Hello, I am about to finish playtesting for the new version of AO Spain.
This is the (as usual very detailed) changelog of the upcoming campaign:
AO Spain
- Heavy map editing/polishing/naming for almost all scenarios (northern path excluded); most changes in Seville (almost completely reworked), Merida (heavily reworked), Early Madrid (completely reworked), Aragon Offensive (heavily reworked), Battle of the Ebro (heavily reworked), Catalonia (heavily reworked) and Madrid 1939 (completely reworked)
- Added Grondel's random hero script, reserve script and capture airfield script in every scenario
- Added elite objectives in almost every scenario
- Player-controlled Nationalists
- SEVILLE - In the campaign start Seville the map has been almost entirely redone for more accuracy; the main cities are already controlled by the Nationalists (as it was historically by the time of the airlift), but they are clearly outnumbered by the Republican Army (as it was not historically) and it will be quite difficult for you to support them everywhere. The result is a harder scenario than vanilla, but not that hard as it may seem at first sight. For the elite objective you'll have to capture all the victory hexes, quite a task for your green army but with a pretty good reward: you'll get 25 Bf109B, 20 He112 and 20 Ju87A for a first - even if partial - instant upgrade of your poor air force. Also keep in mind that by capturing the town of Carmona you'll get a powerful Soviet 203mmM1931 gift artillery unit with a must-have hero like Pawel Arakcheyev (+2 ammo, Double Support and Zero Slots), while the custom objective (garrison key towns around Seville with Army of Africa units) will give you a "campaign bonus" for a future reward as well as 1 CP
- ANTEQUERA - the map has been only partially redone, slightly increasing its size; here for the elite objective you'll need to annihilate all the Republican garrisons north of Antequera which are not heavily defended but quite numerous for your army: if successful you'll gain a first wave of Soviet equipment (25 T26Model33, 30 BT5, 30 BA6 and 25 152mmM10-30). Also at start you get the reward for the previous campaign bonus with infantry hero Mohammed Meziane (compared to AOredone 1.0 I have changed one trait for him, trading Leadership for Evasive, while confirming Butcher and +1 Ini) and his gift African Infantry unit
- MERIDA - the map has been reworked increasing its size and expanding it slightly eastward to add the key city of Don Benito and its very precious airfield (historically the only one in the region as well as the Caceres one). This is a difficult scenario where you really have to choose which objectives to achieve as getting everything is most likely beyond your means at this stage of the campaign. In any case, for a tough game you can earn a nice prize pool as the elite objective (which intuitively could only be capturing the Don Benito airfield) grants you 2500 prestige, a little refill of German aircraft prototypes (15 Bf109B and 20 Ju87A) and most of all the super-defender tank hero Wilhelm von Thoma (+1 Speed, +1 HA, Aggressive Counterattack, Readiness and Provocator), who will surely help you a lot in the next missions (really thanks SOE Team for the Von Thoma picture)
- TOLEDO - the good vanilla map has been only partially reworked, but with meaningful consequences for the gameplay: since there are no more bridges in the southern part of Toledo (they were not and they are not there even today) the defence of the Alcazar is somewhat easier, even if to compensate this the Republican forces have been strengthened a bit. Furthermore the map has been slightly enlarged allowing the city of Aranjuez to be designated as an elite objective, for which you can get once again 2500 prestige, a brand new super-prototype PanzerIIIB (perfect choice for Von Thoma, I would say) and a useful refill for some of your Russian equipment (20 T26Model33, 25 BA6 and 20 152mmM10-30). Finally by capturing the town of Yepes you'll get another campaign bonus for a future reward
- EARLY MADRID - the map has been almost completely redone for accuracy reasons (but the size is more or less the same of vanilla) and this has affected a lot the gameplay as well, with much more urban/close defence warfare for a really tough scenario. Also both bonus objective (holding all victory hexes at the end of the scenario, 2 CPs) and the elite one (capturing the Ciudad Universitaria) have been enabled, but they are very challenging. In particular the elite objective should be quite hard even for the most experienced players, even if its reward is well worth a try, with 3500 prestige, a 88mmFlaK18AA gift unit and another refill of top Soviet equipment (25 T26, 20 BT7 and 15 152mmM10-30). Finally at start you get the reward for the previous campaign bonus with infantry hero Luis Moscardo Ituarte (compared to AOredone 1.0 it has been added +1 SA while confirming +1 Ini, Unyielding and Leadership) and his gift Guardia Civil unit
- CORUNNA ROAD - only some tweakings for the map and not much more for what I consider a pretty good vanilla scenario; also no elite objective for this one
- MALAGA - the map has been expanded but above all the positions of the victory objectives and of the Republican defenders have been changed a lot, while some Italian CTVs have been added (historically accurate) and the Republicans have been strengthened (not historically accurate, but otherwise the scenario would be too easy). The not so prohibitive elite objective of destroying all Republican units - considering also that at a certain point powerful reinforcements such as the German and Spanish heavy cruisers Admiral Scheer, Canarias and Baleares will arrive to help you (again historically accurate) - rewards you with a collection of Western Powers equipment (25 RenaultR35, 25 HotchkissH35, 19 HurricaneMkI and 19 BlenheimMkI)
- BRUNETE - the map has been reworked especially regarding the terrain, which is now definitely more difficult for tanks than vanilla, with the aim of a more balanced battle. The elite objective (again destroying all Republican units) gives you Italian infantry hero Mario Rizzo (+1 Speed, +1 SA, Flag Killer, Fierce Fighter and Low Profile), his natural companion CTV Infantry gift unit and some German prototypes (25 SdKfz10-4AA and 25 SdKfz231-6Rad). Keep in mind that in AO Spain the gifted Italian units will be upgradable only with Italian equipment, which by the way sounds fair to me
- ZARAGOZA - the map has been reworked for more accuracy but without increasing its size and keeping all the Republican spawn-bases. For the elite objective (capturing all victory hexes) you get an Italian tank M11-39 gift unit and some more Soviet equipment (25 AT1, 19 SU5_2 and 19 GazAAMG-AA)
- TERUEL - the map has been tweaked for accuracy reasons (the position of some key villages has been changed) but size and terrain have been confirmed. For the elite objective (again capturing all victory hexes) you get some top Soviet equipment (10 T28, 20 BT7, 20 OT133 and 25 BT7A-ATY)
- ARAGON OFFENSIVE - the map has been heavily reworked increasing size and accuracy and changing a lot of terrain for a more difficult but also more balanced battle. No bonus objective here, while for the elite objective (again destroying all Republican units, and again not so prohibitive) you get some more Western Powers equipment, mostly French: 25 SomuaS35, 25 AMC35, 20 HotchkissH35, 19 HurricaneMkI and 19 MS406 (well, I guess Berlin was very active to bypass the embargo for military supplies
).
- BATTLE OF THE EBRO - the map has been heavily reworked, once again the main change concerning terrain (hills, mountains and rough terrain clearly rule here), both for reasons of accuracy and gameplay. The Republicans own only three spawn bases (instead of four) but if you happen to think of an easier scenario you are mistaken. At start you can get fighter/tactical bomber hero Adolf Galland for 10 CPs, but he's got +2 AA, +2 AD, +2 Ini, Aiming Assistance and Leadership (so no Legendary for him as vanilla and +2 AD compared to AOredone 1.0). Finally the elite objective - capturing at least three Republican towns deep beyond the Ebro front line - grants you 2000 prestige (if you seize all four Republican towns), a Bf109E-1 gift unit and a collection of top Russian equipment (25 OT133, 20 BT7 and 20 BT7A-ATY).
- CATALONIA - the map has been almost completely reworked for more geographical accuracy and greater realism of the terrain. A lot of work done here which may not be that important for a scenario like this, clearly transitional before the campaign finale, but it could be useful in future campaigns set in Spain. Moreover no elite objective for this scenario
- MADRID 1939 - the map has been completely reworked and you have to expect a quite different scenario here from vanilla, with more enemy forces (not historically accurate, but otherwise the scenario would be too easy) and a different positioning on the field. Also at start you have the chance to exchange your remaining CPs for a large collection of Soviet vehicles: if you have at least 8 CPs you get 30 UNL35, 30 TrubiaNaval, 30 T26, 35 T28, 30 BT5, 20 BT7 and 20 BT7A-ATY (no more Russian aircraft as in AOredone 1.0 because you should have yet plenty of them thanks to the capture airfield script). Finally no bonus and elite objective for this scenario.
