War Reports from the Eastern Front: Carnage vs Redmarkus

[Fishbed]

You, Sir, are a great logistician (oh man, all those green indicators!!!), kudos!
But kudos to your opponent too. Although this doesn't mean anything about other players going the Sir Robin's way (it's quite a legitimate and sound strategy) I do find great fun into watching him fighting much more like real Soviets did. You're a great commander, that's a certitude. But he gave us a great opportunity to watch a match where Moscow is actually within the reach of a German commander, and there is much more excitement and enjoyment following this game than following many others. You are a great pair, and if he prevails just like the Soviet did, he will be able to find much comfort and pride in his self-rescue.

[Klydon]

Looks like things are chugging forward nicely. Too bad one of those panzer divisions in PG1 did not swing a bit further east and clip the rail line going into the Crimea. He could technically still ship stuff in through the ports, but it is a lot slower and he has a lot longer way to go with the rail to get it to a port, then get it to a Crimean port. Also by not clipping that line, you may get some Soviets popping up in the area on the left flank. I doubt anything is left in Kerch that he could not rail out industry wise, but you never know. 

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Fishbed

You, Sir, are a great logistician (oh man, all those green indicators!!!), kudos!
But kudos to your opponent too. Although this doesn't mean anything about other players going the Sir Robin's way (it's quite a legitimate and sound strategy) I do find great fun into watching him fighting much more like real Soviets did. You're a great commander, that's a certitude. But he gave us a great opportunity to watch a match where Moscow is actually within the reach of a German commander, and there is much more excitement and enjoyment following this game than following many others. You are a great pair, and if he prevails just like the Soviet did, he will be able to find much comfort and pride in his self-rescue.

Don't let those green indicators fool you, there set for SU's, i wanted to see what was where [:D]. I'm enjoying Red's noble play, it does make it fun and I'm sure he will do fine on his late war offensives. I still think that he needs to do more force preservation in the south, he's getting very spread out and weak there. I suppose he could rail stuff down, lets hope not because Crimea is a place I will grind the grist to get.

[notenome]

If you are planning on getting to the Crimea I would suggest getting set up now, you'll want pioneers, flam panzers, plenty of arty, tactical bombers. Start resting the bombers now, assign everything directly to the divisions, try to avoid combat with them as you dig down. Also remember there are, I believe, 4 routes into the Crimea, and its easy to overlook all of them (even the soviets can't spare 12 divisions digging in the Crimea, and even then not in depth. I'd also suggest one motorized division to exploit once you break the line, you'll want to encircle the defenders in the northern part of the peninsula so they can't defend Sevastopol.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: notenome

If you are planning on getting to the Crimea I would suggest getting set up now, you'll want pioneers, flam panzers, plenty of arty, tactical bombers. Start resting the bombers now, assign everything directly to the divisions, try to avoid combat with them as you dig down. Also remember there are, I believe, 4 routes into the Crimea, and its easy to overlook all of them (even the soviets can't spare 12 divisions digging in the Crimea, and even then not in depth. I'd also suggest one motorized division to exploit once you break the line, you'll want to encircle the defenders in the northern part of the peninsula so they can't defend Sevastopol.

HAHA...I already did that but it was all a wasted effort...1st Panzer Group practically walked in with just a light knock on the door! WOOT! I was expecting a major blood bath for the place.

Not much to put in the report, everything is moving smoothly this turn.[8D]

I'm using a more cleaned up map with out the enemy territory highlights. Should I keep using them, I think they look cleaner and easier to read the words. But again you don't see the territory gained either.

[CarnageINC]

This front has me a little baffled but alot of what Red is doing has me baffled. I keep expecting hordes of infantry to rise out of the ground to swallow my troops up, but opposition is lighter than expected. I'm sure that more infantry has to arrive soon, doesn't it???

[CarnageINC]

Here is where I'm starting to get a fight for ground. I'm going to have to grind my panzers a little to make my next pocket. I have a 3rd Pz. Grp. corps refueling for a hard deep strike I'm going to need. In the south I have 4th Armee shifting north, my southern sectors are getting very thin. I bet if he wanted to launch a tank attack down there he would break through [X(].

I think Red doesn't use reserves to plug holes, but relies on a heavy frontal wall instead. He has little troops on the line to the north and will have to move troops south to start filling the gaps I'm making. I hope that makes an infantry break through easier.

[CarnageINC]

North of this front is all quite so I didn't make any map for Sumy front. This one is quite now with my troopers moving up toward the front. Metallica's 'Disposable Heros' song rings in my ears for the words 'Back to the Front!'[:D]

I'm going to give my 1st Panzer Group another mission to head to Zaporozhye. So far they haven't failed a mission yet! Their becoming my stars of my ground forces. Granted most of their victories have been against light opposition. [:o]

[CarnageINC]

This one was like a swat team blowing open the door and sweeping a room clear. I expected this one to be bloody and hard. This is one of the biggest surprises of the game so far. All the resources I positioned for 2nd Armee are probably a exercise for them. Where are all his troops at? I think I'll have to leave one panzer corps with 2nd Armee to assist in clearing the Crimean peninsula as quickly possible so he can't reinforce the eastern end.

[randallw]

Quite a mystery.

[karonagames]

Well, at least you opponent should be learning the value of the spade and the need to be digging in at key choke points from turn 2/3! I think you are on course for a better than historical front line come June 1942.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: BigAnorak

Well, at least you opponent should be learning the value of the spade and the need to be digging in at key choke points from turn 2/3! I think you are on course for a better than historical front line come June 1942.

I hope to be better than historical. That will definitely make the later years better. Digging in and at least putting some reserves back to help with a deeper defense would help him out so much more.

I wonder what he will do during the winter offensive. I know what to expect but I don't know how he will go about his offensive. Would a general offensive all along the theater work just as well as a few concentrated armor attacks to pocket my units offense? I guess I'll find out!

[karonagames]

I'm looking forward to finding out how capable the SU really is in my 1941 Campaign test with Speedy (only on T5 atm). If they can break the line it can get really messy, but in general I think the Axis can learn to manage their reserves to prevent this. I need to see how much difference the shock army morale bonus makes - did not have this in my previous tests.

[notenome]

It always bears remembering that Axis players tend to overestimate the actual number of soviet units. If your oponent is defending in depth or is triple stacking a line, he may very well not have any strategic reserves.
 
Also it baffles me that everyone keeps focusing on Soviet tank strength. Soviet tanks are not their primary offensive weapons in the winter. They will be diluted in combat brigades and don't have the mps to do the deliberate attacks soviets need to break allied lines. At best they are for exploitation, and even then can be easily brushed aside. Its the infantry that will be hurling themselves at you continuously, not the armor. Keep pocketing the infantry.
 
Has red evac'ed Kharkov yet? If not then that would be my primary goal in the south, as forcing the evac of Kharkov will mess up Soviet production during 42.

[Klydon]

Just wow. I am really shocked from what I am seeing around Leningrad defense wise unless he is hiding in the swamps. Even if you screen off Leningrad, it will take less force to do it now.

Also nice job in the Crimea with the quick advance. He simply was not ready for a protracted siege down there. In fact, for the most part, I think the speed of your advance has him unprepared as he does not appear to have prepared a defense in depth.

On a side note, how are your rail heads coming along? Getting this type of advance, especially in the south, has to mean your logistics is getting fairly crappy I would think.

[notenome]

If its really true that he only has airfields guarding the ladoga forts then carnage I'd say that now is as good a time as any to use HQ buildup. Get there in one turn before he can react and you'll have leningrad isolated.

[Flaviusx]

The Soviet player here is making just about every mistake in the book.

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

The Soviet player here is making just about every mistake in the book.

In defense of Red, I had a recent email conversion and noted his lack of troops in areas. His response was basically that he wanted to be as historical on his end as possible. He didn't care much for the way the AI played and wanted a challenge in the later stages of the game. I told him that his defense was his to do what ever with. I'm sure Red is intentionally letting his defenses suffer somewhat.

With that said I hope I'm not being over aggressive and learning bad habits from this game. I haven't really gotten far enough in my other pbem games to see if I have. I feel like my tactics are sound and cautious enough to not put my unit in to much danger. I do keep getting units cut off from time to time but that can't be eliminated if I want to achieve certain goals.

Okay here is turn 12 OKH report.

[CarnageINC]

Here is something I've been noticing across the board.

[CarnageINC]

In hindsight I wish I had devoted more divisions to this area. I'm on a shoe string 'budget' of troops to get a major job done. I never realized that I would get this close to cutting off Leningrad. I need infantry divisions!!!
The panzer corps are running on fumes even though I have the rail line caught up to the front. The troops south near Novgorod have me concerned about pinching off any unsupported advances I may make. So i'm limited to sticking close to my infantry support.