my first 17 turns as the axis

[olivier34]

"J'ai mangé mon pain blanc"...that's what we say in France...now if I red correctly the forum I am going to have some disappointment the next coming 17 turns.
Here are some screenshots of the front line. Now I just need some advices...plenty of them !
ok, not this type of comment please [:)]
"you should surender", "you should withdraw to germany", "you should have never played this game"
but good and solid one's !

[olivier34]

center

[olivier34]

south

[olivier34]

south2

[olivier34]

losses

[sillyflower]

Where to start?

weather zones make no difference to weather effects except parts where blizzard effects don't apply -see manual
Priorities
-get railheads to front
-snow offensive to cot offf and destroy more soviets and to get some space between russians and your denfence line
- chose defence line and dig. Keep it as short as possible whilst making use of defensible terrain esp cities and high population towns which mitigate blizzard effects. Dig in depth esp on good defensive terrain
- remember rivers freeze so will have no defence value
- send rubbish troops, spare hqs etc back west to escape blizzard just before it comes
- be prepared to give up ground to minimise casualties

you will still be hammered but you will learn a lot for your next game.

no doubt others can give fuller advice but I can only type with 1 finger................

[olivier34]

thanks Sillyflower and all this with only one finger !
It seems that there are two schools to build a defensive line. Break down div and rotate the regiments or avoid that at all cost...hum...I think that I need to weaken some part of my front, breaking down some div.

Question: Should I put some corps into static mode ? They will dig faster (10 % faster), I will gain some aps that I could use to build fortified zones for instance. I may do that, freeze all my north...what do you think ?

[henri51]

Two things:
1) Should that not read "...pain noir" (black bread)?
2)From what I have read on the forums, territory (except maybe Leningrad) is not as important as losses (some claim territory is almost irrelevant for the Germans), and Russian losses are only about half of what they should "normally" be, and your losses are somewhat higher. IIRC, in a good situation you should be inflicting losses on the Soviets in a ratio of 10:1 or more.

It is probably late to attempt any significant encirclements, so all you can do is hunker down and hold on as best you can until the blizzard is over. Build forts if you have time. Remember that any line defended by Rumanians (except mountain units) will not even be a speed bump for the soviets.Your new units probably cannot reach the front in a single move.

There is another thread from a German player who lured the Soviets to outrun their supply lines by retreating almost to Germany, then launched a devastating counterattack in the Spring. Maybe you could try that.

The good news is that this is a good situation to try out a German elastic defense...[:D](Maybe the game should hae an option for units to rereat as soon as they start taking significant losses).

Henri

[olivier34]

Henry51, J'ai mangé mon pain blanc means the good time is over...and I think it is ! I don't want to retreat to germany...I find it little gamey...
About static units ? fortified zone ? any thoughts ?

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: olivier34

Here are some screenshots of the front line. Now I just need some advices...plenty of them !
ok, not this type of comment please [:)]
"you should surender", "you should withdraw to germany", "you should have never played this game"
but good and solid one's !

I'm no one to judge other player [:)] Having done my blizzard offensive (as a Soviet) I can clearly say one thing: as a German you CAN be safe.... but NOT everywhere...

What did I discover? 2-units stacks (German infantry) with fort level minimum 2 are basically unvulnerable. These are the good news.

The bad news? You can't have this everywhere, obviously [:D] So in theory common sense says => have these 2-units stacks in places you really think are CRITICAL. As for the weak places, you should make sure they are non vital parts of the front...

So I am not sure you should use a deep defence (a carpet) everywhere (perhaps only in your weak areas). These [necessarily] single units cannot resist the Red Army assaults, believe me... You would face a steamroller along the whole front [;)] And that would knock you out: no '42 summer offensive, possibly.

[randallw]

You do not have to retreat all the way back to the German border; the western parts of the Soviet Union aren't hit by the blizzard ( check the manual for the exact X coord line ).

[bevans]

Not to the start line (i.e. for the 'bad weather line') - but darned close (maybe 4-6 hexes east of the start line) except Courland and the 'Lvov indent'. So retreating all the way back to non-blizzard zones may be short term tactically sound but it is long term strategically non-viable. I don't think your situation is that bad and the '41 winter was never quite as bad (at least against the AI) as made out here - and 1.04 has toned it down as well. Just be prepared to fall back under pressure and before that pressure isolates units. Unlike the SU, your lost units are literally irreplacable. And remember, to win as the Axis, you only have to not lose; as deeply unsatisfying as that is.