DLC 39 and beyond

[Paperpanzer]

Having been an avid PG fan for more years than I can count, I just could not resist the temptation to buy PzC and a few of the DLC's.

I first played PG on an Amiga using 3 1/2 " disks - PG2 on Win95 - PG3 on Win 2000.

So with this experience behind me and the mantra of Battle groups are best I find my self launching across the Polish border once more. As ever with very little in the way of new equipment, or the prestige to buy it. All played as Colonel as I just don’t have the time any more to play till midnight.. or beyond.

Poznan

A good start to the game with a rude introduction to the new AI.

As with all the other thread’s on this game my forces were split into two distinct battle groups, sharing the air units between them (there’s just never enough to go around).

The group to the north advanced quickly… too quickly. The Poles mounted a counter attack that recaptured both northern airfields. A welcome update to the AI, and sadly missing from PG1 & 2.

So rather than retreating I was simply attacking in another direction to recapture the airfields and move on.

To the south the ability to use trains came in useful – not only to move units quickly but this AI seems to love hitting soft targets. So I left a train full of troops just out side an unoccupied town with fighter coverage. This tactic suckered in the remaining 2 units of the Polish air force, allowing my air units a free reign.

Both battle groups converged on the final VH waiting until the last turn to take the town, gaining much needed experience by destroying all new units that appeared.

I really enjoyed the game and look forward to the other scenarios but there are a few things I’m disappointed with.

From PG2 Arty and AA would support any unit with in there range and from PG1 the ability to disband any unit at any time.

I’m also surprised to see such small maps even the in latter games I thought the maps would be bigger and the scenarios longer. With PG1 & 2 space on the host PC and the installation media would have been a limiting factor. But now with unlimited downloading available and Gb’s of space and Ram I’d love to see HUGE maps. Maybe a 1-1 scale Polish campaign or even Barbarossa?

[Paperpanzer]

Danzig Corridor South

“All Battle Groups were not created equal” & ”All battle groups don't have to stay together”

Learning from my experience in Poznan I dropped the He111 that I had in favor of another Ju87 ( It had 225 of experience any way).

I repaired what I could and upgraded with what I had left but was still fielding two Pzkpfw 1b’s. I didn’t fill out all of the deployment slots, leaving two slots free to purchase another recon unit and yet more tactical air support.

I Split my forces into two Battle groups, group 1 with 1 infantry, 1 tank & 1 Arty unit. All head north to capture a couple of towns. Everything else heads east. I quicky blast through the polish front line and take a town just west of the river – and in clear view of a Polish cavalry unit I withdraw to await the counter attack.

On the very next move I’m attacked from the North and East by a wave of tanks and cavalry.

[Paperpanzer]

Having fallen back to in preparation for the counter attack I had 3 Arty and 4 Air units ready to suppress the attackers for the tanks and infantry to destroy.

From the north the auxiliary battle group moved south slowly to take an airfield and two VH’s

My main battle group now split into three groups to assault the three river crossings. The southern crossing had no supporting artillery and once removed I could advance north and take the remaining crossings from behind.

One tactic that worked well for me was taking an objective with a recon unit and then pulling back. I can then park an air unit of the objective ready for the next turn. This AI seems eager to retake objectives leaving it open to multiple air attack and artillery.

In PG 2 any unit type could earn a hero rating of recon movement – has this been carried forward into PzC?

With the auxiliary battle group in the north now free to move on and all my forces across the river the polish resistance collapsed

DV

Lodz

“There’s nothing like a good right hook”

With no sign of the Polish air force in the last game I decided to change the make-up of my air units. I’m going to risk using only tactical & strategic bombers, with two Bf 110, a Ju87 and He 111.

Almost everything I had headed east to rescue the trapped auxiliary units and pick up a VH on the way. One single infantry unit heads north to try and make a bit of prestige.

The auxiliaries take an airfield then circle the wagons to wait for the cavalry to arrive… which turns out to be Polish.

With the air units risking low fuel I manage to hold off the Polish until tanks and artillery can push them back. The airfield changes hands twice more before I can combine all the units and push north. Once behind Lodz I can remove the AA and move in with air and artillery.

With all objectives taken or as good as, I’ve a couple of units spare to move north of the Bazura and scout for any more polish units/ objectives to take. I’m met by a furious counter attack from the north and only the artillery, air units and ending the game a turn early saves my core units that have crossed the river.

DV

[Paperpanzer]

Piatek

Or the defense of the Bazura Or “Where the H**L did all that come from”

There’s just now way that you can hold all the crossing points at once you just don’t have the strength. So from the start I used a flexible defense, using my tanks as a fire brigade and only moving the artillery when I had to. The air units were used to break up any attack before they could begin.

From left to right there are eight bridges/crossings but some are so close together they can be defended by a single battle group. I had five groups in all and at times some groups were down to one unit. But rather than move units all the way from one side of the map to another I would move a tank unit from group 1 to group 2 which would free up a tank unit in group 2 which could then move to group 3 and so on…. A Mexican wave defense??

From the off I withdrew from holding any bridges, taking one step back I could mass attack any polish unit taking a bridge whilst they could only hit one defending unit protected by 1 or 2 Arty units.

As the Polish attacks abated I did try to counter attack before the next wave hit, but with little success at first. From turn 14 a left hook did manage to capture two airfields and four towns. A right hook managed to run into a wall of Polish steel.

DV

I really did enjoy this game but the lack of Polish Arty and AA moving with the attack was a surprise.

I seam to have destroyed more AA so far than in the whole of PG1!

Kampinoska Forrest

“One road three objectives”

I found this scenario a little dull to be honest. Everything you have needs to head east and finding room to maneuver is harder than finding all the trains. What is a must though is capturing another airfield so that your air units don’t spend all there time in transit.

DV

Modlin

“we’re going to need a bigger He111”

Listening to the debriefing and the need to assault more than one fortress, I upgraded three of my infantry units to Pioneer. My air units changed so that I had 1 Bf110 a Ju87 and Two He111’s. I thought I would need an “88” as well so had to leave a tank unit at home.

Heading south I took the first VH on the first move, once past this I split my forces into two. The majority of the units head south, with all the air power, in an attempt to kick in the front door. A simultaneous attack heads south east to enter Modlin via the back door.

It’s soon apparent that the Front door is guarded in depth and the back door’s not exactly unguarded either!

What advantage I did get from flanking Modlin was that I was able to destroy all the defending AA units and have an airfield behind the target.

Having burned my way through one defensive line north of Modlin and starting to work on the second I assaulted the fortresses and defenders from two directions at the same time and although this shared the weight of the defending artillery it didn’t protect one of my pioneers being reduced to only two points. Ouch. The “88” did come into it’s own when destroying the armored train.

DV

[Paperpanzer]

Warsaw North

“artillery with added artillery and a side dish of artillery”

With my units split into two by the river this really was “a game of two half’s”. Both northern and southern groups try to achieve there objectives in the same way. A small group of units head straight in to attack Warsaw whilst the remaining units skirt around the suburbs to collect as much artillery as possible.

Pushing into Warsaw the going is slow but not impossible, as more and more artillery becomes available the pace of movement picks up. By the end of the game I have 10 Arty units pounding away at the defenders.

The priorities when moving into the city were to remove any AA which released the air units to loosen the defenders grip on the city.

Infantry / Pioneers proved essential in the city streets and the weight of fire provided by the captured artillery tipped the balance.

DV

[huertgenwald]

Victory for me in Warsaw, too. Especially my pioneers hade reason for celebrations:



As mentioned in another thread i modified the campaign tree to include all missions.

[Paperpanzer]

Wow how many kills? & Congrats on the +3 Attack score

Where is the thread to modify the campagin tree?

[huertgenwald]

It's the file PanzerCorps\DLC\GC39\Data\campaign.pzdat
To preserve the file format open it with MS Excel or a compatible prog like LibreOffice Calc.

BTW, f failed to upload a screenshot, 'cause ImageShacks refuses to let unregistered users post pictures bigger than 800*600.

[huertgenwald]

Good Luck struck me hard again tonight near Narvik :

[Paperpanzer]

Spoils of war

“Like trying to stop a train with a BB gun”

Having read a few AAR’s of other people I thought I’d have a go at this scenario but with a slight change to my formation. Having enough prestige I repaired all my units and purchased 3 more “88”’s just for this game, deploying 4 in total– that should keep the tanks at bay.

Having split my forces into two the first couple of turns seemed to go ok, I catch the Russian air-force by surprise and wipe them out in one turn. But I pay for my success as the “88”’s get a kicking from the Russian infantry.

I’m lucky not to lose any units but I have to take a quick step back to avoid being routed.

It’s not long before the red armor shows up in strength and it’s time for the “88”’s to earn there pay (and the cost of repairing them all). With the armor gone the large amount infantry is easier to deal with although 1 objective changed hands six times!!!

To the north a auxiliary Panzerjäger manages to take out a recon unit and covers my northen flank.

Whilst in the center a single AA unit keeps my air force at bay until I can suppress then destroy it.

With the initial assault over I’m able to charge across the map, the amour guarding some objectives is easy to remove.

AND then came the KV2…. I was lucky to observe the monster moving against my northern group and managed to ambush them with an “88” on a river Hex only to have to hit them again and again…

I managed to surround Brest and spend a couple of turns softening up the over strength defenders (Funny how they can repair their full over strength in one turn) before finishing with a DV

Did enjoy this game – had some really hairy moments when I thought the Russians would break through and the KV2 is a brute – would not like to see 5 or 6 of them together.

DV

[Paperpanzer]

Oslo

“does anyone remember where I parked the battleship”

This seems such an easy game but I still managed stuff it up some how.

The sea landings to the west all went swimmingly, resistance minimal, nice to have the sdkfz 232 x 8 and halftrack’s.

The eastern landings were a different matter. I unloaded the infantry the AA and Recon units…… Where’s the artillery?.... all on the west beach.

Using the Para’s first as bait to draw out the fighters I was then able to use them to capture an airfield close to Oslo’s fortification.

I had three bombers to suppress the five fortifications and pioneers to destroy them, even without arty it didn’t take too many turns.

With Oslo surrounded the game was pretty much over, but used the remaining moves to gain much needed experience.

As for Blücher, it did survive the battle but was down to 3 points – I’d disbanded the destroyer on the first move. The navy was a welcome addition to my fire power and it gave the bunkers something else to shoot at other than my core units

DV

Losses over all are still very light at the moment and none of them were core units.

1 Reccon
1 Fortification

[Paperpanzer]

Lillehammer

Or “Deja vu PG2”

An almost exact copy of the PG2 with a twist.
My forces were split into two groups to take advantage of only roads in the area...
During the first turn on the right flank I mounted a Ju87 trap with two escorting 109’s to catch any fighters whilst on the left I destroyed an infantry unit and was able to manoeuvre forces ready to attack the airfield but remain hidden.
I managed to catch two fighter groups in my trap and finished both off with 88’s, fighters and fighter bombers. Moving north on the right flank there is a choice of a frontal assault through the fortifications or an out flanking move to take Lillehammer from Behind…

So I did both.

On the left flank - don’t forget to pack the cat as there’s little room to manoeuvre, it’s more a need for traffic control to ensure your Arty is up near the front at all times.
With Ju88’s and pioneers the Lillehammer forts didn’t last long. Moving in on Lillehammer from three sides the remaining defenders are squeezed between a rock and a hard place. Even the presence of British armour could not prevent the loss of all the objectives.
I could have finished the game a couple of turns early but I needed the experience points.

DV

[Paperpanzer]

Narvik

“Nobody told me that it was Navy day!!”

With all that Sheffield steel floating about somewhere I felt the need to use 3 Ju 88’s but I was not quite prepared for just how many British ships were out there.

I withdrew my naval forces to the North and had to be content with sniping at the British as they sailed passed. My plan is to let the British sail past and bottle themselves in the approaches to Narvik.

My land forces are evenly distributed between two battle groups to approach Narvik from North & South. Of the German forces already landed around Narvik I quickly move them as far away from the action as possible until my forces can link up with them, although they do manage to take one town.

My force in the North are placed in sea transports, because rather than try and force my way over a bridge with accurate naval gunfire raining down on me I’m going to try to sail further up the fjord and approach the defenders from behind.

The sea battle goes quite well, I manage to sink two and damage a few more destroyers as they sail pass. The Ju 88’s do their part and sticking close to the assigned fighter escort a Spitfire squadron zooms past hunting for easier pray. When I feel that all of the fish are in the barrel I close the door.. only to have one of my destroyers slam straight into Warspite… with my sub one move away it takes two moves to bring this beast down and not before my destroyer limps away with 2 points left. With Warspite gone the remainder of my ships progress up the fjord using the Ju’s to scout the way ahead being mindful to avoid any possible AAA positions and only really using the destroyers to drain any land based defenders of ammunition.

In the south my land forces move slowly and keep out of sight, only committing when the opponent can be overwhelmed in one turn. A Ju 87 trap works a little too well when it catches not only a hurricane but also the Spitfire. Both are dispatched by an 88 with fighters to finish off. The Whitley does come by to offer its support but without out any protection and no one to target spot it’s soon another victim for the 109’s.

In the north it takes four moves just to get the transports into position but the landing is unopposed, my forces are able to setup and move out unmolested. Attacking from behind I’m able to take out the artillery first followed by air defence. By this time the navy are able to offer some support and both battle groups converge on Narvik.

With the navy using their fire support to disable any AAA in the area the air-force are free to attack everything else. Artillery just adds to the allies’ long list of woe’s and Narvik falls without any further loss.

This map was a little easy but it depends how you play it, the Royal Navy could have so easily caught me in the same trap that I caught them, and turned my little flotilla into match wood. There would have been no way I could have taken Narvik with the whole Royal Navy floating in the harbor.

DV