Nachrichten of a GC virgin (no Bozo_the_Clown)(noob friendly)

[Aditia]

OKH: Aditia
STAVKA: Bozo_the_Clown
Starting version: 1.09.00

Optional Rules:
- Pelton's ruleset
- Mild Winter
- no 1:1=2:1
- non-random weather

Starting game pace about 5 turns per week.
We have completed 3.5 turns while I am posting this, posting the turns in AAR now.

Background and Objective of the AAR:
Most of my wargaming has been done playing Panzer Campaigns/Modern Campaigns for a good decade.
I bought WITE on release, but never got to play the GC because of real life interfering.
As this is my first GC, straight against a human, I am treating this as a training game, and I welcome all and any feedback, especially on proper use of (multi-turn) game mechanics and strategic concepts.
Also, if you see anything crucial I am missing or doing wrong, please call it out!
Also, hopefully my journey of learning will help any fellow newbies reading this. Not sure if there are any newbies left, but I bought the game for a friend of mine on Steam sale, so that is at least one [;)]

Prep done
- Tons of reading. Mostly AARs, scanned through the manual, advice on opening moves, and the very helpful 'Best of Forum Posts'series.
- Practice runs of Turn 1, but against the AI. In hindsight I should have practised against myself..
- I did a ton of practising of the turn 1 Air Campaign.

Initial strategy
- Maximize long range bomber kills on turn 1
- Try and get a good starting push done
- Maintain flexibility of operational choices while we see how Bozo wants to conduct his early defence. I don't know Bozo's experience level or play style, but he is clearly not new at this game [:D]

Turn 1 to 4 in subsequent posts.

[Aditia]

Turn 1

After all my practising and reading, my turn 1 ended up as below. I was a bit apprehensive about it, and when I received the turn back my worries were confirmed.

Apart from moving units and conducting air war I focused on:
- Dial down TOE of support units and most German line infantry.
- Redistribution of construction battalions to Army hq's and above

AGN:

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AGC:

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AGS:

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Air Losses:

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I used the air Doctrine settings below.

Sequence was:

- Move some airbases forward without doing any ground assaults; the ground assaults first start only opens up some airfields around leningrad, which is not worth it.
- Destroy as many long range bombers as possible, furthest away first
- Then start for value, closest airfields first working outward

[Aditia]

Turn 2:

Tough one. My failures in my turn 1 Prep became apparent as Bozo managed to break all pockets apart from the big one created by AGC west of Minsk. This is really going to delay my infantry, especially the northern Army of AGC, and AGN.
I am going to have to be creative to make sure as much infantry moves forward as possible.

I like to spam as much recon as I can during these first few turns with 2 objectives:
- Get information
- Hide what areas have my actual interest

Start of Turn 2 recon tells me the following:

- Bozo is setting up on the (standard?) Pskov-Land Bridge line, with strong presence at Pskov and the land bridge, but weak presence between Velikie Lukie and Vitebsk. As that area is above the Dvina Major river, I decide to focus my attention there and defeat his land bridge defences by outflanking it and putting the weight of both AGN and AGC in that area, giving me strategic flexibility and threatening Moscow and the rear Area of the Valdai Hills, which makes STAVKA's defence of Pskov/Leningrad area ambivalent as well.
The Trade Off is not pushing Pskov-Leningrad on the shortest route, but since AGN infantry got delayed that psuh would be weak anyway. I will also be arriving slower at the land bridge, but that is a good thing, as I want STAVKA to feel comfortable building his wall there.

- In the South, Bozo seems to have been emboldened by breaking all the pockets by conducting a forward defence. This has put his heavy armor divisions within striking range and I decide to send Das Reich through the swamps to bypass any strong resistance and pocket those forward heavy units. This forward defence also makes the fact that the pockets were broken and my infantry delayed less of an issue, as the Panzers will not be as far ahead anyway.

AGN:

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AGCnorth:

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AGCsouth

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AGS:

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Turn 3:

Recon tells me that Bozo is cementing his Pskov-Land Bridge line, and not yet sees my major push above the Dvina coming, or does not care, or thinks he needs to delay there as the terrain is good. Swamp hexes ARE the German's arch nemesis as they stymie armored drives, so making use of that terrain has some good logic.
Nevertheless, fort levels betweeb V-Luki and Vitebsk are low and I already committed to the drive previous turn, so I shall press on.
As my AGN infantry is so far behind, I decide to do a HQ build up of 1 Panzer Corps in the North to try and exploit any gains toward V-Luki next turn, instead of assaulting the forts south of Pskov.

In the South Bozo keeps freeing units and delaying me, and being very annoying, but in the process has a lot of units West of the Dnepr still. I do think he is using low value units to try and keep his heavy units alive, but they should be destroyed soon anyway. I get a little bit greedy in the South and instead of clearing the forward area and prep a push across the Dnepr I create more pockets and they are quite loose...

One major game mechanic I learned this turn was to abandon letting the AI choose the airgroups for most missions. The AI often does not send fighter cover for air missions and I lost a bunch of Level Bombers this turn that way and made Airfield bombing missions pointless. At the end of the turn I did everything manually and it made a ton of difference.

FBD3 is North East of Rumania, converting rail towards the Dnepr.

AGN:

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AGCnorth:

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AGCsouth:

Note how I have 1 Panzer Corps probing the Dnepr way south of Mogilev. I want to make sure my opponent has to make choices and keeps guessing about my intentions.

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AGSnorth:

Note my greed here. Those have divisions in the back should perish soon enough, but I have left my Panzer spearhead in a precarious position, instead of just consolidating the drive.

[Aditia]

AGSsouth:

Tip for newer players. Always have shift+K on to remind you of what cities need a garrison to prevent partisans spawning.

[Aditia]

I should really make some start of turn screenshots, I'll try remember for coming turns.

Turn 4:

- STAVKA responds to my heavy commitment between V-Luki ad the Land Bridge by pulling his line between Pskov and Vitebsk back. A counter attack to completely isolate a Mot. and Pz. division just in front of the land bridge is executed by STAVKA
- STAVKA's strategy of being as annoying as possible in the south to delay me, combined with my hubris has lead to some bad results for me. pockets are again broken and most of my armored spearhead could not be fully resupplied. The trade off for STAVKA is of course more units committed west of the Dnepr.

My moves:

- Continue the drive North of the land bridge to force Bozo to make some hard choices.
- Infantry has now moved up to within striking range of the Soviet line north of the Land Bridge.
- In the South I abandon creating any more pockets west of the Dnepr and instead focus on routing out units east of me and putting the Army Group in a position to strike at the Dnepr without making it obvious where on the Dnepr. I hope to clear out the heavy armor units that were caught on turn 2 next turn, and even if the pocket is broken again, I should not have to commit much to keep them put.
- As stated elsewhere, hasty attacks by strong mobile formations work really well against Soviet strong points and I tried to make good use of them.

What I learned this turn:
- Don't be greedy! I almost faced disaster in the South by creating loose pockets and exposing my armored spearhead to logistical disruption.
- Hasty Attacks by strong mobile formations are really good for damaging the defensive lines that STAVKA puts up before your infantry arrives.
- If possible, prevent soviet units from retreating into Swamp hexes. Swamp hexes make for really strong defensive positions against mobile drives.

AGN:

[Aditia]

AGC:

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AGS:

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While I wait for my next turn. The main concerns/questions I have:

- Apart from dialling down TOE in the commander's report on Turn 1, and sending airgroups to the reserve that needed the rest. I have not done much management of my Armies, apart from spending AP to keep divisions within logistical range of a corp HQ and moving around construction batallions and moving strong divisions to Corps that are decked out with strong SUs.
Is their any crucial management of my armies/aiforce I should be doing?
- Does it matter to which airbase I assign units from the National Reserve that are ready for operations?
- When and how fo I prepare for ze Blizzard? I have read a lot about this, but it is still fuzzy for me.
- Is there any point in creating fortified regions in 1941 to prepare for the Blizzard?
- What are the most important downsides to doing HQ Build Ups? Apart from the tactical situation and the expected operational situation next turn, are there any logistical considerations for (not) doing HQ Build Ups?
- Are there any important game mechanics/concepts that I am missing? (yes this is an open question haha)


Thanks for any feedback in advance. Thanks for reading anyway. I have a headache now after doing this marathon posting session

[sillyflower]

That's a lot of questions
Hard to comment on your TOE changes without knowing what they were. divs of 80+ morale (or v.close) should all remain at 100%

SUs are another big issue - see my AAR vs Brian for my views

You need the LW at the front not in reserve - other than excess recce squadrons. JU 52s need to be where you panzers most need them.

1st winter - you have mild and no 1:1 to 2:1 so it will be relatively painless. Depends on how strong the Russians are in the blizzard which in turn depends on the kills of men and arms factories you get. I personally didn't really do any prep for winter vs Brian because I knew his O would be weak.I would not worry about it before mud at the earliest when you will have to work out whether to have a major snow O or sit tight for blizzard ie limit yourself to spoiling attacks. May be different answers on different parts of the front and for different weather zones.

'41 forts - see above answer. I did build a few around Moscow at the last minute but I think only 1 ended up in the front line.

HQBUs use APs and trucks - though I don't think it tells you how many trucks these days. In '41 you have to knacker the Red army. This is best done by surrounding them the turn before you turn them into HIWIs. Conserving resources, APs and trucks instead is not a good strategy.

Game mechanics. If you are not missing any, you are a better player than me. Most important thing you need to master is how to make pockets secure. That includes using divisional breakdown, converting hexes so that potential counter-attackers can't reach you, and remembering that it can be better to leave a hex unoccupied but ZOC-locked rather than putting a weak unit in it, if it is a hex that you need to keep if the pocket is to remain intact.