Yet another grand campaign - GC 1941

[tm1]

The Triangle in the HEX means if you cross that HEX you will activate the South front facing the Romanians and they will slip away from the border, well most of them.

I don't bother trying to avoid it as I would rather trap the Soviets in the Lvov Pocket.

I guess it's a bad thing then.
[/quote]

6 of 1 half a dozen of the other, there is a lot of Soviet armour and mechanised troops around Lvov, I would rather quickly wipe them out , others like to try to catch all the fish in the barrel.

I don't play P v P so while there is a lot of troops on the the Romanian border, the destruction of the armoured formations will always be a priority as the AI blessed it will not pull its troops back like a Human player would so i will get them later on anyway.
cheers

[tm1]

Army Group Center

Cleared some pockets, they will all be liquidated next turn. Also moved the infantry up to catch up. Not anything special, my next course of action is to send 2nd Panzer group to Mogilev and 3rd Panzer group to Smolensk and Vitebsk.

Are you playing with fog of war on against the AI, if so cool.

[originalperson0]

Are you playing with fog of war on against the AI, if so cool.

Yep this is fog of war against the AI.

[originalperson0]

Time to use the mobile units, created a 3 hex gap in the enemy lines to eliminate zone of control and bought the other units in the back to exploit them. Vitebsk was pretty strong so I had to bring 2 divisions there to attack, Mogilev was much weaker, maybe it was just my units were too fatigued. I also forgot to turn on the ground support button that I disabled last turn and ground support is pretty useful against small units.

3PZ will head for Smolensk and Vyazma next, 2PZ will head towards Bryansk and Orel and will spread out further south.

[originalperson0]

I have done this sorta thing before in the South-western front scenario, shouldn't be that hard since the soviet units are super weak. I have some more motorized/armored units unfrozen back in Poland which I will use to make gaps in the enemy lines, and then let the ones around Tarnopol/Proskurov split into regiments and complete the encirclement linking up the the Romanians.

My infantry probably don't have enough MPs to get to the front and do an attack so I'm only relying on my mobile units.

[originalperson0]

The game crashed in the middle of doing this but I had a quicksave at the start of this, anyways the pocket has been completed and will most likely hold I think. I didn't have enough regiments to completely secure it but hopefully the AI isn't smart and just stay in their positions. They have some mech units that could link up with the area north of Proskurov that I was 1 hex away from encircling.

I turned on ground support this time and lost around 100 planes while the soviets lost like 400, it's pretty effective at disrupting enemy ground elements.

[originalperson0]

End of Turn 2

Soviets took around the same amount of ground losses as last time, I'm losing more planes than expected so I should probably adjust my air directive settings. Also I have a question, what do theatre boxes do? Is it worth it to send some divisions there to make everything 100% or I should just ignore it.

[originalperson0]

Turn 3 Air Phase

Just some recon and ground support, nothing special. I only do recon in places where I can find it useful like finding a gap or a weak spot in the enemy line in a place where I think a breakthrough is possible instead of just doing it all over the front.

After doing it, I found that the results were really weird. I used the recon guide here https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=383142 where each hex would have 1 strike or whatever and it didn't really work, maybe I was doing something wrong. It only recons some certain places like 3 - 4 times where soviet flak will destroy a lot of my planes.

[originalperson0]

Army Group North

Progress has been pretty slow, probably should have just ignored the soviet units in northern Latvia and just send the mobile units to Pskov on turn 2. Riga isn't getting a lot of supplies and it's probably because I messed up on supply priority or this is actually a feature of the game. The double rail from Daugavpils to Pskov is probably going to be completed next turn or two.

I'm only going to send the 4 divisions of the 18th Army to take Estonia as it isn't that important, attached a lot of corps to PZ4 because it's an assault army and that means more bonuses to CPP.

[OberstVonWitz]

Time to use the mobile units, created a 3 hex gap in the enemy lines to eliminate zone of control and bought the other units in the back to exploit them. Vitebsk was pretty strong so I had to bring 2 divisions there to attack, Mogilev was much weaker, maybe it was just my units were too fatigued. I also forgot to turn on the ground support button that I disabled last turn and ground support is pretty useful against small units.

Hi, Does not having GS "on" STOP aircraft from assisting battles? I cannot seem to stop 80 Ju 88 pounding ridiculously small Russian units? I really need to find a way....

[originalperson0]

Hi, Does not having GS "on" STOP aircraft from assisting battles? I cannot seem to stop 80 Ju 88 pounding ridiculously small Russian units? I really need to find a way....

It won't stop your planes from intercepting other enemy planes but it does stop ground support from your bombers

[originalperson0]

Didn't capture Smolensk, there is nothing between 2PZ and Bryansk right now, the infantry armies are taking a while to catch up. I already lost 136 AFVs this turn in AGN and AGC due to a lot of Soviet mech and tank units in the way and I can't use any infantry to attack.

My recon didn't really work so I didn't know what units were in the way, I turned on ground support for some battles but stopped because my fighters weren't escorting for some reason and I lost a lot of bombers. Minsk is finally hooked up with the rail which is hopefully help the supply situation, most of my units get their supply from Vilnius and Brest Litovsk.

[originalperson0]

I had to attack this mech unit a few times losing a lot of tanks, but in the third battle my support units were more effective than the actual unit used in battle. I just found this interesting it's nothing important

[originalperson0]

Army Group South

There was a gap in the Soviet line so after a few attacks by my motorized divisions I just sent my mobile divisions as far as I can, Soviets have a big chance to break out if the ai is smart but hopefully not. The soviets didn't break out of the pocket formed last turn, they just stayed in their same position.

They are probably garrisoning Kiev with like a division so I probably have to wait for my infantry to arrive to capture it because tanks don't do that well in cities. Anyways after that I will probably get all my tanks to move east and capture Cherkassy but the soviets will probably teleport a few divisions to form a solid frontline or whatever.

[originalperson0]

Soviets have now passed over a million losses mainly from capturing them with us only losing a bit over fifty thousand.

[tm1]

End of Turn 2

Soviets took around the same amount of ground losses as last time, I'm losing more planes than expected so I should probably adjust my air directive settings. Also I have a question, what do theatre boxes do? Is it worth it to send some divisions there to make everything 100% or I should just ignore it.

Well I put units into TB not really to get them back to strength but to gain bonus points, however some players actually do send them there into the " Reserve box " or you could send your units back to Berlin where they can really get refitted faster.

Having said that in 41 Panzer Div's seem to take longer, there is a reason why I think its hardwired into the 1941 situation but I could be wrong, I just know Pz's are taking a hell of a lot of time refitting.

regards

[originalperson0]

Army Group North

Tallinn is finally captured and reached Lake Ilmen. My recon noticed that there were very few Soviet units in the north for whatever reason but I didn't have enough fuel to go further. Soviets seem to be prioritizing the south and the center so maybe I can take Leningrad before winter. Infantry hasn't caught up yet so my mobile units have to do all the work but I want to capture as much land as possible.

Also for the air directives, for ground support they don't seem to have fighter escorts so I turned it off again and for recon I just set everything on auto and that seems to have fixed it, that or I accidentally kept the recon priority at airfields.

On the turn summary screen I only have like 800 trucks in the pool so I think that is just a normal thing with advancing too quickly or something like that.

[loki100]

End of Turn 2

Soviets took around the same amount of ground losses as last time, I'm losing more planes than expected so I should probably adjust my air directive settings. Also I have a question, what do theatre boxes do? Is it worth it to send some divisions there to make everything 100% or I should just ignore it.

Well I put units into TB not really to get them back to strength but to gain bonus points, however some players actually do send them there into the " Reserve box " or you could send your units back to Berlin where they can really get refitted faster.

Having said that in 41 Panzer Div's seem to take longer, there is reason why I think hardwired into the 1941 situation but I could be wrong, I just Pz's taking a hell of a lot of time refitting.

regards

different ones (for the Axis) play slightly different roles.

if you lock the Theatre Boxes then:

1) West, Italy, N Africa etc all work the same. If you exceed the base lines (each of air/land is treated differently) then you can gain VP/AP and possibly delay the later advance of the Western Allies. So generally being over is a good thing, the VP flow can add up, if you are under you are quite likely to shed VP. You can send extra stuff but not retrieve it - but usually you can spare some AA etc and it all adds up
2) the Soviet Garrison Box (opens T5) interacts with the Soviet partisan effort. If you are over, this reduces the effectiveness, if under increases it. Being over is a good idea and there are a few cavalry battalions/brigades you could usefully send
3) national reserve holds refitting units, if the unit is on refit mode it has absolute priority for replacements. Stuff can be sent/retrieved as you wish

If you unlock them, basics as above but read the manual for the constraints on what can be redeployed

[originalperson0]

Army Group Center

The progress I'm making is pretty fast at least compared to other people's playthroughs taking Smolensk on turn 4. However some of my divisions are too far away to receive any fuel/ammo and replacements so they just have like 8 MPs on the beginning of the turn. Ground support was turned off because no fighter escorts, maybe I should not rebase them for like a turn and see what happens.

Anyways, I am still deciding on continuing the advance with my depleted tanks or just considerate my lines until the infantry arrives. I got freight into Minsk this turn but it isn't receiving a lot of freight for some reason, maybe I just have to wait for a bit or something.

[tm1]

Army Group Center

The progress I'm making is pretty fast at least compared to other people's playthroughs taking Smolensk on turn 4. However some of my divisions are too far away to receive any fuel/ammo and replacements so they just have like 8 MPs on the beginning of the turn. Ground support was turned off because no fighter escorts, maybe I should not rebase them for like a turn and see what happens.

Anyways, I am still deciding on continuing the advance with my depleted tanks or just considerate my lines until the infantry arrives. I got freight into Minsk this turn but it isn't receiving a lot of freight for some reason, maybe I just have to wait for a bit or something.

Its a common situation in my current game and basically any of the games I have played I was able use my Pz Armee's to sweep round behind the enemy and trap huge forces in the opening months.

I would use the infantry and some Pz's if necessarily to destroy the pockets, but no sooner had the Axis turn finished a Soviet wall would appear in front of me.

So its was as they say " rinse and repeat " eventually the AI runs out of troops in the short term.

I focus on destroying the Red Army however I still try to push towards objectives at the same time, the thing is if you can quickly destroy the Soviets quickly it takes about 10 weeks for destroyed units to get back on the map.

I am probably not telling you anything you don't already know, of course the trick is having your Pz's fuelled and supplied so when the enemy has no units on the map you put the foot down, of course easy said than done.

Obviously i cant tell you how to play the game as everyone has a different play style and I am far from a expert but as for you depleted units " go for broke " sure rest here and there but drive them are far and as fast as you can go until the mud.

Then you could dig in and rest and wait till the supply lines catch up, the AI very rarely attacks in the mud weather, and so you can rotate your troops that are really bad out of the line.

If you can reach the forests in front of Moscow "dig in " you will either be forced back or give ground, either way don't be afraid to attack , not only counterattack but attack proper in the winter 41 /42, you have a better chance of holding in front of Moscow than in the South, which i found in my current game.

This was historically opposite, I did it and wrecked my Pz's more or less but I was ready come March and really attack hard that month, of course i could try this tactic next time and it could end up being a total disaster and there are far far better players with better advice.


regards