Road to Smolensk: Axis major win v. AI

[coralsaw]

Turn 8
Velikie Luki and Bryansk are captured, and 3rd Pz Group is resting for a final push.

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Velikie Luki is captured

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The panzers are building up

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Bryansk is captured

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Infantry will fight all good battles it can get
Anything to inch forward, unless highly fatigued or depleted.

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Turn 9
Vyazma taken, and a final push for Rhzev. The whole SU front has collapsed.

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Without the railroad, we'd be nowhere as near to Moscow

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The Velikie Luki pocket
Does the Velikie Luki have a supply area? None of these pocketed units was isolated. Nevertheless, I didn't have enough force to push from the west.

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All out for Rzhev!

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Turn 10
Rzhev has fallen, and a Pz Division gets adventurous and sails for Moscow! [:D]

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The battle for Rzhev
I was lucky to get that one, and had to pull all the stops. Leader change, all and everything I had in terms of dedicated support units, the whole Luftwaffe supporting, and assaulting with Pz Divisions a 3-Fort, which I'd never do, but this was the final turn so I got away with it. Still, it was a nail-biter to the end.

Ground support makes all the difference in a difficult battle, but has to be used sparingly to ensure the airplanes are in a rested and ready.

[coralsaw]

Axis Major win
I found this scenario superb and highly enjoyable against the AI. It was a great learning experience in blitzkrieg tactics and force preservation. Hope this little AAR helped a bit.

Best regards.

[olivier34]

Thanks for this AAR, it helps...I played this scenario without using the axis AP...I lost (minor SU victory). I red about HQ buildups and in my second attempt, I got a minor victory but I see with your AAR that I should have avoid to attack across the Dnepr, my panzer's had a hard time to exploit there to surround Smolensk by the south.
A question :
I red that HQbuildup is very consuming in trucks and should not be used too often in a GC. Is this possible to get a major victory in this scenario without using HQbuildups ?

[PaulWRoberts]

Great AAR! Thanks for the notes and visuals.

In post 28, a note on the map asks "Why were these units not isolated?" Is it because they're in contact with the northern map edge?

Does WITE allow tracing of supply through areas of the map that are off-limits in the scenario? After all, the rest of the map is there, but you just can't move on it.

[coralsaw]

ORIGINAL: olivier34
I red that HQbuildup is very consuming in trucks and should not be used too often in a GC. Is this possible to get a major victory in this scenario without using HQbuildups ?

True, it's very consuming in trucks, but is worth doing for this fixed-time scenario, since the motor pool is big enough. I doubt I'd be able to get a major victory with this approach without HQ buildup, the 10 turns are not enough time.

Sorry, I cannot comment on how much folks use this in the GC, since I have limited experience playing that.

Glad my little AAR helped. [:)]

[coralsaw]

ORIGINAL: Paul Roberts

Great AAR! Thanks for the notes and visuals.

In post 28, a note on the map asks "Why were these units not isolated?" Is it because they're in contact with the northern map edge?

Does WITE allow tracing of supply through areas of the map that are off-limits in the scenario? After all, the rest of the map is there, but you just can't move on it.

I doubt that the scenario allows off-limit supply, the northern pocket by AGN in the first turn resulted in isolated units. It must be something with the particular area, around Velikie Luki.

Does anyone know?

[Champagne]

This is really impressive and instructional.

Thanks very much.

[&o]

[Remmes]

Will give this scenario a try. I've finished playing the road to Minsk.
You advice will be very useful for sure.

Thanks for sharing.