Noobs are Unlocked 4 vs 4 AAR (Soviets Beginner vs. Advanced AAR))

[JoeLewis]

Red Army Lesson Lesson Learned #2 You can disband surrounded front HQs, army HQs, and airbase HQs for free and they reappear on the edge of the map this same turn. Not sure why or how this works, but we were able to disband and rebuild NW Front's command and control structure pretty quickly as a result.

[JoeLewis]

We mistakenly thought that the Dnepr River was not breached, but that was not true and the lack of scouting planes prevented us from reconning that area!

Initial thoughts: We caught a nice break here as your center forces should be able to breakout to the east, AND the Germans did not cross the Dnepr so you can fortify some kind of front line. Focus on the main crossings and building a checkerboard around the landbridge.Vitebsk and Smolensk need to fortify as much as possible. Remember you have the Orel MD as well as the Western Front.
South

[JoeLewis]

End of turn analysis: the center looks a lot better with the stabilization of the Dnepr Line. However, the linear defense needs to transition to a more in-depth defense with secondary and tertiary positions set to reserve and anchored on rivers and towns as the German supply lines resolve. Moscow Aerial MD (dark blue) has also been assigned to this region.

[JoeLewis]

The south looks very good despite the destruction of most of Southwest Front.
Excellent defense-in depth should keep the Germans from making huge gains in any one area. We need to start preparing strong points in our rear areas, esp. at the Crimean Peninsula crossings and the major cities along the Dnepr.
get good infantry divisions along those locations with high construction and engineer values to quickly build fortifications there
don't forget you have units in the Caucasus! I moved some up for you closer to Rostov

[JoeLewis]

South Beginning Map

[JoeLewis]

the opening of the Romanian Front means the German panzers are now only 6 hexes away from a rail supply. That means they are now almost completely full on fuel on Turn 3 and just as dangerous to SW and Southern Front as they were on the last turn. You thus need to be able to checkerboard your way as far back as possible with 2-3 lines of defense that can minimize any type of envelopment.
You have plenty of opportunities to both cut off German spearheads and evacuate many of your best units. I consider the sacrifice of 1-2 Soviet divisions in exchange for cutting off 1-2 Germans panzers to be well worth it. Would you, comrade?

[JoeLewis]

On Turn 2 you can start reassigning your good planes (morale above 40/45, not too many planes damaged) back to your airbases.

I attach the below settings for managing your airpower. Basically, you want level bombers and MIGs in a few long-range bombing bases; then tactical bombers and Yaks/Laggs in a few tactical bases; then good long-range fighters, transports, and fighters SET TO NIGHT for your VVS partisan resupply bases. Unfortunately, your planes suck early in the game and you have to wait eight (?) turns before you can build air squadrons. You can spend manual AP to replace each air squadron one at a time with more modern craft, but the air force is likely not worth the expenditure so early in the game when you need AP to replace poor leaders.

In addition, you have a limited supply of tactical bombers in the early game. We wound up sending to many TACs to the south when we should have concentrated them in the north with the early German emphasis (read: 3 x panzer corps) on Leningrad.

MISTAKE #3 - I left Ground Support on for the first eight turns of the game, which meant our planes participated in A LOT of German attacks and suffered horrendous casualties (upwards of 500-1000 per turn sometimes) in the coming turns. You can turn GS ON when you want to launch a series of coordinated attacks, but please TURN IT OFF in the early game.

[JoeLewis]

End of STAVKA Turn 2 Review

[Seminole]

Why does Western Front have so many corps HQs on the frontline?
Seems like needless manpower losses to let them get displaced. I don't like to pay AP to disband them since it will happen automatically, but I do ship them into the rear and park them in cities so they don't needlessly attrit.

[JoeLewis]

@Seminole, don't you want your Corps HQ close to your units to ensure supplies and maximum leadership benefits? Every bit of generalship you can squeeze out could be decisive at some point in the early turns, no?

[redrum68]

ORIGINAL: JoeLewis
@Seminole, don't you want your Corps HQ close to your units to ensure supplies and maximum leadership benefits? Every bit of generalship you can squeeze out could be decisive at some point in the early turns, no?

Having the Corps HQ close to its units only matters for supply purposes (leader check take no penalties for corp HQ). So only if units will not be pocketed and the corps HQ ends up within 5 hexes of the unit at the start of your next turn will it be within supply range to receive no supply penalties.

Displacing them doesn't matter that much IMO as they don't lose that many men/equipment but you do want to avoid having them pocketed as then you lose all the men/equipment.

[BrianG]

@Seminole, don't you want your Corps HQ close to your units to ensure supplies and maximum leadership benefits? Every bit of generalship you can squeeze out could be decisive at some point in the early turns, no?

many of the early hq corp have very bad leaders and wont help in any situation, plus you want to save the SU attached to them, so you do not want them surrounded on turns 2 and 3.

[JoeLewis]

The large pockets meant another heavy round of casualties. The drain on our manpower in the first ten turns of this game has been brutal due to the loss of so many units in encirclements as well as the German drive on Leningrad.

[JoeLewis]

Northern Front looks manageable. The Pskov pocket can be opened and its units need to attack as much of the rail lines as possible. Defenses need to be established along the Luga River and around Lake Ilmen. Some AP has to go here for fort building.

[JoeLewis]

We choked the TOE to a lot of the units in the Pskov Pocket. This can be useful for units that you know will be sacrificed soon or might get caught in pockets to delay a German advance. Note that while we can hold up the Germans for awhile here, we are unable to build strong rear defenses.

[JoeLewis]

We have a very aggressive Center Front commander who managed to cut off one German panzer division during this turn. I disagreed with the move, because without a +1 attack bonus and this early in the game you will have a hard time keeping a German division pocketed for a full turn AND you risk more of your units to encirclement. Still, I appreciated the aggressiveness of the commander. However, the defense of the Dnepr looked a lot more promising, but with a vulnerability north of the land bridge.

[JoeLewis]

Our Northwest Front commander spotted and filled this vulnerability to protect the center. You have to keep your eye out for the seams between your commanders!

[JoeLewis]

The Southern Fronts withdrew very nicely, but keep an eye on the Kiev defenses because they will be enveloped in a few turns and this northern approach did not look very vulnerable. Soviet Lesson Learned: Always look for the German railheads by hovering over likely rail routes and sseeing if they say "Axis Rail" instead of Damaged Rail 100. You want to get a feel for how much fuel those panzer divisions have.

I did not think we were very vulnerable at Kiev.