Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T37 Center:
In the center, different story, with smaller stacks mostly made of infantry and more open terrain on the German side, I was able to make some nice progress in Jan/Feb, and push the Germans westwards 6-10 hexes. And Orel was liberated! However Kursk could not be retaken, again my opponent dug in some Motorized and Tank divisions in there that I could not budge no matter how many units attacked.


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T37 south:
Similar story. Belgorov was liberated, but I could not crack Kharkov...


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T37 Stalino sector:
As you can see, my opponent dug in a lot of Pz units down there, and I banged my head on Stalino and could not do anything to liberate it, whereas I made progress both North and South of it.


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

Thoughts on 1941-1942 blizzard campaign:

My opponent chose to defend in place, leaving all of his panzers on the front line. This was a surprise to me, and combined with the reduced blizzard rule, proved quite effective as I gained only some ground back. And I could not crack any of his dug-in Panzers in cities. However he ends the blizzard season with only 1700 tanks and of which only 1100 are ready. In my games as German against AI, I exit winter with around 3000 tanks after wintering all my Pz Div, which gives me a lethal weapon for summer 1942. It will be interesting to see how this campaign goes.

I end the blizzard season with 6M men and 6300 tanks.
I also created 45 Guard Rifle Div and 5 Guard Cav Corps





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timmyab
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by timmyab »

Are you playing with mild blizzard? I thought you were playing 07.11. Even if it's the harsh blizzard rules his decision to evacuate the North is crazy in my opinion.
caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

Timmyab, yes we are playing mild blizzard
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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T38:
we are now in March 1942, and there is no more special 41-42 blizzard effect. The Germans decide to use the opportunity to counter-attack. Most of the front is lit-up! Since my front line units have been moving westwards until the last turn, they are not well entrenched and are seating ducks in open terrain. Ouch 117,000 casualties in 1 turn!
I decide the best thing to do is to retreat back to a line of forts that my brigades and other units have been digging all winter. This means giving up pretty much all the land reclaimed during the winter, but I have a lot of land, and in 1942 I think it is more about having the right defense line to stock the German onslaught.

North:


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T38 Moscow sector:


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T38 Center:
I highlighted where my dug-in defense line is. This where I am retreating to, and where I plan to stand and fight.



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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T38 south, with highlighted line of defense.



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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

Beginning of May 1942:

The next 10 turns are mostly mud, with a few spots of snow or blizzard here & there.
During that time, I completed my retreat to my prepared defense line, and as got close to T47 and the end of the full mud season, my opponent has moved his army forward to make contact along the whole front.

Thoughts on up & coming 1942 summer campaign:
My army has refilled to about 6.7M men and over 5000 tanks over the winter. This allows (I think) a pretty stiff front line with good depth.
I have combined all of my cavalry and most of my tank brigades into Corps. I know some players recommend not making tank Corps until late 1942 or 1943, but my experience at least against the AI is that Tank Corps make a huge difference in counter-attacks. You just have to keep them far enough behind the line to not get them pocketed, and let them rest between attacks. If you can protect them and use them on massive counterattacks which win most of the time, you can get them good morale and experience gains, and several will turn into Guard status in 1942. I put all of my Tank Corps into tank-only armies and kept them under Stavka so they can move around the front easily.
The rest of the armies are either:
- 8 Rifle divisions + 2 Rifle Brigades which will later in 1943 become 4 infantry corps with the addition of 2 brigades.
- 1 Cavalry Corps + 6 Rifle divisions + 3 Rifle Brigades which will later in 1943 become 3 infantry corps
I know APs are most critical through all of 1942 and 1943, so I plan my Rifle Armies right from late 1941 to fit within the 18 AP limit and with the right number of rifle divisions and brigades to combine into Corps in 1943 once the cost goes down to 10 per Corps, so that I don’t have to use any APs to move them around.
Also in early 1941, as soon as I am done disbanding all the Corps HQs, I build 8x Sapper Regiments per Army. Those will support fighting in 1941 and 1942, and gain experience. Many get Guard status before 1943 that way. Then they get assigned to 2x per Cavalry Corps and later 2x per Rifle Corps, and I add them to Tank Corps also. I find early in 1941 the Russian player has plenty of APs and not too many uses for them (once you have swapped the few decent leaders into army & front command posts), so I find this is a good use of those APs.
That is one fun thing (to me) about playing the Russian side: all the planning ahead, as soon as 1941, for the vision of which Red Army you want in 1943 to start on the offensive. And doing it at the same time you defend against the Nazi onslaught. I find it useful to build a spreadsheet tracking all the things I want to do though, since the game spans several months for me, if not I would lose track of what I want to do part way through.

My initial defense strategy is as follows:
- The front line is made of 3-stacks in fort level 2. Its main goal is to require the German army to perform deliberate attacks to break it, which will quickly soak up MPs for many units and hopefully avoid too massive a penetration.
- Behind that I try to have a 2-3 unit depth of single units which have 2 roles: create and maintain fort level 2, and soak up German panzer MPs when they break the front line, to prevent them going too far back and pocket me. Also units retreating from the first line will be able to stack with those units in prepared forts as opposed to route further back, thus requiring more German attacks to move them.
- Around 4-5 hexes back from the front line, I have cavalry corps and tank corps which I try to make into 3-stacks, spaced by two hexes to lock up a backstop line with ZOCs. Those have 2 roles: 1) make a very strong stack to stop any panzer unit that has made it through the front line + the MP soakers, dead in it’s tracks. 2) Combine with front line infantry to counter-attack German spearheads with massive deliberate attacks.





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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T47 North:
I have only a thin line of units north of Kalinin, so I can focus my defense in front of Moscow and all the way down to the Black Sea. If the German decide to attack north of Kalinin, I'll just retreat slowly, there is nothing of value up there.


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T47 Moscow sector:
During the snow weeks, my opponents has pushed my units eastwards about 2-3 hexes, so now he is very close to Moscow. I expect a major push in this area, so I have a deep defense in this sector.



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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T47 Center:


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T47 south:
Here I am showing my defense line in more details. This is what I use from Tula all the way down to the Black Sea, for the most part:
- First line is made of 3 stacks
- Behind it, 2-3 layers of "MP soakers"
- Then some solid 3-stacks with quite a few Cavalry Corps or Guard Rifle Divisions space by 2 hexes (circled)
- Behind that, my Tank Corps, which will be used to counter-attack


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

T48 South:
This turn is mostly mud, except in the very south.
The Germans use the opportunity to attack in that sector. This highlights how my defense works. The strong stacks stopped his panzers after 3-4 hexes of penetration, and I pushed them back with a massive counter-attack of Cavalry Corps, Tank Corps, and Rifle Divisions.


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caliJP
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by caliJP »

Forgot to mention in previous post: you see all the routed Pz and Mot Div behind the German line that got pummeled by my counter attack.
This battle by itself cost the Germans over 200 tanks!



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bigbaba
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by bigbaba »

very good counterattack at stalino and i also like your usage of the tank corps. you even routed some poor panzer divisions.:) he can not absorb such panzer loses for a long time. your loses were a bit too high so far imho but you did a good job farming victories and moral in the blizzard.

i am at the end of blizzard in one of my games and i want to try a different defensice tactic then in my early games so far:

i build 5-6 armies consisting of guards RD with my best infantry leaders. as SU's i equip this armies with sappers and very lavishly with heavy AT regiments and also seperate tank btl. this armies will man a 2nd and 3th defensive line where the german panzer ball is while using any advantage the terrain gives to them. i also tend to give the cavaerly armies a lot of AT regiments and tank battalions.
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loki100
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by loki100 »

agree, very effective set up.

Wonder if your opponent hasn't really concentrated on one sector. I'm not sure they have the strength for a battle of attrition at Moscow and a mobile offensive in the south.

I like bigbaba's model of special tank killing formations. I've been playing with the idea of creating 3 mixes of SU for my combined arms armies:

a basic one, say 2-3 sappers, 2-3 art/AT, 1-2 AA
an offensive one, say 4-6 sappers, 3-4 art, rockets/heavy mortars, AA, tanks (I am basically making this the norm for my shock armies)
an anti tank one, say 2-3 sappers, 2-3 art, 1-2 AA, 3-4 AT

with the latter deployed where its most likely the Panzers will operate. Anything to try and weaken their opening 1942 offensive.
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RE: Grand Campaign 1941 - JC vs JP

Post by bigbaba »

sounds good. maybe its also a good idea to build at least 20 AT regiments and also tank battalions and let them train up under stavka command. after the panzer ball is identified one can reinfirce armies in the endangered areas with some additional AT units.
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