Stalin's in the gulag, I'm in charge! II - vs 2ndACR (Axis)

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Sorry, posted before screenshot #2

Checkerboard in the south and north of the breakthrough to slow him down. If he's ramped his air inderdiction up (which he should have) then you might have trouble getting the troops into position

Humm, no, I don't want to slow him down [:)] I want to STOP him [8D] As long as he does not clear my units in the marshes southeast of Pskov an advance towards the north should be rather dangerous (for him) if I am not mistaken. A long & thin corridor with many of my hordes next to his two flanks. I love it!

[Reconvet]

Looking at this map and your opponent's moves I'd say he goes for a pincer south of lake ilmen (my yellow arrows on TD's map), trying to bag forces which would block his right hook if allowed to retreat.

[TulliusDetritus]

Reconvert, yes, all indicates it should be Plan A: operations in the north that is. As I said, I will keep units in these marshes. But I guess I don't need to keep the 100%. Part of them should retreat let's say to south of Lake Ilmen. It would be stupid to let them die. After all, their fate would be in the hands of other units fighting a little more in the north for them [8D] But 5 divisions there could slow his operation down maybe 1 or 2 turns. And IF I manage to stop him from forming that pocket on let's say this turn and next one... I should throw my hordes to his right flank...

[Q-Ball]

I played 2ndACR breifly in a test game, and I noticed in that one that he really was bold, perhaps reckless, with his Panzers. I cut them off several times, and though he re-established contact each time, it had an admitted effect on supply and movement.

That penetration around V-L is very dangerous for him, and totally exposed. It should be pretty easy to swamp either side of that, and at least create a bloody mess that he has to attack to get out of.

If you get a breakthrough like that, you have to seal-off your flanks, ideally by encircling the units.

Nice job T-D, but you seem to have a knack for selecting opponents who are not worried about flank security...

[PeeDeeAitch]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
Nice job T-D, but you seem to have a knack for selecting opponents who are not worried about flank security...

Which is why I should never, ever play TD...

[cookie monster]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Whats his fuel situation like with his Panzers?

If its poor, then stay put as he will unable to do much, and you could cause him some real problems

If its good, then you will be encircled south of Lake Ilmen next turn (unless you have some fairly serious fortifications there.

If he has used HQ buildup, then you could be looking at a very serious situation

LOLOLOL I am an utter moron [:D] His fuel situation can be seen? Where? I simply didn't know I could do that [8|][:D] Please tell me where this "fuel situation" is: what menu, etc. [&o]

In theory IIRC...

You can select SHOW FUEL LEVELS as a soft indicator.

If the detection level is high enough on his units, you may be able to see their fuel levels.

[Mynok]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: Encircled

Whats his fuel situation like with his Panzers?

If its poor, then stay put as he will unable to do much, and you could cause him some real problems

If its good, then you will be encircled south of Lake Ilmen next turn (unless you have some fairly serious fortifications there.

If he has used HQ buildup, then you could be looking at a very serious situation

LOLOLOL I am an utter moron [:D] His fuel situation can be seen? Where? I simply didn't know I could do that [8|][:D] Please tell me where this "fuel situation" is: what menu, etc. [&o]

It's one of the toggles you can pick to change what the little triangles at the corners mean.

[TulliusDetritus]

LOL!

So I was a blind man walking!

LOL!

I knew the soft factors thing, but never used it... I thought it was only showing information about MY units! [:D]

Now I can see! Praise Encircled, Cookie Monster and Mynok [&o]

Mwhahahahahaha! His panzers fuel situation is in the red (the ones I will be hugging). That has to be a bad thing, I suspect

[center][/center]

[randallw]

I knew about the toggle from the manual but didn't bother with it for awhile; I thought "eehhh, I don't need it".  Turns out I did. [:'(]

Unfortunately there is no toggle ( yet ) for ammo load.

[TulliusDetritus]

Ok, so this is more or less what I am going to do to stop my opponent. I hope Q-Ball is prophetic [&o]

This is the FIRST step, as I have to reorganize the forces: I have brought 14 divisions from the different armies in the Western and Bryansk Fronts. I will possibly end up bringing more hordes.

P.S.: I don't think I'll be doing the turn right now. My 7 year old niece is at home AND wants to use the computer [:D]

[TulliusDetritus]

Ok, phase one: sort of "softening" the AGN advance...

AGN 8 Panzer division attacked and forced to retreat. Two attacks. The first one was a deliberate attack. The German division held. Then one of Rokossovski's MONSTER tank divisions (6=12) did a second attack: a hasty attack... and the Germans ran away

Who said these tank divisions were useless? [:)]

EDIT: oh, and I forgot to mention that Pskov was captured. Yes, that can be seen on the screenshot.

[alfonso]

Had this battle been against another opponent, maybe we could read another utter madness thread [:)]

[TulliusDetritus]

Madness? This is madness! This is LENINGRAD! ***Sparta Kick***

Well, I need an advice, please! [&o]

I have formed two armies (I gave them support: sappers, RR Bdes and artillery; and a good boss for the 30th: Lelyushenko). The 54th (LOL, exactly at the same place where I formed it on my other game: it was one of the armies that destroyed the AGN Panzers) and the 30th. If I assign them to their natural fronts on this area (Northern, Northwest and Kalinin) these fronts will be OVERLOADED. So, I was thinking about assigning the 30th (threatening his right flank) to the Moscow Front thing. Is that correct? What about the 54th? Do I assign it to the "natural" fronts and then overload them OR I let it attached to STAVKA itself?

Thanks in advance for your much needed suggestion [:)]

[alfonso]

Intuitive reply: I have not done the maths. I am assuminng that STAVKA is already overloaded.

a) If you attach the Army to the front, for each division in that front (e.g, Northern), you will have the following chain of command

Div-Army (OK)-Front (Overload)-Stavka (Overload)

b) If you attach directly the Army to the Stavka, you have

b1: for those divisions (aprox 12): Div-Army (OK)-Stavka (Overload)
b2: remaining Divisions in the Northern Front (aprox 36): Div-Army(OK)-Front(OK)-Stavka(Overload)

I think the benefit of b2 versus a more than compensates the possible detrimental (less rating checks available) effect of b1 versus a.

Therefore, I prefer b

Any other view is welcome.

[TulliusDetritus]

No, the STVAKA is not overloaded yet => 752:900 [8D]

Ok, the 54th will keep being attached to STAVKA.

And the other one (30th)? Is it worth assigning it to Moscow District (it won't be overloaded)? Or attached to STAVKA is just fine?

Needless to say, thanks for your advice [&o]

[alfonso]

I think it is better to attach the 30th directly to a Front, in this case Moscow MD, if this Front is not overloaded. You will have one more HQ to pass the checks. I don`t remember if it is possible to move the Moscow MD, but perhaps you could transport it to bring it near the 30th Army.

[TulliusDetritus]

Hmm, the Moscow HQ is a static unit, it can't be moved [:)] The Army HQ would be at 20 hexes. So I guess attached to STAVKA is just fine [8D]

Thanks again [:)]

[alfonso]

If the Moscow thing cannot be moved and the STAVKA is not overloaded, yes, I believe you are doing fine keeping the 30th with STAVKA, because the higher command range modifier divisor of the STAVKA might compensate for the loss of one check (again, I have not done the maths).

I normally use the Moscow MD to command an Army around Vyazma, and therefore never had that dilemma.

Have you any anti-tanks subunits somewhere?

[TulliusDetritus]

I guess I have the ones I had since the beginning of the game. One is attached to 8th army (NW) and the others to the 5th (I think) and to some Western Front Army.

[Encircled]

Unless he has a Pz Corp that has been on HQ build up, that could get really ugly for him, really, really, really quickly.

If you have no fuel, you don't attempt breakthroughs like that, its suicide