Grand Campaign West & East 39-45 (Manstein) [Epilogue]

[PeteMitchell]

the AI doesn't attack because it's too costly for any one individual unit. They are highly entrenched so artillery doesn't bother attacking them either.

Well, this situation is very good for you (in this playthrough)... however, IMHO this is also an example of what could/should get fixed with the new AI in PzC 2.

[huckc]

Now that '44 is concluded it marks the final full campaign of accumulation.


All of the dips are due to upgrades except for Korsun Pocket being so stingy. Didn't track '39 prestige so those scenarios are left out, only have the final prestige going into '40.


In the later years some scenarios are much more lucrative than others.


Each successive campaign brought more profit than the previous one. A factor that played a part in the early years being so low was due to only planning on going West where it gets reset to 0.

[PeteMitchell]

Your numbers are impressive!

[huckc]

Your numbers are impressive!

Thanks Pete. Admittedly there is some amount of humble bragging there but it should serve as a sort of benchmark.

On a related note, lowered prestige difficulties like Rommel isn't a simple 50% conversion in the case of Rommel since disbands are 100%. Maybe 60% adjusted due to that, a super rough figure, with further intangibles like more losses and over-strength on Manstein or in the case of Field Marshall less experienced troops on average.

[PeteMitchell]

Well, I don't mind "humble bragging"... the increase in prestige profit per campaign/over time is still relevant, to me this means your units keep gaining experience/strength in some way... otherwise you wouldn't be able to pull these numbers... so there is some skill/talent behind this...

[huckc]

Goldap 1 Reload




I think no matter how good a strategy and tactics you have the difficulty will vary wildly depending on the weather. My first attempt I had four straight turns of snowing at pretty much the worst possible time. I also hit an edge case defect in the victory conditions that falsely gave me a marginal at the end. You can see me ranting and raving like a crazed lunatic about that here.

My second attempt shown here had immaculate weather, only two of three turns of snowing. In more luck I got a movement hero on a Tiger 2.

Upgraded a few tanks to Tiger 2s and some infantry to Wehr 43 who are imo the best German infantry in the game.

Reload on turn 5.


Order of Battle


Turn 10 - Half way point. Line at Goldap and the Pregel river bridgeheads.


Turn 21 - Map cleared!

Result
Decisive Victory turn 21 of 21
Reload on turn 5

[huckc]

Insterburg


Went with the defensive branch after doing the offensive last time. Also strongly dislike 'keep aux units' alive missions on Manstein for obvious reasons

This was extremely easy, easiest one in fact since the very early years. Purely defensive although I let them take the very southern victory hex for an easy re-grab at the end.

Upgraded two more tanks to tiger 2s for a total of eleven. Half of which have movement heroes


Deployment


Turn 14 - Final waves


Fin

Result
Decisive Victory turn 18 of 18


Next up is Pillau where I actually need to keep aux units alive but not as bad as Pelleninkin.

[huckc]

45 East #3 Pillau





The "x factor" for this one is to keep the two refugee naval transports alive. On Manstein they'll be destroyed by the second of third turn thus requiring immediate air support. From there they'll be safe out of spotting range provided you destroy the two submarines as well. Before taking this branch I tested things to be sure I can actually keep them alive.

Upgraded another tank to a Tiger II for a total of twelve so far. Panthers are tank food for the Soviets at this level and Tiger IIs will be the front line at Berlin.

The greenish blue bay hexes function as lakes so tanks go over them like regular clear ground. Infantry get a penalty however.


Deployment


Turn 2 - Aftermath of bombing the forts to smithereens and concealing the refugee transports for the remainder of the scenario. The infantry nearby can't spot them at only 1 distance being the SMG class.


Turn 9 - Half way point, scenario-constant line keeping against repeated waves of combined arms.


Fin. All but one flag taken, could've gotten it with a reload but wanted to keep a clean slate.

Result
Decisive Victory turn 18 of 18


Next up is Konigsberg which is the air trap holy grail. Managed to get eight sprung on the opening act using every deployed fighter and AA.

[huckc]

45 East #4 Konigsburg






The ultimate pure city defense scenario. 360 degree all-out attack, a wise tactic by the Soviets to put maximum pressure on my lines.

Two more tanks to Tiger IIs for a total of fourteen. I prefer them as my end game Berlin defense tank over the later Maus due to their superior ammo count.

I played this one quite imperfectly, had some minor line blow-ups and could've gotten a few more surrenders but oh well. Two consecutive turns of snowing didn't help either.


Deployment. This arrangement would produce eight air traps/intercepts, inflicting roughly 100 damage for an incredible score before I even had to make any decisions!


Turn 3 - Completely surrounded pressure by the Soviets.


Another look, incredible.


Turn 12 - Final wave


Fin

Result
Decisive Victory turn 18 of 18
Third straight scenario without a reload, hat-trick!

[huckc]

45 East #5 Osterode

Units reserved for deployment hex re-use





When the plan works perfectly. Super clean run-out aided by very good weather, only a couple cloudy turns with no rain.

Not sure if the northern route is intended as a red herring, if so I like it.


Order of battle. Large push to the middle then splitting up in two. Fallschirmjäger to clear the way for my southern force then help them take Osterode.


Turn 4 - Captured the first two victory hexes and Fallschirmjäger landings.


Turn 5 - Hit with a heavy counter-attack in the south, Fallschirmjäger waiting for the clear.


Turn 10 - Half way point and finally a breakout in the south


Turn 12 - Hit with a counter-attack against my favorable bridgehead position. Bungled the first IS-2 but was able to surrender the second at 15 health.


Turn 15 - Breakouts hitting Languth and Osterode with a linkup.


Fin

Result
Decisive Victory turn 20 of 20
No reloads

[huckc]

45 East #6 Poznan45




Very complex first few turns with lots of action. Tons of enemies packed right in front of you, somewhat oddly arranged. Destroyed nine ground units on the first turn to get things started real good.

Sadly due to happenstance and an unreliable trigger I missed one of the scripted counter-attacks. Could've used those kills and thought about reloading but decided to move on.


Deployment


Opener aftermath


Turn 9 - Half way point and last recon officer recovered


Massive enemy counter-attack against a wall of my tanks. I vividly remember this one from my original play-through and made extra sure I was ready.


Fin

https://imgur.com/MNDYqOL
Was ready but they never came

Result
Decisive Victory turn 17 of 18
No reloads

[huckc]

45 East #7 Breslau






Unlike most defensive scenarios this one ends when all the victory hexes are captured. If you play your cards right you might be able to finish in the first few turns but that wouldn't be very fun.

Bought a new Wespe as I was concerned I didn't have enough artillery for Berlin. Have about twenty now, all but two are five-star.


Dep


Turn 2 - Defending against the first wave on the Oder river bridgehead


Turn 9 - Start of my counter-attack to take all the objectives



Result
Decisive Victory turn 12 of 22
No reloads


Hmm I might replay this one in order to not end things early and be able to fight the last attack wave.

[huckc]

45 East #8 Budapest 45 1 Reload




This might be the biggest scenario in Panzer Corps in terms of the most units under your thumb. 48 core units and 47 auxiliary for a grand total of 95. The map is also huge obviously.

The aux units in Budapest get absolutely steamrolled at this level before any hope of reaching them so I brought eight up from the south to place in Budapest for the DV. The JagdTiger did survive and would escape to join my ranks later on.

First two turns on lock-down with every exact action pre-planned as is usual for my play-style resulting in 11 ground units destroyed on turn 1, after that it's a free flowing adventure through Hungary.

Had the objectives completed by turn 20, just had to let the clock wind down with some back cap fear. Turned out the AI could only afford a couple valentines mostly due to all their air replacements. I only needed to top up a few aux units just in case they get spotted and tagged on their way to Budapest.

Reload on turn 6 after a 13-strength artillery got one-shot by a T-34. Wasn't even a surrender, just an open field hit for 13 damage.


All but two units would finish the battle at 5-star. Just an amazing force of fighting men.


Turn 10
North: Soviets units cleared out Budapest and moved south to hit my line
Center: Sieging Siofok, a victory hex and crucial rail hub
South: Making my way through the prickly hills. The Su-100s littered throughout aren't strong enough to my Tiger IIs, if they were panthers they'd get attacked.



Result
Decisive Victory turn 24 of 24
1 Reload

[huckc]

45 East #9 Seelow Heights




This one seems a bit harder than the GC West version of this map, even without using most of the rockets like I did there. Strategy is the same, take control of the map by quickly destroying the first wave then blocking all the Oder crossing points. In my first play-through on Field Marshall I had a chaotic fighting retreat instead which is more fun but only the first time

The Su-85s in the first wave can one-shot the bunker objectives so obviously need to prevent that at all cost.


Deployment. Six air traps sprung.


Turn 8 - Blocked


Fin

Decisive Victory turn 17 of 17


Berlin is next!

[huckc]

45 East #10 Berlin




It has finally come to Berlin!

So far I've resisted the urge to max over-strength despite having enough prestige and then some.

Lost the strong aux 5-star anti-tank unit to a mis-click, most unfortunate. Upgraded a few other of the lesser but still quality aux anti-tank units to help fill in gaps and draw out enemy units on to the river.

The final wave was devastating, caught some of my units over-extended with the mobile artillery shredding the low-entrenched infantry that were caught out. You know you're out of position when 2-range artillery is hitting your infantry. Artillery vs. infantry is one of the biggest extra effects of Manstein I've found. That, and enemy fighters being able to one-shot your bombers or finish off slightly weakened fighters as well as enemy air units in general needing a total of three fighters or AA to bring down.

The final few turns were IS-2 AI purchase whackamole, pretty annoying but was still able to capture all flags with a few turns to spare.


Dep


First wave


Final wave, things got really dicey in the north.


Fin

Decisive Victory turn 30 of 32

[huckc]

[huckc]

45 East #11 Berlin Redux






Since this is the final battle of such an epic campaign I wanted to get the most value out of it so my goals were not to kill all three general as quickly as possible but to kill as many units as possible and stabilize as much of Berlin as possible. I ended things on turn 30 by finally destroying Zhukov after Rudel got his 5000th kill and no more attackers were in sight.

Took me a few early restarts to get a good fighting retreat to central Berlin while destroying enough of those deadly 3-range mobile artillery units and giving my infantry enough time to entrench.

The air waves are the most powerful I've faced, fortunately due to my positioning I was able to spot them ahead of time and brace accordingly.

Upgraded three fighters to Gothas, they really shine on this map against armored targets on rivers. Also two upgrades to Amerika bombers which weren't much more effective on this map for me.


Dep


Line of defense


First mauling of Zhukov and hit with another huge wave from the south


Zhukov destroyed for the victory!

Result
Decisive Victory turn 30 of 40


Hmm, whatever happened to the Western Allies' land armies

[huckc]

45 East #12 Epilogue


This one is actually somewhat tricky as you can easily lose an aux air unit to enemy fighters.



Result
Decisive Victory turn 5 of 15
Campaign finished!

[huckc]

Top three in kills per class. Hero bonus in name:

• 

Honorable Mentions

• 
  Most kills behind enemy lines
  Most kills in captured equipment
  Little arty that could

[huckc]

Seven units passed the 3500 kill mark to receive the German Military's highest decoration:

•