FULDA 76 MikeJ19 is WP, larry is NATO

[MikeJ19]

I continue to chase his planes with my rockets.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from MikeJ19 and it's T13 and all of a sudden I'm in serious trouble. Mike has deployed some of his airmobile units into my backfield in positions that are cutting off my supply flow and there's no reserve to come to the rescue. I'm going to have to pull back almost everywhere.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what happened to my supply levels. That's not high enough to operate...I'll have to pull everybody back and I'd like to be able to protect the bridges around the Soviet units in my backfield. Mike's INT missions are making moving difficult and I'm loosing equipment to his airstrikes. This is the wrong time to have to move my units right now.

[larryfulkerson]

I've found something I consider wrong. There's no indication on the unit display that their is equipment aboard that has a range, that the biggest range of all the equipment isn't displayed and I would expect an "R8" there at the very least. What do I need to change to get an R8 to show, or is it a bug?

EDIT: I loaded a saved game file into version 4.1.0.23 and it does the same thing.

[MikeJ19]

Looking at Larry's last post reminded me of a frustration I often find of units being in reorg mode all game. I have antiaircraft units deployed on airfields that have been attacked from the air, but the AA unit is still reorging 10 days or more into the war...

Here is the situation near Fulda as I start my moves...

[cathar1244]

Curious as to how the players here are perceiving the air war? Are the ADA units pounding the air units, or vice-versa?

Cheers

[MikeJ19]

I have not seen much response from the ADA units. I'm playing another WWIII game and my ADA units are still reorganizing 6 turns in...

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation part of the way through my turn

[larryfulkerson]

Every time I look at my air fleet they are either red or yellow and most of them are in reorg.
I'm not sure any of them ever fly any longer. The enemy airfield strikes are causing massive
losses for both sides and I've got only a handful of units left and they are all worn down to
half their strength if that. I haven't been paying all that much attention to the ADA units
but yeah, mine are in reorg too. I don't know for how long now. I'll try to pay more attention
to it. It's early in the game yet but I predict that Mike is going to win. He's good.

[MikeJ19]

Forgot to take a screen shot before hitting end turn. Oh well, here is what I can show of the current battle.

[StuccoFresco]

Love your AARs guys. Lots of pictures and explanations.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
Love your AARs guys. Lots of pictures and explanations.

Mike goes above and beyond when he constructs his pictures. And his annotations add a lot to what he's talking about and he's always consise and to the point. You can tell he cares. I wouldn't mind if he posts more often. I love his work.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the supply situation and you can see that it's way too low to sustain continued operations. I'm going to have to give way and back up into the higher supply areas.

[MikeJ19]

Here we are after my moves...

The game is almost done!

[StuccoFresco]

I'm curious: i read Warsaw Pact have better supplies than NATO, how is this possible? Did the airborne troops disrupted NATO supply lines that much? Or are WP supply lines expecially good?

I thought one of the main burdens of the Soviet plans for an offensive was logistic, and that NATO counted on disrupting WP supply lines to slow and ultimately stop the Red's advance.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
I'm curious: i read Warsaw Pact have better supplies than NATO, how is this possible? Did the airborne troops disrupted NATO supply lines that much? Or are WP supply lines expecially good?

Yep, the Soviet units in my backfield have cut the flow of supply to my troops that bad. I'm not sure you can see this from where you're sitting but the supply bubbles are mostly saying 1 or 2 out in the field and that's too low to sustain operations.

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
I thought one of the main burdens of the Soviet plans for an offensive was logistic, and that NATO counted on disrupting WP supply lines to slow and ultimately stop the Red's advance.

Cutting off the flow of supply to the Soviets is a 'must do' if there is to be any hope of stemming the flow headed west. It's important to gain aerial superiority as soon as possible to be able to shoot the enemy airborne units without interference so that they can't complete their mission to get into the enemy backfield. Unfortunately, I left a couple of my more important bridges unguarded and the Soviet units have taken advantage of that. I've run out of unemployed units and can't do much about my situation to improve it.

[StuccoFresco]

That's really bad for NATO. Seems that Mike played its airborne units REALLY well to turn the supply table against you. That could be a turning point. I'll read back the initial turns to understand how did it pull this move so smoothly: i thought NATO air cover/AA could prevent this.

BTW both you guys are amazing at AARs.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
That's really bad for NATO. Seems that Mike played its airborne units REALLY well to turn the supply table against you. That could be a turning point. I'll read back the initial turns to understand how did it pull this move so smoothly: i thought NATO air cover/AA could prevent this.

Mike is one of the better players. He's got an instinct for this. I really like the way he plays. I'd like to hang onto him as an opponent.

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
BTW both you guys are amazing at AARs.

I really like Mike's style too. It's elegent.

[cathar1244]

Unfortunately, I left a couple of my more important bridges unguarded and the Soviet units have taken advantage of that.

Historical note. In the 1980s, "rear area combat operations" were considered likely and the MP battalions, among others, were tasked with engaging rear-area raiders. There were also West German reserve units that would have collectively made their weight felt. This kind of thing is difficult to represent without a big expansion of the scenario's order of battle. Out of fairness, the Soviet side would also have to show the various worker's militias in cities in the east of Europe. The air defense order of battle is another consideration.

Way back when the original version of the Goetterdaemmerung scenario was being developed, the same issue developed because the paras meant to represent von der Heyte's unit could be dropped into the interior of France and raise Cain with Allied logistics. The problem there was that, in reality, the French had tens of infantry regiments on security duties in the French interior, but they weren't present in the scenario at that time.

Cheers

[MikeJ19]

Stucco and Larry,

Thanks for the kind words on the AARs and the game. This has been a fun challenge.

Here is a look at the beginning of my turn. I did a bunch of attacks and then failed the proficiency check - damn.

Larry, when we are done with this one, we will need to find another battle to try!

All the best,