Defender of the Revolution: Q-Ball v Tarhunnas

[Flaviusx]

Patience. You'll be getting plenty of guards in due course. I've noticed this myself, sometimes there's a substantial delay involved. I don't know exactly why this is the case, but they will flip over.

[Ketza]

Keeping the Luftwaffe in the Blizzard is a must in my opinion.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

Did he send the Luftwaffe out by chance? It looks fairly healthy. I would think some ground support would have helped some of those guys. 

Yes, the Luftwaffe is active. In fact, they may have more bombers at the front than me. I am being conservative with my IL-2s and Pe-2s, because I lost half my production. I have PLENTY of fighters though, so all my IADs units are maxed-out.

Map: Northern Fronts

See below for a global map of the North.

In front of MOSCOW, I am slowly gaining ground; I should clear it this winter. Not sure if I can hold it, but maybe I can at least make this a killing ground for Panzers later.

TULA should fall next turn (or the units inside will be surrounded).

I will post a smaller map of around OREL, where there is a collapse of the German lines.

[Q-Ball]

T-30: Bryansk Front

I am attaching detail on the Bryansk Front. It's bad for the Germans. Real bad. I sensed it was cracking a turn or two ago, and immediately dispatched more fresh units. I wish I had more Cavalry here, but other than that, we have piles of trouble for the Germans.

With 3 more turn left in January, I don't know how he will halt me. The Germans do get some fresh units in Jan '42, so maybe that's the answer. I am sure they are going here.

I have accounted for almost all his Panzers, though, on the line; no help there.

[Erik Rutins]

Nicely done.

[Mynok]

I believe it is safe to say that snow offensives by the Germans are foolhardy. Get in position and dig for the winter or you will suffer.

[Mehring]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


I believe it is safe to say that snow offensives by the Germans are foolhardy. Get in position and dig for the winter or you will suffer.

I disagree if the offensive is to kill Russian industry. Once it's gone it won't return. But dig in behind your attack and don't wait to be attacked before falling back once, or if objective is achieved, before, blizzard comes.

[Peltonx]

What ill effects are you going to gain from a few arm and hvy points?

[Mehring]

ORIGINAL: Pelton

What ill effects are you going to gain from a few arm and hvy points?

If you're saying that destroying Russian industry is pointless, you're saying the Germans can't win. Yet plenty of German players have won the campaign, I have twice. Destroying industry, the means by which the Russians equip to fight you, is the primary objective.

[Ketza]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


I believe it is safe to say that snow offensives by the Germans are foolhardy. Get in position and dig for the winter or you will suffer.

I suppose it depends on the game. My snow campaign killed off some 30+ Soviet divisions and I used it to smack around some of my opponents built up areas. Also if there is a strategic goal that is somewhat in reach like a batch of Industry it would be good as well.

If however you have not killed a decent amount of Soviets yet find yourself deep in their territory with a very long line to defend there could be major trouble and a snow offensive may not be wise.

[Speedysteve]

Q-ball this is very interesting. In my on going tester game with James I averaged 30-40 attacks per turn as SU. I'm intrigued and amazed you can make so many attacks per turn. This seems to be the 'norm' with the current versions. As such the feeling you may have about blizzard being overpowered may well be down to the amount of successful attacks you can launch per turn. I'd be intrigued to know more about the reasons how and why you can do this - is it because the Axis didn't prepare well enough for blizzard and therefore have lower CV's allowing you to make more attacks? Did you manage to create many well stocked reserve forces prior to blizzard etc?

Interesting.....

[TulliusDetritus]

Q-Ball, maybe you plan to stop the steamroller during the snow turns. Be aware of this: I am pretty certain you CAN trash fascists during these turns (as opposed to the classic German post-blizzard offensives). The enemies are being utterly smashed. You should have the upper hand. In any case that's what I saw -to my surprise, I was expecting German agressive moves- on my game [:)]

[Flaviusx]

Q-ball has brilliantly exploited the potentialities of his cavalry and it is paying off in a big way; combined with the severely stretched German front, and that's why he's making so many attacks. The Crimean salient practically negates the advantages the German gains from bringing in the Finns. This was a serious blunder on the part of Tarhunnas.

But I remain wary of pushing this past February. His unreadiness rates are starting to climb alarmingly.

[Pawlock]

Q-Ball

Im curious to know how many extra cavalry units did you build? and have you converted them all to corps yet? I have built around 18-20 extra and wondering is that enough or should I build more at next opportunity?

[paullus99]

Prepping for snow & the subsequent mud turns is definitely a good idea. Although, given the losses to the German Panzer force, it will be difficult for any sort of major offensive operation on the Axis part, at least until track numbers increase significantly.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Q-ball this is very interesting. In my on going tester game with James I averaged 30-40 attacks per turn as SU. I'm intrigued and amazed you can make so many attacks per turn. This seems to be the 'norm' with the current versions. As such the feeling you may have about blizzard being overpowered may well be down to the amount of successful attacks you can launch per turn. I'd be intrigued to know more about the reasons how and why you can do this - is it because the Axis didn't prepare well enough for blizzard and therefore have lower CV's allowing you to make more attacks? Did you manage to create many well stocked reserve forces prior to blizzard etc?

Interesting.....

Why so many attacks? It is alot. I think there are several factors.

I don't think there is a big difference in skill level between myself and Tarhunnas. I think we both get all the basics, and sometimes make mistakes, and also good moves. He killed me in the summer campaign, and has shown he knows what he is doing in general, so maybe that's why this is a good test case. He's a good opponent, which is why I am worried about 1942, watching what he is doing to gids.....

To prepare for winter, here is what I did:

1. ARMAMENTS: I really tried to stretch my armaments, because I wanted as many Rifles in the line as possible on December 1. I didn't run out of armaments in the pool until the last turn in December. I wonder if this really helped. What I did in a nutshell:
-Only built Construction Bdes, nothing else
-Disbanded certain Armament-Hogging units for replacements; Mot Regts, 203mm Howitzer Bns, AT Bdes. I cannibalized units for replacements
2. CAVALRY: I kept my Cavalry out of harm's way all summer; I never put them in the front, and usually in the 3rd or 4th row. I only lost 10 Cavalry Divisions in the summer campaign; probably half of those are "doomed" turn 1, so I lost very little. I have not built any new Cav units, just used the ones I got. I had 10 or 12 divisions sitting in REFIT mode for weeks, digging trenches and building morale/experience.
3. RESERVES: I don't think I did anything special here. I did pick-out about 20 of my best Rifle Divisions starting turn 16-17, and sat them on REFIT in the rear to build morale/experience. Most of the "Reserves" have been new Rifle units that show up more or less at full-strength.

GERMAN PREPARATIONS:
One difference is that these were lacking. Tarhunnas did not shorten his line enough, and this was fatal. In particular, that Crimean bulge added 16 hexes to the front more than he needed; that could have been a nice reserve.

Once I cleared the initial 2-3 hexes, there are no more trenches.

TACTICS:
I have also managed the whole offensive to maximize successful attacks, and retreated German units.

Typically, the turn starts with 2 rows of stacks, because you have so many units. I carefully move up the 2nd Row to places they can make a Deliberate attack; I want to use the FIRST row, as much as possible, to move one hex, THEN attack. I carefully use my MPs to make sure I use them all up. Most HASTY attacks are on units that have already retreated, because they are easy pickings for the most part. I use CAV almost always on follow-on attacks on units that have already retreated.

The only other thing is that I have MERGED about a dozen Naval Bdes into front-line units to keep them ready. I am "borrowing" a bit from the future doing that. I am limiting this to Naval Infantry only, which I can't later form into divisions.

Other than that, it's not rocket science, just moving units up, picking enough CV that looks like it will do the trick, and hit "Attack".

Probably the biggest factor is the length of the line itself. I said at the beginning that Long Lines = Soviet Advantage in Blizzard, and the longer, the better. My whole push toward Bryansk has nothing to do with Bryansk, and everything to do with just making the overall defense lines longer and longer as I push that bulge west. Of course, the shoe is on the other foot come summer, so if that bulge is still there, I'll need to pull out of it.

[Mehring]

Of course, the shoe is on the other foot come summer, so if that bulge is still there, I'll need to pull out of it.

Not necessarily. If the Germans are that beat up come summer, extended line length continues to be a Russian advantage.

[BletchleyGeek]

Congratulations Q-Ball, that has been a great victory!

PS: Tarhunnas needs to get real very fast.

[Peltonx]

So the claim that Flaviusx made that you should just quit was "wrong" when you lost Moscow?

Now your on your way to a major victory after losing Leningrad/Moscow to Stalion?

I am asking myself what was the point of Tarhunnas taking all those locations during the summer if there is zero penality as far as productions goes? There are no penailtys at all for the run for the hills tactic most Russain players are using now as can be seen in this an my AAR.

I clearly see Tarhunnas made some mistakes, but again why is it so easy for the Russian to recover from such huge losses? I know Q-Ball lost allot of air factorys, but with the plane exploit it have little effect on Q-Balls wiping out the German air forse by 43.

When if ever, does the Russian player take a hit for losing all the manpower centers he lost in this game and the 140 arm and 57hvy in my game? Its seems no matter what the Russian losses they end up with close to 6 million men and units fully equipped with pts to spare as long as the Russian player has a basic understanding of game mechanics.

I am myself tring to find an answer to this question and welcome anyone that has one.

Good job Q-ball so far. It will be interesting to see what the summer brings

Pelton

[hfarrish]

ORIGINAL: Pelton

When if ever, does the Russian player take a hit for losing all the manpower centers he lost in this game and the 140 arm and 57hvy in my game? Its seems no matter what the Russian losses they end up with close to 6 million men and units fully equipped with pts to spare as long as the Russian player has a basic understanding of game mechanics.

I am myself tring to find an answer to this question and welcome anyone that has one.

Pelton

I'll take a (limited) bite - given that he has burned down his existing armament pool, it's going to be mighty difficult with his reduced armaments production to field and equip the artillery divisions he will need to really make the Red Army a monster...others more knowledgeable than I would have to speak to the broader consequences of the HVY and population losses.