Belisarius vs. Goblin

[Belisarius]

I surrendered after my turn and ALOT more dents in the front hull of the KV's. There was no point in going on. My artillery is all but dead, my infantry is suppressed to the point of breaking, my Panzers, 88's and 150's score multiple hits on the KV's but fail to even damage them :rolleyes:

The only light is that I've infiltrated Goblin's mortar positions and ammo dumps, but I don't think that'll last either.

All this in combination with heavy mortar fire and a plethora of T-34's and KV-1's (counted at least 23 of them ) I decided to call it quits.

A DV for the Green One - congratulations

I lost 316 men, 16 tanks, 9 AFVs and 8 artillery.

Goblin lost 303 men, 15 tanks and.. uh yeah, that's it.

My lineup was:

1 PzG mech Co.
2 Engineer plt
2 Spec ops plt
1 scouts
2 MMG sects
1 sniper

1 PzIII/IV Co
1 PzIV plt
1 Flammpz plt

1 motorized 88 AT plt
1 Nebelwerfer bty - onboard!! Silly me!
1 150mm bty
3 81 mm mortar sqd
1 Ammo dump
1 Flak sect (Sdfkz 7/1 -vierlings)
20 mines

In light of this, I should have bought regular rifle companies to get a better coverage of the area, alot more scouts/mc's/FO's and more heavy arty. I'm very pleased with the 'Vierlings and the Spec Ops - they hit hard!

I needed much more armor than I could afford. In this period, the PzIVf2 is the heaviest I can get, and they couldn't even scare the KV's, although they did prove excellent against the T's. Even with a 5cm/L60 gun with max pen.@133, the PzIII's were utterly useless against anything but the motorcycles (who drove off on sight! ) I don't remember if I had the option, but I should've gone for a pure PzIVf2 company, or maybe separate platoons.

You might think that more 88's would do the trick. Maybe - but I had to rush through about 20 hexes of wood to get them into good positions, and as it turned out only one managed to get that far before having to unload and commit themselves in defense.

I'm really unused to play the Soviets outside the scenarios. I totally underestimated the sheer number of troops Goblin could field against me, especially those cheap-*** tanks of his. And, ofcourse, I was expecting infantry :rolleyes: As it turned out, I barely got to see them, less engage them before I was brought to my knees. Ah, off to Gulag it is!

Well, it was fun, looking forward to doin it again.

[Goblin]

To my extreme shock, my opponent has surrendered!

The losses were almost identical, with me losing 306 men and 15 AFV's, and Belisarius losing 313 men and 16 AFV's. He also lost 8 Arty, and 9 APC's.

I kind of played dirty, I guess, with a massive influx in his backfield. I infiltrated partisans, but never had them do anything (they did shoot up his arty). They were setup to fight any reserves that he called, and any counter-attack on my paratroopers, which I had come in on turn 5. This let his people get pretty far away, engaging my fast units. Thus commited, it was hard for him to face both ways.

I had paratroopers on the north, partisans in the west (behind him) and my force to the east, thus he was almost surrounded. My T34's smashed through the north and linked up with the airborne, with reinforcement KV-1 (1B)'s filling their spot on the line. My infantry took forever to get to the front, and only arrived in the last turn or so.

OOB to follow.

Goblin- A Goblin swarms like ants;)

[Goblin]

Ok, I bought a bit. I actually couldn't call for full reinforcements, because I had no room! Had I been paying attention, I would have skipped some stuff. I also did not anticipate how far back I would be!

3 Companies Paratroopers
20 Tupolev G-2 Transport Planes
3 Partisan Groups (took no sappers)
3 Rifle Companies
2 MC companies

3 45mm ATG sections (six guns total)
3 ammo dumps
1 Battalion of 122mm Guns
1 Battery of 82mm Mortars
2 FO's
3 Platoons of GAZ-4M-AA (Quad MG's)-these were guarding my mortars and ammo dumps!

2 Companies T34 m.41's (10 tanks to company)
1 Company KV-1E m.41 (1C) (5 tanks)
1 Company Zis-30 Tank Destroyers (yeah, right)

I called in:

2 Companies KV-! m.41 (1B) (ten total tanks)

Goblin- A Goblin surrounds like fog:)

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Belisarius
I don't remember if I had the option, but I should've gone for a pure PzIVf2 company, or maybe separate platoons.

I think you bought very realistically, Bel, and I compliment you on it. I don't believe the option for a full company was there.

Goblin- A Goblin had a blast:D

[Belisarius]

Thanks Goblin.

I'd say you bought to counter a mobile opponent. Nice work. If I counted correctly, I had 85 squads - Paratroops and partisans - behind my lines along with the T-34 company. Ouch.

It's always hard (at least with GE) to balance quantity vs. quality

Put in pictures, my roster was 2 1/3 pages long. Goblin's roster was an additional 5 pages. Still, if I had stopped and waited him out, the situation might have been totally different.

Goblin had an excellent offense/assault with good depth and adequate 'home turf' defense. On top of those troops behind me, he sorf of pulled off a double wave attack, with the tanks rolling in (and over!) first, then the infantry albeit we didn't play far enough for them to make a difference.

Does anyone have input about if more AA would have done a difference vs. the Paratroops? As we had no strike elements, I never considered air protection against transports.

[Goblin]

Even if you had got lucky, and hit 33% with kills every time, it still would have put two companys on the ground. Enough AA to get that many kills would have been half your force! As it was, my people were helping you; I had two transports leave the map with their paras still on board!

Goblin- A Goblin hates pilots:mad:

[Belisarius]

Ah, that's the way to do it then - bribe the transport crews!
I knew that shipment of chocolate, cigarettes and schnapps were meant for something...

Is this something that will be included in CL?

[Goblin]

In all seriousness, I probably went a little nuts with the rear area attack! I should have toned it down some, to make it more fair. Then you would at least be advancing on the bulk of my force. I just get to the Soviet price screen, and go, YES!! I can tell you though that the Soviet morale and experience were a problem! When fired on, I could not rally, period. That bites. Like you said, quality or quantity. Maybe we should have let you purchase a German allies troops that fought on the Russian front. One with inexpensive infantry for cannon fodder, etc. The Germans used them.

Goblin- A Goblin is ninja-like:)

[Belisarius]

Heh, yeah I could have used a trainload of Romanians in the back, along with a few captured Russki tractors.

I hoped that you'd get problems with the morale - a company of German infantry can hold ALOT of Soviet infantry at bay just by shooting in their direction. Too bad I couldn't get enough guns to bear on your positions.

I probably could have hold on to that southern hill for quite a few more turns. My Panzers were going but at a slow rate, around 1 every 2 turns, and I might have been able to hold the KV's at bay. (if not kill them - that was impossible).

The center hill was also interesting - I had a good grip on it, and those infantry / 57mm ZiS guns weren't scaring me. It was when I discovered the reinforcement KV company to my left/north flank that I knew that I couldn't hold on to it for much longer.

This would have grinded down to a fight for the southern hill, with your forces to the west, east and north. I probably could have inflicted some heavy casualties on your troops, but in the end it'd been the same.

I would have given anything for a company of Panthers.... :p

[Goblin]

You need to get in close with KV's. I know that sound like a bad idea, but it gives your better crews a higher chance at a vulnerable location hit, and your penetration is better in close. From the hill top, you should keep your panzers still, to go hull-down, which is why I never stopped shelling them! From up there, you can also kill with a top hit, or pound on one to get the crew to bail, or not rally.

Goblin- A Goblin loves the heavy steel