defending Russia

[big ed]

I have been playing EA hotseat since december. i'm on my 5th or so try. i'm having problems with defending Russia. the latest they have held out is 12/41. While I know the problem could be related to playing solo. I've been expeimenting as with different tactics to see what works. my latest is defending the entire border, staying out of finland and placing mobile troops in "fire brigades" at various spots. Moscow fell in 11/41. the finns took leningrad and stalingrad fell in 12/41. Should I try a small trip wire force on the border and defend farter back? any suggestions would be great.

 

[sapper32]

Hi there im no expert but what i tend to do and what some others seem to do is defend the forward areas with NKVD units,make the Axis player use valuable time and maybe some losses before he gets to the bulk of the Red army then pray the reinforcments turn up and throw them into the line,attack when you can though the Axis forces can get pretty stretched hope this helps one of the EA experts will give you some valuable tips no doubt.

Ian

 

[Mark Stevens]

That's about it, really. Entrench the rifle corps behind major river lines with the mechanised in reserve, try to utilise the Stalin Line forts, leave the NKVD forward in towns, woods or swamps, blow the bridges, KEEP THE RED AIR FORCE OUT OF RANGE FOR THE FIRST MONTH, as you know the Soviets do get hordes of reinforcements, remember that Moscow and Stalingrad are the two key cities.

Having said that, I usually get beaten and I helped design the thing.

You will get an awful lot more out of the scenario if you can find a human opponent.

 

[big ed]

thanks for the advice. i'll give those a try. i'm going to try to finish my current game and see if the allies have any chance. i'm in turn 158 and the allies have there pre-D-day reinforcments. i plan on trying a pbem game. i want to make sure i have explored posible tactics before i do it. i don't want to embarass myself too badly. Great work by the way, mark.

 

[Capitan]

I am in the middle of defending Russia and I will offer some insight on my experience.

First of all it is a bumpy ride, you will have moments of wanting to throw in the towel and few months down the line you think you can race all the way to Berlin in a few weeks. So when playing PBEM you are watching the opponents replay with your hands covering your eyes.

My first observation is that you will have breakthroughs coming through your line. This is inevitable as the German troops and shock is really a killer. By accepting your weakness we can try and turn it into a strength. My plan so far has been to set up weak spots in my line where my opponent will easily break. This means I can to some extent chose where he will make his advances. Funneling him towards Stalingrad and Voronesh seems like an obvious choice as there is a lot of space where he can move without you losing anything really important.

Secondly I have been very careful to keep all MECH and ARM behind the lines, the extra ARM from the Finnish campaign is really useful, and I jump on any breakthroughs coming where I do not "want" them. For instance, I kept a strong line near Pskov which he often tried to breach, and when he did I kicked him right back. This bought me a few months as his retreating troops needs time to recover before being back in the fray.

Something else that I found useful is to rail back any 1/3s of a unit to a back-area where you reassemble troops and let them resupply before joining the front again.

Furthermore I try to have several lines of defense whenever possible, this means if your line is breached you have somewhere to go with any survivors instead of him slaughtering them all in great Kessels.

The trick, as I see it, is to let him move a lot so that he is tired when arrives at all the important places. In turn 140-150 you will recieve massive armoured reinforcements so just hang in there.

- Jesper

 

[Bdr.Mallette]

What about defending Germany and Poland from Russia if the Barbarossa T.O. is not there..I.E. Russia Declared war because England is near falling.... to put pressure on my Eastern front?

German forces are positioned along the major rivers and borders of Poland, Rumania and have taken 2 of the Baltic states. Finland is Axis now but no action in that part of the world. German forces have taken half the Pripet but have no intentions of going any farther...is it now up to the Russians to fulfill their part of the bargain? i.e. declaring war against Germany? Norway is not a factor because UK and Germany fight it out on English soil....Birmingham nearly surrounded but Brit forces fighting very hard...the RAF is an unbelievable pain the arse....

Any comments...can Germany finish Russia off with a late spring early battle with Russia if England is out of it???


bdr.

 

[Capitan]

Any comments...can Germany finish Russia off with a late spring early battle with Russia if England is out of it???

Do you have more information? What year are you in? Is the US in the war?

 

[Bdr.Mallette]

Yeah,
it's turn 74 or so, fall of '40....
England is %30 under Axis control... from Plymouth to Dover, nearly and the whole western half. The reason why I ask is that I have seen a few 'new' newsbriefs that are positive for the Soviets but not for the Axis...so basically, the Soviets are receiving massive amounts of forces. Definitley the bonus units for Finland, then a lot more units with news strings that I am familiar with receiving a large amount of units.
I am worried, that once I start to roll back the soviet forces, the US will join and stuff like that. If England falls, does the US receive more units than normal. I don't wanna open a new front when my currents fronts are still very active...ya know.

 

[Bdr.Mallette]

sorry,
was at work, didn't finish.
How can I wipe out the RAF?
I am trying to capture their fields but, sheeesh. They're the main reason the Brits still are actively defending.
Ahh well, solve it me self I guess.... pound his fields when possible and go go go! heheheh

 

[rasmus]

What about defending Germany and Poland from Russia if the Barbarossa T.O. is not there..I.E. Russia Declared war because England is near falling.... to put pressure on my Eastern front?

German forces are positioned along the major rivers and borders of Poland, Rumania and have taken 2 of the Baltic states. Finland is Axis now but no action in that part of the world. German forces have taken half the Pripet but have no intentions of going any farther...is it now up to the Russians to fulfill their part of the bargain? i.e. declaring war against Germany? Norway is not a factor because UK and Germany fight it out on English soil....Birmingham nearly surrounded but Brit forces fighting very hard...the RAF is an unbelievable pain the arse....

Any comments...can Germany finish Russia off with a late spring early battle with Russia if England is out of it???


bdr.

germanys best hope is a knockout blow against russia. You have got to get in possesion of those reinforcement sites or your toast. :yummy:The rumours of Britains near demise are much in error.

 

[Bdr.Mallette]

hello,

is it your turn or what?
I had to friggin well install all my chit again.
I'm buying new PC when I return from Northern BC, it's GONNA be a MAC,
friggin viruses.

ah well, about eastern front, Soviets declared war on peaceful Germany, we are defending ourselves now.... but maybe the best way to defend is to attack.

my emails from you are all gone...mysteriously!

so I don't know if it's your turn or mine.... man viruses piss me off.
Can a MAC play Counter-strike?


bdr.

 

[Mantis]

Something else that I found useful is to rail back any 1/3s of a unit to a back-area where you reassemble troops and let them resupply before joining the front again.

One other thing to consider - some units will not see the other 1/3s reconstitute, so what you see is what you get. These are *great* units for putting in areas where they will interfere with ZoC areas (the partisans are excellent for this). For example, just off-road of his advance path, but in the lovely swamp hex... So now that he goes to advance after combat, he either has to pay the extra movement costs to go through 2 (or more!) of your ZoC hexes, or burn massive amounts of movement points to overrun you, almost ensuring that the unit he did it with is stuck offroad in the swamp...

Consider further: If he only had one or two units that could advance, one in the swamp almost ends all chances of his offensive continuing, or; with a bit of planning and alot of luck, you can be poitioned such that he doesn't have the movement to advance or attempt the overrun, and you denied him a hex for free.

Always keep these units on min losses so they do not even attempt to fight.