The Anti Bolshevik Crusade - Tarhunnas vs Q-Ball (no Q-Ball please)

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 79. Dacember 17 1942. Snow.

No really exciting stuff here. A clutch of Soviet attacks, some heavier attempts down south at the lower Dnepr.

[Peltonx]

Hi,

From past exp the German army can only take hvy losses for about 20 turns.

If the lose ratio is under 2.6 to 1 the Russian player is grinding down the German army. So like Tarhunnas has pointed out counter attacking and only getting 2 to 1 ratio is bad.

I would not retreat unless your going to lose units to a pocket.

Pelton

[Tarhunnas]

I rush down a panzer corps to shore up the defenses down south. My CVs are not really healthy, while Soviet CVs are awe inspiring...

[Peltonx]

Yes they just keep growing. With the high arm output of the German army during 43 your numbers really dont drop off that much, but the quality of his troops grows allot. Your over-all numbers will level off, but the quality of the German army is 1945ish.

The killer is the number of guns you have on the field. Once they drop below 25k your cv's are really poor.

Also I found it best to put mech units in front during 43, they requip allot faster then infantry for whatever reason.

How is the air war going?

Pelton

[ComradeP]

The killer is the number of guns you have on the field. Once they drop below 25k your cv's are really poor.

Guns have no CV weight factor and as such no direct effect on CV.

[Peltonx]

Sounds nice an all, but simply track Russian gun strength and German gun strength.

Once Russian gun strength is over 90k and German under 30k its game over game over set and match.

I am sure guns have nothing to do with anything, its just a magic number like the 1v1=2v1?

Heheheh, I have 90k guns, but they got nothing to do with CV value? Lol thats right the CV value no the map has nothing to do with combat ratio ect ect.

Next you tell everyone Tanks have nothing to do with CV value.

5 stars ComradeP ?

You must have been one of the 1941 Generals that Stalin shot?

Pelton

[ComradeP]

If I tell you that guns have a CV weight factor of 0, you can either accept that, maybe even read the appendix regarding CV weight factors in the manual and think "ah, I was wrong, guns don't really have much of a CV" or you can be a total bitch and ramble some incoherent response together. Of course, you being Pelton, you chose the latter option.

The attacker's guns might reduce defender CV through casualties and disruption, and thus increase the relative CV of attacking forces compared to the defender, but they don't have much of a CV of their own (it's not literally 0, it's just very, very small). Otherwise you could win battles with just on-map artillery units, if they would have much of a CV value.

[Zebedee]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

ORIGINAL: Zebedee
How's your strategic reserve looking in terms of what you've got to smack about any breakthroughs? Being able to start building up a significant reserve might well be a good reason to start considering front length and passing the strategic initiative over to the Soviet player. Tough choices ahead for summer 1943.

There is no strategic reserve as such. What I do have is most of the mobile units in a second and sometimes third line behind the front, to prevent breakthroughs and dig fall back positions. I can concentrate and push back most Soviet penetrations if I want to, but I usually don't want to, as even a successful rout of a couple of penetrating Soviet corps will only yield a 2-1 loss ratio, and that is not good enough. In fact, attacking at such a ratio will probably only hasten the German collapse, so I tend to refrain from counterattacks. The main reason I do the relatively few counterattacks I perform is to slow down the hex loss ratio, so that I can finish the fortifications in the next line.

Comment: It might be obvious but to me this feels unhistorical. The German army excelled in counterattacks to the point of being almost addicted to them, and the majority were very successful in inflicting losses on the enemy.

The problem is that I have no really good options for small withdrawals to shorten the front. To shorten the front to any meaningful extent in the north I would have to withdraw to the Ilmen line, or even to Riga, and that would be a rather considerable withdrawal, which would also expose Leningrad and the Finns.

In the south, the next feasible line is Cherkassy - Kirovograd - Nikolaev. I will probably have to fall back to that line, but I want to delay it till spring mud, as the rivers will not offer any advantages in winter.

Yeah, know what you mean. Thinking more of larger scale counterstrokes as Soviet advances culminate than the incessant grind of beating the Soviets back at a fixed line. Course the historic problem was being able to assemble the reserves given the historical front line length and of course you also need to have the ground to give up. It's also a big gamble on whether your opponent will put his head into a noose for you. Will be an interesting summer for sure when you get chance to see where your force levels are at and are able to begin planning in detail.

[KenchiSulla]

ORIGINAL: ComradeP

If I tell you that guns have a CV weight factor of 0, you can either accept that, maybe even read the appendix regarding CV weight factors in the manual and think "ah, I was wrong, guns don't really have much of a CV" or you can be a total bitch and ramble some incoherent response together. Of course, you being Pelton, you chose the latter option.

The attacker's guns might reduce defender CV through casualties and disruption, and thus increase the relative CV of attacking forces compared to the defender, but they don't have much of a CV of their own (it's not literally 0, it's just very, very small). Otherwise you could win battles with just on-map artillery units, if they would have much of a CV value.

ComradeP, So this result on the Howitzer regiment was luck and good leadership? I am just saying this because Helio made note of it as well.. It seems pretty high

[ComradeP]

I've seen those results as well, where artillery units get some CV, but they seem to be largely just a visual CV without a real influence on the final CV. Artillery CV isn't literally 0, but you'd need some awesome leader rolls to get such a CV out of them and as I said, I don't believe they actually work like the CV of a regular unit. In any case, the CV the artillery can potentially disrupt/damage/destroy will be higher than its own.

[KenchiSulla]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

I rush down a panzer corps to shore up the defenses down south. My CVs are not really healthy, while Soviet CVs are awe inspiring...

Tarhunnas, do you have a feeling you will be able to do something to reverse the situation, if even locally? Seems to me you need to grab the initiative somehow because Q-ball is deciding how and where he wants to wear you down at the moment.

[heliodorus04]

I think due to the fact that he can't even get 3:1 casualties when he counter-attacks, there is no realistic chance of regaining the initiative.  If you can't force the Soviets out of 3-deep defensive lines (of forts, mind you), you can't force the Soviets off balance.

[Tarhunnas]

I would sure like to regain the initiative, but as Helio says, that is pretty hard as the Red Army looks at present. Q-Ball is also a very careful and methodical commander. I have a feeling he will not risk any rash dashing breakthroughs, but be quite content with wearing me down gradually, so I do not think I will get many chances of decisive counterstrokes.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 80. December 24 1942. Blizzard.

Another christmas at the front.

The entire front is ablaze, from Kalinin to the Black Sea. Most Soviet attacks are successful! Nothing very subtle though, it is the Russian Steam Roller indeed!

[Tarhunnas]

A bright spot in the defense. Only 9 Axis casualties, and they turn out to have been members of a squad of the Rumanian Mountain Division who fell into a foxhole and twisted their ankles.

[Tarhunnas]

Shuffling around the defense as usual. Nothing very interesting to show a screenshot of. Instead I quote an observation I got from Q-Ball in a mail:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Not sure how the Germans are supposed to defend the Soviet Army, or what the best tactics are. The way forts work, it pays to stay and die deep in Russia, rather than retreat gradually. What happens then is that the Soviets don't take much territory, until the Wehrmacht is cooked, and then the floodgates open,

I think he is spot on there. The game mechanics simply don't encourage a fighting withdrawal, as you will tend to want to stay in the forts as long as possible.

OOB after turn 80.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 81. December 31 1942. Blizzard.

Things are beginning to look ugly! Especially in the south, I am running out of fortifications, and Soviet attacks are relentlessly grinding me down. Here are losses from the preceding Soviet turn.

[Tarhunnas]

The front in the south after Axis moves. As things are better (but not good) west of Moscow, i transfer about a panzer corps southwards, they can be seen on trains in the Gomel area.

[Aussiematto]

A suggestion, based on how I am playing a game where I have had to retreat slightly further than you in late 1942, but have held him really well since:

It may seem risky, but get some weak Inf divisions back behind the lines, broken down into regts along with italians digging your next line - Rumanians too. The question is: where? If you do this along the Dnepr, the risk is you will get out flanked from around Nikolaev. So, I'd probably say, go back deeper and have longer to dig and then asically defend this line through mid-late 1943. The best line is just east of Odessa, maybe, so long as you can hold there now. Then head west-north towards Kiev, using the small river, but rejoining the Dnepr south of the Pripyat marshes.  I've found that the Rumanians and ITalians add little defensively  - you can't rely on them alone, and if stacked with Germans, rarely make the difference. You will thank me when there's a line of Fort 3s ready .

But, to be honest, I reckon you are doing well here... only that sourthern area is a risk

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: majeloz

A suggestion, based on how I am playing a game where I have had to retreat slightly further than you in late 1942, but have held him really well since:

It may seem risky, but get some weak Inf divisions back behind the lines, broken down into regts along with italians digging your next line - Rumanians too. The question is: where? If you do this along the Dnepr, the risk is you will get out flanked from around Nikolaev. So, I'd probably say, go back deeper and have longer to dig and then asically defend this line through mid-late 1943. The best line is just east of Odessa, maybe, so long as you can hold there now. Then head west-north towards Kiev, using the small river, but rejoining the Dnepr south of the Pripyat marshes.  I've found that the Rumanians and ITalians add little defensively  - you can't rely on them alone, and if stacked with Germans, rarely make the difference. You will thank me when there's a line of Fort 3s ready .

But, to be honest, I reckon you are doing well here... only that sourthern area is a risk

Thanks for the suggestion! I will consider it, though the problem is that during blizzard fort building is very slow. At present I have problems building even a second line of forts behind the first.

Thanks for the encouragement, but I don't feel I am doing well at all. I am constantly being pushed back and I am suffering losses that I cannot sustain and my fort levels are now 1-2 along the southern front. And the situation is getting worse from turn to turn. It is only a question of time before there is an ugly rupture of the front.[:(]