FIFTY SHADES OF WiTE: SILLYFLOWER V BRIANG

[sillyflower]

Raus' 6 Pz Div (apologies to the purists: I know he was only a KG commander at this date, but still) survives an all-out attack by Gen Malikovsky who was trying to repeat his success of the previous week; despite an increase of 250% in the Russian CV. THe soviet airforce pays heavily for trying to prevent LW bombers assisting Raus' men.

This failed attack leaves the participating units in a weakened state thus allowing some momentum to be regained. A weak western flank enables some of the worst terrain to be bypassed as our forces reach the outskirts of Pushkin. Manstein's 41st Pz xxx gets the 1st HQBU of the campaign as the Fuhrer wants a speedy end to Leningrad in every sense.

Behind the front-line, the citizens of Talinn rejoice as German troops occupy the city without any opposition.

[sillyflower]

Centre



The key city of Smolensk falls as it's garrison fails to put up much of a fight. 30 miles to the east, 2 more russian inf xx are surrounded. However, Brian will have a 3 hex attack against the pz div that closed the pocket, so his troops will probably escape.

The bulk of the armour sweeps further south in an attempt to take advantage of a surprisingly weak southern flank, which seemed more attractive option than bashing against the Russian MLR with the panzers in the hope of taking a couple of hexes. . Unfortunately, these mobile forces do not have that much petrol and there are too few for the job. I hope he runs. Due partly to my mistake with the rail line on T2. the FBD started this turn 1 hex NW of Minsk, and the above average speed of advance left the armour about 30 MPs from the railhead. All the JU 52s are in the north or south.

Hopefully, it will give Brian something to think about as I suspect that the weak flank is a sign of a shortage of units after the heavy losses in earlier weeks. There doesn't seem to be much defence in depth in the centre.

[HITMAN202]

David M. ... AKA Sillyflower ... AKA THEPRO (minus your student) great AAR. It's going to be fun following this. Forget AGN and AGC (which you're playing well IMO) what about AGS ??? Your turn 6 move was impressive at Kiev. I want to see it's follow up. I bet it's a killer.E: SILLY's SWAN_SONG NO BRIAN G - 12/12/2015 1:21:36 PM

















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sillyflower

titleAndStar(1422,0,0,false,"","")Matrix Elite Guard

Posts: 1422
Joined: 8/4/2010 From: Loches France (but properly part of England) Status: offline




quote:ORIGINAL: Steelwarrior7 Where are you repairing your rail line with the FBDs? How do you reorganize army group south - which seems to be a hell of a mess? [/quote]

[sillyflower]

How good to hear from y'all my old friend, even if your post does look a little strange..............

The South



Krivoy Rog and Cherkassy are liberated, along with the former's factories. The Kiev pocket is reduced by half of 6 Army, whilst most of the rest fanned out from Kiev without meeting much resistance. However, E. Kiev with a garrison of 3 divs holds out as no one was left to attack them and they are no obstacle to my advance. The focus of the turn was to sweep into the Dnepr bend, at a point that showed a weak-spot. Creating a 30 mile wide hole enabled follow-on forces to advance up to 80 miles through enemy territory. K Rog was not garrisoned, though an inf div in front of it needed to be herded with care to make sure it did not retreat into the city. I did wonder whether or not to take the city. Its factories were not going anywhere, but I decided it was better to advance in. It makes it harder for the Russians to set up an effective defence line in their turn, and the worst Brian can do is to isolate a single pz div.

If he stays too far forward in his turn, I hope that 11 Army will be able to make the initial assault as they did this turn. All the mobile divs in the breakthrough will still be within 20 MP of the railhead next turn so will have plenty of MPs. In addition, 2 corps belonging to 1 PzG are in position NW of the breakthrough having moved down from the Kiev area. some have MPs left but I preferred to keep them back a bit this turn. tHey would not have made the breakthrough bigger and their positioning gives me more options for next turn. This is always good.With all this armour poised to strike, having one pz div unable to move next turn is no great loss. I personally would not risk losing another Russian division for so little benefit.

[sillyflower]

Thoughts on T7

A small return to recce airbase bombing. He destroyed 2 for the loss of 43 bombers + 2 recce aircraft that he sent up to look at the base first. Ground losses 6.2K to 116K (11 divs and 6 other units destroyed) and air 36 to 232.

The north is about how quickly I can get L'grad - the 2 urban hexes will be a bit of a pain as they don't go unsupplied any more.

Good progress north and south - though good is never enough in the 1st summer. The centre seems to have hit where Brian intends to make a stand. Lack of new pockets is definitely not good.They are needed every turn otherwise Brian's army will grow in size, and he will gain hope! I have discussed the importance of the metagame before, so suffice to say one should always try to wear your opponent down psychologically by applying continuous pressure.

In- game only of course [:-].

[sillyflower]

Having opined on the importance of pockets, here are my tips for less experienced players.

Big, sweeping pockets are fabulous when they work but require your opponent to make a big mistake when you are finally in a position to make one. I know this from the times I was on the receiving end. I shall therefore focus on the smaller ones. Ideally they will comply with 4 rules

1 they should be compact. The bigger they are, the easier to break. Herding is very useful - the trick is to squeeze your targets together, whist trying to reduce routs. In '41 Russian units often rout if forced to retreat into a hex with an axis ZOC in it. You may need to move a unit out of the way to avoid this.

2 It should be unbreakable. That usually means no gaps and an outer level of defence against counterattack: either units or flipped hexes. The mobility of enemy cav and armour can be more annoying than you would think.

3 Don't be too greedy. It is usually better, even if frustrating, to go for a smaller pocket that will hold even if that means routing a potential captive or two.

4 Make sure you will be able to close any break next turn and make a stronger perimeter if necessary . Armour without petrol are pretty poor at this, particularly if your opponent turned the tables and isolated some of your troops.

When going for a pocket, it usually pays to hit the hex(es) that you first need to clear to break through with what might be overkill


A good example of a pocket meeting these criteria was my T6 one in the Kiev area which you can see in an earlier post. I haven't got a bad example in the AAR so far, but you may find ones in other AARs.

Another type of pocket is one that is not intended to succeed in the first turn, but the next turn or even a 3rd turn. No hard and fast rule of how long success needs to take. It's the usual trade off between cost (resources and time) versus reward (what you kill). A good example (I hope) is the turn 1 lockdown just S of Rovno that finally turned into a secure pocket on T3. Against many players it would only have taken 2 turns, but Brian G does not make life easy. However, that also caused him to lose even more units so I'm very happy with the result.

An example of how not to do a lockdown-type pocket well is AGC's attempt this turn, as will become clearer in later turns. I broke pretty well all my own rules. Of course, part of playing games well is to know when the rules can be bent.

Other experienced players are very welcome to share their ideas here

[HITMAN202]

Spoken by THEPRO ... Sillyflower is spot on.

#1) A-1 advice. Routs are a no no. The direction of retreats can be had to predict at times. Also making a pocket that can be quickly eliminated the next turn in order not to delay the offensive thrust is important. A megapocket can not only take 2-3 turns to reduce, but also leave key mechanized units out of supply.

#2) Again spot on. Experience with playing the Soviet side of WITE will help in forming unbreakable pockets. I think Pelton would be an even more dominant German player if he would play the Soviets more. Mere opinion.

#3) To quote financial adviser Bill Kramer.. "Bulls make money, pigs get slaughtered."

#4) There's a talent that can't be taught. It is tactical vision- visualizing what can be achieved in a particular turn. Knowing the rules, understanding different strategies, and game experience are all important, but tactical insight separates the men from the boys. Sillyflower's turn 6 AGS was beautiful and all about tactcal insight.

[sillyflower]

Thank you Dr T. As agreed, your cheque for 5USD is in the post.

Note to readers: don't believe the stories about all doctors, and especially American ones, being rich. I met many senior doctors in my 30 years of doing healthcare law. Paediatricians are the nicest doctors, but also the poorest. Anyone else wanting a cheap ego boost should just PM Hitman202.

[sillyflower]

Enough of reality: turn 8



Last turn's HQBU enable Manstein's corps to penetrate deeply into Brian's defences and to cut all the rail lines in and out of L'grad. Sadly, only the B10 factories are trapped. Brian had not realised that they now upgrade to B64s. However, hardly a game changer to lose them.

I did hesitate about where to put Totenkopf. Brian's stack immediately to the west of it contains the big tk and mot divs + a cav div. I need it out of the way next turn. 1 option was to leave T'kopf stacked with the other 2 divs, but that would give him a 5 hex attack vs a clear terrain hex, or he could attack the 2 divs in the clear hex behind them from 3 hexes with his 2 big armour units presumably having the 16 MPs needed to attack either hex because they do not need to move first.

I chose the hex to put the SS in for the following reasons

1. It would encourage Brian to vacate the 2 level fort to save his armour, thus easing my passage east.

2. If he attacked it,it would mean concentrating his forces more to the south, and I'm going east. It would also mean that my more valuable +vulnerable units would not be attacked. He hasn't got enough troops up here to do both.

3. If the attack failed. he would be in trouble as the attackers would be weakened in my turn. If the attack succeeded, the SS would just retreat and I would still be in a good position next turn; able to reoccupy the lost hex and to give his big stack a good kicking from 5 hexes (with an expensive retreat) or to surround it.

I did not give serious thought to bombing the port of Ostinovets. It would take several turns (probably 6+) to knock it out, even if it were possible without crippling the Luftwaffe (as Chaos did to Pelton) given the refusal of my fighters to escort bombers, and I hope to capture it more quickly the traditional way by taking Schlisselberg and storming across the river. using Model's I corps.

[HITMAN202]

Don't send the 5 $$. I'll have some nasty comments in the future and you'll want your $$'s back.

You create too much tension in sharing just part of a turn's move each post. Keep it up. It creates a nice mood.

You're insight's are just as helpful to the Soviet devotees. To the uninformed, Sillyflower is one of the better Soviet players, even without his sidekick.

[sillyflower]

It's just that posting takes ages as I have to find the old screenshots, decipher my scribbled notes on the turn, try to think of a way of being vaguely interesting but succinct, not least because I type with 1 finger and then hopefully correct all the typos on a system that uses American spelling.

Anyway, AGC




HMMMMMMM

Brian made a bit of a mess of the almost-pocket, including moving the majority of his units out, and broke the small one. Surprisingly, he left the 2 divs in place so I was able to reform it more strongly. It didn't disrupt the rest of the turn.

I formed the bigger pocket as best I could but the panzers have little fuel so there is a weak spot with a lone PzG 3 div on the north side. Fingers crossed it holds.

Losing a bit of momentum here - credit to Brian.

[sillyflower]

South





This is a bit more fun.Off-screen, E Kiev and its 3 divs surrender. Gomel, Chernigov, Kirovograd, Nikolaev and Kremenchug are also liberated and Z town's arms and HI factories locked down. There were few defenders south of K Rog and I suspect Brian didn't know how much armour was in reach of the area. 10 divs in a pocket that meets all my rules: most importantly including the full strength cav xx that isolated the pz div in K. Rog [:D]. Waste of a cav xx IMHO just to stop 1 div getting petrol for 1 turn, So I'm even more please that I occupied the city last turn.

The FBD is somewhere in the blob of airbases so most of the armour will be within 20 MPs of the railhead next turn. I could not quite reach D town and its remaining 8 arms factories, but did overrun some airbases.

[sillyflower]

Thoughts on T8

Losses 8.4K to 79K which is pretty poor. Far too few Russians but an inevitable consequence of T7's lack of fresh pockets. Air 109 axis [:@], thanks to refusal of LW fighters to escort bombers in the north, despite all being under same HQ and the very first air mission of the turn. Soviet losses 399 (very good) despite absence of any airbase bombing by Brian, but helped by some airbase overruns. Maybe Brian has decided that the loss ratios in his airbase bombing are too high in my favour. That would be a shame.

A total of 17 russian divs in pockets so next turn should show improvement, but AGC needs to get its act together. One bit of good news. Brian seems to be a bit behind in railing out factories. Poltava and Bryansk empty, but D town has 8 arms, Z town 4 0f each and Ordsomething (next to Bryansk) still has its 3A + 4HI. L'grad's BA10s are never getting out.

Current factory losses are 23 each of arms and HI - despite Pelton's assertion (I assume against a good russian player) that it is impossible to get more than 20 of each under the latest beta. I'm hopeful of more...............but I do need to get the kills back up. It is easier to kill the enemy and then gobble up the terrain than vice versa.

[M60A3TTS]

From the way Brian is handling Pelton, it looks like you have your hands full. You definitely want to make the most of this summer.

[timmyab]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower
Current factory losses are 23 each of arms and HI - despite Pelton's assertion (I assume against a good russian player) that it is impossible to get more than 20 of each under the latest beta.

Two turns of mud probably hasn't helped him a lot and because of the loss of momentum that possibly becomes more like a three turn delay. The Soviet player can clear something like 30 arms and 15 HI in that time. Random weather with two unlucky mud turns in July is a game changer.

[sillyflower]

I agree which is why we're playing fixed weather, even though in general terms random favours German because he always knows what weather his opponent will get.

I study the Pelton v Brian game with care. A bit scary

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: timmyab

ORIGINAL: sillyflower
Current factory losses are 23 each of arms and HI - despite Pelton's assertion (I assume against a good russian player) that it is impossible to get more than 20 of each under the latest beta.

Two turns of mud probably hasn't helped him a lot and because of the loss of momentum that possibly becomes more like a three turn delay. The Soviet player can clear something like 30 arms and 15 HI in that time. Random weather with two unlucky mud turns in July is a game changer.

I have looked at Pelron's post again.It was a general comment only about the effects of the latest patch. Nothing about random weather or his game vs Brian. Maybe he can clarify what he meant if he reads this.

[timmyab]

Surely it can't have been hyperbole [&:] Not from Pelton, I can't believe it [;)]

[mktours]

Interesting game to watch! Thanks for sharing it.
Judged from the AARs Brian G shared, he seemed to have a very unique strategy as Soviet.
First, he write off Lennigrad from start. His priority seems to be Stalino, Moscow, Leningrad, I am curious to know if he sent strong reinforcement from south to leningrad front in this game?
I am very surprise that he could successfully keep Stalino in all his games in 1941. It looks like that he keep the strong troops in the south and evacuate Lennigrad from start, hold it until the port fall.
That is a good thinking, and the merit is that it would eavcuate more industry, and it would not loss many troops in leningrad, this plan works especially well against Pelton, who always set Lenningrad as the first priority for Germany.
The problem of this plan might be Moscow. It is more diffcult to send troops from Stalinno to Moscow than from Leningrad, once the situation become dangerous in the Moscow front.

[timmyab]

The other thing to think about is the early release of 4th pz group and some of the infantry for use elsewhere. The key to a 'Leningrad light' defense is keeping these units in the North for as long as possible. Deception can play a part here.
On the whole I think it's correct to defend the South aggressively against a strong Southern opening under the current patch. You not only gain time to evacuate the industry but also you can move more of it because there are less combat units to rail.