Erik's campaigns, mods and multiplayer scenarios

[ColonelY]

So, that was about 3Girba.

Now, just one consideration about the previous scenario, namely 2Capuzzo.

First, the facts:

1. Once all our core units have been deployed, we are left with 7 extra LCPs and few RPs...

2. In principle, we're relatively low on RPs at that time (perhaps 40-50 RPs for 7 LCPs), so we can't really purchase much at this point...

3. Anyway, if we do, then we won't have enough LCPs in the next scenario (3Girba) to deploy these newly purchased units...

4. Furthermore, we'll already receive several new core units in the fourth scenario (4Operazione). (And these units are wearing historical names, which is awesome and immersive - that's great! )

Then, the suggestion:

Considering all this, what about simply removing these 7 extra LCPs (in 2Capuzzo, I mean) and giving us instead some auxiliary units (something good for immersion and which would "cost" about these 7 LCPs, in order to avoid unbalancing all)? Now, which units? Well, your pick, Erik!

[ColonelY]

And, by the way, I haven't found any issue while playing 4Operazione! A great scenario, with a big map... there, wrong tactical choices will have consequences, so that's perfect!

(Well, I know we don't have enough LCPs to deploy all the core units at our disposal - even without having purchased any single unit in the 2nd scenario! - but that's not really a problem here in this scenario, to me at least, as the scenario is already well-balanced like this and as I think we'll be able to use these units later in the campaign and many of them need to be replenished anyway, so it'll take a little time to handle this.)

[terminator]

[Desert Rats 1940-43] Battle of Girba
[...]

I agree with terminator.

Here are some complements:

3. Not any single sec obj right now?[/b]:

So, no possibility to achieve a real Major Victory (with the corresponding text you've prepared )...

In order to make a Major Victory achievable within this scenario, what about adding one sec obj like "Destroy at least 2 Italian artillery units" with as reward a (classical) "Get 1 specialisation point."
(Don't forget, by the way, that we're about to "lose" two spec pts now in the fourth scenario... in exchange of unlocking there our two aces... so it may be nice to already gain 1 spec pt here.)

How? Well, it could come this way: not enabled nor visible from start, it shows up together with the pri obj about tankettes, with the event "New Orders", those text has then to be slightly adapted from "You have succesfully held onto your objectives and it is time to go on the offensive. |Your orders are to eliminate all Italian armored units." (which is imprecise anyway because there are more than 10 tankettes here, so it's not exactly about ALL of them here! ) to, perhaps, "You have succesfully held onto your objectives and it is time to go on the offensive. |Your orders are to eliminate (almost) all Italian armored units and to remove as well some Italian artillery pieces from the battlefield."
***
Et voilà !

Another idea for a Secondary Objective is to put the first two primary objectives into secondary objectives(Silver Flags) while keeping the same type of objective (Defend your Secondary Objectives at all time). You could give +1 Specialization Points(SP) for this new secondary objective (if you give the 2 two pilots as reward in the next scenario, 2 Specialization Points remain to be distributed, one SP for this new secondary objective and one SP for ColonelY Secondary Objective). The Field HQ will remain the Primary Objective to defend at all costs in order to continue.

[Desert Rats 1940-43] Battle of Girba(6).jpg (525.31 KiB) Viewed 2963 times

[ColonelY]

Wonderful, I vote in favour!

[terminator]

[Desert Rats 1940-43] Fort Capuzzo

It would be better to use the walls of the Chinese wall as a fortification for Fort Capuzzo

Capture d’écran (1271).jpg (104.72 KiB) Viewed 2907 times

Capuzzo_air_view.jpg (143.13 KiB) Viewed 2896 times

[ColonelY]

[Desert Rats 1940-43] Taranto Raid

A beautiful scenario, as well based on History, which takes us out of the desert for a while, the time to deliver an intense naval-air battle!

But it may give a bit of a feeling of "suicide attacks" , given the quantity of powerful enemy ships and coastal batteries, as well as the weakness of our old torpedo planes against anti-aircraft fire (even from ships). I find it very difficult to spare our (core) naval forces in this scenario...

From Wiki, one can read that “To make sure the Italian warships had not sortied, the British also sent over a Short Sunderland flying boat on the night of 11 November, just as the carrier task force was forming up off the Greek island of Cephalonia, about 170 nmi (310 km; 200 mi) from Taranto harbour. This reconnaissance flight alerted the Italian forces in southern Italy, but since they were without any radars, they could do little but wait for whatever came along. The Regia Marina could conceivably have gone to sea in search of any British naval force, but this was distinctly against the naval philosophy of the Italians between January 1940 and September 1943.”
=> So, the Italians were alerted/active from start, that’s fine. But it does mention as well some recon plane, which would definitely be welcome…
1. Add an auxiliary Short Sunderland recon air unit?

2. To enhance immersion, 'could even add an event, a pop-up directly at the beginning of the scenario with this historical info of the reconnaissance performed (and of the confirmed presence, on the Italian side, of 6 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers and 2 light cruisers!), of the fact that it alerted the Italians, as well as of the famous quote from Andrew Cunningham on this occasion: "All the birds were in the nest"?

This battle happened during a night with low visibility => 3. Use the “Sandstorm” effect to simulate this? (This trick has already been used quite nicely, but now I don't remember where. )

Still historically, the British had some fighter support (Fairey Fulmar fighters of 806 Naval Air Squadron), but there is NO British carrier fighter in OoB... so we can (and we must !) deploy some of our land-based dogfighters to cover our few torpedo-bombers. Or, perhaps, the player has the choice/possibility to put some extra land-based bombers as well... But then I find it really annoying to read always the warning related to "Low Fuel"... => 4. That's why checking the "Off-map air supply" for the British faction may be nice in this scenario!

The Italians had there no radar station, but several Fuel Depot here and there (that have been bombed as well!)... => 5. Just for the flavor, some Fuel Depot could be added here and there, perhaps?

About carriers, by the way, historically, Eagle has suffered a breakdown in her fuel system, so she was eliminated. And when the brand-new carrier HMS Illustrious, based at Alexandria, became available in the Mediterranean, she took on board five Swordfish from Eagle and launched the strike alone... Which means that, in principle, one shouldn't see two British carriers on this scenario but only one. But it's nice and useful to have two of them on this scenario, so I wouldn't change this...

So, there are already few suggestions (few? well, 5 actually)...

Et voilà !

[ColonelY]

I would say that the modifications 1,3 and 4 (i.e. air recon, visibility effect & off-map air supply) are the most important here...

[ctskelly]

Having finished Red Storm and every other superb Erik Campaign, I discovered a couple I had missed previously, the ErikBru Winter War campaigns. I just finished WW 1939 and diligently recorded comments. (and sorry to interrupt the Desert Rats thread). Here they are:

Order of Battle-Winter War 39
(all played at level 4, Advanced)

Overall: Superb. As good as anything you guys or Slitherine have ever put out before, and different. Unlike the highly mobile deserts, this is a campaign where terrain rules, and armor is not the dominant unit. Nor are heavy units, like heavy infantry, and yet they are critical in static situations, useless in mobile ones. As a result, we are forced to mix ski and heavy infantry, with or without artillery support, to make it through many tactical challenges. And like the real war, supply lines are critical. I loved it.


1 Karelian Isthmus Good scenario. Balanced and gives us a chance to learn how to best employ heavy and light infantry.

2 Kollaa (Suojarvi)
Excellent scenario. Some nail biting and out of the box thinking needed.

3 Linnasalmi
Good one. Takes a good mix of strategic and tactical thinking.

4 Krylanmaki (Karvola rescue)
Not that hard, but good. Requires a mix of heavy units and light.


5 Taipele (Somme)
Not that hard once you figure out the way to win, but good. Shows how combined arms is essential.


6 Crossroads scenarios

6A Kotisaari (Island)
I do not think it is possible to win this scenario in 20 turns, even with a completely mobile force. Too much forest to travel through. Too strong a Russian defense. It too me 31 turns. And why can’t we deploy the 3 Air CP after refeuling?


6B Uomaa
Great scenario. Well-balanced.


6C Hevossalmi (Annihilate)
Good scenario, but I could not kill all the units in the short time span. Maybe it is possible. My first time through took me until turn 35.


6D KotaJarvi
Good one. Well-designed with no time to waste; emphasizes importance of Finn use of speed over brute power.


Kelja & Kelja Revisited
Good play, not that hard, not that easy.

Soumussalmi

Some confusing aspects. 6 air points are allotted on turn 5, but not aircraft entrance exit sites, nor airfields. Then on turn 10 or so, the base shows up. That was confusing. Is it possible to have them show up at the same time, or is the base allocation triggered by killing the tanks and air CP allocation cannot be.? If so, a note might be used to show bases are being built.

Eemetti Road (Koljarvi?) Stopping Russian advance up road

Way, way too easy. For better game play, I suggest not giving any reinforcements, which seems more like the scenario description of a small force stopping a big one.


Petsamo in Kola

This one is weird. It is really hard to get ten units off the map in 18 turns (and the briefing says 7 units, not 10). It takes 6 turns to get to the west exit hex and there is only one exit square. The one in the east is too far. (8-9 turns). Heavy infantry have no chance exiting at all and to get 10 units off, I had to start sending units both ways from turn 1 before they could engage in combat. Six turns to get to the west exit then one unit per turn exiting. After they start exiting, you can replace them in the line with the CPs freed up. Weird. I suggest making more than one exit hex in the west and maybe one (as suggested in briefing), in the south. Then, since it is so easy to block the Russians from exiting, have another objective of killing X units.

Fort Pantoniemi

What a great scenario. You can’t get a major victory in just two times through; it takes some real out of the box thinking to do so. The strategy you have to adopt is not what it seems it should be.

Lake Kiantijarvi

Quite easy. Could win in 12 turns once I knew what to do, cut off supply as in so many other scenarios.

Hirvasharju Hotel

Easier than previous version, though still not easy. I won one turn past the last, so can probably do better the second time.


Once again, I wish there were some way to express my deep gratitude to you guys. I love OoB, as my 9500 shows, and maybe only OoB. And you have made it far richer than anyone else, including its designers, could have done. Would you like something from Japan? Let me know. ctskelly at gmail

[Erik2]

ctskelly

Thanks for the Winter 39 feedback, "winter is coming"
I found another Winter feedback-list and have added your comments.

[terminator]

And, by the way, I haven't found any issue while playing 4Operazione! [/i]

Did the Secondary Objective "Do not lose any British air units" work properly ? Have you received the reward (+1 Specialisation Point) ?

[ColonelY]

And, by the way, I haven't found any issue while playing 4Operazione! [/i]

Did the Secondary Objective "Do not lose any British air units" work properly ? Have you received the reward (+1 Specialisation Point) ?

Great, you're perfectly right!

In this scenario, there are 4 sec obj with +1 spec pt as reward. I've reloaded a save to check that with a Major Victory you gain +4 spec pts. Then, by restarting the scenario and using a #igotnukes with this sec obj "Do not lose any British air units" already completed because checked from start, I gain +1 spec pt... So far, I have to say that it seems good.

BUT (yes, there is a "but" here ), the point is that there is a +1 spec pt for completing any scenario of this campaign.

Which means that for a Major Victory one should get +5 spec pts (the "basic" +1 and the +4 of the sec obj) and for the #igotnukes it should have been +2 (the "basic" +1 and the +1 from the single sec obj checked from start) So, indeed, we're missing the +1 spec pt from this sec obj! ( )

So, I've taken a look at the triggers. To fix this, I assume that simply putting as "Conditions" in the "Brit air survive" trigger:
-> "Turn Start" (instead of "Capture VP event") & "Check Turn" & "Scenario Turn limit" checked... AND
-> "Check Objective State" (with the test/idea "is this sec obj still "completed", as it starts like this and could only be modified by losing a plane)
... will do the trick!


Well, I think it was not that easy to find out, so good job terminator!

[ColonelY]

[...] (and sorry to interrupt the Desert Rats thread) [...]

No worries at all!

It's always nice and useful to have good feedbacks on various campaigns.

[ColonelY]

[Desert Rats 1940-43] Operation Compass

Major Victory around turn 20 out of 30 (difficulty level 3 as usual). Once “Halfaya Pass” is captured, I think that the rest is really easy, perhaps a little too much...

At that time anyway, most of the enemy planes should be down and a British flanking wing on its way deep into the South to push northwards in order to close steel jaws on the bulk of the remaining enemy forces…

During this battle, I was (really) weak in terms of naval forces (from previous scenario!), but used my depleted Support ship to “freely” (= without using or “losing” any RP) repair two of my cruisers in the East… Anyway, I didn’t need their help in this battle, so it was fine like this!
*******
Issue about the “New orders”, once “Sidi Barrani” has been taken, so about the counter of the pri obj “Capture at least 4 other primary locations”… the counter shows directly “1/4” because it does count the pri obj locations AND Sidi Barrani HAS a golden star flag as well!

To fix this, perhaps simply change the “>3” by “>4” in the corresponding trigger.
Like this, the counter will start at “1/5” once Sidi Barrani has just been taken and these new orders have just been received… and as we need to capture 4 OTHER primary locations (as it’s clearly written right now on the obj itself), well, all’s said!
And, perhaps, to make it even more “crystalclear”, ‘could add an obj descry, something like “So, taking Sidi Barrani into account, it’s a total of 5 locations that must be captured.”
*******
In the triggers, you tried to put two times each Italian commander or ace?!

Once under “Italian stuff” -> “Commanders” (these were not taken into account for me as they didn’t appear on the battlefield) and once under “Commanders/skins” (out of any folder; these were working as usual, with the two land commanders showing up on Light Tank regiments, for example!)…

Perhaps clean it by removing the first part?
*******
About event “Air reinforcements”: it doesn’t highlight the good hex right now, it doesn’t focus the cam on the plane right now (it has certainly been moved closer to the front, but then there is a little something to adapt as “target hex” between event & spawn unit triggers).
*******
Add some Italian units!

-> Like somewhere a Sahariana unit called “I Auto-Saharan Bn” (it was present in the Italian XXI Corps, those HQ was in Buqbuq, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass and Buqbuq is on this map and it will be a great addition to offer both more variability and a little more challenge as it has the “Camouflaged” trait; yes, it was “only” a battalion, but in this scenario you’ve some tank units representing either regiment or battalion already, so it shouldn’t be a problem anyway);
-> I haven’t seen any Italian AT unit while there were several of them in the more difficult scenario 4Operazione…
-> Few more infantry units here and there?
-> Perhaps even (of course if not too antihistorical! ) spawning a moderate counterattack once the Pass has been taken, spawned in the West and moving eastwards to face us or delay us?
*******
And now some very little details:

-> Briefing: “… to attack to destroy…” -> something’s missing here, like either an “and” in-between or a comma.

-> Event title (T6): “Infantry reinforcements” should appear with a very first letter as uppercase.
& why a plural in the txt, “Additional British units are released.”, as we get a single unit “only”?
*******
Et voilà !

[JackoBongo]

Hi Erik,
I've reached the "Torch" scenario in the Desert Rats campaign and there is something wrong (I think) : at some point the English gets additional naval RP but it is not possible to deploy additional ships.
I've also noticed the scenario isn't really easy: the french troops are blocking most of the beaches which make landing quite difficult (and the french batteries are destroying the barges).

[Erik2]

Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, the Vichy forces are a bit more resilient than during the historical invasion.

[ColonelY]

Desert Rats 1940-43

Here are few very little details and some suggestions on several scenarios...

7FirstBardia:
Sec obj "Destroy all forts"... well, here it's about fortresses, not bunker... so, 'could perhaps name these fortresses (like "Bardia Fort 1", "Bardia Fort 2", etc. or rather "Fort 1", "Fort 2", etc. without the "Bardia"), or just mention as obj descry something like "Of course, the regular bunkers don't count here."
From start we can see more bunkers than the amount of forts to be destroyed, but still!
***********************
8Beda:
Name on map "el Haseiat" -> "El Haseiat"

vs

9Sonnenblume:
Name on map "el Hasejat" -> "El Hasejat"

As it's the very same location, what about chosing once and for all to write it either with "i" or "j"? (I think I prefer the "j"-version...)
***************************
8Beda:
-> Briefing: "Your primary goals is to [...]" Maybe "goal" here, instead?
-> On map, we've "Benghazi" but "Benghzi AF"... one letter's missing in the name of this AF.

9Sonnenblume:
-> The last word in "Hold at least 3 0bjectives" comes with an "0" (zero) instead of the direct letter...
***************************
4Operazione:
What about putting the Chevrolet WB unit named "Hussars" at full strength instead of half-strenght?

Well, basically it's a cool unit (I think) but it can't be replenished nor purchased back once destroyed thanks to its "noPurchase" trait...

[ColonelY]

9Sonnenblume:

I do really like this scenario and having such a huge map to defend offer a lot of tactical opportunities...

But, depending on how it's defended it may be a little too easy, as in my playthrough where at the middle of the scenario both German and Italian land forces have mostly been destroyed entirely! (Played on normal difficulty, i.e. level 3, as usual.)


I went for an aggressive defense (as often in similar situation ):

1. Defend Benghazi and its AF!
The enemy have several AFs near El Agheila and that's it! They have a lot of planes, including many bombers of course, but the map is big and they need to capture some AFs to move forward without fuel issues... So, the idea is to keep their planes away of my land troops by preventing (or at least delaying them as long as possible) from taking another AF. So, Beghazi IS to be defended!

I've deployed there the heavy infantry unit, an experienced tank unit, one AT, one experienced regular infantry unit, one AA unit to cover all. These units, together with the aux Australian infantry unit, it was enough to stop and crush the German attack, including destroying all their armored units... Well, with the help of some of my planes, of course, like the aux bombers we recieved thanksfully, but not all of them as there are Italians not to forget either... So, a half to say hello to Germans and the other half to harass the Italians...

2. Retake initiative & set a trap!
The basic idea here is to try, using fast-moving armored units, to outsupply several Italian units while they're moving through the desert... So don't just wait them near Tobruk to fight the main fight here, but instead leave Tobruk and it's defenses (several bunkers) to fight in the desert, thus keeping Tobruk's defenses only for a last stand if things don't go well in the desert (some Aussies are expected towards Tobruk as reinforcements anyway).

A. The 3 British Indian infantry units have been ordered to dig in around El Mechili, while the 2 Australian infantry units and the colonial infantry unit have been put near Segnali and Bir Tengeder... so these 6 auxiliary units have moved to take their positions (near rough terrain, easier to defend) and cover/block a wide area, the time to see how things evolve, where the try to push.
B. Mobile team: 1 Vickers + 1 Lanchester + 1 Daimler Dingo units (only the Vickers tanks being able to capture hexes and thus really to outsupply) deployed near Bir Tengeder, then moving directly SW along roads... before being put at rest to let the enemy advance. A little alert when enemy bombers show up; they dispersed and let the Daimler Dingo trick them away from the main goal... well, anyway... After this, they waited a little SE of the town of Msus that the Italians have taken...

The Italians moved straight NE from Msus, in a single column, several hexes wide... followed by 2 units of British bombers... my mobile team move then closer to the undefended town of Msus... once the Italians have moved too far away for being able to turn back against the mobile team, Msus has been taken and directly almost all the Italian troops directly outsupplied!

The bombers were really effective against their transport trucks, the mobile team was engaging the pursuit, the Italian efficiency was going down really fast (being outsupplied!)... fast enough that even their tanks didn't engage the British Indian regular infantry units entrenched when being enough close...

Then, with 6 infantry units, the mobile team and the bombers... well, it was a pure slaughter!


Then, the second half of the scenario was mainly about dealing with enemy aircrafts (and their few land reinforcements), setting traps, making good use of the AA unit, etc.

At the end of the scenario, I had 5 auxiliary infantry units entrenched near Agedabia (in range of enemy bombers from their starting AFs) and covered by my AA unit...
And my own auxiliary bombers where massively bombing these AFs, the enemy having no more fighter or almost...

[ColonelY]

9Sonnenblume:

No big issue found. Here are several suggestions or ideas of mine:

-> I suggest writing on map "Benghazi" and "Benghazi AF", as in previous scenario(s)...
Overall coherence. 'May look like a detail, but still... especially if you decide to defend this sector, you're more likely to see it.

-> Event talking about Australian reinforcements:
1. Great, but "how much" the player can expect?! For planification, it may be worth knowing. Perhaps add the info that it's should be about an infantry brigade plus some support units.
2. When this event pops-up, maybe focus as well the cam on Tobruk or on these troops on transport ships...

-> Add a 2nd Free French unit somewhere...
As the first one is about to be slaughtered anyway ( ) and then the Free French income is simply useless to the player...

-> Add some Italian units as flank-guards, or something, to make it more difficult to achieve what I did (outsupplying the entire Italian column as soon as Msus has been recaptured)...

-> Finally a very little detail: about name of regular inf unit in Tobruk -> "24 Inf Bde" -> "24.Inf Bde" (as all other, why not? )


Et voilà !

[ColonelY]

10Mdauuar:

1. Pri obj -> because it's the case here, please precise that it's "at scenario end" somewhere (either at the enf of the obj label or within the obj descry), so that the player, being sure about this point, has more tactical opportunities...

2. Australian auxiliary units:
-> "2/24 inf" => "2/24 Inf"
-> No cool and historical (or even pseudo-historical) name for the 3rd unit?

3. About sec obj about frontline bunkers: a total of 5 bunkers with silver star flags (= sec obj locations), but 4 Red arrows, only 4, yes, but pointing only at the frontline bunkers... you count in the "frontline broken" trigger the secondary VPs and check whether it's ">3" (for Germans), whereas we've to keep at least ONE of these frontline bunkers... okay, so, here I suggest simply removing the sec obj flag over the 5th bunker, the one near "Ras el Mdauuar"!

4. Still in the triggers, under primary obj and "Ax objectives", I have been surprised to found a ">2" instead of a ">1" (5 locations to keep over the 6 available in total, so it's ">1" for them at scenario end to win)...
So, what does that mean?
A) Like this, if the player holds 4 pri obj locations... the pri obj isn't completed (that's correct) but shouldn't be considered as failed either (as still not ">2" for Germans and Italians), so it should then stay simply open?!
B) If you wanted to allow an early defeat (if Axis hold 3 pri obj locations, as it's on "Capture VP event"), then this should please be indicated as well as within the pri obj descry... and, in this case, the part for failing this obj without the Axis holding 3 locations at scenario end isn't implemented?!

*******
Very little detail on an unit name, of an Italian bomber unit, in both 4Operazione and 6Compass:
"73 Gruppo" => "73.Gruppo" (as all the others; 'can be changed directly in the txt files - it may be easier like this, even if I'm not entirely sure about it).
*******

Et voilà !

[Erik2]

ColonelY, you are indeed tireless.
Thanks for all the reports so far. I hope you make it to the end.