Under the Red Banner: Q-Ball (R) v Baelfiin (Axis)

[Q-Ball]

T46-4/30/42

I haven't posted in awhile, partly been busy, and partly because not a ton has happened. I have been lucky with lots of MUD in April. North Soviet in particular was 5 for 5 in April for MUD, despite having a 4 in 11 chance of Snow or Blizzard. Certainly, the weather gods favored me so far this spring.

I am beginning to see where the summer thrusts are coming. One question is answered: Baelfiin is definitely going for Leningrad, and probably via a move to the Svir, rather than a direct assault.

Leningrad:

This might be a first in a PBEM: Defending Leningrad in 1942! Any advice?

I guess same as always; I have the "backdoor" well fortified, and I'm moving more troops intot the area to contest the swamps and woods along the Volkhov. The Volkhov itself will be no help at all, since he is already past it along Lake Ilmen. (This is a big difference from a 1941 defence, where the Russians will still hold the Valdai Hills early). In fact, he can use the Volkhov to protect his flank on a drive north, so it's more of a hindrance than help.

Anyway, I think he can take it if he prioritizes it, though I haven't seen tons of infantry committed so far, and I think he'll need alot to make progress.

I am pleased he is making an effort up here, because I think we can delay and grind him in all the swamps and woods.

South:

Otherwise, I see a big attack coming in the south, and this is less-good news. He should be able to chew me up pretty good in the Ukraine, I'm just hoping to hold the Don/Donets river line, and Voronezh.

I still hold Poltava, Sumy, Kharkov, D-Town, and Z-Town, and will start trading space for time shortly. It's tempting to hold on just a bit longer, as I am starting to get recruits here.

OOB and Production:

Soviet OOB is up to 6.6 mil. That's good, though Germans are over 3.6 mil, so they have some guys too.

Armaments are in great shape; 400K in the pool, and climbing. I am also getting 102K Manpower right now; that figures to drop a bit once I lose some ground.

Of course, I have plenty of tanks and planes.

The Vehicle situation isn't critical yet; I still have an excess, but I'm sure that will go away by the end of the summer, and run into the RED.

[Klydon]

Not news, but Leningrad is in big trouble here. Even more important, he is setting up a big pocket not only to cut off Leningrad, but also the Russian troops between Leningrad and Lake Ilmen. The bad thing for the Russians here is there has been absolutely no fortifications east of the Volkov, so I think any attempt to defend this area is going to be more of a delay than anything. He can't grind through the front very well with the infantry he has there, but as soon as that panzer spear head reaches Lake Ladoga, those troops might as well be toast (very weak supplies) and if he has enough to get to the Finish border they are going to be toast.

Hate to say it, but I think you pull your troops out and leave a delay screen of infantry brigades. Leave a fortress in Leningrad if you can, but unless you are willing to commit a ton of troops in this area, you are not going to stop him from bagging a pile of Russians and even then it is going to be tough.

The Lake Ilmen game can be played by both sides however. If he doesn't have support troops behind those panzers and you try to keep pressure on the base, it may cause him some issues. With a telescoping attack like that, he has to have follow up troops or risk getting cut off himself.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

Not news, but Leningrad is in big trouble here. Even more important, he is setting up a big pocket not only to cut off Leningrad, but also the Russian troops between Leningrad and Lake Ilmen. The bad thing for the Russians here is there has been absolutely no fortifications east of the Volkov, so I think any attempt to defend this area is going to be more of a delay than anything. He can't grind through the front very well with the infantry he has there, but as soon as that panzer spear head reaches Lake Ladoga, those troops might as well be toast (very weak supplies) and if he has enough to get to the Finish border they are going to be toast.

Hate to say it, but I think you pull your troops out and leave a delay screen of infantry brigades. Leave a fortress in Leningrad if you can, but unless you are willing to commit a ton of troops in this area, you are not going to stop him from bagging a pile of Russians and even then it is going to be tough.

The Lake Ilmen game can be played by both sides however. If he doesn't have support troops behind those panzers and you try to keep pressure on the base, it may cause him some issues. With a telescoping attack like that, he has to have follow up troops or risk getting cut off himself.

I agree there isn't alot of fortifications; you can't dig everywhere, especially in bad weather. Whatever digging I did was in the clear terrain south of Leningrad, to stop an immediate thrust on the city.

I think I can hold it for awhile, so I am committing more troops. I have the advantage of actually seeing the game screens, but I base that on the difficult terain. Those swamps are like forts, better than that because Engineers can't destroy them.

I don't think he has committed enough forces to take Leningrad. I think he can, but only if he commits more troops. I hope to force him to do at least that. The Panzers look good now, but they will rapidly lose strength blasting my guys, and rolling through swampy terrain.

So, I am brining more units to the area, to make a fight. The one thing I can't do up there, though, is counterattack; the light woods terrain, coupled with the 2-1 modifier, makes successful odds very difficult to get.

I could be completely wrong of course, but we'll see.....[:D]

t-47: 5/7/42

Poor Baelfiin, MUD across the entire front. Before spring, the weather gods were about even on both sides (the fall MUD season was only one turn long in North Soviet), but I've been lucky this spring. Doesn't help fort building, but other than that, can't complain.

So, this turn we mostly started merging all those pesky Brigades into Rifle Divisions to clean-up the map. It's still going to take awhile.

We also formed about 40 Sapper Regiments. I want to get an early start on these, as they take awhile to train-up, but they really only cost Manpower; hardly any Vehicles or Armaments.

[Flaviusx]

He'll get Leningrad if he wants it. It is no more defensible now than in 1941.

That's completely ok if Q-ball can drag it out and force him to commit a panzer army for the better part of the summer to take it. One thing to consider, however: pocketed units no longer come back for free. Still, better that it happen up there than in the south.

I am somewhat surprised Baelfin appears to be going for the long right hook -- the easier way is still to drive straight to the Neva and cross it. On the other hand, the long right hook allows for a much larger pocket.

So long as Q-ball can maintain a 400 rifle division equivalent army he should be ok, and to that extent he can afford some losses due to pockets. He's probably clocking in 450+ such divisions by this point, including rifle brigades. The difference represents his margin of safety.

Baelfin is spread out along the whole front busy taking back real estate. He has no big panzer wrecking ball. This is a good thing, by the time he concludes all the preliminaries on the flanks it's going to be well into summer of 42. I'd much rather deal with the Axis mobile units spread out like this than the panzer ball. Baelfin is paying the price of his flat out retreat during the blizzard, which saved his army, but is going to cost him time and energy to restore its former position.

Q-ball just has to drag this process along as much as possible and get himself past Sept of 42. That is the nadir of Soviet fortunes. After that, things get better.

[Q-Ball]

Baelfiin is spreading out a bit, like it's 1941 again. He may not be in his final positions (I think the Crimean thing was just to get that cleared in spring), but he probably needs to concentrate in 1, or at most 2, places to make hay.

I don't think anymore he is going for Moscow. His troops are only 3 hexes away, but I do have alot of troops around there.

The Germans have some advantages in 1942, but it's not 1941. You don't have the infantry strength, and you take alot more losses than in 1941; I think partially from SMG and Mortars, but mostly because the experience level of the Red Army is alot higher (even if morale is lower). Nearly all Rifle Units are in the 40s in experience, in 1941 most are in the 30s. 1942 Reds just shoot straighter.

He can take Leningrad, but I think he needs more guys, and will either have to up the ante or forget it. Which way he goes probably depends on the progress he makes in the south.

[Q-Ball]

T50, 5/28/42

After lots of MUD so far this spring, Clear weather broke out all along the front, and the Germans got busy. They pocketed 15 units of mine. Baelfiin has destroyed over 200 Rifle Divisions so far in this game; while alot of that was last year, he was a mad-pocketer in 1941, so I have to watch it.

He bagged his second Tank Corps too; I don't put them on the line, but somehow he gets them. Very sneaky! I can afford some losses there before I feel I need to build more Tank Brigades, so it's better than losing a Cav Corps or Guards Division.

Leningrad:

No attacks up here; surprising. The last couple turns he did were an expensive slog through strong units and good terrain, so Baelfiin may not have the stomach for what it takes.

Realistically, though, he only really has to isolate Leningrad this summer, which means reaching the shore of Lake Ladoga. As someone else pointed out, the Soviets in Leningrad will attrite all winter, and can't be swapped-out as Ladoga is frozen. Couple that with the fact that the Neva will be frozen, and he really doesn't need to take it this summer, just isolate it.

Maybe that's his strategy; I would be surprised if he left it alone completely.

South:

Big campaign in the south; maybe I am being chicken, but I think I have to pull-back out of much of the Ukraine to avoid a huge pocket.

At this point, I can easily surrender the ground and feel comfortable, I just can't march eastwards all summer. I plan to make a stand along a line of rivers and forts roughly even with the Donbas, and after that, along the Don/Donets rivers. After that, who knows......

Building the Red Army:

Not sure what you guys think, here are a few things I am doing right now:

1. Working ahead on Sapper Regts; I had the APs, and they are cheap from an armament standpoint. I want them to have time to train-up. STAVKA has about 40 right now; I am sure I use them all, and more.
2. I am also going to build enough Tank Bns to have one in each Army HQ. I like the Armor support, and a good way to use my bottomless tank pool
3. What do you think of HEAVY ROCKET BNs? They have a fair number of tubes, and are Guards. I am buidling a couple to try. If nothing else, I suppose I can build the Rockets, and disband them into the pool later on when I build divisions
4. I am slowly disbanding the BM Howitzer Regts. The 203mm is an armaments hog, and these units have only 12 tubes in 1942+. I will keep them active to use up the replacement pool, but I will disband them into the pool rather than build more to keep up with losses.

[vlcz]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
1. Working ahead on Sapper Regts;
2. Tank Bns to have one in each Army HQ.
3. What do you think of HEAVY ROCKET BNs? They have a fair number of tubes, and are Guards. I am buidling a couple to try. If nothing else, I suppose I can build the Rockets, and disband them into the pool later on when I build divisions
4. slowly disbanding the BM Howitzer Regts.

Quite a offensive preparation display, you seem to disregard the posibility of needing AT guns and unit rebuild [:'(] From that (probably correct) asumption the sappers and tank battalions seems very sound, but I really would not invest in rocket launchers , at least until finishing the full complement of SU´s for the intended number of tank and mech corps

[Flaviusx]

I wouldn't build any artillery SUs myself. A couple of RVGK regiments per army is all you need, really. If you're short of that, then build enough RVGK regiments to meet those requirements, but otherwise, meh.

The real artillery comes later in the form of divisions. Tank battalions, sappers, AAA and AT regiments are my SUs of choice at this stage. Both for armies and for corps attachments.

Remember that any given army can only contribute up to 6 SUs per non urban battle. So a couple of RVGK regiments plus a mix of the rest of the stuff mentioned will trick out an army nicely...anything beyond that is in excess. You'll only rarely get as many as 6 SUs into a battle anyways.

If you have some armies dedicated to urban defense then I might consider loading those up with more SUs of all sorts, but that's a special case.

I definitely agree with disbanding the heavy arty, though. If it's not an RVGK regiment, I don't want it. (No, not even mortar regiments. Those things die with alarming frequency for some reason. ROF be damned.)

[76mm]

I don't think I've added any SU to an army HQ since early 1942, I think it is kind of a waste; once you start building up rifle corps, you will need plenty of SU to beef them up, so I would just buy the SU and let them sit at Stavka until you need them for rifle corps.

Similarly, I wouldn't build any rocket battalions--save all of your rockets for when the rocket divisions become available, they seem pretty powerful and need lots and lots of rockets, all the rockets you've got...

[Q-Ball]

I have built some AT SUs, and deployed those with Tank Corps.

As far as Artillery, I haven't built any, other than the 2 Rocket units, and I have built some 120mm Mortar Regiments. They are cheap artillery, but I don't want to overdue it, as they are supposedly overrated in the game system.

I haven't built any AA SUs. Are they really there for AT purposes? The 85mm is a tank killer if used that way.

Most Armies have 3 Artillery Units. I prefer the RGVK or whatever those are, though the 152mm Howitzer Regts I am keeping as well (not building ANY though, just keeping).

Because of the SU limits, I just don't see a huge point to the BM Howitzer Regts; I will slowly disband, as I don't have piles of SUs at the moment, but they will go away.

In the long-run, here is my SU config generally:

Tank Corps: 1 Sapper, 1 AT, 1 Tank
Cav Corps: 1 Sapper, 2 Tank
Rifle Corps: 1 Sapper for sure; after that, maybe Heavy Tanks or SU-85/100s, something big and heavy for breakthroughs. Rifle Corps have enough defensive firepower, don't need ATs IMO
Armies: 3 Artillery, 1 Mortar, 1 Tank, 1 Sapper, maybe an AA or AT in there in lieu of 1 Artillery
Tank Armies: 2 Artillery, 2 AT, 2 Sapper

I don't have ANY SUs at the FRONT level, other than some Construction Bdes. Even those, I will probably start disbanding later on for Manpower.

I will eventually load all Corps up with 3 SUs, though I will leave some slots open for awhile for Heavy Tank Bns. I plan on emptying my IS-3 pool when those come avaiable......

[Flaviusx]

I'm honestly not sure if the AAA regiments do double duty in ground combat. I build them anyways because I hate the luftwaffe that much. If I was more certain about their effect in combat vis a vis a strictly AT regiment, I might stop building AT altogether and just substitute AAA for those. My standard rifle corps package includes one of each of these plus the ubiquitous sapper regiment.

Leave some construction brigades at the Front level. At some point you'll want to repair rail. But I've changed things up in terms of engineer support: I don't build swarms of RR brigades anymore, just enough to trick out the Fronts. I've switched to sappers completely otherwise. Given the changes in fort rules, RR brigades aren't that cost effective anymore. Sappers can pull double duty.

[TulliusDetritus]

Q-Ball, if you get to july (and plan to create Tank Armies from that date) BEFORE the next patch is available, do NOT create a Tank Army in a city in which there is already another tank army.

If you do that the new Tank army will be attached to a Tank Army (in that same hex) instead of Stavka. On turn 56, no problem, but on turn 57 I have seen this bug.

In other words, create tank armies in city hexes without tank armies in them. Just in case.

Cheers [8D]

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

Q-Ball, if you get to july (and plan to create Tank Armies from that date) BEFORE the next patch is available, do NOT create a Tank Army in a city in which there is already another tank army.

If you do that the new Tank army will be attached to a Tank Army (in that same hex) instead of Stavka. On turn 56, no problem, but on turn 57 I have seen this bug.

In other words, create tank armies in city hexes without tank armies in them. Just in case.

Cheers [8D]

Why not? The Soviets can use another tier in the command structure[:'(].

I planned to create a couple Tank Armies........they don't really add much, but more for chrome, and keeping straight where the good tank leaders are (like Rybalko)

[TulliusDetritus]

It's not going to work. Er, apparently the HQ might be reassigned to Stavka on next turn. As for leaders, I put Rotmistrov in charge of the 1st Tank Army. So in fact you should be having decent leaders, I mean as soon as you can create the Tank Armies [:)]

Chrome, perhaps, but one thing is certain: if these corps are attached to Stavka they are basically useless [8D]

[vlcz]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Tank Corps: 1 Sapper, 1 AT, 1 Tank
Cav Corps: 1 Sapper, 2 Tank
Rifle Corps: 1 Sapper for sure; after that, maybe Heavy Tanks or SU-85/100s, something big and heavy for breakthroughs. Rifle Corps have enough defensive firepower, don't need ATs IMO
Armies: 3 Artillery, 1 Mortar, 1 Tank, 1 Sapper, maybe an AA or AT in there in lieu of 1 Artillery
Tank Armies: 2 Artillery, 2 AT, 2 Sapper

Interesting selection of SU´s , I know it has been debated elsewhere so will not enter much detail but it shocks me that you add tank regiments to the already tank-heavy tank corps

[Encircled]

The Soviets get more tanks than they can use.

The more ways they have got of having them in the OOB the better to be honest

Does anyone know for sure if AA units are capable of A/T action?

Will simplify my OOB if that is the case

[Flaviusx]

The early tank corps TOE isn't amazing and is actually rather short on AFVs (and most everything else for that matter.) Attaching a single tank battalion helps bring them up to speed.

[Q-Ball]

T52, 6/11/42

Weather gods are reversing; after lots of mud, 2 turns in a row of CLEAR, and we are still technically in Mud season. Oh well.

It looks pretty obvious now that the main event this summer is in the South. Still, can't let my guard down elsewhere.

Leningrad:

I can't beleive it's over here, but nothing this turn. All quiet, except an attack I made.

Moscow:

Several German attacks around Moscow. Not sure if this is a major push, or just morale-builders, but he is using some full-strength units. No Panzers though, yet. I am monitoring this one.

South:

Baelfiin cleaned-up those pockets from last turn, netting another 100K POWs or so.

I hate to pull out of so much ground, including Kharkov, but that's better than getting a whole bunch of units pocketed, which is where that was going.

[Q-Ball]

T-55: 7/2/42

Summer is in full-swing. So far the German offensive is worrisome, but I don't foresee a runaway.

One thing I have noticed is that the Infantry in AGS and AGN has an attack CV generally in the 6 to 8 range; in other words, there are some pretty good troops up there. I wonder if Baelfiin would benefit by rotating more, because a number of units in the South are still in the 3 to 4 CV range. He might be keepin them there to build morale back up, which isn't a bad idea either.

Leningrad:

Nothing. Just the sound of my shovels. I wouldn't give up on it, but maybe he is?

[Flaviusx]

Q-ball, I'm surprised you are only getting 106k men/turn with all of that real estate.