1.05.18 Beta - Baelfiin(Soviet) vs Carnage(Axis) -NoCarnagePls-

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: Baelfiin


I would classify my rank as low average at best 8)

Yeah, right.

Who was it said 'there is no greater arrogance than false modesty? Too clever for me to have thought up, of course [;)]

[Baelfiin]

Woke up early and could not get back to sleep, checked to see if I had any new WitE turns and found Carnage had sent his turn 4.

Results of my decision to stand and fight in the south were mixed.... There was a huge melee right in the middle of the line but without a lot of infantry support the germans were not able to cut anyone off. My subsequent counterattack on the LAH enabled me to slide most of the _almost_ pocket out.

Air interdiction caused some havoc with redeployment. Some wide open flanks are very tempting , but I am restraining myself and trying to be as conservative as possible. Still contemplating railing a bunch of cav into the middle and raiding the crap out of the german rail lines ..... there is an airbase or two in there that I could use as a supply base .......

More tomorrow after I finish up the rest of the map

[Peltonx]

33 arm removed thats allot.

[Baelfiin]

ORIGINAL: Pelton

33 arm removed thats allot.

Another 9 plus the entire KV group at Leningrad railed out this turn. Plus maybe another 3 depending on if I rail any units. All at the expense of no HI movement and next to nothing spent on railing units.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 4

ARM-- 2-Kremenchung, 3-Krivoi Rog, 4-Zaphorozhe, 9 for the turn, 33 previous, Total - 42
HI 000000000
Misc -- all 32 KV's evacuated from Leningrad.

I used all but 20k rail movement this turn on factories, the remainder was spent shuffling units around.

---Turn 4
--- North

Not much going on, Germans must be low on gas. The Finns start making trouble on the border; I promptly run away as fast as I can.

[Baelfiin]

--- Turn 4
--- Center

Germans sledgehammer their way forward towards Smolensk, but my lines are just thick enough to keep them contained. German Landsers are catching up to the panzers however, I expect a major attack next turn with the Infantry leading the way. Soviet reserves are pouring in and are constructing defensive lines to the east. How do you guys like the smaller scale of the maps showing more of the front?

[Baelfiin]

---Turn 4
--- South

I launch an assault on the LAH and force then to retreat. This enables me to evacuate a lot of very exposed divisions. I fall back a little more in order to keep the line straight. Not sure if I backed up far enough however.......

[Baelfiin]

After a short Hiatus and upgrading to 1.05.32 the Carnage continues ......

Turn 5

Arm -- 16 Dnepropetrovsk, 4 Bryansk, previous 42 Total: 62
HI----- 000000000
Misc -- messed around with the U2 factories... I think if anything those planes should be able to be used as an attrition weapon somehow. Doing bomb unit missioins with them doesnt seem to have the same effect as what is recorded historically. No idea how it would be able to be worked into thegame.
--- German progress is a little slower than I have experienced in the past, if i get one more turn in leningrad area i will rail the rest of the HI and Vehicle factories out as I am feeling very comfortable with the rest of the map.

--- North
Forgot to Screenshot... Germans grind forward, I back up and try to squeeze the point a little. The Finns massacre some of my guys ... not much else going on.


--- Center
Germans almost pocket a dozen odd divisions west of smolensk, the pocket was a little leaky and I was able to reestablish communications. I also counterattack the 19th panzer division, and cause it to retreat with heavy losses. The german mobile Divisions seem to be depleting very quickly, !9th PZ only had a 5 defensive CV when I hit it. My lines are starting to thicken up in this area, Germans need to bust things loose or its only going to get worse as my reinforcements flow in. *** looks like its gonna be a brawl here in the middle over the next few turns ***

[Baelfiin]

Turn 5

South

This turn I conduct two successful counterattacks on the tip of the german spear driving on Kiev. Das Reich and 9th PZ retreat with decent losses. I contemplated attempting to pocket the entire german mass in the middle, but I decided to continue to be conservative and contented myself with releiving the two isolated armor divisions in the middle. Im not sure why Carnage isn't closing these pockets off. These two divisions should have been cut off a lot better than they were. Maybe it is some kind of a plot to trick me =p


If I could scrape up the cajones to do it I should Rail 4 or 5 cav divisions into the Pripyet and charge around behind AGC and jack up the rail lines. It isn't pictured, but there is nobody at all guarding AGC southern flank as far as I can tell.

In the mean time I continue to dipsy doodle back towards the Dnepr and consolidate defensive positions around Kiev. I am going to keep picking away anywhere I can get some decent odds down here, the mobile troops seem to be awful weak.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 6

Arm--- 0; 20 previous; 62 total
HI --- 6 Leningrad; 0 previoous; 6 total
Misc--- 1BA-10 and 1Yak-6 from Leningrad

Next rail targets are going to be Kharkov followed by the Stalino area. Kharkov itself will take multiple turns so I want to get started with it ASAP.


This turn I started with 144k- ish rail cap, I used around 40k sliding units around, including most of the remaining defenders around Leningrad. Now all that remains to be seen is if Carnage continues to roll me up in the north (which is what I want, the farther north and east the germans push the better) or if he redeploys AGN mobile troops somewhere that (i think) would be more useful. An extra Panzer corp in the deep south could be extra annoying.

North---
I continue my retreat away from Leningrad and use some judicious rail movement to get several divisions around in front of the German advance. I have a nice tidy line stretching along the Volkhov. Leningrad is completely abandoned except for one die hard border regiment.
I got a little sloppy south of Novgorod and it is going to cost me a couple of divisions, and now the Germans may have some opportunities to drive east from there. The plan on the northern front is to continue to give up ground and try real hard not to get anyone surrounded and dead up there.
Time will tell if the manpower that I have given away up here will hurt me down the road.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 6


Center-A

Im splitting up the middle area into two parts so I can show a little bit more detail with my limited art skills. Maybe at some point I will come up with a clever naming system to distinguish between the two, but don't hold your breath =p

In the north center area Carnage seals up a pocket in the middle very nicely and starts to crack the Dnepr bend. I really screwed up and failed to have an airfield in the right position for an air resupply attempt. Maybe next time I will be better. Lines in the middle are very thick, I have a lot of extra bodies to help that would normally be getting their heads handed to them in Leningrad. The better commanders have been assigned in this area also, and western front aviation is joined by many new modern squadrons. Reserve front and Moscow Military district forces are taking part of the load in the second line areas.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 6

---Center-B

The Dnepr line is starting to crack and I expect to be pushed off it completely next turn. However, i have a second line in place to stop any breakthroughs and it should buy me some more time.

Not much in the Gomel area, Germans seem very uninterested in pushing hard here.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 6

---South

At some point I will probably start posting Crimea screenshots, but so for it has been nothing but Rumanians tripping over themselves as they advance vs no opposition. This last turn was a little interesting as they seemed to press a little more with their armor followed up by German infantry. Next time that Rumanian tank unit shows its head I am going to pound it just to remind them who is boss in the south !! =p

In other news I lose 49 bombers on resupply to the isolated tanks in the backlands of the german advance.

I also manage to scrape together enough CV to pop a hole in the other pocket west of Kiev. I'm sure it will be closed again pretty quickly, if I dont end up getting even more guys surrounded next turn. It is my hope that the limited attacks I am making are putting a drain on the German mobile forces, and I hope it has a side effect of making Carnage a little less likely to expose them later on in the game.

Operational Security prevents me from posting it, but there are lines forming along the psel and the don bend, German recon planes have been spotted eyeballing our positions, it will be interesting to see what happens next in this area. Hopefully AGN keeps its mobile troops in the meatgrinder that Moscow is going to turn into, If they come south especially into the Crimea/south coast things will get hot in a hurry.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 7

---Rail---
Arm --- 10 stalino, 1 Mariupol, 8 Poltava; 0 previous; 81 total.
HI ----- 0; 6 previous; 6 total
Misc --- nothing this turn

Rail cap dropped to 122k, only going to get worse. The shift in the German drive to the deep south has caught me a little off guard, I am kicking myself for moving that HI out of Leningrad last turn. Next turn will be the T-34's out of kharkov and another chunk out of Stalino, followed by the rest of Stalino area the next turn. I am pretty sure I can buy myself enough time to then finish off Kharkov area, but going to keep my fingers crossed.

---North---
My non-defense of Leningrad is now complete, the Finns are roaming south and my army is slogging east and south to assist in defending Moscow.
I was a little disappointed to see the Germans slack off in the push here, that means Carnage is going to have even more toys to bring the heat with further south. PG4 panzers are off the line and I think I have lost track of at least one corps. Its a very scary feeling knowing that there are free panzers around, able to pound you where you least can deal with it. In retrospect, I probably should have fought a little harder for Leningrad, but I am happy that the ultimate costs in dead units was relatively low.
Time will tell if my attempt to prioritze the center and south will work out for me.

[Baelfiin]

Turn 7

---Center/Rzhev---

Carnage wipes out the remnants of the Vitebsk pocket and crunches forward a little with his infantry. Ominouosly the panzers are mostly off the line in this sector as well. Two piles of Mobile troops are spotted in the backlands, I have no idea where they are going to hit next. I am going to fight like a cornered rat everywhere in the middle.
The german infantry is upon me and I think I have enough depth to avoid any huge encirclements. Carnage can push me around here in this area, but it will be a slugfest for sure (well maybe more of me being a punching bag.)

[Baelfiin]

Turn 7


---Center/Bryansk---

German Infantry massing, my boys dug in as best as they can be. The time to fight has arrived!!

[Baelfiin]

Turn 7

---South---

Im in trouble, Germans are finally using their mobility to force the issue in the deep south. My worst fears are realized as I am forced to scramble to come up with some covering forces at the mouth of the Dnepr. I do not have much hope that they will even slow the the panzers down. Germans look to be in good supply range at this point.
Very nice use of German ability to change direction. I think that this is one of their strongpoints, and if I am not careful Carnage could get me off balance down here and then the crush phase of isolated russians will begin.
I think Turn 7 and 8 are where the game truly begins, the pre plotted moves and countermoves of the opening phases of the game have been gone through, and both players have had time to "personalize" their army and their strategy.
Can't Wait till 1942!!!!

[sillyflower]

Good AAR Baelfin

What are the losses looking like?

[Baelfiin]

Hi Sillyflower welcome back 8)
Here are losses so far up to the end of my turn 8. No real feel for how things are going, The panzers are going to be striking very soon. Will have a better feel about turn 13 for how I am doing.

[Baelfiin]

Got the free paint.net software, I really like it. I am still figuring out how to use it, but am having a lot of fun with the line tool !!

Turn 8

--Rail---
120k-ish cap
Arm--- 3 Makeevka, 3 Gorlovka; 19 Previous; 87 Total.
HI ---- 0000000000; 6 total.
Misc --- all 58 T-34's from Kharkov
Not a lot of reinforcements to move, and the line is fairly stable. Germans stopped the Drive in the south for some reason, Guess they heard about the illicit schnapps that we were hoarding in Kirovograd.... ... ..

--- North ---
I back up a tiny bit and dig like a madman in the hills. The finns are out in force... we are dropping little chocolates for them to follow.
Lots of AGN resting or redeploying. I was hoping that there would be a lot of pressure on the me in the north, but Carnage isnt taking the bait.

My lines, such as they are ( i like my new paint.net program )