1.04.11 Klydon (Axis) vs Hfarrish (Soviet) No Hfarrish please

[Klydon]

And finally, AGS where all the other big action is going on. The good news is that after this turn, I should be able to flip just about all the territory west of Kirovograd. The bad news is most of 1st Panzer army is cut off right now and XXXIX panzer could use a break. I will need to see about getting those units back in supply and also seeing how I can work it to bag as many Russians west of the river as possible. As you can see, he has a river line going, but a threat from Gomel could make him a bit nervous up front.

The Russians pulled a lot of industry out this turn. Kermenchug (2 HI, 2 armaments), Krivoi Rog (3 of each), and Gomel (2 of each) so total 112k rail cap. Tasty targets include Kiev (4 of each) and both D town and Z town are still loaded. D town is a particularly attractive target with 16 armaments points there. I don't see getting there this turn, but perhaps the pressure will be on next turn. Kerch still has industry there, although I am not quite in range of cutting the rail line yet.

[heliodorus04]

It is time for HQ buildup.
Were it me, I would set the goals for Novgorod to gain a toehold east of the Volkhov.
And expanding that bridgehead over the central Dnepr.

Leaving nothing guarding the Southern Volkhov is an invitation to the Right Hook, IMO.
I still don't know why he insists on multiple lines like he's doing (but then, I play Soviet with a -10 fortification hit: rare to see 1 inf division create a level 2 fort over a turn.)

[Klydon]

Turn 5 AGN end. I have more or less outflanked the Luga line and I am going to regret not getting that last rough hex near Leningrad, but that is the way it goes. This should put tremendous pressure on the Russians to pull industry out of Leningrad or risk having it cut off as I am only 3 hexes away from cutting the rail line. Most of 16th and 18th army have now moved up and will hopefully be able to add into the battle.

In my test games, I ran into an issue with the Luga river line. The issues are trying to go against fortified units (even lightly fortified) in swamp and also the amount of swamp/tree mix even if you get across. I found it a bit easier to try to go around the left side where the ground is more open and come in from the west, so that is what I wound up trying here as well.

At any rate, I expect a grind for Leningrad at this point as Hfarrish has put up a stout defense here.

[Klydon]

AGC north side. 2nd Army comes up to the line to allow heavy pressure to be put on Leningrad. Not much in the way of advancement and this will likely be somewhat of a quiet sector for the time being. I am putting some pressure on the land bridge, knocking through the first tier of forts. The plan here is to slowly outflank the river lines and cause him to potentially fall back.

[Klydon]

AGC south side. I get a bridgehead over the Dnepr and park as much infantry and armor as I can in the bridgehead. Should give the Russians some pause on where a couple of panzer corps can break out and go from here. What he doesn't know is I didn't gas either unit, so they won't have a lot of movement next turn. The rail head is moving up behind them, but is still back a bit. Lot of good directions to go here be it north to cut off the river line, south to come in behind Kiev or straight out to threaten Bryansk. I have been trying to flip as much swamp as possible as economically as possible in order to make sure there I don't get any rude surprises to my flanks/rear.

[Klydon]

AGS end. I tighten up the pocket in the bend and also look to flip a lot of new territory in the bend. 11th Army moves along in the south. No tanks were gassed, so next turn will not feature a lot of mobility unfortunately. 6th army is coming up the river line, but it will be a couple of turns yet for the bulk of 17th army, although some elements will start reaching. I will need to mop up several small pockets as well. The river line defense is looking very tough, so I am not sure where I am going to try to punch through at, not to mention anything going over will likely be smacked for a big counter attack. I will likely try to regroup the panzers to get them concentrated again to present a nasty threat. My initial inclination is to keep going for D-town and Z-town so they can't get their industry out. Even if I cross the river where it is weak at, I have to figure out a spot to present a threat to crack it someplace else to have a threat of encirclement be credible and pry him off that line.

[Klydon]

Here is a variety of screen info at the end of turn 5.

[Ketza]

Did he withdraw his air force?

[Klydon]

Here is AGN area after recon for turn 6 start. No counter attack by the Russians here, but a big stack on the hill as expected. The panzers are pretty shot on gas. He pulled everything out of Leningrad industry wise except for the 8 HI that start there, so that is where most of his rail cap went this turn. It also means he probably didn't send much in the way of reenforcements.

[Klydon]

Here is the AGC area.

[Klydon]

Here is the AGS area. All the pockets held, although the panzers are very low on gas. I have been flying as many resupply missions as I can, but like some of the other AAR's, I have lost a lot of transport planes and even bombers that have been doing transport missions as well. That river line is going to be just nasty to break.

[Klydon]

I think he put most of it into national reserve, but I have been seeing fighter intercepts over more of the front the last couple of turns, so I think he has brought in fighters at least. He has also done some sporadic recon as well. 

[TulliusDetritus]

From the screenshots, I guess Moscow is his top priority. He also seems to be heavily defending the south. He might lose Leningrad though. Don't miss it [8D]

[heliodorus04]

Are we estimating that the transport mission lost aircraft might be a new bug/miscalculation since the latest 1.04 patch series?

It does look like isolated Soviets are holding in better condition, from what I can tell.

By the way, when I play Axis, I like to try not to gas my panzers when it doesn't have an obvious payoff. I play them with the motto that when in doubt, conserve fuel and trucks.  I'm interested to see how your second half (T10 through T17) play out if you're conscientious about wasting fuel and trucks.

I like your emphasis on flipping hexes and especially swamps at the flanks.  People forget how fast Axis infantry can move when its HQ starts within 10 of the rail, and the ground in front of it is all friendly.

[Klydon]

ORIGINAL: heliodorus04

By the way, when I play Axis, I like to try not to gas my panzers when it doesn't have an obvious payoff. I play them with the motto that when in doubt, conserve fuel and trucks.  I'm interested to see how your second half (T10 through T17) play out if you're conscientious about wasting fuel and trucks.

I don't like doing it either without an obvious payoff. The other issue is I have more stuff to spend command points on that I can't really afford to blow the points if I don't need to.

I am going to be interested as well. Most of my test games (I play both sides) have gone around 6-7 turns, so my "script/plans" where I feel I have some experience is coming to an end and it will be more of a reaction of what is going on in game. Also, all my testing was with earlier versions of the game.

There seem to be a pile more Russians than I remember, although I was blowing a lot of rail cap on moving industry, Hfarrish has been moving more by rail until the last two turns so that may explain part of it, but just seems like there are tons of Russians all over.

The other thing going on with this particular version is the Germans seem to be getting weaker faster. I know one of the comments in the patch was that units would lose strength faster if not moving on rail lines. Part of it could be logistics issues as well. All I know is cracking all those dug in Russians is going to be tough at this point with 6 and 7 point infantry divisions.

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: Klydon

In my test games, I ran into an issue with the Luga river line. The issues are trying to go against fortified units (even lightly fortified) in swamp and also the amount of swamp/tree mix even if you get across. I found it a bit easier to try to go around the left side where the ground is more open and come in from the west, so that is what I wound up trying here as well.

Interesting, that is exactly the way I broke through at the Leningrad front in my game described in my AAR The Wolf and the Bear. I hadn't planned it or tested it, it just came out that way naturally when following the path of least resistance.

[PeeDeeAitch]

That has been my attack route in at least two of my games as well. Bunching up the 4th, then slicing in front of Leningrad to see what happens. It seems a long way to the Soviets, I think, and can take them by surprise (and that is how I jumped across an only partially ready Volkhov in my 1st AAR).

[Klydon]

Turn 6 end for AGN. 18th army makes good progress with the panzers to widen the breach up by Leningrad and surround some units. 16th Army gets into the act crossing over the Luga and also snugging up to the rest of the river. Two panzer corps fall back after making their attacks to gas up and also go into refit mode. After the thrashing a lot of the Russian units took this turn, I am hopeful to land the knock out shot in terms of breaking through behind his defenses. The fortifications are pretty thin except in the city itself. The panzers have some good spots to go by either hooking behind the rest of the Luga defenders (using Lake of Ilmen to cut them out of supply) and/or to make a move against the ports up to the Finnish border. I doubt this second plan is probably workable against this particular opponent, but we shall see.

The Finns are pushing hard from their border and have surrounded a couple of Russian units. I didn't bother with a screen shot since most everyone knows how the Finnish front goes and it doesn't vary too much from one game to the next.

[Klydon]

AGC end turn 6. I move the borrowed corps from 9th army back down south and move 2nd army up to the line. Very weak here unfortunately, but you can't be strong every place. I also "go regimental" along the river to the south in order to put together assault groups to keep grinding forward. I make some progress on the land bridge again and its getting far enough east he will have to worry about a encirclement from the bridgehead to the south.

The armor and infantry in the bridgehead push back the Russian units some more and I packed in some more infantry in there. The tanks were short on gas (movement points in the 20's) so they were not going anyplace this turn. I flew in more gas and the rail head is closer now. I also think having a threat ready to go is sometimes more harsh than actually going someplace. He still doesn't know if I am headed north, south, or east.

[Klydon]

AGS end turn 6. I clean up most of the pockets down here except for a couple of units while moving up 17th army. I had some really tough decisions here in terms of trying to pop the river line or not. As advertised with a southern advance, my panzers are hurting bad on gas. The only panzer corps with good mobility left was my southern most panzer group. They could have tried the river line with no infantry support in sight, gone to D and Z town, but then likely gotten cut off from Russian cav that I suspect is in the area (Russians get a pile of cav in the south) and I would have been in big trouble. I instead continue with the panzer corps with their original mission of cutting across the river to the south and getting into the Crimea as quickly as possible. I was really surprised at first to find the river did not have that many defenders on it, but then given the commitment he has made further north, it should not have surprised me. The panzers get over the river to pave the way for 11th army and even bust his first line of defense into the Crimea. Unfortunately, I don't have enough movement to cut the other rail line, so if he wants to get the Kerch industry out, he can.

The other panzers get refueling flights and several go on refit in order to try to build some strength. They should have enough gas next turn and hopefully enough infantry will be close enough next turn in order for me to get a breach.