Clash of steel continued Smokindave (Sov) vs. Qball (Axis)

[Flaviusx]

Admiral Akbar thinks it's a trap.

Seriously...don't throw a tank corps in there. If you want to get frisky, break down a cavalry corps into three divisions, along with some tank brigades, and see what happens. Cav will probably move faster through there, and the breakdowns will give you 3 chances to flip over control. You're not risking near as many trucks this way, too.

Prep some airborne for giggles. Don't cheese it with deep drops, but I'm pretty sure you can have some fun within 10 hexes of an airfield. These can support your cav.

[JAMiAM]

If you've been running air recon missions, then they'll show up on the battles. You should assume that Q-Ball is looking at them, and has an idea that you're focusing on it. However, boots on the ground will let you know whether there's anything in the two hexes (rough, and the town hex 1NE from it) simply by moving a divisional unit into your furthest east RR hex. If you flip the control of the next RR hex, then there is nothing in the other two. This way, you don't tip your hand prematurely by running a boatload of air recon in the hex, and having those air recon icons bring his attention to the potential gap.

More probably is that his forces are lined up in the four hexes one row back, forming a slight cul-de-sac. He's probably entrenched back there better than he would be, if he had moved forward. Again, boots on the ground can do a better recon of the hexes, and if you do like Flavio mentioned, break down a Cav Corps into divisions, you can run in, check out the defenders and run back without alarming Q-Ball to your intent. All he will (might) see would be a conversion of hexes that didn't exist last turn. Players generally don't notice no-man's land gap flips as much as they notice recon icons, and battle icons. Be sneaky and check it out before commiting to an operation that may not go anywhere.

[randallw]

It's not exactly a massive hole; there's only one line of hexes that you can move units along without paying ZOC movement points.

[Flaviusx]

While we are on the subject of hex flipping, don't ever let the enemy keep empty controlled hexes adjacent to your line if you can possibly avoid it.

March your guys in there, and then back out into your front line if you don't want to risk occupying the place. In the case of contested ZOCs, control won't revert to him and will go to you. If you leave such empty hexes alone, he retains the control assuming contesting ZOCs. Think of this as aggressive patrolling. It's pretty clear based on the screens that Q-ball is doing this to you, btw.

Those empty but Axis controlled hexes by the Oka? Yeah, don't let him keep those. Flip those suckers over and then fall right back across the Oka. That by itself helps defend the river line as it will make it harder for the other guy to attack the following turn as MPs get consumed marching into the empty but enemy controlled hex.

Cleavers take this to the next level: they run their mobile units all over the place, flip control, and then scurry back knowing that the enemy infantry hasn't got enough MPs to get at them on their next turn. That gives them a solid base to follow through with deeper penetration on their next turn. James loves this technique. You have a bit of a cleaving opportunity here yourself.

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

While we are on the subject of hex flipping, don't ever let the enemy keep empty controlled hexes adjacent to your line if you can possibly avoid it.

Well...I wouldn't say never (don't ever, is what he said, actually), but in general, this is good advice. Some situations, however, you might want to allow the "no-man's land" to remain enemy controlled for limited amounts of time. Namely, to get your fort levels to greater than 2 + 10%. Once they are 2 + 11% and greater then you should probably resume the active patrolling. The reason for the 2 + 11% threshold is that this will allow the fortification to continue up to 3 + 10%. Unless the hexes are in/next to a FZ/FR, or adjacent to an enemy controlled hex, you won't be able to break the 2 + 10% limit on fortification.

Oh...and Flavio, quit giving away my secrets. I remember when I first starting doing this, I was getting teased for wasting fuel and fatigueing my Panzers. Before people started realizing how effective and important creating the safety zone for the exploiters was, that is...[;)]

[Flaviusx]

I have been refining my picketing technique with you in mind, James. [;)]

The first time I saw you do this, you didn't do a Lvov opener, and I felt I was containing you pretty well as a result. It just didn't seem that effective to me. (It also goes to show you how strong the stupid Lvov opener is, but that's a whole other rant.)

Only on our second game did I see the potential of it in the way you broke me by Smolensk and chased me all the way back to Moscow.

[smokindave34]

Thanks for the advice. Next turn I'll break down a cavalry corps and hide the divisions under an airbase or HQ before I send them rushing (hopefully) through. I haven't yet done an airborne assualt - this seems like an excellent use for an air drop. I can't expect to achieve much at this point in our game except to maybe catch Q-ball by surprise and force him to send some units north.

I was reluctant to flip over the hexes south of the Oka because I was afraid my units would get stuck on the wrong side of the river without enough MP's to get back. But now that you brought it up I realized I do have a Cavalry corps in the area and that unit should be able to make it over and back without a problem...

Oh and by the way Flaviusx - nice reference to Admiral Akbar!

[Flaviusx]

Just don't cheese the airborne, use them reasonably. [:)] I don't want anybody to think I'm encouraging suicide drops.

[smokindave34]

T66:

Q-ball used his panzers to push through my forts in and around Ryazan. Other than those attacks the front was pretty quiet this turn. I get the sense he is re-grouping his forces for a winter offensive (only 3 more turns of clear weather and I don't think he will plan anything big this soon before the mud hits).

He has also been taking small bites out of my defensive belt due west of Moscow - just one or maybe two hexes per turn. He may be trying to set me up to cut off my forces in Kaluga. I'll watch this area closely over the next few turns.

I managed 3 more victories this turn by moving my tank corps forward to attack weak axis divisions. Nothing spectacular but those wins will add up towards guards status.

[smokindave34]

I set the forces in motion for my "recon in force" east of Lake Ilmen. 2 cavalry divsions and an airborne brigade are staged with a cavalry corps on the way. No recon this turn as I don't want to tip my hand.

[smokindave34]

Current OOB...

[smokindave34]

T67:

In the Moscow area Q-ball continues his slow advance east with two more succesfull attacks. I don't see any axis armor behind his lines ready to try and exploit these gains although the slow push east has me worried. He's taking heavy casualties doing this but if it keeps up I may be forced to build a few rifle corps to put in this area. I also have some tank corps sitting north of Moscow on refit that I could use if necessary but I'd like to keep them on refit if possible.

[smokindave34]

QB ball caught me off guard with an attack by XXXXVIII and XIV panzer corps in the south. I had seen a panzer and motorized division there last turn but didn't expect an attack of this scale - 5 more divisions off to POW camps [:@]

I have over 500,000 men in the manpower pool. I don't think I'm using my manpower effectively so I built 2 rifle divisions and a rifle brigade this turn to start prepping for the '43 build of rifle corps. I calculated that if I save 20AP per turn from now until Jan '43 I'll be at the limit of 500 AP's. That allows me to spend 40AP per turn for the rest of the year. I plan on continuing to build tank corps and now that I've noticed this glut of men in the pool I'll start building Rifle div/brigades as well. Any thoughts/criticisms of this plan are welcome!

[smokindave34]

My grand plan for pushing west towards Lake Ilmen has fizzled out. I sent a few cavalry divisions into the area only to run into entrenched German divisions. I recon'd that area for 4 turns and didn't see a thing....

[Klydon]

Instead of just building new units because you have the points, I would take an inventory of what you have first and then decide what you want to do from there.

Part of the reason for this is more units is not necessarily a good thing, especially since your manpower is down. The results will likely be a lot of units watered down, which is not necessarily what you want. I know Flaviusx and some of the other Russian testers have said in the past there is a limit you don't want to go past as the Russians. I can't quite remember what the number was, but I would say you would want around 300 division equivalents and given your manpower, no more than 350.

Have you guys updated to the latest version of the game? If so, I think I would be spending my budget of points on trying to get the command structure fixed to fall within the newer parameters of the patch (IE, fewer units per HQ). You will be busy spending points moving commanders around in this case as well.

One final thing to look at as far as spending AP's on. How are you doing support unit wise? When you get all those corps, they will be support unit hungry, so if you don't have a bunch of sappers started yet, I would perhaps consider looking at those as they will need time to fill out and train up.

[smokindave34]

Klydon - thanks for the advice. I currently have 375 infantry divisions and 49 rifle brigades (of which I think 15-20 are naval infantry brigades). It sounds like that may be a bit much...I certainly don't want a bunch of watered down rifle corps come 1943.

I have not started building up my support units for the rifle corps - that is good advice! I'll start building these now and attack to STAVKA and then when the corps are built I'll transfer them to the corps. I planned on attaching a sapper regiment, separate tank regiment, and MG-artillery battalion to each corps.

We are on the latest version of the game. I spent about 100 AP's the first two turns getting re-organized. I still have some armies overloaded but those are in quiet sectors of the front. I focused primarily on getting my armies around Moscow at or below 18 command points.

[smokindave34]

T78:

Been a while since I posted as there was not a lot of action during mud turns and Q-ball has dramatically scaled back his offensive operations so far during winter (although I fully expect another major offensive yet this winter)

Here is the situation around Moscow:

Q ball continues to make some attacks in this area (about 1 attack every other turn) and he has driven me out of Rzhev. I should have defended the city better and he will be tough to push out of there now. I'm a bit thin in this area and have transferred the 2nd tank corps from east of Moscow to this area to stiffen my defenses.

I have taken Flaviusx's advice and put a large portion of my units in reserve stance. Unfortunately no one joined in the battle for Rzhev however in the future this should give Q-ball some fits.

One problem I'm having is that I don't have a lot of recon units, so at this time I don't have a firm handle on where all the panzers are.... I tried to spread the limited recon planes I have out across the entire front this turn to try and help matters.

[smokindave34]

I've been staging and refitting units in the Stalingrad area in preparation for the mass Rifle corps build that will occur in three turns. I'll be at 500 admin points so I should be able to field a lot of rifle corps very soon. I sent all my guards rifle divisions back to get them out of harms way and ready to form corps.

The new SW front has arrived and I stripped 4 armies (including the new 5th shock army) and will place them under SW front which I have assigned to K. Rokossovsky. I'd like to use this front as sort of a mobile attack force, I know that I can't just pound one area of the front as Q-ball will surely send his armor to that area so I'm thinking of doing hit and run tactics with my riifle coprs with support from tank corps/mech corps in an effort to gain experience and flip over to guards.

STAVKA has been building sapper regiments, separate tank brigades, and MG-artillery SU's to assign to each rifle corps and I've built my first two artillery divisions as well.

[smokindave34]

I continue to have a LOT of men in the pool - over 1 million. I've been cycling units in and out of the front line and putting them on refit and this has slowed the rate of rise of men in the pool a bit but this still seems like way too many men to be sitting around in the pool....

[smokindave34]

Current OOB