1.04 The Wolf and the Bear (no Gids)

[Tarhunnas]

Losses turn 22. We have passed the 4 million mark for the Soviets, but Axis losses are rising alarmingly. Must check where all those are coming from. I don't have the impression it is combat.

[Tarhunnas]

And destroyed units so far.

[Tarhunnas]

Looking at the event log, I don't feel much the wiser:

LOSSES BY TYPE
___________________________________________
Axis Combat_________245377
Axis Retreat________4714
Axis Attrition______72830
Axis Surrender______0
Axis Misc.__________0
Soviet Combat_______1912870
Soviet Retreat______753943
Soviet Attrition____137807
Soviet Surrender____0
Soviet Misc.________1312


___________________________________________
File Version: 1.04.15

Could anyone tell me why the numbers here don't add up to the ones in the losses summary? Surrenders are obviously not included, but the sums still don't add up.

[Joel Billings]

It's close to the killed and captured totals, but not exact. Can't say why they don't add up exactly.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 23. Mud all over. Not much happening. I show only one screenshot, of Karelia, where there seems to be some kind of forest creeping, supply cutting Soviet mud-offensive going. A surprising number of units show up, lucky we caught that in time. Sneaky move by the Soviets!

On the rest of the front, mostly regrouping and preparing for winter.

[Tarhunnas]

BTW 4th Panzer army is now in winter quarters in East Prussia.

I need to check the manual to make sure winter effects really don't apply in East Prussia. Hmmm, wonder if it's under "Weather" or under "Frozen units"... [;)]

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 24. Snow. Not much happening. I make spoiling attacks here and there where I get good odds. A number of Soviet units are routed and a couple even shattered. Some progress is made around Moscow, that is the only area where I am attempting to gain ground, perhaps foolhary, but I want to clear out Moscow, no matter that I may not be able to keep it during the blizzard.

Map of Moscow area after German moves.

[Tarhunnas]

And losses after turn 24.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 25. Blizzard! This will be my first 1.04 blizzard so it will prove interesting.

Here is a sample of the front. We have been more or less static for the last turns, so almost every frontline hex has a fort value of 2 or more. I hope that will suffice. Towns behind the front have been fortified, ready to fall back upon if (when) the first line fails.

[Sabre21]

Your fort line looks in pretty good shape. If you have spare infantry divisions place them a couple hexes back about where your forts are and use them as a local reserve. You should be able to beat back most small breakthrus that way by moving in 4 or 5 divisions then move the weaker ones back into the rear. As for armor though, I keep mine on railheads near the front, preferably in cities or higher level forts. They will stay in pretty good shape. I use them more for the major breakthrus then when possible return them to a railhead.

How well you do will also depend on how many dedicated armies your opponent has ready and in place. I would be using my air recon to see if there are any masses of forces behind the lines.

[Tarhunnas]

First Blizzard turn. Losses from Soviet turn. Not too bad. At least he is losing more than I am.

[Tarhunnas]

Mostly small penetrations of a hex here and there. My fort line held up very well in most places. The largest gains by the Soviets were in the center, southeast of Moscow. This was the area were my forts were weakest, as the fighting had been going back and forth here, so it was expected. No breakthroughs, though, except for the lone cavalry unit that is now isolated. It seems that the Soviets were not really prepared to launch an assault. I guess that could have to do with the random weather. They would not want to concentrate for offensive until the blizzard has really arrived.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 27. Soviet attacks are picemeal and not resulting in any breakthroughs. A hex retreated here and there. According to my opponenet (Gids) he is strapped for armaments and his units are weak. Might well be a consequence of the destroyed factories. The winter offensive so far has not caused me any great troubles or losses.

Map of the Central front with Soviet attacks shown. About half resulted in retreats.

[Tarhunnas]

Losses during the Soviet turn were not overly heavy.

[Tarhunnas]

I have invited my opponent, Gids, to read the AAR and post some comments at this point, as not much is happening on my side now and not much of what is currently posted has any intelligence value to the Soviets.

[gids]

my thoughts
well the openings were pretty much standart ,pittifully enough i didnt use tulius his strategy to actually flood in reinforcements instead of retreating,maybe it would,have helped,i do think so,atm im playing against another aggresive opponent and that strategy worked really well
now if you play against tarhunnas ,theres tbh then only 1 thing you can do watch and see how everything gets ripped by the panzers,theres not really a stopping to it , tarhunnas brings it pretty much to a new level with HQ buildup,i noticed he was so fast i couldnt bring the reinforcements fast enough to the frontlines to hold him ,plus he sacrifices more or less units to bring down industry(SS panzer unit),maybe gamey but its a good strategy ,because the cost of a panzerunit in the game doesnt outweight the industry a SU player losses,a good german player knows if youre fast ,then the SU player will NEVER have the time nor railcap to bring the industry in safety,i had to make a choice and i tried to save leningrad ,which costed me
Now its blizzard and i dont have the armaments to get the units on strenght to make attacks in the blizzard so most likely im pretty much doomed[:@],but i will not give up,coming turns the only thing i can do is try to attack here and there with units who are a bit on strenght ,i wish SU could merge units to bring divisions on strenght
Now because i know he will punch through my understrenght units i choose to save the rmainder of my heavy industry areas to safer parts,on the short term it will cost me ,ive never done that so ill see what it brings, i rather have damaged industry then lost industry at this point,atm im more busy already to fasten my seatbelt for the summer of 42,on weak spots behind the lines making carpets of units ,no forts (cant miss the arms),im not even strong enough to get back moscou

[Klydon]

Honestly, the armaments issue would have been there even if the Russians had railed out their industry because it would have been damaged, etc and taken time to reset back up. The shortage will come into play in 1942 and beyond.

This is one of the reasons I think it is important to disband forts and also the AT brigades to a point. I also try to save as many support units as I can and will disband battalions as I get a chance. All this helps put stuff that takes armaments points to build into the pools and hopefully results in less stress on my armaments production, allowing it to work on stuff that is needed.

The last tidbit I can offer for gids is to consider putting the armies you want to attack with during the winter (shock armies to start) on refit. If some of the units are in the line, I would take them out and let them sit for probably two turns. The results should be pretty strong divisions that can make a push for you. This should have been done before the blizzard, but thats ice under the bridge now. [:D]

Keep going guys; this is a great AAR.

[TulliusDetritus]

Gids, do not underestimate what you can do during the blizzard [:)] I was sort of pessimist (on my game) but in the end everything was ok.

The key, in my opinion:

With the current blizzard changes, the Germans will resist fairly well IF there are 2-units stacks (German infantry DIVISIONS, not regiments) in minimum fort level 2. As you may imagine, the Germans do NOT have enough units to form these 2-German infantry divisions stacks across the whole front In other words, they will be necessarily weak in some parts of the front... And there you can hit hard. You should see ants, no matter your weakness.

The other side of the coin: as for the German player, this possibly means you should have these 2-German divisons stacks in the parts of the front where you REALLY want to resist. And you will be deliberately weak in parts of the front which are not strategically important.

Good luck to both [:)]

[Tarhunnas]

Here is a screen shot of Soviet production, showing Armaments production. Just to complete the picture for posterity. Thanks Gids for the screenshot!

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 28. December 23 1941. Snow.

I launch a number of spoiling attacks, but do not leave my fortifications. Along the Mius, our attacks open up holes in the enemy lines. I am tempted to do some panzer pushing - there are panzers in reserve - but I decide against. Surrounding 6 Soviet rifle divisions is not worth the risk of getting caught with an appendage in the freezer so to speak if the blizzard returns next turn, as it likely will. Shot of front along the Mius after German moves.