Slitherine

schwerpunkt wrote:PG,
My advice before you attack is to make sure that you have a good line of Inf to shield your assault forces. Also, my experience when attacking with the russians is that air is the key (as you seem to have realised) and you will need at least 1.5 FTRs per TAC so that you can keep your TACs escorted. Also, the russians have the air edge in winter so dont get too enthusiastic before the next winter otherwise you wont have as many planes to throw at him.

Thanks for the advice for protecting my armour. I have learned this hard way in this game when Supermax picked of my armour that were exposed.
As of now I have a ratio of 1 FTR per TAC. In my mind this should be enough as the quality of axis troops is diminished.

The current plan is to keep up the pressure with limited attacks (expect in Finland) and rebuild my damaged forces and investing in tanks and infantry (1:1 ratio).

Two words-> Human wave

Usually with russia in most war games you build infantry, infantry and more infantry, yet more infantry and then 1 tank followed by more infantry. Might work here as well.

11. August 1943, Luftwaffe America is spotted in Estonia
The weather.


The Russian scientists continue to produce results.


In the Middle East an Italian corps is destroyed as the Red Army continues its slow advance. The remnants of the DAK are spotted along the coast.


Luftwaffe America has been spotted along the Estonian coast. They will assist the Finns in their final struggle. I guess the goal is to inflict as much casualties as possible on the Red Army. I want more Red fighters at this sector before attacking Helsinki. I pull back from Helsinki for now.


In the central sector an exposed Italian corps is attacked and badly damaged, otherwise all is quiet.


In the southern sector a Wehrmacht korps perish after combined air and ground attacks.


The Russians buy a tank and infantry army. The rest of my PPs are spent on upgrading and repairing the Red Air Force.

31. August 1943, The Red Air Force is repaired
The weather.


The Russian scientists work overtime.


Another Italian corps is destroyed in the Middle East. The Red Army continues its advance. My fighters are deployed near the front line and reveal two weak Luftwaffe fighters.


Luftwaffe America has badly damaged my northern fighter. My tac bomber and fighter is withdrawn to the central sector. They will return in force. Tampere is undefended and one of my garrisons captures the city. The Finnish and German units have had their supply line cut of. Soon they will perish in the Finnish forests.


In the central sector the exposed Italian corps is destroyed after air and infantry attacks.


The limited offensive continues on the southern sector. A German korps is destroyed and another have its strength halved.


I spend my PPs on repaired all available fighters, which will travel to Leningrad next turn. The rest of the PPs are spent on upgrading ground units.

20. September 1943, Jerusalem is liberated, transport sunk in the Baltic Sea
The weather.


The Russian scientists improve the tank.


The German korps in Jerusalem is destroyed by air and ground attacks and is liberated. The Red Army is ready to storm the Suez Canal. Several Italian transports are spotted. These pathetic units will soon be destroyed.


Supermax has destroyed a garrison in Finland. I spot a transport which was headed for the northern Finnish city. My Red sub and BB attack and sink the transport. That was probably the easiest kill of the war for me so far.


In the central sector the next axis allied unit is sacrificed by Supermax in the meat grinder south of Vitebsk. Hopefully he will run out of axis allied units in the future and start sacrificing his Wehrmacht forces.


The killings continue in the south an axis allied corps and German infantry korps is destroyed. My armour moves to the front line.


Russia buys commander Zhukov, he will be posted to the southern sector and facilitate in the upcoming winter offensive. The rest of the PPs are spent on upgrading my Red figthers and tac bombers.

PG, just curious what tech level are your INF units at?

You really are doing better than I expected, keep it up.

massina_nz wrote:PG, just curious what tech level are your INF units at?

You really are doing better than I expected, keep it up.

Current max tech level for my infantry is 7. I would recon that about 30% have max tech level while the rest have level 6.

10. October 1943, Wehrmacht shows its teeth
The weather, autumn has arrived in Europe.


The Russian scientists continue to improve the tank and fighter.


The Red Army advances slowly towards the Suez Canal. The fighters are upgraded and will start to attack again next turn.


Supermax tricked me in Finland His northern transport was a decoy. There is now a panzer korps ready to disembark in the port of Helsinki. I do not want a panzer korps roaming around in Finland creating mayhem and destruction. I rush all available nearby forces towards Helsinki in an attempt to prevent the landing. My sub moves in to block the escape route. The Red Air Force is directed to the northern sector and will destroy the Luftwaffe units here.


All is quiet in the central sector.


AG South shows that the Wehrmacht still has teeth, my offensive units have been destroyed. My losses were 1 tank army, 1 motorized army and 2 infantry armies. That is 195 PPs lost! My montly income is 200 PPs so I can afford to lose that many units, but I want to minimize my losses for now. One goal is for the Red Army to have a better quality than the Wehrmacht so it might be easier for me to inflict casualties on Supermax and reduce my own. This will allow me to spend my PPs on other things than repairs and bying units to replace the ones that are destroyed. I want to expand my army. Zhukov replaces Timoshenko as commander on the southern sector.
Due to strict censorship there are no screenshot of the southern sector (meaning I forgot it).

The Russian manpower pool is at 75%. I buy a tac bomber and upgrade my tac bombers and infantry armies.

30. October 1943, AG South continues its offensive
The weather.


In the Middle East the Red Army pauses for equipment upgrades before assaulting the Suez Canal. A fighter is ordered back to Russia to replace the fighter lost in battle. I move in a fighter to the Qattara Depression and it reveals weak Luftwaffe units in the rear area.


Supermax landed his panzer in Finland. All he did of course was to ship his Finnish garrison out of Helsinki and disembark his panzer unit into the Finnish capital. Very clever, a new trick learned My tac bombers attack the panzer and hardly make a dent to the powerful armoured formation. Red Army units surround the capital. All fighters are redeployed to the southern sector to provide air cover for my tac bombers.


All is quiet in the central sector.


AG South continues to wreck havoc along the Sea of Azov and destroy two infantry armies. Two armies are railed from the central sector to plug the hole in the front. Despite no air cover my tac bombers attack a Romanian corps and a panzer korps. Both units are destroyed by infantry attacks afterwards.


Russia buys two infantry armies to replace the ones that were lost and spend the rest on infantry upgrades and repairs. Approximately 80% of my infantry units are now at current max tech level 7.

A couple of observations...I would be aware of those units in the Crimea being transported to the coast after the little gambit up north. Might be an idea to at least garrison the oilfields. Not sure where your armour is that was previously in the Middle East (I remember you saying it was moving the conventional way back to Russia) but leaving one around the area might be prudent.

As for Finland, you should be able to contain the armour quite easily without diverting more effort there. The theatre is secondary now. It should be fairly easy to sink that transport between your sub and the Baltic fleet. Once done, the sub can 'disappear' and either stop the armour unit from evacuating or prevent further reinforcement.

Also, I think you have a great opportunity to really decimate the Luftwaffe in the south. A combination of bringing his fighters up as escorts followed by individual unit attacks could lead to big dividends. Coupled to this, some lucky tactical bomber attacks on his armour/mechanized units in the bulge could lead to there easy destruction by local infantry attacks. It has the added bonus of having the Axis expend oil. It might not be an issue for him but you never know.

Finally, his centre looks to be weak with the concentration of forces in the south. It might be wise to consider an offensive in the centre if you can 'secretly' gather enough force there. The marshes are close enough that you might be able to physically cut off his units in the south requiring long moves around or great expenditures on rail movement.

pickle wrote:A couple of observations...I would be aware of those units in the Crimea being transported to the coast after the little gambit up north. Might be an idea to at least garrison the oilfields. Not sure where your armour is that was previously in the Middle East (I remember you saying it was moving the conventional way back to Russia) but leaving one around the area might be prudent.

As for Finland, you should be able to contain the armour quite easily without diverting more effort there. The theatre is secondary now. It should be fairly easy to sink that transport between your sub and the Baltic fleet. Once done, the sub can 'disappear' and either stop the armour unit from evacuating or prevent further reinforcement.

Also, I think you have a great opportunity to really decimate the Luftwaffe in the south. A combination of bringing his fighters up as escorts followed by individual unit attacks could lead to big dividends. Coupled to this, some lucky tactical bomber attacks on his armour/mechanized units in the bulge could lead to there easy destruction by local infantry attacks. It has the added bonus of having the Axis expend oil. It might not be an issue for him but you never know.

Finally, his centre looks to be weak with the concentration of forces in the south. It might be wise to consider an offensive in the centre if you can 'secretly' gather enough force there. The marshes are close enough that you might be able to physically cut off his units in the south requiring long moves around or great expenditures on rail movement.

I think the armor in the Crimea will be used along the Sea of Azov. It is now winter season and I think any amphibious landings are oyt of the question along my Black Sea coastline.
Yep, I'll use my sub as a bottle neck preventing the forces in Finland to escape and to stop anymore reinforcements coming to aid the defenders.
Hopefully Supermax will let his Luftwaffe stay in one place so that I can start to engage his fighters. The primary goal is to force him burn lots of oil, the second is to gain air supremacy so that I can attack at will. This was very successful during the summer campaign in 1943 which was the decisive factor in stopping the Wehrmacht offensive.

Thanks for the tip for an offensive in the centre, but winter is coming and since my fighters and tacs are concentrated in the south this will be my schwerpunkt this winter. My Middle East armour will arrive the next couple of turns so they should come in handy.

19. November 1943, Muddy season in Russia slows down AG South
Winter arrives in Europe, and the muddy season has started in Russia.


Russian scientists have reached maximum Industry level. Comrade Stalin congratulates them.


The Red Army has advanced up to the Suez Canal. My Red fighters draw the Luftwaffe fighter to defend the Italians and the result is a Luftwaffe fighter that is utterly destroyed. More Wehrmacht reinforcements are coming across the Mediterranean.


All is quiet in the northern sector. My tac bombers attack the panzer in order to prevent it from entrenching and lowering its effectiveness.


All is quiet in the central sector.


Thank the computer weather gods for the muddy season. The AG South offensive has slowed down. I lose Dnepropetrovsk and Stalino but they will soon be back in my hands. The first of the Middle East tank armies have come to Rostov.


This turn I spend all my PPs on upgrading and repairing the Red Air Force for the upcoming winter offensive.

9. December 1943, Finland surrenders
Winter has arrived.


The Russian scientists continue to please comrade Stalin.


All quiet in the Middle East. The Red Army is amassed along the Suez Canal.


Combined air and ground attacks destroy the panzer korps in Helsinki. The Finnish capital is captured and Finland surrenders.


All is quiet in the central sector.


In the southern sector, Supermax continues to expand his bulge. The Red Air Force attacks with all it got and disrupts the 3 forward panzer korps. The Luftwaffe attempts to stop the Red Air Force is poor and they suffer more losses than my brave pilots. More units are railed from the central sector to plug the gap in front.


The Russians buy a tank army and motorized army.

Would you have had any chance at defeating the Finnish Garrison in the Fin Capital in the turn before the GE armor landed? That action, if successful, would have also destroyed the GE armor in port.

PanzerGeneral wrote:All quiet in the Middle East. The Red Army is amassed along the Suez Canal.

At a certain point you want to hold up your advance in the Middle East right? The cities are not very valuable and you don't want to have to protect a very large shore area. Are you going for the Suez and then stopping, or just trying to destroy Axis units?

PS: You are doing an incredible job so please take any advice from me with a boulder of salt!!

PanzerGeneral wrote:The Russians buy a tank army and motorized army.

Ugh, not a fan of the GS unit icons that are not in the standard profile view:P!

BuddyGrant wrote:Would you have had any chance at defeating the Finnish Garrison in the Fin Capital in the turn before the GE armor landed? That action, if successful, would have also destroyed the GE armor in port.

No I don't think so. The reason why I did not attack was because at the time Supermaxhad loads of tac bombers in the north. I feared that if my forces were next to Helsinki he could bomb them and let the garrison finish them off. I wanted to attack in force and moving in the Finnish forests take time

BuddyGrant wrote:At a certain point you want to hold up your advance in the Middle East right? The cities are not very valuable and you don't want to have to protect a very large shore area. Are you going for the Suez and then stopping, or just trying to destroy Axis units?

A valid point. I have not decided yet. I want to attack just to cause casualties even if this a secondary theater. I want to capture Suez, but I am unsure whether to advance much more. If I continue to advance into Libya I will get a long and vulnerable coast line that I have to protect from amphibious landings (I know Supermax is fond of landing behind my lines )

29. December 1943, The Red Army enters Estonia, AG South gets a bloody nose from Red Army attacks
The weather.


The traditional Russian winter disrupts axis effectiveness.


The Russian scientists work overtime.


In the Middle East Supermax attacks Cairo. The defenders stand firm. The Red Air Force softens up the Suez defences. Along with infantry attacks the Italian defenders is severely beaten and lose 6 steps.


Finland has been occupied. Instead of moving my tac bombers south, I order them to attack the Wehrmacht korps north of lake Peipus. The attack is a success and my infantry armies manage to push it back. There are no reserves in the vicinity so I guess units will be railed from the central and southern sectors.


All is quiet in the central sector, as the Red Force is used against AG South.


In the southern sector the Red Air Force rains death and destruction on the forward units of AG South. The Red Army closes in and destroys 3 infantry units. The Luftwaffe is unable to provide any protection and lose many fighters in the battles.


The Russians buy a fighter and use some PPs on repairs and upgrades.

18. January 1944, The Red Army winter offensive gains momentum
The weather.


The Russian scientists continue to produce results.


The Red Army make limited attacks across the Suez Canal without seriously damaging the Italian corps. I believe this will be the front line in this theatre for the rest of the war. I will continue to attack so that Supermax will need to spend PPs on repairs here.


In Estonia one of my armies manages to destroy the German korps that was damaged after the northern lake Peipus battles. I see that Supermax will try to build a new defensive line along the river Dvina. Next stop is Tallinn. South of lake Peipus my tac bombers attack Pskov and my Red Army infantry has an easy match in liberating the city.


In the central sector an Italian corps perishes in the meat grinder west of Smolensk.


The Red Army offensive against AG South in the Donets Basin continues. The result is a panzer grenadier and three infantry units that are destroyed and a Hungarian unit which is smashed. Will Supermax pull back his panzers or will my bombers be able to destroy them next turn?
All three tank armies from the Middle East have arrived and will be put to use in the offensive in the southern sector.


I am so happy with my tac bombers that I buy another one and a motorized army.

I am so happy with my tac bombers <snip>

Well that's probably the biggest under-statement in this AAR

If I might suggest...just mask Tallinin to ensure he can't rail anything in making a dash for the Dvina much as Manstein did instead (but in reverse of course). If you can cross the river before his defense is established, it will complicate matters. It also looks like you should be able to exploit in the Pskov area now giving your opponent further worries of his northern front collapsing. In particular, the exposed German corps just south of the city (three hexsides exposed to your forces) looks tempting especially once softened by Sturmoviks as is the corps you reduced to three steps last turn. The Italian garrison is as good as dead once German support is gone. The possibilities in the north have certainly developed quickly!

AGS is also in jeopardy though I suspect the majority of those targets will be withdrawn before you can wreck further havoc. But, depending on his reaction to events in the north, you may have an opportunity to exploit weakness here. The key, having followed your AAR now, is not to overextend or unduly expose your lead units. Much easier said than done though.

Here's hoping the initiative has finally passed to you in the east.

7. February 1944, The Red Army winter offensive continues
The weather.


The Russian scientists improve the radar.


In the Middle East an Italian corps is destroyed as it defends the Suez Canal.


The Wehrmacht korps holds on to its life and survives with only 1 step left in Tallinn. The city will surely fall next turn. More troops are German troops are assembled along the Dvina. The armies around Pskov halt for equipment upgrades.


In the central sector, Gomel is liberated after air and infantry attacks. A new tank army is deployed near Smolensk it will facilitate in destroying more troops in the meat grinder here.


In the southern sector, AG South pulls back. The Red Army tries to catch up but manages only to destroy two units. The city of Dnepropetrovsk is under attack and will fall next turn. Two Luftwaffe fighters that scramble to the sky and intercept the Red Air Force are severely mauled. The Luftwaffe tac bombers have vanished. I suspect they are further back being repaired and not used in order for Supermax to conserve fuel.


This turn I buy a tank army and the rest of the PPs are spent on unit upgrades and repairs.