Thrashing Around in Russia - Again. RKhan (S) vs Strategator (A)

[Strategator]

In the south I was able to take Odessa already. 11th Army had held of rather big ressorces in form of SU's and was able to take the Port in one sudden attack.

Due to an happy fast forward push, which was considered to be a scouting mission, I found Nikolaev rather undefended as well and was able to take that front-port as well in the same turn.

Both Ports taken.png (1.72 MiB) Viewed 1751 times

Also this turn I launched the planned attack on KIEV, which was succsessfull as well. Not a too big garisson here.
I pushed forward with the Panzergruppe, D'Town in range. But due to the lurking Army in the north I needed my Infantry to secure the flank.
I wanted to see if he is starting an attack, retreating or holding the riverline in the next turn before I make a decision about pushing onwords or crossing the river before.

Advancing south.png (5.31 MiB) Viewed 1751 times

[Strategator]

In the Center I managed to deal some good attacks on open ground pushing his defense further back.

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But a real problem I just realized at the end of that turn where my unguarded flanks and large parts of my rear - which will become a real major ***up as we will see in future turns.
By now I was focusing on the advance and seeking a possible way to attack, I really did not think an attack in the flank could be a real thread at this point already.

The pockets.png (6.68 MiB) Viewed 1750 times

Besides the open flanks the stallment around Smolenks began, my showing up Infantry was pretty exhausted and the tanks have Problems to fight in the dense terrian.
All in all this was a very good turn, in south and north for sure. But things in the Center could get a little messy in the following turns.

[RKhan]

As Strat has mentioned, he left open flanks and I saw them right away. I thought to do some spoiling attacks. I didn't want to commit too much. I figured there would be security units nearby anyway.

There is one spoiler near Vitebsk and another in the south.

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I'm not sure either rail line is active. I suspect the double track to D Town is important, its the only one that connects his spearhead right now. Vitebsk is the short route to Smolensk so maybe? But he might have the Minsk line open. At this point I'm just taking a chance.

In the south I've completely uncovered the western Dnepr region. I'm relying on his supply issues to keep him from going far in this direction. I'd like to keep him out of Rostov this year so I have to take risks. Someone said to defend everywhere is not to defend at all.

[M60A3TTS]

I did not show the air force in the Caucusus which is there to avoid the pilot loss explain by M60 on turn 7. I find having to know these things about the game engine annoying, it seems to me the developer should fix this as a bug. It's not like hundreds of pilots are being shot somewhere for no reason. Anyway, my air game is so bad I can't afford to lose pilots.

To add insult to injury, I also suspect any wounded pilots sent back with their units to the SR are euthanized. There seems to be no provisions for medical care, and so they are simply eliminated. You don't see wounded pilots in the free pool filling pilot slots, so I prefer to keep as many fighter units on the map as practical.

[RKhan]

We are a bit behind in the AAR so I will try to do a thematic post to catch up.

Here is the situation in the north at the beginning of turn 7. He is leading the charge with his mobile units which gives me a chance to degrade them over time.

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At the end of turn 9 it looks like this. My slow and steady retreat appears to be working.

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I've stopped flying anything but GS and Superiority here as it was too expensive.

[RKhan]

The center has been very active and dare I say exciting

On turn 6 I noticed open flanks. On turn 7 it looked like this.

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I wonder if he missed my infanty at Vitebsk. Also, my forts are holding open a lot of terrain in the Pripyat and a double rail line. After a short deliberation I decide to go all in with the flank attacks.

Welcome to the Red Banner Calvary Suicide Charge

[RKhan]

Here is the deployment at the end of turn 7. Center Front takes the road to Minsk and Southwest is headed to Brest. The north I will spoil with low value infantry. Vitebsk is re captured.

To make this work will hug his mobile units so that can't easily get back to rout the calvary. I also drop a level 4 depot in the marshes on a double rail. Transport is moved to Bryansk area to drop supplies in the future.

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On turn 8 he is responding to the Vitebsk incursion strongly but we are still in supply.

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In the Pripyat I'm not sure he knows how much I've committed. I did not see much recon on his side.

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I continue to push. The rail lines into the center are now cut everywhere.

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We catch von Bock in his HQ and he is shot while trying to escape. His last words - "I told Guderian to watch his right flank!"

(Personal opinion - Guderian is overrated as a field commander. Bad team player.)

[RKhan]

Continuing from the previous post...

On turn 9 he is reducing my northern incursion while still trying to push towards Moscow. I see an opening.

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And cut off the spearhead

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And go over to the attack. 18 is not my favorite number

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[RKhan]

The suicide charge to into the marshes continues on turn 9. He is pulling panzers in to deal with it, so a win for me already. I surround them and push on. A stray infantry division is also still cut off, probably wondering what the heck is going on.

Supplies are dropping in from the air.

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[RKhan]

Here is the start of turn 7 in the south.

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He is over the river in strength and clearly saw my sneaky security division. I will fall back but slowly, hoping my Red Banner charge will pull from his strength here.

But not before we give these boys a bloody nose.

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This is the start of turn 8. The AT regiments were constricting supply last turn. Or so I hope...

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[RKhan]

Turn 9 and my infantry are paying a price for hanging around. I target the motorized unit to attempt a break out.

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No problem for my boys.

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Based on that success we plan to hang onto the river bank for another turn. A dangerous proposition but stories from the Red Banner Charge have got our blood up.

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[Strategator]

Hello, we are back. Actually we are in turn 18, so we are a little bit lacking behind with our AAR.

As RKhan I will also summarize the events in turn 7-9 now, which pictured quite a desaster for Army Group Centre.

Lets start in the North, where things have run way better:
In the north I had almost full air supremecy with only very few and obsolete Sowjet fighters showing up.
Due to the happenings in centre I decided to put even heavier focus on the North, so I shiftet pretty substantial air support into the north.

Air Kills North 2.png (723.48 KiB) Viewed 1579 times

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JG 54.png (4.21 MiB) Viewed 1579 times

On the ground things are slow but steady, reaching the dense woods and swamps making it harder to attack with tanks, but Infantry is now showing up and the supply is very good.
Talin was taken in turn 8.

Talin taken.png (6.16 MiB) Viewed 1579 times

[Strategator]

At the end of turn 9 I seperated his forces in the north and built up a connected and good to defend RR with depot directly behind the frontline.
As said, I put heavy focus on this front and so far I was happy with the results here.

north continued.png (6.35 MiB) Viewed 1576 times

Let's continue with the second more succsessful front in the south.
First big decicion - that took me really long to decice - around turn 8 was to not advance further towards D'Town, as my Infantry and RR was lacking behind. Also I was afraid to risk open flanks, as we will see was a big problem in AGC.
I decided to cross the River and RKhan finally decided to stop his retreat in turn 9, maybe motivated from his success in the centre region.

southern advance t8.png (3.61 MiB) Viewed 1576 times

southern advance.png (3.18 MiB) Viewed 1576 times

In the region of black sea I was able to reach the crimea by turn 9. No major battle took place, and with the supply of the ports everything was fine here.

Crimea reached.png (1.9 MiB) Viewed 1576 times

[Strategator]

So north and south are bot looking pretty good at this point. No major defences made me confident to advance to sewastapol until winter and maybe fight towards Leningrad till next year.

Let's see the major problem, which RKhan already described pretty well before.
From my perspective the whole cavalry suicide red banner charge of doom was a severe problem I realized way too late.
For sure the need to protect the flanks and also sending forces into the swamps i one of the major take aways for future games for me.
Well, it's a learning experience, and to deal with this problematic situation that early in the campaign was a surpisingly fun experience and a significant difference to the usual progress in most wargames.

Let's see what happened so far.

In turn 7 I still did not realize the thread in the swamps, still thinking the main flanking manouvre was coming from the north of smolenks.
I put many forces there to push them back. This danger was closed about turn 9.

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As I had many forces in the centre and wanted to keep the pressure I started some minor Attacks east of smolenks and tried to pocket some of his divisions.

offensive actions centre.png (5.47 MiB) Viewed 1575 times

Ultimatly this left my units in a very bad position, with beginning lack of supply from turn 8 on.

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[Strategator]

The real thread came through the swamps towards Minks, cutting off my main supply line for smolenks.

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I fully realized the problem at the beginning of turn 9 and started to pull many forces here to catch the many Cav units spreading around in my rear.
Even the ITALIAN expeditianary force where transferred to help here.

italians arrive.png (3.53 MiB) Viewed 1572 times

At the end of turn 9 it came clear, that there was a lot of territorry taken and even one ID will not be able to reatreat to MINSK swift enough.

ID lost.png (4.12 MiB) Viewed 1572 times

[Strategator]

One (yes, another one) major mistake, this time on tactical level was to underestimate the range of CAV units in one turn, leaving the garrison of MINSK very weak.

weak defence in minsk.png (4.57 MiB) Viewed 1571 times

This will play a role soon, when we will see the outcome of all this mess in turn 10 and 11 eventually.
As a spoiler: I did not give up and am willing to continue and leanr from my mistakes. Two fronts still in good shape and in good advance, but of course AGC did not really recover from all of this till end of the year.
At least the advance came to a halt and was delayed for several turns.
We will come to this in the near future.

Let us know what you think about all of this.
Thanks and greetings

[M60A3TTS]

One (yes, another one) major mistake, this time on tactical level was to underestimate the range of CAV units in one turn, leaving the garrison of MINSK very weak.


weak defence in minsk.png


This will play a role soon, when we will see the outcome of all this mess in turn 10 and 11 eventually.
As a spoiler: I did not give up and am willing to continue and leanr from my mistakes. Two fronts still in good shape and in good advance, but of course AGC did not really recover from all of this till end of the year.
At least the advance came to a halt and was delayed for several turns.
We will come to this in the near future.

Let us know what you think about all of this.
Thanks and greetings

You need to understand the importance of properly employing your security divisions for the short time they are on the map before they are re-assigned to the SU garrison TB.

Security divisions are not high CV units, but they can move rather well through swamps. You need to flip hexes with those divisions in the Pripet Marshes to avoid these human cavalry raids. Your divisions can also act as a loose cordon to keep the cav divisions from breaking out in force. Don't just let those security divisions run around the open map because you just can't leave the Pripet marshes open to this sort of move. Note also that on the southern periphery of the Pripet, you actually can get a motorized unit flipping hexes which are light woods and clear terrain pretty deep into the area, accelerating at least the threat of totally cutting the area off.

Hungarian cavalry can also be helpful with this sort of thing in the south.

[RKhan]

Everyone knows playing the Axis as a beginner is much harder so kudos to Strategator for taking on that side.

He and I have already decided to switch sides for our next game, whenever that happens. We will continue this one as long as both sides are having fun. That said, I dread the pressure of Axis turn 1 and don't expect to enjoy it.

[Strategator]

One (yes, another one) major mistake, this time on tactical level was to underestimate the range of CAV units in one turn, leaving the garrison of MINSK very weak.


weak defence in minsk.png


This will play a role soon, when we will see the outcome of all this mess in turn 10 and 11 eventually.
As a spoiler: I did not give up and am willing to continue and leanr from my mistakes. Two fronts still in good shape and in good advance, but of course AGC did not really recover from all of this till end of the year.
At least the advance came to a halt and was delayed for several turns.
We will come to this in the near future.

Let us know what you think about all of this.
Thanks and greetings

You need to understand the importance of properly employing your security divisions for the short time they are on the map before they are re-assigned to the SU garrison TB.

Security divisions are not high CV units, but they can move rather well through swamps. You need to flip hexes with those divisions in the Pripet Marshes to avoid these human cavalry raids. Your divisions can also act as a loose cordon to keep the cav divisions from breaking out in force. Don't just let those security divisions run around the open map because you just can't leave the Pripet marshes open to this sort of move. Note also that on the southern periphery of the Pripet, you actually can get a motorized unit flipping hexes which are light woods and clear terrain pretty deep into the area, accelerating at least the threat of totally cutting the area off.

Hungarian cavalry can also be helpful with this sort of thing in the south.

Thanks for those valuable tips and feedback. Really appreciate it!
I learn a lot for the next game and hell I am hooked by this game, so there will definitely be a next one.

[RKhan]

Carrying on with the thematic approach, here is the north.

Here is the start of turn 10.

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And now the end of turn 13.

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The Axis keeps pushing about one hex per turn. Leningrad has good fortifications and I have a rotation system in place for the beat up infantry. I feel we are safe up here for now.