Korsun Pocket Campaign AAR

[BrubakerII]

Hi all.

With the game's development progressing along rapidly, I thought I would share with you over the next couple of weeks some AAR's of a game I am playing with a fellow tester Josan so you can see for yourselves the challenges that lie in store!

Please bear in mind that we are still testing the game at this point so please don't ask me stuff you know I can't answer Having said that I will try to help you with queries you may have. Till the game is released then I hope these pages will whet the appetite - it will be well worth the wait.

Brubaker

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This is the full campaign game played at normal settings. In this game Josan is playing the embattled German and I the all conquering Russian forces. I have some revenge to wreak on Josan that is way overdue from previous battles I have been brushing up on my tactics and intend to litter the battlefield with Wehrmacht corpses!


The map below is the in game strategic map that resides in the top right hand corner of the display. It displays the entire battle area at a glance and can be used for zooming in quickly to a given location. I have cut it out and enlarged it here a little for you. The front lines are displayed in red, German forces in light blue and Russian in yellow. Note the concentration of my eager forces to the east! The west side of the map is clear at present as my forces are due to appear on turn 3.



The intention of the campaign of course is to form a pocket in which the entrapped German forces will be crushed! This pocket is located around the city of Korsun which I have highlighted with a cross. I have drawn in two yellow arrows to show you my approximate intended line of travel with the junction of armoured spearheads at Zvenigorodka - as happened in real life. Of course whether my opponent allows this to happen is another thing...

Of note is the small pocket of Russian forces (red ring) lying encircled behind the German lines to the west. These forces remain from a failed Russian offensive prior to this campaign and are protecting a small supply dump that keeps them alive. This pocket will no doubt become a natural target for my western relief forces, who will then push on to the main objective of linking up and forming the Korsun Pocket.



To begin with however the assault starts in the east with the massive concentration of soviet armour and infantry, not to mention the pre-registered artillery strikes. The latter is represented ingame by some massive bonuses for the Russians early on and I intend to use them full well against my German friend.

The screenshot below shows you a small portion of the battle map to the east where the heaviest attacks have begun. Again I have drawn in yellow arrows to indicate my main line of attack. Slatopol is a critical early objective as it will then form a bridgehead across the river obstacle. Slightly to the north of that I can see myself using the path between the forests where the clear ground will suit my armour - of which I have plenty. Further to the north near Zerdyukovka my forces are conducting offensive recon in order to unbalance the defenders and stop them moving south and blocking the travel of my armour.



The main hiccup in my plan will be the 3rd Panzer Division who though in a severely weakened state is entrenched across my armoured axis of travel. I have no doubt however that this division will retreat at full speed in the German turn or face encirclement and annihilation shortly after. With the line pierced in so many places, and Russian armour stacking up at those gaps, I expect the German Commander to retreat his panzer division to the nearest area of safety, out of range of my heavy artillery and behind an obstacle that will provide some defensive benefit. This will likely be behind the river indicated by the red line, with a further retreat as necessary to the pink line to the west. At any rate, I intend to give him no respite and will harass these panzer units as much as possible.

Finally, if you are wondering why some of my units are coloured brown, this is because Stavka have instructed me not to give too much away to my foe (beyond what I have already). What units lie beneath those covers? We shall see next turn once the German move is in place.

Brubaker

[Ross Moorhouse]

This is a fully sanctioned AAR from Matrix. So don't think he has gone and blown his NDA.

[U2]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the AAR! It's a good thing to have before the game comes out...any update on that Ross?:)

Cheers
Dan

[BrubakerII]

Turn 2 of my offensive and I am eager to march on. I need to clear the enemy frontline first so I can deploy all my armour and cavalry - the fastest units on the map. Here then is the eastern front line after the German move. As you can see Josan has (unwisely?) chosen to move all available units to the front to close the gaps I created. I am hoping he has done this to his peril because as I have said previously the Russian receives some massive artillery bonuses in the first few turns and it is not difficult to launch overwhelming attacks against the German early on.

Having said that I have ringed the units that I feel are most vulnerable to my forces. All four units of the 3rd Panzer are extremely weak at present as are the two infantry regiments (stacked together) deployed amongst them. I am going to try and deploy as much artillery to the front as possible and attack using the 29th and 20th armoured brigades plus support troops. The terrain beyond them is ideal for my armour...



These two screenshots show you the pop-up dialogues that I can access by right clicking on an enemy unit. These are two of the regiments I oppose. In the attack above the 6th Panzer regiment suffered no losses - they being entrenched behind a river was just too strong to overcome. The 3rd Panzer recon battalion however took 1 loss (the red skull) which leaves it with only one 'step' of strength left. Note that the terrain each is deployed in (bottom left corner) are now heavy with obstruction. This will abate over time but will serve to slow me for a while.





Here is the same section of map after my attacks. I have succeeded in destroying the 394th motorised infantry regiment 3rd Panzer, as well as one of the 106th infantry regiments. The 3rd Panzer recon battalion has also been forced back with loss. Most importantly of all though is the 8th Army supply truck that was deployed close to the line. With this gone it will become harder for Josan to supply his front line, particularly in the short term. Surely now a general retreat will take place?



If you are wondering why I didn't advance into these gaps immediately, it is because what you cannot see on the screenshot above is the terrain under the units. Here is a shot that has the units ('U' keyboard shortcut) removed. Note that although I destroyed a nice section of outposts and forts, there are still large quantities of enemy mines (skull and crossbones) deployed beneath. These have the effect of slowing all movement to a crawl and stopping supplies altogether. A hazard that must be cleared before moving on further. Of note also is the heavy terrain deformation that has been caused by the artillery involved in the battles.



Mines are represented by 3 differing levels of obstruction and each of these has an icon slightly lighter in colour than the previous. Therefore the darkest icon on the map is at 'full strength' ie. level 3, the lighter blue icons are level 2, and the very light is level 1. Mines are cleared (decreased in level) by friendly units being adjacent to them, with some units being more effective at this than others. I have gone to some trouble to place engineer units in the stacks around this area and they should clear soon enough.


Again I presume that at this point Josan is going to have to retreat from the front line. If he does not I fully expect to destroy 2 more 3rd panzer units next turn which will severely weaken him. Time will tell.

[Fred98]

Keep em coming!

Whoo! We are on our way!

[HannoMeier]

Excellent. I am really waiting for this one. Is it still planned to include the original Ardennes Offensive scenario?

Hanno

[Pawlock]

Ok, Im a sortta traiter for playing HPS's version of game with same name, but in saying so Im looking for some comparisons.

Now HPS version , just for a largish scenario( not full campaign ) you can count on 2- 3 hours to do a turn. Now I would imagine the Matrix version a lot quicker due to less counters available, but on average, how long do you guys take to process a turn ? from quickist to your longest?

Also on topic sort of, how many turns is the full campaign game in Matrix version supposed to last?

Anyway guys, great AAR's here, keep up the good work.

p.s Im still planning on buying this as the interface and scale of the game are completly differnt for both games. The TAO interface, i must say is the best I have seen for a wargame of any kind and this alone should be enought for most to at least give it a go

[BrubakerII]

@ Hanno

To the best of my knowledge It is intended to include the TAO2 campaign. I have seen the map and it is beautiful. Of course it will use the new engine which means some units will now have 4 steps etc. It should breathe life into the game as you knopw it.

@Pawlock

You are right in that it does not take 2-3 hours to process a turn

In the campaign, when playing Russians, the first few turns in particular take around 20-30 mins depending on how intricately you want to control the action. As German however, being far less units to move around, it takes around 10-15 mins. Of course we have played many times over now and sort of know what we intend to do from the beginning, whereas someone new at the game might take a while longer to suss things out a bit.

The full campaign game lasts 48 turns.

Pawlock I agree about the scale and interface. I have played many many of these types of games and find the SSG version the most simplest for the technicality involved. I like the more complex games as well (eg. HPS) but don't always like having to do all the staff work involved. This game lets me concentrate on the strategy.

Brubaker

[BrubakerII]

Turn 3. True to all great battle plans, Josan is not following my intentions for him The German commander continues to frustrate my moves and hangs on to his frontline positions to his (and my) detriment. The picture below shows the map as presented to me for my next turn. As you can see Josan has continued to thin his line and use the spare units to plug holes. His units at the critical point (red circles) now only contain one step each and will certainly be destroyed this turn. This will include the remainder of the 3rd Panzer who are now grouped together. It has become a literal mincing machine and the race is on to see whether he runs out of reinforcements before I do offensive power.

[side note] - A point to note in this game is that the side with overall points gained will win. There are several ways to achieve this. Hanging on to terrain objectives for allocated periods is one way, destroying units is another. By allowing me to kill these units, Josan is unwittingly playing into my hands. Having said that he of course is denying me any terrain objectives. It will certainly be a battle to the end for a points win.



This is the map after my attacks in this area. Although it may not look much different, in fact the German has had another 5 units destroyed this turn including 2 more regiments of the 3rd Panzer. At this rate though he will stop me linking up with the west early, he will lose so many units the game will be lost. The point value of the panzer forces is very high and the loss of each regiment can be heart breaking.

My main concern now is the release of two panzer divisions from the south (red line). At this stage the entry of those strong units from behind the riverline will make my task even more difficult.




To the west. My forces have arrived on board in this sector and await their orders! My intention here will not be as initially planned (breakthrough to my surrounded units), because after my experience in the east I can see Josan will make it next to impossible to wade through the front line (red circle). Instead I am opting for a shift to the north where the line is weakest and the terrain more suitable (yellow circle). The yellow arrows indicate my intended attack route.



Here is a small section of the map after my initial attacks (it was ringed in yellow on the screenshot above). As you can see I have cleared a large section of the frontline and have armoured units sitting in the wings for advance. I now have to wait for Josan to move. I think he will 'load-up' in the north and try to present a solid front line much as he has done in the eastern sector. I only hope I can force a large enough gap to exploit through.



This is becoming a fearsome contest. In the next turn I intend to move some of my heavy artillery toward the front to get into range of the new German positions. Although this requires sacrificing their use in that turn, it will allow some devastating firepower to be brought to bear the turn after (turn 5).

Brubaker

[U2]

Hi Brubaker/Ross

I have a question regarding the editor. First of all have you seen it and what is your comment on it?

If you have seen it will I be able to create any type of battle I want (W. Europe, Italy, E.Europe, Pacific, N.Africa) or is it ideal for only Russian/German units with the typical european hexes.

Oh the AAR is great and I want the game even more now.

Dan

[Josans]

Despite the stand and fight Hitler´s orders the front remains strong!!! The powerful 5th SS Wiking finnaly arrived to close the gaps and attack the soviet spearhead:p

Seig heil.

[U2]

Originally posted by Josan
Despite the stand and fight Hitler´s orders the front remains strong!!! The powerful 5th SS Wiking finnaly arrived to close the gaps and attack the soviet spearhead:p

Seig heil.

Taking the game too seriusly eh:D

Dan

[Josans]

Originally posted by U2
Taking the game too seriusly eh:D

Dan

Oh no, I was joking to do the AAR more interesting;) The important now is the hard way of testing, you know:D

Really trying different strategies every game to see how the game develops.

Josan.

[BrubakerII]

Turn 4 has been a mixed bag for the me the Russian commander. In the Eastern sector the German has received two very strong panzer divisions as reinforcement and has deployed them right in front of my armoured corps. Accordingly I cannot hope to break through them and am faced with a difficult task. Nevertheless I have continued to make strong attacks against his line and destroyed several more steps in the process. All I can do I feel is to keep assaulting, looking for a weakness and then exploiting with everything that is nearby and available. The screenshot below shows the line after my turn.

As you can see my armour is concentrated in the sector right in front of his new panzer units. They have plenty of fast moving cavalry waiting behind them but have to forge a gap first to use them. I will continue to move as much of my artillery forward as possible to support my attacks and continue to hammer my way forward. Surely I can wear him down and force a retreat?

I have continued to succeed in breaking the line to the north and exploited with my 5th airborne division (red ring) - though not enough to panic him yet. This unit now looks to be able to exploit further possibly trapping a lot of german units in a pocket to the south east? I also have cavalry waiting behind this sector so I hope to exploit the slightest error Josan might make. The difficulty of course is the sheer amount of armour he now has deployed in the south, which is but a turn away from shifting north. If you look carefully to the south you can see he has a lot of units to maneovre with and that they are backing into some really good defensive terrain. The trick is going to be to continue to unhinge one sector or another and not allow him to form a cohesive line in both sectors at the same time. It is going to be an arduous task for me I think.



To the west things look a little brighter for my brave Cossacks however.

The 5th armoured brigade has successfully broken the line to the north and the 5th mechanised brigade has equalled this in the south. Both units have relatively clear terrain in front of them to advance. Having said this the enemy has a lot of stug battalions deployed around my 'pocket' which can be called on for support if he needs them. I really need to force a hole in the line and to exploit more than two units through so as to create a deep chain of units into his rear - something I have yet been able to do. Perhaps here in the open snow near Medvin I can put on my skates? At present there certainly doesn't seem to be any panzer divisions that can come to rescue him - lets hope this doesn't change in the near future.




Brubaker

[peter hellman]

Did you quit the game soldiers? Just keep the AAR's coming, I promise we really are reading:)

And nice attachments

[Capitaine]

Definitely reading and [especially] looking at the screenies!

[Mac_MatrixForum]

Splendid work. The AAR inspired me to play a game of TAO2 once more . I hope there'll be many quick to play scenarios too since they are good when I don't have too much time to spare.

[BrubakerII]

Hi Gents

No, we didn't quit the game :p

After the last AAR I received a new build of the game which had some minor improvements etc. Problem is, a new build cannot use the olf save game files Josan and I have begun another game and as soon as it reaches turn 5 I will continue posting.

It will lack a little continuity of course :rolleyes: but overall will be at much the same place.

Brubaker

[Fred98]

So, you are practising the opening moves over and over again? You will be an expert at the opening moves!

[BrubakerII]

Hi all. After a brief hiatus I present the fifth turn in our campaign.

This turn will appear a little disjointed in continuity because Josan and I had to begin afresh with a new build of the game. Needless to say we are not complaining as the more tweaking that is done the better the final product will be!

One of the most important fixes was in the area of Divisional Integrity. I will discuss this in detail next time and limit this turn to bring you up to date.

Because we started again, I took the liberty of trying a different tactic. Instead of trying to move my armour en mass and bludgeon a hole through the line, I decided to try a more risky technique of blowing small holes and forcing any and all units that had capability through. This technique has been semi-successful as it tends to leave units stranded on their own in no-mans land where they are easy pickings for the powerful german Panzer forces.

The screenshot below shows you the south eastern front at the end of the Russian turn 5. Note the overall gain has been more than the previous game though a little more haphazard. Shpola is clearly within reach and just beyond that (out of sight) is a row of entrenchments which will form the eastern boundary of the pocket (I hope!). Careful observers will note both I (yellow) and Josan (blue) have placed air interdiction behind our respective enemies front lines. This serves to strangle roads of supplies. Obviously I have more to lose than he at this point. The yellow arrows show my intended line of travel.



The next picture shows the section of line slightly north of the last.

As you can see I have successfully broken this line in a couple of places. My objective is to run my cavalry through as fast as possible and try and reach his bridges before he can retreat over them and blow them. I have large numbers of cavalry in this area (11th and 12th brigades) with attached armour. I have squandered them a little but in the next turn hope to move them deep inside his lines. Out of interest Korsun itself is about 10 or so hexes west of the riverline and forts so you can see what I am trying to do. Josan at this point will need to get to the river before I and set up a defence. Interesting times ahead.



The last pic is of the western front where things have all but stalled. This time around I decided to try and punch my armour and mechanised units straight through the front (yellow circle)instead of hooking them north east. As you can see this has been successful to a degree but overall failed.

Josan has been counterattcking in the same area and has claimed an armoured unit of mine already The amount of deformation on the terrain is awful due to the amount of artillery we are both using and is making rapid movement impossible. I might contemplate at this point withdrawing the armour and sending it north again to try and break through there.



Till next time.

Brubaker