Red Star Ascending Axis (BrianG) VS Soviet (HLYA) All Welcome

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Pre-game warm-up

I have no doubt this game will be a long one. I also know that what BrianG does with the Soviets he will be equally deadly, if not by a factor of 10, with the Germans. Game rules are the following;

* 41-45 Grand Campaign
* Standard combat
* No Soviet +1
* No para drops
* No naval invasions prior to June 1942
* Random Weather
* Full blizzard

I wish BrianG good luck even though I should keep that luck for myself since BrianG is a very skilled player.

[beender]

Obviously you never run out of fancy names for aar!

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: beender

Obviously you never run out of fancy names for aar!

Oh? I thought this name was not that good. Why??? Because the Red Star could be "descending" too ;-P But I have to stay optimistic.

[dcaflak]

I've been reading the AAR on this forum and I must say, I'm really looking forward to this (and the other one you started HLYA) [:)]

Though I have something to ask: may I humbly request that, from time to time, if it isn't a bother to you, you show us the ''Captured Equipment'' poll? just so we can have an idea of what and how many German equipment you claimed for your righteous cause.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: dcaflak

I've been reading the AAR on this forum and I must say, I'm really looking forward to this (and the other one you started HLYA) [:)]

Though I have something to ask: may I humbly request that, from time to time, if it isn't a bother to you, you show us the ''Captured Equipment'' poll? just so we can have an idea of what and how many German equipment you claimed for your righteous cause.

Interesting request and will see what I can do for you. I have not been able to do my turn yesterday and today since the wife wanted to do things. Such things as shopping, carrying bags of items she bought and driving her around. See if I can get turn 1 back to BrianG tomorrow.

[dcaflak]

Thank you very much for considering doing it [:)] I'll be eagerly watching and supporting the mighty Red Army!

Also yup, when the Supreme Commander has direct requests, all other operations are put on hiatus, I know about that too [;)]

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Soviets caught napping June 22 1941

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1
Northern Front Riga area beginning of turn

German forces are over the river and Riga taken with Soviets surrounded in the middle. Quickly notice that BrianG's rail line is NOT going to a direct northern route. Just looking at this from experience no pocket should be breakable in the North

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1
Western Front Minsk area beginning of turn

German forces are on the outskirts of Minsk. The rail conversion is going through Kaunas which BrianG was able to convert too. So my first thought is is Moscow the intended target with the rail conversion going this way. Time will tell in a few turns. Just looking at this from experience I don't believe any pocket should be breakable in the central area But will take a more in depth look during my turn but magic 8 ball says "highly unlikely".

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1
Swamp squatters area beginning of turn

Germans have made a MAD Dash down swamp alley. Too bad the Cav unit to the north is routed still or this could have turn interesting. Will disband what I can and the rest will fight. Rail has gone through Brest Litovsk and one hex beyond because of the Soviet units to the south. So will the rail conversion go North-East from here or will BrianG take the path under the Mountain(through the swamp). Time will tell But this coupled with the northern conversion could be pointing to a large center push. But of course I don't have all of my Tarrot cards in yet and all of this is highly speculative.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1
Southern Mayhem area beginning of turn

Germans have done a mad dash to the Rumanian border. From experience looking at this this can be broken in a few places. This is a good and it is bad to be honest. It is good because the pocket can be broken and get some SU's out. It is bad because it is like a honey pot that draws you in, you start eating and forget that the bear is behind you ready to take the little bit of honey you did get. So I am going to think long and hard of what to do down here since it is a semi opportunity but too many times have I sprung the "honey trap" on people in this area and boy does that hurt. Unfortunately, I will lose the same amount of physical counter units in the end. It is the draw in affect that kills many people when those extra units above and beyond what would normally have been caught are added to the fray.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1
Southern Mayhem Rumanian border beginning of turn

And of course the units that mad dashed to the Red light district area of Northern Rumania

[dcaflak]

Oh wow...this seems bad, but then again every time I see the first turns from the Soviet perspective, it is ''atrocious'' at best and ''potentially game-ending" at worst (so I guess it IS historically accurate), and I do not have nearly enough experience with the game to judge the situation efficiently.

Stay strong, we'll follow you to the end commander HLYA! Not a step back!

Ha ha I'm kidding let's get the HELL away from the mean panzers, so we can come back to kick their teeth in...later.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

To FEED the Beast

Turn 1 was just sent over to BrianG. I did what I said I would do in my last AAR with ST. So we will see how it goes. I have no illusions that I will lose a great deal but I have my plans of what I am doing and will see if it works for better or for worse.

My 1st Soviet objective in this game is not send the Airforce to Reserve. I did this the first couple of games as Soviet but I no longer cater to that line of thinking. You are just giving the German Airforce time to rest. Get off of you azzes and manage the Airforce like a true commander. You have to stay active in the air even from turn one. As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber" on turn 1 and will not relent until I either have no aircraft left or I won the game. I can replace my loses & I want experience. So Fly I WILL!

Here is a Bomb run on the first turn for your viewing pleasure. Yes, I did micro manage my airforce & have it set up. Yes, I do have Interdiction turned on. I advocated before for turning it off. I now say turn it on since the Germans are licking their fatigue from the first turn Air bombing. PLUS, and this is a big one, if you have interdiction on and a mover gets hit you can't keep trying to place it in an optimal place. It is stuck where it got hit. Thus it is a constant reminder you better make it work

This bomb run was on an SS Moto unit too

[HardLuckYetAgain]

To FEED the Beast

My second objective is to constantly attack the Panzers/Moto units. I will end up losing thousands, tens of thousands, and hundred of thousands of men doing so for very little. Other than to use their supply and for fatigue. The less supply these BEAST have the more damage I will do to them and less they will do to me. I will get surrounded, I will lose units, I will just have to manage my manpower to my unit count of what to lose. I have my calculation of how many units I can lose a turn and I will try and stay under that. Here is a picture of what I am talking about to keep the unit low on supply. I was able to get this PZ to yellow supply on the first turn. He wont hurt as much turn 2 ;-P Well...... at least I hope so......

[HardLuckYetAgain]

To FEED the Beast

Another objective of mine playing the Soviets this time. Which is the real reason I am going to lose a great many units is that we are going to love the Germans by "HUGGING" them. We are all one big happy family, sorta kinda Of course I am going to use discretion on this one of when, where, and how long to do this. Because too much hugging is a bad thing you know.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

To FEED the Beast

This game is going to be totally different than my "Defense of the Soviet Union begins ONE hex west of Pskov" AAR. In that AAR I built the defense from Pskov down. This game will be trying to defend all three fronts at the same time, be aggressive with counterattacks, and hold the Germans at bay, which in and of itself the Soviets just don't have the resources for. I will attack PZ's and Moto units to waste their supply but my real target the WHOLE game is the German infantry. I will go after them the hardest to cause causalities. Every opportunity I will take to inflict any type of loses to German infantry. Even attacking a German infantry over a Rumanian infantry unit. At the end of 1941 I suspect I will have lost at least 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 men.

Thus is this enough To FEED the Beast to keep it sedated? OR is this just self inflicted suicide on my part with my crazy way of thinking. Either way it should be an interesting ride. Sit down, buckle up, and enjoy the feeding frenzy. I am sure this is going to get bloody.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain
As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber"

First it was U2VS, then I saw you Hungarian maraud, and now this. I just know spreadsheets are coming up ...

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: HardLuckYetAgain
As such I have morphed myself into a "Mad Bomber"

First it was U2VS, then I saw you Hungarian maraud, and now this. I just know spreadsheets are coming up ...

Ya, I changed my mind on the U2VS. Soviets need everything they can get their hands on to cause losses. Dinglir was correct in this. I hardly call my couple hex pass-through of Hungarian territory a Hungarian Marauding expedition ;-P As for spreadsheets I have yet to add to my repertoire...... yet. I never cast my way of thinking in stone.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Turn 1 Housekeeping

Here are some housekeeping items I did during the 1st turn.

First off I want all of my SU's to go up to Stavka, so I set the support level to 0(zero) for everything but Stavka which will be a 9. Please note that Sappers won't end up in Stavka. These little boys love to stay in Armies and fronts. If they do get up to Stavka and you still have the Support level set to 0(zero). Then Stavka will push them back down to Fronts and Armies. I have noticed this on more than a few occasions. On turn 2 and/or turn 3 I will turn the support level to -1 which essentially turns off the flow of support units. My goal is to have every Army on the map in contact with the enemy, no matter what, have 2 artillery pieces at a minimum. Artillery causes losses Armies in high tempo combat with the Germans will get more SU's. I will go through every Army and make sure each is allocated to it from the Stavka pool during turn 2/3. Bear in mind that the Soviets still have the Corps HQ's until turn 5/6 which can complicate the allocation of these artillery pieces. So I have to painstakingly go through this process. You will see this in my video when I post it on Youtube.


Note **** As with the Sappers the RR Construction Engineers are handled in the same way. They never stay in Stavka unless it is turned off *****