FITE v.5.0 Ian Soviets larry Axis

[devoncop]

Thanks Mike.

Before I do my quick despatch from the Front for turn 59 I thought I just needed to sing the praises of this scenario for anyone who is wondering if it is for them.
Although the scale may seem big at first glance and the geographically daunting, it really isn't. What the Russian Front has turned into in this game is actually a series of eminently manageable "mini dramas".


The South around Melitipol and the Crimea was almost instant disaster in the first few turns as Larry reached Odessa well ahead of schedule and I had little more than a few Cavalry regiments on the Dnepr to stop him. Supply issues for the Germans saved me then and now the South is even more subdivided into fascinating breakouts and responses in the depths of winter around the Sivash isthmus, Odessa and the Western Crimea.

In the North the desperate battles over the Narva River to save Leningrad in late summer 41 have now expanded to include the ferocious fighting over the Luga river as the Soviets try to push back AGN and also into a battle of manoeuvre in Finland.

The Centre has seen massive Somme like attrition around Kiev and Smolensk and failed counter attacks using pontoons in several places by Soviet probes.

The air war has been gripping in itself. The massacre of Soviet squadrons in The first three turns has now given way to Soviet air superiority as German bombers have been hit hard as they try to maintain interdiction runs and Soviet air power replicates the Luftwaffe in 1940 in the early battle of Britain concentrating on German and Romanian airfields.

All in all (and we are only just into 1942 ) this is proving quite an experience.

PS.....

Each turn now takes me around an hour or so, maybe slightly longer, as I never watch the replay and this works fine for me.

[devoncop]

Turn 59. .....11th January 1942

My push out from the Sivash isthmus is contained by German Infantry regiments failed in by Larry and my lead Cavalry regiment surrounded. Despite best efforts including decimating one German regiment surrounding the Cavalry I failed to break through and the unit is doomed.

After heavy fighting Larry retook Kherson and the Rifle Division there was destroyed but the diversion did its job.

In the North the US naval bombers again are successful sinking 3 destroyers and a Heavy Cruiser off Narva.

The Axis air losses were huge this turn. My air superiority is at 125 and the Axis at 7 so German bombers on interdiction were getting a hard time even before my airfield strikes. By turn end Soviet pilots reported 460 Axis planes destroyed to 125 Soviet.

On the ground resistance to the Soviet counter offensive was tough and the only small gains were South of Nikopol in the Crimea and across the River Luga in the North where the 1st SS Reichsfuhrers Dvision 10th Regiment was pushed aside.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: devoncop
Thanks Mike.

Before I do my quick despatch from the Front for turn 59 I thought I just needed to sing the praises of this scenario for anyone who is wondering if it is for them.
Although the scale may seem big at first glance and the geographically daunting, it really isn't. What the Russian Front has turned into in this game is actually a series of eminently manageable "mini dramas".

The South around Melitipol and the Crimea was almost instant disaster in the first few turns as Larry reached Odessa well ahead of schedule and I had little more than a few Cavalry regiments on the Dnepr to stop him. Supply issues for the Germans saved me then and now the South is even more subdivided into fascinating breakouts and responses in the depths of winter around the Sivash isthmus, Odessa and the Western Crimea.

In the North the desperate battles over the Narva River to save Leningrad in late summer 41 have now expanded to include the ferocious fighting over the Luga river as the Soviets try to push back AGN and also into a battle of manoeuvre in Finland.

The Centre has seen massive Somme like attrition around Kiev and Smolensk and failed counter attacks using pontoons in several places by Soviet probes.

The air war has been gripping in itself. The massacre of Soviet squadrons in The first three turns has now given way to Soviet air superiority as German bombers have been hit hard as they try to maintain interdiction runs and Soviet air power replicates the Luftwaffe in 1940 in the early battle of Britain concentrating on German and Romanian airfields.

All in all (and we are only just into 1942 ) this is proving quite an experience.

PS.....

Each turn now takes me around an hour or so, maybe slightly longer, as I never watch the replay and this works fine for me.

Ian's summary of the situation is spot on. It's an epic battle and there's plenty of action over the entire map and Ian is right in that most of it is mini-battles and each of them are important. I really like this scenario a lot. Ian does too. I can tell. I believe it IS one of the better scenarios

[larryfulkerson]

This is what the Crimea looks like now. I restored the situation at the bottleneck and as soon as I repair the bridges that have been dropped I'll have some supply again. Ian attempted to invade at Landing Zone X-ray and I quickly contained it. The Soviet units retreated back to the fort and I've got the FJ Paratroopers babysitting them. I still plan on pulling back to Kherson and defend along the river because the supply is better there. This Soviet Winter Offensive is turning into a severe setback for the Axis all over the map. This game is a lot more fun now.

[Veloz]

larry what a mistake, but i used to play Hpps games (panzer campaigns) A JOHN TILLER GAME Smolenks 41 and probably best games, play this...genttelman

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: Veloz

larry what a mistake, but i used to play Hpps games (panzer campaigns) A JOHN TILLER GAME Smolenks 41 and probably best games, play this...genttelman

Decent game but operational and not strategic scale. No air or naval war and truly awful AI.

TOAW IV much better in my view.

[devoncop]

Turn 60...14th January 1942

An offensive in the north across the Narva river is underway and the Soviet tanks have reached the rear German artillery parks and now need to try and reach the coast to cut off German garrisions in and around Narva itself (but with only a turn or so of the Soviet Winter effects left this may be impossible). The effort in the north is helped again by the US Dauntlesses which sink another German destroyer and the last Heavy Cruiser present off the coast.

There is also a drive west from Kiev which makes some progress through the lines of the German besiegers though German Infantry are being railed in close by.

Up in Finland the cut off 2nd Geb Div HQ and 136th German Geb Regiment with it are both destroyed by Soviet armour.

Down in the south in the Crimea the push across the lower Dnepr south west of Dnepropetovsk continues in an attempt to cut off the multiple German Divisions holding lines west of Melitopol.

After their exertions last turn soviet bombers have a quiet turn with a couple of Rumanian air squadrons being wiped out on their bases and some minor combat support attacks. The turn itself is foreshortened as a big tank battle on the eastern side of the Dnepr north west of Dnepropetovsk which destroys about 70 German tanks eats up the turn and a proficiency test is failed......

Overall VP's are around -489 at present (-450 is a draw) so I am still in marginal loss territory but the VP's were around -580 before the Winter Offensive effects so the snow has been a big help !

[larryfulkerson]

Ian has made breakthroughs in several spots and here's the one he made at Kiev. I'm not at all sure I can contain any of the breakthroughs so this should be interesting. I'm wondering if I should start building an MLR somewhere to the west. I guess that's the next thing to ponder.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the losses so far. I expected to see less assigned HRS's. That it's still 39k is a very good thing indeed. That means the losses are far lower than I was expecting. The Soviet Winter Offensive is almost over and I'm hoping the shock difference is again in my favor, or at least parity. I counted four partisans this turn. I've cornered two of them already. I'm going to have to chase down the other two. I'm keeping the MP's and security forces in the backfield to handle the partisans with a lot of help from the Hungarians and Slavoks.

[larryfulkerson]

Ian is leaping his units across the river near Narva; he's got units on the west side of the river and there's a huge stack of Soviet units including a massive armor unit on the west side and that spells trouble for the Axis units. I think Ian's goal is to move the Axis units to the west, outflank them and destroy them, opening another section of the front lines across the peninsula on a line as south as Pskov. I'd be forced to some up with a lot more units to defend that outstretched section of the lines and that would weaken the rest of the lines. I may have to start a general pull-back to shorten the lines.

[larryfulkerson]

This image is a little south of the above image and shows a partisan behind my lines close to the front itself. I've succeeded in surrounding it and I'll dispatch with it sometime this turn but the main problem itself is the pressure my troops are under from the Soviet units. There was a breakthrough and I contained it but the bulge remains and there is evidence to suggest that there's going to be another breakthrough real soon now. I'm thinking about building an MLR along the rail running east-west near Pskov. That might shorten the lines a tiny bit.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

A line along the rail line and taking out some of the bridges as you pull back sounds like a good plan. Interesting seeing an MP units in the middle of a lake!

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

Larry,

A line along the rail line and taking out some of the bridges as you pull back sounds like a good plan. Interesting seeing an MP units in the middle of a lake!

Hi Mike

To clarify...the MP units are covering a withdrawal from a speculative probe across the lake.....they aren't rowing by the way.....the lake is frozen this time of year [:)]

[MikeJ19]

Ian,

That makes more sense - I forgot that it was winter in Russia...

It would have been fun to see them rowing though.

[devoncop]

Turn 61....18th January 1942

The last turn of the first Winter Offensive sees a significant development as Soviet spotters see German troops formations heading West away from the Front lines . More than a trickle but nowhere near a flood. The

The move is particularly evident in the northern Crimea West of Melitopol where the advances from both North and South of Soviet troops advancing from Dnepropetovsk and the Sivash peninsular respectively risk cutting the Germans off completely.

This welcome development encourages Soviet advances and the breakout from Kiev continues with armoured spearheads heading towards Zhitomir.
The Cherkassy town and bridge on the Dnepr are recaptured and the attack against Romanian troops North of Perekop pays further dividers pushing them back North east.

In the North the 1st Reichsfuher Division is in danger of being surrounded South of Os'mino on the River Luga as assaults by 1st and 2nd Guards Army dislodged the 113th Infantry Division who were supported by some SS which had been protecting the Reichsfuhrers southern flank.

Just North of Riga the heroic US Dauntlesses sink all 6 Kriegsmarine destroyers still present . The entry of the US Air assets in response to Larry bringing Sweden into the war has been a huge benefit.

[MikeJ19]

Sweden has entered the war - cool!

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

Sweden has entered the war - cool!

It has Mike.

It did so a few months back as a result of a couple of Theatre options. Basically I tried to bully Sweden into cutting Iron ore shipments to Germany....to reduce supply to the Wehrmacht. As a result Larry had a choice whether to accept this and take an immediate 10% supply hit or bully Sweden into the war as a result of undue Soviet pressure. This means no supply loss immediately but does two things....first it brings some US fighters,Strategic Bombers and Tactical Bombers (only one unit of each but high quality) into play for the Soviets.
Secondly two Swedish cities are now Objective cities for the Soviets and if they fall at any point the Germans lose a full 20% supply☺

[larryfulkerson]

This is me trying to contain all the breakthroughs and do a general pull back at the same time. I'm having success in fits and starts. Some of the units have no problem at all in pulling back and some of them need a unit in the hex for them to move. A lot of my recon units are on the front line now and they aren't used to being there. Ian has been dropping so many of my bridges that I've started parking engineers on the key spots that I'd like to be fully operational if possible. I've only a few ways for the supply to flow and dropping a bridge can cut off the supply to the folks at the front and they need all the supply they can handle right now. The Soviets still have a shock advantage even though the SWO is done and I guess that means that the SWO ISN'T done after all. There's more struggle to do yet.

[MikeJ19]

Hi Guys,

Cool stuff. Ian, thanks for the information on Sweden and how they started fighting.

Larry,

Pulling back is never an easy thing. I'm thinking a lot about it lately. In the bulge scenario I'm playing, the Americans are not pulling back and this has given me tons of opportunities to encircle and destroy. It is not an easy decision for anyone to make - let alone the computer. It is very interesting to follow the decision making process ...

All the best,

[fulcrum28]

great AAR!
some questions;

1) what is the maindifference between FITE 2 and this one FITE v5.0?
2)I could find FITE2 in hyphotetical scenarios folder, but I cant find FITE v5.0, where is it?