Burns vs. Flaviusx

[Jim D Burns]

20 June 1941

Germany shatters 11 inf corps, far too many to report on individual battles. Instead I'll do a screenshot that shows the entire line so you can gauge his advance.

This coming turn should see the mech corps tested for real, as most of the garbage has been cleared away now.

Near Tobruk the Italian armor moves up and it is strong enough that I have to be weary of counter-attacks in his turn should I make any attacks in my turn that weaken my units. Rain near Algiers, so nothing to report on that front.

Having been up for close to 24 hours I'm calling it a night so this is my last turn. I made several bonehead mistakes this turn due to tiredness, so it's time for me to call it a day.

[Jim D Burns]

4 July 1041

Only five hours sleep and I'm up, ah old age isn't it wonderful...

North Of Leningrad the combined German/Finish forces manage to shatter the two defending infantry armies. A single mech defends the hex just northwest of Leningrad with a second mech in Leningrad itself.

Instead of attacking my mech line behind the river southwest of Leningrad, Germany tries to encircle the line, the one weakness to my strategy I foresee. I begin to pull out of the trap and bring down my reserves from near Leningrad to prevent encirclement.

Not a lot of German units headed towards the center, a few infantry corp near Mogilev took the city from a rifle corps, but not much else that I can see is headed to the center yet.

In the south it appears Germany is diverting his panzer forces either north or northwest. I suspect they are headed to the Kiev area to try and help crack that city which has a strong mech unit defending it.

Near Tobruk it appears more Italians are arriving to the area, so I decide to pull back to El Alamein. Britain simply lacks the units to prevent being surrounded in the open desert, so better to wait until my build up is complete.

Even though the weather has cleared no attack near Algiers this turn. I suspect Germany is recovering from the heavy losses he took clearing the east bank of the river.

I cropped together two shots today, one of the northern front and one of the southern front.

[Jim D Burns]

18 July 1941

Lots of hard fighting, mostly in the north. Four attacks north of Leningrad fails to dislodge my mech unit there (no air strikes were committed to this hex before battle). Near the river southwest of Leningrad Germany goes straight at my units committing lots of air and manages to dislodge two of my mech corps forcing them to retreat after multiple battles each.

In the south it becomes obvious Germany wants to try and encircle my mech unit at Kiev, so I withdraw from the city this turn. Germany launches two land attacks after four ground strikes at a mech a few hexes south of Kiev but fails to dislodge it from behind the river.

So far I'm happy with how my mech's are standing up in the fights. I take more casualties than Germany, but my units do hold a lot before being forced to retreat and they don't shatter like the infantry tend to do. He might reach Leningrad, it remains to be seen, but it won't be easy for him to get there.

Nothing of note to report in Africa.

[Jim D Burns]

1 August 1941

Germany continues to grind towards Leningrad and I'm forced to fall back towards the city. While the mech are making it tough on him, they just can't stop the power of the combined Panzers.

In the south Germany tried to over reach by exploiting a 1 hex wide breach he managed to make in my lines and pushed his panzers too far. Every available plane hit the panzer unit most exposed in the neck and then three attacks by surrounding mech infantry forced the panzer unit to retreat, cutting off the lead panzer unit.

Lots of troops were brought into the area as I expect lots of fighting in the next few turns. I also decided to advance against the German right flank to try and take some pressure off the breached river line.

Africa is quiet, nothing to report.

[Flaviusx]

Well, it's a mixed bag. The south is turning into a disaster. As you say, I pushed too hard. But I have Kiev, and that is what matters from a VP standpoint, at least.

Up north I'm pretty sure Leningrad is in the bag, and I'm probably going to scratch a few of those mech corps to boot.

I continue to disagree with what you are doing, btw. Against me, you'd be stopped cold short of Leningrad. Mech isn't gonna save Leningrad when you pull that far back and lack infantry reserves in the form of strong 41 rifle armies digging in the swamps and forests up there. Those armies would already be coming on line in my build order. All I'm seeing so far is trash infantry. You also made a rookie mistake and let me sneak in my paratroopers into the Leningrad port.

I also have Manstein up there, which helps.

My cockup in the south is on me and my own impatience. I could've taken it slower and safer, there is still plenty of time and I didn't need to rush it.

[Jim D Burns]

15 August 1941

German paras take the port at Leningrad and my fleet is forced to sea. The German fleet intercepts them and tears the fleet up pretty good. The remnants shall remain in raid stance until destroyed or sunk due to no fuel. A sub attack was attempted and he sank my sub as well.

In the north I tried a repeat of last turns cutting off of exposed units down south and almost succeeded in cutting off his lead Panzer unit. The German's tenacious mech unit held on though with just two combat power displayed at my turns conclusion.

A lone partisan unit (the first one that has appeared so my opponent may have not been looking for them) was left unmolested and was able to shatter a German fighter in the north.

The Soviet forces near the Dnepr River breach crash into the exposed German panzer corps in the low or no supply hexes north of the Dnepr River. My opponent had fought many battles to reach his isolated unit and widen the breach, but it exhausted his forces. All four panzer corps north of the river are shattered in counter-attacks against the low strength corps. Some panzer units displayed combat values as low as 3 or 4 at turn start.

My guess is they received no replenishment or very little due to 0 supply levels in their just taken hexes. Which brings up a question in my mind. Does a rail line need to be functional for supply to cross a river?

On the German right flank several retreats are forced and one German division is shattered.

In Algiers the axis have pulled away from the river line to the east. I shall remain in my trenches and watch developments.

[Jim D Burns]

29 August 1941

The remnants of the Soviet fleet are hunted down and sunk, but not before they sink 2 transports.

Today it's the Soviet's turn to lose valuable units. 2 mech units surrender near Leningrad and a 3rd is trapped and will go down this turn. I sent all my bombers to try and reduce the infantry along the coast enough to break out, but after months of fighting the bombers are too weak to do much damage.

Germany learned his lesson and spent the turn solidifying his position without attempting to drive further northeast, so I was unable to attack even one unit with any chance of success. I did banzai with the trapped unit just to cause some minor damage with it before it surrenders.

The rest of the Soviet union simply saw me dressing my lines and preparing for the first winter. With the loss of his southern panzer group the only real threatened theater is near Leningrad and it looks likely to fall before rains set in.

Still not sure what my opponent is up to in north Africa. He's fallen back to the port of Bone and has 4 units in line south from the port. Perhaps he had poor supply near the river, not sure.

[Jim D Burns]

12 September 1941

I was mistaken about the partisan unit before, my opponent hadn't missed it, it appeared in my turn. This turn saw two units appear, and one was able to over run a CAS unit on the coast near Leningrad.

Germany destroys another two mech corp near Leningrad, the one I expected, the other is the first mech unit to shatter during regular combat, though it was squeezed in tight in the hex south of Leningrad so perhaps enemy ZOC's prevented a retreat.

Germany now controls all hexes around Leningrad and the city will probably fall next turn. If I had to do it over again, I think my mistake on this front was in not committing two more mech units to the Sorot River line southwest of Leningrad. Had I done so Germany would have had a much harder time crossing the river.

As things stood in this game he easily outflanked the exposed left flank of the mech units behind the river and my troops were constantly having to try and shift northeast out of trouble every turn after that. I should have made the river line stronger and not kept so many mechs in strategic reserve.

In the south Germany pushes one mech unit back a hex and I replace its position in the line with a fresh unit and place the retreated unit into reserve.

Today's screenshot shows north Africa. You can see the current disposition and also the fact Canadian Armor has just arrived. I think we've reached stalemate on this front and like the middle east I will go over to the offensive once my airforce is built up.

[Flaviusx]

I have this entire area covered in zocs. How are these partisans popping up?

[Flaviusx]

This is immensely frustrating, I have taken some great care to cover my entire rear zone in ZOCs and I have lost two air units nonetheless to partisan I don't even get a chance to respond to before they move.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

I have this entire area covered in zocs. How are these partisans popping up?

They showed up on side rails, look at the controlled hexes. They have the ability to move 2 hexes in clear weather. The one that got the CAS moved n then s back to its start hex. The other moved n only.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
This is immensely frustrating, I have taken some great care to cover my entire rear zone in ZOCs and I have lost two air units nonetheless to partisan I don't even get a chance to respond to before they move.

I think the game desperately needs an overlay that shows at a glance hexes not covered by friendly ZOCs. I like the partisans as implemented, but it is far too easy to miss the odd hex or two not covered. Until then I suggest keep all your air stacked with divisions or HQs.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

At least they come back on the deployment queue at half strength. This is more annoying than crippling since I need to start pulling back air units to upgrade and R&R anyways, but still.

I am having real problems getting my air units to upgrade. Not sure what is up with this. This includes some fighters in Germany and France that haven't done anything for months and should by now have gotten their new craft. They are in HQ range. One of them is sitting on Essen for crying out loud. And yet they stubbornly refuse to take in new planes.

This is even a bigger problem with the Soviets than the Germans, too, based on solo play.

[Jim D Burns]

26 September 1941

In what could be the last turn of clear weather for this campaign season, Germany takes Leningrad. Gratz to my opponent on getting it just under the wire.

In the south my opponent has transferred down some of the panzer corps from the north and makes an attack that appears to be an attempt to try and get to Krivoi Rog. Should he get another turn of clear weather he might reach it, though his lines will be extended and exposed to a possible winter counter-attack. I promote a strong mech corps on the shoulder to try and keep him from widening his breach.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx
This is even a bigger problem with the Soviets than the Germans, too, based on solo play.

Haven't checked them, I'll take a look next turn.

Jim

[Flaviusx]

I'm pulling all the air that needs upgrading back to Berlin because the HQ there for some reason is recognizing air units, unlike all my others, when I click repair/upgrade.

[Jim D Burns]

October arrives (forgot to grab the exact date) and rain halts any attacks. In fact the Germans pulled back from their small breach in the south by a hex.

I checked my air units and all my fighters are current, but none of my tacs have upgraded. I'll spend the winter tinkering around to see if I can trigger their upgrades somehow.

Decided to show the losses screen today. At the end of France Germany had 172 land, 42 air and 17 naval losses. This turn they have 566 land, 72 air and 40 naval.

So since the fall of France, Germany lost 394 land, 30 air and 23 naval. The Soviets lost 819 land, 18 air and 25 naval. Corp equivalents stand at Germany 13+ corps and the Soviets 27+ corps. A good chunk of Germany's losses came in the fighting in Algiers, so I'd say Germany's losses are closer to just 10 corps in Russia. So close to 3-1, but a big part of the losses for the Soviets were the crappy inf corps. I lost 5 mech and 2-4 inf army's. Those are the troops that really matter to me.

I probably will not seek to rebuild the mech units as I feel I still have plenty on map. For now a massive infantry army building campaign shall go forward to add some depth to my lines.

[Jim D Burns]

Late October, snow in Russia. No attack opportunities for the Soviets, best odds I could find were 1-1, maybe things will look better in blizzard conditions.

I probably will not do reports on a turn by turn basis during these bad weather months, instead I'll only post if something of note occurs. Unless there is something someone wants to see, if so post in here and I'll do my best to cover it.

Jim

[comsolut]

Only five hours sleep and I'm up, ah old age isn't it wonderful...

2ND THAT.

Thanks for doing the AAR. Good to get a read on the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of the game.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: comsolut
Thanks for doing the AAR. Good to get a read on the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of the game.

My pleasure, glad you're enjoying the read.

Jim