Fighting off the raving Fascists, Monarchists, and Religious fanatics!

[RangerJoe]

Great AAR, will be using it as reference as I try to sort this game out. Thanks for it.

Thank you and you are most welcome!

[RangerJoe]

18 August 1936

This was one heck of a bombardment by a light cruiser!

TF 1 bombarding at 62, 127 Palos - 00:00

Defender losses: 12 Casualties
Squads lost: 3 disabled, 0 destroyed
Vehicles lost: 0 disabled, 0 destroyed
Guns lost: 0 disabled, 0 destroyed
Units Destroyed: 1

Clearing out the CD guns on Mallorca, there is one independent CD unit left to capture and we attacked it this turn but failed to capture it. Then move to Palma and capture that base which is being bombarded.

Weather in hex: Light Cloud wind 1
Republican deliberate attack at 150, 102 - Santa Ponsa (Light Urban terrain)

Attacker artillery value: 5
Defender artillery value: 8
Attacker adjusted AV: 25
Defender adjusted AV: 0

Engineer Combat Power 0
Attack odds: 77/1 (Highest fort level 0)
Attacker now controls 5 of 5 NM in hex

Defender losses: 468 Casualties
Squads lost: 0 disabled, 6 destroyed
Vehicles lost: 0 disabled, 10 destroyed
Guns lost: 0 disabled, 15 destroyed
Misc. lost: 0 disabled, 13 destroyed
Units Destroyed: 3

The Butcher's bill . . .

[RangerJoe]

19 August 1936

This PG is a tough ship. Maybe the poor gunnery skills due to the low crew quality for the Republicans is an issue since so many officers left - one way or the other!

Surface Combat at 130, 138 near Ouled Boughalem - 16:00
Weather in hex: Clear wind 0

Nationalist Fleet:
PG Uad Kert: Shell Hits: 15, and is sunk
xAK Genoveva P.: Shell Hits: 91, and is sunk

Republican Fleet:
DD Almirante Miranda: Shell Hits: 2, On fire
DD Alcala Damiano: Shell Hits: 1

Some units in Mallorca gave another 75 mm battalion worth of guns to the Republic. They had been isolated and bombarded. This includes an Italian unit.

Weather in hex: Clear wind 0
Republican deliberate attack at 151, 99 in Rough terrain

Engineer Combat Power 0
Attack odds: 7/1 (Highest fort level 0)
Attacker now controls 5 of 5 NM in hex

Attacker losses: 65 Casualties
Squads lost: 8 disabled, 1 destroyed
Vehicles lost: 0 disabled, 0 destroyed
Guns lost: 0 disabled, 1 destroyed

Defender losses: 3344 Casualties
Squads lost: 0 disabled, 247 destroyed
Vehicles lost: 0 disabled, 166 destroyed
Guns lost: 0 disabled, 78 destroyed
Misc. lost: 0 disabled, 5 destroyed
Units Destroyed: 4

The Butcher's bill . . .

Butchers bill 19 August 1936.png (123.53 KiB) Viewed 500 times

[bruce205]

Very informative AAR Ranger Joe. Question though for 3rd post, where do you see women devices when you were talking about upgrading devices ??

Thanks

[RangerJoe]

Very informative AAR Ranger Joe. Question though for 3rd post, where do you see women devices when you were talking about upgrading devices ??

Thanks

Thank you.

Some units have them like this Motril Garrison unit. They are in this pink area, they are infantry devices.

village volunteers and womens militia squad.png (270.82 KiB) Viewed 478 times

Here are the statistics for them.

womens militia squad statics.png (207.83 KiB) Viewed 478 times

They can be upgraded to other infantry squad devices and other squads can be switched to those devices. Please note that some infantry squad devices come in slowly and those can't be swapped around like other devices but those can be upgraded in the future.

[bruce205]

Thanks. Just didn't see that in your third post and got confused lol. How are you liking the game? I think its very interesting and am reading up on the history and all the politics are very confusing !!

[RangerJoe]

Thanks. Just didn't see that in your third post and got confused lol. How are you liking the game? I think its very interesting and am reading up on the history and all the politics are very confusing !!

You are welcome.

Well, I only mentioned that device without including a picture. There are only 4 pictures allowed per post on the forums.

I enjoy the game, I was beta testing the program for awhile. That is why I am posting these "tutorial" types of posts with explanations and pictures.

[RangerJoe]

There was a discussion about headquarter (HQ) units on another platform, I will proceed here. This is so there is a record available and it can rather easily be referenced.

The question was:

If there is a warning of “No HQ available to give guidance” but the unit is attached does that mean it is too far from the HQ?

The response was:

Alessandro
—
This is a message for higher HQ. Division and Brigade HQ can and will support units down their OOB.
But these unit HQ will not supervise the general combat situation of all units from a high level perspective.

HQ above the unit level will do that and can have any unit be attached for guidance ( this is done on bottom middle of the LCU window ) without that unit having to be part of the OOB of that HQ.
Means you can attach Divisions and Brigades to such higher HQ. They give high level combat influence if combat takes place within their command radius.
If there is a lack of this high level coordination the operations report will provide a message.
The system does prefer to use the HQ the unit is attached to, but will auto use any higher HQ that is in range and has control capacity left for that day. So micro management is not required in most cases. Just move the higher HQ into range of the combat.

Here is the Republican Spanish Army HQ. The pink area gives the command range of this HQ. I believe that it has the longest range of all of the HQs available. If a unit needs HQ guidance, this unit may give the guidance unless another HQ gives the guidance needed. The blue area shows that it is attached to itself. The yellow shows the devices, the most important ones are the signal squads. The more signal devices the better that the communications are.

Ejercito Espanol.png (266.14 KiB) Viewed 320 times

Here is the Republican Spanish Naval HQ. You see the range in the pink area, it will help with the command and control of task forces that far away from the HQ. I have actually seen the HQ leader in the combat screen. In the blue area, you will see that it is attached to the Republican Spanish Army HQ. In the yellow area you will see the devices, they help to maintain communication with the fleet with the Signal Squads.

Armada Espanol.png (264.76 KiB) Viewed 320 times

Here is the Republican Madrid Corp HQ. The range is in the pink area, it still has a pretty good range and can help to defend the Madrid area. If anyone were to ask about attacking the enemy, offense is the best defense! The blue area shows that it is attached to the Republican Spanish Army HQ. The yellow area shows the devices. This unit just came in and it needs to be filled out. This includes more than just the signal squads but also the telegraph squads and a Radio Van for communication purposes. The mobile ammo depots are used to supply units in combat so this unit could be used either directly in the hex where the combat is taking place or with any artillery firing long ranged barrages in support. The ambulance units are medical devices that help to limit casualties. This is a good offensive HQ to be used with your main attack force.

Republican Madrid Corp.png (262.84 KiB) Viewed 320 times

In short, don't deprive your HQ units of devices since they won't be as effective. The HQs can not fully function if they aren't at full strength. It is better to maximize the efficiency of your units that it is to have massive amounts of mob type units, if they don't have enough leadership then they are mobs.

Edited for this:
Note in the pink area that this naval surface combat task force is receiving help from a naval HQ in Cartegena.

[RangerJoe]

A more detailed discussion about the lower level HQs and their attachments.

Here is a division with the unit structure showing which units in pink that are currently attached to the division. There are more coming later and I will show that in another picture along with other information. The yellow area is the divisional commander and his leadership skills showing. He is a fairly good commander for ground units but I would not use him for an air or naval unit. The blue area shows that it is already attached to the Republican Ejercito Espanol.

Caspe Sector infantry division.png (300.8 KiB) Viewed 294 times

Here is the Caspe Sector HQ unit for the division. The devices in the pink area have a good number of signal and telegraphic units which helps the command and control from the higher HQ and to the subordinate units under the division. The medical squads help to limit the casualties. The yellow area shows the HQ unit commander and his skills. The blue area shows that it is attached to the Republican Ejercito Espanol. The grey area shows how it can transport all of the devices as well as the fuel that it has in its inventory and the usage which means that it is carrying 5 days supply of fuel. If there is no fuel, they move extremely slowly.

Caspe Sector HQ unit.png (268.35 KiB) Viewed 294 times

Here is a regimental HQ in the division, the Pajerero Columna de Milicia. In the pink area are the devices which help it to communicate, scout, and support the units under it. Notice how it has fewer communication devices but it does have a couple of cavalry squads. It has less need of the communication devices since it has fewer subordinates units to control compared to the higher level units. The cavalry squads act as scouts to find out information about enemy units and bases in the area. That is important so a large enemy formation doesn't seem to "come out of nowhere" and attack the unit. The regimental units function better with its subordinate units attached to the regimental headquarters, the regiment usually has a logistical unit attached to supply its units and if it has excess supply capacity, it can also supply other units with help if they all have the same barrage orders. The blue area shows that it is part of the Caspe Sector division, it has already formed up into the larger formation. I have another picture showing what happens when you click that choice. The grey area shows the assault value, the recon value, and the garrison value. The recon value is important here since that give the battlefield intelligence that I had already mentioned. The yellow shows that this regimental HQ is not directly attached to a higher HQ but it is already attached to the divisional HQ as shown previously in the blue area.

Pajarero columna de milicia HQ.png (299.4 KiB) Viewed 294 times

Here is the organizational chart for the Caspe Division when I clicked on the "attached to" choice. The division still has subordinate units that will come in later which have the dates and locations in red. The pink area shows the unit name in green while the other units names are in yellow, it also shows which units are subordinate to this regimental HQ. The blue area shows other units that are under the division. They are not currently attached but the locations are given. If those units are within range of the divisional HQ, then the division will give them assistance. There is a scroll bar on the left in yellow so a person could scroll down to see more of the divisional units. The choice to detach the unit from the division is in the lavender area, if the unit is detached then it is independent and can not be reattached.

[CFab]

Great stuff RangerJoe! Learning a lot by reading your AAR. Is it possible to give us a (little) insight in your overall strategy ad republicans?

From your AAR I'm gathering your really focused on capturing empty bases for their logistics value and hence slowly depriving the Nationalist from resources. Never thought about that.

How do you handle some of the Nationalist superior av units?
For example I played the Zaragoza scenario and thought I was building a nice attack from multiple sides only to get blown away by a big stack of Nationalist (high AV) that I couldn't match. This might be my own fault by suboptimal unit usage.

Would love your view on both topics.

Keep up the good work!

[RangerJoe]

Great stuff RangerJoe! Learning a lot by reading your AAR. Is it possible to give us a (little) insight in your overall strategy ad republicans?
You have to be careful as Republicans, you have a lot of untrained troops and leadership is also a factor.

From your AAR I'm gathering your really focused on capturing empty bases for their logistics value and hence slowly depriving the Nationalist from resources. Never thought about that.
"As that ethnic Italian nobleman's son from Corsica stated "An army travels on its stomach."

How do you handle some of the Nationalist superior av units?
Unfortunately, the mob style of infantry fighting does not help since there is a lack of supporting artillery. But if you cut off their supplies, that does not help their firepower since they will have lower morale and ammo.
For example I played the Zaragoza scenario and thought I was building a nice attack from multiple sides only to get blown away by a big stack of Nationalist (high AV) that I couldn't match. This might be my own fault by suboptimal unit usage.
You need to surround the enemy and keep them from getting supplies. Also use bombardments, aerial bombing, and possibly cautious attacks.

Would love your view on both topics.

Keep up the good work!

The Republicans don't have as much of supporting weapons in their infantry units, at least early in the game. That is a big problem. The Republicans also need to train their units when they are not at the front lines, pull back to rear bases any units that need to rebuild their moral and have them train. I may go over the leadership and how that also effects the units.

[RangerJoe]

Here is a series of posts with one picture per post on how to set up your logistical system in the game for the detail logistics setting. I wrote a short paper for this and it will be translated into Spanish.

WIS logistics: This is for the detailed logistics system.

Logistics in WIS is somewhat simple in that a player doesn’t have to keep track of every food ration, bandage. bullet, bomb, artillery shell, torpedo, and so on. These currently are represented by supplies in the game and are not differentiated. The supplies are created in the game by Light Industry (LI) at bases. However, the supplies don’t move on their own so Logistical Units and/or Logistical Devices move them around. The logistical devices are railroad cars which represent the trains that are the heavy haulers of supplies, trucks, wagons, and carts which are powered vehicles that move supplies. Trucks use fuel while the horses pulling the wagons and carts use supplies. The horses don’t have time to graze for food while working and the demands of their work require more energy than loafing around in pastures and fields. The other devices that haul supplies are horse, mule, and camel devices representing animals carrying the supplies as well as support devices representing just human bearers carrying the supplies.

Railroad Logistical units work from train depots and each size of a train depot can handle one RR device. So this shows that the RR device isn’t necessarily just one railroad car but an entire train. These trains are not like modern trains and rail cars, they carry less cargo because they were smaller and usually only had one axle in front with one in back while modern rail cars usually have two at the front of the car and two axles at the back of the car. These trains use coal to power their boilers and some fuel as lubricants and other uses as shown in the pink area. The blue area shows the load cost of the unit if a player were to load it onto ships. The RR logistical units must move on railroad tracks and are not supposed to leave the tracks. If these units do leave the railroad tracks, that is an issue and must be reported to be fixed. These RR logistical units will move supplies, fuel, resources, oil, and other items from train depot to train depot. The distance that they will travel is 60 hexes on the railroad line from their train depot. Please note that these are not the trains used in strategic movement.

If attacked, they can retreat along the railroad lines but if that is not possible, then they are captured or destroyed. Remember that if you do capture devices, the RSV unit that they are in can be turned into a Logistical unit and moved to any train depot that you want. I suggest that you move them to the train depot where they will be a greater demand for supplies which does not have a train depot.

[RangerJoe]

This is an independent logistical unit that also has an engineering capability when all of the
mobile cranes and the 27 militia work squads are actually in the unit in the lavender (light purple) area. It also has some motorcycle sections for recon purposes which can help to keep the player from being surprised when the enemy decides to visit and play. In the yellow area, the unit has a lot of horse carts and wagons with a few trucks for hauling supplies. These devices work best on roads and can haul supplies off the roads (cross country) in clear terrain. But they do not go very fast in rough terrain and/or mountains so if the player wants to haul supplies through the rough terrain and/or mountains, then some of the vehicles should be exchanged for foot powered devices such as mule, horse, and/or camel devices which work well in that terrain. Human bearers also work well in that terrain but if you were able to ask them, they would probably prefer the animals carry the heavy loads instead of them. In the blue area you can see the commander of the unit and he actually is not a bad combat commander so I should have switched him out especially since his Admin rating means that he isn’t that good with the paperwork. The rose (pink) area shows that this unit needs a lot of supplies and some fuel. It is in a port (Santander) so there is fuel available and the high supply consumption comes from all of the horse powered devices. If supplies were to become a problem while fuel is available, I would swap the horse powered vehicles for trucks – the larger, the better for supply distribution. A good place for this unit actually would be at a larger base near the combat area with a train depot so the RR Logistical Units can bring the supplies to the base where this unit would distribute the supplies and perform needed engineering work.

[RangerJoe]

Here is a Logistical Unit that is a company sized unit for a brigade. The rest of the brigade is not yet in the game so I am using it to support other units. In the yellow area are the devices to move the supplies to units that need them, note that there are no trucks in this unit. Fuel does not always move to where it is needed, most of it stays in the ports for the shipping. It is rough when a unit that needs fuel to move and does not have fuel, it will only get 2 movement points per day. It is a little hard for the crews to pull the tanks, trucks, and armoured cars faster than that! In the blue area shows a militia work squad and a pontoon device, which is an engineering device and probably not used as a pontoon boat for fishing. At least, it is not supposed to be used for that although it probably could be used for fishing and could carry the beer that is needed for the fishing crew. This unit has a Mobile Ammo Depot that is also a supply device. These are nice to have for artillery units when they bombard so they have plenty of ammo. The blue area shows the leader who is a pretty decent commander for a combat unit, if I needed a combat commander I could replace him and send him to a combat unit. The pink area shows how much the unit needs for supplies, and fuel. It also shows the amount of ammunition in the unit as well as the breakdown for loading this unit onto ships if a player wants to do that. For invading in the Baleric Islands or elsewhere, you will need to bring along some logistical units.

[RangerJoe]

Here is a loot depot that I turned into a rather large logistical unit. In the yellow area you can see the large number of captured wagons, you know that they are captured because they have the (F) after the number. There are also six captured mortars that need repairs, once they are repaired I will remove them. This unit came from a large surrender of enemy units and most of the other captured devices were removed by using the merge function with other units. The unit could also have been disbanded and the devices would then go into the stockpiles and be available to units that need them if I were to switch their devices to the captured devices. The blue area shows that they have no commander yet assigned, they must be anarchists! The rose area shows the amount of supplies that are carried and how many this unit needs which is a lot compared to other units. Oh well, the local farmers should be happy for all of that organic fertilizer available – so would any mushroom farmers! The area also shows that it has no manpower as such for loading onto ships as well as the cargo space needed for the vehicles and cargo the unit has.

[RangerJoe]

Here is a logistical unit that I made from a “vehicle dump” when I removed the vehicles so a unit can move faster in rough terrain. I put the vehicles back but moved some mule teams into the unit so this unit can supply the units that are in the rough and/or mountainous terrain. If the units don’t get enough supplies, they can starve! The disruption and fatigue will increase, the unit will slow down its movements, and it will not be as effective in combat. Support squads can also move the supplies but I decided to use the mule teams. Horse and/or camel teams would work as well.

vehicle dump logistical unit for rough and mountainous terrain.png (250.61 KiB) Viewed 104 times

So the system that I like to use for supplies is referred to the “Hub and Spoke” method. The RR Logistical units in the major ports (where ships bring in the supplies) and other major bases move the supplies to smaller train depots or retrieve them from smaller depots for use elsewhere. These are the units that do the heavy lifting of the supplies. Then the logistical units at the bases move the supplies to other bases and/or units that are not in the bases. Logistical units that are part of the larger units will haul supplies with the units and send the devices back to bring more supplies to the unit. You don’t see these convoys moving and there are ways to interdict the movement of the supplies but that would be another discussion. Remember that you can merge captured devices into units and since the artillery uses a lot of ammunition, it is a good idea to add more of these logistical support devices to these units.

Another thing to note is that units in bases can get any supplies that are in the base without having to use the logistical devices in the unit. These logistical devices can then be used to supply units not in bases or bases where there is a need for supplies.

I hope that this helps people to understand the detailed logistical system in the game.

[RangerJoe]

I should update this soon with pictures. It is in December of 1936 and I am contemplating where to invade Afrika. NW Spain is almost clear of Nationalists while SW Spain still has Seville in Nationalist hands as well as the area around Gibraltar has Nationalist controlled bases. But I am moving some CD guns down there and the enemy ships may be greeted by them.


I had a submarine sunk in port by a bomb hit, it was listed as destroyed. As soon as the other damage is all repaired, the 99.9% flooding will be taken care of. Then the submarine will be repainted. Unfortunately there is not enough white lead paint nor red lead paint to do the entire job. So the paint will be mixed together, the undercoat paint will be applied, the submarine will be renamed the Sea Tiger, and it might put to sea before it receives its grey overcoat . . .



If there are any items that people want a description of with pictures, feel free to ask for that. I might even comply!

I was thinking of doing a paper on unit leaders.

I was also thinking of doing a paper on task forces.