Vokt (axis) vs Plaid (allies) 3.10 AAR

[Vokt]

Turn 36. August 1, 1941.

In Leningrad-Novgorod front Axis is pushing both from the north and from the south. From the south, Germans attacked 2 Soviet corps, destroying one and cutting from supply the other one. From the north Finnish army attacked Soviet corps, halving it. In Central Russia, Rzhev, Smolensk and Bryansk were taken. In Ukraine, Sumy, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk were all seized whislt Kherson held. Manganese resource in Sea of Azov was taken either thus cutting Crimea península:

[Vokt]

Turn 37. August 21, 1941.

Last Allies turn. Red army counterattack in Leningrad front left battered German panzerkorps:



Axis turn. In Leningrad, Germans in return destroyed 2 soviet corps (included unsupplied corps) and badly damaged another one. Soviet mech was attacked either and halved in strength. Finnish army continued with its harsh attacks north of Leningrad. In other sectors, Kaluga was taken and Oka river, reached. In the south, Kursk and Stalino fell to Axis. Shots at the end of Axis turn:

Leningrad front


Moscow front


Southern front

[Vokt]

Turn 38. September 10, 1941.

Axis turn. In Leningrad, 3 Red Army units were attacked this turn: 2 (corps) were destroyed and the other one (mech) was halved. Furthermore, Leningrad was cut from main supply after a garrison was forced to retreat, Wehrmacht reaching the Volkhov river from the SE. Finnish army continued to weaken Soviet corps defending Leningrad from the north:

[Vokt]

Turn 39. September 30, 1941.

Last Allies turn. Red army counterattack east of Novgorod left German corps battered and unsupplied:



Axis turn. In Leningrad front, German attacks destroyed Soviet mech near Novgorod and left city defenders much weakened . In the Volkhov, Soviet corps was attacked and destroyed, thus restoring supply for German corps unit. Finnish forces killed Soviet corps north of Leningrad. In Moscow front, Orel held German attacks. In Southern front, Rostov was taken. Shots at the end of axis turn:

Leningrad front


Moscow front


Southern front

[Vokt]

Turn 40. October 20, 1941.

Last Allies turn. Further Red Army attacks to weakened German unit in Volkhov river:



Axis turn. Still fair weather Eastern Europe. allowed Luftwaffe to keep operating so operations in Novgorod-Leningrad continued. Novgorod was taken and Soviet corps 1xN of the city was badly damaged. Finnish kept on pushing hard from the north, battering another Soviet corps who became a Guards unit. In Moscow front, Orel was finally seized. In the south, Romanians finally entered Odessa. Shots with Axis moves:

Leningrad front:


Moscow front:


Mud weather in Central Europe this turn. Anyway, German subs have been operating in the all-the-time fair weather Atlantic Ocean zone. They have attacked many times both Central and Southern convoys, damaging or sinking several. This turn they sunk Southern convoy(35) and in the process, they spotted a large RN fleet escorting transported units, likely bound for Red Sea.

[Vokt]

Turn 41. November 9, 1941.

Last Allies turn. Red Army made some approaches in Moscow and Southern fronts:




Axis turn. Surprisingly it was fair weathern again in Eastern Europe. This way, Germans kept on the offensive in Leningrad. They killed 2 Soviet units more (a corps and a garrison) leaving unsupplied another one. Finnish army, widely supported by Luftwaffe in succeeded to destroy recently formed Soviet guards unit:

[Vokt]

Turn 42. November 29, 1941.

In last Allies turn (fair weather) Red army made approaching moves in Moscow front. 2 Guards mech units have been deployed in Kalinin:



Axis turn. Mud weather in the East. Axis dispositions for facing upcoming Winter campaign:




A Central convoy with 71 PP's was spotted but no u-boat unit was at range. Anyway, all available 5 German sub units were not at range but they approached as much as they could hoping to ambush the convoy.

At the end of Axis turn severe Winter started.

[duncanr]

he has to protect the Western Flank of Moscow or risk losing it - either way you should be able to position so you can kill a lot of Russian units in the 42 campaign

[Cybvep]

He can attack your ARM from three sides! You shouldn't expose your ARM units like this IMO.

[_Augustus_]

Espcially when it's an ARM unit with two levels of XP! You want to keep those elite panzer aces alive and strong for your summer '42 push.

Edit: typo

[Vokt]

Turn 43. December 19, 1941.

Last allies turn. Red army started its Winter offensive in several sectors of Moscow front. 2xNW of Kalinin, Soviets attacked and forced to retreat Guderian's corps. There were also attacks in Rzhev and in Kaluga. In general, Soviets did not show much punch and in the case of Kaluga, they suffered really high losses:



In Axis turn, no counterattacks and only repairing of units:



U-boats near USA coasts successfully Central convoy(71) and in Axis turn, a total 5 German sub units attacked the convoy and largely depleted it.

USA joined the Allies this turn.

[Vokt]

He can attack your ARM from three sides! You shouldn't expose your ARM units like this IMO.

Espcially when it's an ARM unit with two levels of XP! You want to keep those elite panzer aces alive and strong for your summer '42 push.

Edit: typo

German armoured is not that vulnerable since it's protected by the river. We'll see.

[Vokt]

Turn 44. January 8, 1941.

Last alllies turn. Red army went on the offensive west of Kalinin and in Rzhev badly depleting 2 German corps:




Atlantic. In last allies turn, USAF strat bombed one of the German subs attacking central convoy for moderate damage. Arrows of the image below corresnpond to last Allies turn convoy movement phase. In Axis turn, subs finally sunk the convoy:



Casualties screen so far:

[duncanr]

your going to lose some next allied turn:-)

its quite common for a well run Axis to lose no units until Russian winter offensive

I have to say though that I impressed at the low Luftwaffee losses for barbarossa

[Vokt]

Turn 45. January 28, 1942.

Last Allies turn. Weakened couple of German corps in Kalinin and in Rzhev were killed. Guderian corps unit was attacked further retreating. In Kaluga sector, this time Soviets were much more successful, attacked panzerkorps ending depleted:



Axis turn. Wehrmacht launched a counterattack west of Kalinin with air support from Luftwaffe tacs. Attacks achieved their goal and significantly damaged 2 Soviet corps covering the advance of Guards mech unit. Panzerkorps at 3 steps withdrew, being replaced by nearby panzerkorps unit. Some units were redeployed to Moscow from less active fronts:



U-boats sailed to France for upgrades and Kriegsmarine surface fleet is going to start an operation that if successful, will allow Germany to have 2 BB's and 1 DD in the Atlantic operating from French ports. German navy is going to take advantage of low visibility because of bad weather and this way to cross English Channel all the way to Atlantic French ports. Goal is to harass Allied escorting units and to help u-boats in sinking convoys.

[Vokt]

Turn 46. February 17, 1942.

Last allies turn. A German corps north of Rzhev was attacked and left battered, forcing the unit to retreat. with 2 steps. Another 2 German corps were attacked NW of Rzhev. Anyway, Soviet offensive this sector shows signs of losing momentum. Leading Guards mech unit is cummulating some losses already and appears to be surrounded by many enemy units. VVS supported the Red Army attacks but its units are having a hard time on this Winter campaign:



Axis turn. Luftwaffe tacs weakened a little bit more leading Guards mech west of Kalinin. Referred Allied unit is at risk of being pocketed:



First phase of Kriegsmarine operation, that is, sailing of a BB from Bremenhaven to Hague port apparently went unnoticed for the brits.

[Vokt]

Turn 47. March 9, 1942.

Last Allies turn. More Red Army attacks NW of Rzhev, targeting a German corps that was forced to retreat:



Axis turn. Repairs and more german inf units railed to Novgorod-Rzhev sector. Wehrmacht is now strong in referred sector with 10-12 inf corps deployed there. concentrated in this front. Seeing that Soviet offensive is nothing to worry anymore, early preparations of Summer campaign started:

[Vokt]

Turn 48. March 29, 1942.

Last Allies turn. Red Army made no attacks at all.

Axis turn. Germans occupied salient hex west of Kalinin thus straightening front line there. Several Luftwaffe units were repaired and more air units redeployements were made. Finnish army continued with its step by step offensive in Karelia:




Western front. First pic of this scenario after a year of inactivity. Only antipartisan operations have been made on this scenario during this time. In last Allies turn (fair weather) RAF attacked German fighter in Belgium for a 3:1. RAF still has slight tech advantage over German fighter which explains the outcome. Anyway, RAF strat suffered high losses (0:3) when bombing unescorted the Ruhr and was intercepted by German fighter in Berlin:



North Africa. British and Commonwealth forces crossed Libyan border.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

How do you think the changes between 3.0 and 3.1 are working out? The 2 main differences are XP now gives more bonus to stats and reduced Russian rail cap for 8 turns after Barbarossa starts.

Later in the game you will notice that strategic bombers can do quite a bit of shock damage on enemy units. So they are good at carpet bombing (lowering efficiency, but not steps). The X key allows you to swap between strategic and tactical mode for strategic bombers.

[Vokt]

How do you think the changes between 3.0 and 3.1 are working out? The 2 main differences are XP now gives more bonus to stats and reduced Russian rail cap for 8 turns after Barbarossa starts.

Later in the game you will notice that strategic bombers can do quite a bit of shock damage on enemy units. So they are good at carpet bombing (lowering efficiency, but not steps). The X key allows you to swap between strategic and tactical mode for strategic bombers.

Xp changes are good IMO and have into account the fact that in real war, experienced units performed better than novice ones. One example that comes to mind is americans vs germans in Kasserine, Tunis 1943.

My opponent commented in one of his emails that is now harder to organize defense with the soviets in 1941. He is the one playing as allies so later in the AAR or at the end he will be able to make comments about that.

And about strats I've been able to test during current game that even in early and mid game, strats are now a more useful and powerful unit. Now makes sense the strats being the most expensive unit. I'm not playing with allies but when I do, I use to buy lots of those units. These units in late game usually reach 3-4 xp levels so once top lab and xp upgrades are reached, strats will be getting +14 shock value, +14 strategic attack and +12 survivability. Those high combat values will allow strats to help tacs in softening axis units on fortresses or cities with the advantage that strats when performing in tactical mode, will be losing less steps than tacs.