GC44 on the move again

[PanzerTum]

I originally started GC44 over-strengthening to the hilt because I expected a sharp increase in difficulty coupled with a lower number of deployed units.
That was a mistake though, a good way to bleed a lot of prestige. You will always get some damage to your units and these last few strength points are very expensive.

I finally did finish GC44 but to be honest I've had my fair share of defending scenario's for now so at the moment I'm slumming in GC42-43 West. Few units, not much prestige and a fairly equal balance of power.
So GC45East will have to wait for a bit until the defensive inspiration hits me again..

[rubyjuno]

The same reason that I avoided over-strengthening until now; I guessed I would need all the the prestige I could get for GC45E. Well done for finishing GC44E. Ironically, the first 3 scenarios of GC45E are offensive, which is why I've had to upgrade and over-strengthen. I'm enjoying it at the moment more than GC44E, but I know there will be scenarios to come where I'm defending against the hordes.

[PanzerTum]

Well, back on the GC45 East track.
Just finished Goldap and selected the offensive route to continue.
I am a bit guilty of the too many Tiger II and ME262 crime. Probably as a result of this I did not find Goldap too difficult. Still enough surprises and damage though.
I'd forgotten sbout the para landings but they were easily dealt with. A bigger surprise was the freezing of the Pregel river for 1 turn which turned my sense of control into a sense of panic.
Terrain made it difficult to position forces well, I have got to stop losing AA units.
Overstrength wise I stopped at 12 for the armoured units but that was plenty for my quality units.
Always difficult to deal with all soviet infantry in the forests and hills when I cannot deploy all the infantry I would want but patience gets you there in the end.
At the start of Pelleninkin my prestige is at 45k after overstrength.
Still have to deploy though, I like to take my time for that.

[PanzerTum]

Onwards to Pelleninkin, one of the easiest scenarios in the entire series, at least with my core. In hindsight I would not have deployed to the max since it is not necessary and only brings the softcap down. Decisive victory at turn 7 without major losses.

Parck took some more beating and I actually took a lot of damage there. I was wondering during the early turns whether or not the South-westerly soviet force would stay put. Well now I know..
It was a broad frontline making it slow going and always the risk of enemy units slipping through the lines.

Laptau was another slow and steady advance north of Konigsberg on an artillery search and destroy mission.
Full deployment, softcap in the 20ies. If it ends in the 80ies you know you have been in a fight..
Still prestigewise these battles are more or less neutral.

Osterode was an enjoyable scenario breaking through the Soviet lines. Overall one main force slowly advancing in a straight line towards the objectives. The counterattacks were not too strong and could be contained while still advancing on the real targets. I was wondering if I was going to make it before turn 20 but in the end the DV was at 19.

Now Poznan45 beckons. Prestige after minimal overstrength is still 45K. Terrain looks somewhat difficult so I will deploy some extra infantry probably.

So far GC45 East is more enjoyable than 44 was, and probably easier as well. Infantry plays a larger role until now.
I guess the defensive scenarios are lining up after this. The start of this campaign is just what the doctor ordered after the slugfest of 44 though.

[rubyjuno]

Wow, you have been busy! I went a bit mad before Goldap, and spent a lot of prestige upgrading to Tiger IIs and Me 262s, rather than striving for historical accuracy. For the first time, I also used a lot of over-strength. I wanted to be more aggressive and positive than I had been in the GC44E slugfest.

In Goldap I sent forces from each end of the Pregel river to work their way along and destroy bridge units and defend crossings. My main force met the Soviets around Goldap which was a bit of a slog. Like you, the freezing of the river caused a bit of a panic! After Goldap I also went the offensive route and found a DV straightforward once I'd worked the best way to do it. I found Parck to be an interesting scenario, another example of great imagination from the designers. I split my force in two and sent one each way. I took some damage, but not too bad. I stopped for a break before Laptau as we had a lot going on, but will get back to it before too long. As you say, GC45E is more enjoyable than GC44E, due I think to the variety of the missions. Well done to the scenario designers for coming up with something different.

[PanzerTum]

A number of interesting battles on..

Budapest 45 was a scenario that I did not get right the first round, or the second time round..
Key was an aggressive move towards Budapest combined with an aggressive airforce deployment over Budapest.
There are so many hidden armoured units on this map that you need to keep your units covered at all times.
My second failure was prioritizing the airfield northwest of Budapest over the attack on Budapest itself leaving me with only 4 surviving Hungarian units, not enough for a DV.
Eventually on the third try I saved 9 Hungarian units. After the capture of Budapest the rest is just a prolonged mopping up operation even though there are still some quality Soviet units around.

Just finished Berlin with a DV the first time round. It all hang in the balance because I was too eager to start conquering the victory hexes after the first wave of Soviets was defeated.
As a consequence i was totally surprised by the second wave and lost a few units trying to reestablish a defensive position in the south.
I also lost 2 Tiger II, a Panther G and a JagdPanther, quite a heavy toll in total. mainly in the fighting in the north. Armoured units crossing the bridges were less painful than the Guards and SMG infantry which could really hurt my defending panzers.
Berlin offers some possibilities to replenish your prestige by capturing all the victory hexes.

At the start of Berlin Redux I had 23k prestige. After repairs and overstrength only 29 prestige is left..
It should be enough I think for this penultimate battle but we will have to see.

[PanzerTum]

Berlin Redux seemed pretty hopeless the first few turns. How in H can you defend the command bunker against these hordes of Soviets.
Until I figured out that instead of finishing of the crippled Soviet units on the river it was much better to let the crippled units live, the AI is not smart enough to withdraw them and send fresh units to replace them..
So after turn 7 or so I hardly needed to focus on the center and could concentrate on eliminating the Soviet generals.
Which was done by turn 16.
No need to prolong the scenario for extra prestige since this was the last real battle.

So I finally finished the GC east after 13 months. restarted a few times to correct beginner errors.
Remaining prestige 80..
I have been looking at other mods and played a few turns of battlefield europe, but what I would really like to do is start GC east again...

[faos333]

Congrats

[rubyjuno]

So I finally finished the GC east after 13 months. restarted a few times to correct beginner errors.
Remaining prestige 80..
I have been looking at other mods and played a few turns of battlefield europe, but what I would really like to do is start GC east again...

Well done for finishing GC East!

You want to start again