Gnikam eht ni retsasid - Oloren USSR, Terje Axis. Oloren now permitted.

[terje439]

And again

[terje439]

Never change a winning recipe

[terje439]

Must....Learn....Gimp

[terje439]

Finally

[CheerfullyInsane]

Original: Terje439

Oloren pointed out that I have killed about 25 more units at turn 5 than he did but that I had taken less ground. He was of the oppinion (spelling???) that my approach was better, but I cannot agree as the USSR can always build new units, they cannot however increase their manpower when they lose cities.

Yes and no. While it's true the USSR can't increase manpower, it's equally true that all the manpower in the world won't do any good without counters to put it in. I learned that the hard way.
It's less of a problem in ´41 since counters will respawn, but still...

Since I cannot seem to find "an idiots approach to Gimp", I will have to make alot of screenshots instead of one large one.

I took the liberty of doing a PDF showing the basic splicing technique.
Two caveats though:
1) I'm using the Danish version of GIMP, so the menus might look different. Should be close enough to Norwegian to work though.
2) The PDF was done in about an hour, so the lay-out is.....Uhm......Well, non-existant I suppose. [:D]

But have a look at the attachment, and see if you can use it.

[Blubel]

I really like your AARs.

Couple of points of which I hope some may help:

a) Building a railroad through the Marshes is a really bad idea.
b) Quite a few of your divisions seem to be to far away from their HQs. You will have to spread the HQs out more.
c) You are needlessly burning trucks. Your Army Groups/ Armys (if possible) should sit on Railheads. Same goes for the Luftwaffe if the front is near enough (South). You might need these trucks later.
d) You should use some of your APs. There are leaders that can be replaced and SUs to shuffle around.
e) Try to use 1 or 2 German Divisions in the south to create a path for the Romanians. If they have to go through enemy territory, they will take ages to reach the front.
f) Your forces are spread to thinly north of the Marshes. There is no reason to actually have a frontline. He can't turn your flank. You can leave at least 2 hexes between infantry divisions in unimportant sectors. That way you get enough infantry to force the landbridge and 2 crossings, without destroying half your Panzer force.
g) Don't let your mobile forces in the frontline if not necessary. They will get attrition losses and fatigue without any reason. (Take Pskov for example. If you take the Panzer Korps back 1-2 hexes, they will get better supply and not suffer losses. If the Soviets come over the river you can rout them over it, which is always great. If they just reconvert the hex it will not matter in the north.)

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: CheerfullyInsane
A. Yes and no. While it's true the USSR can't increase manpower, it's equally true that all the manpower in the world won't do any good without counters to put it in. I learned that the hard way.
It's less of a problem in ´41 since counters will respawn, but still...


B. I took the liberty of doing a PDF showing the basic splicing technique.
Two caveats though:
1) I'm using the Danish version of GIMP, so the menus might look different. Should be close enough to Norwegian to work though.
2) The PDF was done in about an hour, so the lay-out is.....Uhm......Well, non-existant I suppose. [:D]

But have a look at the attachment, and see if you can use it.

A. But still the USSR have alot of units, and there is no real problem for them to build some more. Running out of manpower early on is something you cannot retify untill late in the game at best imo.

B. [&o] Thank you for the effort, will DL and take a look. Really apreciate the effort.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Blubel

I really like your AARs.

Couple of points of which I hope some may help:

a) Building a railroad through the Marshes is a really bad idea.
b) Quite a few of your divisions seem to be to far away from their HQs. You will have to spread the HQs out more.
c) You are needlessly burning trucks. Your Army Groups/ Armys (if possible) should sit on Railheads. Same goes for the Luftwaffe if the front is near enough (South). You might need these trucks later.
d) You should use some of your APs. There are leaders that can be replaced and SUs to shuffle around.
e) Try to use 1 or 2 German Divisions in the south to create a path for the Romanians. If they have to go through enemy territory, they will take ages to reach the front.
f) Your forces are spread to thinly north of the Marshes. There is no reason to actually have a frontline. He can't turn your flank. You can leave at least 2 hexes between infantry divisions in unimportant sectors. That way you get enough infantry to force the landbridge and 2 crossings, without destroying half your Panzer force.
g) Don't let your mobile forces in the frontline if not necessary. They will get attrition losses and fatigue without any reason. (Take Pskov for example. If you take the Panzer Korps back 1-2 hexes, they will get better supply and not suffer losses. If the Soviets come over the river you can rout them over it, which is always great. If they just reconvert the hex it will not matter in the north.)

a) Why? Ok it might take a few turns to go through the marshes, but it is the shortest line is it not?
b) That I agree with you on, sadly it is due to poor planning in the early stages on my part.
c) Again absolutely true, good catch, and something I need to work on for sure.
d) See c [:)]
e) Yes, and that is what I will do as soon as things are "normalized". Right now I am suffering from using too much time to eliminate the pockets which means it took longer to get units moving south.
f) True, but as I see it, it might be that I will need two units atleast to force the crossing, and then I can use the third unit to actually cross.
g) That is the attackign part of me that is showing I guess, I want to hit him everywhere and then some more places.


Terje

[randallw]

Marshes are good for cavalry ( which the Axis have few of ), bad for infantry, awful for armor.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: randallw

Marshes are good for cavalry ( which the Axis have few of ), bad for infantry, awful for armor.

yup, but I do not want to give Oloren the same chance I got in the reverse game, so I am clearing it up


Terje

[terje439]

Turn 7

Overall
I believe Oloren did a mistake north of Leningrad. Well, I'll take it, too bad my units did not have a few more MPs...
South of the Pripjet the USSR front is now TWO fronts as we push right through the middle of it. Unfortunately we were not able to push as far east as we would like, so I estimate that the USSR will pull back. We make 51 attacks, scoring 7 held, 35 retreats, 4 routs and 5 surrenders.

Losses
USSR : 60.000 troops, 1.289 guns, 874 AFVs and 124 AC.
Axis : 27.000 troops, 175 guns, 122 AFVs and 59 AC.

Cities Captured
Mogilev and Vinnitsa are both now firmly within Das Reich.

Units destroyed
We destroy 1 rifle division, 1 NKVD border regiment and 6 fortifed regions this turn. Seems Oloren is building alot of fortified regions which he will let die. Well, I will gladly take those lost armaments points from him.

Pools
Manpower : 31.121.
Vehicle : 174.459.
Armaments : 85.013.
Hiwi : 53.974.

Concerns
I need to increase the killed : killed infantry ratio.

Question
I am contemplating the following leader changes, is this a wise move, or am I way off??
Guderian -> OKH
Von Kluge -> AGN
Kesselring -> AGC
Model -> AGS

[Tophat1815]

Whats your infantry situation look lie in AGN facing Leningrad? looks like things are shaping up for you on that front at least. Also i know its a pain but some pics of the situation in AGC and AGS would be good.

As regards the German leadership changes i confess that I have seen their ratings and should know them by heart now,but I need to check them again. I am waiting for the next patch that takes care of the nasty Russian ai bug(whatever it is)before starting my next GC against the ai.

[Q-Ball]

RE: Leadership changes, I think your priority is to work on bad Corps commanders first. These suggestions aren't totally off base, but here are my individual thoughts:

Question
I am contemplating the following leader changes, is this a wise move, or am I way off??
Guderian -> OKH OKH shouldn't be doing alot of fighting; Guderian is a fighting leader. I would keep Guderian as Army commander, and Halder is good for OKH, because Admin is the rating that matters, and that's the one that counts for OKH

Von Kluge -> AGN (That's fine, I wouldn't spend alot of points to do that)

Kesselring -> AGC (Smiling Albert is tempting to use; I prefer him in Luftwaffe, but I can see either way)

Model -> AGS (I think his rank is not high enough yet in 1941, without suffering penalties when you promote him. You don't want to do that. Get him promoted first. Even so, I prefer him as top Infantry Army commander)

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812


Whats your infantry situation look lie in AGN facing Leningrad? looks like things are shaping up for you on that front at least. Also i know its a pain but some pics of the situation in AGC and AGS would be good.

As regards the German leadership changes i confess that I have seen their ratings and should know them by heart now,but I need to check them again. I am waiting for the next patch that takes care of the nasty Russian ai bug(whatever it is)before starting my next GC against the ai.

Actually with the file CheerfullyInsane made, I think even I should manage to use Gimp so will see if i can find some time to make a better screenshot for the next turn.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

RE: Leadership changes, I think your priority is to work on bad Corps commanders first. These suggestions aren't totally off base, but here are my individual thoughts:

Question
I am contemplating the following leader changes, is this a wise move, or am I way off??
Guderian -> OKH OKH shouldn't be doing alot of fighting; Guderian is a fighting leader. I would keep Guderian as Army commander, and Halder is good for OKH, because Admin is the rating that matters, and that's the one that counts for OKH

Von Kluge -> AGN (That's fine, I wouldn't spend alot of points to do that)

Kesselring -> AGC (Smiling Albert is tempting to use; I prefer him in Luftwaffe, but I can see either way)

Model -> AGS (I think his rank is not high enough yet in 1941, without suffering penalties when you promote him. You don't want to do that. Get him promoted first. Even so, I prefer him as top Infantry Army commander)

Ok, so Halder at OKH and keep Guderian at army level.
To change leaders for AGN/AGC/AGS I HAVE to spend alot of points as the cost was listed as something like 25+11 [X(]

But I will work on corps/army level first then. Thanks for the reply.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

RE: Leadership changes, I think your priority is to work on bad Corps commanders first. These suggestions aren't totally off base, but here are my individual thoughts:

Question
I am contemplating the following leader changes, is this a wise move, or am I way off??
Guderian -> OKH OKH shouldn't be doing alot of fighting; Guderian is a fighting leader. I would keep Guderian as Army commander, and Halder is good for OKH, because Admin is the rating that matters, and that's the one that counts for OKH

Von Kluge -> AGN (That's fine, I wouldn't spend alot of points to do that)

Kesselring -> AGC (Smiling Albert is tempting to use; I prefer him in Luftwaffe, but I can see either way)

Model -> AGS (I think his rank is not high enough yet in 1941, without suffering penalties when you promote him. You don't want to do that. Get him promoted first. Even so, I prefer him as top Infantry Army commander)

Ok, so Halder at OKH and keep Guderian at army level.
To change leaders for AGN/AGC/AGS I HAVE to spend alot of points as the cost was listed as something like 25+11 [X(]

But I will work on corps/army level first then. Thanks for the reply.


Terje

[randallw]

Are these casualty numbers including attrition? You seem to be getting a 3:1 rate in manpower losses, which is not really really good for 1941 Axis.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: randallw

Are these casualty numbers including attrition? You seem to be getting a 3:1 rate in manpower losses, which is not really really good for 1941 Axis.

I guess so as they are the numbers showing after I have finished my turn and then view the "losses"-report for the first time of the turn.


Terje

[terje439]

Turn 8

Disclaimer
Guess an idiots guid to gimp was not enough. Only managed to merge two images before I messed up something, so for now, only the Leningrad area...

Overall
As expected the USSR managed to reform their front in the south. This turn left me with a feeling that the game wanted to tell me "why do you not just give up, you will fail anyway" as so many attacks which were made at 9-11 : 1 before the battle resulted in held scores...
Anyway we need to keep pushing and try to collapse the USSR line, so a total of 74 attacks were made, resulting in 3 scouted (!!!), 19 (!!) held, 45 retreat, 3 rout and 4 surrender.
Also as expected the USSR fumble in the north was a mistake on my opponents part. He has managed to recover by moving blocking units into the hexes south of the Fins.

Losses
Once more we loos too much infantry compared to the USSR.
USSR : 76.000 troops, 1.707 guns, 607 AFVs, 150 AC.
Axis : 32.000 troops, 352 guns, 155 AFVs, 39 AC.

Cities captured
Odessa and Zhitomir was captured by our valiant soldiers this turn.

Units destroyed
2 rifle divisions, 1 PVO AA regiment, 2 Fortified regions, Odessa Fortified region were crushed by our troops.

Pools
Argh, got too focused on learning Gimp that I forgot to write these numbers down.
Will have to reload the game after I have gotten some sleep.

[terje439]

Turn 9

Overall
The USSR falls back more or less all along the line save behind the Pripjet. We keep pushing and probing, but things are looking up at the moment as the USSR are leaving their level 3 forts and are now cought in the open. This is also seen in the % of successful attacks. A total of 48 attacks are made, resulting in 2 held, 37 retreats, 8 routs and 1 shatter.

Losses
USSR : 57.000 troops, 1.061 guns, 582 AFVs, 185 AC.
Axis : 29.000 troops, 199 guns, 185 AFVs, 74 AC.

Cities captured
New Gaulleiters have been dispatched to Pskov, Vitebsk and Nikolaev.

Units destroyed
1 tank division and 1 fortified region are destroyed this turn.

Pools
Manpower : 30.216.
Vehicle : 166.063.
Armaments : 80.678.
Hiwi : 61.912.

Concerns
Where do I make my winter-fallback-line?