DLC Playthrough 2

[mdh_slith]

Ebro continued:
Turn two saw the SW Victory Hex be reinforced with Italian artillery as it took a while to drive there from the deployment zone. The 203mm Soviet Gun of Death and Tac Bomber combo whittled away at the SE corner artillery while armor retreated from the 10th Victory Hex. The Northern battlegroup crossed the river in the NW and the Center East crossing group continued to miss the 203mm gun in its effort to clear the area NE of Asco.

Turn four saw the northern battlegroup (T26, PzIb, Recon) stall norht of Ribarroja and continued lack of progress of the main battlegroup northeast of Asco. In the SE, three river crossing hexes had been lost by this time as the Republican onslaught pushed back the Nationalist garrisons and the Southern force was trading space for time as the Nationalist counterattack was forming.

Turn eight saw the north still stalled (taking too long to whack the armor and open up the artillery to tank assaults). A new NE spawn threatened the NE crossing and the main battlegroup. Benisaret target of Republican spawn after Southern group took it back. Holding across the line and down to only one crossing lost.

Turn ten saw the Northern group finally kill the Republican artillery on the riverside hills in the North. All three SE crossings were lost to Republican attacks while the NE spawn was being held at the riverfront.

Turn thirteen saw Miravet and Rasquera change hands back to the Nationalists. The NE spawn had been crushed by the Northern group reinforcing the crossing while the main group drove north after eliminating the ENE artillery near the river. A new Central East spawn was attacking Mora de Ebro and the south group had through artillery and Tac Bombers crushed the southern artillery near the river and was deciding whether to cross across the river to attack or to reinforce the threatened crossing.

[mdh_slith]

Ebro Continued:
Turn 15 added a second Central East Spawn of Republicans while my Nationalists cross the river in the SE after taking all three of the SE Victory Hexes back. Main force is still North of Asco and my best Stuka got taken down to 1 Strength.

Turn 17 saw another CE Spawn of Republicans. I manage to hold all three SE crossings and remain across the river in the South. Asco force finishing off old spawn and new spawn.

Turn 20 saw Asco clear but the main force needed to rebuild before heading south. Enemy is weakened and spread out in front of Benisaret.

Turn 24 saw another Benisaret spawn which when combined with the previous spawn forced my Spanish allies to retreat and I had to take back with Italian infantry. Main force headed to Benisaret from right of river and the north. Bottom three crossings all held but I am back to the left of the river having retreated from the spawns. Wounded airplanes retreating to West central airport to avoid prestige cost of in game elite reinforcements or base reinforcement or auxiliary airplanes.

Turn 26 saw main force relieve Benisaret and Nationalist mobile forces limtied to other 2 SE crossings. Sdkfz Recon suffered the gang attack that took down to 1 Strength and retreated across river to recoverr.

Turns 27 and 28 and 29 saw last Nationalist mobile forces eliminated and some flags in the SE picked up before scenario ended. This playthrough went better than my first, likely as I had played before and don't forget the horde of cheap Italian planes. Early war saw one shot down but replaced the next turn. Stated with 6827 prestige, dropped to 5538 after repairs and purchases/upgrades. Ended with nearly 5 digits of prestige.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 13 – Catalonia

Units: Received Crippling Blow hero and don’t know where to post him. Bought German artillery and fighters to prepare for 1939.

Auxiliaries: Skipped Auxiliaries given scenario. Deployed artillery and put all planes in reserve, filling slots with armor to get experience. Started with over 12k prestige and dropped to around 11270 post purchases and repairs

Gameplay: My plan was to cover the France approaches, defend the center and head to the right with main force.

Game: Game largely went as supposed and only slightly different from the first playthrough. Early game will see a movement from the NW you can attach in turn one and another from the W you can attack turn one. Others will come from SW to your supply point around turn two or three. Another will come from the east around turn five. Others will come from the North across the top of the map. A large number go from Barcelona to France along the rail and roadway in the East. For the first time, I got close to the French border chasing convoys in the mountains and the French attacked one of my units. Was spread too broadly to support a counter attack and instead promised to see them soon (say 1940).

Postgame: With Ebro survived and the Vendaja 2 gaining prestige from surrenders, ready for Madrid, which is the reverse of Ebro to me. Madrid is get the great encirclement then apply pressure for much prestige. Or get impatient and run rampant through suppressed Spaniards…

[Tassadar]

Crippling Blow in my experience works great on tactical bombers - they can do that first huge hit to tanks this way than can allow ground units to finish the job easily. Good on tanks for the same reason as it allows them to hit hard and get overruns - more so on Rapid Fire ones that can the often overrun 10 power artillery in the open easily. Finally, a less obvious idea is something I did not test, but might be a nice fit, but only with AA Veteran trait taken as well - putting this hero on mobile, Rapid Fire AA guns. This should easily allow them to one-shot planes from the sky.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 14 – Madrid

Units: Received a Camouflage hero and put him with an 88mm AA. Starting Prestige was 12870 up from 12006 from the beginning of Catalonia.

Auxiliaries: Took air wing as Auxiliaries given scenario along with some Italian infantry and cavalry.

Gameplan: Deployed main capture team to the east to take the units there and then swing back to SE of town to deal with Communist Tanks then swing west to take the S Communist airfield then head to the west Communist airfield to meet the northern group and complete the encirclement. North Group would swing around the north to take the lightly defended northern part of Madrid, then the NW Republican airstrip and then meet the main capture team in the west to complete the encirclement.

Game: Slowly encircled Madrid, concentrating on taking out AA guns with the 203mm Artillery and then keeping containment. South group got ahead of North group but they met midgame to complete the encirclement. No great stories from the game as it has been over a week and I am in AO 1939 now. Final encirclement was rushed to get the end early prestige bonus but did get surrenders.

Postgame: On to Czechoslovakia, decided to ditch Auxiliaries trait for Industry Connections and keep setup as is otherwise. May go No Artillery in 1940 once I buy a lot of artillery in 1939 before the 75% prestige sink. Crippling Blow does work well for Tac Bombers, but this comes up more in AO 1939 than AO SCW Madrid due to too many AA Guns in the City.

[mdh_slith]

AO SCW End Roster:

Tanks (Delayed Modernization trait led to more purchases due to lack of upgrade slots):
1st T-26 2.5 Stars, Steamroller and +1 Soft Attack
2nd BT-5 2.5 Stars, Steamroller, Survivor, and +1 Soft Attack plus Aggressive Counterattack Hero
6th T-26 2 Stars, +1 Soft Attack
7th PzIb 1 Star
23rd T-26 1.5 Stars, Crippling Blow Hero
24th PzIb 1.5 Stars
30th PzIb 1.5 Stars
36th Verdaja 2 Stars, +1 Hard Attack, Shock Tactics, Scavenger and First Strike Heroes
41st PzIIa 1 Star, No Retaliation Hero

Recon (I am cycling through a number of these in case I need to convert to Tanks):
3rd SdKfz 222 ½ Star
11th SdKfz 222 1.5 Stars
12th SdKfz 231 6Rad 1.5 Stars, Survivor
13th SdKfz 221 1.5 Stars
40th SdKfz 222 ½ Star
70th SdKfz 222 ½ Star

AA (Used primarily the 2 cm):
4th 8.8cm Flak 18 ½ Star
19th SdKfz 10/4 1.5 Stars
21st 2cm Flak 30 1.5 Stars
32nd 8.8cm Flak 18 1 Star and Camouflage Hero

Artillery (Used 4 on average, the next two are for the future and the last two are for Crete):
5th 203mm M1931 OS15 2 Stars, +1 Soft Attack, Lethal Attack, Zero Slots and Fast Deploy Heroes
16th 10.5cm leFH 18 2 Stars, Skilled Support
17th 10.5cm leFH 18 2 Stars, Antitank Support Hero
18th 10.5cm leFH 18 2 Stars
35th 10.5cm leFH 18 ½ Star
37th 10.5cm leFH 18 ½ Star
38th 7.5 cm FK 16 No Stars
39th 7.5 cm FK 16 No Stars

AntiTank (Rarely used):
14th 3.7cm Pack36 ¾ Star, Survivor
15th 3.7cm Pack36 No Stars
42nd PzI Breda No Stars
43rd PzI Breda No Stars

Fighters (Galland being used to star up the 9th Squadron the two no stars were new purchases at Madrid):
9th Bf 109B ½ Star, Galland hero
22nd HE51 ½ Star
27th Bf 109B 2 Stars, +1 Air Attack
33rd Bf 109B No Stars
34th I16 No Stars
69th Bf 109B 1.5 Stars, +1 Air Attack, Lightning Attack Hero

Tactical Bombers (Didn't buy any and used up to three at a time):
20th Ju87A 2 Stars
25th HE70 Rayo No Stars, Never Used
26th Hs123a 1.5 Stars
31st Ju87A 2 Stars, Double Move Hero

Strategic Bombers (Didn't buy any and used so little):
8th Ju52 Bomber ½ Star
29th JU52 Bomber ½ Star
21st Ju86 Bomber No Stars

[Tassadar]

Nice list to end SCW with. Especially very decent experience on AA guns - that's something I usually struggle a bit with. I'm slightly surprised by the recon's exp, but that's probably due to that large rotation, since I could swear they earn experience much faster normally.

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 1 – Czechoslovakia

Traits: I stayed with Trophies of War, Slow Modernization, Blitzkrieg and took Prototypes instead of Auxiliaries, which I missed in Warsaw and a few other places.

Units: Received a Second Shock Tactics hero and put him with my BT-5. Love the Azul infantry. Starting Prestige was 17601, post repairs. Picked up four Cavalry, three Grenadiers but waited to upgrade the Panzers as 38t’s would come.

Gameplan: Deployed my force split with the right busting through the Czech defense in the center north and the left crossing the river and sneaking down the left side. Unlike my first play through, I plan to stay away from most of the victory hexes and swoop down all at once.

Game: Early game saw quick advances and use of Bridge Engineers to cross lower left. Followed Tassador’s advice to stay away from bridges on right until need to do so. Managed to work two units from the right down to the bottom of the map and capture over half the victory hexes in one turn with little losses. Didn’t kill any Czech units so didn’t lose the CP.

Postgame: Grand encirclements are great but I am usually too impatient for them. Like the scenario but wanted to keep going to fight the French.


AO 1939 Scenario 2 – Sarreguemines

Units: Received a Flag Killer hero and put him with my Azul Infantry along with a Double Move hero. Starting Prestige was 20071, post repairs. Got Albert Kersher and put him with my second best tank. Don’t need him with the Vendaja 2.

Gameplan: Deployed 3 forces. Strong Left to take the SW town and then Sarreguemines from the backside. Moderately strong center to attack Sarruguemines with 203mm Lethal Artillery and weaker Right to bridge engineer cross river and take Bliesbruck.

Game: Early game saw the center hit Sarruguemines and use its artillery to weaken its defences while the left smashed the French and seized Ippling. The left was too weak to beat off the NE counterattack and I had to rush air power and part of the river crossing force to smash the counterattack. First playthrough my right was more powerful than left and I took the NE early and sweeped back to help take Sarruguemines but this time the left was strong enough to take the left side, surround the center and force the reinforcement zones before the game ended.

Postgame: Not many capture as my capture game is weak but will work on it. Panhards are great but I don’t capture enough as the year progresses. Got the Char B cache but not enough to field yet.

AO 1939 Scenario 3 – Warndt Forest

Units: Received a Second Double Move hero and put him with one of my Cavalry along to create a second core infantry unit. Starting Prestige was 26072, pre repairs.

Gameplan: Deployed in two columns, one left and one right. Plan was to advance down the roads and sweep into St. Avoid.

Game: Early game saw cavalry advances and wearing down the French. Got bottlenecked near the SW city but unlike my previous playthrough, this attack was almost all infantry. No Char B1’s to seize. Last turn managed to take St. Avoid and the supply point capture but couldn’t force the AAgun at the airstrip to surrender and points left on the able..

Postgame: I realized that I didn’t send enough down the right side to take St. Avoid like I had in the first playthrough. The Japanese Infantry assault to the west drew away my forces and I almost didn’t get the bonus. On to Orenthal, with a Char B1 this time…

[Tassadar]

Picked up four Cavalry,

I was so against these units until I played my retrograde run with 25 overstrength. In certain situations cavalry is amazing, so that's a brave choice and I hope it turns out well for you. There seems to be no prestige issue in your campaign, so the extra mobility and should do nice things.

Panhards are great but I don’t capture enough as the year progresses.

Even with Trophies of War before 1941 I had to go out of my way to encircle them on purpose at the cost of other operations... You're either on the defense or in rough close terrain in 1939, and both of these impact the encirclement options.

[mdh_slith]

I just finished the mission after Raate Road. Will be posting three mission summaries to catch up. Raate Road was easy to me. Take a few supertanks and artillery plus some infantry to hold the woods and capture away. Got the Katyusha in earlier mission and got the OT-133 in Raate Rood. A Vendaja 2 with Trophies of War trait and Scavenger can get 20+ to 30+ of a rare unit if set up right.

Then I got the mission after Raate Road. Held the line captured 9 of 10 Victory Hexes and failed to get the last (far eastern VH) for 2 reasons. First, most of the Soviets spawned to the right and I couldn't get enough to surround and block from VH. Second, I was too passive for too long and didn't send forces to the west bridge for a breakout until almost half way through the time limit. Will redo but start with uber force on the left to cross and hold far western part of map and hold other crossings.

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 4 – Orenthal

Units: Received my first Double Support hero and put him with a 10.5 cm Artillery. Starting Prestige was 28995, pre repairs.

Gameplan: Deployed my force split with the right to surround Orenthal while the big gun took out artillery and the left to sweep through the center of the map and protect from a French western attack.

Game: Early game saw a steady circling of Orenthal while forces had to be detached to mop up the lower right and both sides of the lower center. Orenthal encirclement achieved mid game but I get greedy and attack too soon. Got some surrenders but not many. Managed to cut off the French from the south and recapture some flags but they ignored my southern efforts and keep attacking in the north.

Postgame: Want more Char B’s and Panhards.


AO 1939 Scenario 5 – Forbach

Gameplan: Prestige started at 29892. Plan was to take the sentries then deploy into three groups. First is the center armored cars to cause the war and then a right flank and left flank to take objectives.

Game: Early game saw the center have to die to get the war started. Both Units were wiped out and in this playthrough have to hit one army then move next to the other. Hit the left airfields too soon and some Blue units circled back but overall good French on French crime.

Postgame: Quick, fun mission with no long term impacts other than getting prestige and CP.


AO 1939 Scenario 6 – Saarbrucken

Units: Received a Second Double Support hero and put him with one of my 15 cm gunst. Starting Prestige was 34288, pre repairs. Gave Oleh Dir to my best Cavalry unit along with Double Move hero to make a second infantry monster besides the Azul unit.

Gameplan: Deployment is key for this scenario. Need mobile reserves behind the line for bridge engineers, need AA to support artillery and need artillery to support infantry at each crossing. Plus bridge engineers to handle the crossing of the mid-map river and fast units to crush the French Red army and shift to the left of the river.

Game Left Crossing: This flank fought whole game with Pz38t, 2 Artllery Pieces, AA and 2 Heavy Infantry. Attacks kept going against left flank to the point that scenario ended with units still trying to cross. First playthough had my units crossing south of river and hunting stragglers.

Game Center Crossing: Took longer this time to encircle this group and like the left group, bridge engineers were a pain. Was stretched thin early but then the Somua shower up and relieved some stress. Fighter Bomber, Fighter, 88mm AA, 2 Artillery and 2 Heavy Infantry defended along with 1-2 tanks. Did cross river with tanks to help set up encirclement late game.

Game Right Crossing: Easiest of the three crossings. Take out the reds with Vendaja 2, Cavalry, 203mm Arty and Azul unit plus Pz 38t’s then cross river and start clearing the map. Rush back to handle mid-game attack but was able to use bridge engineer to handle it.

Postgame: Somua is a good tank but like the prototypes I receive over the campaign such as the PzIVD, PzIIIF and PzIIIG, I keep with the 38ts for the replacements. I have no Field Repair heros unlike the multiple ones I had with my first playthrough so tank selection is a challenge.

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 7 – Battle of the Bzura

Units: Received a second Flag Killer and gave to super Cavalry with Oleh Dir to take the cache cities. Starting Prestige was 40741, pre repairs.

Gameplan: I started this scenario first playthrough but didn’t get far in it before my window reinstall caused me to reinstall the game. My plan was then and now to force the bridge engineer crossing to the left defend the Piatek crossing with infantry, armor, artillery and AA, while defending Lowicz and the crossing near it to the left with the same and sending scraps to hit to two cache cities behind the lines and take the NE. After playing and restarting to redeploy, I ignored the cache cities (because someone said the gear sucks) and sent more to the east and west flanks while planes were tasked to hunt artillery. First playthroughs had the 203mm gun as stationary in the west, but plan was to use Fast Deploy to apply its ranged fire to all the crisis points.

Game: Boy did that Uber Cavalry and 203mm gun prove useful. I forced my main effort up the left flanking Piatek towards the river. And after a detour to encircle Polish Units near Piatek, I then took the town in the NW and then headed east to grab victory hexes and prestige. Loicz was a harder battle and it took a while to free up my Uber Cavalry to go hunt the two caches late game. Only the arrival of the 203mm Fast Deploy Artillery allowed me to do so late game.

Postgame: Left the central spawning and river crossing alone along with their flags. Maybe if I had auxiliaries I could have taken them.

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 8 – Lvov

Units: Received my first Field Repairs hero and put him with the Char 1 tank. I had three in my first playthrough. Received the train and picked up a few units to pad my army before the next mission prestige sink. Starting Prestige was 45661, pre repairs.

Gameplan: Deployed army in mass in NW with one force to cross the forest and two others to force the top two river crossings.

Game: The center always gets hit hard as the cross the middle bridge. The enemy is set up in a position that can easily trap an attack against the river and encircle it due to the swampy terrain. I was too impatient to fight and suffered losses, though none catastrophic. Easy victory with some captures when the great encirclement hit Lvov at the end.

Postgame: Nothing great capture wise but still a fun scenario. Love the train.


AO 1939 Scenario 9 – Wlodowa

Units: Received my first Avenger hero and have been using with Air Units but may switch to infantry. Starting Prestige dropped to 10547, pre repairs.

Gameplan: Deployed my force split with the right to attack the Soviets while the center took on the Poles. The big gun went right with Cavalry, Tanks and Mobile AA.

Game: Early game saw much Soviet capture, delaying the final push in the NE while the main force methodically took on the Poles. Real game began when I approached the North. The Wlodawa defenders didn’t come out initially and let me capture the left town and clean up north of Lublin. Didn’t have the bridge engineer to cross. Captured the town and crossings late in mission leading to mad attacks in the last turn to set up the Katyusha capture attempt. Had to replay the turn a few turns to get the Vendaja 2 in position and to add suppression to the rocket launchers.

Postgame: Got the Katyushas. Scavenger tanks with Trophies of War trait can lead to 30+ seizes at 4x multiples.

[mdh_slith]

Well, its been 17 months and I am back in it again. Fornebu is up and I just realized I can't use the overstrength Stuka tactic as the distance now measures from the airstrip location and not the tile in which the plane is located. So I need to restart setup. Will catch up as well here if anyone interested. Don't have a Double Attack hero so I will go with Strat Bombers and my Double Move hero to suppress until destroyed. If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate them.

PS Got back on over Christmas vacation and dove into North Africa and now fighting for Egypt.

[Tassadar]

Well, its been 17 months and I am back in it again. Fornebu is up and I just realized I can't use the overstrength Stuka tactic as the distance now measures from the airstrip location and not the tile in which the plane is located. So I need to restart setup. Will catch up as well here if anyone interested. Don't have a Double Attack hero so I will go with Strat Bombers and my Double Move hero to suppress until destroyed. If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate them.

PS Got back on over Christmas vacation and dove into North Africa and now fighting for Egypt.

Always nice to see some new reports, so I for one will be looking at them.

As for taking on the fort, doesn't suppression reset at the start of the AI turn, making this not work? Perhaps two heavily OS Bf110's with Double Move would work instead?

[mdh_slith]

Heavy bombers and the captured Russian attack bomber made quick work of the fortress and ship was saved. Have to go back and collect information to post re 39 and start of 40. Now have game on a new laptop so should be able to post with pictures.

[mdh_slith]

Does the artillery hero work on the KV2 you get in 1939?

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 10 – Warsaw WIP

Units: .

Gameplan: .

Game: .

Postgame: .

*** Note: My saved games didn't all transfer for some reason so I have to pull from the old computer. Using WIP placeholders for now.

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 11 – Raate Road WIP

Units: .

Gameplan: .

Game: .

Postgame: .

[mdh_slith]

AO 1939 Scenario 12 – Taipale WIP

Units: .

Gameplan: .

Game: .

Postgame: .