FITE Chambers vs Fulkerson

[MarcA]

Larry, what is the date in the game?

[larryfulkerson]

We're on turn 193 now and that represents 4/25/43.  And I have two years to try to hang onto Berlin.  Wish me luck.

[MarcA]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

We're on turn 193 now and that represents 4/25/43.  And I have two years to try to hang onto Berlin.  Wish me luck.

Well, good luck. In April 43 Guderian had just done an amazing job of rebuilding the strength of the Germany Panzer units. Just in time for the Bavarian Corporal to throw it all away at Kursk in July.

P.s. Your AAR's are always a great read

[Da_Huge_D]

Nice report so far. Would you post some close up pics from frontline? That seems heavy fortified.

This is going to be interesting.

[larryfulkerson]

Some close-ups of the Axis front line are in the works. Stay tuned for them. Meanwhile, Curt is busy moving his units westward and into their rough front line positions. We're through the mud season turns and so the war's on again. Curt has just about finished cleaning up the Axis positions in the far east so now he can concentrate on the war near Berlin.

He hasn't any units near any of my southern front lines but I see some Soviet units moving through Romania even as we speak so they should be into position in about 20 turns or so, maybe more depending on the efficiency of my interdiction attacks.

[larryfulkerson]

This is the northwesternmost part of the front lines as they existed at the beginning of turn 195. I thought I'd give you guys a guided tour around the front starting at the 10 0'clock position and going clockwise.

[larryfulkerson]

The Panzer units you see in this section of the front lines came in handy to clean up a partisan unit near Kaunas last turn. Unfortunately that one attack ended my turn and I hadn't yet set any of my aircraft on their missions so the Soviets got an interdiction free turn. Oh well.

[larryfulkerson]

This shot is just south of the shot above. Soviet units are visible in this picture. And more of my Panzer units. I pulled back about 95% of the Panzer units from the big escape around turn 180 or so....so I could use them to defend Berlin better. Glad I did that now. Those tanks will come in handy in the turns ahead of us.

[larryfulkerson]

I suspect that Curt isn't going to attack me unless and until he has all his units in position since any attacks will be more successful if they are executed simultaneously and Curt knows that, shrewd tactician that he is. So I'm guessing we have lots of turns yet where not much will happen except for the moving of Soviet units into their staging areas.

[larryfulkerson]

It feels really weird to be back at the turn 1 starting positions after two years of fighting but that's war I guess.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the corner of the front lines that I predict will take a huge portion of the brunt of the fighting. Maybe not. I tried to blow most of the major bridges between here and Moscow during the retreat so that the supply situation might not be optimal for the Soviet units.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the southern view of the southeast corner of the front lines.

[larryfulkerson]

So far there are no Soviet units opposing my southern units. That will change I suspect.

[larryfulkerson]

Even the southern lines have a Panzer Division or two to bolster the defensive power there.

[larryfulkerson]

Most of the southern Axis units are at the edge of the mountainous regions. I debated whether or not to place my units IN the mountainous hexes and can't decide whether or not it would be better. The debate is still going on.

[larryfulkerson]

And finally, here is a view of the units stationed just south of Leipzig. Nothing fancy and still no Soviet units to be seen in this area.

[Raindem]

Soviet Update, April 1943 -

As Larry had mentioned the mud season is over and we are back on the move.  The few remaining pockets of German troops are putting up a valiant but hopeless resistance.  Meanwhile, the general mass of the soviet army marches westward.  It's a slow process, I don't have near the rolling rail stock needed to accomplish this move in an efficient fashion.

Larry's final defensive positions perplex me.  I really expected him at the last minute to run his line straight down to the Black sea, so I kept the southern wing of my army moving west-southwest.  Now half of my forces are poised to lunge into an empty Balkans.  What I'll have to do now is leave a few scattered formations to cover the ground while the majority wheels northwest to get back to the front.  I'm still deciding where to concentrate my final offensive.  The southern front is enticingly close to Berlin but I'll waste the entire 1943 campaign season to just get into position.  In the end, I'm going to have so many units tripping over each other I don't really have to decide where to attack.  I can attack everywhere.

Trying to move all these units, while staying in supply, while repairing railroads and bridges, while staying on guard for German counterattacks, is a test of one's organizational abilities in this game.  I'm seeing all kinds of things I would do different if I had it over.  You would think that moving hundreds of units over a long distance is a mindless activity but there are surprisingly many things to worry about.  I've decided that instead of gradually building my rail lines westward, I will quickly establish 2 main east-west supply lines.  I will then link them near the front and finally work around the southern edge.  The result is that I'll quickly get full supply to the front while leaving a big mess in the rear which I'll take care of at a later time.

[Da_Huge_D]

Thanks Larry , that was just what i wanted. (Pics)
Looks really heavy line. This is going to be bloodslaughter [:D]
Keep it up.

[larryfulkerson]

So um........we're not doing much yet. Curt is still moving his units into position and stuff...getting ready for his big push I guess. Here's the minimap movie from turns 195 throu 198 showing the Soviet moves east to west etc.

[larryfulkerson]

Curt is still in the process of moving his units to the west and he captured Budapest this turn.  Also he captured Ploesti and that cut my supply by 5 points.  I'm hoping my operation Citadel will restore that 5 points so I won't loose any supply as a result.