FITE2 Cantonia Allies larry Axis

[larryfulkerson]

Axis forces are closing in on Orsha, one of the landmarks I'm using to gauge my progress v. the real life conflict's progress at this date in time. I think I've fallen behind schedule. The supply levels in this area are in the teens, enough for further adventures. I'm leaving behind a lot of terrain to clear and hexes to convert. The follow on forces will see to that.

[Dreamslayer]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
I especially liked to find out that German units killed up north respawn in Germany. That means that I can disband them and use them down south instead. Is that gamey?

It's hard to say, probably better to ask scenario designers = )
Imho, disbanding without normal reason for relocating like this looks gamey.
Also I think that 2 hexes at north (257.33 and 258.33/258.32) should have these yellow dots too.

[Teufeldk]

The rules allow you to do this - we have not made any specific house rules against it.

The only house rule regarding disbanding is:
Units can be disbanded as long as they did not start the turn in enemy ZOC.

Whether or not it is gamey is for you to decide

[larryfulkerson]

I'm not sure I'll need them in Finland and I'm real sure I could use them near Minsk right now.
So I'm guessing that a way might be found for them to be moved south by plane or ship or sub
or hot air balloon or teleportation or something. I'm pretty sure that they could find a way
to get there eventually. It's just another way to move units strategically.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening down south. The Germans and Rumanians and Hungarians are pushing to the east and Odessa is surrounded and the bombardments have started and I've grabbed several river crossings and my units are streaming across moving south and east. The Idea is to surround all these Soviet units and destroy them before they make it to an open river crossing and escape. I'm not sure I can outrun them to the exits because of all the broken bridges but the terrain is good for mechanized units so there's a chance and I need to try everything I can that might work.

[larryfulkerson]

This is my forces approaching Pskov and I expect to see a lot of Soviet units in and around this spot. I'm going to try to outflank the defenders and surround them and destroy them. The follow on forces will arrive at this location in a turn or two and they will do most of the heavy lifting.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Jonathan and you can see the battle for Minsk and other forces are pushing east and there's a couple of rivers to cross ahead. That's where the bad guys are I guess.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on in the south right now. The Rumanians are pressing to the east and the Germans are moving south.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the Kiev area and my forces are sneaking up on it from mostly the west along several avenues. The rail is fixed to near here so the supply levels are great and I'm hoping I can get a surround on Kiev soon. I'd like to be able to push the Soviets through the river crossing leaving me with the city. This is a key city because of all the railroads that pass through there. I need those. .

[larryfulkerson]

The follow on forces have caught up and moved on since Minsk is in able hands already. Most of the Axis units in this area are somewhere near Minsk and I'm trying to squeeze the Soviet units into a single hex and kill it. Other forces east of here are leaping over the river and spreading out making slow progress.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on down south. I have one more major river to leap across, the Southern Bug River, before I'll be in the good terrain areas and can let the Panzers shine. Although there's remarkably few Soviet units visible. I'm imaging that there's plenty of Soviet units just out of my sight and they are preparing to ambush my leading units. I'm trying to not let the recon units get too far out, so far out that I can't protect them when they run into something stout.

[larryfulkerson]

I have pulled up adjacent to some Soviet units near Orsha and it looks like there's going to be a front line form there. I have units arriving from the west and I assume there's more Soviet units not visible yet to the east. So it looks like the advance is going to slow down in this area because of the resistance increase. I've inspected this image of the area and I think I need to fly more aircraft in here. The supply levels aren't the greatest I ever seen so we're going to have to stop here and form a line next to the Soviets and rest for a minute.

[larryfulkerson]

I can't remember if I've showcased the Pskov area yet. There are remarkably few Soviet units there and I'm able to go around the roadblocks emplaced there. The broken bridges are more of a nusence. The lack of manpower is slowing down the progress in this area. I need to constitute a reserve made up of Panzer Divisions. At least two of them. More would be better. For sure I'll need a reserve when the front lines form.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Jonathann and this is the Pskov area now and I'm getting across the river and heading east. I haven't decided whether or when to invade Leningrad. It depends on how hard it is to get it. If there's only a light screen then I'll go for it.

[larryfulkerson]

A proper front line is forming starting near Orsha and I imagine that it will extend eventually north and south of here as well. The character of the game is slowly changing. We're going from meeting engagements to the grinding toe-to-toe kind of fighting that is more reminicent of WWI. The kind where arty kills more troops than bullets do. Machine guns, mortars, and grenades become tools of the trade. A reserve becomes a lot more important.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the shape Minsk is in now...just two more small stacks to liquidate and it'll be cleared. I've already started moving people away from the battle. Only a few are needed now. A lot of these troops will become the reserve and will stay here at Minsk resting/training and I'm thinking of putting them on the rail, embarked, in order to make a faster rescue effort. I'm not sure that will treat their proficiency with a lot of love. On the other hand if they are needed and there's not enough rail cap to move them then they are perfectly useless. On the other hand, I can establish Panzer Divisions as a sort of local reserve and distribute them to the front lines at roughly equal distances from each other so they can be a support to each other, each of them on a rail hex. Let me try to do that instead.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening down south. I've gotten across the bug river near the north end and I'm starting to grab and repair the crossings and I'm getting more and more troops on the east side of the bug each turn. I'm not real sure how far behind the Soviets I am. They may have already retreated through the crossings at Z-town and D-town. The biggest problem down here is the decided lack of Panzer Divisions. They are fast movers, can defend themselves in an ambush, and are ideal for the kind of terrain found in the south. It's obvious to me that I need to move some of these foot troops north and replace them with the Panzer divisions. Fortunately the rail isn't far away and the transfers can begin immediately.

[larryfulkerson]

Elements of the 18th Panzer Division have reached the Dneper River and are taking a short unofficial reorganizing break to let the rest of the division to arrive and bridge the river with the engineers and cross the river and keep going. That's the theory. The supply situation isn't so awfully bad yet but might become so on the east side of the Dneper. Somehow I've got to get the bridges repaired, especially those with a rail over them. The Panzers have gotten way out ahead of the leg troops in this area and it will take a turn or two for them to catch up. I haven't seen a lot of Soviet units in this area. Maybe it will stay that way for awhile.

[larryfulkerson]

This is a view of the river just north of Kiev and shows how the Axis units are flowing along the path of least resistance and I'm not sure but this looks like an area where a lot of Soviet units might garrison. I might ought to keep my units closer together in case they need to support each other all of a sudden. I'm finding a lot of these Soviet forts guarding the crossings and they aren't especially easy to push over. I'm actually losing people takeing them down. I've been wondering what would happen if I left them viable in my backfield. They can't move and if I leave them alone they won't hurt me. They DO clog up the rail that goes through there. And it looks like the zone of control it has might extend into the rail that passes horizontally just north of it. I'd hate to get shot at each time I pass by there. I'll just go ahead and kill them and avoid any surprises. Although sometimes surprises are a good thing.

[larryfulkerson]

I got this image from the jump map and it's almost useful. I appologize for how hard it is to see the details. I tried to expand it about 10% but even that isn't all that great. My point was to point out all the red units starting to form a front line everywhere but in the south. My theory is that they are starting to line up along the Dneper starting at Kiev and stretching down to D-town, around the corner, and over to Z-town and for all I know, down into the Crimea. It *IS* the largest Army in the world after all.