Grand Campaign Haudrauf (Axis) vs. Miller41 (no Miller41 please)

[MrLongleg]

Turn 9 was quite successful. Odessa and West Kiev fell without a shot fired. 1st Panzer is over the Dnepr and we were able to isolate 11 divisions and 1 security regiment (4 Armored, 2 Motorized and 5 Infantry). In the north I decided for plan A sending 4th Panzer to the area east of Novgorod to create havoc in his rear area for the defense of Leningrad. In the center Marshal Miller is pulling back as predicted. The real action, of course, is in the south right now. The roadblock of three fresh tank divisions is completely surrounded and isolated and should die next turn.

1st Panzer has three divisions over the river - more to follow. 17th army also was able to prepare a bridgehead, which hopefully will be established next turn. Now the race for the railheads is first priority. Will Marshall Miller be able to rescue the defenders of the Dnepr line?

I also have to start thinking about my defense line for the coming winter. Any suggestions how to prepare for the coming mess?

[MrLongleg]

One thing that worries me are the extremely high operational losses of my air force. Am I hit by the fatigue bug? What can I do to stop that?

Playtesters, please advice.

[MrLongleg]

AGN makes painfully slow progress towards Leningrad. 4th Panzer was slowed down by another of Marshall Millers road blocks - well - they have to retreat or die next turn. Everything south of Lake Ilmen is now isolated which makes securing the flanks a little easier.

This turn I spent lots of AP for army reorg. AGC was very overloaded - so I attached 2nd army to AGN. This has become a really strong army now - the infantry elements of 3rd Panzer are attached to 2nd army (a couple turn back already). 3rd Panzer has been removed from the front line for refit. Hoth has been dismissed for strange reasons - I put him back into command which also costed a lot of AP.

In the south the Russians are fleeing like rabbits. Luckily my Panzers are a little faster than running infantry men, so I was able to catch a nice bag of units (12 divisions at least)

Still I am starting to shake in my boots when I think about the coming winter. I still try to kill as many enemies as possible but this will have to stop very soon. Some of my Panzer divisions are down to 60 tanks. Any suggestions from the readers? Comments are welcome and appreciated.

[CharonJr]

How often do you use your armor for attacks?

I my current AAR I am startnig to see that they stay at decent TOE levels if they are often sitting behind a infantry screen and only rush out for an encirclement and hide behind infantry again during the next turn.

But this obervation might not be correct, since I had a lot of supply problems (made 2 stupid mistakes with my rail repair units), essentially forcing me to not use them that often at all.

CharonJr

[ComradeP]

One thing that worries me are the extremely high operational losses of my air force. Am I hit by the fatigue bug? What can I do to stop that?

It's probably the fatique bug, it will be fixed in the next patch.

As to AFV losses: I'm guessing that, like me, you're losing most of them because they're not repairable in the logistics phase (that costs me about 100 tanks each turn in my game with notenome). The only way to prevent those losses is to make sure they're not damaged, so to rest them.

[Pawsy]

If your advancing at the pace of the infantry you will be very slow?

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: CharonJr

How often do you use your armor for attacks?

I my current AAR I am startnig to see that they stay at decent TOE levels if they are often sitting behind a infantry screen and only rush out for an encirclement and hide behind infantry again during the next turn.

But this obervation might not be correct, since I had a lot of supply problems (made 2 stupid mistakes with my rail repair units), essentially forcing me to not use them that often at all.

I am only using them for the attacks in the enemy rear area. I always try to use infantry for creating the initial breach. But Marshall Miller is skillfully placing nasty roadblocks in the way of my advance. Before the mud starts I will pull back my armor and set it on refit.

[ComradeP]

About half of the first 52 turns are bad weather turns. If you don't use your Panzers during those, your production should catch up a bit. Operational and irrecoverable vehicle losses during a summer campaign are always bad for both sides.

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

As to AFV losses: I'm guessing that, like me, you're losing most of them because they're not repairable in the logistics phase (that costs me about 100 tanks each turn in my game with notenome). The only way to prevent those losses is to make sure they're not damaged, so to rest them.

The will get a lot of rest during the winter. I try to rest them every couple of turns - but more often than not I can't afford to rest them unless I want to give my opponent a chance to escape. The great thing about this game is the fact, that you are really facing the same problems that the German Generals were facing.

[MrLongleg]

Turn 12: TIn the north the roadblock retreated one hex and then was attacked and routed. Of course another roadblock popped up. And we were able to cut the Moscow Leningrad rail line - quite according to history. But 4th Panzer Group is in bad shape and really needs a rest. But hat will have to wait until end of September. I plan to retreat the tanks before mud kicks in.

18th army progressed another he north. Next turn I will attack with 2 corps (4 divs each) into the breach.

16th army took Novgorod, while 2nd army took Yyazma. Rzehv is also in reach.

In AGC Hoth is back in action pushing south and hoping to meet Guderian, who now moves back north after successfully unhinging the defenses of the southern Dnepr and Kiev. The huge pocket was eliminated in 1 turn - so we destroyed 28 units in turn 12, most of them from this pocket.

1st Panzers job now is to unhinge the defenders of Dnepropetrovsk. 11th Army will now finally also come into action after having spent the first 11 turns with marching east.

I also started preparing some defenses for the winter. Those zone will be dismissed as soon as the positions will be taken over by retreating forces.

[henri51]

Wow, it looks like you have a good chance of creating two humongous pockets - the question is if they will hold.

Henri

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: henri51

Wow, it looks like you have a good chance of creating two humongous pockets - the question is if they will hold.

Henri

Let's cross our fingers - but most of the time Marshall Miller is running faster than the pocket can snap...[:@]

[MrLongleg]

Turn 13: 9/11/41

Hard fighting everywhere with giant territorial wins in the center, but heavy losses o both sides. I think I lost more than 100 tanks this turn and only destroyed one of his units. In the north the brave infantry of 18th army is progressing mile by mile through heavily defended terrain. 4th Panzer Group will be reinforced with two brand new tank divisions from Germany. The group progressed another 30 miles with heavy fighting for every inch. I cut the second of three rail lines supplying the Leningrad area - one still missing (see map). ONly 4 clear turns before mud will kick in and bring everything to a full stop.

In the center I was not able to close the pocket - the remaining gap should be big enough for most of his units to escape - but I will catch a few next turn.

Any ideas for the winter preparation? I am starting to be quite worried about that.

[randallw]

Where are the Axis allies?

[jjdenver]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to send fresh Panzer divisions to fight for Leningrad. The terrain up there is so bad for tanks that I'd prefer to see some Infantry divisions sent up there along w/ a lot of support units. Just my 2 cents.

[CharonJr]

Yup, I can second that, I missed how hard it would be to advance for the armor up there. Cav does quie nicely actually, but the armor/mot is really slow, even when sticking to light woods.

But on the other hand once you get swarmed they pack a nice punch to create a breach, allowing the infantry to keep pressing.

I used 3 armored corps for a similar operation, if I should have to do it again I would use 1 (including a cav unit) and 2 infantry.

CharonJr

[buchand]

If Uncle Joe Stalin had retreated inteligently then history would have been different.
In my very limited experience:
a. Not sure about concentrating Pz Groups. gives great spearhead power but may be hindering keeping the line fluid?
b. While I understand about Pz Grp 4 and terrain looks like you are screwed in the north.
c. The historical move south of Pz Grp 2 is always tempting but ....
Haing said all that playing against AI v human opponenet is so totally different all of your carefully learned strategies go out of the windows [:D]

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: randallw

Where are the Axis allies?

The Rumanians are mostly fighting in the Nikolaev area in the extreme south. There also a couple of corps working with 17th army. The mountain corps helped to reduce the pocket we created in the south. An Italian corps is sitting in the train and I probably won't deploy them before the mud season. The Hungarians are mostly doing garrison duty.

[MrLongleg]

ORIGINAL: jjdenver

I'm not sure it's a good idea to send fresh Panzer divisions to fight for Leningrad. The terrain up there is so bad for tanks that I'd prefer to see some Infantry divisions sent up there along w/ a lot of support units. Just my 2 cents.

In a sense I am with you there (see my earlier posts). But I need the extra mobility to make one or two more hexes per turn than I could do with infantry alone. In turn 14 I was able to push another 30 miles and now deviate to the east to avoid swamps. He does not have much over there - so I am using the tanks to exploit breaches and have that extra fighting power to push around stacks of 3 I.D.'s. (See next turns map)

Currently all I can hope for is to break the last rail line and then do some damage to the defenders during the snow turns.

[ComradeP]

Haudrauf, keep in mind that mud will come soon and that the Panzers you're sending north will be out of supply, not to mention that their open flank will be huge. If you want to cut the rail hex, I'd suggest doing so near Leningrad itself, not way out there.