.
13) Tunisian Bridgehead ~~ DV
Mini spoiler
The captured Churchill from Mareth was green refitted and disbanded.
Replacements
elite: 1x FallschirmJg, Pz III, Semovente 90, SdKfz 7/1, SdKfz 7/2, 8.8cm AA, Fw 190, 1x MC.202
green: remaining units
Disband
2* Bison I ~~ [no hero @82]
3* Bf 110 G ~ [Att+1 , Att+1 (Att+2)]
Upgrade
1x FallschirmJg 42 to Jäger 42
Pz III M to M+
8,8cm Flak 36 (SdKfz 7) to (without transport)
2x Sem. 75/18 to 75/34
2x MC.202 to 205
- almost all units to "continental" camo
Deployment
I listed all units with all their heroes in detail, and for the same heroes in chronological order.
Thus e.g. a unit with [Att+2 , Att+1] raised the Attack+2 first and in total it has Attack+3.
1* Jäger ~~~~~ [1 OS] [Spt+1]
2* FallschirmJg [1 OS] [Att+1]
2* Bersaglieri [1 OS] [Def+1 , Spt+1]
2* Bersaglieri [1 OS] [Att+3 , Att+3]
2* Pz III M+ ~~ [2 OS] [Att+1 , Att+2]
2* StuG III G ~ [2 OS] [Def+1 , Def+2]
1* Pz IV G+ ~~ [1 OS] [Ini+1 , Mov+1]
2* Pz IV G+ ~~ [2 OS] [Att+1 , Def+1] turn 9: [Def+2]
3* Sem. 90/53 [2 OS] [Att+3 , Mov+1]
2* Pz II L [Mov+1] turn 8: [Def+3]
2* AB 41 [Spt+1]
2* 7.5cm Pak (Opel Blitz) [1 OS] [Def+2]
3* 10.5cm leG ~~~~~~~~~~ [2 OS] [Def+2]
3* 10.5cm leFH (horses) ~ [1 OS]
3* 10.5cm leFH (SdKfz 11) ~~~~~ [Mov+1]
2* 15cm sFH (SdKfz 7)
3* 21cm NblWf (Protze) ~ [3 OS] [Mov+1]
3* Can. 105/28 (Fiat) ~~~ [2 OS]
3* Sem. 75/34 ~~~~~~~~~ [2 OS] [Att+1 , Att+2]
3* Sem. 75/34 ~~~~~~~~~ [2 OS] [Att+5 (special campaign hero)]
3* SdKfz 7/1+ ~~~~~~~~~~ [3 OS] [Att+1]
3* SdKfz 7/2+ ~~~~~~~~~~ [2 OS] [Att+3 , Def+2]
-- 8.8cm Flak 18 (SdKfz 7)
3* 8.8cm Flak 36 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Att+3 , Def+1 , Mov+1]
2* Can. 90/53 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Mov+1]
3* Bf 109 F4 [3 OS] [Att+2 , Att+1 , Att+3]
3* Fw 190 A5 [3 OS] [Att+1 , Att+1]
2* MC.205 ~~ [2 OS] [Def+2 , Ini+1]
3* MC.205 ~~ [3 OS] [Att+2 , Att+1]
3* Ju 87 D [1 OS] [Att+1 , Ini+1]
3* Ju 87 D [1 OS] [Att+1 , Ini+1]
3* SM.79 ~ [1 OS] [Att+3 , Att+3]
Reserve
none. In fact, we are going into Tunis with 2 less units than allowed
Disbanded units and elite refits
Disbanding the Bison and 110 hurt a lot. They were both starters from the beginning of our journey, "Recon in Force"
Thought about it for quite a while. Not exactly how I would have liked to go into the final scenario. Could have gone for more green refitting and/or much less overstrength, of course, but with Mareth in our bones, the above seemed the most workable solution.
The Pz III was so close to its 3rd XP star (297 XP) that I had to go for the elite refit.
And regarding the "downgrade" of the 8.8cm '36 transport, it was done to reduce the refit costs (I didn't cheat to refund the transport, just removed it via upgrade).
Bf 109 F4 vs Bf 109 G6
I had forgotten the upgrad eand the discussion at Mareth.
The G6 has Air Attack+3, Initiative-1, Fuel-1 and is only 3 prestige more expensive. On an experienced fighter, the Att+3 might be worth it, BUT...
Forgot the upgrade at Mareth, and now at Tunis I don't want the upgrade. The 109 survived as an F4 until here, and in a very "economical" way *ehh* I meant with lots of style. Thus we keep it as our "flying aces" in a yellow F4, that will be a huge moral boost to the troops
Turn and bonus prestige was used to refit, elite refit and in 2 cases (both of our Semovente 75) to buy overstrength mid-scenario.
AI turn 2: those poor boys at sea
AI turn 8: oh crab, forgot the AA
Turn 8: SdKfz 7/2 dancing around in the north: where to plant it in the face of enemy tanks coming at us?
Turn 10: does somebody have a scientific sounding, but ultimately totally made up, explanation of why the heck I didn't force surrender that Sherman? Unbelievable
Turn 11: good to know that the reinforcements don't need to physically arrive at the designated locations
We made it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlv52rp0aoleb ... a.zip?dl=0
Officially no core losses, but disbanding 2 veteran units in the last scenario somehow feels like a loss.
As for auxiliary units:
13 scenarios... would someone believe if I said that I generally try to save auxiliary units? (;
Campaign conclusion
Efile
McGuba and Locarnus did a great job with their modding work. Also many thanks to icon creators, for making it possible
I love all the new units, and unit switches, the options they create for building your core, doing games of thoughts in between scenarios about how you would want to develop your core over the course of the following scenarios.
The (re)balancing of many statistics, in particular pricing, adds to it.
Sure, if you want you could always split hairs down to their atoms and rumble about something, but taking the mod as a whole: all the bits and pieces fit perfectly together and display the bigger picture in beautiful colours.
Thank you very much for that
The only negative, and it can still be seen as subjective bias, is the Camouflage Ability.
If unit scale is battalion and up: how do you hide hundreds to potentially thousands of soldiers and tons of equipment on open ground? And most of terrain types suitable for ground units can be perceived fully or partially as "open".
In practice, especially for traditional scenarios, the Camo ability can be anything from fun over hate to lost scenarios (I am thinking of some victory conditions).
Campaign
Afrika Korps is among my top 20, if not top 10, all-time favourite campaigns from all games and mods.
The mix of scenarios, the overall dynamic with prestige and difficulty bumps, the theater, the equipment, the style of play, everything balanced in just the right dose for a tasty cake. And Locarnus added even more icing to it
Difficulty
1) Field Marshal
Whenever I play on Field Marshal (FM) difficulty I have to smile: years ago I came across comments that FM is not a true "highest" difficulty level, because it starts unlocked and has no special name and playing on it is easy.
For the average player, FM is a lot to chew on, because Experience is just so important. Just remember how easily our 2-star and overstrengthed Italian fighters and at Mareth even our 2-star overstrengthed Fw 190 got attacked by AI fighters, even if the AI's units were already damaged. With more stars it would have been a different topic.
Field Marshal is fun, but nothing to sneeze at.
2) Rommel
Rommel is definitively fun and IMO out of the 4 highest "single" difficulties probably the easiest one.
Having to turn around every penny (or prestige point) twice and think where to invest it. Not sending your units onto suicide missions for some XP or to push the advance. It is a change of pace for sure.
But there are reasons why games of the genre basically always offer this as the or one of the difficulty levels.
3) Equipment limitations
...were fun and fitted to the "crazy challenge" idea.
Trying out some units I would have otherwise skipped, re-evaluating others, and overall learning a bit about my playing style and where it is faulty, all was interesting and entertaining for me. Hopefully for you too
Unit discussion
Short summary, most surprising units that I approve:
- Nebelwerfer
- 2cm Flak and 3.7cm Flak, including their self-propelled versions
Trying out some new units and trying to use others to their limits reveiled some aspects.
The following is geared for the Battlefield Europe and Addon mods, but might offer some insight for the vanilla game and other mods as well.
- Jäger infantry "sub-class"
IMO the paratroopers are overpriced (something like 220 would have also done it), but I see the point: high Soft Attack, Initiative, and of course the paradrop and bunker buster abilities.
I certainly had my troubles using them to their fullest. Initially intended as fortress busters, shock troops against soft targets, and airmobile special forces, they excelled at neither role.
There are not enough bunkers to justify them. They are too vulnerable to operate on their own against soft targets, or rather "they are not that much more effective than cheaper infantry". There are not that many scenarios with air transports. Though the FallschirmJg did shine at Kasserine, where they conquered a far away hill/mountain area required for victory.
Jäger, GebirgsJg and Kradschützen (though I barely used the latter) are good and "cost-effective".
I'm not sure about cavalry, because their movement is suboptimal in the desert - confusingly for me, but I won't argue about it (don't quote me on that
).
Dunno about the regulars infantry "sub-class", since ITA regulars were quickly phased out and Bersaglieri are ITA Jäger. Will have to try out the regulars in a future playthrough.
- Pz III
If prestige permitted ot, this tank was among the ones to be phased out rather sooner than later (across all games, not only Panzer Corps). Its lower stats just don't seem appealing in the long run, and this might actually be right, thinking about Mareth. But in general, if you can keep it with high experience and/or away from big enemy tanks, maybe coupled with solid heroes, it is actually a very economical unit. Requiring few repairs, even keeping overstrength from previous scenarios, and taking out weaker and weakened enemy units itself.
(please note: it has been years that I played Grand Campaign, so don't quote me when playing that one with Pz IIIs
)
- StuG III
Early models are great utility vehicles, either as tanks or switched to artillery. Also very economical.
The later models, since they are now in the tank class, are by no means a "poor mans Pz IV". They have solid firepower and armour (and yes: are cheaper than contemporary Pz IV), thus only strong and/or experienced enemies will dare attacking it.
Sidenote: I remember a discussion in the chat, where goose and I advocated against putting SPATs in the tank class. I have since changed my mind, they fit very well in there
- Pz II tank/recon
The Pz II L/Luchs is okay. Fast, but expensive.
I'm not so much convinced or sold regarding the earlier models. They are slower and more expensive than contemporary, equally armed recon cars. The only true advantage of the Pz II recon is its thicker armour and that it can switch to tank mode. It loses Phased Movement ability, but gains Rate of Fire (RoF) when switching to tank mode. And that is not much.
- towed AT units
As usual: what do you do with them? Camouflage doesn't help in most cases.
- tank and artillery "portee" style units
Marder, Bison, etc. Their strength is their firepower, and to some extend that they are cheaper than contemporary tanks or respectively towed artillery.
Their weaknesses are their still high price, low defense and overall low ammo. The "portee" artillery in particular, when switched to tank mode, lacks RoF.
I will give the Marders a try in a future playthrough, since I skipped them this time round.
But the Bison for example: low ammo, low defense, low RoF, yet expensive at ~350 prestige. I didn't dare using it in its tank mode. It was between "okay" and "effective" in its artillery mode though, I won't argue about that.
- horse-drawn artillery
They are slow to move around, but I sure had my fun with them. The lower price can be a deciding factor when giving overstrength. I probably would use them again, but I wouldn't mind if the Horse and Horse-Drawn move methods would be improved to move 3 hexes in the desert
- "Nebelwerfer" style units
Their weakness is their short range, so that they can end up in enemy artillery fire.
Their strengths are their high fire power, making them great infantry guns - and slightly lower price, so that losing overstrength doesn't hurt as much.
- airmobile/paratrooper 10.5cm leG
Without transport it is slow, and has only range=2, but I found it to be quite useful... situationally.
Without transport it is potentially cheaper than other artillery (oversrength), and if you use "infantry on foot" and/or paratroopers, 1-2 of these guns can be effective in supporting them.
Not the "whoa cool" effect maybe, but certainly better than I was told they would be.
- self-propelled AA
No matter if the small-caliber 10/4 and 7/1 or the mid-caliber 7/2, mobile AA was very effective in its AA role. Certainly helped by overstrength and Attack heroes, but still.
And they have the ability to switch to ground combat, creating a solid unit to send against weakened enemies, especially soft targets.
- towed AA
The large guns are still the most effective ones. But to my surprise also the smaller guns are very good.
The 2cm gun has move=2, allowing to operate from the 2nd line and taking out weakened units or helping out with (scratching paint from) enemy airforce. The 3.7cm gun might appear slow, but in its AA mode it has range=2, and in its ground attack mode it has still above average RoF.
Both are also cheap.
- Bf 110 multi-purpose aircraft
I will need to revisit that in a future playthrough: except for 1-2 maybe 3 early cases I didn't dare trying its fighter mode. Starting with the E version it hase high attack and defense. But it always lacks initiative, IMO, to be effective as a fighter. Maybe I was just too anxious or scared.
- list of untested and respectively "want-to-test" units
all "regular" infantry
Krad
Pz II Flamm
Marder II
Marder III
maybe another go at the "portee" vehicles
Bf 110
Lvl bombers
maybe something else I forgot
If there are any questions regarding particular units that I already tried or suggestions for testing, feel free to drop a message here
This thread received quite some views, I am currently hyped about the efile and AK is a great campaign, in short: I will start another playthrough within the next days and post in a new thread. Not 100% decided on the difficulty, yet. But I have an idea for another equipment limitation run - though much simpler and less restrictive rules than the ones above
Thanks for tagging along my crazy little quest and have a nice weekend everyone
A pity we don't have somehting like Guzman Tools for Panzer Corps.