British side will represent the more infantry-focused, siege element of my army, relying on massive towed artillery and precision tactical bombers in the air. The American element will be more mobile and focused on self-propelled units, punching through weak points or trying to exploit openings, while in the air should rely on more massive-scale, strategic bombing runs. I'll start with the British force, then continue with the American side.
Difficulty - Generalissimus
Traits - Auxiliary Force, Delayed Reinforcements, Inefficient Supply, Liberator, Old Guard, Terrain Expert
The idea for the challenge this time is simple - use Delayed Reinforcements (a fist attempt at this trait) to represent the challenge of transporting men and equipment over the Mediterranean. This is combined with Inefficient Supply to signify the logistical strain of having a combination of British and American cores. As for positive traits selected, I have chosen Liberator to improve prestige and add flavor, Terrain Expert to slightly decrease losses taken while I won't be able to repair mid-mission, Old Guard to have a failsafe in case I mess up, and Auxiliary Force to have some "volunteers" that will support most dangerous assignments and take the hits for the team.
I was thinking of also using Limited Supply, but there is frankly no real point. Delayed Reinforcements already makes my replacement situation lean towards taking as few losses as possible, so the effect would be negligible. It could affect my ability to use Auxiliary Force, that's true, but for that, I plan to try and rely on some captured equipment in addition to regular (when it is available) and see how it works out.
Allied Operations: Italy: Vol.1 - Operation Ladbroke
Hero:
Starting off with not a very powerful hero. I would probably add him to some air unit normally, but for the time being I have none. Thus I grant a small bonus to recon 56th Recce Rgt that I plan to upgrade to armored cars as soon as I have the chance. It will help snipe valuable targets over the first few turns of each mission.
Starting Prestige: 600
Starting Army Composition:
Infantry
214th (North Midland) Field Coy, RE - GB Engineers 43 (Lorry)
Support Coy, 1st Bn, Royal Sussex Rgt - GB HW Inf 43 (Lorry)
2nd Bn, Royal Fusiliers - GB Infantry 43 (Lorry)
2nd Bn, Parachute Rgt - GB Paratroops 43
Recon
56th Recce Rgt - Willys Jeep - Thorough Preparation
No. 1 Air Landing Recce Sq. - Willys Jeep
Anti-Tank
61st (West Highland) AT Rgt, RA - QF 6 pounder (Lorry)
Artillery
64th (7th London) Field Rgt, RA - QF 25 pdr (Lorry)
Highlights
First focus is this small, isolated coastal battery. No challenge thanks to an overwhelming attack by infantry.
It's just too tempting not to isolate this peninsula with my infantry and make life so much easier in the following turns. There's some risk these forces will be attacked from two directions, but I am willing to take it.
Ah, an even better place to encircle the entire Italian defense in the area. This gives me two lines of units that isolate a massive part of the map. Clearly the scenario was designed like this on purpose.
Paratroopers land around Putney. The mission is dangerous, possibly requires their sacrifice, but the possible benefit is far greater than the loss of a few auxiliary units.
If I took the encirclement power traits, this mission would have been a breeze!
Real fighting only happens around Ponte Grande. A few auxiliary infantry units give their lives for the success of the operation.
My heavily damaged core forces spend their time dealing with low-risk targets, like the local bunkers.
Summary
Final Prestige: 4692 (up 4092)
Overall
I feel this was a solid start to the campaign. Usually I am not a fan of missions designed to be beaten in a very linear, specific way, but in the case of Operation Ladbroke this setup works. It's likely since that is only the first scenario and thus extremely satisfying to pull off such a large scale encirclement with just a few units. I'd go as far as to call this a very well designed tutorial. Even by pure accident it can teach new players the importance of cutting off supply in an organic way, supported by the map construction. A solid start that gives me hope for the missions to come.
As for the difficulty with the selected traits, things were not too bad so far. Abundance of auxiliary units and reliance of encirclement suppression meant that I could minimize the damage to my core army, but as seen on screens, even then the losses were quite high. Ironically, the final massive prestige gain only occurred since I did not spend a single point on mid-mission replacements. This represents an unusual dilemma, where replacing losses only at the start of a new scenario will cost less, but potentially might mean that my units take more damage than they would have at full strength. The long-term effect on prestige balance remains unknown for now.