Grand Campaign 1939-40 Field Marshall

[loganfive]

I played the entire Grand Campaign at the Colonel level on my first attempt and managed DVs on every scenario. I found that none of the scenarios was terribly difficult from a decisive victory standpoint. The hard part is keeping your core units alive and managing your prestige. I maxed out at about 43000 at the end of the 1944 campaign (I actually gained 13000 points in 1944), and entered Berlin with about 30000, and Berlin Redux with 22,000. I kept an SE Grenadier unit right to the very end because it had +2 attack and +2 movement in addition to the +1 attack bonus you get for SE units vs non-SE, but it's really not a great strategy cap-wise. I found that I was a couple of veteran infantry units and and a couple of artillery units short of what would have been optimal at the end of the campaign.

With all that in mind, my goals for playing the campaign again, this time at Field Marshall level:

• Get to 1945 with 60000 prestige points, which means getting to 1944 with close to 50000.
• Get more balance among my units in terms of experience and kill count. That is, narrow the performance gap between my strongest and weakest units.
• Place a stronger emphasis on economy of force. In my first attempt at the Grand Campaign I was often winning DVs with 8 or more turns remaining. Which means that there were too many battles where I was squandering prestige and passing up opportunities to gain experience and kills for my weaker units.
• Win a DV at every scenario (In the immortal words of Herm Edwards: "You play to win the game!")

Anyway, I just finished GC 1940 as Field with 13593 prestige points, which is not a huge total but about 4100 more than I had in my first attempt.

I purposely kept buying infantry, tanks and artillery until I had all the purchased units that I will need at the end of GC East 1945.

I also made sure to get my least experienced units into the action as much as possible. I played the three Norway battles with green infantry units, because they were easy scenarios and a DV was never in doubt. The hard part was trying to win with green artillery in France, as even the 15cm guns do very little damage until you get to three stars.

Here is my core going into 1941:

• 9 infantry: 6 pioniere, 3 gebirgsjaeger, all ***, all have their first hero
• 10 15cm artillery, all 3***, only one has its first hero though
• 5 non-SE tanks, all PzIII and PzIV, all ***, all have their first hero
• 3 SE tanks, one **, two *, no heroes among them
• 2 SdKfz 7/1 AA, one ** and one ***, no heros
• 3 Me109, two ***, one ** all with a single hero
• 2 Stukas. both *** with one hero, plus the Recon Rudel
• 1 Me110 "hero" unit, ***
• 2 Ju88, one **, one *** no heroes
• 1 PanzerJaeger, ***, one hero
• 1 SdKfz 232 recon, *** one hero

I found that Field Marshall was only slightly more difficult than Colonel. It takes longer to gain experience for your units, but because of the experience caps you eventually catch up. And really, now that I've bought all the infantry and artillery I am going to need down the road (except for the 5 infantry "hero" units that arrive later and maybe a couple of captured Su-122s) and gotten all of them up to three stars, it is not going to be much of an issue moving forward. The extra prestige for the AI means you face a few more enemy units at the end of each scenario but so far it's nowhere near enough to make life difficult.

[goose_2]

This was my army at the end of 1940 on my own Field Marshall Playthrough:

This is what I am starting Campaign 1941 with

13 total inf
3 green in with no stars including 2 Paratroopers and 1 Grenadier
1 1 star inf def +1 hero
9 2 star including +1 def hero, +1 spotting hero, +2 def hero, Oleh Dir, my 3 pioniere units with +1 initiative and 2 with +3 attack heros, +1 attack se inf

9 tanks
3 captured French tanks only the Souma with 2 stars and none have heros
2 SE Pz3f tanks with +1 and +2 def heros, Albert Kirscher in Pz4d, as well as +3 attack Pz4d, +2 def and +1 attack Pz3F's

1 2 star recon without a hero

2 2 star AT units without a hero

12 artys
4 with 3 stars, 7 with 2 stars, and 1 1 star arty none with heros

3 AA units
All with 2 stars, 1 with +1 range hero, and 1 with +2 attack hero, and 1 with no hero

6 Fighters
Heinrich Bar with 1 star, 1 with 3 stars, 4 with 2 stars one with a +2 attack and 1 with +1 spotting hero

4 tac bombers 3 with 3 stars and 1 with 2 stars, 1 with +1 movement hero, and 2 with +1 def heros, 1 with no hero

3 Fighter Bombers
Rudel tac bomber no stars, Helmut Lent with 1 star, 1 with 2 stars and no hero

2 Strat Bombers both with 2 stars

My Manstein playthrough had 59 total units whereas my newest Super Hard Playthrough has 37 units...
I am working at typing up my current Super Hard army composition and you can compare

[loganfive]

Was this your first attempt at the Grand Campaign?

This looks like way more fighter and non-SE tank units than you would ever be able to use optimally.

[goose_2]

It was essentially my 2nd as my first blind through was lost when my computer crapped on me way back when, but this 2nd playthrough was blind from the start of 42 on, I just wanted to build a large diverse force, which I expanded exponentially in my Manstein playthrough.

I finished Berlin in Field Marshall and I am at the start of Goldap in my Manstein playthrough.

For me newest Super Hard Playthrough I have a very slimmed down army to maximize heroes and build them up as best that I can as double Field Marshall makes building prestige extremely difficult, and Double Rommel makes spending prestige a painful experience.

[loganfive]

I don't have quite as many hours of Panzer Corps under my belt.

But I am a hardened veteran of Allied General, Pacific General and Panzer General II. The Red Army campaign in Allied General is impossible to win unless you disable the weather. Pacific General is a lot of fun but there are only a couple of scenarios that are really difficult (and there's a bug that doubles your prestige if you save the game between scenarios). Panzer General II made some rule changes, some for the better, some for the worse. It also made tank units much more powerful than in previous versions (overrun attacks, range of 2, only minor damage when attacking infantry in a city hex). Some of the scenarios were really hard, especially Kanev in the Russian campaign. It also had "leaders" and an undocumented prestige cap named "The Jensen Limit" after the fellow who discovered it (there was a hard cap on sum of your prestige total plus the full strength value of all your purchased units).

[goose_2]

I don't have quite as many hours of Panzer Corps under my belt.

But I am a hardened veteran of Allied General, Pacific General and Panzer General II. The Red Army campaign in Allied General is impossible to win unless you disable the weather. Pacific General is a lot of fun but there are only a couple of scenarios that are really difficult (and there's a bug that doubles your prestige if you save the game between scenarios). Panzer General II made some rule changes, some for the better, some for the worse. It also made tank units much more powerful than in previous versions (overrun attacks, range of 2, only minor damage when attacking infantry in a city hex). Some of the scenarios were really hard, especially Kanev in the Russian campaign. It also had "leaders" and an undocumented prestige cap named "The Jensen Limit" after the fellow who discovered it (there was a hard cap on sum of your prestige total plus the full strength value of all your purchased units).

Ah the good ole days of Panzer/Allied General.

I played them on full hard mode where the ai got triple prestige and started with 3 more stars experience than normal on PlayStation, and on Panzer General Forever online with the ai starting with 5 stars and 5 times as much prestige. Good times, good times.

Panzer general 2 I played at insane levels as well, but it is the micro tweaking of this game that makes this a joy to keep coming back to, even after almost 4 years now, still the only game I play

[loganfive]

Update.

I have just completed Ostrov, just past the halfway point of the 1941 campaign, and am sitting on 24790 prestige points.

I upgraded two of my 15cm artillery units (the two with the lowest kill count) to Wuhrfrahmen, and another one (which had gained a +1 movement hero) to a Strumpanzer. And of course I added the Uber Rudel, Heinz Rondorf and Helmut Wirnsberger hero units. But other than that my core remains the same.

Instead of the green infantry and artillery I had to win with in 1940, I now have 4 green SE tank units and a green Heinz Rondorf tank to bring up to speed. The other challenge is just getting experience points for all my units. I want everything (or almost everything) to be up to four stars by the time I get to Stalingrad and it's a real struggle on Field Marshall going from three stars to four.

I have been deploying 9-10 infantry and 9-10 artillery in every scenario. The deployment limit in 1940 is 27-30 units so far, which means very few slots for everything else. But I have been winning DVs very easily with little damage to my core.

I think I can do Novgorod on the cheap and pick up some more experience and prestige, but it promises to get a lot harder after that.

[PeteMitchell]

Update.

I have just completed Ostrov, just past the halfway point of the 1941 campaign, and am sitting on 24790 prestige points.

I upgraded two of my 15cm artillery units (the two with the lowest kill count) to Wuhrfrahmen, and another one (which had gained a +1 movement hero) to a Strumpanzer. And of course I added the Uber Rudel, Heinz Rondorf and Helmut Wirnsberger hero units. But other than that my core remains the same.

Instead of the green infantry and artillery I had to win with in 1940, I now have 4 green SE tank units and a green Heinz Rondorf tank to bring up to speed. The other challenge is just getting experience points for all my units. I want everything (or almost everything) to be up to four stars by the time I get to Stalingrad and it's a real struggle on Field Marshall going from three stars to four.

I have been deploying 9-10 infantry and 9-10 artillery in every scenario. The deployment limit in 1940 is 27-30 units so far, which means very few slots for everything else. But I have been winning DVs very easily with little damage to my core.

I think I can do Novgorod on the cheap and pick up some more experience and prestige, but it promises to get a lot harder after that.

This sounds very interesting as I am always very curious to see other people’s approaches and ideas! Have you thought of sharing screenshots of key scenes/situations or strategic/tactical highlights, maybe? That would be really cool!

[loganfive]

Here is Leningrad41, Turn 13.

This was my first crack at this scenario, as I had elected to go with the Ukraine path (Zhitomir, Zhurivka, Zolotonasha) on my first attempt at the Grand Campaign.

As you can see, I have only the two Victory Objectives at the top of the screen left to take, which I accomplished two moves later despite rain and mud.

I expected this battle to be more difficult than it was. There are four KV-1s you need to destroy early in the scenario, but once you've done that it's not too bad.

However, it's probably the first battle where it really helps to have 4 or 5 quality SP artillery units. You can see the two StuG IIIBs and the two Wuhrframens on the right of your screen and the Sturmpanzer on the left.

[PeteMitchell]

Thanks a lot loganfive, unfortunately it seems the picture doesn't show?

[loganfive]

It should be visible now.

[PeteMitchell]

It should be visible now.

Thanks, yes now it works, great!

[loganfive]

Here is an image of the end at Smolensk.



This is a better illustration of my grand strategy.

9 infantry and 9 towed artillery units out of 29 deployment slots. And I left my best infantry unit and best artillery unit in reserve.

[PeteMitchell]

This seems an impressive set for the early days! You will need some more tanks for the later days as well, won't you?

[loganfive]

I have 4 SE tank units and 6 non-SE.

I should not need to purchase any more.

There will be four more SE tank units and one more "hero" unit, plus a Maus prototype in 1945, for a total of 15.



This is what I have now.

[goose_2]

Army looks solid. Well done
I would convert your best 15cm arty's to 17cm artys as they are same rof as 15cm for much better bang for your buck

[loganfive]

I am looking to avoid purchasing large towed artillery units, mostly for cap reasons. They are expensive, and always seem to be out of ammo.

In fact, I have two artillery with Attack +3 heroes now and will eventually downgrade them to 105s.

I have another 15cm with Attack +1, which I have provided with half-tracked transport to make it part of my mobile cross-country task force. That's going to be my most expensive towed artillery until very late in the war.

The AI has been very good to me with my artillery heroes, although it took its time in awarding them. It's been less generous with the other unit types. I also did not get my first SE tank unit until Amiens.

[loganfive]

This is what my tank units looked like at the end of Moscow. They mostly got massacred by KV-1s and T-34/41s in clear terrain. I did not do a very good job of protecting them with artillery.

[goose_2]

I am looking to avoid purchasing large towed artillery units, mostly for cap reasons. They are expensive, and always seem to be out of ammo.

In fact, I have two artillery with Attack +3 heroes now and will eventually downgrade them to 105s.

I have another 15cm with Attack +1, which I have provided with half-tracked transport to make it part of my mobile cross-country task force. That's going to be my most expensive towed artillery until very late in the war.

The AI has been very good to me with my artillery heroes, although it took its time in awarding them. It's been less generous with the other unit types. I also did not get my first SE tank unit until Amiens.

When I played on Field Marshall I did not upgrade to any 17cm arty's and I did not use Nebelwerfer's and I hardly had any arty's with a 2nd hero.

On my Manstein playthrough I have several 2 heroed arty's and 1 Nebelwerfer with 3 heroes +5 Att +1 Movement 30cm shredder.

[loganfive]

If I had an artillery unit with +5 attack and +1 movement I would upgrade/downgrade it to a Hummel. A movement of 6, range of 3 and a hard attack of 14 would make it an awesome and inexpensive SP gun. It would provide great protection for e.g. infantry and medium tanks.

On my first run through the GC I got about 10 second heroes but no third one, even though a couple of my units were over 1500 kills.