D21 Tyrone vs PO

[tyronec]

Am going to have a go at this monster, expect to get some distance in and then discover that I have neglected a fundamental part of the game, but here goes.
Had a good look at T1 before starting and have read Larry's AAR, but difficult to know what to aim for.

My strategy is to go for narrow front attacks and aim to get as far advanced as possible, in particular in the early turns when there is better rail conversion. So limited combats except where they are necessary to advance the rail heads.

This is at the start of T2.

AGN. PG4 are heading for Riga, hope to reach Riga by the end of the turn and cut off Courland. Have railed a couple of Infantry division forwards ready for action this turn. Am doing the early over runs on the border with Pz divisions so they get to advance at full speed and are not held back by the movement time-check.

AGC. Made a couple of pockets, about 45 Divisions. One stack left defending Brest-Livtosk. Have got the Northern rail line cleared so was able to rail a couple of units forwards. A lot of units left behind ready to rail up next turn.

AGS. A couple of small pockets, maybe 10 divisions. Hoping to cut through to Romania in another couple of turns, the PO has burnt the bridge at Chernivtsi so none of those units on the border are going to get out.

Killed just about all of the VVS within range, think it was about 6k.
Have put the Luftwaffe on Interdiction, not really sure how best to use them but I think you don't lose too many aircraft on Interdiction and will see what they are needed for later in the game.

So many units, not sure what to do with them all but expect the line will need filling up after a few turns.
What do you use Corps and Army HQs for, do they give extra supply to units of the same colour just like Div HQs ?

Rail Damage starts at 0% for turn 1 to represent that the Baltic states where on the same gauge as German rail, goes to 25% on turn 2, goes to 75% on turn 3, and to 100% on turn 32.

This is the info about rail damage, am wondering if it is correct or has the scenario been modified ?
Does 25% mean captured rail has a 25% chance of being damaged ?

Are those AG support units Supply or just a unit with a bit of artillery ?

Any advice or suggestions welcome.

[sPzAbt653]

What do you use Corps and Army HQs for, do they give extra supply

Supply boost, and check them for Artillery [Corps and Army assets].

Does 25% mean captured rail has a 25% chance of being damaged ?

Yes, and I don't think anything has changed.

Are those AG support units Supply or just a unit with a bit of artillery ?

If you refer to the units with the round icon, I don't think they have any artillery. They provide a supply boost to units within range and a bigger boost to adjacent units.

[tyronec]

Thanks for the feedback.
There was no rail damage on T2 so am thinking the rail is at 0% for 2 turns, not 1 turn as it says in the script.

Start of T3.

AGN. Taken Riga which was barely defended and isolated the units in Courland.

AGC. Approaching Minsk. Have been reducing some of the pockets using overruns. Not sure how best to deal with them, the PO seems fairly inactive with pocketed units but I don't know how long it will take them to surrender if left on their own.

AGS. Should get that border pocket sealed off this turn.

Not many VVS to bomb this turn, still have the Luftwaffe on Interdiction.

[StuccoFresco]

Check if there is a Soviet supply point in Liepaja, I see a port there.

[tyronec]

Check if there is a Soviet supply point in Liepaja, I see a port there.

There is no naval supply in this game, Soviets just have some ports that have supply to them. Riga, Odessa, Sevastapol, but not Leningrad.
There are some in the Baltic islands, not sure how I can take them out as there is no naval movement, just a shallow water hex to cross.

T04.

AGN. The advance is slowing down, beginning to reduce some of the Courland pocket units.

AGC. Approaching Misnk. The garrison doesn't look too strong so will just assault as want to push the rail line through asap.

AGS. Got the L'Vov pocket closed this turn. Am thinking to push the rail line towards D'town and send some infantry to take Kiev.

Soviets have lots of supply points scattered across the map so isolating pockets is kind of dependent on where those are.

[larryfulkerson]

You can get to the smaller islands by using a Pontoon unit on that shallow water hex. Actually, any unit with ferry engineers would do the same thing. You're off to a really good start. Remember that the Panzer's main strength is movement so try to avoid gunfights with your Panzers and just continue to thrust them forward to clear the path.

[tyronec]

Good to know, and thanks for the maps.

T05

AGN. Pushing towards Pskov

AGC. Take the center of Minsk and the supply source, should be able to clear the way here this turn

AGS. The advance continues. PO broke my L'Vov pocket, first time I have seen many attacks.
Romanians join in so will aim to link up with the AGS spearhead.

Luftwaffe still on Interdiction, not much VVS around.

Am not sure what is going with rail repair, have got most of my repair units up at the railhead and the rest well back behind the front lines. No rails repair that I can see, even the hexes next to the repair units.
This is the line from the scenario:
'Rail Repair will tend to occur automatically nearest 'Bautrupp' units at a maximum rate of 12 per turn...'
Any advice or explanation welcome.

[Zovs]

I love it when folks use the same map graphics mode as I do ... lol

[tyronec]

Start of T6.

AGN got held up taking Pskov but look ready to push on this turn.

AGC clear Minsk. My lead unit got surrounded, looks like I need to have a more solid spearhead in future. Next stop Smolensk in maybe a couple of turns.

AGS. Pocket a few more units with the help of the Romanians. Sending one group to take Kiev while the rest head for D'town.

More rail problems, no repairs at the railhead for the second turn.
Think I need to review my strategy, if the rail advance is going to be minimal for the rest of the game then I should target objectives that are going to be within supply range, which probably means more effort in the center and less in the south.

[tyronec]

Start of T7.

Progress continues OK but have had no rail conversions anywhere the rail heads for 3 turns. I ran it on for a couple of moves and was getting about one hex a turn in total.
Occurred to me that it might be because I had stacked some of the Bautrupp units so tried deleting them all except three and ran the game on for another couple of turns and the conversions started to work.
May have another go but am going to abandon this one.