More Dispatches from OKH: Q-ball (A) v Von Beanie (R) Rnd 2 v1.04

[timmyab]

ORIGINAL: Rafo
The panzerkorp takes 4 days to advance and capture Riga and then overnight 30 000 troops fully equipped and organized and with their full allotment of heavy equipment, trucs and horses are teleported in the port.[:-] The landing takes time, even in a friendly port, and here it can only began after the panzerkorp takes the port.

Yes, put like that you do have a strong point.Maybe Axis sea transport should be reduced to zero on turn one.
edit - Also the port would most likely be mined or blocked in some way for the first week at least.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

Can someone explain to me (I am a bit slow) what does bombing of Kuresaare has to do with this Riga thing?

Without bombing Kuressare, its port ZOC will prevent naval or naval supply movement to Riga.

Can bombing remove the port ZOC? Didn't know that.

[CharonJr]

Damaging a port will lower its ZOC and 1% damage is enough to allow the Axis to get to Riga. In addition to getting units there it will even work as a supply source if you can prevent the port from being fully repaired during the logistics phase. It seems like 7% damage is repaired each turn, so you need to cause 8%+ damage if you want Riga as a supply source, too, which is very helpful IMO.

[Mynok]

It damages the port, thus reducing the ZOC or eliminating it. See 14.2.3.4.

[Ridgeway]

ORIGINAL: CharonJr

Damaging a port will lower its ZOC and 1% damage is enough to allow the Axis to get to Riga. In addition to getting units there it will even work as a supply source if you can prevent the port from being fully repaired during the logistics phase. It seems like 7% damage is repaired each turn, so you need to cause 8%+ damage if you want Riga as a supply source, too, which is very helpful IMO.

Has anyone confirmed that sufficient damage to Kuressare will allow supplies to flow into Riga. I know it should work, but I am curious if it does

[CharonJr]

I seems so to me, Riga was still shown at 0/0 distance for supplies to me after I bombed the port for 13% during the previous turn.

[ComradeP]

Has anyone confirmed that sufficient damage to Kuressare will allow supplies to flow into Riga. I know it should work, but I am curious if it does

If you can move troops somewhere, that should also mean the supply network's functional.

It seems like 7% damage is repaired each turn

That's something that confuses me, as according to the manual it should only repair 3%, yet I'm seeing repair rates as high as 22%. I'll ask Pavel, as it doesn't seem to be WAD (working as documented, in this case).

[Q-Ball]

Turn 3 OKH Dispatches: The Advance Continues

In many ways, turn 2-3 are the most fun for the Axis. You're not out of fuel yet, and you spend those turns rounding up piles of isolated units. Yeehaw! Rastle up them Reds! Reality and fuel limits start to rear their ugly head on turn 4.....

Army Group North: Here is my greatest progress; Von Beanie has expressed amazement with the speed I am moving, clearing most of Estonia by the end of Turn 2.

In ESTONIA, I punched HQ BUILDUP for that Panzer Corps, while some infantry is catching up. I plan to make a push accross the Narva and Luga next turn.

Around PSKOV, lack of fuel prevented me from doing more than widening my breech of the River. With Infantry catching up, next turn I should be off and running toward Leningrad again.

Army Group Center:
I am not happy with the progress here.

VON BEANIE has learned alot in defense; everywhere, he is putting up Checkerboards, that are not stacked. The units are placed to maximize ZOC and terrain. It's pretty much as good as you can do! If he keeps it up, I will post tactical examples of what I am doing with it, but basically all you can do is pummel some units up front, and encircle some scrap units. Big encirclements are not really possible.

We are just approaching the Dnepr, and I hope to cross on Turn 4. After that, it gets alot tougher, as the Reds get piles of new units around Moscow turns 4-5.

Army Group South:

Pictures say more than anything else. Not real happy down here either.

The LVOV pocket takes a LONG time to clean, particularly if you DON'T use Germans. I am moving 17th Army eastward, and leaving the last clean-up to Slovaks and Hungarians.

[Oleg Mastruko]

In my opinion your Panzers in the AGS are not placed well. Ideally, Panzer movements in the south should depict the letter W, cutting up and down each turn, encircling Sovs with every "cut", also ignoring Kiev (it's not important at all, it will fall eventually anyway).

The way your Panzers are positioned in the last pic it appears they are using brute force to push directly towards Kiev, not making W shaped cuts to produce encirclements? I could be wrong though, lets see how this goes.....

Impressive progress in the north though....

[PeeDeeAitch]

I form my panzers in a "pi" shape because I like to eat.

[Q-Ball]

Turn 4 Dispatches:

Here is a brief overview of Turn 4

Overall, I can tell that this game is evolving differently than my first one against Von Beanie, mostly because his defense is much more effective. He is Checkerboarding where he needs to fight, and surrendering ground elsewhere. It is going to be very difficult to get a high KIA count on the Russians, as VB is sacrificing ground to save the Red Army.

[cookie monster]

hes gonna suffer when ''trading land for time''

the new double rail costs for evacuating industry is gonna sting him

[Q-Ball]

Turn 5 Dispatches:

OLEG: Destroying units is actually the priority, the problem is that Von Beanie isn't going to let that happen right now (see map).

I'm not driving on Kiev, just towards it; I find it's easier to get across further south, like around Cherkassy

COOKIE: I hope you are right, this game will test how much the Reds need to defend forward. So far he isn't feeling the need.

OVERALL:
I am certainly behind my last AAR in terms of unit destruction and Dead Reds, which is a problem. I caused 3 mil Soviet losses last time before Winter, which I think is about the minimum; Von Beanie kept losses down by trading space for time.

This time, his defenses are better, so I will likely have even less success destroying units. If he is able to still withdraw just as much, I might only get 2.5 mil by Winter, which is a problem!

Current Soviet Losses (Beginning Turn 5):

1.02 Mil Men
712,000 POWs
14,600 Guns
8,600 Tanks

In my last game, I topped 1 mil POWs by turn 7. I don't think I'm getting there this time! I'll be lucky to clear 900K.

[Klydon]

TBH, Q-Ball, I would load up the Russians and look at where his factories are and start looking to put some heat on them to make him feel the pinch on moving stuff or at least it will give you an idea of where he may have issues moving stuff and may make a better stand. The other thing with your fast drive towards the Leningrad area is that if he is busy moving stuff out, he won't be busy railing that many troops in.

It looks like you sent that PG2 panzer corps back up north of the swamp for the most part. I just don't know if 1 panzer army in the south is enough to both put heat on the river line and also to help speed things up for 11th army in the far south.

I am sure that while you are worried about your rate of advance that Von Beanie is also concerned at how fast you have advanced in places.

Going to be interested to see how this all plays out.

[Q-Ball]

Turn 5: The AFTER shots

KLYDON: I actually didn't send the Pz Corps back up north. Start of turn 2, I sent the Viking SS division north of the swamp, but that's it. You don't see any BLUE because I re-HQed the Panzer Corps. Panzer Group 1 now has 4 Panzer Corps.

AFTER SHOTS:
Here is the after shots; pretty self-explanatory

Von Beanie is clearly looking to conserve the Red Army, which isn't a bad strategy. I hope to press him shortly. I forgot to check if Kiev is cleared, but if it isn't, he'll have to shortly, as I have crossed the Dnepr only 2 hexes from there. I actually didn't intend to cross at that spot, but the opportunity presented itself.

[ComradeP]

One thing I'll be interested in, is the effect the HQ build-ups you're using will have on supply and the motor pool. According to the manual, the effect should be fairly substantial if used more than once.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

One thing I'll be interested in, is the effect the HQ build-ups you're using will have on supply and the motor pool. According to the manual, the effect should be fairly substantial if used more than once.

I don't think it's a big deal.

It does cost APs, no doubt. But in terms of TRUCK losses, it's not that big a deal; a few hundred each time, which is an acceptable trade-off I think. It probably was not meant to be used for 3 Panzer Corps at once, but there it is.

Those units DID sit tight all last turn, so that's the other "price" you pay; that aspect I think does a good job of simulating a period of rest/refit before a big push. Having Panzers not move for an entire turn is probably the biggest price you pay, IMO.

I will post supply/truck stats next turn

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: CharonJr

Damaging a port will lower its ZOC and 1% damage is enough to allow the Axis to get to Riga. In addition to getting units there it will even work as a supply source if you can prevent the port from being fully repaired during the logistics phase. It seems like 7% damage is repaired each turn, so you need to cause 8%+ damage if you want Riga as a supply source, too, which is very helpful IMO.

I sure learnt something useful here! Nice trick! I can't say I have a problem with it.

[ComradeP]

I was correct that there's a problem with the port repair rate, leading to a rate of about 22% in some cases. It has been fixed in a tester hotfix and should be fixed in the next official patch.

[EntropyAvatar]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Having Panzers not move for an entire turn is probably the biggest price you pay, IMO.

Technically you can still move the panzers, you just can't move them very far. If I'm contemplating an HQ buildup, I often place my HQ as far forward as I can the previous turn. Then move the panzers, smash and surround locally if possible, then do the buildup. However, it's more wear-and-tear on the panzers.

One other thing you can do is transfer units between corps. In one game, one of my panzer corps was behind, so I limited the advance of the lead corps and transfered three divisions from the trailing corps in at the end of the turn, hit HQ buildup and then transferred them back next turn. Certainly expensive in terms of APs though...