Eastern Front 1941-1945 V8.1 for TOAWIV 12/2023

[Curtis Lemay]

ORIGINAL: Zovs

For reference look at FITE2 or one of Lemays (aka Bob) Civil War scenarios. They have custom equipment files attached in their Graphic Override folders.

I include them, but they are no longer necessary to include. The game saves them in the scenario file.

[governato]

ORIGINAL: fulcrum28

Great scenario. Thanks for making and improving this.
RR German units can repair rails automatically, or you have to actually select "Repair Rails" for each unit? I guess it is probabilistic and sometimes they can repair and sometimes they fail to repair.

Why tx! Also, thanks everybody for all the questions, I am happy to explain the details of the scenario and also to make sure that everything has been tested.


From the manual:

"RR repair units: they are vital to move supply forward. Their number (four) has been
chosen to allow an historical rate of advance of the rail heads. Each Axis RR units start split
in three, thus providing the maximum rail repair rate. Two hexes are repaired automatically
every turn (1 from late Fall 1942 and later). Some RR units will withdraw in 1942."




- The withdrawal of RR units in 1942 represents the diversion of resources to repair internal lines after partisan attacks without boring the player with a lot of micromanaging.

- Note that some Supply Units and Red Army HQs also have limited RR capabilities and that the chance to repair a broken RR hex goes down if the unit has spent MPs or is low on supply.

- In playtesting keeping the railheads moving forward and the supply units just ahead of them along the main route of each Army Group is crucial for the Axis to win. In 1941 do not waste time repairing lateral branches. The two RR hexes that are repaired automatically are usually picked by the engine in the vicinity of RR units.

- In late years partisans show up as Guerrilla events changing hexes ownership and so damaging the RR network.

[fulcrum28]

thanks for your reply. I played a few turns and I did not notice that the RR units automatically repair broken rails. What I did was manually to click on each RR unit and repair rails. 1/3 of the times, a sound is activated and the broken rail is repaired. 2/3 of times it does not repair. Not sure if this is also intended. It is a great and enjoyable scenario, the turns progress fast.

[governato]

Yes one has to actively use the RR units to repair the hex they are in. If a units used some of its MPs already then the chance for repair goes down from the maximum 83% (see image). Then the scenario engine is set to repair 2 hexes/turn for the Axis at the beginning of each turn but the game does not tell you were..usually somewhere not useful .

[Michael T]

Thanks for this. You have reignited my interest in TOAW with this work. I intend to try it out and hopefully get a PBEM going with someone eventually.

[governato]

ORIGINAL: Michael T

Thanks for this. You have reignited my interest in TOAW with this work. I intend to try it out and hopefully get a PBEM going with someone eventually.

Good to see you here Michael! I am sure you will find a worthy opponent. Feel free to send comments, I curious how will EF+TOAW compare with your experiences with other East Front games

[Zovs]

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

ORIGINAL: Zovs

For reference look at FITE2 or one of Lemays (aka Bob) Civil War scenarios. They have custom equipment files attached in their Graphic Override folders.

I include them, but they are no longer necessary to include. The game saves them in the scenario file.

Thanks Bob, I thought it was always needed to include the eqp file.

[governato]

Here is some info on some of the support units in the Eastern Front Scenario and how to use them.
Some of these suggestions are valid for other scenarios too.

Axis: Army Group HQ. These units (one per Army Group) have properties that help manage the Axis logistics and provide heavy artillery support. They represent the ability of Axis forces to rapidly concentrate resources at strategic points.

- As other HQs, they provide a supply bonus to adjacent units with a similar color code.

- they have lots "construction units" attached, which help them increase the entrenchment level of the hex they are in if used to 'dig in'.

- they contain AA units for added protection from air bombardments.

- have a lot of large calibre artillery

- HQs help in river crossing of major river

- they contain Military Police squads which reduces the cost of moving through crowded hexes.

They are best used one hex behind the front line for crucial offensive and defensive operation, or on river hexes or to protect airfield.


- Supply Units (both sides) :

They extend the supply network and are best placed a couple hexes in front of a railhead.
The Axis starts with four Supply Units, and they are gradually withdrawn to represent the strain of their logistics. The Red Army starts with only one and receives additional ones during the campaign as their logistics improves.

- Supply units include a large number of trucks. don't move them and you will receive a supply bonus.

- they have a large number of Military Police squads for traffic control.

- Rail Road Units. They are necessary to replace the railroad network. Click on each unit
to see the chance of repairing a broken railroad hex. The chance goes down if Movement Points have been
used or if they are low on supply and readiness
(note the that Axis RR units start divided)

[governato]

Here is a discussion of Army level Axis HQs and an Front level Red Army HQs. This post is to highlight what their function, capabilities and weaknesses are in EF 41-45 (but some features are commonly used in other scenarios as well). In general HQs represent Logistic and Support resources not normally attached to fighting units and they are better used accordingly. TOAW allows the designer to include weaknesses into HQs that describe the C&C features of different forces.


- HQs provide a supply bonus to adjacent units from the same formation (actually with the same colors so German HQs are more versatile at that)

- Both sides HQs' TOE contain heavy artillery, AT and AA guns that were in independent battalions and regiments. So their they are useful to provide support, on the defense or to reduce fortifications on planned assaults.

- both sides HQs contain Construction Squads. HQs increase the fortification level of an hex when used to 'dig in'

- Police Squads and Ferry-Bridging Teams help moving other units, reducing penalties for crossing rivers and along roads with heavy traffic. I put them on a river hex when other units need to exploit a bridgehead quickly.

Weak points of HQs:

These features aim at making logistics and important feature of EF 41-45, without adding too much micromanaging.

- Army and Front level HQs contain Support Squads. The supply rate of a specific formation is maxed out when the support squads slot is full. Axis units start at almost full capacity, while Red Army supply will improve slowly over time until 1943.

Support Squads replacements (which represent staff and abstract resources assigned to logistics, imagine supply depots) come very slowly for both sides. So any support squads lost in combat will cause long term damage to the supply rate of that formation. HQs should rarely used in combat, mostly in strong attacks or in support behind the frontline. For the Axis player balancing the use of HQs for vital attacks versus attrition and loss of long term supply capabilities is challenge. For the Red Army losing an HQ cripples supply for the whole formation. This challenges are reversed once the Red Army goes on the offensive in 1943. Note that Axis Army Groups HQs do NOT have Supply squads and the associated vulnerabilities. However only a small number of units are associated to these high level formations, usually air units and reserves.

- Red Army HQs (only) contain Rail Repair squads slots, that will very slowly fill up, allowing HQs to repair railroads and push forward their railheads. This feature represents the ability of the Red Army to conduct offensives on multiple fronts in the late stages of the war.


- Red Army HQs (only) contain 'Command Groups'. Losing them makes the formation very likely to go on reorganization. This feature models the more fragile C&C structure of Red Army Formation, especially in the first stages of Barbarossa. Historically, some Red Army Fronts 'went into reorg' in Summer 1941, leading to the Uman and Kiev pockets. It's a frustrating but realistic feature of EF but represents STAVKA at times not knowing even the position of entire armies! Protecting Red Army HQs in Summer 41 is vital to avoid losing C&C on entire Fronts, leading to encirclements.

In the late stage of the war Red Army HQs have abundant replacements for all the special squad types mentioned here and the Red Army player can use their HQs more aggressively.

[governato]

A quick example of an Axis unit upgrade. The Grossdeutschland (GD) regiment is automatically withdrawn in early 1942 (look at the news for a warning). In 1941 it fights as a motorized elite regiment with little AT or artillery support and only light tanks. It comes back in Late spring 42' refitted as part of the new GD mechanized division with additional equipment slots that when filled will upgrade it (on map) to Panzergrenadier division with attached heavy tanks battalions and other support units. Late in the war it will be the strongest individual Axis unit. Axis refits and reinforcement units come back close to on the West edge of the map, with most equipment already assigned.


Red Army Infantry and Tank Armies are instead upgraded to Guard status through Theater Options, (unless destroyed, in which case the come in automatically at their historical time). Guard Armies have upgraded equipment and include numerous attached regiments and battalions of AA, AT, heavy guns and tanks (those units are fierce). Just remember that Red Army units come in as shells, so if you have the option, wait a bit before sending them into combat or if you move them by rail be careful with interdiction. I usually rail them to some staging/reserve area away from Axis Recon, have them absorb squads and equipment and then bring them to the front. Even as Guards, Tank Armies have low proficiency at start so you need to give them some easy wins first to bring them to full effectiveness.

[governato]

Mapping the Russian railroad network at a scale appropriate of the scenario is pretty vital to make sure that supply levels stay realistic at the Corps/Army level of EF. Mapping all secondary lines on the map makes it is too easy to support offensives everywhere, and secondary lines were not able to support large scale formations anyway. But putting on the map only the major rail lines creates the opposite problem: supply levels drops too fast. so how to proceed with at least some guidance from reality?

In EF the supply radius is set at 3 hexes (2-5 hexes is about the front of a German Army or a Russian Front) So a railway network spaced more closely than that will not increase supply by much. In regions with a good railway network (Germany, Poland, the Moscow hub) then major lines with a spacing of 'a few' hexes with each other should be represented in the scenario map.

In regions with poor supply network and small railway capability (the South East and Caucasus) the players should feel forced to attack along the major railway lines in order to get decent supply. So in those regions only the very major lines should be in the scenario map.

Then to get the best supply levels Supply Units should be placed a few hexes in front of a railhead.

The layout of major lines (which in Russia famously go North-South to avoid major rivers) was picked from historical sources. The map attached shows the main lines at the start of Barbarossa. The Baku-Astrakhan line is missing because it was completed in Summer 1942 and so starts on the map as 'broken'. There is also some damage to the soviet railways on turn one to simulate German interdiction.



For the opening turns is also crucial that the Axis rail repair rate is somewhat realistic. Too fast and the panzers never need to stop, too slow and your units never recover. (in the real campaign
Panzergruppen had often to rest for 2-4 turns between major offensives).

An interesting article about the logistical challenges posed by replacing the damage network with German gauge railways is HERE

As a reference during Barbarossa the railheads followed this calendar

1) On 3 July 1941, The repaired railway from Brest ran to Baranovichi (hex 26,28) with an unloading point there, and it was drivable on Union gauge with a further unloading point at Minsk (hex 30,27)

2) On 31 July 1941, unloading was happening at Orscha (38,27), with a second Union gauge track from the border through Lida as far as an unloading point at Polozk (35,23), while on 28 August a Standard gauge track was unloading at Smolensk with the second Union line from Lida unloading at Vitebsk (38,25).

[cathar1244]

@governato

Saw this in an old TOAW III forum. Did you finish this "Europe 44" scenario and it is available for download?

ETA: Found it in the TOAW III forums. Was it ever updated for TOAW IV? Thanks!

I am making good progress on a substantial rewrite for TOAW III of my scenario Europe '44, covering the whole European theater from June 44 at divisions/corps/weekly turns scale. The scenario takes advantage of a few advanced TOAW features, namely:

- support squads in HQs to regulate the flow of reinforcement to individual formations. As an example if the Allies player choses to implement Market Garden the HQ of Patton's Third Army is replaced with a new one with 70% of its assigned support squads missing. This has the effect of cutting supplies *just* to the Third Army, effectively stopping its drive West until sufficient supply squads come in as replacements, which usually takes a few weeks.

- Instead of having a Red Army infantry replacement rate proportional to the guns and tanks output, manpower replacement rates for the Red Army are linked to its advance West. As certain key locations are reached (Warsaw, Bucurest, Budapest, Riga), large cadre infantry units are disbanded, filling the Red Army infantry replacement pool. This also has the desirable effect of giving an incentive to the Axis player to defend Rumania and Hungary, instead of rapidly withdrawing to the Reich.

These and other features are fairly transparent to the user and should make for
more realistic play.

This new version for TOAW III (3.4) is substantially more balanced with more realistic infantry/AFV loss ratios (I upped the infantry AT capabilities) and should be really fun to play without being a 'monster' scenario. I am currently doing a human vs human play test
before making a beta available to the community and asking or playtesters, probably at the end of August. Here is a snapshot of the Normandy area in mid July 44. I will post a mini AAR in the Scenario design section under 'Europe 44'.

Cheers

[governato]

ORIGINAL: cathar1244

@governato

Saw this in an old TOAW III forum. Did you finish this "Europe 44" scenario and it is available for download?

ETA: Found it in the TOAW III forums. Was it ever updated for TOAW IV? Thanks!

I am making good progress on a substantial rewrite for TOAW III of my scenario Europe '44, covering the whole European theater from June 44 at divisions/corps/weekly turns scale. The scenario takes advantage of a few advanced TOAW features, namely:

- support squads in HQs to regulate the flow of reinforcement to individual formations. As an example if the Allies player choses to implement Market Garden the HQ of Patton's Third Army is replaced with a new one with 70% of its assigned support squads missing. This has the effect of cutting supplies *just* to the Third Army, effectively stopping its drive West until sufficient supply squads come in as replacements, which usually takes a few weeks.

- Instead of having a Red Army infantry replacement rate proportional to the guns and tanks output, manpower replacement rates for the Red Army are linked to its advance West. As certain key locations are reached (Warsaw, Bucurest, Budapest, Riga), large cadre infantry units are disbanded, filling the Red Army infantry replacement pool. This also has the desirable effect of giving an incentive to the Axis player to defend Rumania and Hungary, instead of rapidly withdrawing to the Reich.

These and other features are fairly transparent to the user and should make for
more realistic play.

This new version for TOAW III (3.4) is substantially more balanced with more realistic infantry/AFV loss ratios (I upped the infantry AT capabilities) and should be really fun to play without being a 'monster' scenario. I am currently doing a human vs human play test
before making a beta available to the community and asking or playtesters, probably at the end of August. Here is a snapshot of the Normandy area in mid July 44. I will post a mini AAR in the Scenario design section under 'Europe 44'.

Cheers

I am finishing a new version for TOAW4!

[cathar1244]

Thanks governato! FYI -- your message box is full.

Cheers

[governato]

ORIGINAL: cathar1244

Thanks governato! FYI -- your message box is full.

Cheers

fixed!

[Dreamslayer]

A pretty strange map in the post above. What a source of it?

[governato]

ORIGINAL: Dreamslayer

A pretty strange map in the post above. What a source of it?

Got it a few years ago from a NATO or US Army studies document.

I also have this one attached, but sadly I am not able to read Cyrillic.

Always open to better sources if you have any. For this scenario scale I am looking to represent the lines with large capacity and/or a few were the network was sparse (as in the Caucasus)

[Dreamslayer]

Got it a few years ago from a NATO or US Army studies document.

I also have this one attached, but sadly I am not able to read Cyrillic.

Always open to better sources if you have any. For this scenario scale I am looking to represent the lines with large capacity and/or a few were the network was sparse (as in the Caucasus)

Do you have full version of this Soviet Atlas? I can try to help with these RR maps. PM me if you interesting.

[gw15]

Very Nice!!!

[governato]

Version 6.0 is almost ready! Updating the manual and checking that no bugs have slipped in...


- Cut Axis Truck production. The Axis should now suffer some truck shortages starting from late Summer 1941 to at least 1943. Note that one can use the option to dump trucks from units in static parts of the front. Also checking how other scenarios deal with this...

- Mud will dry faster. Mud & Snow parameter. Increased from 100 to 1000 as mud was drying up too slow at the end of each Winter. Value has been chosen so that ground is dry in the Ukraine by mid May and by mid June further North in Bielorussia to match the Kharkov and Barbarossa offensives start dates. Need to post some maps about this .

- Axis Strikes back! Theater Option. This highly speculative/non historical option will entice players to play the historical game to its end in May 1945 with something fun to look forward to after probably 100 turns on the defensive... If Berlin is NOT captured by the historical date the Axis player gets the TO to continue the game until Agust 1945 AND to receive significant reinforcements, assuming an armistice has been signed with the Western Allies. If the TO is not selected the game remains fully historical and it ends on turn 206 with a normal VP count. Yes with this TO the Axis gets some Maus superheavy tanks .

[
..and a few more things that will detailed in the top post when version 6 is ready. Maybe a couple weeks?