Adventures in Russia

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Z-town area. The Soviets have responded and they are fighting back. So
far I'm holding them back but if the 11th Army units leave for the Crimea then it
becomes iffy. So far so good.

[larryfulkerson]

I sent some engineers overland and they captured an airfield. I flew some fighters
in there for CAP cover and now I need a couple of Stuka squadrons to fly in there
too, to take care 0f the Soviet ships loitering in these waters. They have the
highest anti-ship value ( Ju-87B: 360 ) of any plane I have in the inventory. The
fighters are there to protect the Stuka's and I have them on three-dots. I can't
afford to lose Stukas. On the other hand I have a lot of the Me-109's on hand and
more of them are assigned than the Stukas. Stukas have a respectible anti-armor
value as well. They are good for tank plinking.

[larryfulkerson]

West north West of Moscow about 30 hexes is an area that I found a lot of enemy planes
stationed in so I flew in several fighter squadrons and a couple of bomber squadrons
and I'm going to give the bombers a direct order to bomb something or other and then
when Elmer's fighters spring up to intercept my fighters will jump them and maybe I'll
get to shot down one or more. I'm using the bombers as the bait. It doesn't work
especially well until you are well on your way to air supremacy already. Or you could
pull this trick in an area devoid of very many enemy fighters. I'm carrying a large air
shock value compared to theirs so I'm going to try it in the face of enemy fighters.
And my fighters will be on three-dots, bombers on one-dot.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the overall view of the area where the most progress is being made. I've got
more units here in this AO than I know what to do with. I'm thinking of sending
some of the divisions to the north front lines. They need the people there more than
I need them here.

[larryfulkerson]

I've encircled the Soviet units up against the river near Kiev and I'm in the process
of reducing the pocket. Meanwhile other units are zooming outbound spreading out and
grabbing river crossings and rail lines. When a recon unit runs into s Soviet unit
they dig in and wait for the follow on forces to fix the problem. The recon unit
can use the time dug in just resting saving up it's supply. Recon units usually move
around a lot and use up their supply at a prodiguous rate.

I've got my R&D team working on some ground sensors that I can drop via aircraft in
a questionable area and the sensors will tell me how many, where they are, approx.
equipment employed ( tanks, armored vehicles, scout vehicles, etc. ) and they look
just like rocks on the ground when deployed. They should be ready for combat in about
a decade or so.

[larryfulkerson]

11th Army units are starting to show up at the entrance to the Crimea and that means
we'll be able to start the seige in about a month game time. I want the rail repaired
more, the units need to rest after having traveled and fought to get where they are.
I need everybody green and ready for the big push.

EDIT: I see there's one more Soviet ship unit to dispatch. I sank three other ship
units so this must be the last one, it's in the image off the coast on the lower right
edge. I've got 4 Stuka squadrons that can take care of that little item. Stuka's
are good against tanks so after they are done with the ship I need to fly them to
Soviet tank country to go tank plinking. I'll need fighters to protect them so I'll
station some fighters at each Stuka base and there should be at least four spread out
mostly around the Moscow area I'm guessing. Where ever the Soviet tanks tend to be
that's where the Stukas need to go.

[larryfulkerson]

Wow, I just now noticed that I went over 34K posts so far.
Cool. Now if I could just learn how to play better.

[Kursk1943]

Congratulations! [:)] And it's really helpful to see you trying things out. That's often better for learning than watching a veteran player, whose perfect play style could be quite discouraging for a rookie player like me...[8|]

[larryfulkerson]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL: Kursk1943
Congratulations! [:)] And it's really helpful to see you trying things out. That's often better for learning than watching a veteran player, whose perfect play style could be quite discouraging for a rookie player like me...[8|]

Hey there Kursk dude. Thanks for posting. I like to see traffic on the thread. And you're right...
most of what I do is seat-of-the-pants guessing and trying things out. I'm in favor of trying
things. You might make a mistake but you might just find a better way to do it. I like to think
that, like a scientist, I'm trying experiments to see what reality says. It's a process of
discovery.

Also, I'm using the red green yellow rule which is making the game more realistic I think. That's
the rule that if the unit is red it can't move nor shoot. If it's yellow it can move but not shoot.
If it's green it can move and shoot both. I first got this rule from Steve Sill the genius
scenario designer. It makes the game more interesting definately. You have to think about what
shape the unit will be in when it arrives at it's destination before you move it. And there are
exceptions to the red units. I've been allowing them to move to a better supply source.

It's turn 26 already and the Soviets have had enough time to funnel their reinforcements to their
final destination location ( determined by their objectives ) and now they are waiting resting
saving up their supply receiving replaceemnts and generally becoming a better army. The
character of the game is changing in that the Soviet units are generally more stout than the
security forces of the early game. And there's a lot more tanks on the front lines. Parts of
the front lines are toe-to-toe WWI style fighting ( the northern front lines ) and other parts
of the front line are really sparse in Soviet units and that both are happening at the same time
is interesting. I've moved all the Stukas to the southern hemisphere and sank all the Soviet
ships there were hanging around Sevastopol and now they, the Stukas, can concentrate on tanks.
Most of the Soviet tanks seem to be in the Moscow area and so that's the next destination for
most of the Stukas.

[larryfulkerson]

Odessa fell which is a very good thing because I need those troops in the D-town
area right about now. No, make that Z-town, headed for Kharkov. They are due
for a short rest and then I'll move 'em.

[larryfulkerson]

T27 and I'm moving the RR engineers and the path of rails leading thro Kiev finally
made it to the east side of Kiev. The supply lines just got a lot closer and the
levels are coming up slowly in this area. The clean out of the Soviet units up
against the river is coming right along. Soon they will be gone and these troops
will be out east, converting hexes, capturing roads and rails and fighting over
river crossings.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the northern front lines as they are right now and the selected unit just
attacked and pushed the enemy unit out of the hex and he advanced into the hex
and turned yellow so I have to dig him in right there. Maybe others will continue
the push going northward. I'm trying to get into a position where I can isolate
Leningrad from Russia but Elmer keeps railing Soviet units up here to block my
path and frustrate my plans. I'm making headway very slowly.

[larryfulkerson]

The front lines are sneaking up on Orel and there's a supply point there that I
would like to wrestle away from the Soviets. But there's resistance and the
follow on forces are currently occupied doing other things and Orel will have to
wait. This is going to be a long war.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the area NW of Kharkov and represents what I typically find in this AO:
that the Soviets are sparse and they are almost trivial to surround and kill.
I'm moving SE as fast as supply will allow. If I had some paratroopers I might
employ them dropping on key bridges and intersections to hold them until the follow
on forces can relieve them. This is the kind of country where tanks really shine.
Lots of wide open terrain to traverse at near minimum cost. Makes me wonder where
my tanks are right now. I've lost track of them.

[larryfulkerson]

I was thinking of making a map showing where all the tanks were and I thought I'd
publish a list of their locations so I can refer to it as I put the map together.
It would be informative and interesting and might change the course of the war if
I decide to move one or more of the Panzer divisions to a better position or
something based on the intel in the map. It's worth the effort.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm starting to plot the positions of all the tank divisions and I thought I'd
give you guys a look at what I have so far. I'll edit the map with the latest
version after I've worked on it a while, in about 15 minutes or so. And then
again 15 minutes after that, until I add an edit to this post that it's all
up to date and I'm done.

EDIT: Map 2 posted.
EDIT: Map 3 posted.
EDIT: Map 4 posted.
EDIT: Map 5 posted. I'm done now.

[MikeJ19]

Wow, that is a lot of work and a lot of tanks. I'm surprised that there are no SS panzer units.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Wow, that is a lot of work and a lot of tanks. I'm surprised that there are no SS panzer units.

Hey there Mike dude. Thanks for posting and I hear you. I'm going by every unit that the OOB
has labeled "tank" and yeah, there's none of the SS divisions included. Strange. I ought to
look into that and see what gives with the SS Panzer units. I'll give you a full report.

[MikeJ19]

Thanks!

[larryfulkerson]

I was going to bring up the formation report for one of the SS divisions and I
looked for one and none of the formations with tanks in the formation is named
SS something. The LAH, Totenkoph, Reich Fuerher, etc. were missing entirely.
The scenario doesn't have them. Or they are named something else. But they
aren't listed in the OOB so I'm guessing they aren't there. Learn something
every day.

EDIT: I finally found them. But none of them has any tanks. D'oh.