Emir (Axis) vs Oleg (Soviet) - Very short AAR

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: alfonso
Then, what was your feeling during the game?. A juggernaut coming directly towards you, or plenty of annoying Panzer Divisions flying as mosquitoes around you?

My feeling, same as vs Jamiam, was that I am not even "playing" this game. I was merely shovelling handful of 1=1 ants every turn, and watching the OTHER guy actually play.

I said that couple times already - if Axis player does almost-perfect insanely aggressive game there is nothing Sov player can do but watch. Putting half a dozen 1=1 units here and there I would not even call playing or "coherent strategy".

I invented an acronym for such Axis play: APIAG (almost perfect insanely aggressive game). It is my current goal to learn to play Axis APIAG, because being on the receiving end of that is just frustrating.

ACR, on the other hand, fell well short of APIAG, and the result - my Soviets holding Odessa and Smolensk firmly by Spring 42, south front in tatters... something that would prompt less stubborn Axis players to whine accross the forums here [;)]

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Most of new WitE players, when they start playing, will play Axis and will play 1941-1945... that's a fact... [;)]

Since playing Axis is, let's be honest, harder because they have to attack and don't lose momentum most of those players will think that WitE is too hard on Germans.

And this is exactly what we had in public WitE forum - lots of calls for making Axis life easier, easing of 1st Winter rules etc. ... [:D]


At the same time certain players rather quickly grasped the concept of Axis playing and they become quite proficient! [:)]

Also at the same time, and as far as I saw, this is still not the case with Soviet side... I still haven't seen very proficient Soviet players based from publicly available AARs...


We, ALPHA / BETA played WitE much longer than you guys and, thus, have more experience. If there is to be some kind of "general" feel among us I would say that most believe that there is balance and that there is plenty of room for both sides to play the WitE!

The WitE allows both sides to develop their own strategies and tactics and both sides have possibility for action <-> reaction!



Leo "Apollo11"

[PeeDeeAitch]

I agree completely. I think some of the calls, from winter to the "need" to make the German game easier is more based on lack of experience than complete understanding of the game.&nbsp; Part of the problem is that many of us are want to be Guderians or Mansteins, and we somehow cannot get past that the problems might be of our own making rather than flaws elsewhere.
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This mini AAR gives a good feeling of what can be done.

[Tarhunnas]

Amazing achievement Emir! Just wondering about one thing. I have only played the Soviet side in a couple of PBEM , and in my experience there is often a possibility to isolate the Panzer spearheads of an agressive German and clutter them up with 1=1s. That will not destroy them, I will almost never have the forces to actually attack them and force a retreat, but it will hit their supply, and bog down the German offensive. How does the insanely aggressive German avoid this?

[Emx77]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

Amazing achievement Emir! Just wondering about one thing. I have only played the Soviet side in a couple of PBEM , and in my experience there is often a possibility to isolate the Panzer spearheads of an agressive German and clutter them up with 1=1s. That will not destroy them, I will almost never have the forces to actually attack them and force a retreat, but it will hit their supply, and bog down the German offensive. How does the insanely aggressive German avoid this?

There is couple of things which German player should have in mind.

First, don't go too forward with your armor spearheads. Usually, I use them in pincer movement to finish encirclement. After that, they are positioned in forward center with infantry covering flanks. If opponent try to use tactic that you described, it take risk of concentrating units on one spot, which could help me to easy do next encirclement on following turn(s). My opponent hadn't use your tactic probably because after my breakthroughs he had more important things in mind (such as forming new defensive line). Also, often pincer movement hadn't left him a lot of ready units to sacrifice in attacking one Pz Division.

Second, German player shouldn't left huge gaps among mobile units. I try to keep them as close as possible with preferably 1 hex among them. Or even without any gaps if opponent has large reserve force to counterattack (see situation around Moscow on attached screenshot).

Third, after completing encirclement with mobile units in forward center, I usally left them there for turn or two in order to rest them and faster replenish of fuel and supplies. Regarding this I wouldn't care much if he try to clutter them with 1=1s. My infantry is close anyway so if he like to risk encirclement so let it be.

[Emx77]

Another example - usual situation after pincer maneuver

[Tarhunnas]

I see, thanks for the explanation. In my next PBEM I will play the Germans and try to be insanely agressive. I always seem to end up playing the Soviets.. dunno why? I am agressive by nature (when playing wargames) [:D]!