Defender of the Revolution: Q-Ball v Tarhunnas

[Q-Ball]

Turn 16

Flavius, Tarhunnas admitted in an e-mail that the Motorized expedition to the heart of Russia was an overreach.

In the CENTER, Tarhunnas did the smart thing and instead of using Panzers to smash East and rescue his guys, he used them to smash my retreating columns and cut-off 20 divisions.

Getting 20 Divisions pocketed is not good, though after that disastrous 60-whatever division pocket that was originally around Moscow, I will take it. I clearly LOST the battle of Moscow, but at least it wasn't free for the Germans; I have to think 3 Motorized Divisions up in smoke hurts. All 3 were 90-Morale units; even when they come back, they won't be the same again.

SOUTH of Moscow, Tarhunnas is really thinning out his line to put infantry in front of Moscow, and I took advantage of it. I wonder if I pulled the trigger too early, but I wanted to take pressure off the Moscow front. With T-17 next, he will probably have to quickly send troops down there to restore the situation.

That sector will be a focus of mine over the winter......

Note on Lines: I haven't posted the entire front line, but my strategy the last few turns is to basically make it as long as possible. While painful in the short-run, I know a long line is REALLY painful for the Germans in winter. Tarhunnas's snow offensives, I think, will probably focus mostly on killing a few units and straightening the line.

[Q-Ball]

Turn 16, SOUTH:

DONBAS: T is making a last-push on the Donbas cities. I don't think he'll make it, it's the most fortified region in Russia at the moment, and my units there are pretty rested.

I managed to attack and push back 3 Panzer units. I hope he looks at that and thinks "I probably don't want to push it". He probably shouldn't as his TANK strength is really critical!


CRIMEA:
I had mentioned before the Crimea bridgehead; Tarhunnas is probably thinking now of getting rid of it, because NOW it's become a nuisance.

Putting a "line" of Romanian Cavalry to "Defend" something is asking for trouble, so we served some up. Infantry easily wasted 2 Romanian Cav Bdes and an Infantry Division. Another Division looks pretty hopelessly cut-off, a long way from rescue. Good thing about killing Romanian units is that they don't grow back.

If I were Tarhunnas, I would be forgetting Stalino and wiping out this bridgehead, because he cannot have me hanging around the Dnepr come Winter.

[Arstavidios]

I think you're in good shape overall.
you're on strong lines and your industry is fine.
i can't really say the same in my game against Pelton

[gids]

keep it up im playing tarhunnas aswell and he really loves to make toast of his panzers atm he lost lik 600 tanks in 1 turn in 1942 against me

[Q-Ball]

Turn 17: Last call for Summer!

The Summer Offensive is over, and I will say Tarhunnas won that phase.

BAD NEWS:
In terms of INDUSTRY, I lost alot. Here is the damage so far:

51 Armaments
29 Heavy Industry
20 Vehicles

This does not include the 7 Armaments and 5 Heavy Industry still in Stalino, where I can't move it unless I move his Panzers out of there (See below). If I don't move those, you can add that to the total.

So, pretty serious; not sure if I can come back from that, but I will try.

MANPOWER also figures to be a problem. I hold Kursk and Begorod, for now, but alot of Manpower is trashed, including basically everything up north. This is another very serious problem, I already see recruitment dropping to 115,000 per turn.

So, Tarhunnas's objective was to impact the Red Army's long-term ability to fight. That mission was more or less accomplished. This is why he won the summer.

Good News:

Now, for the good news, and there is some.

Tarhunnas consistently went deep, in lieu of pocketing troops. As a result, my losses were OK; 3 mil so far. Not great, but OK. I only lost 10 Cavalry Divisions, as I made a concerted effort to protect and conserve these babies. Going forward, I will have to rely heavily on CAV if I have a chance.

Tarhunnas's Panzers are VERY cooked. I have been pushing them around lately, and that does not bode well for him. He dropped below 1,000 Ready German AFVs on the TOE list (!) this turn. He has a rescue operation to launch next turn in the MUD, so he doesn't get a break yet.

Hopefully, I can punish him this winter. He really needs to rest his mobile forces, but as they re-gain strength, they will hog valuable armament points, making it tougher for the Wehrmacht to recover. If I can add the 3 units below to the bag, I will feel much better.

North/Center:

Not a ton up here, as Tarhunnas made 3 pockets of 2 units each; one of which I broke, the other two I couldn't. The one I broke was by pushing a Mot Div. Another, I attacked 7th Panzer, which is down to a CV of 4, and 30 tanks. You could say it's a GHOST of it's former self!

Around OREL, I had to give up Orel finally, which sucks; can't afford to lose Manpower, but as a consolation prize, I did manage to surround a single Infantry Regiment. He'll have to break through in the Mud, or those guys will be POWs. Every bit helps.

South:

Here is the real action. The Screenshot says it all!

Tarhunnas doesn't want to give his guys a break; they did make it to Stalino, to my surprise. Ouch! I have consistently underestimated the ability of Panzers to be mobile and smash through things, to my disappointment.

We were able to salvage a bit, though. I was able to move all the industry in the other cities there, leaving only some remnants in Stalino. Even better, I have 3 Panzer Divisions on the ropes!

Attacking in MUD with tired Panzers is no fun. I predict he will break through, but I am at least making him work for it. If he doesn't break through, this will be a GREAT pocket!

PS: I did force that Romanian Infantry Division isolated last turn to SURRENDER; like I said, every bit helps!

[Flaviusx]

That business in the Crimea could really turn ugly for him. Very surprised he didn't try to at least shove you back acorss the bottlenecks and fortify.

Even though his tank losses have been heavy, these are mostly an illusion. It's all trash tanks, obsolete crap. The German can afford to throw the lot away, pull the divisions back during the winter for refitting, and get them back in play next summer.

Now what is more serious is losing 3 motorized divisions entirely. All that high morale/experience...gone.

You are not including all the factories you lost, btw. There's a ton of aircraft industry in Moscow that went bye bye. I'm guessing he also smoked the tank factory in Kharkov, which is very bad.

[Flaviusx]

ORIGINAL: Arstavidios

I think you're in good shape overall.
you're on strong lines and your industry is fine.
i can't really say the same in my game against Pelton

His industry is not fine.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: Flaviusx

That business in the Crimea could really turn ugly for him. Very surprised he didn't try to at least shove you back acorss the bottlenecks and fortify.

Even though his tank losses have been heavy, these are mostly an illusion. It's all trash tanks, obsolete crap. The German can afford to throw the lot away, pull the divisions back during the winter for refitting, and get them back in play next summer.

Now what is more serious is losing 3 motorized divisions entirely. All that high morale/experience...gone.

You are not including all the factories you lost, btw. There's a ton of aircraft industry in Moscow that went bye bye. I'm guessing he also smoked the tank factory in Kharkov, which is very bad.

He DID get all the Aircraft in Moscow. I don't know how bad that is, how much of that I can live with.

I moved the T-34s in Kharkov though before he got there

[Flaviusx]

Ok, at least you got the Kharkov plant out. That's huge. That's like a third of your t-34 production right there.

[Q-Ball]

Quick: How do you do a para drop? What keys to press, and how? The manual seems to be silent on this.

need to know Asap

[Flaviusx]

They need to start next to an airbase I believe, one with transports and enough of them to handle the drop.

[Klydon]

What Flav said.

What the Russians will find tough at this point is getting enough operational transports on the same airbase that does not include their little biplane transport crap. There just are not that many LI-2s running around and you may have to force upgrade some air units if you are in a hurry. LI-2 and TB-3's are what you need at the same airbase. The brigades are fairly heavy, so careful.

[Flaviusx]

Parenthetically, one of the big Li-2 factories is in Moscow...

[Mynok]

Was.

[Joel Billings]

5.3.9.3. AIR DROP AIRBORNE COMBAT UNITS
Conduct an air transport mission to airdrop a regimental or brigade size airborne combat unit
from an air base unit to a target hex as follows:
Summary: Left click to select airborne unit on air base unit while in movement mode (F1),
switch to air transport mode (F9), Shift-left click on target hex to manually select air group
units to conduct airdrop of airborne combat unit.
Details: There is only one method to conduct the airdrop of an airborne combat unit. The
combat unit must begin the process in a hex stacked with a friendly air base unit. While in
movement mode (F1), select the combat unit to be transported for airdrop. Immediately select
air transport mode (F9). The air base unit stacked in the hex with the unit to be transported for
airdrop becomes the staging base and will be bordered in blue. Air base units with air group
units capable of participating in the air transport mission will be bordered in yellow. Next,
Shift-left click on the target hex. The ‘Pick Air Units for Mission’ window will display (5.4.29).
Select or deselect air group units as desired and select the ‘Launch’ button to conduct the
airdrop airborne combat unit mission. Note that the number of ‘Max Sorties’ must at least
equal the number of ‘Required Sorties’ for the air group units selected to conduct the mission
as displayed in the ‘Pick Air Units for Mission’ window. The computer does not account for
possible combat and operational losses when figuring the number of sorties required.

[Peltonx]

Wow I am very surpised you only lost

51 Armaments only 14%
29 Heavy Industry 13%
20 Vehicles

I would say your in great shape at this point as far as econmics goes. Manpower wise your a little low, but simply take back Moscow an u be fine.

I am really very very impressed you only lost that much production and losses are only 3 million. Thats really truely amazing [&o]

You have not lost the summer at all, you have won [8D]

Your in really great shape as far as econmics goes and thats all that matters in a game that lasts 4 yrs.

I played 10 games and no matter what your losses or his during 41 you will both end up with GHc 3 mil men and SHC 6 mil men. The german will end up with 35k art, 3k tanks and 3 k planes. Its how many art and tanks you have that matters and that based mostly on AP's/HVY.

I am guessing your winter O will be limited so try and get back Moscow for the manpower. Other then that you have the upper hand come winter of 42-43.

Again great job on saving all that production [&o]

Pelton

[Klydon]

Q-Ball, what is your manpower production at the moment by chance?

[Q-Ball]

PELTON: Uh, thanks, but I don't think I won.

Those losses I think are pretty serious, but not fatal. I can live with a 15% reduction.

(Also, add the 9 Armament Factories and 5 HI in Stalino to that total; I doubt I can hold the place through the Snow, though that will serve it's own purpose...)

BTW, I lost NO Tank factories at all (well, the armored cars in Leningrad, but that doesn't count). I moved the T-34s, and the T-50s around Moscow, as they upgrade to useful Su-76, thinking ahead. And of course I moved the KV factory. So Tank production is just fine.

I lost 20 Vehicles, or the capability to produce 110 per turn after 1941. That's really only 6000 per YEAR, so I can't imagine that will tip the balance, though I know the Russkies are short on Vehicles (well, with the latest patch, it looks like 1944 solves that problem).

I will look up MANPOWER next turn, but 2550 or thereabouts sticks out. This is a problem as well, I acknowledge. I will get some back at Ivanovo and Vladimir, that area has 25 Manpower repairing, and likely I will hold that sector permanently.

I already sent T-19 back to Tarhunnas this morning, so I will post a screenshot when I can of production.



I was also looking yesterday at the impact of losing every Aircraft Factory around Moscow. How bad is that?

Aircraft Losses:

NO BIG DEAL: Moscow included several Mig-3 Factories, U-2VS. These don't hurt at all IMO.

SOMEWHAT BIG DEAL: I lost the Li-2, as someone else pointed out (thanks for picking at the scab!)[:D] This means I do not have a reliable transport until 1943. I can use IL-4s and whatnot for Partisan drops, and U-2s, but it means Para Drops are out of the question.

POSSIBLE BIG DEAL:
These I am not sure. Players are reporting an excess of Soviet aircraft in 1942, so I can probably afford factory losses, but these are a bit serious:

IL-2: I lost 1/2 my Strumovik factories. That is probably bad. There are 2 more at Voronezh, I am thinking of moving one this winter, so that it can repair and expand in case I have to evacuate the city, so I have SOME production happening. This means I will settle at 100 Sturms per turn. Is that enough?

Pe-2: This plane is gone. It's a useful Level Bomber, but that means I need to fill that gap with other types. I think I will have enough, but who knows.

IL-10: This is also cut in half, but not available until 1945 anyway, so probably not a big deal

IL-4: Lost some IL-4 production, 1 factory

So, where I suffered is BOMBERS. I have plenty of FIGHTERS, and probably always will. I suppose I can switch some to Ground Attack if I get desperate.

The Red Air Force probably has some extra production in this area, but probably not MY Red Airforce, so we'll see what the long-term effect of this is.

[Encircled]

The more '41 throught to '42 and beyond AAR's we have, the better.

Looking forward to see what you can achieve in the blizzard

[Flaviusx]

Move the Voronezh factories for sure. I would even move the Stalingrad factories. And, hell, the Gorky factories even. No point in waiting until an emergency and with your rail cap as beaten down as it is, best to get it out of the way while things are under control.

With those out of the way, there's no fat targets for the German until he gets to the Urals.