Good thing I'm not Napoleon - a DNO RUS AAR

Narwhal said:

Looks like it is pretty much "game over" for the Reds.

Click to expand...

Yup. At this point, the Reds have a a little more than a quarter of my military strength.

Stuyvesant said:

Not a whole lot happened, but if the best news for the Reds is that you were slower in some places than you had hoped, it's still a pretty grim update for them.

I'm wondering how much of an impact the arrival of winter will have on the tempo of your operations. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Click to expand...

I was originally planning for winter to bring things to a dead halt, but I was assuming the Reds would have so much more left. Instead, what I see is that the Reds are basically on their last legs, meaning their is no reason to stop now. I'm practically at Moscow's doorstep and there is no reason to stop.

Turns 22 and 23: Ride of the Cossacks, Late November to Early December 1921

Major things happened in Late November (like the snow receding) but virtually nothing happened in December, so let's get started.

Vitebsk is assaulted in a flurry of battles:


Note that for once, Germans attacking a fortified position actually inflict more causalities upon the Reds than they take themselves. The reason for this is the increasing eliteness of the Germans themselves - the abundance of training officers and fighting has turned the Germans into hardened veterans.


With Vitebsk captured and Trotsky's battle group destroyed, Von Deimling corp attacks Velikiye Luki further up the road,


The abundance of wounded Red Officers leads to a number of them being killed. Why is this not shown in the battle report? I dunno. I only figured this out when I loaded up as the Reds to see what the current state of their military was (hey, game's almost over), and saw all the "Sir, I have dire news - X has been killed in battle!".

Elsewhere in the center, small towns on the Road to Moscow are captured:


With about 200,000 men knocking on the door of Moscow, the situation thusly:


Moscow is defended by only it's garrison, and it's time to end the war once and for all.


In the north, with the situation unchanged near Pskov, The Finns are ordered to besiege one pillar of the Red platform, Petrograd. With 50,000 men and an absurd language, Mannerheim begins his march. By doing so, I'm also forcing the Reds near Pskov to make a decision - Petrograd, Pskov, or Novgorod?

Down south, things finally get set in motion:


The Dneiper fleet is ordered to clear the Don and blockade the ports, making it impossible for the Reds at Rostov to recieve supply. The massively reinforced Cossacks (now 2300 pwrs worth) and Armee Gruppe Sud begin their march on Tsaritsyn.

Further south, at Grozny


Armee Gruppe Donau, in the Transcaucus makes no further moves this turn, except to sit atop depots.

As you may have noticed, all these NM gains should mean that the Reds NM should have fallen to zero. For whatever reason, this hasn't happened and I can't figure out why (it's at 5 right now, while mine is at 176). Either way, since I'm besieging Petrograd and about to besiege Moscow, this won't matter, as the fall of both of these cities will mean the end of the war.

Early December, 1921

While some minor fighting occurs at Rostov this turn, the big event is that snow finally falls over the entirety of Russia, the Baltic States, Finland, the Ukraine, and Poland.

The only other battle this turn, aside from the one at Rostov, is some continued Red silliness:


The Red boats come out of port (slipping past my own) and attempt to attack the German Transport fleet that's been sitting in the Mouth of the Rostov for three turns now. One of their river boats get off a torpedo and lightly scratches the paint on one of the transports. The rest don't get that opportunity, as the weaponry on the cruisers sink the entirety of their fleet. Basically, never attempt to take on deep draft naval units with River boats - the difference in weaponry alone (not to mention number of hits a destroyer can take) will be the end of the entirety of your fleet.


With the snow blanketing the landscape, the Don freezes over. While this traps my own boats in port at Rostov, the opportunity is now there is capture or destroy the entirety of the Red Don fleet. Armee Gruppe A is ordered to attack across the frozen river at Azov and Bataisk. At Bataisk, the boats stuck in port at doomed, and at Azov, even if they slip port, they will have the German Transport fleet to deal with. Armee Gruppe Sud marches alone to Rostov. The Cossacks had absurdly low penetration scores last turn, meaning they didn't actually leave Novocherrkask.

In the middle, the march continues:


I'm attempting to cut of Moscow from any possible Red reinforcement from the east, as well as set up the possibility of taking Ivanovo shortly after I take Moscow, if the Reds don't capitulate.

In the north,


An exiled Baltic prince raises a minor division that won't unlock for two turns in Pskov. Made of WH4 units,any hits done to them cannot be recovered.


The Reds haven't moved to defend Petrograd, so I force them to make a decision. The Balts and a minor German stack are left to defend Pskov while the rest of the Armee marches on Novgorod.

Stuyvesant said:

Ahahaha! I've suffered quite a bit of grief at the hands of Comrade Raskolnikov, so it's nice to see his fleet so utterly destroyed in what can charitably be called an ignomious defeat.

It really is all over except for the celebrating (and squabbling over who gets what spoils). Nice, though, to see you actually push all the way to Moscow and Petrograd. From the MP AARs I've read, I'm more used to a defeat by morale-cratering long before the main cities come under threat.

Click to expand...

I'll have to capture the cities before the war is finally over. The Red Army, as you'll see in the next month, will continue to suffer defeats.

DoomBunny said:

What are losses looking like on both sides? Even with the great progress you're making, you must have lost many thousands of men by now, and the Red casualties must be huge.

Click to expand...

850k+ for Reds, 550k+ for me, 60k+ Greens, 2k Whites, and 12k Anarchists.

loki100 said:

well you've done this brilliantly, looks like it is nothing left but sieges for the cities to finally crack the Red NM

I've noticed the RUS combat results don't indicate dead or wounded commanders, not sure why

Click to expand...

Thanks. :laugh:

Turns 24 and 25: Sleeping with the Fishes, Late December 1921 to Early January 1922

We start our turn off in the South. Military operations against the Southern Bank of the Rostov go roughly as expected:


With the river frozen over, the Red boat crews are taken prisoner and the victorious Austrians burn the boats. A little to the west, at Azov, the Red river boats fleeing the oncoming Armee Gruppe A into the Mouth of the Don:


The Red fluvial destroyers are sunk without so much as landing a single hit, and the surviving Transports are captured. Literally the entirety of the Red fleet on the Don has been destroyed in one fell swoop.


With Tzaritsyn left lightly defended by the 'Iron' Division's decision to move south to attack Whites, Armee Gruppe Sud is ordered to relieve the Reds of it. It is likely that the surviving Reds in this area of operations will fall back on Stravpol - the last depot and VP city in this area that is not in German or White hands.

In order to preempt this, Armee Gruppe A is ordered to continue the offensive southward and capture the towns to it's south to open up the rail line between Tzaritsyn and Rostov.

North, at Moscow,


Armee Ungarn and it's massed reassigned corps are ordered to besiege Moscow, but also to attack Ivanovo and start on the road towards Nizhy Novgorod.

A little south, the Austrians finally catch Tukhachevsky, who hasn't commanded an actual army since almost July of last year,


The wagons are directed northward toward Moscow.

In the far north, the Reds make a classical mistake:


Grittis attempts to cross a strait in the face of the entrenched Finns, who inflict horrific causalities upon him. Since his total battle group consists of roughly 110k men (the 30k you see are part of Petrograd's defenses), this devastating loss leaves with 70k men. Still formidable, but less of a threat.


Mannerheim continues to remain entrenched with Grittis directly across the strait. He sends back some of his more damaged divisions, in exchange for the freshly trained 4th Finnish division, roughly 20k men(500 pwr), bringing his total numbers to 70k. Southward, at the only other depot in this region, Armee Gruppe B threatens to capture Novgorod, leaving the Reds with no place for supply and replenishment.

Armee Gruppe C will also enter the theater next turn, making Grittis's position only more precarious. He is (probably) one of two Red generals still commanding a significant force west of the Volga, the other being at Stravpol.

With things basically under control, I decide to do some testing:


Essentially, this allows me to share line of sight and supply with the Whites. That is literally it. The White AI still makes its own decisions (or lack thereof), and I can see the composition of the their units in the field, but not in garrison.

If I want, I can betray the Whites and attack them, which will remove the -1 NM cost every turn.

Early January, 1922

This turn opens with some expected news:


The Red Stack at Rostov, depleted by several turns of both fighting, winter, and lack of supply is finally destroyed. What was once a proud army of over 110k had been reduced to nothing.

Snesarev, wounded in the fighting, appears in Tzaritsyn, just in time to command for the next battle:


With both Rostov and Tzaritsyn secure, and the Whites now allied with me, the situation in the Kuban looks like this:


Armee Gruppe A, drawn into the fighting at Rostov last turn, didn't capture it's ordered objective leaving the Austrians quizzically out in the middle of nowhere. As you can see, there appears to be only one White Stack and various garrisons. This is a bug - there are about 2000 pwr of Whites in this picture, they simply phase in and out of reality between turns. I can't command them or tell what to do, so basically, I am just using their supply.

The Austrians, at roughly 2.2k pwr, are ordered onto Stravpol solo. I am confident they can capture the city in two turns.

In the center, things continue to go as expected:


Ivanovo falls in a somewhat difficult battle for the Germans.


So too does Vladimir. I'm waiting for a breach in the structure of Moscow to assault as there is roughly 800 pwr worth of entrenched Reds in Moscow. While they can only stave off the inevitable, no need to suffer horrific casualties when I'm about to win.

In the north,


Grittis hasn't moved (probably recovering cohesion), whilst Novgorod falls under siege and Armee Gruppe C arrives near Luga. The Corps of Armee Gruppe B, left at Pskov, are ordered to push up to Luga and secure the the crossing. Armee Gruppe B will likely capture Novgorod this turn.

The Finns, having received their new division, remain entrenched in front of Petrograd. I can't order an assault with Grittis literally right across the water, willing and able to attack the Finns in the back while they attack Petrograd.

No decisions this turn, but the end is near.