Adventures in Russia

[larryfulkerson]

It turns out that I went ahead and dropped my reserve paratrooper into the Soviet
backfield and he's been busy breaking bridges so the Soviets can't get away. So I
can't fly him to Helsinki. D'oh. I guess that means that next turn I need to replace
that HQ unit in Helsinki for now.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm trying to trap as many Soviet units I can while they are still in a pocket shape
and the terrain is good. I'm going to have this Panzer unit drive directly south
to try to get on the east side of all the traffic down there trying to get away. I
may have chosen an avenue of approach that's too close to the spot where most of the
Soviet units are. But I thought that I ought to at least make the effort. Failing to
stop ALL of them isn't really a failure if I can get most of them.

[larryfulkerson]

I lost count of the number of divisions that ran through that hole in the Soviet lines
down south but it's something like seven. And they spread out in different directions
and I'm hoping to kill a lot of Soviets this way. I gotta remember how to do this, it's
devestating on the enemy.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's going on up north right now. I blew a hole in the Soviet lines and it
took one Panzer division to handle that because of the size of the targets, and then
I started driving Panzer units thru the hole and got up to the next spot of resistance.
The goal is Riga to try to capture all the Soviet stuff on the west side of the river.
So far so good.

I've moved three RR engrs to almost the end of the rail so we officially have our first
working railhead, almost. I've split all the RR engrs up into groups of three or four.
Except for the rail way down south near Odessa where there's so far just two of them. I
may have to lend them one of mine so they can build a little fsster because in my last
game D-town and Z-town had supply levels that were unacceptable. I need to fix that
somehow for this game.

[larryfulkerson]

I was moving this one unit into what I at first thought was an out-of-supply position
and how I was going to justify it by pointing out that he's in the 80's for supply
which is enough for about two rounds before he'll trigger his rest condition. Unless
he turns yellow first. If he's yellow he rests. But anyway, as I was saying I at
first thought he moved to an out-of-supply position but looking at the picture again
I can see that he can LOC through his NE hex. So it turns out that he's okie dokie
after all.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units up north and surrounding and killing Soviet units and it appears
that his front line is disolving as the units disappear. I came to the 35th Inf Div
and I thought I'd move it by rail so that when it disembarks it'll be fresh and full of
supply ready to go. I may have to leave them on the rail until after the rail gets
extended as far as I can get it to go or maybe the situation will change and I'll need
another division for some reason I can disembark it.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's an application of the red green yellow rule. The 162nd Infantry Division is
now in yellow health so he can't fire any more this turn. I'll have to replace him
on the front lines with somebody else to continue the advance. Yes, I know Elmer
doesn't play by these rules but I think it's more realistic for my side.

EDIT: The red green yellow rule may be violated at any time for any or no reason.
Because Elmer may beat me if I don't give up the rule, I really don't know how it
changes the game.

[larryfulkerson]

With the destruction of the Soviet defender a hole appeared in the Soviet lines so I
thought it prudent to run some people through the hole and see what happened and I was
able to wrap around the lines and get into a position behind him so as to trap some
units. I'm hoping it's possible for the southern half of this pocket as well.

[larryfulkerson]

Brest Litovsk is one of those targets that's going to take more than one combat round
to push over. I got most of the stuff that was in the stack in the first combat round
so it shouldn't be much of a task to finish off the defenders. I've been going around
the city to the east to get into the Soviet backfield and convert the rails and push
the Soviet units around.

One main idea was to get some supply to the paratroopers. To relieve them in place so
they can go back to an airfield and refit to go out again.

[larryfulkerson]

So I'm moving units for the second combat round and I come to thee 1st Kav Division
which is made up of recon units that can protect themselves and can fast move in
good terrain the kind of terrain found west of Kiev. That stretch of good terrain
cries out for cavalry units and tanks and whatever other fast mover you have.
Motorized AA or AT units. Engineers don't move all that fast but I have been driving
them to the next bridge in the advance path just in case. It's come in handy at least
once so far.

[larryfulkerson]

When I'm moving all the planes sometimes one or more of the bombers is out of good
position and I have to move it and if I move it further than the current round will
allow I'll mark it with Sea Int, something it wouldn't ordinarily fly, as a signal
to me to not assign any missions to this unit for a round or two as a direct attack
unless you know that you might burn combat rounds using this unit. So after I've
assigned missions and moved everybody I find those missions that were "marked" and
give them their final mission so that they can still fly a mission at half strength,
on indirect attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been disbanding these coastal forts. They are cloggig up my OOB giving me a
false number for the active, movaable, units I can fight with. And just to prove
to myself that the equipment was going back to the pools I did a before and
after of one of the items of equipment, it doesn't matter which, and after disbanding
the unit the numbers changed in the right way. I don't know if the forts respawn
or not. I'm guessing not.

[700851McCall]

Hi Larry

I think you are worrying too much about the Soviets retreating but IME for the most part they just stand and die where they are. The problem is those units coming in from the East setting up blocking positions and slowing your advance once you are past the front lines. Don't use your powerful motorised units or your recon units to surround, get them moving through the gaps and pushing forward. If you go fast enough you will encounter a lot less resistance. This is the key to getting around Leningrad and cutting it off, also for getting to the Typhoon jump-off points without having to fight any major battles.

Don't worry about counter-attacks, at this point the Soviets are as weak as a new-born lamb.

Agree with your decision to keep just 4 rail heads, any more and the effort starts to become diluted.

Playing this game is a bit like piloting a super-tanker, you have to always be thinking way ahead of where you are right now.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the airfield strikes that are scheduled. There seems to be quite a few Soviet
planes within range still. I still think it's going to take at least three rounds to
get them all.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the results of the airfield strikes. Another 5 Soviet units buys the farm,
bites the dirt, kicks the bucket. I'm not sure how many Soviet aircraft units are
still in range but I'm thinking several. And 3K losses to the Soviets after only
two combat rounds is pretty impressive so far.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the condition of the aircraft now after two combat rounds. There's more than
just two resting now. I'm thinking about flying the red ones to Berlin because they
are going to be out of commission for a couple of turns at least. And yes, this is
one of those exceptions to the red green yellow rules. They are aircraft so it was
current practice to patch it up enough for it to fly back to the depot where they
would patch up the holes, change the engines, and a new coat of paint. Then to try
to round up the crew to fly it back to the AOL. Check the O'club first.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Bialystok area right now and those two wings that I didn't want to get away,
they didn't. I've killed the north one and the south one is breaking up as we speak
I couldn't get to the group in the middle and they will probably get away one way or
another. Maybe not. I've been moving a lot of units to the east to get on the east
side of all these escaping Soviet units. To get into their path and kill them.

[larryfulkerson]

TOAW IV crashed on me just now and I lost about an hours worth of work.
I can replace the work easy but what caused the CTD is worrysome.

EDIT: I posted about the CTD on the development forum so maybe we'll have
a replacement game engine eventually.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the pending battles ready for execution for combat round three. I've annotated
the airfield strikes in a yellow box. That's all that I can reach except for a
couple that are far afield, I'll move some bombers to reach them.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the pending battles for combat round four. No airstrikes this turn. The
aircraft are tired and need a rest.