Thrashing Around in Russia - Again. RKhan (S) vs Strategator (A)

[Strategator]

Finally the crimea region:

The very good progress here came to and halt in the mountain region of sewastapol.
There was one very sucsessfull last attack in turn 15, after which both sites digged in and could not attack any further due to fortifications and the terrian.

fighting crimea t15.png (2.71 MiB) Viewed 828 times

My only supply came from the early taken port and was supported with Air-drops, as the Rail network was not intact yet (and the RUM Rail Repair unit withdrawled in turn 14, so the supply line only comes creepingly slow here).

Air supply crimea.png (5.86 MiB) Viewed 828 times

As said, there was no major advance possibly anymore with only few fightings in turn 15 and 16.

Stallment on crimea t14.png (5.91 MiB) Viewed 828 times

Here is the situation at the end of turn 16

crimea end t16.png (1.93 MiB) Viewed 828 times

[Zeckke]

permission. looks great

I have file, where german take Lenningrad (i dont remenber the turn, so all the finland units are makin the line to the right until the city of archangel and i concentrated at leningrad all panzers German units, all. rest and full replacement there are over 20 panzers (6000 tanks) unit (the grey panzers units also) waiting to assault Mosku, but teh computer broke, but not the hard disk.

[M60A3TTS]

Hate to say it, but a Napoleonic disaster awaits the Axis.

Too little too late in the north. If you were going to swap 18th Army to assault, that's fine, but that's when you're preparing to assault over the Neva. Way too much ground to cover at this stage for this to pay off. You are almost better off digging in with non-assault armies to better your fort values.

In center, Minsk and Smolensk raids wrecked the depots and now rail has to be re-repaired. You will have practically no significant depots in the entire AGC area of operations that can carry you through winter. You don't even have Bryansk. Once the severe winter hits, units will lose combat power at a frightening rate as a result.

South, far too few units to cover the ground. Red Army cavalry corps stand to have a field day come blizzard. 11th Army needed to have bagged Sevastopol or at least isolated it. But here, the mountain units that could hasten the movement through the Crimean Mountains instead are scattered throughout AGS. Similar to the security divisions we covered earlier, these mountain units are inappropriately positioned. You really need 11th Army freed up to get back to rejoin the rest of AGS but that isn't happening anytime soon. You know the Rumanian FBD converts to multiple RADs that can still be useful, right? Stalino as a base of supply is good in theory but that assumes the Soviets don't get adjacent to it. It would be a prime Soviet target to try and do so, if not cut it off. Then the next major depot becomes D-Town, well to the rear.

In general, not seeing enough evidence that the assault armies were maxed out in terms of CP. Unknown how the RADs were assigned to facilitate rail repair in critical areas. You need to get at least some units bulked up with CV, too many in AGC looked gassed when the Soviet counterattack came in at Smolensk. Turn 1 pocket for AGC that still needs work contributed in no small part to this. No pioniers to speak of in key places where you need to move the Soviets off their spots. What are the super-heavy artillery units doing? No mention of using super depots.

Nothing that hasn't been seen before from previous inexperienced Axis players. Personally, I think you need a year's worth of practice to be decent as Axis in PvP. So I don't want to be overly critical, just objective and say you two ought to play this up to say the end of 1941 and then invoke the mercy rule and call it a game. Getting your head kicked in during blizzard doesn't really give you a lot of useful experience.

[RKhan]

M60s words are prophetic as I will show in the follow posts. We have decided to quit at T25 and switch sides. I will now start my year of training in Axis

But first, let me sketch out what happened...

[RKhan]

In the north I will continue to allocate just enough to keep the Axis out of Leningrad.

On turn 14 I end up in the following position:

t14 after n.jpg (675.25 KiB) Viewed 708 times

And now at the end of turn 17:

t17 after n.jpg (611.18 KiB) Viewed 708 times

Axis have nibbled away but it not enough to break my line. I was not aware that he had made this area a priority until I read the AAR. I feel like once the Soviets get dug in up north it is a losing proposition for the Axis.

[RKhan]

Here is the end of turn 14. I'm happy to hold position here and build forts. The Yelnya offensive took it out of me as well.

t14 after c.jpg (830.18 KiB) Viewed 706 times

And now at the end of turn 17:

t17 after c.jpg (706.13 KiB) Viewed 706 times

The picture does not reflect how much stronger the units here have gotten with rest and refit. The air force is also now stable and the weak generals are all replaced.

[RKhan]

The south is where the action is at. I'm starting to think this is where my winter offensive will do the most good. It is too early to commit to that now but it guides my thinking.

Turn 14 around Stalino. Can I hold it? Only if I have a distraction. I see a lot of room between his units in the Kharkov area. Maybe another calvary fient?

t14 after s.jpg (621.31 KiB) Viewed 703 times

Turn 15 and I'm off and running. Many of the hexes were converted and then I retreated. I hope he will over estimate me here.

t15 detail charge.jpg (569.54 KiB) Viewed 703 times

End of turn 17 and Axis have committed to Kharkov taking the pressure off Stalino. It clear to me these guys are out of steam. This is when I commit to a southern winter push.

t17 after s1.jpg (819.85 KiB) Viewed 703 times

[RKhan]

Crimea was always dicy. Neither of us understand naval interdiction. I would whack his AF, then he would adjust and whack mine. But I held on and even reinforced here. I feel it might hold out until next year.

t17 before s2.jpg (410.6 KiB) Viewed 700 times

[RKhan]

The Axis refused to give up here and pushed in as soon as the snow came to freeze the mud. It frankly worried me that he might get a lucky attack in on Leningrad. I've seen the Axis pull off amazing attacks that I did not think realistic.

This is the start of turn 25. He got right up to the line I had hoped to end the year at, so good planning on my part or good luck? I couldn't say...

t25 before n.jpg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 698 times

[RKhan]

I've already decided to attack in the south come blizzard. But Bryansk area looks tempting as well. Starting on turn 20 I test the waters, pushing out a cavalry or mech and then retreating. The flipped hexes stay flipped.

t20 after c.jpg (494.44 KiB) Viewed 693 times

So I prep a bunch of new brigades and move out in the following turns. The Axis focus is east of Smolensk where PzG 2 and 3 are driving a wedge into my line.

At the end of turn 22 I'm all in on the attack. I understand he thought this was another suicide charge. Actually, without good mechs yet cavalry are best for flipping hexes ahead of my infantry. The mechs I have are held back to exploit.

t22 after c2.jpg (994.44 KiB) Viewed 693 times

On our last turn I start to reap units and take Gomel.

t25 after c2.jpg (903.79 KiB) Viewed 693 times

[RKhan]

There is a complex story here of fient and bluff over several turns. I won't show it all. My goal was to keep the Axis moving and out of their forts. I tried to look weak while behind the lines I gathered high win/experience divisions under good commanders. I changed SW and S fronts to assualt, but never got the HQ capacity bonus. (any thoughts here would be appreciated, I tried everything!)

Suffice to say here is the result on Turn 25.

t25 after s.jpg (762.45 KiB) Viewed 688 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

There is a complex story here

Does not look like a complex story at all. To me, there is a "severe skill mismatch" in this game. Unless I missed something.

[RKhan]

The game is very complex and that is a huge disadvantage to a beginning Axis player. I want to thank Strategator for taking that on. Others have already offered him some constructive advice so I will only say he kept me on my toes the whole way.

For my side, I felt like I was taking big chances on attacks because I had no idea how to measure the risk. Cavalry are cheap to me so throwing them away for a distraction seemed like a price Stalin would be happy to pay. I found that implementing common sense approaches, by which I mean things that made sense realistically to a person well read in the Eastern Theater, worked out well for me.

For my part, I'm happy to take any comments or advice.

I suspect we will have an AAR for my go at Axis, but Strategator is probably going to be too busy to add much, so it might be an Axis only affair.

And I'm dreading Axis turn 1...

[HardLuckYetAgain]

I am so happy you wrote the AAR on the form, thank you for sharing.

[RKhan]

I am so happy you wrote the AAR on the form, thank you for sharing.

You're welcome.

Also I'm curious if you invented the "HLYA lines" as I called them since I saw them on your AAR? Its where you arrange your rubbish units in lines while running away in the hope of avoiding an encirclement.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

I am so happy you wrote the AAR on the form, thank you for sharing.

You're welcome.

Also I'm curious if you invented the "HLYA lines" as I called them since I saw them on your AAR? Its where you arrange your rubbish units in lines while running away in the hope of avoiding an encirclement.

I have no recollection of anyone else using the lines as extensively as I have. I use them against a specific type of player, since there are counters to everything in the game and these lines are no exception. I take no credit for them, it is the games credit.

[Strategator]

Hey folks,

so I also want to give my final statements here as well.

I really want to thank everyone who was interested in this and even the experienced players having a look here.
Especially the very detailed and constructive feedback and suggestions are very welcome!

Again, this was one of my very first play throughs, not only in MP but in WITE2 and even Gary Grigsby games in total.
So as the result and the sudden end of that campaign are obviously quite brutal I want to stress out that I had a lot of fun with it and did learn a huge amount of things and will do many things very different next time.

To add and reply to the feedback, just to complete the picture:
I indeed had a super depot at the northern front and had many pioneers there and and the crimea.
All my assault armies where in full command power.
The RR towards D'town, Kiev, Smolenks, Talling, Northern front where intact. Towards Crimea not.

I want to point out my most important lessons learned:
- Turn 1
- Covering/securing the pripjat marshes
- Securing rear/flanks/important towns
- Value of CPP, rest/refit/rotating units
- Overall knowledge about distances
- Early planning where to send and focus on specific areas
- Value of Support units
- Dare to attack more aggressive especially in the very first turns


As it was mentioned in the feedback there was quite a skill gap between me and RKhan, but I want to thank him for both the joyfull playing-experience and the well written AAR.
In our next game we will switch sides and I am really excited about the experience to see the war from the other perspective. Indeed this is a rare view in most wargames and I am eagerly reading a lot about it in the forums to be prepared at least a little bit.
I admit, I have not too much experience with sovjet side (in this game or in any other).
As my timetable is pretty dense at the moment I do not know how regulary I will be able to do my turns in the near future + if I will be able to post AAR summits.
But in any case I will take screenshots and notes during the game and maybe throw my 20 cents in here and there if I see fit.

So, again, thank you all and maybe this AAR was at least a litte helpfull for other newcomers, not doing the same mistakes in the early stage of the campaign.

Cheers

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Did you disappear again into your bunker RKhan? You were on fire here for awhile