Adventures in Russia

[larryfulkerson]

I did this picture of the front lines just before I pull the trigger for combat round
four and I'm doing it now because I might fail a force proficiency check or something
and the turn could end suddenly. Progress is being made.

[larryfulkerson]

Just like I thought it might I failed a force proficiency check and the turn is over
but here's the results of the battles.

[larryfulkerson]

I stopped the Soviet side so I could get a peek at some of the Soviet losses. This is the HRS's and the planes.

[larryfulkerson]

And for combat in the Soviet turn one there's these 6 furballs in which a Soviet aircraft died.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what I'm thinking I should do in turn two in the north. Sticking to the roads
and rails I'm going to advance along the coastal road and I'm going to try to make it
to Riga with the Panzers because it's important that I capture all the river crossings
before the Soviets can escape across them. Alternately, I could drop them with air
strikes. I'd rather capture them intact however because I'd like to be able to
pursue the Soviets to Pskov in a hurry.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the condition the planes are in right now. I had most of them on INT missions
and they did that with a relish and there must have been at least 50 interceptions that
turn. I need to drop some bridges this turn to isolate the battleield. Plus, there
may be some Soviet planes in reorg so that they couldn't fly to safety and after moving
the planes I may be able to reach a couple more Soviet planes.

The mode is expand for the land forces, spread out, move fast, bypass what you can, fight
what you must.

[larryfulkerson]

Of the five Brandenberger paratroopers only one of them wasn't in reorg this turn so
I moved him south to the main avenue where there's another bridge. A Soviet unit
appeared when I moved past him. I would have done do-over and moved him more carefully
but even if I did I still would have moved him to the other bridge instead of fight as
the bridge is more important. Although, during the Soviet turn I saw a lot of units
heading east over this bridge. There may not be much traffic now.

[larryfulkerson]

I cleared off the road and then zoomed my fastest Panzer and he could't quite make
it to Riga this turn. D'oh. That means I'm a little bit behind schedule already.
I'll try to make it up later somehow. Drop the paratroops again or something.

Lots of mopping up going on. As soon as it's done I'll rail the troops further north.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm moving units and I've come to a Security regiment that has a chance to cause a
Soviet aircraft unit to fly away but I don't want to do that in this case. I obviously
missed it in all the airstrikes and it now needs to be dispatched with arty or
air strikes. I'd rather use arty. I'll see if I can round some up. If I suceed in
getting it to go into reorg it won't be able to move. And I can hit it again next turn.

[John B.]

Great AAR Larry! Thanks as always.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: John B.
Great AAR Larry! Thanks as always.

Thank you. You're too kind by half.

[larryfulkerson]

I just got an email from Rick ( one of the D21 scenario designers ) and he went out of his way to
send me the new D21 files in case I wanted to do a restart. I didn't want to do a restart YET AGAIN
and didn't but since Rick went out of his way to personally send me the files I will. I'm only on
turn 2 after all. So I'll be doing turn one over again using the new files. Stand by for news.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's me starting my turn one moves again. Maybe I'll do a better job this time
now that I've had some practice.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm moving units and I've come to the 12th Panzer Division and I thought it prudent
to send it SE as part of a pincer movement on the Soviet retreat avenue and the rail
connections that I need. As part of the movement I managed to get a supply line to
one of the brave paratrooper units that dropped earlier in the turn. If I had known
it was going to be so easy to get there with the main body I would have dropped him
somewhere else.

[larryfulkerson]

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Here's Brest Litovsk right now. This intersection is vital to German war interests
and I need it cleared out ASAP so I'm using some Panzers on it just to knock it over
fast, clear the intersection and send the RR engrs through there. I'm aiming for Minsk
as a first goal and I want to use the roads and rails to get there.

I've gotten a surround on the city itself and I'm piling on as much arty as will reach
and those that can I'm using direct fire for the arty since I have ample ammo and it's
an important target that needs to be gone quickly.

[larryfulkerson]

Down south the Axis forces have defeated the Soviet defender of an important intersection
and thus the way is open into the Soviet backfield and as you can see in the image I have
multiple Panzer divisions waiting for the hole to open to zoom down that road and spread
out and get into his rear areas and cut off the retreat of as many Soviet units as is
possible.

[larryfulkerson]

This is three moves later and brings up something else important. The 9th Infantry
Division is ready to push and shove to gain that position but as it turns out that
Soviet target will be out of supply by next turn and an easier target to take down
so if I put off the attack until better conditions ensue there will be less total
Axis losses. This is going to be a long war, the attack can wait three days I think.
For now I'll just bombard it and see if I can disentrench the enemy positions using
arty from an HQ unit.

[larryfulkerson]

As a first step I thought it prudent to send in a low-value unit to do some recon for
us, not too far out for now, not so far we can't rescue it if need be, but the movement
range for the AA unit isn't all that far it turns out. I want to eventually park it on
the airfield it's adjacent to for future use. As soon as I own the airfield I plan on
basing some fighters there. And some Stukas.

[larryfulkerson]

And as the next step, start driving all the hardware through the hole, maybe not too
far out in front for now, and start forming the light screen behind the Soviet
defenders to prevent their escape, not necessarily to kill at this stage. Mearly
form the barrier for now. The SS Division LAH came from Krasnik or somewhere and
had to travel a longer distance than the rest of them are going to in order to arrive
at the hole. So they didn't do much blocking this turn. But next turn I hope to
be nearer Kiev.

[larryfulkerson]

I thought I'd take the time to widen the hole a little bit to clear the path better
and clear the roads the Axis units might use to get through the hole without having
to brush past Soviet units and suffer the disengagement increase in MP cost. It'll save
a couple of MP's for the moving unit, they can travel a tiny bit further. And this
game is about inches at a time, sometimes.