Neogodhobo VS TheLysander AAR

[bigbaba1111]

omg. your AGN is at the brink of collapse. you plan the rescue the trapped divisions or retreat to the short defensive line north of lake peipus?

[Neogodhobo]

Southern Front


































The Germans Surrendered at that point.

[Neogodhobo]

ORIGINAL: bigbaba1111
omg. your AGN is at the brink of collapse. you plan the rescue the trapped divisions or retreat to the short defensive line north of lake peipus?

Yes I diverted infantry divisions to the North, instead of the South, but that did nothing, every attack I did on the Soviets would be squashed. I couldnt do anything.

It was total and utter chaos

[Neogodhobo]

Turn 55 stats

[Crackaces]

Without a lot of destruction of the Soviets in turns 1 = 8 ... there is a 8M man Soviet Army in 1942 and game ends ..
If a super Lvov pocket vs something less than HYLA ... Soviet losses interest ..
There has to be something interesting to come of this game ...

[Neogodhobo]

Exactly,I put all the information I could possibly think of, if you guys need anything else just ask.

[MattFL]

Wow, I really don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this. You know what would be really interesting - you two should now switch sides from this point (is that possible?) and have him take over the Germans from here and you the Russians and continue the game.

There are some fundamental issues that you have that go beyond just the understanding of the game, most glaringly that you seem to fail to recognize things that are going to happen when they seem pretty obvious several turns in advance (ie. general strategic grasp of things). The disaster in the north was easily recognizable many turns in advance yet you left your boys at the gates of Leningrad to their doom. Further, until you understand the encirclement concept, it’s going to be an uphill struggle for you. The Germans don’t achieve success by fighting with their panzers or building big stacks with them, they achieve success by avoiding fighting with them where possible and just using them to exploit breakthroughs and cutting off masses of Russians. Sticking 4 Panzer Groups in the noose at the end there was kind of nuts as (from what I can see), with that much power concentrated you should have been able to achieve quite a bit more than getting them all surrounded.

From what i understand this is your first real game as Germans (I think i read that somewhere?). So my hat is off to you for putting together this battle report and laying yourself bare for all to see. It certainly underscores that this game has quite a learning curve.. I’m sure, like me, many folks who play this grew up on board games and have invaded Russia about 300 times in their lives. And even for those of us who have, the burn in period for this particular game is really high. Your report was intriguing because it was so vastly different than most any other posted here, at least that i’ve read. So A+ for an engaging battle report even if not such a competitive game. My recommendation is to go back and play turns 1-10 or so as the Germans against the AI, perfect an opening, identify your rail line strategy, review the command and supply rules, and learn a bit more of the some of the unique intricacies of the game and come back and do another AAR. I think the difference in play will be stunning. You may not win against a seasoned Soviet but you’ll be pushing forward in ‘42.........

[Neogodhobo]

I wish we could, I wish once you resign, the game would save in such sort that you could flip trough pages to see how the game progress, and decide to take over from there against whoever you want.

Yeah my only real experience (excluding this one here) was commanding teams of ground commanders in 4v4 games ( or 5v5 if air commander was included). But I did read about the Eastern Front my whole life so I am also familiar with the theater. I wanted a ground commander role in one of these games to gain experience but that has never happened so I decided to enroll on a 1v1.

I liked the game overall but 1942 was a bit of a stretch to try to continue with everything that had happened. I was expecting to have some hard times, yes, but especially more in 44/45 than early 42. Im very interested in having a match that goes until the end but I came to realize that the other players are smart to end the game sooner rather than later. Im still having difficulties playing while keeping CV in mind, I completely ignored that until someone came in private and pointed out to me the importance of understanding it.

So overall I got lots of work to do still. But it was still fun to play that game.
Im hoping to trying the Soviets in a 1v1, and Iv already started a AI campaign as the Germans, to practice more.

[Sammy5IsAlive]

Firstly and most importantly, I really enjoyed the AAR and appreciate the effort you put into it. I think you deserve a lot of credit for continuing the game and the AAR past the point where it was clear that the game was lost. I hope you take away the enjoyment you were reporting on the last page rather than get demoralised by the last few turns. Whilst the game does have a steep learning curve I think that one of it strengths is that at least up to an intermediate level you really do learn quite quickly just by playing.

In your first post you said that you and you opponent had got through the first 6 turns in a day or two. IMHO if you are new to multiplayer play you will struggle to get away with playing at that pace - particularly as the Axis in the early turns. I don't think you have to play those early turns 'perfectly' in order to win as the Axis but I do think it is fair to say there is not a great deal of margin for error.

There may well be plenty here who feel that to compete you have to move panzer units down south from AGC to perform a 'conventional' Lvov pocket on T1. I'm not sure if I agree to that extent but what is certain is that you at least need to get to the rail-line immediately N. of Chernovtsy to that the SW front forces can't rail their way out. Otherwise you are facing an uphill struggle from the very beginning as the forces there are some of the Soviets' strongest units and tbh the game is balanced on the assumption that they do not escape. You should be able to cut the rail just with the PG1 forces - maybe play out the first turn of the Road to Kiev scenario a couple of times to work out the moves

[Saulust]

ORIGINAL: EwaldvonKleist

@Saulust

See railway path map in the library, link is in signature.
Most good players use something similiar to this, although many start from two points not one as shown on this map.

I personally do not like the Brest-Litovsk way.

In South, rail repair from Rumania is the way to go.

[&o]
Yes I've already seen that RR Map and thanks for the resources EvK, cheers, I absolutely agree with you about Breast-Litovsk and like you said even some not-yet-good players do something similar to this;

I am currently placing my primary northern area route through Kaunus T1 with FBD 2 finishing just SW of the city and FBD 4 finished in Kaunus. While FBD 3 is either just arrived in the border town of Virbalis at the start of this line or sent to start another further northern route itself either using 1 last PRC point at Kretinga or in Taurage where you have it too, at the first red indicated arrow.

I end up one turn slower than yours going through Siauliai-Jelgava-Riga-Cesis-Valmera-Valga-heading to Pskov, but I am fine with that ATM, I even hook up to Tartu before coming back down to Pskov anyway. Not sure this is best overall, but I'm only against the poorly handled AI.

I also send one FBD via Vilnius to Minsk on a central route aiming to support a south flank approach to Moscow basically heading for Tula, so that leaves me one FBD going through Panevezis-Daugavpils-Polotsk (hopefully) heading to Vitebsk/Velikye Luki on the northern Moscow flank to either Rzhev or Peno-Torzhok-Kalinin. However plans are plans, but first need to deal with the obtrusive enemy of course.

One question looking at your T2 yellow RR with FBD 2, from Hex 58, Y 45 and beyond I thought there was a six range limit to RR repair from a connected railhead in the Baltic rail zone and only four in Russian RR zone, with a few notable exceptions around Odessa I think ATM, is the map old or am I confused?

[timmyab]

One question looking at your T2 yellow RR with FBD 2, from Hex 58, Y 45 and beyond I thought there was a six range limit to RR repair from a connected railhead in the Baltic rail zone and only four in Russian RR zone, with a few notable exceptions around Odessa I think ATM, is the map old or am I confused?

The game measures the six hexes as the crow flies so to speak so that rail map is currently accurate. One thing it doesn't include is ideas about how to use the recently added Romanian FBD.

I do something similar to you which puts you about a week behind at Pskov, slightly ahead at Vitebsk and obviously way ahead at Minsk, reaching the city on turn six where you can choose to either head South East through Gomel for an early North South rail link or turn East towards Smolensk.

[HardLuckYetAgain]

ORIGINAL: Sammy5IsAlive


There may well be plenty here who feel that to compete you have to move panzer units down south from AGC to perform a 'conventional' Lvov pocket on T1.

100% don’t need to move your panzers south from the Center to be competitive. I would go so far to say moving Panzers/Moto from the South towards Leningrad and Moscow reaps much better rewards than the South. But I am more than likely alone in my boat but that is ok

[John B.]

Thanks for all the effort you put into this AAR! I have never played the game so I just lurk and read AARs but you put a lot of effort into your game and it shows. Don't get too down about not winning in your first game as the Germans. I look forward to your next AAR.

[Neogodhobo]

The only thing Im down about is that I couldnt continue the game any longer, not winning was expected, but if I could have at least given a good show and fight until 1945, it would have been great. Il keep pushing for a complete game and see what it gives one day.

[John B.]

Don't fret about it. The real Germans got to practice in Poland, France, and Yugoslavia/Greece first and even then they couldn't win (thank goodness!)