Just another AAR

[Josh]

I don't know the composition of your forces, but when faced with large units of Infantry the best thing you can do is invest in Level Bombers...they rule against  Inf. units. So does Artillery and especially Heavy Artillery. You do need them when facing rugged terrain like hills and woods and well dug in units. If you attack an entrenched unit in forests/hills... even if you attack from multiple hexes, it will cause massive casualties on your side. And the best way to attack is first the Tubes and then the fly boys and not the other way around. The Artillery will lower the readiness and Lvl Bombers kill units with a low readiness more easily. The fun begins with Arty II, it becomes an even more powerful unit with lvl III...and lvl IV is like the MLRS system [:D]

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 12/13

The tanks of 1 corps that had tried to assault Gerza are shelled, attacked and destroyed - I left them exposed and paid the price. I need to develop 2nd echelon forces to move up behind the tanks in support. However although the attack failed – subsidiary attacks have given me a much better position in that sector for a further assault on Gerza. See picture. (Losing a few light tanks vs potentially cutting SE Southern Front in half? Well worth rolling the dice!)



Turn 12 - original 1 corps line marked. You can also see the armour in Brighton

Around Brighton my 2 light tank units attack and take a hex – I move one of my recuperated infantry divisions into position. I didn’t expect to be retaking ground at this stage – bonus! I’ll build up some arty there also.

In the SE/6 corps sector the enemy have mustered significant forces with armour accompanying. However their supply lines look exposed (as per the last map) and I reckon I can cut off them using tanks and airborne troops. I start building transporters and paratroopers as well as an airfield west of Cheltenham. I also move armour down to join 6 corps.

Command shuffle – Steven Emmett is off to be commander of the Air Force – sounds very impressive except the Air Force currently consists of 3 level 1 dive bombers. In promotion terms he’s like John in this video – 2 minutes in…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qD38NYA0hE

Mark Cooper is a new recruit to the officer pool and (another artillery officer so should rub along with everyone well – lots of banter about “gun calibres” no doubt). He takes over in the Hull Cheltenham sector. Steven Heath now commands in the North West.

@Josh – thanks for the comments. I’ve taken note of some of your other comments on AARs as well. I agree that my forces are very defensively orientated at the moment. Over time I’ve come to a std. building block of an infantry “regt” comprising 6rifle - 3SMG - 3MGs - 3bazookas or 1 AT gun. 3 regt.s make up my standard division, whilst a single regt is a can hold lower risk positions/provide flank security.

I find it’s a very strong defensive mix (esp. when entrenched) and good for the early game as:
1) a division doesn’t need too much raw to build (18 raw total)
2) does not require trucks or horses to move at a decent pace, but can be mobilised with 1 truck/2 horse per regt.,
3) a division can be built by a standard city (8000pp) in a turn so you can build forces rapidly.

(This is the what I spent time working out on a spreadsheet!)

The problem is it has virtually no offensive capability and can only really occupy ground, not capture it (exhibit a. the disastrous counterattack to the NW of Brighton in turn 9!).

Where I have used Arty and tanks in co-operation (in the Aurora sector) the results have been excellent. I’ve started building a small air force as well. However I’ve still got a bit of a challenge with fuel having focused on upgrading raw in the early game. This is exacerbated by Lancer’s resource mod which means a lot of barrels are used supplying your troops. I’ve been burnt before overbuilding oil consuming units and then watching the oil stocks built up in the early game evaporate in a matter of turns! I’m keen to get some Artillery and Flak out to my infantry corps as well.

However, in ATG whenever you are building tanks/arty/aircraft there is never enough raw to go around – part of the challenge! However I’ll look to get some balanced combined arms attacks out – level bombers, arty and upgrade where possible. (I’ve already got Lvl 2 light tanks, AT guns, bazookas, and MGs)

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 14

The battle in the SE is becoming very confused as you can see from the map below. They have driven me back northwards with heavy losses and could break through to threaten my supply lines to that front. However I’ve counterattacked south west and, in turn could potentially close a pocket around their attacking forces. I formed up the Paras in Cheltenham last turn, and hopefully I can launch the airdrop next turn – if I can cut that Northern supply route, that should immobilise their tanks (or at the very least divert them).



where the hell did they all come from? - but, potentially my first big operational victory of the war...

In the Brighton sector we lose a hex after receiving heavy artillery fire. I don’t know how to counter this shelling at the moment. (@Josh or @anyone else - any ideas? Also is there any way to replay battles from the AIs turn with the same detail as in the players turn?? Thanks.)

My divebombers make their inaugural attack in 3 corps sector and destroy several light tanks and armoured cars – a pleasing start for my flyboys.

[Kaldadarnes]

It’s April 1st - After 3 months of war I am, on balance, doing better than expected.

Positives - I’ve lost a lot of territory but held the lines I specified at the beginning of the game. No cities have been lost (Brighton and Aurora, against my expectation, are both still holding out). Heavy losses have been inflicted on the enemy (I reckon running at about 5-1 in infantry, 3-1 in tanks and artillery) and I’m beginning to both develop some offensive capability and improve the quality of my forces. My production is greatly improved with quite a lot of Raw facilities upgraded, and some Oil as well. Many of my generals have been promoted several times.

Negatives – Despite inflicting huge losses on the enemy forces they seem as strong as ever and are still attacking every turn on multiple fronts. My early offensive efforts have been largely frustrated – none of my attacking plans, even the quite limited ones (e.g relieve Aurora or capture Gerza or Gazvin) have developed successfully. I am basically just launching attacks to maintain a good attrition ratio. Also, I am still struggling with my command structure.

Reviewing my objectives from late Feb, I have achieved 3 of my 4 objectives (supply line screen, upgrade raw production facilities, 3 corps in position) but my Armour has been deployed in penny packets, rather than in a single Armoured Corps.

The next month, my focus is
1) Assemble an Armoured Corps (and seize Gerza with it if possible)
2) Stabilise Hull/Cheltenham sector and advance 9 Corps to a more defensible line (seizing the raw and oil in that sector if poss.)
3) Upgrade all Oil facilities to level 2
4) Capture Gazvin if possible




so much to do, so little time, armour, aircraft, oil, raw, transport and good men to do it with...who'd be a general?

[Josh]

Losing ground is no problem, losing cities is. So you can pull back as many hexes as you want, that's of no importance. Matter of fact early game I have to do that quite a few times.
Enemy Artillery really can be a pita, a serious problem... it's number one on my target list. I notice on your last screenshot that in the Brighton area you're completely surrounded...so there's no escape route to run away from the enemy Artillery. So in that case I'd put all my forces in the city to take advantage of the entrenchment. Sometimes you just have to endure the shelling and hope for the best. When I discover enemy Tube units I try to take them out as fast as possible with my fast units (Cavalry and Light Tanks) or LVL Bombers but they only come in middle/late game. When facing impossible odds I pull back a hex or two, let them come to you, find a nice spot to dig in and look for an opportunity to take the Artillery boys out of the game. You *do not* want to have Heavy Artillery II shoot at you every turn... it's heartbreaking [:D]
 
Wooded terrain such as to the SW of Cheltenham, is also quite difficult to fight in. Avoid head on assaults, try to encircle and cut off the enemy and starve them a turn or two... meanwhile blast them with some tubes just so their entrenchment decreases. It's a slow and arduous proces. So you want to have your main assault somewhere else (preferably open ground and with armour) with the objective of cutting off that whole section of forest.
 
The AI forces may seem endless Russian style, but it's not. He throws everything at you, so just when you are thinking "this can't get any worse" you had the worst part already. 

[Josh]

"... Over time I’ve come to a std. building block of an infantry “regt” comprising 6rifle - 3SMG - 3MGs - 3bazookas or 1 AT gun. 3 regt.s make up my standard division, whilst a single regt is a can hold lower risk positions/provide flank security...
 
As good as any I say. Although I miss the Mg's...they rule and count for a high number of kills... just take a look at their exp. growth after a few battles....Ooops wrong here on my side [:(] I see you *did* incorporate the MG's doh. Actually it's very close to what I build. You have 6+3+3+3+5 (AT guns and INf guns count as 5 per gun)...Oooh I see you wrote *or* ... I would definitely put a AT gun there. Well anyways that makes about 45-50 for your "division" which is according to the game rules great. It offers the most flexibility and you can place  a whole division in one hex *without* a stacking penalty. In the old vanilla AT you could place as many troops in a hex as you wanted without penalty, now it's 100. More than 100 gets you a "overcrowding" penalty. But with 100 you can also attack from the same hex or two hexes even without penalty, as you aren't allowed to attack with much more than 100 points ( = 100 Inf or 10 Tanks) to prevent "killer stacks" (20 Heavy Tanks killing anything and everything = no fun). So 50 points units are the basic building block of my whole army. That may be less in the case of screening forces, say 10 Cavalry for scouting tasks, or 5 Armoured Cars.
This 100 number is also valid for the Tubes, more than 100 (= 10 tubes of any size) gets you an "Artillery Stack" malus. So I usually build Artillery units of 5 tubes, two combined is just the right number.
Up untill now I have always put Flak into different units, and placed them right behind the front lines... that is slowly changing as I discovered that the Flak units stand their man when attacking, so I try to put them in with the Inf units now.
 
Oh and be careful with your shiny Flytoys, extremely effective but they sure guzzle up huge amounts of oil... and the last thing you want is to have you Tanks drive on empty. (denoted by the jerrycan when that happens) Makes you feel like Jochen Peiper in the Ardennes...huge powerful tanks and nothing in the gastank [X(]
 
Go get them [:)] 

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 15

Brighton city comes under artillery fire – and PPs are reduced to c. 5000. However, I pick out a couple of all infantry units besieging the city and destroy both of them – around 100 infantry kills for no loss courtesy of my armoured brigade. However, the other surrounding units are better balanced with AT and armoured support and I don’t fancy taking them on! I increase the % of production devoted to supply in Brighton so I have a few turns consumption stockpiled in case the artillery fire intensifies and reduces my production below a level where I can sustain the garrison.

My dive-bombers again attack and successfully knock out another 3 armoured cars and 2 light tanks to the east of Aurora. I have used Stephen Hammets “tune up” card (a specialist air force officer card), adding 10 XP to the dive-bomber squadron. Despite their small number they are proving very potent against Armour, and with neither SE or DoM having anything in the air yet, it’s happy days for the dive bombers.

In the South East my paratroopers are dropped behind enemy lines. The AI turn will tell how successful this will be - it depends on the strength of the SE unit immediately to the North of where the airborne troops were dropped (the paratroopers have essentially walked out of their basic training onto the transport aircraft for the airdrop and as a result have very low readiness and experience).



What? We jump out of the plane? But I’ve only ever jumped off a table in training! Tell me we get Airmiles at least?

9 Corps armour also makes some progress south west. If they can push further south to lie astride the southern supply line next turn then the attacking units near Hull will be cut off also. The battle before Cheltenham remains confused with heavy casualties on both sides. The image below hopefully makes it all clear (as mud).

Problem - have run out of oil this turn (my fears from a couple of posts ago are being realised, and Josh was on the money also). I upgrade one oil well and strategic transfer (“ST”) my engineers to the next facility to get that upgraded ASAP.

@Josh – thanks for the responses – I guess on the arty in Brighton, I’ll just have to suck it up. Re: the front to the SW of Cheltenham, I’m hoping to basically pull off a large encirclement with the airdrop as described above. I really didn’t want to fight in the area at all for the reasons you describe (woods, mountains, jungles ugh!) as it is very slow going and tends to be costly. However the AI forced my hand by building railways through the woods and then launching a series of attacks (problem for me, they are attacking from woods onto plains, I am attacking from plains into woods…). My view: in the manner of an American football coach “the best dee-fense is a strong off-ense”. It could work out OK for me.

I appoint a new HQ to form my armoured corps around. All light tank prod’n (running at 8 per turn) is diverted to this new 12 corps HQ.

[Kaldadarnes]

South east front / Cheltenham-Hull front / 9 corps sector - it's a wonder anyone of you know what's going on with all the names I'm throwing around.

You can see the airdrop now astride one of the west east supply routes, their success will depend on the mystery unit directly North of them. Also marked is the the intention of 9 corps to push forward along the railway and cut the southern supply route. Red dotted enemy formations are those I hope to starve and destroy.

Also I apologise for the childlike writing on the maps, hope you can make it out. I have no idea why I lack the ability to scrawl legibly with a mouse - probably some sort of a sign of genius

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 16

The paras have held out with only one unit lost (out of 20). They were dropped into low mountains which helped, although given their low experience (20) I was nervous – it’s good to take a risk and see it come off successfully. The thrust towards Cheltenham should start to wither in the next turn or two. I air supply my paras successfully and they continue to dig in. I continue to push forward with 9 corps’ armour – there’s an area of plains between some woods and marshes to the north and jungles and swamps to the south which is providing good going for the tanks.



Developing nicely...

Brighton - my supply situation is starting to look dire, with Brighton prod’n now reduced to only 2500PP from bombardment (I also lost some infantry and a precious light tank). However I have a plan, I have a new logistics officer – if I transfer him to a front line command he should get a supply dump card to play fairly quickly. It’ll have to be somewhere where there is guarantee of plenty of action though to ensure promotion, maybe somewhere encircled…hmmm…give me a B…give me an R…give me an I, etc.

It might be as well to start preparing some transport aircraft also - they can fly from Aurora into Brighton fairly easily. Neither SE nor DoM have fighters up yet, could be a good backup option.

Meanwhile, my Brighton tank brigade attacks again and cause major damage, another 100+ enemy casualties + armoured cars and light tanks for no loss. is It’s turning into an extremely experienced and effective unit. However, I was hoping to locate the bombarding artillery and crush a few guns under my tracks but no such luck (maybe it’s heavy arty so 3 hexes away).

Incidentally, I took a quick look at the stats – mk2 Lt Tank has Armour attack of 150, Vs. mk1 Lt Tank armour defence of 80 – an almost 2-1 advantage – so they can roll enemy light armour quite easily, mk1 to mk2 light tanks is absolutely worth it!

Elsewhere 1 corps continue their positional fighting towards Gerza – I note that if get some heavy artillery down to 1 corps then I can start bombarding that city straight away.

My engineers are unable to upgrade the oil facility I moved them to last turn - I make a mental note to start building some factories. I need my cities to be producing PPs so I can upgrade my raw and oil, as well as upgrading my forces to maintain my qualitative advantage.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 17

A terrible turn, Hull falls whilst I am not looking. The SE forces in the area were significantly stronger than I realised - 3 divisions w/armour - and the garrison had been slowly reduced over the past few turns to a mere regiment with scant AT capability. I also realise I don’t have enough Strategic Transfer capacity to move much more than a couple of brigades to the area, but I reroute some 9 corps armour towards Hull to prevent any further breakout.

Brighton is now a smoking pile of rubble = 0 PP.(Heavy artillery 2 makes an appearance – wow – that stuff is brutal! @Josh – you’re not wrong – heart breaking). It’s definitely the end game now for that city - no supply, no reinforcements, no hope.
In 1 corps sector we are counterattacked and pushed back.

I also seem to have supply issues across the front, due possibly to a shortage of fuel and trucks to move supplies forward from the railheads.
We also have insufficient trains to move Oil and Raw to my capital which is now being stockpiled, so having spent all the time upgrading my production it’s not actually making much difference to my operational or production capabilities.

Basically – last turn I felt pretty buoyant – I now feel deeply depressed – I’ve gone all a bit “ooh - look at me with my counteroffensives” and not actually sorted the infrastructure to support such moves. I decide to cancel all tank and gun production and go on a crash infrastructure building program. Engineers, trains and Political points only except where there is an immediate requirement for more troops. All air, motorised and mechanised operations are suspended except on 9 corps and 2 corps fronts.

[Tac2i]

I've noticed that when using Lancer's mod the AI will eventually bring up heavy artillery to smash cut off cities. I try to break through to them before this happens but not always successful at it. Brutal!

If you're playing with enhanced resources also, your in for a very difficult war of attrition. I'd try to strengthen my lines and let the AI batter himself attacking it, then counter attack where you can. Good AAR!

[Josh]

"...Basically – last turn I felt pretty buoyant – I now feel deeply depressed – I’ve gone all a bit “ooh - look at me with my counteroffensives” and not actually sorted the infrastructure to support such moves. I decide to cancel all tank and gun production and go on a crash infrastructure building program. Engineers, trains and Political points only except where there is an immediate requirement for more troops. All air, motorised and mechanised operations are suspended except on 9 corps and 2 corps fronts...."
 
I call this; a learning moment. [:D]
Don't start to chew on the carpet yet though, things may work out in the end...that is total domination [:D] 

[jday305]

Sometimes you have to admit defeat and retreat a few spaces to reorganize for a future offense. [:(] [:@] I always hate to do it but usually come out stronger in the end. Since you will probably lose Brighton at this point, you can now concentrate other fronts that show more promise.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 17 (cont'd)

The situation is actually not as terrible as it could be. The forces occupying Hull are very isolated, and in fact are immediatley cut off by the defeated garrison retreating North. Other units in the area are pulled in to a rough line to prevent any penetration towards Cheltenham (and indeed, London), and reinforced with an Armoured brigade.

My other 9 corps armoured units push forward and break the supply lines towards the troops in Hull – assuming the captured cities do not provide supplies to the AI (as they do not to human players) the forces occupying Hull have merely chosen a slightly more comfortable location in which to starve to death. My paras hold out, losing half their men but inflicting heavy casualties on the DoM and SE troops counterattacking – it doesn’t seem to be affecting the supply situation for the enemy troops in front of Cheltenham as I had hoped, but they do seem to be attracting a lot of attention which has relieved the pressure on that front as the SE forces fall back to deal with the airborne incursion.




9 corps sector at the end of the turn – you can see a good load of DoM and SE forces potentially “in the bag”

In Brighton my plan to get a promoted logistics officer and use his supply dump card fails – as Clarence Arlington gains 23 XP – 25 required for a promotion – DOH! (For the record Sam Eckhart was getting promoted virtually every turn when he was in charge…)

[Kaldadarnes]

@webizen – I’m playing the v2.15e which I believe had some significant AI tweaks. However as it’s a land map Lancer’s enhanced AI does not work (it is auto disabled in the setup). However I am really noticing the other AI improvements. The reduction of Brighton has been, if not tactically finessed, then certainly effective – grinding me back to the city centre with massed assaults, then bringing the city centre under artillery fire. I’ve also noticed much improved AI unit composition (AT & support assets with infantry assets, smaller stacks) and a much greater disposition to hold positions rather than throw everything against my line straight away. On several parts of the front the AI are just holding in a stalemate position. It feels significantly more challenging, I know a lot of work went into it, and it shows!

@Josh – my mood has improved [:D], however fighting against 2 allied AI is a challenge (for me anyway!).I think that thy have a 2.5x production advantage, plus with the enhanced resource mod, it significantly more challenging as more production is devoted to sustaining production. Balancing all the requirements is difficult. I think the key is going to be to shift as much production to factories as possible so I can produce loads of political points to upgrade my Oil to level 3 (not something I normally do, but with only 5 oil wells, and a very long front line, I think it’ll be necessary.) It’s worth noting that if 9 corps is successful I will capture an Oil and Raw from SE, as well as recapturing another Oil well south of Hull.

@Jday – Generally I agree. I fell back early on so I could stand on more defensible lines and I’ve been resigned to losing Brighton from the beginning – however it’s continued survival is tying down a lot of enemy formations which has been invaluable. Plus, I met my wife in Brighton so there is a sentimental attachment to the city…[;)] However, I’ve given up a certain amount of territory already and with the ERM active, if enemy formations get loose they can massively impact production capabilities so I have to be a little careful – essentially I cannot just “hedgehog” around key points.

Thanks all for the feedback and glad you're enjoying the AAR.

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 18 – 29/04/32

It’s a slow turn this as I continue on my infrastructure upgrade programme. 10 trains have been produced and I transfer additional capacity into my transport pool to avoid any issues further down the line. I will continue to build around 2 a turn to keep my capacity growing at a rate commensurate with my needs. I upgrade another Oil well – so should be running at 4250 Oil next turn – this is more than twice what I was producing a month ago.

Clarence Arlington receives one measly XP in Brighton, still no supply dump card – the AI is shelling and starving the city into submission (and who can blame it?) rather than directly assaulting. I bring Gazvin under fire for the first time – but the arty is not as effective as I hoped, need to upgrade to arty 2 and research heavy art.

A counterattack from the DoM forces in the pocket created by 9 corps cuts the London Hull railway but immediate counterattacks swiftly clear the route. The troops that were forced out of Hull redeem themselves in a successful attack to the west of Hull into the woods. They have a lot of SMGs in that unit so are well equipped for jungle fighting.

My paras hold out north of Hamadan again, and 9 corps maintain their grip on the E-W rail route towards Hull. You can see the pic below.



Beginning of the turn, marked with green dots are the resources I will capture when the pocket is crushed. Worth noting the oil well north east of hull which is currently cut off - potentially a big boost to my capabilities (my dive bombers may get aerial again...)

[Josh]

Those para's seem to be in a desperate situation? Don't you have another para unit available so you can drop it at the same spot? Even another 10 para's there would make a huge difference...

[Kaldadarnes]

@Josh - way ahead of you - there are a few battalions of paras in Cheltenham ready to drop next turn. I haven't managed to find the time to continue the war over the last week but I shall return (at some point...)

[Kaldadarnes]

Turn 19

Another slow turn – I continue to let the pocket created by 9 corps wither and do a furthe drop of another 20 paras.

Clarence Arlington get’s promoted but no supply dump card…I start building transporters in Aurora to fly in supplies from next turn.

I start consolidating my armour bits and pieces. I’ve had to suspend my plan to get a full armoured corps built, but by scraping up the odds and ends of Armour around the map I get to 12 light tanks. It’s a decent little force. It’ll need artillery and supporting motorised infantry, but again – I can probably borrow a little from the local infantry corps.


Handy this view, if only I had read the manual…you can see from the supply view the situation in the south east- the supply trucks just cannot get through that jungle...

[Kaldadarnes]

We’ve now had 4 months of war – the total casualties are as per the pic below. As you can see – it’s been pretty bloody for SE and DoM so far.

Losses in their infantry amount to around 3,200 units, against 700 for the LPAF* – 4.5 to 1. Armour, they have lost over 100 tanks to around 25 – again around 4.5 to 1. Total kills are 3,350 to 700 (I tend to assume a “unit” is roughly a company/battery/squadron - so this is getting on to around ½ million casualties for SE & DoM, and around 100,000 for my forces.)

This gives me a certain amount of optimism – if I can keep the attrition ratios at these sorts of levels then I should eventually prevail (might not be a very pretty victory). As stated earlier – 2 combined AIs should be able to out produce me by about 2.5 times (I’m sure I read somewhere that the AI has a 25% production advantage), so I need to keep these ratios.



*LPAF - London protectorate armed forces