Move-wise FitE

[larryfulkerson]

Likewise, I propose we leave the 628th Pioneer where he is for the moment:

[larryfulkerson]

There aren't many engineers in the neighborhood of the 630th Pioneer I find only one besides the 630th that
hasn't moved yet....so I suggest the following moves:
 

[larryfulkerson]

The 667th is fundamentally out of position.  There isn't much for him to do where he is as there aren't any river
hexes nearby and I hesitate to use him to attack anything with so for now, let's just leave him where he is:
 

[larryfulkerson]

The 745th Pioneer is another of those engineers that doesn't have an obvious mission.  I suggest we leave him
where he is for now:
 

[larryfulkerson]

We're now into the moving of the combat units.  The first that hasn't moved yet is the 1st Brandenburger.  First
of all I divide the unit into 3 separate units so as to better get a surround on the adjacient Soviet divisions.  I
propose moving them thusly:



I especially wanted to capture/cover the bridge over the river so that I wouldn't have to
gamble on not being able to repair it if the Soviets blew it in their turn, if for some
reason the Soviets have any units left from the attacks to come that can blow that
bridge. Hey, you never know. Winning means leaving as little as possible to chance.

[larryfulkerson]

I want likewise to divide the 2nd Brandenburger into 3 units.  I propose moving them like this:
 

 
I don't want to move any combat units that are already adjacent to a Soviet unit so maybe it'd be best to move
one of those engineer units to finish the surround(s) on any target Soviet units:
 

 

[Telumar]

Great work Larry! As i also have played this i thought i might drop in.

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
Some may object to my moving him adjacient to the enemy like that but I'm thinking those enemy units are going to be moved by combat and maybe it won't be a problem, although stacking limits may argue against my putting him adjacient to the enemy units. What's your thoughts?

This is very scenario and situation dependent - in the opening phase of FitE i think you can safely move them adjacent to the enemy due to the shock bonus etc.

Another thing that i often do, especially when closing encirclements with units that have no high combat value, i divide them, using one subunit to close the encirclement, leaving the others in place. The one subunit then could also participate in the battle with lim.att./min.losses. The purpose of this is to save supply/readiness and men/equipment, the latter one a very important thing for thr germans in FitE!
This can also be used when doing reconaissance, especially when one has reached operational freedom. I split the recon units and let them either spread out from a crossing or have only one subunit going forward, while the others and the bulk of the main force stay in place until the next turn. The purpose here is also to save readiness/supply - once the road is converted to friendly hexes the main body of my force will have to pay only half the movement points on the following turn for advancing along the 'reckoned' road.
This is my procedure in FitE, i don't know if this can be used in other scens too without giving away a chance or have the advancing unit be annihilated. Certainly depends on the opponent and the situation. I sometimes do not always follow this procedure, especially when an advance in force might give my axis troops a good opportunity to sack some soviet divisions.

This pic is from turn 5 from my game against the great comrade Okimaw, showing HG Mitte's advance towards Orel, well here i didn't split them up as i expected stronger enemy units in that region.



So, i moved a bit away from the engineers/pioniere subject, but Larry has outlined this in detail..
It would also be interesting if someone could post things from the soviet side.

And merry Christmas all of you!

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Telumar
...This can also be used when doing reconaissance, especially when one has reached operational freedom. I split the recon units and let them either spread out from a crossing or have only one subunit going forward, while the others and the bulk of the main force stay in place until the next turn. The purpose here is also to save readiness/supply - once the road is converted to friendly hexes the main body of my force will have to pay only half the movement points on the following turn for advancing along the 'reckoned' road.
This is my procedure in FitE, i don't know if this can be used in other scens too without giving away a chance or have the advancing unit be annihilated. Certainly depends on the opponent and the situation. I sometimes do not always follow this procedure, especially when an advance in force might give my axis troops a good opportunity to sack some soviet divisions.

It would also be interesting if someone could post things from the soviet side.

And merry Christmas all of you!

Hey Telumar....thanks for the post....and it's a great idea. I hadn't thought of that. My
one comment about it is this: perhaps you could have the recon units far enough ahead
of the main body that everybody could be moving simultaneously instead of having the
main body "wait" .....or perhaps that's part of your strategy to save wear and tear ( and
movement points/supply ) on the main body units. Anyway, it's a great suggestion and a
good tactic to use in FitE.

FYI, I got two new shirts and a boat load of gift cards ( $ ) for X-mas. Yea.

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Hey Telumar....thanks for the post....and it's a great idea. I hadn't thought of that. My
one comment about it is this: perhaps you could have the recon units far enough ahead
of the main body that everybody could be moving simultaneously instead of having the
main body "wait" .....or perhaps that's part of your strategy to save wear and tear ( and
movement points/supply ) on the main body units. Anyway, it's a great suggestion and a
good tactic to use in FitE.

FYI, I got two new shirts and a boat load of gift cards ( $ ) for X-mas. Yea.

I am afraid simoultaneous movement may not be possible as the recon units (or any other type of spearhead unit) will always use more MPs for hex ownership conversion than the main body. At some point the main force would catch up and also as you said is one of my tactics to save tear and wear. (another tactic is to let small enemy units not be attacked by regiments, but by battalions (divided sub-units) - though one must have a feeling for what works and what not) Maybe the infantry units can move 'simoultaneously', but this is seldomly the case as the advance formations are almost always motorized or armoured ones. If it comes to a halt due to soviet roadblocks the foot/horse drawn infantry catches up usually, but rarely if ever forms an 'advance body'.
Despite this tactic to save wear and tear a good proportion of my force was in the deep red when it reached the approaches to Smolensk on turn 6.

Btw, i often checked the state of my advance with yours from your AAR to see if i was faster than you. As it came out a SS Grenadier Regt luckily sacked Kiew at the end of turn 6 before a proper defence could have been set up by my soviet opponent - he had each hex of the city defended, but not in yet in force.
Maybe it would be good to outline some rapid advance tactics in this thread. IMO and from my yet limited experience with this scenario a ruthless advance, pushed by all means, is essential to prevent the soviets from setting up proper defences. One must keep the blitz going!

[larryfulkerson]

Ordinarily the 3rd Brandenburger would be the next unit to move but I don't really know where would be the most
advantageous place(s) to put him yet.  Perhaps we can save the 3rd and 5th Brandenburgers to move later since
they are potentially airborne movable and have considerable operational flexibility where to go and would be of
more use later after all the land units have moved.  Here is the possibilities:  I have superimposed the proposed
axises of advance and the 1st and 2nd Brandenburgers have almost guarenteed the northmost one.  The
yellow oval is still questionable and is most likely the spot where we'll need the services of the 3rd and/or the 5th
Brandenburgers:
 

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Telumar
...Maybe it would be good to outline some rapid advance tactics in this thread....One must
keep the blitz going!

Hey that's a good idea. By all means let's keep the information detailed and informative
so that we can all learn all the good ideas. Thanks for the post(s).

[larryfulkerson]

In the moves movie below please keep in mind that the particular path was suggested by the pathfinder program
in TOAW and isn't particularly the best one just the one with the least movements points.  Here's where I ended
up moving the 4th Brandenburger to:
 

[larryfulkerson]

After moving the 4th B. I felt I had enough information to justify the movement of the 3 separate units of the
3rd B. ( I divided the unit into 3 separate units ) and moved them to the positions shown below:



I feel it best to point out that we've lost 3 recon assult squads so far due to the airborne
jumps:

[larryfulkerson]

The next units to move are the MP units....the first is the 501st MP dude.  I propose the following moves:
 

 
I suggest that spot 'cause I believe it might be the most difficult place for a recon unit to get into prior to
combat.

[larryfulkerson]

The next to move is the 521st MP unit.  I suggest the following:
 

[larryfulkerson]

As you can see below, there are plenty of "good" places for the 531st MP unit to move into and after weighing the pros and cons I decided to try to move him into the following spot:



One reason is that there are plenty of panzer units nearby ( with organic recon assets ) and I'd really rather not
move a motorized recon unit into a marsh hex ( which is where the 531st will end up if he can get there successfully). 

[larryfulkerson]

I moved the 531st and he did end up in that spot successfully.  The next one to move is the 541st.  This is the
MP unit we used for recon much earlier in the turn.  I'd rather not move him just yet since I'm not really really
sure where we'll need him to be just prior to combat ( and he's the only unit in the hex and is subject, therefore,
to fire upon leaving the hex and may not get to move as a result.  I'd rather move some other units into that hex
before moving him out of it just yet.  The situation is depicted below:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Out of all the "good" places to move the 551st MP unit I think I like this one the best:
 

 
And the reason is that it gives me control over a road hex that the Soviet unit can't retreat into during combat.  I
would like to dominate all the road hexes obviously since I can move fastest on the roads and highways.

[larryfulkerson]

So here is the 551st MP unit moving:
 

[larryfulkerson]

I'm thinking that if I move the 561st MP unit in between the two Soviet MP units that subsequent combat rounds
will cause the retreat ( red arrows ) of the MP units, probably, in the direction(s) depicted and that perhaps I can
use the 561st in later rounds to complete the surround on the target Soviet units there for their complete
destruction: