Trippin' the Trappen

[LiquidSky]

Turn 42: August 2, 1942. Weather: Clear (for the moment).


The retreat is on! With the poor weather, the Russians can only retreat a small ways from Rostov. In front of Stalingrad, the Russians also withdraw 10 km from my forces.

The Hungarians and Italians eliminate what is left of the russian stragglers from Rostov, and form up in some semblance of a line. The Germans move forward to bump up against his forces. Unfortunately, one hex of railline is still in Russian hands, which will delay the 1st Panzer Army's push for Stalingrad...but then I still have bridges to repair.

At some point, I will have to thin the line from the North down to about Millerowo...I contemplate pulling back over the Don, but figure I might as well sit for now. The 5th German Army (something I created in the beginning) now has a panzer korp, an infantry korp, and all the security divisions (in another korp). They, with the Hungarian Army, and the Italian Army is all I have to move into the Caucaus to take Krasnador, Poti, Grozny...and eventually Baku. I may send the Rumanians down to help, but so far they are ony covering the open flank, and killing partisans.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 43: August 4, 1942. Weather: Guess..go ahead. I will give you a hint. It starts with rain and ends in ing.

The Russians on my side of the Don retreat a couple hexes back in a North Easterly direction towards Stalingrad/The Don.
More Russians show up on the Road to Elista, although there is no sign of any russians on the road in front of my III Panzer Korp. If it wasnt for the poor supply, and the fact that I know there are several motorized/tank corps south of Stalingrad, I would push along it.

As it is, the weather puts a lot of my forward units in the Caucaus in yellow/blue supply with even a couple in the red. So III panzer doesnt move, while the Hungarian/Italian/5th German armies move south...to make contact with the line.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 44: August 6, 1942. Weather: Clear skies.

The Russians do not appear to do anything much on the wet turn. But then, I am still several KM from his front line in the Caucauses, and getting rather strung out along the front line.

So I attack!

A rather beat up XXXXIV Korp composed of all the Jaeger/Mtn divisions attacks an equally beat up 12th Army, along the curve of the Don. Its mission: to clear my side of the Don. For this purpose, I have been motorizing all of the divisions (and playing the truck card, to gain more trucks). The attack goes well, with the Korp taking 3 hexes of the front.

The rest of my army catches up with the Russian front in front of Stalingrad, and towards Krasnador. Hopefully the weather will stay clear, so I can actually attack.

[Keunert]

Cutting the railline going south should be a high priority. my limited experience showed that this does a lot of harm to the soviet southern front.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 45: August 8, 1942. Weather Clear.

The Russians continue their retreat NE in front of Stalingrad, but hold fast everywhere else.

The XXXXVIII Korp continues to push against the 12th army, taking another hex. South of Stalingrad, the XIV Panzer Korp finally arrives in force, and screens against what looks to be a rather large amount of tank corps, to the east. I am going to have to comb the line for divisions to rail down here to hold the flanks so my panzer korp can dash across to the Caspian.

The rail line to Krasnador is looking very empty, as I run a couple of Ersatz units down. (I have over 30 of them now, as my 2A, 6A and OKH commanders can all generate emergency troops) On another note, I still have Halder in OKH.

@Keunart: You are correct, I may have to take Astrakahn in order to take Baku. Although thinking of the victory conditions, I find it somewhat strange that Stalingrad/Baku should be a game ender. Probably should add either Saratov to that as taking Baku pretty much implies that you already own Stalingrad.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 46: August 10, 1942. Weather Sunny Skies

Russians determined to hold on to all ground now.

After scouring the north for divisions, I manage to pull two whole korps off the line (7 divisions total). The smaller Korp I will rail to the Caucuas to help hold the flank so my panzer divisions can move north to the Volga. The other will relieve my Motorized korp, so it can go elsewhere (undecided at this point). Meanwhile, it can continue the attack on the Don bridgehead that the russians are tenaciously hanging onto.

The luftwaffe bombs and destroys every bridge corssing over the Don that the russians are using for supply, except one. If I can reduce his supply, it will make taking the bridgehead out that much easier.

[Bonners]

Really fascinating AAR. This is one thing I am gradually learning through playing and watching these AARs, how important the bridges are. My priority for AA units is now protecting the tanks and then being stationed at crucial bridges.

I would also be really interested to see an update on the respective OOBs to see how the Soviet player is holding up.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 47: August 12, 1942. Weather: Clear

The Russians are determined not to retreat. But I am just as determined to push forward. So far the Russians have lost over 500k infantry, and I have lost around 120k. My airforce is at about half strength in stukas, and 75% for fighters...but his is still less then half....and the fighters around 25%

I take a hex or two on the Don Bridgehead, and mostly setup for a big push next turn, as a lot of my artillery will be full, and Manstein is almost at 48 command points. (Patch 1.03 game)

South West of Stalingrad, the III panzer Korp, with 1st Panzer Army assisting (Freedom), strikes the lines and punches three holes, penetrating up to 30km towards Stalingrad.

In the Caucaus, I break a small hole to encourage the Russians to step back.





I just upgraded my operating system to Windows 8, and the game runs fine on it, although I miss my snipping tool.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 48: August 14, 1942. Weather: Rain.

All the bridges to the Russians Bridgehead over the Don were blown last turn. The Russians keep fixing the most westerly one (since engineers save left over engineer points after fixing a bridge, so they can keep fixing the same one). I try to blow it on this wet turn, but what few Luftwaffe planes that can make it fail.

The Russian player and I have noticed that mud seems to affect the Russians much more profoundly then the Germans. My turn was short and quick, because I couldn't move very many units in the Caucaus, and attacking seems a little more bloody (for me)...however, because of the poor supply level he receives on his turn, on my next (clear) turn, I am attacking a weakened Russian front, especially where I blew the bridges.

Not bothering with a map this time, but because of the mud weather reducing supply going to his bridgehead (47th army and 5th Tank Army), the fact that he is going to be hit by a low organization penalty of -25/-25 to most of his units in said bridgehead (foreshadowing, I am a few turns ahead of the aar), combined with me having a rested infantry korp with max command points/readiness/supply in the 11th army (Manstein) who also has max command points....means next turn will be a perfect storm.

After every bad weather turn, the Germans have the initative, and get to attack first. The Russians cannot benefit from the Germans being in mud, as they themselves are in mud on their turn.

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

Not bothering with a map this time, but because of the mud weather reducing supply going to his bridgehead (47th army and 5th Tank Army), the fact that he is going to be hit by a low organization penalty of -25/-25 to most of his units in said bridgehead (foreshadowing, I am a few turns ahead of the aar), combined with me having a rested infantry korp with max command points/readiness/supply in the 11th army (Manstein) who also has max command points....means next turn will be a perfect storm.

After every bad weather turn, the Germans have the initative, and get to attack first. The Russians cannot benefit from the Germans being in mud, as they themselves are in mud on their turn.

In most AAR's it seems the Germans have a significant advantage early, better supply, better command etc. The advance is not really hindered a lot by lack of supply and the mud does not really help the Russians, as you have pointed out.

Ideally both sides would check supply at the beginning of the turn but I think that would require major program changes.If the Soviets moved first in the game, do you think it would change things much?

[Keunert]

the axis advance is getting slow already. seems like you have the initiative lost in some areas. how are troops total at the moment?

[wallas]

ORIGINAL: Keunert

the axis advance is getting slow already. seems like you have the initiative lost in some areas. how are troops total at the moment?

He can easily still push where he wants, but I do have reserves now. I can stay sticky around him somewhat, and dont need to fallback and
shorten my lines as much.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 49: August 18, 1942. Weather: Raining shells and death upon the Russians.

Death of an army

During his wet turn, the Russians didn't do much. Suffering from Control failures in the Don Bridgehead, he was afraid to run, and bring notice to the poor state of his army. Unknown to him, I am about to launch a major offensive push on his bridgehead.

Mainstein plays Gamble, and it works! My Infantry Korp of 3 divisions gets a bonus of 44% on the attack..divisions which are well rested, near full strength, with full stocks of ammo. After air bombardment, I realize most of the Russian units are -25 on the defense, and my localized attack turns into a general offensive against the entire bridgehead.

The german offensive pushes 2 hexes forward, causing massive Russian casualties, even against full strength tank corps. Four breaches are made in his line. And in one spot, I even reach the Don itself, cutting the western most part off to form its own little bridgehead.

My stunning success comes from a convergence of several lucky factors. The control failure of not 1, but two armies that are in the beachhead. The weather being Mud the turn before. The bridges all being blown at the start of his mud turn. My infantry korp being fully supplied, full strength, and with full command points. Manstein with full command points.

[LiquidSky]

In the Caucaus, my minor axis units push forward, with the line bending, but not breaking. I pull my panzers off the line, to shift them over to the rail line that directly moves from Rostov to Krasnador. As I will probably not take Stalingrad on time (if ever), I do want to take Krasnador. New reinforcements, in the form of a second Italian Korp of 3 divisions shows up and will move to help the spread out German infantry.

On the eastern part of the Caucaus, I spread out a Panzer Korp to hold a line, butted up with a Rumanian Korp that is also spread out one unit per hex. But I do have a continuous line now from the top of the map, all the way down to the coast. When my infantry korp I moved off the line in the north arrives, it will replace the panzer korp to allow it to push for the Volga.

I notice that Stalingrad is heavily fortified, and will definitely be a tough nut to crack...as I can't outflank it like I did Rostov.

On a sad note, Halder has been replaced by Zietzler, meaning one less HQ to produce Ersatz troops. Currently, I am up to around 30 of the emergency troops...and have them in every port, and along the coast of the Caucaus. Soon I will use them to fight partisans.

[LiquidSky]

Current troop strengths (at the end of my Aug. 24th turn)

Divebombers: 225 Axis to 150 Russian.
Fighters: 330 Axis to 430 Russian.
Bombers: 800 Axis to 100 Russian.

Infantry: 800k Axis to 680k Russian.
Lt. Tank: 200 Axis to 1050 Russian.
Med Tank: 1500 Axis to 1200 Russian.
Heavy Tank: 580 Russian. No tigers yet.

Trucks: 29k Axis to 21k Russian.

Prestige: 53 Axis to 25 Russian.

Victory points are sitting on a fairly comfortable Axis Minor Victory.

Romanian Spirit - 96%
Hungarian Spirit - 88%
Italian Spirit - 84%

German Infantry divisions: 43
Ersatz Gruppes: 34
Mot Infantry: 14 (Most of them have no tanks)
Rom. Infantry Div: 15
Hun. Inf Div. 11
It. Inf DIv.: 9

Panzer/SS/Axis Tank: 9/2/1

@Keunert
As you will see over the next few turns, my ability to push forward is not impeded by little things, like Russian tank corps [:'(]
A lot of my panzer korps are near or at full strength because they haven't really done a lot of fighting. My motorized infantry is the most beat up, with a few infantry korps nearing 50% in strength. But I also have a large number of full strength divisions. And the Axis minors are only now beginning to fight, so they are fairly strong as well.

@James Ward
Actually, it would be a minor change to check supply at the beginning of each round, instead of of each turn, as supply is done by the event code. Anyone can access it. I may tweak it to see what happens. It might mean that being surrounded is death, though. I also think that it is better to let the Germans go first, because they hold the initative through most of the campaign...

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky

@James Ward
Actually, it would be a minor change to check supply at the beginning of each round, instead of of each turn, as supply is done by the event code. Anyone can access it. I may tweak it to see what happens. It might mean that being surrounded is death, though. I also think that it is better to let the Germans go first, because they hold the initative through most of the campaign...

I was thinking have the Russians move first in the scenario but freeze all their units (except maybe air units) like most of the German army is frozen in the Trappen scenario. After that though, the Russian would move first on each turn and not get the double whammy of low supply/poor movement right before a clear weather turn.


Being surrounded is usually pretty bad now so ....

[LiquidSky]

If the Russians move first, then you are transferring the problem to the Germans, as they would be the ones suffering lower readiness/supply after a mud turn. Mind you, the Russian ability to counterattack is more limited then the German one, so it wouldn't seem as bad, but then, there are large portions of my front that are 'in the red' or 'blue' during a mud turn.

I like the idea of calculating supply at the beginning of every turn much better, and will have to give that a good test to see what happens.

[James Ward]

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky



If the Russians move first, then you are transferring the problem to the Germans, as they would be the ones suffering lower readiness/supply after a mud turn. Mind you, the Russian ability to counterattack is more limited then the German one, so it wouldn't seem as bad, but then, there are large portions of my front that are 'in the red' or 'blue' during a mud turn.

I like the idea of calculating supply at the beginning of every turn much better, and will have to give that a good test to see what happens.

I like the supply for both at the beginning of the turn, I was not aware it could be easily modded.

The reason for letting the Russian move first is that, as you point out, their historical friend General Mud really doesn't help them and actually penalizes them.

[LiquidSky]

Turn 50: August 20, 1042. Weather: Clear

After my brilliant, incredible, historical offensive against his confused, inept defenders of the Don Bridghead, the Russians retreat in a shambles towards his three bridges, effectively turning it into three pockets. South of Stalingrad, the Russians form an impressive looking line of rifle divisions and tank corps. I count at least 7 of them. I am beginning to think I may have to fight for Stalingrad, and I may not see the Volga in the month of August.

So I begin to move my SS and the rest of the panzer korp north to join the other one for the push on Stalingrad, while my newly arrived infantry korp moves east to cover the flank. On the bridgehead I push forward, and reach the Don in strength. The Russians have fortified some of the hills in his western most bridgehead, and I am not sure if I want to assault them or not.

[LiquidSky]

I must apologize, I was sick over the long weekend, and I had planned to catch up on my AAR, since we are in September now. A lot has changed.

I can try and catch up turn by turn (as I have been doing) or just give a quick summary, and post a map of what the front looks like currently, and then keep up on it turn by turn.

The Russian pig dog asked me when Artillery divisons become available (for building)...after much searching in the event code I discovered this:

Russian Mech Corps: September, 1942.
Russian Separate Tank Battalions: October, 1942.
Russian Artillery Divisons: November, 1942.
Luftwaffe Field Divisions: December, 1942. (weee, I can hardly wait!)
German Heavy Panzer Battalion: December, 1942. (feel the power)
Assault Gun Regiments (probably Russian) January, 1943.
Tank Corps: January, 1943 (adds an artillery unit to the corp)