Tres Amigos Trey's! JAM v el hefe (aqui, no el hefe!)

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

Overall, looking good, but surprised you gave up Moldavia so easily.

I'll try to show you why, in my Axis games...[;)]

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: randallw

Surprising that the modified CV for his panzer defense took a bit hit.

LoL...I'm just full of...surprises. Yeah, that's it.

But seriously, I think that the Pz Division was low on ammo, or failed some leader roll. I expected to win, but not by as large a CV ratio as I ended up with. My units had about double their post combat CVs (which are showing, since I didn't pause fast enough to take the screenshot before the screen refreshed). His Pz Division had a printed CV of 6=6. One of my best generals was running the attack, so it was a pretty sure thing, unless the Luftwaffe showed up in force, and I don't call a single Ju-86k showing up in force...[:D]

[JAMiAM]

Been a long week, and my gaming and AAR postings have suffered. This turn was fairly uneventful, from my end. The starting ground casualty figures after refreshing the list to account for the attritional losses.

[JAMiAM]

Starting Air Casualties. Contrary to my Axis games, I'm not running a lot of recon missions with the Soviets. I tried a few in the first couple of turns, but the Axis air superiority is pretty dominant at this stage of the game and my recon aircraft were getting shot down in droves. I hate not being able to spot his rear area force concentrations, and will have to rely on his Pz Gp movements to get an idea for where to expect his next moves.

[JAMiAM]

Well...Trey caught me napping on the Velikaya River. I had hoped that my units were strong enough to dissuade him from hitting before his infantry arrived, but he forced a crossing. This screenshot is from the start of the turn, before I brought up newly raised Rifle Divisions to start prepping my secondary lines.

[JAMiAM]

Same area, but at the end of the turn. Two new armies are lining up at the swamp/river lines from the Sorot River to Novgorod. Hopefully, Trey will channel northward, directly against Pskov, where my forces are stronger, so that my newly raised divisions have a chance to get replacements and start digging in. Fortunately, even though Riga fell this turn, his infantry is still a turn away, at least.

[JAMiAM]

This screenshot shows the starting situation in the Center. Trey reached the landbridge area, and attacked a single hex, though did not occupy it.

[JAMiAM]

The situation at the end of the turn. I've withdrawn my remaining Berezina River screen, since it is almost completely encircled. These forces will be better on my side of the lines, than sitting in a POW camp. I've still got a sizeable force in the Pripyets trying to get recovered enough to extricate. For now, I'm slowly withdrawing to avoid being cut off in there.

[JAMiAM]

Here is the starting situation in the South. Trey has continued attacking directly east of Tarnopol. My forces are still in decent shape here, but the lines are getting stretched, and he's getting a solid enough bulge to be able to force his way out in any of three directions.

[JAMiAM]

The ending situation in the south. Instead of sticking it out, and getting my forces too thrashed, I am withdrawing the most threatened units, to start secondary lines, and putting enough defense in depth to at least slow him down for another turn. Hopefully, these phased withdrawals will give me enough time to get my industry relocated, and the Dnepr River line solid enough to give him some serious trouble.

[JAMiAM]

Trey's turn 4 saw some action around Pskov, the Dvina/Dnepr landbridge, and Proskurov. Elsewhere, it was mostly quiet, as at this stage of the game, the Axis infantry is still trying to catch up to the Panzer Gruppen's spearheads. These casualties were from the start of the turn, but since I only launched a single attack during the turn, they were virtually unchanged by the end of the turn.

[JAMiAM]

The Air Losses at the start of the turn. Likewise, for the above screen, the one attack left fewer than 10 planes destroyed each side, so no end of turn loss reports are appropriate.

[JAMiAM]

In the North, Trey's Finns activated, but due to the mud in the Northern Soviet zone, did not make much headway against the Soviets. Still, I am withdrawing, so that the 7th Independent, and 23rd Armies can be find more useful tasks than guarding Finns who cannot attack across some line drawn on the map. Yeah, it's cheesy, but since it made its way into the various strategy guides penned by some of the beta testers, it must be Grade A, Officially Sanctioned Cheese...[:D]

I'll keep them at bay long enough to gather up enough NKVD Regiments and assorted Brigades to cover the Karelian Isthmus and the Svir River line, so that the Finns don't have a free move across.

This shot shows the situation at the start of the turn. It doesn't show the Finnish Front, unfortunately. That will show in the ending screenshot, next. This does show, however, the attack that Trey has made against my forces around Pskov.

[JAMiAM]

My one counterattack of the turn was a deliberate attack against the German Panzer division at the tip of 4th Pz Gp's Schwerpunkt. I forgot to convert the hex immediately west of the division before launching the attack, and the Panzers adeptly retreated right into the 'friendly' hex. Grr...[:@] This, of course, left my tank and motorized divisions bereft of any MPs to close the gap, and I had to rearrange my lines to close back in on Trey's schwerpunkt. I expect the German infantry to show up here next turn and give my 27th Army a good thrashing. In preparation for this, I've already started my Neva River line digging in, and the two armies formed last turn are already coming up to strength.

[JAMiAM]

This shot, taken at the start of the turn shows the shallow push that Trey made against the landbridge region. He drove my forces out of each of the four front hexes, and occupied three of them. It also shows the still disorganized state of my forces (C&C-wise) at the start of the turn.

[JAMiAM]

Luckily, this turn, I got the Reserve Front, and a lot of APs to spend, and this screenshot shows a marked improvement over the organization of this sector. What doesn't show, of course, are the leader changes made to several armies and fronts, as well as the internal shifting of units to more closely located army HQs. The front line on the Dnepr was a pretty mixed bag at the start of the turn, but now, the Army frontages are much better defined, and for the most part, the Armies and Fronts are competently led. I still need to replace Pavlov in Western Front. If he doesn't meet a firing squad, then I will replace him with Malinovsky next turn. I figure Trey will wait one more turn before trying to breach the Dnepr River in force, so I should be safe until then. Or, so I hope...[;)]

[JAMiAM]

The starting situation in the South. Trey continued to drive his armored wedge to the NE of Proskurov, directly to the East. This ate through the three lines of defense I had, but penetrated no further. I will not be able to keep throwing a three hex carpet in front of him and expecting it to hold. First off, my forces are getting tired, despite the relatively better quality of my troops here. Secondly, as this bulge grows deeper, it will create too many opportunities for Trey's combined force of infantry and mobile troops to breakthough and exploit to either side, or perhaps even straight through.

I'm playing for time here, trying to anticipate Trey's general axis of attack, and blanketing that area with a thick wall of Soviets. However, as the exterior lines of mine that are surrounding the bulge grow thinner, I must be on guard that he doesn't suddenly shift his axis, and try to bag my forces on either side.

[JAMiAM]

The ending situation, with the lines restored...for now.

I expect to have to withdraw 5th and 16th Armies to behind the Sluch River next turn and abandon the Goryn River line. It is getting too exposed to a right hook from the 1st Pz Gp. Trey is also sending a lot of his forces from the 4th Army into the northern part of the Pripyet Marshes, so the possibility exists for this area to become untenable as the supply lines become dangerously exposed. I've got four armies, in various states, digging in along the Dnepr River. However, it is a very long river, and some of these armies are mere shells. I've got to give them time to get prepared, but not at the expense of losing too much strength to the west of the river. Phased withdrawals are the order of the day, with just enough counterattacking to keep Trey on his toes and cautious. Now, if I could just get a little more to counterattack with![:D]