Operation Barbarossa - Alpha AAR

[elmo3]

I have only played one turn but since the Soviet AI plays the second half of the turn I don't get to see a report at the end of the AI's turn.  So these shots are from the start of turn 2 which is why the current turn numbers don't match the totals.

[USSLockwood]

I gather you are playing without fog of war?  Can the Soviet setup vary from game to game?

[elmo3]

For of War is on for both sides.  However this is not true PBEM or hotseat play yet.  We have a workaround that allows us to play each other or the AI.  There is no variable setup.

[USSLockwood]

Elmo3, looking at the initial screenshots, you were able to see Soviet units as far from the front as
Riga, prior to executing aerial reconnaissance. How is that possible?

[elmo3]

As I said this is not really PBEM or hot seat yet.  We have a workaround that is not perfect.  Repeat after me "This is alpha..."  [;)]

[Lannes]

This is alpha. [:'(]

[USSLockwood]

This is Alpha.  So the FOW is not functional yet?  As to the matter of the game being neither PBEM or Hot seat, why would that affect FOW in a single player game?  Just curious, it seems there
is a great deal of information available to the German player about the deployment of Soviet forces.  I'm really looking forward to the game and am enjoying this AAR very much.

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: doktor

This is Alpha.  So the FOW is not functional yet?...

As with many things in alpha it is a work in progress.

[elmo3]

So on to turn 2.  Here is a shot of AGN activity.  18th Army (purple) is moving north ans will sweep up the remaining Soviets west of Riga and then continue north to protect the left flank of 4th Pz Grp (red).  The latter has crossed the Dvina but did not go much further while clearing the area near Riga of Soviets and so as not put itself into an overly exposed position without any infantry support.  16th Army (pink)is moving east and north to cover the right flank for 4th Pz Grp and clear out the Soviet stragglers.  All of AGN will continue to push NE toward Pzkov and the Leningrad.

One thing I neglected to do here and elsewhere was to move any airbases forward on turn 1.  That was partly because they flew a lot of missions and did not have many MP's to move, but mostly because I forgot.  [8|]  So airbases will be relocating this turn to support offensive operations next turn.

[Joel Billings]

Recon and FOW does work. Each unit has a detection level of between 0 and 10. This determines if you see anything, what you see, and how accurate the info you see is (on the counter and in rollover text). At the start of the game, many Soviet units have relatively high detection levels (consider this German intelligence on the Soviet army). Each turn, the values go up when adjacent to enemy units, and from air recon. The values also go down automatically, so units not near an enemy unit and not being reconned will drop and eventually disappear. You can see units at the start of the turn in the rear, although the values are no doubt lower so the info may be sketchy. The DL can only be raised so high by air recon alone:

For non-air base units, air reconnaissance can raise detection levels up to a maximum of four as follows:,
Maximum Detection level 1: Non-Air base units located in non-clear terrain further then 3 hexes from supplied enemy units.
Maximum Detection level 2: Non air base units located in non clear terrain and not adjacent to enemy units.
Maximum Detection level 4: Non-air base units located in clear terrain

For air base units, there is no limit to the DL that can be gained by air reconnaissance.



How detection levels impacts units on the map:

DL=1 ---- If airbase, the type should be known, otherwise blank.
DL=3 ---- Unit type should be shown
DL=5 ---- Unit name, unit size and CV should be shown
DL=4 is the max that an air recon mission can get DL up to
DL=5 is minimum units starting adjacent should be
DL=7 ---- Soft factors shown

[elmo3]

Thanks Joel.

Unlike AGN who made a rather timid advance this turn, AGC went full out toward Smolensk.  Also note the gray hexes in the rear where we completely liquidated the pocket this turn.  9th Army (green) will cover the left flank for the advancing panzers of AGC.  2nd and 3rd Pz Grp (light blue and light green) will move straight ahead for Smolensk and beyond.  4th Army (dark blue) will try to keep up to support the right flank.  We're not going into the swamp to the south which could prove to be a mistake as there are undoubtedly Soviet units there that might decide to make trouble for us from that flank.  We'll need a long line of screening forces from 4th Army until we're sure the Soviets have pulled back.  Eventually we'll link up with AGS on the far side of the swamp and isolate whoever might be still lurking in there but that is a few turns away.

[Captain B]

Elmo3, I understand that there are varying levels of AI....what level is yours set to. Read in one of the other posts that when the AI is set to challenging it kicked someone's butt (might even been yours?). So what level did you start out with and thanks for pointing out which armies are which colors....helps alot when seeing your plan unfold.

Rich B>

[elmo3]

I'm using Challenging, and yes my butt is still sore from my Typhoon spanking.  This game is for revenge!

[USSLockwood]

In the 2nd turn screen shot of AGC is that a German unit 5 hexes west of Smolensk?   It's light green, so I assume it to be a 3rd Pz outfit.  It appears pretty extended.  Are you concerned lest the Soviets encircle it?

[elmo3]

Yes that is the 20th Motorized Division within 50 miles of Smolensk and yes I'm waiting to see if that and the Pz Div to it's west get cut off before the turn is over.

Edit - And next turn I expect them to be very low on fuel as well since they are way beyond the railhead and their HQ. OTOH I view them as a thorn in the side of the Soviets that should prevent them from making a coherent line between Minsk and Smolensk.

[USSLockwood]

So, a roughly historical rate of advance, reaching the approaches to Smolensk by early to mid July.  Are you tempted to turn south for an Uber-encirclement of Kiev?

[elmo3]

Nope.  Moscow is the goal for AGC.  [;)]

[elmo3]

As you may recall AGS made a huge pocket on turn 1.  We were not able to completely reduce the pocket on turn 2 so more work needs to be done next turn.  The 17th Army (brown) will be primarily responsible for the cleanup next turn.  It was necessary to do some regrouping this turn due to units being spread out over much of the front. As a result we did not make much forward progress but the reorg went well.  You might also note a small pocket we are trying to form near the top of the screen shot with mostly 6th Army units.  We did not close the trap this turn but if the Soviets don't try to escape we will bag them next turn.  1st Pz Grp (red) did as much attacking to the east as the regroup would allow.



I'll have one more screen shot for this turn after figuring out what to do with our newly active allies to the south.  Then it will be time to end the turn and post the losses.

[elmo3]

Never having played the '41 campaign before makes me cautious in the far south.  The German 11th Army (purple) has some teeth to it, but I see a lot of Soviet units across the border.  So we will take it very carefully along this front until we get a better idea what we're up against. We made a few probing attacks along the border but no major advances yet.

[elmo3]

Losses for turn 2.  I was hoping for higher Soviet losses but we still have more troops in the southern pocket.