HELP!! Game seems too hard. And other critique

[vosphalt]

This is a weird post for me. I have played all the General games and may have played a thousand + battles, so I am a very experienced player. I tried playing the First Campaign (Poles) second from hardest level with normal Hero points etc. Got to like 3rd Brit scenario in Desert and figured not going to win, tried Russia branch it was worse. Long story short, I had to go to the second level, (after trying basic, which is way to easy) and got to Kursk on the Russian branch. I played it a couple of times, finally got through the defenses and then am just swarmed by Russian units, and there is NO WAY I can win, and in the Campaign I have the maximum benefits of Hero points and ....................well I am stuck and don't see how I can win this.

I fully understand the game, I believe. I would consider myself very experienced in previous iterations of the game. BUT This second level seems too hard, which in my mind is crazy, because I think I should be beating the 4th from the highest. I have like 6 Tigers, almost all Pioneer infantry, 3 arty, 6 fighter (4 FWs) 1 recon. My units are completely beat up when Russian launch their counter attack, I had moved every Aux infantry from around the board to these area I know the Russians are coming from and its...over, even with some propping up by extra tanks and aircraft.

So what am I doing wrong?

Also other critiques. I really miss the ability to adjust points, morale etc. The setup for each campaign seems too rigid, I want to tailor it like PC. I see you can add difficulty (omg why and who can manage Rommel etc on higher game settings lol)

So much to like, just absorbed by the game after getting used to the changes...but it seems unplayable to me. I also tried defense of Sicily which was just as bad....help help!

[Horseman]

This is a weird post for me. I have played all the General games and may have played a thousand + battles, so I am a very experienced player. I tried playing the First Campaign (Poles) second from hardest level with normal Hero points etc. Got to like 3rd Brit scenario in Desert and figured not going to win, tried Russia branch it was worse. Long story short, I had to go to the second level, (after trying basic, which is way to easy) and got to Kursk on the Russian branch. I played it a couple of times, finally got through the defenses and then am just swarmed by Russian units, and there is NO WAY I can win, and in the Campaign I have the maximum benefits of Hero points and ....................well I am stuck and don't see how I can win this.

I fully understand the game, I believe. I would consider myself very experienced in previous iterations of the game. BUT This second level seems too hard, which in my mind is crazy, because I think I should be beating the 4th from the highest. I have like 6 Tigers, almost all Pioneer infantry, 3 arty, 6 fighter (4 FWs) 1 recon. My units are completely beat up when Russian launch their counter attack, I had moved every Aux infantry from around the board to these area I know the Russians are coming from and its...over, even with some propping up by extra tanks and aircraft.

So what am I doing wrong?

Also other critiques. I really miss the ability to adjust points, morale etc. The setup for each campaign seems too rigid, I want to tailor it like PC. I see you can add difficulty (omg why and who can manage Rommel etc on higher game settings lol)

So much to like, just absorbed by the game after getting used to the changes...but it seems unplayable to me. I also tried defense of Sicily which was just as bad....help help!

Really hard to offer solid advice without knowing exactly what it is you're doing or not doing to make it So hard for yourself.

If you check YouTube there's some pretty solid play from either TheEdmon or The Green Knight. Both play at a good level and both also have tutorials as well as actual campaigns at the hardest difficulty level.

Another place to check is the AAR section. Several pretty decent players are currently posting their campaigns there although mostly they're playing the capture game!

If there's any specific questions then ask them here, you'll get quite a few players offering advice.

[Kerensky]

I fully understand the game, I believe. I would consider myself very experienced in previous iterations of the game. BUT This second level seems too hard, which in my mind is crazy, because I think I should be beating the 4th from the highest. I have like 6 Tigers, almost all Pioneer infantry, 3 arty, 6 fighter (4 FWs) 1 recon. My units are completely beat up when Russian launch their counter attack, I had moved every Aux infantry from around the board to these area I know the Russians are coming from and its...over, even with some propping up by extra tanks and aircraft.

Looks like too many heavy Panzer, not enough support.

You specifically mention counterattacks are punishing you, yet you have zero AT like StuG IIIG.

Trim a few slots, pick up some non pioneer infantry and AT for anti-hard target supporting fire. Probably 1 more recon wouldn't be bad either.

[Demetrios_of_Messene]

Indeed you are not providing specific info in order to get specific advice.

The Russian front is harder than fighting the western allies. I find tactical bombers critical against the Soviet armoured divisions (and western allies tanks in fact) , yet you seem to have none. Also, if you have too few unit, you risk getting encircled, ganged up or unable to progress in more than one route even if your units are high quality. My best guess is that you need to diversify your army. Give up some of your expensive units and get more cheaper ones to cover more area, have more flexibility and support your forces (as Kerensky said).

For example, my typical army composition mid game is something like 6 tanks, 2 AT, 3 AA guns, 2-4 arty, 5-6 infantry (with 2-3 pioneer), 2 fighters, 2 ground recons, 1 air recon, 3 tac bombers, 1-2 strat bombers. This is roughly 50% more units than you are fielding. I am sure that my army composition is far from optimal, but hopefully it may give you some food for thought.

[Blade0]

Yes, I should agree, you should at least list your units so we can even try to detect any problems.
I won the game with your settings and going to the western path already. I even had the -5 turns challenge on, and "Green Army" so I couldn't rely on reinforcements.
However, I took Panzer General, Blitzkrieg, and that ZoC positive trait that allows you to use your own uints to bypass enemy ZoC. These have a nice synergy to move with armored forces fast (tanks-APCs-mobile guns) - I often ignored entrenched positions and just killed everything else on the map (guns, tanks) so my weaker, slower units can move in and take key cities.
At your place (around 41) I had:
4 infantry (at that time I only had regular infantry, today I would have 4 pioneers)
8-10 tanks - 2 was prototype heavy (PvIVF2-H-G, tiger, later panthers whatever was available) with heroes and most XP, rest are cheap PzIII-PzIV whatever was best at the time for minimal slots
3, later 4 ADs - one 88 flak, rest are mobile - they're essential to defend from bombers, and supress fighters before you shoot them with your own fighters
3 artillery pieces - 2 150mm towed and 1 190mm heavy - well I always felt that these are a necessary evil, as they take tons of slots for very few kills and very-very vulnerable, but I would be slower to take entrenched positions without them
2 fighters (Bf is your only choice at that time)
1 later 2 tac bombers (mostly Ju87, that is THE bomber) - if you have good 1.5* or 2* attack hero, put it in there
2 heavy bombers - these function as flying artillery when it is not raining water or too much lead from ADs; re-configure them scenario by scenario, when you need to sink ships select models with more naval attack... I loved them, they're very versalite even with the very limited number of models they have
2, later 3 recon planes - forget ground recon with these on!
I didn't actually use ATGs and recon - I simply got too many traits on tanks to worth it. My tanks had +1 move, could cross small rivers, and were 25% cheaper in slots, hard to compete with that. I would probably have an ATG or two against the heavy metal onslaught of the Soviet Union, though.

My strategy is kinda simple - push through with groups of tanks and ADs the enemy lines, and kill the enemy's vulnerable, but dangerous assets (tanks (what a surprise, they're actually pretty fragile!), artillery, ADs. Avoid ATGs, or engage them only with heavy bombing first. This is probably the "Achilles' heel" of the strategy - fortified points with assisting ATGs can break your advance, so go around, surround, and pick them one by one if you can't just leave them there.

Tactics: kill enemy units whenever you can. Non-static units will wait for the opportunity, then stab you in the... back, or occupy your cities. Bait them with either empty key targets, or cheap units like mobile ADs, just don't totally sacrifice them. When they're in the open, close up with 2 tanks and stomp them.

Enemy air power is usually considerable. They have more planes than you. Grind them up. Lowering their strength will give you a 1-round breather, just as occupying their home airfield. (If you can do that during rain, the planes are insta killed - just remember the enemy can do the same!)
Otherwise, kill them 1 or 2 at a round. I prefer fighters first, but the opposite also makes sense. Use an AD (I have one covering every angle, so far from impossible), then close in with the fighters and finish him! It takes many rounds to finally grind them up, until then you constantly watch the air and keep your formations together.

There are other viable strategies. Other traits can change the game - harder to bypass positions, more killer ADs, or you can even deny yourself airforce... OK, that won't be very viable, as you will lose all naval combat without air support. I think skipping artillery is a safe choice, it is just not very historical.

[Tassadar]

It seems that these are the habits of playing the older General games that cause some issues. I had to quickly learn to drop these as well and adjust my approach, since PzC2 is different in terms of what works well. 6 tanks and 6 fighters are a thing that would be great in Panzer General or PzC1, but here the role of support units, as already stated in earleir replies by other users, is much more critical. I found that 4 tanks and 2-3 fighters (2 if there's an "active" tactical bomber like the Bf110 to kill off wounded units) are more than enough. True, by the end of the campagin I still finished with 6 tanks and 4 fighters, but that was later, once flame tanks and Panzer IIIN became avaialble for more specific urban combat roles and core slots were plentiful. Earlier I stuck with 2 Pz III and 2 Pz IV a long time, upgrading them to Tigers/Panthers much later and not all at once. The spare core slots can then be used to buy mobie AT (I always end up with one per 2 tanks to provide support fire and cover both in defensive situations and offensive to move formations easier), 2 more artillery pieces that will help reduce casualties and 2 tactical bombers and 1-2 strategic bombers. Ju 87G and HS 129 are especially great in countering Soviet armor and inflict massive damage to even the toughest of tanks and this allows to use overrun on them and not let them recover. With strategic bombers it's similar, but then you aim for surrenders.

Another thing is that PzC2 quickly taught me that contrary to earlier games in the resries, you don't need to always upgrade units to the best ones. It's often better to have units that are good enough, save core slots and be able to deploy a larger army. 6 Tigers and 4 FW190 eat up an insane amount of core slots that could be used to fill in the gaps already mentioned and field a larger army. When the Tiger becomes avaialbe I never upgraded more than 2 tanks to that standard (the ones with best heroes) and did not feel like it was needed at any point. Panzer IV is perfectly adequate to counter soviet tanks with right AT/tactical bomber help and is more than a match for any other grond target in the open.

As for air superiority, in previous games it was very easy to have full dominance in a few turns due to the huge kills you ariforce would inflict. It's much less so in PzC2 and I found that it's perfectly ok to let the enemy fly around to some degree almost until the end, selecting targets for my fighters when there's a chance, but not comitting to this too much. It's perfectly fine to use one fighter to cover bombers attacking a few targets in close proximity, so that one unit provides supprt fire to all. Let the rest poke unescorted bombers and force them to fly back to base rather than to actively try and shoot down anything that moves, inflicting kills only when there's an easy chance. Two mobile AA units can also help with the right trait, but mostly in defensive scenarios. I found that the AI is not that stupid and while it will sometimes attack targets covered by AA fire and get the planes shot down for no gain it much more often just avoids those areas, so on larger maps using AA well is more difficult. Fighters do the job good enough, at least on the Eastern front - Western front is for sure more in need to deploy AA units.

If you check YouTube there's some pretty solid play from either TheEdmon or The Green Knight. Both play at a good level and both also have tutorials as well as actual campaigns at the hardest difficulty level.

These are good, but use metagame strategies a bit too much. Perfectly fine learning material, but if I played this way I'd be robbed from the immersion/enjoyment a bit, so that's something to take into consideration.

8-10 tanks - 2 was prototype heavy (PvIVF2-H-G, tiger, later panthers whatever was available) with heroes and most XP, rest are cheap PzIII-PzIV whatever was best at the time for minimal slots

Wow, that's huge. I'd never go for this, but it just shows it's perfectly possible to compensate for lack of ground recon and less artillery, it's just a matter of right unit placement on the map and there are indeded multiple viable strategies as you said - it all depends on traits. I imagine those 4 infantry units were quite busy each scenario.

[Blade0]

8-10 tanks - 2 was prototype heavy (PvIVF2-H-G, tiger, later panthers whatever was available) with heroes and most XP, rest are cheap PzIII-PzIV whatever was best at the time for minimal slots

Wow, that's huge. I'd never go for this, but it just shows it's perfectly possible to compensate for lack of ground recon and less artillery, it's just a matter of right unit placement on the map and there are indeded multiple viable strategies as you said - it all depends on traits. I imagine those 4 infantry units were quite busy each scenario.
[/quote]
Yes, there was never enough infantry - they couldn't be everywhere I needed them, they always lost at least a few points even with a lot of suppressive action, and remember, I could only reinforce them in supply hexes (!) so they were slowly (or fast... if I was a klutz) ground up and were no longer able to capture cities. But, for a 15 Pioneer I could get 2* 11 PzIIIN with 6 movement... that was hard to pass on. In fact I had 2 airborne infantry (Fallchimjager if I can spell it right) that were in reserve more or less to help out on some maps, and 2 bridge engineer platoons also mostly in reserve. I have found flame tanks and mobile howitzers (1-range monsters like the "Bummbear") pretty useless for sieges - tanks will fail for capped initiative and close defense, and a normal towed gun can pretty much do the same as these assault monsters with the rare exception of forts. BTW, those 2-range fast firing rocket artillery pieces were also a disappointment - don't know the exact reason, they just weren't making the difference a 3-range 150mm artillery piece would make.
So yeah, I never had enough blood to spill, so I blitzed around to make up for it with steel and oil. I know 10 tank units are a surprise, but consider that I used PzIII-s as "stepping stones" just to get to a position with stronger units, sacrifice a few points to weaken units so the strong tank can overrun them and move on and attack again, or finish off enemy infantry on the open... PzIIIN-s are even good to weaken and kill towed ATG-s without entrenchment if you use some kind of suppression. They provided the steel and oil sacrifice needed for victory.

The air strategy has become really dynamic and fun to play - you really need to adapt to the situation. Sometimes I risked my bombers to kill a few enemy fighters, especially if I could also snatch some enemy airfields that round. Other times I didn't bomb to save the fighters to grind enemy airforce, or didn't attack in the air to protect my bombers. And you can re-consider every round... after a time I started to count and write down what air power am I facing.

[Blade0]

8-10 tanks - 2 was prototype heavy (PvIVF2-H-G, tiger, later panthers whatever was available) with heroes and most XP, rest are cheap PzIII-PzIV whatever was best at the time for minimal slots

Wow, that's huge. I'd never go for this, but it just shows it's perfectly possible to compensate for lack of ground recon and less artillery, it's just a matter of right unit placement on the map and there are indeded multiple viable strategies as you said - it all depends on traits. I imagine those 4 infantry units were quite busy each scenario.

Yes, there was never enough infantry - they couldn't be everywhere I needed them, they always lost at least a few points even with a lot of suppressive action, and remember, I could only reinforce them in supply hexes (!) so they were slowly (or fast... if I was a klutz) ground up and were no longer able to capture cities. But, for a 15 Pioneer I could get 2* 11 PzIIIN with 6 movement... that was hard to pass on. In fact I had 2 airborne infantry (Fallchimjager if I can spell it right) that were in reserve more or less to help out on some maps, and 2 bridge engineer platoons also mostly in reserve. I have found flame tanks and mobile howitzers (1-range monsters like the "Bummbear") pretty useless for sieges - tanks will fail for capped initiative and close defense, and a normal towed gun can pretty much do the same as these assault monsters with the rare exception of forts. BTW, those 2-range fast firing rocket artillery pieces were also a disappointment - don't know the exact reason, they just weren't making the difference a 3-range 150mm artillery piece would make.
So yeah, I never had enough blood to spill, so I blitzed around to make up for it with steel and oil. I know 10 tank units are a surprise, but consider that I used PzIII-s as "stepping stones" just to get to a position with stronger units, sacrifice a few points to weaken units so the strong tank can overrun them and move on and attack again, or finish off enemy infantry on the open... PzIIIN-s are even good to weaken and kill towed ATG-s without entrenchment if you use some kind of suppression. They provided the steel and oil sacrifice needed for victory.

The air strategy has become really dynamic and fun to play - you really need to adapt to the situation. Sometimes I risked my bombers to kill a few enemy fighters, especially if I could also snatch some enemy airfields that round. Other times I didn't bomb to save the fighters to grind enemy airforce, or didn't attack in the air to protect my bombers. And you can re-consider every round... after a time I started to count and write down what air power am I facing.
[/quote]

[Edmon]

Best advice I can give to a PC1 player, like I was, is that the 15cm artillery is love and life. It works like artillery in PC1 used to and you can use it to defend your rolling front line as well as attack.

Other artillery does not retaliate against hard, and self propelled AT doesn't defend against infantry. The 15cm, while having decentish stats, defends against all threats and it useful in all situations. It will even defend other 15cm guns.

Buy yours today!

[Horseman]

Best advice I can give to a PC1 player, like I was, is that the 15cm artillery is love and life. It works like artillery in PC1 used to and you can use it to defend your rolling front line as well as attack.

Other artillery does not retaliate against hard, and self propelled AT doesn't defend against infantry. The 15cm, while having decentish stats, defends against all threats and it useful in all situations. It will even defend other 15cm guns.

Buy yours today!

I second the suggestion of using 15cm artillery (and later Hummels)

[Lokesz]

Most of the time I use 3 anti-air units for low altitude (flakvierling when available). I try to deploy them on a hill. When an enemy fighter comes near I can defend 3 hexes from there. It works wonders against fighters and tactical bombers.

The Soviets field a lot of armor so I need anti-tank units to soften them up. Attack value of AT units is more important then defense value. I place them behind relative weak (cheap) units that may be attacked. You should remind that AT units don't defend each other. Sometimes I use a flakvierling as bait, but it should stay in AA mode to benefit from the AT defenders. The AT units behind a tank often do more damage then the tank it is defending.

[Wushuki]

I would definitely go for more AA. In particular the flakvierlings cost only a single core point. Thus, you could replace one of your fw-190 planes with 5 of them. This will provide air defense for most of your units and make shooting down enemy fighters much less costly as supressed units dont shoot back.

The same goes for other units, keep them in cover with artillery and AT units. You can easily replace one of your tigers with 2 Stugs. Form defensive lines that you move up slowly. This makes it extremely hard for enemies to deal any real blows to you.

Also, I found that elite replacements are much more important here than in the original panzer corps. The accuracy and defense bonuses are massive. It also saves a lot of turns as your units will destroy enemies with fewer shots and so you can prevent enemies from getting reinforced.

[gokkel]

Kursk is certainly an interesting scenario, if you don't follow the warnings of the briefing and do some scouting the enemy counterattacks can definitely catch you offguard. I did and I still got a bit surprised because I didn't notice bridge engineers in the southeastern enemy group and didn't expect them to cross the river, I thought they would go towards the bridge and the other victory hexes. I barely in time mobilized some defensive troops for that location though. That said, you have a ton of time in that scenario and taking the enemy objectives isn't the hardest, so the defensive aspects should be still manageable.

Regarding your core, others already commented but it doesn't seem the most balanced out unless your information is not complete. 3 artillery pieces is a bit on the low side (depends also on what kind of pieces you use, like do you have a Gustav or Karl-Gerät?), no mention of AT units seems concerning (definitely want 2-3), same for Tactical Bombers (2 is a decent number by that time). 6 tanks is fine I think. 6 Fighters is also a lot, though since you don't seem to have any AA units it is still somewhat ok? Fighters are less core slot efficient though, as you need more fighters to protect all your units and later models cost a lot of core slots compared to 88's and Flakvierling. I only had 2-3 Fighters most of the time, though I play with AA veteran, so naturally you might want a bit more on that side.

[SineMora]

The most glaring issue here is your lack of support units; you have little artillery and no dedicated AT, and while neither is technically required it's not advisable for beginners to go down that route. 6 Tigers take up 30 core slots (or 42 if you didn't pick Panzer General, which is bonkers), and investing that much into heavy armour w/o providing the units with adequate protection is bound to be costly. You really don't need that many fighters for Kursk either as the auxiliaries provide you with a few extra aircraft, so if you want a large airforce more bombers would serve you better.

If you want a quick fix you could do worse than look at the auxiliary corps you're provided with for this battle; it's basically tailor-made to combat the Soviet armoured threat, with a large number of Panzers, ATs -- including 2 Nashorns and 2 Elefants, which are ridiculously powerful -- and some supporting infantry and artillery. Even something as simple as swapping 2 Tigers for Nashorns would significantly improve the resilience of your armour. In the long term though you'll just have to develop a better understanding of how game mechanics interact with one another.

There are other ways to handle mass Soviet armour than to face it head-on -- the Battle of Kursk from my AAR is one example -- but for now you're probably best off following the advice you've been given to strenghten your support.

[vosphalt]

Amazing amount of replies...thanks! Yes I didn't list out my complete units, and I am 146 out of 161 slots w 705 pts to spend...all at the 2nd difficulty game setting.
Before purchasing units for Kursk scenario 1 Pzg inf, 3 pioneer, (all overstrengthed about18s, 1-25st pioneer) 6 Tigers all at least 12s, 1 stug-g, no recon, no AA, 1-17cm and 1-21cm arty both 11s, 3 FWs all 14s, 2 Stukas (12s) 1 -410 (12) and 1 177.
That is the complete force, used the 7 hero points and have gained others and unit bonuses.
Each campaign I get more efficient and lose less units...perhaps I am not doing as well as I thought??
Maybe there is a trick for Kursk....?

After reading all the comments. I think I have learned, less over strength super units, More AT, 15cm arty, more infantry, more tanks, less Tigers. I will replay from the beginning and try to preserve even more forces for the next battle...I usually find at the higher levels of PC1, that losing even 1 unit, later makes a bigger impact.

Didn't like the game pc2 at first, but it has really grown on me.

[PoorOldSpike]

..The setup for each campaign seems too rigid..

Yup, that's why I'm not a big fan of campaigns and scenarios in ANY wargame including PC2 because they railroad you into doing things their way with little elbow room, and make us wonder who's running the show, us or the camp/scen designer..
Personally I much prefer the Random mission generator because it puts us completely in charge and we can strut our stuff in exactly the way WE want.
Rommel had the same "nobody tells me what to do" mindset-
"I decided to ignore my orders and to take command at the front with my own hands as soon as possible"- Rommel on arriving in Africa 1941

[Retributarr]

"quote: PoorOldSpike": " I'm not a big fan of campaigns and scenarios in ANY wargame including PC2 because they railroad you into doing things their way with little elbow room"

As much as I like the 'a-la'-regulaarr' WWII Campaign series, it isn't as much fun... when you know that you can only "be absolutely victorious" in only one direction and one direction only... or "be in absolute defeat" at any time especially when you have very little control over your destiny!.

There are virulent 'Die-Hard' Opposers to anything but... to having only the absolute 'Ordinaire!'.
What I was asking for was not to change the 'Basic-Game' at all, just to add some alternate 'Real' historical situations... where the player could either then voluntarily elect to continue on the pre-formed-pegged out premade path... or instead!... "if insanely adventurous"... would decide to try something absolutely different, not fictional!, not bizarre unrealistic historical situations, just real life situations that were present that could have... if acted upon... have altered/deviated the historical pathway into unforeseen/unknown directions.

I have posted many such presentations on multiple occasions... even going so far as to postulate an entirely 'Alternate Historical Pathway' for a WWII Game, based on the real-actual present day situations of the time at hand!. Of course!... something like what I have just brought up would most certainly require an entirely new Game Package... as the existing one would only marginaly be able to manage anything like that.

[eddieballgame]

..The setup for each campaign seems too rigid..

Yup, that's why I'm not a big fan of campaigns and scenarios in ANY wargame including PC2 because they railroad you into doing things their way with little elbow room, and make us wonder who's running the show, us or the camp/scen designer..
Personally I much prefer the Random mission generator because it puts us completely in charge and we can strut our stuff in exactly the way WE want.
Rommel had the same "nobody tells me what to do" mindset-
"I decided to ignore my orders and to take command at the front with my own hands as soon as possible"- Rommel on arriving in Africa 1941

Admittedly, I find myself enjoying the Random Maps, either via the 'quick setup' per the main menu or via the Editor where one can really tweak things, more & more enjoyable & challenging.
Remember per the Editor, one can even create/generate a scenario using the General Traits if so desired.

[vosphalt]

Now Replaying Campaign, good troop mix, lots of points left...but get to Op Crusader and suddenly no points, have only lost 3 units, but running behind, doing WORSE. Maybe I am too concerned about stars and using elite points instead of regualrer.. I coudn't even full rebuild my force for OP Crusader and it only gets worse.

[Retributarr]

Now Replaying Campaign, good troop mix, lots of points left...but get to Op Crusader and suddenly no points, have only lost 3 units, but running behind, doing WORSE. Maybe I am too concerned about stars and using elite points instead of regualrer.. I coudn't even full rebuild my force for OP Crusader and it only gets worse.

If your just starting to play this Game, first... do the easiest play-level... I do that most of the time... unless the scenario or scenario's are too easy... which is very rare.

Basic Force Mix:

Have enough Fighters... no less than 4 ... but better if you can go to 6... as the 'AI' always has at least twice as many aircraft as you have... most of the time.

Get 2- JU88 Dive Bombers... and 2 other long-range Tactical Bombers with the specifications of your preference. Also perhaps 1 Strategic Bomber as well if you can manage it.

Get 3-Pioneers with halftracks and 2 Grenediers with halftracks.

As well... at least 3-Artillery guns with truck transport... preferably with the ability to shoot to a Range of 3-hexes... and 3-Anti Aircraft Units or splurge Unit Slots to get an 88mm Anti-Aircraft Gun that can also work as an Anti-Tank Unit.

Pick up some Recon Units (At least one) if you can, you have your choice of Ground or Air selections.

Basic Playing Tips:
As much as possible... escort your Bombers with 'Fighters', for example you can bomb 2 or 3 targets in a specific location with Bombers and just use 1-Fighter to escort all three at the same time... if the situation allows it, otherwise... unescorted Bombers are almost always targeted by enemy Fighters.

Ground Units should be protected by Artillery Gun Fire protection wherever and whenever possible. Units on 'High-Ground' are able to see 1-Hex further and as well... Artillery can then shoot 1-Hex further.

Try to minimize 'Combat-Losses'/Casualties... try instead... to attack at favorable odds as much as possible. Whenever you can manage it, try to force the enemy to fight at a disadvantage... make him die for his country.

When you are limited in you 'Supply Points'... use Elite Reinforcements only where they are needed most, otherwise.., just use basic replacement points... so that you don't run out!.

Before attacking a target, try to soften it up first, by using Arillery, and or Tactical Bombers... these instruments cause direct casualties. Strategic Bombers... destroy fuel and ammunition and as well... reduce the Targets ability to respond effectively to your assault.

I forgot... "Anti-Tank-Guns'... get what you can manage to afford, a minimum of 2... to place behind your armor or infantry or artillery to keep the enemy tanks from causing them great hearm. Anti-Tank Guns will punch the daylights out of unsuspecting enemy Tanks!.

Theres more, but for now... im done, I hope some of this helps!.
Theres more:

Do a review of the...
Panzer Corps 2 - New Advisor Clips series

Vehicles & "Tanks":
On the "Purchase-Screen"... you can check out the 'Combat Attributes' of the units on the Upper right side of the screen. Underneath the displayed picture of the unit... underneath its 'Name Designation'... are or should be a number of unit characteristic 'Icons'.

Mouse over these 'Icons' to see what benefits that they have to offer before purchasing. For example... some of the earlier 'Tanks' have a 'Rapid Fire' characteristic... this can make them quite lethal... they can therefore for example fire at 1.5X what their designated/given fire damage rating normally is.

I was passing out from exhaustion when I left off making this posting... so now, I conclude it.