FITE2 Karsten Axis, larry Soviets, 04:29 3/5/2019

[larryfulkerson]

I've started building some light screens in the path of the moving Axis units in an effort to stem the flow of enemy units. These screens aren't going to hold the Axis units back for very long and I predict that they will defeat all my roadblocks and strongpoints very quickly and zoom ahead. I've got an MLR started at Narva, the point at the bottleneck leading to Leningrad. I'm wondering what kind of supply situation the Axis side has. It's probably pretty good around Riga but probably drops off sharply at the river's edge.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on in the south right now. The Axis forces are pushing and shoving and clearing out the backfield and Karsten has moved his aircraft forward and he's in full attack mode. I've been backing up slowly and busting bridges and leaving behind some roadblocks and strong points and I'm losing units by the handful. My light screens aren't going to hold them back for very long. I'm going to have to start building an MLR along the river even though it's way early for that because I have about a dozen divisions that aren't ready for combat yet that I can move to Kiev and let them refit there. I've got about half the rail cap I need to move everybody that can move by rail. There's lots of brushfires that I need to pay some attention to and lots of weak spots that scream out for reinforcement. This is the first time that I've tried defending forward and I have to admit it's more exciting than just running for the hills. As soon as I have some available combat units I have to debate with myself about where to send them because of the different places that need somebody right now. I'm giving priority to the path of the Axis advance toward Moscow.

[Cfant]

May we see your losses so far?

[Ammann]

[center]Turn 3 29 June 1941
[/center]

The air combat ratio is this round at 34 to 1.
With 13 lost machines, we were able to destroy or damage 447 enemy aircraft.



Our Bridge Pioneers make 4 bridges over the Dvina, so our formations can cross the river relatively unhindered and advance further.
What surprised me is the fact that Larry moved by rail transport troops in this region .... in this case, it is an infantry division of the 19 Russian Corps.
This is actually a waste because it does not work anyway.



The first units reach the positions in front of Minsk, but they are not fighting here yet.
Our armored formations will turn south and cut off the city from supplies.



First battles run along the Stalin line, we hope to break through here relatively quickly.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Cfant

May we see your losses so far?

Here's some of the losses. There's a boat-load of different types of equipment that isn't in play yet and have 0 losses so far. I was wondering if I should cut them out of the picture to make it a lot shorter but that seemed like too much work all of a sudden. And I'm retired, I'm alergic to work. You should see my kitchen floor. You'd think I'd get busy and mop that bad boy one of these days. Might make me feel better about myself. Nah, I'm too busy playing. I'm on a schedule. There's moves to do.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T4 front lines down in the south. Karsten is surrounding my guys and killing them. They will be gone soon and then it will be up to my next MLR east at the next river. I would have thought that the rough terrain north of the mountains would help my defense but so far it's not helping so much. I'm playing the Axis side in a different game but I seem to remember having adequate supply levels this far south and it doesn't seem to be a contingency yet. My aircraft are getting chewed up pretty good. I've been moving the fresh aircraft into the AO's and in one turn they get chewed up so badly that I have to move them to safety and let them refit again. They spend most of their time in the hanger getting worked on. About 1/3 of the fleet is now being cannabalized for parts.

[gliz2]

Seems like Karsten is one hell of a skilled opponent.
He is operating quite fast. I wouldn't meet him heads on as he seems to have mastered the opening turns for ze Germans. I would try delaying tactics (using chokeholds to impact German logistics) till mid July when more Soviet troops become avaialable and some MLRs could be set up.

I wouldn't worry too much about Besarabia front. It's as much doomed as Baltic front. The second river is the key. If you can hold German advance for few turns there you should be able to set up roughed defences around Kiev and Odessa.

Just have in mind that some German players invade Crimea from sea in mid July and some Soviet players invade Romania from sea in the same period

I thought you were following my thread on how to capture Riga in T2/T3. There should be no surprises about it Larry.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the area just north of the marshes and Minsk is on the right side of the image and you can see that the Axis forces are invading and will soon own all that real estate. All my roadblocks are being bypassed to be handled by follow on forces and they were following very close behind the recon units and the battlefield has become a battle in depth and there's lots of units moving here and there. Karsten is keeping his fighters close to the front in opposition to mine when mine are deployed. Most of mine are resting, refiting.
I've got about a dozen divisions that are refitting all over the map and I'm thinking of railing them to Moscow to start another MLR real quick. The rail cap is 6828/10000 and that won't rail very much. Maybe I should rail the deep red ones, they would weigh less and therefore take less of the rail cap to move.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm right in the middle of doing my moves for T4 and I thought I'd zoom out and do a cut and paste of the entire thing so show you what it looks like so far.

[larryfulkerson]

My R&D department has been working on a Jet Heavy Bomber and it looks like they have unveiled it just this turn. Although the aircraft meets none of it's contract specifications, so it looks like they are back to the drawing board on this one.

[Lobster]

Wow. A Tu-95. Your R&D department has a time machine. [:D]

Good job using the TB-3 name to disguise it.

[larryfulkerson]

We're also working on a torpedo that uses GPS to find it's targets. They tell me it's doable with off-the-shelf components:Barrage balloons close to the front lines carrying radio beacons, stationed far apart. The farther apart the better. And one fine radio receiver, mobile, air-transportable, frequency-hopping-enabled, encrypted mode available, in field testing as we speak. They tell me that they can locate the position of the transmitter within about 3 miles. Depending on the weather. But the batteries on the radio becons carried by the barrage ballons run down after about 24 hours or so. There's talk about charging those batteries back up using microwaves. The problem is that the microwave energy transmitted hits the entire target facing side surface area and in addition to hitting the antennas they also coat the outter surface of the facing side of the balloon and heat it up. It can get only so hot before it fails. They are talking about decreasing the output power of the microwave transmitter, aim it better, tweak the electronics to avoid the sideband frequencies, and just run it twice as long as before. Hell, run it constantly. This weapon support system has been explained to the experts on the commissioning board and they predicted that the balloons would be shot down before the end of the first day they deploy. Depending on where they deploy. They can be stationed deep in the friendly country with the sacrifice of about 50% of it's accuracy. Bullseye plus or minus 12 miles.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Minsk area and you can see the German units taking over and kicking ass and taking names. Most of these Soviet soldiers will soon be POW's and will be marching west headed for Auschwitz. One in five will survive the war.

[Ammann]

Turn 4 ..... 2 July 1942


Even in the far north, our units can finally advance.
However, we have only 2 divisions available here and with proper use of the troops available to him here it would be almost impossible for us to take Murmansk.
We must lead our units further south to the north in order to bring him distress.



Here I once made a picture of a game where I play the Russians.
It looks pretty good that the German with its split units is likely to have very little chance of success.



The Finns are now coming to their use.
First, the border troops of the Russians are surrounded.





Meanwhile, the armored units of Army Group North move forward.
The city center of Riga could already be occupied by the 311th Infantry Regiment of the 217th Infantry Division .... also the rest of the city will soon be able to be occupied.



Minsk is included and should fall soon .... however the condition of our units makes us a little bit worried.



An army division crosses the Pripet marshes and marches towards the Dnieper River ...... there will most likely be Larry's first main battle line



The Stalin line is broken ..... the Russian troops should be encircled and then destroyed.
As you can see, I have decided to use all the Waffen SS units here in the south.
The assault on Kiev and the crossing of the Dnieper will be the first big challenge.



Together with German units, our Romanian allies cross the Prut.
The Russian border troops are already partially enclosed.



The air combat ratio for Turn 4 is 432 Russian to 53 German, which is about 8 to 1.

[larryfulkerson]

New moves from Karsten. Look at the number of attacks he had during
his turn. My goodness, I don't think I've ever seen that many attacks in one turn. I'm
beginning to think that I'm up against one of the better players.

[Ammann]

Hey Larry ....

This is for me still a normal starting round ........ 190 fights are not really a rarity ...... but I have to admit that I play Toaw many years and so have gained my experience ... .but I play for fun and not because I want to win

greetings

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Ammann

Hey Larry ....

This is for me still a normal starting round ........ 190 fights are not really a rarity ...... but I have to admit that I play Toaw many years and so have gained my experience ... .but I play for fun and not because I want to win

greetings

Wow. That sounds super cool.

This is the face of war at Minsk right now. The Axis units have surrounded and isolated the Soviet defenders and it looks like it won't be long before they own the city. The Axis advance has passed Minsk and is in the process of leaping over the next river to the east already.

[EwaldvonKleist]

Is the AAR canceled?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: EwaldvonKleist
Is the AAR canceled?

I suppose some kind of real life issue came up or something.
It looks like the game has been abandoned.

[Lobster]

That is fairly common with the huge scenarios. It's difficult finding someone who realizes the time commitment when they take them on. I believe it overwhelms them.