Move-wise FitE

[larryfulkerson]

23rd Inf Div
T1R5: The division is to revert to ready reserve at the
position indicated in the picture below.

[larryfulkerson]

298th Inf Div
T1R5: One regiment of the division is to assault the
Soviet division to its south and destroy it.

[larryfulkerson]

44th Inf Div
T1R5: The three regiments are to again attack the Soviet
roadblock division and destroy it.

[larryfulkerson]

There were 5 attacks in round 5 and this is the aftermath of one of them: the one at
83,161. Note that the Axis has been attacking since round 1 and it's always been a frontal attack. Frontal attacks are costly as you can see with the comparison of losses given for each round. The Soviet unit only retreated in the round 5 attack. It might be interesting to see what the losses were for each attack, but I don't want to appear too pedantic.

Anyway, we had an early turn ending and it's now the Soviet turn round 1 and probably the only round the Soviets will get.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened at 84,130. Same frontal attacks story. Very costly and not very efficient. The moral of the story is that frontal attacks are to be avoided when possible.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened at 85,129:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened at 90,126:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened at 125,11:

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going to put together a graphical study of the terrain and show why it's best to pick a good place to defend and how it's possible to slow down the Axis advance with the sacrifice of a few good units, but it'll take some time to put it together....meanwhile this post will be a placeholder and will change the Subject line to Soviet turn 1 moves.

Meanwhile, here's the total Soviet losses during turn one:

[lojishen]

Awesome AAR, thanks!!

How do you know what is happening to the Soviet air untis throughout the turn?

Thanks,

[larryfulkerson]

Before your PBEM turn starts you can open a hotseat version of the scenario and click to end the turn as Axis so that you're looking at the Soviet side of things. Then go to the air report ( letter 'A' ) then do a cut and paste of the Soviet aircraft squadrons to a picture you can save. That way you have a list of the Soviet squadrons and WHERE they are. Then whenever you get a combat result it will list the hex it happened in and you can use the location to tell which Soviet squadron it was. That's how I do it.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of the Soviet squadrons that are exist. Only those who are "resting" and have a button ( like the one in the green square ) can fly to safety. All others are on reserve status or are reorganizing.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Soviet estimate of where the Axis aircraft are in Soviet turn 1 round 1:

[larryfulkerson]

The first thing I would do as the Soviets is go through the entire inventory of land combat units setting everybody to ignore losses ( except for the arty which I leave at limit losses ). If it's one thing the Soviets can afford it's men and equipment. The Soviets have almost 21,000 rifle squads and thousands of aircraft on hand and more is coming where that came from.

Most of the Soviet land combat units will be unable to move in these early turns, since the shock value is high in the early turns.

Most of the aircraft will be fighting at a severe disadvantage in these early turns so it's my thinking that they should be flown back to safety, perhaps Siberia or somewhere else out of range of the Axis aircraft.

A look at the "big picture" will reveal that the Soviet land combat formations are scattered and need to be collected into defensive line(s) in order to be more effective...and that means the Soviet player will have to pick a spot where he wants to build the defensive line(s) and move the troops there. Those troops closest to the Axis units will probably have to be sacrificed as roadblocks and bridge blowers to buy enough time for the defensive line(s) to be built and it's more of an art than science where to pick to build the defensive line(s). But I usually like to build my roadblocks behind rivers on urban hexes or other terrain that offers good defensive value. Likewise the "final" defensive line(s) should be built around good terrain features.

The Soviets are outnumbered in these early turns so they will have to depend upon rivers, mountains, swamps, forests, etc. to do some defending for them. It's too bad that the TOAW game engine doesn't allow aircraft to "blow" the roads and rail hexes like in the real world. The Soviet player could really use a technique like that in this situation. A good defensive place would be something like that found at Kiev:

[larryfulkerson]

Buzz asks some good questions via email:

Larry thanks for the great AAR and tutorial. Several questions:

1. Just got to the Rus turn one in FITE, noticed at 87,145 and 2 hexes more that the rail line was broken. No Ger units have gotten that far. Is this because of interdicton?

2. What does the traffic control function do? Noticed you would move a corps/mp unit but don't know what the benefit is. Fewer movement points to go thru hex?

3. In FITE do Corp HQ's matter to who they have in range and what is that range?

Buzz

sorry Buzz, I'm not finding the hex in question as having a broken rail line. Maybe you're thinking of a different hex? But to answer your implied question...I'm not sure interdiction would "break" a rail hex. Maybe it does, I donno. Anybody out there know for sure?

question #2: It's my understanding that MP's and Corps HQ headquarters units that have organic MP's in them really do lessen the movement point cost of traversing a "crowded" hex. So I like to use them that way. You can break the MP units down into three of them and spread the benefit is my understanding.

question #3: Um...it's my understanding that Korps HQ units are just like regular HQ units and have a range of 1 ( adjacent ) and I'm thinking they benefit any unit next to them ( excepting the enemy units of course ).

Keep the good questions coming.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's my opinion of the northern part of the front lines from the Soviet point of view. The green ovals are depicting great spots for a roadblock. If you can't defend it with a unit at the very least it's bridge should be blown before the Axis units get there.

They can jump over the river with the help of engineers of course but at least that'll delay them a little. The idea is to stall them and keep them off the roads as much as possible if you can.

I don't like to use AA units as roadblocks since they are so easily destroyed but you can use them to blow bridges. And as was pointed out earlier by a good player you can use engineers to blow bridges and they can escape capture or destruction by moving across rivers.

[larryfulkerson]

There's lots of good places for a roadblock in the southern part of the front lines, mostly at river crossings and in spots where there's difficult terrain:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what I see as good places for a roadblock in the "middle" of the front lines:

[larryfulkerson]

Just like in the real deal there's already a sortof good defensive line started in the Southern sector. It's called a "Stalin Line" and there's a line of forts across it and I'm thinking the Soviet player might be able to delay the Axis long enough at the Stalin Line that he might be able to build a "proper" defensive line around Kiev perhaps. I've drawn a green line in the minimap view of the approx. place where the defensive line will be built:

Oh, and by the way I want to move the 3rd FR unit from where it is to the Stalin Line. It ordinarily moves one hex at a time so I'll have to ship it by rail to get it there in time to be useful.

[larryfulkerson]

Next I want to move the 5th FR unit from where it is to the Stalin Line. I'm thinking it'll be more useful there than where it is.