Operation Cobra

[datsupahero]

I give up. I have no idea how this is supposed to be done. In every situation all I can do is wait while they eat all my forces up in the north. All their troops are three stars, they have dozens of units, they're completely ringed around me and in depth at the same time. In about 6 turns I'll lose basically all my bases and all those units. I'm pretty sure my units are only winning in the southern area cause all those units are at 5 and 7 strength. I've booted this mission up like 12 times and each time I can see the game's lost in about four turns.

What are you supposed to do here? (I would have uploaded the map but it's too big for the forum)

[captainjack]

There's no real easy answer. For the bocage block on the left, I use one or two strategic bombers (usually at least one is 4 or 5stars by then) to strip ammo and fuel from the panthers. Move infantry into contact. The panther can't resupply properly and if you're lucky it will attack you instead of resupplying which is favourable for your infantry and strips the last ammo. Then you attack its close defence without return fire.

In the more open terrain nearer the middle of the map just below the bocage, form a defensive block around the city and airport as best you can. Your tank destroyers hit hard but have lousy armour. Put them just out of spotting range (three hexes away) and hope to get an ambush when the panthers and half tracks move. Keep giving ground so you can reinforce to full strength and buy time to set the strategic bomber(s) on them.

To the right, one or two experienced mosquitos can be used to attack any units with no air attack. The firefly has good attack but unimpressive armour but does OK on defence if you have a gun behind it. Make sure you finish off any damaged units.

At some point you will need to attack. You have two main choices. First, send a force down the left side and across to the lower right objective - recon or spotting heroes are good here. Second, force your way through the heavy forces on the right hand side. Personally I target the AA units, so I can send in the strategic bomber to soften up the heavy armour and units with air defence. About half the panthers the Tiger 2 and the Pak 43 don't have air defence so once you have crippled the AA guns you can send in the Tac bombers and fighters. You will take heavy casualties, but this is Allied Corps so you should have lots of prestige for in-game elite reinforcements on the key units. Ideally you want to be doing both options.

The big problem is that there are lots of veteran troops and close terrain. Even if your elite 43 infantry is very good against most troops, movement is painfully slow, and infantry vs infantry combat brings very high losses so two attacks can easily wipe out a unit on 12 or 13 strength. The other thing is that you need the Churchills to survive the combat, but their attacks are rubbish, and while the Firefly looks a good bet, they don't last very well.

I think that I have only ever won on the last turn (playing on General with middle level of randomness), but then a heavily defended breakout through dense terrain was never going to be easy. Alternatively, try using the cheat code to add a couple of turns so you have a little more time to play with. That allows you to get a better feel for what actually works (to be honest, not very much!).

[BiteNibbleChomp]

what I always find helpful If I've been stuck is opening up the scenario on a Hotseat game, and skipping to the first enemy turn. Examine their foces and work out where the difficult bits are.

I know many will consider this a type of cheating, but everyone has their own opinion

- BNC

[captainjack]

It's not cheating if your spy captured their deployment maps...

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Very true. The enigma was broken after all!

- BNC

[Egge]

Don't be too upset about your troubles. Cobra is by far the most difficult scenario in the whole campaign.

In the north you must be very careful. The German forces there are much stronger than yours. Initially, you should pull back al little, otherwise your forces will be obliterated (you've probably already noticed that). The AI isn't very good at scouting. If you move your units out of spotting range, they are generally safe from attacks. Deploy your air force to help the weaker forces in the north east, but beware of the dreaded German Flak. Don't easily send your units into clear hexes as they stand no chance against German armour and always back them up with artillery. Remember, you should only fight if you absolutely have to, i.e. to take a victory hex.

What does your core force look like? Mine consists mostly of Churchill tanks and artillery. Air units are not too useful later on as the maps tend to be jam-packed with German air defence. Infantry is not very useful towards the end of the war and Allied tank destroyers are also pretty bad. If you use a lot of those units, the scenario will indeed be very tough.