TXX Events

[Cpl GAC]

I do not have a better idea, Larry. As you are probably aware, the Germans only sent some token elements to help the Romanians and the whole thing did not go well - almost 21 turns...

As the Soviets versus the PO (Russo-German version), I use the hell out of the naval transport and grab all the engineers I can to make Odessa a redoubt for launching future operations. I think that only works on Elmer. And maybe Hitler.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's where everything is in T6 before I have moved anybody. I have annotated my next short term goals. I'll post some of the details next.

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[larryfulkerson]

I do not have a better idea, Larry. As you are probably aware, the Germans only sent some token elements to help the Romanians and the whole thing did not go well - almost 21 turns...

As the Soviets versus the PO (Russo-German version), I use the hell out of the naval transport and grab all the engineers I can to make Odessa a redoubt for launching future operations. I think that only works on Elmer. And maybe Hitler.

That sounds like a really good idea and is sure to decrease the odds of loosing Odessa and Elmer would probably kill all the units trying to take the place. There's no Axis naval units to use to bombard so I'm left with only land-based arty and bombers to reduce the defenders. If it takes 21 turns to capture Odessa then I would be greatly behind schedule upon conclusion of the operation. I'm hopeing it won't take that long. Although I suppose I'm not in all that much of a hurry for those Romanians involved in the take down. I'm going to use the 11th Corps to try to take down Sevastopol meanwhile most of the Romanians left over will block the Kertch Straits and drive to the east and try to make it into the Crimea. A couple of divisions of Romanians to deal with Odessa, maybe 3 divisions of Romanians to deal with the Kertch Straits and I think that will leave between 5 and 7 divisions of Romanians to drive into the Crimea. And if I can take down Sevastopol before 04Dec41 then I'll receive the Bulgarians and that's important to me.

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[Graymane]

I've found the Romanians to mostly suck so far. When I fight around Pskov, I find that it is real struggle if I maintain too narrow a front (Pskov - Ostrov) and find that I get better results including Opochka, even though the terrain isn't great. It serves to thin out the Soviet line.

[Graymane]

In regards to supply, I checked back over Golden's D21. I am close to where he is on Turn 12, not quite as far because he is much better at executing this game than I am but my railheads are right with my front lines. Kiev is down to one hex and my railhead is there, AGC railhead is through Smolensk at Yartsevo, and AGN railhead is at Luga. Moreover, I have a railhead following AGN's northern route through Estonia that is almost to Rakvere. Another N/S line almost to Gomel from Minsk, another N/S line Minsk - Polotsk - V. Luki and another AGS line from Lvov through Bessarabia to Mogilev and working on one from Mogilev to Kiev that is almost done.

I would probably be better off using those HQs for arty at this point, but I wanted to test how far I could go with RR repair.

[larryfulkerson]

This is a round 4 view of the northern end of the front lines and shows how far north the Axis forces have pushed. My units are tired and new rest and refit. I've moved my Sea INT Stukas to the far north to be within range of the Soviet naval units near Leningrad. I judge the Soviet resistance in this AO as "light" because the Soviet units are so sparce. The supply level at the tip of the spear is 10 which is almost adequate for operations. I'm trying to stick to the roads and rails for the most part.

I've found the Romanians to mostly suck so far. When I fight around Pskov, I find that it is real struggle if I maintain too narrow a front (Pskov - Ostrov) and find that I get better results including Opochka, even though the terrain isn't great. It serves to thin out the Soviet line.

In regards to supply, I checked back over Golden's D21. I am close to where he is on Turn 12, not quite as far because he is much better at executing this game than I am but my railheads are right with my front lines. Kiev is down to one hex and my railhead is there, AGC railhead is through Smolensk at Yartsevo, and AGN railhead is at Luga. Moreover, I have a railhead following AGN's northern route through Estonia that is almost to Rakvere. Another N/S line almost to Gomel from Minsk, another N/S line Minsk - Polotsk - V. Luki and another AGS line from Lvov through Bessarabia to Mogilev and working on one from Mogilev to Kiev that is almost done.

I would probably be better off using those HQs for arty at this point, but I wanted to test how far I could go with RR repair.

I would agree that the Romanians are a second string force instead of the elete Axis units. You have more rails being repaired than I do. I have four working routes right now, one headed north through the Baltic states, one headed NE through Minsk headed for Smolensk, one just south of the marshes headed for Kiev, and one down south headed SE toward Odessa. The one near Odessa is going to eventually descend into the Crimea and east toward D-town. The use of the Corps HQ's is allowing the railhead to keep up ( approx. ) with the front lines and the supply level(s) are usually adequate for operations.

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[golden delicious]

I've found the Romanians to mostly suck so far.

You just need buckets of artillery. Hit one hex with the minimum units to get a flank bonus plus all your artillery, until that hex dies. Then hit the next hex. I also brought up the German RR artillery since by then all the rest of the front was far too distant from the rails.

When I fight around Pskov, I find that it is real struggle if I maintain too narrow a front (Pskov - Ostrov) and find that I get better results including Opochka, even though the terrain isn't great. It serves to thin out the Soviet line.

Narrow front is fine, you just have to be prepared to move it. Just because your schwerepunkt runs into strong opposition doesn't mean you're obliged to leave it there, you just try another spot, snake around and isolate any blocking units, bypass them entirely if you can and then keep exploiting.

Basically, move your mechanised units east every turn. Don't worry about Soviet units in your rear: they'll stay there.

[larryfulkerson]

Just south of the image above is a view of the Axis units neaded NE to Pskov and shows how I have cleared out the enemy units in my backfield and shows how sparce the Soviet units are in this AO. There are lots of hexes in my backfield that need to be converted. I'm really uncomfortable with unconverted hexes in my backfield because of the chance of Soviet units spawning behind the majority of my forces. It has happened more than once and is sometimes difficult to deal with.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's the area around Daugavpils and shows what's going on just north of the marshes including the presence of two supply units. That's my fault. The northernmost one needs to be across the river headed for Pskov and the southernmost one needs to be moved further to the south to feed the advance headed for Minsk. The Panzer units are breaking trail for the follow on forces as they should be. The supply level at the tip of the spear in this AO is 12 but should rise higher as time passes.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's the battle of Minsk. The Soviets have been beat down so much that it shouldn't take much to push over the Soviets. The supply level is 8 at the tip of the spear but as soon as the Minsk hex is cleared the supply level will rise to as much as 35 or so. I've been using my brown-water boats to clear out the river hexes in this AO and the marshes south of here.

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[Graymane]

I'm really uncomfortable with unconverted hexes in my backfield because of the chance of Soviet units spawning behind the majority of my forces. It has happened more than once and is sometimes difficult to deal with.

I didn't realize this was a thing I was wondering where all these units were coming from in my rear areas. I thought I just missed them?

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the Axis units clearing out the marshes and shows how I have finally arrived at the eastern exit from the marshes and the Panzer 10th Motorized division adjacent to the Soviet garrison is tired and needs rest and refit. But some follow on forces are close behind the Panzer unit and should arrive next turn to help push through the Soviet roadblock. You can see how I have used the brown-water boats to help clear out the marshes and other river hexes. I feel the need to clear out all the hexes to prevent Soviet units operating in my backfield. I'm repairing the rail passing through Luminets using the services of the 2nd Panzer Armee Corps HQ but to catch up with the tip of the spear I need to augment that route with more RR engineers sometime soon. I'd like to have a functioning rail all the way to the next major river to the east by the time my forces arrive there.

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[larryfulkerson]

I'm really uncomfortable with unconverted hexes in my backfield because of the chance of Soviet units spawning behind the majority of my forces. It has happened more than once and is sometimes difficult to deal with.

I didn't realize this was a thing I was wondering where all these units were coming from in my rear areas. I thought I just missed them?

I'm hopeing it doesn't happen but if it does I'll point it out. I don't expect it but if the hexes aren't converted soon enough it could happen. They don't usually appear on river hexes but other terrain hexes are vulnerable. I've been debating spliting down some of my MP units and some other security forces down into pieces to cover more terrain faster.

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[Graymane]

I'm really uncomfortable with unconverted hexes in my backfield because of the chance of Soviet units spawning behind the majority of my forces. It has happened more than once and is sometimes difficult to deal with.

I didn't realize this was a thing I was wondering where all these units were coming from in my rear areas. I thought I just missed them?

I'm hopeing it doesn't happen but if it does I'll point it out. I don't expect it but if the hexes aren't converted soon enough it could happen. They don't usually appear on river hexes but other terrain hexes are vulnerable. I've been debating spliting down some of my MP units and some other security forces down into pieces to cover more terrain faster.
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Now that my lines to the Leningrad - Smolensk - Kiev line, I was planning on designating an MSR and cover it and key junctions with MP/Sec forces and leave 1 div on rail that can respond. So in AGN, maybe MP/Sec covering the line with units at Siauliai, Riga, Gulbene, Pskov, Luga for example. I'm not sure if I want to micro converting every single hex, but maybe that is the better answer will all those MP units?

[larryfulkerson]

In the area west of Kiev I have run into some serious Soviet restance. I'm slowly pushing my way through the defenders. The supply level is 19 at the front but the repaired rails are close by so the supply level should rise slowly. It's going to take several more turns to clear out all this Soviet stuff. I need to replace all the Panzer equipment with leg infantry units so the Panzers can zoom SE instead of getting imvolved in the fighting.

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[golden delicious]

I didn't realize this was a thing I was wondering where all these units were coming from in my rear areas. I thought I just missed them?

I think you missed them. I didn't pay too much attention to clearing these hexes in my match and had a total of maybe five units appear there later. One of them did cut the RR supplying AGS but it didn't matter because of the forward supply points.

[larryfulkerson]

Now that the Hungarians have cleared out the mountain hexes the next task is to clear out Bessarabia and capture the crossings over the river. The red on white unit is Slavic and consists of an HQ unit, a fighter unit, and one infantry regiment which isn't enough to be adequately useful and I'm planning on using that formation to garrison something somewhere mostly to just keep them out of the way.

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[larryfulkerson]

Now that my lines to the Leningrad - Smolensk - Kiev line, I was planning on designating an MSR and cover it and key junctions with MP/Sec forces and leave 1 div on rail that can respond. So in AGN, maybe MP/Sec covering the line with units at Siauliai, Riga, Gulbene, Pskov, Luga for example. I'm not sure if I want to micro converting every single hex, but maybe that is the better answer will all those MP units?

I was thinking of doing something like that with my forces and I really like your idea of sitting a division on a rail hex for a reserve. I think I should do that too.

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[larryfulkerson]

This is the Odessa area right now and shows the Romanians hard at work clearing out the Soviet defenders and the supply rails are repaired almost all the way to the front lines and supply levels are in the mid-teens so far. The Soviet air shock is now 50% and my airfield strikes are suffering higher losses so I'm going to quit doing that for the most part. I'm now going into the bridge busting mode.

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened in T6 and shows where my units ended up after moving during this turn. I finally got my Stukas within range of the Soviet naval units near Leningrad and I sank 1 BB and 5 DD's for a loss of 45 Stukas. I believe there is one remaining Soviet BB up there and I'm going to get it as soon as my Stukas heal and refuel. I'm off to a good start to get to Pskov ASAP. There's one more good crossing over the river. I'm playing by the red green yellow rules so I had nobody to attack the Soviet unit in Minsk so it survives for one more turn. I'm not completely through the Stalin Line down south but a couple more turns ought to do it. And with the help of the Hungarians and Romanians the Soviet units are being pushed to the east.

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