41-45GC - A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL - GLVACA (Sov) v SJ80 (Axis) - NO SJ80

[glvaca]

I still have 93 divisions in Stavka reserves...

[glvaca]

In the Crimea, I launch 2 abortive attacks, costing roughly 4.5K losses versus approx 500 Rum.
I don't have any designs there really, supply situation is just too bad.

[glvaca]

Losses

[glvaca]

OOB

[glvaca]

Prod

[Scook_99]

Interesting, the OOB indicates he is protecting the minor Axis Allies, letting the Germans take the brunt of the beatings. Congratulations for drawing his motorised forces out into the cold too! The size of your army is becoming precipitously large. Your losses are not even 3 million yet! There will be lots of medals to hand out in February, as March may bring some changes. If you are wholly evil, like me, rotate good troopers (aka Guards) out of the front into the rear to gain morale and experience. Leave the rabble up front to take the initial blows. Take special note of German divisions you can get to rout. Often a German commander has too many problems, so those troops will stay in the line approximately where you break them. They create special soft spots in his lines. If you can hide your large and formidable army long enough, and let him stretch out, you can probe and find the soft spots, and choose carefully where to attack at the right times. If you don't break his Sj80's morale this winter, often that will do it enough to make your opponent resign.

Lesson learned to me! Regardless of taking objectives, the Soviet Army must be punished! 4 million casualties before December. Losing Leningrad and Moscow but not severely wounding the Bear means the objectives are meaningless.

Well played, sir.

[glvaca]

ORIGINAL: Scook_99

Interesting, the OOB indicates he is protecting the minor Axis Allies, letting the Germans take the brunt of the beatings. Congratulations for drawing his motorised forces out into the cold too! The size of your army is becoming precipitously large. Your losses are not even 3 million yet! There will be lots of medals to hand out in February, as March may bring some changes. If you are wholly evil, like me, rotate good troopers (aka Guards) out of the front into the rear to gain morale and experience. Leave the rabble up front to take the initial blows. Take special note of German divisions you can get to rout. Often a German commander has too many problems, so those troops will stay in the line approximately where you break them. They create special soft spots in his lines. If you can hide your large and formidable army long enough, and let him stretch out, you can probe and find the soft spots, and choose carefully where to attack at the right times. If you don't break his Sj80's morale this winter, often that will do it enough to make your opponent resign.

Lesson learned to me! Regardless of taking objectives, the Soviet Army must be punished! 4 million casualties before December. Losing Leningrad and Moscow but not severely wounding the Bear means the objectives are meaningless.

Well played, sir.

Hi Scook, thanks for the compliment.
I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion completely though. It seems many people are in need of generalization and rules of thumb to make sense of it "all". I would put forth that much more depends on strategy and tactics than many people are willing to give the game credit for. For example, your conclusion that you need 4 million Soviet casualties or your toast as the German is, IMO, just not true. What I believe is the correct conclusion is that as the German, if you fail to have those 4 million, you need to adjust your strategy for Blizzard accordingly. Failing to do so could spell dissaster, but even so, there will be German players out their who can defend in such a way as to make it very difficult for the Soviet to have a good blizzard.

Simply put, there is much more player impact than people are willing to give to give the game credit for. It's much easier to shout the game is unbalanced than to face up to the possibility you may be doing something wrong OR, your opponent may be doing everything right. Human nature is just like that...

[glvaca]

Quick question, I know this has been asked before but I simply can't remember, what are considered the best SU's for Tank Corps?
It's always said that the brittle nature of the Tank Corps is because they lack infantry, would be usefull to attach only infantry type units?

[smokindave34]

I normally attach sapper regiments and MG-arty support units to try and strengthen the tank corps. This seems to match what you have heard concerning assigning infantry units to the tank corps. Great AAR by the way!

[glvaca]

ORIGINAL: smokindave34

I normally attach sapper regiments and MG-arty support units to try and strengthen the tank corps. This seems to match what you have heard concerning assigning infantry units to the tank corps. Great AAR by the way!

So 1 sapper regiment, or 2 regiments? And an MG, looks good, do you see a difference in their defensive performance?

Thanks! [;)]

[Farfarer61]

Two sapper regiments per all types of corps. For the "third" SU:

a) Later on, medium and heavy SU's ( SU 122 ans SU 152)

b) Tank battalions for rifle corps ( if your pool is up to it).

Boutique third SU's to be maximized: Flame tanks ( build them as your pool will allow ), and Heavy Tank Battalions ( as your pool will alllow as these seem to auto upgrade to Guards and Regiments).

Avoid artillery units which will compete for the tubes needs in your Artillery Divisions.

[glvaca]

Thanks for the tips, Farfarer.
Any idea how sapper regs compare versus MG-Bat. when it comes to defensive combat effects? Those MG bat. have a large amount of MG's which I presume are great in the defense. Downside is, I'm very short on those MG squads in virtually all my Divs so they're probably going to take ages to fill out.

[Walloc]

ORIGINAL: glvaca

Thanks for the tips, Farfarer.
Any idea how sapper regs compare versus MG-Bat. when it comes to defensive combat effects? Those MG bat. have a large amount of MG's which I presume are great in the defense. Downside is, I'm very short on those MG squads in virtually all my Divs so they're probably going to take ages to fill out.

I've never build a MG bat and with 500.000-700.000 arm in the pools through out most of mid to later '42 my divs tended to be 20-30% short on MG squads less being on refit for several turns on a RR in the hinderland. Seems to be a particular chokepoint.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[glvaca]

Hi Walloc, agreed, together with mortars they are huge choke points.
Does anyone know why and how to reduce this?

[Farfarer61]

These are just my suggestions, and they make it simple and use less ARM, but maximize the use of what you produce anyway. Check the TOE before building an SU to check on the pool of 'stuff' available. When you are attacking the inevitable German forts, it makes sense ( to me ) to be stuffed with Sappers, monster SP Assault guns ( SU122-SU152), T34 Flame tanks. Some advocate AT support units while on the strategic defence, but until they are a decent calibre I'm not sure.

[M60A3TTS]

How goes the war?

[glvaca]

Hi Ed, we're in mud april 1942, but since I show so much detail, I need to wait a little more before updating just to be on the safe side.
So once the direction of his summer offensive is clear I'll start to update and it will be a 10-15 turns worth. [:)]

[M60A3TTS]

Ok, so while we're waiting...[;)]

How many sapper regiments do you have?
How many RR construction Bdes?
Planning to build any motorized brigades?

[glvaca]

Sappers:
EDIT: this is on turn 49

[glvaca]

RR brigades: