Matrix Games Forums

When playing as the Germans or Soviets, what are the do's and don'ts ?
Wich type of tank or plane do you produce and wich not ?
Do you create a southern panzer pincer in Romania or not ?
Do you retreat all you're planes behind the Urals on turn 1 and train them untill winter ?
Wich is the optimum withdrawel scheme for the soviet factories ?
Do you drive you're panzers east as far as you can or do they close the kessels ?
etc...., etc....,

interested in hearing about you're winning strategies and tactics

Okay I'll bite... I've only ever played as the Soviets, and only against the AI*, so here's my approach.

Tanks: Build only T-34 and KV-1. Convert most factories producing other vehicles to KV-1 the rest to T-34. I aim for about a 2:1, maybe 3:1, T-34 to KV-1 ratio. Yes I know you'll give up some conversions later but so what? I'd rather have either of those vehicles than a Su-76 and I can have them in 1941 not 1943.

Aircraft: Bombers split 2:1 between IL-2 and Il-4; fighters split 50:50 LaGG vs Yak. Don't turn off the MiGs immediately but do so before the end of 1941. Follow the upgrade path for the LaGG and Yak aircraft. The reason for building two types of fighter is that the arriving groups have their type already set. If you're only building one type all the others will have to convert with a 10 point drop in experience. Experience is crucial in air combat.

Factories: I've only ever had to withdraw the Smolensk and Kiev factories. It's a fine balance between evacuating a factory and moving units up to the front line. I tend to go for moving units up.

Airpower: For the first 4 months I pull all a/c back as far as possible EXCEPT one or two groups of fighter per HQ and 2 groups of bombers for the Leningrad HQ. The VVS can't go head to head with the LW yet so any thing you leave forward will pretty much be used for target practice, increasing the LW experience. At the same time I don't want the LW to have total freedom so the fighter groups left on the front line are assigned to CAP only. The bombers at Leningrad start working on the Finnish airforce. CLOSELY monitor the fighter units on CAP and compare them to the units training back east. If the number of ready a/c drops too low, rotate the highest experience units back to the front, place the depleted back in training. Do this every week. Starting in the winter you can bring in a bomber group and a fighter escort group for each HQ as they're available. Don't exceed the one fighter group on CAP per HQ until the fighter groups experience is over 50.

Ground (June-August): The Sir Robin defense - Run Away. The manual has some BS about having to slow the germans down. Forget that. Use MOVE to shift the units back as much as possible. Once a unit is cutoff and starts having to PLOT it's as good as dead. Try to form lines as much as possible, and preferrably along roads. In the south the retreat is less rapid and It's worth getting some units to dig-in at Odessa. During this period start placing units in cities and along favourable defensive position where you hope to hold in the fall/winter**.

Ground (September-November): The pull-back slows down, forming definite lines starting to get backed up by secondary defensive postions. Kiev and that town southeast of Leningrad by Lake Ilmen are strongly garrisoned, by shock armies if possible. The flanks of these positions also get strong units. In some cases when the German panzer corps break through your lines you can simply close ranks behind them and fill in the gaps, Leaving the penetrating unit stranded. Bring additional CAP into the area if feasible to hinder aerial re-supply. Start thinking about where you'll create the shock armies for your winter offensive. Disguise your intentions by only making the designation switch the week before your attack.

Ground (December-March): Happy time! With your prepositioned shock armies cut off SMALL sections of enemy units. You need to be able to encircle the unit(s) in one move which is only two hexes for a shock army. So the most you can realistically bite at one time is a two hex area. Repeat as necessary. Make progress in the north and south, keep the germans away from Moscow but don't make too much effort here. Just remember that when the mud arrives you need to be set since the German will recover first.

1942: Use rail during the mud turns to shift units around and build up for the 1942 offensive. First target: Finland. Using two shock armies and 4-5 flank guards advance up the rail line to Helsinki, take it and knock Finland out of the war, by July, August at the latest. Switch those troops to the Baltic republics. During the summer and fall advance west from Kiev and south west from the Lake Ilmen area. In the winter move further west.

1943: See that pocket. Close it. Ship the captured German army to Siberia. Drive to Berlin, visit Ploesti, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, Trieste along the way.

1944: Never been there.

Well that's my strategy anyway. Probably useless against a human opponent.

Mike

* I played the Germans once - it was boring. Not really into PBEM. I tend to pick the game play for a few weeks, then leave it and come back later.

** Transfer divisions and tank brigades in and out of armies that are entrenching in cities rather than moving the army. AFAIK the readiness and rail costs are the same. The army keeps the entrenchment level even if all the sub-units leave SO LONG AS at least one unit remains in the army when you end the turn. Otherwise the army goes away and takes its trenches with it.

You can also place a single unit army in a city behind the front line and it will begin digging in immediately. Then transfer units in when the enemy gets close. I find NKVD units are useful seeds for placing armies.

I have played few campaigns against a human opponent. But when I play against AI it is very easy to win.

Strategies for 1941:
Soviets: fall back, fortify Odessa, Kiev, line Mogilev - Vitebsk (extremely important: if you keep both cities Moscow is never endangered), try to keep Pskov. Remove all your planes, keep them in training mode in the east. I've never seen Germans bombing my cities. Try to encircle German advancing armored corps. During blizzard 1941 I never attack Germans for mercy - game would end too soon. Production: only Yaks, then La-5s. Tanks: T-34 and KV1 only.

Germans: Pz Korps: attack, encircle and destroy. If you do well Germans take Moscow, Leningrad and Rostov before October mud and Gorki before blizzard. Tanks: only Pz III and IV, Jagd I and Stugs. Planes: only Fw-190, Ju 88, 87 and He 111.

1942:
Soviets: it's easy: move all your forces south, when front line is labile, allow Germans to move behind your lines, encircle and destroy. In September you should capture Kharkov and Stalino. Tanks: only T-34 and KV1s, later replace all KV and some T-34 with IS.

Germans: after a few easy victories in south move your Pz Korps to Moscow area. Soften Soviet defence with planes, encircle and destroy. Before September both Stalingrad and Moscow should be taken, then Leningrad falls and the war is over. The campaign is so short there is not much time to change production.

1943: haven't played much (as Germans only once, as Soviets 2 times).

1944: haven't played even once.

These strategies work against AI. Having played 1942 as Soviets with the strategy as above I was beaten.