Adventures with Brian In Italy

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Hey there Mike my friend. Good to hear from you again. Thanks for posting. I like
your thoughts, your ideas. I have a vague memory of you saying you were going to
play a StBP game against the PO and I'm wondering how that's going. I may be
thinking of somebody else.

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Do you have any paratroopers? Capturing the bridge at Tivoli (East of Rome) would really help you and cause Brian to really think about his defence plans in Rome. You can not really bypass Rome, but you can cut into his supply lines and make it harder for him to hold.

The British 1st Airborne Division was withdrawn to the UK but I still have a regiment of Rangers and the entire 82nd Airborne Division but I don't have any air cap., which means all the transports were withdrawn for another theater I suppose. I keep watching for some air cap. each turn because, like you said, something like your plan must be done to break the logjam I think. Oh, I just got an email that said that Brian's moves are ready for me to process. I'll do that now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the attacks Brian did in his turn. I didn't see a lot of movement during his
turn so I'm wondering if I'm seeing all the units he has or close to it. I still
need more troops near Rome. I'm wondering if the supply situation is any better.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply level near Rome and it's okay except for in the east of this
image. The German resistance is terrific and there's no easy way around them
most probably. I'll keep looking for a weak spot.

[larryfulkerson]

I got some moves from Brian and I've started working on them just now and I thought
I'd check the expected reinforcements to see what is getting withdrawn soon and I
don't see anything remarkable. Some of the places are in Rome. A lot of them are
on Sardinia so I guess I need to clear that island sometime.

[larryfulkerson]

I got some moves from Brian just now and this is what it looks like before I have
moved anybody. The fighting near Rome is still brutal and I've captured Foggia
but the supply level is too low to operate there.

My plan is to grab Rome and try to fight my way north while sending some troops to the
east to cut off the south from the rest of Italy and then march north clearing the map
as I go. On the other hand I could also just head north and ignore the midde for now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation near Rome. I'm going to try to repair the rail heading
to the east to better supply those folks on the east side of the front. Brian has
formed a really strong front and it's tough getting through it. I'm still looking
for a way around the crowd.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

I like how you are handling Rome. Well done.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what Rome looks like just before I ended my turn. I've gotten some units
round to the northeast of Rome and I plan to surround the city and reduce the
infestation of Germans and then press north and east.

[700851McCall]

Looks like Rome is going to end up in ruins. I think one of the reasons the Germans didn't defend it historically was because it would have been too easy to surround it. Which is what the real Allies would have had to do as I doubt they would have got authorisation to smash the place to pieces with bombs and artillery. No such annoying restrictions for the TOAW Generals though!

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
I like how you are handling Rome. Well done.

Thanks for your kind words. The rivers running through Rome are making it a good place to defend and the main action hinges around the river crossings. I can't just bypass the city as it has the road and rail intersections that I need for good supply flow. I wish Brian had decided not to defend the city.

I live by myself in a house trailer in a huge trailer park out in the desert just southeast of Tucson and I don't own a car so I don't go anywhere. My daughter shops for me for food, etc. and I never need to leave the house except to check the mail and the main way I relate to my society is watching You Tube videos and posting in the Matrix Games forums. So I really appreciate all the postings from all my fellow wargamers for all your advice and ideas and I would encourage you guys to keep it up. It's not the only relationships I have but it is important to me.

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Looks like Rome is going to end up in ruins. I think one of the reasons the Germans didn't defend it historically was because it would have been too easy to surround it. Which is what the real Allies would have had to do as I doubt they would have got authorisation to smash the place to pieces with bombs and artillery. No such annoying restrictions for the TOAW Generals though!

I'm letting my aircraft and artillery do most of the work for me and I can imagine that those tools would crater a lot of the Rome urban hexes and I'm hoping I won't have to fight for the city very hard. I'd rather not destroy all the historical art pieces just to move the Germans out.

There's a lot of territory yet to convert and fight for and I'd rather move north into areas where the Germans haven't entered yet, flowing like water into the areas of least resistance. Because I'm going to have to clear it all out anyway. I need to present my troops in all the hot spots and try to dominate the Germans where I find them by concentrating the troops for the fight and then afterwards to spread them out again. I'll have to advance in a pseudosynchronized manner to have the various groups support each other.

I don't think the broad front approach is going to work for this situation and I'm going to try the finger of God method whereby the units will ignore their flanks and just advance northward. I think that might work along the coastal road where I can support with the ships and anchor the west flank on the beach and send out road guards to explore laterally as the follow on forces continue to move north.

I don't have any air cap so I can't use the paratroopers to leapfrog anymore and the rest of the game will be fought on the ground I suppose. I haven't gotten around to dropping bridges yet and I'm trying to decide if I really need to. I think it might help the war effort to drop some key bridges.

[larryfulkerson]

Hey Steve Sill: I just got an email from Brian and he wants me to pass along a
message about the scenario. He's playing the Axis side in StBP and I think
he's worried about his units. He can't move them. Here's his email:

Larry,
Pass along to the designer of the scenario that all divisions on the map as of our date that started at Rome and the Gustav line are locked and I can't move them.

As far as our game goes take a look and see what scenario you wanna play. Needs to be small but long.
Brian

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what Rome looks like currently and except for the river running north I would
already own the city. I'm thinking about using some engineers to get across the river,
if that's possible, otherwise we'll be fighting over the river crossings for a while
longer.

I've gotten behind the Germans on the east flank and I'm getting a proper front line
formed for those areas that have Germans in them, visible German units. I'm wondering
if there are German units out there that I can't see.

Brian tells me that he can't move those units that started the game in Rome and the Gustav
Line at all and because of that it's just a matter of time until he loses. We're thinking
of moving to a different scenario, a small one, but a long one. I'm leaning toward the
Road to Moscow series but I'm open to suggestions. Anybody got a favorite that they would
like to see an AAR about?

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys....Brian and I have talked it over and it's
thought that at least part of the reason I did so well
in this game was that Brian couldn't move all his Axis
units and that he was playing with one arm tied behind
his back. We're going to move to a different scenario
and it's about "Autumn Fog 1944" and Brian is
going to be the Allies.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

That is too bad. I was enjoying this AAR so much.

Oh well, Autumn Fog sounds interesting - good luck and I will enjoy following along and learning about a new scenario.

Have a good day,

[sPzAbt653]

all divisions on the map as of our date that started at Rome and the Gustav line are locked and I can't move them.

We previously identified the 26.Pz Div, and I can see the 3.PzGren Div as being locked permanently also, but I don't see any other formations [except the 2.FJ Div, which is the Rome garrison and should stay locked until it is withdrawn on turn 35]. There are only a few Art units in the Gustav line, and they should be locked there.
Let me know what other formations you see that are locked and I will investigate them. Thanks for the report!

[larryfulkerson]

Attached below is the saved game that the PBEM++ system writes to my saves directory. I've zipped it up and I'm
attaching it here below so you can take a look around and investigate and so on. I think I used the password
"password" without the quotes. Good luck and thanks for your attention to this matter and I hope there's nothing
seriously wrong.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
My plan is to grab Rome and try to fight my way north while sending some troops to the
east to cut off the south from the rest of Italy and then march north clearing the map
as I go. On the other hand I could also just head north and [/img]

... have Germans pop out of the woodwork 20 turns later and destroy so much rail that you're forced to retreat to Naples to find any supply again.

Fixed that for you.[:D]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
My plan is to grab Rome and try to fight my way north while sending some troops to the
east to cut off the south from the rest of Italy and then march north clearing the map
as I go. On the other hand I could also just head north and....

... have Germans pop out of the woodwork 20 turns later and destroy so much rail that you're forced to retreat to Naples to find any supply again.

Fixed that for you.[:D]

You fixed that for me? Thanks, I think. What did you fix? Did you do this recently?
By the way, there's a new version of the PBEM mode StBP and I've posted about the
update in the MODS and Scenarios section of the forum.

[jarraya]

Larry,
Thanks for doing this AAR. Very interesting.

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

I've just got some moves from Brian and I've started to look things over and move
some units around and I thought I'd take a look at the supply bubbles and compare
it with the overextended threashold and so far we're good. I thought maybe it was
five or so but it's zero so there's no worries about being overextended even with
just a single point of supply. I'll have to remember that.

Can you please explain how you "look at supply bubbles" and also what you mean by this statement as it applies to your units?

Many thanks in advance!

J

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: jarraya
Larry,
Thanks for doing this AAR. Very interesting.

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
I've just got some moves from Brian and I've started to look things over and move
some units around and I thought I'd take a look at the supply bubbles and compare
it with the overextended threashold and so far we're good. I thought maybe it was
five or so but it's zero so there's no worries about being overextended even with
just a single point of supply. I'll have to remember that.

Can you please explain how you "look at supply bubbles" and also what you mean by this statement as it applies to your units?

Many thanks in advance!

J

Hey there jarraya dude. Thanks a lot for your question. In the image below I've depicted how you can turn on the supply bubbles to see what the supply level is doing in this area, and according to the Situation Briefing page two I think it is, you can scan the force overextended supply threashold and
in this case, D21 scenario, it's 5. So when I'm in a hex that has only 5 supply the unit will be in what's called an overextended supply state and the pestilence rules apply to that unit and it will slowly lose equipment over time until it's nothing but a shell.