1.04.10 Fulkerson vs Zort ( Buzz )

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the OOB for the start of turn 3:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the production figures for the start of turn 3:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a list of the destroyed Soviet units as of turn 3:

[hfarrish]

I would get those units in the Baltics South of Talinn out of there and up to the swamps in the 3 hex bridge. 3 units will do it for the most part and it frees up the rest of those guys, along with your Leningrad units, to start building some defenses from Novgorod north along that river that runs to the Baltic. You will probably want to start moving your units facing the Finns out now to the no-attack lines as well, this will free up substantial units. Some would call it gamey (and maybe it is) but you can leave the weakest units along the no-attack line; as long as a warm body is there you can hold it.

In the center you are still hurting along the Dnepr, so if any units are free to go there, I'd send them.

In the South, I would make sure to get some units to that area in front of Vinnitsa, since if he gets through there he could really put the hurt on your Dnestr line (in our first game, which was my first game period, he really caught me hard there and did a good encirclement). If those guys look threatened at all I would pull them back to the Vishny Bug. Nothing there seriously worth holding.

Finally, that concentration you have East of Rovno is going to be a fat target for him - he may even send some AGC panzers south behind them to link up and bag a huge number of units. I would definitely consider pulling this group back to Sluch to start forming some defenses there. He will always be able to move faster, farther than you think he can, although it also looks like you are doing a good job keeping guys on the mobile units, which will help.

Good luck...hope the advice is helpful and not just stating the obvious that you already know.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hfarrish
I would get those units in the Baltics South of Talinn out of there and up to the swamps in the 3 hex bridge.

Good idea.

ORIGINAL: hfarrish
...start building some defenses from Novgorod north along that river that runs to the Baltic.

Okie dokie.

ORIGINAL: hfarrish
You will probably want to start moving your units facing the Finns out now to the no-attack lines as well, this will free up substantial units. Some would call it gamey (and maybe it is) but you can leave the weakest units along the no-attack line; as long as a warm body is there you can hold it.

I was thinking of maybe parking the paratroops there. They aren't worth much in terms of construction and besides being used as a roadblock they seem much more valuable as s place holder there on the Finn/Leningrad line.

ORIGINAL: hfarrish
In the South, I would make sure to get some units to that area in front of Vinnitsa, since if he gets through there he could really put the hurt on your Dnestr line (in our first game, which was my first game period, he really caught me hard there and did a good encirclement). If those guys look threatened at all I would pull them back to the Vishny Bug. Nothing there seriously worth holding.

Good idea.

ORIGINAL: hfarrish
Finally, that concentration you have East of Rovno is going to be a fat target for him - he may even send some AGC panzers south behind them to link up and bag a huge number of units. I would definitely consider pulling this group back to Sluch to start forming some defenses there. He will always be able to move faster, farther than you think he can, although it also looks like you are doing a good job keeping guys on the mobile units, which will help.

Yeah, thanks.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines for turn 4 before any Soviet stuff is moved:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the air losses for both sides:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the destroyed Soviet units as of turn 4:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a summary of the ground losses

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the OOB figures

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Soviet production figures for T4:

[Klydon]

Interesting what the Axis are doing in the south. They are basically putting no pressure towards Kiev and south of the swamp there and moving more towards the bend.

Would recommend getting a lot of those NW army guys south of Tallinn moving out and between the Germans and Leningrad NE of Pskov. Can leave a screen there to slow them down, but that area is basically a death trap should the Germans drive straight north from Pskov. Speaking of Leningrad, need to get some troops going on the Luga river line because the Germans are coming. Really need to get a checkerboard of units between Pskov and the Luga to slow down their advance and also get defenses set up near the Volkhov.

Larry, I think your lines look better in the center in terms of delay/depth. Makes it harder for the Germans to encircle. In the south, they are fairly linear, which makes it easier for the Germans to break through and pocket you, especially given the tank country down there. Case in point is that line you have on the Dnester NW of Odessa is very dangerous and subject to the panzers coming down and linking up with 11th army for a big encirclement there. You can't afford to lose those guys and the have done their job in slowing down 11th Army/Rumanian forces.

[DTurtle]

A couple of notes, some of which overlap or are similar to what I wrote in your AAR vs Pelton.

You seem to love your single defensive lines with empty hinterlands. Your goal at the beginning has to be to slow the Axis player down. You are not capable of directly stopping him at any point if he wants to go through there.

How do you slow him down? With units. If you have your units in places he doesn't want to move (fast), then your units are being wasted. Now, it is not possible to have a unit on every single space through which he could move, so you have to make each of your units that you do have as effective in slowing him down as possible.

How do you do that? With zones of control. Your goal has to be, that his spearhead units can never move through any of your hexes without paying the movement penalty for moving through enemy zones of control.

How do you achieve this? Checkerboarding. Have one empty hex between each unit (aka have your units two hexes apart). If you do that you can cover a lot more area with your zones of control. A line of 10 units can cover at most 34 hexes (one hex in front, the hex they are in, the hex behind them). If he has his units in contact with the line, you can cut that down by one third, so only about 20 hexes. If you instead checkerboard with those 10 units, the can cover a total of 53 hexes with their zones of control. Note that stacking units - unless they are able to stop the enemy or force him to make a deliberate attack instead of a hasty attack - will not help you slow him down.

Look, for example, at your defensive line in front of the Rumanians. You have one single line. There are enemy mobile units to their north. What units do you have that will slow down any move of theirs down behind your single line and make another nice pocket of your units down there?

Another example of that can be seen in the south from turn 2-3. You had a nice single defensive line, with only some fort units in the rear. So what did he do? Penetrate the line in one point, fan out behind it and start pocketing your troops.

Which brings me to the next point: Pull back your troops when they are in danger of being pocketed. After he penetrated your single defensive line in the south, he was threatening to pocket the units to the south-west of Proskurov. You should have been able to evacuate all units except maybe the cavalry unit. Instead, you didn't move them and let everything be pocketed.

He is threatening to do the same with all the units west of Zhitomir. Those units are currently almost completely worthless. If you pull them back, they could checkerboard the entire area in front of the Dnepr.

The most dangerous units on the board are his mobile forces. Wherever they are, that is where the majority of your forces have to go. Currently, his mobile forces are in front of Vinnitsa, at the Smolnsk land bridge, and at Pskov. That is where your forces have to be. The two AARs by TulliusDetritus (One and two) show how it is done.

[larryfulkerson]

Good ideas and good advice.  Thanks.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines before anything Soviet has moved:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the turn 5 Soviet destroyed units. There looks like a lot of them but actually there's some disbanded Corps HQ's in there too.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the ground losses so far:

[larryfulkerson]

And of course the OOB:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Soviet production figures so far:

[larryfulkerson]

I was wondering how many tanks ( T-34's ) I had in my game with Pelton and thought I'd practice in this game to find them. Finally I figured it out that you need to click on the fielded number in the production screen and the commanders report opens with the numbers I'm looking for. This screen shows, I think, that I'm doing good for tanks yet in this game.