GC42-45 EAST, replays and analysis, Field marshall

[hugh2711]

2) Belgorod [DV] Prestige = 108086 [capturable unit]
Strategy: Very similar scenario to previous one. The map seems slightly bigger but there is more rough terrain so the initial deployment is alot trickier to get it right. The counter attack across the river is immediate and sustained. Some hexes to the right of the river tend to spawn towards the end. The air war is regular. It is entirely about maintaining a good blockade of the river crossings without getting those those units destroyed, so blockade with tanks again. You are given three aux mobile AA which helps protect the blockading tanks. As in the previous scenario it is difficult to cover them with planes because of the enemy AA at those crossings.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening. There is plenty of time in this one. You may wish to prolong it as I did by capturing the T34 which is at a hex further than the last VH.
Deployed: Softcap = 75% Grenadier, 2x para, girberjager, M+3, pionere, 2x tiger, flamm, KV1b (D+3), 6x SE tiger, recon, stug3g, 4x 17cm, stug 3b, 4x wurf, 88mm, mobileAA, Air; 5x 190a, 3x me410a, 1x SB.
Destroyed: 33,35,4,6,13,9,0,11,1,1. Total = 114
Comments: Took some major hits on my airforce, partly because of my aggressive air policy. The captured T34 is worth 386, I will disband it as I have plenty of good tanks. I took a big hit (2 points) on one of my tigers that only had a movement hero. This shows that as the GC goes on you really need good heroes if even an ordinary tiger is not doing too well.

[goose_2]

2) Belgorod [DV] Prestige = 108086 [capturable unit]
Strategy: Very similar scenario to previous one. The map seems slightly bigger but there is more rough terrain so the initial deployment is alot trickier to get it right. The counter attack across the river is immediate and sustained. Some hexes to the right of the river tend to spawn towards the end. The air war is regular. It is entirely about maintaining a good blockade of the river crossings without getting those those units destroyed, so blockade with tanks again. You are given three aux mobile AA which helps protect the blockading tanks. As in the previous scenario it is difficult to cover them with planes because of the enemy AA at those crossings.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening. There is plenty of time in this one. You may wish to prolong it as I did by capturing the T34 which is at a hex further than the last VH.
Deployed: Softcap = 75% Grenadier, 2x para, girberjager, M+3, pionere, 2x tiger, flamm, KV1b (D+3), 6x SE tiger, recon, stug3g, 4x 17cm, stug 3b, 4x wurf, 88mm, mobileAA, Air; 5x F, 3x TB, 1x SB.
Destroyed: 33,35,4,6,13,9,0,11,1,1. Total = 114
Comments: Took some major hits on my airforce, partly because of my aggressive air policy. The captured T34 is worth 386, I will disband it as I have plenty of good tanks. I took a big hit (2 points) on one of my tigers that only had a movement hero. This shows that as the GC goes on you really need good heroes if even an ordinary tiger is not doing too well.

What are you saving all of that prestige for44 and 45?

I am accumulating massive to compete with Night Phoenix

[hugh2711]

This was meant to be a tactical/strategy/tricks guide for the not so good players like me or very new players (hence only field marshall level) to get folks enough prestige to survive the late GC onslaught comfortably. I know when i first started some of them seemed impossible. However it seems to have gone alot better than expected for me probably because of my familiarity with the scenarios. I would imagine that for someone with less familiarity of the scenarios the accumulation would be alot less but the tactics could be the same. The actual amount i have now is an embarrassing distraction from what i wanted to do.
If you look at the replays you would see that my actual turn by turn moves are not very good and certainly not up to the standard of some of you guys however you can still get alot of enjoyment and variation out of the game and get very far by certain tricks and particular strategies. That is one of the great strengths of this game is the amount of variation possible and still keeping it interesting and do-able.
I actually tried to start a thread on ''How much prestige do you need to get you through the later east scenarios' (dice chess) which for newer players really is the key point. I did not get enough replies to get/give any concensus which is a shame because i think it would be a really useful piece of information for the less experienced.
I thought I explained this in the first post of the thread but possibly not very well!

It is interesting looking at the play style of you guys at the higher levels, you get alot better results (or results against much stiffer opposition) but to do that you have to take more losses. I am sure that is how the designers envisioned the game but I actually would not enjoy the game as much if I had to take that much losses.

[goose_2]

I should probably have my buddy Hurly post the saved core that I was able to generate for that start of 1944 East as it has over 100k in prestige and something like 115 heroes on it.

That should help complete anyone's playthrough

[hugh2711]

The 'how much do you need thread?' that I started was here: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 47&t=83004 perhaps i should have put it in the general sub-forum and not the scenario design one?.

I am VERY surprised by the amount of downloads of my replays and campaign end cores. I also did a couple of scenarios where I saved at the point of MV and then tried for a DV and compared after (, e.g. stalingrad docks, buzinovka depot). It was very interesting to do. They have been downloaded as well! so there must be a need for them, and this thread

[hugh2711]

3) Orel Prestige = 109103 [DV] [+100 prestige per turn + 2 free heroed units]
Strategy: Another river defence scenario. A small map. This is not too hard but can be quite tricky initially as there is a carefully managed staggered deployment. This is neccessary as you have to transport alot of units down south to the italian manned positions by rail before the enemy activity makes it impossible. While you are doing this you use the numerous aux italians to slow down/blunt the large attack. Once you have transported some tigers down there you can easily break up the attack. There is some air activity, largest initially. There is a large contingent within range of your first turn however during this scenario the enemy has a large number of spaag mobile AA units so you will take some air losses untill they are destroyed, so I will be gunning for the spaag's first. There are some partisans behind the lines that need to be dealt with quickly after they appear a few turns. Once you have defeated the attacks you can send units to retake the VH's. There is also plenty of time to retake the secondary hexes and you will want to prolong it for the free prestige.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening. Disband T34. Upgrade KV1b (D+3) to tiger. Repair 2 fighters.
Deployed: Softcap = 74% 2x grenadier, 2x para, Gerbirjager, M+3, Pionere, 3x tiger, flammpanzer, 6x SE tiger, recon, stug3g, 4x 17cm, sturmpanzer, 2x wurfrahmen, 2x Su-122, 88mm. Air; 6x F, 3x TB, 1x SB, recon rudel.
Destroyed: 35,33,3,14,14,5,0,8,3,3. Total = 118
Comments: Most of my losses were from enemy air activity. I am sure this can be done more elgantly. The two free units are heroed quite well. I will immediately get rid of their transport as they have the most expensive one and although it can be used for attack, if you actually use it the losses outweigh its usefullness while it has that transport. They have appeared as gerbirjager. I have heroed of those already so dont need more therefore I will convert it to something else. The high attack and initiative on both would be great for an attacking unit like a grenadier or paratrooper.

[hugh2711]

4) Yaklevo [DV] Prestige = 113996 [+50 prestige per turn]
Strategy: This is a very difficult scenario. A medium sized map. There are regular large air attacks. You are given 3 aux mobile air units but I suspect the intention of the scenario designers was to overwhelm you with air attack so you will need to deploy alot of air units - I deployed all of my fighters. The river donets goes from the top to the bottom of the map on the right side. My main force, the 'A' team will bash through the immediate defensive line on the narrow sliver that is the right side of the river, go from the south to the north of the map, cross the river and go from west to east taking one VH from the east and then the remaining two VH's in the north, from the east and north. This avoids their fortified defences from the front. However they are well defended and I will still have to brush off large tank counter attacks. I hope to blunt them by using tactical bombers preferably before they are activiated. A second smaller force, the 'B' team, on the south west/left side of the map will go through the first fortified line and clear around the first/nearest VH. It will have to brush of at least one counter attack. I will leave taking the actual VH untill the last go in the hope of avoiding the largest counter attack that I hopefully avoided by going this long route. This is doable however there will be losses from air attacks. The biggest problem will be time. The scenario is straightforward to do if you are prepared to take lots of losses going through fortified positions but I am not so I may have to rush at the end as my odd route means I have to cover alot of ground.
Core activity: Bought an extra 88mm. Converted and deployed remaining (d-2) 109 to Fw190A. Upgrade spare (A+2) flammpanzer to tiger.
Deployed: softcap = 76%. I deployed three less units than allotted. grenadier, para, M+3, pionere, 4x tiger, 6x SE tiger, 2x recon, stug3g, 4x 17cm, stug3b, 2x sturm, 3x wurf, 2x su-122, 3x 88mm. Air; 7xF, 3x TB
Destroyed: 18,32,3,13,12,8,12,15,5,2. Total = 120
Comments: That was quite close. I lost one captured armoured car which I deliberately used for bait anyway. One fighter got bashed but apart from that minor repairs. By going that strange route I avoided a couple of counter attacks and if you look you will find one area full of enemy units that I did not go near. I took out 22 air units during that scenario. I would also say that there is a great temptation to just bash ahead with your excellent tank collection however upon reflection I think this succeeded with little losses because I was restrained at the beginning untill I had contained the air war.

[hugh2711]

5) Oboyan D ....prestige = 114806 [DV] [+50 prestige per turn + 2 capturable units]
Strategy: I think this is one of the most difficult scenarios in the whole grand campaign, you have to stop and really think about every move, it took me days (moan, moan, moan . It is a medium map but with an enormous amount of enemy units. The terrain is bad on the whole with a few clear bits making it difficult to go big distances fast. It can be done but only by taking alot (by my standards) of losses. I would normally be tempted to take the two capturables and go for a loss! as you dont get dumped out of the campaign however if you get a DV in this you can go to the fictional kursk armoury scenario where you can get a couple of really good russian tanks (KV85's), however that is also a hard scenario. There is regular air activity during this, it is difficult to defend every piece as you seem to be in view with most peices everywhere and also for most of the game your airfields are a right down the bottom so you have to be careful of not running out of fuel. I will be targetting the spaag's (moble AA) as a prioroty. You are very short of time in this one so no going after secondary targets unless you have units doing nothing. You have to go very slow and carefully in this but you are short of time, that contradiction is what makes this hard (and tedious!). Crossing the rivers is very tricky as well as it triggers air attacks. The strategy is have two groups, the larger one goes north, clears the centre, crosses the river and goes after the three VH's in the town. The smaller one takes the west VH, crosses the other river and takes the northwest VH. There are large tank counter attacks all over the place. You are given 3x mobile AA and 2x aux bridge engineer which are very useful.
Core activity: Convert sturmpanzer to sig 38 (for its higher defence). Repair fighter. Reoverstrength me410a. Convert multiply heroed flammpanzer to panther. The flammpanzer is getting a bit vulnerable now even with its defence hero. It will be converted to king tiger later on but in the meantime, using its +1 movement, I like the idea of trying a decent 7 movement tank (panther). This is a marginal decision as it is still usefull as a flammpanzer on occassion but not in every scenario and I could use the extra tank now.
Deployed: Softcap = 58% . This gets even worse when you get the two capturables. I actually started with one less unit than allotted as I thought I would add the other later when I knew
what was most needed but I forgot. 'A' team; 5x SE tiger, tiger, panther, 2x wurf, 2x 17cm, 2x su122, stug3g, sig38, 88mm,mobileAA. 'B' team; 3x tiger, SE tiger, 2x 17cm, 88mm, 3x sig38, recon, srbirjager, para, pionere. Air; 6x F, 3x TB, 1x SB
Destroyed: 24,44,2,19,18,15,7,13,5,2. Total = 149
Comments: I am glad that is over. I think my 'B' team that went west over the river could have been a bit weaker and the extra units transferred to the 'A' team going over the river to the north as I had units in the 'B' team doing nothing for the last few turns and I only just got an MV and then DV at the end. I think the last few turns attacking the main town with the 'A'
team could have been done a alot better/more efficiently but I just wanted to get it over with. The sherman will be disbanded for prestige (343) as its pretty weak. The su-122 I will keep
as they are great. It is interesting to see the very high ratio of tanks to infantry destroyed. I dont think the heinkel was that useful during this - it spent alot of turns doing nothing (occupying valuable softcap space) so next time I would deploy something else instead. I also spent a long time fiddling around with the deployment trying to get it right but it could have been better. No major losses, just minor repairs and reoverstrengthening (slightly more than normal).

[hugh2711]

6) Kursk Armoury South [MV] Prestige = 115662
Strategy: This is a big tank slugging fest. Everything is well defended. The KV85's and IS1's make their first serious appearance here. They are tough so unless you are carefull they will start to take points out of your tigers. I am first going to get the two capturable KV85's then I will consider the rest of the map, so I am not bothered about the result I get. Kursk is a large well defended urban area so I might not bother with it and its three VH's. The plan is to go straight up the middle via the immediate VH and take the first capturable. Then veer right bypassing kursk over the river with a bridge engineer and go north to the second capturable. Then I will see how much time I have and decide from there if I want to go for a loss or an MV, the MV is quite straightforward but a DV is very difficult without taking (unacceptable to me) major losses. There is some air activity but only a couple of waves including the initial one. The ground to the north of the river is mixed but the central section below kursk if clear, very suitable for your tigers. You get a couple of aux mobile aa to help.
Core activity: Minor repairs and reoverstrength tanks. Disband sherman.
Deployed: Softcap at 59% before the two capturables. I deployed one less unit than I was allotted. I deployed more air units than was neccessary as I wanted them to rack up more kills/experience. grenadier, para, M+3, pionere, panther, 4x tiger, 6x SE tiger, recon, stug3g, 2x 17cm, stug3b, 3x wurf, 4x sig38 3xsu122, 2x 88mm, mobileAA, Air; 5xF, 3XTB, 1x SB.
Destroyed: 37,35,4,14,15,4,0,8,3,1. Total = 121
Comments: That seemed to be alot easier than I remember it. Kursk town seemed realtively easy. Perhaps I did the north path/scenario before. I got careless towards the end and lost a few points on my stug 3g. If I was doing it again I would have deployed a flammpanzer to deal with all those spare infantry units hanging around on the left after dealing with the tanks instead of monopolising my (M+3) which could have been better used elswhere. I would also have bought and deployed a new stuka 'G' model for all those fat juicy tanks sitting around doing nothing.I would also have left out the stug3b as it did nothing. The two KV85's are worth 605 each. They are quite good but thier close defence and other defense does not quite match up to a tiger. Also of course they have no heroes but I will hold off on disbanding them for a while as I cant remember what is coming up and might use them. That was quite a good earner and could have been even better if I had put more enthusiasm into it.

[hugh2711]

7) Prokharovka [DV] Prestige = 116543 [+200 prestige per turn]
Strategy: This is a difficult and complex scenario. Regular waves of air attack. Lots of big tank counter attacks. It is a big map. You get a couple of aux mobile AA and also an aux tiger and heroed 109 on turn 3 to help. The enemy has some spaag mobile AA units so it can be expensive on the air force, I will be priority targetting them. Initially air cover is difficult due the multiple spaags and static AA which seem to be everywhere. There are three deployment zones. If you want an MV just deploy in the south west and east zones. If you want a DV deploy in the northwest zone as well although this zone will have slightly less units than the other two. If you are going for a DV I think you are spread rather thinly. 6 enemy air units are in range of the first turn and they can be destroyed although it may cost you one of the aux AA units to do so. You will need to reshuffle them around the map after that to support all your groups. The top left quadrant with one VH is mostly rough terrain. the rest of the map is largely clear terrain but quite a few fortifications. The two south groups each will probably have to take out three tank groups each before they take their first VH's. You will need all you tactical bombers to help with the tanks and initially the enemy air. When you actually get to prokharovka it triggers a massive (about 3 times the size of normal) tank counter attack down the right side towards the central VH. This contains strength 14 t34,s and kv1s so you need to be able to transfer your tanks over there quickly. The actual trick for this scenario is twofold; first, the inclination is to approach prokharovka by going down the main road on the left (from the south west deployment zone) but because the counter attack is so big you need to approach prokharovka on the right hand side with most of your tanks, that way you will be in the right position to be able to contain it, otherwise you will lose that central VH you took. Also secondly because there are so many tanks everywhere you need to go forward first with your tanks to clear an area before letting your soft units in there so they have to hang back. This scenario seems so difficult because attacks seem to come out of nowhere from all sides which is very annoying.
Core activity: Minor repairs and reoverstrengthening. Bought new stug3g. Bought another Mobile AA.
Deployed: Softcap = 58% Northwest group; SE tiger, New stug3g, new mobileAA, stug3b, sig38, para, gerbirjager, Southwest group; SE tiger, 3x tiger, 2x su122, stug3g, 88mm, mobileAA, 17cm, sig38, grenadier, M+3, 5xF, 3xTB, 1xSB, recon rudel. Southeast group; 3x SE tiger, tiger, panther, recon, 88mm, su122, 3x wurf, 2x 17cm, KV85, pionere, para, bridge eng, 1xF.
Destroyed: 34,68,8,15,27,15,6,18,10,2. Total = 203
Comments: That was not very well done by me, and I took more losses than usual particularly on my air force. Unusually because of the high prestige award per turn I repaired them during the scenario. This is very expensive however it was still a very high earning scenario (about 3.5K). Recon rudel got bopped a couple of times but I repaired him with green units as I am not bothered about his experience. He is still accumulating kills and I am still hopeful for a defense hero!. I nearly lost it at the end as a couple of secondary hexes that I had not taken started to spawn tanks.
203 units destroyed is by far the highest of any scenario so far, this included 30 air units.

[hugh2711]

8 ) Dnipropetrovsk [DV] 120385 [capturable tank worth 386 + 100 prestige per turn + enemy goes first]
Strategy: A much easier river defensive scenario. A smaller map. Lots of open terrain. There are a few waves of air attack but most of your air losses will once again come from the spaags and static AA which I will priority target. Although there is a big tank attack it is easily broken up. At other points you can use the natural defense of river crossings to make killing fields. An even better strategy is to pull back from the river crossing points and destroy units on clear hexes as they flood across, just retaking the VH's just before the end. This would incur the least losses. An important point is when you have taken the capturable tank dont bother going beyond the samara river (like I did!!!) north of dnipropetrovsk. It triggers a big air attack and also a massive tank attack. The losses from the air attack make it not worth it. There is some air activity (about 3 or 4 waves) but nothing like the last one. A number of enemy air units will be in range after their first turn. You are given 2x Aux 2cm flak 38 and a few aux weak infantry.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening tanks. Disbanded least experienced KV85. Repaired experienced one. Major repairs to a couple of fighters (one D-2).
Deployed: Softcap = 59% I deployed 2 less units than allotted...Grenadier, 2x para, (M+3), panther, 4x tiger, 6x SE tiger, kv85, recon, stug3g, 4x 17cm, stug3b, 3x wurf, 2x sig38, 3x su122, 88mm, mobileAA, 6xF, 3x TB recon rudel
Destroyed: 37,35,5,8,13,9,0,12,4,3. Total = 126
Comments: I did this very clumsily. I went past the samara river contrary to my own advice and took some losses as a result. It was still a very profitable scenario.

[hugh2711]

9) Kremenchung [DV] Prestige = 122977
Strategy: Another relatively easy defensive river scenario. Small map. A few waves of air activity. 7 fighters are in range of your first go (I took out 6 on mine). There are quite a few spaags and static AA which means some losses on such a small map. You get given a few aux weak infantry and very weak towed aux AT (but without the transport). There is an amphibious landing on the northwest river bank but it is easily dealt with a few units. Dont waste your heavy tanks there. I used a heinkel, stug 3b, stug3g, wurfrahmen, 88mm and mobileAA.
The trick with this one is to station your heavy tanks just behind the river crossings and (you go first) dash across the river and destroy as much enemy artilliary as you can. You have about 5 turns then you must go back to defend the two VH's in front of the river. There is a massive tank attack ....followed by another. your tanks will be there killing units untill the end. On the right flank one tank will go across the river and try to get the extreeme right VH but it is only a t34 and is easily dealt with by minimal units (your weakest heavy tank?).
Core activity: Disband t34. Repair 17cm and a fighter. Bought a flammpanzer. Minor repair and overstrengthen.
Deployed: softcap at 50% I actually deployed one less unit than allotted. Grenadier, M+3, panther, 4x tiger, flammpanzer, 6x SE tiger, recon, stug3g, 2x 17cm, stug3b, 3x wurf, 4x sig38, 3x su122, 2x 88mm, mobileAA, 7x F, 3x TB, recon rudel, heinkel.
Destroyed: 39,28,6,10,26,10,0,15,3. total = 140
Comments: Looking back in retrospect I think I should have kept one of the flammpanzers I had and converted to tigers a long time ago rather than break in a new one. Although they are very vulnerable there are situtations where they are very useful, specifically; weak enemy units like partisans but high in strength value behind your lines. Also next time I would use that empty slot for an extra unit to be behind (your side) the river in case of units trying to cross spilling around from the bunches of defending tanks.

[hugh2711]

10) Kiev 43 [DV] Prestige = 124382 [+100 prestige per turn]
Strategy: Another easy (if you know the tricks) river defensive scenario. There are a few waves of air activity and lots of spaag's. Most of your losses will come from the spaags and air
attack. Firstly in the northwest there is the city of kiev. There is an immediate massive tank and infantry attack. However by carefully choosing which hexes to occupy you can form multiple (3) killing fields (see replay), the usual rules about urban hexes apply. Using tough 43 grenadiers the big tanks will be eliminated for little or no cost in these urban hexes. Even the numerous IS1 's that are a serious match for your tigers will be shredded. The hardest part is you have to keep a spare grenadier behind for rotating the active infantry in the city as they run out of ammo from destroying so many units. Obviously you have to back up the infantry with lots of artilliary. Doing this you can also force lots of surrenders in the city which is also very profitable as the rush of enemy units squash together. If you have any range + 1 arty use these. I bought a K5 armoured train for its range 4.If you use enough of this extra range arty if any enemy arty comes near you can destroy them well before they become a problem. For the airfield hex in your line in the city use the S+2 heroed tank/tiger and overstrength it. That way you can see and pre-empt any trouble coming. You will also need some static AA there as well as fighters as the city is a prime target. Below the city is rough terrain (with a clear belt by the river) which has to be cleared out of parachutists. I used M+3 and some wurfrahmen. Use your big tank army to go along the west river bank and clear out any enemy units - there is a large tank incursion in the south of the river which then drives north. The temptation is to quickly go east of the river to assist the city. Dont bother, if you go too early you will take unneccessary losses. When you have cleared the west side of the river then go across, there is plenty of time, you have time to take secondary hexes. The terrain there is quite good and very suitable for tanks. You do get given a variety of aux units including a KV tank but they dont last long!, they are good for slight delays and diversions.
Core activity: Minor repairs and overstrengthening. Repair tac bomber + reoverstrengthen. Bought a K5 armoured train. I had two pre-heroed gerbirjager that were free units in a previous
scenario. I converted them to 43 grenadiers without transport to use in the urban area.
Deployed: Softcap = 50% 4x grenadier, 2x para, M+3, panther, 4x tiger, 6x SE tiger, recon, 4x 17cm, 4x wurf, sig38, K5, 3x su122, 88mm, MobieAA, air; 7x F, 3x TB, 1x SB, recon rudel.
Destroyed: 57,43,10,15,14,10,0,12,2,3. Total = 166
Comments: The key to this one is patience . They started spawning IS1's towards the end but it wasnt a problem as they were eager to rush into the victory hexes in the city and be destroyed. My tactical bombers took a bit of a battering in that (lost alot of overstrength points) as I was quite carefree with them but they were needed for their tank bashing power. This was a profitable scenario.

[hugh2711]

COMPARISONS:
GC39: Total prestige gained = 10918 .......Destroyed: 196,69,5,27,37,36,13,16,3,1. ...Total = 404
GC40: Total prestige gained = 24114 .......Destroyed: 288,112,13,73,50,43,40,26,20,11. Total = 676
GC41: Total prestige gained = 28975........Destroyed: 279,153,18,42,55,48,3,41,11,12. Total = 662
GC42E: Total prestige gained = 49900........Destroyed: 439,291,31,52,114,76,1,91,16,10. Total = 1121
GC43E: Total prestige gained = 17940........Destroyed: 362,379,51,124,166,93,25,118,49,20. Total = 1387

If I were not so familiar with the scenarios I would expect GC43east to be prestige neutral and the next two campaigns to be a drain on prestige.

There seems to be some debate on the forum about recon rudel after you are given the upgraded super rudel (in minsk 41) as to wether he is usefull as he is so weakend, so:
Amount of times per campaign recon rudel deployed?:
41: 7 times as a BF110
42: 9 times
43: 6 times as an Me410a

State of the core address:
Infantry: Plenty/excess of heroed and experienced infantry. Can convert if I want more specialisation. There are more heroes to be earned.
Tanks: A good mix of SE and ordinary. Lots of heroes, some units at max 3 heroes but plenty still to come.
Artilliary: Ok but I would have preferred more range heroes although there are still plenty to come it is very hard to accumulate enough kills in artilliary to get second and third heroes.
Air: Ok but could be better, I would have preferred one more heroed ordinary fighter. I would also have preferred more double heroed fighters by now. The two given pre-heroed but defence weakend fighters have not yet aquired another hero so they are still vulnerable and hence the enemy will target them. My main 88 and mobile AA have nice range heroes as I usually prefer and are pretty awesome. Looking forward to another hero each.

[hugh2711]

Endcore save of GC43 east

[hugh2711]

44EAST

1) Korsun pocket [MV] Prestige = 125861 [enemy goes first + 2 free heroed units]
Strategy: Difficult scenario. Medium map. Mixed/bad terrain and weather. The enemy has lots of mobile AA which can be expensive. There are a few waves of air attack but not too much. There are alot of enemy planes in reach after there first turn in fact you can set a couple (or more ) of traps for their predictability. It is possible to eliminate 6 or 7 enemy air units in your first turn. The enemy attacks from lots of sides but in the following order. First southwest and southeast. Then northeast and then northwest. Then there is another wave from the northeast and southeast. I am going for a MV in this. I dont think there is a specific trick for this scenario, there is not much you can do except be agressive at the beginning and then retreat back to semi prepared positions and weather the storm. As long as you have one airfield you should be able to refuel. You will have to escort the transports from the far corner of the map so at the beginning I will try to target some mobile AA. There are a few mixed aux units and you also get a pre-heroed tank and pre-heroed infantry on turn 3. The aux units dont last long. If I eliminate enough attacking units I will venture out and see about some retaking hexes.
Core activity: Got a panther tank as SE before deployment. Although it is unheroed and a bit weak I will hold off converting it to tiger as I will be converting everything to king tiger very soon anyway. Minor repairs and overstrengthening.
Deployed: Softcap = 48%. (It would be 55% without the heinkel.) 3x grenadier, para, M+3, pionere, panther, 4x tiger, SE panther, 6x SE tiger, 3x 17cm, 2x wurf, 1x sig38, 2x su122, 2x 88mm, MobileAA. Air; 6xF, 3x TB, 1x SB
Destroyed: 35,16,5,11,12,8,0,12,5,1. Total = 105
Comments: I really dislike that scenario. because of the enemys heavy tanks I actually took some losses on my tanks. When king tigers are available there wont be this problem in the mean time the best way to deal with these heavy tanks is by hitting them with an experienced strategic bomber, but that requires good weather and controlled skies. instead of finishing early I took my time and attempted to get a few extra hexes at the end however because of hubris I lost a few points, if you need the prestige you might want to prolong it and retake some hexes, but carefully. The two free heroed units are quite good, a multiply heroed tiger and a multiply heroed infantry. Although I have a surplus of infantry I will keep them.

[hugh2711]

2) Korsun breakout [DV] Prestige = 125371 [capturable KV85 + free heroed fighter]
Strategy: Another difficult scenario designed to suck prestige out of you. Bigger map, mixed terrain, bad weather. Again I dont think there is a trick to make this easier. The initial deployment is really very tricky as you want to make sure you dont take losses from the crush of nearby enemy units when you start and you have to clear a path for your movement. There are a number of air units near you in the beginning but there is also alot of static AA making them difficult to take out without alot of losses. However I am going to try an experiment that I have not tried before. The normal way of doing this is withstand the initial attack abd head on bust your way out of the pincer movement straight through alot of units going south west, destroying them in the process, going straight for the safe zone. It is very expensive. This time with all the units I am going to go for the capturable unit in the northwest going north and west. Then at the capturable tank I will go directly south and over the river. This will be basically the two perpendicular sides of the triangle (the longest side being the normal route). You are given a few aux units but they dont last long.
Core activity: Minor repairs and reoverstrengthen. Removed expensive transport from newly aquired infantry.
Deployed: Softcap = 53% Bridge engineer, grenadier, para, pionere, panther, 4x tiger, SE panther, 6x SE tiger, recon, 2x 17cm, 3x wurf, 3x sig38, 3x su122, 2x 88mm, MobileAA. Air; 5x F, 3xTB.
Destroyed: 17,9,1,6,7,7,0,13,3,1. Total = 64
Comments: Well that was astonishing. That alternative route method definately is the trick!. Although it is physically a much longer route you have plenty of time. I deliberately sacrificed the (cheap) 109's experience to get a fighter but I will be converting it soon anyway. Apart from that my losses were negligeable, the other usual way they are massive. The KV85 is worth 600+ and the next scenario starts with 126655 so it was very profitable. The only downside is you dont rack up so many kills as you have bypassed so many tank groups and counter attacks. that will definately be my strategy in future.

[TSPC37730]

I'm very curious about the strategy you employed. I think I will try it the next time I play this scenario. My guess is that it would be best to bring along several fast units - including some infantry in pricey halftracks. Unfavorable weather at the wrong times could also be a killer. Thanks for the post!

[dalfrede]

My guess is that it would be best to bring along several fast units - including some infantry in pricey halftracks.

It doesn't require fast units, it requires a different mindset.
This play through is Manstein on Field Marshall.
'Look at victory conditions and do the minimum work necessary.'
The +5 strength enemy in Manstein makes unnecessary combat very costly.

See Huckc's Grand Campaign West 39-45 (Manstein) for a similar ideas.

When I played this on Rommel I went west->south, south->west, and southwest, clearing the map.
But I was playing Nico's upgrade and exited and replaced ~4 damaged units early on.

[goose_2]

My guess is that it would be best to bring along several fast units - including some infantry in pricey halftracks.

It doesn't require fast units, it requires a different mindset.
This play through is Manstein on Field Marshall.
'Look at victory conditions and do the minimum work necessary.'
The +5 strength enemy in Manstein makes unnecessary combat very costly.

See Huckc's Grand Campaign West 39-45 (Manstein) for a similar ideas.

When I played this on Rommel I went west->south, south->west, and southwest, clearing the map.
But I was playing Nico's upgrade and exited and replaced ~4 damaged units early on.

This playthrough is not on Manstein, it is on Field Marshall