Nach Moskau und zurück - Gunnulf (A) AtAtack (S) GC-No early end

[Gunnulf]

Given that we've planted the flag all over the continent, the British are about to get kicked out of Africa and we are about to starve them with our Atlantic blockade now seems like the perfect time to tidy up the map a bit and add the USSR to the Reich. What can possibly go worng?

AtAtack had had a few Axis player wrap things up in 42 when it looked like no hope of autovictory and was looking for someone to go the distance. With a long history of getting beaten up and losing all my carriers as the IJN in WITP and the taken to pieces by QBall in my last Axis AAR in WITW I agreed to step up to a NoEarlyEnd GC. We fully intend to take the fight to the enemy but also to give him the pleasure of revenge as well, and hopefully document the glory and misery here for the (fake) history books. We decided on no motorisation which is fine by me to leave out, TB on, but with AI Air. I think that might have been an accident but either way gets around the possible issue with GA people are chatting about and less to manage.

With that in mind here it goes. Already on T8 as been busy to put pen to paper, but will catch up with a few and leave a little OpSec delay as AtAtack says he will struggle to control his nosiness!

T1 AGN

Not too many surprises early on though, a very vanilla opening for AG Nord. Riga and the lower River Daugova crossed, and the combined efforts of 2 Rail teams nearly reaches Kaunas. Panzers Vorwarts!

[Gunnulf]

T1 AGC

Again pretty vanilla for AGC. Minsk secure, no Pz Corps diverted south, at least not yet, but one will support AGN for a while at least.

[Gunnulf]

AGS leads itself to a bit more variation that the other two perhaps.
We decide against a Lvov pocket gambit as we don't want to trigger the Southern Front early. We focus on a small pocket in the north of the sector and hammer our way through to Lvov.
We do use some of our early AP to switch 11th Armee to assault HQ mode as they have a lot of assets to manage when they go live in T2.

[Gunnulf]

T2 - Pedal to the metal

Last first this time as 11th Armee & their Romanian comrades limber up and cross the frontier. 11th Armee also takes the Hungarian Mobile corps under command to give them a bit more mobility.
Meanwhile in 1st Panzer Group finds empty space as apart from a few rearguard forts AtAtack has traded a bit of space for time here, which of course is pretty rational.
17th Armee also becomes an Assault HQ to manage the assets it has, but in the meantime mops up the rear.

Meanwhile in the centre 9th & 4th Armee clear up the Bialstok pockets but also where possible push corps forward to keep up with the Panzer which are approaching the Land Bridge.

And finally in the north Talinn and Pskov are already in our sights...

[Gunnulf]

T3 - Pursuit

Totenkopf takes Tallinn by coup de main assault. Pskov is outflanked, not pocketed but certainly untenable. The footsloggers set records for marching to try to keep up but the first divisions are not too far behind. Keeping these updates pretty short as not a incredible divergence from most games so far I'm sure!

[Gunnulf]

T3 AGC

Vitebsk and another small pocket formed. FBD2 passes through Minsk, beating FBD3 to the glory. Meanwhile FBD 4 nearly reaches Daugapils heading towards Pskov at good pace.

[Gunnulf]

T3 AGS

Panzer Gruppe 1 races across the empty Ukranian steppes while the railhead pushes to keep as close behind as possible.
11th Armee reaches what appears to be the maginot line. Will we ever get past this? OKH gathers together all the big siege guns and sends them to 11th Armee to prepare...

[Gunnulf]

T4 AGN


The minor garrison of Pskov falls as the lead elements of 18th & 16th Armee's catch up. Already a decent line forming to the north but our supply trains are not too far behind either.

[Gunnulf]

T4 AGC

As Vitebsk falls another pocket forms around Smolensk, not many divisions but all adds up. Still some fuel in the tanks but time for a bit of a slow-down while 9th Armee catches up, and just as importantly the FBD2/

[Gunnulf]

T4 AGS

Very very little resistance so far so we reach the outer defences of Kiev and possibly some Soviets willing to fight in the steppes south of Cherkassy.
Odessa is cut off buy the Hungarians.

[Gunnulf]

T5 Odessa

The noose closes on Odessa, though no way yet to know how big a garrison he formed here. The bulk of 11th Armee with siege artillery is forming up leaving just XI Korps to continue the pursuit against the illusive foe.. We do catch 11th Tank Div as a bonus though.

[Gunnulf]

T5 Kiev

6 divisions pocketed on the steppes, otherwise the first of our infantry reach the banks of the Dnepr and solve the mystery of the missing enemy hordes. 6th Armee catches up to the outskirts of Kiev ready for a fight.

[Gunnulf]

T5 Smolensk

4 divisions go in the bag when Smolensk falls to 9th Armee. Meanwhile 3 PanzerArmee pockets the Soviet 10th Armee HQ and a Tank Div while skirmishing east against relatively light opposition.
FBD2 nearly at Vitebsk with the much needed schnapps railwagons not far behind. Thirty work marching in this summer heat!

[Gunnulf]

T5 Pskov

36 Motorised got itself in a bit of a pickle when a bold blocking move got them in bother but Totenkopf rode to the rescue.
Otherwise the railhead reaches Pskov and the grind north through the swamps and forests begins in earnest.

[loki100]

nice to see.

How are you finding the AI-assist for MP, probably the only game that has reported using it?

[Gunnulf]

It's not terrible, but it's definately sub-optimal. 1st few turns I don't think it makes too much difference with the early airfield bombing and what ground support is doable given how far the air bases are from the leading elements. Naval patrols I could not persuade it to do which could cause dramas if Odessa is strongly held. As the game progesses I'll focus on a few points but so far air losses seem more or less in line with any game, and ground support seems OK. We both have the same air-brain I guess to that levels the playing field at least and prevents exploits. Not that I know any anyway!

Main thing I want to achieve is see the late game GC in MP. I'm presuming AtAtack has a good Soviet strategy that has convinced a few Axis to give up in 42 so far so I've no illusions of reaching the caspian sea and fully expect to be on the back foot later...

[HardLuckYetAgain]

Awesome seeing you again Gunnulf I wish you the best in your game!

Good Luck Sir!

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Gunnulf

It's not terrible, but it's definately sub-optimal. 1st few turns I don't think it makes too much difference with the early airfield bombing and what ground support is doable given how far the air bases are from the leading elements. Naval patrols I could not persuade it to do which could cause dramas if Odessa is strongly held. As the game progesses ...

maybe a daft question but did you select Odessa as the target? The UI is laid out so you need to scroll down through the list of possible ports (its organised by sea area)

[Gunnulf]

Cheers HLYA, I'll need more than luck where I'm going...!

The problem with Auto Nav Patrol is its kinda either under or overkill and not very focused. For example here is suppression of Kuressaare by the Baltic Squadrons & KG1 in support. Mostly gets the +2 needed but not everywhere so certainly (if WITW is anything to go by) could lose a ship to interdiction, whereas there are lots of patrols going where they are not needed. Not the end of the world but I feel need to commit a bit more to make sure...

[Gunnulf]

T6 Odessa

Only 20k defending Odessa so it falls at the first attempt, I expect the 1st resistance to be at Kherson instead. It does seem like defending Odessa in H2H never happens, for probably good reason. I do wonder what it would take to make it work for anything close to historical, unless the Axis do just commit the Romanians.