DLC Playthrough 2

[mdh_slith]

Tassador's AAR posting have both helped me greatly and inspired me to add my own replay information. I recently had a Windows error force a reinstall and lost all of my saved games, including my DLC first playthrough. I was mid-way through 1939 and had just gotten transferred to Poland when I lost all, including my two zero-cost heroes, my double attack hero and a bunch of good heroes.

To speed up the second playthrough I used the cheat function to give me three heroes to start and then ditched three random ones as I went. Started with No Retaliation, Vigorous Defense (+3 to Attack when Defend) and Lightning Strike. Traits were Slow Modernization (Neg), Blitzkrieg, Trophies of War (I think this is the name of the double capture trait) and 1 other 1 point I can't recall, but will double check and update.

Just past Early Madrid and will post additional times with information on each scenario. Thanks for reading.

MDH

EDIT: I WILL BE POSTING MORE SUMMARIES AND UPDATING THE BELOW POSTS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS TO CATCH UP WITH WHERE I AM IN THE DLC CAMPAIGN. JUST FINISHED BRUNETE. NOW IF I COULD JUST FIGURE OUT HOW TO POST PICS...

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 1 – Seville

Update re Traits: I remembered that I took the Additional Auxiliaries trait. Being a grognard has its drawbacks. Didn’t take any additional auxiliaries to save prestige.

Units:
I put the HE 70 Recon Airplane and a 3.7 cm Pak 36 AT gun in reserve and replaced with another Pz Ia. Couldn’t get the reserve a unit and buy a core Spanish Infantry trick to work and believe it got nerfed in an update a while ago. Worth trying though.

Gameplay:
My plan was to be flexible on going NW or NE and East after obtaining the objective depending on what the enemy did. Having played the scenario before, I planned to land only half my Spanish infantry from planes to reinforce my tanks once the Cadiz port was taken and then once the airport near Seville is taken, to treat them like glider assault troops.

Early turns were according to plan, Condor Legion crossed the straits via naval transport and landed in the small village after tactical bombers attached the Republican defense troops and cleared the town. All units landed before the Spanish Navy showed up and moved rapidly inland with a quick air and AT gun detour to clear the port. AT gun stayed in the port all game to get its Survivor medal from naval assault.

Push through to Seville was good and glider assault into its airport worked well. You can move infantry in planes at the start of a turn to an airport and disembark them to move (but no attack). Seized Seville that way and with Artillery help. Formed wall of Panzers supported by artillery to the NE of Seville and let the enemy bleed itself. The crossing north of Seville is key to block as the Republican vehicles go back and forth to attach your army otherwise. Use airpower then infantry to clear the west of Seville and got all but the bunkers NW of town.

Late war spawns of artillery, AT and AA NE of town were too touch to crack with paper thin armor so I focused on grabbing flags with my recon and then had to rescue my recon with the other recon and a combo of Panzers and infantry. Scenario ended before weight of Republicans could kill my greedy recon. I blame its commander and not my own orders. Also the Spanish Infantry that took a boat trip to Gilbraltar. Have to wait until Navy is punishing the sacrifice in Cadiz, I mean heroic defenders of the port, before taking the side trip.

Postgame:
I miss the Verdeja 2 with Shock Tactics and Steamroller. Can’t wait to get that fast tank and some Soviet equipment. Not capturing much and not getting much equipment despite Trophies trait but still early in the DLC. MVP was the Pz Ia with No Retaliation. The Vigorous Defense (sic) Hero in the Pz Ia was used as an anchor for Defense. And the Lightning Attack Hero in a Biplane Fighter was useless. May move him.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 2 – Antequera

Units: New hero has Lethal Attack, and I add him to one of my 10.5cm leFH 18 Artillery pieces. I do have the option to field the 203mm Soviet Artillery, but I didn’t take it as I didn’t have the slots for it as I don’t have the Zero Slots hero I had last playthrough.

Auxiliaries: I picked up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool versus my run in the first scenario. Went with Quantity rather than Quality for the Artillery. Given past playthrough, I decided to let the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units

Gameplay:
My plan was send Cavalry and Recon around the lake to the south, Panzers across the middle with the Spanish Infantry and a small combined force through Rute to the north to get the additional hidden supplies.

Early turns were straightforward but captures were few and far between. My lethal 10.5cm damaged too much and my other artillery didn’t do squat to the Republican tanks. My recon/cavalry south flank force beat up the sneaky Republican militia trying to back door me but couldn’t scratch the bunker so they went the other way and joined my forces in the center.

The center push got bogged down and on my allies turn, the last victory hex to trigger the strategic bombers was seized. This meant that the republican air force almost downed a transport bomber before I could protect them. I was able to push through Rute in the North to get the hidden supplies and move to the eastern spawn points. In my first playthrough I was able to push back the minefield attacks and send a force through the mountains to take the airfield near Malaga. This time the ships took too long to sink and I was able to take the last airfield on almost the last turn while barely holding off the eastern attacks.

Postgame: Barely blew up the ships, lost too much prestige from Spanish Nationalist Infantry reinforcements and my Pz Ia’s couldn’t get enough surrenders to offset. Losing prestige and have to figure a way to turn the tide. Still feel the Lightning Attack hero in the Fighter is useless but haven’t moved him yet.

[Tassadar]

Units:
I put the HE 70 Recon Airplane and a 3.7 cm Pak 36 AT gun in reserve and replaced with another Pz Ia.

100% agreed on the AT gun here. It's not even that it's weak, it's just that the scenario does not need any. I'd keep the recon plane however, it can gain experience from his simple mission like crazy and having it at one star as soon as possible really benefits targeting, even if you don't convert it into a bomber later.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 3 – Merida

Units: Well, I had to get the 203mm Soviet Artillery since the new hero is the Zero Slots hero. I went ahead and spent the prestige to overstrength the 203mm Biggun to 15 and give it the Lethal Hero to make it a monster. On my first run through I didn’t think to overstrengthen the 203mm gun until Ebro.

Auxiliaries: Once again, I picked up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units. I also picked up more German light AA to protect my artillery.

Gameplay:
My plan was send Cavalry and artillery to the west to defeat the initial attack from the west, cut off the first armored thrust and take the center airfield I would then push NNE from the starting area to take the rightmost of the river victory hexes before splitting my force to take Badajoz and Caceres. That bunker near Badajoz messed up my attacks last playthrough but I was going to give it some attention from the 203mm Monster and my new Strategic Bombers.

Early Game plans went awry early. The left thrust handled the western infantry attack well enough but my main effort got split between the central airstrip and the Nationalist attack up the right side towards Caceres because Capitan Vega appeared in the middle of the field and I wanted to capture him. Most of my artillery stayed in the central mountains to shell the mid-range attacks and then went bunker hunting near Badajoz.

By Mid Game I was grinding out the Badajoz area but was stuck on the left. By Late Game, I was getting worried I wouldn’t take Caceres and threw a lot of Germans at it. Managed to pull it out and get Badajoz. The Republicans didn’t want to attack my Italian infantry in Badajoz when the big gun was silencing their artillery using counter-battery fire.

Postgame: Barely pulled out all of the bonus objectives and thinking of upgrading my tanks to captured equipment. Unfortunately my captured equipment is not great on Republican/Soviet tanks and may have wait to upgrade. Plus Slow Modernization will have a play. Onwards to Toledo…

Thanks for the advice Tassador. Have never used a recon plane. Saw someone suggest giving Provocation hero to one with Prudent and may do down the line.

[WalterTFD]

Merida is, in my opinion, the hardest scenario in the AO so far. If you are getting the bonus on this one, I bet you get all bonuses the rest of the way.

[Tassadar]

I'd put Toledo up there as well. It's that combination of inferior equipment and little to no experience that makes the start really tricky.

[scott_mathieson]

You can basically ignore vega first 2 t missions he appears in he runs if you bomb him. The third time he appears in os Russian flame tank which is an awesome steal.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 4 – Toledo

Units: Still rocking the PZ 1a’s as I have not yet acquired enough T-26 or other good tanks to upgrade. Received Combat Luck Hero and disbanded for prestige and to offset earlier extra heroes. Two more offsets to go.

Auxiliaries: Once again, I picked up some extra Italian Fighters and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units.

Gameplay:
My plan was to split my main thrust with armor and artillery straight towards the center of Toledo and recon, cavalry and armor on the northern sweep. I sent only a few units to the south, no armor, artillery, AT and recon. Like the previous two times I played this game I worried about the briefing and the supposed Republican attack from the NE. It never arrived in this game or any other playthrough.

Early Game had a grand battle to the south with Nationalist and Republican infantry slaughtering each other with my artillery providing support. I had positioned some air support this time with them and help hold the line. The recon kept close but later snuck around capturing towns and prestige.

Mid Game caused me to sweep around the North and down the east to take out the artillery threatening Toledo. Massive fights in the center took too long to relieve the city and my big artillery had to stay in town to prevent a river crossing breakthrough. Failure to take a bridge engineer prevented me from cross to the south.

Endgame had the northern sweep meeting the infantry mob from the south in the plains south of Toledo. Worried about prestige but I have to get some tank upgrades to force captures.

Postgame: On to Early Madrid and the Verdeja 2, my favorite tank. Need a hero to help with captures. Learning of Vega 3.0 being in a Soviet Flame tank almost makes me want to go back to Antequera and not kill him. But too late and I am well past Zaragoza in play. Am behind in write ups and figuring how to post picts.

[WalterTFD]

Toledo was originally awkward because if you ordered 'attack' the guys in the city charged out and got butchered, while if you ordered 'hold', the guys on your side of the board didn't move. They fixed that at some point though, now it's safe to attack.

I hear you about the mutual infantry slaughter on the south though, Nationalists do be spending all your prestige, haha.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 6 – Corunna Road

Units: Received Overwhelming Attack hero and added him to the Verdaja 2.

Auxiliaries: Once again, I picked up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units. Italian Cavalry x6 is the cause of my prestige drain but Winter War needs horses.

Gameplay:
My plan was to blitzkrieg the Republican concentration on the hills in the center then split into three units. The first would take the victory hexes to the NNE and blockade the NE spawn area, the second would go rescue the prisoners, and the third would take the victory hex to the west and blockade the SW spawn area.

Early Game had a somewhat successful encirclement of the hill. Nationalist infantry continues to leave my artillery unprotected and to focus on a quick kill rather than an encirclement. Aviation was less than successful all game as the Republican air force was never eliminated. Had a hard time to take the N victory hex as all of the reinforcement waves appeared in the NE spawn area. The prison defenders ran into the high mountains where my armor and cavalry couldn’t attack so I had to leave the cavalry to defend the Victory Hex and a tactical bomber to attack each turn and force the AI to reinforce so it didn’t attack and take flags and Victory Hexes. Left massive force to defend the SW spawn area but no attacks spawned there and by the end had shipped a number of units across the battlefield to help in the NE. First playthrough had first multiple waives in the NE then multiple waves in the SW and I barely was able (after a few restarts) to hold the Victory Hex there.

Postgame: Next scenario I can get better planes so instead of treading water in the sky, can start eliminating enemy air force without taking all their airstrips.

I had that problem WaltherFTD the first playthrough for Toledo but they fixed in one of the updates where the surrounded city defenders don't go Leroy Jenkins and get killed charging out of their defended positions.

[WalterTFD]

Not sad to see the end of the biplanes, heh. Nationalists can never, ever be trusted to defend your arty.

My read on their behavior, when on 'attack'.

0. They activate in the same order every time.
1. If under half, elite reinforce with the player's money.
2. If you can move somewhere and attack artillery or aa or antitank, do that.
3. otherwise, if you can attack an enemy that you are able to hurt without moving, do that and then move towards the nearest victory hex.
4. otherwise, if you can move and then attack an enemy that you are able to hurt, do that.
5. If none of the above are true, just move towards the nearest victory hex at max speed (no worry about ending in the wrong kind of terrain!)

I don't think they even know where your models are. Rommel/other allies have a step at .5, where before/instead of reinforcing they first head back to their home zone.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 7 – Malaga

Units: I received Ferocious Defense hero and sold him for the prestige and to offset the starting Hero issue by one more, two down and one to go. I spent prestige on upgrading two fighters and a tac bomber and put a fighter and tac bomber in reserve.

Auxiliaries: Once again, I picked up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units. Italian Cavalry x6 is the cause of my prestige drain but it works better when I have horses.

Gameplay:
My plan was to force the center, reinforce the Nationalist infantry to the North with Cavalry, Artillery, Armor and Recon (1 each) and then have Artillery and AT reinforce the south Nationalist Infantry. Previous playthrough I split more evenly but this time going main effort in center for captures.

Early Game worked well all three areas. Captures in the center. Seriously, the T26 sitting in Forrequeria surrounded by mountains on three sides has to be one of the easiest encircle and captures in all of the DLCs.

Mid Game saw a massive battle at Churriana and my army was hit from the North, East and South by Republican armor and recon moving from other areas. Cleared the armor and recon from the North allowing me to take the airstrip and town there easier. Slow movement in the South as I didn’t have many units there and Artillery and AA in the Mountains move slow.

Late Game saw Malaga surrounded, some losses and a failure to capture the 152mm Republican artillery in the dock area.

Postgame: My first playthrough with a more even attack saw all three get tied up at different times. This one was easier as my main thrust had the strength to take the center and fight off reinforcements. Air cover got easier if main effort in the center as other attacks are behind the Republican air force reach due to air strip seizures and its focus on my more valuable units. Cavalry will get air attacks before more expensive core units such as artillery.

Good advice there, will try to use when calculating my moves in Ebro. Two turns in and the all attack now has yet to reach the enemy. Why does the NW Nationalist force stay home? Why? Could use attacking the Republican horde at the Top North Central crossing.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 8 – Brunete

Units: I received Sixth Sense hero and sold him for the prestige and to offset the starting Hero issue by one more, three down. I spent prestige on upgrading my German armor to the dreaded and decisive Pz Ib (from the Pz 1a).

Auxiliaries: Once again, I picked up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units. This scenario is a bull rush north with an initial grand encirclement opportunity and I needed their move of 6.

Gameplay:
My plan was to rush north to defend Brunete then splinter off a small group to attack up the right on the other side of the river while encircling and capturing the area north of Brunete. It was not that successful.

Early Game saw the plan work well with artillery and AA reinforcing the center and armor on both flanks. For some reason, I couldn’t cover my armor thrusts with planes and AA. Always left a gap and that unit got bombed and then the Republicans followed with infantry and armor.

Mid Game saw the encirclement finally work once the Republican AA was killed then the air attacks and armor was able to encircle. Took too long to get some air superiority and to clear the right side of the river.

Late Game saw much success as the center had been seized, the right was cleared and then it was time to clean up. I split my forces into 4 attacking the NW, NNW, N and NE. Encircled Torreldones from the back and right and captured equipment there including the 152mm Artillery unlike in Malaga.

Postgame: Three scenarios to Ebro left. It took me many tries to come up with a deployment and strategy that worked. Grab the 10th VH at the start. Retreat in the South, attach in the North and across the NE crossings. Clear them and push South.

[Tassadar]

Sixth Sense was a brutal roll. The only useful application I can consider for this unit (aside from recon planes) is putting it on a ground unit in the specially challenge where each enemy unit gets a hero at the start of each mission. This way it will allow to counter Ambusher (at least in theory, if this interaction works as expected). So yea, that 1000 prestige is probably worth tons more...

[WalterTFD]

Good advice there, will try to use when calculating my moves in Ebro. Two turns in and the all attack now has yet to reach the enemy. Why does the NW Nationalist force stay home? Why? Could use attacking the Republican horde at the Top North Central crossing.

I *think*, that the thing going on with 'attack' order in Ebro is that the bad guys don't have any victory hexes.

So, the guys in your rear say
'I don't need to resupply' (since they haven't taken damage)
'I cannot attack and then move towards a victory hex' (since no one is near and you own all victory hexes)
'I cannot move towards anyone and attack' (since no one is near and you own all victory hexes)
'I cannot move towards an enemy held victory hex' (since all are in your own hands)

Obviously just armchair theory here, don't have the code or anything, but that fits with my observations. (Note, I don't expect 'defend' would work any better, since they'd just defend the rear victory hexes that they are starting near).

Alternate theory would that it is another case like Toledo, where some of the allies just aren't taking your orders. The NW units may be unalterably defending their little bit of turf like the defenders of the Alcazar.

I dunno if there's ever actually been a player who took the briefing's advice and defended way back from the river, that map is totally misaligned with how the game is actually played. You can see that they learned a lot from it in the future 'big defend' missions.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 9 – Zaragoza

Units: I received the Scavenger hero and gave him to the Verdaja 2 with Overwhelming Attack. With Trophies of Way, this Unit gets 4x captured units. So that 1 strength capture becomes 4 and that 2 strength capture becomes 8 and that 4 strength capture becomes 16. Very powerful combo. Still miss the double attack hero though from my first play through.

Auxiliaries: Once again, I was going to pick up some extra Italian Fighters, Artillery and Cavalry from the Auxiliaries pool to have the Italians provide overhead cover and concentrate on damage with my German Air Units. Pondered going cheaper on Auxiliaries to save Prestige for Ebro as I took the prestige exchange and am hurting for Prestige. Went with lower number of auxiliaries to save the prestige.

Gameplay: Zaragoza to me is Ebro light to train you for what is to come with take areas and defend from spawns. My plan was to hold the NW with aux. artillery, push east and southeast with main armor thrust to rescue my allies and send a combined force through the mountains to cover the SW spawn area.

Early Game saw my main force go SE with captures while North force defended the river crossing as units were pulled elsewhere in the battle leaving less and less to defend the town. My South force rushed through the mountains to seize the airstrip then defend the South spawn area. I focused a lot of strength there and the Republicans responded by never spawning there all game.

Mid Game saw my plans to seize the north and the airstrip and thus secure the NE victory hex die when my bridge engineer crossed the river to take an unprotected flag then a whole spawn occur on top of him in the North. He died quickly and I couldn’t save him. I was able to hold the spawn at the river crossing with artillery and AA but my tanks turned instead across the southern river and attacked the artillery on the hill down there.

Late Game saw me strip units from the SW and send to the NE and E from where all the spawns arose. Lost a lot of prestige from Nationalist overstrengthening and from Prestige for Commendation points exchange.

Postgame: I lost my bridge crossing engineers early game and was unable to use them mid-game to take the NE airstrip and artillery. Should have played smarter instead of grabbing quick Prestige points. Didn’t use past saved games to save him to teach myself a lesson.

SCW Scenario 10 – Turuel

Units: With the prestige dump last scenario, I, of course, took the exchange for the PzIIa. This is one of my favorite scenarios and played it multiple times in the first playthrough as I failed to get the gift unit once due to the saved game issue. Cavalry mass against Soviet armor brings a tear to my eye that 1941 won’t do.

Auxiliaries: This time I went with lower number of auxiliaries to save the prestige. I added two T-26’s as upgrades to existing PzIb units and took 4 foot infantry without trucks plus some planes but not a full component. Spent less than half of my Aux. slots.

Gameplay: I will start turn one with the cavalry unleashed. Plan to force my way SW and NE to take out the two pockets of infantry and tanks early then converge around the flanks of the Cavalry great push to meet the final wave of Republican tanks and infantry reinforcing the Turuel siege.

Early Game saw my 203mm Lethal gun destroy a bunker and a T26 take out another. My plans went awry quickly as the Cavalry needed armor support and while I was able to take the North by midgame, the southwest lasted until the end again.

Mid Game saw me reach the besieged and the Cavalry kill units I would have preferred to capture.

Late Game saw captures in the SE and then a mad rush to the SW to finish the enemy off.

Postgame: Filled my prestige back up for now. Will go back and look up my old saves to add prestige numbers to these reports. Ready for Aragon Offense and hope to refill prestige before Ebro.

SCW Scenario 11 – Aragorn Offensive

Units: No real upgrades as went for savings. Rebuilt losses but no new units.

Auxiliaries: This time I went with lower number of auxiliaries to save the prestige. Spent less than half of my Aux. slots. Planes and three Italian Infantry.

Gameplay: Plan was to send main thrust east while lesser force goes south then east. Once main force crushes main force of the Republicans, it will split with part to take the towns near the river and the balance to take Vinaroz and the South air fields.

Early Game saw some captures and push being successful. Crossed into the coastal plains and it almost all fell apart.

Mid Game saw Russian armor attack my Vendaja 2 from Vinaroz and take down it from 13 to 1 strength in 2 attacks with two infantry still to move and attack. Neither did and I retreated the unit from the battlefield and covered with air units so I could reinforce the next turn. This was two rounds after a similar attack took one of my T26 from 12 to 4 and one round after a similar attack took another T26 from 12 to 4. If real life, a lot of officers in various commands would have gone back to Germany after those fights. But here, the other units wrapped up Vinaroz and its artillery (152mm) and took the SW. I took the last victory hexes with double digit turns to go for the prestige bump before Ebro.

Late Game was not used.

Postgame: Ebro is coming.

[mdh_slith]

SCW Scenario 12 – Ebro WIP

Units: Received Provocation hero and added him to the 88 AA I converted from a 20mm AA for this scenario. Bought another 88mm AA and upgraded a third to the SdKfz 10/4 AA for deployment in the South. Gave Galland to my unheroed ME 109 and pulled a Tac Bomber from Reserve. I also modified my hero deployment to give the Verdaja 2 the First Strike Hero and gave my Stuka the Double Move Hero.

Auxiliaries: I maxxed out Auxiliaries with quantity. Bought 12 fighters (2 core each), 4 tac bombers (2 core each), 4 artillery (2 core each), 2 trucked Italian infantry (3 each) and 2 cavalry (3 each) for 52 total cores. Condor Legion needs speedbumps and Republican artillery can’t shoot if it is constantly being reinforced.

Gameplay: My plan was to use the Uber Tank/Recon/Tac Bomber trick I saw in one of the Ebro scenario threads to take the 10th Victory Hex turn one. I did it in my first playthrough and it worked. Of course, I had a Double Attack hero on my Tac Bomber then but with a Double Move, I can hit with two tac bombers so should work right? Will send T26 tanks across the river along the Northern Border and across the river to support the Victory Hex with cross river deployment. Both plans worked well for me last playthrough. Will set all Nationalists to attack and use artillery and airpower to support bridge crossings where possible until I can spare armor to go around.

Early Game: Round one saw me have to restart a few times and change my plan to pull off the Uber-Tank and Recon trick to get the 10th Victory Hex. I had to move my Lethal Attack 203mm Monster Artillery from the NE area to support the trick as my Double Move Tac Bomber combo was not clearing the road for the Verdaja 2 unlike the Double Attack Tac Bomber from my first playthrough. Must have over strengthened it as well. I sent my center thrust and didn’t clear the artillery like I did the first time. Problem was loss of 203mm from this thrust as it was deployed to the south. Otherwise going well. Of course, that could be the computer chuckling but I felt it was the dog breathing...

[WalterTFD]

12 fighters? Jeez. Rule the skies!

[Tassadar]

Like flock of geese migrating before the winter.