Adventures in Russia

[DanNeely]

ORIGINAL: TPOO

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: DanNeely
The majority of that was just looking at what Jukipo did and why when he dismembered the Soviets.

I tried to read his AAR but kept having to scroll to the right to see the rest of it and that
became aggravating so I stopped. I try to not have my AAR readers scroll because of that.

Remember, Larry is playing the updated version of the scenario. Much different than the version that shipped with the game. The PO will perform somewhat different now than before and may require different strategies. There were several PO formations that did not fire as intended and have been adjusted. Thanks to all the great AAR's for the scenario help in tweaking the PO to perform better. I will even have another updated version to release shortly that have fixed some more things. Thanks to everyone. [:)]

I am aware. My commentary was almost all geographic, and the rail lines and difficult terrain haven't moved. The one major exception was the proposed attack on Arkhangelsk, where my observation was that it'd only be doable with a small force if Elmer ignored the steadily increasing exposed Finnish southern flank.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm in the process of destroying the last remaining Leningrad defender above
Leningrad and that will be all of them. The mop up will be complete. Now to
find something for the Finns to do.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines in T43 before I have moved anybody.
The mud season came to a halt and the supply grid has
been restored. This is the last two weeks of November
and I need to rest the units to get them up to about 100%
supply and fully rested for the Soviet Winter Offensie
which is about to begin in T49 I think.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm checking the aircraft as part of my new-turn routine and I've noticed that we
aren't making any more B model Ju-87s and it's going to be quite a while yet before
the Ju-87D shows up at the airfields and there's not all that many on hand to last
that long. So I need to decide whether or not to forgo direct attacks with the
remaining B models. I'm inclined to go ahead and use the planes and then when
there's only a few on hand then I'll stand them down until the D model starts to
show up. The Soviet Winter Offensive is about to happen and I feel like I need
those Stukas on CS for that.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's some of the losses so far and I'm using the HRS row as a rough guide to how
the force is doing and I'm thinking 34K HRS dudes is just fine. So far so good.
And there's 300+ HRS on hand which will be gone pretty quickly after the Soviet
Winter Offensive has been going on for a couple of turns. I'm aiming for a floor
of 30K for the HRS row and when that level is reached, if it is, then I'll stand
down the force to let it build up again. To go much below 30K I believe, makes
the divisions too weak to stand by themselves on the front lines. They lack the
punch to restore the front lines when there's a breadthrough.

I need to develop some local reserves for the times when one more division is needed
somewhere and right now. I doube there's enough people, units, for much of a reserve.
I thought about breaking down the divisions to have enough units but then I'd have
to stack them to prevent weak spots. It would turn into a micromanagement nightmare
I'm thinking. Also, it's easier to move an entire formation if the units are all
together and that's what formations do, move, and shoot, sometimes dig in. They are
a fluid and dynamic vehicle to extend force in a specific spot and need to remain
flexible to be maximally useful. Being engaged isn't helpful when you are trying to
get around behind an enemy unit so it's helpful to lead the movement of the main
moving unit with a low-cost throw-away unit to act as the release from the disengagement
penalty. I'm explaining this badly. I need a picture to show what I mean.

[larryfulkerson]

The Axis supply grid is back on-line because of the frozen ground and all of a sudden
the Crimea has supply again. Not much but better than nothing at all. It's not
enough to start the seige on the city. I've got two Rumanian RR engineers working on
it day and night. I would divert some more engineers to this task but they are all
otherwise employed already. Well, maybe one for down here. I'll have to figure out
which route has the most progress and take it from there.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's Kharkov right now and I've got a risky plan to run an MP unit across the
Soviet backfield and see if I can't drop a bridge in the Soviet rear. It would
maybe cut off supply to some Soviet units and shorten the war. I think it's
worth a try. If he can't make it then he's got permission to abort.

[larryfulkerson]

I had second thoughts about sending an MP unit down to that bridge and thought I'd
send a recon unit instead because it moves a lot faster and it's got a high recon
value to wiggle out of a semi-surround and I think it's got a higher chance to survive
the mission. He didn't quite make it all the way to the bridge and I expect the Soviets
to respond in some way to save their bridge and attack my unit. But maybe Elmer is
asleep at the wheel and doesn't respond. Then I'll get a chance to drop several bridges.

[larryfulkerson]

Further south I saw an opportunity to drive a recon unit around a small group of
Soviet units in an effort to cut off their supply and thereby make the take-down
of the Soviet units easier and quicker. I had to use the engineer unit from that
formation to complete the cut off but it's in place and the attacks have already
started.

[larryfulkerson]

That group that I have cut off and surrounded....I think it might be possible to
dispatch all those Soviet units before the Soviet Winter Offensive starts. I need
to do that because they get a boost in shock for the SWO and that would make them
hard to dispatch. So I have to do it now. That would free up a lot of my troops
that are needed elsewhere at the moment. They will probably become my reserve
when they are through mopping up.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what's happening up in the NE corner of the front lines right now. I'm cutting
off the supply to a group of Soviet units that are fighting the Finns and I'm trying to
surround a medium group of Soviet units near the Life Road river crossings. If I can get
one of my LOC's around the group they would be cut off from their supply and it would be
easier to defeat them.

[larryfulkerson]

I did some attacking with the 71st Inf Div and got as far as adjacent to the city
before it ran out of bullets for this turn ( turned yellow ). So, unless and until
I can scrape up a green div it looks like the take-down of the city will have to
wait better supply conditions. I think there's time yet. I believe I have until
04Dec41.

[TPOO]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

I did some attacking with the 71st Inf Div and got as far as adjacent to the city
before it ran out of bullets for this turn ( turned yellow ). So, unless and until
I can scrape up a green div it looks like the take-down of the city will have to
wait better supply conditions. I think there's time yet. I believe I have until
04Dec41.

It looks like there is an issue with Soviet Supply here in the Crimea as all the Soviet Units are out of supply. Steve has the supply to the Crimea set in the hex in the sea next to Sevastopol and I think this is a TOAW 4 issue as this never occurred in TOAW 3. The next update I am moving all the sea supplies to the mainland. I keep finding issues with TOAW 4 all the time compared to the playability in TOAW 3 but at least this is fixable.

[larryfulkerson]

...The next update I am moving all the sea supplies to the mainland. I keep finding issues with TOAW 4 all the time compared to the playability in TOAW 3 but at least this is fixable.

So if I'm playing this version all I have to do is hook up with the supply just off-shore and all of a sudden I'll
have some supply for my people. Cool. I was wondering why the Soviet units kept shrinking in strength. I saw
the supply point change to blue after I sank the last ship in this area but didn't stop to think about how it
changes the game all of a sudden. So the take-down of Sevestopol was a gimme? Okay with me.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

This continues to be a fun read. Thanks for sharing.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

This continues to be a fun read. Thanks for sharing.

I'm having a blast doing it. I'm having more fun than the Baptist church allows.
The Soviet Winter is almost upon me, about four more turns, and I need to rest
most of the troops but little scurmishes where I can hurt the enemy more than I
will get hurt ( three adjacent hexes around a target hex ) I can do that with a
clear conscience but my rule of thumb right now is no-events and I'm allowing
exceptions. Sevestopol is one of the exceptions because of the reward specified.
It's worth doing for the delivery of the Bulgarians into the active inventory.
Right now they are parked near Sofia, Bulgaria in garrison mode, both armies.
They are in the OOB, I just can't use them for anything, besides a threat to
Elmer for all that's worth. I disbanded a lot of the CD guns because they were
crowding up my OOB. There was like 30 of them that were disbanded. Now the
number at the bottom of the dialog reflects a more accurate number of active
combat units for my rules of thumb to work with. Like my rule of thumb of a
floor of about 30K HRS squads. Like my policy for units, yellow needs to rest.
Red means move to better supply if able, else no move nor shoot. Green means
AOK for liftoff. Use at your disgression. Mature audiences only.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

Your approach makes sense to me, good luck with Sevastopol.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,

Your approach makes sense to me, good luck with Sevastopol.

Thanks for the good luck Mike my friend. But Sevestopol is mine for the taking since
the Soviets are out of supply, have been experiencing pestilance and have been
whittled down to bargan basement prices reguarding their strength and I've discovered
that they are a pushover waiting to happen. My theory, then, is to tke Sevestopol you
just need to sink all the ships in this area, the supply point will turn Axis and
the Soviets will be overextended, wait about 10 turns and voila, you can almost walk
in without much of a fight. The 71st division fought it's way adjacent to the city
by itself all alone in the fights and the battles were little more than RBC's in
slow motion. At least with this version of the scenario. Rick sez he's going to fix
the problemo and a different strategy will have to be employed. There was a version of
this scenario in which the city was empty and there just happened to be an empty hex
adjacent to the city so I dropped a paratrooper in the hex and just walked into the city.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a view of the front lines in the NorthEast corner. I'm still trying to get
surrounds going on the Soviet groups to free up the river crossings and get the
rail started toward Moscow. Since all the river crossings are in despute still
I'm repairing rail going south and I plan to turn east as soon as a river crossing
is ready for it and that looks to be Staraya Russa so far. I'm not going to get
it done this year I realize but I'd like to get a good start on for the next year
and the progress that I hope to make then.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the T45 front lines before I have moved anybody