Frozen frogs! Stef78 (axis) Stelteck (Russia) - Stelteck welcome

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Well hes making ground in the Crimea because he has a ton of good units there all those guard rifle corps---and he has one of the best soviet generals deployed there.....An odd place for one of the few really good soviet commanders...I would put in command of one of the guard armies where the real fighting is going on instead of a backwater.

I will let Stelteck answer to this post

[chaos45]

Stef so far you dont need to do a big retreat---you are crushing his tank forces....yes they replace the losses but that has to be a huge hit experience replacing 1k+ tanks a week. The battle you destroy 150 soviet tanks from only 2 tank corps will basically put those tank corps out of action for a week or two to recover near their full CV.

Your counterattack strategy might not work out to bad as long as your manpower reserves hold out. As What the soviets want is to get right next to your line and then hit you the next turn with the real sledgehammers which are guard rifle corps....so by smashing them in the face each turn and keeping that 1 hex buffer you are making it really difficult for the Soviets to bring their best initial assault units to bear on your weakened defensive lines.

Soviets smashing headfirst into strong defenses with tank/mech/cav corps really doesnt optimally work IMO...it may eventually wear down German defenses but its a huge cost in tanks and morale on units that you really want just winning all the time so they get more and more morale for those big breakthroughs....let the infantry corps take the set back hits IMO...and its one of the reasons Stelteck is having a very hard time making progress IMO.

After you dropped back the soviets should have halted all tank/mech units to fully recover and save truck use while the infantry corps and artillery corps closed on your new defense line and absorbed any counterattacks you had....then if you dont drop back again all those units sledgehammer you and the now rested tank/mech/cav smashed into the second line to force the line back again. Just my 2 cents. lol

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Well hes making ground in the Crimea because he has a ton of good units there all those guard rifle corps---and he has one of the best soviet generals deployed there.....An odd place for one of the few really good soviet commanders...I would put in command of one of the guard armies where the real fighting is going on instead of a backwater.

The Crimea is and has always been a sideshow. Likely that will not change, even into WiTE2. That is not to say the Crimea has no value to the Soviet, because it does. But launching a large force from there late game and achieving something tangible is almost unheard of for good reasons such as supply and difficulty of reinforcement along with the obvious bottlenecks.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Well hes making ground in the Crimea because he has a ton of good units there all those guard rifle corps---and he has one of the best soviet generals deployed there.....An odd place for one of the few really good soviet commanders...I would put in command of one of the guard armies where the real fighting is going on instead of a backwater.

The Crimea is and has always been a sideshow. Likely that will not change, even into WiTE2. That is not to say the Crimea has no value to the Soviet, because it does. But launching a large force from there late game and achieving something tangible is almost unheard of for good reasons such as supply and difficulty of reinforcement along with the obvious bottlenecks.

Ya, I 100% concur M60.

Stelteck is using a shotgun approach to his offense. The battles may be intense but they are separate entities and containable and Germans can recover.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Stef so far you dont need to do a big retreat---you are crushing his tank forces....yes they replace the losses but that has to be a huge hit experience replacing 1k+ tanks a week. The battle you destroy 150 soviet tanks from only 2 tank corps will basically put those tank corps out of action for a week or two to recover near their full CV.

I agree with the "no big retreat strategy" but I'm rather desesperated not seeing a significant decline of the amount of russian AFV.
Maybe Stelteck is right. He is short of Manpower and uses the tools he can afford.

Your counterattack strategy might not work out to bad as long as your manpower reserves hold out. As What the soviets want is to get right next to your line and then hit you the next turn with the real sledgehammers which are guard rifle corps....so by smashing them in the face each turn and keeping that 1 hex buffer you are making it really difficult for the Soviets to bring their best initial assault units to bear on your weakened defensive lines.

Manpower isn't yet an issue (-48k turn 137) but I'm really short of trucks


.
I try to avoid stacks of rifle corps in front of my line at the beginning of turn but there are some places where I give no ground (Moscow/Kalinin)

Soviets smashing headfirst into strong defenses with tank/mech/cav corps really doesnt optimally work IMO...it may eventually wear down German defenses but its a huge cost in tanks and morale on units that you really want just winning all the time so they get more and more morale for those big breakthroughs....let the infantry corps take the set back hits IMO...and its one of the reasons Stelteck is having a very hard time making progress IMO.

True but Stelteck has a huge amount of tank corps, thus he can burn some of them to create the hole in my lines. I fear the coming summer...

After you dropped back the soviets should have halted all tank/mech units to fully recover and save truck use while the infantry corps and artillery corps closed on your new defense line and absorbed any counterattacks you had....then if you dont drop back again all those units sledgehammer you and the now rested tank/mech/cav smashed into the second line to force the line back again. Just my 2 cents. lol

Stelteck intensively uses his tank corps, no halt is allowed....

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: chaos45

Well hes making ground in the Crimea because he has a ton of good units there all those guard rifle corps---and he has one of the best soviet generals deployed there.....An odd place for one of the few really good soviet commanders...I would put in command of one of the guard armies where the real fighting is going on instead of a backwater.

The Crimea is and has always been a sideshow. Likely that will not change, even into WiTE2. That is not to say the Crimea has no value to the Soviet, because it does. But launching a large force from there late game and achieving something tangible is almost unheard of for good reasons such as supply and difficulty of reinforcement along with the obvious bottlenecks.

Ya, I 100% concur M60.

Stelteck is using a shotgun approach to his offense. The battles may be intense but they are separate entities and containable and Germans can recover.

On the other side, I have to send reinforcements here that would be very useful on the major fronline...

[Stelteck]

Interesting comments on this thread.

I decided during summer 1943 to put no brake on my offensive because i thought i can allow it, due to my huge stock pile of tanks, and also that i needed it due to my growing lack of victory points.
I also wanted to attrit the german army by causing at least 30K casualties each turn, feeling that the german army may not be able to sustain it.
But, looking at the data provided by Stef, i'am not sûre at all if it will work. I wonder where all these men come from.

Never mind it is the strategy and i intend to keep it. And it is fun.

My stockpile situation is the following :

- I have no more light tanks and cannot produce them, but i need only a little of them now for cavalry so nevermind.
- I have no stock off heavy tanks, but i have enough production to keep fighting if i stop creating new heavy tank regiments.
- I have no stock of medium and heavy SU (but enough for current use), but i have growing stock of SU-76 so the light SU regiment is my favorite support unit currently to attached to every corps i can find.

- I'am flooded with rocket truck but it is more a game design issue as i have few way to use them and few way to loose them. (My proposal would be to allow the attachment of rocket trucks to soviet corps, as an exception, unlike artillery regiments).

- My stocks of medium tanks have been cut by half, from 8000 to 4000, with a production of 300/400 each turn, which would be enough to fill my ranks if i switch to conservative use of tank corps, but no need to do it today. Maybe it will crash middle 1944. I have no problem with that and it will be fun.

- My truck situation is 110K Over 190 needed due to blizzard (40K are damaged) and i loose a lot of them, but i will got 6770 each turn in 1944 and leaving blizzard will restore a good situation. (I saved 100% of my trucks factories and will have 6000 by lend lease).

Let's the tanks rolls !!!

[STEF78]

Turn 132, 23th december 1942

In Crimea, Sevastopol's siege is over...



We keep on giving ground in the Don bend but counterattack east of Rostov



Near Lipetsk, 3 units are trapped...



... but rescued. Note the AFV losses, 222 on a single fight is a kind of record...



Some grinding in front of Moscow



And the losses. 1428 russian's AFV destroyed in a single week! And 95k men vs 46k men lost, both too heavy!

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Steltecks Armored Corps are taking a beating.

[chaos45]

Really enjoying watching this game, not sure the Soviets can take those punishing Armor losses long term. 1k+ per week every week is just to many I think, eventually they will run out of T34s lol...

Some heavy manpower losses in some of those battle for the Germans...losing 1k+ men even in a winning battle is almost a loss...so looks like a tight game for both sides.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

Steltecks Armored Corps are taking a beating.

But russian have such a stock of T34! 8000 at the begining of the winter... I need to destroy an average of 1000+ T34 each week and maybe it will be close from 0 end march 1944.
On the other side TOE of my Pzd is also suffering

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: chaos45
...
Some heavy manpower losses in some of those battle for the Germans...losing 1k+ men even in a winning battle is almost a loss...so looks like a tight game for both sides.

Right but winning battles is the only way to keep the morale of my units far above the 65 of the NM and thus the CV's. I have no other choice...

[pbcrnk]

Been reading this for a few days now and it has really helped me get an initial grasp on this game. Appreciate all the info in here.

[STEF78]

ORIGINAL: pbcrnk

Been reading this for a few days now and it has really helped me get an initial grasp on this game. Appreciate all the info in here.

Thanks

[STEF78]

Turn 133, 30th december 1943

Last week of December 1943. We still hold Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov, Voronejh... Winter is bloody but pretty satisfied with the result at this stage of the game.

Fierce battles in front of Moscow. No significant results but heavy losses on both sides.



Main battle area is always in the center from Ryazan to Boguchar. Another encirclement north of Lipetsk and a brekthrough South of Voronejh...



Heavy counter attacks are launched and the line reestablished. I was obviously tired when I created this picture as the fight shown in the South isn't the right one... I first attaccked the CV30 stack then routed the 2 tank corps behind my frontline.



Always giving some ground in the Don bend. Some defensive fights east of Rostov



And the losses. Another week with more than 1000+ russian AFV destroyed...

[STEF78]

Turn 134, 6th january 1944

Hard to define my goals for this new year... well, I wish to avoid a major encirclement, hold some parts of USSR at the end of 1944, and still having fun while playing this game.

At the moment, we are facing heavy russian pressure north of Lipetsk, South of Voronejh and east of Rostov.



Lots of huge tank battles during this week. I'm counterattacking as hard as possible => 235 russian AFV destroyed in a single fight! Hans Hube did the job...



And 183 more AFV destroyed east of Rostov!



Axis have now air superiorty over Moscow. Heavy russian air losses



An overview of the main battles...



The losses... 1747 russian AFV... difficult to believe...



of course, both OOB are suffering

[EwaldvonKleist]

Hard to define my goals for this new year... well, I wish to avoid a major encirclement, hold some parts of USSR at the end of 1944, and still having fun while playing this game.

May I propose another goal? Destroy equal or more than 2000 AFVs and SP&AC in a single turn. You came quite close to this last week...

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: STEF78


of course, both OOB are suffering

You need to send some of those 12,000 tanks to your Rumanian brethren!!!! The Rumanians have a whooping 19 tanks in their 2-7 Armor Division (Now if we could only do such an act).

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Double post (sheesh I suxx at this)

[Stelteck]

I have my new toy, the T34-85 !! (250 each week). (instead of T34 1942 production).

But replacing my 20000 tanks with them will take a long time.... [:D]

I have some entire tank corps that "upgraded" to Matilda II. I known this tank will be useful some day