer than our contemporary counterparts.


Agreed, but there is also a small trickle of repaired units that come back that should be factored in. Normally from Nov/Dec, quite a sizable number seem to come back, especially those units with a good reliability rating.

Also a quick question on scrapping. Does this count for weapons in the pool only or does it also count for weapons in units in the field?
timmyab
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by timmyab »

I think that Axis players often push their armor too hard for too long.In fact, I'd say it's the single most common and serious mistake that I see.Once their defensive strength is below a certain level they become easy targets for Soviet counterattacks, even when stacked three high sometimes.Then you get into a vicious circle with already weak units becoming even weaker.
It's surprising the difference a couple of weeks refitting close to a rail head will make.The loss of momentum will often be more than made up by the renewed power and mobility of the armor.
During a summer campaign most of my panzer corps will get one or two major refits.
A refit will usually take three weeks.One week to reach the refit area and two weeks resting and refitting.From this position close to the rail head the corps or an individual division is well positioned to be railed to another front if need be.This has the added advantage of giving you greater strategic flexibility.
Another advantage is that Soviet players hate it when they lose track of German armor.It gives them the willies, (and with very good reason).[;)]
Denniss
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RE: Napping Panzers

Post by Denniss »

Only equipment in the pools should be scrapped, not those in-service.
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