Bwheatley vs abulbulian WaW v32 (abulbulian not to look!)

[bwheatley]

The DEI is quickly gobbled up.

[bwheatley]

My battle force was completely eliminated on the next turn.

[bwheatley]

We tried to make one attack on the japs and almost broke them but we couldn't push them all back. This will become another defensive area of operations. And there is a group of japanese battleships ready to destroy my fighters in india.

[bwheatley]

I encircled thent ried to wipe out the only german unit keeping our Spanish Expeditionary force out of France.

[bwheatley]

The situation.

[bwheatley]

THe soviets turn. All of bkau has been cut off and will be captured next turn the rest of the line has held except for the one bridge at the northwest of the front. If winter comes next turn i should be able to push them back we shall see.

[bwheatley]

We hit this unit then counter attacked with our infantry and forced both tank units to retreat but the infantry unit held. This is goign to be a hard fight and i am almost losing the will to fight but we shall overcome.

[bwheatley]

The chinese are doing ok everythwere but the north. I just realized if i built some divebombers i could take out those god damned arty that keep ripping me apart.

[zook08]

Spain was a very good move. That'll keep him occupied. And dropping those paras on Essen was priceless, hehe.

OTOH: you're still not building combined arms units. Your tanks in Spain have no infantry at all. Your infantry in Russia has almost no AT weapons. Look at your opponent's units - that's what yours should look like, too. An infantry division is made up of Rifles, Horses and either mortars or machineguns. A tank division is made up of the same, just with some tanks attached, and all motorized. You're spending 20,000 points on Rifle each turn and only 6,000 on AT weapons, although it's his tank army that tears you apart. Rifles are mostly just cannon fodder in AT. They don't score a lot of kills. They're the screen protecting your high-value units, nothing more. They are your primary force type in China, but not in Russia. In Russia, tanks and arty win the day, every day. And you're still not building any transport or artillery of your own. Build 5 Katyushas per turn, with some Flak and trucks. AT is about efficiency, and mobility is key to efficiency. Your Soviets are neither. Instead, you're building the Maginot line all over again. He'll wipe the floor with you.

What about the Balkans? Does he have Athens fortified? Or can you sneak some engineers to the Greek islands unnoticed, build an airfield and drop paras on Sofia? It *must* be undefended.
<knocks on wood>

For the Chinese, send two or three weak units towards Manchuria. They won't capture anything of value, but all the Japanese will see is your borders moving north, towards... what's the name of that city? Anyway, he'll have to react and hopefully he will send a few 100-point units to stop your 1-pointers. That could buy some time for you.

[bwheatley]

Well in the balkins he has athens occupied but he also has landed in india so my tanks sitting in the middle east are reacting towards india it will be very slow going becuase of teh BIG area but i will get there. yOu are probably right about the tanks i will start building them. I just worry about building tanks without a solid line and 1 unit of tanks wont be able to keep him moving slow unless there is a line of infantry to eat up AP. I started building tanks during this winter turn. I'm hoping i can use the winter to at least build a mobile strike unit. I have been buildint tons of AT exactly as much as i can build i've been building AT GUn II"s but when i put AT units forward he hits me with infantry..when i put infantry forward he hits me with armor. So what i do is widdle down his tanks with my divebombers. I have to bleed him dry. We've agreed the game is going to go until the capture of the united states so i hope ven with the worst the west can come back but we shall see i need to get naval superority.

[bwheatley]

But i do appreciate your advice How many units can a tank hold? I don't have the $$ in russia to build trucks and useless things especially on teh defensive. For the west i have been building trust but they are getitng destroyed by the german AS work. I do want my units mobile but how many points can 1 tank carry 10 men?

[bwheatley]

The west in novemeber. The Japs landed in india and i was forwarded to pull back. I had teh #'s to take their burma hq out. I have completely underestimated my opponent this game especially as my first PBEM game. Hopefully in my pbem game as germany i don't screw up this bad or it will be a short game lol.

[bwheatley]

Here is the japanese landing. Be took the city back but we will use the eingineer to blow both bridges that i built.

[bwheatley]

That is the german fleet. And as you see my attack with Carrier planes didnt go so well. I am going to have to spend some tturns to hsuband the new units from every turn.

[bwheatley]

The soviets turn. Again i appreciate everyones advice i hope i can get through this learning experience without a complete loss.

[bwheatley]

Wow this is my 1000th forum post i wonder will i get the matrix legion of merit now?

[bwheatley]

darn i didn't![;)]

[bwheatley]

oh 1001 did it!

[seille]

@zook08
bwheatley is producing already rifle III. That means he has +50% against tanks already.
This should be more than enough AT power. The key is he has to attack. He has to use the good
effect of his divebombers by strong counterattacks. Knocking out some german units is needed.
With Rifle III already available i would not produce any AT weapons and no MG. A few mortars when he start attacks maybe.
Backbone will always be rifle or SMG.
Btw, rifle used in good numbers will hit the enemy very hard. Off course they can perform much better when the attack is prepared
by air attacks or artillery and the enemy is in open terrain.

@bwheatley
1 tank can carry 5 men.
If you´re not the attacker i don´t think you should give your units mobility. Each truck you add
can be destroyed easily by ai attack. And one truck represent 10 rifle III.
10 trucks = 100 rifle III. What has actually more value for you ?

If the enemy attacks try to blow bridges in front of him, build fortifications, defend behind rivers
and try to place your forces in forrests or urban hexes, not in the open.

Avoid AS losses ! You have to route the production to other places if enemy forces block your supply path.

[zook08]

ORIGINAL: seille
bwheatley is producing already rifle III. That means he has +50% against tanks already.
This should be more than enough AT power. The key is he has to attack. He has to use the good
effect of his divebombers by strong counterattacks. Knocking out some german units is needed.
With Rifle III already available i would not produce any AT weapons and no MG. A few mortars when he start attacks maybe.
Backbone will always be rifle or SMG.

I beg to differ. When you look at the numbers, you'll see that Rifle is the worst AT killer there is, in every respect. This is for Level I tech, defense vs. Light Tank (3000 Hit Points):

Code: Select all

          Def vs. Arm   # of Shots Cost  Cost/Def*Shots   Role   Hit% per Shot  Hit% * Shots  Cost/Hit%*Shots
 AT Gun       1350          3      1000      0,25         Rear      0,45           1,35            741
 Rifle          60          1       100      1,67         Front     0,02           0,02           5000
 Bazooka       400          1       250      0,63         Front     0,13           0,13           1875 
 Light Tank    800         10      2000      0,25         Front     0,27           2,67            750
 

A single Rifle point of defense vs. armor costs more than six times what you'd pay for with AT guns. The gun fires three times per round, Rifle once. Rifle is Front line and many will be dead by the times it's their turn to fire. A Rifle shot has a 2% chance to hit the tank, the gun has 45%. Rifle III has 3%, that's still lousy. There are some other factors, like MaxAttacked or Initiative, but they don't change the picture much.

Only the tank itself is a contender, being difficult to kill and having a very good hit chance vs. armor. But it's a Front line unit and will be hit by enemy armor, while the gun doesn't.

Bazookas are pretty useless, too. They should have a bonus in urban or forest, but they don't.

All of those numbers will of course be modified by terrain, entrenchment, readiness etc., but the point is still that the job of infantry is only to die in the front line while your guns score the kills.