Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

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Stamb
Posts: 2404
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

Smolensk area

panzer activation turns a battle that we should have won without a problem into a hold
1st panzer activation.png
1st panzer activation.png (6.9 MiB) Viewed 883 times
and i made another attempt to attack units nearby, when i saw that there is again panzer reserve activation i was ready to see huge losses for a Soviets
2nd panzer activation.png
2nd panzer activation.png (5.39 MiB) Viewed 883 times
fortunately we won this battle and inflicted huge losses for panzers themself when they lost a battle and were forced to retreat
also this tanks were modern models, not obsolete one

decided to attack stacked panzers with a hope to force them to retreat and cause massive damage

unfortunately had not enough units to do so
attack against stacked panzers.png
attack against stacked panzers.png (6.2 MiB) Viewed 883 times
VL-Smolensk area
vl-smolensk.png
vl-smolensk.png (6.73 MiB) Viewed 883 times
Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
Stamb
Posts: 2404
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

huge battles + first guards riffle corps was formed and used
as a result two units were isolated and then routed
orel-kursk.png
orel-kursk.png (5.8 MiB) Viewed 880 times
kharkiv.png
kharkiv.png (4.98 MiB) Viewed 880 times
south-crimea.png
south-crimea.png (4.33 MiB) Viewed 880 times
and our best friends :)
best friends.png
best friends.png (4.42 MiB) Viewed 880 times
Last edited by Stamb on Mon May 16, 2022 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
Stamb
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

again huge losses for an Axis
especially for a 150mm arty
losses.png
losses.png (2.57 MiB) Viewed 878 times
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Glory to Ukraine!
Stamb
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

and this was last turn of our game
Axis shows white flag

i want to say thanks for a Stephan for a game

it was a nice journey
playing as a Soviets for a first time was really exiting and i enjoyed it very much
there is no sense to compare it with my first experience as an Axis in pvp games
its just another level
Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
Veterin
Posts: 503
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2022 9:27 am

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Veterin »

Great AAR. An interesting game!

I like how you changed the colour of each army group. At the moment I have one colour per front so I’ll copy your method :p
Stamb
Posts: 2404
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed it.

Also it is worth mentioning that i was not using any abuses like i mentioned here:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 9#p4997429

or any similar that i know

the only trick that i used was naval HQ for a few turns to block supply
but later on we house ruled it

i wanted my first Soviet game to be as clean as possible
but Soviets have many more tools in their toolbox
and as i wrote to one member of this forum
once Soviet player starts to use them
it will be completely different Axis experience
Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
Stephan61
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2021 1:08 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stephan61 »

Report from the Axis

On a troubled night were not just Arsenal capitulated but E-Adolf offered Joe Stalin a decisive victory and capitulated also.

Opening Thoughts - Phase 1
As this was my first ever game of the NEE version of the GC I decided to take things a lot slower than normal, so initial turns went well. Riga, Pskov, Kiev, Gomel and Odessa all fell as scripted.

Stamb though had decided to try and hole Smolensk and Tallin for as long as possible.

Although Tallin was liberated in 2-3 turns longer than expected it gave Stam time to close up the Narva line crossing, one which I could never break down, deciding on parking a Corp there to stop any advances from the Russian side.

Smolensk though was the major thorn in my side, it took many turns to capture and once captured I could never expand the area due to low CPP and small counter attacks.

Thoughts - Phase 2.
Expand from Gomel, Kiev, Odessa & Pskov
Initially the first moves out was successful and gaining ground towards D&Z and Kherson, whilst gaining small grounds towards Leningrad........... then Stambs special units started to have an effect.

From Kiev & Odessa, the move towards D&Z and Kherson was hampered by rampaging units of Cav & Paras, constantly running through ZOC and in between lines to isolate and delay. This had a devastating effect in slowing the advance and allowing for well formed defence of D&Z.

I dont know how many units of CAV & Para where involved, but every turn a new formations would ride out of the steppes to cause havoc.

Plenty of Recon towards Leningrad showed at least 30-40 Rifle Divs and Support formations all lined up and dug in, it became almost impossible to dis-lodge them piecemeal.

Thoughts - THE END
Having failed to take D&Z I made a general fall back to form a defensive line, this was the killer blow as it allowed Stamb to muster large formations together to bust through in areas, resulting in further fall backs.

Then in Blizzard conditions a amssive assault out of Lenningrad resulted in a lot of defeats and retreats in AGN, with most units on 0 CPP, it became evident that Pskov would fall very quickly and I would need to retreat further back to RIga area to try and re-fit, re-group etc.

Alas from that point on the map an advance in 42 was never going to happen.

Notes:

1: If you play NEE version, then still keep to the strategy of gaining VP locations as quickly as possible.
2: Control the Russian Forces as best as you can, if they get to 7.5mil men etc, then your done.
3: Upgrading to .27 mid game was a mistake, as the game then started to become bugged down, so we introduce house rules to counter some of the problems especially in the Air War.
4: Freight delivery became a massive issue, with most NSS delivering at least 16k per turn, all except Berlin who would deliver some 6k per turn, net effect it started to strangle the front of needed supplies. I even had 10k of Trucks in the Pool at the end.
5: I agree with Stamb, the Minor Nations are almost useless, even when you marry them in with some seasoned Axis force they still prefer to rout! - Perhaps a moral boost to start with is needed?
6: The ONE defeat and you lose all CPP needs to be looked at, One defeat shouldnt mean that DIV or Unit is totally ineffectual for the next 4 turns whilst it recovers, especially if your trying to defend a broad front of attacks. Historically the Axis forces recovered extremely well from a defeat to be able to counter attack straight away, so a defeat shouldn't lose all CPP within a unit.

All in all a good education and any future game I play of the NEE version I will certainly not be going "go slow for 42" strategy.
Stamb
Posts: 2404
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
User avatar
tm1
Posts: 1856
Joined: Tue May 14, 2013 10:21 pm
Location: Central Coast NSW Australia

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by tm1 »

Stephan61 wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 12:18 pm Report from the Axis

On a troubled night were not just Arsenal capitulated but E-Adolf offered Joe Stalin a decisive victory and capitulated also.

Opening Thoughts - Phase 1
As this was my first ever game of the NEE version of the GC I decided to take things a lot slower than normal, so initial turns went well. Riga, Pskov, Kiev, Gomel and Odessa all fell as scripted.

Stamb though had decided to try and hole Smolensk and Tallin for as long as possible.

Although Tallin was liberated in 2-3 turns longer than expected it gave Stam time to close up the Narva line crossing, one which I could never break down, deciding on parking a Corp there to stop any advances from the Russian side.

Smolensk though was the major thorn in my side, it took many turns to capture and once captured I could never expand the area due to low CPP and small counter attacks.

Thoughts - Phase 2.
Expand from Gomel, Kiev, Odessa & Pskov
Initially the first moves out was successful and gaining ground towards D&Z and Kherson, whilst gaining small grounds towards Leningrad........... then Stambs special units started to have an effect.

From Kiev & Odessa, the move towards D&Z and Kherson was hampered by rampaging units of Cav & Paras, constantly running through ZOC and in between lines to isolate and delay. This had a devastating effect in slowing the advance and allowing for well formed defence of D&Z.

I dont know how many units of CAV & Para where involved, but every turn a new formations would ride out of the steppes to cause havoc.

Plenty of Recon towards Leningrad showed at least 30-40 Rifle Divs and Support formations all lined up and dug in, it became almost impossible to dis-lodge them piecemeal.

Thoughts - THE END
Having failed to take D&Z I made a general fall back to form a defensive line, this was the killer blow as it allowed Stamb to muster large formations together to bust through in areas, resulting in further fall backs.

Then in Blizzard conditions a amssive assault out of Lenningrad resulted in a lot of defeats and retreats in AGN, with most units on 0 CPP, it became evident that Pskov would fall very quickly and I would need to retreat further back to RIga area to try and re-fit, re-group etc.

Alas from that point on the map an advance in 42 was never going to happen.

Notes:

1: If you play NEE version, then still keep to the strategy of gaining VP locations as quickly as possible.
2: Control the Russian Forces as best as you can, if they get to 7.5mil men etc, then your done.
3: Upgrading to .27 mid game was a mistake, as the game then started to become bugged down, so we introduce house rules to counter some of the problems especially in the Air War.
4: Freight delivery became a massive issue, with most NSS delivering at least 16k per turn, all except Berlin who would deliver some 6k per turn, net effect it started to strangle the front of needed supplies. I even had 10k of Trucks in the Pool at the end.
5: I agree with Stamb, the Minor Nations are almost useless, even when you marry them in with some seasoned Axis force they still prefer to rout! - Perhaps a moral boost to start with is needed?
6: The ONE defeat and you lose all CPP needs to be looked at, One defeat shouldnt mean that DIV or Unit is totally ineffectual for the next 4 turns whilst it recovers, especially if your trying to defend a broad front of attacks. Historically the Axis forces recovered extremely well from a defeat to be able to counter attack straight away, so a defeat shouldn't lose all CPP within a unit.

All in all a good education and any future game I play of the NEE version I will certainly not be going "go slow for 42" strategy.
Well all things considered your doing better than me I don't know if you meant its your first ever P v P game even so anyone who does play P v P gets a salute from a PVE player.

Good luck with your next game Sir
jasonbroomer
Posts: 724
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2022 5:55 am

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by jasonbroomer »

Thanks for the entertaining ARR, a great read and well played

I do hope the use of the floating HQ to block supply was accidental!
Stamb
Posts: 2404
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:07 pm

Re: Power of the Dark Side, Stephan61[A] vs Stamb[S]

Post by Stamb »

yeah

you can not trust wireless mouse, it can do terrible random moves from time to time ;)
Слава Україні!
Glory to Ukraine!
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