HITMAN202 versus THEPRO's Sean is welcomed ... Sillyflower is allowed.

[sillyflower]

Sorry if I wasn't clear - penalty only affects attack of defence strengths of listed units. So you can have some at full power and others with different penalties

[HITMAN202]

TURN 27 ... TURN 27 ... TURN 27 ... TURN 27

Well this is really not the turn. I'm in the process of finishing it. Each person has their own modus operandi. My, is to speak, a little disjointed. I play this game for fun (yeh, this stuff really means nothing to me, the 80-100 hours, the AAR, exposing yourself as being a dimwit... not ... with the last move e-mail to THEPROS, I commented that they were killing me. Sillyflower reminded me I was dying only on the AAR. Thanks.)

So my move





Vacation, fishing on the Black Sea.

[HITMAN202]

But here's the premove stats





Almost 100 K !!!! I'll keep a running total. Roughly 75 K the first blizzard turn

German Infabtry morale 77.3

[HITMAN202]

The first division bites the dust. Sean uses the paradrop to seal the 93 rd's fate. Crap. On blizzard one this with have been the second div if I had got bad move #'s.

[HITMAN202]

But here's the biggest problem. I had one of those defense set that supposedly can't be beat. Not ...





Any advice other than run ???

BTW, I'm picking up on a distinct trend with my questions; reflected by the opposing comments twix Pelton/Flaviusx (who I believe is the real seer, Star War's Yoda, of WITE. I will now forever call Flaviusx, Yoda) on MT/Kamil AAR. (Kamil gets my vote for the toughest sucker on WITE for hanging on against MT... that's until I finish .. ie. survive the blizzard with THEPROS.) There you got Pelton feeling ok with Kamil's position pre-snow and, on the other hand, Flaviusx (I mean Yoda) singing a funeral dirge.

How can two "expert's" of WITE (they are immersed in the game every day) disagree so much ???

That goes back to the feelings I sense when I ask my questions. Particularly in my last on the War Room about Paratroopers.

There's a definite silence... Why ??? Here's my insight (which I tend to be spot-on with.)

#1) They're dumb-ass. That may seem a little harsh and too personal (Sillyflower is teaching me to have tough skin) and in teaching my students I "say" and "act" like there's no such thing as a dumb question, but really think otherwise.

#2) No one knows the answer and thus my reference to the Pelton/Yoda (I'm liking that name.. sorry Flaviusx...) situation above. That' s, for me. a big attraction to WITE.

#3) People want to hide their "secerts." Little strategies, tactics, tricks, and gimmicks that give them an edge.

So back to my question about Paratroopers on the War Room. My feelings #1) Nah. #2) Very likely #3) Very, very likely.

Oh by the way there's a #4) but I can't say it in a gentlemanly (like the English, so to speak) way.

[Scook_99]

You really need to see the Winter Offensive from the Soviet side, you will realize the limitations on the Soviet side. Until you do, it will almost always seem to be a rather unfair time. There is a huge difference when playing Soviet in 500,000 casualties take in the summer offensive.
Oh, it looks like your stack of 3 divisions was under a deliberate assault. The reason you use movement to back up is to prevent enough movement points left to let Soviet units nothing but hasty assaults. Even though you can dig in best early in as offensive, December is the best time to run, and it lessens as the months roll on.

[Flaviusx]

The thing that killed Hitman in that particular combat was a massive brainfart on the part of his leadership, near as I can tell. The attack actually should have failed otherwise. The Soviet firepower support in terms of arty and airpower was rather weak and hardly accounts for the massive drop in final CV. It looks like straight up failure to make combat leadership rolls to me.

Still, generally speaking, you can't expect much in December.

[HITMAN202]

Thanks guys. The two issues..

Scook_99 I've been hesitant to go thru the pain of learning the Soviets and am engaged in a battle with THEPROS that I'm purposing to play well (no messups), but you got to know both sides. You've pushed me over the edge ; the pain begins, and I'll be reading a lot of Flaviusx(I mean Yoda) since I think he has the best insight to the Ruskies. Tactics are crucial for the Germans, 30-50% of their success in their first 24 turns. But the Soviets need management and logistics ...80-90 % and can be learned well with far less experience IMO. I've seen rookies play well as the Soviets (SLY) but the Axis; a whole another matter.

The two hex retreat you suggested just can't be done north of Lake Ilmen. You don't have the space. Also the terrain is good and fort buildup is easy.

The thing with Flaviusx's (Yoda's) insight to the retreat in thr above post is just another reason to learn the Soviet side. How can the Germans know how to defend if they don't know what the Soviets can do with the attack.

Thanks. The pain begins.

[Scook_99]

In the north, in the bad terrain, you only need to retreat one hex at a time, make them fight for the most part. And as for as Soviet knowledge goes, it's not that painful. You really only need to get up to March of 1942. Just make it through the winter offensive, and that will help tons in your knowledge base. The insidious part, once you get there, you generally WANT to know how it is into 1943 . Good luck!

Edit: Small point, but.....Do you disband your forts when Uncle Joe gets close enough to smoke 'em? You most likely do, but if you don't then it's free POWs for the Siberian Lumber Exchange Company.

[Manstein63]

Although the rifle divisions become big & scary during the blizzard most of them will have between 8 & 12 MP per turn & so the Soviet player will in the main be making single stack Hasty attacks & as he moves from defense to offense he will moving away from his supply lines & his MP's per turn will drop. Break down your German Mountain units and spread them behind your Front line & in reserve mode also do the same for your allied mountain units (though these can't breakdown) If you have captured Leningrad which I think you have, then you can let the Finns screen the North, also if you haven't already started building a fort line behind your M.L.R do so. The units that you need to watch for are the Cavalry Corps & Divisions as they can exploit breakthroughs made by the infantry & be used to pin units down for subsequent destruction. Don't run just for the sake of running in my current game against Terje439 he spent that first winter trying to beat me to Berlin & once I saw that I wasn't going to catch him I just sent a screen of cavalry divisions forward to reconvert the territory while my front line units dug in rested & trained & waited for his 42 offensive. Retreating is a good idea if your opponent follows you in strength as they will be more susceptible to counter attack once your CV begin to recover in February.
Manstein63

[gingerbread]

You can perhaps get some comfort from examining the Soviet vehicle losses (scroll all the way down on 1st loss screen).

This very important loss number is rarely mentioned.

[Peltonx]

ORIGINAL: gingerbread

You can perhaps get some comfort from examining the Soviet vehicle losses (scroll all the way down on 1st loss screen).

This very important loss number is rarely mentioned.

Yes I also think this is a very much over looked # that becomes very important as the war goes on.

[sillyflower]

For the readers who are missing this feast of analysis and/or trash talk, this game seems to have hit an hiatus. We haven't heart anything from Dr H for almost 2 weeks - not even replies to direct emails. We hope nothing bad has happened.

My own theory is that he finally got on that hilarious American reality TV show 'Extreme Makeover' after having persuaded the producers to turn him into his beloved Lucy. Her picture can be seen in post 121 at the top of p5 above for those fortunate few who have been able to delete that vision out of their conscious memory.

[Peltonx]

I have also emailed him several times asking for info and no replies, hopely its just a kput computer.

[HITMAN202]

HITMAN202 is alive and kicking and is puzzled with the problem with e-mails. dtimm1@cableone.net is constantly besieged (got an e-mail 7/1/13 from Sean ..remember we had trouble sending my last move) and did not get any e-mail from Pelton (which tickles my fancy he would be so interested in "my" WITE play... maybe it's more for the humour I give him .. and others.) so I am puzzled !!!???

One's persona definitely is revealed in AAR's and such is this case. Also one's modus of operandi. I've opened the position (Turn 27) nearly daily and messed with it (one day for nearly 2 hours) and haven't been pleased with my ideas, plans, and most importantly solutions .. which ,by the way, I have hit upon some unique stuff IMO, so I've been in a state of limbo, so to speak. Even Flaviusx, by the way, has his moments (days) of silence.

RL matters have been an issue (Sillyflower was very aware of a very major one my family was facing over 3 months ago) and I have had two small ones the last 10 days. Many readers of the AAR's can relate to RL crises and a few players have recently commented on delays in their AAR's because of them. It's important not to be too personal openly on silly forums like WITE AAR's. but I have shared a lot privately with server and PBEM opponents.. THEPROS ,Dontras ,NOSB ,Griefhead (more about his game with Pelton later) ,Mazzah, and M60 (all, by the way, who are great guys and very good players ..that is with the exception of you-know-who) and that is what makes WITE so fun to me.

I have finished my move (and am presently checking for "brain farts", like the one Sillyflower admitted to in a game against Disgruntled Vet) and the AAR will be back in business; not to say I was putting it off... quite to the contrary.

So you can see my modus of operandi. WITE is a very fun part of my life that I refuse to make a chore. Some will frown at my slow play and excessive cerebration. I admit to such. It would be better to be neither.

[Flaviusx]

Right now I'm having tons of fun with Civ5 Brave New World, so WITE is on hiatus.

[HITMAN202]

TURN 27 ... TURN 27 ... TURN 27

Gave a little preview of the ruckus Belphegor is creating in AGS with more airborne drops





The 93 rd infantry is toast. What's so frustrating is that there is little to do to stop it (airborne drops). At least that's what I first thought. On the previous turn I was lucky not to have lost another division with the same tactic. That would have been 2 divisions lost in the 1st 2 blizzard turns. Like I said. THEPROS are very good.

However a solution. I think

[M60A3TTS]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

Right now I'm having tons of fun with Civ5 Brave New World, so WITE is on hiatus.

I stopped at Civ 4. Never heard if they managed to make the AI any better in Civ 5 when it first came out. The 1 UPT concept never caught on with me either.

[HITMAN202]

But here is a partial solution.

I first thought a continuous line of divisions would prevent isolations. Because of blizzard MP costs, only Russian Cav starting in a ZOC could move thru 2 more ZOC's and would have to start adjacent to a "breakthrough" with at least 20 MP's to cause a problem. That would be very difficult to achieve IMO. So I thought my strategy would work.

Problem was an airborne unit could be dropped on the hex that a Cav unit with 20 MP's could only occupy.

[HITMAN202]

It seemed that, at first glance, a double row of units would solve the problem. Nope. An airborne unit (red triangle) would threaten more isolations (solid black star). Is there an answer???