Love/Hate/Enjoy

[Vorskl]

Hi fellow generals, colonels and generalissimuses,
while we all are impatiently waiting for 1941 to start, let's reflect on the most remarkable scenarios so far in the DLCs, literally: which one(s) you like, which one you hate (and why is it Ebro) and which one is fun to play. Hopefully, each of us will get an opportunity to glance at the favorite game from another angle + SL guys may find some useful customers feedback.

Love: Madrid -> interesting gameplay in a city among competing parties; Battle of Zbura - calls for clever maneuvers of your forces.

Hate: Ebro. Defies historic narrative, common sense and is artificially difficult because of mass-spawning of bots. French scenarios with absurd super-heroes (i.e. Neufchateau with 15-strong DeGaulle and 20-strong CharB2) - call for brute force / heroes stacking but not clever solutions

Fun: Valkenburg Raid -> totally new gameplay with paras grasshopping; Raate road -> historically accurate / fun gameplay: if played with brute force, you'll be decimated; but if played smart (i.e. using forests), that's like a Black Friday Amazon shopping of elite Soviet equipment with Bezos paying for it My source of 203mm and Katyusha guns, especially with a Scavenger hero

[Edmon]

Thanks!

I am looking forward to seeing just how much damage you guys will do to me .

No problem. And by the way, your Ebro playthrough is very entertaining. My new favorite Edmon quote

"Okay, alright it looks bad but… well and it is" - TheEdmon

This is one of my favorite scenarios! The Devs did a great job with it. I hope you do an AAR on it because it would benefit many first time players.

Ebro is certainly is a conversation starter...

[eddieballgame]

General eddieballgame here; tried Generalissimus, but got demoted due to incompetence.
Own all the DLC's but have not played them all.
Yet to try the Spanish DLC; btw, the campaigns by 'tpoo' are quite challenging...at least for myself & a good friend of mine.
So far I have enjoyed, in one degree or another everything I have tried (to include the Single Scenarios)...variety is the spice of gaming.
Just knowing how much is available & waiting to be played is exciting.

[Tassadar]

I've chosen two or three that come to mind for each category.

Love:

Abeville & Neufchateau - because their difficulty does not come from hordes of enemies, but rather from the concentrated elite force that can stand up to the player's army
Lille - great cooperation of the AI and the player.


Hate:

Merida - there's something seriously wrong in how the AI allies operate in that mission - they can get stuck for the most bizarre reasons, which I only noticed is an issue after playing it a few times.
Warndt Forest - those hordes and close terrain and the counter attack that can get out of hand. But that's not really actual hate against the scenario, more at the French forces.

Fun:

Madrid 39 - with two factions already fighting each other and the player jumping in, with the option to encircle huge amount of units and with finally being able to control infantry again.
Dunkirk - first attempt at a plane only scenario and quite a good one!
Teruel - that cavalry charge is prestige draining, but a spectacle to behold.

[adiekmann]

Love:

SCW:

Early Madrid - Love how you need to push hard north, fight for the critical airfield, and capture the town on the south side of the river only to then have to fight like the dickin's to hold off strong counterattacks.
Ebro - Yes, you read correctly. I actually like the challenge of scenarios what stress you out and it still does. The only one that did that in the vanilla game, at least the first couple of times playing it, was Bagration. Teruel used to do the same but they made it much easier by removing a couple of waves of attacks among other things.
Burnette - I have largely figured this one out, but it was really good/challenging the first few times and I still like it. It is still a bit tough though getting that final hex in the Northeast.

AO39:

Saarbrucken - I love defensive scenarios where you have a wide front to defend, good defensive ground while being pressed by numerical superior forces. It never has been difficult though for me even the first time I played it.
Bzura - Much easier than its counterpart in Panzer Corp 1. I just wish the Polish attack was stronger. I never had much difficultly defeating it and then going on the offensive. It's the later waves of attacks, primarily at the center of the map, that gave me the most challenge in this map.

AO40: My favorite DLC so far, so this is tough to name only a few, but here goes!

Hannut, Abbeville, and Dunkirk. I really like the last two Balkans maps too. They are fun even if easy. Dunkirk for the same reasons already given above by someone else. Hannut and Abbevill for similar reasons why I like other scenarios. I enjoy the stress of being pressed. Think of what make it fun playing a competent human opponent. It forces you to be on your toes! Strong AI forces in Hannut and Abbeville do that (to some extinct at least).

Dislike or don't look forward to playing compared to others in the DLC:

SCW: Toledo - It's tough but mainly because your forces are not that strong yet and you have a logjam to get through Toledo itself, the victory hex up the river is almost impossible to crack with a purely frontal attack thanks to that strategically placed AA gun on the hill. Finally, you can't really maneuver well or you must do so with inadequate forces and/or cover long distances.

Forbach/Czechoslovakia - Not a big fan of the puzzle scenarios. I give credit for creativeness but it's a bridge too far.

There's others that I am not wild about or love but I'd rather spend my time playing than writing on a Friday. Happy gaming!

[o_t_d_x]

I dont remember most of the map names....and havent played through 40 dlc, because i started a new playthrough now without heroes and good traits.

Love: Moscow, Defense of siegfried line 39, Ebro (only with no allied ai mod), first us map,
Enjoy: El Alamein, Moscow 43, London, Taipale, Warndt Forest, Bzura, fighting with rommel was fun, and many others.
Hate: Kiev (never lost this map, its a simple encirclement tutorial, feels like work only), all early maps in basic camp. (i just know them too well, its alw. the same), Sevastopol (liked it at the beginning, but now its too boring), small and easy to win scenarios generally

[Bee1976]

Well i enjoyed most of the scw maps, yes even ebro at some point xD - best maps: teruel and madrid

there are just 2 scenarios in all dlcs i disliked:
first and last from ao39, they felt pointless, like "fillers"

but saar offensive was a burner xD

[GUNDOBALDO08]

Fun: Valkenburg Raid -> totally new gameplay with paras grasshopping; Raate road -> historically accurate / fun gameplay: if played with brute force, you'll be decimated; but if played smart (i.e. using forests), that's like a Black Friday Amazon shopping of elite Soviet equipment with Bezos paying for it My source of 203mm and Katyusha guns, especially with a Scavenger hero

Excuse me but I can not resist: you actually wrote “Raate road historically accurate”?? A 1940 Finland scenario with German Army instead of Finnish one?
no Finnish soldiers to defend their land and a German army a year ahead of that territory? and you define it historically accurate ??? no come on I can't think about it. Fortunately, the two anti-historical scenarios can be skipped, otherwise perhaps I would never have progressed in AO dlcs.
I still have the foolish hope that the developers will correct this huge problem, not by eliminating the Germans altogether, but at least by adding Finnish auxiliary troops ...

[Vorskl]

Fun: Valkenburg Raid -> totally new gameplay with paras grasshopping; Raate road -> historically accurate / fun gameplay: if played with brute force, you'll be decimated; but if played smart (i.e. using forests), that's like a Black Friday Amazon shopping of elite Soviet equipment with Bezos paying for it My source of 203mm and Katyusha guns, especially with a Scavenger hero

Excuse me but I can not resist: you actually wrote “Raate road historically accurate”?? A 1940 Finland scenario with German Army instead of Finnish one?
no Finnish soldiers to defend their land and a German army a year ahead of that territory? and you define it historically accurate ??? no come on I can't think about it. Fortunately, the two anti-historical scenarios can be skipped, otherwise perhaps I would never have progressed in AO dlcs.
I still have the foolish hope that the developers will correct this huge problem, not by eliminating the Germans altogether, but at least by adding Finnish auxiliary troops ...

ahaha of course you're 100% right about germans playing finns here... I guess designers decided to cut a corner and let players farm some juicy Soviet equipment there, which wont be possible if you were to use aux finns. What I meant, though, is use of forests as a trap to destroy otherwise uberstrong Soviet units is spot on