Balancing Act

[popejohnpaul]

It's now T5 round 1 and here's the situation near Orsha right now. I've started building a front line using Orsha as the center point and it doesn't look like much right now but I've got high hopes I will build something that might hold Elmer back for a couple of turn. The reinforcements I'm getting are being railed to this AO and I should have something more substantial shortly.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T5 round 1 and I've been moving units and I've created a situation you guys might find interesting. I've got several Soviet units that were bypassed but didn't have a babysitter and now they are running free in the Axis backfield. I'm going to see if I can't cut off the Axis forces from their supply source. I've been tearing up rails, breaking bridges, overrunning airfields, etc. This is actually a lot of fun. Elmer better wake up pretty soon or this may be a short game.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T5 round 1 and this is what it looks like SE of Minsk and shows how far the Axis forces have gotten in this area. I'm constantly arriving at good defensive positions literaly the turn before Axis units show up. I'm in a foot race and so far I'm winning. The Axis units that are further forward than the rest of the Axis units are easy to cut off from their supply source and still about 30% of my units are yellow-banded and can't move. About 5% of them are in reorg and several are in a rout state. Losses are mounting for both sides. My shock is 95% and Elmer's shock is 115%.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T6 round 1 and this is what it looks like near Daugavpils and shows how the Axis forces have bypassed quite a few of my units and those units are running almost free in the Axis backfield. The Axis units adjacent to Daugavpils vacated the river crossing last turn but then didn't advance into the empty hex so I moved a division into the hex and reclamed the river crossing. Now they have to gain the hex all over again. So they haven't gotten on the east side of the river yet but soon will. I'm expecting Elmer to wake up to the problem in his backfield and do something about it.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T7 round 1 and this is the front lines right now. This is just before I move anybody. The Finns are pushing hard toward the south. I still own Riga and Minsk but Elmer will own them real soon now. The Axis has forced the Daugavpils river crossing and will soon stream some units through there and be in my backfield. I don't have a reserve to speak of so it looks like I've lost the front line near Riga. I've gotten my front line built in front of Moscow near Orsha and Axis units are already arriving adjacent to my MLR there. Elmer is still mopping up in his backfield and he's woken up and is chasing my remnants in his backfield. Down south Elmer has broken through my Stalin Line #1 and is outflanking my Stalin Line #2 and I'm going to have to pull back on Kiev and hope for the best. My defensive line along the river west of Odessa is holding so far but Elmer is mopping up along the mountain line and will soon have all that area cleared out.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T7 round 1 and this is what it looks like near Jekabpils right now. Elmer has commanded an assault at all the crossings but has made the most progress at Jekabpils with a huge stack in the crossing itself and an infantry division one hex further to the NE. I would suffer hurrendous losses trying to force all that enemy equipment out of their positions. So I need to set up some baby sitters at the crossings themselves and pull everybody else to the NE real quick. I need another MLR built near Pskov and I need it yesterday. I'll take a look around and see if I can't rail some warm bodies to Pskov this turn.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T7 round 1 and I got my MLR NE of Minsk built and it might be able to slow down the Axis advance somewhat. I'm optimistic.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T8 round 1 and I've been able to trap some of the Axis RR arty behind their lines. Elmer deployed his RR arty to pound my Soviet remnants in his backfield and I've trapped them where they will make no contrabutions to any attacks for a while. Meanwhile my Soviet remnants are still tearing up things in the Axis backfield.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T8 round 1 and I've been building a new MLR near Pskov but there's still a gap south of the city that needs some warm bodies yet. I've already railed some divisions to this AO to try to plug the gap with something, almost anything. Some of my units can be broken down but some of them cannot. I think it has something to do with their size. Divisions are able but not Rifle Brigades. I've moved all my ships that could move, to the nearest port for protection against air attacks. Elmer has been attacking my units from the air so I've started moving my aircraft to the forward areas on a single-dot stance to begin to whittle down the Axis air fleet.

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[popejohnpaul]

Here's some of the losses so far. Some models of aircraft aren't being built any longer and we're seeing the last of them get shot down. The I-16's and Mig-3's are only going to be built until T50. Besides the Mig-3 I'm making more Pe-2's ( 30 per turn ) than any other type. Beginning in T135 I'll be building 53 La-5FN's per turn. And the La-5FN has attack ( 11 ) and defense ( 11 ) factors that match Axis fighters similar to the Me-109F and the Me-190A. Which is a very good thing.

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For those of you who want to take a more in-depth look around, or you'd like to move the units yourself, I've posted the 8th turn save game file here below. Enjoy.

[popejohnpaul]

It's still T8 round 1 and here's what's going on north of Leningrad right now. I've got the 73rd/2 NKVD unit moving by itself in the Soviet backfield and Elmer sent an AA unit to chase me down. As you can see the strength of the NKVD unit isn't all that strong so he's probably cooked. The Finns are pushing hard to the south on the west side of the Lake and on the east side of the Lake the Finns are fighting over the river crossings still. They will own both of them soon.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T8 round 1 and here's the 36th Cav Div operating in the Axis backfield. Deep in the Axis backfield. I just moved him SW from Warsaw and so far he's been running free without any interference whatever. Not even an Axis INT mission. I'm going to break whatever bridges I can with him as he heads generally west. I'm wondering when Elmer is going to wake up and do something about this brave recon unit.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T9 round 1 and here's the situation up north right now. I'm still holding Riga but Elmer has forced the crossings at Jekabpils and Daugavpils and he is outflanking me and most of my units will disappear faster than a Russian journalist. I can use the port near Riga to float my units to safety so I'll hang onto Riga for a turn or two to delay some Axis units. Everybody else I need to see if I can extracate them and run for the east as fast as I can.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T9 round 1 and here's the Situation Briefing panel and it shows that our land shock values are close but the air shock values are still lopsided in favor of the Axis. But I have 9K of rail cap. and a substantial amount of sea cap. so things are starting to look rosey.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's now T13 round 1 and the Axis forces are adjacent to my MLR near Orsha. He's been attacking me and I've been bombarding him with my arty each turn. Most of his attacks have seen him lose more than I do. I think I may be able to hold him off for several turns in this AO.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T13 round 1 and this is what it looks like around Pskov right now. I still own Riga and every Axis attempt to capture it ends in failure for Elmer. He still hasn't cut my units off from their supply source so I'm able to hang in there much longer than I expected. Elmer forced the crossings at Jekabils and Daugavpils and have pushed forward from there but I've formed a screen that's been holding the Axis back so far. I expect Elmer to eventually outflank my defenders and then I'll have to pull everybody back to my front lines.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T13 round 1 and this is what it looks like east of Minsk right now. I've been pounding them with my arty and he's been probing my units at the crossings and he's not made any progress at all so far. One of my airborne units got trapped behind enemy lines and is now being destroyed slowly. I'm taking a lot of them with me. I still own several stretches of road in the Axis backfield which tells me that Elmer isn't expecting any of my remnants hiding in his backfield. I've not seen Elmer fix any rail or fix a bridge yet. I'm wondering if he's ever going to use his Corps HQ units to fix the rails. None has so far.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T13 round 1 and the 2nd Recon of the 6th Army has been running rampant in the Axis backfield. The three bridges I have encased in yellow circles were dropped by this recon unit just now. He's down to 1% of supply so I don't expect him to last much longer. Elmer has some INT missions active so everytime he enters a new hex he has a chance to get killed by air strikes. Just this turn alone I've already lost about 1/2 a dozen units to air strikes and I'm still in the first 1/3 of the units to be moved for round 1. I'd be curious to know how this kind of tactic is effecting the Axis supply flow.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T13 round 1 and the 13th Mtn. Corps of the 427RR/192nd MRD has also been running rampant in the Axis backfield. He has dropped three bridges during his move just now. I'm planning on moving NW with him to attempt to break all the bridges he can reach. I'm wondering if Elmer will ever fix these out of the way places sometime during the game. I doubt it. I haven't seen him repair a bridge yet. I haven't seen any rail get repaired so far.


This is an area way down in the southwest corner where the mountains sprout.

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[popejohnpaul]

It's still T13 round 1 and I just railed the 37th Eng Reg of the 12th Army from Baku ( way down south ) to somewhere west of Kiev. I was curious to know how far 175 hexes would look like on the map. This is the approx range of my IL-4 bombers, which has a range of 171 hexes. So I can almost reach Berlin from where the front lines are. Too bad there's nothing there to bomb except the bridges. Hey yeah, I could bomb the bridges in his rear.

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