Barbarossa Step by Step (from a beginner's point of view)

[SanderPep]

Post #1 – Preface (About Me and the Game)
Hello everyone
When young, I loved to play strategy board games. About the WWII, I did a lot of campains in Raise and Fall of the Third Reich and computers games of the era, like Storm across Europe on the Amiga.
I knew about the existance of World in Flames, but either me and my friends had not the space and will to deal with such a Monster Game.
So, once my budget allowed to, I purcased MWIF. I watched the video tutorials, I did a first Barbarossa scenario where the Germans did a little advance in the North and Rumania was almost crushed by the russians. I tried a campain game, which was a disaster (for the Axis). I stopped it even before attacking France.
So I read the manuals carefully and I did a few other Barbarossa campains, where the Germans never managed to get even something close to a win.

This time I try it again, planning the Attack, focusing in the Objectives and posting here not to have hints on what to do (even if they will be welcomed), but mostly to understand what I do wrong.

To keep the things simpler I will use only a few Optional Rules:
Additional Units:
Offensive Chits
Land Rules:
Motorized Movement Rates
2D10 Land CRT
Air Rules:
Fighter Bombers
Twin-Engined Fighters
Flying Boats
Production Rules:
Oil Rules
Saving Oil Resources & Build Points
Other Rules:
Scrap Units

To keep the things even simpler, I will just ignore the Navy (apart to put the German convoys in the Baltic). I will do some Guadalcanal scenarios later to learn the Navy affairs.

PS: My account is brand new, and I just found I have to wait a week to post image links. I will post the full AAR at once, i guess, at that point.

[redboot]

As a newb, I very much look forward to this AAR. Have fun.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Pepite

Post #1 – Preface (About Me and the Game)
Hello everyone
When young, I loved to play strategy board games. About the WWII, I did a lot of campains in Raise and Fall of the Third Reich and computers games of the era, like Storm across Europe on the Amiga.
I knew about the existance of World in Flames, but either me and my friends had not the space and will to deal with such a Monster Game.
So, once my budget allowed to, I purcased MWIF. I watched the video tutorials, I did a first Barbarossa scenario where the Germans did a little advance in the North and Rumania was almost crushed by the russians. I tried a campain game, which was a disaster (for the Axis). I stopped it even before attacking France.
So I read the manuals carefully and I did a few other Barbarossa campains, where the Germans never managed to get even something close to a win.

This time I try it again, planning the Attack, focusing in the Objectives and posting here not to have hints on what to do (even if they will be welcomed), but mostly to understand what I do wrong.

To keep the things simpler I will use only a few Optional Rules:
Additional Units:
Offensive Chits
Land Rules:
Motorized Movement Rates
2D10 Land CRT
Air Rules:
Fighter Bombers
Twin-Engined Fighters
Flying Boats
Production Rules:
Oil Rules
Saving Oil Resources & Build Points
Other Rules:
Scrap Units

To keep the things even simpler, I will just ignore the Navy (apart to put the German convoys in the Baltic). I will do some Guadalcanal scenarios later to learn the Navy affairs.

PS: My account is brand new, and I just found I have to wait a week to post image links. I will post the full AAR at once, i guess, at that point.

warspite1

Welcome!

One word of advice - if you are new to this game and want to keep things simple, I would not use the oil rule.

[Orm]

Welcome to the forum, Pepite.

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Are you also denied to upload pictures to the forum directly?

[Orm]

One word of advice - if you are new to this game and want to keep things simple, I would not use the oil rule

The oil rule does not complicate things that much in the Barbarossa scenario.

[Orm]

For a short time Pepite is going to post some of his AAR posts through me in order to get pictures included. I do hope that this do not cause any confusion. So without any further delay I quote his next post.

ORIGINAL: Pepite


Post #2 – Setup and Plans
The fast setup for the Russian doesn't work cause my optional rules settings. So I tryed to do it at my best following the hints in the Scenario Book. Here the screenshot on how I managed to setup the Russians:

Not shown in the picture there is a 3-1 Garrison at Murmansk.
I tryed to put the units in the woods. I placed the Armors in the back as fast moving reserves.
I splitted the airforce in two, having so two fighters and two attack planes in both the north and the south areas. I placed the long range TB-3 in the middle, just back of the Pripet Marshes.

About the German Plan:
I do play in solitaire, but I can't hide I simpathize for the Germans, since they are the ones that “Must” do the things, in this scenario. So, I would love they to win.
The Scenario tells that the ones with the most cityes at the end on the game is the winner.
I tryed once to push in the North, and I saw that the forests there are a great place for the Russians where to settle down. So in this game I will point to the South, trying to seize the Ukraine.
I did a screenshot to check the cityes I need to conquer to win the game... and what I saw isn't that much reassuring. As you can see from the screenshot, I must split the attack in two colums, one in the North of the marsshes and one in the South. To win I have to seize the cityes on both the sides.
Here the screenshot, and pointed in large red dots, the cityes I should take to win:

I realize by myself that this one is an impossible plan to comply (for my blitzkrieg skills), but the scenario victory conditions tell I have to do it. The splitting of the forces in the South, after crossing the Dniepr (What??? Crossing the Dniepr???), is a bit an issue, since the German forces will be already weakened at that point, and the Russians will get the fresh meat to put on the defence of the objectives.
And of course, most of the plan will have to be done in two turns, since Autumn is mostly raining, and I have to plan that in the winter turns I will not gain ground, I just have to hope I will not lose some against the Siberian new units.

Next up the first Impulse Plans and German Setup.

[SanderPep]

Thank you very much, Orm

[Centuur]

As all newbies, you think the German army is fastly superior to the Russian one and will be able to break through both in the north and in the south at the same time.

That is however, not the case. It usually is better to give a huge punch on one of the two area's (either North or South) and screen the other one...

[AlbertN]

What Centuur said is quite true.
WiF works pretty different than other games and Germany is pretty weak in the Barbarossa Scenario. To put it simple, WiF has a heavy favor to the defender where grand odds are required to mount attacks letting you able to keep maneuvering (if not even winning!).

I am playing a Global War and the sheer mass of Soviet units at Barbarossa time is pretty high - and in the next turn they'll have a zillion of Militias too!

[SanderPep]

Thats true, I read some in here about the Barbarossa before doing this Thread...

But... The scenario booklet speaks clear: 20 cities to get a draw. So, if you look at the map, the cities to get are those... (remove three big red points of cities I have to take to win the game, I forgot to count about the Finland and the Hungary that will join later). Anyway, the cities to get are a lot. Pushing only in the north or only in the south, even if will put me in a better position for the 1942, will make me to start the game knowing that, even if i got a lot of luck... I would lose. Just because that drive will not reach 20 cityes... and there is no 1942 in this scenario (apart the russian winter one).

Anyway... I did some plans, but I did not setted up the german tokens. If you know another way to get 20 cityes, it will be very welcomed.

EDIT: I checked the map again... counting the three less red point i have to get, I can do win with a northern assault... but it means I have to take Riga and Pskov in the Baltics... or... Kalinin and Moskow in the east. And the Rumanians must to do well (Can they without German southern pressure?)

Maybe this plan has a little chance to get done, I will think deep about doing it.
Thank you very much for the advise before i got involved in Ukraine

[Orm]

I do know that most prefer to only attack either North or South but I often try to do it on both fronts at the same time. I find that it is only after the bad weather begins you need to focus on one front. But this, in part, might be because I play with the 1d10 land combat table.

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Do continue with your original plan. It looks within the realm of possibility. Besides that is the best way to learn and improve.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

I do know that most prefer to only attack either North or South but I often try to do it on both fronts at the same time. I find that it is only after the bad weather begins you need to focus on one front. But this, in part, might be because I play with the 1d10 land combat table.

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Do continue with your original plan. It looks within the realm of possibility. Besides that is the best way to learn and improve.

warspite1

From my limited experience with MWIF I would agree with Orm. From what I can see the Germans need to hit the Soviets - and hit them hard - all the entire front a la Barbarossa. Holding back, and giving the Soviets only a limited front to occupy, reinforce and defend surely plays into their hands?

[Orm]

I forward post #3 in this AAR. [:)]

Ok, I was wondering about how to use the Offensive Chit.
I'm really tempted to get an Air action as first impulse, and use the Offensive chit on it.
It gives me an extra die roll on many air units (For what I understood reading the rules, The Air units get the extra roll in Attacks on hexes in range of the selected HQ).
"All aircraft units controlled by your major power roll an extra die in any ground strike mission they conduct within range of the HQ..."

I attach a screenshot where it is shown the Air Attack Plan.
Most of the aircrafts will roll 3 dices, the long range bombers will just roll 2.
I found a mistake on the Russian setup. The Yeremenko HQ is in plains, as are the backup Armor units. I really didn't thought about them being attaccked right now, and I had a false safe feelings about having my fighters in the back, Fighters that will not takeoff on the first impulse.
The Air Offensive chit will let me Reorganize the units at half the cost, so most of them will be available for the next German Impulse (Variable Reorganization Costs is OFF).

I'm not a genius about math and statistics, but I know a little how to code, and I did a simple program to calculate the probabilities to get results in the Air Attack. In the screen are shown the chances I get the Russian Units Flipped (I simulated each attack 10000 times, so the value should be exact).

The Southern front lacks of Air Units not because I will not push there (I will follow Orm hint and I will press on both the plains), but because I use almost all of them in the North, with Von Bock Offensive Chit Support. Some of the Aircraft will be moved south in the next Impulse.

About the Rumanian Aircraft, I'm not sure where to place it, I still need to calculate the chances the TB-3 has to get the Oil Fields damaged. Hints are very welcomed.

The Ju-88 in Galicia has about the 35% of chances to flip the Infantry

[composer99]

Given the USSR set up, it's a decent idea.

You can swarm the front with planes, disorganise a whole pile of land units, and then on subsequent impulses envelop them (cutting off their supply) and destroying them handily.

[brian brian]

Planning! You'll do well in World in Flames.

Another way to use the Offensive chit with the Luftwaffe is to not play it on the first impulse, but still start with an Air impulse. Each bomber (and all of them can fly, not just 4 as in an opening land impulse) gets the one extra dice for Surprise, but not the 3rd die from using the Chit. However the Germans can use all three of their HQs to reorganize 9 aircraft. Maybe even the Rumanian plane too, why not?

But this would immobilize their army four hexes from the frontier? Yes … until on the second impulse you use the Offensive Chit to re-organize all of their HQ, and then move into Russia with a second round of missions for each Luftwaffe bomber.


Or you can save the chit for cracking the Dnepr…the above tactic is perhaps a little more useful in a full game, later in the war with more than 3 HQ on a front.

[AlbertN]

A small note - Long Range planes still roll 3 dices, it's their bombing factor that is halved.

If I was to play with an Air Op the opening turn - I believe Brian Brian idea of "Air - Reorg with HQ - Use O-Chit to flip back HQs" is smoother.

[Orm]

Time for me to forward post #4 from Pepitein in this AAR. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Pepite

ORIGINAL: brian brian
Another way to use the Offensive chit with the Luftwaffe is to not play it on the first impulse, but still start with an Air impulse... Germans can use all three of their HQs to reorganize 9 aircraft... ntil on the second impulse you use the Offensive Chit to re-organize all of their HQ

ORIGINAL: Cohen
...I believe Brian Brian idea of "Air - Reorg with HQ - Use O-Chit to flip back HQs" is smoother.

Yes, the idea is nice. But I was able to use almost all my aircrafts with 3 rolls, and almost all of them reorganized. Just a couple of scrap bombers are still flipped. Yes, Von Block is now flipped, but the Airstrikes got a good better chances to do pain.


Here the German 1st Impulse:

I placed the German land Units. Doing math now is useless, all will be change, depending on the air offensive. Just i splitted the force putting 2/3 of it in the north, and 1/3 in the south.
All I have to hope is to get some luck with the Stukas.

Once declared war, as Russian reserves, apart the usual city ones, I putted a strong 7-4 at Smolensk, and a 6-3 at Dnepropetrov (some Russian names are so difficult...).

As Axis Minor, I activated Hungary, mostly to get the fighter on the front. The first impulse will be an Air one, so Finland would not be able to move anyway. Sadly I discovered later that some Hungarian Front units (and the Fighter) are out of supply... I hope you can forgive this Rookie mistake. I will fix the later impulse, but the fighter is out of action this turn.

Well, the Air offensive. It gone well, on the aveage of the statistics told. I have to say that I done it twice, not to get better results, but because I “Returned to Base” some Bombers in enemy ZOC (where my units wasnt in here to cancel that effect). I discovered I wasn't able to reorganize some precious Stukas, so I decided to redo it. I know this may seem not fair, but I remember that when I used to play board games, if my opponent saw such silly mistakes, he would make me notice it. So, in a real Board game vs a fair opponent, this mistake would not had happened.
Having the tokens on the screen displayed just with pixels, is a thing I still need to get used of.

So, Yeremenko got disorganized. Other five units got hits. On the south my air attack did not effect.

I would wish to know about a thing, that I did not discovered in the manual (should I re-read chapter 18?). The Hungarian Fighter is allowed to rebase on a German controlled territory, but not in Rumania. How's this? Anyway it is out of supply at the moment, I have to remember to move it, but Hungary has no HeadQuarters.

The Air Offensive chit keeps being awesome when going to the reorganization phase. All the aircraft costed 0.5 points to reorganize. Actually almost all the Northern airforce got reorganized, pretty ready for the next impulse, apart the He-115 and the Do-217, not such a great loss.

So I began the Russian Impulse. For real I did nothing yet, I'm still in the Port Attack phase.
I attach a screenshot to give you an idea of the Russian situation:
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Now I'm scared to do something wrong. Should I move an Armour from the Northern reserve to let a fully flipped stack to remain in supply after the German land movement? It would let the Armor in clear plains.
What about the south? At the moment that sector is free of Active Bomber units.
With a total Air superiority and 14 Tactical Air Factor points available, I should be able to try an attack in the Rumenian front, if I see there is not risk to lose a lot of units.

There is also the option to attack the Oil Fields with the TB-3, with just the IAR-37 able to intercept it (btw, does the game skip the CAP phase?)

Suggestions are very welcomed, thank you

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Time for me to forward post #4 from Pepitein in this AAR. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Pepite

I would wish to know about a thing, that I did not discovered in the manual (should I re-read chapter 18?). The Hungarian Fighter is allowed to rebase on a German controlled territory, but not in Rumania. How's this? Anyway it is out of supply at the moment, I have to remember to move it, but Hungary has no HeadQuarters.

warspite1

Historical

Romania and Hungary cannot co-operate. These two nations were mortal enemies and, as they showed during the war - even after Barbarossa began! - they were only too happy to fight each other in preference to the Soviets if given the chance. I suspect a Hungarian fighter trying to land in Romania (if indeed it was not shot down on the way in) would have been captured by the Romanians and the pilot..... er I don't really want to think about what would have happened to the pilot..[:(]

Game

18.1 Units from one minor country don't co-operate with units from another minor country, even if both are aligned with the same major power.

Both Romania and Hungary are minor powers. 18.2 confirms what restrictions are imposed, but the Foreign Troop Commitment is one of them.

[warspite1]

By the way, I am really interested to see what happens here. I am a firm believer in trying to form continuous lines in defence (to limit the number of hexes that an attacker can attack from). Your defence is something of a departure so will be watching with interest.

[AlbertN]

I'd not disdain to reorganize the DO217 truth be told. It has only 3 of bombing capability but with its 10 of range it means it could still operate already from where it is, and rebate upfront when returning from its next mission. Just my opinion as anyhow I do not know which other bombers you got at avail!