FIFTY SHADES OF WiTE: SILLYFLOWER V BRIANG

[sillyflower]

T129 stats
losses 21.5 to 64.5.
Air 111 (guess what I forgot to do in my last turn[:-]) to 419

[sillyflower]

T130 The squabbling over the middle of nowhere continues

[sillyflower]

Picture is not quite finished turn ( I think ! did plug the hole but not well enough[X(]) After cracking down all the Brianite penetrations, losses were 24.1 to 63.1; air 21 to 275.

[sillyflower]

We continue to make Kursk look like a skirmish as perhaps the biggest armour clash in WiTE continues unabated

[sillyflower]

Minor sideshow in the north - provided that the Brianites are contained. Each side clears out 1 salient whist the most northerly lunge captures a hex. Heavy reinforcements including armour rush to the area to try to contain the orc advance

[sillyflower]

the missing losses screen from the previous turn



T34s are lost at a rate of over 100 per day, and the new heavier SUs take a pounding from massed Tigers, Panthers and heavy German AT units. Over 1800 trucks captured which must mean massive total truck losses. Air losses 14 to 291.

HIWI numbers now exceed 2/3rds of a million . Scary to think back to the days before they existed.

[Stelteck]

Looking at german troops, i noticed that panzerdivision have now a combat value between 20 an 30, and panzergrenader more than 40.

It is far better than the value of panzerdivision in 1941/1942, with lower national morale. What is your secret ?

[Psych0]

At Stelteck... is that due to Better CV Math option?

At Silly... coming out of stealth mode and just wanted to thank you for a great AAR for 130 turns now. Read it all the last week or so and learned a lot. The AAR gave me plenty of ideas to improve my game as a WITE novice (although not an Eastfront novice). It's been aspirational sir! Now should I also read Brian's side of the story? [X(]

[sillyflower]

Welcome to the AAR PsychO and tx for your kind words. As you know , we are (were?) playing the alt VC260 option which meant game 'officially' ended when I took Saratov. When we started, more realistic (and higher) CVs were just another option and you could not have more than 1. Read Brian's AAR with care. It is bound to be full of Bolshevik lies and doctored screenshots.

@ Stelteck: I wish I could claim to be so good with computers that I hacked into the game database to double my unit CVs during my turn, before putting them back to normal before sending (so Brian didn't notice) and that the 40 pointer was simply my failure to dial one unit back down before taking the screenshot. Sadly, the truth is more prosaic. The unit is GD with morale + exp of 99 and with butch attachments. PG xx norm is about 14. Will post details when I do T133.

[Manstein63]

1200 tanks destroyed for the loss of 150 surely Brian can't sustain such losses for much longer.
Manstein63

[Crackaces]

It is bound to be full of Bolshevik lies and doctored screenshots.

I keep telling you sillyflower.. from my purview the Bolsheviks have yet to arrive .. most of the units are lukewarm capitalist at best [8D]

I do have a question .. Have you seen expected German losses given the battles? Were you expecting higher losses given the attacks of surrounded units?

[sillyflower]

@ Manstein - Red tank numbers seem to be holding fairly steady, but the damage will be to experience levels and to morale, so their CVs will plummet. And he will have a worsening truck shortage [:D].

@ Crackaces - I have learned to expect the levels of losses I've been seeing - though that may not be a very insightful or useful answer. I have only had 1 previous game as G go into '43 before my opponent disappeared, and that was years ago. As Russian almost all opponents have surrendered by now, and those who didn't were all getting a serious kicking. Axis casualties are bound to increase though they should be relatively low for the date because the Bolsheviks (sic - I ignore your attempts at maskirova) are relatively weak; both in terms of sheer numbers and by comparison to the wehrmacht.

[Crackaces]

I asked the question because of the controversy in the thread "German Losses". This game seems to be very enjoyable for both players and presents a challenge; although, this game has not produced "historical" results.

[Stelteck]

Also probably end 1943 the T-34 is now obsolete against the new german tanks and so die very easily, like the light tanks were dying in 1942. (Here more than 700 looses).

The T-34 gun is also obsolete at this time. He will need the 85mm version to re-start doing damage.
(Or lots of SU. I see the ennemy engage (and lost) some numbers of SU-85/122/152).

I find the screen of damage without logistic phase (german turn only or soviet turn only) very interesting to check how different tanks perform in battle.

[chaos45]

The key to latewar Soviet play is to breakthrough and encircle....with all this head to head fighting Brian G is done. Losing that many tanks a week he cannot afford of the long haul. Eventually it will weaken his tank forces.

Silly's German army is still very strong and so each time Brian makes progress he is facing massive counterattacks that are effectively smashing his own armored forces down.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: chaos45

The key to latewar Soviet play is to breakthrough and encircle....with all this head to head fighting Brian G is done. Losing that many tanks a week he cannot afford of the long haul. Eventually it will weaken his tank forces.

Silly's German army is still very strong and so each time Brian makes progress he is facing massive counterattacks that are effectively smashing his own armored forces down.

I think also Sillyflower is playing the defense the German's should have executed .. a mobile blocking action rather than "stand and die!" which allowed the historical encirclements ...
The game allows for a couple of hexes to retreat followed by a mobile counterattack that brings the front back to an original position as you stated.

[STEF78]

We are only late 1943 and morale will continue to decrease/increase for the germans/russians

Summer 1944 is a killing for the germans. I played it twice and I just cannot imagine the result with such a long frontline.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

I asked the question because of the controversy in the thread "German Losses".

I have to say that I'm not sure what point the thread is making except that G losses in the very early turns are extremely low, and an explanation by Morvael how the casualties are calculated and displayed.
I have always found that from '42 attacking gets harder for G with increased casualties even when successful. Certainly this is marked now. Combat result near the top of this page is a good example. Hence my earlier analysis of when G should attack and when restraint is better..

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Stelteck

I find the screen of damage without logistic phase (german turn only or soviet turn only) very interesting to check how different tanks perform in battle.

The hardcore way of doing this is to increase the combat results level, though I almost always stick on 3. I sometimes use 4 when doing ground bombing: it doesn't take long. Otherwise higher levels are likely to end in death by boredom and/or the end of any relationship with any loved one. I do usually look at the losses screen after any large battle to see what has been killed. More useful for this purpose than the G or R turn: those these are very helpful too.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: STEF78

We are only late 1943 and morale will continue to decrease/increase for the germans/russians

Summer 1944 is a killing for the germans. I played it twice and I just cannot imagine the result with such a long frontline.

In my sophomoric view (only 2 PBEM games under my belt , and none past turn 40), in terms of blood, space, time Sillyflower has plenty of space to give to save blood. So when his units start losing CV due to morale I suspect his line will move ever so slowly toward Berlin. But continuing to maneuver his PzCorps to attrite MP's . I can't see destruction of Army Group Center nor Mildly market minded Soviets in Berlin ....even by 1946 if the game could continue to that point. But better yet because of the discipline of the players we will get a chance to see!