A Barbarossa rematch

[Greyshaft]

The snows have arrived in late October and we can see light at the end of the Deep Dark Tunnel of 1941

My observation for fighting the German AI is to:
* leave one div or corp in each city or more if you think there is a chance to hold longer such as in the south near Crimea.
* move all air to near Leningrad to face the Finns.
* create groups of 3-4 ARM or MECH divisions and place them in the gaps between cities in a line running roughly from Leningrad - Smolensk - Kursk - Stalino.
* after the Panzer spearheads have raced eastward past you (they tend to follow the railway lines) then tie Kamikaze headbands to the heads of the Generals commanding those divisions and send them westward to cut rail lines.
* your units will probably die but they will cause the Panzer spearheads to slow down and possibly turn back westward to follow you. Trading half a dozen ARM divisions for the assured survival of Moscow and Leningrad seems a good deal to me.
* when winter deepens surround the isolated Panzers and starve them to death.
* build nothing but Level 2 INF Corps until the end of 1942.

BTW note my isolated INF Corp sitting on the rail junction west of Minsk. The 10-9 Panzer division in Minsk has ignored him for three turns. Lets see how long he lasts.

[Greyshaft]

Like I said, your units will probably die, but at least these five German INF corps aren't knock-knock-knocking on Leningrad's front door

RIP faithful armored division.

[Greyshaft]

While a few hexes south the Germans pay the price for assembling that overly macho show of strength in the north - why didn't they leave one corp in Rezekne ? But I'm not complaining

[oldspec4]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

The snows have arrived in late October and we can see light at the end of the Deep Dark Tunnel of 1941

My observation for fighting the German AI is to:
* leave one div or corp in each city or more if you think there is a chance to hold longer such as in the south near Crimea.
* move all air to near Leningrad to face the Finns.
* create groups of 3-4 ARM or MECH divisions and place them in the gaps between cities in a line running roughly from Leningrad - Smolensk - Kursk - Stalino.
* after the Panzer spearheads have raced eastward past you (they tend to follow the railway lines) then tie Kamikaze headbands to the heads of the Generals commanding those divisions and send them westward to cut rail lines.
* your units will probably die but they will cause the Panzer spearheads to slow down and possibly turn back westward to follow you. Trading half a dozen ARM divisions for the assured survival of Moscow and Leningrad seems a good deal to me.
* when winter deepens surround the isolated Panzers and starve them to death.
* build nothing but Level 2 INF Corps until the end of 1942.

BTW note my isolated INF Corp sitting on the rail junction west of Minsk. The 10-9 Panzer division in Minsk has ignored him for three turns. Lets see how long he lasts.

Very similar to how I also play the USSR..

[Greyshaft]

After my 1941 counterattack the Germans regrouped and forced me back to within two hexes of Leningrad. Now the tide has turned yet again and I am regaining lost ground and it is good to see that the mayor of Rezekne has kept my usual holiday suite waiting for me... but I am curious why the Germans continually refuse to garrison that city. They have plenty of troops a few hexes to the north in the Courland area but for some reason don't think this city is important. Maybe it falls on the boundary between two Army Groups and each commander thinks it is the responsibility of the other? The empty city is no doubt rather convenient for me but I don't play wargames with a desire to face a forgetful AI. I want to fight for my victories.

[Magpius]

psst- greyshaft, why isnt this in the aar section?

[Magpius]

oh, and I really like the talking balloon over the unit. I've had plenty of those moments playing games like these.

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: Agent S

psst- greyshaft, why isnt this in the aar section?

Because I forgot to put it there. I'd be quite happy to move it into the AAR section but I don't know how

Can a friendly Admin move this thread into AAR?

[Greyshaft]

August 1942 sees another German blunder. The German campaign for 1942 has been a drive on Stalingrad (Oh, no, you've got the wrong map there. This is Stalingrad. You want the Ilfracombe and Barnstaple section...) however my flood of level 3 INF Corps surrounded and starved out six German Corps and persuaded the Bad Guys to pull back and ponder a new strategy. That was three turns ago. The AI adjusted his line last turn and left me a corridor to Sachty which will unhinge his whole defensive position in the south.

[Greyshaft]

The breakthrough at Sachty in the south will assist my 1942 offensive which is to drive south on both sides of Kiev and trap Army Group South against the Black Sea. I'm also starting up production of TAC air and ARM Corps - I think I have enough INF Corps for the moment.

[Greyshaft]

Pinsk is bare also. Why is Garrison duty is unpopular in the Wermacht? It will be interesting to see if the AI uses SR to bring in some troops during his turn.

[Greyshaft]

This is the result of my 'Swarm of Locusts' strategy. The Germans can hold strongpoints but my Corps just swarm past them and cut supply lines. If the Germans go on the offensive and kill six or eight of my Corps then I just move in a dozen new Corps to fill in the gaps and also occupy the defensive positions that the Germans abandoned in order to mount their offensive.

Note that the Germans didn't SR a garrison into Pinsk on the extreme left of the map

[Greyshaft]

The breakthrough in the south is achieved! My spearheads are now only three hexes from Odessa and if I move fast enough I will trap around fifty of his units against the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. He has a 5-4 division in Odessa itself but the rest of the units around that city are just air units which should rebase during his turn.

[olivier34]

it sounds that the AI is not very interesting to play with. The fact that it does not garrison the citys has to be corrected. Anyway, well done to trap all the army group south [;)]

[waichou]

I didn't read this AAR before, but I think there is a real problem with German AI... I hope it will be corrected, if not the only challenge will be : taking Berlin in 1942 or 1943 ? [:)]
 
I am playing Barbarossa as Axis (first game), and at the end of 1941 I don't see how they could stop me, Leningrad and Moscow fallen, always crushing their poor divisions or corps (nothing better than 6 strengh vs my 40 strengh and more for my panzers)... Winter is already there, but I don't see anything. I hope they will wake up soon, before I reach Magnigotorsk ! [:D] Maybe playing in Normal is too easy, I should change settings. But I prefer to wait some monthes to have a real opinion...

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

The breakthrough at Sachty in the south will assist my 1942 offensive which is to drive south on both sides of Kiev and trap Army Group South against the Black Sea. I'm also starting up production of TAC air and ARM Corps - I think I have enough INF Corps for the moment.

Let me change my opinion here. You can NEVER have enough INF Corps.

[doomtrader]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

Let me change my opinion here. You can NEVER have enough INF Corps.

But will you be able to upkeep them ?

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: doomtrader

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft
Let me change my opinion here. You can NEVER have enough INF Corps.

But will you be able to upkeep them ?

If your maintenance costs are too high then you are not attacking enough. Sending a dozen Corps on a Kamikaze raid against a fortified German line has the twin benefit of fixing your PP problem and annoying the Germans at the same tine.

And you might even break the German line [:D]

[doomtrader]

You are right General GreyZhukov

[freeboy]

[:D][:D]what I want to see my friend is this against a HUMAN.. he said with a Feringii accent added for affect!!!
anything else for us? I came to this thread from a previous post..
more more moer we need more red defense tutoing! lol [:D][:D]