Red Army Fanboy takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque...

[Flaviusx]

Down south PG1 is resting and refitting while the FSB deploys in Proskurow. 17. Army, backed up by the Luftwaffe, is taking some whacks at Kiev and reducing the entrenchment levels. I may not need the siege guns here. But they are on their way and due to arrive in another couple of turns.

Further south 11. Army is working its way around Nikolaev.

[Flaviusx]

I had some very expensive truck decisions this turn in both AGN and AGC, cost me over 30 PPs. Luckily I could cover it.

[Flaviusx]

Dammit. Forgot take screenshots for turn 11.

Anyways, Narva falls, and I move the FSB and airfield to Tallinn. PG4 is set to refit. 18. Army will take over offensive duties in the meantime up there. I redirect the siege guns north. This, unfortunately, is my best path to Leningrad. It's not a good one.

PG3 gets trashed as expected and needs to be rescued, but in return the Soviets are taking quite a pounding up there. I do not believe his position there is tenable. Going to have to pull PG3 out of the line for rest and refit very soon. PG2 is in good shape, at least and has plenty of fight left. It's not pretty, but I think I can lever the Red Army out of the Iron Wall gradually.

Down south Kiev falls in two sequential attacks, 17. Army softens it up, and PG1 delivers the coup de grace. PG1 is tanned, rested and ready and in addition to Kiev lunges in the direction of Kirovograd, slicing through some hapless conscripts. There are some envelopment opportunities here.

[Flaviusx]

Turn 12. And this time I remember to take screenies, yay me. Only two though. AGN is fairly quiet thanks to PG4 refitting and the FSB moving to Tallinn. 18. Army takes another hex SE of Narva. Not worth a picture.

The wild melee in AGC continues. The Soviet leadership here is most energetic, and destroys 19. Panzer division. The rest of the PG3 is essentially hors de combat. It takes a few parting shots this turn, and goes into refit. I also set it on sustained offensive mode. PG2 needs more gas.

As for PG2, it continues to grind up the Soviets in conjunction with 9. Army. A clean breakthrough eludes us, but I think the enemy is going to run out of steam before I do. There's a half dozen Soviet armies in the area and they are nearly burned out, many divisions in the blue or red.

[Flaviusx]

Down south PG1 seizes Kirovograd, thus securing a new base of supply. I am exactly 10 hexes away from Proskurow with the HQ. Soviet conscripts in this area are no match for the Panzers, particularly out in the open.

[Flaviusx]

On turn 17 I resigned to the masterful Soviet player.

Lessons learned for PBEM as the Axis:

1. The Iron Wall is a game killer. The Axis must preempt it and prevent it from establishing itself. I thought I could set up a killing ground in the open space near Vitebsk and grind the Soviet to the point the position becomes untenable. Nope. Takes too long. You can indeed trash a large number of Soviet armies this way. But by the time you get done chewing through the regulars, the reserves show up and your panzers are tired. This is simply too restricted of a front line and you'll never get ahead of the Soviet reinforcement ability.

The upshot of this is that AGC must be very aggressive in the early going and receive all the fuel drops until it can firmly establish itself across the river lines. This may mean bypassing and ignoring Minsk for a while. Possibly also means choosing Vilnius in the alternative as your first FSB location.

2. I'm not happy with the results of switching panzergroups across theaters. You're going to need both PG2+3 to preempt the Iron Wall. Furthermore, AGN has problems supporting two PG from a fuel standpoint. Don't even think about sending a PG to another theater until the Iron Wall is disposed of. And the historical move by PG2 south may be better at that point than sending PG3 north. Leningrad sucks for panzers anyways. What AGN needs is another infantry army, lol.

3. After Kiev falls, don't go thrusting towards the lower Dnepr, as tempting as this may be. The supply line is simply too vulnerable to being cut off. This killed my last hope in the game, capturing Rostov. (Which Hitler had set as an objective.) You have to force the Dnepr and clear out the Soviets first. Indeed, it may be more important to do this first before taking Kiev, and at least get a firm bridgehead there. Kiev itself can be taken out by 17. Army even without siege guns, just more slowly.

You can add to this various bumbles and fumbles of a tactical nature, but from a strategic standpoint these are my main takeaways.

PBEM is much harder than playing the AI, at least against a quality opponent like Micheal T. I salute his skill. However playing Micheal T gave me sufficient insight and lessons learned that I can now manhandle the AI.

We shall pause for an intermission here and take up another game next week. I've been offered a chance to assume either side and will mull over which one to take. This is the rare East Front game where I actually really like playing either side. Mostly I'm a Red Army fanboy.

[Jagdtiger14]

Good game Flavius! Historically Germany made mistakes removing armor from AGC to help out AGN. Guderian was ordered to move south to assist in taking Kiev...which is also a good way to unhinge the Dnieper.

Michael T pretty much did what I thought would be a good idea...which is to RUN...RUN as fast as you can preserving as many units as possible until you reach defensible positions and aquire critical mass of reinforcement units (you call it the Iron Wall). I think the main thrust for Germany should be AGC...after Smolensk the big decision comes...go with Guderian or Hitler...arguably Hitler seemed to make the correct decision if you consider the huge defeat the Soviets suffered (in this game...Moscow or outflank Dnieper/Rostov)...although I could argue Guderian's position as well (Moscow was key to over all victory).

Michael T's defense was also in depth, which is also something to consider. He was able to do this because he preserved his units.

[Speedysteve]

Agreed Jagdtiger14. I think the challenge (as with any East Front game) is how to model the Soviets to keep them from running without any real penalty....the number of WitE games I saw with that behaviour!

[schascha]

Thx for the AAR [&o][&o][&o]

It's a very difficult game on german side.
It's my third game against the AI (normal and slow) and I only manage to have almost the same position as this game !!!![&:][&:]

[budd]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Agreed Jagdtiger14. I think the challenge (as with any East Front game) is how to model the Soviets to keep them from running without any real penalty....the number of WitE games I saw with that behaviour!

I haven't played the Soviet side yet,but seems like the activations or lack there of would keep the soviets from full out running mode.

[Speedysteve]

Potentially (granted I haven't played the Soviets much yet) but with streamlined play (knowing where and when to send Zhukov, coupled with what armies to place where (reinforcements) could lead to the impenetrable wall. Still too few games to say though!

[Flaviusx]

The German can prevent the iron wall. He just has to be more aggressive in AGC than I was, and press pass the river lines. Without the river lines, the Iron Wall isn't an Iron Wall there. Flipping control of places like Mogilev, Orsha, and Vitebsk also forces the Soviet to deploy reinforcement armies further back.

Orsha also happens to be a place you can send the FSB to. Just discovered that playing against the AI. So if you can get there quickly enough, forget Minsk or Vilnius.

AGC is going to have to get all the fuel drops until that happens, and one of the 2 PG should be set to sustained offensive for a bit to conserve fuel.

I think Zhukov needs to go south early on, tbh, not center. Center gets focus card. The only frontier army you can save there is Western Front. Whereas in the south you can extract more regulars from the border.

[Speedysteve]

Only thing is Flav the movement of FSB will cause the natural brake at the same time the army masses arrive in AGC. I do think we're all still very early in the DC3 journey though so more games and experience are needed!