General Goofy Does Barbarossa

[zakblood]

just in case you think it's all over, once you do as he asks, and take Leningrad, or anything tbh




daft lad can and does sometimes change his mind, then back again, then again, you get the picture[X(]

[&o][&o]

[MrLongleg]

Best way to deal with it is to simply take all the objectives

[warspite1]

Right then, its about time I actually started moving and attacking.

As indicated above, I had a quick practice by moving 18th Army and then making two attacks. That was a total disaster so am trying again. Unless there is something out of left field that crops up, there is no more re-starting allowed. The AAR will run its course whatever happens.

For no good reason other than to add historical flavour I might refer to units and individuals that are not part of the game. If so then these will be placed in italics to differentiate the game mechanics to a bit of historical 'fluff'.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

von Leeb has no real idea what to do of course, but intends to send an army into the Baltics to liberate these countries. Von Kuchler’s 18th Army look like the ideal candidates for this role.

To that end the attack in this sector will kick-off with two divisions of General von Both’s 1st Corps – the 1st and 11th – attacking a Soviet tank and infantry division north of Tilsit.

Note: Intriguingly, I face penalties for overstacking, but I can see no way of ensuring I have maximum troop strength of an attack. I have no idea if these odds are good or bad or what, but there seems no way of increasing them and no way of getting a concentric attack here – so I think this is the best I can do. My units are in Blitzkrieg posture and are receiving the benefit of Direct Fire Artillery support so hopefully this will be enough.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

The good news is the German corps has won this first engagement.

This is what I see initially

[zakblood]

attacking from more than one side helps, where as head on is an assault as such, attacking from the side is flanking, so best is flank and rear, or surround and conquer as they say, either way enjoy and i'll get me

[warspite1]

I click on detail and....

...there are a lot of numbers - none of which mean anything to me at this stage.

I do not want to hold the game up while I try and make sense of these, so I will continue and then summarise once I have a clue what it all means!

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: zakblood

attacking from more than one side helps, where as head on is an assault as such, attacking from the side is flanking, so best is flank and rear, or surround and conquer as they say, either way enjoy and i'll get me

warspite1

Yes, but I cannot see that attacking from the side was possible here. Did I boob?

[zakblood]

no, but you could position units to flank and support before your main one went it, like chess, it's the move we make now, than make the next one's better or more possible / easier, then again it's only my opinion, so i'll sit back and be quite as i have my mouth full of

[warspite1]

The Soviets retreat. I see that my two divisions still have Action Points left (they've used roughly half to make that attack).

Integrity and readiness have dropped but morale has increased following this victory.

[Jagdtiger14]

What about moving into that swampy empty hex to the NW of Tilsit prior to the attack?...would that have given you a flank attack bonus if you had attacked from there as well?

[zakblood]

5.2.10. Concentric attacks, Attacking from multiple hex sides provides combat bonuses. The more directions that a defender is forced to deal with the easier they are to overcome. Concentric bonuses are halved when units are from different HQ's are involved.



copied part from the manual[&o]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Jagdtiger14

What about moving into that swampy empty hex to the NW of Tilsit prior to the attack?...would that have given you a flank attack bonus if you had attacked from there as well?

warspite1

No - I think moving in there must use up all AP's as when I tried yesterday the unit was greyed out and could not do anything.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

Following the attack, units of 18th Army move north in preparation for a move into the Baltic States. In order to open up the front, General Herzog’s 291st Division joins forces with the 290th Division from the 4th Panzer Gruppe to attack the Soviet 125th Division. von Leeb would have liked to use the 61st Infantry, but sees this Division has used up all its Action Points moving into the recently vacated Soviet hex. However, by using the 291st the Germans get a 10% concentric bonus so hopefully will prove a sensible attack.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

Another victory for German arms, allows a further bridgehead over the Nieman as the Soviets retreat in disarray.

The next part of von Leeb’s plan is to bring General Busch’s 16th Army into the battle in the extreme south of AGN’s area of operations. The Soviet 5th Rifle Division is isolated near the junction between AGN and AGC and Busch orders the two infantry divisions of General Hansen’s X Corps to execute this attack, with a 10% bonus for a concentric attack. Not sure why, but for this attack there is no Direct Fire Artillery available to the attacking infantry.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

The Rifle Division retreats. The plan will be to push more units of the 16th Army into the gap and hopefully open up the way to Kaunas.

The difficulty here is knowing the right time to commit Hoepner's Panzers for maximum effect.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

With the Soviet 5th Rifle Division hurt and off-balance, Busch orders two divisions of General Brockdorf-Ahlenfeldt's II Corps to pursue them.

[warspite1]

June 22nd 1941
Army Group North

This Soviets continue to retreat and Busch orders all units of the Army north east. Whilst this move looks encouraging, in so doing the Army is all out of Action Points for this turn.

The question now is what to do with Hoepner's Panzers????

[Jagdtiger14]

The 15 under the 12th and 32nd INF represents stacking limit points?...if so, then you still have 15 points worth to move into that hex?

Action points: Each army group gets these?...and how is it determined how many and is there any way to increase them? I assume they are used for attacks only? So you can still move around?

I assume there is no ZOC in this game? I think the panzers are better off being used north - north of the Neimen river...perhaps with the view of eventually turning east and around the forest towards Kaunas, and/or punching north into open terrain threatening the Soviets near the Baltic?

I would focus on the Soviet 202 MOT and 125 INF and see how they retreat and how the Soviets try to deal with that threat.

[Speedysteve]

Thanks for this. A really good read and another week or 2 of me reading these will put me in the position of knowing whether to take the plunge and buy this!