Stalin's fired, I'm in charge! III 1/2- Tullius (Soviet) vs Marquo (Axis)

[M60A3TTS]

Well done! How many victories does 1st Guards Army have credit for?

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: M60A3TTS

Well done! How many victories does 1st Guards Army have credit for?

Well, I have no idea about the rule [:)] I got this army on turn 27. Hmm, it's the only army that had MORE victories than defeats. The difference was + 21.

[TulliusDetritus]

Yes, I think it's about about a positive difference between victories and defeats. And perhaps you need a minimum of victories as well. Too lazy to check the manual [:)]

[TulliusDetritus]

Finally, this is how the front looks like now on turn 37. I haven't moved / attacked anything yet. I will be 1) pulling back MANY units and 2) attacking some weak units in areas where the panzers are NOT an inminent threat.

[TulliusDetritus]

The center:

[TulliusDetritus]

And the last one, the south that is:

[TulliusDetritus]

Oh, the jewel of the crown aka Moscow. Dig dig dig!

I will be sending one rifle division to each Moscow city hex on this turn. If I see Marquo tries anything I will send an extra Rifle division to each hex (two divisions in each hex that is) [8D]

[TulliusDetritus]

Anyway, as for the enemy snow offensive... hehehe... don't forget we are using RANDOM weather [;)]

Weather during march:

Possibility of snow: 40%
Possibility of blizzard: 40%
Possibility of mud: 20%

During the Blitzkrieg, I had used a Whermacht voodoo doll I just had bought via Amazon [:D] I put it to good use and got 3 mud turns. I suggested Mark to do the same and buy his own Soviet voodoo doll --to get a lot of clear weather during the blitzkrieg and snow during the blizzard-- but I very much suspect he was tricked... My doll was an authentic Made in Haiti thing. Marquo's was certainly a fake Made in China... er, whatever! I need again the doll. Mud and blizzard in march, it's ALL I'm asking! [8D]

[Flaviusx]

You have a guards army already? Impressive. I never see those this early.

[TulliusDetritus]

Flavius, it is merely pure luck [&:] I never look at the victories / defeats thing. These two last turns I did (I wanted to know exactly how many guards I would be harvesting). From my screenshot we can see this army (former 20 Army, fighting since turn 3 in the center) has 86 victories. The next army with more victories bagged has only 30 victories... There's an enormous difference between #1 and #2, ergo pure coincidence and luck. I also got a guards army vs 2ndACR (during the blizzard offensive, just like now). If I remember correctly it was an army attached to either the Southwestern or Southern Fronts. Surprising (or again a lot of luck) given that I am always weak down south.

[Flaviusx]

Out of curiosity: is this one of the newer armies? I'm wondering if those flip to guards status earlier since they won't have all the losses from the summer on their records.

I have a tendency of sticking with existing armies as much as possible, especially once I've fitted them out with leaders and SUs -- getting anew army up to speed costs APs. But it just might be worth the cost if they get to beeline to guards status.

Edit: never mind, I see it is the 20th army. Go figure.

[TulliusDetritus]

Yes, it's the 20 Army, fighting since the beginning to protect Moscow approaches [8D]

Also note this army is the SECOND most trashed army: 65 defeats. Somehow they prevailed [:D]

[TulliusDetritus]

The next 3 or 4 turns will be overwhelming [:@]

There are some vital tasks I have to do:

A) a withdrawal is necessary in many places
B) pull back tons of divisions
C) reorganize the fronts, the Red Army

A)

That part is obvious. I must not allow Marquo to create a big mess. Especially in areas where his panzers are concentrated.

B)

I have to start the creation of the Strategic Reserves. Don't forget I am a reserves fanboy psycho [:D] My goal is having 100 divisions (rifle and mountain). And yes, I know it CAN be done because I managed to do that on my other game (vs 2ndACR). Not a single Guards Division will be kept at the frontline. They will be the first ones leaving the Massacre Scene. I don't want to lose them on the next turns after a bold coup de main of Marquo. That makes like 45 divisions. But I will be pulling back many regular divisions as well. Same thing with the Cavalry Corps. ALL these units will be directly attached to STAVKA, no matter the cost (APs). Not necessarily on the next turn/s though.

C)

I hate chaos [8D] I want everything to be at the correct place. If you have seen the screenshots you have noticed there are MANY Stavka armies. When I had started the blizzard offensive the front was manned by FRONT armies. When they reached the maximum capacity -24:24, on turn 26 or 27- I started bringing Stavka reserves. And these many divisions were obviously attached to random empty Stavka armies. So in fact I was not getting weaker. I was getting stronger turn after turn (like a rising wave). But now we need a rational organization again. The front has to be manned by Front armies. And this of course is the most overwhelming part [8|]

I have been investigating. Total length of the front right now: 131 hexes. I have 8 fronts. that makes grosso modo 16 hexes per front. Given that each front gets 4 armies, that makes 4 hexes per army... And that's it, folks! But this time I will not spend a single AP (unlike on my other game). I will move the armies, some sort of accordion movement. Well, I had said the same on the other game and finally gave up and paid APs... We will see.

[The Caucasus Front covers Crimea. The Trans-Caucasian Front, well... it's supposed to be the front that covers the Soviet-Turkish border [;)] It MUST stay there. Chrome, I know, but sending it to let's say cover an area between Rostov and Stalino (area defended by Southern Front) is er, sort of gamey on my book. Sorry, I can't help it. Any player is free to do what they want. They might even send the Leningrad front to the Caucasus... [:D]]

Rant over... for now [:)]

[TulliusDetritus]

Anyway, some more words about the reserves concept as that is really important, vital to me.

There are in fact 3 levels of reserves.

From top to bottom:

1) "pure" Strategic Reserves. They are the 100 divisions I want to have. I guess the 60% will be attached to Shock, Guards (only 1, obviously) and Regular armies (attached to STAVKA, not to fronts). The 40% will be independent units that may reinforce any army (Stavka or Front) when a crisis appear.

2) the Front Reserves. Each front gets 3 Rifle Divisions + 2 Tank Brigades DIRECTLY attached to the HQ itself. There might be two exceptions. The Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts (in theory quiet places) might get only 2 or perhaps just 1 division (Leningrad Front especially).

3) the Armies Reserves. These are the pure reserves in game terms. They are set on reserve MODE one or two hexes behind the front and might be committed during combats (if only the commanders were not utter clowns! [:@]). Every army MUST have 1 reserve division. I am starting to think the Rifle NAVAL Brigades are perfect for that role. They have really good morale and experience. Therefore I will try to send several such naval brigades to key places. Always on reserve mode. In other words, they won't dig.

Rant over part II [8D]

[TulliusDetritus]

Well, technically the blizzard offensive ended the turn 36. Marquo put his Soviet voodoo doll to good use and got some snow weather in the center (still turn 37). So only a very few attacks, I don't want to push my luck. These are the last statistics. The attacks, retreats, helds, manpower, armaments, losses since the beginning of the offensive.

[TulliusDetritus]

Well, Marquo has just shown his cards. His armored hordes are concentrated in the South (Stalino area) [X(] I pull back quite many hexes. I don't want to be slaughtered. Despite the weather icon, it's snow down there. Mud in the center though.

Will that be his summer objective: operations in the south? Time will tell.

[TulliusDetritus]

And his other concentration of panzers. They are in the center. Here I don't pull back. It's Moscow area and I have decent fortifications. I stay. If he wants it he will get it

By the way, I was wrong above. Blizzard in the center, not mud. There is mud in the area between the center and the deep south, I don't know the name of this weather area, sorry.

[TulliusDetritus]

I also have started to gather the Strategic Reserves. Like 55 divisions, which is the 55% of the expected reserves [:)] Same thing with the Cavalry Corps and the 11 Guns and Howitzers brigades I had created.

The 1st Guards Army has been formed. I paid the APs to attach it to Stavka (it was a former Western Front army). I have attached to this army only guards units, among them 1 mountain + 1 cavalry corps. Given that I have 2 mountain Guards I might form a Mountain Guards Corps, attached to this army [8D]

So as you can see, having strategic reserves is not that hard. You don't have them because you don't want to.

[TulliusDetritus]

[center]Turn 39[/center]
[center]12 March 1942[/center]

Well, not a lot is really happening (battles, pockets) but there is still a lot of activity. The Fronts are taking shape. In two turns maximum I might finish the reorganization. And yes, the "accordion movement" is working as per the plan, so I only need to spend a few APs here and there. I keep pulling back lots of divisions (rifle and mountain, remember), the future strategic reserves.

Still, in the south -big concentration of the panzer hordes- it's snow (just like last turn). Marquo hasn't been really agressive here, so my doom was perhaps a wild assumption. There's blizzard in the center area and snow in Moscow area.

The brigades that were digging the first line of defence in the south pull back a few hexes and start digging. Well... I have bad news. The brigades construction value is utter sh** now (1.05)... Someone in the government has destroyed my defensive lines thing (yes, I can use Fortified Regions, but can I really afford them -armaments)? [:D] Still, I will form these lines the same, the brigades are pickets in the worst scenario. I mean, a place defended by 3.000 guys is far better than a place defended by 0 guys, eh! The enemy will need to waste bullets and some blood and that's the point. Still, I want someone's head! [8D]

[Flaviusx]

Yes, you need divisions to dig in now in inclement weather. Or have massive engineering support for the brigades.

I haven't tried this out yet but I'm thinking doing the following: creating ghetto "sapper armies." That is to say, sweep up all those loose rifle brigades under the excess army commands, and dump a ton of construction assets into those armies. Then use these to dig in during the winter.

Two problems with this scheme: it's hard to find the replacements during the blizzard to bring all those brigades up to speed (most of mine remain as shells until about February) and brigades set to digging may not be getting the most out of training if they are too close to the front line. It also requires to to allocate a lot of APs and manpower to flesh out the army commands, and these are scarce commodities.