Workshop for the new guys - Directive 21 (D21)

[larryfulkerson]

And the next unit to move is the first of many motorized AT gun units. I don't like to use them offensively but
rather to supplement a hex adjacent to enemy armor. It probably won't do too well defending by itself but
with a security team of some kind you can put AT guns just about anywhere handy. Not all of them have a useful
purpose with the offensive drive going on but I can use it for blocking purposes so I keep them close to the
front lines.

[larryfulkerson]

This is to demonstrate that the equipment that you don't have any of at the moment is probably because you haven't
started making of them yet. As you can see from this cut and paste of the Inventory.

[larryfulkerson]

As I'm going through there moving units I've come to one that actually can serve a useful purpose. I'm moving it up
adjacent to some Soviet armor to supplement another unit that will join him in the hex in the future.

[larryfulkerson]

And the next thing to move is the first of a lot of AA guns, which most I'll leave right where they are but a couple
of them I want to station over a river crossing just in case. The Ai's general orders toggle from one setting to the
next and I found mine on defend and I changed it to attack in case I ever ask Elmer to move my units. Which is another
workshop entirely. Or at least much later on.

[larryfulkerson]

In the Unit report dialog you can click on the equipment button to open the dialog for that equipment and see more
details of the equipment. In this case it's got a really good AT value. You could use it as an AT gun.

[larryfulkerson]

It's difficult to see but there's a bridge over the river that we have to cross and I thought maybe I should protect it
for a while just in case Elmer gets adventuresome and tries to drop the bridge. I cut and pasted the status line
verbage, enlarging it a bit, and I notice that it doesn't mention the bridge at all. Strange that it doesn't.

[sanderz]

thanks again Larry - great work [:D]

i will be following along, lots learnt so far and looking forward to see how things progress

cheers

[larryfulkerson]

And the next thing to be moved is this formation of CD guns. This is at the top of the world near Murmansk and there's
absolutely no traffic up there and there's three units I don't want to have to deal with for the rest of the game so
I'm going to disband these three units and dissolve the formation. I don't know if it'll respawn or not but even if it
does I'm getting rid of it.

[larryfulkerson]

So this is the beginning situation. I'm in a footrace in the north to get to the river that
runs through Riga extending southward and eastward. I want to get to those river crossings
before the Soviets do so I can trap them on the west side of the river and destroy them. I
outnumber the Soviets briefly and I want to take advantage of that while I can because I'll
be so badly outnumbered later in the war.

This is the largest battle that the earth has seen and it's pitting the finest army in the
world ( Germans ) against the largest army in the world ( Soviets ) and it's going to be
ruthless and cruel. These first several turns will be Axis units racing to make hay while
the sun shines and the Soviets will be falling back and forming rudimentary front lines,
strong points, and roadblocks.

I have to keep the engineers up near the front because the Soviets are famous for busting
bridges. And engineers are scarce in this game. And you can never find one when you need
one. I like to keep my units in a hex by themselves when I can so I can tell at a glance
what I have where. Plus, it makes pictures look like you have more men than you do.

[larryfulkerson]

And the next thing to move is the 206th infantry division and it's been in the reserve, it's not near the front so it'll
have to be moved and if it's going to be moved anyway, I might as well move it north where there's going to be a need
for warm bodies.

[larryfulkerson]

And the next thing to move is this Security Unit, the 207th and as it happens they are already adjacent to an enemy unit
so they are assigned to the attack without remorse. I'm seeing all those unconverted hexes behind the Soviet lines and
they will need to be converted so I'm going to need a lot of spare units, MP's, security units, AA guns, AT guns, any
throu-away unit not doing anything. A warm body will do. Especially the roads and rails. There's 0% chance of
rail destruction upon capture so it would be a very good thing to go around converting rails while the getting is good.

[larryfulkerson]

Two of my Axis units RBC'D two Soviet units backward and to the side to form a hole in the Soviet lines. Now to fill up
that hole with some of my troops.

[larryfulkerson]

My units are so much stronger than the Soviet ones and the shock bonus is helping so much that most of the Soviet units
are going into RBC rather than stand and defend. I've been making some moves and have opened up the front in one place.
Now to race on and leave the Soviet remnants to follow on forces.

[marion61]

I'm not sure if the scenario designer had a special reason for creating most of those soviet units with the "unit size" as squads or not. Even some of the motorized and tank divisions have the "unit size" set to squads, but they are divisions, I checked their TOE's. The majority of those border units are battalion size or regiments, which uses the symbol "II", or "III" on the icons, but that soviet tank division shows it's a squad on it's icon also, and should be an "XX". Maybe an over-sight? It doesn't deter from the game play, but it's just strange to see squad symbols over a divisional sized unit or a battalion.

[larryfulkerson]

Sometimes the scenario designer will deliberately assign the little-est unit designation to the unit so that it can't divide ever.
There's no three little pieces of it, what you have it what you've got. Like you, I find it mildly confusing.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units and the face of the war is changing. I've been using the fast movers to get into the Soviet
backfield and surround and isolate the units before I destroy them. There's a lot of BTS timestamps all over the
place. That's my fault. I'm in the mindset right now to have fun and not worry so much about calculating the best
attack ratio etc. I'm not so much rushing ahead as in the process of mopping up the remnants.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going to try to do a right hook and trap all that Soviet stuff before it gets away. I want to kill all of them.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the game plan for the south. I'm going to try to drive the Panzers along the yellow brick road axis and see if
I can't trap some of those Soviet units before they can get away.

[larryfulkerson]

And this is the face of war in the "middle" where we're fighting over river crossings.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd bring in the 14th Panzer Division and I think I may have made a hole in the Soviet lines. I'm going to
see how many troops I can pour through there to get into the Soviet backfield and destroy all kinds of things.