8MP Team Game - The Axis team

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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Zorch
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

Turn 40 25-March-1942 Last photo with the winter camouflage uniforms

With snow becoming a memory some of our troops put on their winter camouflage uniforms on one last time for a photo before packing them away for summer.

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Does the one in white do birthday parties?
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by Telemecus »

And for the doubters out there - see if you can get this awareness test right

https://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo
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thedude357
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by thedude357 »

Turn 40 Army Group South

This turn the Don bridgehead thrust is almost entirely isolated due to Soviet soaking attacks that were able to dislodge the base of the thrust and ZOC the hex. I know, it may be time to panic...but fear not...yet 1st Panzer Army and 17th Army follow up attacks are able to widen the thrust to 2 hexes at the base and reinforcements are starting to pour in from Army Group North and Center. This is a risky attack for sure, but all is not lost. The Soviet counterattack capability is still strong and it looks like they are throwing everything they have to blunt the attack. I think the Soviets railed in every single guards unit in the entire Red Army to blunt the panzers. Things are not entirely in my favor, but the bridgehead holds another turn.

In the far South around Kerch, the 81st Naval Rifle Brigade was trapped and forgotten about and forced to surrender. Now all of 11th Army can focus on Sevastopol. The Soviets have two hexes with fort levels of 5 for a total of six divisions. Its going to take some serious pioneers and artillery to break that open.

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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by Telemecus »

Turn 40 25-March-1942 Air

A repeat of last turn. Soviets continue to bomb our storks and to ground bomb. The Luftwaffe and southern allies attack the main two clusters of airbases with airgroups. They have moved closer together now to mutually support one another - but this also means we can mutually support one another.

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Our bombers continue to choke the expansion of the Gorky tank factory (we are still playing in v1.11.01) - and we continue to note how weak is the interception there ...

Our opponents find themselves again losing more interceptors relative to their production than we are.

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And the Finns continue to bomb the non-flying biplanes in the north

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Constantin Celareanu

A special mention is in order for Constantin Celareanu, General Inspector of Rumanian Combat Air Command. According to wikipedia ...
wikipedia
1925 - 1932 Commander of the Technical Aeronautics School
22 June 1941 - 1 August 1944 - Commander of the Air Force Command; June 22, 1941 - October 16, 1941, also commissioned the Battle of the Air Force
1 August 1944 - 1 November 1944 - Commander of the Passive Defense Command
August 15, 1944 - March 28, 1945 - Commander of the Aviation Command
March 28, 1945 - Reserved in the Royal Decree published in the Official Gazette no. 73 of 29 March 1945

But so far in this game we have also found that Celareanu was also head of the airgroups 1st Royal Hungarian Airforce Brigade and Fliegerkorps I. (see post 89 at tm.asp?m=4260347&mpage=3). In turn 40 we found out this giant of multi-tasking has also taken charge of Finland's reconnaissance airgroups!

This guy gets everywhere!

Which just goes to show you that Wikipedia is not a source you can rely on. Thankfully we have WitE to give us the real history ....
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by Telemecus »

Turn 40 Allocations

This turn did not go well - and more importantly that spoiled some of the fun.

At the start of this AAR we wrote the key to a team game was making sure everything was compartmentalised to the maximum degree possible for each player so they could know what they had allocated to them and what was expected of them. Each player would then have their own game where they could make their own plans over many turns. In effect be the boss of their own domain.

Instead we went from not knowing who would have what in advance to not knowing who would have what at the start of the turn to not even being sure of it by the end of the turn. That is the key job for a Supreme Commander - so my big failure this turn.

The sequence that led to this was
- Unlike for other campaigns for this snow campaign we spent many turns with the map of options but did not decide on what we were going to do until literally the time had arrived. As a result we did not spend any of the turns getting ready for what was to come.
- During the snow period we have not disentangled forces for centre and its objective from forces for the south and its objective. As a result many units from one command were being temporarily assigned to another.
- And finally during this turn 40 the allocations were still in draft for North and Centre waiting for after South had gone - and then we did not go in that order and so allocations were not even finalised by the end of the turn.

In particular we ended up with 3rd Panzer army from centre being supported by 6th army and Hungarians from the south under temporary command of centre being used not for centre's theatre of operations but for the theatre of operations of the south. That is a recipe for chaos! End result was confusion over who got what and plans each commander made having to be dropped.

So urgent memo to Supreme Commander - sort the mess out before next turn! From next turn south will be back in charge of its armies, will have temporary control of 3rd Panzer army, and be solely in charge of its theatre of operations and all the units in it.

Attached for information only - team allocations for turn 40.
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Telemecus
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8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

Turn 41 01-April-1942 Centre

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With 3rd Panzer army under the control of South this turn the tanks are largely given a rest for this last snow turn. A broad advance by the infantry meets a lot of light opposition from brigades. However Rendulic north of the Pronya river encounters particularly large battle losses as he encounters reserve activating tank brigades and guards divisions as well as large amounts of artillery committed. Jager units continue to show their value in winter conditions. The team consensus is now that flak are valid ground combat units and are now being used extensively for that role. But for a rare event, a Soviet ground interdiction, flak continues to show its traditional value as they shoot down all bar one of the bombers.
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HardLuckYetAgain
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by HardLuckYetAgain »

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

Turn 41 01-April-1942 Centre

But for a rare event, a Soviet ground interdiction, flak continues to show its traditional value as they shoot down all bar one of the bombers.

What version of the game code are you currently running?
German Turn 1 opening moves. The post that keeps on giving https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=390004
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

Turn 41 01-April-1942 Centre

But for a rare event, a Soviet ground interdiction, flak continues to show its traditional value as they shoot down all bar one of the bombers.

What version of the game code are you currently running?


In turn 41 we were on v1.11.01, the Axis team upgraded to v1.11.02 for turn 42. Currently we are using v1.11.03.
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

ORIGINAL: Zorch
Does the one in white do birthday parties?

Yes - but they have to be Nazi birthday parties

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M60A3TTS
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by M60A3TTS »

ORIGINAL: Telemecus
Instead we went from not knowing who would have what in advance to not knowing who would have what at the start of the turn to not even being sure of it by the end of the turn. That is the key job for a Supreme Commander - so my big failure this turn.

Our Red Army faces no such difficulties. Orders are given and orders are executed.

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Zorch
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

ORIGINAL: Telemecus
Instead we went from not knowing who would have what in advance to not knowing who would have what at the start of the turn to not even being sure of it by the end of the turn. That is the key job for a Supreme Commander - so my big failure this turn.

Our Red Army faces no such difficulties. Orders are given and orders are executed.

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'Orders' are not the only thing being executed in the Red Army.
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

As the snow comes to an end tank crews feed the polar bears one last time.

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Zorch
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Zorch »

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

As the snow comes to an end tank crews feed the polar bears one last time.

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Recruiting some PBI (Polar Bear Infantry)?
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

Going through archive photos there does seem to be a "thing" about the German army and bear costumes.

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leverkuhn
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by leverkuhn »

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

As the snow comes to an end tank crews feed the polar bears one last time.

Image

Are those actually german soldiers? Is that a czech 38t?

Edit: I found the picture in color https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/feeding-polar-bears-tank-1950/
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by timmyab »

OMG proof right here that Russians have the biggest balls. Kissing a wild polar bear cub on the mouth with the mother standing right behind it [&o]
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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

ORIGINAL: timmyab
Kissing a wild polar bear cub on the mouth with the mother standing right behind it

Because he has his own vehicle I think mum approves of the new boyfriend.

The German Navy takes a more robust approach in these matters.

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RE: 8MP T40

Post by timmyab »

Turn 41 Army group North

The last week of March arrives with heavy rains forecast for next week.

Operation Snowdrop, or the Ilmen offensive as it's also known, has become somewhat bogged down, but has acheived it's minimum goal in March of establishing a strong bridgehead South of the Msta before the river thaws which it soon will. This week efforts are concentrated on clearing X corp's flanks and ejecting Soviet units from the North side of the river.

Further South in the Torshok-Kallinin area there is some fighting including a Soviet attack which dislodges 18th army from a very desirable piece of defensive real estate. This hex will need recapturing at some point.


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thedude357
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RE: 8MP T40

Post by thedude357 »

Turn 41 Army Group South

Operation National Garden has now become a rescue operation. Soviet infantry was able to launch an effective counterattack and isolate the bridgehead by 2 hexes. The offensive has ended and the rescue attempt was successful. This part of the operation can be considered a failure as a bridgehead was not able to be held until the mud. However, it is still winter and even one weather zone was blizzard in the beginning. The ease at which Soviet infantry were pushed out of the way in the opening attacks leads to some optimism about the summer of 42.


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Telemecus
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RE: 8MP T41

Post by Telemecus »

Turn 41 01-April-1942 Air

Soviets continue to bomb our storks and to ground bomb - but also bomb our transports this turn. As already mentioned during our go they succeed in launching one ground interdiction which meets heavy flak and loses all bar one of their bombers.

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The Luftwaffe moves south this turn to join its southern allies and also to cover and support the 1st Panzer army. But as a result the bombing of industry in Gorky takes a rest this turn.

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...

Meanwhile the Finns continue to bomb the non-flying biplanes of the north. There are now some Sturmoviks being added to the mix too.

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