A BETA-preview Barbarossa After Action Report
A short Introduction
Barbarossa; the big one. At HOI2 divisional level this was already a tedious job altough a fun one; I honestly can’t count the times I have invaded Redsky land over the past years. Earlier this year I did a PBEM game of the TOAW mod Fire in the East. That one might very well be the most humongous game you can find. I loved it a lot as Hoi2 let me down on one point, sheer scale. With HOI3 it doesn’t anymore.
My rough guess of the number of divisions involved on the Soviet side is 300. We are talking about 1941 so, how many will there be in ’44 and ’45? A thousand? +? If that’s the case HOI3 will be fairly close in scale to FITE (about half the size). But, with the added advantage of having an AI, additional depth, worldwide war, unit building...well, much more. Most important probably....some AI aid if you need it on the corps and army level. I won’t use the later very much, except for some defence. This because I want to play this game like a supersized HOI2.
Right, some notes before I start. This will be a strictly Gameplay-AAR, something I didn’t do since...well 2005 or something . I don’t use sprites, as I like counters better. They give a little more info and make me feel like being a general-staff or Stavka general.
Another thing, no screeny requests. In this AAR I want to show you the game as it progresses so I don’t go over to Argentina to show the provinces.
One last thing: this AAR will end eventually. I play with a BETA preview version from April or May. At that time the game wasn’t quite finished nor was it optimized. And thus I will experience CTD’s, which can’t be avoided after a certain time. I don’t know how far into the game but I won’t be able to play on when it happens.
Barbarossa; the big one. At HOI2 divisional level this was already a tedious job altough a fun one; I honestly can’t count the times I have invaded Redsky land over the past years. Earlier this year I did a PBEM game of the TOAW mod Fire in the East. That one might very well be the most humongous game you can find. I loved it a lot as Hoi2 let me down on one point, sheer scale. With HOI3 it doesn’t anymore.
My rough guess of the number of divisions involved on the Soviet side is 300. We are talking about 1941 so, how many will there be in ’44 and ’45? A thousand? +? If that’s the case HOI3 will be fairly close in scale to FITE (about half the size). But, with the added advantage of having an AI, additional depth, worldwide war, unit building...well, much more. Most important probably....some AI aid if you need it on the corps and army level. I won’t use the later very much, except for some defence. This because I want to play this game like a supersized HOI2.
Right, some notes before I start. This will be a strictly Gameplay-AAR, something I didn’t do since...well 2005 or something . I don’t use sprites, as I like counters better. They give a little more info and make me feel like being a general-staff or Stavka general.
Another thing, no screeny requests. In this AAR I want to show you the game as it progresses so I don’t go over to Argentina to show the provinces.
One last thing: this AAR will end eventually. I play with a BETA preview version from April or May. At that time the game wasn’t quite finished nor was it optimized. And thus I will experience CTD’s, which can’t be avoided after a certain time. I don’t know how far into the game but I won’t be able to play on when it happens.
Ok, let’s get this thing rolling, enjoy!
INDEX - the Barbarossa AAR
- Chapter one: Reorganisation
- Chapter two: Stavka’s orders, part I
- Chapter two: Stavka’s orders, part II
- Chapter four: Leningrad and Murmansk
- Chapter five: Fall back on the Stalin line
- Pleasing interlude: Defending the Motherland
- Chapter six: showing my teeth, The Odessa front, part I
- Chapter seven: a desperate fight
- Chapter eight: The vast Expanses of the USSR
- Chapter one: Reorganisation
- Chapter two: Stavka’s orders, part I
- Chapter two: Stavka’s orders, part II
- Chapter four: Leningrad and Murmansk
- Chapter five: Fall back on the Stalin line
- Pleasing interlude: Defending the Motherland
- Chapter six: showing my teeth, The Odessa front, part I
- Chapter seven: a desperate fight
- Chapter eight: The vast Expanses of the USSR
- Chapter nine: The battle for Riga, Part I
- Chapter ten: STAVKA reporting
- Chapter eleven: Carnage on the Central Front, part I
- Chapter twelve: Carnage on the Central Front, part II
- Chapter thirteen: The Parechcha pocket
- Chapter fourteen: showing my teeth, The Odessa front part II
- Chapter fifteen: showing my teeth, The Odessa front part III
- Chapter sixteen: showing my teeth, The Odessa front part IV
- Chapter seventeen: The Battle of Riga, Part II
- Chapter eighteen: Battle in the north
- Chapter nineteen: “Once more into the breach”, part I
- Chapter twenty: “Once more into the breach”, part II
The entire Barbarossa AAR compiled into one easy-to-read file (18mb). Thanks to Athalian!
The Finnish AAR
- Chapter One: “Prepare for revenge”, part I
- Chapter Two: “Prepare for revenge”, part II
- Chapter Three: Barbarossa progress report, I
- Chapter Four: Leningrad, here I come!......eh.....am
- Chapter Five: Cutting the Murmansk line
- Chapter Six: Barbarossa progress report, II
- Chapter Seven: Defend Leningrad!
- Chapter Eight: News from the Eastern-Front, I
- Chapter Nine: Operation Aurora Borealis
- Chapter Ten: Plan Novgorod
- Chapter Eleven: News from the Eastern-Front, part I
- Chapter Twelve: The spires of the Kremlin
- Chapter Thirteen: West of Moscow
- Chapter Fourteen: the miracle in the East
- Chapter Fifteen: shake hands!
- Chapter sixteen: Soviets counter at Dno
- Chapter Seventeen: There come the Germans
- Chapter Eighteen: Wrapping it up, part I
- Chapter Nineteen: Wrapping it up, part II
The entire Finnish AAR compiled into one easy-to-read file (18mb). Thanks to Athalian!
The Gotterdamerung '44 AAR!
- Chapter one: OMG, where to start?
- Chapter two: frontlines
- Chapter three: The state of the army
- Chapter four: The worst front of all
- Chapter five: Italy, the backwater campaign
- Chapter six: Italy, the backwater campaign, part II
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