The Sun Also Rises ( D21 )

[larryfulkerson]

According to the expected reinforcements dialog I'm losing some security forces next
turn so I'd best see if any of them are standing on the front lines. Would be a real
shame for me to allow the Soviets a free breakthrough when I might be able to do
something about it. I might want to look ahead further into the list to see what's
going to withdraw in future turns.

[larryfulkerson]

I've gone just about as far as I can go in the Gomel area. The supply level is
simply too low for operations to continue at the same tempo as before. I'll
have to switch to slo-mo and try to keep going I guess.

[larryfulkerson]

I did a save game and zipped up the file and attached it here so you guys
can download it and check out the dialogs and maybe view the Soviet side
maybe move some units around.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T10 front lines around the area between "Veli Luki" and Smolensk and a
little bit south of that...down to Mogilev. I've made it across the river just in
time to find the Soviets there ahead of me. They are dug in and ready and I'm fresh
out of bullets and gas and the boys are tired and need some rest so we're just going
to camp out for the most part with an attack here and there just to stay busy. The
supply situation could be better.

[larryfulkerson]

I finally remembered to check on the units withdrawing next turn and found that one
of them is standing on the front lines. This is a small MP unit and it's not really
holding anything back, it's just mostly eye candy, a placeholder, almost unnecessary.
So losing it isn't a crisis but a little more prior notice would have been nice, Larry
so why don't you check these kinds of things out from time to time. Take a look at the
expected reinforcements more often.

[larryfulkerson]

I discovered that the next LCU withdrawl is in T16 where I'm losing some more
security units, four total....so I need to check out those units and start routing
them toward Berlin or at least get them off the front lines to prepare for their
exit stage right.

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: DanNeely

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
Here's the middle RR repair group and I took a picture before I moved anybody just to
prove that sometimes it works and in this case I have two freshly repaired RR hexes.
It's almost up to Minsk already which means it's horribly behind schedule.

1 repaired, the second was captured intact.

You see, this is the reason I don't win at these games anymore, I don't notice the
details. I completely missed that little factoid. Thanks for the good catch.

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Pskov, Riga, Kiev, Minsk and Smolensk are supply depots so when you capture them you
get local supply up into the high twenties. The trick is getting to them before
everyone grinds to a halt for lack of fuel. I'm on turn 20 and captured Smolensk
turn 18, just in time. A turn later and I probably would no longer have had the weight
to do it, lots of red and orange health units.

But as with your game the railheads are way behind. They can do nothing for several
turns then advance 4 hexes in one go. I've concentrated my RR engineers into 3 groups,
north to Leningrad, centre to Kiev, south past Odessa and on to Rostov. This seems to
be more effective but they will still be miles behind the front line come winter.

Hey there Kr McCall dude, you are the bearer of good news indeed. I didn't know what
you said and so it's a revelation to me. I could use a little supply right now. So
I've got an incentive to capture them now. Thanks for the heads up. I'll see what
I can do.

Just don't get too attached to them, the forward dumps in Pskov, Riga, Bryansk, Smolensk, and Kiev are withdrawn in November; just in time for the mud to crush your supply lines. If you make enough progress towards Moscow afterwards there're a few small ones deployed as part of operation Typhoon. The docs don't say exactly where/how large they are though.

[larryfulkerson]

Just don't get too attached to them, the forward dumps in Pskov, Riga, Bryansk, Smolensk,
and Kiev are withdrawn in November; just in time for the mud to crush your supply lines.
If you make enough progress towards Moscow afterwards there're a few small ones deployed
as part of operation Typhoon. The docs don't say exactly where/how large they are though.

Just when you get used to having them around the scenario yanks them out from under you.
I'll have to keep this in mind when I do some more planning. I'm more or less trying
for all the objectives in a broad-front approach like the one Eisenhower used on Europe.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the face of war near Kiev right now. I'm closing in on the city and I hope to
have it bottled up soon. The troops on the east side of the river are battling southward
and will be abreast of Kiev in about 10 turns or so. I'm guessing.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T11 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Narva area right now and as you can see the supply situation on the east
side of the lake isn't so great so it's up to me to get some of the supply from up
north to flow into the highway leading south from the bottleneck. Better than
nothing at all, and will restore an LOC for those folks.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Kiev area right now. I'm cleaning up the remnants and squeezing the Kiev
defenders into a smaller area so I'll need fewer people to watch them. The rest can
go ahead and move to the east side of the river from Kiev. I need to complete the
surround on Kiev before I try to take it down just to try to keep the Soviet equipment
from going back to their pools.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T12 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the northern front lines and as you can see the supply levels have improved
quit a bit. I think the war can go on in this area now. I'm pressing toward the
city and it's too early to hazzard a guess as to when the city will fall. But I'm
optimistic.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation around Zhlobin right now. The supply situation has improved
here as well as up north. The railhead is getting closer and to accellerate it I've
moved three of the RR engr units from the northern group and moved them into the group
repairing the rail from Minsk to Moscow...they are almost up to Minsk already. But
there's seven of them now so maybe the rail will start to get repaired and we can get
this show on the road.

[saudivan]

I love the strategic overview and operational viewpoints for each turn. This is extremely well set up and easy to follow.
As for your railroad engineers, just a few comments:
* The rules mention "Rail Repair Equipment" for repairing rail lines. Maybe these need to be resupplied so the railroad engineers can be effective...not sure.
* The units rail repair capability is its' chance of successfully repairing a rail hex each turn.
* In the Theater pane it will tell you if you have an Auto Rail Repair Chance or not. This is in addition to the chance of repairing a rail hex using the units rail repair capability.

Not sure if this helps any, but maybe something here that you haven't considered yet.

Looking forward to more.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: saudivan
I love the strategic overview and operational viewpoints for each turn. This is extremely
well set up and easy to follow.
As for your railroad engineers, just a few comments:
* The rules mention "Rail Repair Equipment" for repairing rail lines. Maybe these need to
be resupplied so the railroad engineers can be effective...not sure.
* The units rail repair capability is its' chance of successfully repairing a rail hex each
turn.
* In the Theater pane it will tell you if you have an Auto Rail Repair Chance or not.
This is in addition to the chance of repairing a rail hex using the units rail repair
capability.

Not sure if this helps any, but maybe something here that you haven't considered yet.

Looking forward to more.

Hey there saudivan dude. Thanks for posting. I took a look at the auto rail repair and it's 14 per
turn. That's not very many hexes.

The northern RR engr group is almost at the front lines relatively speaking so I moved three
of the units to the middle route so that there's seven of them in the middle. That ought to
get some rail repair going. the south group is headed for Kiev but isn't quite there yet. But
it's getting closer so the supply levels are rising very slowly, turn by turn. So I've
decided to keep going and see how far it will be able to go.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the front lines in the Bryansk area right now. The front lines aren't
contiguous but rather it's broken and dynamic. There's these meeting engagements
between small groups and single units all over the map. This AO is busy and there's
a lot of movement and lots of little attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

In the Mogilev area I have surrounded two Soviet armor units and I'm going to mop
them up and keep going to the east as soon as supply permits.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on in the Odessa area. The Rumanians are just about to start the
siege of Odessa and they are going to try to cross the river in force and spread out
to convert the hexes and find the Soviets and kill them.