SS Core run through 39 to 45?

[milliethedog]

Hi goose, no problem but I wont get to the end for some time.

Martin

[goose_2]

Hi goose, no problem but I wont get to the end for some time.

Martin

I am hoping I can finish before you.

I started Seelow Heights last night. (Almost there)

[goose_2]

The Long War
Kursk from the south
Oboyan

Field marshal Level, Starting Points 46651
After Replenishment and re-enforcements 44852 points

Core
7x SS GebirgsJager 43 and SDkfz 250/251,
1x SS MG 42 and SDkfz 250
1x T34/41(r)
18x SS Tiger I
5x SS 17cm K18's and SDkfz 7's
3x SS 21cm MRS and SDkfz 7's
1x Su 122 (r)
4x SS Sig 33
4x Fw 190A
1x Bf 109G
4x Ju 87G
1x Ju 87B Recon
2x Me 410A
3x Ju 188A

I have been asked by Goose to do a Turn by Turn move through of this battle, rather than just repeat what I have done before, now that I have learned how to post screen shots I thought that I would post the deployment and then each turn for each Kamf. This way you will see all the units and their strengths etc at the end of each turn and can follow exactly how and where I go.

Kam1 set up

Kamf1 setup.jpg

kamf2 set up

kamf2 setup.jpg

Martin

I see you brought 5 fighters whereas I brought 6 and most of yours are FW-190's whereas I only had 2 that were FW-190's.
Here is the biggest discrepancy is in our Bombers. You brought 7 Tac Bombers and 3 Strat Bombers and I only brought 2 Tac Bombers and 2 Strat Bombers. I guess I figured I would need a stronger Ground force. WRONG!
You didn't have a problem with AA units?
I can see I went to heavy with my infantry as I had 11 where you had 8.
19 TANKS SERIOUSLY!!! How weak was your soft cap? I had 10 tanks and I thought that was heavy and my Soft cap was started at 84%.
13 artys to my 11 artys not much difference there.
I had 2 AA's and an AT.
But it appears that you fielded 55 units I only fielded 45. How was that possible?
I don't think I was holding units back yet and certainly not 10 units?
Also that is amazing you can field that many Tiger's, I only had 5 SE Tigers. Maybe that is why I had 65948 in prestige where as you had 44852. I would much rather have your army though as it proved to be decisive.

In looking at your deployed army it appears that you have 5 Infantry deployed not 8, 18 tanks not 19, 12 artys not 13, 6 fighters, 5 Tac Bombers instead of 7 and 3 Strat Bombers.
This still added up to 49 which is still 4 more than the 45 I deployed.

Let me know if I am missing something.

[goose_2]

Oboyan
End turn 1
Kamf1

Kamf1 T1.jpg

Attacking Pokrovka


Kamf2

Kamf2 T2.jpg

Attacking Noven'koys and Uyshniye

Martin

Ah interesting.

I see how your set up and slow movement forth especially around Noven'koys and Uyshniye is setting yourself well to repel their thrust at you. Make them come to you and burn themselves out trying to pierce your lines, smart move. Very well played. My aggression is not very wise but is the way I play, I better play smarter when I play on Manstein level and aggressive on Guderian level. Expecting a lot more Marginal Victory's.

[goose_2]

Oboyan
start turn 2 Cloudy
Kamf 1

K1 start t2.jpg

Kamf 2

K2 start T2.jpg

Infantry hit for -7, Fw190 hit -2 Me410 hit -2 Russian T34 ambushed by tiger 12 to 1

Martin

Interesting how vulnerable that Gerbisjager is.

[goose_2]

Oboyan
clear
start turn 3
Kamf 1

K1 start T3.jpg

Kamf 2

K2 start T3.jpg

! Tiger hit by Bomber -1 no other losses (I think)

martin

WOW!
Those 3 Tiger's and arty little hedgehog in the South is really holding off their entire force to free up your other units to assault their cities.
Brilliant!
Thanks for doing this.

[milliethedog]

Hi goose,
sorry if I have caused confusion, The Figures I give are for my whole core, Not for the units I deploy in the game, I did not deploy Strat Bombers, I have just gone back and double check so I did deploy ,
$x Geb infantry
1x SS Mg 42
18 Tigers inc 6 SE/SS
5x K18's
3x 21MRS
4x sIG 33
1x Bf 109
4x Fw 190
2x Me 410
4x Ju87.

There are also 5 Aux on the map 3x Mobile AA and 2x Bridging units. The rest of my core was not deployed.

Martin

[milliethedog]

Hi Goose,
The Geb was hit by 2 T34's from memory dropping from 10/10 to 3/10 and I think it cost about 230 points to put it back to 10/10

Martin.

[goose_2]

Hi goose,
sorry if I have caused confusion, The Figures I give are for my whole core, Not for the units I deploy in the game, I did not deploy Strat Bombers, I have just gone back and double check so I did deploy ,
$x Geb infantry
1x SS Mg 42
18 Tigers inc 6 SE/SS
5x K18's
3x 21MRS
4x sIG 33
1x Bf 109
4x Fw 190
2x Me 410
4x Ju87.

There are also 5 Aux on the map 3x Mobile AA and 2x Bridging units. The rest of my core was not deployed.

Martin

Oh so 47 units. I must have held back some of my units, that makes more sense.

I do not know when I will ever try to complete this scenario again, but if I ever do I will follow more in the steps your laid out here.

Thanks again.
I can see from your deployment how you are able to save so much even while fielding some really expensive units, you do not overstrength anything but arty and aircraft.
I overstrength some although at this point to save my soft cap I have ceased doing my tanks and AT's except for my SE Tiger 2's and I do overstrength almost everything else. Not usually to Full Strength but depending on it's cost I do go pretty deep.
I love one shotting these bad boys.

[goose_2]

Hi Goose,
The Geb was hit by 2 T34's from memory dropping from 10/10 to 3/10 and I think it cost about 230 points to put it back to 10/10

Martin.

Yeah those Gerbisjagers are so underrated very effective and so cheap to help round out your army. I have 3 left in my Army including Bruno Sutkus and Oleh Dir as all others like Josef Allerberger and Matthuas Hetzenuer.

My next playthrough will be much more cautious, I think.

[goose_2]

Ju87 -1 SpAAg, T34 hits infantry backed by arty T34 -3, T34 and 57mm AT destroy Aux quad Flak, ARGH !!

martin

Yep. Mobile flak units are very weak defensively & the AI will cheerfully & zestfully attack them as well as other weak & exposed units. It usually only takes two shots - as you've demonstrated.

Interesting. Your deployed corps seems to have almost exclusively 3 types of units - Tiger I's, artillery & Ju87's. How many slots do you have deployed? All of them? I usually play with a far more mixed force.

I also play with a more mixed force, as I love diversity in my units.

[milliethedog]

Hi Goose,
sorry again, I counted the SS Mg42 in with the Geb and separately, it should be 4x Geb and 1 SS Mg42 so 40 core and 6 se units deployed total of 46 units not 47


martin.

[goose_2]

Oboyan
Clear
Turn 7 end
Kamf 1mainly resupplying most of the units, but also take Zorino and cross the Pena river.

K1 end T7.jpg

Kamf 2 Cross the Pena River and capture the airfield at 11/19. Also capture Syrtrevo in the south west.

K2 end T7.jpg

Martin

You are a full 3 rounds ahead of where I was at this point in this scenario, and that was brilliant the way you are holding a pressure point at that river checkpoint.
I wasted so much time trying to push across that monster of a trap they have sitting there.

Well Done!

[goose_2]

Hi Goose,
sorry again, I counted the SS Mg42 in with the Geb and separately, it should be 4x Geb and 1 SS Mg42 so 40 core and 6 se units deployed total of 46 units not 47


martin.

That makes perfect sense now as I deployed a Panther like in round 3 of my playthrough which matches your amount in deployment. Thanks for your dilligence and accuracy.

[TSPC37730]

I see how your set up and slow movement forth especially around Noven'koys and Uyshniye is setting yourself well to repel their thrust at you. Make them come to you and burn themselves out trying to pierce your lines, smart move. Very well played. My aggression is not very wise but is the way I play, I better play smarter when I play on Manstein level and aggressive on Guderian level. Expecting a lot more Marginal Victory's.

Yeah but if you were doing a truly blind play through, you didn't have this information. You get a map & you might see a handful of enemy units, but, you don't know where the bulk of the enemy forces are. Depending on how you advance, this can be devastating...

As an example, I recently played one of the Bastogne scenarios for the first time in the '45 GC West. I got absolutely obliterated by advancing tanks, losing 8 units in the process. Had I known where they were coming from, I would have deployed much differently & my losses would have been far less. And it could have been far worse. I had a recon unit advancing towards a quiet area of the map which initially uncovered nothing. By the end of the next allied turn, an overwhelming number of American fighters, tanks, infantry & self propelled artillery units had moved up & were within spotting range. The recon unit beat a hasty retreat & survived. For a few turns that is. I moved to defend the targeted objective but still took casualties. Control of the hex changed hands more than once. Had that recon unit not saw the onslaught I would have been completely blindsided. In the end I got a MV. I reviewed the map afterwards. While I had eliminated all of the air & armor units, there were still some dug in infantry & AT guns holding the last few objectives. Ultimately, I couldn't recover and advance fast enough.

[goose_2]

Oboyan
Clear
Turn 11
Kamf 1 Ju 87 hit =3 by Lag 5 for -2

K1 start T11.jpg

kamf 2

K2 start T11.jpg

Martin

It is at this stage that you are just starting on your pressuring of Oboyan.
I was only able to start doing this on Turn 19.

Yeah a little different in results on this one.

[milliethedog]

Hi TSPC,
thanks for your on going interest, You are right, this is not a Truly blind run through as I have played this game from the day is was on the market, I have played the 43DLC through about 10 times or even more, This is the First time I have played with Nico's equipment file playing the SS. During this game run through he has up graded the File at least 3 times " God Bless Him". You can only play any game "blind" once, The first time only, After that you have a level of memory of where things are or what happens next. Since I Beta tested a number of these DLC the only true blind for me was the Beta's. But what the heck, I still love the game and the older I get the fuzzier the memory gets or it might be the wine rather than the age !

Martin

[goose_2]

Oboyan
Clear
Turn 15 end
Kamf 1 and 2 Oboyan continues to fall, the airfield to the north has fallen and the soviet armour comes under attack from Ju87's, My Furthest east Fw190 and Ju87 fall into a AA trap from unseen AA gun and a SpAAg. They will hit me in their turn, Ouch ! Dolzhenkovo falls.

K1 and 2 end T15.jpg

Martin

I see how consolidating your Bridge Engineer's is key to help you storm across the gap between Oboyan and Dolzhenkovo.
By the way I was able to seize Dolzhenkovo also, but it was on Round 21 so...and i was not poised ever to come close to seizing Oboyan.

In looking at this maybe I can use your advanced tactics to easily get a Decisive Victory on this one at any level because you are making it look easy.

Very Well Done!

[goose_2]

I see how your set up and slow movement forth especially around Noven'koys and Uyshniye is setting yourself well to repel their thrust at you. Make them come to you and burn themselves out trying to pierce your lines, smart move. Very well played. My aggression is not very wise but is the way I play, I better play smarter when I play on Manstein level and aggressive on Guderian level. Expecting a lot more Marginal Victory's.

Yeah but if you were doing a truly blind play through, you didn't have this information. You get a map & you might see a handful of enemy units, but, you don't know where the bulk of the enemy forces are. Depending on how you advance, this can be devastating...

As an example, I recently played one of the Bastogne scenarios for the first time in the '45 GC West. I got absolutely obliterated by advancing tanks, losing 8 units in the process. Had I known where they were coming from, I would have deployed much differently & my losses would have been far less. And it could have been far worse. I had a recon unit advancing towards a quiet area of the map which initially uncovered nothing. By the end of the next allied turn, an overwhelming number of American fighters, tanks, infantry & self propelled artillery units had moved up & were within spotting range. The recon unit beat a hasty retreat & survived. For a few turns that is. I moved to defend the targeted objective but still took casualties. Control of the hex changed hands more than once. Had that recon unit not saw the onslaught I would have been completely blindsided. In the end I got a MV. I reviewed the map afterwards. While I had eliminated all of the air & armor units, there were still some dug in infantry & AT guns holding the last few objectives. Ultimately, I couldn't recover and advance fast enough.

That is what I enjoy about a Blind playthrough and as such I just skimmed this post as I do not want details for when I go though West Grand Campaign.

I appreciate experts like Martin here who laid out a step by step way of completing this scenario successfully.

I am looking forward to his layout when he gets to 1945 on the 2 scenarios I received a Marginal Victory in.
Milliethedog/Martin's dedication and thoroughness is much appreciated.

I am ok with getting Marginal Victory's since it is my First time, but i have to say if I get Marginal Victorys in any of the last 3 I will still spell out my day by day but I will try again and again until I get the Decisive Victory's needed to finish the Campaign successfully.

Well it is time to go home as i wasted enough time at work reviewing this outstanding layout of Martin's playthrough and it is time to love up on my family as I miss my wife and 8 wonderful little blessings.

Good Night and God Bless!

[TSPC37730]

Hi TSPC,
thanks for your on going interest, You are right, this is not a Truly blind run through as I have played this game from the day is was on the market, I have played the 43DLC through about 10 times or even more, This is the First time I have played with Nico's equipment file playing the SS. During this game run through he has up graded the File at least 3 times " God Bless Him". You can only play any game "blind" once, The first time only, After that you have a level of memory of where things are or what happens next. Since I Beta tested a number of these DLC the only true blind for me was the Beta's. But what the heck, I still love the game and the older I get the fuzzier the memory gets or it might be the wine rather than the age !

Martin

You're right in that you can only play through blind once. I had previously pretty much given up on the west campaigns due to the lack of prestige & I never finished them out. If you can believe it, the GC East campaigns have left me spoiled in that regard. I restarted the GC West series from scratch not too long ago. Obviously, my first try at Bastogne didn't go very well.

But I enjoy the game so much that I have done some campaign replays, trying different unit mixes, strategies & paths. I may try some of your tactics as well soon...