General Goofy Does Barbarossa

[Templer_12]

Thanks from my side.

I call this game already my own, but still have a lot to learn and yet so little time.
Your Goofy does Barbarossa beginners AAR is a fun way educate yourself. [:)]

[warspite1]

Okay so let me take a look at some of the tutorials to see what is what.
First off it’s the basics.

The three German Army Groups need to say within their area of responsibility – and these areas are marked by a red dotted line. Presumably units can be transferred between commands? I will have to check that.

Armies are expected to move and fight together and so divisions need to stay within 5 hexes of their HQ.

[warspite1]

To move and fight each unit is given an allowance of Action Points.

To move a unit select it and then press M OR use one of the Orange buttons above Unit Info.

You are told where a unit can move (Blue) and where doing so would cause Army Group boundary penalties (Brown). Hovering over a hex gives the cost of movement and the fuel cost.

[warspite1]

So how do I resolve combat?

First, select an enemy unit and then press A or one of the orange keys above Unit Info.

Then to select the units to attack either by:

a) Select the ALL button
b) Select List and a list of units appears that can be chosen from
c) Select from the map by selecting the unit and then the space bar.

The attackers and defenders then appear in the Combat Set-Up box. All pretty straightforward and easy to understand - even for me.

[warspite1]

So how do I calculate the combat odds?

Before we come to odds there are two important points to remember:

- Do not exceed the stacking limit (or there are penalties)
- The more sides being attacked, the higher the bonus awarded

The stacking limit and concentric attack bonus is shown above the Unit Info. Units can easily be de-selected from the attack by clicking on and pressing the space bar.

[warspite1]

So the actual attack.

So with the odds and any bonus known, press Attack above the Combat Set-up box – and battle then commences (or you can press the ESC key to cancel the attack).

This all seems very simple and user friendly so far.

[warspite1]

I like these in-game tutorials. Each grabs the attention by being relatively short, punchy and to the point.

[warspite1]

Next up it’s the interface (some of which I have already covered above):

The status of any given unit can be requested by the Report Status key after clicking on the unit.

To the right of the Report Status button are 4 ‘Helper buttons’ designed to help dig a player out of a hole – ‘at a cost’. These require double clicking. No detail on these at present.

[warspite1]

The Unit Troop Pictures now contain red and blue boxes. These are:

Red – Combat bonus
Blue – Defensive bonus

There are also now three additional tabs next to the Unit Info. There are:

- Relationships – This provides a summary of relations with key army and political personnel – and the effects these have on the game.

- Panzer Gruppe – This gives a status update on the four Panzer Gruppe (presumably because of their importance to the operation).

- Score – Does what it says on the tin.

[warspite1]

Playing the Germans

Right this starts to get into the nitty gritty of the first turn. I think what I will do is to end the pre-start turn and begin the fun of moving. I can then return to the other tutorials – eleven more still to go!

I click on end turn and:

Do you know what? The more I think about this, the more I think that we only have to kick in the front door and the whole rotten edifice will come crashing down..... [:D]

[warspite1]

Well Heil, Heil Siegety Heil.....



Er wait.... is he talking about me?[&:]


...anyway.

The Fuhrer repeats Fuhrer Directive No.21 to me (I think he's serious about this).

- Leningrad
- Destruction of army HQ
- Rostov
- Moscow

[warspite1]

Okay it looks like I am going to need to read another tutorial or two in order to understand what this is all about.

So Leningrad is the Fuhrer's no.1 target and von Leeb doesn't like me very much - all because of some stupid argument a couple of years ago. Jeeeeez this is so unprofessional - I can't work under these conditions....

[storms off theatrically stage left]

[warspite1]

The Aide-de-Camp report above contains things that need doing straightaway.

So I need to decide who has Command Focus for the three Army Groups and assigning theatre artillery.

Command Focus and Army Groups

I want ideally to assign Command Focus to the Panzergruppen. However the theatre commanders will only agree to do this if I have positive relations with them. As things stand I think this is not the case with von Leeb (AGN), but is with von Rundstedt (AGS), while I have no idea about von Bock (AGC)???

So I need to go to the Cards tab at the top of the screen, click the command category, click on the Army Group and play the card. One card or one per Army Group?

I then choose the Army I want to attach to. It looks like from the tutorial that I can choose the 4th Panzer Gruppe – so relations with von Leeb cannot be that bad.

The Army chosen then receives tactical bonuses the following turn.

Theatre Artillery

I then select Artillery and once again choose a card – e.g. Artillery for offensive operations or Counter Battery for defensive etc.

[warspite1]

I also need to look at the Reports tab.

Air offensive report is particularly important.

Right so lets get back to the game and see if I can put all that into practice.

[warspite1]

I click on the cards tab and select AGN. However, as suspected, I cannot select Hoepner's 4th Panzer Gruppe (I assume because my relationship with von Leeb is not positive).

[warspite1]

I think I need to put this card against a Panzer Gruppe and so turn my attention to AGS and 2nd Panzer Gruppe.

[warspite1]

I wonder whether I should place my artillery with AGC too for added punch. However, I am mindful that Hitler wants Leningrad as his No.1 priority and so attach my artillery focus to von Kuchler's 18th Army to hopefully build momentum in the north.

Apparently this artillery support won't be available for about 4 days...

[warspite1]

Does anyone know if I can play other cards at this time e.g. Posture - and whether there is any benefit or detriment in so doing?

[Jagdtiger14]

Hey Warspite! Glad to see you doing this AAR! If only you had performed Fall Gelb, then this could have been a '40 Barb[;)]

From banter, I heard Hitler changes his mind a lot...so at some point he will probably want you to change your primary objective. I don't think there would be a problem prepping a front other than the north for this reason.

Did you add the Romanian's?...I think I saw the Finn's.

I think I would horde the cards and PP's as much as possible.

I read about someone's game where all his panzers (+?) came to a halt...I think he never came off from blitzkrieg?...I think you have the option to go on blitzkrieg, and off of it to give your troops a rest.

Next AAR try full blast hard AI[:D]

[Barthheart]

Each army group can have a focus and an artillery assignment not just one.
It's ok to give the focus to an Infantry division. But you can hold on to the focus if you think you can improve your relations with the Group commander quickly.

Be careful with changing postures and Rest and Refit cards. Each will lock the formation in place while things are sorted out. Usually 1 or 2 turns.

All your units start the game in Blitzkrieg posture. This is good for a while as it give a big bonus to attacking. But your armour and mech units will burn a lot of fuel while in this posture and your infantry units will gain a lot of fatigue.

Picking the right moment to switch postures is part of the fun! [;)]