The Tale(tail) that wags the dog, OR I eat Crow. HLYA Soviets play in 43+

[HardLuckYetAgain]

I don't have a "published" AAR that goes past 42. The closet being my game between BrianG and Myself(as Soviets) in WITE1. Most if not all end way before 42 since I normally always play Germany except here recently in WITE2. Having said that I feel it is time to have another AAR on the forum that is 43+ that was started from the beginning. Granted I did not start this but am taking over on turn 95 as the Soviet player. Please realize that any comment I make is not an attack on either of the participant players of this game before I took over. I have the deepest respect for both players and congratulate them on getting to this point.

My part in this is to try and take Berlin as I boldly said I could do. Or I may be eating crow if I can't take Berlin. So be it if I can't, will be fun and will give my German opponent the opportunity to continue to play with all the time he invested. I will just give my reaction to where the game is at turn 95 while we wait for the PW to be changed by Tuesday. But I will start out with a PM snippet I received from Joel Billings

"The Germans have between 700k and 1 million more men overall than historically at this time, while the Soviets may have 300k more overall. It will be something if you can managed to grind down the Axis enough to win"

Joel is correct. A 4 million man Army is going to be very tough.

If things happen in the game that can support Beethovens claim then so be it too. I am here to play the game and give history to an AAR which some may benefit from. Or some could have a good laugh at my stupidity. Either way I am concentrating on this game and Jasonbroomers game. Enjoy.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

The House rules

No motorization
No airdrop
No naval

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Most interesting screenshot from looking over the turn.

Avail Trucks.png (57.21 KiB) Viewed 1462 times

[Beethoven1]

Good luck. I am pretty sure you will win fairly easily, most likely well ahead of historical schedule though.

Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out, because not enough games get to this point from a 1941 start!

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Good luck. I am pretty sure you will win fairly easily, most likely well ahead of historical schedule though.

Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out, because not enough games get to this point from a 1941 start!

Correct on not getting to this point. Congrats to both of those players, BIG TIME. I feel it needs to be filled in with another AAR 43+. I am by far not the best Soviet player out there but I will give it a go.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 Losses

T95 Losses.png (586.17 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 Air Losses

T95 Air Losses.png (931.13 KiB) Viewed 1448 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 Manpower and Fighter production


Manpower at dismal level (again I am not attacking the previous player, just pointing out the level is not to my liking)

Fighter and fighter/bomber surplus is scraping the bottom of the barrel

T95 Manpower and Fighter production.png (1.11 MiB) Viewed 1446 times

[Beethoven1]

Most interesting screenshot from looking over the turn.

Avail Trucks.png

Can you show the amount of trucks in units as well? Is there a surplus or a deficit in units? And (obviously relatedly) how many tank/mech corps have already been built?

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 TAC and Level bombers


One thing is given, you should never be short of IL2's

T95 Tac and Lvl bomber.png (947.44 KiB) Viewed 1444 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Most interesting screenshot from looking over the turn.

Avail Trucks.png

Can you show the amount of trucks in units as well? Is there a surplus or a deficit in units? And (obviously relatedly) how many tank/mech corps have already been built?

Here you go. Tank Corps he has more than I like, which in and of itself is not too bad considering the shape some are in. Mech Corps WAY more than I like. I believe only one, maybe two will survive to turn 96 ;-P. A Metric Ton of Mech and Moto Brigades . Many will not see turn 96 either.

T95.png (938.86 KiB) Viewed 1439 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 Front Line whole map view

Front line T95.png (4.4 MiB) Viewed 1438 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 North

This is your typical front line you see for WWI style offense and defense that many if not all play. There is no punching power other than one maybe two attacks effectively with this setup. Meaning everything, Tanks, CAV, Mech and artillery are spread out amongst the infantry on the front line. There is, in my opinion, no offensive potential anywhere on the map that could be sustained with this setup.

Granted this is the transition phase for the Soviets but this will be changed out to a different footing across all the fronts.

T95 North.png (1.8 MiB) Viewed 1430 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

T95 Center

Looks like the Soviet had offensive intentions of the Orange arrows. Just guessing, but that will go nowhere quick. I can tell you here and now that the order has gone out to cease this operation.

There were five ground attacks on the map with three of them here boxed in yellow.

The light blue box shows missing forts. Either the Germans did some heavy attacking here or the Soviets just did not dig in. I am going to go with the former.

Again, WWI style setup on the Center front too. Everything tanks, Mech, CAV, and artillery spread out amongst the infantry. All WW1 style setup. I am going to change it

T95 Center.png (2.51 MiB) Viewed 1424 times

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Pretty much the rest of the front line is the same. Once I get the turn back I have a ton of reorganization to do. Hopefully it won't take too long so I can get the turn over to the Germans.

Again it will not be until Tuesday for the PW change to happen. Thank you Joel for making that happen

[Beethoven1]

Not sure exactly what you mean by WW1, but I assume it is a reference to "WW1 grinding" since that has been the recent hot topic of discussion. The Soviet setup looks similar to historical WW1 in the sense that there is a more or less continuous front line, and in WW1 there was a continuous front line.

However, there was also a continuous front line historically in WW2, and that is how the front starts out in scenarios such as Stalingrad to Berlin, 1943/44 campaign, etc. Theoretically the game is ideally supposed to reproduce/simulate that sort of historical situation.

Of course, that is not the ideal setup for WITE2 in terms of game mechanics. That is the case certainly for either trying to defend against "WW1 grinding," for doing offensive "WW1 grinding," or also for doing an offensive in a manner other than WW1 grinding (emphasizing pockets and breakthrough to a greater degree). For any of those, you would want to have stronger forces concentrated in some areas and to have weak forces, very light screening forces somewhat behind the front, or even outright abandonment in certain other areas.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Not sure exactly what you mean by WW1, but I assume it is a reference to "WW1 grinding" since that has been the recent hot topic of discussion. The Soviet setup looks similar to historical WW1 in the sense that there is a more or less continuous front line, and in WW1 there was a continuous front line.

However, there was also a continuous front line historically in WW2, and that is how the front starts out in scenarios such as Stalingrad to Berlin, 1943/44 campaign, etc. Theoretically the game is ideally supposed to reproduce/simulate that sort of historical situation.

Of course, that is not the ideal setup for WITE2 in terms of game mechanics. That is the case certainly for either trying to defend against "WW1 grinding," for doing offensive "WW1 grinding," or also for doing an offensive in a manner other than WW1 grinding (emphasizing pockets and breakthrough to a greater degree). For any of those, you would want to have stronger forces concentrated in some areas and to have weak forces, very light screening forces somewhat behind the front, or even outright abandonment in certain other areas.

Na, you can do the grindy thing on your own. I am just saying this is set-up like WW1 with everything incorporated together. It is good for some hexes but other hexes not so good. Plus why would you want your mobile units getting smacked around sitting on the front line? I personally take my Armor/Mech off the front line unless forced not to or for other reasons i.e. penetration or surrounding of units. But that is another story.

[56ajax]

Good luck. Looking forward to this.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Good luck. Looking forward to this.

Ya, I want to get started too but have to wait for the PW on Tuesday . Was a good point to change ownership of the Soviets too, right in the Heavy Mud turns. By tuesday Jasonbroomer should have turn 8 to me too in our game. Fun fun fun.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Just noticed this....

Leader losses.png (413.83 KiB) Viewed 1191 times