Balancing Act

[popejohnpaul]

My previous game was a forgone conclusion and showed that the Axis side was predominate and that my mod could very likely be unbalanced now. To test that out I thought I'd play the Soviet side against an Axis Elmer and see what I could do against the Axis jurgernaut ( spelling ? ). Accordingly I set up a new game of my mod and this is that playthrough. The Axis side ended in round 3 for some reason ( Elmer failed some kind of check I guess ) and as a result only attacked me 33 times which is a good thing because there was no stopping them. I'll show you where everybody is.

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's a SITREP. My supply radius is 4 which is more than I was expecting.

BTW, my air shock is 5 and the Axis air shock is 120 so I need to pull all the planes that can move back to a safer position for a while. Unfortunately about a dozen air units were destroyed in the Axis first turn and about 60% of the remnants are in reorg and can't move and the rest of them are cherry red in health. Supply levels are very low in every unit I own. I lost 1.3K aircraft in the first Axis turn and approx. 75 planes went down. I'm guessing 75 because I realize that the 215 listed on the losses panel is a fog-of-war number and not to be used in decision making.

About 70% of my LCU's are either in garrison mode ( yellow band ) or in reorg ( orange band ) or can't move because they are surrounded by enemy units but those that can move will pull to the east as fast as they can. Unfortunately, most of the Soviet units are slow movers relative to Axis units. Most of the movers will soon be overtaken and destroyed I fear.

I'm trying to break as many bridges as I can as my units move, trying to avoid trapping friendly units on the wrong side of the river.

We have a force overextended supply threshold of 2 so that's something I'll have to keep in mind if I ever get a chance to attack in the future.

I notice that the selected unit, NKVD Yefremov, is healthy and has a full load of supply and is a fast mover. It's units like this that I'll use to break bridges right before the Axis can cross them to enable me to get as many of my units across the bridge as I can. These fast moving units can break the bridge and race off to the next bridge to break lickity split.

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's the Recent Reinforcements and Withdrawals.
I'm surprised to find that I get a hand-full of units this time. The yellow box I've annotated is to signify that from the first Coastal Artillery unit to the end of the list is all Coastal Arillery. Approx 100 of them. I'm not sure I'll need them all and will disband those I don't need. I disbanded all the disband units there were ( about a dozen of them ) just to get whatever equipment they held into the supply chain ASAP. I haven't started moving the units yet so don't get your panties in a bunch....I'll start posting the map situation sooner or later.

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[popejohnpaul]

I've just discovered something you might find interesting. On T2 I'm expecting to receive a recon unit ( motorcycles ) from the 6th Army at a spot that's close to being overrun by the Axis so I may never receive it. And if I do receive it, it's sure to be destroyed on the same turn. Probably. Too bad too....because that's a healthy fast mover that I could use for good causes. C'est la façon dont le cookie s'émiette. That's the French way to say: That's the way the cookie crumbles. Or something similar. I'm guessing. Somebody google it.

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[Cpl GAC]

If you are sure the Axis Elmer is in D21 and not just Russo-German 41-45, I have two suggestions;

- moving troops across the Black Sea is really helpful - you can make real trouble in Odessa
- I hope you have a lot of kitchen sinks because you'll be throwing them in desperation until mid-September...

I have popcorn and await your frustrations.

[popejohnpaul]

If you are sure the Axis Elmer is in D21 and not just Russo-German 41-45, I have two suggestions;

- moving troops across the Black Sea is really helpful - you can make real trouble in Odessa
- I hope you have a lot of kitchen sinks because you'll be throwing them in desperation until mid-September...

I have popcorn and await your frustrations.

Thanks for the suggestion(s). I'll see what I can do. I'm thinking I can build a huge wall all around Moscow and get the Mexicans to pay for it. Only because I'm a stable genius. Meanwhile I'm going to try to move east with an many units as possible and see if I can't get a front line started around Smolensk.

I thought I'd post my first turn situation for those of you that want more information about the game's status or want to move some of the units around, etc. So I've posted the current save game file here below.

My personal secretary announces the invasion of the Axis units:

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[popejohnpaul]

Here is where everybody is before I start moving units.

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[popejohnpaul]

This is what's happening up north right now. Fortunately, most of the Soviet units in this image are able to move and move they shall. I want to break as many bridges as I can while I retreat. I'm torn between defending Riga and not defending Riga. Defending the city might buy me some time and stiffle any Axis river crossing attempts for a turn or two. Is that worth the loss of several divisions of units?

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's the situation I inherited just south of the above image. Here we see lots of Soviet units that can't move and will probably be destroyed. Not much for the Soviet player to do in this area.

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's what's going on in the south. Almost none of the Soviet units in this image can move except some near the mountains. Not much for me to do here.

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's the condition of the air fleet. As you can see almost all of them are red and only a couple of them are green. That plus the air shock difference between the two sides prohibits any Soviet attacks. I need to move those that can to a safer spot far to the east, out of harm's way.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T3 round 1 and here's the situation up north. So far I've held onto Riga and I've got a hasty defense set up in the river crossings and some assorted units to stand by on the east side of the river. They may hold for a turn maybe two. After that I'm guessing Elmer will be across the river and running wild in my backfield. If I was Axis I would be.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T3 round 1 and here's the situation north of Leningrad. The Finn forces are pushing hard and my guys don't have the kind of moxie the Finns have. A lot of them I'm unable to move yet. In the upper left corner of this image you can find the Reboly TaskForce 73rd/2 NKVD unit making his way in Axis territory trying to tear up as much rail as he can, blow bridges, grab the airfield east of Varkaus, and generally go beserk out there. Save yourself if you can. Cutting the Finns off from their supply would be worth trying for, worth dying for.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T3 round 1 and here's the situation near Daugavpils right now. I arrived at the river crossings just in the nick of time, literally the turn before he arrived, and got a hasty defense set up in the said crossings. Elmer is rushing his units forward, bypassing my units left and right. I suppose he's depending on follow-on forces to take care of anything they leave behind. This game is starting to get exciting. And fun is seen to break out all over the map.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T3 round 1 and here's the situation near Minsk right now. I'm watching my units disappearing faster than a Russian journalist. Right now I'd be willing to Pay the Mexicans to build that wall. Because I'm a stable genius.

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[Cpl GAC]

July '41 gives me a dull headache.

On Youtube there's a Russian film channel and on it plenty of subtitled WW2 movies. From their perspective; naming Generals and battles, the Germans speak German, drinking lots of tea - all very interesting. Particularly the occasional T34-85 in 1941. When an officer bemoaned the Kiev "ring" as they were fighting Typhoon off, Zhukov snapped up and said that they need to be honored and that their sacrifice bought them an unrepayable month's delay.

So, you have Zhukov's permission;

... Defending the city might buy me some time and stiffle any Axis river crossing attempts for a turn or two. Is that worth the loss of several divisions of units?

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T4 round 1 and here's the situation down south near the mountains. The Axis units are advancing without any reguard to their backdfield. I'm attempting to move my bypassed units into the path of the Axis supply lines to try to cut them off from their supply source. In an attempt to slow down their advance. So far so good.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T4 round 1 and here's the situation near Lvov right now. The Axis units are pressing hard and are making progress apace. Some of my units that were bypassed are yellow banded and can't move. That's kind of frustrating. I'm counterattacking ( ex. lower left corner ) when I think I can cause some damage. I'm busy breaking all the bridges I can reach and I'm curious to know if Elmer will repair them or no. I'm keeping an eye on the Axis Corps HQ units to see if they will repair any rail or no. I have seen neither occur so far.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T4 round 1 and here's the situation near Odessa right now. Elmer has found a way to outflank my 1st MLR and has advanced to my 2nd MLR but I managed to cut him off from his supply source so we'll have no major trouble from that Romanian Infantry unit near the southmost river crossing. Elmer will re-establish his supply lines in future turns no doubt so I can expect some bypassed units and major assaults on the 2nd MLR in some future turn. I'm starting to get boat-loads of reinforcements respawning in the far west and way down south. So I need to rail them forward before they will be useful and almost all of them are cherry red. But they are welcome.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T4 round 1 and here's the situation near Vilynus right now. The Soviet 184th Infantry Division is yellow because it's down to only 61% supply and only 55% health but is still operational. It was bypassed recently and is in the Axis backfield and I've been using him to break bridges and tear up rail lines. I suspect that Elmer will wake up to the fact that he has a problem in his rear and do something about it but I'm hoping to be able to cause problems for a couple of turns more at least.

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