Soviet Grand Campaign (DLC 42 v1.1)(03/07/25)

[imp44791]

I know that you have already developed the first few scenarios of 1942 (the Gorki air defense sounds fun), but I was thinking that you have already three scenarios on the south side of the Moscow front (Bryansk41, Kashira and the Winter Offensive towards Kaluga-Yukhnov-Mozalsk) that make a thematic whole very nicely. Historically this offensive continued with the Great Raid of two cavalry corps behind Vyazma - one of them the 1st Guards Cavalry under Belov who had helped relieve Kashira. The Soviets dropped paratroops and tried to link up with partisans there, but it didn't work in the end, and only 1st Guards Cavalry really managed to get out. Stock Soviet Corps has this pocket battle, but as always on a macro scale and also from the "outside" - the core tries to march in to save the Cavalry. I thought that like your excellent "phalanx" scenario with the Italians in Libya, or your Mogilev factory evac one here, you might consider having the player trying to extricate his core (plus an important aux unit - an elite cavalry called "Pavel Belov" perhaps?) from the inside of the pocket. Make that even a "no air" scenario - you can justify that the airforce is defending Gorki, as above.

As ever, these are just ideas.

[guille1434]

Hello Nikivdd and Imp44791...

It is so interesting to learn about the interaction between an experiencied modder and a serious and very thorough tester. Congratulations guys! Your work gives fresh air to this wonderful game...

About Pavel Belov, he was quite a remarkable soldier... You can read about him in the Wikipedia... Here is part of the entry about him, in case you are interested...

"Pavel Alexeyevich Belov (18 February 1897 – 3 December 1963) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was nicknamed the "Fox" by the Germans, and personally led the longest successful raid of the war, lasting five months behind the German lines.

At the beginning of the war, Belov commanded the 2nd Cavalry Corps. During the Battle of Moscow on 26 November, it was renamed and given the honor of becoming the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps. The divisions also received 'Guards' designations. The newly established cavalry corps played a pivotal role in stopping Guderian's Panzers in 1941 on the southern outposts of Moscow near the town of Kashira. His unit was among the first to start the counterattack in the Battle of Moscow. Following the winter-counterattack they penetrated deep into the enemy rear being cut off in the process. During Battle of Rzhev Belov would lead a successful five-month raid with the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps behind Army Group Center.

Belov was one of the few generals not affected by Stalin's military purges despite having a Polish wife. From the first days, he demonstrated effective tactics against the onslaught of Blitzkrieg, along with Dovator earning first tactical victories for the Red Army. Due to the constant retreats, the unit played rear guard duties, especially during the Uman disaster. The unit, additionally played a rescue role for the many trapped troops in the Battle of Kyiv, which Belov's forces unsuccessfully tried to save. Stalin called his unit the "Fire Squad" as he was often thrown in the most difficult parts of the front expected to save the situation. Pavel Belov was very respected among his peers as he was a general who truly cared about his soldiers. He often refused to send his units into pointless attacks that his superiors often demanded, this could possibly explain why he was only awarded the Gold star in 1944, considering all of his admiration by the foe along with his incredible accomplishments on the battlefield."

By the way, Pavel Belov would have turned 125 years old tomorrow

Not to put un-appropiate pressure on the architect of this mod ( ) but here is an Hero portrait of that Soviet Commander, and an Elite Cavalry unit icon would be mandatory...

[imp44791]

Yes, Belov was very cool. One of the annoying thing when I first read Erickson's book (30 years ago - golly!) was that there was this tremendous detail about 2nd Guards Cavalry at Kashira, and then the counterattack, with Belov being this major figure getting direct dispatches from Stalin (at a time when getting anything direct from "the Boss" was alarming to say the least )... and then pretty much nothing! I guess Erickson was putting out what he had found in the archives (he was pretty much the first serious Western academic to be allowed to see them in the early 70s), and that's the bits he found about Belov. It was frustrating, since the guy was so cool. And no Wikipedia back in the early 1990s either, so I was left wondering for years

[imp44791]

So, I have finally finished this campaign. It is a great mod, with an excellent mix of scenarios. I like very much the strategic thinking you must put in when depending on the crappy early war Soviet equipment. Once Barbarossa starts, there is a very good mix of scenarios - Brody is especially well made, and so is Mogilev. I had expected a good game from this modder, and I was not disappointed. Good stuff. Play this, now.

[nikivdd]

@imp44791
@guille

I came home from work and began reading your posts. I know i am repeating myself but thanks for the assists.
Soon i will release v1.3 of DLC 37-41. I think we will be able to call it the final version.
I am working on the proposed changes and addition of Belov. As usual, it comes much to making choices.
First of all, the Bessarabia scenario. After some reflection and reading your thoughts, i replaced a part of the tankettes with non-armored Romanian units. I admit that i was overzealous with the R-1's (using the Polish TKS icon). The changes might make the scenario overall easier but this has always been the intention. A "lighter" scenario or a "breather" before operation Barbarossa.
Secondly, the weather conditions for clouds and snow has been slightly elevated in the Winteroffensive41 scenario. Weather is a bit trial and error; perhaps those people among myself who were betatesting the Bryansk scenario of the German DLC41, can understand what i am talking about.
Thirdly, the Kashira scenario. I added several guard cavalry near Kashira, including Belov (thanks Guille for the hero picture). Here i placed him as an auxiliary. We can eventually discuss to add him as a core unit in DLC 42. Most deployment zones for ground and air units have been moved near the northern edge of the map. I also followed the recommendation for core army ground deployment in Tula and Serpoechov. The German attacker got some extra fighter units at turn 1 and the SE ground forces have a few more strength points. I think as pointed out, these changes will make the mission more challenging (even Soviet armor does not have Knight Rider's turbo boost). And yes it is winter time, so the chance for clouds and snow has been increased; but once again this is random and the type of weather can be different during each play of the mission.

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[Erasermarek]

I hope there is not too much controversy or politic in this missions. Looks too great for me to be real we get sooo great campaign for Soviet. I must say that the Soviet campaign in the basic game disappointed me. I enjoyed the US Corps more.

[nikivdd]

I hope there is not too much controversy or politic in this missions. Looks too great for me to be real we get sooo great campaign for Soviet. I must say that the Soviet campaign in the basic game disappointed me. I enjoyed the US Corps more.

I don't think so otherwise i'm sure i would have heard about it.
The player is the USSR/Soviet or Red army and the enemy is Germany/Wehrmacht and SE units and some of the Axis minor nations will come later. I also add where i can, some historical information in the end splash screen. But this is a wargame, not politics. That is also why i prefer the "censored" vanilla developped version of Panzer Corps, not the "uncensored" modded version.
Version v1.3 will be released either tomorrow evening (we live in the same time zone), or Saturday. I hope you will give it a try. I'm glad you enjoyed US Corps, i really put a lot of effort in its creation.

[imp44791]

As far as politics goes, I can also assure you that they don't come into this. I am a historian (not military - that's just a hobby) not a politician. I am not Russian or German either. Just interested in the Eastern Front.

And yes, US Corps was also my favourite official DLC. Though I also liked vanilla Allied Corps too, the British have some very nice units. But playing the Soviets is probably the best fun of all. Wonderful mix of units and challenging setups.

[guille1434]

Nico and Imp44791:

I am happy to be able to make some (small) collaboration to help make this mod a nice experience for the player. Also I learn about this game, and history in general.

About this Soviet campaign, I think that Pavel Belov really deserved to be included as a Soviet Corps hero. Thanks Nico!

And about politics, I can say that I have my very strong position (against) any form of totalitarism, but I am, like Imp44791 an enthusiast about military history, specially in the 20th century, so I enjoy playing wargames, exclusively Pz Corps in late times, but I also enjoyed Steel Panthers, Panzer General, Pacific General, etc... In fact, in my "own" mod I also deleted the nazi swastikas from flags and icons, and I am deleting the "SS" in the unit icons files names, replacing them by "SE", because of what those letters bring to my mind. I also want to tell that I am not Russian/Soviet or German, nor I am a practicant of any religion.

[Yrfin]

And about politics, I can say that I have my very strong position ell that I am not Russian/Soviet or German, nor I am a practicant of any religion.

Aliens ?

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rofl

[terminator]

04. Bastion Polesie (vs Poland)
There is no message indicating the number of Polish forces from KOP remaining on the battlefield or when all Polish forces from KOP were eliminated during the game.

Excellent idea. Will be part of the next update.

04. Bastion Polesie (vs Poland) v1.2

Bastion Polesie (vs Poland) v1.2(1).jpg (157.65 KiB) Viewed 2518 times

Bastion Polesie (vs Poland) v1.2(2).jpg (119.95 KiB) Viewed 2518 times

PS: I will wait for the next update (v1.3) to continue the campaign

[Yrfin]

Like always, all of nikivdd Mod's remind me ... a StarWars
Very funny, like SIMS 3D

Edited by author of this thread. Reason:

The picture you posted is not the actual graphical representation of the scenarios i designed. These kind of posts can confuse (new) players.

[imp44791]

Version v1.3 will be released either tomorrow evening (we live in the same time zone), or Saturday.

OK, I kept my last turn save from Avon Head and Bryansk41 to test Bessarabia and Kashira again - I assume the new version is save compatible.

I will be away all week from Monday though, so I don't know if I can give feedback in time.

[imp44791]

I agree that Belov can start as a good aux unit in Kashira. If you make the "Great Raid" scenario for '42 then you can place him as a core there and tell the player "General Belov is back - if you save him you keep him" (with some nicer wording of course). Is it possible to have the survival of a core unit as a condition for DV?

[captainjack]

The wording works fine for me - sufficient information, accurate and hard to misunderstand.

This sounds a very promising mod. I'd better finish off Lord X by the time it's released.

[Yrfin]

Edited by author of this thread. Reason:
OFF-TOPIC post. This thread is about the Soviet GC.

[guille1434]

I have no doubt that Nikividd is more than capable of turning any idea into a top quality, very interesting and fun campaign. This fact is already proven by the large number of excellent campaigns he designed and shared with all of us here for free... And this is an achievement that not everybody can claim.

So I will always will support him, as he is one of the best (if not THE best) modders still around here, this is also something that not everybody can claim to be.

[nikivdd]

Like always, all of nikivdd Mod's remind me ... a StarWars

Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion and critics. I respect yours. I also respect the time and effort you have been putting in your own project(s).
Yes, i had to kindly refuse your request for making some maps for your project in December last year. I hope you can at least respect my decision.
I also had to disappoint other people with their requests for help. I am really sorry i cannot help out, the little time i can free up for Panzer Corps nowadays is to work on my projects, i also have a family and i work full time.
I do intend to edit your posts as off-topic:
Ja dobrze wiem, piękna polska kultura i tradycja. I know very well the beautiful Polish culture and tradition. The picture you posted is not the actual graphical representation of the scenarios i designed and will be removed. These kind of posts can confuse (new) players. Secondly, this thread is about a Soviet Grand Campaign, not a Belgian GC.
I won't spill any further words about it.

[guille1434]

Hello Nico: A small correction that has to be done... In the pop up messages telling the player about the neutralization of Polish KOP units (Bastion Polesie scenario) it should read "Comrade" instead of comrad...

[nikivdd]

I know that you have already developed the first few scenarios of 1942 (the Gorki air defense sounds fun), but I was thinking that you have already three scenarios on the south side of the Moscow front (Bryansk41, Kashira and the Winter Offensive towards Kaluga-Yukhnov-Mozalsk) that make a thematic whole very nicely. Historically this offensive continued with the Great Raid of two cavalry corps behind Vyazma - one of them the 1st Guards Cavalry under Belov who had helped relieve Kashira. The Soviets dropped paratroops and tried to link up with partisans there, but it didn't work in the end, and only 1st Guards Cavalry really managed to get out. Stock Soviet Corps has this pocket battle, but as always on a macro scale and also from the "outside" - the core tries to march in to save the Cavalry. I thought that like your excellent "phalanx" scenario with the Italians in Libya, or your Mogilev factory evac one here, you might consider having the player trying to extricate his core (plus an important aux unit - an elite cavalry called "Pavel Belov" perhaps?) from the inside of the pocket. Make that even a "no air" scenario - you can justify that the airforce is defending Gorki, as above.

As ever, these are just ideas.

Working on the alpha version. This will be the DLC42 campaign opener, followed by Gorky. Pavel Belov will join the core army as a SE Guard Cavalry unit.

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