D21 larry Axis, computer Soviets

[larryfulkerson]

I'm playing Jonathan in a game of FITE2 and it takes me about two days to do my moves and that makes for a slow game and I don't always remember my battlefield awareness of the situation because it's a monster of a scenario. So when I'm not doing my moves for one of my opponents I'm playing D21 which as you all know is a smaller version of FITE2 with a computer opponent and I love it. I'm on T10 now and all the slash and dash is mostly done and now we're approaching the phase change that happens when the Soviet reinforcements start showing up at the front lines and rough MLR's are being constructed that are considerably stronger than the roadblocks I'm accustumed to. I'm getting into the toe-to-toe style of combat with front lines and everything. I've defeated the Riga defenders so that should open the way for my ships to begin to take a part in the battles because I think the loss of Riga makes the CD guns on the smaller islands to go away. I may be wrong. This is good practice for my FITE2 game with Jonathan.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T11 and Axis forces are sneaking up on Smolensk. I forced the crossing at Orsha and drove some troops across the bridge so I've got a foothold across the river and I'm going to attempt to roll up the Soviet lines to destroy those Soviet units lined up at the river. I'm counting on Elmer leaving them there long enough for me to trap them. I might be able to destroy a lot of Soviet equipment and if I can do things like this enough times I can whittle down the size of the Soviet army enough to not be outnumbered any longer. It's 06:14 local and I've been up since 03:15 waiting for moves from Brian or maybe an email from Jonathan explaining who moves first and any house rules he might have. It seems that we're going to play C3 and I'm going to be the British and he's going to be the Axis forces.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm exploring the area NE of the marshes with some Panzer divisions and some foot troops and I seem to have found a large gap in the Soviet lines. I don't have the people available yet to man a front line in this AO but I can move some people here and build an MLF in about 5 turns or so. I have no idea where the people are going to come from because almost everybody is already fully employed doing something important. I may have to build a light screen across the gap and just monitor it.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Kiev area right now. I'd like to destroy the Soviet group on the left before I try to tackle the city of Kiev proper. The railhead is the embarked Axis group on the left edge of the image. I'd like to repair the rail to close enough to employ the RR arty with the big guns. Currently they can't reach any Soviet targets.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T12 and I've reached the limit of my supply. The advance will have to stop here and wait for the supply levels to rise. I've tried persuing the Soviet units into poor supply terrain and the results were not pretty. My boys need a rest at any rate. It's July 30 1941 and it's hot and humid and the men were ordered to take some salt tablets and drink at least a canteen full of water. And it's dusty. The vehicles passing the marching men has churned the dirt road so badly that they have left the road and rolled over a barbed wire fence and are moving on the access road some farmer is using next to the fence. There are recon planes moving back and forth ahead of the moving formations and they are low enough to reccognize threats, about 1500 feet. The plane down low is the hunter and the killer is loitering up at 5K feet or so. Anybody foolish enough to shoot at the hunter is bombed by the killer. It's all over in about 15 minutes. And the formations keep moving.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Pskov area right now. I'm looking this image ove and I'm struck by the number of engineers standing positions on the front line. Also recon units. I'm outnumbered and it's starting to show. I've been assigning INT missions to those bombers that are leaf green and those bombers that are a pastel green are CS missions. The yellow ones are resting, about half of all the planes, and so far there's only one red one. A fighter squadron that got ambushed. I need to start using ambushes myself. Fly three or four fighter squadrons into a suitable area, three or four friendly airfields near each other, then fly in A bomber squadron for the bait and then assign the bomber to a target, almost any target, and when the bomber flies, the Soviet figthters will spring into action to intercept and then MY fighters jump on the Soviet fighters, sometimes saving the bait bomber.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Pskov area right now. I'm looking this image over and I'm struck by the number of engineers standing positions on the front line. Also recon units. I'm outnumbered and it's starting to show. I've been assigning INT missions to those bombers that are leaf green and those bombers that are a pastel green are CS missions. The yellow ones are resting, about half of all the planes, and so far there's only one red one. A fighter squadron that got ambushed. I need to start using ambushes myself. Fly three or four fighter squadrons into a suitable area, three or four friendly airfields near each other, then fly in A bomber squadron for the bait and then assign the bomber to a target, almost any target, and when the bomber flies, the Soviet figthters will spring into action to intercept and then MY fighters jump on the Soviet fighters, sometimes saving the bait bomber.

[larryfulkerson]

I have forced the river crossings near Odessa and I have units streaming across. I've moved the fighters forward to cover the forces in motion. I find it irritating that the RR engineers aren't keeping up. I've noticed at least two turns of no rail repair at all. I'll have to slow down the advance, maybe even stop, until the supply level is high enough to sustain operations. I plan to contain Odessa and press on to the Crimea.

[larryfulkerson]

It's T13, early August and I'm not much further along compared with last turn. So it's official, the advance has halted. I need to await better supply levels anyway. I've driven my ships into Riga bay to bombard the enemy units on the smaller islands. I'm wondering if I can slip an MP unit onto the smaller islands and just convert the hexes without too much drama. I either have to garrison all my ports or clear the smaller islands of enemy units because Elmer can float a unit into an empty port in my backfield and cause all kinds of chaos. When I was playing FITE with Ian he had partisans he could use to drop my bridges and convert my rails and was a major pain using them. D21 doesn't have any partisans I guess, because I've seen none yet.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm still clearing out the marshes but I seem to have blown a hole in the Soviet lines and I don't have a reserve to follow up. There aren't enough people in the German army, I'm having to leave gaps in the lines. This doesn't bode well.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a shot of the supply levels in the territories between the rivers down south. Supply is okay except for at the front where it's low. I may have to slow down the advance down here to allow the supply to rise enough for operations. My boys are tired and need a rest anyway. I'm trying to keep the Rumanian aircraft units near the Rumanians and the Hungarian planes near the Hungarians etc. They are probably more likely to respond if they are closer to the target hex. I've been thinking of trimming the range of the aircraft so that they concentrate on specific areas instead of all over the map.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a shot of the Odessa area right now. I'm using the Axis minors to help out and I have to help them out often. They are small units, low proficiency, and they can't stack. So they are almost useless on the front line. If I build a three-line front line with them the third line might stop the enemy maybe. But they are pretty nifty for just converting hexes. So they are worth more than disbanding would be worth. I've been trying to drive the 11th Army units toward the Crimea because I want them to take down Sevastopol. I've moved the Stukas down here to strike the Soviet boats but they aren't in range yet. I've got the Rumanians configured to just babysit Odessa yet and I'll need more units to actually start the serious assaults. I don't need ALL the Rumanians to assault Odessa, just enough to force the Soviets to back up. I'm thinking I'm going to have to bombard with arty and air for about a week at least before the probes start. I could really use a BB group down here. The one DD I have won't even scratch the paint.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the Pskov area right now. The front is dynamic here and there's lots of movement and mostly it's me putting a stopper in a hole in my lines. I could use some more people up here. I'll take a look around and see if I can't find a division or two.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Orsha area right now. I've gotten over the river in one spot and now I'm pushing toward Smolensk. I've almost got an adequate number of troops in this area. There's still no reserve however so I'm going to be on the lookout for any unemployed formations for this area too.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Pskov area right now and I'm fighting to contain all the Soviet units coming from the northwest. Several of them I surrounded and there are several battles scheduled. I'd like to anchor my left flank on the lake and push north toward Leningrad. I'd also like to isolate Leningrad from the rest of Russia by cutting the rails on the east side of the city. I could use another division for this area.

[larryfulkerson]

I've started the serious attacks at Kiev, attempting to push the Soviet units across the river leaving me with the crossing. I've almost finished clearing the territories between the rivers which leaves me with no way to get across the rivers except at the crossings. I'm approaching Odessa and I need to transfer the RR arty down there and start the bombardments. If I recall correctly Odessa has a supply point so it's not going to be pretty taking it down. I've decided to use the Axis minors to take over the Crimea. I want the 11th Army group to take down Sevastopol. I deliberately moved some Panzers down in the south to take advantage of the favorable terrain and they did and now I'm at the limit of the supply flow and there's almost no need for the fast movers down here any longer. I think I'll move the Panzers to Orsha and see if I can't use them to help the push to Moscow.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Odessa area right now looking north. The supply levels are in single digits in this area and I'm going to have to call a halt to let the rails catch up with the front a little closer. I've got two separate rails headed this way....I think I'll collapse that down to a single line and use the engineers on just one rail so it'll get here faster.

[larryfulkerson]

It's now T17 and this is the state of the supply levels up north near Narva. Adequate so far. As soon as I get the bridges repaired it'll go up a little bit. The RR engineers aren't keeping up with the front very well at any point in the front lines. I've consolidated them down to just four teams, four rail lines heading east, and I haven't seen much change yet. I HAVE seen two turns in a row with no progress anywhere. We are close to the middle of August and the time of the year when the air starts to get a little cooler and the sky is overcast a little more often and winter is a little closer. I would really hate to be fighting for Leningrad during winter. I'm wondering if just one more division would really help all that much up here. I seem to be containing them so far.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the area around Kiev looking north and a little south. I seem to always be fighting over the river crossings. Elmer has the river crossings covered pretty well except in a couple of spots. I'm trying to outflank Elmer by going around the north end of the defenders. The problem is that Elmer keeps bringing in more people and the front line gets longer. To remind me that I'm fighting the largest army in the world. Outflanking his units isn't going to work except locally I think. Making the front line longer works to his advantage I'm guessing. I've got to start using the natural terrain better.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what the Leningrad area looks like now. The Finns have blasted a hole in the Soviet line and troops poured through the hole and now it looks like they will be at the stop line soon unless the Soviets move some more units into the AO. I made an airstrike by my Stukas on the southernmost Soviet ship group and got 8% damage on the soviet BB in the group but lost 28 Stukas. It wasn't worth doing. I think the BB goes away if you capture the city ( Leningrad ). The longest range of my surviving ships is 2 hexes and the Soviet BB can shoot out to 4 hexes so a surface combat fight would be somewhat less than nominal. Maybe we can get a spy on the crew for the ship and the spy can plant a bomb and blow up the ship along with the spy. He knew what he was getting into when he signed up. I've got my ships parked outside the exit from Leningrad's port to stiffle the sortie possibility. It's worked so far.