FitE LarryFulkerson vs Okimaw

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the minimap view of the moves for turns 1 thro 8:

[Okimaw]

This turn saw a lot of major changes in strategic deployment. This is my first attempt at this scenario and there are a number of factors that I keep in mind. Foremost is the mistakes of Komrade Marshall Stalin and his Stavka. Five million POW's, 27 million dead and almost losing are what's at the front of my mind. Balancing this with the fact that the scenario doesn't neccessarily model history is a hard balancing act. Initially I decided to stand and defend further east than the Red Army did historically but after some reflection on terrain, forces available, recon on enemy forward units, and past experience I decided to change my defense strategy radically on two fronts. I moved so many units this turn that I actually used up all of my rail transport capacity.

Here is movie from the Red Army view up to move 8

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Here is a shot of the Lenningrad front. Not much change on this front, aside from the 30 divisions deployed last turn another 9 were transported this turn. A number of air units were transfered from Siberia as some level of air superiority is neccessary for defense of the area.

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Here is the Moscow front. I initially was going to deploy 80 km's east of the Vyezma line. In reviewing the situation I realized that if I deployed further east from the historical line I would forfeit the only terrain benefits available for the defense of Moscow, Volga and Ugra Rivers. Stavka is now in the process of moving to the forward defense line. The New line is outlined in red and should the line not hold retreat is possible to the original fortifications.

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In the area of Kiev/south a strong defensive line along the Dneiper River has been instituted. It was reinforced significantly this turn and further reinforcements are en route.

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Here are some the Red Army losses so far

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[TOCarroll]

Dumb generic FITW (and other monster games) question [8|]. Given the size of the map (you cant see anywhere near the entire front without a lotttttttt of scrolling), how do you allocate/keep straight your air attacks. Also, I assume that the Axis wants to wipe out the Red Air Force as fast as possible, so there are an incredible amount iof airfield attacks in the first few turns? If you have a stack of bombers, all set to Combat Mission, and they attack an airfield populated by planes, is this the same as conducting an "airfield attack", which has to be assigned one plane at a time? Please grace me with your wizdom, as I am trying to gear up to one day play this mazuma. [&o]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: TOCarroll
how do you allocate/keep straight your air attacks.

Early in the game, back when I knew where all the soviet aircraft were, I would write down on paper which aircraft attacks which airfield. Nowadays, I just work from north to south assigning bombers to airfields that have soviet aircraft on them and if I run out of bombers before I run out of airfields, well, I save those for next round, I guess.

ORIGINAL: TOCarroll
If you have a stack of bombers, all set to Combat [Support] Mission, and they attack an airfield populated by planes, is this the same as conducting an "airfield attack", which has to be assigned one plane at a time?

I donno, I've never done that. I suppose so, if that's the only targets in the hex. If there are any land units in the hex I guess they would be attacked as well instead of just the airfield. Good question.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines at the beginning of turn 9:
 

[larryfulkerson]

I moved some units and made some attacks and now it's round 2 and here's some of the Axis losses so far:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Just got two rounds this turn....this is the minimap view of moves 5 thru 9:
 

[Okimaw]

This turn was mainly trying to finish up the defensive deployment and entrenchments that were started last turn. In the opening of hostilities the Red Army has so much going against it, the total suprise of the initial assault, weak forward defenses, the destruction of the bulk of the air force. At this point Red Army is recieving a number of reinforcements but it is still not enough. So far terrain, the numerous super rivers and flooded marshes, have aided in the forming of defensive lines on a number of fronts as it frees up units to be deployed more freely and sometimes in depth.

Here is a movie of the last 9 turns from the Red Army view

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On the Lenningrad front, the effort to put up a good line at the Luga river has more or less been successful considering the circumstances. Narva and Luga are still holding which has given time for reiforcements to arrive and dig in. North of the city a fortified line has been completed just in time as Finnish forces close in on the city. There are some good combined arms forces in the south but in the north it consists of mostly naval infantry, fortress divisions, and scratch units. Enough air units have been transfered to give some hope of helpful cover in the coming battles.

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On the Moscow front the redeployment of forces to the Vyezma line is complete. Again it was possible to make combined arms formations along the whole front as well as supporting artillery along the most of the front. The front line has a number of divisions in tactical reserve and there is a large pool of secondary reserves from the Moscow military district command.

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In the Kiev/South Dnieper front it appears the Wehramcht is slowing down for a breather.The Kiev defenses are still intact and even counter attacked to give the 256 Panzer Grenadiers a bloody nose when they tried to make a flank attack on Kiev proper. The line along the Dnieper stil lacks some depth but is greatly aided by the extent of the flooded marshes on the east bank of this super river. Reinforcements are still on the way from the Caucusus districts and there is a fair sized pool of secondary motorised reinforcements already in the vicinity to serve as fire brigades should there be trouble on the line

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The Smolensk area has been somewhat neglected in the last turns as other areas were deemed to be in more trouble. This turn however it had a number of units transfered to it by rail. It lies straight in the path to Moscow and an effort to integrate it into the existing defense lines is being made. If it ends up that it is not defensible it will still be a major obstacle to the Wehrmacht drive on Moscow and will be reinforced to maximize their casualties and time spent.

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Here are the Red Army losses for armor so far

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[larryfulkerson]

Here's the front lines as of the beginning of turn 10:
 

[larryfulkerson]

The supply situation to the SW of Leningrad is unacceptable.  I need to get some railroad engineers busy repairing the rails up to that area so I can resupply the troops:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the situation at Kiev.  I've toppled the bridge with aircraft strikes so that hopefully the Soviet troops are trapped on the west side of the river so I can destroy them:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Just three combat rounds this turn.  I'm thinking that maybe I should switch over to the defensive mode soon, since the Soviet dude is going to start getting a ton of units.  But I think I'll push a bit more and see what else I can capture before doing that.  Here's the minmap view of the moves from turns 5 throu 10:
 

[Okimaw]

This turn there was not very much change. Formations moved and dug in across the whole front. Despite being cut off with no hope of relief, the garrisons at Odessa and Velikye Luki are still holding on, buying time for their comrades further east. Once again the workers of the people's railroads worked to maximum capacity transporting the the defenders of the motherland from all across the USSR.

Here is the turn 10 movie from the Red Army view

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The east flank of the Lenningrad front is now being reinforced. In all likelyhood if the job of breaching the Luga defenses becomes too rough, the Wehrmacht will try to flank around to this side, our comrades will be waiting for them.

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In the Moscow district and south Stavka has ordered all available resources to form a defensive line. While holding actions go on further west reinforcements arrive and dig in.

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The defenses along the Dnieper south of Kiev continue to be reinforced. The siege of Odessa and smaller centers along the south front continue to hold up the Rumanians and southern Wehrmacht forces, buying time for a viable defense east of those locations. Reinforcements continue to come in from the Caucusus republics.

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Smolensk is still recieving reinforcements while fighting rages west and south of the city. Stavka is still trying to allocate forces to integrate it into the main Moscow area defenses and not have to revert it to being a large holding action.

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Here are the Red Army losses for artillery and some heavy weaponry thus far.

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[larryfulkerson]

Oh...I forgot to show the moves for turns 9 and 10.
Here's the moves that took place in the northern 1/3 of the front lines during turns 9 and 10:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves from the middle third of the front lines during turns 9 and 10:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves from Minsk to Kiev during turns 9 and 10:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves that took place from Kiev to Odessa during turns 9 and 10:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves from about Leningrad to about Minsk that took place during turn 11 :

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves in turn 11 from about Minsk to about Kiev:
 

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the moves that took place in turn 11 from Kiev to Odessa: