Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21)

[larryfulkerson]

I've got the paratroopers up near the front lines so that they won't have a very long trip flying through the air. They
are vulnerable to interdiction when they fly and so the shorter mission flying time is better than a long trip from
somewhere in the backfield. Also, this task ahead of me to tackle the river crossing across the main river is going to
be a major undertaking and I'm thinking of splurging a turn or two to get everybody in position and then pull the
trigger and let everyone assault at the same time to swamp the Soviet defenders with lots of trouble instead of just a
little trouble locally.

[larryfulkerson]

I think I'm going to need some arty to pound Odessa into submission and so I railed down near Odessa the K12 arty unit
that moves 1 hex at a time when not on the rails and It's going to take a while getting this arty within range of
Odessa so it's best to move it now before hand. There's a need for more arty yet but I need some rails to move it.
K12 has a range of 12 so it's possible to get it within range fairly quickly even at one hex at a time.

[larryfulkerson]

I think I'm going to need some arty to pound Odessa into submission and so I railed down near Odessa the K12 arty unit
that moves 1 hex at a time when not on the rails and It's going to take a while getting this arty within range of
Odessa so it's best to move it now before hand. There's a need for more arty yet but I need some rails to move it.
K12 has a range of 12 so it's possible to get it within range fairly quickly even at one hex at a time.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

We're starting to get into the single digit supply situations near Mimsk. That means the rails haven't been keeping up
with the fighting and I may need to call a halt to the advance for a turn or two to allow the rails to catch up because
I can't fight in low-supply areas. It doesn't work well. The units turn cherry red and that's not a good thing.

EDIT: I used to know the reason for the different colors on the supply dots. Gold means something and blue means
something else and I've forgotten what the difference is. Something about sharing that hex's supply with the enemy
force or something. It's a mystery to me now. I guess I need to RTFM again.

I can figure that out from just looking at the map. All the blue hexes are adjacent to your units, so their ZOC is preventing enemy supply from passing through.

[larryfulkerson]

Okie dokie, I've made it up to the third river the final river before kick off and I've passed into the single digit
supply area and that means a halt to the advance for a couple of turns for it to climb high enough to support operations.
The rails are far in the rear and won't catch up with the front lines for a while yet. I just need more than 10 supply
to continue.

[John B.]

If you don't mind a simple question while your forces wait and restock, what is the point of a force proficiency check? It sounds devastating if you fail it but why would you lose an entire turn if some units are in tip top shape?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: John B.
If you don't mind a simple question while your forces wait and restock, what is the point of a force proficiency check? It sounds devastating if you fail it but why would you lose an entire turn if some units are in tip top shape?

Actually, John B. dude, the top top shape of my force is an illusion. The recon units are perpetually red health-wise because they are constantly moving and sometimes
shooting. The Panzers are resting for the most part because they are down into their 40's on supply and a lot of the line infantry units are tired. About 2/3 of the
force is low on supply. That can effect readiness and therefore proficiency I'm guessing. So my force proficiency is lower than the game engine cutoff wherever that is
right now. I'm not sure what the cutoff is and as a matter of fact I'm not all that sure I know what the point of a force proficiency check is. Why have one? I donno.

[John B.]

Thanks!

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
I used to know the reason for the different colors on the supply dots. Gold means something and blue means
something else and I've forgotten what the difference is. Something about sharing that hex's supply with the enemy
force or something. It's a mystery to me now. I guess I need to RTFM again.

I can figure that out from just looking at the map. All the blue hexes are adjacent to your units, so their ZOC is preventing enemy supply from passing through.

Good catch. See, this is why I keep loosing games, I don't notice things like that.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going to have to hold everybody I can on the west side of the rivers for the better supply situation and I need to
repair those bridges over the second river before the supply situation will improve over there. There's nothing else
to do but wait for the supplies to reach the front. Maybe a turn, maybe two.

EDIT: Oh, hey, I just thought of this. How about I round up all the supply units, those individual supply units, and
send them to this supply deprived area? That might help things along. At least in this part of the world. The con
of this idea is that the other areas will starve, maybe. Lemme check it out and give you a full report.

[larryfulkerson]

To find all the supply units I went to the OOB and sorted on icon type and scrolled down to the S's and voila there they
were. Three of them. I'll check out the areas they are in and see if removing them would jepardize the war effort.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply unit for the AGN group and as you can see it's already into the single digits
for supply in this area too and they are just about to undertake the capture of Pskov if possible
and the railhead is still hundreds of kilometers away so I think I need to leave this supply
unit where it is for now. Luck is good to us however since, AGC is already in place where the
low supply, multiple rivers area is. Let's look at the AGS supply unit next.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's where the AGS supply unit is right now and as you can see they are doing rather well supply-wise and so Yeah here's
one I can spare for somewhere else. I'll move him to the nearest working rail heading north.

[larryfulkerson]

Meanwhile, Axis forces are at the last bridge to the west of Odessa and the way looks to be clear all the way to the
city. I'll have to extend my defenses to include some Soviet units lurking nearby but that's doable with all the
Rumanians available.

[Dagfinn]

Would you mind showing us the situation on the Finnish and Arctic Fronts?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Dagfinn
Would you mind showing us the situation on the Finnish and Arctic Fronts?

Your wish is my command. Not a lot of action in the north. Not a lot of
news coming out of there.

[larryfulkerson]

Axis forces are approaching Orsha, a key in the pathway to Moscow; that and Smolensk. I see the clear area between the
rivers and I'm wondering if there's anybody else standing there. The way looks clear but those hexes may be "unknown"
so far and not "spotted" or "observed". Which would reveal anything in the hex I'm guessing. If you see anything at
all you see everything in the hex is my guess.

[larryfulkerson]

Meanwhile, Axis forces are approaching Kiev from the NW and unless there's a lot of Soviet units invisible still the
resistance factor doesn't seem all that high. I'm pretty sure I'll arrive at Kiev in about five turns, maybe less.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm setting up some rest camps in the rear to get the units next to an HQ unit and sit them in a high(er) supply area
and let them rest. They are playing horseshoes and shuffleboard and canasta and some calesthenics in the morning and
the rest of the day for getting drunk.

[larryfulkerson]

I put this picture together just to see what it would look like. I think I like it.