nikivdd wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:50 pm
I will continue with the Soviet campaign after i finish the Italy Corps-Afrika Korps campaign.
The first Soviet DLC will be updated with two more scenarios, what-ifs in fact.
Then i will create the DLC 42.
I welcome the posting of the German translations on Streitmacht forum.
If you are updating the 41 campaign with scenarios, might I recommend considering a Battle of Moscow look from the southern flank (2nd Pz Group) side? Soviet Storm looks at the Klin-Krasnaya Polyana northern side, which is more glamorous as it is the closest the Germans got to the outskirts. And stock Soviet Corps looks at the 4th Army push up the central road (rather well, might I add, for a stock scenario). But the southern prong is historically very exciting. There is a defensive part, trying to keep Tula from being isolated (indeed, it temporarily GOT isolated but then the Germans were cleared from the north side) and blocking the thrust over the Oka at Kashira. Then there is the counterattack by Belov's 2nd Cavalry Corps to relieve Kashira, then the larger counterattack and pursuit of the retiring Germans. Erickson's book has a lot of detail on all that if you want details. You can have one scenario with separate phases (perhaps trying to save Tula and Kashira with your core, then get timed reinforcements from Belov's mixed cavalry-tank force) or two joint scenarios a la DLC US Corps Anzio. It should be fun and no current mod has it.
For DLC 42 I have been doing some thinking, having recently played stock SC and Soviet Storm (along with the Italians, playing the Soviets is always my favourite: they both have a very interesting unit mix plus heavy challenges all the way). I am also currently listening in audiobook to Buttar's books and re-read Erickson reasonably recently to have it on my mind fresh. I also considered your excellent point that shifting cores up and down the front is unrealistic. To recap, what we all seem to want is:
(a) A look at parts of the war that are either not covered at all by existing stock/mod scenarios. E.g. Tula-Kashira as above.
AND/OR
(b) A detailed, DLC-level, historical look at battles that DO exist in stock, but are covered in very macro/sweeping terms (e.g. Stalingrad, Uranus, Saturn). Think Case Yellow in the Grand Campaign vs the series of scenarios in DLC 40.
AND
(c) Move between scenarios in a way that can suspend disbelief even a little. So, no rushing a massive core of KV tanks from Karelia to the Caucasus and back.
Furthermore, the war in 1942 is divided fairly neatly in two halves. Pre-23rd of June, with most of the effort on the Volkhov and around Rzhev-Vyazma plus the Kharkov battles, and then Case Blue shifting emphasis to the South.
I'll start with the second, being a backwards type of guy
.
1. Voronezh. This is a containment/part counterattack scenario.
2. The 6th Army push to Stalingrad. Historically this has several interesting aspects that can make for several scenarios. You can have a frantic "pulling back over the Don while being pursued" chase scenario like your excellent Pursuit to Tunisia. Then there is the 16th Panzer Div breakthrough to the Volga to the north of the City (a containment scenario for the Soviet player).
3. I don't personally enjoy street fighting scenarios, but if you want to go down that route then the Stalingrad-proper part of the battle has several famous phases (drive to the station/grain elevator; shift to the factory district; dividing the Soviet perimeter; final German push pre-Uranus) that can lead to separate defensive scenarios. There were also continuous Soviet relief efforts from the north (pre-Uranus and close to Stalingrad), which can lead to limited offensive battles against a strong and entrenched 16th Pz. You can also put a reinforcement scenario where you are directly rushing your core to Stalingrad in boats over the Volga (perhaps a "reach the hexes marked in A with at least N ground units" type of objective like with your Beda Fomm) with auxiliary artillery at your back and with the Luftwaffe going for a turkey shoot as you're crossing. Perhaps restrict the player from deploying all his fighters at the start by giving him only 1 or 2 spawn points, thus forcing him to deploy piecemeal. That would be cruel, but fun
4. Uranus. This should be looked at with the DLC, close-up scenario look since stock has the macro sweep from both sides already. I would see two types of scenario: An approach march/enlarge bridgeheads over the Don at Serafimovich and Kremenskaya. You can put a "shoot down German recce planes" clause for DV since historically the Soviets hid their intentions well. Then there is the breakthrough: an initial blast through the Romanian positions, then deal with the reinforcing mixed Romanian-German 48th Pz Corps. Then, there is the "get to Kalach" phase. I see this working best as a single scenario, but you are the modder, not I
5. Winter Storm-Little Saturn. OK, this could be fun. First there is a defensive fight to keep the 57th Panzer Corps from establishing themselves over the Myshkova. This is a classic "reinforcement rush by the core to save the poor auxiliaries getting pasted" type of battle, e.g. Kasserine in US Corps. Then there is Little Saturn with the Tatsinskaya airfield rush the obvious centrepiece. That would justify putting plane capturables - even I wouldn't mind being rewarded with a FW-190A in late 1942
Now, for the first half of the year I don't have strong opinions. The obvious place to start is the Centre. This is where the core was at the end of DLC 41. Most of the interesting winter battles were there (I don't think that the paradrop-partisan linkup behind Vyazma has been done actually). And Soviet Storm has done the Volkhov battles already very well. In the spring there is Kharkov obviously. The stock scenario is ok, but I guess it could be improved with more focused looks.
So, a DLC core that starts at Rzhev, then crawls south to Kharkov, then Voronezh, then Stalingrad, then Serafimovich, then Tatsinskaya is definitely covering long distances, but does so in a crawling rather than jumping sort of way.
I hope this provided food for thought. As ever, thanks for your great work.
