Heading East into the Soviet Union

[king171717]

ORIGINAL: carlkay58

I am increasing the priority in Warsaw to 4 when Warsaw had only 1K freight. The next turn it had 45K freight so I decrease the priority to 1. The next turn Warsaw is down to 5K freight. What I did was grab a lot of freight in Warsaw - probably from the National Supply Source in Berlin - then push it eastwards so the depots to the east did not have to go to Berlin to get the freight. Less distance = more freight moved. I am experimenting on how to get large amounts of freight from Berlin to the front lines without over stressing my rail lines or my trucks. I THINK its working like I planned but I am still not sure.

The full idea is to be able to have large railyard depots 'pulse' the freight in large chunks down the line. The trick is how far apart these railyards are and how effective it may be. This is something that is not as important in 41 but could become vital in 42 when you are trying to supply the offensive in the Caucasus as the Axis or when the Soviets start their offensive drives into Rumania, Poland, Germany, and Hungary.

The idea is still in the baby stages but I figured I would include the stats as I play around with it some more in a true game situation.

very interesting, good to know

[carlkay58]

T45 Soviet Attacks:

The Soviets attack 16th Army four times resulting in 1 Rout and 3 Retreats.

[carlkay58]

T45 Supply Net North:

Good supply and only the Leningrad area is still under the rain clouds but heavy mud everywhere. This will give me a turn or two with 3rd PA moving into position.

[carlkay58]

T45 Supply Net South:

Good supply and everywhere with clear skies but mud on the ground.

[carlkay58]

T45 Air Phase:

I assign AGC's AOGs to LW Kdo East. I then run RECON directives for AGC and AGS. I keep the AGN LW on the ground in the rain.

[carlkay58]

T45 Freight:

It is fantastic to see that the freight is +9K.

[carlkay58]

T45 Production:

I look at this screen to see that the Supplies in Units, Ammo in Units, and Fuel in Units are all over optimal (in the parenthesis). The Vehicles in Units is pretty close at only -13K. That is great compared to recent turns. I am happy to see that the repair pool is down to 94K.

[carlkay58]

T45 AGN:

The 3rd PA is off the trains now and ready to move up next turn.

[carlkay58]

T45 AGC:

A few attacks by the 2nd and 4th Armies gain a hex or two. Warsaw is at priority 2 and has 5K freight so I increase it to 4. Minsk is priority 4 with 8K so I make it a 1. Smolensk is priority 2 with no freight so I make it a 4. The final link in the chain is Vyazma steady at priority 4 with 1.8K. It does look as though there are 'pulses' of freight going down the line but whether or not it is helping a lot I am not sure.

[carlkay58]

T45 AGS:

My offensive to cut off the Soviets between the Dnepr River and Sea of Azov is started. While I do not complete the pocket there are eight Soviet divisions in trouble near Dnepropetrovsk. I now wish I had a full Panzer Army in the Kerch area although I have no idea how I would supply them.

[carlkay58]

T45 Soviet Garrison:

This is sitting at 135% and the Smolensk Partisan event is no longer in effect so hopefully the partisans will behave themselves.

[carlkay58]

T45 OOB:

The Soviets are currently at 5.6M men. I will hopefully be carving into that as soon as possible. I hope that large pockets at Leningrad and between the Dnepr and the Sea of Azov will help lower that amount before the Soviets really start to steamroll me.

[carlkay58]

T45 Ground Losses:

I have ground down the Soviets by 4.6M men. Not nearly enough as noted in the last post.

[carlkay58]

T45 Air Losses:

The LW still owns the skies where they can reach. The Soviets lost 505 aircraft to air combat this turn against the Axis loss of 39. It would be nice to keep this loss rate up.

[carlkay58]

T45 VPs:

I have some real work to do. I need 24 VPs in order to avoid losing the war on 1-Oct-42. I need 199 VPs to win the war by 1-Jan-43, preferably by 1-Oct-42. The pressure is on. If Guderian can live up to his claims and he takes Moscow then there is a decent chance to do this.

[carlkay58]

T45 Files:

[carlkay58]

I am officially stopping this AAR at this point. A new version has been released for play testing that includes some changes that will only take place when starting a new game and several changes that affect the early war that need to be tested. I will start a new AAR covering the new game in much the same format. I will also be a bit more detailed about my turn 1 movements and philosophy to help Axis players get a good handle on the early game. I will also be using the AI Air Assist in that game as there are some changes that need testing there. Feel free to download the included files and continue on to see if Guderain's master plan will work.

[Jango32]

A shame. Although it must be said, this was a great AAR to go through.

[carlkay58]

Thank you.

[Richard III]

It was an inspiration to buy the Game and start playing.