Tres Amigos Uno! JAM v ComradeP (no ComradeP)

[JAMiAM]

I'm sure I mentioned that Pieter likes to play aggressively, didn't I? Well, if not, here it goes...he does.[:D]

This screenshot shows the naked Soviet aggression against the peace-loving people of Rumania, who - honestly - were planning on sitting out this war. Really!

What is that Soviet unit doing across the Prut, down there, and why are all those forces massing near northern Bessarabia?

[JAMiAM]

Now, aggressive play is one thing, but it really needs to have a goal. I'm stumped on what Pieter's goal is here, since any potential advance out of Moldavia would need to be supplied by the rail line south of Kishinev, which has a bend that makes it dangerously exposed to 11th Army cutting it within two turns. Thus, it's really unsustainable at this point in the game, and needlessly overextends the Soviet forces, for little effect.

As you can see here, the Security was easily pushed back across the Prut by the heroic Rumanian defenders, and our glorious counterattack is already very close to this rail line.

[JAMiAM]

Anyway, all this talk about aggressive Soviet play is sidetracking my narrative, even if its intended effect of sidetracking my attacks has failed. To get back on track, with my narrative, at least, here are the turn start's ground losses, so that a comparisons with my other games can be made.

[JAMiAM]

Turn start air losses. It should be noted that my recon has revealed that virtually all of Pieter's airbases are empty. My Luftwaffe will fly virtually unopposed at this stage of the game. Well...there will still be flak, wear and tear, to contend with, but at least I won't have to worry about running into any obsolete biplanes...[:D]

[JAMiAM]

In the South, 1st Pz Gp struck against the Soviets fleeing the Carpathians (or massing for an assault on Bessarabia- take your pick) and linked up with the Rumanians and 11th Army to pocket another dozen Soviet divisions. They also struck against the massive Red Carpet shielding Proskurov. Although my infantry divisions are just this >< far away from being able to help in the attacks, they are still able to march up and watch the flanks of the schwerpunkt which has driven into the carpet, retreating, routing and displacing many Soviet units.

Though the Panzers were attacking unsupported this turn, my recon showed that most of his units were still very weak, and I did not want them to either dig in, or reinforce. The Axis player must utilize every opportunity to keep his strategic momentum at this stage of the game, and showing the other player that you're neither afraid to strike into a carpet, and in doing so, can disrupt the enemy lines at will, will keep him from assuming that anything is safe.

In all faithful recreations of the Barbarossa Campaign, there is a general rule of thumb for the Soviet player - "Don't Panic!" In my personal book of war, there is a corollary for the Axis player - "Don't lose your nerve!"

Much of the course of a well-fought game between two skilled opponents, is trying to make the other guy forget these rules of thumb. This screenshot shows the southern map and my progress in trying to make Pieter blink first.

[JAMiAM]

In the center, I decided to bite the bullet this turn, and take Minsk before the foot pounders got there. This reduced the amount of time (MPs) that I could devote to clearing Pieter's screens, but they were still driven back to the Berezina and beyond. Notice that the bulk of his units here are routed, and that he has nothing along the Dnepr, or in the Dvina/Dnepr land bridge. Since Pieter is playing a forward game here, I intend on keeping a strong thrust going toward Smolensk and taking Minsk is crucial for the supply situation.

[JAMiAM]

In the North, Pieter has again chosen to defend up close and personal. This has given my 4th Pz Gp some targets of opportunity, while they are still freshly supplied and waiting for the infantry to catch up.

Since he has not started digging in along the Velkaya River, the routed state of his units should make this defensive line a mere speedbump. Perhaps he intends on defending more strongly at the Neva River. We'll see how it plays out in the next few turns.

You might notice that green Pz Division. Like the GD Regiment in the south, I did not have enough APs this turn to assign it to a local HQ. I really don't know how some Axis players can go through the game without spending out their AP. There is so much to do in order to maximize your forces performance and AP is the currency by which to do it with. Mine are usually spent directly assigning SUs to my mobile forces, and doing Korps-Korps transfers of wayward divisions that get separated from their originally assigned HQs. Next turn, I'll have to make it a priority to get these two units properly assigned.

On that note, I wonder what Pieter is spending his on. He has disbanded virtually every Fortified Region that he starts with. My recon shows empty hexes where several of the rear area regions begin. I also disband these units fairly early, but generally try to wait until they are more directly threatened. I'm curious as to what means Pieter will use at his disposal to disrupt my plans. Of course, from this side of the fence, I can only guess at the less obvious things.

[JAMiAM]

The ground losses at the end of the turn. Still relatively light, with half of my total losses from attrition incurred during the turn two logistics phase.

[JAMiAM]

Finally, the air losses for the turn. As I've mentioned before, use them or lose them. I would rather be losing planes to flak, than to boneheaded pilots crashing them in training. Besides, with virtually the entire Red Air Force hiding in the National Reserve, I might as well let the Luftwaffe support my clean up operations unopposed. His air bases are positioned such that he might bring the air groups back at any moment, but that will take a turn to bring them back and another turn before they are properly supplied. In the meantime, there are Soviets to kill...

[Mynok]

To be blunt, you are fracked in the South. It is not necessary to isolate a bunch of stuff on turn 1 provided you do so on turn 2. You didn't. Welcome to the endless horde of Soviet zombies.

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


To be blunt, you are fracked in the South. It is not necessary to isolate a bunch of stuff on turn 1 provided you do so on turn 2. You didn't. Welcome to the endless horde of Soviet zombies.

We'll see about that...[;)]

[raizer]

id like to see some screenies of your panzer mps prior to and after moving thru the checkerboards

[Schmauser]

I think you're doing just fine if you are meeting your own goals. I also think that most people overstate the importance of turn 1. Is it a great opportunity to pocket large numbers of forces? Absolutely. However, it might not be worth it if you wind up moving forces out of position for further actions.

A few points of encouragement since you might be feeling a little "forum outnumbered". [:)]

- You know where you want to drive your Schwehrpunkts.

- Supply and fatigue levels will allow this to happen. A mud turn can just be a rest turn. I typically rest my armor 1 out of 4 turns anyways.

- This is an opportunity for the infantry to catch up.

- The new patch will likely provide higher casualties for routs and increase shattering units.

- I think some players undervalue cutting rail lines. Early Soviet forces have low MP's. I also think they will get a little bit of a surprised because of the rail changes.

[Wild]

Hi JAMiAM,
I don't post much, but i didn't want you to feel too outnumbered by your opponents.
I think i feel as you do. That people are dismissing the potential of the Germans. I believe they can be quite effective when used properly.
I will be following your AAR's with great interest.

Good Luck. Now go show 'em what the Germans can do.

[CharonJr]

I don't think many people underestimate the potential of the Germans, but some doubt that it is a good idea to let this many Soviets escape

Personally I am still on the fence here, I have to see how this one continues.

[Texas D]

I'm with Charon. Will have to wait and see the results.

[JAMiAM]

Hi all,

The last week, or so, has been pretty hectic in real life, so I've been falling behind in my game playing and posting. Pieter has already returned to me my turn 4 (yesterday) and by the activity in his AAR thread has obviously posted his view of things, so I better get to posting here, so we're not too out of synch and confuse our poor readers...[;)]

This screenshot shows the ground losses, at the start of the turn, before any movement, recon, etc.

[JAMiAM]

As usual, a lot of recon is in order before I start. This screenshot shows the air losses after the recon flights have been run. I might occasionally run a few more recon missions in the course of the turn, if I've got a developing breakthrough that is going off further than I expected, but even then, between 95-99% of my recon is run before I even move my first ground unit.

If you're using the default message settings, this can be a pain in the rear, with extra clicks to close the combat results window, so if you're running 300-500 air recon missions in a turn, a quick trip to your preferences page, to set the window delays to "0" might be called for. Just remember to set them back before you start with the ground attacks.

[JAMiAM]

A zoomed out picture of the situation in the Baltics. As you can see, Pieter is still trying to defend forward with a checkerboard, and is only now starting to dig in along the Velikaya River near Pskov.

[JAMiAM]

The situation in the Center is very much the same. Forward placed checkerboarding, but no discernable line defense at the Dvina/Dnepr Rivers, nor at the landbridge. Unfortunately, as above, my infantry is still too far back to warrant an overextension of my Panzers so I'm going to focus on routing and destroying as many of the forward units as I can, and only worry about forward progress to the extent that I am clearing a free movement path for the infantry to advance through. I expect the main action in this area to occur around turn 5, unless Pieter leaves me an especially tempting opening to take advantage of.