Clankers East!! Baelfiin(ger) v Qball(sov) (no Q)

[Baelfiin]

Starting another long hike to the Urals, hope you all enjoy the ride =p

My goals in '41 are:
1. Destroy the russian army- sure the russian gets shells back later, but they are crappy untill they can train up and get equipped. Plus I wan as many Hiwi as possible.

2. Take moscow- The manpower alone makes it a huge target, let alone any industry that doesnt make it out. I don't necessarily want to hold it through the blizzard, but its a real cozy spot to spend the winter

3. Dont do anything dumb! - For me, accomplishing this will be a major acheivement.

Here my first turn ending point. I am all in for beating the crap out of the SW front. I figure if i can disrupt their best formation it will make things easier.
I am pretty sure the south pockets will hold, but I might get in trouble with the northern ones because I commited 2 pz corps from 2pg south of the pripyat. Maybe the middle pocket won't hold either ...

[Peltonx]

Opening is a little different with your braking down of divisions.

But looks like pockets will hold.

Pelton

[KenchiSulla]

Good luck!

[Ketza]

Im not a big fan of breaking down German panzer and mororized divisions but you have a great opening!

Good luck

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin


3. Dont do anything dumb! - For me, accomplishing this will be a major acheivement.

Don't you dare do anything dumb - you owe me your 1st dumb move when you decide to take that plunge[:-]

Good start - is L'grad not a main objective?

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Ketza

Im not a big fan of breaking down German panzer and mororized divisions but you have a great opening!

Good luck

Im not a fan of it either, but I felt that I didnt have too much choice. I got a little more aggressive than I normally do, plus some sloppiness.

[Baelfiin]

Turn2 - pockets hold, I start cleaning them up.

I stayed off the daugava river and rail line to see if I could tempt Qball into trying to draw a line along it. He didnt take the bait and has his troops back where they should be around Pskov.

In the south I had big plans for another big pocket, but ran into some very tough russians. I had to scale back my ambitions and I ended up leaving myself pretty exposed. Should have another 8 or 9 divisions to kill next turn in the south besides the Lvov area.
Rumanians reluctantly push forward.
AGS gets the oncoming INF divs.
I fly a lot of air supply to HQ's and motorized troops this turn.
Most likely will be in postion for HQ buildups on t4.
Should be interesting next couple of turns, I think I have gotten all the freebies I am going to get pocket wise. Will have to see if Qball is going to draw a line somewhere that I can chew on.

[CarnageINC]

Good luck B, I'm not the greatest German player but from the arse kicking I got trying to beat my head against Q's defense hurt [:'(]  May you slay many commies! 

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

Good luck B, I'm not the greatest German player but from the arse kicking I got trying to beat my head against Q's defense hurt [:'(]  May you slay many commies! 

I can only hope!!

Will have an idea around turn 10 how things are going.

[KenchiSulla]

I believe you should at least feint in the direction of Leningrad to draw of forces. You not taking Riga and the AGN tanks down south are really easy to spot...

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Cannonfodder

I believe you should at least feint in the direction of Leningrad to draw of forces. You not taking Riga and the AGN tanks down south are really easy to spot...

Thanks Cannonfodder, I can see your point on that.

My thinking on the baltic states area is this:
I don't feel like there is any time pressure to take Riga, my rails are not going to go through there anyway. I consider it to be a Hiwi reinforcement box waiting to happen. It is my impression that the russians only have so many options early. Given my overall strategy of going after the Red Army as priority #1, I want to keep as many brown counters out of the nasty woods and swamps and rivers as possible. Thats the plan anyway !![:)]

With not a single unit in front of me up there I could have gone anywhere I wanted. I was trying to tempt Qball into drawing a line on the Daugava on his turn (easy rail line, major river, Riga not threatened.) Unfortunately it appears that he is working to a well rehearsed defensive plan and did not fall victim to my scheme. I chose to bust up the defenses NW of vitebsk instead while I wait for the INF to catch up.

[sillyflower]

Yes, but you make Russians' life easier by having to defend only against 2 axes of attack, not 3

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

Yes, but you make Russians' life easier by having to defend only against 2 axes of attack, not 3

Theres still 3, but since its only turn 2 its hard to see. I'll draw up a map after I get done breaking all your mini pockets in our game.

Besides, if the russians are spread out, they are harder to kill ..... =p

[KenchiSulla]

Hmm, perhaps you are right about them fighting in the open. But if you allow the soviets to concentrate in center and south only then that is a possible tough Dnepr nut to crack coming turn 4-5-6.. No need for him to rail reinforcements to Leningrad.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 3
Mud in the central soviet zone, my guys come slithering to a halt. No action other than resealing Lvov pocket and cleaning up in Bialystok and some other misc singletons.
Russians forming up thick as thieves behind the dnepr at mogilev-vitbsk and behind Kiev.

Rough Plan of the Attack

[TulliusDetritus]

"Rumanian horde"? LOL

More a herd of sheeps heading to the slaughter [:D]

[mmarquo]

Go after Kharkov - Z and D town will be armament free when you get there, and IMHO it is better to force him to displace the tank factories.

Marqup

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Marquo

Go after Kharkov - Z and D town will be armament free when you get there, and IMHO it is better to force him to displace the tank factories.

Marqup

Im not chasing any factories, just running over russian units. Depending on where I can get across the Dnepr will determine the 1st panzer path.
You can see in the next post that Qball is piling up behind the Dnepr so 1st panzer has take a little detour to pocket another bunch of russians towards Odessa.

Im not getting across without infantry down in the south ( maybe 2 more turns to get the guys in position)

[Baelfiin]

Turn 4

-not much happening mostly moving up trying to find some russians to smash
- 4th Panzergroup is gassed and concentrated, and I think they are in a real good spot to cause qball some grief.
- Qball beefs up behind the dnepr, I mostly take a bunch of terrain with out a fight and move up.
- Infantry trudges forward alll over, the dry ground makes things a little easier
- Panzers and Infantry of 2nd and 3rd PZG's concentrate for the push through the landbridge.
- 1st panzer group detours to the south to pick up a large pocket ( nothing to kill short of the dnepr in the Kiev)

[Baelfiin]

Turn 5

-4 PzG attacks through Velikiye Luki, establishing a nice bridgehead.
-9th army and INF from 2nd and 3rd PzG's finally get to the front and start attacking the landbridge. Russian troops are very very strong.
- The southern wing of 2PzG captures a bridghead over the Dnepr against no opposition 30 miles west of Chernigov.
- 1st PzG concentrates south of Kiev in preparation for crossing next turn.
- AGS infantry continues to trudge east
- Rumanian horde kills off russian stragglers and wanders towards Odessa.