Allied: D-Day

[uran21]

Please post here your comments about this scenario.

[omegabet]

Well, i expected much more strongpoints in this scenario
Suggest to place some tanks from Caen to St. Lo [16,23]

[nikivdd]

Colonel level. Game saves as normandy.

Received another SE unit: Spitfire II
Upgrades: 7.2inch artillery to 76mm land matrass, fighters to Tempest V or Spitfire XIV
Purchases: Calliope

Coming ashore was surprisingly easy. Taking St.Lo was not difficult. Around Cherbourg i lost two units because i came too light. The heaviest fighting was around Caen which took me intense planning to capture. The SE Panzer counterattacks in the same area complicated matters. To have 99% airsuperiority is ofcourse a big help in softening targets. The Churchills proved really to be bunkerbusters. The last town i took was Villers-Bocage but that was not mandatory.
The bridge the player desperately needs to hold was never under threat.

Losses: several auxiliary units and core M7 priest, DV 18/18, 1514PP

[Kamerer]

19) Normandy – beta 1

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige: Begin: 1,675(after repair/purchases). End: 1,300. Net: -375.
Result: Triumph at 17/18
Strength policy: Deployed all at 13. Some elite replacements used on core infantry to keep them in the scenario, regular replacements on aux units.

Core Changes:

• Received: None
  Disbanded: None
  Purchased: 1x Mosquito
  Upgraded:
  • 1x Churchill to Firefly
    1x Sherman to Firefly
    2x M4s to 76mm
  Losses: Many auxiliary, 1 core M4A3-76mm

Problems:

• • Like the Rangers, the Crocodile has no fire sound.

General impressions/comments:

• • I used the rail network, and the change to the mechanics there is welcome and feels better.
  • The German AA was a serious problem, very hard to get effective use of your air power once away from the beaches.
  • Overall, I thought it felt and played well.
  • On a tactical note, it looked to me like there was no good use for much of the 82nd and 101st behind Utah from the initial deployments. So I reserved four of them over the channel, possibly to drop deep behind Caen. That is what I used them for and it was very helpful to neutralize the artillery hiding deep back there.
  • I lost an M4A3 to the Panther attack, only core loss this game or in many moons. That was a tough threat/attack, though I should have been better prepared; it was an obvious certainty it was going to happen!
  • On a historical note, the US had no 76mm equipped Shermans on D-day, they came later. Also, checking “all eqp” I do not see an M4A3E8 Sherman, which was all the replacements after fall/late ’44. It had better armor and should be available at some point.

[Tarrak]

Scenario: D-Day
Difficulty: general
Outcome: Triumph on turn 18/18
Starting Prestige: 9532
End Prestige: 2178, 7728 after victory reward
Core: 1 x Engineer 43, 1 x HW infantry 43, 1x Rangers, 1 x SE Rangers, 6 x Churchill Mk.IV, 1 x Sherman Firefly, 2 x M18 Hellcat, 1 x Chevy-WB recon, 1 x M8 Greyhound, 2 x 7.2 inch guns, 2 x M7 priest, 2 x M12 GMC, 1 x Hurricane Mk.IIC, 1 x Spitfire Mk. XIV, 1 x SE Spitfire Mk. XIV, 1 x P-47D Thunderbolt, 1 x Beaufighter Mk.IF, 2 x Wellington Mk.X, 1 x Mosquito Mk.VIS2

I upgraded both of my spitfires Mk.IX (one SE, one normal) to Mk.XIV. Bought Rangers to replace the engineer lost last scenario, one Mosquito Mk.VIS2 and one Sherman Firefly.

The landing itself went surprisingly easy. After the landing i split my troops in three groups: one going west towards Cherbourgh, one going for St.Lo and one assaulting Cean. Sadly i split my troops totally wrong. I had way to much infantry at Cean which got squished by the quite hard armor attacks there. I did not have nearly enough infantry in the bocages around St. Lo and a bit to much units near Cherbourgh.

Near Cherbourgh the forts was a bit of pain but they died quite fast to my Churchills. Except of that there was not much problems but as i already said i actually sent to much units there.

St. Lo proven to be a tough nut with all the bocages blocking my way. The SPAA unit paired with the artillery and few infantry hold me up quite long until i managed to get some support down from Cherbough region. Note to self bring more infantry next time. The German infantry seems to be superior to my in every aspect so assaulting them without prior artillery fire is nearly impossible. In the bocages they can even hurt a Churchill tank quite good. I lost one here assuming it can survive one infantry attack with 7 strength points left .. well i was wrong.

Near Cean i had the most troubles. The amount of AA fire there kind of stops me from being able to use my air force and the two 15 strength artillery units paired with the Hummel are a major pain causing a lot of losses and suppression to my troops. Additonally there is the frightening amount of high quality German armor rolling my way out of the fog of war finishing off my wounded units by surprise. I was on the verge of losing the bridge once and had major losses in this area. Lost here a Churchill, one engineer, one HW infantry and M18 Greyhound scout. Additionally countless of the auxiliary paratroopers. This area was a proper meat grinder. Managed to finally take the area at last turn.

The scenario is quite good and interesting imho. It was for me a bit on the hard side but as i made some critical mistakes not knowing what to expect i probably can do better on second go. As ideas for changes go i would keep the scenario mostly as it is .. maybe reduce a bit the amount of AA or artillery near Cean. The combination of having both at the current strength there leads to the player not being able to reduce the artillery strength at all for a long while.

The scenario is called D-Day but the map saves as Normandy.

[Kamerer]

10) D-Day/Normandy – beta 2

Level: Rommel
Begin pp: 175. End pp: 300. Net +125.
Result: Triumph 16/18

Core Changes:

• Received: None.
  Disbanded: None.
  Purchased:
  • 1x US 8” artillery
    1x Firefly
  Upgraded:
  • 1x Churchill to Firefly
    1x Mosquito to S2

Problems:

• • No fire sound on Crocodile.

General Impressions/Comments:

• • • This time I went ahead and dropped most airborne in place unlike the last time. Bad idea, it was a slaughter.
    • After the first two FW-190s took 5 points off all my fighters, the last one got to fly around shooting up whatever it wanted. Does not seem quite right that the Luftwaffe gets freedom of action at this point in the war.
    • Was able to make good use of the excellent, undamaged northern French railway system. Did not seem quite right, either.
    • Since this represents the whole Normandy Campaign for two months and not just D-day, it makes sense it should be a costly campaign – Normandy overall was a real blood-letting. So it’s reasonable, though the name is a little mis-leading and may set the wrong perception. I think overall it is a very good scenario.

[produit]

Beta 2, FM, Chess mode, Triumph 13/18 (possible to do it on turn 11, but I stayed to clear the map), ending prestige 198.

I have to say that this map is though. Like said Kamerer, 3 FW-190s with 3 stars are perhaps too much in FM, you lose a lot of fighter strength point to kill them. It would perhaps be more interesting to have more diversity in fighters and bombers.

Moreover, attacking entrenched infantry is really costly. I used aux infantry quite a lot, but it requires prestige to refill them up.
Another point is that I deployed perhaps not enough artillery, even if with the new suppression rules, artillery is not more sufficient to attack entrenched units without losses. I would perhaps add range heroes to the ship, so that they can have an impact even in the Bocage behind the shores. Air defense on this map is really awful. I lost some aux bombers in just one turn.

I am finally having prestige problems... I really have to choose what to upgrade and when. That is clearly a plus, because, I can no more roll over the AI defenders...

[Flaygor]

I managed a triumph first time on turn 20, but it took such a toll that I couldn't replenish anything to even one star of OS for the next scenario. This is not just a lot harder than PC it is a massive amount harder.

Kangaroo transport not worth the money. Slower than the bren carrier and same stats. Needs something more to make it worthwhile.

Churchill AVRE got horrible exposed again.

Edit: Read post about new arty rules and removed related comments

[Tarrak]

Scenario: D-Day (Beta 2)
Difficulty: general
Outcome: Triumph on turn 12/18
Starting Prestige: 7803
End Prestige: 2905, 7671 after victory reward
Core: 2 x Engineer 43, 2 x HW infantry 43, 1 x SE SAS, 6 x Churchill Mk.IV, 1 x Sherman Firefly, 1 x Crocodile, 2 x M18 Hellcat, 3 x 7.2 inch guns, 2 x M7 priest, 2 x M12 GMC, 1 x SE Spitfire Mk. XIV, 2 x P-47D Thunderbolt, 1 x Beaufighter Mk.IF, 1 x Wellington Mk.X, 1 x Mosquito Mk.VIS2, 1 x B17G Flying Fortress

I upgraded my SE Spitfire Mk.IX to Mk.XIV and the Mosquiot Mk.VIS1 to Mk.VIS2. Bought one Sherman Firefly.

After the lessons learned from my play through in Beta 1 i used similar approach but refined the strategy. Moved a lot more armor over the Orne River to stop the German armor. Used the paratroopers in the east to take and hold the bridge until my tanks arrive. The paratroopers in the west flew behind St. Lo and dropped there to attack it from behind. They suffered some casualties but with a bit of reinforcement and a little help from one infantry and one artillery unit from my core they took St. Lo nicely.

Except of this i used same strategy as before. The fighting around Cean was slow and painful. With the new artillery and entrenchments rules kicking the German out of the city takes multiple round of bombardment with 3 artillery pieces. Slow but steady progress is the key here. The SE Panthers was really a pain. They killed my Firefly easily by ganging up on him. Even my Churchils took up to 6 strength point losses per attack. Thankfully for some reason the AI insisted on driving two of his Panthers into the city hexes where my infantry just annihilated them in close combat. After the Panthers and the 12.8 cm PaK was dealt with the rest was just a bit of mopping up the leftovers.

In the Air the Focke Wulfs was just plain bastards. Thankfully they only appeared one by one as i needed all three of my fighters to take any of them down and they inflicted heavy losses before going down. Spent a lot prestige on keeping my fighters going. If the AI ever decides to bring all 3 of them at once the player will be in serious trouble. They seriously outclass even the P47 and Spitfire Mk.XIV. Maybe reduce their experience a bit or replace at least one of them with a BF109. Except of that the scenario seems fine as it is.

[okiemcguire]

18) Normany - Beta 2

Level: Colonel
Prestige Begin: 5412 End/Vict: 107/5657
Results: Victory 18/18
Upgrades: Typhoon and Mosquito to Mosquito VI S2, Hurrican to Tempest V, and 2 M4A3 to M4A3(76)W

Core: 2 x British Engineer, 2 American HW, 1 x Ranger, 2 SE Rangers, 6 Churchill IV, 1 Croc, 2 M4A3(76)W, 2 M18 Hellcats, 1 Daimler Recon, 2 M7 Priest, 2 BL 7.2 inch, 2 155mm M12 GMC, 2 Spitfire IX, 1 Tempest V, 2 Mosquito VI S2, 1 Lancaster III, 1 B24 Liberator

Problems: The Calliope has no firing graphics and the Rangers have no movement audio.

What a prestige drainer and meat grinder mainly for the auxillaries. My plan was to use 1 Large Force to surround Caen. After taking Caen I would split the force to fan out Southwest of Caen and use the RR system to move reinforcements back to Cherbourgh. A smaller force left the beach and began moving West then North to take Cherbourgh. The entrechment at Caen took me longer than I expected to vercome. And I was using 4 Artilleries, the Calliope, 2 Cruisers and a Battleship. Granted that two of the Art were used to combat the armor behind Caen.

I started my bombardment and move on to Cherbourgh about a turn or two to late. After all was said and done, I had a 4 strength inf holding the port of Cherbourgh and I did not take St Lo. I will try this one again in the future, I will take a look at how Tarrack did it.

[zappel]

Beta 3

I only started the 1944-campaign to look for the new skin and wonder a little bit about the double entry for the Douglas C-47:

Douglas C-47

Transport.png (6.57 KiB) Viewed 4766 times

[monkspider]

Normandy
Beta 3
General Level
DV 15/18
Ending prestige 800

This was quite an epic and enjoyable scenario. I started it in beta 2 and finished it in beta 3, I was afraid the transition would cause problems, but things went smoothly. My strategy consisted of using three different groups to take the three objectives (Caen, St. Lo and Cherbourg). After playing D-Day on the defensive for so long, it was quite different to be on the attack this time. It was quite fun to have access to so many naval and air units. The German AA did chew my units up pretty good and the armored counterattack around Caen was quite harrowing. I did finally manage to win the day. I can understand why Monty had so much trouble taking Caen now though. The only odd thing is that there seemed to be a huge garrison of German troops around Villers-Bocage, I didn't feel up to trying to take them on, and was able to safely bypass them, although if there was a captured unit hidden there, it would make sense. I have yet to see any captured units though.

[ThvN]

D-Day

Objective fields for the Axis are empty (IDS_SCEN_AXIS_CAM_OBJECTIVES + IDS_SCEN_AXIS_SCN_OBJECTIVES)

IDS_STRING22 Cherbourgh=Cherbourg

IDS_STRING28 les Pieux=Les Pieux

EDIT:
D-DayC_victory.pzbrf
"The enemy cannot now throw us back into the sea."
The enemy cannot throw us back into the sea anymore.

IDS_SCEN_ALLIED_CAM_OBJECTIVES
"Capture all 4 town objectives and a bridge."
Capture all 4 town objectives and the bridge across the Orne.

IDS_SCEN_DESCRIPTION
"Biggest amphibious invasion that world has seen aimed at liberating France."
Biggest amphibious invasion that the world has seen aimed at liberating France.

[billmv44]

Beta 3. General. Prestige start 6371, end 933. Triumph on 16/18.

What a brutal slog this was. Prestige drained away like water. Thankfully, I was able to surround a few of the Axis units later in the game to build the prestige up a bit. The 88 AA behind Caen was a major factor in delaying my taking the city. It was touch and go for quite a while, but I finally ground him down. The Axis armored counter-attack was very strong, but I was able to strike them with air power just outside the range of that deadly 88. There were times I felt that I didn't have enough aux units (thinking that the allies should have greatly outnumbered the Germans. It seemed every German unit fought exceptionally well. I really had to work for the win. Upgraded my Sherman units to M4A3(76)W. Without the better gun, I don't think I'd have been able to stop the German armor.

[Razz1]

Beta 3
General
start 11448
end 3944
Triumph 16/18

Normandy is the map.

This is all blood and guts.

Very difficult. You must sacrifice your forces.

In the briefing, East and West should have their first letter capitalized.

[Blathergut]

Entered the campaign here, starting with 12000 prestige.

-initial phase was good...not difficult (General Level) but not a walkthrough either
-ended up splitting in too many directions and having not enough anywhere
-should have purchased a couple arty units...really needed them once I hit the bocage
-was down to about 4000 prestige about half the turns in...then ran a paratroop unit down by the airfields southeast of Caen and triggered hell!

Definitely had shades of The Longest Day game I've played a fair bit of. Was very enjoyable. I don't think I'd change much of anything. Will attempt it again, trying not to burn 8000+ prestige.

[uran21]

Thanks to all for the feedback so far. Scenario should not be saved as Normandy any more. Double entry on the Douglas air transport is because both US and British transport was made available but I changed that and left only British because it has no markings on it. Only smaller changes regarding Axis air force was made. Reducing their quality either trough experience, strength points or unit type.

[Zhivago]

I would vote for an additional airfield or two. My air force got a whipping from the AA, but it's hard to make repairs when you really only have access to one main airfield early in the game.

This scenario is definitely going to take some time to master. I'm playing on FM as usual, and as others on here have commented, it is a very bloody slog. A larger helping of prestige would be welcomed given the heavy losses. The nerfed artillery is sorely felt here, especially with the anemic naval guns.

I hope that Allied Corps gets the DLC treatment. I would like more complex and intricate battles at Omaha beach, and around Caen.

[Longasc]

I am playing this scenario in Beta 3 atm, my initial feedback:

- even my Fireflies cannot compete with the experienced Panthers. Argh!
- my Airforce is causing me a lot of prestige loss and I lost fighters and bombers already to two very strong FW190 and strong flak almost everywhere. I suggest to tone that down a little.
- a 2nd airfield might make this scenario a lot easier, but I have a feeling the intention is to limit allied air power with only one field early on. But then limit the German flak, too, please.
- Oh god I hate Bocage, I almost saw it coming as I drove my 1 CD Firefly into it...

Should maybe try with more Infantry, but the Crocodile is doing very well so far. TOUGH scenario so far, the row of German Infanty near the border in the east is also very challenging. In general CAEN is a murderous place to be. But that's good. I suggest reducing flak there somewhat.

[RobertCL]

Beta 3
Standalone scenario
Leutnant level
Result: I conquered all VH except Cherbourg in the North West.

My comments:

Write "Cherbourg" at hex located 9,4 (not "Cherbourgh")
The crocodile attack sound is missing (you need a flame sound)
Why not having at least one heavy bomber to soften units in cities, or bunkers or AD units ?
German Flak is devastating!

I love the music of the game and the way unit icons look like.
I appreciate the fact the conquest of only 2 VHs is needed and not all of them.

Great scenario! Good work of the team, congrats!