FITE 2 (Moscov calling) !!!PICs HEAVY!!!

[gliz2]

Inspired by the Larry's thread on his adventures in the East I have decided to start my own thread on my exploits in FITE2.

I have decided to put this on the top as I have kfor the first time) used this technique so extensively.
divide your units for encircling the enemy. Its so simple and effective. You split your regiment in 3 and voila you can encircle the enemy asdaulting him from all sides (which deliver devastating blows to his defence). I recommend to use this whenever possible also for capturing bridgeheads. Works like a charm

SETUP of the Game
1.I play vs myself.
2.No more than 2 turns per sitting.
3.The game is in free format (the objectives and tactics are non-historical).

German setup
1. The strategic objectives is to crush the Ivan by taking Moscov as the capital of the communistic plague. This should in effect result in the collapse of the Soviet.
2. The operational objectives are to push with the Panzers into any breaches and to exploit with following infantry enveloping enemy.
3. Moscov should be reached by end of August, preferably already infiltrated by the date.
4.Northern and Southern Fronts should serve as a distraction to force Ivan committing as much forces to them as possible.

STAVKA setup
1. Protect the Motherland at all costs!
2. Fight the Nazis to the death. Any retreat will be punished with death.
3. Defences shall be developed in 3 lines.
4. No unnecessary counterattacks shall be launched. The main objective is to delay the enemy until major defences are setup (by mid August).

The Operational objectives for OKH Ostfront

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: gliz2
Inspired by the Larry's thread on his adventures in the East I have decided to start my own thread on my exploits in FITE2.

I'm glad you were inspired. I'll watch your AAR with great interest. Your first post has
convinced me that you're going to try to give us a good game. Thanks for doing an AAR for us.

[gliz2]

<place holder>
STRATEGIES & TACTICS

First some important basics.
I do very little management of air or naval.
I do not often use bombardment by artillery.
Why? The turns are 3.5 days. This is already a hughe simplification. Micro-managing each "battle" is tidious enough.
Anyway you put it in the end it is a game. And as every game is based on an engine which can be (excessively) exploited.

My main finding coming from 600+ turns of FITE and 100+ of FITE2 are the following.

<OKH 1941>
1.The main driving force are ANY mobile units like Cavalry, PzDiv or MotDiv. They should be the focal point of commander. One needs to keep track of where they are heading, how is the supply and their readiness.
2. Amass them to be able to shuffle when needed between rested (green dot) and worn-out (red dot). I discovered that by putting 6-7 Divs next to each other I can push almost without stopping for refitting as there are always 2-3 Divs rested.
3. Which brings us to the main point - Center of gravity. This is key to any success. While the front is 2k+ km long there isno chance to maintain a reasonable steady pace at the full lenght. There are few good roads which can easily become chokeholds and any halfwit who can read a map will know where you could attack. Therefore you have to constantly "poking" the enemy's defence to find the weak spots and to hit'em fast and hard (before enemy reacts). Thus effectively switching the main lines of attack whenever opportunity for exploiting weakness arrives.
4. Push fast and hard. Yellow dot? Perfectly fine by me. Orange dot? You can still put some miles on them tanks laddies. Red dot? I think you coould rest next turn or so. The key to winning is being like a shark. You stop and you die. You need to be pressuring the Soviets so they cannot establish their defences.
5. Adopt, adapt and improve. Planning is the most important thing. However the plans are the most useles things. Very little goes as planned. Small development may have devastating results (like the approach of mjr Frost on the Arnhem bridge). You need to be flexible. If the Soviets managed to set the defences around one of their hub-towns like Minsk or Zhitomyr then adopt and adapt. Maybe you could outflank them? Maybe paradrop on their supply lines? Or maybe you need to change the center of the push for the moment.
6.Don't get entangled in mopping duties. This is exactly what Commies whant you to do. Commit as limited resources as possible for the job. First 6-8 weeks are all about breakthrough as far east as possible.
7. Use you forces extensively. Romanians are a shitty auxiliary but an auxiliary nonetheless. Combined with few InfDiv they will do fine mopping of them Ruskies.

<STAVKA 1941>
1. Mother Russia depends on You. Should You fail your mother then you will pay the ultimate price.
2. Obstruct, delay, confuse, blow up everything. The Germans might have the initiative but we have the vast Russian lands. Let them pay the iron price for each mile.
3. Losses doesn't matter. What matters is that you cannot allow Germans into any of the main cities (Lenningrad, Kiev and Moscow).
4. Do not rush to counterattack. Your objective is to block the main roads and main hubs, setting up defences as deep as possible. Any counterattacks will only result in losses of resources which otherwise could be used for setting up defences.

[Nicholas Bell]

Well I'm signed up to follow your adventures. This is a big one to solitaire against yourself, but I totally get why you would want to.

[gliz2]

Just one short update. As I had reinstall I had to restart. So basically this will go to be proper AAR from 22 June 1941 till I drop dead

[larryfulkerson]

I'm sorry you had to restart but better now rather than
when you're 200+ turns into it.

[gliz2]

200+ happened with FITE (my friend had to stop playing). That was a bummer.

TBH I'm kinda glad as it was only few turns and I have rediscovered some tactics to help the initial German push
Thanks for following and stay tune for first posts (due next week).

PS. I have used when playing against human the shock rule in first turn. We have decided that (as per historical evidence) in first days there was complete chaos at STAVKA. Therefore the rule we employed was that the Soviets could only move by 5 hexes and by train on first turn. Do you think I should implement it or not?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: gliz2
200+ happened with FITE (my friend had to stop playing). That was a bummer.

TBH I'm kinda glad as it was only few turns and I have rediscovered some tactics to help the initial German push
Thanks for following and stay tune for first posts (due next week).

PS. I have used when playing against human the shock rule in first turn. We have decided that (as per historical evidence) in first days there was complete chaos at STAVKA. Therefore the rule we employed was that the Soviets could only move by 5 hexes and by train on first turn. Do you think I should implement it or not?

I guess it depands on whether you want realism or playability. I'm told that realism would have the Soviets making three-dot attacks at the nearest Axis unit or something like it. But if it's a human player in charge of the Soviet side....he might not want to do that. The plan might be to do a Robin Hood kind of thing and melt into the forest and fight another day. The Soviets should run for their lives and plan for a good MLR somewhere not so close to the front. Somewhere around Orsha. So yeah, a house rule might help. Do what you feel is best and I'll back you up. I like the way you think.

[gliz2]

I will follow quasi-historical approach. No full counter-offensive but also no retreats (only 5 hexes withdrawal allowed). And most Soviet elements will be moved towards the front line till end of July. Afterwards full freedom allowed with no retreats (as this is one key historical element I want to keep for 1941).

Larry what was the range of your Panzers per turn on a road/highway? I'm having 60-70 km per turn which less than half of the real range. And I haven't got a slightest of idea what is the reason [&:]

[larryfulkerson]

Larry what was the range of your Panzers per turn on a road/highway? I'm having 60-70 km per turn which less than half of the real range. And I haven't got a slightest of idea what is the reason

I usually get about 35 hexes of range for my mechanized units and tanks. There's probably a penalty imposed on movement to simulate the roads being clogged with refugees. Have you seen a news string saying something about refugees?

[gliz2]

Well then it's more than double (165 km vs 70 km). I have raised it on general forum.
Nope. I haven't seen this one.

[gliz2]

Time to start this bad boy rolling
HG Nord Objectives for early July 1941
[url=https://ibb.co/gPRm6n]

[gliz2]

HG Mitte objectives

[gliz2]

HG Sud objectives

[MikeJ19]

Great stuff, I look forward to following your battles in Russia. Good luck!

[gliz2]

STAVKA is limited to 5 hexes moves this and next turn (to simulate the chaos).

[gliz2]

For the moment I will not post HG Sud situation as it is of minor interest to me. I will only post it in 2-3 turns.

So far I averagely happy about the speed of German advance. On the positive side I have breached the Soviet front in many places. On the negative I have already lost one Brandenburger unit [:@]

HG Nord as of 5:00 29-June-1941


HG Mitte as of 5:00 29-June-1941

[gliz2]

5:00 am 2nd July 1941 situation
[url=https://ibb.co/jShzHS][/https://]

[DanNeely]

You're the 1st person to post a screenshot big enough to require major scrolling on my 4k monitor.

Congra-rats I guess.

[gliz2]

I will try to keep it more decent for the future (and hopefully will clean it up on the weekend)
Here is situation as of 9 July 1941 5am. I'm struggling to get to Minsk but on the other hand I'm really getting fast on the north flank reaching Riga-Polotsk. If I succeed here then I can bypass Minsk-Berezino and hit hard directly on Rzhev-Smolensk (I hope to reach this line by end of July.
HG Mitte will be tasked with mopping Minsk-Smolensk highway.
HG Sud should push steadily towards Zhitomir-Vinitsya and link with Romanian Army in next 2 weeks.