Moses(axis) vs. Tophat1812.

[hgilmer3]

Man, this is the kind of AAR that could make anyone buy this game.  Heh, heh "God of Land Warfare"!  I need to look at some of the AARs in the WITP forum.

[Grotius]

Great AAR! Will be interesting to see if the forward defense works.

[moses]

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3

Man, this is the kind of AAR that could make anyone buy this game.  Heh, heh "God of Land Warfare"!  I need to look at some of the AARs in the WITP forum.

Well that was from my War in the Pacific days. For all the wonders of that game it was not the best land combat model. A more proper title might be "God of Obscure Rules and Procedural Workarounds"[;)]

[moses]

I finally think I have him down South. Thats about 16 division in that big pocket and 4 more in the little one top of screen. There's also that armored division near Vinnitsa but that's a weakling that has been retreated several times.

Better still is that my armor will be supplied next turn.

[moses]

A little further north 4 more divisions are isolated. Notice Tophat trying to sneak a division west to screw up my rear area.

[moses]

In the center I've widened the breach and my infantry pours in. Near Gomel it's been tough going to get across the river but I have finally gotten a bridgehead.

[moses]

In the North I am at least across the river and will destroy 2 surrounded divisions next turn.

[moses]

Turn 6 done but I have no time for a proper AAR till the A.M.

But he's retreating and I caught him on the wrong foot. Two more big encirclements. I let the other 3 stew while my troops continue to attack. Turn 7 will be a slaughter unless somehow I've missed something.

I've killed 9368 tanks!!!! His line appears to be shattered Center and South.

[randallw]

He might have about 3k left, a very very rough estimate.

[moses]

5413 tanks left, 4716 ready, and a lot of those in one of five pockets.

[moses]

Ok, here is the south ater my recon. Tophat abandones the two pockets. The big one is completely isolated. The small one to the north is not.

Even though he has retreated, he has not gone back very far. His troops are defending in open ground and have little fortification.

[moses]

I contain the two existing pockets and create a new one. Thats seven new divisions surrounded and about 9 routed divisions outside.

[moses]

The center before recon. As in the south he makes the tough decision to abandon his troops but does not fall back far enough. Unfortified troops, close by, in clear terrain just make my day.

[moses]

So again I contain the pocket and go for more. 8 more divisions surrounded and lots more routed and retreated outside the pocket.

[moses]

Finally the North. My objective here is more limited as I have not sent much force this way. I'm just trying to kill acouple units each turn. Here I surround two units and my troops are in good order for next week.

[MrLongleg]

I wish my opponent Miller41 would try forward defense - he is evading everywhere so that it is hard to create pockets. You are doing great

[moses]

Turn 7:

Tophat is definately in retreat mode. My tanks continued to push ahead and try to catch portions of the Soviet Army with some limited success. In the rear masses of Russians were slaghtered.

370,000 casualties and 35 complete divisions were lost. For the war 10,464 tanks have been lost and the Russians now have only 3,768 ready tanks.

[moses]

In the North I seem to surround 2 divisions each week. Next week it will be the 2 divisioins in Pskov.

For me this is an economy of force operation. I have sent no reinforcments up North. I expect to just keep killing Russians and hope Tophat feels compelled to pull troops from the Moscow area to defend Lenningrade.

[moses]

Here's the key sector. For the next two turns I intend to consolodate. I want to eliminate the two pockets that exist and assemble maximum force near the line SW of Vyazma.

Note my rail repair closing in on Smolensk. I've doubled up rail units since the start and by start of turn 10 my railhead will be around 60 from the front.

Now if the Russians stay too close I may change plans and do another envelopment but I think Tophat is learning to stay away from my tanks.

[moses]

Here's my lame attempt at graphics.

The plan is to attack from the leftmost line on turn 10. The goal is to destroy enemy units in sector and reach the 2nd line in good order and supply. On turn 12 or at latest turn 13 I launch the final attack to envelope Moscow. I intend to completly encircle Moscow by the end of turn 14 leaving me 3 turns to reduce the city before the onset of mud.