DLC '45 #12 Seelow Heights

[VPaulus]

Please post here your comments about this scenario.

[monkspider]

Seelow Heights
Starting prestige 2700
Ending prestige 400
LOSS turn 20/20
Units lost: Almost everything!

Seelow Heights was the last line of defense before Berlin, and historically the Germans fought very well here but ultimately were unable to hold back the Red Tide. This battle does a wonderful, wonderful job of setting the stage for a last stand at Berlin. And as you see above, this was the first battle in the course of the entire campaign where I had to settle for defeat, not just a bare minimum marginal victory but outright defeat, and what a decisive defeat it was!

My units took up defensive positions along the Seelow Heights, and held off the first wave reasonably well. It was brought to a cold halt in some spots though in others, ground had to be given. Overall though, my position did not seem unreasonable, and I thought that once I fought off more of the Soviets I could go on the offensive and retake some of the lost objectives. But then turn 10 rolled around...

The second wave hit like an atomic blast. Units everywhere were mangled, eventually I had to fall back all units to the city of Seelow proper. I could no more stop the Soviet advance than I could hold back the sea. Never in all of my life have I see such a mass of enemy units. My units were systematically, and thoroughly wiped out, nearly to the last unit. A lot of people criticize the AI use of artillery but here they used it to devastating effect. Their Katyushas bled my beloved infantry units white. So many of my most beloved units, all of my elite SS infantry units, all of many artillery, all of my Panthers, a Tiger I, two fighters, an ancient STUKA that had been around since Poland. In the end, only EIGHT units survived. Three Panzers, a Jagdpanther, one infantry, two fighters and a STUKA.

I was afraid you would shy away from doing a true Götterdämmerung scenario, but this was it. A core killer like none ever seen, a super Bagration. This was exactly what I was wanting to see in this campaign and you delivered, thank you.

Although I was a bit sad thinking that defeat here would end the campaign here but it looks like it was not so. Through the trials and tribulations of this campaign, my one great hope was to see Berlin and it looks like it will happen! My few remaining units will be doing their duty defending the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate, there will be no surrender and I intend to fight to the end.

One thing I thought I should bring up is that I never saw the general-feldmarshall unit. I don't know if losing a certain position prevented it from spawning or what. Not that it would have had any chance of surviving in this case, of course.

This was one of the truly exemplary scenarios of the campaign, a true A++, top-tier scenario. Brilliant, brilliant work. I look forward to reading how Deducter does on this one!

[Kerensky]

Hmm, well the idea isn't to fight that second wave. Get the field marshal to appear on turn 7, assuming you retain control of all Seelow Height labeled VHes, then engage in a fighting withdraw rather than fight the hordes.
Maybe I should simplify the triggers, force a spawn on turn 7 rather than have it be conditional.

[billmv44]

Playing on General, imported core. Prestige 6479.

My strategy here was to hold off the first wave and then go on the attack. My main problem was a poor deployment. I had too many units in the north and not enough in the south. Ivan was able to take Lebus and then was flooding west quickly. He took Falkenhagen, but I was able to break up his attack with Stuka's and FW-190Gs. I retook Falkenhagen and the nearby airfield and began pushing him back. Kostschin was taken about turn 13. Just for prestige, I took the 3 remaining airfields. DV on turn 18 (could have been sooner, but prestige farming was a priority). I think the difficulty is about right. It isn't hordes of IS-2s that are flooding across the Oder so they are stoppable with good quality German units. It was absolutely vital to cover all of the river crossings and to smash those bridging units quickly. If not, that second wave will be very tough to stop.

On to Berlin!

[Kerensky]

Certainly a tough scenario, but by no means insurmountable. You really, REALLY have to engaging in a fighting withdrawal though, if you try and stand your ground against the second wave you will get annihilated. But that's okay, because the scenario is won as soon as you escort the Generalfeldsmarchsal to saftey.

How my scenario looked when I got a decisive victory.

Jagdtiger rear guard action!

[Zhivago]

I finally got around to playing this scenario, as life off the computer has been busy as of late. The first time I tried this scenario, I had my forces balanced wrong and ended up restarting after turn 4. On try 2, I put all of my Panther G's and Jadgpanthers clustered at the extreme south. All of my lumbering Tiger II's went to the north and middle. When the attack started, I raced the Panther G's and jadgpanthers south and bottled up the Russian thrust in the south. The Tiger IIs, arty, and infantry wiped out the Russian attack by turn 4 and I quickly positioned my tiger IIs along the river to block the crossings, as well as the two bridges in the middle. Fortunately, I was able to wipe out all of the bridgeheads in the north and middle fairly quickly. The south was more of a problem, but only one bridgehead was able to stay open a turn or two before I bottled it up. By about turn 12 all of the bridgeheads were destroyed and the Russians were locked up on the east side of the river, and my troops were resting comfortably. I enjoyed this scenario a lot. Dreading Berlin now...