Vokt (axis) vs Plaid (allies) 3.10 AAR

[Vokt]

Turn 83. February 27, 1944.

Eastern front last Allies turn. Holding the ground in Kursk front, is being very costly in units for Axis. Red Army attacked and killed 3 German units (2 corps and a SS mech) and recently deployed Romanian corps. Offensive meant the liberation of Kursk:



Eastern front Axis turn. Due to the unsustainable losses in Kursk front, Wehrmacht started a general withdrawal between Rzhev and Kharkov:




Italy last Allies turn. Allies are progressively weakening German defending units at the Gustav Line:



Italy Axis turn. Paratroopers were swapped by corps in Gustav Line:

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Won't it be better to fall back with the German forces in Russia to avoid losing more units in the winter? There is still a long way back to Berlin and it's just over a year left until the end of the game. Oops. I see from the last screen shot that you're just doing this.

If the Russians can make a hole in the German line they can run very fast in fair weather. The Dvina / Dnepr line should be good to defend behind when the winter is over.

It seems like the end result of this game depends on the strength of the Allied Overlord invasion. If the Allies can land soon they can quickly get towards the Siegfried line and push into Germany itself. So far we don't see any Allied landing units. Now it's the time to sail since next turn will most likely be fair in the west. You need to build units for the west now and prepare at the Siegfried line before the Allies can get through it. An invasion in Denmark can also become a possibility. So units should be able to rail to the Kiel / Hamburg area fast if needed.

The Allies don't really need to make much progress in Italy. Once Hamburg and Berlin fall Germany will surrender. That means they will get Paris and Rome automatically. All the Allies need to do in Italy now is to pin down enough Axis forces so they can't be sent back to Germany for defense of Germany itself.

It will be see if the Germans can hold long enough in the east to prevent the Russian Steamroller from reaching Berlin. There won't be long before the Russians make a hole they can sprint through. Unfortunately for the Russians they don't have many mech and armor units left who can really exploit holes in the line.

How are the Russian unit XP levels at the moment? I guess the Axis advantage is now lost since they lost so many of their good units. New Axis units will arrive with no XP at all. It won't be easy to repair the Luftwaffe either since the Germans need to spend lots of PP's on new units for the west.

It will be interesting to gauge the game balance once this game is over. At least this game proves that the Germans can bite hard even in 1943. So the Allies need to be quite aggressive to actually seize the initiative for good. You don't win as the Allies if you're too passive.

[Cybvep]

It will be interesting to gauge the game balance once this game is over.

Remember that it's just one game. Don't rush any changes.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

We are not automatically making changes, but it would be nice to discuss the balance impact between GS v3.0 and GS v3.1. Some players now have quite a bit experience with both so the results should be discussed.

It could be the balance now is how we want it to have, but it could also be that the XP changes made a little too much impact.

[Vokt]

Turn 84. March 18, 1944.

Western front last Allies. Allied landings will soon occur in Northern France. So in last Allies turn (mud) preliminary air and naval attacks were done all along the coast from Rotterdam to Brest. Allied ASW operations are being damn effective so several already weakened uboats ended depleted:



Western front Axis. Wehrmacht is considerably reinforcing its forces on this scenario. Build up of units is already on the go near Orleans. These units must remain unspotted to Allied air forces. Luftwafe has withdrawn a tac and a strat from the Eastern front and those have been deployed in Southern Germany, to be used both in Italy and France scenarios. German fighters in Berlin will be moved to France to provide escort for mentioned bomber units:



Eastern front last allies turn. Weather changed to normal Winter. Red Army closely followed retreating German units without making any attack at all. Kaluga was retaken:




Eastern front Axis turn. Finnish and German armies withdrawal continued and only will stop at the right bank of the Dnepr and around the forest terrain around Velikiye Luki:




Italy last Alies turn. German resistance in Naples is crumbling. City might fall soon in Allied hands:



Italy Axis turn. Repaired corps in Naples and the paratrooper unit 1xN of that city:

[Vokt]

The Allies don't really need to make much progress in Italy. Once Hamburg and Berlin fall Germany will surrender. That means they will get Paris and Rome automatically. All the Allies need to do in Italy now is to pin down enough Axis forces so they can't be sent back to Germany for defense of Germany itself.

Italy and the Med are now a scenario in which Allies, by mid-late game count with good and hardened units. The usual struggle in breaching Gustav Line is not happening anymore.

[Vokt]

Won't it be better to fall back with the German forces in Russia to avoid losing more units in the winter? There is still a long way back to Berlin and it's just over a year left until the end of the game. Oops. I see from the last screen shot that you're just doing this.
If the Russians can make a hole in the German line they can run very fast in fair weather. The Dvina / Dnepr line should be good to defend behind when the winter is over.
It will be see if the Germans can hold long enough in the east to prevent the Russian Steamroller from reaching Berlin. There won't be long before the Russians make a hole they can sprint through. Unfortunately for the Russians they don't have many mech and armor units left who can really exploit holes in the line.
How are the Russian unit XP levels at the moment? I guess the Axis advantage is now lost since they lost so many of their good units. New Axis units will arrive with no XP at all. It won't be easy to repair the Luftwaffe either since the Germans need to spend lots of PP's on new units for the west.

Soviet corps units are the ones mostly benefitting from xp. If I remember correctly, Soviets have now 2 or 3 mech guards units and 0 armoured guards.

The Axis will try to hold in the Dnepr for most of the summer 1944 denying the chance of an easy soviet breakthrough there. There are enough units for doing that and some of them have good xp levels. Axis minors have several xp units which will help either.

[Vokt]

Turn 85. April 7, 1944.

Western front last Allies turn. Big Allied fleet formed by 7 DD's, 3 BB's, 1 sub and 4 naval transports (3 american and 1 british) appeared close to French and Belgian coasts. In support of the upcoming landings, an airborne operation was launched around Calais:



Western front Axis turn. German units around Orleans were brought at full readiness. More deployments of units:



Eastern front last Allies turn. Red Army attacked Kharkov, leaving depleted both defending paratrooper unit and a nearby Hungarian garrison:



Eastern front Axis turn. Wehrmacht units between Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk reached west bank of Dnepr without problems. The rest between Kiev and Mogilev will do the next turn. Finnish army is being deployed around Novgorod and Velikiye Luki. Romanian and Hugarian armies started its withdrawal from the Donets:



Italy last Allies turn. Naples was taken by Allies:



Italy Axis turn. Only repairs:



Casualties so far:

[Vokt]

Turn 86. April 27, 1944.

Western front last Allies turn. Americans landed and took Ghent in Belgium and British took Calais in France. Lille garrison was heavily attacked but held. at 2 steps. In Normandy, landings commenced either:



Western front Axis turn. Luftwaffe attacked and halved a US transport to land in Normandy. More deployment of units:



Eastern front last Allies turn. Red Army liberated Kharkov:



Eastern front Axis turn. Wehrmacht ended what could be deemed an ordered withdrawal to the Dnepr. Further Romanian and Hungarian armies retreatings:



Italy last Allies turn. German corps in Gustav Line much weakened after Allied attacks. All Wehrmacht units in this scenario were attacked:



Italy Axis turn. Battered german corps was withdrawn and a newly built corps was railed to fortress hex. Luftwaffe attacked this time and this way a tac effectively hit British armoured near Foggia:

[Vokt]

Turn 87. May 17, 1944.

Western front last Allies turn. Lille was taken. Brussels was attacked but held. More units were unloaded in Belgium, Pas-de-Calais and Normandy. And a further landing operation is on the go in Britanny. German forces around Orleans were spotted and bombed:



Western front Axis turn. Werhmacht launched its first counterattack after landings commenced. US mech 1xSW of Brussels ended destroyed. Attack counted with air support of German tac in Innsbruck that was of much help. Forces in Orleans were withdrawn to be refitted in Germany:



Eastern front last allies turn (Winter weather). Red army crossed the Donets regaining Donbass resource and attacked Rostov which held. A hardened Hungarian unit (garrison) was attacked but survived at low strength:



Eastern front axis turn. Romanian and Hungarian armies have succeeded in withdrawing to the Dnepr a good number of units. Rostov was given up:



Italy last Allies turn. Landing Allied operation is on the go along the coasts of Tuscanny. Not much progress in Gustav Line.:



Italy Axis turn. Repairings. No deploying of units to face the landings in Tuscanny for now:

[Vokt]

Turn 88. June 6, 1944.

Western front last Allies turn. An Allied counterattack in Belgium killed German corps. UK and US paratroopers entered Brussels and Reims, respectively. British mech landed in Rouen in last turn, moved along Seine river and attacked German corps close to Paris forcing it to retreat. Allies got ashore in Britanny:

Belgium landings sector


Britanny-Normandy landings sector


Western front Axis turn. More Wehrmacht counterattacks in Belgium. Same process that with the US mech in last turn but this time targeted Allied unit was a US armoured. Again, massive hit (5:1) from Luftwaffe tac made half of the job. US unit, after being forced to retreat, was finished off by air strike:



Eastern front last Allies turn. Rostov and Stalino were both liberated by Red army. A Bulgarian corps at full strength was left unsupplied in the process. Soviets don't show signs of stopping for refitting since Dnepropetrovsk was already attacked. Referred city holds in Axis hands for now:



Eastern front Axis turn. Romanian corps replaced heavily depleted Hungarian unit in Dnepropetrovsk.

Italy last Allies turn. Allies got ashore in Tuscanny and Florence was already attacked. No changes in Gustav Line:



Italy Axis turn. All Wehrmacht units in Italy were brought to full strength:

[Vokt]

Turn 89. June 26, 1944.

Western front last Allies turn. British counterattack in Belgium left battered and forced to retreat a German corps. Nearby Wehrmacht unit (3xp garrison) was attacked either and forced to retreat aswell. Near Paris, British mech severely mauled a German corps but no attacks to the city ifself were made:



Western front Axis turn. Luftwaffe tacs continued to target US armoured forces in Belgium getting another good 3:1 on the unit 2xS of Brussels. Battered German corps in Paris moved NW to cut supply to British mech:



Eastern front last Allies turn. Red army started to attack Axis defensive positions along the Dnepr killing a German mech near Cherkassy. although no exploitation movement was made. In Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet units are way stronger and so Romanian and Hungarian armies suffered badly: 1 Hungarian corps ended destroyed and another one was halved; Romanian corps defending Dnepropetrovsk was left battered. VVS tacs (6) provided strong air support for the attacks although now that fair weather is back, air combats favoured again Luftwaffe:



Eastern front Axis turn. Axis launched a counterattack in Cherkassy. Previously, a highly experienced German tac got an outstanding 4:0 vs Soviet armoured 1xN of that city, that much eased things. After being attacked by a German corps from the other bank of Dnepr, Allied armoured unit ended killed by means of a Hungarian mech that crossed the river:



Italy last Allies turn. Western Allies breached Gustav line killing a German corps. In Tuscany, Allies expanded their beachhead:



Italy Axis turn. Wehrmacht launched a counterattack north of Rome, halving and forcing to retreat US approaching corps unit. Since referred offensive action was made with infantry units coming from Gustav Line, a garrison was railed to man again the emptied fortress hex 2xSW of Foggia:

[Vokt]

Turn 90. July 16, 1944.

Eastern front last Allies turn. Red Army is hitting hard Hungarian army: Hungarian mech was destroyed near Cherkassy, another corps was destroyed in the Dnepr bend and the unit defending Dnepropetrovsk was heavily attacked and ended halved. Strong Soviet forces are arriving to Kiev sector and they have started attacks there either: a German corps barely survived referred attacks. An update of whats happening in Northern front: advancing Soviets finally succeeded to cut the link with the Finns by crossing the Svir river:

Northern sector


Kiev-Dnepropetrovsk sector


Eastern front Axis turn. Luftwaffe tacs hit again Soviet armoured forces near Cherkassy but not attacks by land were made. Romanian army left Crimean isthmus positions and expects to reach northern bank of the Dnepr NE of Kherson. In the Northern sector of Eastern front, Finnish army formed a strong defensive dispositions SE of Velikiye Luki and near Novgorod, a corps moved NE threatening to cut supply to a couple of Soviet corps:

Northern sector


Kiev-Dnepropetrovsk


Western front last Allies turn. Paris will soon be liberated by Allies after the city was heavily attacked. Of course, depleted German corps near the city was destroyed. In Belgium, Canadians and Brits (paratrooper) attacked Liege that held. RAF heavily attacked a Lutwaffe air base in Frankfurt that barely survived:



Western front axis turn. Several units were repaired on this scenario and fighter air base in Frankfurt was moved to Nuremberg. SS mech was deployed in Cologne:



Italy last Allies turn. Remaining Gustav Line positions are holding well heavy Allied attacks. In Tuscany, Brits attacked covering th retreat of the battered US corps. No Allied ship was left in Tuscany coasts so the landed units ended unsupplied:



Italy Axis turn. Germans continued to attack Allied forces in Tuscany, this time battering British corps. Reinforcements were sent to Florence:

[Vokt]

Turn 91. August 5, 1944.

Eastern front last Allies turn. Central sector of Eastern front was activated. Red Army launched an offensive in Mogilev-Gomel sector, that destroyed a German corps 2xNW of Gomel and battered corps in Mogilev. A bridghead in the Western bank of the Dnepr was formed. In Dnepropetrovsk, Hungarians defending the city held a heavy Soviet attack whilst another Hungarian corps 2xSW ended depleted. Soviets also reached and entered Crimean peninsula. In Northern sector, couple of Soviet corps near Novgorod moved N, reached Ladoga lake and attacked Finnish garrison, leaving it unsupplied:

Northern sector


Central sector


Southern sector


Eastern front Axis turn. Wehrmacht successful counterattacks in Gomel-Mogilev sector. 1xN of Gomel, a Soviet armoured was destroyed. Luftwaffe tacs (2) again were decisive and a German corps had to cross the river in order to finish off Allied unit. 1xN of Mogilev, a Guards corps was destroyed due to the attack of 3 German units. Emtpied hex was regained. In Velikiye Luki, Finnish army abandoned Dvina river defensive positions and moved SE to Smolensk, thus threatening to cut off Soviet units E of Vitebesk. In Northern sector, Finnish army in cooperation with Bulgarians cut off supply to a Soviet corps in Karelia. In Southern sector, Romanians completed their withdrawal to the Dnepr:

Northern sector


Central sector


Southern sector


Western front last Allies turn. Paris garrison outstandingly held Allied attacks. In Belgium, British paratroopers entered Liege. German positions along the Meuse were heavily bombed and attacked:



Western front axis turn. Germans restored defensive line along the Meuse:



Italy last Allies turn. Another Gustav line hex destroyed. This time the one defended by paratroopers N of Naples. It won't be long till the other fortress hex is destroyed either, defending garrison there ending battered after Allied attacks. In Tuscany, US mech halved German recently brought unit to Florence. Naval units rushed to restore supply for landed units:



Italy Axis turn. German corps in Florence moved S and attacked battered US corps. Repairings in the rest:

[Vokt]

Turn 92. August 25, 1944.

Eastern front last Allies turn. Big Red Army offensive in Cherkassy-Dnepropetrovsk. Dnepropetrovsk was liberated and 2 Hungarian corps and a German corps were destroyed. Further 3 Axis units near Cherkassy were also attacked and much weakened. Near Kiev, there was some attacks either targeting a Bulgarian corps. In Central sector, 2xN of Gomel and 1xN of Mogilev, 2 German corps were killed. Fierce combats between the Finnish and the Soviets NE of Vitebesk. There, Red Army was about to succeed in pocketing 2 Finnish units and would have done so if Finnish corps 2xNE of Vitebesk wouldn't have held. In Velikiye Luki, Red Army corps attacked the Finnish for a 4:4 outcome. In Northern sector, Soviet corps crossed the Volkhov river, killed German garrison and restored main supply to Leningrad. In Karelia, Soviets managed to restore supply to corps 2xW of Petrozavodsk:

Northern sector


Central sector


Southern sector


Eastern front Axis turn. Another German counterattack near Gomel. This time, Wehrmacht removed Soviet bridgehead in the Dnepr, halving Guards unit. Soviet armoured forces were again easy prey for Luftwaffe tacs and so a Soviet armoured survived at very low strength. In the Dvina river sector, Finnish units E of Vitebesk, fell back. In Velikiye Luki, a Soviet corps was left much weakened after a Finnish army counterattack. And in Karelia, Soviet corps barely survived the attack of the Finnish:

Northern sector


Central sector


Southern sector


Western front last Allies turn. Paris liberated. Werhamacht positions along the Meuse were heavily attacked again. This time, a German corps was destroyed and another one ended heavily depleted. Lorraine resource was taken. Allied attacks in Holland commenced, battering a garrison:



Western front Axis turn. Wehrmacht retreated from Meuse river to Siegfried Line. Battered unit in Holland was replaced:



Italy last Allies turn. Last Gustav Line fortress was destroyed. In Tuscany, Bradley mech counterattack left German corps at very low strength. Heavy Allied bombings:



Italy Axis turn. Couple of German corps N of Rome attacked and killed British corps in Tuscany. Garrison in Florence moved S and joined offensive actions:

[Peter Stauffenberg]

The fight for victory in this game seems to be close. Weather could decide the final outcome. Russia wants winter asap and the western Allies need as few mud / winter turns as possible.

Maybe the Germans should consider withdrawing to the Dvina line before it's too late to man it? The Dnepr line is about to collapse soon and the front line along the Dnepr is not straight. So it could be a good idea to run to the next river before the mud hits. There are many rivers between the Russian front line and Berlin. Shortening the defense line seems to be important. Using the Pripet marshes as part of the defense line looks good. You don't need to have units man the Pripet marsh hexes since movement there is very slow. That means a line from Dvina to the Dnepr north of the Pripet marshes and along Southern Bug south of the Pripet marshes.

The western Allies will struggle to get across the Rhine before the winter. I think they need to make another landing in either Holland or Denmark to put pressure at another front section.

Axis forces in Italy will be crushed eventually, but every turn they hold out means the Allied units there will be too late to cross the Alps and help taking Berlin.

It looks to me that the Axis have a slight advantage for the victory, but it depends on preventing a major Russian breakthrough. So a minor Axis victory is definitely within reach.

How is the oil situation for the Axis now? Do they have enough to still launch counter attacks? I think well judged counter attacks can keep the Russians at bay for just enough turns to prevent the Russians from getting into Berlin. I've seen some games where the Germans have the better units and enough to hold, but everything is collapsing because they ran out of oil. Armor / mech units without oil is a sorry sight because they can't move.

[Vokt]

The fight for victory in this game seems to be close. Weather could decide the final outcome. Russia wants winter asap and the western Allies need as few mud / winter turns as possible.

Maybe the Germans should consider withdrawing to the Dvina line before it's too late to man it? The Dnepr line is about to collapse soon and the front line along the Dnepr is not straight. So it could be a good idea to run to the next river before the mud hits. There are many rivers between the Russian front line and Berlin. Shortening the defense line seems to be important. Using the Pripet marshes as part of the defense line looks good. You don't need to have units man the Pripet marsh hexes since movement there is very slow. That means a line from Dvina to the Dnepr north of the Pripet marshes and along Southern Bug south of the Pripet marshes.

The western Allies will struggle to get across the Rhine before the winter. I think they need to make another landing in either Holland or Denmark to put pressure at another front section.

Axis forces in Italy will be crushed eventually, but every turn they hold out means the Allied units there will be too late to cross the Alps and help taking Berlin.

It looks to me that the Axis have a slight advantage for the victory, but it depends on preventing a major Russian breakthrough. So a minor Axis victory is definitely within reach.

How is the oil situation for the Axis now? Do they have enough to still launch counter attacks? I think well judged counter attacks can keep the Russians at bay for just enough turns to prevent the Russians from getting into Berlin. I've seen some games where the Germans have the better units and enough to hold, but everything is collapsing because they ran out of oil. Armor / mech units without oil is a sorry sight because they can't move.

Oil is good for this stage of game: 380.

[Vokt]

Turn 93. September 14, 1944.

Eastern front last Allies turn. Red Army kept on pushing hard in the Dnepr near Cherkassy. Already weakened by last turn attacks, 2 German corps SE of mentioned city, couldn't stand Soviet thrust and were destroyed. Cherkassy itself was attacked but held. In the Dnepr bend, 2 Romanian army units (corps and garrison) were attacked, corps unit ending battered as a result. Romanians were subject of a much weaker Soviet attack near Kherson. In Vitebesk-Velikiye Luki sector, things are turning duller for the Finnish: a corps was killed 2xNW of Smolensk. In Velikiye Luki, Soviets mounted little offensive that left a Finnish corps at minimal strength, being forced to retreat for 2 times. Near Kiev, Bulgarian corps still holding the attacks of much stronger Soviet units:

Velikiye Luki-Mogilev sector


Southern sector


Eastern front Axis turn. Wehrmacht counterattack in Cherkassy regained hex 1xSE of the city by killing Soviet corps there. A Luftwaffe tac provided air support for mentioned operation. In Velikiye Luki some retreats and repairings. Romanian army repaired its units in the Dnepr:

Velikiye Luki-Mogilev sector


Southern sector


Western front last Allies turn. Offensive operation retook Strasbourg from the Germans and battered several Wehrmacht garrisons in the Siegfried Line. In Belgium-Holland, Allies progress is rather slow:



Western front Axis turn. SS mech counterattack in Luxembourg destroyed another US armoured. Previously, xp-level-4 Luftwaffe tac based in Munich, had got a massive 5:1 on the Allied armoured which really eased things:



Italy last Allies turn. Rome and Ancona were both attacked by the Allies and both held. In Tuscany, US HQ mech attacked and nearly killed a German corps:



Italy Axis turn. US battered corps in the coasts of Tuscany was destroyed after being attacked by German infantry. Adjacent garrison unit that also participated in the attacks, finished off Allied unit and advanced into hex this cutting Bradley's mech supply. Repairings of units in the rest:

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I can't understand why the Allied player doesn't place good fighter units quite close to the front line in both Russia and France. These fighters should attack German tactical bombers at their airbases. This is the best way of ensuring that the XP level 3 or 4 tactical bombers get so many hits so they can't harass the Allied and Russian armor units.

The Allies have air superiority and they need to do what they can to take out the German bomber force. After that there will be fewer counter attacks. Maybe it comes as a surprise that with GS v3.10 bombers can be quite a bit more deadly if having a lot of experience.

The western Allies could use their strategic bombers for tactical missions by using the X key to swap to tactical mode. They don't inflict a lot of damage, but they inflict a lot of morale damage. If you constantly harass the Axis mech and armor units on the west then these units won't have the morale to launch any counter attacks. This is also a change introduced in GS v3.1 that players need to take advantage of. We boosted the shock damage from strategic bombers via tech considerably. So strategic bombers can now do carpet bombing like the did in Operation Cobra.

I think the Axis have too many units south of the Pripet marshes and too few north of the Pripet marshes. Railing units to the Dvina line seems to be very important now. The Russians could rail units to the northern front and use the big hole in the line to storm towards Konigsberg. Maybe he doesn't see the hole and no Dvina line being manned yet. If he rebases some air units close to the front line then that weakness should become apparent.

The Allies seem to struggle in Italy and should now focus on just taking Rome. It won't be time to do much more. Cutting off Rome from Germany should be the main priority. That means the Axis player can't rail in more units near Rome. I would probably rest my units as the Allies and push again at full strength. If you attack while depleted you lose your XP level and German counter attacks can actually destroy those units.

Now it seems too late to launch an amphibious landing in Holland and Denmark. Then the second best could be to land paratroopers behind the German lines, ala Operation Market Garden. A frontal assault on the Siegfried line will take a long time to create a breakthrough.

[richardsd]

there seems to be a good set of improvements in 3.1 that shoul keep peoples interest going

I have also been trying a few tactical tweaks in my games which seem to provide some additional interest

I think this game shows there is plenty to learn in 3.1