Adventures in Russia

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Where did you get those Bulgarians from? I want Bulgarians too!

You are implying there's a version of D21 that doesn't have Bulgarians. On the fall
of Sevastopol, if it's before 04Dec41 then the Bulgarians are released from their
garrison mode, and until then they are parked near Sophia, Bulgaria. When I sank
the last Soviet ship near Sevastopol the supply point changed from Soviet to Axis
and the Sevastopol defenders were instantly out of supply and they steadily decreased
in strength and morale and they became pushovers after about 20 turns and I grabbed the
port before I had killed very many of them but the port did fall and the next turn
the Bulgarians were active in my inventory.

What you want to do is restart using the very latest version. What turn are you on
anyway? I've never gotten past turn 63.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Where did you get those Bulgarians from? I want Bulgarians too!

You are implying there's a version of D21 that doesn't have Bulgarians. On the fall
of Sevastopol, if it's before 04Dec41 then the Bulgarians are released from their
garrison mode, and until then they are parked near Sophia, Bulgaria. When I sank
the last Soviet ship near Sevastopol the supply point changed from Soviet to Axis
and the Sevastopol defenders were instantly out of supply and they steadily decreased
in strength and morale and they became pushovers after about 20 turns and I grabbed the
port before I had killed very many of them but the port did fall and the next turn
the Bulgarians were active in my inventory.

What you want to do is restart using the very latest version. What turn are you on
anyway? I've never gotten past turn 63.

warspite1

Interesting what-if? Does this mean Bulgarian troops can enter the USSR???

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: warspite1
Interesting what-if? Does this mean Bulgarian troops can enter the USSR???

That's where I'm sending them just as soon as the supply allows it. Also, I've been
toying with sending them into the far south to the oil fields while the German units
concentrate on Stalingrad.The Bulgarians are an Axis minor ally and as such can't stack
so they don't form very strong front lines but they can convert terrain like crazy
so I'm thinking of using them as recon units and have some German infantry nearby to
save them when they get in trouble. The Italians are pulling their weight on the front
lines and the Rumanians are doing a fairly good job so far. I'm keeping the Axis minors
in the low supply areas to keep them out of the fierce fighting going on further to the
north.

[larryfulkerson]

There's a place in the front lines that has a huge hole in the Soviet lines and I'm
exploring it to make it bigger yet. I'm going to drive some units into that void to
see where the Soviets are. I might be able to develop this into something really
good...I might be able to get into the Soviet backfield. If so I might be able to
roll up the Soviet front lines in this area.

[700851McCall]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: 700851McCall
Where did you get those Bulgarians from? I want Bulgarians too!

You are implying there's a version of D21 that doesn't have Bulgarians. On the fall
of Sevastopol, if it's before 04Dec41 then the Bulgarians are released from their
garrison mode, and until then they are parked near Sophia, Bulgaria. When I sank
the last Soviet ship near Sevastopol the supply point changed from Soviet to Axis
and the Sevastopol defenders were instantly out of supply and they steadily decreased
in strength and morale and they became pushovers after about 20 turns and I grabbed the
port before I had killed very many of them but the port did fall and the next turn
the Bulgarians were active in my inventory.

What you want to do is restart using the very latest version. What turn are you on
anyway? I've never gotten past turn 63.

Ah that explains it then as I did not take Sevastapol until January IIRC.

I'm on turn 193, so I'm not re-starting. It's taken me 3 months to get this far in.

[larryfulkerson]

Down south east of Z-town there's a place in the Soviet lines where I dropped several
bridges behind the Soviet positions and they abandoned their positions and fell back
and it's wide open now and looks like it's ready for take-over. But this is down
south where the supply levels are pitiful and if there's no supply in there, I'm not
going to push the front lines that far east.

[larryfulkerson]

There was a section of my front lines where there was a huge gap and so I brought
in the Italians and spread them out and now there's not so big a hole and I'm
wondering where the Soviets are so I've started pushing out the recon units and
intend to follow them with the Italians and whatever free divisions there are nearby.
I'm going to watch the supply levels and stay out of the impossible ones.

[larryfulkerson]

I blasted several holes in the Soviet line last turn and this turn I've been driving
units through them to see what will develop. I'm hoping to be able to surround the
Soviet groups and kill them making an advance in the front lines to the next river
to the east. I'm going to try to roll up the Soviet lines to see how many I can destroy.

[larryfulkerson]

There's a group of two RR engineers to repair the rail leading to the Kerch Straits
and after that to the low-supply area to the east of Z-town. It's only just now
getting to the bottleneck and it's going to be a while before the rail is repaired
in this area. Meanwhile I've got a group of nine RR engineers repairing rail to the
east of Z-town going SE but they are still too far away to influence the supply levels
very much. I estimate another month in game-time for the supply to rise enough to
support continuous operations. The worst problem the Axis side has is their supply
system.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T61 front lines before I have moved anybody.

[larryfulkerson]

I seem to have surrounded a small Soviet group and I'm going to try to reduce it now.
There's some sizeable units in that pocket and it's going to take a while to mop ut
up. Meanwhile the Hungarians are advancing slowly to the NE and will probably confront
the Soviets. Things are going rather well for being low on supply.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a quick peek at some of the losses so far and the number of assigned HRS's is
scaring me. We're getting close to the floor of 30K HRS's in the force. I'd like to
maintain a level at least that high for the preservation of the strength of the units.
I'd like to be able to keep them as strong as I can for the Spring Soviet Offensive
that's going to happen in T91 or so. The red green yellow rule is preventing me from
asking too much from my units, keeps them in relative good health, and means they are
combat ready infrequently and spend a lot of time resting, and are involved in combat
fewer times per turn than in a usual stock game. Progress seems slower than usual but
that might be an artifact of the low supply situation, there are multiple contingencies
impinging on the phenomenom.

I've decided that attacking just to be attacking isn't a winning tactic. I can't win an
attrition war so I'm going to concentrate on reducing the pockets this turn and relatively
little else. Maybe straightening out the front lines, shortening the lines, beefing up
the weak spots, mostly moving the tired units back to good supply and holding what I've
got for the most part.

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys....I just had a thought, a question that I don't know the answer to..
When you attack Elmer's units and one of them splits into pieces........does Elmer
ever put those pieces back together? Or do they spend the rest of the game as
pieces? I realize it's better to kill them outright than to try to break them all
into pieces but it's just something I'm wondering about.

[700851McCall]

I've decided that attacking just to be attacking isn't a winning tactic. I can't win an
attrition war

That was my thinking too. Fight smarter not harder.

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Hey you guys....I just had a thought, a question that I don't know the answer to..
When you attack Elmer's units and one of them splits into pieces........does Elmer
ever put those pieces back together? Or do they spend the rest of the game as
pieces? I realize it's better to kill them outright than to try to break them all
into pieces but it's just something I'm wondering about.

Elmer is capable of re-combining units but does not always do it. That is why we put a lot of his smaller units in the lowest hierarchy so they would not split.

[cpt flam]

do you still suffer from pestilence when moving?
yes, sometimes Elmer will recombine units but not always. [&:]

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: cpt flam

do you still suffer from pestilence when moving?
yes, sometimes Elmer will recombine units but not always. [&:]

There is still pestilence during Winter 41 but it got cut in half for the version Larry is on.

[larryfulkerson]

Hey you guys....there's been a new version of D21 and I find
this game getting boring on me. I want to try out the newer version
so this game will get abandoned right here. Thanks to all who posted.
Your input is greatly appreciated.

[gliz2]

Thanks for nice AAR larry. Next time challenge yourself literally by playing yourself

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: gliz2
Thanks for nice AAR larry. Next time challenge yourself literally by playing
yourself.

Yeah, I ran that idea past Rick ( the scenario designer ) and he said that the PO
did such a bad job of it that he had to enhance the PO in various ways to give a
better game and that a human player would have no problem at all stopping the
Axis side. The game isn't balanced for a human Soviet player. Other than that
it's a good idea.