Bish Bash Boche - A 41 GC JB (A) & Veterin (S)

[jasonbroomer]

T41 Axis - Centre

Surprisingly Vet did not pick up on the danger that his forward troops sitting in the marsh in front of Smolensk were in. Perhaps he underestimated the extent of my mobile assets in the area, even without the panzers. Anyway we seize the opportunity. Decent supply and a lack of prior movement has allowed the 45th ID to insert itself nicely.

T41 AGC the plan is revealed.png (3.22 MiB) Viewed 1230 times

That's four divisions hopefully in the bag, but to the right of SS Viking, there is a nasty looking couple of Cavalry corps. These are quite powerful and I'm sure Vet won't be using them for defensive operations. Thankfully we still have some spam motorised infantry regiments on hand, a plan suddenly comes to mind:

T41 AGCspanked.png (3.22 MiB) Viewed 1230 times

So we encircle the cavalry corps, this won't hold till next turn so we attack immediately. If we can get a victory, a rout is guaranteed. In fact Model does a wonderful job and kills an unbelievable 29,000 Perhaps we got lucky, but even for surrounded units I don't recall seeing a casualty loss that great before, especially for cavalry unit. Ouch, that must smart. Sorry Vet!

[jasonbroomer]

T41 Axis AGS

Soviet devilment cost me dearly last turn. Spotting a air resupply(?), Vet launches a deep cavalry raid into one of my forward airbases at Poltava.

T41 AGS riad losses me 30 planes on ground.png (2.01 MiB) Viewed 1225 times

The fate of the Romanian cavalry division concerns me not one jot. However, the air base was been set up for forward operations. I had just brought up 30 stukas from reserve - thus had no air miles left. Overrunning them kills them on the spot. Ouch! To add insult to injury, the level 2 rail depot, which was originally captured with little damage has now been trashed. Time for vengeance!

Bish -

T41 AGS attck 1 failed due to reserve.png (2.84 MiB) Viewed 1225 times

Oh a pesky reserve activation. Bollocks! Let's try again - bish:

T41 AGS attck 2.png (1.68 MiB) Viewed 1225 times

That's more like it. Bash -

T41 AGS attck 3 goes through despite activation.png (1.9 MiB) Viewed 1225 times

That one got through even with the reserve activation

[jasonbroomer]

T41 Axis AGS cont


Bosh

T41 AGS attck 4 sucessful.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 1222 times

That's 3 very successful attacks. Not a bad turn considering the lack of panzers

T41 losses.png (407.57 KiB) Viewed 1222 times

I must keep my foot on the throat of the Soviet manpower situation else his army will overwhelm me. I have several turns of mud coming, when he will be able to replenish at will along with another bounty from Stalin at the beginning of May.

I have a mountain to climb

[Veterin]

T41 - Soviet Perspective

1

1.png (2.06 MiB) Viewed 1193 times

This is a view at the start of my turn. I’m relatively happy with the progress around Novgorod. Two swamp hexes with lvl 3 forts were abandoned by JB this turn to avoid the risk of encirclement. This allows me to advance up and rest a few more units for the next leg of this offensive. I have a lot of lower TOE units in the area and I’m pretty much drained of CPP so the intensity in this sector will be lower over the next few turns.

2

2.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 1193 times

Only 1 attack in the area given how run down my forces are (both TOE and CPP). I wanted to take this hex due to the lvl 2 airports and it’s sitting on a North/South rail line that would be supplying the Axis frontline. A deposit was taken following this battle too.

3

3.png (2.29 MiB) Viewed 1193 times

End of turn set-up. Focus on moving into ground vacated by axis forces as well as pulling back my various guard units off the frontline to refit + CPP. Next turn this will give me flexibility to potentially attack again or hold for another few turns to rebuild strength.

4

4.png (2.57 MiB) Viewed 1193 times

I forgot to take a screenshot at the very start of my turn but I have only moved the blue and brown armies north of Smolensk so far. The brown army has found a gap in the defensive line so I’ve moved all my units forward to put pressure from the north. JB has done a really good manoeuvre last turn and isolated ~80k of troops here. I should be able to free the 3 closest to my line but the 4 in the main pocket are likely lost. He’s move weak regimented motorised units as a to the front as a sacrificial lamb to eat up my CPP and cause delays making it even harder to open the pocket. Well played Sir!

[Veterin]

T41 - Soviet Perspective

5

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I wasn’t expected this hex to fall so easily but it did and this enabled JB to close the pocket. Nicely done on surrounding this unit for extra rout damage. Sure did put a dint in my manpower!

6

6.png (2.43 MiB) Viewed 1191 times

A very violent turn around Smolensk. I have a lot of my guard units here and I was able free some of my encircled units and hit a few other axis units however I won’t be able to open the pocket. I’ve used a lot of my firepower just getting to the pocket and there is still a number of triple stacked hex’s blocking those units. Whilst there are a lot of Soviet attacks on screen, a lot of them were on motorised divisions/regiment units which were hit multiple times as they retreated. The motorised units that were hit a number of times is the 18=18 CV stack sitting just south of Durovo.

Soviet losses from these attacks were ~20k manpower and 400 guns against Axis 4k manpower and 240 guns (good odds as far as Soviets go!). The skies were less favourable with 330 aircraft lost against 60 from Axis.

On another note, look at that sweet wall of guard units!

7

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This attack on the southern end of the front at least allowed me to free 3 of my encircled divisions at least.

8

8.png (1.79 MiB) Viewed 1191 times

In the south, Axis forces continue to advance to the gates of Kharkov by routing most of my front line. Just west of the Axis advance, there was a weakened motorised regiment and Hungarian armoured division so I attack them twice causing the Hungarians to rout.

[Veterin]

T41 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

9

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This was the last attack I made against the western flank of the Axis advance before I pull back. I don’t want the Axis spearhead that’s heading towards Sumy to turn east and encircle these units. Heavy VSS losses as per usual.

I have a lot of unready units in the Western front following all the axis attacks last turn so I merge a number of these divisions to lower my manpower replenishment requirements. I simply don’t have the manpower to fill them right now.

10

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Despite being outgunned in this area, I mount an attack on the eastern axis flank as I am able to surround the stack from 3 hexes (9 divisions attacking). Despite heavy losses, these kill/death ratio are much better than what I’d get on defence.

Lastly, I spend a lot of time going through my units seeing which ones need refitting and which ones don’t. I have scares manpower so I need to plan accordingly. Looking forward to the heavy mud season to start rebuilding a manpower pool.

[Hardradi]

The road to Moscow is thick with guard divisions, bloated like bluebottles swarming over the carcass of a still born lamb on a warm spring's day.

Both sides are trading some hard blows. Looking forward to more.

[Veterin]

The road to Moscow is thick with guard divisions, bloated like bluebottles swarming over the carcass of a still born lamb on a warm spring's day.

Both sides are trading some hard blows. Looking forward to more.

Good to hear you're enjoying it. This is my first game past Mar 1942 and i must say it's been a lot of fun so far.

I feel like both Jason and I have a good understanding of the game mechanics so the game has really been around the strategy side of things rather than knowledge/experience in the base mechanics.

[jasonbroomer]

The road to Moscow is thick with guard divisions, bloated like bluebottles swarming over the carcass of a still born lamb on a warm spring's day.

Both sides are trading some hard blows. Looking forward to more.

Good to hear you're enjoying it. This is my first game past Mar 1942 and i must say it's been a lot of fun so far.

I feel like both Jason and I have a good understanding of the game mechanics so the game has really been around the strategy side of things rather than knowledge/experience in the base mechanics.

Yes, this is certainly a slogfest with Vet playing a skilful game forcing me to bludgeon my way forward much of the time. Rarely do I get the opportunity for any elegant strategic manoeuvre - though one is coming up.

Although we have a good understanding of the mechanics, I for one continue to uncover stuff that I didn't know. I continue to experiment with my tactics, working out the best approach. This is a game system that keeps giving. Kudos to the developers.

[jasonbroomer]

T42 Axis

Not too much to report as we bring up our panzer divisions to their desired, and for the moment secret, locations. Our short term objective remains to get Kharkov under control before the mud arrives. Nevertheless we do identify an opportunity for AGS

This looks a fairly innocuous position for the Soviets

T42 AGS an opportunity.png (3.11 MiB) Viewed 1007 times

However, I see the possibility of a herding and encirclement

T42 AGS an opportunity explained.png (3.11 MiB) Viewed 1007 times

1. We need to remove the Soviet units marked 1, preferably routing them.
2. This is important we need to move the 25th and 10th MD away from point A, as this is where we wish to 'guide' the 3 Soviet divisions (marked as 4)
3. Then we need to make use of our allies speed to bring them up to cut off alternative retreat routes of our victims
4. This is the delicate bit, is to hit the 3 victims just hard enough to retreat them to point A. Any units attacking these divisions cannot be placed adjacent to point A. All hexes adjacent to point A must be kept free of Axis units

As an aside, the conventional thinking is that the Axis minor allies are just useless supply hogs and should be restricted to supply priority 1 at most. I agree, if you give them no supply, they are useless and not worth the supply you give them. I, when I can, like to feed them well. This gives them MPs and in situations such as this, the Hungarian armour and Rom cavalry can perform the role of a valuable German MD regiment. Just don't expect the allies to fight but if they get hit they will die, well so what?

Most of my allies are in the garrison TB, those that I have on the map have been incredibly useful on the map. I wish I had more of them and that they were allowed further north. I will reveal more tactics to use the allies once the spring mud arrives and the rains are over.

[jasonbroomer]

T41 Axis cont

So let's see how the master plan unfolds. Step 1 is easily done though we realise that we don't have to remove that Soviet triple stack headed by that mountain division at this stage. The manoeuvring bits of steps 2&3 are easy but important.

T42 AGS step 2.png (2.88 MiB) Viewed 997 times

We tickle the 40th Rifle into a retreat, and we keep the attacking 239th ID deliberately out of command range to ensure a retreat result. We send in a further attack against the other 2 divisions

T42 AGS step 3 too soft.png (2.45 MiB) Viewed 997 times

Rats, too soft, we will have to try again

T42 AGS step 3 blast one got away.png (2.83 MiB) Viewed 997 times

One routs away, but we have two in a newly engineered pocket.

[jasonbroomer]

T42 Axis cont

At this stage we reassess the situation and realise that we don't have the resources to keep the pocket sealed and make progress to Kharkov. So let's wallop the cut off units with some new panzers, this should be fun...

T42 AGS step 4 disappointing result.png (2.51 MiB) Viewed 991 times

How disappointing, is something wrong with our panzers? If we had positioned troops around the Soviets, rather than just taking control of those hexes, perhaps the retreat attrition might have been greater. Retreat losses depend upon luck, the motorisation level of the Soviets and their experience.

We need to raise our morale, let's send some panzers to cause mischief on the road to Kharkov.

T42 AGS exercising the panzers on a 2nd hit.png (2.75 MiB) Viewed 991 times

Ah, that's better!

[Veterin]

T42 - Soviet Perspective


A difficult turn but I’ll cover that off shortly.

1

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2

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To start off with I planned ahead for the TB requirement changes based on the manual and was unpleasantly surprised to find out actual TB requirements in game differ. I am now short in the Northern front at a time I can least afford to fill it. I’ve sent 5 rifle divisions over from Far East to Northern front but it will take 4 turns to get there during the meantime I’m sure I’ll lose a few VPs.

3

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This was an oversight on my end but I didn’t plan ahead for the new Army Command Point limits that took effect this turn. Most Soviet Army HQs are combined arms which has 18 CP, down from 21 CP so a lot of my units this turn are over the command limit. This has adverse effects on combat, supply and CPP. I have gone and corrected this now but it was an unforced error.

4

4.png (192.13 KiB) Viewed 978 times

A large loss turn of which 107k manpower related to the axis ground phase.

[Veterin]

T42 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

5

5.png (2.56 MiB) Viewed 977 times

This is a punishing turn as 45k manpower in 4 divisions were eliminated as they were encircled the previous turn. The Axis motorised elements have shifted further north than expected and have isolated a cavalry corps. There is ~25k of manpower in that cavalry corps + rifle brigades so I will try and save it if I can.

6

6.png (922.98 KiB) Viewed 977 times

I just managed to concentrate enough forces to free up my cavalry corps. I had several units on reserve activation for the offensive but only 1 joined. I’m not out of the woods yet (literally) as my cavalry corps can only move 1 hex due to ZOC. I need to be careful where I place my units this turn to prevent an even larger pocket next turn.

7

7.png (1.57 MiB) Viewed 977 times

I had already started moving some armies before this screenshot but the number of Axis attacks in the area gives you an idea of what transpired here last turn! I have pulled almost 2 full armies with of divisions back to Belgorod for refitting. I need to move some other armies into the newly created gap too. But first…..

[Veterin]

T42 - Soviet Perspective Cont...

8

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9

9.png (665.56 KiB) Viewed 974 times

A little payback. No way near as damaging as Axis attacks on me but 2k manpower, 100 guns and removing CPP from 4 German infantry divisions helps ease some of the pain.

10

10.png (2.51 MiB) Viewed 974 times

I pull back to the Sumy/Belgorod line. I am hoping I can hold this line before the heavy mud sets in so it gives me a few extra turns to boost my defences here. I can see the first Panzers on the frontline so far this year a few hexes south of Kharkov.

[jasonbroomer]

T42 - Soviet Perspective




To start off with I planned ahead for the TB requirement changes based on the manual and was unpleasantly surprised to find out actual TB requirements in game differ. I am now short in the Northern front at a time I can least afford to fill it. I’ve sent 5 rifle divisions over from Far East to Northern front but it will take 4 turns to get there during the meantime I’m sure I’ll lose a few VPs.

I've noticed that the TB requirements can differ from what the manual details. I presume this is randomised to a degree and WAD.

Happy to hear that 'll be gifted some VPs

[jasonbroomer]

T43 Axis AGC

The RND gods seem to be favouring the Russians once again. Squeezing in a marginal victory allows the cavalry corps to escape

T43 irritating that the Cv corps gets away.png (2.72 MiB) Viewed 901 times

Anyway, we still get to hit it

T43 AGC We still punish it.png (3.34 MiB) Viewed 901 times

rather hard as it happens

And Model continues to do what he does best

T43 AGC another one two.png (3.38 MiB) Viewed 901 times

[jasonbroomer]

T43 Axis AGCS

We perform a second recon the Gomel area where we earlier identified a rather porous defence. I have added some x's to highlight where the previous recon spotted troops. Guess where the panzers are going to be marshalled once the spring rains come...

T43 RECORD.png (3.27 MiB) Viewed 899 times

You can already see advanced elements of 4th Pz (in pink) establishing themselves in the area. A couple of SS units (one is the LAH brigade) have already been transferred from the Smolensk sector (after pounding the Soviets this turn). Rebuilding CPP. Note that they are sitting in Heavy Woods, not convenient for supply, but should be safe from prying eyes. The manual says that you must be at least 3 hexes way from the front lines to escape being spotted. Vet is unlikely to be doing any air recon at the moment but I position them in woods just to be sure. Occasionally you get sight of enemy deep in his own territory, if this happens, I'm sure that they won't be identified as elite SS troops. We also are chancing our luck by bringing a couple of panzer divisions to Gomel. Panzers take a lot of rail capacity and I can't be sure how many weeks it will rain for, so I feel obliged to start the process now. Positioning hthem to their drop off points in the mud we also take time. Gomel is a none clear terrain hex and far away from the front lines. we will just have to cross our fingers that they wont be spotted. If they are, it is unlikely to be identified as a threat at this juncture.

4th Pz HQ is still on the Polish border, providing last minute CPP to divisions there. It will be brought up next turn to bring assault CPP benefits to the units shown on the map. These units have just been assigned to the 4th Pz and in any event out of range of the army HQ. Thus they won't qualify for the assault CPP uplift. You often need to plan a turn in advance to maximise this benefit.


I promised myself to perform no operations in the sector in case it disturbs the defensive line in the region, but, I just can't help myself. I successfully herd a couple of Soviet divisions out of the marshes and surround them.

T43 AGS a successful biy of herding.png (2.42 MiB) Viewed 896 times

We are only 100-150 miles or so to the west of Kharkov, so hopefully Vet we see it as part of the Kharkov operation.

I hope Vet doesn't smell a rat and recognise the peril that the entire sector is in.

[jasonbroomer]

T43 Axis Kharkov

We continue with our Kharkov push. Bashing some guard units aside

T43 AGS trashing guard divisions, i'm sure they'll be refitted into corps, leaving triple stack defences around Kharkov.png (2.98 MiB) Viewed 885 times

I'm sure that they'll be refitted in the coming break as reformed as guard corps, but I can't do anything about that.


We have now surrounded Kharkov

T43 AGS some bait to distract his forces.png (4.69 MiB) Viewed 885 times

We leave some Rom cavalry to act as a screen. The weather forecast is not good, rains across the front. However, ground conditions are still expected to be firm. I'm a bit doubtful about that, particularly in the south but we may get lucky, a single hex of only light mud around Kharkov should be enough to take the city.

I fear that I am one turn short of my objective. I am now ruing the turn in early March when the last blizzard blew. I brought my troops back from the road to Kharkov to seek shelter (and more importantly preserve trucks). What a wuz, that decision has probably cost me 3 turns of rail yard repair at Kharkov. I hope there won't be any more ramifications of that caution.

[Veterin]

T42 - Soviet Perspective




To start off with I planned ahead for the TB requirement changes based on the manual and was unpleasantly surprised to find out actual TB requirements in game differ. I am now short in the Northern front at a time I can least afford to fill it. I’ve sent 5 rifle divisions over from Far East to Northern front but it will take 4 turns to get there during the meantime I’m sure I’ll lose a few VPs.

I've noticed that the TB requirements can differ from what the manual details. I presume this is randomised to a degree and WAD.

Happy to hear that 'll be gifted some VPs

I've since confirmed with Joel Billings. It's not randomised it's just that the manual is out of date. To get the up-to-date details you have to look into the editor to look at the details of an event. I've learnt that the hard way now!