Riga as supply source

[James Ward]

Is Riga a supply source for the Germans? I mean can you move your RR repair unit to Riga and start building your rail net from there rather than buiilding from the border?

[Lrfss]

ORIGINAL: James Ward

Is Riga a supply source for the Germans? I mean can you move your RR repair unit to Riga and start building your rail net from there rather than buiilding from the border?

All German supply RR must connect back to the Fatherland for it to do you any good!

[Q-Ball]

Even if you wanted to start RR building from Riga, you can't. You can't repair track that isn't connected to the railnet already.

Riga isn't a reliable supply source until Kuresaare falls (that port on Moon Is.). By the time it falls, you should have a RR well beyond Riga anyway if you start at the German border.

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Even if you wanted to start RR building from Riga, you can't. You can't repair track that isn't connected to the railnet already.

Riga isn't a reliable supply source until Kuresaare falls (that port on Moon Is.). By the time it falls, you should have a RR well beyond Riga anyway if you start at the German border.

Thanks. I had a game where my RR unit was interdicted two turns in a row and really stalled my RR building so I thought what if ....

[mikemcmann]

All rail doesnt have to be connected to Germany.

If Leningrad is captured then cut from the German rail net, you can build FROM the finnish rail outward.

just an FYI....

[Aussiematto]

Still can't see the value in Riga... I know some here swear by it and use creative bombing of Kuessare and port movement to get infantry in it on Turn 2 etc, but everytime I play I do the MP calculations and it always works out easier to drive east to Pskov from lower down and leave Riga to be cleaned out by 1 corps of infantry. 

[Ridgeway]

ORIGINAL: majeloz

Still can't see the value in Riga... I know some here swear by it and use creative bombing of Kuessare and port movement to get infantry in it on Turn 2 etc, but everytime I play I do the MP calculations and it always works out easier to drive east to Pskov from lower down and leave Riga to be cleaned out by 1 corps of infantry. 

If you do the moves correctly, you can have two Pz Divs from XXXXI Corps across the Dvina and adjacent to Riga for a hasty attack on T1 (which is pretty much guaranteed to succeed). Assuming you capture the two ports on the west coast (pretty easy to do with Totenkopf), this isolates all the Russian units west of Riga. These Pz Divisions should be then be able to get to the Pskov area on T2, so I am not sure what you lose by having them take Riga on T1.

Moreover, assuming you bomb Kuressare each turn (and you might as well -- those AGN bombers dont have that many targets early in the game), you can use Riga to sealift in infantry divisions which would otherwise have to walk. This cuts off 1-2 turns from their arrival time. Finally, even though you can't run a rail line from Riga, it acts as a supply source all by itself as long as Kuressare keeps getting bombed. This should help your units in the Pskov area.

[Aditia]

Wait, so by bombing a port you make it easier to use the port facilities?

[Rekm41]

No I think the place they mention (Kuressare) is another port so you are in fact suppressing it so you can use the seazone to get to Riga from other friendly ports.

[Mynok]

It is the far left dot on the island north of Riga.

[Rekm41]

thanks that answered the question I was thinking to myself.

[Ridgeway]

Yeah -- Kuressare exerts a "Port ZOC" when undamaged that blocks the sea lane to Riga. The rules are a little vague on how damaged it needs to be to to get rid of that ZOC. Also, there appears to be a bug in terms of how fast ports repair. I have found that it you whomp Kuressare at the beginning of each turn to raise the damage level above 10%, Riga works fine. You only need to do that for 3 turns or so, because by that point the rail repair should be close to caught up, and there are no more units to sealift in.

The other reason to take the ports is to prevent the Russians from sealifting its units out to Talinn and L'grad. I was able to do that as the Russians in my current PBEM (1st live opponent) -- it is nice because it saves precious RR capacity on T1 and T2.

[Q-Ball]

If you bomb Kuressare, you can move in an Infantry Corps by ship on TURN 1; not just turn 2. That is a decent leap forward for those units! Not a huge game-changer, but every little bit helps.

[Klydon]

The other consideration of marching vs sea lift is marching jacks up the fatigue on the infantry while sea lift is far easier on them. 

[Zoetermeer]

But how do you get Riga to be a supply source (so that the Riga hex shows as being 0 MP from the nearest railhead/supply source)? I captured Riga on turn one, but it still shows as being around 29 MP from the nearest railhead.

[heliodorus04]

I don't think that's going to happen until over-land rail connects.
I also don't think you can move an FBD and start rail-repair work there unless overland rail is adjacent (Germany's not going to put trains on ships, move them to Riga, offload, and start doing rail supply from there).

Units may draw supply from a port, though, and it will display in their supply details but I'm not sure if it will list Riga as the supply source or a German port connected to the rail, like Konigsberg for example.

[Zoetermeer]

Makes sense to me, but then how is it that Talinn becomes an instant railhead when it's captured? Shouldn't this behave the same as capturing Riga?

[Zoetermeer]

Ah, I just figured it out. Bombing the Kuressare port to over 10% damage makes the Riga hex show up as being 0 MP from the nearest railhead/supply source. So I guess the port-bombing trick works.

[Zebedee]

The more I think of it, the more I'm really uneasy with the 'Riga gambit' on turn 1 using L Corps. Mostly it's because I'm not confident that L Corps and the units under it should really be active on turn 1 and/or available for transportation to Riga. My understanding is that L Armeekorps itself was OKH reserve in the military district of Berlin and the units assigned to it were still in transit to the Eastern Front from the West when Barbarossa was launched. L Armeekorps was only made available for use by AGN in July.

It's very attractive to do it, and I can see the argument that Operation Beowulf was being planned so some form of amphibious capability should be there, but... yeah, not sitting right with me personally.

[Ketza]

ORIGINAL: Zebedee

The more I think of it, the more I'm really uneasy with the 'Riga gambit' on turn 1 using L Corps. Mostly it's because I'm not confident that L Corps and the units under it should really be active on turn 1 and/or available for transportation to Riga. My understanding is that L Armeekorps itself was OKH reserve in the military district of Berlin and the units assigned to it were still in transit to the Eastern Front from the West when Barbarossa was launched. L Armeekorps was only made available for use by AGN in July.

It's very attractive to do it, and I can see the argument that Operation Beowulf was being planned so some form of amphibious capability should be there, but... yeah, not sitting right with me personally.

I dont use L corps. I use another corps thats closer to Memel.