Zbrozlo's mods & campaigns

[terminator]

Bravo for having delivered on time or even in advance your mods

[Zbrozlo]

Thanks. There are no official new expansions, so only the work of modders remains. I hope this time there won’t be as many bugs as in the 1939 mod. In the near future, I will try to create a short campaign for the 2nd Polish Army. Essentially, it only took part in an operation between April and May 1945, but the Battle of Bautzen was quite a significant engagement.

[FrancoisPhilidor]

Thanks. There are no official new expansions, so only the work of modders remains. I hope this time there won’t be as many bugs as in the 1939 mod. In the near future, I will try to create a short campaign for the 2nd Polish Army. Essentially, it only took part in an operation between April and May 1945, but the Battle of Bautzen was quite a significant engagement.

Hi,
I am thinking to try your mod. Could you just tell us about the changes you have made?
Thanks

[Zbrozlo]

The changes were minor. The Polish Army received infantry units and Soviet-origin weaponry, along with several new commanders for both the Polish and German sides. The Germans use armored trains from the Gabe-Mod but with a different camouflage pattern. Cavalry stats were adjusted, and a model of heavy howitzers was added, though unfortunately without a new 3D model. Infantry units for the Warsaw Uprising were created using various existing models. Some adjustments were also made to the Hungarian Cavalry Division, and several new skins were introduced for different units. Specializations underwent slight reworking. No changes were made to the game mechanics, with the focus remaining on the historical accuracy of the campaign.

[pupski]

I played The Polish People's Army the last 2 days and I finished the first 4 scenario's, winning most of them on the last or second last turn. What a joy to play, thanks so much for this present. It feels very intuitive and logical and also has little surprises in the scenario design that I can appreciate a lot. I will not give any spoilers if you can call them that. The scenario's can take a long time but not in a bad way, my attention stays with the game and development of the the battle all the time.

I haven't noticed anything that was not working well. Maybe only the artillery score in one of the earlier scenarios were the numbers of the score jump up and down but only while looking at the score during the enemy turn. Not sure if that happens in the regular game scenarios as well but when it's your turn all is displayed correct. I can't wait to spoil some more time playing the rest of the scenarios. A shame if have to work, to own money, between the scenarios. Well done! Also historically a nice refresher.

My advice, play this mod!

[FrancoisPhilidor]

The changes were minor. The Polish Army received infantry units and Soviet-origin weaponry, along with several new commanders for both the Polish and German sides. The Germans use armored trains from the Gabe-Mod but with a different camouflage pattern. Cavalry stats were adjusted, and a model of heavy howitzers was added, though unfortunately without a new 3D model. Infantry units for the Warsaw Uprising were created using various existing models. Some adjustments were also made to the Hungarian Cavalry Division, and several new skins were introduced for different units. Specializations underwent slight reworking. No changes were made to the game mechanics, with the focus remaining on the historical accuracy of the campaign.

cool, sounds like a lot of work.

[FrancoisPhilidor]

I played The Polish People's Army the last 2 days and I finished the first 4 scenario's, winning most of them on the last or second last turn. What a joy to play, thanks so much for this present. It feels very intuitive and logical and also has little surprises in the scenario design that I can appreciate a lot. I will not give any spoilers if you can call them that. The scenario's can take a long time but not in a bad way, my attention stays with the game and development of the the battle all the time.

I haven't noticed anything that was not working well. Maybe only the artillery score in one of the earlier scenarios were the numbers of the score jump up and down but only while looking at the score during the enemy turn. Not sure if that happens in the regular game scenarios as well but when it's your turn all is displayed correct. I can't wait to spoil some more time playing the rest of the scenarios. A shame if have to work, to own money, between the scenarios. Well done! Also historically a nice refresher.

My advice, play this mod!

nice, thanks.

[Zbrozlo]

I played The Polish People's Army the last 2 days and I finished the first 4 scenario's, winning most of them on the last or second last turn. What a joy to play, thanks so much for this present. It feels very intuitive and logical and also has little surprises in the scenario design that I can appreciate a lot. I will not give any spoilers if you can call them that. The scenario's can take a long time but not in a bad way, my attention stays with the game and development of the the battle all the time.

I haven't noticed anything that was not working well. Maybe only the artillery score in one of the earlier scenarios were the numbers of the score jump up and down but only while looking at the score during the enemy turn. Not sure if that happens in the regular game scenarios as well but when it's your turn all is displayed correct. I can't wait to spoil some more time playing the rest of the scenarios. A shame if have to work, to own money, between the scenarios. Well done! Also historically a nice refresher.

My advice, play this mod!

Thanks for the kind review! I'm glad that playing the mod brings you some joy. As for the artillery counter, there have always been issues with it, even in the original scenarios. However, the damage points inflicted by the artillery are counted and summed up. Nothing is subtracted.

[Zbrozlo]

I forgot to mention that the battles take place at the battalion scale. This presents a challenge because, according to the Russian standard, armored battalions are smaller in size than their German counterparts. The same applies to armored artillery battalions and armored regiments, making accurate representation difficult.

There is no need to purchase many additional units for your core force. As the campaign progresses, newly formed units will be added, just as they were historically. Eventually, the 1st Polish Army consisted of five infantry divisions, an artillery division, an armored brigade, a heavy tank regiment, a self-propelled anti-tank gun regiment, a small cavalry brigade, a mixed aviation division, and several other additional units. Some of these were not included in the core forces to maintain game balance and prevent it from becoming too easy.

The last major reinforcements will arrive in the scenario focused on the liberation of Warsaw. In the scenario involving the crossing of the Oder River, the player may receive captured German armored equipment—but only if a certain condition is met during the battles in Pomerania.

[MattParey]

Another great piece of work that makes a really strong impression. Huge thanks to Zbrozlo for your effort and for this mod.
I haven't had the chance to play through the entire campaign yet. I’ve only made it to the battle against the SS Corps (a hell of a tough fight). My favorite mission so far has been the Warsaw uprising. It's packed with historical details that truly capture the atmosphere of struggle in a forced alliance with the Soviet Union, and I really appreciate that aspect.
As for issues, I also noticed the disappearing damage points for artillery strikes, but the missions still work fine and can be completed without any problems. For those still wondering whether it’s worth playing—I highly recommend it. The missions are well designed, immersive, and challenging, perfectly reflecting the drama of the eastern front battles. Once again, huge thanks for all the work you put into this mod!

[pupski]

Hi, at the moment I am in the Pomeranian Operation scenario in my second try. I restarted it around turn 15 because I noticed that my strategy was bad. Being at that point in the game let's you know I like it a lot off-course. But for the first time in the campaign, in turn 15, I had a little #orbitalcommand peek because of the time I have left and how large that map is. To my surprise some bunkers in the south near the most south western spam point, uh, I mean deployment zone had vanished. I just had a security force there and spotted the bunkers in turn 1, 4 and 8 if I am not mistaken. But in turn 15 they had "magically" disappeared. I reloaded older saves of the same game and until turn 8 the bunkers and troops were there. I don't save every turn but peaking in turn 15 showed me the bunkers that I haven't touched or attacked were all gone. I am just wondering, is this an error or a feature or something that is worth reporting to you?

It is such a great piece of work and very interesting to play. I only played Order of Battle for some 2600 hours, or a bit more, but how great is it to play it in a sort of new perspective, a kind of fixed scale, with more logical use of artillery and such. I really appreciate what you gave me, hooray and bravo and also just thanks! If I can do something in return, I would at least try to do that

[Zbrozlo]

Hi!
First of all, thank you so much for the kind words – it really means a lot to hear that you're enjoying the campaign and the different perspective it offers. I'm very glad it's resonating with someone who's spent so much time with Order of Battle!

As for the disappearing bunkers – yes, that's actually a bit of inconsistency on my part. They were supposed to be removed across the board, but in the end I left it as it was. This scenario gave me quite a few headaches during development, and balancing it took a lot of time and effort, so in the end I let that part slide a bit. Let's say the enemy command decided to pull back some of its defensive lines to reorganize, while leaving others behind for delaying purposes.

Thanks again for playing, and if you ever have more feedback or questions, I’m always happy to hear them! And hey — by playing the mod and enjoying it, you've already done more than enough to give something back. You're a real OoBWWII maniac!

[pupski]

The scenario ended fun, I had to hold my grounds against those retreating bad guys and just survived with 491 casualties, 9 below the max of 500. It was a good challenge, manoeuvring, selecting the right paths on such a large map. The battalion size units make good sense. Almost for the first time in playing this game I feel the need or urge to think in a real organised way, keeping the units with the right name and numbers close together in most cases. Also using the artillery on such a wide scale is next level fun. I beat the next scenario pretty fast although I was not fully sure how to handle the enemy ships. I bombed some and when they had 3 or 4 points of life left they disappeared, there is a logic in that. The planes can make a good difference and you can''t use them in a crazy way because of the flight distance in most scenarios. But they can give a good punch when you time their usage right. Yes, very enjoyable. I already liked the earlier (early war) mod which was very challenging. Most scenarios I beat just in time on the last turn, good fun. Thanks again for the great work and effort!

[Zbrozlo]

Thanks a lot for the great feedback! I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed the scenario and found it challenging in a satisfying way. That close call with the casualty limit definitely adds some tension – well played surviving with just 491!

The disappearing german ships after taking heavy damage is intentional. Perhaps I should improve the description of how to deal with them. The idea was to force them to retreat from the area rather than sink them, since they will take part in the battle for Kolberg later on.

[pupski]

The disappearing ships felt very logical, it was more like a nice surprise and it felt like they were leaving because of the damage, nice detail. I finished the campaign and raised the flag Polish flag . It was fun to play and also a nice bit of extra history, a lot of historical details I never learned before.

Some things that I noticed about the game and/or the scenario. In the last scenario it was very hard to spot the deployment hexes in the city environment. Ah, and placing the type of artillery forced me to downgrade 3 pieces because most of my artillery was stronger in the last scenario. Luckily I had the money left. In the game I find it (still) hard to plan a route on a big map. I can never predict which type of truck or cart or armoured vehicle can make how many steps/moves on roads through a forest. That's a game thing but it had me scratching my head while looking at the big forest sections. It is part of the fun and challenge of course, the planing of routes. I also did like the situations where the Germans tried to attack my flank while I was on the offensive. I learned to at least leave a screening division at all flanks, just in case.

Game wise not all specialisations are useful in this campaign, which is not much of a problem. Like the planes and tanks upgrades which I was not able to use because there were no new plane types or I didn't need extra tanks. Not an issue but I just recorded that in my mind. I think the battalion scale works very well in this game and you made it work as well in balance and also map size.

Oké, bravo! Thanks again, I enjoyed spending my time on this a lot.

[Zbrozlo]

Of course, the mod has its strengths and weaknesses. Most of the issues usually stem from my determination to keep the campaign as historically accurate as possible. It's true that I didn't put much emphasis on specialisations, but that mainly results from the point in the war where the campaign begins.

The maps feature a lot of forested areas, and traveling on forest roads can indeed cause problems for motorized units — this is largely because I based the maps on real historical sources, and the movement mechanics are as they are; I chose not to modify them. At the moment, I am working on a short campaign focused on the Polish 2nd Army, which also operates in heavily forested regions. This time, I’m trying to clear some of the areas along the forest roads to make movement a little smoother.

Thanks and best regards!

[pupski]

On the maps, choosing the right route, through or around a forest was a nice part of the planning. I was just a bit lazy with remembering the rules. A forest with a road makes the speed of a unit double the normal rate. And now, after finishing the whole campaign I remember that rule. But I think that only counts for the hard roads? On the dirt roads in forest the carts are only doing 1 step a turn if I remember correctly. I never got it straight which kind of vehicle does what speed on what road type on which terrain. Maybe I should play more

But that's a game issue, in planning and reaching the goals it worked perfectly so the scenarios really work. I look forward to the Second Polish Army, it will be just as much fun I expect. tnx

[Zbrozlo]

It will be a very short campaign, actually, because the Polish 2nd Army fought only one, but very bloody battle — at Bautzen (Budziszyn), in Lusatia. It was the last partial success of German forces on the Eastern Front. The campaign will probably consist of 5 scenarios, including 3 covering consecutive phases of the Battle of Bautzen.

[Dmoore]

So, I just found this (Poland 1939 v. 1.5) and played the first scenario. Would like to play more but scenario 2 shows complete loading except the 'continue' button does not light up and my mouse becomes unstable. Any suggestions from those who have manged to play this?

[Zbrozlo]

Meanwhile try loading the last turn again. I haven’t had this issue myself, but I’ll check it later this evening.