2x3+ Team Side Game - BOTH SIDES

[joelmar]

Telemecus:

All mountains should be with you by summer. Crackaces needs to take the lead on moving the boundary south first so he can release your troops to electric slide south too. So depends on how far south he can push or stretch it each turn - but that is the direction. 101 Jgr is temporarily with them but likewise will be permanently with you. Also 5,8 and 28 Jager when they are upgraded to that from during the mud period

This is the start of the build up of 17th "mountain" army which will later play an important role in the Georgian mountains.

Joelmar:

I will probably use 2 corps of 17th as "mountain" corps.

I should have said 3 corps, it's more like it! [:D]

[joelmar]

Joelmar:

Also, that brings me the memory, do you guys think AGS split into A and B might be worth a Rostov offensive sooner than later? Maybe that could be more important for now than going east?

Telemcus:

My suggestion is not to prioritise the army group split. Army group A would have to be further rear to help with rail repair anyway. and we have Jodl with morale 7 in AGS anyway - so some benefit in spreading that all over a big AGs with no penalties. Not to say the army group split is not nice - but not a priority over the manpower centres or units we could capture..

So it was decided to continue my current operation east and south-east of Voroshilovgrad for that time. But I still keep an eye on Rostov, which is confirmed by Tele.

@Telemecus

My impression now is they are going to defend the Caucasus. In many games there seems to be a break out just after you get past Rostov. The expanding front line cannot be easily defended until new units are brought in. So front lines tend to fall back to Krasnodar. If this follows that pattern then expect then to be the really mobile period.

[joelmar]

In Crimea, we plan a small operation to dislodge a Soviet stack from the marshes, later code named "Boxer shorts".

Elite infantry and a few tank divisions coming out from garrison will be affected to it. But it starts with some confusion...

Telemecus:

let us go with XXXXPz then

joelmar:

lol... had I known!

Telemecus:

Nehring might be annoyed for being led away and now back again!
give him a schnapps and tell him to calm down

So that's how easy we settle BIG problems in the 2x3+ Axis team! Nehring was very happy with his schnapps, but I got myself a rhum on the rocks to cheers!

[Telemecus]

The interesting background here was that by dislodging the units circled in red there would no longer be an easy threat of Soviet forces attacking northwards - and so we could leave only Rumanian troops to guard the entrances to the Crimea. We will be posting the 1942 summer plan later, but one part of it was we would NOT be looking to force our way in to the Crimea. More on this to come ...

[joelmar]

@Telemecus:

The interesting background here was that by dislodging the units circled in red there would no longer be an easy threat of Soviet forces attacking northwards - and so we could leave only Rumanian troops to guard the entrances to the Crimea. We will be posting the 1942 summer plan later, but one part of it was we would NOT be looking to force our way in to the Crimea. More on this to come ...

Absolutely, very good comment Tele thanks. We didn't put much importance in taking Crimea at this point. A nice to have, nothing more.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: joelmar

Telemecus:

let us go with XXXXPz then

joelmar:

lol... had I known!

Telemecus:

Nehring might be annoyed for being led away and now back again!
give him a schnapps and tell him to calm down

So that's how easy we settle BIG problems in the 2x3+ Axis team! Nehring was very happy with his schnapps, but I got myself a rhum on the rocks to cheers!

Staff Officers at XXXX Pz HQ say it is all chill now!



Soon they will be less happy with their new colour scheme ...

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: joelmar

Telemecus:

let us go with XXXXPz then

joelmar:

lol... had I known!

Telemecus:

Nehring might be annoyed for being led away and now back again!
give him a schnapps and tell him to calm down

So that's how easy we settle BIG problems in the 2x3+ Axis team! Nehring was very happy with his schnapps, but I got myself a rhum on the rocks to cheers!

Staff Officers at XXXX Pz HQ say it is all chill now!



Soon they will be less happy with their new colour scheme ...

These officers have been watching too much.

[joelmar]

[:D]

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

Perhaps could do a parody with a Marx brothers film - can you do a parody of a parody?

[Crackaces]

I do not see WITE as a simulation, Rather I experience WITE as a very complex game. If you compare WITE to chess I would propose that chess has very simple rules but is very complicated because of the multiple combinations of moves, and outcomes from those moves. However, a bishop, a pawn, a queen .. whatever displaces a piece that piece no matter what is "captured" and taken off the board. WITE adds a level of complexity -- GG die rolls. Thus you have the complications of chess with random outcomes and you have a very complex game. Plus the rules are extremely intricate and complicated in themselves.

There is one other unique aspect about WITE -- imperfect information. With chess you see the board and all the pieces. IN WITE you have a lot of imperfect information that must be managed. This complexity makes predicting moves in advance sometimes a futile effort, but I think the probability of a situation in 1, 3, 5 and/or 10 turns in advance can be reduced to estimated probabilities. This is how I play this very complex game.

With that in mind the Northren commander is alerting me

Xhoel -
Recon is done and turn is up. I spot 8 Cavalry formations in the stretch from the Oka to Voronezh. AGC commander tread carefully. Air group ranges have not been changed. Turn is free for you Aces.

.

How can I neutralize these cavalry units and move using very little air ....?

There are many posting where I exclaim stuffing flak into HQ's and units to address cavarly. [8D]

While the Northren commader advises caution I am thinking ...

Crackaces - They can attack south of Lipetsk .. but I think my salient are safe for now .. I stuffed a couple of HQ’s next to cav units with light flak .. I should extract a toll ..I will say although . if the Soviets do not start building a MLR [main line of resistance] soon behind a river in the rear .. they are going to be sucked into a huge Kessel ..

Telemecus and I think alike ...

Telemecus -

There is a strong hex south east of Ryazan with three units including a guards stacked (117,54) - but around it there are ants. Both along the banks of the Oka and to the south of it there are lots of 1=1s,2s,3s - so it looks like it is almost begging to be surrounded? There is also a traffic jam of units that have been offloaded from rails west of Lipetsk. Also note 329 infantry division is on rails and could be railed to Lipetsk, offloaded and engage in action this turn? Although it is facing quite strong units, there do seem to be weak points north of Lipetsk.

So the friction of command. One commander has a bad experience with Soviet Cav units and they have much trepidation. Another commander in a different game was able to manhandle Soviet cav using brute force … and the game's rules ..

The North does not attack across the Oka .. the Center although ..

[Telemecus]

T39 Axis North

@Xhoel has taken charge of the North during the snow, but now it is planned to be a low priority area. A lot of 4th Panzer army was garrsioned to the North of Moscow in the cities and size four towns for protection in the blizzard. Some motorised units and extra infantry were brought in there to stem the Soviet Operation Sleeping Snake offensive in the blizzard. They are slated for redeployment south. But in v1.11.03 rail cap is fixed and in short supply - the motorised units in the rear are taking priority for railing. So for now it is a case of use it where it is currently at.

The same ground that was taken in the planned Soviet blizzard offensive south of Lake Rybinsk is now weakly held and unfortified. So North lunges straight back in to the ground it had lost. Only a lone tank brigade blunts the attack of SS Totenkopf from reaching the lake. But if we can get to Lake Rybinsk we will have reversed Soviet strategic gains in the north and left their forces in the area split again, with those north of Lake Rybinsk the wrong side of some marshes and far from rail and supply.



The downside is that the time to pull units back for refit has to be postponed - for the Finns who had suffered badly at the start of blizzard this is particularly tough

Xhoel, Axis North Commander
I’m all for rotating them and getting their morale and exp up but I would prefer to move the unit piecemeal so that you save all the headaches. However due to the offensive that I just launched I need to stretch certain sectors to the max so that I can concentrate my units on 1 Schwerpunkt. Therefore I would advise rotating it at the end of the snow turns, during mud.

[Telemecus]

T39 Axis Air

Xhoel, Axis Air Commander
Reshuffled air groups and air bases around so that they can better support the offensive. Most fighter groups are set on unlimited range so they can cover forward ground units. Bombers are set to medium range to conduct interdiction. GS is off and I don't think it will be needed.

[Telemecus]

And now the building of German army 2.0 begins. We now know for sure there are enough arms points banked to build back the rifle squad manpower. So the constraint of arms points is gone for sure and instead manpower will become the constraint. So the choked maximum ToEs of artillery and other arms point based support units are coming off (but not for ones needing vehicles). We also begin a rotation of units between the front and in rear areas on refit with the objective of getting all back to national morale by end of mud. The infantry units returning from the Tambov pocket though have experience in the 30s making them worse than Rumanian infantry divisions. They are split to regiments and sent to garrison duty on refit - it will be many turns before they will build experience levels to a useable level (in v1.11.03). The consequence of the Tambov pockets during blizzard is that we will be using some German infantry divisions as garrison troops. And more Rumanian infantry divisions are on the front line.

[joelmar]

And so ends Axis turn 39. We are like the duck, what we see on the surface seems calm, but everything under the water line is in movement preparing for the coming sunshine... and now on to our Soviet opponents!

[Colbert]

ORIGINAL: Beria

I am a bit surprised to find people are telling me that I am playing another team game with someone I had never known or heard of before fb.asp?m=4628076 . Coincidentally along with everyone else who had asked to join the 2x3+ team game. And then get a direct message telling me the game I am actually playing does not exist from that same person I have never known.



Turns out the other team is only one person!

That's funny because I had exactly the same message from the same person when I asked to join the 2by3+ game. I guess everyone did.

And the even funnier thing is it was the second time they did to me. They have been doing this for years. Perhaps they forgot the first time when I wanted to join the 9PM team game. And the guy who deleted all the dropboxes from the team games found someone to invite him to the discord channels to cause trouble. He would not speak to the guys who played the team games before, but wanted to pretend to everyone else nothing had happened. And then after 3 weeks of everyone not starting the game waiting for him to talk he started mouthing off. And then the kid and his friend started messaging everyone not to play with the team game guys but in their team game they said they were going to start up also called 9PM. So the team game changed its name to 10PM. And then they started telling everyone they were the 10PM game. Needless to say those who joined them then found out there was no game, it was just a way to stop anyone playing in the team games.

So basically it works like this

i) If they are playing in your game they will delete all the saves of the game to make sure no one can play
ii) If they cannot stop your game, they will then troll you every time you post you want to start a new game
iii) If they cannot stop you starting a new game, they will send messages to everyone to not play with you
iv) If they cannot stop others playing with you, then they will say they are running a game with the same name to confuse everyone
v) If you change the name of your game, they will change the game they say they are running to the same one as you again
vi) If that does not work then they will post in these forums that they were all along in your game and never left
vii) And if that does not work then they say they are making an AAR of the game and it is not yours

It is always a pretense that they have some other reason. But I can see for years it is only trying to stop one group of people playing their own games. Their pleasure is only to stop yours. Sadly for this team game where you want to recruit new players that is always a weakness for them to troll. All they have to do is make it sour enough to spoil it for everyone. And having done this for so long it is clinical. I am glad Slitherine have done one ban of them, but I can see it is continuing and is not enough.

I salute you for having kept this game going in spite of this. You have more resolution than I did. Best of luck.

[Beria]

T39 Soviet Look Back on Axis Turn

Der_Panzer, Soviet North Commander
Tankoffensiv in the north near yaroslavl.
Tankoffensiv near Tambov.
Tankoffensiv near Voroshilovgrad.

They wont want to get caught out exposed in mud so i think they are letting each command try to destroy some units before regrouping in the mud for summer. They will try to destroy our army first and then go for the vps. Retreat for snow where threatened may be best

It looks like each commander has a panzer army, and one is in reserve somewhere ready to spring an encirclement if the opportunity presents itself or waiting for summer. I am guessing it's in the Ryazan area, what do you guys think? As for the Northern push, Vologda is the real target, hugging those two ss mot divisions who could bolt up through the frozen marsh is important. The center push if combined with a reserve panzer army could be dangerous. I am for a screened retreat there. the southern push could be stalled by pushing that panzer division back over the river, but it's risky. It's gonna cost 29 ap to assign air command to crimea front, if crimea front wants to stand and fight, it's needed now, if it's going to retreat it could wait.

sil01, Soviet Centre Commander
Top secret! Panzer recon turn 39. see attached spreadsheet

This is great info, so where is 2 pz group hiding? I am thinking if the 2pz army doesn't appear next week, we should just conserve the recon until after mud

If they cut your only railine, your whole front is effectively out and then they send the panzers to crush alexey's front. that's their plan i believe. Know thy enemy. The ss mot are the most dangerous german units in the game. highest morale and movement and easy to keep fueled up with air supply. its very telling that they are up north. They don't have to destroy your front, only have to render it ineffective so that they can concentrate on the deep center for the vp win. Time is really our only effective weapon at this stage. Hug those ss and shoot down their transports will help alot

See attached spreadsheet for the our recon of the enemy Panzers

[Telemecus]

This is great info, so where is 2 pz group hiding? I am thinking if the 2pz army doesn't appear next week, we should just conserve the recon until after mud

Not so much hiding as we just do not have enough rail cap to get all motorised to the front lines yet!!! [:D]

[Beria]

T039 Soviet North

Start of the turn we look at the soft factor levels of the tanks advancing on Yaroslavl and Lake Rybinsk. They are all dangerously green.

Screenshot from start of turn 39

[joelmar]

ORIGINAL: Beria

They wont want to get caught out exposed in mud so i think they are letting each command try to destroy some units before regrouping in the mud for summer. They will try to destroy our army first and then go for the vps. Retreat for snow where threatened may be best

Funny that Soviet team perception that the Axis team follows orders from Supreme Commander, when in fact even if we discuss a lot tactics and strategies between us and have very good collaboration, in the end each of us have full power of decision about what we do on our own fronts!

That said, the comment is still spot on for what our aims were.

[Beria]

T039 Soviet North: Leningrad Front

The concentration of units in the far north is being undone. The Leningrad front is being stretched downwards.