HITMAN202...the Krauts versus A-1 challenging

[HITMAN202]

******* Turn #10 *******

Things are getting real fun and a little humorous (next turn) as all three fronts are smoking. The game turns are taking 2 1/2 an hour or so, but if I had a cheat sheet for what I need to do in an organized way, it would be easier (and probably more fun in the long run.) When I get one (I'm sure someone will point to one for the Axis) I'll post it. But it's not just the turn itself that has to be organized, but the long term planning. The first 10 turns I fell better about (not comfortable with yet.)

Turn #1 set the Air Strategty, the TOES, and decide where, who, what, and how each of your three Army Groups are going to initially proceed . Plan some strategy with how your going to use your AP's and carefully, carefully plan the direction of your FBD units.

Turn #2-5 Its important to see how the Soviet is handling their defense in each of your fronts, and look at other AAR's and copy. NOOBE'S shouldn't think too much. It's real dangerous. Unfortunately I'm being very serious. You got to learn from the best. And these guys are good.

Turn #4 Think about garrisoning

Turn #5 Onward.... The Soviets are going to have established D-lines (particularly at the major rivers) and constantly think about encirclements. "Good attacks" mean nothing. Isolating units mean everything. There are a ton of other stuff that i need to do, but I don't know yet what i don't know



On to the game. Remember I'm a NOOBE and I'm doing very little but copying other AAR's. I love Pelton's brusqueness,, Flaviusis great judgement and insight (not his AAR's, he just comments), and Q-Ball's and Baelfin's reasoning out their strategies. There are aton of others.

The Soviets are dying quickly and in large numbers. The A-1 is like a monkey. Shaka Zulu (portrayed in a movie ??? title) described how you trap a monkey. Hollow out a small gourd and make a tiny opening that a monkey could only squeeze his hand thru. Put a banana (or whatever tasty) in it and anchor the gourd and wait. Eventually a monkey would find it ,reach thru the opening, and grab the goody, but couldn't drag it out. His fist was too large. He was by nature so stubborn, he wouldn't let go and would be caught. The A=1 hangs on to all cities, tries to open pockets, and keeps a nice front line without depth. And dies.

First AGN



After two failed attacks against Leningrad on turn 9,I was was successful on 3 out of 4 ( two were depleted hexes from the earlier failed attacks.) Its painful to see quality infantry being lost as the beaten Soviets rout across the Volkhov (makes no sense.) I stiil have the level #4 entrenchment in front of Pava and the three behind it to take. At least 8 more attacks (and I can't make multiple attacks behind the Pava each turn.. But the sweet isolation of 2 hexes behind the Volkhov, 6 units probably more than 60,000, that's what the game is all about for the Axis. Sweet. I am changing my plans east of the Volkhov. Next turn. It will involve AGC and the still AGN attached Pz XXXXI !!!

Now the fun, great fun at AGC



I was hoping to achieve at least 270 degrees of the encirclement of Moscow and i got over 300 !!! The big things to achieve were 1) hitting the north and south edges of the encirclement with infantry to clear space (10-12 infantry at each shoulder, they don't need to be bashing their head against the front of Moscow's D, 2) making hasty attacks with 2 Pz units stacked and before running out of MP moving them away from Moscow to widen the isolation zone, and 3) have two additional Pz Corp, (buildup this turn) to follow on turn 11 to complete and widen the isolation. If you send a buildup Pz this turn it will have to cross enemy hexes and burn up a ton of MP. The Soviets will free up part of the pocket on their turn phase. On turn 11, these Pz divisions with 45-48 MP will be crossing many converted hexes and can easy reseal the deal..permanently. Sweet..

East of the Pripet Marshes



I'm just copying what other's do.. I bet there are 30 + units there. I did 1 buildup in AGC, didn't in AGS

And AGS



It looks good, but I'm really messing up her, wasting a lot of time and gas,,but I'm aiming at Rostov and the Crimea. I think with better moves I could be within 100 miles of Rostov



Another 100 units soon to be isolated ??? Maybe !!!

[HITMAN202]

***** TURN 11 *****

The A=1 is taking casualties to such an extent that I think that all three of their fronts will break..that they will have so few units that any will be isolated when close to the Axis lines. I see me killing 400+ divisions with 4,000,000 scalps by the time when the mud hits. I'm seeing far fewer units than I thought. I'm shattering 1/3 to 1/4 of the single divisions I deliberately attack because they have so few troops, infantry divisions with 2-4,000 troops. (I guess rushed to the front too soon.)

AGN





I've failed on my first attack across the Neva with the 1st and 2 nd Corp (did bump the fort down to #3) and cringe at the losses I'll take. The two isolated Soviet hexes on the Volkhov died with almost 50,000 losses and I have a lot of real estate there. I'm tempted to head to the Finnish border, but the terrain is uninviting. But there is a humorous (too me) option.. but first..



AGC..... this is one of most enjoyable moves of any game I've made in my 40 + years of wargaming



I think the encirclement will hold (just don't see any fresh units that will come outside of the city to help). Its funny, the toughest terrain to overcome in surrounding Moscow is behind the city formed by the two rivers that head east. My plan to have 2 build=up Panzer Corp follow their lead brother's attack north and south of the city turned to be overdone.. I needed only the southern help (PzXXXIX). But the humor is..



The northern help was to be AGN's PzXXXXI, lend-lease from turn 5 when I had both Army Groups rail Repair units going the wrong way (into uncontrolled territory) and a 180 degree change in plans for PzXXXXI (and direction) corrected the problem (with a pocketing of 20 or so units). Well, let's send it back north to isolate the Ruskies south of Novgorod and help with the push to the Finnish border... !!!! ??? !!!....goodness gracious.... I'm embarrassed how well I planned this.

.... and around Karkov ....



There are so few Ruskies, so I'll isolate (try to} Karkov...

....And finally the stats....



Goodness gracious.. turn 11... nearly 3 mill Soviet casualties, 300 (!!!) division killed or soon to be killed and Moscow enveloped. These Pz's can kick some bad asssssssss.....

[HITMAN202]

**** Turn 12 ****

Its amazing how helpless the Soviets are when their position can be isolated. What's happening in this game around Moscow (and I hope what will also occur at Leningrad and south of Moscow), makes me believe that the game is far easier to play as the German power; but the Soviet player is the one who decides the winner and by how much. As I face the A-1 at challenger mode it makes the same errors... 1)doesn't attack exposed German units, 2) defensive line has no depth, and 3) defends all cities. But I see if the A-1 Soviet would make a few changes it could be very, very difficult to beat. Often in a obviously key strategic hex the computer would position a weak unit; but if a stronger division had been used my attack would be frustrated. What I'm trying to say is between two equally skilled opponents, in my opinion, the Soviet should win; but the Ruskies have the far greater challenge (and more opportunities to go astray.) Just a NOOBE's opinion .

**** AGN ****



Another failed attack across the Neva by the 1st and 2nd Corp. I've decided to go try and connect with the Finnish border thru the swamps (with Pz XXXXI on the scene) next turn.

Talking about Pz XXXXI



What a neat isolation of the Soviets south of Novgorod !!!! There seems to be more there than I thought.

AGC's slapdown of Moscow



Soon the Gestapo will have fun with those who didn't flee the Kremlin. The mopping up is going slowly. The sad reality is that a Pz movement out of supply is a killer when it comes to using that unit in the near future. Turn #1 buildup, turn #2 move, turn #3 and #4 maintain the isolation, and finally turn #5 and #6 move back into supply (or sit to get the tanks fueled up.) The move to Moscow was good, but I have a lot of tanks stuck in the mud now.

South of Moscow



Ive got the surprising development of a possible major Cannae, but everything is so scrambled and unorganized in the cleanup of the Moscow encirclement . But there are a lot of units sitting there, a lot of military might

AGS



Still messing around with Karkov and further south



Messing up (real bad) in taking Rostov prior to the mud. Finally the stats



If I can take Leningrad before the mud (and its a big if right now, I afraid to show the TOE' of the 1st and 2 nd Corps) and something big happens south of Moscow (there is a ton of German military might sitting there) could get to 400 killed divisions by the mud ???

[HITMAN202]

Turn 13...Turn 13...Turn 13

Game is getting messy and very tense, tense to see how much the krauts can run the bus over the Ruskies. With the large majority of Pz's being over-extended with the Moscow Cannae.. it's down to crunch time with how high the infantry can push the casualties.

*** AGN ***

Another failure .. the attack across the Neva..HELD. I will try to push to the Finish border



*** AGC ***



Slowly reducing the Moscow fortress, pocketting another 60-70,000 east of the Kremilin and pushing south to...



..to possible connect a Ryazan=Orel pockett.. too ambitious ??? I'm buildingup the Pz Corp well southwest of Orel...



You see the Pz XIV Corp buildup.. and Kharkov is getting swallowed hook,line, and sinker.



The Rostov/Donbass push and the stats..



Turn 13 will start thinking about the winter fortifications

[HITMAN202]

*** Turn 14 ***

The attack rolls on, surges on, and is racking up the body count. Granted, the A-1 is a mindless program, but this one must be feeling some silicon pain. But where in the world are all these Soviet units coming from ???

***AGN***



Finally I crossed the Neva with the effort of the I and II Corp. But the big excitement is the linkup with the Finns. Can Leningrad be isolated ???



Moscow is being reduced, but two more helds. But this is a sideshow to the biggest operation of the war




Can the pocket hold with 80 units trapped ???



I finally am seeing Rostov in my sites. But the Crimea is of no concern and even less importance




Where are the Soviets getting all those units ???

[wdkruger]

Looks like you are playing an older version of the game (1.04.40). Why are you not using the latest beta? I understand the AI has improved a lot.

[HITMAN202]

It's the latest version.

[HITMAN202]

It's the most recent patch.

[HITMAN202]

**** TURN 15 ****

I just don't see where these SU's are coming from. These screen shots are the start of turn 16 ... and look at the large # of units that have materialized out of thin air. How can it be since alone over 400 divisions are dead ??? Anyway, we will continue to kill, kill, kill up to the blizzard. I"m thinking of doing something a little different then...

**** AGN ****


All Leningrad defenders (and Volkov River) are isolated. I'm going to push hard east for space. I'm not comfortable with making big pincer movements . I question if I could reduce the pockets quickly enough.



Again I'll be pushing east, looking to shatter units and grab space



Pushing east



How much breathing space can I make around Rostov ?? I'm going to wait to start building the blizzard line until I can estimate how far east I can push back the Ruskies



These numbers are obscene... we will see how much blood there is in Russia !!!!

[Tazak]

With AI settings on 110% the AI gets free AP to maintain 300 division and 100 bde, gets a increase in supply but strangely no increase to manpower/production, once you reach a certain point the AI is forced to use understrength units resulting in a lot of shatters hence your rather large unit destruction numbers

[gids]

interesting AAR ,i dont think you can group your units against a human opponent though, (you prob know that),otherwise interesting to read
Also the Screenshots are a bit to small sometimes to watch and the latest patch is 1.05 something betapatch its in the members section
Do you type al those losses number directly into Excel?if not how do you Copy paste em?

[HITMAN202]

Its been fun (and learning the game.. Pelton is probably right it'll take 3-4 caimpaigns) and I have not yet played against a real opponent yet (Cyclops and I are lining one up but with 6 kids (you new fathers out there who are playing WITE less because of little sleep better get use to it.. that is until those babies graduate from college) and a company with 20 employees I don't know if he will tolerate a snail's pace) and am ignorant of what's bad or good play... yet. What I'm doing AAR wise will get better. My business's computer guru will sit down with me and show me how to do it best. I am hand doing the stats and am using "photobucket."

[HITMAN202]

**** TURN 16 ****

Now I am really feeling weird, because I have no idea what to do during the mud Turn #18. My priorities will help to guide my approach but the snow and blizzard turns also approach, each I have no clue what to do. Well here's my thinking (a NOOBE who cheats by copying others, but by move 17 its hard to copy because each game has its own personality),,,, so here are my thoughts,,,,,


Killing units (#1) probably is more important than focusing on building a defensive line. Not to say that they are mutually exclusive, but the large # of Russian casualties are leading to weak divisions that are easily shattered by deliberate attacks, which in turn, leads to even weaker replacements that are even easier to kill. By the end of the last snow I could get to 5 mill. So the German might stays forward attacking until the blizzard.


But now this thing with morale. I can not keep all units in the game on the front line until the blizzard because they will lose 2 points a turn (I have no idea how important morale is in '42 for the Germans, but everyone is chirping (not an easy word to spell) about it). Obviously You can't take all Germans off the line but you have the Axis allies south of the weather line to help meet the need.So this morale thing is #2.


There are ninety hexes that need to be covered along the front (not covered by the Finns) 45 both north and south of the weather line. So I'm going to keep 45 divisions of German infantry north of the weather line and 20 divisions south of it with the hoard of Axis Allied to form a screen. All armor (35 units) and the remaining infantry (about 40) will go under cover.


West of the line traced from Kharkov to Smolesnk you got 50-60 hangouts (in the cities) for this group to hibernate, other hangouts are much further back.

You can rail 10-12 or so units a turn, so starting the first mud turn I'll start first the armor (some will take 2 turns of rail) then the 40 highest morale infantry. Also the Corp and army HQ will have to go and that will add another 20 or so,, so I start the migration next turn.


And with so many units a good distance from the railheads, wish I had started this sooner. I can always change how many and who go where; but it's just going to take doing it to figure it out.


So killing Ruskies is really #2 and moving my studs east to winter quarters #1.


I guess the defensive line is #3, but if the Ruskies are so beat down it may be no big deal just for my weak winter line to step back 1-2 hexes a turn for the 12 blizzard turns (or whatever how many) to keep from getting hammered. But I don't want to run too far away from Rostov, so I'll begin an Axis Allied building effort 8=10 hexes west of Rostov, planning 25 forts north of the Black Sea.


What else ??? I've got this army organization thing to create a strike force come '42 and I guess you just have to sit down and put pen to paper and figure it out (#4)


I wish I could copy stuff, but on turn #17 or so, you just can't. Eventually you have to make your own plans and learn from your mistakes (you never learn from success. You only get blinded by it if you are too prideful... such is life.)

***AGN***



The fighting is finished and all is left is wiping up the blood and pushing east.



Getting space created east of Moscow.



Pushing east south of Moscow




A nice little pocket east of Kursk (probably the last for a longggg time.



And the Rostov area... I wish I had more units there to get more space east..



I think 5 mll is a possibility

[HITMAN202]

**** TURN 17 ****

Plans go by the wayside when the smell of blood is on the steppes. I just couldn't hold back the assault throughout the front with so many attack opportunities and the easy "shatters." 82 additional killed units (around 65 or so shattered) .... over 350 the last 5 turns. The front is steadily expanding eastward and I've decided (this turn at least) to forget about a defensive fort line or heading any units back west. I'm thinking that I'm facing something that may be the reverse of "critical mass" ... I'll call it "critical lack." In physics and medicine you have the concept of chain reactions, in the former, and epidemics, in the later that are self propagating, self-sustaining phenomenons of destruction. Here I have the A-1 Soviet opponent with a low manpower reserve (because of colossal loses) throwing out dozens of weak divisions that are quickly killed, replaced by even weaker units that are more quickly exterminated. I may be not making any sense but my point is that the A-1 is sealing its fate by throwing out weaker and weaker units.

*** AGN ***



*** AGC ***



*** AGC ***



*** AGS ***



*** STATS ***



We'll see if the is such a thing as "critical lack"

[AFV]

Your screen shot shows you are playing 1.04.40
I play 1.05.45 (not upgraded to latest patch and likely won't for a while).
You had said earlier you were playing the latest patch, just pointing out, this is not so, in fact you are two behind.

Btw, it does look like complete anihilation at this point (or as you suggested, critical lack). I am going to predict that the AI will make very few attacks on you during the blizzard, assuming you take reasonable precautions. You might want to take Baku when you get good weather again- just because you can.