B41 over-the-shoulder v. PO

[larryfulkerson]

I'm playing Brian ( General Patton ) in a game of Sicily to Brenner's Pass and
Ian ( devoncop ) in the same scenario and when I'm not doing moves for one of them I've
been playing D21 in my free time and I'm starting to get bored with it. I need
a change so I thought I'd do one of those over-the-shoulder AAR's to explain my thinking
when I'm deciding things.

I'm using B41 Mod v.5.6 for this AAR and if you'd like a copy of it you can find it here:

tm.asp?m=4393184

The first thing I do when I get a new turn is to check the deployment of the supporting units
especially the aircraft and since I'm starting a new scenario, a scenario I haven't visited in
a while, I'd like a snapshot of the size and condition of the air fleet and this image shows
most of them. I notice that I have very few on hand for most types and there's several types
that I'm not building anymore. My air shock is 120 and their air shock is around 35 or so,
so it's time for an aerial blitzkreg to wipe out the Soviet air force. I'm going to be doing a
lot of strikes on Soviet airfields for at least one turn, lasting I suppose until the air shock
changes or I run out of targets that I can reach.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the aircraft squadrons and they are all green, they all have a mission, and
they are all combat ready. I would go ahead and assign them to airfield strikes
but I want to give priority to the troops and CS missions if there are to be any so
I'm putting off the assignment of air strikes until after I've moved all the units and
have scheduled whatever attacks will take place. I expect a lot of RBC's...that has
been my experience in the past, so there may not be very many attacks, we'll see.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what I plan to do as an initial plan. It's subject to change as conditions
change on the ground. I want to skip going after Leningrad until after I've done
something about Moscow. Moscow first and THEN Leningrad. So AGN will do a right
hook kind of thing and attack Moscow from the north. AGC will drive for a common
meeting point to trap a lot of Soviets and then follow the rail to Moscow. AGS will
drive for Kiev and see if they can capture an intact river crossing in an effort to
trap a lot of Soviet units on the west side of the river that runs through Kiev.

When the Rumanians activate I'll drive them due east and see about seiging Odessa
at the earliest convience. I've flown the Ju-87's to the north sector prior to
using them on the Soviet BB's near Leningrad as they have the highest anti-ship
cap of all the aircraft I own. I'm not in range for that yet.

The initial goal for AGN is Riga. For AGC it's Minsk. For AGS it's Lvov. Once these
initial goals have been met decisions will be made what to do next.

[larryfulkerson]

This is a first rough draft about what I want to do with the units on the ground.
I'm trying to minimize the BTS hexes along my advance path so I'll try to knock
Soviet units out of the way, bypass them, leave them for follow on forces, and
zoom toward Riga in the north, toward Minsk in the middle and toward Kiev in the
south.

I need Riga for the river crossing and the rail that passes through there. I'm
going to route the supply path through Riga leading to Pskov and the rail going
through Riga is ideal for that.

I need Minsk because it's existance can determine the Soviet global supply level
and upon it's capture there's a reduction in the Soviet replacements I think. At
any rate it's detramental to the Soviets for losing it.

Down in the south the goal is to trap as many Soviet units on the west side of the
river as possible so that they can be killed rather than escape to fight another
day.

[larryfulkerson]

I usually move units in OOB order so I don't miss anybody and the first unit to move
is the HQ for the 1st Infantry Corps and it's in a poor position to influence the
battle materially except through it's organic artillery and it's already in a good
position for that so I'll move something else and come back to the HQ later on.

[larryfulkerson]

After the HQ unit the next unit to move is an AT unit and I've depicted in the image
where I'm moving it to. The goal is to take up another hex that the Soviet unit might
retreat into if it's attacked. To deny the enmy that hex. I'm pretty sure it's going
to survive there because I expect all the Soviet units to be gone this turn because of
all the attacks I'm going to launch so I don't expect any Soviet attacks on it this
turn. I can always move something slse into the hex to protect it if need be.

[larryfulkerson]

Next to move is the AA unit of that formation and I want him to cross the battlefield
and attack a small Soviet unit to get it to move out of the way of the main combat units,
so as they pass by they won't have to disengage or pay a movement penalty. I can't think
of another good use for this AA unit. I suppose I could park him at the airfield to protect
the aircraft there but I don't really expect the Soviets to be able to fly anything in
their turn. I could park it on the river crossing hex to protect the bridge but the same
reason applies. Moving that small Soviet unit would be useful and a positive use of the
unit. I need to remember to return it to the environs of it's formation after it's mission
is concluded.

[larryfulkerson]

I was lucky in that the AA unit was successful in getting the Soviet unit to RBC so
now there's no hindrence to using the road. I'm not sure what to do with the AA
unit now. I could chase the Soviet units, make them RBC again and they would probably
retreat to the north toward the road leading north and block it. I'm not sure that
blocking that road is in my best interest right now. As it turns out it had a single
movement point left so I dug it in and set it three-dots.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation as it exists on the ground. Origionally the plan was to drive
everybody to the NE but I'd rather see if I can't surround a lot of those Soviet
units and kill them with the follow on forces, but in this case the follow on forces
are already at the front lines. So the fast units will bypass and zoom to Riga and
the follow on forces will surround the Soviets. First step is to move all those
Soviet divisions away from the road leading north so that I can use the road unhindered.
Then move all that equipment north along the road and take a right toward Riga.

[larryfulkerson]

I used the 1st Inf Div's Assault Gun unit to RBC a small Soviet unit away from the
road and then I moved the engineer unit to the road blocking the Soviet unit so that
an attack will kill it. That will clear the road and the advance can continue.

[larryfulkerson]

With the Soviet unit gone the road is open and I want to roll up the Soviet lines
in both directions to push the Soviets away from the road and make the hole bigger
so units can pass unhindered.

[larryfulkerson]

So I've moved a lot of units NE and started the surround on some Soviet units and
I've developed the battlefield a little bit and now to move the units yet to move
further to the east and see if I can't get an advance started.

[larryfulkerson]

So the next thing I did was attack northward and RBC'd the Soviet unit on the road
and moved some divisions around it completing the surround and I've scheduled an
attack on the surrounded Soviet unit.

[larryfulkerson]

I want to send the Panzers toward Daugavpils and to do that unhindered I need to
get rid of some Soviet units so I've surrounded one of them and the other stack
will be next. Once the way is clear then I can launch the Panzer units.

[larryfulkerson]

So with the way cleared I've driven the Panzers as far as they would go to the east
and Daugavpils for the river crossing and rail. As I recall there's already a Soviet
defender there he's just not visible. The theater recon value is 0% so I don't get to
see anything until I'm adjacent to it. Except for aircraft. It seems the aircraft
are visible reguardless of where they are.

[larryfulkerson]

I've scheduled an attack on the Soviet units by the road and I expect to have them
evaporate and if they do then the road will be cleared and units can pass unhindered.
But as my goal is Riga I'd really rather clear the road to Saiuali and from there to
Riga. There's a rather large stack there and I'll have to reduce it eventually but
I'd like to surround it first. The Panzers will zoom on ahead of course, bypassing
any fighting going on.

[larryfulkerson]

The next thing to move is the 679th RR arty unit and I've positioned it so that
it covers as many Soviet units as possible. This unit's position should change as
the battlefield changes and the need for it's services move to somewhere else. It
hss to stay on the rail and that's another reason for the advance to follow a rail
line to Moscow.

[larryfulkerson]

The next formation to move is the 56th Panzer Grndr Division and I've moved them
toward Riga and Daugavpils ready to leap next turn toard their goals.

[larryfulkerson]

The next formation to move is the 2nd Infantry Corps and that formation has an AA
unit and I've decided to drive it up adjacent to where the next attack is going to
happen and put him on 'T' status because he's got 13/15 for movement points and I
want the first round to take the least number of rounds so he can't be included
in the attack directly but I CAN put him on 'T' status so that hopefully he'll
contribute some of his fury during any attacks that happen adjacent to him. And
I've set him on three-dots to make the maximum contribution possible.

[larryfulkerson]

I've located the rocket unit for the formation and I intend to set it to three-dots
and drive it adjacent to two Soviet units for the most coverate possible and I put
him on three dots because he's close to 100% supply and 100% in readiness and I can
use the boost to move the Soviet units.