Eastern Front 1941-1945 V8.1 for TOAWIV 12/2023

[cathar1244]

My take is that the biggest weaknesses of the 'minors' are logistical more than anything else. Hungarians fought like tigers when defending their homeland; that defense may have been made easier because they were close to their depots. But then, the Italians fought hard in the East Africa campaign; Keren was no cakewalk, and they were a LONG way from Italy. Didn't the Romanians crack the defense of Odessa? Took a lot of losses when fighting against the Germans, too (helped by deliberate Soviet direction that ensured heavy casualties).

So maybe the 'weakness' of the minors should reflect in formation vice unit ratings?

Ben's comment about ceaselessly attacking units is a weakness across many wargames.

At any rate, for a scenario about the entire Eastern Front, it doesn't seem like one minor or the other being rated too highly would seriously impact gameplay.

Cheers

[Rosseau]

I just wanted to thank you, Governato, for continually polishing this scenario. I haven't played the game since it was last updated almost two years ago, and your scenario reminded me of just how powerful, accurate (and playable) this game engine can be.

The scenario is perfectly scaled to allow one to play the entire Eastern Front in a doable manner. (WitE2 is going to have to wait a bit).

The first turn playing as the Soviet is a bit unnerving, but the outcome with the AI playing as Axis is imminently believable.

Thanks once again for sparking my interest in a game that deserves quality time. Best wishes!

[governato]

ORIGINAL: Rosseau

I just wanted to thank you, Governato, for continually polishing this scenario. I haven't played the game since it was last updated almost two years ago, and your scenario reminded me of just how powerful, accurate (and playable) this game engine can be.

The scenario is perfectly scaled to allow one to play the entire Eastern Front in a doable manner. (WitE2 is going to have to wait a bit).

The first turn playing as the Soviet is a bit unnerving, but the outcome with the AI playing as Axis is imminently believable.

Thanks once again for sparking my interest in a game that deserves quality time. Best wishes!

Thank you for the kind words and I hope you like V6. It has some further refinements to the Programmed opponent strategy.

[r6kunz]

Rosseau, I could not have said it better. I just started a game. A sweet spot of playability/historical accuracy.

Thanks, Governato.

[governato]

ORIGINAL: r6kunz

Rosseau, I could not have said it better. I just started a game. A sweet spot of playability/historical accuracy.

Thanks, Governato.

Tx for the comments! And if you have and end of file for V6, please send them my way, it's the best way to see how the scenario is doing.

These days I am keeping an eye on trucks and fighter planes inventory, with the TOAW engine modelling only battle losses and not permanent breakdowns I feel most East Front scenarios end up having a surplus of both, especially for the attacking side.

[Elemental]

ORIGINAL: governato

ORIGINAL: fulcrum28

Great scenario. Thanks for making and improving this.
RR German units can repair rails automatically, or you have to actually select "Repair Rails" for each unit? I guess it is probabilistic and sometimes they can repair and sometimes they fail to repair.

Why tx! Also, thanks everybody for all the questions, I am happy to explain the details of the scenario and also to make sure that everything has been tested.


From the manual:

"RR repair units: they are vital to move supply forward. Their number (four) has been
chosen to allow an historical rate of advance of the rail heads. Each Axis RR units start split
in three, thus providing the maximum rail repair rate. Two hexes are repaired automatically
every turn (1 from late Fall 1942 and later). Some RR units will withdraw in 1942."




- The withdrawal of RR units in 1942 represents the diversion of resources to repair internal lines after partisan attacks without boring the player with a lot of micromanaging.

- Note that some Supply Units and Red Army HQs also have limited RR capabilities and that the chance to repair a broken RR hex goes down if the unit has spent MPs or is low on supply.

- In playtesting keeping the railheads moving forward and the supply units just ahead of them along the main route of each Army Group is crucial for the Axis to win. In 1941 do not waste time repairing lateral branches. The two RR hexes that are repaired automatically are usually picked by the engine in the vicinity of RR units.

- In late years partisans show up as Guerrilla events changing hexes ownership and so damaging the RR network.

Hey pal,

Which graphics mods are using? Looks great.

[governato]

I used the 'best of both worlds' map mod
and the 'lightcounters' mod for..the counters .

[Elemental]

Thank you.

[ncc1701e]

Thanks for continuing to support this excellent scenario. Playing Soviets against the computer, I have noticed this weak attack on turn one and I was surprised.

[ncc1701e]

This is sure that a rail repair unit against two mechanized corps is not a good idea even for the AI. [;)]
I don't know if you can change anything with the PO scripts at your disposal.

[governato]

Tx for the compliments and for showing me this. I had not seen it happen before!

Clearly in your meta-Universe railway repair units are all volunteer fanatical Nazis...In mine the rail repair units...recombined and sat there. I just re-tested it .

The TOAW AI/script is not supersmart and the Axis is set to 'berserk' for the first few turns...so
the AI sets everything to `ignore losses' even if their parent formation is not, which is not good if you are armed only with rivets and hammers.

Jokes apart, I v6.1 I will set their path strictly along railways and set them to minimize losses. Will see if it helps.

Btw playing the Red Army vs the AI should be fun! Split you runits and protect your HQs!
Send me a couple of end of turn if you can, always very useful. my email is on the scenario description.

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: governato

Btw playing the Red Army vs the AI should be fun! Split you runits and protect your HQs!
Send me a couple of end of turn if you can, always very useful. my email is on the scenario description.

Yes, this is fun. I will send you few saves. By the way, I do have a question. In the game notes, you are saying the following. The thing is I have no idea how I can take over the PO at a given time.

[ncc1701e]

And yes, I have splitted my armies into three corps to try to form a decent front line.

[governato]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

ORIGINAL: governato

Btw playing the Red Army vs the AI should be fun! Split you runits and protect your HQs!
Send me a couple of end of turn if you can, always very useful. my email is on the scenario description.

Yes, this is fun. I will send you few saves. By the way, I do have a question. In the game notes, you are saying the following. The thing is I have no idea how I can take over the PO at a given time.

sorry for the slow reply, here is how to shift between AI and Human player for the same side. A little more advanced, but you can also reprogram the Rail repair unit as the game unfolds forcing them to follow a much more strict path along the chosen railway..that should keep them out of trouble;)

[ncc1701e]

Thanks for your reply, I have figured it out after posting. [:)]

[Cpl GAC]

Btw playing the Red Army vs the AI should be fun! Split your units and protect your HQs!

Giving it a go - recolored (two evenings). Your work is so well thought through I couldn't resist.

But, I am not splitting my Rifle Corps into 2-2s to get trounced by OKW 20-15 Infantry Corps. That's crazy talk.

I did notice you jumped color ID columns with the Italians; everyone is color 49 but the one unit at color 85. And, I did such a good job with the Waffen SS camo recoloring I cannot see them. I should fix that.

[fulcrum28]

Cpl GAC, I am a big fan of this scenario too. Are you playing the latest version V6 or V5?
Could you share the recolored .col file in PM or in forum? Did you recolor each German Army with different tones? or only the Soviet ones?

Please post some image when you have time. thank you!

[Cpl GAC]

I'm playing V6. The Soviet putty-colored are the early Army, the dark are the late. Red is Guards and select paratroopers. And I use the pre-NATO icons (see the units that are boarded on trains).

Germans all have white #s on Feldgrau, The Axis minors are in the upper left; Italians are gray, Hungary is the green/red, Romania the blue/yellow (on Feldgrau), and the Slovaks that blue helmet band blue (on Feldgrau). I left the Romanians and Slovaks on Feldgrau because their color IDs match the Germans (#s 10-14) for a subtle reminder about Force Support. Alas, Hungary and Italy, your battle contribution efforts are discounted...

I'll gladly share it and can email you the .col if you like. I'm not sure if the early Bryansk Front & Garrison Black background isn't much too close to the other early Fronts' dark green. But I'm not sure that's an issue for me.

EF colors.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 680 times

[governato]

well done! Please share. And glad you liked the scenario.

Yes colors are associate with Force collaboration levels..so as long as the changes are consistent everything will work. One of the main thing I intended to make easy to spot is that red army units have light/dark red background to indicate units that do not reconstitute (light red) ...which also usually have 1941-42 TOEs. So make sure that remains evident .

I did not want the Romanian to collaborate with the Hungarians ...so they have different different counter base color from the Germans
. In general C&C between the Axis allies was very poor.

V7 is expected in Summer 2022

[Cpl GAC]

I understood your coloring system (well, not that one Italian unit...). I have two monitors and it looks more obvious on one than the other - so, I'm going to take another stab at a more apparent visual differentiation for the Soviet's early and late units. My usual lighter Soviet main color is too close to the main color you selected for the Reserves, Sapper Armies, and Industry Icons.

On the map, in lines, with formation rings, gives a perspective that's easier to know what you are looking at than when they are just all next to each other.

Hey, Lobster - look - the Panzer Korp rose color wasn't an option this time...