The Great Patriotic AAR III (No glvaca please)

[Tarhunnas]

My game against Michael T is somewhat slow paced, so as I had time for another GC, I started a game against glvaca. This gives me an opportunity to try out a somewhat different strategy with more picket and MLR instead of relying heavily on checkerboard during the first phase of the game.

We agreed on the following house rules:

* Max 3 airbase attacks per arbase/turn after the first turn.
* No HQ bombings "when not stacked with combat unit".
* No Soviet landings west of the Crimea before 43 unless Sevastopol is Soviet held.

* No quitting
* No whining

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 1 after German moves. Pretty standard opening. In the North the Germans are across the Dvina in strength. Lvov and Kovel pockets in the south. No easily breakable pockets. As far as I can see the panzer distribution between the army groups is near to historical.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 1 after Soviet moves. I checkerboard in the Baltics, but in Byelorussia and the Ukraine I try to use picket and MLR. This is especially apparent in the Ukraine near Rovno. I would have liked to put the line behind the small river just east of Rovno, but several units didn't have the MPs to get there.

The Kovel pocket turned out to be breakable by oozing out.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 2. Map before Soviet moves. In the Baltics my checkerboard is herded up and surrounded. This does have the effect that the Pskov position is not threatened at all though.

In the center, the Germans simply blow right through my MLR! Maybe it was too far ahead? But I only had so many units, so that was the best I could manage. OTOH, no pockets.

In the South, the MLR is also penetrated, near Proskurov, with an uppercut behind the Rovno line. Again no pockets though. Glvaca appears more to be the deep penetrating type of Axis player than the systematic pocketing Pacman type. I think the deep penetrations are easier to handle, so this is encouraging.

[Tarhunnas]

Map of the northern part of the front after Soviet moves turn 2.

The pocket can be broken, and the Panzers are cut off instead!

[Tarhunnas]

In the South, the panzer spearhead is subjected to a "bear hug"!

[Banori]

i´ve read some of your games as a guest. it´s very interesting. i try to learn and understand, but something remains a secret for me.i only fight with ai.but in future maybe i´ll try to fight against human.
so many fights you and the other have fought and now a new again. you are fighting in accord??

[Klydon]

Bad oops for the German. Nice counter moves.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 3 after Axis moves. The northern pocket is resealed, more firmly this time, but they lost a turn there.

In the South, the Bear Hug sort of misfired and my MLR is now in the clutches of the panzers. [:(]

He is apparently using the Evil Starve Technique against the Lvov pocket, he seems in no hurry to finish off those units.

[Tarhunnas]

And turn 3 after Soviet moves. No way to break the pockets. I build up a massive carpet on the landbridge. In the Ukraine, I pull back and build a new picket line and MLR.

The surrounded units in the Lvov pocket try to fan out and ooze through as best they can. Sometimes you can reconvert a railway hex or just plain being a pain in the butt so the Axis must go chasing after them. Just sitting still and doing nothing is only a gift to the enemy.

[Tarhunnas]

I even remembered to take a shot of the losses screen.

[randallw]

ORIGINAL: Banori

i´ve read some of your games as a guest. it´s very interesting. i try to learn and understand, but something remains a secret for me.i only fight with ai.but in future maybe i´ll try to fight against human.
so many fights you and the other have fought and now a new again. you are fighting in accord??

This is a new game, and he's playing someone else, by himself, and his opponent is also by himself.

[Tarhunnas]

Turn 4. Nothing dramatic happening, so I show a few closeups of different sectors. Here is the North. Mainly pocket clearing and a panzer spearhead capture Ostrov.

[Tarhunnas]

The South. It seems the Germans made a thrust to the southeast and then changed their minds. A little odd, because they had broken through, but maybe they didn't have the MPs to exploit or were worried about the flanks.

The Panzers appear to be resting and refreshing, possbly a buildup here.

[gingerbread]

Tarhunnas, why do you keep the HQ's in the pockets instead of displacing them out?

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: gingerbread

Tarhunnas, why do you keep the HQ's in the pockets instead of displacing them out?

I sometimes displace them, but most of the time they will just go to an idiotic hex right in the frontline where they will be displaced again. So if I don't need them I just leave them in the pocket to die, and they will at least only be displaced once. I must admit though that I am not totally aware of all the pros and cons here, I am going by gut feeling.

[Balou]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

* No HQ bombings "when not stacked with combat unit".

Whats the purpose of HQ bombing ? I must have missed the thread about this one.

And thanks for the losse/OOB tables.

[Klydon]

Russians mass bombing German HQ's = dead German Generals and also damage to logistics.

Tarhunnas, there are two issues with allowing HQs to be displaced.

If they have a general you don't care about, no biggie. If there is a good general there, they could be killed when it displaces.

Also, running over HQ's will give the Germans an opportunity to capture fuel.

[notenome]

a general may always be killed when a HQ displaces, be it in combat or otherwise.

[Tarhunnas]

I would be interested if anyone has a grasp of the pros and cons, relocate it voluntarily to a new location where it is likely to be displaced again, or leave it in the encirclement?