Defender of the Revolution: Q-Ball v Tarhunnas

[Flaviusx]

Rifle brigade merges become available in May 42.

[M60A3TTS]

Practically speaking, what does a bump to the morale base do? If it just allows you to train up to that level it seems somewhat counterproductive. It would imply you're best off putting inexperienced units in shock armies.

[wpurdom]

What do Guard Armies do? Do they have special abilities, or are they just very elite typists at HQ?

What I've always wanted to know.

[Q-Ball]

Feb 26, 1942:

Last Call!

We continued the attacks around Moscow and Z-Town, as well as opportunity attacks up and down the line.

This turn, we inflicted about 30,000 casualties on the Germans, for the same number of Soviets, as our attacks tapered off. The losses were even, though, as most of our attacks were designed to be "Sure Things", in order to get units some wins, or just kill Germans, which is grand fun of course.

Moscow:
We failed to take Moscow. We have the city, though, in a bit of vice-grip. I am digging NW of the City, in a salient that Tarhunnas is going to have to eliminate.

I am moving units to the shoulders of this, to prevent a wholesale cut-off. I don't think he has the Panzer strength to really do that, though, anytime soon. My hope is that we hang around into the spring, so he has to use forces to bludgeon forward rather than using them in better attack terrain in the south.

Z-Town:
Tarhunnas broke through to Z-Town, again, but this time we took it. We isolated it, but rather than wait for him to break the pocket, I lined up 18 units (yes, 3 from every adjacent hex), and attacked. The defenders routed out of there.

This is important, because we cleared the Dnepr River line. I am pulling back over the Dnepr now, and will dig, and await the inevitable attempt to push me back to the Crimea and Sea of Azov.

Snow:
In preparation for Snow, I did put a little depth around in order to dig, but I don't anticipate major German offensives.

He might attack the Dnepr line, which would be smart right now. I am vulnerable, and can't do much about that right now, since my units there are in sorry shape. I am sure that I will have to pull-back on the Crimea eventually, but I am hoping to push that off until late Spring.

I anticipate heavy attacks around Moscow as well, to clear that bulge.

Other than Dnepr and Moscow, I don't think the Germans will do much in the Snow. With less than 500 operable tanks at the moment, he just doesn't have the Panzer strength for a major push.

I will post a full map of the front next turn. First, the stats:

Butcher's Bill:

See below; the Wehrmacht is pretty cooked at the moment. He may have alot in the Manpower pool, so the Germans could recuperate pretty quickly, but at the moment the Wehrmacht is still hurting.

My losses are no joke; I have alot of unready and shell units, and I really need to build some units back up. I am starting to form reserves. My Tank Strength hovers around 3,300, with empty tank pools.

[Klydon]

Units with higher moral can fight better and can advance better in enemy territory. It also helps raise the margin of the unit above the "unready" threshold. (moral + ToE > 100%). 

[bigbaba]

oh my, he is down to 650 panzers? thats 1 1/2 1939 panzerdivisions TOE!

nice job killing his armor.

you have a 5:1 suoeriority in tanks now. and i would bet at this time most of them are T-34?

i realy doubt that he can launch any huge attacks with this burned out panzerdivisions in the next time.

[Mehring]

Wow! That's been quite a meat grinder. Looks like you're both really beaten up. It's propbably a question now of who recuperates faster. Tanks will probably replace relatively quickly but it looks to me like you have seriously low levels of guns and manpower which might take a while to replenish. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you how many and what guns you produce a turn. In such situations I screenie the production window each turn and compare it to the levels next turn.

Caution! You are a lot weaker than I thought.

What's your manpower and armaments production?

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Mehring

Wow! That's been quite a meat grinder. Looks like you're both really beaten up. It's propbably a question now of who recuperates faster. Tanks will probably replace relatively quickly but it looks to me like you have seriously low levels of guns and manpower which might take a while to replenish. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you how many and what guns you produce a turn. In such situations I screenie the production window each turn and compare it to the levels next turn.

Caution! You are a lot weaker than I thought.

What's your manpower and armaments production?

I will post full production in a few turns, but at the moment, we have 135,000 Manpower in the pool, and about 450,000 Armaments. In other words, we are producing enough armaments, we could use more guys.

Last turn, I received 103,500 in the Manpower pool as new production from Manpower Centers. Not sure how that compares to most games at this stage. I have cleared and am repairing Manpower Centers that I figure to keep (some I probably won't keep).

Overall, my units are not in great shape, and I know that. This is tempered by the fact that I know he has alot of units in terrible shape. I routed 4 Wehrmacht divisions this turn, which means they are at the end of their rope.

Tarhunnas is very aggressive, and will punch until he has nothing left. All through the Blizzard, he was launching 4-8 attacks a turn.

At this point, to paraphrase Glanz, we are like two punch-drunk boxers staggering around and attempting to land blows. Remember, I was launching almost 100 attacks per turn all winter; while that killed the Wehrmacht, it certainly killed alot of my guys as well.

In Idaho v Scar, the Soviets have lost 21,000 AFV, or about 1,500 LESS than I have. Of course, that game is in July of 1943, and this is in February of 1942!!!! It's been an AFV bloodbath!

[Flaviusx]

You are both fried.

5 million is low, Q-ball. Your arty situation is tolerable but not amazing, ditto tanks. But seriously, you want about a million more men in the field than you've got at the moment. Stop and rest, you surely have many depleted units. Let Red Army take on replacements. How much manpower are you getting a turn? If it's less than 100kish a turn...not good.

The Germans didn't come out of that winter too badly, imo. He should be well over 3 million by summer. His arty is intact, as is his airforce. I doubt his tank losses are decisive, you just cleared his AFV inventory of obsolete tanks.

I don't like what you are doing around Moscow, but we'll see how that shakes out. Taking the Dnepr bend is nice, however, that firms up your southern lines.

[Flaviusx]

You can work with 103k per turn, but you are not flush. This is going to drop below 100k from 43 on, btw, as the manpower multipliers go down.

You're going to have to be careful with your manpower.

[Q-Ball]

That is good to know on MANPOWER. I predicted I would have Manpower problems with all the territory I lost in the Summer.

There are some rays of hope; Tarhunnas trashed alot of Manpower Centers that are repairing. A number of those I figure to be able to keep, including Ivanovo, Vladimir, Ryazan, Vishney, and maybe Tula, plus lots of other smaller towns. I am not counting on keeping anything south of Tula (and that one is a maybe)

I figure to lose alot of other places, but at least the population will migrate as he takes it back

Manpower will be my biggest problem more than likely

Looking on the Brightside too, my MORALE is in good shape, with all those successful attacks, and the Wehrmacht I bet doesn't have a single unit above 75 morale at this point

[randallw]

You can always take a look at the losses screen to see what kind, and how many of, the panzers are out of commission.

[Scook_99]

I love this, this is one of the more realistic games I have seen. Both armies giving all they got, and being on the verge of exhaustion. I think some (in)famous dictator called this a test of wills.

[Sabre21]

I would be interested in seeing the production page that shows the manpower and armaments for that last turn in Feb.

[Klydon]

No question, top notch AAR for both sides. 

[Erik Rutins]

Agreed, great AAR and overall a fantastic job on the Winter counter-attack by the Soviets.

Q-Ball, I have to agree with Flavius. Your army doesn't have much time to recover now, focus on your defenses.

Regards,

- Erik

[randallw]

It looks tempting to keep slapping at those wounded panzer divisions.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Agreed, great AAR and overall a fantastic job on the Winter counter-attack by the Soviets.

Q-Ball, I have to agree with Flavius. Your army doesn't have much time to recover now, focus on your defenses.

Regards,

- Erik

I don't know Erik... I think the Soviets might have overdone themselves here...


Leo "apollo11"

[Q-Ball]

3/12/42: Snow Season

I would really like to take a break, but Tarhunnas isn't going to let me. He is attacking in a couple sectors, and we feel compelled to hit back.

It's excrutiating, because I know I need to rest the Red Army, and build strength. This turn, we topped 5.2 mil, but I would build quicker if we didn't keep grinding away in battle.

Tarhunnas attacked this turn, leaving several Panzer Corps (stacks of units) vulnerable to counterattack. Should I have left them there, or hit them?

I chose to hit them; anytime you can inflict close to 1-1 on the Wehrmacht I think you have to do it, even if it makes my units look pretty bad. But pushing 3 stacks of Panzers doesn't bode particularly well for a summer offensive, so there is that. Maybe the best defense is a good offense.

The Germans are below 600 total tanks still; our armor is growing to 3,800, and I am about to make Tank Corps. I realize many Panzers are obsolete and don't matter in the long-run, but in the Short-run, his losses include 860 Panzer III/j so far; this tank is still in production, and useful in 1942. You can't run a summer offensive on JUST spring builds, can you?

Moscow:

As predicted, the Germans are slowly pushing back around Moscow; 3 total hexes re-captured this turn. I am OK with just a very slow offensive here for the SNOW. A few pushes is all I expect.

Dnepr Line:
2 Panzer Corps fought their way across the frozen Dnepr north of Z-Town. He is making a serious bid to re-capture it in Snow, and more importantly, establish a bridgehead for the spring.

We pushed back 1 stack, causing alot of losses, but I don't think I can hold the bank. I want to contain him to a few hexes, but ultimately he will probably get his bridgehead, just at the cost of burning out his units.

The Panzer Stack was 3 Panzer Divisions. Total tanks: 63; now down to 35. Total. That's pretty ugly!

Questions:

Does it make sense to hit back with these 1-1 or 1-1.5 exchanges, even though my guys are tired? I think so, but want an opinion.

I created a couple Light Howitzer Brigades. I don't think I'll build too many, but wanted to "test drive" some artillery units before I get Divisions. Do you use too many of these units?

It seems like I have some extra Air Command HQs; every front has one, and I am keeping the Long Range Command, but do I need any more of these seemingly extra Air Command HQs? Let me know, because if I don't, I will disband a couple for Infantry Replacements.

I am creating alot of Sapper Regiments, and fair number of Tank Bns. Smart? I plan to load-up all my corps units.

[Flaviusx]

Q-ball, my own view is you have farmed your guards to cap and with that accomplished, rebuilding and setting up your defenses and reserves are in order. Attacking for the sake of attacking is pointless. Tarhunnas needs to bring up his morale and giving him easy counterattack targets just helps him restore his unit morale.

If you cannot hold the Dnepr bend, make sure to have fallback fortlines in place. I'd be prepared to fall back to the Crimea if need be.

The most dangerous spot for you, perhaps, is in the center, where you are out in the open. There's a good set of minor rivers about a half dozen hexes back from there (with a few gaps) that you ought to fortify.

As for the panzers...the most important thing about panzer divisions is their mobility, not their armor. If his infantry is strong enough to crack your lines, then the panzer divisions need only exploit.

My opinion of artillery brigades isn't high. A waste of APs, with the notable exception of the rocket brigades, which do pack a hefty punch. Otherwise, 5 APs buys you more tubes if spent on 5 arty SUs, and these will be 122s and 152s as compared to 76s.