Road to Minsk / Supply Questions

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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HerrJth
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Road to Minsk / Supply Questions

Post by HerrJth »

Hi,

first post, so please bare with me. I bought WitE during the Steam sale and my previous experiences with turn based strategy games are somewhat dated. I've mostly played Panzer General II back when it was released and some other games like the Hearts of Iron series. However, WitE seems to be a completely different (and fascinating) beast.

So far I've skimmed through some portions of the manual, watched a few introduction videos on youtube and spent around 15hrs with the Road to Minsk scenario on normal difficulty. However, the best I could do was a major victory, and that just barely. Often I've also ended with a minor one or even a draw (that was my first try, though).
What basically happens is that my motorised units run out of fuel at the start of turn 3 and I think I'am doing something wrong here.

My strategie is as follows:
* Form a large pocket from the beginning of the front line up to Minsk
* Let the panzers drive to the objectives in the east
* Put holes in the soviet lines with infantry to make room for the tanks
* Keep a close eye to the flanks to avoid getting cut off

However, I think I have some misunderstandings in regards to the supply system. I try to keep a corridor open and thought that the supply trucks can handle the fuel supply, but apparently not.

My main questions are:
1. Is there a way to supply my panzers that are far in the east, except for holding corridors open?
2. Is it worth it to repair the rail lines in the Minsk scenario? At a glance that just seems to be a drop in the bucket...
3. Does it make sense to chase down air units in order to capture fuel? I often get around 3 to 9 tons which doesn't seem a lot. Also, I've read that the captured fuel goes to the attached HQ. What happens when that HQ isn't in range? Do I lose that fuel?
4. I move my corps HQ with their attached units, but is it also necessary to move the army HQs? Their range seems to be a lot higher than their subordinate HQs
5. Is there an actual way to see the "flow" of supplies?
6. If I encircle soviet divisions at the northern map border, they don't seem to be cut off from supply. Is this intentional or are they getting supplies from some nearby city or town?
7. Some soviet units get a really high defense value at rounds 2 and 3, somewhat in the range of 5, I've even saw 22 at Minsk. However, encircle them costs a lot of time that I don't have with that 3 rounds limit. What is the best way to deal with them?
8. As I progress further into the east, a lot of soviet division gather at the victory points. Most of them are HQs and air bases, so not too much of a problem, but there are also a lot of normal divisons and paratroopers which I can't crack within one round and especially not without fuel. I assume that this is a sign that I don't use pockets enough. However, since time is so crucial I don't know how I can achieve both: Eliminate whole divisions and reach the victory points in the east in time
9. What does "Shattered" mean as a combat result? Are these units completely wiped off the map?
10. If I move a unit out of its HQ range and attack, is there already a penalty or do they just get lesser supply after ending the turn?

I know these are a lot of questions, but before I'll try a grand campaign or in general a larger scenario, I want to achieve a solid, decisive victory at Minsk without relying on luck too much whilst not really knowing what I actually did.

Thanks in advance and in general, every advice is welcome [;)]


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EwaldvonKleist
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RE: Road to Minsk / Supply Questions

Post by EwaldvonKleist »

Welcome.
1) Airdrop fuel with transports. Level bombers can drop normal supply.
2) Definitely!
3) Not if they are not on your route anyway. Maybe its worth if there is a juicy super stack of airbases with a lot of planes. The captured fuel goes to the HQ. Not sure what happens if the HQ is out of range at this moment.
4) Their are range modifiers for leader rolls, so yes it is worth it.
5) Not really a graphical one. On the unit detail window, you can at least see the number from the last logistic phase. Use the rail mode; this highlights hexagons above certain magic limits.
6) Yes, they get supplied from the border. I have no idea how this works in detail.
7) Bomb them before you attack, if they are not on your path to VP locations ignore them. Try to use infantry instead of tanks to attack.
8) Hard to help here. There are many ways to optimize your game play so you have enough MPs and CV to take the VP locations at the end.
9) The unit is removed from the map; losses are higher compared to rout or retreat.
10) No idea, understanding the leader roll system is on my to do list :)
Hope this helps
Some lings to good posts:
Axis first turn tips: tm.asp?m=3711990
Leader rolls: tm.asp?m=3757207&mpage=1&key=&#3761599
Collection of good posts: tm.asp?m=2984809
Document with a few tips and numbers (written by me, so I should not judge whether its good...): tm.asp?m=4172311
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HerrJth
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Location: Berlin, Germany
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RE: Road to Minsk / Supply Questions

Post by HerrJth »

Thanks for your help, these hints were really useful.

I finally made it! Took better care of my flanks and in general got a better feeling of when its beneficial to route enemy divisions or just leave them be, blocked. Feeling a little bit proud right now, just took me about 20 hours [;)]

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