War Reports from the Eastern Front: Carnage vs Redmarkus

[RCHarmon]

There is a possibility that you have a stranger in your house. this may explain your post concerning......

"Here is where the trouble is starting for Operation Zeus. Door Able has moved, which is good, less fortification to deal with but its been reinforced which isn't good. On the plus side he doesn't have any secondary line in front of it....yet.

Another thing that has me puzzled is his line moved back and he gave me mostly 40 miles in most areas. Thats 2 weeks of ground I think.


Maybe not , but you should keep this in mind. Maybe some deception on your part with future posts????

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: RCH

There is a possibility that you have a stranger in your house. this may explain your post concerning......

"Here is where the trouble is starting for Operation Zeus. Door Able has moved, which is good, less fortification to deal with but its been reinforced which isn't good. On the plus side he doesn't have any secondary line in front of it....yet.

Another thing that has me puzzled is his line moved back and he gave me mostly 40 miles in most areas. Thats 2 weeks of ground I think.


Maybe not , but you should keep this in mind. Maybe some deception on your part with future posts????

The only thing I think I may change is the naming of my postings. I named Operation Zeus 'Condition Delta' but I should just keep them turn 19 etc. etc.

Let me just say for that not for one minute do I think Red has been peaking at my AAR, likewise I haven't seen his yet. Me and Red have chatted about this and both of us trust each other and want to have fun. Red's side of things is that he wants to know if the Soviets can take huge losses and still make a creditable comeback in the later stages of the war. My side....well I just want to destroy Commies! [:D]

[notenome]

One thing to remember is that once the blizzards hit your troops become pacifists and his become hell incarnate. So if he is concentrating troops I would definetly suggest to attack, simply because the combat favours you. In other words, those units are going to inevitably be fighting your units, under much more favourable circumstances to the Soviets than to the Germans. So if combat is inevitable, better that it occurs now whilst you have an advantage than in three weeks. The trick is not to be left in an exposed position once the blizzards hit. Also as far as double lines go, the more the merrier! In terms of breaking an encirclement, what matters are units on the outside, not on the inside. If Red has already placed units in forward positions in preparation for his offensive, he's blown his load too early (excuse the term). To attack and encircle them would force him to bring troops earmarked for the offensive in other sectors down to the center, messing up his timetable for attack and hopefully forcing him to waste a few blizzard turns reorganizing his offensive.
 
Ultimately only one thing matters, that is maximizing the amount of combat that occurs in favourable conditions, and maximizing how favourable those conditions are whilst minimizing the amount of combat that occurs in unfavourable conditions, and minimizing the frequency with which those conditions occur.

[Flaviusx]

Yes, I agree with Notenome. Even if the possibility if a large bag is receding, you should still launch this offensive, at least for a couple of turns, and gain some more space and disrupt his own blizzard offensive.

Already you've gained some ground for free. This is a good thing. Even the mere threat of an attack has yielded positive results.

[Encircled]

Agree with the above! Certainly you should go on the offensive, if only to severely disrupt his offensive preperations

Its worth it while you have the advantage

[Ketza]

Is he trying to pull you forward out of your entrenchments in those reaes he fell back?

[CarnageINC]

Okay gentlemen, this operation has been modified to fit new situation in the AO. It may seem complicated, very Japanese I guess [:D] Doors Charle and Delta have been added so 2 small pockets can be created before the third one is put forward. I'm giving this only 2 weeks then I'm pulling the plug for the Soviet blizzard offensive.

[CarnageINC]

Here is the new map for Zeus.

[Q-Ball]

Make sure you threaten Kharkov; if you do this, he will be forced to move the T-34 Factory there, which will put a dent in Soviet Tank Production. For awhile, anyway.

The other big industrial target is the Donbas cities (Stalino in particular), but I think you bull-rushed that city and damaged all the industry, which is a good thing. Stalino has a very large ARMAMENTS factory, which will set him back in terms of making artillery, AT guns, etc.

[Klydon]

Very interesting moves on his part. I think the big overriding factor is he expects you to launch an offensive. You have been very aggressive so far in game and for him not to expect you to launch an offensive would be a major mistake on his part.

He may well have seen your fort line as well.

By withdrawing a bit he makes it harder for you to launch an offensive during the snow and potentially suckers in some units to get pounced on during mud. The downside is that he won't have a heavily fortified line to defend during the 3 snow turns you can hammer him, but then that may be just fine with him considering you won't potentially be near a fortified line either and he can get some good licks in on you during the first part of the blizzard.

[Flaviusx]

Carnage doesn't need to hold the unfortified space in strength during the blizzard, Klydon. He can just checkerboard it with a minimum of forces, fall back otherwise, and it's going to be weeks until the Soviets hit the main line of resistance. In the meantime, the best (or rather worst) blizzard weather is wasted on mostly empty space, and Soviet reorginization. Blizzard penalties drop in January and then again in February.

The trick here is for Carnage to not allow himself to get decisively engaged going into the blizzard. This is a spoiler attack. By the third turn of snow, he should be disengaging into his rear and leaving a new outpost line (possibly held by nothing more than regiments.)

He's already picked up 4 hexes in a buffer zone. Sovs have difficult moving the line more than 2-3 hexes a turn during blizzard. That is to say, he's already bought himself a two turn buffer for absorbing the blizzard, and that is before he's even launched his attack.

[PeeDeeAitch]

Also, by massing and attacking, two things will happen (potentially). He will cause casualties and open up more space, and he is in part dictating where the counter attack will fall - the USSR will mass/has massed there because of the offensive, and this means that this is one place he will have to attack (unless willing to waste even more time moving units0.
 
The result will mean a bigger buffer against a USSR that is both wounded and needs to cross more ground.
 
Of course, the REST of the general assault up and down the line during blizzards will be bloody... 

[notenome]

If Kharkov is unguarded (and un-evacuated) he can take it in a coup de main in one turn. I'd gladly sacrifice a panzercorps in exchange for having 52 x 150 T-34s less in the future. This is something I was actually contemplating, smashing Kharkov's industry may very well be the only action an Axis player could feasibly do in 41 that might really cripple the late game Soviet army.

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL:  Flaviusx

Carnage doesn't need to hold the unfortified space in strength during the blizzard, Klydon. He can just checkerboard it with a minimum of forces, fall back otherwise, and it's going to be weeks until the Soviets hit the main line of resistance. In the meantime, the best (or rather worst) blizzard weather is wasted on mostly empty space, and Soviet reorginization. Blizzard penalties drop in January and then again in February.

The trick here is for Carnage to not allow himself to get decisively engaged going into the blizzard. This is a spoiler attack. By the third turn of snow, he should be disengaging into his rear and leaving a new outpost line (possibly held by nothing more than regiments.)

He's already picked up 4 hexes in a buffer zone. Sovs have difficult moving the line more than 2-3 hexes a turn during blizzard. That is to say, he's already bought himself a two turn buffer for absorbing the blizzard, and that is before he's even launched his attack.

I agree with you and the easy way to summarize is the German must be very disciplined during this operation. There are great rewards to be had, but he has to be somewhat careful and it could be a ploy by the Russian to suck in the German, get him overextended in the open and pop him was my point. (Not that it would work without some help from a over anxious German, but the Russian may be working on the aggression of the German player). Then again, it could just be a simple pull back without any cunning on the Russians part. [;)]

ORIGINAL:  notenome

If Kharkov is unguarded (and un-evacuated) he can take it in a coup de main in one turn. I'd gladly sacrifice a panzercorps in exchange for having 52 x 150 T-34s less in the future. This is something I was actually contemplating, smashing Kharkov's industry may very well be the only action an Axis player could feasibly do in 41 that might really cripple the late game Soviet army.

While it sounds nice on paper, I think it would take total disregard for the ability of most Russian players that they would ever allow the possibility of this to exist. The Russians simply have way too much rail cap imo and they are very well aware of the Kharkov tank factory, so if there is even a wiff of Germans in 200 miles, that factory is going to be long gone.

[randallw]

There's always the tiny small possibility of forgetting to evac the city.

[Q-Ball]

There is also a 50/50 chance that Tank Factory is already gone....if my opponent gets that close, it will be.

[randallw]

Just forcing an evac puts a dent in production, I believe for at least a few months.

[CarnageINC]

First turn of snow....and another movement on Red's part....[:@]

[CarnageINC]

Kovgorod fell and now my defense for this front are set. That 16th armee division in the south is moving being replaced my a moto. div.

[CarnageINC]

Here is my quite front for the last few turns, one I don't think I have shown because nothing happens here [:D]. 16th Armee is to shift downwards to make room for the new Corps from the north.