As said above, I am looking for thoughts on what to do with my excess force. Should I just let it refit? I am assuming the german 42 armor onslaught will be as terrorizing as 41?
Following is a strategic view. Build two cavalry armies and one-two armor armies by aggregating like forces and keep them in reserve, along with one shock army with guard units. So far I have 11 guard units, but none of them are armor.
Rest assured, I will continue to attack west in the north until the bonus runs its course.
I've just done one blizzard (vs AI) using the new rules and recognise your dilemnas.
You no longer feel you can go for a killing blow so its a case of looking for advantage in 1942.
On that basis in the south, I opted to keep in contact but with a light screen - my logic here is this helps by causing attrition losses and prevents the Germans losing fatigue etc ... now this maybe easier vs the AI but I'd still fling out a number of rifle divisions as bait. Behind that, I reckon you are right, find a line that gives some advantages sit and dig.
In the far north I had the problem that the AI seems obsessed with wood and swamps (or more accurately doesn't redeploy AGN's Pzrs regardless of the fate of Leningrad which has fallen). So even with the blizzard I gave up attacking and since the end of Jan the Germans have been the ones on the offensive - I think that is now likely that on one sector they will have the strength to hit back.
Perhaps more usefully, read rnomical's AAR for how he handled the winter and the transition to spring.
WiTE doesn't quite have the logic of the AGE games (if you can't think what to do, do nothing) but inactivity is not always that bad an idea. What you can do is rotate though. If you have fresh armies bring them in to the front and send others to the rear - better way to raise your average morale, gets on top of the refit/TOE cycle and helps reduce average fatigue. Tedious to do but it does pay off.
There really hasn't been much change to report over these last four turns, the Ruskies continue to attack west towards Smolensk and Novgorod, but progress is painstakingly slow. I am unsure how much of the slog is my inability to pulse armor or cavalry and how much is me not doing supply right so I get low movements and how much is me not doing rail repair fast enough. Not sure what else could be in play too.
I have made it halfway to Smoelnsk and am fighting for Vyazma. I wont get too much further to be sure. I wont likely get to Novgorod but I will be closer than I will get to Smolensk. Overall, I view the attack as a success, since I also took back Orel, Kursk, Belgorod, and Kharkov, even if only until this summer. I developed 58 guard units. I have 14 Cavalry corps and 11 unbuckled cavalry divisions yet to combine. I am prepared to gather my armor in April to build armor corps and armies as previously planned.
I also moved my assembly areas to the southern sectors close to the MLR to prevent any large breakout. once the winter offensive ends, I will be reorganizing armies.
Here are some of the issues I am having. Perhaps I should not be letting the computer do the conversions? It seems if I have three units in a hex, the conversion cannot occur.
All is quiet. The Russian winter counteroffensive ended after the second week of February when all units seemed to get a penalty probably linked to Zhukov's initiative failure. in any event, the attack is over, and the germans have not tried an immediate counterattack as the snow lingers. My esteemed opponent called the Russian winter offensive a beatdown. I am not so sure about that, but he will need some time to group his armor, motorized, and mech to start his offensive. best guess March and April may be pretty quiet.
As far as objectives, I did manage on the last turn to get all my primary objectives, but I did not achieve any stretch objective.
Going forward into the early summer, the Russian armies are in massive reorganization. I am cycling back all the guards divisions and creating 4 or 5 guards armies. I am cycling forward all exisitng reserve units. I also have two cavalry armies and up to 4 armor armies. (I am not sure how many armies I can sustain). I will ultimately place all these reserve armies on rails mostly south of Moscow, but in the event, he tries the north, I will be able to move massive forces on the reaction turn.
My extended goal will be to search out his assembly areas and keep a close watch on them as the spring plays out.
So what is it I should worry about that I haven't talked about? Spring 42 comes the most dramatic German offensive combat force. not sure if I am building the right army. I can't see another attempt at Moscow or east from Leningrad, but perhaps I am being naïve.
By end of June, I plan to be fully converted to corps...
So what is it I should worry about that I haven't talked about? Spring 42 comes the most dramatic German offensive combat force. not sure if I am building the right army. I can't see another attempt at Moscow or east from Leningrad, but perhaps I am being naïve.
By end of June, I plan to be fully converted to corps...
In general, converting to corps that early is very inadvisable. You need to fill hexes for defense in depth, which requires lots of rifle divisions. Corps not that useful until late 42 in any case. A few in key strategic spots is not a bad idea, but mass corps creation in spring/summer a very bad idea. Build rifle divisions and a good handful of tank and cavalry corps.
The strained silence continues as both side's armies reorganize and rebuild. Winter still has a firm hold on the battlefield. Ruskie efforts these weeks have concentrated on building defense in depth, right sizing armies / creating enough armies, and strategically placing reserve armies where the enemy is likely to attack.
My plans still include receiving the German attack in early summer rather than taking the initiative. I was curious to see that all my motorized divisions appear to have been converted or removed. I was getting ready to concentrate them like I have cavalry and armor, but there were none left.
As to the pictures, the entire MLR has three hex deep defense in depth. Note all armor and cavalry has been removed from the MLR. There are 6 infantry guards armies in reserve from Moscow to Voronezh. Three cavalry corps armies near Rostov. 5 reserve armor armies, two around Moscow and three around Rostov. 5 standard infantry armies in reserve. Lastly 1 oversized infantry army in Moscow.
Did all my motorized divisions in fact get pulled or converted? How can I tell?
What are U-2VS squadrons used for in the National Reserve?
I am considering converting all armor to corps because I have sufficient unit density in infantry, which I am not planning to convert until after the main German effort is handled. Any downside to that?
The early spring was void of player initiated combat as both sides opted to reorganize and plan for the summer campaigns. As an outcome of this, no territory has changed hands since February, when the soviet winter offensive ended. In this last turn of April, 1942, we had a clear turn in the south soviet zone, and the German 11th army launched an attack towards Stalino. Ther germans also tried unsuccessfuly to pry open the Sevastopol bottleneck. Casualties were light, and somewhat surprisingly, the defense in depth worked as designed around Stalino, and the ruskies were able to counterattack most of the hexes lost. I still can't stop his offensive power, but Perhaps I can keep counterattacking.
Not too successful, and I counterattacked successfully in three locations. Germans actually took more combat casualties than the ruskies. probably due to the forts. Of course, this was just a probing attack, but I would like to think I gave him something to think about.
German forces continue their probing attack in the south towards Stalino. I have identified what I believe to be the bulk of the enemy armor and motorized in reserve in that general area. This next turn should begin the summer attack season, and as such there is high expectation that the germans will waste no time in launching their main effort. My reserves are as ready as they ever will be.
I have my cavalry and armored armies east and north of Stalino on the rails. If I am wrong, I will be able to move troops very quickly.
