Elite - All American
Difficulty - Generalissimus
As per usual these days, with 20% random chance.
Traits - Infantry General, Old Guard, Inefficient Supply
It's not an easy task to figure out what works best for a paratrooper focused DLC. Infantry General feels like a no-brainer, but the rest is a mystery. In the end, I went with Inefficient Supply for the flavor of having limited access to fuel and ammo behind enemy lines, plus Old Guard, as it might be way to easy to accidentally land in a bad place and loose a unit entirely. I did not go deeper into custom options, as the challenge and the uncertainty of how missions are designed seemed to favor a more conservative approach.
Elite - All American - First Blood
Starting Prestige: - 900
Order of Battle:
Infantry
HQ Co / Team Gavin - US Airborne 43
Co A, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co B, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co C, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co G, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co H, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co I, 505th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co I, 504th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co K, 504th PIR - US Airborne 43
Co B, 307th Abn Eng - US Airborne 43
Recon
82nd Abn Recon (Prov) - M3A1 Scout Car
505th PIR HQ Scouts - Willys Jeep
504th PIR HQ Scouts - Willys Jeep
Artillery
Btry A, 456th PFAB - 75mm M1A1
Btry B, 456th PFAB - 75mm M1A1
I keep the initial order of battle as-is. The setup is rather faithful to the events (beyond the recons, but they can represent provisioned vehicles). I should also not have organic transports for artillery, but it would not work with the game mechanics. Extra slots left, all 19 of them, can later be used to represent units that assisted the 82nd in the later phases of the battle and/or provided air cover. Interestingly, this was a rather small scale battle, so my units don't represent full battalions or regiments as they would usually do, but much smaller formations. This might potentially persist over the course of the campaign.
Highlights
One of the Willys Jeep units is taken out on the 1st turn due to lack of fuel and full suppression! Not the use for Old Guard I envisioned, but at least it is a first time I get to benefit from this general trait. Who knows, it might save me more than once.
With a supply hex secured, additional ground support arrives in the form of Company B, 753rd Tank Bn and Company L, 180th Infantry Rgt.
After some further thought, I decide to use up my extra core slots to deploy 64th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group plus 95th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group "Kickapoo" and 522nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 27th Fighter-Bomber Group. On the ground, I also add Company A, 80th Airborne Anti-Tank Bn.
That's an interesting use of scripting to represent events. I'd much rather try to ambush the tanks myself, but it works for the narrative, so I won't complain much.
Another triangulation point taken, another tank down!
And one more! This is going smoothly, as defenses of each point are purely token forces. Two paratroopers at a time are able to deal with them easily.
Getting the heroic objective of capturing Niscemi is a totally different story, as Germans don't surrender easily. Fortunately, the enemy seems to be set to not repair any damage, so patience wins this battle.
The customizable heroes are back, so time to set some useful combination.
I go for Rapid Fire 1.5x and Artillery Support, to have a way of giving my paratroopers reliable help when approaching more difficult targets in cases where artillery cannot reach.
Phew! Fortunately the enemy tanks don't risk damage attacking my infantry in close terrain, but as per combat predictions, they could easily wipe them out if they wanted to.
The points in the western part of the map are more isolated, so have to be approached last, especially considering the Tigers roaming around the area. In hindsight, if I knew how the mission plays out, I'd start with the western side and then move east.
In the end it looks like we will have to get close and personal!
That is easier than it seemed at this point. Fortunately my bombers kept harassing the remaining Tigers, making them more vulnerable targets. If all else fails I still have the sheer numbers.
Summary
Final Prestige: 14898 (up 13998)
Overall
First scenario of Elite - All American DLC certainly felt different in many way from missions and campaigns fought so far. It had some interesting script use, but for now I am not yet sold on the concept. It possibly felt too different, or maybe just game mechanics limit what's possible with an airborne campaign? It remains to be seen as I play along. One thing I do appreciate, but at the same time question a bit, is the option to simply ignore the paratrooper flavor and deploy a regular core. It will certainly make missions easier and more accessible, but it makes me wonder if that's the right call. I would prefer a more determined design approach, but then again, it could bottleneck the player to just having one expected solution to a mission puzzle. I need to know more before I make up my mind. So far, I'm at the very least interested in how the concept is taken further.
