Wargammer of the Year Attempt #1

[larryfulkerson]

There's a new version of D21 out now ( v.4.6 ) and I thought maybe I should
playtest that bad boy. I discovered, reading the briefing.doc, that there's been
a lot of good changes in this version, a lot of corrections, and some new house
rules. I did a cut and paste of the Briefing.doc and I think these are the
highlights:

New for Version 4.6 :

Adjusted more equipment for Axis and Soviets to be more weapons and side specific.

Please when looking at the replacements window to check the "New Equipment Section" at the end of the unit list as well as some of the equipment is in this section.

The JU-87/B had an error and it has been corrected.

The Turks were not activating and should now if Makhachkala is captured, There are house rules regarding their limited use.

Moved some Soviet sea supply hexes to a mainland hex do to possible bug in TOAW IV.

New Axis 13th and 14th Wave infantry divisions missing from the OOB.

Soviets Moscow Defensive Zone will now be stronger starting with the onset of the 1st Winter Offensive and will gradually grow strong turn by turn over the winter and harder to capture Moscow, if at all after after the 1941 winter offensive begins. The scenario did not account enough for the buildup in previous versions.

Some shock parameters have been adjusted for the Germans in 1941. They will get a limited boost during Typhoon in November 41 but that can range from as little as 2 turns to possible 6 depending on the activation of the Winter Offensive which is random. The Germans will gradually( 3 phases ) re-gain shock over the coarse of the first winter offensive. There are new house rules regarding the use of German security and auxiliary units

New House Rules:

5. The Third Turkish Army will activate if the Axis capture Makhachkala at hex 252,297. The Turkish army may only occupy area west of the Caucasus. They probably would not be any more than a co-belligerent and would manly be preventing the migration of ethnic minorities into Turkey from Georgia and Armenia.

6. After Turn 4 Security units and MP units may only be used to convert rear enemy hexes, mop up rear echelon surrounded enemy units, preform garrison duties in any occupied rear echelon hex. In other words they cannot advance into enemy territory with the purpose of converting forward hexes or encircling enemy units. They can be used to shore up front lines. They do not reconstruct if destroyed.

7. Other Auxiliary/support units such as Anti-Tank units, AA units, Artillery units can only advance into front echelon enemy territory accompanied by panzer, cavalry, and infantry regiments, brigades and Divisions.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the game options I'm
going to use:

[larryfulkerson]

The OOB says there's just short of 800 units for the Axis player to deal with but
a LOT of those units are CD guns, shore batteries, fixed garrisons, etc. so the
actual unit load on the player is closer to perhsps 700 or so. I've been thinking
of disbanding the CD guns because I would like a more accurate OOB count and I don't
think I'll be needing those CD guns for anything.

[larryfulkerson]

I've done a cut and paste of the inventory to show you the numbers. I've excluded
those types that we don't have any, we're not going to make any, and there's none
assigned. Also, I've excluded those types that come later in the game, so this is
the current stuff that we have showing in this list. As you can see the custom
equipment is towards the bottom of the list. There's a lot of stuff that we have
some assigned but we don't have any on hand and we're not going to make any. Lots
of those. As we're starting out we have about 32K HRS's on duty and i'd like to
keep it about that level if possible. There's lots of vehicles of various types
that will come in handy. The aircraft are all ready. Everybody is in the green.
There's one loss already. I moved a Soviet unit and he bit me.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the losses from just one combat round so far.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

Wow, 700 units and many many kms off front lines. I'm going to enjoy watching over your shoulder as you go through this battle! Good luck!

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Wow, 700 units and many many kms off front lines. I'm going to enjoy watching over your shoulder as you go through this battle! Good luck!

I usually move the units in OOB order because you just hit the 'N' key to go to the next unit that way, and every time I get to the coastal guns instead of going through all of them one at a time I usually just click past the entire formation now. You see, this version of the scenario has the CD guns in garrison mode with a yellow band and I can't disband them. D'oh. So they are carried in the OOB for the entire game. I can't disband them to salvage the artillery and the troops. And they are practically useless to me.

I'll try to capture the highlights for you.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Wow, 700 units and many many kms off front lines. I'm going to enjoy watching over your shoulder as you go through this battle! Good luck!

I usually move the units in OOB order because you just hit the 'N' key to go to the next unit that way, and every time I get to the coastal guns instead of going through all of them one at a time I usually just click past the entire formation now. You see, this version of the scenario has the CD guns in garrison mode with a yellow band and I can't disband them. D'oh. So they are carried in the OOB for the entire game. I can't disband them to salvage the artillery and the troops. And they are practically useless to me.

I'll try to capture the highlights for you.

I see TPOO blocked another way you were cheesing the scenario. [&o]

[Rosseau]

Thank you for continuing to perfect this scenario. For me, it goes back to the roots of my wargame fanaticism in 1983 playing Eastern Front (1941) on the Atari - and hoping one day to see stuff like this.

To Larry and so many other TOAW scenario authors, editors, beta testers, and devs, who have spent valuable time that they cannot get back on these projects, please know your efforts are appreciated and the battles you build are much enjoyed by military history lovers...without getting all mushy about it [;)]

[larryfulkerson]

I dropped a few paratroopers on some key avenues to block the free flow of Soviet
units fleeing the battlefield. I'm hoping to trap most of them. It worked in
rehearsal.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Rosseau
Thank you for continuing to perfect this scenario. For me, it goes back to the roots of my wargame fanaticism in 1983 playing Eastern Front (1941) on the Atari - and hoping one day to see stuff like this.

To Larry and so many other TOAW scenario authors, editors, beta testers, and devs, who have spent valuable time that they cannot get back on these projects, please know your efforts are appreciated and the battles you build are much enjoyed by military history lovers...without getting all mushy about it.

Hey there Rosseau dude. I feel the same way you do. I used to have an Atari 800XL and I played wargames on it too. Since I've been playtesting I've learned a great deal about what goes on under the hood with this game engine and I'm really impressed with the background processing that has to happen for battles to be resolved and so on. It's an effort to simulate reality realistically and it's getting pretty close. The PO has had some work done on it and it'll give you more of a run for your money and with all the corrections and additions the D21 scenario is getting more and more accurate and better and better as an emulation of the real conflict. As a scientist I love that. I'm not just playing games, I'm performing a rough draft of what WOULD happen in that situation. It's been an eye opener being a playtester.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T2 front lines before I have moved anybody. So far so good.

[larryfulkerson]

When I'm moving the units I'm checking them out for the health dot and supply level
before I move it and I found a Korps HQ unit that seems to have started the game
without it's tubes and has only started receiving them. It may be several turns
before it's got it's full load of tubes. And then I noticed that some of the HQ
units have a range of 1 still and I look at them and they have no tubes yet. Okay,
now I know.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T3 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T3 and I'm sneaking up on Minsk. I'd like to surround the city before I take it
down but if I have a chance to take the city beforehand I'll go for it. It's important
to take Minsk down ASAP because it hinges on Soviet production and reinforcements.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T4 and I'm sneaking up on Riga and the river crossing and port there. I've landed some paratroopers on the east
side of the river to do some recon for me and to get the conversion of roads and rails started. He landed on an airfield
and as a result didn't go into reorg and I was able to move him after he landed.

[larryfulkerson]

So I'm moving units and I've come to the 20th Panzer Division and I have to decide
where to send it and as I see it I have at least three choices:

(A) drive for Pskov to see about capturing the city. The problem with this choice
is that there's usually already a Soviet unit garrison there and there's no recourse to
waiting for reinforcements before storming the city.

(B) I could drive on to Smolensk and continue the drive on Moscow. But driving east
would quickly embroil the division in dealing with Soviet resistance and would probably have
the same result as choice A above in that the division is likely too weak to blast the
Soviets out of the way by itself and would have to wait on the follow on forces to deal with
any stout Soviet resistance.

(C) I could drive south and help in the takedown of Minsk. I can't think of a problem
with this choice. The city DOES need to be taken down ASAP and there's hardly anyone there
right now. The division would likely play a decisive role in the take down of the city and
that means honor on the whole formation. Let's do this choice. What do you guys think?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my plan for Minsk: I want to circle the city with my hexes to cut the city and
it's defenders off from their supply source for total destruction of all the Soviet
equipment and then approach the city from all sides simultaneously if possible. So
the actual take down will probably take another two turns I'm guessing.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm starting to confront the Soviet's Stalin Line down south and the advance will
slow down to deal with that. I'm trying to find a way around it though and I'm
getting units to infiltrate through the Soviet line so I can surround and kill the
enemy units. I'll be through this in a couple of turns I'm guessing.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T5 front lines before I have moved anybody.