Summary of 1939 camapign on Colonel

Horseman · Post by **Horseman** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:39 am

Overall I'd say this felt right for the difficulty level. I did find most scenarios a touch easy but on the base level (Colonel) designed as the entry point for most players I'd say that I should find it easy! Once I've gone through the 1940 campaign I'll start over on Field Marshall and get a better understanding of how hard it really is - though I have to say as the entry point for the camapign it still shouldn't be too hard (well not until you get to the hidden difficulty levels!)

A quick rundown of the scenarios played and what I liked and any improvements/changes I think could help. I'll also state the ending prestige.

Poznan: A good simple and eay to win scenario, exactly right for the 1st one n what could be a very long campaign! Just the right number of Polish air units to force you to fight for control of the skies but no where near strong enough that you;'re every really in danger of losing that fight, perfect for this stage of a campaign! The one thing I think I'd like changed is the inclusion of the towed AT gun in your starting core. These still are next to worthless on the offence and I think a new player might struggle with what to do with it. An experienced player might like to keep it around to earn a bit of XP until they're able to be upgraded to a SPAT but an experienced player can make the choice to purchase one...or as in in my case I just chose to disband it. Prestige - 931

Danzig Corridor (south) : A nice little exercise in advance quickly to capture as much as possible before you hit resitence but dont over extend yourself! The counter attack with tanks and cavalry can really hurt if you get caught unprepared BUT is not so bad that its likely to lose you the mission or totally destroy your core. At this stage of the campaign its a nice little learning exercise - perfect! Prestige - 1631

Lodz: I liked the mission of keeping auxillary units alive, a lesson in dont just use the poor chaps as canon fodder (1 of my faveroute tactics in PG!) The map invites you toi send a formation to sweep northwards and come at Lodz from that direction too (though the briefing clearly states come from the east!) which triggers a nice little counter attack...if you're not careful you could lose your whole northern force, a slightly more brutal lesson carried over from Danzig...but hopefully you learnt that lesson well so were caught with your pants down and all strung out!

Also a great lesson in "you dont always have to tackle strong defensive positions head on" Prestige - 1597

Piatck: The one thing I did not like about PG wa sit was all offense offense offense until such a time as Germany start to lose the war then it was defence defence defence. So a nice little defensive mission in the middle of the campaign = perfection for me. With the benefit of a nice big river to sit behind its really not that hard to hold of the hoardes BUT I still think something needs to be done about Bridge victory hexes. A new player might just try and sit his infantry on them to stop them being lost and that could prove fatal to them. It is kinda counter intuitive to allow a VH to be lost before takign it back once the enemy has been expended tryin gto hold them. Its also possible to counter attack but its not needed to win even a MV and if you go to soon you might just regret it! The Poles could definately do with some extra artillery here to give them a chance of forcin gthe river crossing. Prestige - 1503

Kampinoska Forest: Having to knock ou tthe trains for a DV is nice, gives you the choice of how much combat power to divert away from fighting actual enemy combat units! I do think however that the mission briefing could mention something about a) dont try and tackle Modlin Fortress and Stay away from Warsaw, I fear new players might try and crack both and lose lots of units ina futile effort. All in all a good lesson is close terrain fighting, dont use the tanks! Prestige - 877

Modlin Fortress: A nice strait forward advance and crack the defenses mission. Some tips on tacking fortificatiosn would probably be of use in the mission brief (for the new players) I think the Polish ground defenses could still do with a slight buff in the forward positions though the fighting around the fortress itself was pretty brutal. Prestige - 709

Warsaw North: This is a real nice lesson in advance to objectives in turn 1 and spend the rest of your time grinding through the well entrenched enemy! You also need to choose how many troops to spare from the main assault to tackle the secondary objectives (nbon VH but get some artillery as per the brief) All in all theres nothign I'd want changed in this one. Prestige - 1306

Spoils of war: A nice little what if? and totally optional for those who don't want to do it. I liek it because for the 1st time yo're up against superior armoured units (numbers as well as actual better equpment) and up till now you've not really had to deal with that. And who doesn't enjoy tackling a KV2 with 1939 units?! Plus for the 1st time you have a proper "fight" for air supremecy though your supperior equipment means it a fight you're not likely to lose. Can't think of anythign I'd want changed here. Prestige - 2015

Oslo: I'm seriously torn on this one. On one hand it was way too easy, on the other hand as your first attempt at an amphibious invasion it shouldn't be too harsh. I think the allies could do with a buff in the air as just one unit of rubbish biplanes really does not make a challenge. On the other hand the Norwegian airforce wasn't exactly well known for its numbers or quality either. The mssion of save the Blucher is a nice change but seems a touch easy....you can move out of range of one fort (the big one too!) then its just hit the othe rtwo with everythign you have. Overall I think I'd ad din some more air defence around the forts and maybe a few more ground troops around Oslo. Prestige - 1340

Lillehammer: Another strait forward VH grab. Way too easy again, we're on the ground now so should hae upped the difficulty compared to Oslo IMO. On the flip side the weather (snow and frozen ground) could really hamper a new player as they find themselves running out of ammo and/or fuel at the gates of the last VH. Maybe a buff to the BEF that counter attacks? But with a timed relaese so as not to get in the way preventing at least a MV? Presitige - 1271

Narvik: Would have have prefered more of a hunt for the Glorious but I'm not sure if that would work with the AI limitations. A slight increase in difficulty from the previous two but all told a bit too easy. The Allied navy could definately do with more of a buff here. Not jsut Destroyers but maybe another light or heavy Cruiser? Prestige - 1588

Summary: I think the 1939 campaign does its job extremely well. To me its all about an introduction to the game and a starting point to build up a bit of an experienced core ready for the real fighting. I think a new player staring at Colonel will struggle just enough for the game to be fun but not so much that they give up. My only real gripe is that the Norway missions just seem too easy.

Oh and I really like all the major Naval units being named....can tell you did your homework with the names (some of them seem strangely familiar from my AAR) Did you have trouble finding a name for thr French Light Cruiser?

Horseman · Post by **Horseman** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:49 pm

One thing I forgot to mention - The XP cap. As I discovered once you hit it (225xp) you can only use regualr replacements without dropping below the 200 mark if you have 9 steps remaining...at 9 or less you will end up with less than 200 XP. This si I feel set right as you still have that difficult choice to make...is maintiang the xp worth the extra prestige?

SkiTroop · Post by **SkiTroop** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:35 pm

I just downloaded version 2 and started my 1939 campaign over. Made it back to Piatek, in the process of playing through it. Overall, the balance seems improved over v1 of the download. Two glitches I'm still encountering are:

- Sometimes I don't move a recon unit the maximum distance and I can't move again, but the green movement indicator is still displayed next to the unit.
- When aircraft are low on fuel, the only white movement dot is over an airfield despite the unit being able to resupply from adjacent hexes to the field.

I hope to have enough time to finish playing through at least the 1939 campaign this weekend. Figured this would be an appropriate thread, since I am also playing on Colonel and don't believe this post needs it's own.

One other thing....Does destroying Polish unit's prior to finishing Lodz, weaken the polish forces in Piatek? I destroyed every polish tank unit, at least half a dozen. Realistically that would be a rather severe blow to Polish armor.

Horseman · Post by **Horseman** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:43 pm

SkiTroop wrote:I just downloaded version 2 and started my 1939 campaign over. Made it back to Piatek, in the process of playing through it. Overall, the balance seems improved over v1 of the download. Two glitches I'm still encountering are:

- Sometimes I don't move a recon unit the maximum distance and I can't move again, but the green movement indicator is still displayed next to the unit.
- When aircraft are low on fuel, the only white movement dot is over an airfield despite the unit being able to resupply from adjacent hexes to the field.

I hope to have enough time to finish playing through at least the 1939 campaign this weekend. Figured this would be an appropriate thread, since I am also playing on Colonel and don't believe this post needs it's own.

One other thing....Does destroying Polish unit's prior to finishing Lodz, weaken the polish forces in Piatek? I destroyed every polish tank unit, at least half a dozen. Realistically that would be a rather severe blow to Polish armor.

I have seen the same thing happen with a recon unit

With the aircraft thing...if the unit will have zero fuel once it has finished movement then it must be directly over the airfield. Or put simply a plane must have 1 or more fuel remaining to refuel from adjacent to an airfield.

And destroying the Polish units in Lodz makes no difference in Piatek

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:46 pm

It can be confusing but I think the recon thing is just that it has movement points remaining but not enough to get into an adjacent hex.

OmegaMan1 · Post by **OmegaMan1** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 7:10 pm

It can be confusing but I think the recon thing is just that it has movement points remaining but not enough to get into an adjacent hex.

While this makes sense I hope it gets changed at some point so that if a recon unit has used its available movement points the arrow goes away... this confuses me quite a bit LOL.

ralmoritz · Post by **ralmoritz** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:54 pm

I'm also playing on colonel & have made it to Piatek. So far I've enjoyed the '39 campaign immensely & have only noticed one oddity:

I was on my last turn in the Lodz scenario & still needed to capture Lowicz. The Polish infantry defending the VH retreated after being reduced to strength 4 by Ju87 bombing & 3 artillery barrages, leaving my Panzer I (strength 9) free to capture it. Then, on the AI's last turn, his AT & 7TP destroyed my Panzer I & the AT was able to recapture Lowicz. The funny thing is that despite having lost Lowicz on my last turn, I still scored a marginal victory!

Horseman · Post by **Horseman** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:02 am

ralmoritz wrote:I'm also playing on colonel & have made it to Piatek. So far I've enjoyed the '39 campaign immensely & have only noticed one oddity:

I was on my last turn in the Lodz scenario & still needed to capture Lowicz. The Polish infantry defending the VH retreated after being reduced to strength 4 by Ju87 bombing & 3 artillery barrages, leaving my Panzer I (strength 9) free to capture it. Then, on the AI's last turn, his AT & 7TP destroyed my Panzer I & the AT was able to recapture Lowicz. The funny thing is that despite having lost Lowicz on my last turn, I still scored a marginal victory!

Not an oddity....IIRC the margianl conditions are to capture a certian number but not all VHs