Breakout and Pursuit - Seminole vs AI

[Seminole]

Turn 6

Weather is good in the operational area, but three different low pressure systems are converging, which is not promising.




Nantes has flipped to my control. Not exactly sure why, but I'll take it even if I can't use the port before clearing St. Nazaire.
The Germans on the Western Front are unnerved by the flanking move from V Corps south of Paris and there is a wholesale withdrawal across the front.




Air Directives are updated, with recon attempting to find the new German front lines and railyard bombing continuing in the northeast.




Corlett's XIX Corps continues the assault on Brest. In the initial attack only two divisions are sent forward. The hope is that the remainder can then move toward Lorient. I intend to use XIX Corps as I would in a campaign and go ahead and clear these Atlantic ports ASAP.
The attack is a failure.




Frustrated at the German paratrooper's intransigence, Corbett orders all five divisions under his command to storm the port and they succeed in compelling a retreat. A follow up attack (with only 1 division, but again with TF support) forces another retreat and the 2nd FJ Div is shellshocked.




Isolated from supply and unable to carry on their orders the division actually melts away before the next turn.




Simonds II CA Corps, back under 1st CA Army, assaults the Le Harve garrison and seize the port with a 3 division (2 CA, 1 BR) assault supported by TFs.

On the Western Front a few 'speed bumps' are left behind, but Patton's explicit orders are to avoid combat with the enemy and seek out the new German front lines.
3rd Army again runs free, the objectives of Reims and St Quentin are seized without even a fight. British armor also finds the port of Etaples unoccupied and takes advantage.
With 3rd Army advancing the front line over 100 miles this week the infantry are being left in the dust. Observing the large number of airfields overrun by Patton's tankers Bradley requests that SHAEF ferry the idle paratroopers into positions where they can support 3rd Army. Each of the landings lose 1-3 aircraft, but the overall losses in men and equipment are negligible compared to the risks entertained by a paradrop into enemy territory. The Airborne Divisions are broken down to help cover the most ground, with plans to re-unite them next week as the infantry divisions catch up.
With recon showing a heavy concentration of enemy formations at the landing site south of Middleburg SHAEF modifies the plan to create a new temp port northeast of Dunkirk.




This week we also establish some new level 1 depots in Rennes, Avranches, Argentan, and Alencon.

[Harrybanana]

You are doing great. It took me 9 or 10 turns to get where you are in 6 turns. My main problem was that my tanks were out of gas by the time I got to the Seine.

I am curious how you are dealing with the supply problems. Where are your air assets based? Have you moved any FBs forward near your front lines, are they still based in Normandy, or did you move them back to England? Have you been using your transport command units to resupply your front lines?

[Seminole]

You are doing great. It took me 9 or 10 turns to get where you are in 6 turns.

I don't think a human would have allowed such an advance. A defense along the Seine would have probably required infantry to break, but I'm not sure what his on map OoB looked like after turn 4. I'm also not sure that I can capture as many men as you did. We're actually pretty close on most formations, but you bagged a lot of infantry regiments, and with his latest fallback I don't think I'm going to have the opportunity for much more encirclement.
My hope is that the temp ports I plan to establish farther NE can feed an effort to get behind Antwerp and compel a more general withdrawal so I can storm the city. At Metz I also hope to push two corps of 3rd Army around the north and south and accomplish the same, but I'll have to see if supply will allow. I'm at the beginning of turn 8 and haven't played any farther yet.

I am curious how you are dealing with the supply problems. Where are your air assets based? Have you moved any FBs forward near your front lines, are they still based in Normandy, or did you move them back to England?

Had not moved any aircraft from their initial bases in Normandy to this point. I believe it was actually this turn that I realized that the Max TOE setting for the temporary port airbases in Normandy started the scenario at 1. By now it had drained Air Support and planes were going into reserve. I changed it to auto and they immediately filled back up the next turn. I wasn't too bothered by this because the air assets were only critical to my advance in the first two weeks, after that it has mainly been maneuver. I will need them to soften up the enemy before I try to flank Metz and Antwerp, and on turn 7 I moved forward basically all of the tactical air assets for both the Americans and the British to those airbases I landed the paras.

Have you been using your transport command units to resupply your front lines?

I had not. I think the air supply bug that caused a pull from ground depots is already fixed in the .21 beta I was using, but I was preserving my airlift for the planned drop behind Paris. After this turn only the British air portable division is left in England, so that may change going forward.

I am pretty religious about maintaining command range up through the chain of command, so my units have the best opportunity to pass admin checks related to resupply. I also kept the Army and Army Group HQs on or next to my Normandy depots. Those are huge units in terms of manpower, so you save a lot by not devoting trucks to feeding them. 3rd Army HQ moved to Granville the first turn it was receiving supply, but subsequently they were pretty far from depots.

3rd Army was set to priority 4 on turn 1, and the rest of the AEF was kept at priority 2. When I shifted armor back to 21st Army Group I kept their priority at 4.

[ultradave]

"I also kept the Army and Army Group HQs on or next to my Normandy depots. Those are huge units in terms of manpower, so you save a lot by not devoting trucks to feeding them. 3rd Army HQ moved to Granville the first turn it was receiving supply, but subsequently they were pretty far from depots.
"

This is a good point that hadn't occurred to me. Thanks.

[Seminole]

Turn 7

Light rain returns to the theater. Unlike turn 2 it doesn't knock the crap out of my Mulberry (went to over 90% damage from that, but is presently repaired to the 60s) at Bayeux.





Air Directives adjust recon to try and find the enemy. Aside from the handful of overrun units we've lost contact with the German army along the entire front.
Some more railyard bombing around Antwerp.




XIX US Corps takes Lorient on the Atlantic coast in a 3 division assault with support from the British TFs. Elsewhere the overrun German units are captured and the infantry race to catch up to the armor.
Allied forces are now 40 miles from Antwerp and 60 miles from Metz, but we're really pulling hard on the supply leash.
The hope is that next week additional supply beachheads can be established near Dunkirk and in Middleburg to supply the push on Antwerp.
This turn also saw the Allied Airborne HQs reach their units on the frontline to help sort out the command structure. When it occurred to me I could ferry in the paratroopers I made the mistake of putting the British in the south opposite Metz (with the 101st and Polish brigade), while I put the US 82nd and 17th Airborne divisions on the northern wing. Backwards, but oh well...
1st and 6th British Airborne will join with the 101st and Polish airborne brigade in assaulting the line in front of Metz as soon as the American infantry in VII Corps can arrive. V and XII Corps (under 3rd Army) will then attempt to exploit any advances and seize Metz.
Back north Monty continues gathering his forces, when the temp ports are in we should be in position to force our way north of Antwerp, land link with Middleburg, and then swing back down into Antwerp from the rear. I have a month left to accomplish this. My biggest concern is that the weather doesn't cooperate and tactical air assets we've relocated from Normandy are ineffective.

Overall strategic picture:




Air assets relocated from Normandy:




Additional depots created at Lisieux, Evreux, and Dreux. Next week we can put several in Paris:




Losses:

[Great_Ajax]

I fixed these issues in the next update. I can't explain how many of these pop up. Feel free to PM me with any additional issues.

Trey

ORIGINAL: Seminole

The Max TOE 1 was not an intended design. I edited the scenario to bump them back to Max 100.
Trey

Since you're reading, a few other oddities [;)]:

A couple of airbases in England appear on map, but if you click on them you get a blank box on the right hand pane and looking at the unit detail is says the TOE is 100/100, max TOE 100, but the unit is depleted with nothing in it:



I noticed 4 of these:

Witchford 83,170
Oakington 82,171
Graveley 81,171
Lympne 85,180


Edited to add: What's up with the railyard damage in England in summer of '44, btw?
I noticed my engineers fixing things in England and there are several hexes that have railyard damage:
Dalmouth, Ilfracombe, Poole, Cambridge, Bury St. Edmunds, and Lowestoft appear to all start with 100% railyard damage.

[Fallschirmjager]

How is troop carrier command performing recon?

[LiquidSky]

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

How is troop carrier command performing recon?

With recon aircraft silly [:D]

[Harrybanana]

Did you finish this game Seminole? I am curious to see how you did.

I am just finishing up the June 44 campaign game against the AI. It looks like it will end up a draw with the final score about -250 or so. In WitE I was always able to smash the AI pretty good. Which suggests either the AI is a lot better in this game, I still need a lot of practice, or the VP system is out of whack. Probably a mixture of all 3.

[Seminole]

Did you finish this game Seminole? I am curious to see how you did.

I did, but didn't capture everything for AAR yet, and started 3 more server games since wrapping it up.

First time I tried to make a 2 Corps move on Metz with 3rd Army while everything else tried to drive on Antwerp, but that was unsuccessful on both fronts.
I then started again from this spot (turn 8) and tried to send ALL the armor north to Monty while 1st Army screened with regiments on the river in the south. AI didn't try me, but a human would have abused it. Still wasn't enough. I got around behind Antwerp on turn 10 (across the Albert Canal, not quite to Breda), but heavy rain on turn 11 meant no Tac Air support, and almost half a dozen attacks on Antwerp from three sides came to naught. Minor Victory, but I don't recall the score.
I could play it again, maximize all that armor north and pay more attention to straightening up HQ (and SU) assignments before battle and more likely than not get Antwerp from the AI, but I think getting both Antwerp and Metz would be quite a trick.
I think getting anywhere near that far against a human would be another matter.
If you'd like to try it again I'm interested in playing the German side.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Seminole


If you'd like to try it again I'm interested in playing the German side.

Okay, but since I am about to get my @$$ kicked I have one condition; you have to give me lots of constructive criticism, especially with the air game. I have played WitE so have some understanding of the ground game. I am a bit of a stranger to logistics too. I am going to use this as a learning game.

I have never played a server game before so you will have to lead me through that as well.

[Seminole]

I'm all for doing an AAR. I usually learn things better when I try to explain them.

Server game is easy.
Start WitW, click on Multiplayer button to log in.
You should see my Breakout and Pursuit as an 'Open Challenge', just click on the scenario name so it is highlighted green and click Accept:

[Harrybanana]

Okay. The good news is that I am usually pretty good at returning turns quickly. The bad news is I doubt I will be able to get the first turn to you until Friday and maybe not even until Saturday. By the way I live in the Vancouver Canada area so am in the PST time zone.

[Harrybanana]

Seminole, I couldn't find your game so assume some one else took you up on your challenge. Teach for me being too slow and too busy. Damn work, wife and kids[:)]

I posted my own challenge if you are interested in another game. I really don't see the WA winning even a minor victory against a human, but it should be fun and educational.