GC East custom difficulty: 75% Prestige +2 strenght AI, and rommel from 43 onwards

[Ursulet]

So for karkhov43.

I got a pz3 m Se that i upgraded to a tiger. And upgraded all infanteries to their 43 equivalent. I prefer the 43 infantery but most of them still had a couple of points of overstrength so i will wait to upgrade those.

I upgraded all stugs F to G and bought a SPAAg 7/2.

I also upgraded lent to a me410D. But i am not using him much anyway.

So kharkov43. I deployed everything but 2 strat bombers i kept in reserve.

As it started, after reading the briefing, it says it should cross the river. So i wont. But the commies obviously didnt read the briefing and will keep trying. I am off to a slow start and slowly get familiar with tigers. Not used not to having to back tanks with artillery. Around turn 4/5 , snow is gone and we make some good progress, Killing bridgeheads on the east and spot a few buggers hiding on the west. The luftwaffe get rid of them with a tiger and oleh dir. Then the snow comes back and two conscripts cross the river and attack my neberwerfer 21cm with 13 strength. Despite beeing backed up by artillery, i still lose 4 strenght but i got a new hero , a range hero, thats . I still keep a lot of troops along the river as i dunno what to expect. Consequently the progress are slow up north. But strangely there isnt that many forces so at turn 10 i speed up things to push forward. My Movement 88 kills a fighter and gets a 2A hero. Meanwhile down south a couple of isu 122 keeps bombarding me and killed a few arties. My second neberlwerfer got a 2A hero. (Incredible luck, i never reload 2nd heroes). Then the next Thing i know is my 15cm arty gets a range hero lol I then check it and see it already had one lol .

Up north we are Pressing karkov from the south and the west. Rudel gets a good shot and get a third hero, a 2D hero. To celebrate i attack a 12 strength AA on the right bank, and they shoot me for 4 dmg. the third recon is found and evacuated. Karkov is then captured on turn 19. A kv got a 2 D hero.

Conclusion: insane luck With heroes, overall not a difficult map but i lost time and prestige defending the river crossing.

Here is my army after karhkov.

Infantery:
Bruckenpionier 2* 1D Hero
43 inf 4* 3A3D heroes
43 inf 4* 3D2D
43 gren 3* M
43 gren * M
43 gren 3* Pein
43 gren 3* M
43 FJ 4* 2A1D
43 FJ 4* 3D
43 GJ 4* wirnsberger
43 GJ 4* oleh dir 3A2D
krad 2* 2d
Krad 3* A

Panzers:

Pz 3m 3* rondorf
Pz IVG 4*kerscher 1I
Pz IVg 3* 3A2D
Pz IVg 4* 1D
pz flam 3* 2D
KV-C 2* 2D
KV-C 1* no hero
Se tiger 0 start no hero
Se tiger 3* 1D
Se tiger 4* 5A
Se tiger 4* 1DI
Se tiger 4* 2DI

At:
Stug 3G 4* M
Stug 3G 4* M
Stug 3G 3* 3A
Stug 3G 3* A

Scouts:
233 8 rad 3* 1 spotting
233 8rad 3* no hero

Artillery :
15cm 4* RR 2Range hero on an arty, this is the second time i get that in 9 years i think, not sure how best to use it.
17CM 4* A3
21 cm 4* 1D
21 4* nebelwerfer 4* MA2
21 4* nebelwerrfer MR movement and range , i dunno what to do With that one too.
Stug 3 4* 3A
Stug 3 4* R
Wurfrahmen 4* R
Stuh 42 4* 2D
Stuh 42 4* 2D
Su-122 4*
Su-122

88 4* M2A
88 3* R
Sdkfz 7/2 1*
Sdkfz 7/1 4*
Sdkfz 7/1 3*

FW 2D 4*
FW 2D 4*
FW 3* no hero
FW 3* Nowotny
FW 4* Bar
FW 4* Spotting hero

Stuka ju87D 4* rudel 2D2D
Stuka ju87D 4* 3A2D
Me410D 4* Lent

He177 4* 3D
He177 4* 3D
Do217e 4* A
Ju88A 4* 2A

[Ursulet]

Now belgorod. Do not cross the donets. Kind of deja vu...

[TSPC37730]

Looking at your corps, I'd suggest that you need more armor for the tank battles in '44. You may want keep and upgrade some of the Russian tanks that you capture going forward. The StuG III's with movement heroes are good candidates for upgrades to Elefants when they are available.

[Ursulet]

Looking at your corps, I'd suggest that you need more armor for the tank battles in '44. You may want keep and upgrade some of the Russian tanks that you capture going forward. The StuG III's with movement heroes are good candidates for upgrades to Elefants when they are available.

13 tanks arent enough? I will keep em all then. But that is scary. And a bit late to level new ones.

[TSPC37730]

Looking at your corps, I'd suggest that you need more armor for the tank battles in '44. You may want keep and upgrade some of the Russian tanks that you capture going forward. The StuG III's with movement heroes are good candidates for upgrades to Elefants when they are available.

13 tanks arent enough? I will keep em all then. But that is scary. And a bit late to level new ones.

One thing to consider is possible losses. I expect that may become an unpleasant reality.

I do think it is a late start, but, I also do believe that, with care, you can get your newer tanks to a decent experience level. Upgrade them to one of the latest models to compensate for their lack of experience. I also believe that some of the capturables start with about one star of experience. Not great, but it's better than starting from zero.

[Ursulet]

I finished belgorod. Same shit as before. However things went badly once again down south when wirnsberger came on the hex next to the river to finish off a unit. Next turn he got bombarded twice and attacked by a conscript and moved on the river hex where he was attacked again. He almost died, by turn 4, i had to send back a tiger and rudel to block them because a stug G, a kv-c And two arties not enough to contain the russians. I made a mistake and took only 7 tanks and one single stug G, that was clearly not enough.

My stuka 14 strength got attacked twice despite beeing escorted, even rudel got attacked. But 4 tigers are a force the russians cannot block at the moment. And i managed to get a DV on turn 16.

I got a few heroes:
My FW that i bought after kittel died had a initiative hero. My arty with 3A hero got a movement hero. My brand new se Tiger got a 3A attack on his 100th kill, that’s awesome.
A stuh42 with a 2D hero got a 1D hero. I used him as an antintank and on the river bank he managed to block and destroy KV and t34-43.

I starting next mission with 55574 prestige.

[Ursulet]

Looking at your corps, I'd suggest that you need more armor for the tank battles in '44. You may want keep and upgrade some of the Russian tanks that you capture going forward. The StuG III's with movement heroes are good candidates for upgrades to Elefants when they are available.

13 tanks arent enough? I will keep em all then. But that is scary. And a bit late to level new ones.

One thing to consider is possible losses. I expect that may become an unpleasant reality.

I do think it is a late start, but, I also do believe that, with care, you can get your newer tanks to a decent experience level. Upgrade them to one of the latest models to compensate for their lack of experience. I also believe that some of the capturables start with about one star of experience. Not great, but it's better than starting from zero.

Tanks for your help, i will check the captured list and see what i can get.

[PeteMitchell]

Plus on some (big!) maps (in GC East) you may need to be able to field two or three substantial tank groups to overwhelm the enemy (i.e. like 6-7 tanks each to dominate the place... but also to be able to rotate damaged tanks out)... IMHO...

[Ursulet]

That means i dont have enough tanks then. May be i should restart all over again.

[TSPC37730]

My brand new se Tiger got a 3A attack on his 100th kill, that’s awesome.
A stuh42 with a 2D hero got a 1D hero. I used him as an antintank and on the river bank he managed to block and destroy KV and t34-43.

+3A on your SE Tiger I is a perfect outcome. You will get a lot of mileage out of that unit.

The AT role for your StuH 42 against tanks was bold but I'm glad it worked out for you. Don't forget that it might not be so easy in the future since you were probably getting the benefit of the defenders being on the river. But overall very well done.

[PeteMitchell]

That means i dont have enough tanks then. May be i should restart all over again.

I guess I wouldn't restart yet, try to get to around 18-20 tanks/ATs... my view may also depend on my playstyle...

[Ursulet]

I finished Orel, My stuka has got a 2 A hero. So he now has +5A+2D, my second scout had a 2 D hero.

i have a choice between ponyri or yakovlevo and a lot of choice, i dunno what to do with all these new tactical bombers and artillery. Wespe hummel, what is good to suppress all these heavy russian armor. I need to think about it. Same for the AT. When is the pak 43-41 available?

[goose_2]

56 8.8 cm Pak 43/41 3 270 6 0 1 1 0 11 5 24 0 1 8 10 0 0 0 11/15/43 01/01/46 4 fixedt Pak heavypull sea rail glider 8.8_cm_Pak_43-41.png

You have plenty of tanks. Utilize the tanks that are light on experience and heroes, build them up for the long haul. SE Tigers, and then SE King Tigers will take you far...The whole thing is to have fun with the units you are using

That yello looks lousy

so here is the answer for when the 8.8 cm Pak comes out
11/15/43

[Ursulet]

Thx goose. I have an old imported core available for 1944, probably ,5/6 years old that has a pak 43-41 with +1movement +2A and over 1100 kills. I remember i got inspired by deducter's videos on how to best use those AT towed guns. I dunno honestly how i managed so many kills.

[Ursulet]

By the way, the only GC i ever finished was the allied one. I still havent played afrika corps, soviet corps and i just discovered today that i had a campaign called sealion.

[goose_2]

By the way, the only GC i ever finished was the allied one. I still havent played afrika corps, soviet corps and i just discovered today that i had a campaign called sealion.

imho

Afrika Korps is the absolutely best designed overall campaign for this platform. It is super exciting and very replayable. I played it blind once on Rommel, and then again at Double Rommel 25% prestige. One of my first campaigns on my channel. Super super fun game, that I still reminisce about.

I am currently blind playing Soviet Corps and Double Field Marshall 25% experience, along with other self imposed restrictions. It is super easy, even with all of the restrictions, it is interesting for me to play a game where prestige is no problem.

I am also playing through SeaLion blind at Double Rommel. This has been exceedingly challenging and really enjoying the complexity and care with which this campaign was designed. You can tell that it was really designed with care as each scenario has its own unique challenges and play design.

I so very much enjoy this game

[Ursulet]

Yeah this is the best Strategy game ever.

[Ursulet]

I just finished Yakovlevo. First try, never did that map before. I remember going north before a few years ago.
I failed to get a decisive victory, one more turn and luchki would have fallen. Nevermind, this was intense. Until turn 11, everything was under control with very limited losses. The main force with 5 tigers and panzer 4 was heading straight toward Yakovlevo, while a smaller group, with rondorf and kerscher in panthers and one tiger and a stug G were heading north on the right side.

When i was in the outskirt of Yakovlevo, a soviet group of tanks outflanked me by the left and went all way south to capture the victory hex. I had to send 2 tigers, an artillery and oleh dir and all my luftwaffe to destroy em but that seriously hindered my progress up north. Then on turn 14, the right bank group was severely attacked by soviet bombers and my artillery badly suffer from it. I thought the soviet air force had been annihilated but i couldnt have been mire wrong. That prevented the kerscher group to continue their progress up north and they only secured the victory hex on turn 18 and couldnt cross the river on time to help secure luchki.

+ side: got a 2 A hero on a pz 4 that had a 1D hero.
Got a range hero on a spaag.
I did well w/o elephants.

- side: i am still unable to fully protect my troops from the Soviet airforce for a whole game. Despite having 6 fighters, 3 Spaag and 2 88 guns 3 aux spaag. That costs me again a DV.
I am also questionning my stuh 42 and my stug 3B, as i am lacking artillery power at times. I’d like to get sig 38t or hummels and at the same time, if i can’t protect em properly its gonna get very costly.

[TSPC37730]

Thx goose. I have an old imported core available for 1944, probably ,5/6 years old that has a pak 43-41 with +1movement +2A and over 1100 kills. I remember i got inspired by deducter's videos on how to best use those AT towed guns. I dunno honestly how i managed so many kills.

The +1 movement is a nice addition. This is a soft cap friendly unit and is good for setting up ambushes. Due to its low defense value, IMO the way you should use it is to hide it in a city hex, and wait until the enemy runs into it. You can then attack on your turn, hopefully destroying the weakened unit. Because there's often a lot of SU-122's & SU-152's around, your guns will be vulnerable and the thing to do next is to redeploy to another ambush site.

[Ursulet]

Having my second try at oboyan to get a DV. That is hard.