TheDoctorKing vs Isaac 1941 Campaign

[thedoctorking]

I decided to try something that Sparkleytits suggested: I set the max TOE number for all arty, AAA, AT, and Rocket units to 50%. In principle, this will conserve armaments and so the Germans will be able to rebuild quickly after the end of the blizzard in spring 1942. We will see.
Losses this turn were 11300 Axis to 55700 Soviet and 28 to 174 in the air – not spectacular. TOE numbers are 3.4 million German to 3.3 million Soviet.

[ICalli]

The Soviet turn 4 opens to 26th Army and most of SW Front being surrounded for inevitable destruction. Yaay. Big selling point for turning and running against an experienced player vice trying to slow them down. This will mean the loss of 9 ARM/MOT and a handful of INF DIVs. The apparent German thrust is Kiev and Leningrad next turn. Looks like Leningrad is seeing a full court press by German ARM, curious about where XXXXI and XXXXVI ARM are…. Should have put out more recon!

Still getting a handle on where units retreat to. Seems like the variables town, rail, hq don't help me predict much.

Some problems: Cant figure out why my airforce hasn’t been activating for fighter intercepts, cant change air doctrine once underway, Soviet recon sux

In the far North, the Finns oozed around my forces without activating them. Beyond my comprehension why one FIN move over the Finnish border wouldn’t activate all the SOV units there.

This game has a huge learning curve that is not well supported by current available doctrine. I am at information saturation with trying to figure out the value of previous posts from players vs the build they were playing.

[thedoctorking]

Turn 5 AAR
This was a somewhat disappointing turn. In the north, I tried to do the major pocket around Pskov, and was turned away at every point. I had XXXI armored corps up by Narva and LVI near the southern end of the Pskov region. Each had an infantry corps in support. The idea was that the infantry was going to break the front line, then the armor would penetrate the secondary lines and hold the schwerpunkt open, then 3rd Panzer Group would roll through and seal the pocket. But we didn’t get through step two. Manstein was embarrassed by a couple of Soviet infantry divisions and ultimately had to pull back, wasting precious fuel. I also attempted a direct assault against the Pskov defenses with two corps and made no headway.
The only good part was that 3rd Panzer Group didn’t move at all, conserving fuel for a possible attempt next turn if Isaac doesn’t pull back to the Luga.
Meanwhile, a stay-behind force in western Estonia will unfortunately divert the attention of a corps, further delaying my offensive against Leningrad.

[thedoctorking]

In the center, we continued our advance against little or no resistance. I reached the Dnepr at Mogliev, which was undefended. Recon suggests that there are few or no enemy troops on the land bridge or behind the middle Dnepr in the Gomel-Chernigov region. Again, 2nd Panzer Group remained in place, stocking up on fuel for an offensive next turn. I think Isaac must have decided that I’m not going this way and dispatched troops elsewhere. I have three field armies and a panzer army here, though, so they should be able to do something.

[thedoctorking]

In the central Ukraine, I wrapped up the pocket I created last turn, cut off a few new guys, and again stocked up on fuel. My plan in this region is to cross the Dnepr near Cherkassy next turn or turn after next, turning north to meet 2nd Army coming down from Chernigov. I’m guessing that Isaac is doing a fall-back defense outside of the northern region, though I did see some signs of defensive preparations around Kiev.

[thedoctorking]

On the Romanian front, we are advancing towards Odessa. I don’t plan to let him keep it as an island of Soviet territory in my rear, nor do I expect that Romanian units alone will be able to take it. So 11th Army is on its way down there. If Isaac puts up a fight for the eastern Bug, they should be able to get across in a couple of turns.

Casualties were 15,415 for me, 189,987 for the Soviets. Air losses were 50 to 406, including 29 fighters for me – 23 Me109’s – meaning that my fighter force has not gained much strength. Fatigue levels are still relatively low, though I did send one Me109 squadron back to national reserve for fatigue this turn. TOE numbers are 3,626,000 for the USSR, 3,446,000 for Germany

[ICalli]

The Dr. emailed the turn over to me stating that it had been a "pretty quiet turn". Upon opening the file I realized that it must have been sarcasm as the Germans had made 50+ attacks.
-First thing, I decided to look at pulling SUs out of cities. Clicked the "x" to return one AAA unit out of Baku and it used all 50 of my APs. Pretty crappy glitch.
-Continued to push units in front of his PZR blob in AGN to slow the approach to Leningrad. Not excited about the rail cost of getting everything out of Lenin.
-Decided to leave my factories in Odessa for another turn hoping to draw a more aggressive push from AGS which could buy Dtown a little respite in the future.
-Strategy remains a sloppy version of hold where I can and run where I have to. Not having a vision of how things settle out has led to a dangerously inconsistent turn to turn strategy. Fortunately, the SOV manpower continues to grow.

Note that I need to figure out how to post pictures

[thedoctorking]

A little more excitement this turn, though my Army Group North offensive was once again foiled. I did manage to break his front line with Manstein’s LVI corps this time. But when 3rd Panzer Group went rolling through, guess what? There were significant defenses behind the lines, enough that I couldn’t roll down to the shores of Lake Pskov like I have planned. Instead, I got a nice big salient into his position. Hopefully, some of those divisions won’t be able to get away and at least I’ll get something out of all this expenditure of men and supplies.

[thedoctorking]

I decided to turn 16th Army directly eastward, hoping to drive the scattered Soviet forces in that area back at least to the hills. To the north, the Finnish front got about as exciting as it ever does when the Finns actually managed to cut off two Soviet divisions. North of Lake Ladoga, there is absolutely no Soviet presence at all. I’m assuming that Isaac is building up his fortified line back along the Svir River. It’s 48 AP, I’m OK with that. Meanwhile, the diversionary German attack around Narva succeeded in diverting enough Soviet units to completely foil me.

[thedoctorking]

In Army Group Center, my offensive was much more successful. The single Panzer Group down there, Guderian’s 2nd, carried out a sweet double envelopment, cutting off 11 divisions. I advanced as far as Smolensk, which I found garrisoned by a single armored division that was too strong to attack. Farther south, 4th Army crossed the Dnepr at Zhlobin against no resistance. Gomel appears open at this time though I didn’t have quite enough movement to get there.

There are a few Soviet units back by Moscow, including some fortified zones, but no sign of any preparations for a fight in the land bridge area.

[thedoctorking]

Farther to the south, there is about one Soviet division between the 4th Army bridgehead and Chernobyl.

[thedoctorking]

And in the clear terrain to the south of the swamps, I cleaned up the remaining pocketed units and pushed the infantry forward. My armor did not have enough MP’s for a major push on Cherkassy, so I decided to hold on and gas up for a push next turn.

[thedoctorking]

And in the far south, 11th Army marches on Odessa, which appears to be lightly garrisoned. Maybe I could have taken it with just Romanians. In any case, I don’t think they’ll slow down my boys too much, so an attack in the Nikolayev area should be possible by turn 8.

Speaking of supplies, my air force is quite short of ammo and fuel. I have refrained from driving air bases around with planes on them, but the alternative method of driving an empty base forward and then rebasing to it often leaves the base very short of fuel. I have at least two bases that can’t fly planes. Hopefully, this isn’t the turn that Isaac decides to start bombing my air bases.

Total losses this turn was 17,408 for me and 151,714 for Isaac, 78 to 580 in the air. TOE totals are 3.6 million Soviets to 3.45 million Germans (and another 1.5 million Axis allies, many of whom are still locked up at home).

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
I have refrained from driving air bases around with planes on them, but the alternative method of driving an empty base forward and then rebasing to it often leaves the base very short of fuel.

Remember airbases only get extra fuel and ammo if they have aircraft during your logistics phase. So the optimum is to have lots of heavy aircraft on them during the logistics phase. Then in your action phase empty them of aircraft by air transferring them to another airbase or to national reserve, then move them empty, and then finally air transfer aircraft back to them for missions.

[thedoctorking]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
I have refrained from driving air bases around with planes on them, but the alternative method of driving an empty base forward and then rebasing to it often leaves the base very short of fuel.

Remember airbases only get extra fuel and ammo if they have aircraft during your logistics phase. So the optimum is to have lots of heavy aircraft on them during the logistics phase. Then in your action phase empty them of aircraft by air transferring them to another airbase or to national reserve, then move them empty, and then finally air transfer aircraft back to them for missions.

If they have aircraft on them you have to transfer those aircraft to bases that have no aircraft on them, don't you? Then those aircraft will be on bases that can't give them much support. Since you can only transfer aircraft once.

This whole aircraft movement thing seems artificial and unnecessary. I wish they would fix it.

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
Since you can only transfer aircraft once.

Actually you can transfer them twice (or even more) - so long as the first are to another airbase in the same hex. Hint find an airbase with a high ID number and keep it empty at the end of the turn. During your turn move it to the same hex as another airbase, transfer its aircraft to it, move the other airbase and air transfer them back again. Rinse and repeat with all other airbases! The high ID number base is a sort of middle man for moving all the others but will remain empty and undersupplied itself.

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
If they have aircraft on them you have to transfer those aircraft to bases that have no aircraft on them, don't you? Then those aircraft will be on bases that can't give them much support.

sort of yes and no - this is why sending a large part of your airforce to national reserve is so important. If you send say a third of your aircraft to reserve at the start of each turn and call back a third at the end of each turn then the aircraft that remain will have the ammo and fuel that was made available for all. If you set up a good system then reserving a third of your aircraft should leave a good many of your airbases empty to start the process. If all of your airbases are completely full AND you send nothing to national reserve then yes you are right, everything will be completely clogged up and something has to be moved overground. Or you leave bases empty and so by next turn undersupplied.

This whole aircraft movement thing seems artificial and unnecessary. I wish they would fix it.

Probably why it is becoming known by the term Crackaces invented - the "Kabuki Dance" - without a doubt the air aspect of the game was not foremost in the designers minds.

[thedoctorking]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
Since you can only transfer aircraft once.

Actually you can transfer them twice (or even more) - so long as the first are to another airbase in the same hex. Hint find an airbase with a high ID number and keep it empty at the end of the turn. During your turn move it to the same hex as another airbase, transfer its aircraft to it, move the other airbase and air transfer them back again. Rinse and repeat with all other airbases! The high ID number base is a sort of middle man for moving all the others but will remain empty and undersupplied itself.

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
If they have aircraft on them you have to transfer those aircraft to bases that have no aircraft on them, don't you? Then those aircraft will be on bases that can't give them much support.

sort of yes and no - this is why sending a large part of your airforce to national reserve is so important. If you send say a third of your aircraft to reserve at the start of each turn and call back a third at the end of each turn then the aircraft that remain will have the ammo and fuel that was made available for all. If you set up a good system then reserving a third of your aircraft should leave a good many of your airbases empty to start the process. If all of your airbases are completely full AND you send nothing to national reserve then yes you are right, everything will be completely clogged up and something has to be moved overground. Or you leave bases empty and so by next turn undersupplied.

This whole aircraft movement thing seems artificial and unnecessary. I wish they would fix it.

Probably why it is becoming known by the term Crackaces invented - the "Kabuki Dance" - without a doubt the air aspect of the game was not foremost in the designers minds.

I'll be damned. Never even thought of this. Why in heaven's name would they put this feature in the game?

BTW, seems like you need a lower-numbered base to be the intermediate target for the transfer. So you stack a base (21st LW) with a bunch of planes on it with an empty base with a lower number (20th LW), and the empty base will be on top of the stack. You hit f10, transfer the planes from and to the same hex and they will now be on the 20th. Then, you move 21st to where you want it, hit f10 again and transfer from the original hex back to the 21st in the new destination. And goodbye to all those problems with running out of fuel and ammo for your aircraft.

I think it would work better for the Russians since they usually have plenty of bases (and can build more using AP if they need them).

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
BTW, seems like you need a lower-numbered base to be the intermediate target for the transfer. So you stack a base (21st LW) with a bunch of planes on it with an empty base with a lower number (20th LW), and the empty base will be on top of the stack. You hit f10, transfer the planes from and to the same hex and they will now be on the 20th. Then, you move 21st to where you want it, hit f10 again and transfer from the original hex back to the 21st in the new destination. And goodbye to all those problems with running out of fuel and ammo for your aircraft.

Are you sure - I have been doing this quite a lot for a long time and it has always been the other way round for me. BTW you need to be comparing the ID numbers, not the numbers in the name. For instance the ID of 21LW is 50.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: Telemecus

ORIGINAL: thedoctorking
BTW, seems like you need a lower-numbered base to be the intermediate target for the transfer. So you stack a base (21st LW) with a bunch of planes on it with an empty base with a lower number (20th LW), and the empty base will be on top of the stack. You hit f10, transfer the planes from and to the same hex and they will now be on the 20th. Then, you move 21st to where you want it, hit f10 again and transfer from the original hex back to the 21st in the new destination. And goodbye to all those problems with running out of fuel and ammo for your aircraft.

Are you sure - I have been doing this quite a lot for a long time and it has always been the other way round for me. BTW you need to be comparing the ID numbers, not the numbers in the name. For instance the ID of 21LW is 50.

The allies can be used also as they have higher ID numbers on all the bases ...

[Telemecus]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces
The allies can be used also as they have higher ID numbers on all the bases ...

Also the army recon bases usually have a higher ID number. Which is a real pain as you can only air transfer recon to them (now). So if you have a recon base in a stack of LW bases it blocks the whole system. If the recon bases had lower ID numbers, or could take non recon airgroups like they used to (and as allies still can with German airgroups) it would not be a problem.