Slitherine

Terminator,
The Hellcat, Greyhound, and GMC 155 would all be available by the next scenario date (invasion of Sicily 10 July 1943).
I am going to take ColonelY's advice and put a statement in the Casablanca scenario briefing stating the 3d ID got advance delivery of these equipment items.
Thanks for reviewing!

conboy

So, conboy, what do you think about the idea of adding from start a Medical Jeep unit?

It would be historical (the "3rd Medical Bn"), immersive as well, sometimes a little useful and it would even somehow relate to that fact:

conboy wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2020 2:30 am [...] The US 3d ID had the most combat casualties of any US Division in the war and had the most consecutive days of combat of any US Division. [...]

And what do you think about adding another sec obj about GMC 155 as "prototype" having to deal a certain amount of damages in the Casa scenario?

With, maybe, a reward of 100 RPs for the "non-colored" US part of the Division?

ColonelY wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 1:31 pm

Navman2854 wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 1:16 pm 3-San Fratello = frustrating the living hell outta me. I can't get the Phase 2 obj's in less than 22 turns, best was 22. I let that game continue, the 2nd landing of the Barnard force was not good. I have to find new strategies I know. If you guys are winning the scen then it's evidently doable.

If I remember correctly, one of the most difficult parts is to cross a river heavily defended by Germans and Italians...

-> A hint may be to use our aux recon plane to discover the range of the enemy arty (there are a lot of these units), thus knowing where our units are safe... because first you must gather all units close to this area (even if you delay your assault by one turn for this purpose! - besides, staying put allow units to regain some of their organization, which may help them). And finally, then only you move in massively!

-> Another hint, maybe: I've sent all my tanks and TDs on my right flank, to meet the enemy tanks... (again, thanks to the recon plane, seeing how the enemy was prepared and where)

-> And maybe a last hint: as soon as the Bernard Force appears, you can send ALL destroyers and cruiser near this river (it's not far away!), in order to benefit heavily from this naval support vs the enemy artillery or something!

'Could help.

ColonelY, thanks for the info. Recon plane, VIP. Been sending armor on right flank, I can get the Italian held obj by Turn 21 at least, the German one on the coast is the killer. Been using the naval support, big help for sure.

conboy wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 2:26 pm Navman,

3-San Fratello = frustrating the living hell outta me. I can't get the Phase 2 obj's in less than 22 turns, best was 22. I let that game continue, the 2nd landing of the Barnard force was not good. I have to find new strategies I know. If you guys are winning the scen then it's evidently doable.

Is it too late to send me a replay? I don't want this campaign to be inaccessible/frustrating for some players at level 3. So maybe you're not holding lips right -- a replay could help me see where the problem is.
I'll send you link to my last replay of that scenario, but I'd like to find out why yours is giving you trouble. I know from your input and others that I have to add at least one turn for the initial objectives.
Having played this scenario about 15 times, I lose sight of the difficulty and just start concentrating on getting all the bugaboos out.

thanks for your feedback -- it's very important!

conboy

conboy, sorry haven't been saving any replays. I got yours and the link d/ls but won't play. I saved my game turn 6 which is right after I achieved the Phase I obj, can do that in less than 7 turns no prob. So I keep picking up the scen at that point to try to get Phase II objs in time. I think whats causing my problem with Phase II is eliminating that little pocket near the coast before the first river and then setting up my attack taking a little too long. That being said, I think a couple more turns deadline might be helpful; that's a pretty tough line to crack. Just a thought. The next river defense line is not a picnic either from my one look ahead.

You're welcome!

Navman2854 wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 11:59 pm [...] the German one on the coast is the killer. [...]

Now I remember a little more how I did.

One of the key is to destroy the German AA unit quickly: our long-range mobile arty (our GMC 155 unit) may shoot first at it, then, once arrived, our ships (or some of them at least)! Once the AA-gun is already depleted and somehow dizorganized, then send all planes to bomb it... It may take 2 turns to destroy it completely but it's worth it, because after this your planes (intact or almost, so efficients) are free to bomb whatever they want (then I strongly recommend going after the enemy artillery first - except if you have some emergency situation somewhere!).

On the right flank, bring as well about 2 regular inf and 1 or 2 of the AT-guns as well... these will support the armored units and help to push northwards in an attempt to encircle (and so out-supply) enemy units once the left fank has progressed enough following mainly the road.

Avoid moving too many units directly IN the river, this won't advantage them if they attack/are attacked... put maybe 2 infantry units to "secure" the western part of the river, but without crossing it - they'll do it later, once the situation is more or less under control.

I think that one of the key is to try to go with at least two heavies along the road... I believe the bridge has been blown - bring some engineer to rebuilt it (just behind the heavies or something)!

You have many artillery units: concentrate most of their shots first on a single unit at the time, at the very first on the enemy unit in front of the bridge, then (only) attack this one with your heavies and carry on like this in the beginning... Then adapt depending on how the enemy reacts.

I said most of them because you can always send one or two of them (the lightest!) together with your right flank and because you shall anyway use first the long-range vs the enemy AA gun.
It's really important as well to repair this bridge to allow your troops to cross it later much easier/quicker... And time may become an issue, so better repair it as soon as possible!

And the landing units of the Bernard Force with (only) the supply ship nearby must take the 2 northeastern objectives (only!) and defend them...


Well, indeed, it's quite a battle!

Ah, and since we're talking about this scenario:

About the Bernard Force re-embarking, conboy, have you already added/implemented the combination of a new sec obj and of a counter of naval units? Does it work the way I think it should?

Casablanca

Why the Nefifikh River is interrupted, drought?

Nice, thanks!

Like this we see exactly where the actual Coastal Gun unit "El Hank" could/should be added on the map.

About this river, there is then as well the possibility (for the flavor too) to add a simple flag with its name, "Nefifikh River", somewhere on the map.

ColonelY wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 6:52 am About this river, there is then as well the possibility (for the flavor too) to add a simple flag with its name, "Nefifikh River", somewhere on the map.

On a river bridge (with a little supply=5?)

Sure, why not?

CAP DE FEDALA with its petroleum storage tanks and lighthouse tower.

Aha!, so now 1 "Fuel Depot" may be added as well... Good!

9 AnzS

Briefing is missing.

There are 9 British ACPs available, but no core air units to deploy.

Bad bridge/river connection on the west map edge.

The first half of this scenario felt slightly easy, and it was a welcome change
Setting up AT-traps for the German panzers is good fun.

I was amazed of the masses of reinforcements arring at Anzio. Intitially I though I would not need it.
Then the Germans hit in full force...

The reinforcing 179 Art are missing the transport.

This was for me the most intense and best scenario so far.
Medium to hard difficulty.

Victory message missing graphic.

Campaign event before 9 AnzS:

-> Title: "Seige of Anzio" or more likely "Siege of Anzio"?
-> Text: "The VI Corps is pinned in the Anzio mud under constant German bombardment for months. The seige culminates [...]":
1. Again "seige" or "siege"?
2. "is pinned" or "has been pinned" to emphasize duration?
*********************
9 AnzS:

Another excellent scenario, with solid action from start until end!
At first glance, one might think it's rather short based on the number of turns, but then one quickly realize that it's not.
*******
Tactical suggestions: (One to help the player and another for exactly the opposite!)

1. Add an event at the beginning of the 5th turn, thanks to some Intel, warning the player that German air units are incoming, that they’ll shortly be there and that they should come more or less from the northwest (NW)… and adding, as advice, that we could therefore already move our planes away from this sector and/or plan to use the AA guns cover around the city of Carroceta (defended mainly by the British).

2. Add 2 or 3 German regular infantry from start in the NW (near the blown bridge!), with order for them to move south… it will fix for a while at least a part of the units of the player, put some extra pressure on him (who may be wondering whether there will be more German units coming this way later or not?) and thus avoid the actually (too) safe option to send directly all these troops (including 2 tanks!) from below this blown bridge towards Carroceta to help the British…
*******
Other suggestions and/or various elements/comments:
-> Scen descr: “[…] against Kesselring counterattacks.” or rather “[…] against Kesselring’s counterattacks.”?

-> Remove the useless 9 ACPs for the British (who already have their 3 planes on map and one can’t purchase anything new for them anyway)

-> Pri obj: “Hold Both Primary VP Locations to the End” -> Due to my English level , I was confused during a big part of this scenario about this “to”; I wasn’t sure whether it was more like “until” or like “at” in this context… So, to make it clearer at the first glance for anyone, what about adding actually a short description of this objective, something like “Never let any German unit enter in either of these two cities!” or “Always keep these two cities under (your) control!”?

-> It’s a little surprising to see the artillery which spawn on the 5th turn actually appearing already fully entrenched…

-> Considering the sec obj “Take Eastern Road Hexes”, I found it rather strange that they aren’t defended at all… So, what about putting resistance in there, maybe even as a single regular German infantry on one of these two hexes?

-> Add 2 LCPs, please, for the “non-colored” only (‘from upgrading trucks, as in the previous scen)

-> With this big map, we should receive the help and vision of a second recon plane!
(We had one for the “half-map” previous scen.) We’ve 10 US ACPs, our 3 usual planes but not the option available to “Purchase” any recon unit… So either unlock us this option or provide us with another recon plane (aux or core, why not?)… ‘Could perhaps be deployed directly over the airstrip, I mean behind the 3 British planes…

-> Once the East flank roads are secured, there is a Pop-up in which one can read “[…] the right (East) flank of the 3d division […]” -> Well, I think it would be better to write “Division” with an uppercase here as well. Sure, it’s a very little detail, but still.

-> I really like the fact you’ve put this German train, actually even mobile (nicely done! ), with its big gun and its huge shooting-range… a priority target for the player! (But this train is relatively “weak” against artillery shots and bombs…)

-> Remove the 2 MG-foxholes in the SE (South-East), for they should have already been destroyed during the previous scenario… and like this, once the “East flank roads are secured” (dealing on the way with a regular German infantry hidden in some village and perhaps another defending these two hexes to capture), then directly the entire SE section of the map will be under our control. This will be clear seeing the colors on map (the “borders”). Therefore, no longer this possibility to distract the player from the actual main battles on the North…

-> For the flavor and as reminder of the last scenario, what about adding a simple flag with the name “Cisterna” on the corresponding hex? (Because it was important in the previous scenario, it is still now, and it will be as well in the next scenario, so...)

-> The 179th Arty (105mm Howitzer) which comes as reinforcement would really benefit from some transport means like trucks or something…

-> Then, there are the few very little details already mentioned (previous post!)…

-> And, as Erik already mentioned it, there is no picture for the “Major Victory” right now…
*******
Splendid wide-range battle!

Towards the end, a real mobbing up operation against the Germans was taking place… all they had left was 2 depleted artillery units in the NW, in the N-NW a bunker (with its surrounding units of course) was in sight, around our “old” obj the town of Cisterna there was 2 German tanks and 3 infantry almost destroyed (+probably still several entrenched units as “garrison” along the road), on the NE 3 damaged German tanks… some of their units have been retreating north…
Yes, indeed the road to Rome, like this, is open! And the road to Cisterna as well (therefore a name on this hex may be nice )…


So far, this campaign is just awesome. It’s a pleasure! Thanks a lot! Keep up the good work

What could be added in the scenarios 8 AnzB and 9 AnzS:

1. Some names for several of the many German units (like Regiments, Divisions, etc.);

2. A handful of German commanders (from OoB) as well.

*******
Text of the campaign event before 10 AnzBO: “[…] It the last gamble t0 trap Kesselrings' 10th Army.”

Well, probably:

1. “In the last…” or “It is the last…”?
2. “to” of course (without “zero”)
3. “Kesselrings' 10th" or “Kesselring’s 10th"?

ColonelY
Please be assured that I am taking allof your recommendations seriously! I wouldn’t waste your time, good sir.
It’s great to have you doing battle critiques again -- we’re almost halfway through, hombre.

Erik, ColonelY,
Thanks for the comments on Anzio Siege (correct spelling)! I was afraid it was going to be too easy, so I guess I hit the sweet spot on that one. I’ll incorporate all your recommended fixes and positively consider the gameplay hints. I think I’m missing a lot of opportunities to liven these scenarios up, and y’all are pointing them out. Thanks!

Terminator,
Thanks for your continuing thorough review of Casablanca. The Nefifikh is marked on the Michelin map as an oued, or wadi. I took the liberty of putting some mud puddles in a general dry gulch pattern. I don’t want to glorify an “empty draw”, as we say in parts of the South, with a whole lot of hoopla. You can see that my land battle map generally tracks with the map from the “Day of Battle” trilogy that you posted. I don’t want to overshadow the land battle, unremarkable as it was, or give the players the impression that there will be as much naval combat in this campaign than land combat. So I’ll put in a submarine or two, named according to your note, use an Italian battleship, add the Swanee with a bomber and torpedo plane, and leave it at that. I could put in your cruiser but it will have to be a CL, which might offend Erik. Hopefully what I come up with on the next installment will be an acceptable improvement.

Navman
Sorry you are having so much trouble. ColonelY is right, use your artillery massed on a single target to achieve a breakthrough point, flood the breakthrough zone to flank the enemy. I hope I don’t insult you on the next little bit, but the file I linked to is a zip file. Download it, Right click it, Extract it, and copy the san fratello playthrough.rec file into your C:\Users\(your name)\Documents\My Games\Order of Battle - WW2\Replays directory. Then from the main menu, do single player, load game, replays (at bottom), it’ll play just fine. I was careful not to do anything tactically inappropriate so it would make a good example. I basically did what ColonelY did: Use planes (esp recon) to scout for enemy, concentrate artillery on a breakthrough point, use engineers to open bridges, once through pound the enemy flanks. Use planes to suppress enemy arty.

All, thanks! This is going better than I had hoped!

conboy

10 AnzBO:

Another great scenario, actually easier than the two previous but with good content and some nice new elements.

So, feedback:

-> As the town of Cisterna plays still a central role during the first part of this scenario, I suggest first to actually add its name on the map, then to highlight Cisterna when comes the last part of the briefing…

-> Looking at red arrows, “Monte Arrestino” is as well a final obj AND a sec obj!? Are there a red arrow too much or is this location really a “double” obj?! I think it should only be a sec obj…

-> Issue with the validation of the sec obj: the entire map has been taken (no more German flag over any single location – which includes of course the 4 “red arrows” for the sec obj), but this hasn’t been validated and I’ve only achieved a (Minor) Victory?
The “(Minor) Victory” was when turn 26 (out of 30) has just started.
So, I’ve taken a look at the triggers: Victory Conditions > Secondary Objectives > etc.
Actually (and if I’m not mistaken), I've found that there you’ve set the 4 hexes to consider but right now NO effect is defined (as “Completed” or “Failed”), so it stays now anyway on “?” and thus it steals us the “Major Victory”!

-> When the 2 Puma units spawn, what about adding them their actual name, i.e. “Lariano Patrol”? (According to the texts in the triggers…)

-> Later, there are many German units from the “Hermann Goering Division” (or the “HG Div”)…
So, what about adding:
1. A name to at least several of them with something including this “HG Div”
2. A handful of commanders (from OoB)
3. An event, a Pop-up, saying few words about this, highlighting roughly the sector where these units do spawn, because you do indeed mention this “HG Div” on your triggers, but nowhere in the texts that the player can read while playing… It’s a bit of a pity, isn’t it?

-> I don’t know what this actually means when the scen is being played, but according to the triggers, don’t we have right now an unit (of this HG Div) which should spawn just over a MG-foxhole!?

-> In the NW of the map, the villages of Frascatti and Finocchio have a golden star above their flag (thus each of them shining like a pri obj!) but according to the red arrows they aren’t even some obj at all…
(It’s more a visual aspect, for there was no issue at all found with the completion of the pri obj.)

-> There, with 4 sets of obj, maybe an obj counter each would be nice…

-> 10 US ACPs: I don’t really think we need a second recon plane on this map, so probably simply reduce this amount to 9 US ACPs…
(Now I think that for the previous scenario, the easiest option would simply be to grant us another aux recon plane, not a core one – but I do think that there 2 recon planes would be nice.)

-> Again, you can safely remove the British faction from there, no British unit at all anyway! It’s pointless AND it actually “hides” us the US Red income (no longer displayed!) which is, in this scenario, if I’m not mistaken, of +6RPs/turn, as the Red one… But we should see this income explicitly, right?

-> We control many units named either “CCA” or “CCB” + “something” more: I assume that those two groups are from the US 1st Armored Division? What about saying few words about this in the briefing? What does “CC” mean here?
Besides, it can be an occasion to mention as well (briefly!) in the briefing the cool fact that this Armored Division has been nicknamed "Old Ironsides"!

-> Great, in this scenario we’ve enough “non-colored” US LCPs (there was a little issue before, in the 2 previous scenarios, from truck upgrading on regular infantry – but now it’s fine and should be from now on)

-> Nice, we’ve this time some commandos at our disposal! Before the German train, now these guys... Splendid!

-> Once Cava is taken, several Free French units from the (British) 8th Army are coming and then moving south towards the well-defended Palestrina… That’s awesome!
Of course, the player will see them appearing, for they spawn not far away from Cava… but, come on, just like this, without any single word of explanation or introduction?
‘Probably a good idea to add a nice event/Pop-up: why are these Frenchies there right now, where is (roughly) the rest of this British 8th Army, and maybe few words as well that “for the honor” we’ll of course accept their military help (the possibility to do otherwise, anyway! ) but that we don’t want to let them capture a single flag!
Therefore, somehow creating a little competition, a little “run” for the flags… Why not?
But this time without the possibility of some shooting “mistakes”, as it is now – which’s perfectly fine! We don’t want to shoot at them, we can support their push, of course… but we do want the flags!
This could even become another sec obj – once all the pri obj are achieved, there must be not any single (Free) French flag flying over any location! ‘could be pretty fun, so why not?

-> Well, amongst the German units defending Palestrina and its surroundings, one can see a “French Infantry” (under the German flag)… Well, is this on purpose, is it historical?
This while some (Free) French are coming to help us? Rather surprizing… If it’s historical, it may even deserve few words on a Pop-up (the previous one if there is enough space left in the text, or a new one).

-> This scenario is easier than the two previous, I think.
So, after having looked at the map, let me suggest adding:
1. One German AA unit somewhere in the northern part of the map;
2. Some sort of resistance on “Monte Arrestino” (an obj!), maybe like some MG-foxhole (a little wink to a previous scenario where there was several mounts wearing MG-foxholes);
3. A regular German infantry unit in "Giulianello" directly, as garrison (therefore there will be 2 infantry units, both covered by the AT-gun, to protect a little better this sector);
4. Another regular German infantry as garrison in the now empty “Colonna” (in the NW);
5. A minefield two hexes away from “Monte Arrestino”, let’s say 2 hexes in the NW of it, on the crossroad (this little surprise can be annoying, but just a little, and there was some enemy Engineers nearby, so it’s plausible that’s they’ve prepared a little gift for us!).

-> One could add a small supply output for the Germans in the woods near Cisterna (maybe a +10, under the flag “3rd Div”)… like this, these units in the woods won’t be as easy as now to surround and directly outsupply them!

-> Name “(Howze/Cannons)” on a spawned regular US Infantry… “Cannons” as name of an infantry unit!? Is this on purpose?

-> Missing unlocked spec:
In this scenario, as well as in the previous actually (the 9 AnzS!), there is no spec unlocked… thus I suggest to unlock in each one of these two scenarios (the 9th and this one, the 10th) the following specs: “Drop Tank”, “Scrambling” and “Pilot Rotation”… to help us a little on the TacAir side!
So basically, please unlock us the same specs than in the landing at Anzio (8 AnzB), except the “Landing Craft(s)” spec, of course, for they are not useful in this case.

-> Then, there are the few very little details already mentioned (in a previous post!)…



Well, well, 'halfway through, this time!

Thanks, ColonelY. Your comments are extremely helpful, as always. I don't see the double flag at Monte Arrestino -- there's a silver one there, and another gold one just north at Cori, but not two on Arrestino. That's a puzzlement. As a word of explanation: (from the Wikipedia article about combat commands):"During the latter stages of World War II in Europe, armored divisions tended to fight with CCA and CCB, while moving worn-out battalions into CCR for rest and refit, though this was not always the case." Well, this started at least during Operation Husky, when 1st Armored CCA Landed with the 3d ID at Licata (I didn't have enough room to squeeze them onto the map for that scenario and they were pulled away midway to Palermo to help at Troina). I will do something with the labels or the brief to give credit where credit is due to the 1st Armored.

Evaluators,
Apparently I left some finishing touches off the 10 AnzBO scenario. Please go ahead and play it -- they only affect the final objectives but require fixing a few oddities. You just won't get a Major Victory and will have to land your planes an extra time. But as compensation, you will find some French Infantry wearing German uniforms (NOT a historical event!)

I apologize, but I am pretty sure that's the only one that's quite this beshat. It may have been the last one I worked on before starting the final push, or the first one after that. Anyway please forgive the anomalies and play through it -- I need to get a feel for how difficult it was and if it was fun or not. I now know there are a few problems with that scenario. I might have worked on it a little after the last playthrough and obviously did not complete some cosmetics but please play it so I can keep this moving. If there's another real bad one, I'll recompute.

thanks, My apologies!

conboy

p.s., On second thought, I will label the wadis in Casablanca appropriately.

conboy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 3:34 pm
Navman

.............................

conboy

Thanks for the replay. Did unzip but had never used one before so instructions on where it needed to go and then how to play MOST helpful (I really should RTFM ). Anyway, FINALLY got Phase II accomplished (20 turns) using ColonelY's advice and yours. Didn't think that end of the defense line was the key, thought would get too easily pinned there. I was using same strategies you guys did just didn't like taking a lot of casualties (which I really didn't, surprised me).

conboy, these really are fun scenarios in a well thought out campaign. After the tweaks are done (ColonelY, Eric and MrT are giving some GREAT advice) I think you're going to have a campaign to be proud of. DAMN GOOD JOB guys!!