East Front 41-45: Mark v Fabio Playtest/AAR

[USXpat]

Fabio Governato's reworked the original East Front 41-45 scenario to bring it up to TOAW 3.4 standards. This is a quick corps level scenario with about 350 units per side. We're about 10 turns into it and a good time to recap the opening and see how the scenario progresses.

As with all Barbarossa scenarios, the Axis objective is to move fast, strike hard and deep. Doing so and taking important cities is rewarded by a reduction in the Soviet Supply and Replacement Rates. But, as we all know, the Russians can take a pounding, then take a beating, then get totally clobbered - and it's like they've just started to get warmed up. Rail lines and supply are very important to the Axis, too. In this scenario, it is very easy to outdistance the railhead fast - limited rail repair assets force decisions.

A couple quick notes. One is that many units receive substantial late war equipment, and while the supply situation is brutal, being "in the red" is not always a matter of being 33/1 in readiness and supply. I try to not move, much less attack with units in this condition. I also rotate units in and out of the front regularly - when possible. I'm a firm believer in using the right tools for the right job and that haste makes waste... but sometimes, you don't have the luxury of waiting for the infantry or the artillery.

My opening strategy is simply to drive everywhere, as hard and as fast as possible to see where the main lines of resistance would form. Wherever possible, the actual fighting is left to the infantry... with panzers enjoying scenic rides and waving to the defenders and trying to persuade them (sometimes through RBC's) that the front lines are far to the east. Well, that worked for a few turns.

At Turn 10, AGN has made it across the Luga, but supply issues have ground the offensive there to a near stand-still. The situation there isn't worth a screen shot - will keep this 1 per post with the most interesting situation. The terrain there isn't much suited to panzers, so I'm pulling the three korps I have there out to rest and redeploy.

Army Group Center has been sitting next to Smolensk for a few turns, several worn out and facing strong, fresh and fortified Russians with a defense in depth - which I would interpret as a main line of resistance. The AGC offensive renewed just in T10 making a significant impact on the defense north of Smolensk. Sitting on par with historic progress at present.

AGS has seen some fairly dramatic Axis victories with Kyiv falling in July, Odessa in August, followed by Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporzye, and a potentially overextended drive on Stalino by the Romanian Mech Korps. Kharkov and Kursk are also within immediate striking distance. But, as you can see - the units in this area are pretty worn out. The AGS rail line has had three turns of failed RR repair - consequently its reserves are having to move into action with only partially recovered supply levels.

Overall, I'm satisfied with progress to this point - though I would not call it "game winning" - Fabio's made good use of terrain and units to create a series of bottlenecks and to contain my advance as much as possible. The scenario plays smooth enough and the attacks typically yield losses as would be expected. Present losses amount to about 7000 rifle squads, 400 tanks and 200 aircraft - which is not a real strain on the Replacement Pool. That's just a drop in the bucket...

[governato]

The plan with this AAR is that I will chime in often to give the Red Army perspective and add a few designer's tips while Mark (aka USXpat) armies try to get to Moscow. Btw, Mark designed "East & West Front 42-45", so he is a strong player!

The scenario is described here. in a thread on the Scenario Design Forum.


"Eastern Front 41-45" is designed to be fast to play but also to be as realistic as possible. The players should spend their time thinking about their strategic options rather than having to move a ton of ant units around. I really like playing 'War in the East', Matrix's Monster game on the Russian Front, but at 3-4 hours per turn it's quite a commitment. I decided to take an existing TOAW scenario (Russian Front, by Silvanski and Falotti) and update map, OOB and events and incorporate a lot of the new features allowed by TOAW 3.4. While most obvious bugs have likely been ironed out, this AAR is the first time I play it against a human opponent.

So far the game has been fun. Mark has pushed hard with his tank columns and in Ukrainia he is well ahead of schedule. Kiev fell on Turn 4, he crossed the Dniepr in force around turn 5 is now taking over the industrial region around Dnepropetrovks, which will cost me in Replacement rates. He is taking it easier around Leningrad, where I have sent a lot of reinforcements.


During the first turns Red Army player is in a tight spot. Should he try to hold ground and bleed the Axis or retreat in order to the Dniepr - Smolensk - Leningrad line? I am trying the latter, but most of my units and their parent formation start with low proficiency and low supply, so they are not very mobile, when they are not into 'reorganize mode' that is.

A couple of design features are working as planned, at least as seen from my side: To simulate the ability of the Wehrmacht to create 'pockets' of Russian units, the cost for moving out of ZOC for the Axis player is only 0.8 the normal. The opposite is true for the Red Army with a ZOC cost of 1.2 times normal. As a result a few of my armies have been (sadly) surrounded and chewed up quickly by relatively weaker Axis units that were able to move around them.

Also, the Red Army recon is very low during 1941: 5%. So while Mark claims to be planning a strong push towards Moscow he might as well be planning something else....


Here are the losses and current line up for the Red Army


------------------- Rifle Squads --------- Tanks ----------- Airplanes
Losses/Assigned
Turn 8 --------- 28000/74000 -------- 5000/7600 ---------- 2000/3300


Huge? About historical.... (note: to convert from squads to men I multiply by 10 and then by 4 to include men involved in the logistics. Other designers might have different opinions). Also, tanks and planes include all the obsolete models that the Red Army start with. I am OK with cleaning the shelves and make some space for a few shiny T34's.
Note: the map does not show some of the Red Army reserves as we are currently only a few turns ahead of turn 8...

[governato]

AGC: captured Smolensk and is pressing on to the outskirt of Vyazima. I had a pretty good defense line prepared but it crumbled quickly with most of the units in the Kalinin Front going into reorganization. That lead to several units (equivalent to almost three armies) begin surrounded and destroyed. Werhmacht units move fasts and I have underestimated their capacity to move around my units. My counterattacks using STAVKA reserve units have slowed down a few Panzer spearheads, but the loss ratio is usually 5:1 or worse. Pretty historical so far.

AGN: stopped The Fascists just after the Luga River in front of a line of fortifications hastily put by the Leningrad and Karelian Fronts. I think Mark should have pushed harder here a couple of weeks ago. The door for Leningrad is now shut until he gets his railheads closer.
The Reserve units are proving themselves useful and at this point I have a decent inventory of rifle squads, if not of modern tanks.

[Designer note: the Axis has four RR units. 1 for AGN and AGS respectively, two for AGC. That will simulate the historical rate of advance of the railheads. They can of course be shifted around].


AGS: AGS and the Axis Allies encountered weak resistance from the remnant of a couple of Red Army Fronts. He conquered the Industrial area around Dnepropetrovsk, which will cost the Red Army in replacement rates. The Crimean Front however, managed to turtle up and is solidly entrenched.

-----------------------Losses/Assigned
--------------Infantry Squads ------ Tanks ------ Airframes

Turn 13 ------ 38k/76k -----6k/7k ------ 2400/3300

[governato]

Turns 17-19 Mud Season. Late October 41
The Rains have finally arrived. Not a moment too soon for a hard pressed and tired Red Army. These turns go quickly as neither forces can do attacks as Cease Fire and shock penalties model the break down of communications. This gives the Red Army time to fill in gaps in the front line and dig some basic defense lines. For a scenario of this scale entrenchment rates have been cut by 50% and that seems to give realistic results. The Crimean Peninsula has been isolated and left to fend of by itself. But I have two armies entrenched at the isthmus. It won't be easy for the Axis to break through unless some heavy artillery is brought in. Sevastopol is a supply point, but only at 50% or so, so the railway does not carry much supplies to the front lines anyway...hard to start an offensive from down there, but easy to turtle up in the city if the isthmus defenses. Mark lets me look at his inventory, which looks pretty good. Werhmacht losses have been small so far, has he has not tank many risks: 600 tanks lost, 10k rifle squads. That bodes well for his final push East (for 1941 at least).

[USXpat]

Patience is a virtue, so they say; but its persistence that pays. From T11 to T20, it's been pretty quiet for Army Groups North and South.

The only actions with AGS involved significant efforts to break into the Crimea, all of which failed. One could practically see the proficiency of the units guarding the gates increase in proficiency with each attack. I gave up after six turns of fighting - mud season offering the defenders a break.

Most of the action has focused on Army Group Center - aiming to reach Vyazma-Rhzev, 1 hex sometimes 2, per turn. Losses have been light as I've taken care to rotate the fighting to units typically having good supply and readiness. The screenshot here shows the situation in this area.

Advances near Demyansk - to the north of Rhzev produced some interesting information - three unguarded hexes... And up to this point, everything was going very well - not game winning, but light losses, roughly historical gains, plus or minus a bit...

[USXpat]

And... this is where the Axis stood two turns later - moving up the 3 panzer korps SE of Demyansk to... add further pressure on Moscow? No!

Seeing the back door to Leningrad practically unguarded, a push was made toward Tikhvin, hoping at the very least to bust the last rail line into Leningrad before reinforcements and the deep winter could arrive. And besides, three fresh panzer korps!!!

I knew there were plenty of reserves defending Moscow, but a situation like this is just too good to be true... too good to not make a gamble, besides... my losses to this point were light. heh...

[USXpat]

And things were going pretty good up through Turn 24. But - easy to see how fast a fresh panzer korps can be reduced when overextended from its supply source. Coupled with the lack of a continuous line of units and at a juncture where Soviet supply is at its highest - and one can easily guess what would be happening very shortly...

[USXpat]

And here, on Turn 25 - we see the impact of the harsh winter blizzard sending the panzer korps into reorganization. To make a short story very short - the relief effort came very, very close to succeeding (1 MP) but failed. Losses due to the failed Leningrad offensive - 3 Panzer and 1 Infantry Korps. Two more panzer korps and 1 Infantry Korps were lost at Rhzev.

Very serious losses at this stage of the game - mitigated only by very light losses elsewhere. One of the destroyed panzer korps along with one of the infantry korps were able to reconstitute. An expensive lesson to be sure.

It's not catastrophic as in the long-haul, it means the remaining panzer and panzergrenadier korps will be receiving proportionately more replacements per turn. Most of my play is at the regiment/division level - where you can say, "Ah, it's just a division" - but here, korps level losses do bite deeper.

A good defensive operation on Fabio's part sealed the deal - he contained the threats to both Leningrad and Moscow... for now...

[governato]

Turn 24 marks the peak of the Werhmacht offensive. Two Panzer Gruppen are just two hexes away from Moscow after routing some infatry units, while another one breaks through two weak Mech Corps and head NE, with the goal of encircling Leningrad. Did STAVKA failed to save the Motherland from the Teutonic menace? Is it the end for The Soviet Union?

It's time to spring the trap.


The Red Army counterattacks with 5 fresh armies, several Infantry Corps and a few mech units (still of low quality though, with a lot of old tanks) with the goal of cutting of the Panzer spearheads as the German infantry was not able to follow and adequately protect the 'shoulders' of the tanks advance. The Valdai Hills is an ideal region for this as no road from the West goes into this heavily forested area and even units starting well rested will ran out of ammos and fuel after one or two turns (see the supply reates in the area shown in Marks' latest post). STAVKA was hoping that leaving a weak sector of the front would tempt the Werhmacht to split its Panzer forces and overextend them towards a far away objective. The image show the front just before the Red Army attacks (from the Russian perspective of course). Notice how the Leningrad-Moscow railway allows the Red Army to bring supply and forces exactly where they are needed.

The images posted by Mark in the last post showed how the Red Army was able to isolate the Panzers and lower their supply level. When blizzard started the following turn it carried severe penalties for the Axis (1% pestilence effects. negative shock and supply penalties, weak Luftwaffe) and the trap closed shut.

[governato]

This the frontline around Moscow at the same time. Just before the Red Army offensive. Note how both sides of the pincer
are on roads to make sure they get enough supply.

[governato]

The screenshot shows the area around Moscow. The front has stabilized and the Werhmacht has been able to dug in and form a continous front. However, the Red Army was able to surround and destroy a few Panzer Korps that had ventured too far and A couple of Infantry Korps went down with them. Mark tells me that Axis tank losses over the whole campaign now approach 3000. The Leningrad-Moscow rail has been reopened and will be functional again in a few weeks. [The Soviet repairs a couple of hexes/turn, the first proper Rail repair Unit arrives in Spring 42]. At the end of December the front-line for Army Group center has been pushed back 70 miles. The Kremlin is safe. For now…

[USXpat]

The Kharkov Campaign... or The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Battles of Kharkov.

Following the terrible losses at Tikhvin and Rhzev, the entire front shifted over to the defense. Well, technically, most of the entire front was already on excellent defensive footing. Rail lines had reach the front lines. Everything was in good order, the troops were happily sitting out the cold winter with hot chocolate, verenikye, shashlik, borscht and pampushki. Most units were sitting at 80-90% strength or better of available equipment... but tank losses from the failed offensive had jumped from 1,000 to over 3,000. Ultimately though, two of the five lost panzer korps would reconstitute.

The rest of the winter focused squarely upon Kharkov. Repeated attacks over numerous turns failed to dislodge all of its defenders. An army would be routed, a mech corps forced to retreat, so on and so on and so on. Victory came close time and time again, but always, some commander of an AA brigade or a local militia would manage to hold the line.

Brutalized at Tikhvin, stiff-armed at the gateway to the Crimea, kicked out of Rhzev and repeatedly thwarted at Kharkov... Korps commanders were given the order to conduct a very thorough review of their troops and to isolate the root cause of their shortcomings.

And a very thorough review it was...

[USXpat]

Pampushki.

[font="Courier New"]Per Directive 36, the Special Investigations Committee under the Inspector General of OKW, has concluded its fact finding mission for the repeated failures of the Heeresgruppen on the Eastern Front. Our findings conclude this is the direct result of the troops consumption of too much Pampushki. It is also believed that portions of locally procured consumables were tampered with by partisans. Henceforth, all troops will be served Mamalega and Yeitsa from Moldova, known as Grits and Eggs in the US Army, supplemented by a healthy portion of SOS, Hashbrowns and Belgian Waffles. We will continue to monitor the nutritional needs of our troops and recommend additional dietary adjustments as needed.[/font]

Fast forward...through the mud season.

Turn 45 - The Planning of Operation Frederikus, Frederickus, Frederick, Frederik, and Fred.

The Fuhrer had forgotten how to spell it - leading to several, mostly identical battle plans with similar names but different start dates, 5/6/42 and 6/5/42, being distributed to participating unit commanders.

The attachment shows the three assembly areas, whereupon Army Group South would be divided into Groups M, N, and O. O would be further subdivided into O and 0 - not that any particular heed would be given to their actual objectives.

Objectives remain classified...

[governato]

Here is an image of the frontlines (seen from the Red Army side) in early April. Ivan has been eating tasty borsch in his foxhole for the past few weeks, with the exception of units of the 1st Bielorussian armies which were used to test AGC defenses, unfortunately with only small gains to claim for a loss ratio of 5-8:1. A few units have gained significant experience(from the mid 40ies up to 60) and will now form the backbone of the Red Army. I have about 50 Armies at the front, plus a numbe rof Mech Corps that were able to survive the brutal Summer, but are still loaded with a lot of small tanks (T-60) and a few KV-Is (I love those).

Mark has been flexing his muscle with the airwar and bombed a lot of my forward airfields, causing significant (if replacable) losses. He has also been hammering at Karkhov for the past few weeks (hoping I'd send my strategic reserves?) and recon is spotting an increased railway traffic towards AGS. My lines are fragile there, but I decided to prioritize the defense of Moscow and the large depots of pyrogy and pelmeni I have stashed there (this seems to be a food oriented AAR..). I decide to avoid a Spring offensive ala Karkhov, but I have sent my new Tank Army (attached to Steppe Front) to the frontline to lose its 'untried' status.

The next few weeks will be an interesting test for the quality of the scenario: The Whermacht must be in a condition to regain the strategic initiative on a good part of the front even after the blizzard. What it will achieve...will see! A lot of it will depend on the amount of surprise Mark can get for the first crucial turns. A recon of 8% in ealry 42 is realistic for the Red Army, which is far from having any kind of Air Superiority. That means I can barely see anything behind the frontline, but some railway movements and those can be telling (from the previous post you can see that his armor has been positioned on both sides of Karkhov, they do not show this map though because they have not been detected). I have a few armies as a deep reserve and used the Reserve armies to dig a defense line along the Don. I have a feeling that they will come up useful as soon as the mud dries and the shock penalties that come with it go away. But will Mark head for Moscow or the Caucasus?

[governato]

As the mud dries the Whermacht attacks. Two pincer movements once centered around Karkhov just south of the 1 Ukrainian Front and one in the South West Front sector. The objective seems to be isolate as many units as possible along the frontlines. I think the Whermacht has learned a couple of tricks since Winter and the Panzer movements are impeccable while I make the mistake to underestimate its speed in open terrain. Several units including two Armies and a few Corps are isolated. My bad... And then... I make the bigger mistake to throw good money after bad and try to reopen the pocket and that costs me a Shock Army. It will reconstitute but I also lose my favorite old Tank Corp that had survived since the Kiev battles....A total of three armies and a few Corps (including two Paratroops Corps) lost. The Red Army starts retreating to a fortified line behind the Don and make a stand at Rostov (which has a supply point) and Kursk. Both will most likely fall soon. More digging ensues. The morale of this: the Red Army is still pretty vulnerable and it should not get too overambitious in Spring 42. I should have withdrawn as fast as possible. Parallels with the failed historical Red Army offensive in May 1942 come too easy.

Uncle Joe wont' be happy when he gets the news.

[USXpat]

T46. Stalino

It was my intention to hold off one turn for the arrival of two more panzer korps, and to have two more arriving behind them. However, two tests of the enemy lines resulted in two RBC's, one of which indicated a possible empty backfield (similar to what was seen at Tikhvin...). As the first round of combat fared better than expected, I decided to go ahead and commit - but expecting the offensive to take a few turns before getting a payoff.

[USXpat]

T46. Kharkov

This shows the northern portion of the offensive at the end of the T46. I expected it to take a few turns before seeing any empty hexes - and initially thought this could be a trap. However, this wasn't December and while I didn't have all panzer korps in their staging areas, I was pretty confident those present would be able to prevent any catastrophes like Tikhvin.

[USXpat]

T47. Army Group South

This attachment shows the majority, but not the full scope, of the offensive. Namely, 4 korps have advanced to positions parallel (and east of) Kursk. One aim of this offensive is to get the various nationalities properly grouped together in consideration of cooperation penalties - and also help observe the honor rule of not stacking different nationalities with one another, except as applies to German units.

Two airborne units were deployed to help prevent reinforcements arriving immediately at the front, 1 in T46 and 1 in T47 - and hoping for a very hasty link-up.

The primary objective of this stage of this operation is to eliminate all resistance South of Orel, West of the Don River. Depending upon how long this would take and at what cost would significantly determine which follow-on objectives to pursue next.

With just two turns into the offensive and the Soviet defenses already clearly threatened, two additional panzer korps were rotated in to help continue the offensive and to relieve the two that were already low on S&R. Very easy to go from full green to deep red in just two turns - and that with mild-moderate casualties.

A note on breakthroughs and exploitation - the ZOC cost should probably be increased somewhat. It's possible to get a good mobile unit through 2x ZOC's and up to 3, possibly even 4 hexes beyond the main line - weather and terrain permitting.

[USXpat]

T49. Army Group South

This offensive went far better than expected. By T49, SS units were leading an advance en force toward the Don. After the 9th Battle of Kharkov, a lone and troubled fighter unit was still occupying the city. Despite its disorganization, the pilots managed to come to their senses and fly away - though there was some consternation, that they too, could hold the city for another month. Thankfully, they weren't flying SB-2's.

The remnants of a local militia compensated by holding onto Stakhanov even after their regular army counterparts had surrendered. Hoping not to have to contend with it again, an assault by six korps (although on minimize losses) was repulsed.

Reinforcements were coming up from the Caucasus, requiring two panzer korps to take up defensive positions on the outskirts of Rostov - one city I was not going to have panzers taking on alone (or at all) without significant infantry.

Finally, on the northern flank of the offensive, progress also continues, albeit at a slower clip. The defense of Kursk is gradually getting reduced. Concurrently, I'm having to regularly rotate units in and out of the front lines - in some cases to combat losses, but mostly for supply and readiness. Fortunately, this time around, the rail lines are close at hand, and continuing to gauge forward.

Governato's defense, in my estimation, has taken the way of prudence realizing the situation for what it was and deciding to accept certain losses and reform closer to his supply lines and better terrain. Not being guaranteed a chance of digging in - as a consequence of reduced entrenchment rates, really forces considerable thought on whether to attack or dig in. In many scenarios, you get the best of both worlds - especially if you can consistently get more than 1 round of combat. Here, you can still get to "(D)efend" after attacking, but it's not guaranteed.

At this point, my initial objectives are more or less complete - excepting Kursk and Stalino. The situation is a close remake of Case Blue... So, my next moves are probably not too difficult to guess. [8|]

There's only one rail line into the Caucasus in this scenario.

[governato]

After taking Rostov the SS motorized units advance unopposed South-East all along the Don to the gates of Stalingrad. But the timely arrival of the Summer Soviet reserves allows me to prepare a hasty defense of the city and of the East bank. Mark does not press is motorized forces and does not attempt to storm the city or gain a bridgehead across the Volga. I think he could have done it. Perhaps the major success of the Soviet Winter offensive was to make the Panzer spearheads a little more cautions. Still the speed of his advance is impressive and Army Groups A and B and a whole Panzer Group head south towards the Caucasus and the Maykop oilfields [that is a -4% supply penalty for the Red Army]. My forces there are scarce. On the upside the first Tank Armies take position as mobile reserves. They are roughly the strength of a good Panzer division, but start at a low proficiency so it will take them a few months before they will be able to really push their weight around. Still it is good to have some units with good mobility to use as a fire brigade. I dig around Orel and Vorhonezh, but I suspect that when Mark is done South he will try another offensive aimed at splitting the Red Army in two.