Page 2 of 2
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:21 pm
by AlessandroT
TURN 11
"Blue" Division has arrived
Air assist turned on (in some fights of the 4th Panzer Group)
16th Army
Velikie Luki has been abandoned, II Corps occupies the city, then sends back to AGN its three artillery SU (no more need, they'll be reattached to other Corps the next turn. The planned Velikie Luki-Chudovo line is almost achieved.

- t11 16a.png (2.3 MiB) Viewed 1659 times
18th Army
Advancing and shattering some units, more units reach the left flank of the main thrust.

- t11 shattering.png (1.09 MiB) Viewed 1659 times
4th PzGroup
Heavy fighting, XXXIX Corps arrived to the frontline, XXXXI Corps is very near Tikhvin.

- t11 4pz18a.png (2.29 MiB) Viewed 1659 times
New depots at Velikie Luki, Dno

- t11losses.png (239.55 KiB) Viewed 1659 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:28 am
by AlessandroT
TURN 12
AIR SUPPORT OFF
Some small gains from 18th and 16th Army, the main effort is carried by the 4th PzGroup. Tikhvin is captured! Now the main soviet rail line to Leningrad is cut. Big battle at Shlisselburg: soviet forces were driven off the town, now it's no man's land.
Three soviet divisions are trapped on the banks of Ladoga, one of them is a tank division.

- t12 battles.png (1.63 MiB) Viewed 1598 times

- t12 losses.png (199.19 KiB) Viewed 1598 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 11:34 am
by AlessandroT
Turn 13
4th Panzer Group starts leaving the map..

- T13.png (1.81 MiB) Viewed 1534 times
Lots of battles on the Ladoga.
Units of the 4th PzGrp are leaving, no more units available to hold Tikhvin. The encircled soviet units are destroyed (see battle report below), then I and L Corps move in the direction of Osinovets (their final objective), while all other mobile units race for the bank of Ladoga lake. Shlisselburg depot is immediatly supplied by air.

- t13c battle.png (287.41 KiB) Viewed 1534 times
Losses are still on the 9:1 ratio, more or less.

- T13 losses.png (212.86 KiB) Viewed 1534 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:07 am
by AlessandroT
Turn 14
4th Panzer Group leaves the map, remaining units are reassigned to 18th Army (already set to assault).
Some small units far from the fight are detached and assigned to AGN, other regiments form up to division size (18th Army is at its command limit).

- T14 VL.png (2.3 MiB) Viewed 1512 times
All calm on the Velikie Luki - Ilmen line. Almost all SU's left (only one AA unit left per corps, to bring air defense and some '88 support).
In the Leningrad region, battles are raging. The Soviets hold the ground south of Osinovets, but the spearhead lands a successful blow on N. Ladoga fortress.

- T14 NLadoga.png (1011.73 KiB) Viewed 1512 times
250th "blue" division joins the 16th Army and defends the right flank north of Chudovo.
Air supplies are brought to Shlisselburg.

- T14 North.png (1.99 MiB) Viewed 1512 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:28 am
by AlessandroT
T15
Air support ON
16th Army stops, no unit moves, to save supplies (supply priority set to 2).
18th Army is supplied (no serious shortage, sometimes ammo drops to 80%) and final attacks are launched.

- T15 kobona.png (1.03 MiB) Viewed 1508 times
Kobona falls after a bloody battle.

- T15 Osinovets luck.png (1.04 MiB) Viewed 1508 times
South of Osinovets Soviets are forced to leave the banks of the river, but we lack the momentum to cross it (even the motorized division cannot pass it), maybe next turn.
Other units of the 18th Army reached Oranienbaum (cannot even think to attack it, defense values over 120CV) and managed to encircle a soviet tank division.

- T15 end.png (1.66 MiB) Viewed 1508 times
Losses are quite high, due to those final assaults to entrenched positions.

- t15 losses.png (247.29 KiB) Viewed 1508 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:00 pm
by AlessandroT
TURN 16, final turn
58th Division quickly dispatched the encircled soviet tank division

- t16 tank division.png (1.59 MiB) Viewed 1494 times
Not very much to say, Osinovets is too far and the river+swamp gap is a nightmare. Troops just clogged down there and the port itself was too well defended.
Now I think that one corps should have gone to Tikhvin, to hold this easier victory location. Osinovets was too far and too well defended. I guess that this mistake will cost very much.
The final situation before the end.

- t16 end.png (1.71 MiB) Viewed 1494 times
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:16 pm
by AlessandroT

- END1.png (1.59 MiB) Viewed 1492 times

- END2.png (886.43 KiB) Viewed 1492 times

- END LOSSES.png (303.91 KiB) Viewed 1492 times

- END AIRL.png (497.65 KiB) Viewed 1492 times
And that's it!
A fair game vs the AI
Some thoughts:
1) The AI air staff was competent and very conservative: this run of mine was one with the less air losses. I think that when I'm in manual mode, I tend to overuse the Luftwaffe, losing a lot more planes. My plan in the next games is to place the airgroups better than the AI (sometimes german forces lacked fighter air cover).
2) Tikhvin was an objective at hand, I did a terrible mistake forfaiting it and committing all I had to a harder objective like Osinovets. Maybe I could have a minor victory with Tikhvin. Maybe also the 16th Army stopped too soon, Valdai and Andreapol were not so far. More pressure on the enemy was needed.
3)Losses: I think that losses were in a good ratio for the German player (almost a 9:1 manpower loss, 8:1 tank losses, 5:1 air losses).
It was an enjoyable game and quite deep in the admin/management/supply. Terrain is really very important to consider (looking at damaged vehicles after a deep wood crossing was remarkable).
To you, thanks for reading and I apologize for my poor language!
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:23 pm
by Stamb
in the end, you got a little bit more points than the AI

Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:00 pm
by AlessandroT
Yes, that's a point!
I'm in a sweet spot where I can play enjoyable games against a Normal AI.
This is great, my next try will be with full manual air control.
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:01 pm
by Stamb
remember that panzers performance were fixed in recent patches, and there were many more changes
think about game update before a next game
Re: Road to Leningrad vs AI normal
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 10:36 pm
by AlessandroT
yes, I'll do! Thank you!