Hearts of Iron 2; Axis Ardennes Offensive AAR

[Krauter]

Well; seeing as I'm going to wait till I get a copy of HOI2+DD+ARMA to start the AAR of a full 1936 campaign, I figured I would run a smaller scenario just so it doesn't take too long.

I'm playing through the Ardennes Offensive scenario as the Axis, seeking to replicate, hopefully with better results (:)) the Battle of the Bulge.

I am playing on Normal Difficulty with Normal AI Aggressiveness.

Few House rules
- No matter how bad any battles go, I will not save/load to go back and fix it
- Will wait 1 day before any new attacks occur (ie: No fast blitzkrieg)
- Will not pause the game, save for going through different tabs (ie: Production, Diplo, etc), will avoid using Extremely Fast speed.
- Will make use of brigades if possible, and will not spam only armour or infantry.
- Will save every in-game week to avoid problems with CTDs.

-=Goals and Objectives=-
- Capture Antwerp
- Link up with captured German units at Dunkerk
- Re-capture the lands of Belgium

Some terms I will probably be using throughout this AAR:

Arm - Armoured Division
CAS - Close Air Support (Stuka)
ESE - Effective Supply Efficiency
ETA - Estimated Time of Arrival
Fallschirmjager - Airborne Division (see Para)
FM - Field Marshall
HTB - Heavy Tank Brigade
Inf - Infantry Division
IntF - Interceptor Fighter
Mec - Mechanized Division
Mot - Motorized Division
Mtn - Mountain Infantry
Org - Organization of a division
OOB - Order of Battle
Para - Airborne Infanry
Tac - Tactical Bomber (He-111)
TD - Tank Destroyer
SP-ART - Self Propelled Artillery

Edit: Also, this AAR has been inspired by Egan's current WitP AAR, Spike88's Shogun 2 AAR as well as Dowly's numerous AAR's. Thank you all for the pleasant glimpses of your campaigns. Hopefully I can offer something similarly pleasant.

Also, I apologize if my posts are very long, but I like to try and put as much detail as possible within them.

[Krauter]

Warning!! Long Post Ahead!!

Order of Battle of the Werhmacht on December 16th 1944

Army Group North

Objectives:

- Advance and Capture Antwerp

- Link up with Marinoberkommando West (MOKW)

Order of Battle:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Dunkirk)

Marine OberKommando West

General Kluge

1HQ Attached Self-propelled Artillery Brigade (Stuh 42)
1Infantry Division
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Rotterdam)

6th Fallschrimjager Division

Lt. GeneralKruger

1 Fallschrimjager division

/

II Armeekorps

Lt. General Grimmeis

3 Infantry (1 attached self-propelled artillery brigade)

/

III Armeekorps

Lt. General Schwalbe

3 Infantry Divisions (1 attached self-propelled artillery brigade)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Amsterdam)

Kampfgruppe Student

General Student

1HQ division (1 attached self-propelled artillery brigade)
4 Infatry Divisions

/

Fuhrer Begleit Brigade

Mj. General Priess

1 Motorized Division (Fuhrer Begleit Brigade) ** Transferring to Utrecht, Folding into 16th Panzergrenadier Division**

/

Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade

Mj. General von Luttwitz

1 Mechanized Division (Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Utrecht)

25th Armee

General Christiansen

1 HQ (1 Attached self-propelled Artillery Brigade)
5 Infantry Divisions (2 Self-propelled Artillery Brigades)

/

16th Panzergrenadier Division

Mj. General Hitzfeld

1Motorized ****Receiving Fuhrer Begleit Brigade from Amsterdam*****
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Arnhem)

VI Armeekorps

Lt. General Felber

3 Infantry Divisions (2 Self-Propelled Artillery Brigades)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Army Group South

Objectives:

- Secure Southern Flank of Army Group North (Advance up to Namur/Rheims)

- Continue pushing to Paris

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Dortmund)

1. Fallschirmjager Armee

General Schlemm

1 HQ (1 SP Arty)
2 Infantry Divisions (1 SP Arty)

Transferring from Essen, IV Volksgrenadier Korps (3 Infantry)

/

Transferring from Kassel,

6th SS Infantry Division Nord

Lt. General Kleffel

1 Mountain Infantry Division
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Essen)

V Armee Korps

General von Zangen

1 HQ (1 SP Arty

8 Infatry Divisions

/

9th Panzer Division (Folding into 9th Panzergruppe Transferring from Kassel)

/

IV Volksgrenadier Division

Transferring to Dortmund

/

15th Panzergrenadier Division

Lt. General Sponheimer

1 Motorized Infatry (1 SP arty)

1 Motorized Division Transferring from Kassel (3rd Panzergrenadiers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Kassel)

3rd Panzergrenadiers (Transferring to 15th PanzerGren. at Essen

/

9th Panzergruppe

Field Marshall Model

1HQ (1 SP Arty)
2 Panzer Divisions (1 SP Art, 1 Heavy Tank brigade) (10 SS Panzer Division Frundsberg)

Transferring to Essen, incorporating 9th Panzer Division)

/

6th SS Infantry Division Nord

Lt. General Decker

1 Mountain Infatry Division

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Cologne)

Kampfgruppe Obstfelder

General von Obstfelder

8 Infantry Divisions

/

6th SS Panzer Armee

General Dietrich

1 HQ Division (1 SP Art)

4 Panzer Divisions (1 SP Art bregade, 1 Tank Destroyer brigade, 2 Heavy Tank Bregade)

1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstauffen
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend

/

5th Panzer Division

General von Manffel

1 HQ (1 SP Art)
3 Panzer Divisions (1 SP art, 1 Heavy tank brigade, 1 TD brigade)
(Panzer Lehr)

/

3rd Fallschirmjager Division

Lt. General Puchler

1 Paratroop Div.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Army Group South

Objectives:

- Secure Southern Flank of Army Group Center (Capture Strasbourg and Mulhousie)

- Capture (if possible) Troyes

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Saarbrucken)

VII Armee

General Brandenburger

1 HQ (SP Art)
3 Infantry

/

5th Fallschirmjager Division

Lt. General von Rothkirch

1 Paratroop Division
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Frankfurt-am-Main)

Army Group South HQ

General Hausser

1HQ (1SP Art)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Stuttgart)

1 Armee

General Fortsch

1 HQ (1SP Art)
6 Infantry Divisions (2 Sp-Art)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Freiburg)

19. Armee

General Petersen

1HQ (1 SelfPropelled Artillery brigade)
4 Infantry Divisions (2 SelfPropelled Artillery)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Torplexed]

Cool! :yeah:

[blind0wl]

Do you have any recommendations on how to get into this game? I don't have it yet, but am getting interested. Is HoI 3 better to start with? Are there any tutorials you can follow?

When you say you will try and keep it as close to historical as possible, is there a good reference for where and what is supposed to go where? I can't imagine theres a reference for this platoon moved here on this date etc.

Sorry...just testing the waters on this game or something similar.

Any help would be great.

[Krauter]

No problem, however because I would like to keep this thread related to this AAR I will bump my old HOI2 related thread.

Thread: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=179168

(to any mods, could you link my older HOI2 thread with the one raptor linked in it?)

Edit: Just to answer your question;

This game is really good if you sit down and think about what you're doing. Jumping into it like a FPS will make you very bored and you'll probably drop it.

From what I've read, HOI2 is a little bit better (with mods like CORE) and the like. Last I checked HOI3 had a few stability issues, but the CORE team was working on it as well. The only reason I would personally choose HOI3 is the flexibility involved in building Divisions.

Because this is a grand strategy game, there is no way to replicate platoon/company based warfare. The smallest unit available (on ground warfare) is a brigade which in itself does not fight. The actual units you move around the map are divisions which you can put together to form Corps, Armies, Army Groups and Theatre Groups.

As for staying Historical, I plan on playing "historical" in the sense that I won't take all available divisions and pile them through one province, but will instead opt for a more realistic strategy.

[Spike88]

Where are the pictures? :O:

[Krauter]

December 16th 1944,

Weather: Heavy storms over Ardennes Forest area, and Northern Holland

Initial offensive set to begin on the morning of the 17th of December. Hoping to maximize use of the weather to avoid being blasted by the allies air power.

Army Group North, set in Northern Holland has as its objective the capture of the town of Antwerp and a subsequent Motorized push on to Dunkirk to relieve our encircled forces there.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/3421/armygroupnorthandcenter.png

Army Group Center, focused in Northern Germany and the town of Essen and Cologne are to reinforce the southern flank of Army Group North. This force comprises all of my Panzer units, and because of this I plan to use them, once clear of the front lines to push all the way to Paris.

I am also hoping to capture a few allied divisions during the capture of Antwerp. The problem I see with utilizing this force is, because of its mechanized nature (and the wooded terrain thats crisscrossed by rivers that it needs to operate in) supply and speed are going to be critical.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3863/armyforcecenterandsouth.png

Army Group South I am mainly going to be using to tie up as many Allied divisions as I can. Because it is primarily Infantry divisions, I don't think they'll be able to keep an effective speed of advance.


Few gripes: I've got three elite Fallschirmjager divisions available for use, however due to the weather and a lack of transport planes, they will be unavailable for an air drop. Because of this, and their lack of heavy equipment in comparison to regular infantry divisions, I plan to use them to hold strategic locations or attack surrounded provinces (Bastogne) while the line is pushed further by my panzers and motorized infantry.

Also, because the 6th SS Panzerkorps, being the greedy buggers they are, have the "best equipment in the German arsenals (ie: Koenigstiger heavy tank brigades) attached to them, their speed of advance is going to be a lot slower than that of the 5th. Thus, I plan on using them to blast a hole open in allied lines to push the 5th, and hopefully the 9th Panzer Korps through.


Offensives begin tomorrow! See you all then!

Edit: Once I find out how to take pics in the game you'll have em' :O:

Edit2: Red Marks delineate desired attack routes

Black marks the boundaries between Army groups.

[Raptor1]

Do you have any recommendations on how to get into this game? I don't have it yet, but am getting interested. Is HoI 3 better to start with? Are there any tutorials you can follow?

When you say you will try and keep it as close to historical as possible, is there a good reference for where and what is supposed to go where? I can't imagine theres a reference for this platoon moved here on this date etc.

Sorry...just testing the waters on this game or something similar.

Any help would be great.

There are tutorials in the game, but the best way to get into it is probably just to play the game. There is also some fairly useful information on the HoI2 (http://www.paradoxian.org/hoi2wiki/index.php/Main_Page) and HoI3 (http://www.paradoxian.org/hoi3wiki/Main_Page) wikis.

HoI3 is, in my opinion, a better game than HoI2, however it still has some problems with bugs (Though not nearly as much as some people make it out) and is massively more complex, so it might not be the best place to start.


Few gripes: I've got three elite Fallschirmjager divisions available for use, however due to the weather and a lack of transport planes, they will be unavailable for an air drop. Because of this, and their lack of heavy equipment in comparison to regular infantry divisions, I plan to use them to hold strategic locations or attack surrounded provinces (Bastogne) while the line is pushed further by my panzers and motorized infantry.


Depending on what model the divisions are, they aren't that much worse in stats than the regular infantry units, and because of their higher organization and morale they might be better suited to extended operations. Historically German Fallschirmjäger divisions were converted to motorized infantry at this point and couldn't make drops, though I don't think the game models this. The Germans did execute one jump during the Battle of the Bulge, but this operation was too small to be noticable at the game's scale too.

[Penguin]

Viel Glück with the offensive! :salute:
Looking forward to read further!

You can take screenshots by pressing F11 - they are stored in the game folder

[Krauter]

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein + 7

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2636/breakthroughat7.png

Well. Good news and bad news as is the case with most military operations.

Initial offensive manoeuvres were terrible. Three days into the offensive our units hadn't advanced past their original positions. My initial tactic of splitting 5th Panzerkorps and 6th SS Panzerkorps failed miserably. Coupled with the fact that the 9th Panzerkorps was still arriving in Essen at the time of the attack meant I had a lack of firepower.

After a little bit of frustration I figured I would just push the SS Panzerkorps through the weakest area of the line (Liege) supported by Kampfgruppe Obstfelder and the 5th Panzerkorps pushing in right behind. At the +4 mark we were through!.

After the initial outbreak I quickly pushed the 6th SS Panzerkorps across the Meuse river and into Namur

[Krauter]

Double Post :D

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +14

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/195/breakthrough14.png

Once again good news and bad news.

The Good news first I suppose.

Elements of Kampfgruppe Student (1 Mech. Div and 3 Infantry Divisions) managed to capture Ghent thus linking up with MOKW and relieving them (after being pummelled by the allies for two weeks).

I've also managed to push the 5th Panzerkorps into a shaky encirclement enompassing Eidnhoven, Antwerp and Brussels. Also, 9th Panzerkorps, now fully formed is on its way up the line, currently located in Cologne (Nearly in Liege!). Hopefully with the encirclement in place I can now push Kampfgruppe Obstfelder into Luxembourge or Bastone to flesh out the salient.

Bad news? Much of Army Group Center (66% of my Armored units) was used to secure this salient and encirclement. Something I suppose isn't so bad since their original mission was to secure the southern flank of Army Group North, but it still detracts from their mission to advance onto Paris.

Also, Luxembourge, Bastogne and Metz all refuse to give up, which is giving me trouble supporting my Southern units. However if I can eventually capture Antwerp that'll free up a lot of units to push south with as well.

All in all, I suppose I'm heading in the right direction, but things are still shaky, for example if the allies are quick they can save their units by breaking through Liege or Namur which are both lightly held. However hopefully we can crush the pocket before then.

[Krauter]

If anyone has any suggestions as to what my next moves should be its more than welcome!

[Raptor1]

Double post?! You can start using emoticons when you get to octuple posts. :O:

If your objective is to capture Antwerp, I'd concentrate on holding the line to the west while destroying the pocket. A drive to Paris seems rather risky, if those large stacks in the Allied salient are as powerful as they look, at least until the pocket is wiped out and all your units are on the front line.

[Krauter]

North and Center Army groups report success!

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +21

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9818/breakthrough21.png

As can be seen, the elements that initially closed the encirclement have pushed hard for Lille. However, concerted allied counter-attacks means that control of the region is switching a lot, at once I saw us take control, 12 hours later to have it in allied hands, then 5 hours later in ours again!

Student, with help of one of the infantry korps of Army group center (can't recall the commander) helped gain control of Antwerp and eradicate a few divisions in doing so.

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +28

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/5790/breakthrough28.png

The pocket is crushed, thus freeing up many infantry units.

I plan on sending Student to capture Lille once and for all and using the other two units, the Volksturm units and that containing regular Wehrmacht units down to capture Luxembourge and Bastogne.

Hitler, being pleased at having us capture Antwerp gives us more supplies (we'd been running low on oil at the end of the last series of attacks) and orders us to stand firm!

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein + 35

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7222/breakthrough35.png

Beginnings of another encirclement around Bastogne. If I can break my units free of southern Germany and into Strasbourg I can possibly capture up to 25 enemy divisions

Should I stand firm after I've pushed back the Allied salient? Or continue pressing on to Paris and Troyes

[Krauter]

Just about to fire up Hoi2 soon,

Thinking of where to make my next move. I'd still love to end up pushing the Allies all the way back to Paris, but I know if I was making a full campaign attack (ie: In the road to war campaign with the entire map available) i wouldn't extend my forces that far without giving them substantially more secure supply lines.

As I see it; right now I have two options:

1: Keep throwing my infantry from southern Germany, as well as those in Collogne at the Bastogne salient and just push them back, while using my armor to push on to Paris. Hopefully with this option I don't waste too much fuel and become over extended.

2: Push 9th Panzer Korps out of Liege down into Reims and use the 5th to swing back south and East towards Germany to close a pocket around Bastogne and Luxemouge. The advantages of this plan is that I eliminate more allied divisions, but push two armoured units further behind the line from where I need them for if/when I attack Paris. That and they also have to attack across two rivers to create an encirclement.

Anyone else have any ideas, comments or suggestions as to what I should do currently as well as how I should further format this AAR?

I apologize if its not up to par with some others, but it's my first time doing this type of commentary :oops:

Cheers,

Krauter

[Egan]

Your doing fine! You know, I've probably wasted several thousand hours of my life playing HOI2 but I've never played anything but the grand campaign. This is most interesting.

If you go for Paris, are the allied troops in the north going to fall back and defend along the river? You could waste a lot of time, fuel and manpower fighting there. I think option 2 is the better one; every allied division you destroy now is one less you have to take on later.

[Krauter]

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +42

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7867/breakthrouh42.png

Good news and bad news once again.

Our units in the south of Germany have managed to take Strasbourg, although so far we've only been able to get a division of Fallschirmjager in place. I dont expect it to stay there after seeing what concerted allied counter-attacks can do (Lille is still being fought for in the north). Hopefully 5th Panzer Korps can get into Chaumont. Though at this stage it looks like they're bogging down for lack of fuel.

Bad news is that, as the Chaumont attack is a prime example; my armies are running out of fuel. In the north the Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade is a shadow of what it was at the start of the operation. Its units barely able to move due to lack of fuel. Even with the capture of two allied supply depots in Bastogne and Strasbourg aren't enough for my units.

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein +49

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/936/breakthrough49.png

As I predicted the Fallschirmjager Division wasn't enough to hold Strasbourg, hopefully Obstfelders Kampfgruppe will be able to last longer. Allied units in Chaumont are putting up stiffer resistance than I expected repulsing the 5th Panzer Korps twice before I needed to let them rest and wait until the 9th Panzer Korps could make it to the engagement.

On February 1st, the 9th Panzer Korps, with elements of the 10th SS Frundsburg Division with their King Tigers and Panthers attacked Chaumont a final time. Results were starting to appear better than before. However, the day after I ordered my Panzers into Chaumont to finish the noose I received news from OKW. Hitler considered this a strategic success and deemed that we had just lengthened the war enough for another assault into Eastern Europe in 1946.

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8330/victorye.png

[Safe-Keeper]

Nice AAR. HOI2 seems to have been a nice game, still happy I got 3 instead, though.