Generalissimus Campaign - No Liberator/Trophies of War/Heroes

[charonjr]

I just finished my first campaign at General and had 70k prestige left in the end, so I want to jump in right into the deep end and try Generalissimus.

I prefer written AARs to video ones since they are easier to read. I see that comradep is doing something similar (way harder setting and no heroes, and less – negative? – points for traits), nice.

Generalissimus, custom army, 19% Combat Randomness (wanted 20, but obviously failed ), no Liberator/Trophies of War

edit: With what I have seen till now I think that I can up the ante a bit more and add to the difficulty level.

Will restart this AAR, the settings will remain the same, but without heroes and no extra prestige (Europe on a Shoestring) and the longer I think about it, the more I comvinced that less turns (Race against Time) should be in as well. Essentially what comradep does, with slightly different traits.

Positive Traits (6 points):
Deep Recon (1 point – being able to see the map around the objectives is great and since recon will be very important a 5% accuracy bonus from recon units is very nice as well)
Master of Blitzkrieg (1 point - additional movements for tanks and being able to have them cross minor rivers for some MPs is very nice)
Deadly Grasp (1 point - encircled enemies suffer 2x penalties, and I will plan to do a lot of encirclements)
Flexible Command (1 point - most important trait for this level if playing without Liberator IMO, would work great together with Trophies of War since it allows you to split your units without needing any core slots for it)
Anti-Air Veteran (2 points, AA does damage instead of just suppression, very important to gain air superiority which is essential IMO

Negative Traits (4 points):
No Overstrength (2 points – while it might work nicely in combination with some heroes the costs are too high IMO, double to cost for 50% more units)
Slow Modernisation (2 points – only 3 upgrades allowed for each mission, this should force some nicely diverse units)

Some guidelines I will try to follow:
1. Don’t rush, the downsides of being reckless far outweight the benefits on Generalissimus.
2. Scout ahead.
3. Preserve HP.
4. Don’t reinforce units during the scenario unless it is essential.
5. Move the units in mutally supportive groups/formations.
6. Force surrenders as often as possible, but watch out for taking higher losses in the process than gaining prestige from the surrender.
7. Earn as much XP as possible, stars save prestige


Poland North

Initial army, Prestige left: 0, 36/36 slots:
Infantry: 1 Pioniere
Tanks: 4 Panzer 38(t)A
Recon: 1 Sdkfz 222
Artillery: 1 10,5 cm leFH (Opel), 2 7,5 cm FK 16nA (Opel)
Fighter: 2 Bf 109E
Tactical Bomber: 1 Ju 87B
Strategic Bomber: 1 He 111H2



Turn 1: First encirclement, the main question is if those 72 prestige will be enough to compensate for the additional losses sustained by the weaker units.


Turn 2: The Cav is trying to be difficult, due to the infantry’s ZOC I am not able to move one of my tanks into the gap, but that is another of the cases where recon vehicles really shine, it can move there with its second move order, 180 prestige for the surrender.


Turn 3: Potential double encirclement/surrender – recon and infantry can still be split and move. Got the infantry for 56 and the TKS for 44.

Turn 4: Single surrender this time (144 prestige), the artillery is out of position to suppress the infantry as much as needed for a surrender, in addition the woods to the east are not helpful as well.


Turn 5: Another TKS came out to play. Another double surrender, infantry for 80, TKS for 77.

Turn 7: Bydgoszcz and its airfield is occupied and the fighters are transferred there.


Turn 8: FT-17 attacked and caused 2 damage, the Ju87B is out of reach, changing airfields only now. Sadly there is not enough room for a surrender here, so the FT-19 was hunted down in 4 stages and destroyed.


Turn 10: Assault on Chelmno, surrender for 72.


Turn 11: The 37mm AT came out, but didnt attack the recon due to he artillery I guess. It was turned back and forced upon the bridge where the Bf109E destroyed it. Surrendered the artillery for 72.

Turn 12: Lost 1 point from a panzer and another one from the recon due to infantry attacks. But their weakened condition should help with the attacks. Defender of Grudziadz surrendered for 56 while my attacking infantry took 1 damage, the 2nd infantry gave another 8, but caused one damage to my armor. Since I am running out of time for the additional flags and can not enter Grudziadz this was the only way left.


Turn 15: Preparations completed, lost 1 point of damage on the recon because the remaining points on the infantry were still to high. But after some follow up I got even another surrender for 60.


Overall decent results, a couple of minor mistakes.

Ending Prestige: 1.821, 36/36 slots

[comradep]

Your AAR/campaign is off to a good start too.

Considering the small amount of per turn prestige you get and the 3 additional objectives in the north that you captured, I'd say our prestige gain from surrender and the objectives we both captured was indeed nearly identical overall.

My replacement costs were higher, due to higher losses. Your tank units suffered (far) fewer losses in Poland North, but your tanks are more expensive.

That's what I like about the Panzer IB: normally, I'd never even consider using it, but it's a perfectly viable anti-infantry tank for the first couple of scenarios and its dirt cheap. It still works well in Norway, if you don't leave it in close terrain when more than 1 Norwegian infantry unit can attack it.

In terms of prestige, the main difference between how our games will develop will probably be you being able to capture some additional hexes in the larger maps as well as you still receiving some prestige per turn.

[charonjr]

Bug River

New Hero: Provocator (adjacent enemies attacking other friendly unit will attack this unit instead - not sure what to do with him, doubt that he will be used at the moment)

Bought 1 Pioniere, 1 SdKfz 222 and 1 2cm FlaK 38 in addition to upgrading one 7,5 cm artillery to 15cm. The 15 cm got Tarnfleck camo and the 10,5 cm Afrika camo to make them stand out a bit more.

Starting Prestige: 534, 45/45 slots


Setup

Turn 1: 1st surrender of the game, Cav for 162 and hoping to lure a fighter into attacking one of my artilleries protected by FlaK.


Turn 2: Trap worked nicely, artillery took 1 damage, Polish fighter 5 and was brought down without any damage by Flak and a Bf 109E. Assault towards Warsaw successful, 1 damage to infantry, due to overrun from the panzer the AA was nearly destroyed as well and the airfield occupied.

Turn 3: Shot down the remaining Polish fighter and switched the FlaK to tank mode. Bialystok is taken. Preparations for the assault on Warsaw.

Turn 5: Lost SW airfield. Warsaw conquered & got a surrender.

Turn 6: Pulawy lost.

Turn 7: Getting into position for the attack on Siedlce.


Turn 9: Conquest of Siedlce and the important airport.


Turn 11: Nasty surprise, I played the map twice before, but had forgotten about another tank.


Turn 12: There is potential for a nice triple encirclement.


Yup, worked nicely, around 300 prestige gained in total.


Turn 14: Surprise here, the tank guarding Wlodawa left its station (bad move by the AI IMO, but this shows nicely the usefulness of “Deep Recon”.


Turn 16: Instead of taking Brest I will play around and give some more XP to my artillery and bombers. The remaining Polish tank is encircled.

Turn 17: Surrendered the Polish tank.

Turn 20: Took Brest, defenders were down to 5 strength in the end, but the XP is worth the cost in lowered surrender prestige I think.



Ending prestige: 3.170, 45/45 slots

Good run, except for the surprise attack by the tank at the end of turn 11 – which shows that I need more recon, for 1 slot and 50 prestige a plane might be a good option, despite having no way to gain XP. Hmm, what do stars do for a recon plane anyway?

[panzeh]

I've been doing a similar campaign and ended up with a bit less prestige- i'm focusong on building up super-pioneer units to just bust through cities quickly. I'm going to get halftracks in them right away and go ham through Norway.

[charonjr]

Norway South

New Hero: Resilient (Cannot lose more than half strength in one go – might be useful in the later phases of the campaign) – deployed with the newly bought Fallschirmjäger for now and the Provocator on the Bf 110C as “bait”.

Upgrades: 2cm FlaK 38 to 2cm Flakvierling 38, the Heinkel He 111H-2 to Ju 88A and the 7,5 cm artillery to 10,5 cm
Bought: 1 Ju 88A strategic bomber, 2 Gebrigsjäger and 1 Fallschirmjäger infantry, 1 Bf 110C tactical bomber

Starting Prestige: 1.584, 46/46 slots


Setup: Only took one Panzer, the 2 Gebirgsjäger are going to assault Bergen.

Turn 1: Taking care to stay out of reach (3) of the fort to the south of Kristiansand and working on freeing the Blücher before it is sunk. Gebirgsjäger landed at Bergen and aux paras close to Kristiansand while my Fallschirmjäger took Fredrikstad.


Turn 2: Gebirgsjäger around Bergen switching positions to both attack the fort.


With the destruction of the boat in Oslo harbour the Fallschirmjäger are free to attack Oslo fort – 2 Pioniere already landed as well, the artillery will arrive on the next turn.


Turn 3: Kristiansand about to be attacked. Oslo fort encircled and down to 2 HP, support has arrived and together they will head towards Oslo from the east.


Turn 4: Kristiansand taken, Kampfgruppe West (2 aux para, 1 10,5 cm, 1 Panzer 38(t)A and 1 SdKfz 222 move towards Stavanger. Kampfgruppe Ost (1 Fallschirmjäger, 2 Pioniere, 1 15cm, 1 10,5 cm and 1 SdKfZ 222) about to take out the Oslo fort, opening up the way for the Blücher to help with her heavy guns. On the hills the artillery has a range of 4, essentially forcing the defenders to attack or being beaten to pulp otherwise, will be interesting to see how the AI reacts.


Turn 5: Defensive artillery at Oslo airport is down to 2 HP, looks like the AI will remain passive.

Turn 6: Bergen fort is finally taken out, next turn the city should fall. Recon car moving into position to help with the bombing of Oslo.


Turn 7: Flekkefjord is taken and some prestige is gained from a surrender, the way to Stavanger is free. Oslo has fallen, the split up troops are merged again to await the likely onslaught.


Turn 8: Actually nothing happened, maybe the 2 supporting artillery around Oslo were intimidating enough. Bergen is taken together with another surrender. Before airplanes can be send to Oslo airport the AA next to Eidsvoll has to be silenced, at the same time Oslo will have to be guarded against attacks from the south.

Turn 9: The AA is destroyed and most airplanes are rebased to Oslo.

Turn 10: The fort south of Kristiansand is finally bombed to rubble, a para drop is now possible in order to get the flag, the perfect task for the soon to be depleted aux paras about to charge Stavanger. Forced a surrender north of Oslo, the AI is fairly passive at the moment.

Turn 11: Stavanger has fallen, both aux paras are still alive, one barely at 4 HP.

Turn 12: Final infantry around Oslo surrendered, next target for Kampfgruppe Ost is Lillehammer while Kampfgruppe West gets close to Larvik.


Turn 13: The 4 HP para drops onto the island south of Kirstiansand and takes the flag, the other will protect the artillery setting up at Larvik. The Gebirgsjäger at Bergen got into a nasty fight, but have regained control now.


Turn 14: The defenders of Larvik charged out of the town, damaging a Panzer, and to make it even worse, it is very unlikely that a surrender can be forced due to the terrain.

Turn 15: Target practice around Lillehammer and Larvik.


Turn 16: The second infantry around Larvik joins the fight, time to finish this before more losses are taken.


Turn 17: Attack at Larvik contained and the enemy surrendered.

Turn 19: Only 2 infantry left and Lillehammer as the final victory objective.


Turn 20: A SdKfz 222 took some losses, but in the end we made it, double surrender incoming.

The list is getting to long to make sense any longer, but overall heavier losses than before, but prestige should be still be net-positive. The prestige after repairs will still be interesting. I have not seen any effect from the Provocator hero, most likely have to think about how to use him correctly.

Ending Prestige: 4.122 (3.400 after repairs), 46/46 slots

Next stop Belgium

[charonjr]

Yes, I like the Pioniere very much myself, but they are not cheap... Most I will have to see how many I will get in the end, but I 4+ seem likely, had 6 in my last campaign IIRC.

Am torn between trucks and halftracks here, but went for the halftracks for Norway, luckily changing transports is free.

[charonjr]

Belgium

New Hero: Phased Movement – Can move in steps within its movement point limit. This ability allows the unit to sneak through enemy’s zone of control. Finally a good one, should be very helpful with forcing surrenders, will be assigned to a tank.

Upgrades: 2 Pz 38(t)A to Pz IVD, 1 Pz 38(t)A to Pz IIIF
Bought: 1 8,8 cm FlaK 36 AA (the attack power is overkill at this early stage of the war, but range 3 is just great and against those tanks it should work nicely in AT mode), 1 Pioniere infantry, 1 Fi 156 Storch recon (more recon is always good and I had 1 slot to spare )

Starting Prestige: 2.475, 55/55 slots


Setup: The main idea is using Master of Blitzkrieg here and cross the rivers to get behind the main defensive line.
Infantry: 3 Pioniere
Tanks: 2 Pz IVD, 1 Pz IIIF
Recon: 2 SdKfz 222
Artillery: 2 10,5 cm, 1 15 cm
Anti-Air: 1 2cm Vierling, 1 8,8 cm
Fighter: 2 Bf 109E
Tac Bomber: 1 Bf 110C, 1 Ju 87B, 1 Fi 156 (Recon)
Strat Bomber: 2 Ju 88A





Turn 1: Recon move forward and help with the artillery barrages against the defensive positions and move back afterwards. Tanks move into position for crossing the rivers. Targets up front are well protect by fighters, hopefully luring enemy airplanes deeper where they would be met by out of sight AA – both artilleries at Liege are visible to the fort, presenting interesting targets for airstrikes.



Turn 2: Well, air trap did not work, but the backup did, enemy fighter tried to attack the strat bomber at Liege, but was forced to attack the Bf110C instead due to Provocator hero, but the Bf110C was protected by a Bf 109E, so 3 damage in total for the enemy vs. 1 for the Bf 110C. At the end of the combat results is a nice example of how the Randomness works. The predicted result (1.86 kills) is weighted at 81% vs. the rolled/real result of (3 kills) leading to a final result of 2 kills (+1 from the Bf 110C afterwards).



8,8cm still gets a shot in, but has to move closer first and together with the 2 Bf 109E the fighter is taken down. Panzers cross the Meuse and take out the already weakened artillery at Liege. Roermond in the north is taken.



Turn 3: Since the preparation attacks on Liege did not go well one aux para will lead the charge and Liege is taken by the recon, got a little surrender out of it as well.



Behold the beauty of a recon plane, and with a bit of luck an enemy fighter will try to engage it since my fighter should be outside of view range. With no viable targets around the tac bombers and a fighter relocate to Liege airfield. Pz IVD moves ahead to attack the AA at Liege.

Turn 4: Trap worked, but those biplanes are sturdy, just 2 damage, but 2 Bf 109E brought it down. Aux paras leading the assault on Maastricht for another little river surrender. AA at Namur taken out and this little Panhard 178 recon car packs a nasty punch vs. tanks, 2 damage to my Pz IVD.

Turn 5: After an unexpected attack by the garrison of Hannut against my Pz IVD for 1 damage the city is taken without resistance and the garrison surrendered shortly after.



Turn 6: 2 tanks charged in but got met by artillery/the 88, looks like a good opportunity for encirclements/surrenders.

Turn 7: More tanks arrived beating up the SdKfz 222 (in scenario heal used), The Somua is the main problem, but since it is right next to a river I see a nice surrender chance, sadly I am not able to suppress it enough. Namur and Gembloux are occupied.



Turn 8: With the enemy air force neutralised both AAs are switched to anti tank mode, maybe the Somua can be lured into a better position (simply bombing it would be the easier solution, but I want to capture some). 4 HP for the Pz IVD with the movement hero will not cut it, repaired it (elite replacements, mainly since I want to keep it active and got a decent prestige buffer).

Turn 9: Well, it did work in a way, the Renault R35 nearly killed itself attacking the Pz IVD the AI knew was protected by the 88 and the Somua attacked the paras it knew to be protected by the 15cm. But at least the Somua already has 3/5 supression and is right at the river again, captured 3 in the end.

Turn 10: Captured Charleroi and prepared Wavre for an attack next turn.



Turn 11: The Char B1 ran right into my infantry protected by the 88. Strange how your priorities change when you play for captures, normally I would be happy, now I see 200+ prestige lost. Lets see if I can at least get a trophy from it. Wavre is taken, opening the door to Brussels.



Turn 12: Which seems to have triggered another suicide attack by a ACG-1 tank, and again the AI knew that the Pz IVD was protected by 2 AT guns. Maybe it will follow the 2 captured Char B1s, yes, it did.

Turn 13: Antwerpen is taken as is Louvain. Maubeuge is up next, since I want to encircle Brussels properly, tons of time left.

Turn 14: Maubeuge is taken.

Turn 16: Ghent is taken.

Turn 17: No repairs of enemy units around Brussels, seems like waiting any longer does not make any sense. AT gun surrendered.



Turn 18: Rain coming, time to end this. Brussles falls.


Ending Prestige: 4.845 (4.287 after repairs, +300 something for the in scenario repairs), 55/55 slots


Decent one, but I really dislike the suicide attacks I saw. It might be good from a game perspective since those units would be destroyed soon after anyway, but those units are European forces and not the Japanese (and those kamikaze attacks have cost me 500+ prestige ).

[comradep]

The AI might have issues with determining the effects of support fire when attacking with aircraft or tanks.

Baiting the AI into attacking is as effective as it was in previous PG/PC game, but I try to refrain from doing so. On the other hand, it's pretty much the only way to make AA effective.

How many French tank strength points did you eventually capture?

[charonjr]

Hmm, not sure actually, 2-300 I think - I try to attack with as weak (split) units as possible for the killing blow. Infantry was much better for sure.

[comradep]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough: I meant the points you see in the purchase/upgrade screen, for the captured tanks.

I also try to capture with split units as much as possible. That can be challenging, as sometimes split units are too weak damage enemy tanks.

[charonjr]

299.8 (gotta love Char B1s with their broken prestige per unit of 33.9)

[charonjr]

Dunkirk

New Hero: Counter Battery Fire – Will fire at any attacking artillery units within its firing range. Nice one as well, will be assigned to a 15cm unit.

Upgrades: Bf 110C to Bf 110D, Ju 87B to Bf 110D (classic fighter-bomber for 1 slot less), 10,5cm to 15cm artillery
Bought: 1 StuG IIIB artillery/AT, 1 2cm Flakvierling AA and 1 Ju 88A strat bomber

Starting Prestige: 3.367, 59/59 slots

Setup: I remember the tough enemy air in this one which is fairly historic as well, the Allies did what they could to get slow/distract the Germans from capturing the allied forces waiting for transport in Dunkirk. Due to this I want to play this more conservative than the earlier scenarios. I think it is important to ignore the west at first, no need to have the extra fighter there engage my forces for now.

Infantry: 3 Pioniere
Tanks: 2 Pz IVD, 1 Pz IIIF
Recon: 2 SdKfz 222
Artillery: 2 15 cm, 1 10,5 cm
Anti-Air: 2 2cm Vierling, 1 8,8 cm
Fighter: 2 Bf 109E
Tac Bomber: 2 Bf 110D
Strat Bomber: 3 Ju 88A






Turn 1: Forced the enemy recon onto the river and forced it to surrender there, just setting some air traps otherwise.



Turn 2: Traps worked nicely, but I can not understand the damaged fighter at Maulde, it went after the strat bomber despite the defenders clearly being able to see the Bf 109E protecting it. The AA together with a Bf 190E and a Bf 110D get rid of the 2 fighters at Maulde while the Vierling at Ghent took care of the fighter-bomber. Ignored the Hotchkiss on the river and got the AA down to 2 HP. In the west the British infantry left Gravelines and attacked an aux infantry, it is forced upon the river and surrenders, Gravelines is occupied. And starting to focus on the northern front.

Turn 3: Another fighter brought down in the north and the beachhead across the Schelde is expanded, elite reinforcements for Pioniere (165). Around Lille the AA is bombed down to 1 HP and Maulde is occupied.



Turn 4: Starting big encirclement in the north. AA destroyed in the south.



Turn 5: Encirclement getting larger in the north. In the south Somua attacked the infantry backed up by the Vierling, Hotchkiss moved there, but did not attack. Target practise around Lille, mainly with the intend not not cause any real damage – Sitzkrieg...



Turn 6: Encirclement in the north still getting larger – minus the surrenders. Lille artillery destroyed by air. Time to hunt some shipping in the west.



Turn 7: 1 fighter in the West killed, hunting season is on. Infantry in the northern pocket surrendered and finally the pocket closes around the annoying AA and artillery. With still some way to go and tough enemies ahead elite replacements for the Pz IVD in the north (161) and in infantry in the south (192).



Turn 8: 2nd fighter in the west showed up and destroyed. Artillery in the pocket surrendered, Ostend occupied.

Turn 9: Remains of the northern pocket surrendered, preparations for the assault on Audenarde and Nieuport.



Turn 11: Sunny weather forecasted next turn, cutting off Audenarde, hopefully drawing one of the tanks around Lille. Surrendered infantry coming from the area of Ypers on the Yser river and destroyed the AT gun at Ypers.



Turn 12: Got the Somua, was hoping for it since the road movement points of 0.8 per hex made it sure to reach my tank, but amnot sure if/how numbers are rounded – if it is a simple cut off the Hotchkiss was out of range. Encirclement of the Somua and it is annoying to have to set the AA back to AT mode after transport, wasn’t this supposed to be fixed?



Turn 13: Somua surrendered for 7, more than compensating the prestige lost for luring it out (Pz IVD was hit for 3). Hotchkiss encircled and Nieuport ready for assault next turn.



Turn 14: Pz IVD got attacked by the infantry in and around Lille, 3 damage. Hotchkiss and infantry outside Lille surrendered. Lille encircled, Nieuport occupied.

There is no indicator for split units on the strategic map, correct?



Turn 15: Cruiser tank tries to relief Lille, looks like he wants to take a swim – 6 Cruiser parts captured. Lille occupied.

Turn 16: Flakvierling got beat up, but 3 encirclements from it and 2 potential surrenders. Ypers fallen, defenders surrendered as did the infantry on the river. Trying to offer some aux recon as sacrifices to prevent an infantry attack on Pz IIIF on the river (backed by the 88 in AT mode and StuG IIIG).



Turn 17: Some beaten up Pioniere, but no losses. Infantry defending Watten joined the fight, Watten occupied. Interesting puzzle, will take a while to think that through. No real solution, but improved the positions.



Turn 18: Aux tank took 9 damage for the team. Next turn is rain, will have to hurry with those boats. Captured 9 Matilda parts, 6 QF 25pdr and some infantry.



Turn 19: 3 Units and 2 boats left, next turn is sunny, it should be ok. AA surrendered as did the AT gun.



Turn 20: Boats sunk, meaning no BEF in Paris, which means no Paris for me Dunkirk is conquered after the defenders surrendered.

Ending Prestige: 6.539 (about 420 for in scenario replacements – after repairs 5.034), 59/59 slots

Decent one again, couple of losses that could have been prevented, but I was willing to take higher losses for better captures.

[charonjr]

With what I have seen till now I think that I can up the ante a bit more and add to the difficulty level.

Will restart this AAR, the settings will remain the same, but without heroes and no extra prestige (Europe on a Shoestring) and the longer I think about it, the more I comvinced that less turns (Race against Time) should be in as well. Essentially what comradep does, with slightly different traits.

[charonjr]

OK, here we go, new start - felt I played to conservatively under the old settings, trying to spice things up a bit.

Generalissimus, 20% randomness, custome army, no heroes, Race against Time, Europe on a Shoestring

Positive Traits (8 points):
Deep Recon (1 point – being able to see the map around the objectives is great and since recon will be very important a 5% accuracy bonus from recon units is very nice as well)
Master of Blitzkrieg (1 point - additional movements for tanks and being able to have them cross minor rivers for some MPs is very nice)
Operational Initiative (1 point - never used it before, but +4 initiative (-1 per turn, down to +1) seems great to entice an agressive start)
Deadly Grasp (1 point - encircled enemies suffer 2x penalties, and I will plan to do a lot of encirclements)
Flexible Command (1 point - most important trait for this level if playing without Liberator IMO, would work great together with Trophies of War since it allows you to split your units without needing any core slots for it)
Anti-Air Veteran (2 points - AA does damage instead of just suppression, very important to gain air superiority which is essential IMO
Perimeter Control (1 point - friendly unit in a hex cancels enemy ZOC in that hex, should be very helpful with encirclements/deep penetrations, never used it before as well, will take some time to really get it right I think)

Negative Traits (6 points):
No Overstrength (2 points – while it might work nicely in combination with some heroes the costs are too high IMO, double to cost for 50% more units)
Trench Slog (2 points - 1 damage less to enemy's entrenchment levels, so better bring lots of Pioniere and strat bombers)
Slow Modernisation (2 points – only 3 upgrades allowed for each mission, this should force some nicely diverse units)

Sorry to largely copy you comradep, but it seems you were on the right track from the beginning. Will be interesting to see how my additional units can overcome the trench slog. In addition you atarted with 0 initial points for traits, correct?

[comradep]

Good luck with the restart!

The different trait selections should mean that we won't end up playing the game the same way. Looking forward to the continuation of your AAR.

Trench Slog has the potential to be a nasty negative trait, as attacks by units that don't reduce entrenchment levels by at least 2 will no longer reduce entrenchment.

I'm also interested in how effective AA will be in your game. The Anti-Air Veteran trait makes AA good instead of not particularly special, but it requires time, luck or baiting the AI to use it effectively in larger scenarios.

Channel Coast was the first scenario where I could feel the effect Race Against Time, and I had to restart the scenario. The objectives themselves were not that tight, but I also wanted to force as many units as possible to surrender. That took some planning.

I have 8 negative trait points and 6 positive ones, for a total of 4 remaining points with the initial 2 added.

[charonjr]

@comradep: Thx. Ah, so my instinct was right about negative some days ago, geez

Poland North, Take 2

Initial army, Prestige left: 0, 36/36 slots:
Infantry: 1 Pioniere
Tanks: 2 Panzer 38(t)A, 2 Panzer IB
Recon: 1 Sdkfz 231
Artillery: 3 10,5 cm FK 16nA (Opel)
Fighter: 2 Bf 109E
Tactical Bomber: 1 Ju 87B
Strategic Bomber: 1 He 111H2

Setup: Doubt I will be able to reach the NE corner this time (while doing surrenders that is), but will have to see. Took comradep’s advice about the Panzer IB, really good value for money.



Turn 1: Surrendered the infantry, and the rapid fire 1.5 on the Panzer IB is really nice vs. infantry, kinda the same as the Vierlingsflak vs. lightly armoured planes – 88 is overkill there, same with bigger panzers here. Destroyed the AT gun and (semi)blocked the recon car with my Panzers.



Turn 2: Surrendered the attacking cavalry and the recon car.



Turn 3: Infantry attack this time and it surrendered. Getting the AT gun in Bydgoszcz to surrender will be a bit more tricky due to its position.



Turn 4: Saw the power of perimeter control here, essentially lay a carpet for the following units to walk over till Bydgoszcz was surrounded and surrendered. The strat bomber is invaluable with trench slog choosen. With my air force starting to be out of range Panzer 38(t)A takes the airport and I will consolidate my other troops for a turn.



Turn 5: TKS attacked and is not really worth the pain the surrender it and it is destroyed. Now, how to finally get the infantry running to Chelmno, it is right in front of the bridge, but on the other bridge a AT gun is lurking and the bridges are fairly close together. Well, pushing it away from Chelmno might help. Didnt work, well, actually it can help with the encirclement of Chelmno now. With the Trench Slog trait I have to prepare my assaults early, so splitting up my strat bomber to keep both cities at stable entrenchment levels.



Turn 6: FT-17 damaged my Panzer38(t)A and was destroyed by the Stuka and Panzer.



Turn 7: Cav surrendered, have to get rid of the 2 HP infantry now, easy overrun for the Pz 38(t)A. Now I have to hope that the artillery is enough to prevent the infantry in Grudziadz and the AT gun from attacking the Panzer. Artillery captured.



Turn 8: Nope, AT gun did attack, 2 damage. Grudziadz surrendered, but I can not take it yet since this would end the scenario, pulling my Panzer back from the AT gun, hopefully luring it in ot to attack the guarded Panzer outside.



Turn 9: Lured the AT gun in and the infantry attacked the Panzer, nice. Now I somehow have to lure the TKS down as well and try to steal the airfield before occupying Grudziadz. Surrenders worked nicely.



Turn 10: Destroyed the TKS and due to overrun will get the airfield, Grudziadz occupied.



Good run overall, but I feel that I have to rush more. Casualties weren’t that high actually, but going for simple destructions instead of surrenders plays a large role here.

Ending Prestige: 1.304, 988 after repairs – 36

[charonjr]

Bug River – Take 2

Upgrades: SdKfz 231 recon to SdKfz 222

Bought: 1x Pioniere infantry, 1x SdKfz 222 recon car, 1x 2cm Flak 38 AA and 2x Do 17Z strat bomber

Starting Prestige: 23 - 45/45 slots
Infantry: 2x Pioniere
Tanks: 2x Panzer 38(t)A, 2x Panzer IB
Recon: 2x Sdkfz 222
Artillery: 3x 10,5 cm FK 16nA (Opel)
Anti-Air: 1x 2cm Flak 38
Fighter: 2x Bf 109E
Tactical Bomber: 1x Ju 87B
Strategic Bomber: 1x He 111H2, 2x Do17Z



Setup: Forcing my way to Warsaw while clearing the way towards Brest at the same time. Will have to see how the fairly short ranged Do17Zs will work out, but I simply lacked the prestige (7 IIRC) for a He 111H2.



Turn 1: Cav surrender and pushed infantry onto the river (with just 4 HP left). Artillery protected by FlaK will most likely draw an attack.



Turn 2: Yup, fighter attacked the artillery and got destroyed for it by Flak and a Bf 109E. Town north of Warsaw surrendered and occupied.



Turn 3: Warsaw AA surrendered and Bialystok taken, last Polish fighter destroyed.



Turn 4: Warsaw taken. Decent progress, time to try to get some good captures.

Turn 5: Infantry came out of the woods to attack my Flak, but stopped cold when saw it was protected by two 10,5cm artillery – surrounded and surrendered. Planes rebasing to Warsaw.



Turn 6: Getting into position to assault Siedlce and encircled the 7TPjw tank.



Turn 7: Captured 7TPjw, ring around Siedlce closed. Siedle and its airport occupied.



Turn 8: Heading towards Pulawy to recapture it and surrender the 2 units there, aux AT gun in the SW will prevent the infantry from getting close to the enemy artillery. Trying to lure the other 7TPjw without causing too much damage to it and have enough forces for an encirclement at hand.



Turn 9: Did work, lots of encirclements in progress. Artillery at Pulawy and the infantry in the swamp got captured this turn, rest hopefully in the next.



Turn 10: Cleanup successfully, time to get moving, 5 turns left. Blocking 7TPdw in Wlodawa.



Turn 11: Retook Pulawy, encircled Kock. Cities under bombardment.



Turn 12: Kock surrendered. Brest down to 5/10 entrenchment, Wlodawa at 6/10. Disadvantage of a large number of planes, 3 sitting idle now.



Turn 13: Wlodawa encircled, entrenchment at 5/10, Brest at 4/10. All troops in position.



Turn 14: Wlodawa surrendered, Brest shelled and bombed – target practice for XP.



Turn 15: Brest taken, the end.


Ending Prestige: 3.133 (+3.110), after repairs: 2.674 (+2.651)


Good one, actually close to 500 prestige more than my last run, but I knew the map better, huge help I think.

edit: Oh, and this was the first time I actually lacked prestige to buy/upgrade what I wanted, just 7, but it shows that the settings have the desired effect.

[comradep]

Nice result!

It took about 3 scenarios (pretty much until Sedan) to get a feel for how quickly I could advance, so I tended to complete scenarios as quickly as possible without maximizing surrender potential.

You ended up with about 1000 prestige more than I did in Bug River, that's a big difference. Well done!

[charonjr]

Thx, but knowing the map fairly well by now was a huge help and I still have a 4 trait point advantage over you

I think I will try to press hard during the initiative bonus phase and then be a bit more cautious if I feel I have to time for it.

[charonjr]

Norway South – Take 2

Upgrades: Do17Z strat bomber to Ju 88A, 2cm Flak to 2cm Flakvierling (half-track), all artillery pieces from trucks to halftracks and the He 111 H-2 strat bomber to Ju 88A

Bought: 1x Gebirgsjäger infantry, 1x Fallschirmjäger infantry, 1 Pioniere infantry

Starting Prestige: 1.679 - 46/46 slots
Infantry:
3x Pioniere
1x Fallschirmjäger
1x Gebirgsjäger

Tanks:
1x Panzer IB
2x Panzer 38(t)A (reserve)
1x Panzer IB (reserve)

Recon:
2x Sdkfz 222

Artillery:
3x 10,5 cm leFH 18 (halftrack)

Anti-Air:
1x 2cm Flakvierling (halftrack) (reserve)

Fighter:
2x Bf 109E

Tactical Bomber:
1x Ju 87B

Strategic Bomber:
2x Ju 88A
1x Do17Z (reserve)



Setup: A Pionier and the Gebirgsjäger will take Bergen, the Fallschirmjäger Fredrikstad and continue to the fort south of Oslo while the main part of the army will land around Fredrikstad – taking out the fort a quickly as possible is a priority. The aux paras will take Kristiansand with the help of 1 artillery and a recon car.



Turn 1: Trying to get the Blücher out by bombing the patrol boat, Fallschirmjäger landing around Fredrikstad and taking the town, Gebirgsjäger and Pionier landing in Bergen and encircling the fort. Aux para landed at Kristiansand, 2nd para will follow next turn.



Turn 2: Pioniere cause 4 damage to Bergen fort, Gebirgsjäger another 1, this will be fast. Sub sunk, recon car and artillery landing and 2nd para land around Kristiansand. 2 Bf 109E vs. 1 bi-plane, for some reason the bi-plane manages to get in a hit . PT boat sunk, Blücher is free. 1st wave of reinforcements land at Fredrikstad.



Turn 3: Interesting, defenders left Flekkefjord, have not seen this before, patched Will not really change anything – surrendered AA. Ford south of Kristiansand bombed by Stuka. Remaining forces landed at Fredrikstad. Nasty patrol boat guarding the fort brought down to 4 by Ju 88A. Destroyer protecting Bergen sunk, German destroyer has 2 HP left.



Turn 4: Oslo PT boat sunk, fort destroyed by 2 Pioniere and the Fallschirmjäger. Shelling of Oslo artillery. Surrendered Kristiansand, occupied Flekkefjord – aux para escaped with 1 HP, perfect for taking the flag at the fort later on. Bergen fort destroyed.



Turn 5: Poor 1 HP aux para got caught by former defenders of Flekkefjord and destroyed. Bergen surrendered, Königsberg shelling blocking force on the path between Bergen and Oslo/Lillehammer. Oslo under bombardment, troops getting into position for attack.



Turn 6: Surrender of Oslo.



Turn 7: Counterattack hurt my Fallschirmjäger, trying to get the offender – surrendered. Oslo occupied. Another thing I do not understand – why does the transport not revert back to an artillery when split, despite having the movement points for it (and the icon on the location showing it). The 2nd artillery from the split went the same distance and ended on a hill as well and reverted.



Turn 8: 2nd Fallschirmjäger was hit as well and killed, will have to protect the 2HP unit that is left. AA and Oslo artillery surrendered.



Turn 9: Those counterattacks hurt, but I have no real idea how to prevent them – artillery does not seem to stop them. Remaining Fallschirmjäger about to capture some of it tormentors, other infantry captured as well. But my guys took heavy losses here. With 6 turns left there is a bit of time for some Blücher supported backtracking.



Turn 10: Mtn infantry will be captured on its beloved mountain Königsberg joins shelling of Stavanger.



Turn 11: Horten and Larvik surrender and are occupied – actually the Larvik defender attacked, damaged my Panzer and was surrendered outside of the town. Stavanger about to fall and the fort south of Kristiansand is finally destroyed.



Turn 12: Aux paras at Stavanger split, 1 to the destroyed fort, the other towards Lillehammer. Remaining (2 HP) Fallschirmjäger head towards the Oslo airfield. Gjoevik occupied. Lillehammer at 6/10 entrenchment, the artillery at 6/7. Clock is ticking, but I am optimistic now that most units are around.



Turn 13: Shelling continues, Lillehammer 4/10, artillery 3/7. Elverum and fort south of Krisitansand taken. Fallschirmjäger in place.



Turn 14: Norwegian infantry attacked Elverum and is surrounded – always wanted to know if Fallschirmjäger can drop right onto a mountain hex here, the answer is yes. Artillery from Stavanger arrived just in time.



Turn 15: Gebirgsjäger hit by enemy Mtn for 5. Low HP Fallschirmjäger claim another victim - the infantry at Elverum. Paras land behind Lillehammer, pocket established. Lillehammer and artillery surrendered. Now only the single mountain infantry is left, no way to surround it, but it can be attacked, but in the end there is not enough suppression for a real attack. Lillehammer occupied.


Ending Prestige: 4.322 (+2.643), after repairs: 3.646 (+1.967)


Fairly happy with this one, the heavy losses still bother me, but I don’t see anything I could have done really different. Will have to rename my units, I can not really read the result screen at a glance.


On to Sedan, never played it before, so it will be interesting to try...