A look at Barbarossa. (AAR)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:50 pm

I really wanted to do a massive air strike, but I just can't waste the Fine impulse, so I limit myself to 4. Three of them are on Soviet HQs, and the last is hitting a stack in the south. This is the Ground Strike on Yeremenko in the North:

Picture taken at Ground Strikes of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:54 pm

In the South, I sent a fighter escort for the strike on Zhukov, but the USSR didn't send interceptors, so I just have to hope the AA doesn't reduce my Tactical factors too much.

The strike on Timoshenko was intercepted, however, and that should be a +1/-1 combat in favor of the MiG-1.

Picture taken at Ground Strikes of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:03 pm

Turned out to be the right decision for Orm, as the MiG forced my bomber to abort. My bomber did the same to the MiG, but that isn't much consolation. So, at least one of his HQs will remain available to him for a while longer.

Picture taken at Ground Strike, Air-to-Air Combat Digression, of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:05 pm

The Soviet AA fires at my bomber hitting Zhukov's hex . . .

Picture taken at Ground Strike, Plot AA Fire, of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Pandemic · Post by **Pandemic** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:59 pm

what was the decision behind not directly assaulting Leningrad? I havent played the board game! Just a lack of forces or somethng else?

Shannon V. OKeets · Post by **Shannon V. OKeets** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:01 pm

ORIGINAL: Pandemic

what was the decision behind not directly assaulting Leningrad? I havent played the board game! Just a lack of forces or somethng else?

See post 168 for what is in Leningrad. Being in a swamp doubes the combat factors and there are bonuses for the presence of the city. The attackers also have to cross a river which halves their strength unless an engineer is used. I think there were 11 strength factors (3 units) in Leningrad which are worth 22 on defense so an attack would require a massive commitment of units for a so-so attack. Germany can take the city but a lot of other stuff wouldn't get accomplished.

composer99 · Post by **composer99** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:09 pm

Yes, usually Leningrad gets screened in a larger game and then blasted with an o-chit. Although the die roll modifiers are steeper in the winter, often that is a good time to attack as the swamp is treated as forest, reducing the strength of the units.

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:00 pm

Sorry about that long pause. A friend in Italy called me for the first time in a month . . .

So, where were we? Oh, yes. I was about to grumble about the 3 point reduction the AA defending Zhukov managed to get against my bombers. It'll be a miracle now to hit any of these with bombs.

Picture taken at Ground Strike, AA Fire, of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:03 pm

Yeremenko, along with his personal guards, got it in the northern Ground Strike:

Picture taken at Ground Strike of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:07 pm

Adding insult to injury in the hex Zhukov is in. Here, I actually rolled a '2' for one of my rolls . . . but it was against the AA gun that took shots at me earlier. It would have ended up disorganized anyway, but since that doesn't happen unitl the end of the Ground Strikes, the '2' was wasted.

Picture taken at Ground Strike of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:09 pm

In the final strike, I nailed the 1st Motorized Army, but not the Mechanized unit:

Picture taken at Ground Strike of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:17 pm

One Russian HQ immobilized, out of 3 targeted. I guess I can live with that. I have two units in Breslau that will have a tough time reaching the front if the weather doesn't stay clear, so I railed the 8-5 Armor to Kharkov, and the 5-4 Infantry went to Stalino. Both are fairly secure, with other defenders nearby, and if they are needed Rundstedt is also close at hand.

I'm going to wait until morning to make my Land Movement choices. I want to play a little smarter than I have been, if I can, so I have to really think about the possibilities here. Until then, all.

michaelbaldur · Post by **michaelbaldur** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:39 pm

the 2 hardest hexes to take on the map...

is Leningrad : swamp, rivers, winter troops, half tactical, half shore bombardment and supply

and Calcutta: swamp (never freezes) rivers, half tactical, half shore bombardment and supply

any factors you place there gets 4 times bigger for each odds level he had before (when you add 1 factor worth of land unit, the attacker need 4 more combat factors * his odds.. to keep the same odds)... and the attacker need double the number of aircraft and ships ..

for a 4-1
if you have 5 factors there (10) . the attacker will need 80 factors to get a 4-1.
and if you add 1 factor there (12) ..the attacker would need 96 factors to keep his 4-1 (16 more)
and 1 more factor there (14) ..the attacker would need 112 factors to keep his 4-1 (16 more)

so if he had a 4-1 last turn and you add one combat factor .. he will need to find 16 more combat factors to keep the same odds

for a 9-1
if you have 5 factors there (10) . the attacker will need 180 factors to get a 9-1.
and if you add 1 factor there (12) ..the attacker would need 216 factors to keep his 4-1 (36 more)
and 1 more factor there (14) ..the attacker would need 252 factors to keep his 4-1 (36 more)

so if he had a 9-1 last turn and you add one combat factor .. he will need to find 36 more combat factors to keep the same odds

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:11 am

As I said, I'm trying to play smarter. I'm not doing well with that so far. I realized I should have left at least 1 Air Mission for rebasing. Oh, well.

I'm only making 1 attack this impulse, a 50:7 Blitz on the hex west of Kursk. The defenders could reduce this to 3.5:1, which has a 50% chance to disrupt all of my attacking units even if I won the Fractional Odds roll. However, this would use up 1/3 of the Soviet bomber forces in the 1st impulse. Using a single bomber doesn't offer enough of an odds reduction, so there is no air support. Automatic victory! A morale boost!

Picture taken during Land Combat Resolution of Axis impulse #1, Sep/Oct 1941 (Turn 3 of 5)

Red Prince · Post by **Red Prince** » Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:24 am

Here is an overview of the full battlefield at Zoom Level 2. At the far right-hand side, along the edge of the image, you can see the where the separation is between European-Map Russia and Asian-Map Russia.