FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

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larryfulkerson
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FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Jonathan ( cantonia2) sent me an email asking for a FITE2 game and I did my best to talk him into a FITE game instead but this will be my first trip through the FITE2 scenario so I'm learning the map and where everything is. I'm the Axis so I move first and I want to give him a good game so I'm going to take my time and try to get as many combat rounds as I can and take advantage of my shock advantage. The rail destruction value is zero so just running over the rail hex will convert it to my side, I've got to keep that in mind when I'm moving my recon units because I need to convert as much rail to my side as possible because supply is going to be a major problem later.

This is the start positions near Warsaw and isn't significant I just needed a picture to go with my verbage. I'm planning on following the roads and rails and pushing toward Minsk as the first immediate goal. I'm wondering how far I will get and how many of these Soviet units can't move because they are in garrison mode or in reorg or something. I don't want to be insanely aggressive but I would like to follow the traffic light rule just because I like it. Jonathan tells me he wants a realistic game and that suits me just fine. I don't have any house rules but Jonathan might have one or more.


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Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

The first thing I'm doing is checking out the aircraft because I need the support they provide when I'm moving the units. The Axis air shock is 150 and the Soviet air shock is 5 so I'm putting the fighters on three dots and moving them to immediately behind the front lines and the bombers not too far behind. Part of the first combat round will be a lot of airfield strikes because I want to cripple the Soviet air force if possible. I'm aiming for about 2.5K losses for the Soviets, mostly bombers. I haven't moved anything yet except for the aircraft.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

I've started moving units and I'm trying to infiltrate some units through the lines to get into the Soviet backfield and surround the units before I kill it. That way there's only 1 BTS to traverse through. And once I make a hole I'm going to see if I can't pour some units through it. And roll up the Soviet lines. The idea is to destroy Soviet units and not to just gain territory. I'm thinking of making a hole in the middle and roll up Soviet lines on both sides. And once there's a clear path I want to set the Panzers free and let them roll up the highway toward Daugavpils. I need a clear crossing over the river to accellerate the advance and more than one would be good.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

This is the upper left of the front lines and I've been moving units for about an hour now and you can see how I'm infiltrating through the lines and surrounding the Soviets. I've moved up the arty and I'm almost ready to pull the trigger and execute the combats. I only have to move the rest of the units first and I'm only 1/5th through the OOB. It's 16:44 local and I expect to be working on this until early in the morning.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Here's another section of the front lines where there's a lot of action and the Soviet front line is disappearing. I'm moving from lower left to upper right and I'm aiming for Minsk. As the Soviet units go away and I start to have a lot of spare units I'm going to send them north to help the push toward Pinsk. EDIT: I've studied the jump map and I've decided that the Axis lines are too thin just north of this image and I need to move some units north right now.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Here's a view of the action down south. I've gotten Axis units surrounding most of the Soviet units as phase 1 of my plan to take them all out. Almost simultaneously. I'm spending 20% of the turn on this first round because some of the units had to travel from far away to get here and they are already orange and need a rest. That's the problem with mechanized equipment: they need lots of rest to stay green. I haven't been keeping track of the number of battles but I'm guessing there will be close to 100 before I go too much further. I estimate that I'm about half-way through moving units and setting up attacks. A lot of these Soviet units are going to disappear soon and I can press forward some more. I'm guessing that I can probably get four combat phases from this turn before the turn ends. I'm hoping, cross your fingers, knock on wood, throw some salt over your shoulder. This scenario is massive.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Here's how the first combat round went. I used excessive force on most of the attacks to guarentee success, mostly because I have the units available to do so. Now the battlefield isn't quite as crowded. A lot of the units have used most of their MP's already so there won't be as much to move from now on. The aircraft devestated the Soviet air force judging from the 3K+ planes they lost. I'm going to try to remember to do some more airfield strikes to get the remnants too.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

New moves from Jonathan and here's the front lines at the beginning of turn two and you can see how I evaporated the front row of Soviet units and now there's a foot race to the river. I need to get there in time to capture a river crossing before he can fortify the crossings. I need one near Riga and one near Dagavpils to keep the advance going. I watched the first 17K events of Jonathan's playback, about the first 5 full minutes of action. Jonathan took 11K events to move all his planes to the east to safety. According to the combat results for his turn there was a sea interdiction and he lost 5 DD's somewhere near Leningrad I think. Jonathan is going to use the Robin Hood defense, to run away with his troops to the east to try to save as much as he can. He's broken all the bridges in his wake. We're going to use the house rule saying no Axis INT missions. I guess it would make the Soviet getaway problomatic at best. It's 06:09 local and I'm starting to do my moves. I'm going to deploy the aircraft to more forward positions and maybe trim their range to fit the position they are parked in. I'm going to put engineers on the broken bridges and move forward with everybody else. I'm using the recon units to go looking for remnants that the follow on forces can handle. The idea is to get as much to the east and north as possible. I'm not used to this map so I can't estimate how long it's going to take to get to Riga but I'm guessing a couple of turns. I need to remember to garrison the ports along the coast to prevent Soviet invasions. He could wreck havock in my backfield before I could do much about it if he landed in one of my ports. I can't take that chance. It doesn't cost much to garrison a port with an MP unit.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Here's the middle section of the front lines and you can see all the action going on as all these units are moving, trying to converge so that the Soviets will be trapped and destroyed. Once that's done we're off to the east to Minsk. I'm trying to stick to the roads and rails and the Panzers and other fast movers are bypassing a lot of the enemy units leaving them to the follow on forces. The idea is for the fast movers is speed and flexibility, not combat so much. It's a trait of the mechanized units that they need a lot of maint. to maintain their combat readiness and need to rest often to stay green. I'm making the best of it but it's difficult because of the broken bridges. My theater recon value is so low that I often have to get adjacent to the enemy unit for it to suddenly appear in my path. I'm constantly capturing airfields as I move and take the advantage of it by flying some aircraft onto the field. Supply isn't a problem yet but the RR engineers aren't keeping up. They are falling further and further behind.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

This is the area to the immediate west of the Prypet Marshes and I didn't want to go into the marshes because the difficult terrain makes overcomming the Soviet roadblocks and all the broken bridges slow down the process. But I realized that I can't just skip the marshes. There's Soviet units in there and they need to be killed, else there would be a threat to my backfield. So I determined that I needed to clear it out too and I've been sending units in there to see where the enemy is and act as hunter / killer teams. I'm in a hurry so I'm sending in at least one Panzer formation with a pioneer to get over the rivers. As long as I stay on the roads and rails where the supply is I think it might be possible to get the marshes cleared in about 10 turns or so. And to east of the marshes is another major river to leap.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

T3 has arrived, new moves from Jonathan. I'm still in the getting started stage and I don't have many Soviet units to defeat on my push to the NE. It's just a matter of unit management now. Some of the Axis units are red and have to refit to go on. The arty is keeping up with the troops and the recon units are way out front. Progress is being made.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

This is a FITE2 map so it goes without saying that I don't know where this is but it's a fair piece north of the marshes. I'm new to this map and I'm still trying to find my way around. It's T3 and I'm following the roads and rails and leaving the middle to be cleared by support units and MP's and I keep running into Soviet roadblocks and strongpoints and I have to find a way around or redeploy and engage. There's obviously only a few Soviets still this far west as most of them beat feet to the east most recently blowing bridges as they go. I'm not having a lot of trouble getting the bridges repaired thankfully, knock on wood, and units are for the most part flowing freely along the roads and rails. There are a few combats going on but for the most part they are separate isolated spots at the best place to travel, which is why it's important to clear the road. The recon units are trying to stay out of the fight and just report on enemy emplacements, etc. I'm moving the aircraft forward when an airfield is captured. So far the rail hasn't had a lot of breaks in it so the RR arty is able to move forward too.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by cpt flam »

I can see Kaunas and Vilnius on your picture.
From next turn on, you will break each rail line.
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

ORIGINAL: cpt flam
I can see Kaunas and Vilnius on your picture.
From next turn on, you will break each rail line.

Good call cpt flam dude. Sure enough the Axis rail destruction value went to 100%. Thanks for the heads up.

New moves from Jonathan and this is the turn 4 positions of the Axis units before I have moved anybody and as you can see I've liquidated the Soviet defenders on the first line and I'm moving to contact with the axis of the advance to the NE to Riga, the next goal for AGN. I've also got to capture some river crossings to allow the flow of supply and facilitate travel. I'm wondering if I should garrison the ports or not. I don't think I have enough MP's to do that. It would be a disaster for Jonathan to land substantial forces in my backfield so I guess I need to round up enough units to do that. I'm not seeing a lot of Soviet units between me and Riga. I'm expecting to have to fight my way across the river. I need Riga for the confluence of rails. There's a rail that passes through Dagavpils, a crossing on the river, so I'm hoping to be able to capture it intact. Supply levels are in the 30's at the front, which is fantastic. The Axis rail destruction is back at 100% which means that the rail is guarenteed to break when I convert the hex to my control. And I'll have to repair it. I was using the RR engineers to convert hexes in the backfield because they didn't have much to do but now I can get them busy repairing rail instead.


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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

The path leading to Riga was very weakly defended and I've driven a recon unit into the surburbs of Riga and I've found a pontoon unit guarding a river crossing which leads me to believe there's not a lot guarding Riga proper. I'm wondering if I can get a tank into the city this turn. I'm moving the airplanes forward for the support they can lend to help take down the city. I can't reach the Leningrad area with my Stukas yet. I'll check again when I get to Pskov.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

I'm pushing from lower left to upper right and the units are beginning to get spread out considerably. Follow on forces are taking care of the bypassed Soviet units and the recon units are zooming further and further out. There's more broken bridges than I would like but I'm slowly getting them repaired. Supply is doing great. Still sticking to the roads and rails for the most part. The rails are keeping up with the advance so far. The defense put up by the Soviets is feeble since my shock advantage is so great. I'm getting closer to Minsk all the time.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

New moves from Jonathan and it's T5 and here's where the front lines are so far. I've almost reached Riga and I'm adjacent to the river and I'm thinking this this may be the turn where I get on the east side of the river somehow. I need to capture one or more river crossings, hopefully intact. I haven't garrisoned the ports yet and I feel like I need to. Some of the formations are red and need to rest already. The supply levels are great and the rails are almost at Riga. I moved one of my fighter units too close to the front and some Soviet arty gave me a reminder to watch out for that kind of thing. I lost 24 Me-109F's. At least it wasn't one of my bomber units. The mechanized units are supply hogs and need refit more often than leg units. I'm receiving about 5 new divisions this turn and I'm thinking of moving them to the south where there's a lot of progress being made. I'll make a picture and show you what I mean.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

Here's the south with Kiev on the right. I'm pushing south and I'm finding a lot of rivers and poor terrain is hampering the flow but progress is being made. It's not a matter of the number of units, it's being able to get all those units engaged with the Soviets. So far there's been multiple traffic jams and bottlenecks and of course the Soviet defenders themselves to deal with. I'm finding it valuable to have more than one path to a destination. There's lots of broken bridges to fix and so far I've been able to fix them often before I need them. I'd like to see if I can't shift the battle out of the mountains and into the middle where the terrain is better for offense. I'm using the Hungarians to clear the mountains because they are good at that and it's about all they are good for. I don't know where I'm going to use the Italians because they aren't all that great either.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

The Axis forces are penetrating the marshes and they have made substantial progress but there's a lot to go yet. The marshes are my least favorite spot on the map. The terrain is terrible, supply is low, movement is curtailed so the unit range is short. I decided that just MP's wouldn't clear it fast enough to keep up with the advance so I'm using combat units to clear terrain too. I'm trying to repair the rail through the marshes to help boost what supply is there. A lot of the terrain is flooded marsh and from what I understand, no units may enter those hexes. I can come back when they have frozen over and clear them then. There's a decided lack of airfields in the marshes. The marshes are where the partisans spawn and I'm glad I turned off the partisans for this game because I've got a very important supply rail passing through the marshes.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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RE: FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

Post by larryfulkerson »

New moves from Jonathan, it's T6 and this is what Riga looks like now. As soon as I capture Riga I'm going to build a beautiful concrete wall around it and I'm going to make Mexico pay for it. The rail isn't quite at Riga yet but the supply levels are fantastic and I'm moving more RR engineers up here to try to catch up to the front lines. I need Riga because of the confluence of railroads that pass through there. Plus, any LCU's that I need to move from east Germany can go by ship to the port at Riga and save the rail cap for another formation. There's not a lot of rail cap to go around: 6,000 of 6,000 is what it is right now. When I get a set of new moves, the first thing to do is hold down the "period" key and unembark all the units on the rail. Then re-embark the priority units, if any, and take a look at the aircraft, give each aircraft a mission appropriate to that aircraft type, unless you need to use a fighter as a bomber in a specific situation, temporarily and then I start at the head of the OOB and move the units, one formation at a time. I try to keep the formations together if possible. I'm having a blast with this scenario.

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Interviewer: "What is your greatest weakness?"
Elderly Gentleman: "My honesty."
Interviewer: "Well I hardly think that could be a weakness."
Elderly Gentleman: "I don't give a fuck what you think."
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