Ok, thanks for sharing. That got a little heated at the end, but I’m glad you came out of it with the result you wanted. Be sure however to specify who you are in replay/thread though, I had to do a little digging to get the context to what I was watching.
No matter though, I’ll dive right in. Things seemed pretty straight forward up into the early game. You and your team mate showed good cohesion to apply pressure to their cut off. I liked how you recognized the pressure on your flank that you couldn’t alleviate with a head on assault, so bolstering your team mates’ lines was clever and although it meant you eventually lost the cut-off it allowed you guys to switch the play out wide and effectively trade fuels, putting you guys in a better field position, and to eventually counter-attack your own cut off and do a really good job routing your opponents once the both of you got organized.
With that said the way things played out meant that your opponents, as a counter to your width, decided to play really compact and control the centre; because of this I don’t think the M20/Lt. was a very good choice it did not really provide you much utility since there wasn’t much space for it to operate, and it didn’t give you much against their light vehicles and Grenadiers, units which I think a quick Cpt. and Stuart would have made short work of, especially with their pretty much entire lack of Anti-Tank. So, I would be a bit more careful about reading the game and how your opponents are playing before deciding on a tech tier, even if you decide to unlock all three. You can sometimes make things easier on yourself by back teching or forgoing some units entirely.
It was in the early game where I think you committed the most “correctible” errors and these were directly related to command control. Idle squads and a bit of blobbing really hurt you past 12 minutes. By my account I think you lost both officers, two RE Squads, your Stuart, a Pershing and three rifle squads, in a combination of bad rally points, forgetting they were harassing and getting jumped, left idle, or most confusingly single handily charging into the axis lines. That is an immense amount of resources thrown away without getting you anything at all in return. In a game where minimizing inefficiency and maximizing equity is key this can most certainly be an area in which you can improve. Try using control groups if you aren’t already, ease into it slowly, try first only important units such as your officers/vehicles/support teams and then work your way up to having your whole army on a string. Also, if you aren’t already, as your units leave your base, be sure to come up with a plan of attack for them, have a purpose for each unit. This way, you can ask yourself, “how is that RE squad I sent to harass” “are my rifles correctly taking this MG nest” etc. etc. this will help you not only keep on track, but also cut down on mistakes/prevent making poor decisions, stave off mid-game exhaustion and also again, help with correctly controlling your units.
Regarding the mid-game, there was an interesting situation that happened at around 12 minutes. It was pretty analogous to the first engagement I referenced. Again, you guys did well to press your opposition cut-off but this time around, when you helped out with your Cpt. and Rangers on the centre on the overlap you left a huuugeeee gap of space which the Wehrmacht player pushed and really punished the western flank. It’s tough to pin down how you can improve here, possibly being less aggressive and maintaining more of a line, but again, with the emphasis on your Lt. build, it’s really difficult to form a defensive line and play high up the map. I would just be a little more careful where, when and how you commit your resources, perhaps with more of an eye to gauging how your opponent reacts, instead of obliging large amounts of troops in so-so engagements. Simply because you invest more into something, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get more on the return.
With that said, I think you made a good adjustment in the late game before the Elefant hit the field by getting a .50 cal, truth be told they were pretty blobby. Maybe this is again, underpinned by the M20 choice, but I think earlier suppression would have paid a lot of dividends for you, you also did not utilize it at allll, referencing back the command and control issues. It barely dealt any damage, leave alone net any kills or suppression until a crucial 2 late game kills on a harassing squad on the VP which probably won you that game (along with a Stuka barrage that hit a tree line instead of your capping squads, I don’t think you would have sustained another full counter attack and they didn’t have the points to form up, but I digress). Again, not to put too fine a point on it, but it is reallllyyy important, you need to be maximizing your units and I think I covered some ways in which you can improve in this category. It will come down to practice.
Um, just to wrap things up, I was worried about your transitions when the Elefant eventually did hit the field, the ATG was a good choice, but the Wehrmacht player also already had you in his pocket with the Panzerwerfer. M36 Sluggers aren’t going to do well head on, be sure to utilize these on the flanks against the Elefant and for this you also need to be sure to improve your micro as stated.
So just to close things out, I think you guys did well to recognize with the losses you had sustained it would be best to consolidate two VP’s and try slugging it out, trying to contest everything would have spread the line very thin. You executed well, they lost some crucial squads and you edged them out, well deserved win. We can talk about dream scenarios all day but the only reallll adjustment I would have made, besides perhaps trying to transition into a more defensive posture, I would have liked to have seen you guys play up the middle a little more, forget the width and directly pressing the fuel, instead focus more on holding your cut off, and punching through to their cut off on Moscow this makes it easier to create space and force them to react to you.
Again, thanks for sharing, I’m sorry if this wasn’t very comprehensive, team games are always a struggle for me to analyse, and I apologize for the run on sentences truth told is, I’m rushing this out, but I do hope it’s helpful and if there is anything else you would like clarification on, or if you think I can improve my criticism, please don’t hesitate to shout.
turbo,
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