First try

[Arstavidios]

The rest of AGC.
Many routed units were brushed ouside the areas being pocketed during the advance and thus should survive.
Well, maybe I could have trapped some more, maybe not.

[Arstavidios]

In the south Ags linked with 11th army traping a lot of soviet units including plenty of armor.
Unfortunately quite a few soviet mobile divisions were pushed out of the pocket during the fighting but a lot were caught nonetheless.

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Here are the losses.
14000 casualties were suffered during the soviet turn.
Quite a few soviet tanks have been destroyed and many more trapped.

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units destroyed

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however the red beast is still powerful

[Great_Ajax]

Just be warned that in a PBEM game against a decent Soviet player, those aggresive unsupported panzer thrusts are going to get cut off from supply as a the Soviets slip in units behind your thrusts. Two things I look for first as a Soviet player is where can I jack up the panzer avenues of approach and where are the weak points of a German encirclements. Leaving more than a single hex gap between friendly units is ripe for disruption for the Soviets and can cause endless frustration for the Germans. Just because you can advance 20 hexes doesn't mean you should Good luck!

Trey

[paullus99]

Very interesting to see the Russians outnumbered at this point (in infantry at least, once you add in all the minor Axis allies) - but I imagine their strength will balloon up pretty quick - even if the formations aren't very well trained or equipped.

[Arstavidios]

I reached the maximum expansion with the panzers following the initial attack.
now I'm going to spend a few turns consolidating and preparing the next jump.
The soviets a clearly building large defensive lines and unsupported mobile forces will not be sufficient.
Against a human a more cautious approach would be needed, but in the end it's the infantry which decides the rate of the overall german advance.
so the main result of such an aggressive advance is that I have to stop for a couple of turns to wait for the infantry to catch up whereas a more cautious advance of the armour would result in a more regular advance. Well maybe, maybe not

[Arstavidios]

In the north I regrouped my panzer and withhdrew a couple of hexes.
Massive forces have shown up there. My infantry is still lagging behind.


In the centre the panzers regrouped and the infantry is starting to reach the line.
The soviets withdrew a few hexes and are starting to form a continuous defenive line.


In the South Massive forces that were pocketed have been destroyed. Some units along the border and near the front were also trapped.

However during its turn the AI has withdrawn quite a lot of forces, especially about 20 divisions at the joint between AGC and AGS wthat were about to be cut off.

So despite huge losses soviets are starting to build a front.

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the south

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losses

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units:

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OOB:
Soviet tank numbers have droped significantly. Still many of them present.

[ComradeP]

The AI's probably creating units out of thin air by using AP's. It has to fill them up, but it has probably created a fair number of them already. Your losses are perfectly manageable up to now.

Keep in mind that Tank divisions might pack a punch (by Soviet standards) due to their number of tanks, but they're also rather fragile as when they retreat they'll often lose at least 100 tanks, which greatly limits their combat power. The best way to stop AFV-heavy units is to reduce its AFV numbers through constant attacks followed by causing a retreat, which normally destroys a fair number of AFV's. High experience/morale units are far less affected by retreating or routing than low to mid experience/morale units, so the Germans will suffer less from retreating or routing than the Soviets for most of the war.

[randallw]

Those tank numbers for the Soviets show a decently high percentage as being ready; that sort of runs against what some history books state.  Well, too late to do any tweaking. [:'(]

[hgilmer3]

Good AAR!

[Arstavidios]

Well the soviet tanks are being destroyed before they get a chance to break down [:D]
I'm using my mobile forces to penetrate in depth in soviet territory.
I avoid battle as much as possible and bypass all I can until I meet something consistant. Infantry then mope up what's left behind.
I would not go that far against a human opponent, but this game is to learn while abusing the AI
It's always fun to abuse the AI.

I'm currently playing turn 4

In the South a couple of panzer divisions drove into an undefended Kiev. While an other large enciclement has been made.
So far I'm playing on normal. The AI shows a tendency to leave citiies undefended. Maybe it should be tweaked to leave some garrisons to prevent raids in depth like I did in the South and act as spped bumps. Unopposed panzers can move quite fast. Those grand sweeps are fun though

I need to get a look at how the air force works, and also the organisational aspects. I have some reinforcements coming in and I have to see how to integrate them into the forces.

I'll kick the AI a few more turn, then I'll change sides and take the soviets. Possibly for the winter counter offensive. It could be interesting to have a look at that from the soviet side.

[randallw]

On some occasions the generals would mess up, and a large city would have just a weak garrison to defend it, though I don't recall a specific time when a city was completely undefended.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: randallw
Those tank numbers for the Soviets show a decently high percentage as being ready; that sort of runs against what some history books state.  Well, too late to do any tweaking. [:'(]

The units those tanks are in themselves are unready though - there's a bigger picture beyond the individual equipment.

Regards,

- Erik

[Arstavidios]

oops just checked the settings and they were on easy.
So no wonder the AI is getting bumped.
Modified that put everything at 100% with AI admin at 120%
The aim of is game is to see how the game works while having fun bashing the AI.
So even on easy the defensive AI is showing something coherent. Not much of a challenge but enough opposition to make you think.
I'll see in the coming turns how the settings modification affects the results.

I've started assigning reinforcement to armies. I'm curious to know how others would arrange that. I guess it's a matter od personal taste. I think I'll remove the infantry from the panzer groups anf assign it to the infantry armies. If I understand correctly it's not possible to create new german HQs so new divisions have to fill what you get.
So 3 or 4 corps of 3 or 4 divisions seems to be a resobable stabdard for infantry armies.

For the air war not much seems to happen. I'm flying AI recon missions and leave the rest to the AI. I've moved the airbases near the front.

In the North and centres the infandtry is reaching the line now. I've made some pockets around Pskow and Vitebsk