Observations thus far

[slowgtp]

Other than the game crushing the speed of my computer (different story), I've been enjoying this thoroughly. A few observations:

-In Kiev, it seems that the auxiliary forces opposite yours on the other side of the bulge are embarrassingly skimpy. I attack from the south, the northern pincer can barely make headway. I attack from the north, the southern pincer can barely do anything. Something seems amiss here.

-Norway south is a mess. Other than being extremely difficult, there seems to be a few things amiss. First, the fort on the island in the south. It can only be taken via paratrooper or landing craft, and then that unit is stuck there forever. Trondheim is impossible to take, no matter which way I assaulted it.

Anybody have any comments on this?

[dalfrede]

In Norway [N/S] leave your tanks a home and stock up on infantry.

Overstrength Inf to take Trondheim. On first turn don't place unit where it can be attacked by two Nor Inf.

The island Fort, Stuka will eliminate, you can capture it with with weakened aux paratrooper.

[econ21]

-In Kiev, it seems that the auxiliary forces opposite yours on the other side of the bulge are embarrassingly skimpy. I attack from the south, the northern pincer can barely make headway. I attack from the north, the southern pincer can barely do anything. Something seems amiss here.

I am about to confront this - just restarting this as my Northern force crossed the river without enough deliberation. I originally geared up for a siege assault of Kiev then realised the real threat was massed enemy armour and lots of air in the north. The counter to those presumably has to be the Luftwaffe. I fielded 3 fighters, 1 stuka, 1 bomber, 1 Bf110 and 1 AD but I think I need to add another fighter, stuka and AD. It's going to be fun. But you are right, the south is a holding force. It reminds me of the original PG Kiev scenario, which was glorious. I plan on bringing up the small southern battle group around the Italians to help encircle Kiev: they have an artillery and engineer, which is what you need for city busting. But overall, the southern battle group will just be the anvil - the heavy hitting will have to come from your core breaking through from the North. With 30 turns, I may have enough time to move a StuG or more to the southern battle group, to help with the entrenchments.

-Norway south is a mess. Other than being extremely difficult, there seems to be a few things amiss. First, the fort on the island in the south. It can only be taken via paratrooper or landing craft, and then that unit is stuck there forever. Trondheim is impossible to take, no matter which way I assaulted it.Anybody have any comments on this?

It was messy - I did not anticipate the Norwegian patrol boats disrupting my landings and the two pairs of deployment slots in the West are so vulnerable - I think they probably need to be infantry only (I kept trying to land artillery but could not defend it with only one infantry).

On thing to focus on is your victory objectives. I thought about taking the fort but I can't see the point. Just leave it. And all you need to do in the West is take a couple of cities, IIRC. So you can just use infantry supported by ships and planes, then leave them there. No need to organise a battlegroup.

Do you mean really Trondheim, not Oslo or Lillehammer? I thought Trondheim would be Norway North. I did not have much of a problem taking Oslo and Lillehammer - advance on it slowly from both sides, just make sure your paras and engineers are backed by artillery. 75mm is fine as the mountains give it extra range. The Norwegians don't have much of an army - all they have is a fair amount of infantry but if you protect your infantry with artillery, you can prevail.

[nexusno2000]

Norway is about mountain inf, some engineers, and lots of 10.5cm artillery.

Noway South. You can just ignore the Kristiansand fort. Not a victory hex. It's only dangerous to ships, and none of your ships need to go near it. If you must take it bc you're a completionist, bomb it with Stuka, shell with your cruiser, and send a para (after your mostly done with the actual invasion).

Here is me, on FM, ignoring it.



Norway N is different from all other scenarios. You send 2 eng, 1 mnt, 1 10.5cm artillery to take Trondheim. Using OS and heroes helps a lot. After taking Trondheim, you can deploy more units. Clearing the map is a chore, but again mnt inf and 10.5cm artillery your best friends.

Keep an eye open for the British cruiser that likes to sail into Trondheim after a while.

Here is me on David vs Goliath, invading my home town and being none too nice to the Norwegians and their little foreign friends.

[kverdon]

I enjoyed Norway South. Land in the Center of The Norwegian south coast with infantry and Pioneers backed up by Arty on the second wave. The far NW city can be taken with a Pioneer backed up by a Paratrooper with fire support from the German Cruiser after you dispatch the Norwegian ships. If you can save the Blucher, even with 1SP it can be of use along the coast to Oslo. Hone your skills on these Scenarios, after France it gets a whole lot tougher. Reduce the fort with a Stuka and then drop a depleted para on it. Coverting to or buying a few Mountain Troops is a big help. Leave all your Armor at home.

[econ21]

Just finished Kiev - what a fantastic scenario! Lost both my recons - that's Panzer Corps for you. Finished with 10 turns to spare on General. The southern force can make decent progress on Kiev if supported by the Luftwaffe. But that's a side show - it's all about your core in the north. I split mine into two "divisions" (with a roughly historical composition of units for a Panzer Division in each). I took Karl Gustav to help with Kiev.

The Western Panzer division headed straight south for Kiev - that's the key force and faces the hardest opposition. There are tons of Russian tanks and quite a bit of air power. I took a big air wing to get control of the air and then was very cautious crossing the river. The key thing was to support a small front (2 tanks + 1 recon) with an AT unit, as the Russian tanks will mob you. I retrospect I should have brought 150mm, and advanced a trio Tank-AT-Tank with a 150 behind the AT. I nearly lost an infantry and tank to the T-34, KV-2 etc. Stukas are key to killing the heavy Soviet army, but Karl Gustav does it even better.

The Eastern Panzer division cleared the north east part of the map and then headed south. The biggest excitement was encountering a Kv-1. But it was alone, so fell to encirclement.

Once the central Russian armored formations and airforce are dead, you can encircle Kiev and it falls really quickly - then it's just a mopping up operation. StuGIIIb are very useful in this mission, as there is a lot entrenchments to whittle down.

[nexusno2000]

The Siege Mortar is just lame.

How is it even possible to use in mobile tank warfare?

That and the railway gun.

Two most effective units in the game.

#sad