Vanilla FITE Kevin VS Larry

[larryfulkerson]

Um.......I see an AAR of the game between JDub and Wolftone and they are using a MOD-ed FITE but I don't know which version of TOAW ( 3.2 or 3.4.191 ? ) they are using but I thought it might be interesting to see how FITE goes with the 3.4.191 version because of all the changes between the two versions. Kevin and I are on turn 10 now because I have been lax in posting stuff but I've turned over a new leaf and got the posting bug.

Here's something you might find interesting: Kevin is using the *FORWARD DEFENSE* and it's paying him dividends already. He's lost some troops but I'm thinking it's not as many as he might have lost trying to just run away. I could be wrong. I've never played FITE where the Soviet dude uses the forward defense so this is going to be interesting for me at least.

Kevin is blowing bridges as fast as he can in front of my advance and the new bridge repair rules have cut the ability of the engineer to repair them fast. And it's not much of a help to just pile on engineers on that hex. None of them can repair in the same turn they move. Well, there are exceptions to that but not many.

Also, the railroad dudes aren't keeping up with the movement of the front lines. I remember FITE games where they did and it isn't this game. It does make a difference at the front lines. I'm having to try to shuttle fresh units to the front lines, rest the tired ones, and try to keep the front lines moving at the same time. What a great game so far. Kevin is doing a great job and it shows.

Here's the link to the first AAR of this game:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2bas96n6u2jftkf

And the next installment:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/hjkqxqkgp ... rn%203.zip

Here's the link for AAR turn 4:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/19srds7y2 ... rn%204.zip

Here's the link for AAR's for turns 5 and 6:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/pm2k0aybf ... 0-%206.zip

Here's the link for the turn 7 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4452a9oyc ... r%20T7.zip

Here's the link for the turn 8 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dayedqc9y ... rn%208.zip

Here's the link for the turn 9 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/z2bk7vi7t ... rn%209.zip

Here's the link for the turn 10 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jshla8bem ... n%2010.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/818fm4u84 ... n%2011.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/117y0b9wx ... n%2012.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/14u22qh1a ... n%2013.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/clvwb9424 ... n%2014.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/r3a55c9z1 ... n%2015.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cepah5z6y ... n%2016.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/e94sl8c1a ... n%2017.zip

http://www.fileshost.com/download.php?id=07866BBE1

http://www.mediafire.com/file/w2mvjzbk4 ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/twp5hr7js ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/g5cz1rrfb ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/crk8yp59t ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/crk8yp59t ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/394oibid9 ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/a1390bu1a ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/86i5h0mqw ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/i1dizxy4x ... %20AAR.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/p218igsyj ... %20AAR.zip

Here's the mini-movie from turns 0 - 3:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the mini-movie showing turns 4 - 7:

Notice that Kevin is using the same FORWARD DEFENSE north of Leningrad as well and it's stalled the advance a little bit. I'm still able to schooch south a bit at a time but it's going faster than it would if the Germans weren't helping. I'm hoping to draw some defenders to the north of Leningrad area so as to prevent them from being used to stall my advance from the southwest toward Leningrad. I guess I need not worry about that it's already stalled. LOL.

Here's the next group of AAR's :
http://www.mediafire.com/file/hjkqxqkgp ... rn%203.zip

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the link for AAR turn 4:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/19srds7y2 ... rn%204.zip

Here's the link for AAR's for turns 5 and 6:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/pm2k0aybf ... 0-%206.zip

Here's the link for the turn 7 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4452a9oyc ... r%20T7.zip

Here's the link for the turn 8 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dayedqc9y ... rn%208.zip

Here's the link for the turn 9 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/z2bk7vi7t ... rn%209.zip

Here's the link for the turn 10 AAR:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jshla8bem ... n%2010.zip

Here's the mini-movie for turns 8 through 10.

Notice how much slower the advance is. Kevin's front lines has almost brought my advance to a halt in places. My dudes are getting tired now and several of them are in the red already. Plus the fighting is grinding down the strength of my dudes. Plus supply is a lot slower being brought to the front. I'll post some supply studies to show the supply flow(s).

[larryfulkerson]

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

[the AAR shows much more detail]

[JKLilly]

This is Kevin Lilly, playing the Soviet. I've never played FITE and am making many rookie mistakes. Larry is an excellent mentor during the game.

The forward defense strategy is based on the proposition that I can't lose that many more troops than the actual Soviets did, so why not try to save some real estate? Larry executes broad, methodical attacks--really excellent coordination. My biggest problem is organizing the flow of troops. Every time I pull a formation together Larry crushes 2/3 of it and they reconstitute somewhere in Mongolia, and spend the next month walking West.

Larry does creative things like blowing bridges by air, always far away from my bridging teams. So the combination of my troops defending in the West and the slowed reinforcement means it's tough to gather a reserve. Worse, I didn't protect my fleet, which is now at the bottom of the Black Sea.

On the bright side, I have retained more real estate than Stalin did. I'd really like to see some mud.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's turns 6 through 10 of the Battle of Leningrad:

[you don't have to download it, just click on the link. At least that's what I do.]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/14 ... 6 - 10.gif

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the link to a map that shows where I think the broken bridges might be.  There may be more but I found most of them I believe.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/14 ... urn 10.GIF
[you don't have to download it, just click on the link. At least that's what I do.]
I think maybe I'll post a smaller version for those of you who don't want to download a 2MByte file.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a link to a "movie" of part of the Battle for the Stalin Line turns 1 thru 6 [1.4 Mbytes]:

[you don't have to download it, just click on the link. At least that's what I do.]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/14 ... 1 - 6.gif

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the second half of the "movie" of the Battle of the Stalin Line[1.3Mbytes]:

[you don't have to download it, just click on the link. At least that's what I do.]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/14 ... 7 - 10.gif

[larryfulkerson]

Here's a map that shows some of my strategic/tactical plans.  It's about 3 Mbytes big but you don't have to download it just click on the link:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/14 ... plans.GIF

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the losses "movie". According to turn 10's losses I'm loosing about 785 HRS squads per turn. That's lower than my usual toll. I don't know if it's because of the differences between 3.2 and 3.4.191 or if it's because of Kevin's Forward Defense but maybe it's a combination of the two.

I can do the same kind of movie for the guns and / or planes if anybody wants to see those numbers.

[larryfulkerson]

I've had a request for the rest of the numbers. In the picture below I have marked with a red circle those types of equipment that I'm loosing faster than I'm building them. And a cyan asterick marks those equipment types I'm no longer building.

[larryfulkerson]

Um......Kevin said something about me being a mentor......well, I didn't much feel like a mentor so I took a couple of hours and put some hopefully helpful tips for Playing FITE and
put them into an HTML document.  You can find said document here:  [2.3 Mbytes]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mi30b7tlx ... 20tips.zip

I've attached a picture of the first page of the document.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm through with my turn 11 moves and put together the AAR for it. You can find it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/818fm4u84 ... n%2011.zip

I made it across the river west of Odessa finally. Now the Battle for Odessa can begin in earnest.

[larryfulkerson]

With a little help from the Germans the Finns eliminated all the Soviet units all the way down to the Finn Stop line. I guess it's up to the Germans now to capture Leningrad. Maybe I should move another German division up there to help the effort.

[larryfulkerson]

I took the AAR movies from turns 2 thru 9 and put them together into a "movie" showing the German moves ( from turns 2 throu 9 ).  It's pretty cool actually.  It's about 18MBytes big but I think it's worth it to see in detail how the front line moved over a greater stetch of time.


http://www.mediafire.com/file/b362zsqyc ... 0-%209.zip

[JKLilly]

[&o]

[JKLilly]

All I can say is after seeing this AAR -- I'm glad Soviet uniform trousers are brown.

Mistakes not to make:

(1) Forward defense doesn't work, at least not the way I tried it. Better to concentrate your best formations and simply set roadblocks with others. I got decent results with local counter attacks. If I could manage turn burn I might accomplish more.

(2) Keep cavalry or other high recon units available behind the line to help disengage your more powerful defensive units.

(3) Have a plan. FITE will kill you if you try to improvise too much.

(4) Oh, and yeah, don't leave your fleet floating around the Black sea. [:o]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: jklilly
Keep cavalry or other high recon units available behind the line to help disengage your more powerful defensive units.

This is a good idea. Unfortunately the Axis doesn't have a boatload of recon units to go around. Only the Panzers have recon units and the way I play they are usually busy except when the front lines are static and don't move all that much.

ORIGINAL: jklilly
Have a plan. FITE will kill you if you try to improvise too much.

I think I may be in trouble 'cause I don't have much of a plan. I've been just moving my dudes like they were water flowing in the path of least resistance. I guess my "plan" was to grab the objectives and kill all the Soviet units that get in my path to those objectives. Part of my problem coming up with a plan is that I not very good in estimating how long it's going to take to do things like move from here to way over there. I'm getting better at estimating how much force it's going to take to reduce roadblocks but anything bigger than that is just a guess on my part.

Good comments and thanks for posting. Pictures are good. If you have some that are relavent go ahead and post 'em here.

[Jdub]

Love your aars Larry. The Germans look like they might be in trouble if the soviet defenses stay semi solid as they're looking right now. Best of luck to you and you're opponent. I hope you guys take this one far.