Yep Dbond we had it set up on plywood on saw horses in a friends garage and generally met every other night to play,,Don't really know if I want to get into the full campaign but hell you never know once you get going..Got plenty of time ..I live alone and the dog doesn't make many demands on me We go out at 4 am when it's quiet and if it's cold in for the day...i already have the game ,,A m8 bought it ,,why I don't know but he has no war gaming experience so I gave him my Panzer Corps Game in return..And he's honest we uninstalled both games off our machines to stay legal....Right now working on Tigers On The Hunt reminds me of the Advanced Squad leader days like a million years ago...So DB you keep posting and I'll keep reading ..Great thread !!

Good choice. I've only ever refunded two games on Steam, and one was Panzer Corps

I had such great memories of playing Panzer General 2, but when I tried Panzer Corps a year ago it just didn't click with me. And sorry, you did say you already had WitE, my mistake.

If one wasn't inclined to play the grand campaign, there are a number of smaller scenarios, and also the DLC like Lost Battles and Don to the Danube.

And never fear, this AAR will go to the end, for better or worse I am just a couple weeks from the summer campaigning season.

I liked Panzer Corps once all the DLC's got in and played the pants off the first Panzer General..The last week or so been working Tigers on The Hunt,,,Brings back the old Advanced Squad Leader days...Just finished Antony Beevors book on Stalingrad and ordered "When Titans Clashed - How The Red Army Stopped Hitler" by David Glantz..Usually my gaming steers my reading a bit..WW II civil War or anything else...Going flying now but will fire it up in the AM and run through the tutorial and make some notes from the manual,,I don't need to write down the obvious stuff and use your AAR's as a guide,,

Good luck and we have a few threads going in the Historical Strategy forum if I can be of any help.

I've played until June and will get a report done soon. I'm afraid the summer offensive will prove anticlimactic since I only need to capture another three cities or so to get an automatic victory. In Para's AAR he had to go all the way to Baku. When I started I didn't really know how much of Russia was worth 260 points, but now I see. So the second run will be the 290-point version and with Fog of War on and maybe a buff or two for the Soviets. I want to give the Russians a go too, but it seems a much different challenge, and even more micro than when playing the Germans. But it would give me valuable insight in to the game. For example I don't know how many troops a full-strength Russian division should have, so it's difficult to judge how battered they might be. Last night we closed a pocket and the divisions that surrendered had on average 10,000 men in them. Is that near full-strength, half-strength?

Now that I see what 260 points represent in terms of conquered territory, I think I could have won this in 1941. The thing that prevented it I believe is the botched AGC rail line. If that had been built properly I could have pushed on from Moscow in August and I think would have taken a couple more cities and won it in '41. I'm glad I didn't though as I needed to experience the first winter.

What an awesome game it is though. Looking forward to WitE 2!

What if you surround a few cities, but don't capture them?

If I don't get ownership of the city/urban hexes then no points. So theoretically I could run rings but not end the game. If I do not install a tight ring then the AI may try to evacuate. More than once I surrounded a city, the AI pulled out of the city hex and my ZoC painted it green, and with it the points.

It's what I believe is the final week of spring mud in the game now (second week of June) and that means the summer campaign will shortly commence. If I can break through the game's as good as won at this point. I've had six months to prepare for this moment so I expect to be successful, but ya never know! I have a plan worked out, I just don't want to let the AI in on it

Looking forward to the Next AAR and TOTAL VICTORY!!!.


Wheels

Turns 46 to 54, April 23 to June 25


The thaw continued through the end of April and in to May. During May, the weather alternated between mud and clear, week to week. Since I do not attempt to attack, or do anything really, during mud, this left brief chances at altering the situation. Local, spoiling attacks were made, and forces re-positioned for the upcoming offensive which was planned for the first week following the end of the mud season, whenever that might be.

During this period little was accomplished, other than refitting the winter-battered units and getting them in place. Most had come through in good enough shape, and the precautions taken with the armor corps -- the lowering of the max ToE and finding garrison quarters for them -- had paid off nicely. Not only were they back to full strength, they had also upgraded to their '42 ToE patterns, increasing the firepower of each panzer division significantly. Reinforcements from Germany continued to arrive, mostly infantry divisions, and frankly I struggled to find a place for them, The issue was I was out of corps HQ's to assign them to without going over the maximum command capacity for the HQ. In addition, units were also withdrawing, and we lost the 10th Panzer Division from 2nd Panzer Army, who were sent to France to refit. Lucky bastages. In all though, the Panzerwaffe was in fantastic shape, full strength and oversupplied for the upcoming summer campaign. We had been sitting on the same position for nearly six months, so everything was in order. No gaps existed along the front, and in a few areas I even managed to position a corps or two in reserve.

Another, ToE upgrade, perfectly timed for the offensive. These upgrades take place over time, not all motorized divisions do so simultaneously, but if they are close enough to railheads, the process will be done inside a month. Here you see a particularly powerful ToE upgrade. The elite Großdeutschland regiment not only got a new ToE pattern, they were upgraded from a regiment to a division. This essentially more than triples their firepower and combat strength. Mototrized divisions are some of our most powerful formations, and all are assigned to Panzer Corps. Interestingly, no motorized divisions have arrived as reinforcements. The option does exist to motorize regular infantry units, at the cost of trucks to the motorpool.




War in the East is an epic-scale wargame, but one thing that impresses me is despite that scale, the game is still modeled down to the smallest details. Each weapon, and I think each shot fired, are factored in to the calculations. And a number of the German's specialist weapons are included as well. Arriving over this period is the siege mortar Karl, which I can't help saying out loud in Rick Grimes voice. Kaaaarl! The "Karl-Gerät" would have been sent to Sevastopol, but for the change of plans, or Leningrad if it still resisted, but here it was simply sent to 4th army to scare the crap out of the Russians when the offensive ignited at the end of June.



On May 21st we had been sitting in the winter line for six months, and the troops were eager to see action. The enemy's disposition had concentrated it's main striking strength to the south, along the Donets bend opposite Army Group A which consisted of 17th and 11th infantry Armies, 1st Panzer Army with three panzer corps, and several satellite formations from Romania and Hungary. The Italians would start arriving in theater in strength at the end of June, but for now their only corps was still guarding the Crimea exits. It was highly interesting to me to see that I could identify no enemy armored or cavalry unit north of Voronezh. The entirety of their mobile striking power was concentrated along the southern part of our front. Having sat on the river for six months our troops there were well dug in and supplied with sufficient artillery support. We had even recently shifted some 109s and Ju-88s nearby to cover the front in case of attack. I was concerned about an attack here, but not unduly alarmed. I felt we would be able to handle it if the enemy decided to assault over the river, which had just become free of ice. But their force here was massive, so contingency plans were made to bring reinforcements by rail from other parts of the front if needed.

Here you see the situation along the Donets bend to the east of Rostov in the third week of June. Our troops face huge enemy numbers and all of their tank and cav strength. But we are well dug in behind the river.



The enemy had also committed strong forces to the northern end of the line, in the sector held by the Finns, and the armies who had taken Leningrad, 16th and 18th infantry armies. Terrain here favored any defender however, and with little of vital interest beyond the front line I had little intention of attacking here. I was glad to pin down strong enemy forces in a region with good defensive advantages and no need to push forward. I was confident we could repulse any attack here, especially with all of the Russian mobile power down south.

By massing at the extreme ends of the line the enemy was ripe for exploitation in the center. With the alternating mud/clear turns ticking by, I wanted to hatch a plan to disrupt the enemy's preparations, reduce his strength and free some of the pressure near Rostov. And the whole thing had to come off in a single turn, before the mud returned the next. The three panzer corps of Guderian's 2nd Panzer were arrayed around the city of Voronezh, which was the anchor for our whole south-central part of the line. Opposite these positions the enemy was thin. Partly this may be due to having few cities of value directly behind this section of the front. And the enemy arrayed here was infantry only, all armor and cav being to the south as mentioned. So the plan was devised to strike here with all three panzer corps. This would tear open 300 miles of front on both sides of Voronezh. The aim here was to eliminate the infantry divisions guarding the line, capture the city of Tambov, and to draw off the Red armor to the south. The enemy would have to react or risk a wide open breach to the north of his concentration, meaning that mass would in turn be vulnerable to envelopment itself. So a successful attack would reduce the enemy infantry strength, take another city and lessen the pressure on Army Group A near Rostov.

On May 21st (turn 49) this attack was launched. Nehring's XXXXVII Panzer Corps plunged through a gap blown in the line to the north of Voronezh and hooked right. Vietinghoff;s XXXXVI Panzer Corps to the south of the city did the same and hooked to the left. Hube's XXXX Panzer Corps at the city then broke through and fanned out in both directions, meeting the other two panzer units and trapping 25 enemy infantry divisions in a 'figure 8' pocket. Hube's XXXX Panzer Corps is the one that arrived as replacements in the fall. Three replacement Panzer Divisions were all assigned to Hube, who was handpicked for the post,, and with three panzer divisions it is the most powerful of all the panzer corps in our army. Others have at most two, stiffened by motorized divisions. But XXXX corps is pure armor.

Here you see the result of these moves. Tambov has fallen (and we reach 256 of the required 260 victory points) and the enemy infantry is trapped. From this encirclement another 200,000+ march in to captivity. On his turn, the Russian reacted with vigor. Strong tank forces slammed in to the right flank of our penetration (as expected), but stiffened by a panzer corps from 1st Panzer these attacks were repulsed and the pocket would hold. He would also paper over the entire penetration. Still vulnerable to strong pushes, but impressive to me how the AI reacted to this attack. In many games this would have remained a 300-mile wide breach, but in this game the enemy reacted and closed the door.




And here is that attack in a wider view, showing how it threatens the enemy gathering to the south.







Here is the Summer Line as it existed at the end of the spring thaws, just prior to the launch of our Summer Offensive (June 25th, turn 54).

Turn 54, June 25th 1942 -- The Summer mini-Offensive


By June 25th, one year and three days since the invasion, the mud had come to an end (I hoped!) and the preparations of the recent weeks could be put in to motion. Since the capture of Tambov in the center four weeks earlier took us to 256 points, just four more were needed to claim victory. As I said a few posts back, I regret not having gone with the 290 point campaign. My entire force is well-positioned, well-supplied and in prime position to launch a proper summer offensive, with a resumption of the encirclement battles of the previous summer. The enemy dispositions are in fact just asking for it. We hold an advantage of roughly 500,000 troops, and a tank superiority of 6,000 to 4,000, qualitative superiority not withstanding. The rail lines are all run right to the jumping off points for all pincers. The enemy air force maintains it's two to one numerical advantage, and they have more guns as well. A note before moving on, throughout this AAR I have quoted 'tank' figures, partly because it's easier and partly because it sounds better. But 'tanks' in this case is to mean all armored vehicles, including half-tracks and armored cars.

So I really feel everything is in place to mount another all-out offensive, but with just four points to go, I won't have the time to actually do it. That will have to be left to my next campaign (which by the way I am already on turn 5 of! haha)

So with no prospects of a second epic blitzkrieg, the final attack was planned. This would fall on the enemy just to the north and east of Moscow. The cities of Yaroslavl and Ivanovo lay roughly 80-100 miles behind the line. Throughout the mud/clear alternating weather period we had made spoiling attacks in each spot where I planned to launch the armor, The enemy would fill it in again the next turn, but each of these attacks was eating at the enemy fortifications. Small gains were made and casualties inflicted. For the task we had the infantry of 4th and 9th Armies, plus two 'independent' infantry corps (attached directly to Army Group Center HQ). At the northern attack point sat two panzer corps of 4th Panzer, and to the south three panzer corps of 3rd Panzer. All had done HQBUs over the past month and were oversupplied for the attack. The enemy was rather strong along the front, and would position strongpoints every couple of hexes so that each would need to be reduced to clear the ZoC and allow the armored units to go though freely.

The infantry did the job. Using Kaaarl! and plenty of other tubes, plus softening up strikes by the Luftwaffe, the holes were blown and four panzer corps shot though the gaps. 3rd Panzer met 4th panzer at Yaroslavl, while also taking Ivanovo, and with that we had achieved a Decisive Campaign victory. A bit anti-climactic after suffering through that long winter. But it's a victory nonetheless, and I'm happy with that. Here is the attack that won the war.






And the reward for all that work (plus a short video) Well, what did I expect?





Thanks to everyone for their comments and for following along. This has been one of the best games I've played, and I learned a heck of a lot through the course of the campaign. I enjoyed it so much I am already playing another one, but with the 290 point requirement and fog of war on. I've played a lot of wargames over the years, but this is the first 'grand operational' one I've tried and I must say it suits me. I really enjoyed it.

And some numbers. I love statistics, and throughout the game I pored over the various numbers and ate it all up. I wish I could have seen what another summer would have done to the numbers, but this will have to do.

Losses

Axis

Men: 1,030,480
Guns: 12,577
AFV: 2,421
SP & AC: 558 (Is this self propelled and armored cars?? Not sure what this is)

Russian

Men: 6,880,205
Guns: 88,336
AFV: 21,876
SP & AC: 6,653

In the air,

Axis: 2,127 aircraft

Russian: 17,776 aircraft

The numbers are good. We caused massive losses that the enemy couldn't quite recover by the end. In terms of AFV losses it was nearly 10 to 1. The Russian begins the game with over 20,000 AFVs to our 5,300. By the end we had 6,600 to 4,200 for the Russian. So the shift in superiority through the course of the campaign was massive. He had been showing signs of recovery through the spring of 1942, but time had run out with the arrival of the campaigning season. I never did really get a handle on the air war. I feel we were able to keep losses in check, and still deal big losses, but I don't think I made the best possible use of this asset. But at least I didn't lose it!

Ground Losses Screen (note the captured Russian equipment listed in our loss returns to the left)




OoB Screen. On the right it shows the strength returns for each nation involved. Number on left is total strength (men, guns, AFV, aircraft) and the number in parentheses is fit for service.





And finally, the units lost screen. The Russian lost 269 infantry divisions, 59 cavalry divisions, 45 armored divisions, and 27 motorized divisions among others

Decisive victory indeed, well done!

Great posts, DBond. I'm really looking forward to reading the next WitE epic campaign with fog of war on; it should be a real treat too!

Thanks CG. I would love to do another AAR aside from the whole time thing If I could just think it and it popped up on the screen it would be much easier. Playing the campaign a second time is interesting, as I get to try new plans, and to avoid certain mistakes I made. Plus the AI is playing quite differently, and that makes for good replayability. Always forcing the player to adapt.

As one example in the second run I sent one of 2nd Panzer's corps to the south of the Pripet marshes instead of keeping it going through Minsk with the rest of the group. After the first run I felt I could do without it and would have had preferred to use it this way then. But in the second run the enemy stood stronger in front of Smolensk and I missed the firepower and mobility of another panzer corps. In the first go Smolensk was captured on turn 3, but not until turn 5 the second time. It was due both to me detaching the panzer corps and to the AI playing differently as well. I'm impressed by the AI. It seems to give you an honest game. It reacts and deploys in sensible fashion in sensible places. The defense of Leningrad was awesome, more than one million men were taken prisoner there and they held me up for four months. And I'm about to do it again, but this time trying to make a few different moves to forestall that sort of carpet defense. Playing with the FoW on makes quite a difference too of course. Anyway, just a few observations. If a game has the attention to detail, authenticity and deep mechanics like WitE does, and then adds a competent AI you've got a great game.

I totally understand that you might not be up to writing up another novel
I don't have the game and don't have the time to even try it (work + three kids) but I find the AARs fascinating- so many decisions tactical and strategic... that one little group of partisans caused you such a setback, for example. Perhaps one day I'll be able to give it a go and, for that matter, actually do more than just install DCS/ B of Stalingrad... how many years until retirement again? In the meantime I have to game vicariously.

I agree, reading AARs such as this are the only way for me to somewhat enjoy these games, even if it is some form of surrogate gaming.

Thanks gents, and happy to provide the service. AARs aren't as popular now as they once were. I wish there were gobs of AARs on this site, it's just not done much any more. War in the East is a big game, not everyone's cuppa. I wasn't sure it would be mine either until I tried it and it got it's hooks in. It's history, well-defined but at the same time it's a what-if generator. The player is constrained by history in terms of his pieces, but the chessboard has no movement rules. Any piece can go anywhere, and this fact alone gives the game a tremendous amount of latitude in how or if you choose to deviate from the historical course. It makes it fun and interesting to play, and a good story-maker too.

Next I plan to try War in the West (it's on sale dontchaknow?) and would love to follow an AAR on that game to see how it plays, and I can do so on the Matrix boards, but still.... Even so, these games are epic-ally huge, as I've mentioned a time or two yeah..., and it's just not possible to include it all in an AAR. Especially the way I did this one, with single posts covering multiple turns. Anyway, great game, lots of fun and glad you enjoyed the read.

Already acquired and installed Herr Bond. ;-)

Hey Wolverine, how's things? Have you given it a go yet?

The first thing I am going to do is sack Monty )

Earlier I said that no motorized divisions arrived as reinforcements, but that's not true. The 60th Motorized Division shows up around turn 5.

I have tried it out a little bit. I have not played WITE, so bit of a steep learning curve for me out of the box since it seems different than War in the Pacific. I watched some of the tutorial videos last night that came with the game, so I have a bit more knowledge now. Seems good so far.

One of the things that intrigues me about War in the West is the main invasion. I know little about the game, but I imagine the location is left to the player? Could it be Norway, or Calais, or Holland for example? I saw the map and the bocage hexes in Normandy and thought about how cool it would be to be able to 'what-if' all over the map, invading different places to see how it plays out. Of course logistics and shipping would surely be a factor and limit some choices. But at least to my untrained eye it seems that War in the West has a bit of freedom to try alternate courses. Or maybe the coast of France is the only possibility? I must buy it and see.

I don't know that I will try War in the Pacific as I've read it isn't as streamlined, maybe more clunky in some ways, just an older game. War in the East is consuming enough as it is, I don't think I want to play anything less streamlined than this huge game

Looking forward to War in the East 2 which maybe comes out next year?

That end video looks really familiar. It seems to me that Panzer General 3D or Panzer General: Scorched Earth had a similar end of campaign video if the Germans won.


Wheels

Maybe so, it's been so long since I played that game that I no longer recall, but SSI games did have this sort of thing didn't they?