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

[Tophat1815]

The feigned retreat is a very good idea,you need to get the reds out of those forts if you want any hope of some land victories. Your right,best to stop pounding your head into his iron curtain for now.

[RCHarmon]

Pull your left flank back and set it on Riga. This will give you more troops by shortening your line and put them in a more defensible position. You are fighting defensively now, get your panzers rested and refitted. What you will do with them is plug holes. What you will want to do with them is too cut off spear heads. You should still have powerful panzer forces. To do the most damage with them is in effective counter attacks and trying to cut off spear heads. The best use of them might be in reserve mode as you might give the Soviet some nasty surprises or in spoiling attacks. This may not be the case as soon he will be attacking with rifle corps. You will see portions of your line getting hit by 300k men at once.

Keep Romania in the war as long as possible. This will be a Soviet target. That ground is all good tank ground. It will require sufficient panzer forces. I forget when the Romanians will turn(When they lose a certain city) the Romanian forces will turn against you at that point. Before that happens make sure you use them up on the front lines against the Soviets.

Always have a second and third defensive line in your mind and if you can get some troops digging on that 2nd line do it.

I am surprised that you have the men available to build forts. In your coming defense try not to lose anymore divisions. With proper panzer support you shouldn't lose too many more. Only defend behind rivers, rough terrain, etc where possible. Don't try to hold ground anymore. Be willing to fall back. You should know before he launches his attacks as you will see an increase in cav and mobile units. At this point(in the game) it takes the Soviet player some time get a force properly ready to go on the offensive. The game will slow down and be a bit boring until he does launch his attacks, but then you will be on the edge of your seat trying to hold the hordes off. Defense in depth when possible. Even if this means only having one division on the front line and a second division right behind it. The Soviet player will not be fully able to make significant attacks until '43. You could still make some spoiling attacks which you should, as they will disrupt the Soviet timing.

Put some panzers around Riga before you fall back. If he follows to quickly you might be able punish him some.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: glvaca

Personally, I'd consider resigning and restarting. You'll not learn a lot from continuing the game and it won't be a lot of fun.
I know you are a very sportive player but sometimes it's better to quite and restart. With the lessons learned in this game, you'll most likely have a much more fun experience in the next.

Ah, you assume I actually learn [:D]
Anyway, I will reply to this with a (now legendary) exchange of words in a WiF-CON.
Germany : Ah well, I failed, the game is over, I resign.
Commonwealth : Listen sonny, you had your fun, now it is our time to push you around. You will keep playing!

Which translate into : Oloren has done a superb job/I did a poor job. I will not deny him the glory of taking Berlin.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: BigAnorak

Hi Terje: You should never expect an initial raw 2:1 odds attack to be successful; you have to allow for GG's randomness and the likelihood of reserves. These days I make deliberate attacks with 3-4:1 raw odds with reserves in the area. Hasties need to be 4-5:1 with offensive reserves available as they have a lot more variance and can get crucified by reserves. You have to counter his reserves with your reserves.

edit: If you don't think you can force him east of the Dneiper in 1942, then it will be a short game, but at least you will get a chance to get your reserve units doing what the soviets are doing to you now!

edited edit: You could try a feigned retreat, and see if he leaves his level 3's; once he is out of entrenchments you should have more chances with your attacks. Once you get to the line you want to defend, if he moves into contact keep attacking to force him back from your line but don't move into the vacated hex, this has the triple benefit of reducing attrition, reducing fatigue and rebuilds your morale: in my game with gids, it took him a few turns to figure out what I was doing, so my infantry morale increased and CVs went up from 4 to 5.

I actually only PRAY that those 2:1 will succeed, but it is the best I am able to get. The problem with a retreat is that it WILL produce a general Axis rout as that also means leaving MY level 3 forts. So atm I push where I can, trap what I can and dig like crazy to the rear.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

The feigned retreat is a very good idea,you need to get the reds out of those forts if you want any hope of some land victories. Your right,best to stop pounding your head into his iron curtain for now.

Yes and no. It makes sense but my units are too weak and the USSR too strong, so falling back invites a general USSR offensive. I will play this one as AH and hold for the time being.


Terje

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: RCH

Pull your left flank back and set it on Riga. This will give you more troops by shortening your line and put them in a more defensible position. You are fighting defensively now, get your panzers rested and refitted. What you will do with them is plug holes. What you will want to do with them is too cut off spear heads. You should still have powerful panzer forces. To do the most damage with them is in effective counter attacks and trying to cut off spear heads. The best use of them might be in reserve mode as you might give the Soviet some nasty surprises or in spoiling attacks. This may not be the case as soon he will be attacking with rifle corps. You will see portions of your line getting hit by 300k men at once.

Keep Romania in the war as long as possible. This will be a Soviet target. That ground is all good tank ground. It will require sufficient panzer forces. I forget when the Romanians will turn(When they lose a certain city) the Romanian forces will turn against you at that point. Before that happens make sure you use them up on the front lines against the Soviets.

Always have a second and third defensive line in your mind and if you can get some troops digging on that 2nd line do it.

I am surprised that you have the men available to build forts. In your coming defense try not to lose anymore divisions. With proper panzer support you shouldn't lose too many more. Only defend behind rivers, rough terrain, etc where possible. Don't try to hold ground anymore. Be willing to fall back. You should know before he launches his attacks as you will see an increase in cav and mobile units. At this point(in the game) it takes the Soviet player some time get a force properly ready to go on the offensive. The game will slow down and be a bit boring until he does launch his attacks, but then you will be on the edge of your seat trying to hold the hordes off. Defense in depth when possible. Even if this means only having one division on the front line and a second division right behind it. The Soviet player will not be fully able to make significant attacks until '43. You could still make some spoiling attacks which you should, as they will disrupt the Soviet timing.

Put some panzers around Riga before you fall back. If he follows to quickly you might be able punish him some.

The men digging behind the lines are the units set to rest and refit. They serve a dual purpose I guess you might say, also the Italians are good diggers. I still need some time before I can fall back though, so I have to keep showing some strength at the line to keep him at bay. As to the strength of my Panzers. The USSR just forced 3 German PZ Divs to retreat...
The game will not be a long one, but we will dig, dig, dig, then dig some more before we can pull back without causing a general rout I fear.

Terje

[terje439]

Turn 56

Overall
Things could definitively be better. The USSR attacks a stack of 3 Pz Divs and force them to retreat... On the other hand, we do trap 6 USSR divisions this turn, and my opponent has informed me that he fears for his southern line. Good thing he does not see just how bad things are on this side. We launch 16 attacks and score 5 held, 9 retreats and 2 routs. The USSR launch 6 attacks and get 6 retreats as results. Any day Berlin holds past 01.01.43 is now a bonus.
Furthermore our AFV pools are not an encouraging read...

Losses
USSR : 95.000 troops, 1.006 guns, 226 AFVs, 332 AC.
Axis : 57.000 troops, 817 guns, 364 AFVs, 39 AC.

Pools
Manpower : 184.494
Vehicle : 206.368
Armaments : 261.254
Hiwi : 7

Pest control
5 partisans are delt with.

Strategy
I still need time to get a proper fallback line set up, and I need it in place before I can fall back, if not, the USSR will simply push my weak divisions aside. So, for the time being I need to show some strength at the line. Is it the right decision? I see that you all do not think so, but I fear what The Bear will do to me in open terrain, so I simply do not dare fall back at the moment.

[terje439]

Turn 57

Overall
The USSR break the pocket formed last turn, we reform it, but the number of trapped units is down from 6 to 3. Also a concern is that the USSR seems to be testing our frontline by attacking in various locations from time to time. Even worse is that they force a retreat wherever they attack. We are digging like mad, and hope to fall back to shorten our line in 10 turns. The USSR OOB is starting to look ridiculus by now.
We launch 10 attacks and score 2 held and 8 retreats, while the USSR launch 4 attacks and score 4 retreats.

Losses
USSR : 90.000 troops, 1,096 guns, 114 AFVs, 269 AC.
Axis : 42.000 troops, 600 guns, 94 AFVs, 46 AC.

Pools
Manpower : 187.467
Vehicle : 210.998
Armaments : 250.248
Hiwi : 7

Pest control
5 partisans pop up and are promptly delt with.

[glvaca]

ORIGINAL: terje439

ORIGINAL: glvaca

Personally, I'd consider resigning and restarting. You'll not learn a lot from continuing the game and it won't be a lot of fun.
I know you are a very sportive player but sometimes it's better to quite and restart. With the lessons learned in this game, you'll most likely have a much more fun experience in the next.

Ah, you assume I actually learn [:D]
Anyway, I will reply to this with a (now legendary) exchange of words in a WiF-CON.
Germany : Ah well, I failed, the game is over, I resign.
Commonwealth : Listen sonny, you had your fun, now it is our time to push you around. You will keep playing!

Which translate into : Oloren has done a superb job/I did a poor job. I will not deny him the glory of taking Berlin.


Terje

[:D]

RESPECT!

[terje439]

Turn 58

Overall
So, the USSR reopens the pocket we formed last turn. Not really a shocker. We also encounter the first USSR tank corps as they push through our line north of the Pripjet. We have some reinforcements within distance, so we seal the opening in the front, and cut off one USSR tank corps in doing so. Nevertheless, the USSR launch 10 attacks this turn, scoring 3 held and 7 retreats. We make 13 attacks, scoring 1 held, 9 retreats and 3 routs. All we pray for now is some more turns to make sure the entire front is as well protected as the Finnish front is at the moment.

Losses
Seems off this turn again.
USSR : 32.000 troops, 647 guns, 151 AFVs, 57 AC.
Axis : 34.000 troops, 426 guns, 78 AFVs, 8 AC.

Pools
Manpower : 190.936
Vehicle : 214.927
Armaments : 239.797
Hiwi : 3

Pest control
We eliminate three partisan units this turn.

[Tophat1815]

Wow.........summer of 42' and the Reds have no worries on the Finnish front and also 9 million troops. It's bad alright.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

Wow.........summer of 42' and the Reds have no worries on the Finnish front and also 9 million troops. It's bad alright.

Yup, since I did not activate the Finnish attack-line-thingy (great wording, right [:D]), all my Fins could do was to dig in.
And Yup, things are bad indeed. I think things will go downwards quite soon if I am to judge from the increased ammount of USSR attacks per turn.


Terje

[Tophat1815]

ORIGINAL: terje439

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

Wow.........summer of 42' and the Reds have no worries on the Finnish front and also 9 million troops. It's bad alright.

Yup, since I did not activate the Finnish attack-line-thingy (great wording, right [:D]), all my Fins could do was to dig in.
And Yup, things are bad indeed. I think things will go downwards quite soon if I am to judge from the increased ammount of USSR attacks per turn.




Terje

Hey you deserve kudos for sticking with this loosing hand. Now your just trying to go out with style.

[terje439]

Turn 59

Disclaimer
Nothing really worth showing, so no pic this turn.

Overall
The USSR keeps pushing. I need to hold some more turns, so we pray the USSR does not realize this, but things are looking grimmer and grimmer. We finally force a surrender, at this time we make the most of this in our newspapers to boost morale. Of course it does not really matter, but it is always nice to kill of a unit.
The USSR makes more attacks than us this turn with a total of 14. They score 3 held and 11 retreats. We manage 10 attacks and score 1 held, 6 retreats, 2 routs and 1 surrender.
In the rear we keep building our defences. Some more time is needed, hopefully we will keep the front untill the defences are ready.

Losses
USSR : 102.000 troops, 1.193 guns, 425 AFVs, 309 AC.
Axis : 53.000 troops, 810 guns, 87 AFVs, 28 AC.

Units destroyed
One tank corps surrenders this turn.

Pools
Manpower : 196.450
Vehicle : 219.788
Armaments : 223.017
Hiwi : 61

Pest control
Another 6 partisan units pop up, they are promptly delt with.

[randallw]

Just hold on until 1943, and the Luftwaffe field units will turn the tide! [:D]

[terje439]

Turn 60

Disclaimer
Again nothing really worth taking a picture of.

Overall
Our forces are now not even capable of pushing back the USSR units when they are in the open. Need to hold the line for some more turns to make sure we have a proper line to fall back to. When we start to fall back, operation No More Rumanians will be implemented to maximize the rest time for our German units.
The USSR make 5 attacks and score 1 held and 4 retreats. We make 7 attacks and score 5 helds, 1 retreat and 1 rout.

Losses
USSR : 74.000 troops, 649 guns, 252 AFVs, 276 AC.
Axis : 45.000 troops, 691 guns, 123 AFVs, 12 AC.

Pools
Manpower : 197.459
Vehicle : 224.576
Armaments : 212.890
Hiwi : 62

Pest control
4 new partisans show up, and are all forced to retreat.

[terje439]

Turn 61

Overall
A USSR breakthrough towards the Pripjet force us to abandon the north and pull back to release forces. I fear this is only the beginning...
We make two attacks and score 1 held and 1 retreat, while the USSR score 9 retreats.

Losses
USSR : 11.000 troops, 169 guns, 153 AFVs, 206 AC.
Axis : 34.000 troops, 500 guns, 79 AFVs, 22 AC.

Pools
Manpower : 212.003
Vehicle : 228.285
Armaments : 192.368
Hiwi : 323

Pest control
3 partisan units are delt with this turn.

[sj80]

Hey Terje, I'm sure this was a hard decision, but it was the right decision. I hope you can stabilize your line in the area north-east of Riga. [&:]
Whats your situation in the center and south?

[bigbaba]

arg, that looks more like 1944 then 1942.

hope you can hold the line and inflict 3:1 loses to the red army.

[Tophat1815]

Well we shall see if defensive victories ca come to the fore now. The Reds have to be really feeling it and trying for a kill here while he has you running. He might well overextend himself.