Ketza (CCCP) vrs DAK (Axis) no DAK please

[stone10]

Great AAR. It is obvious that Axis should take advantage of turn 1 and pocket as many reds as possible.

[Ketza]

He pretty much just moved infantry up and consolidated his Panzers. The SS division is free. The Pskov line has not been touched. He certainly does not seem to be pushing for Leningrad. For now anyway.

[Ketza]

He seems to be consolidating in the center as well. No real push east. Turn 3 is usually the "lull" so no real surprise.

[Ketza]

Towards Mogilev in the center he cleared out his flanks and moved forward. Minsk still hangs on. There is an ominous buildup of Panzers in the Berezina bridgehead. I think this turn the Dnepr line is safe. His swamp defence may prove to be leaky again.

[Ketza]

In the south he seals the Lvow pocket again and this time it should hold. He also is close to pocketing the corridor creators. Many of his motorized and Panzer divisions are weak so there may be some potential attacks.

[Ketza]

6th army in the south did not make a lot of headway against the double line. His Panzers went south so a northern pincer is most likely not going to happen. I will most likely fall back out of deliberate attack range again but not give up too much ground.

[Ketza]

In general there was a lot of holds this turn mainly in the south which is why a lot of his mech divisions are weak.

[kirkgregerson]

This axis player is going to be in big trouble later in the game. Without any pockets and his style of play, he's in for a rude surprise if he think he can just push his way all the way through to Moscow. We'll see if things change later, but I doubt it. Hope this guy sticks around for 42, once he realized he's in big trouble.

IMO, without a decent pocket in the south the axis player is fighting uphill all game in the south. Too many strong Soviet units in that sector. Against a decent Soviet player you can forget about getting them later in any sort of Kiev pocket. Also, not taking Riga and getting more armor across that river is a mistake too. Did this 'DAK' guy claim to be an experienced axis player? If not, I'm ashamed at you Ketza for picking on noobs.

[:'(]

[Ketza]

ORIGINAL: kirkgregerson

This axis player is going to be in big trouble later in the game. Without any pockets and his style of play, he's in for a rude surprise if he think he can just push his way all the way through to Moscow. We'll see if things change later, but I doubt it. Hope this guy sticks around for 42, once he realized he's in big trouble.

IMO, without a decent pocket in the south the axis player is fighting uphill all game in the south. Too many strong Soviet units in that sector. Against a decent Soviet player you can forget about getting them later in any sort of Kiev pocket. Also, not taking Riga and getting more armor across that river is a mistake too. Did this 'DAK' guy claim to be an experienced axis player? If not, I'm ashamed at you Ketza for picking on noobs.

[:'(]

I just threw a game up on the server and he accepted. [8D]

I have another Soviet game going on currently with a forum poster with 1.5 and he did the typical Axis opening with the big pockets ect but I chose not to do an AAR because the game is following the typical pattern that we see in most games.

I chose this game for an AAR solely because the Axis opening was different yet I could tell by his use of mechanics that he seemed to know the game. My goal here is to mainly show a different Axis strategy to see if it works or not so maybe other potential Axis players can learn from it.

[Ketza]

North final - Evacuated the SUs from Hango and started putting together the Leningrad MLR. Pretty quiet up here so far. My concern is he is supporting AGC with 4th Pz through Veliki Luki which will make life somewhat difficult in the center.

[Ketza]

Center final - He left a Soviet armored division in a spot where it could link up with Minsk so a corridor was opened. The landbridge line is 3 hexes deep with some pretty strong divisions. I dont think he will be in a position next turn to seriously threaten the MLR. Next turn will be another story.

He did a much better job of screening the swamp this turn but I still was able to cozy up to his stacks of infantry which should slow them down a bit. Most of his potential momentum from blowing away the front in western district was lost because of poor flank security.

[Ketza]

South final - In the south I pondered what to do for quite awhile. I was very tempted to launch some major attacks but decided to not tangle with his massed infantry attacks which were sure to come my way next turn. I opted for a withdrawal just out of reach of deliberate attacks once again. I will be poised to hit any stretched out Panzers next turn.

I also spent APs reorganizing the armies along the MLR. They are in much better condition to fight now. Most of the Dnepr line has been occupied and the begginings of an all mountain assault army is forming near Kiev for the counter attack against future bridgeheads.

[Ketza]

Industry moves:

Mogilev - Everything is out
Odessa - Everything is out
Nikolaev - Armanent is out
Kiev - Everything out except 3 HI

[bigbaba]

i made a mistake against my soviet opponent to break up the divisions and let the RCT dig in the rear and had a huge number of attacks (most succesfull for him) in the next turn on the forward RCTs.

even 3 poor soviet divisions can retreat nearly any german infantry regiment.

so in my current game i had a stable first line of defense (hauptkampflinie) but nothing behind.

any idea what someone can do prior to blizzard to get a least a 2 line fort line as german except abusing the armor units for that?

[Ketza]

What I like to do is push as far east as possible to create a "retreat buffer" prior to the Soviet blizzard offensive knowing where I will make my stand starting in Febuary. Its at the "stand line" where I break down weaker divisions (that are attached to corps loaded with construction troops) into RCTs. There will be sections of line you want to hold and thats where you create hedgehogs and lines backed with mountain and Panzer troops.

When the offensive starts you should have areas where you are prepared to retreat up to 16 hexes. Whether or not you go that far depends on the Soviet rate of advance. A good rule of thumb is 2 hexes per turn but in many cases thats not needed.

The key to the strategy is not letting the Soviet close with you and be able to deliver deliberate attacks until you reach your hold line where you will have forts waiting. By then your troops are recovering from the blizzard and the Soviet units are weaker and far away from supply.

In a few games I have used this strategy and bounced back rather nicely. My 76mm AAR was the first attempt at it and you can see that even with giving ground I won it all back in the spring because my army was not beat to hell and the Soviet army was not improved from a ton of easy victories.

The biggest gain for the Soviets in the blizzard is not land. It is victories and killing Axis troops in an atmosphere where they have the advantage. Take away that and you will have a blizzard victory for the Axis in my book.

[Ketza]

Turn 4 battles

13 holds
41 retreats
12 surrender
28 rout

This is not something I usually look at but it seems that my troops are becoming more resilient especially in the south.

[Ketza]

He launched a pretty aggressive airbase attack campaign and got a bloody nose:

[Ketza]

Turn 4 north after recon. His Panzers moved from Veliki Luki north. I have to decide if Im going to fight on the river line or switch to a defence in depth.

[BletchleyGeek]

Taking a look at the battle results distribution is good because, as yourself note, helps you to notice trends in combat effectiveness. I think it helps on identifying and prioritizing your problems at the operational level. Usually the battle overlay is too crowded that problems become obscured in a "Ocean of Defeat".

[Ketza]

Turn 4 center after recon - He has started eating away at the landbridge but his attack lacks depth. He is also in position further south to make a run at the river with another group of Panzers. Next turn he will be in much better condition to attempt a crossing.