Elite: 1st Guards - Historical Accuracy Challange

[Tassadar]

Elite - 1st Guards

Difficulty - Generalissimus

As per usual these days, with 20% random chance.

Traits - Force Dispersion, Infantry General, Panzer General

Since the scale of this DLC is supposed to be massive, I am going for two traits that allow having more units. This will also be important to supply an air force, since the Dev Diaries hinted at a more notable air element, thus making Denied Air Force not as fun, potentially. Negative trait of Force Dispersion is meant to somehow go in line with the deep battle doctrine and should help dissuade me from making few super units when possible and instead go for a lot of powerful independent mixed formations.

Elite - 1st Guards - Lessons of War

Starting Prestige: 5147

Order of Battle:

Infantry

1st Infantry Battalion - OS20 - International Brigade (Truck)
2nd Infantry Battalion - OS20 - International Brigade (Truck)
3rd Infantry Battalion - OS20 - International Brigade (Truck)
4th Infantry Battalion - OS20 - International Brigade (Truck)

Tank

1st Tank Battalion - OS13 - T-26 M1933
2nd Tank Battalion - OS13 - T-26 M1933
3rd Tank Battalion - OS13 - T-26 M1933
4th Tank Battalion - OS13 - T-26 M1933

Recon

1st Reconnaissance Company - OS15 - BA-6

Artillery

1st Field Artillery Group I. Battery - OS15 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Horse Transport)
1st Field Artillery Group II. Battery - OS15 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Horse Transport)
1st Field Artillery Group III. Battery - OS15 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Horse Transport)
1st Field Artillery Group IIV. Battery - OS15 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Horse Transport)

Fighter

1st Fighter Squadron - OS13 - I-15
2nd Fighter Squadron - OS13 - I-15
3rd Fighter Squadron - OS13 - I-16
4th Fighter Squadron - OS13 - I-16

Tactical Bomber

1st Bomber Squadron - OS13 - SB-2
2nd Bomber Squadron - OS13 - SB-2

This one scenario I will need to reply on relatively scarce information, so I will not have a massively accurate historical force. One thing I was able to do is cut BT-5 tanks to replace them with T-26, as BT-5 did not arrive until 1938, at least based on sources I saw. I also removed the 203mm artillery, which did not serve in Spain (again, according to what I was able to get) and got added for gameplay reasons. It felt strange to have a somehow limited custom army roster possible, but I can live with that, even if some other units should be possible to get, like the AT guns. All infantry got trucks, since a side-effect of overstrength caused horse transports to be overwritten. A minor inaccuracy, but I am fine with it for game balance. Finally, I diversified the fighter force and added some SB bombers, as well as made changes to recon cars.

Note that unit naming will likely remain in English this time, unless acronyms are used. This is mostly to address Cyrillic alphabet and challenges that could come with transcribing.

Highlights


Updated army ready for battle. I am not sure if I will be using overstrength as often later, as I prefer not to do so much here, but that might still happen to represent different unit sizes and some other ideas if I cannot deploy any more accurate forces.


Now who do we have here! A nod to Axis Operations? A really nice, small addition to the map and something that immediately makes me smile remembering all the previous playthroughs of that series.


My air force has an clear advantage over the enemy and quickly establishes what is basically air dominance.


One group moving northeast is making its way long the river, so far with mostly limited resistance.


Vega and friends operate further east. I make use if auxiliary forces, as the map is huge, so I need some additional help.


Since my fighters are not that busy, they can start strafing vulnerable ground targets such as artillery.


First prestige objective secure. That was a really nice cache that allowed me to bounce back a bit after the initial fighting and some losses taken so far.


Second prestige target also captured. These are diverting my forces from the main goal, but I have time. 35 turns seems almost infinite at this point.


Mirarlio also is about to fall and I am now starting to build up a rather nice prestige cushion.


As it turns out, not all enemy planes are pushovers, but still I have serious numerical advantage and can just gang up on that single fighter unit.


First special hero of the campaign. As he was earned in an air-focused objective, I'll try to keep him as a pilot in the future. With this in mind, I take the potentially most useful ability, to help snipe escorted bombers.


First of the main objectives secure, but I still have some bonus work to do.


Swampy terrain southeast is not perfect for tanks, but at least my planes can get some easy infantry kills.


Destroying the CTV armored vehicles grants another special hero. I take the Ignores ZOC ability, as it seems to fit best the battle doctrine targets I want to go for.


Last prestige objective finally mine, thankfully the defenders were rather passive in this area.


What is left is just capturing the last main objective and wiping out a few remaining CTV and nationalist forces.


Hmm... shouldn't this be 1937? Also, as I mentioned earlier, sources I saw suggested BT-5 tanks were not used here, they only arrived in 1938, thus not having the option to partake in fighting at the Battle of Guadalajara.

Summary

Final Prestige: 14453 (up 9306)

Overall

A truly grand scale start for what was promised in the 1st Guards. This first mission has proportions unlike any other initial scenario I recall so far, but it does not go overboard. Despite 35 turns seeming to be a really long time, the pace is quick, so this setting does not overstay its welcome. I enjoyed the way all objectives - main, prestige and special ones worked, really a textbook example of this formula already tested in previous addons. The fact that customizable heroes remain is a plus as well, it adds replay value and flexibility. Vega was a small cameo, welcome to see and very subtle, just noticeable by those who know him from AO.

On the other hand, I was surprised to notice a few strange things for this supposedly more historically accurate setting. I can live with the use of 203mm artillery and some other vehicles added for gameplay balance reasons. However, the scenario should almost certainly have some customized units file that would allow for more accuracy. There are things like AT or AA guns missing that a player might want to deploy. I suspect this was limitation of the early map date and default units files, but could have used some tinkering. It would also be nice to see at least one custom unit, like a R-5 plane available for use, but I guess that is something the lower price tag of Elite series will not allow for due to how much effort goes into new models. Just some minor nitpicks initially, which should all disappear once the missions move to later stages of the war. It is also nothing that would take away from the experience itself. The start is really promising and I can't wait for the next missions.

[Tassadar]

Elite - 1st Guards - Ending Stalemates

Hero:


Hero assigned to 7th Armored Brigade, as the Exterminator ability is useful to have on recon vehicles to help mop up severely damaged targets. The bonus attack can usually guarantee the enemy goes down.

Starting Prestige: 7718

Order of Battle:

Infantry

36th Motorized Rifle Division - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - *
57th Rifle Division - OS18 - Regular (Truck) - *
82nd Rifle Division - OS18 - Regular (Truck) - *
5th Rifle-Machine-Gun Brigade - OS16 - SU HW Inf (Truck)
212th Airborne Brigade - OS16 - Regular (Truck)
1st Rifle Regiment - OS16 - Regular (Truck)
32nd Field Engineers Company - SU Engineers (Truck)

Tank

6th Tank Brigade I - OS13 - BT-5 - Ignores ZOC, Rapid Fire 1.5x, Steamroller
6th Tank Brigade II - OS11 - BT-7 - * - Steamroller
11th Tank Brigade I - OS13 - BT-5 - * - Steamroller
11th Tank Brigade II - OS11 - BT-7 - * - Steamroller
11th Tank Brigade Supplement Company - OS11 - OT-133

Recon

7th Armored Brigade - OS11 - BA-6 - ** - Exterminator
8th Armored Brigade - OS11 - BA-10
9th Armored Brigade - OS11 - BA-10
5th Rifle-Machine-Gun Brigade BA - BA-6
82nd Rifle Division Tank Brigade - OS11 - T-37

Anti-Tank

36th Motorized Rifle Division AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
57th Rifle Division AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
82nd Rifle Division AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
5th Rifle-Machine-Gun Brigade AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
37th Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
85th Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)

Artillery

36th Motorized Rifle Division ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Truck) - *
57th Rifle Division ATY I - OS11 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Truck) - *
57th Rifle Division ATY II - 122mm M1938 (Truck)
82nd Rifle Division ATY I - OS11 - 76.2mm M1902/30 (Truck) - *
57th Rifle Division ATY II - 122mm M1938 (Truck)
185th Artillery Regiment - OS11 - 152mm M1938 (Truck)
6th Tank Brigade ATY - BT-7A

Anti-Aircraft

85th Anti-Aircraft Regiment - 85mm M1939 (Truck)
150th Anti-Aircraft Battalion - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck)
63rd Anti-Aircraft Battalion - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck)
66th Anti-Aircraft Battalion - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck)

Fighter

70th IAP I - OS11 - I-15
22nd IAP I - OS11 - I-15
70th IAP II - OS11 - I-16 - Famous, Lightning Attack
22nd IAP II - OS11 - I-16

Tactical Bomber

150th SAP - OS11 - SB-2 - *
38th SBAP - OS11 - SB-2 - *

Oh boy, the research for this scenario took me almost as much time as playing it out! Fortunately, there is a good paper on the subject I could refer to and thus had a much more detailed insight into the equipment, units and naming. There are some needed compromises given the game cannot ideally represent mixed tanks types in a single unit or other more complex situations, but overall, I am satisfied with the result. As in the 7th Panzer DLC, I gave individual units, especially those infantry ones, their dedicated AT and field artillery, where possible. Tanks divisions got split into 2 parts, to represent the mixed BT-5 and BT-7 composition, extra recon elements and AA cover were also added. I selected two most known fighter units and confirmed bombers from this battle also. Overall, the only element that does not match the historical situation more accurately is the AA unit equipment, as they should have the 76,2 mm gun. Sadly, that one is not available in the game, so I had to compromise a bit, giving larger AA units the more powerful 85 mm, and the rest the lighter 37 mm.

Highlights


Ready for battle! The overall plan is to have tanks push through the middle of the map, then shift west or east as needed, while infantry and artillery attempts to besiege both Japanese headquarters.


In the east so far so god. I have a slow force, but its purpose is only to bind the Japanese while tanks attack from another direction.


Armored push in the open goes well. Rough terrain proves to be less ideal than I had hoped, as it severely limits movement of wheeled vehicles, but the enemy weak point certainly seems to be located here.


As I battle the Japanese air force, I suddenly realize the presence of Zero fighters, that have no business being here at all. That said, this is a limit of the units available, as the Ki-27 is not present in the game files. While I understand that creating a separate unit for a lower priced DLC would make designing a separate model more cost difficult to justify, reusing some other plane (let's say even the Fiat G.50 as a placeholder) and coding in that extra fighter would come a long way. Perhaps this can be revisited once the Chinese DLC comes out? At least the Ki-30 and Ki-21 are added already!


First airfield secure and its defenders trapped. Enemy bomber raids have been difficult to fully counter, and thus that extra prestige should cover my losses up to this point.


Second prestige objective captured in a very similar fashion. Mobility of BT tanks, especially that one unit with Ignores ZOC, is proving invaluable in the scenario.


Auxiliary forces in both locations are holding well, not requiring any support from me. It is good to know I do not need to rush to their rescue.


My tanks move east now, to help assault the first command bunker. Enemy aircraft continue to be a nuisance, as my fighters are most of the time just a little to weak to take one out, even if they all focus it down.


I also approach the western command bunker. It has lighter defenses, so with a bit of luck I might be able to capture it using more limited measures and won't have to wait for armored reinforcements.


Situation in the east stabilized. All that is left is to encircle the command post, wait until it is suppressed and deal with it while taking no losses.


Giving the AT guns some valuable chances to gain early experience!


Wester bunker now also falls. As suspected, I did not have to divert my tanks to assist. Japanese forces in the area were much weaker, so I was able to encircle the location easier.


First special hero granted. Since I use Force Dispersion and cannot combine heroes for more powerful synergies, I select No Retaliation as a universally good trait to have intended for infantry.


Second hero choice is Vigilant, following the same reasoning as earlier. It is good as a standalone option that does not require special support. I also plan to use this hero on infantry, most likely a heavy infantry unit, but that remains to be seen depending on what I can deploy next time.


With all side objectives met, I just send the lone recon tank to meet up with allied forces and end the mission.

Summary

Final Prestige: 14088 (up 6370)

Overall

This was an enjoyable follow-up to the first scenario, allowing the player to slowly build up the army and get some experience for all the units. Map proved to be more nuanced then the open terrain might suggest, as patches of rough ground severely limited movement and meant not all directions of approach were equally. Using tanks in the middle and then shifting them east or west is clearly the intended approach, as just charging into fortified zones head on would be very costly. Tanks in this period have paper-thin armor and are ill suited for such operations, relying mostly on mobility to be successful. Recon vehicles have it even worse with the way terrain hampers their movement.

Commenting on other aspects of this scenario, while I did voice some concerns about the presence of the A6M fighter on the map, limited by the available units in the game, I did not have such issues with the Ki-49-I special prototype. Even though at that point in time the plane didn't even have a mockup complete, this type of approach is fine, since a single prototype style unit from time to time is a way to add some challenge and surprise. It is only when regular units suddenly start appearing out of their era and location when it becomes a noticeable issue. In fact, the air combat in this mission is really well designed. Since the Soviet fighters are still rather poor, shooting down all Japanese planes and achieving air dominance is almost impossible without AA Veteran, or investing multiple slots into extra fighter units. With just the four I had, I cleared all lighter Japanese aircraft, but could not intercept all strategic bombers, that continue to harass my ground troops until the very last turn. There's something to be said for trying to balance out this element, as the way it is designed in Panzer Corps 2 often leads to clearing the skies in the first few turns. Extra reinforcement weaves are one option, but trying to add special heroes and more powerful planes that last longer is certainly also viable, especially in the early years of the war where attack values are still low. It was a refreshing experience having to constantly think about opposing bombers and never really feeling like ruing the skies for a change.

[armedevil]

Nice writeup, but how can you field so many units? I count about 90 core slots, and the scenario gives only 82 (which is actually already a lot of units).
/edit: I see you got Infantry General & Panzer General infantry traits, so that would explain.

[Tassadar]

Nice writeup, but how can you field so many units? I count about 90 core slots, and the scenario gives only 82 (which is actually already a lot of units).
/edit: I see you got Infantry General & Panzer General infantry traits, so that would explain.

Yes, that was my exact intent to take both traits and have even more units considering the advertised scale of this DLC and the "deep battle doctrine" that especially later will require me to have multiple avenues of attack. Funny enough, that might still be a bit short in some missions. I'm currently setting up Yelnya offensive deployment and I had to skip two divisions the were used for containment of this salient as well as some other supporting forces. I could maybe have them all but underrepresented, but it would feel strange. That's even not counting for the fact what aircraft will do to some missions, taking up precious slots (and argument for going AA Veteran like I did with 7th Panzer, but I felt it would make things to easy and not allow to test out the air-focused objectives). I'm really curious how big this core will grow by the end, but already in the third mission the list is getting massive!

[armedevil]

You could add auxiliary force (compensate with e.g. the innocuous fear of the unknown) to recruit a suitable amount of (extra) air units. That would give extra room for historical units, instead of AA veteran which seems rather artificial.

[Tassadar]

Elite - 1st Guards - Born in Flames

Hero:


Getting this hero and not assigning him to a unit of KV tanks would be wasteful.

Starting Prestige: 7238

Order of Battle:

Infantry

102nd Tank Division 102 Mot Inf Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - * - Famous, Vigilant
102nd Tank Division 102 Bridge Eng Btn - OS17 - SU Bridge Eng (Truck)
107th Infantry Division 586 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - * - Legendary, No Retaliation
107th Infantry Division 630 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - **
107th Infantry Division 765 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - **
107th Infantry Division 188 Eng Btn - SU Engineers (Truck) - *
100th Infantry Division 85 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck) - *
100th Infantry Division 331 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck)
100th Infantry Division 355 Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck)
100th Infantry Division 90 Eng Btn - SU Engineers (Truck)
106th Motorized Infantry Division 540 Inf Rgt - OS16 - Regular (Truck)
106th Motorized Infantry Division 1 Mot Inf Rgt - OS16 - SU HW Inf (Truck)
106th Motorized Infantry Division 2 Mot Inf Rgt - OS16 - SU HW Inf (Truck)
303th Infantry Division 845 Rgt - OS21 - Conscript
303th Infantry Division 847 Rgt - OS21 - Conscript
303th Infantry Division 849 Rgt - OS21 - Conscript
303th Infantry Division 561 Eng Btn - SU Engineers (Truck)
309th Infantry Division 995 Rgt - OS21 - Conscript

Tank

102nd Tank Division 204 Rgt I - KV-1/41 - * - Provocator, Steamroller
102nd Tank Division 204 Rgt II - OS11 - BT-7 - ** - Steamroller
102nd Tank Division 205 Rgt I - T-34/40 - ** - Ignores ZOC, Rapid Fire 1.5x, Steamroller
102nd Tank Division 205 Rgt II - OS11 - BT-7 - ** - Steamroller
103rd Infantry Division 147 Tank Rgt - OS11 - T-26 - * - Steamroller

Recon

102nd Tank Division Recon Btn - OS11 - BA-10 - **** - Exterminator
107th Infantry Division 160 Recon Btn - OS11 - T-37 - **
100th Infantry Division 69 Recon Btn - OS11 - BA-10 - **
303th Infantry Division 365 Recon Company - OS11 - BA-10 - *
120th Infantry Division 150 Recon Btn - OS11 - BA-10 - *

Anti-Tank

102nd Tank Division 102 Mot Inf Rgt AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
107th Infantry Division 203 AT Btn - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
100th Infantry Division 81 AT Btn - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
103rd Infantry Division 155 AT Btn - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
120th Infantry Division 180 AT Btn - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
19th Infantry Division 132 AT Btn - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)

Artillery

102nd Tank Division 102 Mot Inf Rgt ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck) - **
102nd Tank Division Howitzer Rgt - 152mm M1938 (Truck) - *
107th Infantry Division 347 ATY Btn - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck) - **
107th Infantry Division 508 Howitzer Btn - 122mm M1938 (Truck) - *
100th Infantry Division 34 ATY Btn - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck) - *
100th Infantry Division 46 Howitzer Btn - 122mm M1938 (Truck) - *
106th Motorized Infantry Division 106 ATY Rgt - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck)
106th Motorized Infantry Division 540 SPG Rgt - BT-7A - *
303th Infantry Division 844 ATY Rgt - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck)

Anti-Aircraft

102nd Tank Division AA Btn - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *
107th Infantry Division 203 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck) - *
100th Infantry Division 183 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck) - *
303th Infantry Division 566 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck)
103rd Infantry Division 256 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck)
120th Infantry Division 105 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck)
19th Infantry Division 253 AA Btn - 85mm M1939 (Truck)

Tactical Bomber

Recon Btn - OS12 - U-2

Fortunately the Yelnya offensive is well documented, so the abundant references allowed me to build a very accurate core force, at least for my needs. That said, I had to limit the flank security and other containing units to just token presence and most of the effort went into 102nd Tank Division, as well as 100th and 107th Infantry Divisions. Other two complete formations are 106th Motorized Infantry Division and 303th Infantry Division, but the rest is just symbolic. That is fine, since my plan will rely on using the 100th, 102nd and 107th only, while the rest of the divisions guards other areas of the map, only taking action if an opportunity presents itself. I already have no aircraft aside from one spotter plane unit, limited tanks forces and tons of infantry, so the ability of those other units to stage any reliable operations in face of German armor would be limited and I don't want to risk extra losses.

As for the overall structure of the force, it is good to finally see better tanks, even in limited numbers. Most of the infantry is regular, but the few freshly formed divisions have conscripts. Supporting artillery, anti-tank and recons are all decent, so the ground situation is overall fine. As for the air, I can historically only deploy recons, so I will have to rely on AA artillery to do the hard work. It makes me actually happy now about the lack of the 76.2mm artillery int he game as it can get replaced with the 85 mm version with better stats and range. This should help even out the odds a bit, but I will still be at a major disadvantage, constantly harassed by bombers I probably cannot shoot down. Maybe I can trap some of them on airfields in the rain?

Reserve:

1st Reserve F - OS11 - I-15 - *
2nd Reserve F - OS11 - I-15 - *
3rd Reserve F - OS11 - I-16 - * - Famous, Lightning Attack
4th Reserve F - OS11 - I-16 - *
1st Reserve TB - OS11 - SB-2 - *
2nd Reserve TB - OS11 - SB-2 - **

Most of the air force is in reserve, as the Soviets only had some spotter aircraft available at that point in time. Thus I need to rely one more inefficient means of dealing with German air presence. This will likely drain my prestige, but keep the challenge as close to the actual situation as possible.

Highlights


102nd Tank Division and 107th Infantry Division will advance from the north. All zone deployment will be historical as well since the map allows for it. The 100th will be also deployed on turn 1. These divisions will do most, if not all of the fighting.


106th Motorized Infantry Division and 303th Infantry Division are in the south, but they lack any serious equipment. As such, they will only engage the enemy if the circumstances are favorable.


Token representation of the 103rd and 19th Infantry Divisions, as I lack core slots to add it in full. They will just guard the area.


Same for 309th Infantry Division...


...as well as 120th Infantry Division. They just stay put int heir assigned zones using some token units to represent their involvement.


Capturing Mitino for valuable extra prestige is quick and easy due to my local numerical advantage. Germans are on the receiving end of their Schwerpunkt approach this time!


Recons from 303th Infantry Division spot the enemy, but my units stay in place. I saw some good tanks in the area and my troops are ill-equipped to handle them there.


An encounter with "Das Reich" and a relatively weak unit as well! I quickly take the opportunity and destroy the StuGIIIB which strayed away from his friends.


Sadly the awards are not worth it this time in the context of the rules of my run. These are all certainly useful bits of equipment for anyone interested, but I am staying faithful to the historical composition, so won't find use for them.


To make matters worse, rest of the nasty German fellows appear eager to take revenge. Provocator hero really saves me here!


As the 102 Tank Division disengages and moves east some "Das Reich" units still pursue, and German strategic bombers make it difficult to escape. A few of my men need to move slower to cover the retreat.


100th and 107th Infantry Divisions slowly follow the road towards Yelnya. They encounter a tank counterattack in the open...


... but thanks to a quick response, encirclement and AT guns support, they manage to deal with it. This gains me a bit of extra prestige to cover ongoing losses.


As I reach the town, I am constantly harassed by the Luftwaffe, so taking airfields becomes important to scatter the planes further and buy me at least a bit of respite.


Narrative pop-up as I capture the first part of Yelnya. While I did deploy the 100th Infantry Division, my whole core was based on the 30th August situation, so did not include the 127th.


Time for a bit of a gamble. I could end the mission now and cut losses early. By this point I am around the 5k prestige mark, but it is slowly drained each turn due to air attacks and my inability to shoot down any planes. I can just damage them and cause temporary retreats. I'll bet on the remaining prestige caches in side objectives being worth more than the damage suffered on the way. Plus, the experience gained in the fighting should prove useful later.


Most of the infantry forces focus on the northern objectives.


They soon reach and secure Semeshino, but the damage is quite serious.


Meanwhile 102nd Tank Division goes for Pronino and then moves to take Seleshnya. Luftwaffe attacks become more and more relentless, so it is a truly bloody affair.


Finally, I take the very last German airfield in the north. With nowhere to go, several fighters and bombers fall from the sky in the most satisfactory air base capture I have ever done in the game. Revenge is sweet!


Seleshnya falls after a quick battle, much faster now that the air threat has essentially lost half of its presence.


Khibarnovo is also secured. Ironically, the prestige hex was unguarded! I just had to drive my recon car in and have the bridge engineers left next to Yelnya take the second victory hex on the very same turn to make it a quick and risk-free part of the operation.

Summary

Final Prestige: 18188 (up 10950)

Overall

This was the second time I have ever attempted a regular scenario with no fighter cover and without AA Veteran and trust me - you really, really do not want to do that. Last time it was during one of the AO paths out of curiosity and resulted in a poor prestige result. This time the gain may seem like a massive victory.... until one realizes that my core force is battered due to constant bombardment and fighters strafing the troops, It is honestly a miracle I did not loose a unit, but I expect the repairs to be wort possibly even half of what I earned here. Tryly an accurate representation of the so-called "meat grinder at Yelnya" Ground combat was fine, but stopping those planes was the real killer. Things were so intense that three of my main AA units earned "Skilled Support" medal and three stars of experience in this one mission! If it wasn't for the prestige bonus objectives I'd just cut the mission short upon capture of Yelnya and wouldn't even consider further fighting.

The question now is, how does it translate into the enjoyment of this mission? I will be honest that it was probably one of my favorite scenarios in Panzer Corps 2 so far. Partially due to rules of the challenge and limitations of my core forces, having to struggle against really backbreaking odds, but also just because of the good design. The objectives are placed in a way that can allow really almost any angle of attack, some better than others (ironically the historical route might be one of the hardest due to how the map looks!). The special objective is toned down, not requiring to wipe out an entire force, just to take out a single unit, so again it can be achieved in a few different ways. Finally the briefing explains the whole situation well, giving some key advice for the battle in a subtle manner. My only regret is not having a bit more slots to spare so I could truly go all-in historical with my other divisions and try to attack from many directions at once. The way thing were, even 106th Motorized Infantry Division and 303th Infantry Division couldn't risk moving as they well ill equipped for the challenge ahead. Maybe with more forces in the East, I could give everyone a chance to participate more significantly, but that would require around 70 extra slots, even if these would end up being spent on subpar units.

You could add auxiliary force (compensate with e.g. the innocuous fear of the unknown) to recruit a suitable amount of (extra) air units. That would give extra room for historical units, instead of AA veteran which seems rather artificial.

Cool idea! It would not solve the issue that I am not allowed to deploy units that did not fight int he battle. So if Yelnya did not have any fighter and bomber support, I would not be able to use it anyway, but I see potential in having just the key namesake unit be the core, while all others it cooperates in various missions can be added as auxiliaries. This as you suggested then allows not use Denied Air force in a run, but then only have planes be auxiliary. 1st Guards seems to be a bit too loose in its tracking of a single unit compared to 7th Panzer (likely due to a more difficult history of reforming the specific formations many times over the course of the war), but if any of the future campaign in this series offer some tighter reference, I can go for that approach potentially. Thanks for the inspiring concept!

[Tassadar]

Elite - 1st Guards - Saturn on the Chir

Hero:


A hero type some people swear by, but I really like for the uses in turning off support fire in puzzle-like situations. Assigned to a motorcycle unit for their mobility aspect.

Starting Prestige: 17006

Order of Battle:

Infantry

24th Motorized Rifle Brigade - OS16 - SU HW Inf (Truck) - * - Famous, Vigilant
24th Motorized Rifle Brigade SMG - OS16 - SMG Inf (Truck) - *
13th Mining Engineer Company I - SU Engineers (Truck) - *
20th Motorized Rifle Brigade - OS16 - SU HW Inf (Truck) - **
24th Motorized Rifle Brigade SMG - OS16 - SMG Inf (Truck) - *
13th Mining Engineer Company II - SU Engineers (Truck)
1st Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade - Guards (Truck) - ** - Legendary, No Retaliation
2nd Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade - Guards (Truck) - **
3rd Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade - Guards (Truck) - **

Tank

24th Tank Corps 4th Guards Tank Brigade - T-34-1/43 - *** - Provocator, Steamroller
24th Tank Corps 54th Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - *** - Ignores ZOC, Rapid Fire 1.5x, Steamroller
24th Tank Corps 130th Tank Brigade - OS11 - T-70 - ** - Steamroller
25th Tank Corps 111th Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - ** - Steamroller
25th Tank Corps 162nd Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - * - Steamroller
25th Tank Corps 175th Tank Brigade - OS11 - T-60
16th Guards Tank Regiment - OS11 - Valentine III

Recon

24th Motorized Rifle Brigade Recon Company - OS11 - BA-10 - ***** - Exterminator
24th Motorized Rifle Brigade Recon Battalion - OS11 - Motosikl - ****
20th Motorized Rifle Brigade Recon Company - OS11 - BA-10 - ****
20th Motorized Rifle Brigade Recon Battalion - OS11 - Motosikl - * - Distraction

Anti-Tank

24th Motorized Rifle Brigade AT - OS12 - 45mm M1942 (Truck)
20th Motorized Rifle Brigade AT - OS12 - 45mm M1942 (Truck) - *
1504th Guards Anti-Tank Regiment - OS11 - 76.2 mm M1942 (Truck) - *

Artillery

24th Motorized Rifle Brigade ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck) - **
413th Guards Mortar Battalion I - BM-13 Katyusha - *
20th Motorized Rifle Brigade ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1939 (Truck) - **
413th Guards Mortar Battalion II - BM-13 Katyusha - **
116th Guards Artillery Regiment I - 122mm M1938 (Truck) - **
116th Guards Artillery Regiment II - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck) - **
407th Guards Mortar Battalion - BM-13 Katyusha - **

Anti-Aircraft

658th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment I - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
658th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment II - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
658th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment III - 85mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
24th Tank Corps AA HMG Company - OS11 - Gaz-AA MG
20th Tank Corps AA HMG Company - OS11 - Gaz-AA MG

Fighter

3rd ShAK 207 IAD I - Yak-1 - *
3rd ShAK 207 IAD II - Yak-1 - *
3rd ShAK 207 IAD III - La-5 - * - Famous, Lightning Attack
3rd ShAK 207 IAD IV - P-40M - *

Tactical Bomber

3rd ShAK 290th ShAD I - Il-2 Shturmovik - *
3rd ShAK 290th ShAD II - Il-2 Shturmovik - **
10th Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron - OS12 - U-2

After some consideration what units to deploy in this mission, I decided to limit myself to just the ones that took part in the raid on Tatsinskaya, mostly focusing on 24th and 25th Tanks Corps, as well as 1st Guards Mechanized Corps. This is not only since the 24th then became 2nd Guards Tank Corps in acknowledgment of the event, but also since otherwise I'd struggle with the slots. Adding some elements of the 5th Tank Army in the east would be good also, but beyond my core slots available in this mission. This approach had the added advantage of being able to go into a lot of detail in the forces I did deploy. T-34 is now the standard, with some T-60 and T-70 light brigades, while the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps had to limit itself to a single Lend Lease tank unit, but could have had more if I had extra slots. Guards infantry is starting to appear, as well as SMG infantry that often rode on tanks and supported them in battle. There are some better AT weapons, while artillery is getting Katuyshas. 3rd ShAK represents the air force involved in the area and the rest of core slots are spent on AA HMG Companies, as suggested... by friendly AI research support to represent the Motorized Rifle Brigade AA HMG capabilities. Overall, I am satisfied with this deployment and managed to get the level of detail I wanted. I did not find exact numbers of supporting units for 25th Tanks Corps, so I used the same as the ones supporting the 24th, just with a II next to their names.

Reserve:

1st Reserve Bridge - OS17 - SU HW Inf (Truck)
1st Reserve Recon - OS11 - BA-10 - *
1st Reserve AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
2nd Reserve AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)
3rd Reserve AT - OS12 - 45mm M1937 (Truck)

Highlights


24th Tanks Corps advances in the west, 1st Guards Mechanized Corps in the middle and 24th Tanks Corps further east. All my core forces are deployed in the northern section of the map.


Right... now that I think of it, the order of battle did not specify any bridge engineering units. The crossing will be bit of a mess.


Since Chernyshevskaya is undefended, Romanians manage to capture it. Fortunately the briefing and objectives are not interested in that location. If I had more core slots, elements of 5th Tank Army and 5th Shock Army would be stationed here.


So far so good. First airfield is almost mine and Romanian defenses quickly crumble, as they can do nothing against T-34 tanks and are not too efficient against other units as well.


Romanian fighters were nothing to write home about, but as soon as the Luftwaffe appeared, things got dicey for my own fighter force!


On the move further east, second airfield now secured.


Third airfield near Koshary is now also in sight. German planes try to slow down my advance, but their sorties are mostly just annoying. It is noting like the suffering I faced around Yelnya!


Regardless of the less threatening enemy air presence, the weather and distance make taking out individual planes more difficult. I try to focus the Stukas first, as they deal the most damage.


Chernyshevskaya recaptured. This might not be needed, but is a matter of pride!


As I near Tatsinskaya, German ground troops appear, but fortunately terrain allows me to make good use of the Provocator hero and take out a few of the enemies almost effortlessly.


Further east in the open terrain there are barely any defenders. The few under-equipped Romanians don't stand a chance, and soon yet another airfield falls.


Things get a lot more tricky on my approach to Tatsinskaya itself. That's a whole lot of Germans! Their tanks are also surprisingly effective, so I take first serious damage in the mission. That said, situation is under control and while I expect intense fighting, the special objective should not be impossible to pull of.


After all, even if I take some damage, as long as I don loose a unit I can just encircle the town and trap the enemy. The extra captures further improve my prestige situation, bringing it up to quite a respectable amount despite the hits suffered to achieve this goal.


The special heroes granted for this achievement are certainly worth the trouble! Out of the three options for Mariya Oktyabrskaya, I select the Zero Slots ability, to have better synergy with default Avenger trait by allowing free overstrength.


For Marina Raskova, I had more of tough nut to crack, but ultimately went with Lightning Attack, befitting the nature of Night Witches and their harassment raids.

Summary

Final Prestige: 32596 (up 15590)

Overall

It is good to see the prestige almost doubling, a nice cushion to have before possibly more difficult battles of 1943. Dealing with the Romanian army was a quick and easy affair, only posing some challenge due to the selected single deployment zone and the fact most of my support troops used wheeled transport, so in snowy conditions with few roads they struggled to keep up with tanks. This affected the mission's timetable and did not give me many turns left to deal with defenders of Tatsinskaya airfield, especially since the German unit count there was a bit silly. If there is one criticism I'd give this scenario, is that I'd expect the Germans to be more spread out along the southern part of the map to prevent the strange feel of a sudden difficulty spike of the elite objective. These should of course be a lot harder to achieve than basic goals of the mission, but I don't think I have ever played a map where that difference was so massive. Against Romanians I might as well used green troops with obsolete equipment, while the German defenses required a really coordinated effort of all my best forces, with close to no room for error.

[Tassadar]

Elite - 1st Guards - Citadel Sortie

Hero:


Time to give one Shturmovik unit the reputation it deserves!

Starting Prestige: 26925

Order of Battle:

Infantry

4th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade - SU HW Inf 43 (Truck) - ** - Famous, Vigilant
4th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade SMG - OS16 - SMG Inf (Truck) - *
51st Sapper Battalion - SU Engineers 43 (Truck) - *
6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade - SU HW Inf 43 (Truck) - **
6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade SMG - OS16 - SMG Inf (Truck) - *
10th Guards Sapper Battalion - SU Engineers 43 (Truck) - *
276th Guards Rifle Regiment - Guards (Truck) - *** - Legendary, No Retaliation
280th Guards Rifle Regiment - Guards (Truck) - ***
282nd Guards Rifle Regiment - Guards (Truck) - **
105th Separate Guards Sapper Battalion - SU Engineers 43 (Truck)

Tank

25th Guards Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - **** - Ignores ZOC, Rapid Fire 1.5x, Steamroller
26th Guards Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - *** - Avenger, Steamroller, Zero Slots
4th Guards Tank Brigade - OS11 - T-70 - * - Steamroller
47th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment - KV-1/42 - *** - Provocator, Steamroller
20th Guards Tank Brigade - T-34/43 - *** - Steamroller
21st Guards Tank Brigadee - T-34/43 - ** - Steamroller
193rd Separate Tank Regiment - OS11 - M3 Lee - * - Steamroller

Recon

4th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade Recon Company - OS11 - BA-64 - ***** - Exterminator
79th Motorcycle Battalion - OS11 - Motosikl - ****
19th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion - OS11 - BA-64 - *
6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade Recon Company - OS11 - BA-64 - ****
79th Guards Motorcycle Battalion - OS11 - Motosikl - *** - Distraction
92nd Guards Rifle Division Recon Company - OS11 - Motosikl

Anti-Tank

4th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade AT - OS12 - 45mm M1942 (Truck) - *
755th Anti-tank Battalion - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck)
6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade AT - OS12 - 45mm M1942 (Truck) - *
148th Guards Anti-tank Battalion - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck)
92nd Guards Rifle Division AT Btn - OS11 - 76.2 mm M1942 (Truck) - *
35th Guards Rifle Corps AT - 57mm M1943 (Truck)

Artillery

4th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck) - ***
1500th SU-regiment Battery I - SU-122 - **
1500th SU-regiment Battery II - SU-76
6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade ATY - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck) - ***
1440th SU-regiment Battery I - SU-122 - ***
1440th SU-regiment Battery II - SU-76
197th Guards Artillery Regiment Battery I - OS11 - 76.2mm M1942 (Truck) - **
197th Guards Artillery Regiment Battery II - 122mm M1938 (Truck) - **
107th Mortar Regiment - BM-13 Katyusha - ***
18th Howitzer Artillery Brigade - 152mm M1938 (Truck)

Anti-Aircraft

1695th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Reg - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
2nd Guards Tank Corps AA HMG Company - OS11 - Gaz-AA MG - *
465th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
5th Guards Tank Corps AA HMG Company - OS11 - Gaz-AA MG - *
92nd Guards Rifle Division AA - OS12 - 37mm M1939 (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support
92nd Guards Rifle Division AA HMG Company - OS11 - Gaz-AA MG

Fighter

294th Fighter Aviation Division - Yak-1 - **
302nd Fighter Aviation Division - La-5 - **
8th Guards Fighter Aviation Division - La-5 - ** - Famous, Lightning Attack
205th Fighter Aviation Division - Yak-7 - **

Tactical Bomber

266th Assault Aviation Division - Il-2 Shturmovik - **
292nd Assault Aviation Division - Il-2 Shturmovik - ** - Tank Killer
1st Guards Bomber Aviation Division - Petlyakov Pe-2
208th Night Bomber Aviation Division - OS11 - Po-2 - * - AT Support, Lightning Attack
2nd Guards Tank Corps Aviation Liaison Section - OS12 - U2
5th Guards Tank Corps Aviation Liaison Section - OS12 - U2

Units taking part in the operation are 2nd Guards Tank Corps, 5th Guards Tank Corps and 92nd Guards Rifle Division (as an entire Rife Corps would be way too large). There are also a few army-wide support forces and 17th Air Army. Not a lot of upgrades yet, but some changes are starting to happen, such as new BA-64 armored cars and most importantly, SU-76 and SU-122 artillery. My artillery support is thus now much more mobile and also can alternate between AT/artillery options flexibly. Given new German tanks expected, this should be a real blessing. I even get some extra Pe-2 bombers to counter the armored threat.

Reserve:

1st Reserve Bridge - OS17 - SU Bridge Eng (Truck)

Highlights


92nd Guards Rifle Division with its army-level support has the role of attacking the main objectives. Based on previous scenarios I assume these to be much less challenging then prestige and especially the special ones.


5th Guards Tank Corps has the role of moving southwest and taking the prestige objectives. Some of its elements might be diverted to support the 2nd Guards Tank Corps, if required.


2nd Guards Tank Corps is the most experienced, with all the great heroes and best equipment. Its role is to battle the elite German troops and achieve the special objective.


92nd Guards Rifle Division focuses on Kozinka for now, which has only a minimal garrison which gets easily overwhelmed.


Moving as intended, 5th Guards Tank Corps also does not encounter major resistance. So far the biggest threat is again the Luftwaffe, which operates in great numbers and has better aircraft and more experienced pilots.


Small part of 2nd Guards Tank Corps checks the eastern side, but aside from a few infantry units and planes does not find any opposition of note.


Things quickly get interesting southeast, as the main body of 5th Guards Tank Corps finds the German tanks. Provocator comes to the rescue as first group of Panthers stumbles right into the trap.


Kozinka is back in Soviet hands, so 92nd Guards Rifle Division can proceed towards the main objectives. Hills and other close terrain prove useful for this infantry based force.


Meanwhile, 5th Guards Tank Corps continues west, but a few units circle back to secure a single village. The absolutely last thing I want is someone trying to take my airfields in the case of rain!


Those Germans are not so tough! Encircle them and even elite tanks will become easy prey. They need something more than this to challenge my veterans.


I just had to open my big mouth... Fortunately as more reinforcements arrive, I am still able to flank the enemy and gradually whittle these panzers down. It is a bloody affair, but luckily German infantry seems to be rather late to the party and does not coordinate its efforts with tanks. I plan to exploit that fully.


Ha, I had a feeling that this time the objective will again give me equipment I won't be able to use. That is actually fine, just getting this done is an award in of itself.


A bit more prestige gained as I capture Vasylivka and move further west.


Wow, this will take some time! The Germans certainly had a lot more than just 10 armored units in this area.


Finally 2nd Guards Tank Corps is done and can assist the attack on main objectives. It might end up being late to the fight, but still should be able to contribute somewhat.


Okhtyrka falls first, as more of my army was moving through that area. This opens up the way north to the other main goal. Defenses are solid but nothing as fierce as what I already faced in the scenario.


Getting Sumy is just a formality. There are barely any enemies left, so I can take care of the limited delaying force stationed here.

Summary

Final Prestige: 36199 (up 9274)

Overall

The challenge balance was appropriate in the mission. I was glad that German tanks with No Surrender and Survivor did not also have traits preventing encirclement, as things might not have went as well as they did. It is clear that in a 1 vs. 1 battle even my best vehicles don't have the same power as their Axis counterparts, at least for now. Since I also do not have a major numerical advantage there is a lot of depth to decisions about support fire and unit placement. Kind of reminded me of general Bertorelli and his exploits in Axis Operations using minor Axis nations. Of course this will not last forever and I expect the quality and numbers pendulum to swing in my factor in 1944 and onward.

As for keeping things in theme of "Guards" title, this scenario does have some overlap with the previous mission given how 24th Tank Corps became succeeded by the 2nd Guards Tank Corps with just some other organizational updates. Even that small level of continuity goes a long way in keeping the theme interesting and possible for me to justify in terms of historical challenge, but it is simply not as clean as Ghost Division was. Of these two alternative options, I certainly prefer following one specific unit, so hopefully this will be the direction the series takes in the future.