Eastern Front 1941-1945 V.8

[larryfulkerson]

It's now T19 at the end of the playback event and this is what the front lines look right now. I'm doing the best I can to keep Fabio out of the Moscow surburbs.

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[larryfulkerson]

double post. sorry about that.

[governato]

The Bryansk/Vyazma Pockets October 1941

It's fun to test the scenario vs the real events. I used three Panzer Groups to breach and encircle Larry's MLD. I am a little beyond schedule to attack Moscow, I blame mud althouth it also made it difficult to break the pockets...

Here is a link to the historical events


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bryansk_(1941)


I doubt that I will be able to take Moscow comes December...but the scenario will be useful to test alternative events after October:

- is Moscow the main Axis objective? Should it be? The Industrial South is worth taking...
- should the Axis push till December or start building reserves and a defensive line..


A few suggestions for the Red Army player

- you have a lot of space, trade it for time and units. Stopping the Axis one hex from Moscow (historical) counts as stopping him 4 hexes away...

- avoid pockets when you can.

- where is the Axis going? Moscow or the Industrial South? A lot of southern locations affect supply for both sides. Recon levels are low so you will have to guess .

- split your armies to create a line with reserves or to escape a pocket.

- try to break the pockets from the inside if you can and counterattack from the outside!

- do not leave the tank Corps behind...

- It took the real Red Army about a year to figure it out, but a 'flexible defence' with reserves behind the MLD and tank forces a few hexes behind for sharp counterattacks is ideal to blunt the Panzer spearheads.

- scare the Axis, and counterattacks from the earliest turns to deny his freedom of maneuver

the Red Army has a lot of room for errors...so experiment with it,

EF is designed to emphasize asymmetries between the two forces. Axis units pay smaller ZOC penalties, have longer supply lines but recover faster than the Red Army. It also has more tanks by Fall 41, but never enough infantry.


As a rule of thumb any battle where the loss ratio is 5:1 (Red Army vs Axis) or lower for the Red Army..is a win. Things will get better..soonish.,

Goodluck! And btw it's super fun to play with Larry The Bear

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[larryfulkerson]

It's now T23 at the end of the Soviet turn and I did a counterattack and forced the Axis out of one hex with high losses to him and only a handful to me.

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[larryfulkerson]

It's still T23 at the end of the Soviet turn and this is what it looks like around Moscow right now. We're into the mud turns so everything is happening in slow motion.

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[ncc1701e]

Great game, how is your south?

[governato]

Great game, how is your south?

Unconfirmed, but clearly defeatists reports allege that AGS reached the limits of its supply network* and had to stop somewhere East of the Donets river due to the poor roads and distance from its railheads.
But curious to see Larry's side of it.


* Designer Note: a combination of refugees events just for the Axis side to simulate muddy roads, storms events and the Overextended Supply limit kicking in when too far from the railheads.
Unless a focused effort to repair the AGS rail network is made (at the expense of other fronts) the Axis is discouraged to unrealistically ride all the way to Stalingrad...also I tried in a previous game (vs Raven) and suffered a mini Stalingrad, ...don't venture too far into the Bear's lair.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines as of T40. I'm clearly losing. And there's not much I can do about it.

Also, you may or may not have heard already that my mom passed away recently and I freely admit that I've lost any interest in this game. Sorry guys. It is what it is.

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[larryfulkerson]

The good news is that I still own Moscow:

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[governato]

Larry thank you for a fun game and for being a graceful opponent even during a very difficult time.

[allegedlycaleb]

Larry, I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I hope that you get all the time you need to grieve and spend with family and friends.

Both of you, thank you for this AAR. Watching two great players duke it out has been really entertaining and has helped my own play.