Pass the Kryptonite - Oleg's Supermen are coming! 1943 AAR.

[Mynok]

"Economics is boring" or "I want to have fun while I lose."? [:'(]

[Speedysteve]

Both but the latter more [;)]

[Mynok]

That's what you get for playing testers. [:D]

[Speedysteve]

[;)]

[karonagames]

T5: I have decided the threat to 4th Army's northern flank is enough to trigger a retreat to a less exposed line.

[karonagames]

T5: The reserve line entrenchments along the river Bolva are making good progress:

[karonagames]

T5. I made I major mistake by not garrisoning Stalino, so Oleg grabbed the chance to isolate more units, that I again managed to rescue, but 2 divisions are going into the dead pile.

[karonagames]

T5: Meanwhile units freed up from the far north, and 17th Army in the far south arrive to start building defences that will hopefully keep Oleg east of the Dnepr until the autumn mud.

[bevans]

I figure to have any chance in the '43 GC, you need to keep the Pz/PG divisions strong enough to deliver strong counterattacks and even limited counteroffensives whenever the SU gets ahead of itself. So my question: is your tank strength growing/Pz divs' TOEs increasing? Think it is excellent strategy to have pulled so many of them out of the line. Watching this with interest.

[karonagames]

So my question: is your tank strength growing/Pz divs' TOEs increasing?

Up to turn 10 I have been suffering a net loss of 100 AFVs per week, but the numbers of the more resilient Panthers and Tigers have increased (30 Tigers in the Pool!).

[ComradeP]

Like in his game(s) with Flavio, Bob's definition of preserving his mobile units differs from mine. He's keeping them in secondary defensive lines, so they can be attacked.

but the numbers of the more resilient Panthers and Tigers have increased (30 Tigers in the Pool!).

Unfortunately, Panther production decreases substantially after a while as the A enters production.

[karonagames]

T6: Furious at the loss of Stalino, the Leader dismisses Manstein and replaces him with Guderian:

[karonagames]

T6: 2nd Panzer Army pulls back to enable 4th Army to shorten it's lines.

[karonagames]

T6: The SS panzer corps is deployed to the front lines to anchor 6th Army's left flank and hopefully enable an orderly retreat.

[JJKettunen]

Poor Manstein. Many pages of his memoirs are lost now.

[Aditia]

Will maintaining garrissons help lower the damage that partisans do in the '43-'45 campaign? Since partisan activity is pretty heavy from the get go in this scenario, severely crippling Axis rail usage.

I am about to start a '43-'45 campaign, and my soviet opponent seems to think that we need double ap's to help the soviets have a chance to counter 'the disadvantage of having so many static units', but looking from the action you guys have been having, the stock AP is fine

[JJKettunen]

ORIGINAL: Aditia

Will maintaining garrissons help lower the damage that partisans do in the '43-'45 campaign? Since partisan activity is pretty heavy from the get go in this scenario, severely crippling Axis rail usage.

On turn 1 your rails are undamaged - use rail movement as much as possible. Garrison all the partisan producing cities with sufficient amount of troops as soon as possible. Use mobile reserve units to clean partisans behind the front, and attack them with garrison units as well (make sure they enough MPs to come back for the cities). When carried out scrupulously, this "war on terror" will be won by turn 8, depending on the overall situation, of course.

ORIGINAL: Aditia
I am about to start a '43-'45 campaign, and my soviet opponent seems to think that we need double ap's to help the soviets have a chance to counter 'the disadvantage of having so many static units', but looking from the action you guys have been having, the stock AP is fine

All players want more APs. They are set for a reason, and shouldn't be fudged about.

[karonagames]

Will maintaining garrissons help lower the damage that partisans do in the '43-'45 campaign? Since partisan activity is pretty heavy from the get go in this scenario, severely crippling Axis rail usage.

I am about to start a '43-'45 campaign, and my soviet opponent seems to think that we need double ap's to help the soviets have a chance to counter 'the disadvantage of having so many static units', but looking from the action you guys have been having, the stock AP is fine

We are now in turn 12, and I have pretty much got the partisans under control and the rail network is repaired.

As Keke says, the APs were adjusted and readjusted during testing. If the soviets had more, they would get their avalanche rolling much sooner, and their rate of advance would be higher than historical. It has been a real struggle to hold the soviets at anything like the historical rate; Flavio always got ahead of the clock, and I think Oleg is about to over the next couple of turns.

[Aditia]

I tried a limited Kursk offensive against the AI (forming the pocket a few hexes west of what historically was attempted). It's like sticking your head in a meat grinder. I managed to form and hold a pocket, and kill it on turn 5, but at the cost of getting all my armored formations nuked and committing almost everything on the board.

[karonagames]

I tried a limited Kursk offensive against the AI (forming the pocket a few hexes west of what historically was attempted). It's like sticking your head in a meat grinder. I managed to form and hold a pocket, and kill it on turn 5, but at the cost of getting all my armored formations nuked and committing almost everything on the board.

Yep, pretty much the story of all my tests, and because the AI gets unlimited APs, they can get their counter offensive rolling much quicker than a human in PBEM. You may be able to destroy 2 Armies by going for the more westerly option, but the Soviets still have 12 armies in reserve.