Slitherine

13. April 1943, Heavy fighting in the Gomel area
Summer has arrived on all fronts.


Russian scientists improve the fighter.


All quiet in the Middle East. The fighters are upgraded and units are repaired.


All quiet in the northern sector. The offensive against Finland has been cancelled. The units are needed on the central sector.


South of Pskov the Wehrmacht has started a limited offensive to grind me down. I pull back my damaged units. I attack south of Vitebsk in an attempt to destroy the Hungarian corps. The battles at Gomel continue. Supermax destroys my mechanized army. I counterattack and destroy his korps that were surrounded last turn. A tank army is ordered to this area. I pull back some of my exposed armies.


In order to relieve pressure at Gomel, I order my brave armies to attack in the south. I advance and kill axis allied units.


There is hardly any air activity this turn as all my fighters and most of my tacs are upgraded. I buy 3 armies, and spend the rest on repairing some damaged armies.

Hi,

I'm lurking here for some months now, but this AAR is just too interesting to stay in the dark.

PanzerGeneral, I was quite astonished when you posted the amount of pps you are still getting.
Maybe you should consider spending only like half of it for defense, and use the rest to create a reserve, out of supermax's sight. Maybe you can lure him into doing something stupid, if he thinks you're weaker than you really are. For example, if he does break through in the middle, he would be out in the open, and there is nothing close by you can't afford to loose. That might be a chance to trap a lot of his units.

Good luck, and kick some German butt...

Dammit, I'm German...

Hidden wrote:Hi,

I'm lurking here for some months now, but this AAR is just too interesting to stay in the dark.

PanzerGeneral, I was quite astonished when you posted the amount of pps you are still getting.
Maybe you should consider spending only like half of it for defense, and use the rest to create a reserve, out of supermax's sight. Maybe you can lure him into doing something stupid, if he thinks you're weaker than you really are. For example, if he does break through in the middle, he would be out in the open, and there is nothing close by you can't afford to loose. That might be a chance to trap a lot of his units.

Good luck, and kick some German butt...

Dammit, I'm German...

I think that will be hard, since Max has almost unlimited PPs he will try encircle and destroy as much units as possible...he doesn´t care about losses now, he will just produce and cause as much damage as possible. The russians will be overwhelmed soon.....this game is quite hard to turn around, if you make it, i will be really impressed.....

Good luck

If supermax encirles some units, his units are exposed and can easily be encircled too, if you have a reserve.
I think it's a bad idea to let him know exactly what he's up against.
And while supermax has lots of PPs, his manpower and oil will cause trouble, if he pushes too hard. And it's still a long way to Omsk...

Hidden wrote:If supermax encirles some units, his units are exposed and can easily be encircled too, if you have a reserve.
I think it's a bad idea to let him know exactly what he's up against.
And while supermax has lots of PPs, his manpower and oil will cause trouble, if he pushes too hard. And it's still a long way to Omsk...

yeah, I don't know about this. I think it's best to beat him at the front - that's where you'll press supermax on manpower and oil. It's probably best to wear down his line before his own "strategic reserve" arrives from America.

Manpower and oil could be a concern for him. He's built a LOT of infantry and repaired a lot throughout the game - if you get him in low manpower levels it's going to start negating any tech advantage, and seriously degrade the PP advantage he has. Same goes for oil to some extent.

I would add that if you can get close enough to Ploesti to bomb it, it would help deplete his oil. Oil and manpower are the only weaknesses of the Axis player in this game.

Clark wrote:

Hidden wrote:If supermax encirles some units, his units are exposed and can easily be encircled too, if you have a reserve.
I think it's a bad idea to let him know exactly what he's up against.
And while supermax has lots of PPs, his manpower and oil will cause trouble, if he pushes too hard. And it's still a long way to Omsk...

yeah, I don't know about this. I think it's best to beat him at the front - that's where you'll press supermax on manpower and oil. It's probably best to wear down his line before his own "strategic reserve" arrives from America.

Manpower and oil could be a concern for him. He's built a LOT of infantry and repaired a lot throughout the game - if you get him in low manpower levels it's going to start negating any tech advantage, and seriously degrade the PP advantage he has. Same goes for oil to some extent.

Yup, that is my plan to wear him down at the front. This summer I think I will spend most of my PPs on repairs and buying infantry to replace the ones that get killed. Meaning I won't have enough to build a strategic reserve.

This late in the game the planes have quite a long recon range. In my opinion that would mean that if my strategic reserve were to stay hidden it would be have to way back. And then it might be to late to exploit it if I need a couple of turns to move in, by then Supermax would have wrecked my front line and the reserve would be used for desperate defense measures rather than attacks.

shawkhan wrote:I would add that if you can get close enough to Ploesti to bomb it, it would help deplete his oil. Oil and manpower are the only weaknesses of the Axis player in this game.

It is tempting, but I lost my strategic bomber in the Middle East desert as it fulfilled its duty as a recon unit. If I survive this summer, this might be an option. I need to recapture the Crimea before starting this bombing campaign. Supermax has captured two oil fields in the US, thus the effect of bombing Ploesti has been somewhat diminished. But again if this means that his offensive ambitions is lowered that might be preferred

3. May 1943, Heavy battles in central Russia
The weather.


All quiet in the Middle East. A Tank army is ordered back to Russia and has started its long march.


All quiet in the northern sector. The army north of Leningrad is ordered north as it will conduct a limited offensive against the Finns.


In the central sector there is heavy fighting my Red Air Force and tank army almost manages to destroy the panzer grenadier korps along with the infantry korps just north of it. All three armies are deployed in this sector, along with the new fighter.


The offensive against AG South near Dnepropetrovsk has been halted. Supermax managed to destroy one of my tank armies, sob. Near the sea of Azov I destroy a Romanian motorized corps.


Russia buys two armies and spends the rest of their PPs on repairs on loads of units.

This is definitely a war of attrition. From my point of view it seems that Supermax is winning just now. It is a long time until autumn and the muddy season, so the Red Army must perform some miracles this summer otherwise I think my front line will crumble.

PanzerGeneral wrote:3. May 1943, Heavy battles in central Russia
The weather.


All quiet in the Middle East. A Tank army is ordered back to Russia and has started its long march.


All quiet in the northern sector. The army north of Leningrad is ordered north as it will conduct a limited offensive against the Finns.


In the central sector there is heavy fighting my Red Air Force and tank army almost manages to destroy the panzer grenadier korps along with the infantry korps just north of it. All three armies are deployed in this sector, along with the new fighter.


The offensive against AG South near Dnepropetrovsk has been halted. Supermax managed to destroy one of my tank armies, sob. Near the sea of Azov I destroy a Romanian motorized corps.


Russia buys two armies and spends the rest of their PPs on repairs on loads of units.

This is definitely a war of attrition. From my point of view it seems that Supermax is winning just now. It is a long time until autumn and the muddy season, so the Red Army must perform some miracles this summer otherwise I think my front line will crumble.

Don't lose hope. Every lost unit for him, every repair he has to make, brings him lower and lower in manpower. I suppose oil too, but he's shown a pretty good ability to manage it and he has the possibility of taking more oilfields later if he's successful. But the lack of manpower will catch up to him eventually. I don't know if you could possibly turn it around and take Berlin, but there's a very strong chance that Russia will remain in the game right until the end.

On that note, does anyone know how much manpower is consumed for each type of unit?

massina_nz wrote:On that note, does anyone know how much manpower is consumed for each type of unit?

I think it's 10 for an infantry, 9 for a mech infantry, 5 for a garrison, 7 for armor, and 4 for air units. I'm pretty certain for the first 3, but not too sure about the rest.

Summary of the war (May 1943)
Some thoughts on the last year of fighting.

Supermax started his summer campaign against the US in spring 1942. I prioritized a strong air force in order to combat his tac bombers. But his ground forces were too numerous and strong for my weak US army. There were just not enough PPs to build a strong air force and lots of ground units. I quickly realized that I would lose the US, and goal became to hold on as long as possible. From my point of view I think I managed relatively well. The US surrendered in spring 1943 and now only Russia remains on the allied side in the war.

In Russia things were quiet in 1942. I built up my air force and started to harass the axis units, in order for them to build experience. From earlier experiences I wanted a strong Red Air Force so that the Luftwaffe could be stopped from breaking up my defensive line. This has been achieved at the cost of fewer ground forces. At start of the 1943 summer battles I agree with other people who have posted that I should have spent some more PPs on infantry rather than fighters. The goal of my air force is to contest the Luftwaffe as much as possible in order for them to burn lots of precious axis fuel. For the remainder of 1943 the goal will be to cling onto the Dnieper defensive line and kill axis units. If this fails I suspect my front line will collapse because of lack of troops. If his happens my I will rush troops to Moscow to defend it to the last man and block the entrance to the Caucasus. And I will start to build an army in Omsk.

Total casualties.


The war effort and production of the Russians.


The Russian research status.


Now it is time for some numbers.

Manpower status:
Russia 1581 81%

The Russians manpower pool is very healthy at this stage in the war. I would guess that the Wehrmacht pool is under 50% judging from the quality of the latest Wehrmacht formations.

Total PPs collected:
Britain 1220
France 140
USA 2506
Russia 6537

I have taken the statistics from each turn in order to see trends in what is happening in this war. Here are some charts, for those who are interested in such things.

What about getting those units out of afrika, at this point it might not make any difference, but atleast you can have some fun with those 3 tanks. A carefull attack at the right time might cripple Max´s armor forces and atleast delay is offensive to winter. If you can hold the line to winter you might be able to do more damage in you offensive....

Just an idea....then again you might give him easy access to oil in the mideast and then you are really screwed.....

I notice you haven't used a focus point in the infantry area. With one available, it might be an idea to help speed along research in this area.

pickle wrote:I notice you haven't used a focus point in the infantry area. With one available, it might be an idea to help speed along research in this area.

Thanksfor spotting that! I will focus in fixed defense for my infantry research.

23. May 1943, Heavy battles along the entire Russian front
The weather.


The Russian scientists produce some more results.


Things are heating up in the Middle East. All three tank armies are ordered back to Russia. The Red Air Force attacks an Italian infantry corps and destroys a Luftwaffe fighter trying to protect the poor Italians.


In Finland the Red Army attacks and destroys two Finnish units in north of Leningrad. West of Leningrad another Finnish unit is badly beaten.


There are heavy battles in the central sector. Supermax managed to destroy several infantry armies and my tank army there. Should I withdraw? No! The Red Army and air force counterattacks and destroys two infantry units along with a panzer grenadier. Again there are some withdrawals in order to shorten and plug the holes in the front line. The situation at this sector is critical.


In the southern sector the Red Army attacks and destroys a weakened panzer korps along with two infantry units. For now things seem under control here.


Russia buys 4 new infantry armies and spend the rest of their PPs on much needed repairs on several units.


How long will my brave Red Army hold out against the axis?

Wow that was a good turn, Max took heavy casualties, things on the front doesn´t look that bad suddenly....There is only one maybe 2 tanks he can attack with next turn without risk losing them...

Would be nice if you could knock out the finns also, free some troops.

Ditto that...Wow your counter-attacks achieved impressive results. Presumably Max will have re-inforcements coming from the US at some stage. I hope you do better than I'm doing against Trulster.

massina_nz wrote:Presumably Max will have re-inforcements coming from the US at some stage.

The US has surrendered and so has the UK. So there won't be any reinforcements from there. It's Russia and only Russian now.