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

[Baelfiin]

Turn 30

Should be all caught up now from my side, the tension for me at Moscow is becoming greater and greater.
I think this will be the last turn I stay there, and I feel like I've stayed one turn too long already.
The rest of January I am going to stick around and fight a little bit more to weaken up the russians for March.
Hoping that the russians are going to be stretched out, tired and vulnerable by the time FEB comes to a close....

Im really trying to bait Qball into putting a lot more guys into Odessa by sea, because I dont think he will be able to create a land link to them before the weather changes.

Random weather could give me a snow turn (especially in the south) in February.
III Pzr will probably move up some at the end of January, just in case we get the oppportunity to slam some unwary russians.

I am also encouraging a "Hole" at veliki luki, in order to possibly catch some russians in February between newly arrived INF and the panzers that are going to be bolting from their cozy moscow hidey holes. Its a little dangerous but we'll see....

[Klydon]

I think Q-Ball is a little too experienced to shove troops into Odessa for a further offensive down there. He has tried to run a offensive out of the Crimea before and while it starts good, it just runs into all sorts of logistical issues, which is likely why you are not seeing much pressure from either Odessa or coming out of the Crimea. Of course I could be wrong and he is just suckering you in with a false sense of security [;)]

With most of your guys south of Kaluga on the constant move outside of cities, I will be interested to see what sort of shape they are in moral and material wise as I would think their attrition has been rather nasty.

[gingerbread]

With less than 250k permanent losses, you are not doing too bad, but you are loosing to many units for me to say good. Why all these broken down divisions???

Two observations: you state probably last turn in Moscow to which I'd like to add: better leave a turn too early than a turn too late.
And: Targets of opportunity is fine in and by itself, but what are your targets for '42? The snow turns can be used to prepare for them. Even if the '42 target is the Sov Army, opportunity to hurt it must be created, not just found.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Pelton

I would be putting all units in citys as in Germany also I beleive your morale will drop if your in open hexes as there is a blizzard in germany also.

Aleast before 1.05 morale still dropped when units were in Germany when not in a city.

Morale does not (and did not fall in earlier versions) as long as you are west of some line. It's in the manual and basically means you are fine in poland or rumania
At least there is 1 pro german rule in there

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: gingerbread

With less than 250k permanent losses, you are not doing too bad, but you are loosing to many units for me to say good. Why all these broken down divisions???

Two observations: you state probably last turn in Moscow to which I'd like to add: better leave a turn too early than a turn too late.
And: Targets of opportunity is fine in and by itself, but what are your targets for '42? The snow turns can be used to prepare for them. Even if the '42 target is the Sov Army, opportunity to hurt it must be created, not just found.

Tentative target for '42 is the russian army first followed by whatever territory I can pick up. I cant really come up with anything better than that untill i see what kind of defense I am facing. Going to have to eat the russian elephant one bite at a time and see how far down I can get it. If I can kill enough of it, it will crack.
RE regimental breakdowns: wanted to keep more zoc out all along the line and a regiment takes less casualties than a division. Also the december debacle cost me several divisions that I had to compensate for.

In kharkov area there were a couple divisions that couldnt get away far enough so they got broken down to make them take a little longer to kill.

2 of those regiments actually lived so I have some extras running around now that don't have the rest of the division to recombine with (yet)

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

I think Q-Ball is a little too experienced to shove troops into Odessa for a further offensive down there. He has tried to run a offensive out of the Crimea before and while it starts good, it just runs into all sorts of logistical issues, which is likely why you are not seeing much pressure from either Odessa or coming out of the Crimea. Of course I could be wrong and he is just suckering you in with a false sense of security [;)]

With most of your guys south of Kaluga on the constant move outside of cities, I will be interested to see what sort of shape they are in moral and material wise as I would think their attrition has been rather nasty.

There wasnt much left down there after the battles on the Dnepr, and all the rail lines were cut so it has probably been hard for him to get troops down there quickly.
Qball did a great job hanging on with air supply and mud weather that stopped me from pushing to sevastopol.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 31

Qball cracks the line south of Moscow, its not bad and we could probably reestablish the front, but instead I am going to fall back and shorten the line.
4th panzer army troops move into the line west of rzhev, the panzer corp for 3rd panzer army goes into the line east of rzhev alongside units from 16th army.
2nd army takes charge of the Nose, 9th army fills in various spots, with its panzer corp now going into the line on the northeast corner of the line.

4th army redeploys a little south (and will continue as the line shortens) to link up with 6th army forces arund Bryansk area.
2 or 3 INF divs newly arrived are on the rails heading for the front destined for veliki luki and Bryansk. The netherland SS and the french volunteer regts were a nice addition, first time I have been able to play with them in game.

In the far south we are standing firm on the East bank of the Dnepr and around Odessa. The russians gut themselvs on two attacks at Odessa. Im just waiting for snow and I will eradicate this little PITA area so I can focus on more important things like rolling panzers through the streets of Stalingrad!

RE troop strength/quality: Anybody not on Holiday is in terrible shape, morale dipping into the 60's. Nothing to be done for it though, I refuse to stand and die for no purpose. If I hadnt screwed up my november 27 turn I would not have lost the guys that I did getting surrounded.

Supply for Qballs horde should start becoming an issue plus (i hope) his guys are starting to wear down after chasing me over 200 miles through the blizzards.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 32

Ops tempo is down, I back up a little more on the moscow front, Qball has a couple expensive doinks up there.

Reinforcements showing up at Bryansk, I think I can hold here now.

In the center I am opening up a hole in the line to tempt Qball into moving towards Gomel, I may be able to crush anyone out there in the spring.
He probably wont go for it, but it can't hurt to try.

In the south 14th panzer corp crushes a cav corp and russians make some spoiling attacks at odessa.

Luftwaffe shows up in droves this turn, allready making a differance.

In the Baltic I have moved the Riga garrison to Tallinn by sea, and have prepped the 1st INF corp for a seaborne operation in conjunction with the Kriegsmarine to further reinforce the area. I just might catch some red army units a little to far out from home up here if they keep pushing.

[Baelfiin]

Up to turn 34 allready today
turns are flying back and forth fast and furious.

Maybe get the screens done later tonite or tomorrow.

I think I am in great shape and I have the reds right where I want them for '42 offensive. Advice/criticism welcome [:)]

[gingerbread]

I would recommend that you plan a push in the south for March regardless of what target(s) you set for '42. It is so that you can repair the rails further in the south area during April/May so as to be able to present a credible threat for summer that has to be guarded against. Q will have to guard Len (or give it up) and stretching his forces all the way would IMO be favourable. If your rail is in say D-town when summer starts, the south defence can be made considerably lighter by the Soviets.

[Wuffer]

Would nothin' comment here with one exception: LOVE the style.
Very refreshing!

Ehm, two exections: No risk, no fun? Love it.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin


I think I am in great shape and I have the reds right where I want them for '42 offensive.

I admire your optimism - you must be a fan of Frederick the Great - but it looks like you took a bit of a pounding in the winter. What are the losses and ORBAT like? Having been reading Q Ball's AAR too it would not be right for me to offer advice to either side.

[Wuffer]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin


I think I am in great shape and I have the reds right where I want them for '42 offensive.

I admire your optimism - you must be a fan of Frederick the Great -

At least his light Infantry fears his feints and manoeuvres more then the foe, for sure!
[8D]

[Klydon]

That is a lot of German army in the Moscow area along with what I assume is a pile of aircraft. Q-Ball took a lot of territory back during the winter. Into the Baltic states and central Ukrane? That is going to give him a shot of manpower to a point, although his logistics are shot trying to get over that much territory with no rail.

Going to be interesting spring at this point.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 33 last turn of really bad blizzard.

Mostly quiet allthough Bryansk is heating up as more Reds catch up to the front

Also the center is a little worrisome east of sumy and in the Chernigov area.
Have "allowed" a big hole in the center to perhaps entice redski to get even more over extended, point forces looking like 60+mps from supply now.
This particular "strategy" is dubbed "bait the bear II" and hopefully it will bag us some russians at some point. Some cav corp kills will be particularly good.
Am I dreaming? Probably, but it never hurts to hope!!
Will do morale screens sorted next turn. For the bean counters, your treats are at the bottom of the screen [:)]

[Baelfiin]

Turn 34

Experimenting with Image resizing to reduce unncessary bandwidth, not sure if I like it or not.

Situation at the start of the turn: I was surprised to see the russian push in the far south and the flat out breakthough east of Gomel. The last hold out russian tank division led the charge and caused severe consternation in OKH.

Bryansk area still slugging it out, I need to do something about it because I want to have that line to start the spring with, and I want a couple bridgeheads in the area in case that is from where we want to kick off Fall Blau.

[Baelfiin]

Status of Wehrmacht at start of Feb 1942

[gingerbread]

Nice collection of mess makers! I really hope you get good results, both in mileage and POW count. 4th Pz. would benefit if fewer on-line panzers were on refit, it's short on tanks.
At least put some thought on using the Bessarabian stack to bag the Guard Cav (+ some more) west of Sumy. Odessa is not significant enough to merit thoses units and the mot elite can handle a couple of blizzard turns; their morale will increase again when they start winning. Weighing against that is that the surprise will be gone, so it's a judgement and play style call.

Mud will be hell on your truck pool, or what's left of it. Get your air bases set up during the snow turns, you do not want to have to move them during mud.


Aside:
Just what happened east of Gomel? It looks as if the computer routines sent an RR Bat/Reg to a hex adjacent to a Soviet unit. This would be in breach of 14.2.2.1 so a save to Pavel is in that case warranted.

[2ndACR]

Partisans. I have seen them next to them before.

[Tarhunnas]

Great AAR! And fantastic graphics!
 
As for the picture size, the shrunk ones are easier for getting an overview, but the numbers are too tiny. Maybe a size in between the last shrunken one and 100% would work?