Battlefield: Europe MOD v2.4

[McGuba]

Battlefield: Europe v2.4
A strategic mod on tactical level (or a tactical mod on strategic level, lol)

In June 1941, right after the green light to Operation Barbarossa is given, a group of high ranking German officers realize that the leader of their nation has serious mental problems and his way of conduct will only lead to the complete destruction of Germany. So they take the necessary steps to get rid of him and his closest followers and on the same day you are given full control of the Axis armies in Europe and North Africa. What would you do differently?

Panzer Corps v1.31 or later is highly recommended!
JSGME is highly recommended for installation (JSGME and install guide are included in the zip)
Recommended difficulty level: General for most players, Field Marshal or Rommel for veteran players looking for more challenge and realism



Situation on 22 June, 1941:





Features:

- Four relatively short early war Blitzkrieg scenarios for the Axis side, serving as tutorials (the invasions of Poland, Norway, France and the Balkans/Crete)
- One massive 99 turn long scenario that covers the whole European and North African theatre, starting in June 1941 and lasting to July 1945
- For an Axis victory the player has to defeat either the Soviets or the British, or for a total victory, both
- Several new nations and hundreds of new or modified units added
- New sounds, graphics, animations, library entries, etc.
- In addition to the in-game difficulty settings, the big scenario comes with three different versions with increasing difficulty (and realism), the hardest ones being really difficult to win
- The big scenario comes with a multiplayer version so players can try the Allied side as well, playing against a human opponent who controls the Axis
- A historically realistic approach - this mod attempts to be as accurate historically as possible within the boundaries of the base game
- Lots of historical events, messages and decisions that can alter the course of the war
- Although the events generally follow the historical path, lots of "what if" and alternative history events can be tried or experienced for example the Axis invasion of Britain or the Middle East


Changes in v2.4

- The main campaign screen starts the hardest "realistic+" version of the Barbarossa scenario by default
- A few new units added, many existing unit icons have been improved (there are more than 190 new or modified unit icons since the last version)
- Most strategic bombers are less effective against ships, only a few special types have high naval attack (late war guided bomb equipped Do 217K, He 177 and Tallboy equipped British Lancaster "Special")
- All capital ship units have lower rate of fire but higher air and naval attack. As a result they are less effective against ground units.
- All battleship units have higher ground defense, the protection level of heavily armoured capital ships is more significant compared to cruisers
- Several additional German infantry units added: Sicherungs (security), Schützen (motorized infantry), Garnison (static garrison), Leichte Inf (light infantry), Volksgrenadier (late war defensive infantry) and Panzergrenadier (motorized infantry from mid '42)
- Light infantry movement added: used by Jager, Brandenburger, paratrooper, commando and similar special units. This movement is similar to mountain infantry movement just not that good in mountains, however still better in hills and forests than normal leg movement.
- Cavalry units are changed: they are the same as normal infantry when unmounted and have the previous cavalry unit as before as a land transport for better movement and attack but weaker defense. (For balancing reasons these cavalry units are now unavailable for purchase or upgrade.)
- German occupation army in the west is now mostly static in turn 1, infantry units will be activated in small batches over time
- Map changes: a few more cities added (Kazan, Memel, Pilsen, Larissa), Gibraltar area extended, Crimea improved, White Sea-Baltic Canal added, Königsberg area improved (following Locarnus' submod), Main river added, some more road and rail connections added in Germany, some other minor changes



Historical starting points

Players can also start the big scenario at later stages by installing some save game files. In these I tried to recreate the overall historical situation as much as possible. These are mainly for those who got bored of achieving the "easy" victory starting in June 1941. The stages are:

...Moscow/Crusader, 1941
...Stalingrad/El Alamein, 1942
...Kursk/Sicily, 1943
...Normandy/Bagration, 1944

The game difficulty is set at General. Obviously, the later you start the scenario the harder it is to achieve any kind of victory and in the final one(s) a draw is the only realistic aim. Also note that these save games were created with the earlier 2.2 version of the mod.

In order to get them you have to copy the save game files in the zip to your ...\Documents\My Games\Panzer Corps\Save\ folder, where the game keeps the save games and just load them.


IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Since this mod pushes PzC to its limits it is highly recommended to run the game with the "/nocache" startup switch. Otherwise chances are high that the game would hit a memory limit after several turns and crash. The thing is that, without the /nocache switch, the attack animation files are all loaded into the memory and are stored there until the memory gets filled up causing the game to crash. And there are many units in the big scenario of this mod with many different animations. Luckily, with the /nocache switch applied to the PanzerCorps.exe shortcut I never had a game crash during testing.

So, how to do it? Create a shortcut for the PanzerCorps.exe file (which should be in the folder where you installed PzC): locate and right click on it and then choose send to -> desktop. (Warning! The Panzer Corps shortcut on the desktop created during the installation of the game is NOT good as it points to the autorun.exe and not to the PanzerCorps.exe!) When it is on the desktop right click on the icon and choose properties. Then you have to add the /nocache command after the end of the filename like this:



The only other option is to make a new savegame after playing 4-5 turns, quit the game and then restart and reload. This would empty the memory for the time being so that you can play another 4-5 turns before you need to save and quit again. I think the former method is more user friendly and certainly much safer.



McGuba's notes on release

This release was made with Panzer Corps v1.31 and thus this version or at least v1.30 is required! (If played with v1.30 the naval bottom mines will not be able to attack submered submarines.)

This mod was made by using material created by others as well. Without their input I could not have finished it at all. Bebro, VPaulus, flakfernrohr, AugustinMalar, Kerloc, dragos, guille1434, airbornemongo101, Uhu, rezaf, phcas, AKRebel, GaryChildress, LuftWFJ44 and Asuser have all contributed to some of the new unit icons. At the end of the readme file you can find a full list of the new or modified icons and their respective authors. The mod uses several sound files from VPaulus' Sound Redux mod. The Panzer Corps – Scenario Design Forum proved to be very useful with loads of information and lots of helpful people. Uhu, IceFlame, LandMarine47, BNC, JimmyC, GeneralWerner, PeteMitchell_2, P210, Intenso82, faos333, goose_2 and the other posters provided some invaluable feedback helping me to make this mod even better. Hopefully I did not forget anyone, if so, please let me know.

Last, but not least, a big thanks to Rudankort for creating this wonderful game and to make it so easy to mod.

You are free to use the new / modified unit icons of this mod for your own free mod if you like, but you are required to give credit to the authors of each icon. However, you are not allowed to modify, copy, sell or use any parts of this mod for commercial purpose.


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A few screenshots:


The Finns are ready to liberate Karelia which was occupied by the Soviets in the Winter War of 1939-1940:





The Romanians are ready to retake Bessarabia, which they had to hand over to the USSR in 1940 under pressure:





German-Italian forces are besieging Tobruk, which was captured by the British in 1940:





The last stand of the German forces in Stalingrad in early 1943:





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DOWNLOADS:


Download BE v2.4 from here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i9u33ekztvzkc ... 4.zip?dl=0

If you are using the optional "RumpNissen's wavy flags" submod you need to download the updated (v2.2) file for that one as well from the link below as a few new nations have been added to this version.



Panzer Corps v1.31 is also highly recommended to make sure that the new naval mines can actively attack enemy submerged submarines:

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=76489#p649287



Youtube video showing how to install the BE mod with the GME mod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ2yQyNYMms



WARNING! This mod can be highly addictive! Only start to play it if you are sure that you will not neglect your family and work commitments as a result of the "just one more turn" feeling.

IMPORTANT! To get all the changes in you MUST start a new campaign after installing it. Loading and continuing a campaign started in any previous version will result in having erroneous movements for some units.


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OPTIONAL/RECOMMENDED SUB-MODS:


RumpNissen's wavy flags for BE v2.2 or later
An optional submod with small 'wavy' flags and radio towers for victory objectives:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ec5hf0mxzvzdp ... 9.zip?dl=0

Install with JSGME over the base mod and click "Yes" when asked to overwrite the files which were already altered by the base mod. In BE v1.9 I have added a few more flags so if you were using this sub-mod you are recommended to refresh it!





PG Style Strength Plates
Another optional submod which will make core and auxiliary units easier to tell apart:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/0r78x ... Plates.zip

Maybe it is only me but I often had a problem differentiating core and aux units in the vanilla game. So with this submod core units have black strenght plate and auxiliary units have a light grey one, like in good old PG. The simplest is always the best. This submod can be used with most other mods or with the vanilla campaigns.




Blue Axis unit symbol replacement for the strategic map
Yet another optional submod to increase the visibility of active Axis units on the strategic map:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9i4u3i5ipijcj ... 9.zip?dl=0

This submod will replace the default black and white Axis unit symbols to blue and white ones for better visibility (even though the default black and white might be more accurate historically). When installing this submod with JSGME and the program notifies that enabling it over the BE mod might have adverse effects just click "Yes".





If you like this mod give a try to my previous Royal Hungarian Army - Turan Campaign as well:
http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=147&t=36969


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Playing tips for those who need a little more help:

A collection of useful hints and tips for those who want to master this mod:
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=105417


And a youtube channel with a similar goal:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... du6qVA1yRs


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Battlefield: Europe - The Ultimate World War II Multiplayer Experience

If you got bored of fighting against the predictable AI why not give a try to the multiplayer version of this mod?
Playing against another human general is a completely new challenge and will put your skills to a real test. But fear not, when it comes to a duel, there has to be a loser (unless the result will be a draw) and when playing this mod even losing can be a lot of fun (and this is something I can guarantee as I have already lost two matches and have a good chance to lose another one or two soon ) and you can give your opponent a run for his money by making it a glorious loss!

Also, we have a board for the matches to make it easier to find an opponent and to figure out who has more experience:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1907476535

And anyone can add new entries here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... w/viewform

[McGuba]

What I really like in this scenario is to command units from the frozen north to the hot desert of North Africa. However, minor nations are badly under represented in stock Panzer Corps so I added lots of new / modified units to the Romanians, Hungarians and Finns and a few more to the the Dutch, Bulgarians and Croats. This mod uses bebro's excellent aircraft replacement icons and I attempted to modify some of those to convert them to other nations. The rest of the new units were either made by me or the community here (many thanks for all!).


The Finns are ready to reclaim Karelia, which was taken from them by the Soviets in the Winter War of 1939-40:







The Romanians are ready to retake Bessarabia, from where they had to withdraw a year earlier under political pressure. Will they stop there? Oh, and the first task in turn 1 is to destroy the Soviet aircraft on the ground before they could take off.






The Hungarians had no territorial claims against the Soviet Union, and still, after the bombing of Kassa (today Kosice) by three bombers of supposedly Soviet origin, Hungary declared war on the USSR and deployed a rather small, but highly mobile army corps. Later, Hungary commited more and more troops, which will arrive as reinforcements.

[Halibutt]

Looks like endless hours of fun, can't wait to download it

[Mark50]

I have to say, your edited bebro aircraft to fly Romanian colours are very nicely done. By any chance, have you made matching bigunits cards too based on bebro`s? Very nice SM.79B too!
Good luck with the mod!

[McGuba]

Thanks,

By any chance, have you made matching bigunits cards too based on bebro`s?

It is beyond my skills to make anything matching bebro's outstanding unit cards

Instead, as in my previous mod, I am using b&w photos for all the units (including the old ones, for consistency):





Oh, and by the way the original of the SM.79B was made by dragos, I just modified it a bit to better match the other Romanian units.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

I can guarantee more strategic movement! Crete is a tiny thing in my War of the World (Can't be attacked by units), which results in a very WWI-like map in mine. My map is 200x80 if anyone is interested in comparing. Can't wait to see the final result (hoping the map gets extended to India like I planned to do with Panzer Fury "II" (never got made but instead became War of the World). Great to see that my work is inspiring others (future of WWI next?).

My only ideas are that the game should be extended into 1947 or slightly later, to allow for a historical play until Dec '44, and then the opportunity to use Mauses and other stuff in a massive defense in Germany!

- BNC

[AugustinMalar]

This is gonna be a very excellent mod.

[bebro]

Looking great indeed. Love those Finnish planes!

[McGuba]

BNC wrote:
hoping the map gets extended to India like I planned to do with Panzer Fury "II"

Sorry, I do not plan to do it as it would make the map two times larger and it is already quite big IMO. It is on the verge of being unmanagable.

BNC wrote:
My only ideas are that the game should be extended into 1947 or slightly later, to allow for a historical play until Dec '44, and then the opportunity to use Mauses and other stuff in a massive defense in Germany!

First I would be happy to make it until mid 1945. Maybe in a later version. By the way I think it is a good idea and I can imagine even more miracle weapons. Time will tell.

Augustin Malar wrote:
This is gonna be a very excellent mod.

Thanks, I hope so, but I have had some problems with the PzC engine - the mod will probably only run smoothly with the /nocache switch. After all, PzC was not created with such large scenarios in mind. (Oh, and I almost forgot to add the Slovaks )

bebro wrote:
Looking great indeed. Love those Finnish planes!

Credit should go you to in the first place for making the originals of those icons


Army Group South is crossing the Bug River near Lwow (Lemberg):





Since some of the less known new units are multipurpose, and some of the old ones were made like that (e.g. Italian Semoventes) and currently it is not so easy to tell apart multipurpose units from normal ones, I added a small unit switch button graphic to the icon of those units. In this way these units are recognizable at a glance. Also, in the purchase screen the full name of these units indicate that they are multipurpose. E.g. SU-122 ATY/AT. I wonder why the devs have not done something like this in the numerous patches of PzC. For instance British LRDG infantry and regular infantry uses the same icon.

[McGuba]

So far it all goes as intended. Situation on 19 March, 1942, turn 19:




I lost a few veteran units in the Soviet winter offensive and now I have to start to upgrade my surviving, but now mostly obsolete tanks to better ones. In the reduced visibility of snowing some enemy units managed to break through in the gap between Army Groups North and Center so there is no actual frontline at the moment, as historically. It takes a few turns to stabilize the situation before I can regroup to attack towards the Caucasus. The defenses of Leningrad and Moscow are too strong and I have to move to the south before I run out of time. The fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimean Peninsula is also strong, but I think I can take that one this summer.

There is some partisan activity near the Pripet marshes in the Ukraine and in the Balkans. Not too serious yet, though. Randomly appearing partisans have a bad habit to block railway lines, reducing my prestige and making troop transfers by train a bit risky. I mainly use those weaker minor axis units and the inexperienced German infantry to deal with them. This way I can use the better units in the first line.

In North Africa, Tobruk is still owned by the Allies and the Afrika Korps was pushed back a bit in Operation Crusader. However, those British tanks are now destroyed and I brought some reinforcements from Europe so Rommel can start an offensive again. The fortess of Malta is also still owned by the British. It is currently at strenght 7. Hopefully I can take it by this summer, too.

The Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau succesfully broke through the Channel to the safety of the Baltic Sea. My U-boats were either damaged or destroyed by allied ASW so the survivors are at the French ports on repair. However, U-boat production continues steadily so I am sending out more to the convoy routes hoping to gain some extra prestige. Sorry, but this is a total war.


The long struggle for Malta.

A small island owned by the British in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by axis bases. Only one hex in size, so it should be easy to take. Or maybe not? A heavy fort is located on it which has to be destroyed from the air or the sea before a ground unit can land on the island. A tactical bomber, like the SM.79, has a good 50% chance to reduce its strenght by one point in an attack in clear weather, so normally it should take 10-20 turns to destroy it. However, the weather is not always clear and the British keep sending fighters to help to defend the island, which must be destroyed as well before the bombers start their attack. So I need to send some decent fighters to deal with them. But, then again, those fighters might be needed somewhere else in Europe.
Historically, after two and a half years of futile attacks, the axis ended the siege and diverted their forces to Tunisia. Can you do it better?

Apart from using bebro's aircraft replacements I also changed some of the vanilla ship icons to his superior icons, like to these Italian ones:






I was so close to Moscow and yet too far...

[Shrike]

Looks awesome! I've played a couple of games of 1941 (well, until the opponents quit) so I am looking forward to this one.

[iceFlame]

I was so close to Moscow and yet too far...

This looks to be shaping up as a really nice project.

Having the Kremlin in sight is just so tantalizing, one last push and the prize is at hand. In that regard, here's hoping for a sudden thaw followed by a successful drive to the promised land. (A.K.A. Red Square).

In other words, best of luck with the mod and thanks for sharing your progress.

[LandMarine47]

Hope to see some work with Sealion! Also I'd be cool to divert Italian Forces from say North Africa and Russia and use them in an invasion?

[McGuba]

Thanks,

LandMarine47 wrote:
Hope to see some work with Sealion! Also I'd be cool to divert Italian Forces from say North Africa and Russia and use them in an invasion?

In this mod you are free to do what you want. (And this might be the hardest part, as good soldiers always follow orders .) However, this mod assumes that the hositilities with the USSR already began, so you cannot just make peace in the east and transfer all your troops to the west. Once started, the scenario will live its "own life", that is the Soviets will not sit and wait, they will launch their offensives anyway, at the right time. Even though some of those will not be so ferocious if you stay away from their industrial centers. In addition, some historians suggested that Stalin had his own plan of invading Germany and that's why all the planes of the Red Air Force were amassed near the border in 1941. It was just Germany the first to act.

And still, England is not very heavily defended and I think that half or even one third of the Axis forces commited to the east would be enough to take it. But, in case of an invasion, the British Home Fleet is expected to leave its bases to repel the invaders, and the German Kriegsmarine is quite week in mid 1941: the Bismarck is sunk, the Tirpitz is still under trials, and the Scharhorst and Gneisenau are in the French ports under repair after being damaged by British bombers. In the east, holding the frontline with the rest of the army against the Soviet attacks should be enough, though. Or maybe even to start a limited offensive to create a buffer zone or to gain better defensive ground. Just do not advance too far as it will increase Soviet resistance as well.

The succesfull early invasion of England has the following benefits:

- Britain will not produce more aircraft
- US 8th Air Force will not appear over Western Europe in 1943
- D-day will not happen

The downside is:

- you will not get extra prestige for disrupting the North Atlantic convoy routes (as convoys would be meaningless and stopped)
- the British will continue to fight from their colonies (North Africa, Middle East) supported by the US and the Commonwealth, hoping that with the help of these and the USSR they will defeat Germany in the end and can regain their beloved homeland
- US troops will land in North Africa anyway


...


By the way, I have not written about the victory conditions yet:


- Total Victory: take all Allied victory objectives on the map by the last turn.
This is pretty much a theoretical outcome only, at least without cheating. By the end of 1941 Germany was at war with the three greatest powers of the world, how could they expect a total victory at all?

- (Marginal) Victory: take and hold all Soviet OR all British victory objectives on the map while holding ALL victory objectives in Germany in the last turn. For the defeat of Great Britain you also have to be in full control of North Africa and the Middle East meaning that Operation Torch must be repelled.
This one has more sense, and I believe that historically the Germans had the chance to achieve either one of these at some point.

- Draw: hold all victory objectives in Germany in the last turn.
If you play the historical way, i.e. if you try to attack everywhere, you will most likely end up struggling to defend Germany. In that case, achieving a draw can be regarded as a victory as well, as it is a departure from the historical result. This is how I am testing the campaign first, before its release.

[McGuba]

Situation on 29th November, 1942:




Something is about to change. While somehow I managed to capture Leningrad, American forces landed in North Africa and the Vichy French forces in the area changed side and joined the allies. The Afrika Korps has been unable to break through at El Alamein and is now threatened by a British counter-attack. I was unable to take Malta. Its fortress is still at strenght 7 after numerous bombing runs. I think it is a matter of luck in the dice rolls. (If you want to destroy it for sure, probably you need to bring Rudel here from the Eastern Front. But, in that case, who is going to sink the battleship Marat in Leningrad?) Army Group B reports a full scale Soviet offensive on its frontline. As historically, the Don river between Voronezh and Stalingrad is currently held by Hungaian, Italian and Romanian troops, respectively. Army Group A in the Caucasus requests further orders. Shall it continue its advance towards Baku or start to retreat to protect its flank? Well, it is up to you to decide...

...

So, up to early 1943 the war in the East has been about 90% accurate which is quite acceptable, I guess. As opposed to the history books I managed to capture Leningrad, but did not take the naval port of Novorossiysk near the Crimean Peninsula. However, if I had transfered more troops to Army Group South instead of pressing on with the siege of Leningrad, it could have been more accurate in this regard as well.

On the other hand, I am very pleased with the flow of events on the North African theatre. If I play historically, the outcome is pretty much historical as well, so in order to beat the Allies in North Africa, the player has to try something else. For example divert more troops there. (But, from where? - In this historical test play, apart from using the pre-placed units there I transfered one Italian and one German tank unit from Europe with one Italian heavy artillery unit and some infantry in late 1941.)

I expect the campaign will be less and less accurate from early 1943. It is much harder to script the AI correctly on offensive and I run out of AI zones already (I would need about a hundred instead of only 32). Also, by that time the Axis core army would be changed greatly since 1941 both in unit types and placement due to the player's actions and preferences. Still, all the major Allied offensives and landings in 1943-45 are modelled, but again, the player's actions can have an effect on some of those. For example, the Allies would not land in Sicily and Italy until the Axis can hold Tunis. And the Axis Balkan countries would not change side in 1944, unless the Red Army tanks get too close to their borders...

The final assault on Tobruk:






My last stand at Alamein, before I decided to say good bye to the pyramids and start to retreat to the west:






In the name of fairness, the Allies have their heroes, too. Such as the real Vasili Zaitsev of Stalingrad, whose name was immortalized by the movie 'Enemy at the Gates':

[BiteNibbleChomp]

not sure if you've told us this yet - does this start in 1939 or in 1941?

- BNC (now with WWI tanks being made and killing enemies)

[iceFlame]

So, up to early 1943 the war in the East has been about 90% accurate which is quite acceptable, I guess.

Ninety percent sounds phenomenal to me. Speaking as one who appreciates historicity in war games, I'm positively delighted to find scenarios that exceed even say 75%. Just so long as the 'what if' component is also alive and well so gamers can enjoy alternative paths as well. Makes for a great double barrel experience that way.

On the other hand, I am very pleased with the flow of events on the North African theatre. If I play historically, the outcome is pretty much historical as well, so in order to beat the Allies in North Africa, the player has to try something else. For example divert more troops there. (But, from where?...)

It seems to me you're quite right in suggesting 'from where?', to which I would only add that even if forces had been available the issue of choked supply lines was equally if not even more critical. In other words, it wasn't so much the lack of troops as the lack of a steady supply flow that ultimately proved the AK's undoing.

Which brings us to:

I was unable to take Malta. Its fortress is still at strenght 7 after numerous bombing runs. I think it is a matter of luck in the dice rolls. (If you want to destroy it for sure, probably you need to bring Rudel here from the Eastern Front. But, in that case, who is going to sink the battleship Marat in Leningrad?)

Leningrad certainly possessed considerable strategic importance, (what with a land bridge to Finnish allies, plus valuable prestige/propaganda value and a clearing of the naval threat in the Baltic), yet despite these advantages I still consider Malta to be the more critical of the two. I say this mostly due to the fact Malta lay smack in the middle of vital supply lines and afforded the British a perfect base from which to harass the enemy and jeopardize the Axis position across an entire theatre. So if as you suggest, Rudel might be the difference, then in my scenario he's got a ticket to Malta.

Army Group B reports a full scale Soviet offensive on its frontline. As historically, the Don river between Voronezh and Stalingrad is currently held by Hungaian, Italian and Romanian troops, respectively. Army Group A in the Caucasus requests further orders. Shall it continue its advance towards Baku or start to retreat to protect its flank? Well, it is up to you to decide...

While I fully understand the economic imperative, it still amazes me that anyone could consider it wise to extend the front by hundreds of additional miles in a region that was already strapped for manpower. I suppose it was viewed as an all-or-nothing gambit to cripple Soviet resources and enhance Germany's ability to stay in the war, but for my taste the true all-or-nothing point should have been in the fall of '41 with a concerted effort toward Moscow instead of a southern turn to Kiev.

As history records, the final push for Moscow ultimately failed in December of '41, largely due IMO to the time lost in diverting the spearheads south, which led to a series of events culminating in the onset of a brutal winter which the Wehrmacht was completely unprepared for.

At this point the Ostfront ceased to be a blitkrieg and instead became transformed into a battle of attrition. Which, it would seem self-evident, Germany never had a hope of winning.

[McGuba]

not sure if you've told us this yet - does this start in 1939 or in 1941?

The campaign starts in 1939 with the invasion of Poland, followed by 1940 France and Low Countries, and Spring 1941 Balkans - Mediterranean - North Africa. These are fairly simple "traditional" 10-20 turn long scenarios, with a little twist here and there. Then comes the long 1941-45 scenario. So there are basically four scenarios, the early ones serving as tutorials. All can be played individually as well.

While I fully understand the economic imperative, it still amazes me that anyone could consider it wise to extend the front by hundreds of additional miles in a region that was already strapped for manpower. I suppose it was viewed as an all-or-nothing gambit to cripple Soviet resources and enhance Germany's ability to stay in the war, but for my taste the true all-or-nothing point should have been in the fall of '41 with a concerted effort toward Moscow instead of a southern turn to Kiev.

After the failure of Barbarossa, the Germans had to come up with something new, they could not say, "ok guys, we did not mean it, you have better tanks than us, we go home, and you go home as well, right?" Moscow was strenghtened enormously by 1942 and the Soviets were possibly expecting the renewed offensive in that direction again. In this regard, the shift to the south makes some sense. It truly was an all-or-nothing gambit, but they did not have many other choices. And the extension of the frontline was only possible due to the ill-equipped, but quite numerous Minor Axis armies. What eventually led to the destruction of some of the best German divisions in the Stalingrad cauldron.
The turn to Kiev was a big mistake in 1941, but it is a question if the capture of Moscow in 1941 would have meant the defeat of the USSR. By that time the Soviets moved many of their factories to the Ural, and they already sacrificed their capital once to Napoleon, so they got used to it. And the fresh forces from the far east were there anyway, ready for a winter counter attack.

[demyansk]

I was wondering if this mod is available to play? It looks excellent

[McGuba]

I was wondering if this mod is available to play? It looks excellent

Sorry, not yet, as of today. I am still testing it, and do not like to release untested, unfinished material. I am not completly satisfied with the AI behaviour at the moment. Probably I never will. I am still experimenting with a few things, but once done I will release it for sure.