FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[devoncop]

Larry....you are wasted in Arizona.

You should be on the stage in Vegas.[:D]

[&o]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: devoncop
Larry....you are wasted in Arizona.

You should be on the stage in Vegas.[:D]

Larry, the speaker for the category 5 morons in the world has gone on tour with his act and is now appearing on a stage

near you. His act includes the a talk about the origin of the universe and the clues you need to figure out that you

don't need to know that. At all. Plus, he gives life lessons learned through hard experiences normal mortals don't

usually undergo. Smart phones are required because his act is interactive. You text him your questions and he answers

them in realtime. 100% fool proof guarenteed. He's available for answers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No questions about

the moon please, the far side of which is the locus of underground aliens. They have been watching us for eons. They

frown on probing questions. They attend Comic Con every year in LA.

[larryfulkerson]

The havoc the Soviet partisans have caused extends to killing the supply level at the front lines and I'm going to have to

put the war on hold until I get the supply situation fixed. I'm pretty sure that the overextended threashold is 0

but still, I don't like operating where there's not enough supply to support your operations. It just "feels" wrong. It

doesn't pass the smell test. This problem extends to most of the front lines from Minsk on down.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 17....August 17th 1941

The heroic acts of the patriots behind German lines have certainly helped reduce pressure on the Soviet front lines this turn though fierce fighting continues on the Dneipr and in Odessa where the 12th Motorised Engineering bttn this turn fights off a probs from an entire Rumanian Frontier Guard Divn on the Odessa perimeter.

The Russians continue to feed reinforcements into the Crimea where German Panzer Grenadiers have just arrived at the narrow isthmus and are fighting dug in Soviet Infantry.

The German interdiction was particularly fierce this turn which made moving reinforcements difficult but the newly raised 59th Army has managed to move over half its strength to the vulnerable area around Novgorod to protect the threatened supply line running East from Leningrad towards Moscow.

Special mention in despatches this turn goes to the fanatics of the 2nd NKVD Division just East of Narva which held its ground against the 254th and 11th German Infantry Divisions supported by 9th Panzer Grenadiers of 36th Division and plentiful air support.Losses were 10 Infantry squads lost to the Soviets and over 200 to the attackers...

The strategic position has thankfully changed little last turn and Soviet air possessive once again fallen this turn to just under half of the German level of about 200.

Theatre Option taken...: After some consideration last turn the Soviet government warned the Swedish government to stop providing Iron Ore to the Nazis. This has the effect of reducing German replacements by 10%. If the Swedes refuse it brings Sweden into the war (Larry's call) ...There is then no reduction in German replacements but the two major Swedish cities then come into play and it subsequently captured by the Soviets reduce German replacements by 20%...[:)]

At present Sweden appears not to have entered the war....have they been pressurised successfully ?

[larryfulkerson]

I've gotten some few units down to Perekop in the Crimea at the westmost bottleneck to Sevastopol.

I've left follow on forces at various spots to handle Soviet units and there's only a couple of units left at the

spearhead. The flow of supply is almost adequate to continue the advance but not quite. Better than nothing at all. The

rail is getting repaired but not quite fast enough to keep up with the front. Supply is getting skimpy.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 18....20th August 1941

Some pretty hard hitting assaults continued against the Soviet lines which buckled but did not break along the Dnepr and on the West bank of the Narva river. The Soviet 2nd NKVD Division again performs heroically against the German 254th and 11th Divisions, inflicting over 170 Infantry and Engineering squad losses whilst losing just 68.

Further South a counter attack by 5th Mechanized Corps against 13th Panzer Division units fording the Dnepr North West of Smolensk near Chernigov is successful in forcing the Germans back across the river losing about 20 tanks but Smolensk itself is under increasing pressure.

Down in Odessa the perimeter holds and the Rumanians take further artillery punishment and the Soviet navy even manages to sneak an NKVD regiment and a fortress Division into the port to reinforce the defenders.

The Crimean isthmus is also holding with artillery fire coming out onto the German advance guard.

The Soviet Airforce bombers were utilised for the first time with any success helping to attack heavy artillery concentrations near Odessa and Kiev.

Total air losses this turn were around 270 for the Soviets and 300 for the Germans, a rate I am happy with...

[cpt flam]

You must keep in mind, that your pilots will claim 1.5 to 2.5 of the kills
only solution i find was to look a battle involving planes and see difference between battle report and air losses visible on card

[Dagfinn]

Could I please bother you yet again to also include the Arctic Front? From Leningrad to Murmansk?

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: cpt flam

You must keep in mind, that your pilots will claim 1.5 to 2.5 of the kills
only solution i find was to look a battle involving planes and see difference between battle report and air losses visible on card

Much like the tractor production figures of our 5 Year Plan's then[;)]

Thanks for that.....you are course correct but as the Luftwaffe are no doubt engaged in the same creative accounting I remain content !

I know Larry is organised enough to check the actual v claimed losses in the reinforcement/replacements screen but I am not and tend to focus on the strengths of individual units along with a gut instinct as to how things are going.....unscientific but so far so good [:)]

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a snapshot of the front lines from just south of Pskov down to Smolensk and then a little south of

that. There's places where there are appearant gaps but I'm relying on the river for part of my defensive line or an

anchor for the same. I'm attacking at the weak spots tying to make a breakthrough somewhere but so far the Soviets are

holding on just fine. It's been a couple of turns now since we did our meeting engagements and we're fully engaged now

and there's been some serious attacks that went nowhere and then there were attacks meant as probes that gained hexes so

you never know what works or why but you can develop a close hunch, an educated guess. You develop a "feel" for what might

work.

[larryfulkerson]

The supply levels are too low to continue the advance much further so I'm calling a halt to

everything going on in this area.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Dagfinn
Could I please bother you yet again to also include the Arctic Front? From Leningrad to Murmansk?

Sorry this is so late in getting posted. I forgot all about it and only found it by accident and the Finns have decided to build a huge wall across the bottle neck and make Mexico pay for it.

[larryfulkerson]

The 7th and 19th Finnish Infantry Divisions have finished up their job of mopping up and converting hexes and

have rested a couple of turns and now they are ready for the trip north to see if they can influence the Murmansk

adventure somehow. The supply levels up there are too low to sustain operations so we're still trying to extend the

railroad further north and so far it's hit or miss and slow going. It may take the rest of the year to reach Murmansk.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the corner where the rivers meet near D-town and Z-town and I've finally reached the end of the

search and destroy and now were're back to toe-to-toe fighting. Over the river crossings still, I notice. I need to get

some engineers up here to help me leap over the rivers and get into the Soviet backfield.

[devoncop]

Soviet Turn 19...... 24th August 1941

12 turns or so to a much needed ceasefire and major developments as following Soviet demands on the Swedes to stop Iron Ore shipments to the Germans the German government pressurises the Swedes into joining the Axis. No loss of replacements to the Germans now but if I can capture Gothenburg and Stockholm later in the war the replacements are reduced by 20%...........no prospect of that yet but the British and Americans send some decent air assets.

The air war is ferocious as over 400 claimed kills are made by Soviet pilots including the complete elimination of 3 KG operating over Soviet lines for the loss of about half that number of Soviet planes as interdiction strikes continue apace.

The 20th and 24th armies around Smolensk and the Soviet South Western Command around Kiev continue to hold firm and their artillery engages in heavy shelling against both infantry and German artillery. The German artillery park outside Kiev is hit and over 106 heavy guns are destroyed or disabled for the loss of 45 Soviet guns but an attempt to counter attack against German Panzers crossing the Dnepr south of Smolensk is abandoned with heavy losses from German combat support aircraft.

The Soviet garrisions in the Crimea continue to hold the narrow isthmus for now with artillery causing heavy casualties to the German 7th FJ Division and Rumanian troops that press them. Odessa also continues to hold.

[larryfulkerson]

I just wanted to say a word or two about Ian's gameplaying style: All over the map Ian has constructed superior MLR's

and backed up his troops with arty and he's deployed his planes and the stout units are on the front lines now. The

character of the game has changed and Ian has adapted admirably. This FITE game is one of my better games,

if I do say so myself, and Ian has put the thwart in my plans. He has figured out what I'm trying to do and has put in

place the troops and equipment to stop it. The way he is handling his troops is exemplary and I'm having a blast playing

him. I got some moves from Ian earlier this morning and I'm working on my moves right now and I figure I'm 1/3 the way

done and I'm running into hard spots all over the map. This is going to be a long war I'm afraid. Ian has gotten his

troops to the proper spots and is moving to be able to counterattack better. He's already launched some really good

counterattacks and the Axis advance has halted in spots and the front lines are no longer going to change very much very

fast. The rest of this game may turn into a toe-to-toe struggle, with very little slash and dash any longer. Most of

the progress was being made in the south but the supply levels are too low to support operations any longer and the

advance is going to halt there too. I'm not repairing rail fast enough to keep up with the front lines and it's slowing

down the advance. The mud season is just the capper on the whole deal. My boys are tired and need a couple of turns to

refit. The mud season might be a welcome rest from the constant fighting that's been going on since the start of the

game. The Soviets are gaining their mojo back.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the Orsha area. I've scrapped up enough engineers to put the troops on the river hexes and that

allows me to exert pressure even away from the crossings. The major problem is that there's very few places to get three

hexes around the target hex to attack from three hexes at the same time. The losses are high and the hits are few and it's

looking like we're going to be doing this for a while. I've brought up what arty there is available and I'm bombarding but

it's not helping much because the Soviets have more arty than I do and his is better quality and he's using

it to his advantage. We've been having gun duels back and forth.

[larryfulkerson]

In the upper right corner of the front lines in the Staraya Russa area you can see the unfortunate happening with

the supply levels with the cutoff being the river. Supply on the east side of the river has fallen off a cliff. Not much

progress can be made in such conditions so a general halt has been imposed on this area. I'm not sure where the RR

engineers are for this area and I don't see them in the image so I'm guessing they are working on an area with a higher

priority.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the reason the supply levels are so low east of here. Ian's partisans have blown bridges and converted rail

and are generally making themselves a pest. I've dedicated the Slovaks to this project and I've sent for the

Hungarians as well and they are making their way here from the front lines where they have been busy contributing to

the general effort. In other words they were idle. I'm thinking of adding the Italians to this task.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the area around D-town and Z-town right now. The supply level is too low for operations

here too so a halt is called for this area. Too bad too because I was so close to finishing it

by taking possession of the river crossings, but I estimate that that little task might end up

taking a month or more with supply so low here.