Slitherine

Played the Beta 2 and found it easy at FM level, DV at turn 11/15. Perhaps too easy? I am guessing it was changed between the two versions.

I knew how fortress worked so added StuGs to my core and an additional Pioniere or two (there were two auxiliary there already), punched through cleanly in front of the assembly areas and it was over very quickly. Too easy now; perhaps the Beta 2.0 is very different (I did not play the first)? I did not read any of these comments beforehand; just applied what I knew from prior PC play.

As in the former comments mentioned: it is hard to play with italian units and much easier using german units (look at viewtopic.php?f=148&t=35794).

zappel wrote:As in the former comments mentioned: it is hard to play with italian units and much easier using german units (look at viewtopic.php?f=148&t=35794).

Are you saying you lost the scenario or you had difficulties in achieving minimum required for Marginal victory. If so can you give more detail on why this happened to you?

Played the scenario in the new version and with the added auxiliary units it is a lot easier. Especially good are the 5 strength recon units that allows you to see the enemy defense lines when deploying. This actually allows to plan your strategy beforehand which is great imho.

Managed to get a DV on general difficulty on last turn. Could have done it around two turns earlier but i have chosen the slow and steady but safe approach. Only loss i had was a SdKfz 232 and tbh i only lost it because of a stupid mistake. All in all the scenario seems fine to me now. I still disbanded the Italian regular infantry and replaced them with pioneers. The Italian infantry is just so bad it's a total waste of core slot. It could use some buffing but there is a dedicated thread for it. I kept the Italian tanks, artillery and fighter tho. Now with the possibility to upgrade withing the families at discount they are still inferior to the German counterparts but imho good enough to be kept.

Just played the beta 2 version on COL level. Bought 2 Pioneers at the start, concentrated on punching two holes in the line, and the whole thing was rather trivial and easy. Got a decisive victory in turn 12. I'm rather sorry I read this thread before playing as it gave me the tactics, and I suspect the whole scenario would have been more interesting and challenging if I hadn't. Also, from some of the other comments, it sounds like they've made the beta 2 version easier. Anyway, learned 1 important thing - don't read the thread about the scenario before playing once or twice first.

On the whole so far (2 scenarios), I am liking AK a lot (first wargame ever was Avalon Hill's AK when it first came out so I have something of a soft spot for this campaign). Also love the pop up messages and the victory conditions and order changing part way through.

uran21 wrote:

zappel wrote:As in the former comments mentioned: it is hard to play with italian units and much easier using german units (look at viewtopic.php?f=148&t=35794).

Are you saying you lost the scenario or you had difficulties in achieving minimum required for Marginal victory. If so can you give more detail on why this happened to you?

At the beginning I had not enough prestige to reinforce all units so some units were deployed only as strength-6-units. Five rounds later most of my units were tidy damaged and prestige nearly 0, so I restarted the game. Now I sold the italian tanks, reinforced all units, bought two paratroopers (because of their fortification-bonus) and won the scenario at round 14.

Between scenarios you can use ordinary replacements for free. But this option is available only between scenarios unless you insisted on all elite replacements.

Ras el Mdauuar
BETA 2
General level
Replacement philosophy: 90%+ of the time I use elite replacements, even during battle,I usually only use normal for low experience units that don't suffer a huge experience drop with normal replacements or if my prestige is especially critical. I rarely use elite replacements on axillary units.
Ending prestige 480
DV on turn 10/15
No unit losses

This was by far my least favorite scenario the first time around, but it seems to be worlds better in beta 2. It was actually pretty easy this time, which I feel is justified since it is still an "opening" scenario. It wasn't the unfun, frustrating unit grinder that it was last time but my casualties were still pretty high, even though I didn't lose any units outright. Most importantly of all though, it was actually enjoyable this time.

Last time I focused on using Italian Infantry, calling my Italian units the 6th Infantry division. This time I am focusing on Italian Armor, christening my Italian troops the 2nd Armored division. I disbanded one Italian infantry and an Italian fighter, and bought a Stuka, which was kinda silly since I couldn't use it on this scenario, oh well. I kept my Italian tanks this time around and upgraded them to the latest version. I also downgraded one of my German infantry to a Wehrmacht Infantry and upgraded one to a Pionere.

BETA 2
Colonel
start 1427
no core losses
DV 9/15

Much easier this time
for the fun of it I upgrade an Italian inf to Bergasali
Upgrade one heavy infantry to Pioneer
No elite replacements
Lots of damage to core
I thought we had an open slot to buy, last couple of time I bought a Flame tank. This time no open slots.
Flame tank is much better against tanks

BETA 2
Colonel
No core losses
DV in 10/15

A careful approach, intense use of heavy artillery (15 cm sFH18) and infantry (pioneers and fallschirmjagers) led to a DV.
The scenario is challenging, but in a stimulating way.
A welcome difference!

Played several times at Colonel. For a rookie like me very challenging compared to the first scenario, I had to restart the first time, especially after those Matilda's appeared. A marginal victory can be achieved without resorting to buying al kinds of specialised equipment, but an extra artillery piece and and engineer got me a DV. The defenders of Ras el Mdauuar sometimes shifted about a bit, which made dislodging them a lot easier. Almost all auxiliaries made it out alive, and the extra Italian recon units are very useful.

This scenario is almost tutorial-like in that it forces good practice in keeping your frontline intact and making sure your units are mutually supported to prevent the Allied from ganging up on exposed and weakened units. And it teaches you not rush off with your armor after you break through the forts, racing into the desert while the tattered and depleted remains of the fort-mopping-up operation gets spotted by some allied tanks... ouch.

Ras el Mdauuar – Beta 4

Level played: Field Marshal
Beginning Prestige: 650. Ending Prestige: 1,560. Net: + ~900
Result: DV at 11/15

Scenario played well, looked fine; no changes needed.

General level
recv'd elite unit at start of scenario PZ IVe
bought Pioneer
end 1374 prestige
DV 9/15

Ras el Mdauuar

Level: Rommel
Begin prest. 500: End: 1,225. Net: +725
Units deployed – 14/15 +1 SE
Result: DV at 12/16

Problems:

None found.

Played twice on Colonel. No problems, but Ras el Mdauuar itself still had its defensive units moving about, making them vulnerable because they don't entrench much. Maybe this is because there are only two Commonwealth infantry defending three victory hexes? Still, a nice scenario.

MV still easily attainable, for DV I (again) used a Pionier and an extra artillery piece in the southeast, made progress a lot easier. Noticed that only one 5cm PaK has a transport, but that is fine, I just needed to be a bit more careful when planning moves.