Slitherine

Thanks for giving us some background on the real life reasons for the stat changes on each new model. Its quite interesting reading the reasoning behind it.

McGuba wrote:
I would say the Stug IIIG is even better and cheaper. It was the most produced German tank hunter with over 7,000 made, hence the cheap price to reflect mass production. However, it might also make sense to upgrade one or two AT guns to one of the Marders as those are cheaper, until the price of the Stug IIIG gets lower and more affordable.

Yes, Stug IIIG is the best, but comes quite a bit later IIRC. I feel there is an urgency to not wait until IIIG is available, but rather to get the IIIF/8 before the Russian winter hordes attack. But sure, when it becomes available, there is no reason not to upgrade to the IIIG (its even cheaper than the IIIF/8).
*just checked and IIIG becomes available in Jan ’43 vs June ’42 for the IIIF/8*

jinxed75 wrote:You forgot to mention the IV G which becomes available shortly after, and offers significantly better defense. Upgrading all Pz4s to the G version should have absolute priority, imo.

Yes, this is a very good point. I accidentally missed the IVG, but it is definitely a must given its much better armour! You even get a slight increase in fuel as a bonus.

jinxed75 wrote:Costs a lot of money, though. Only for rich guys like Jimmy

Haha. As I said before, you need to make the most of the prior scenarios so that you have sufficient prestige. Otherwise you should prioritise this upgrade over others, as it really is a much better plane IMO. Its also got higher defences, so is less likely to take damage too.

jinxed75 wrote:This sounds exactly like something I could have needed for my desperate situation in '43. Will try to save up the money for these when trying again.

I am now in June ’43 and have 5 Stug’s (including the free one). They really are great at stopping the Russian armour that pounds you during the winter of ‘42/’43. And I am sure they will remain useful until late war.

Tactics against the various partisan movements

First of all, read the earlier tipps, regarding of the several unit types - which are best suited for fighting partisans.
These tipps will contain some *minor spoilers*, in the relation of the appearance regions of the partisans. Before this, I will give some general suggestions.

- Use always second, or even better third grade troops against partisans: you need the regular troops fighting regular troops.
- Even, that the partisans seems to be weak, except - only the exception, if they are attacked with medium armor in the open- in any causes you will get also some losses. That is the second cause, why the above mentioned units shall be used against the partisans: weaker Axis unit -> lower price -> lower replacement price.
- In bad weather, partisan activity get always more intense, so prepare for it.
- Do not let the partisans there untouched, always attack them. If not, more will come and it will be difficult to handle more of them at once.
- Do not let the partisans escape, because then they will come back...as Zombies! No, but still it is not good. So, stay in touch with them, so they cannot regenerate fully. Best tactics is to engage a given unit with two of your units. One attack it, and if there is no chance, that with the second strike the partisan can be destroyed, than leave it - with two of your units surrounded, it can not well regenerated, therefore you can destroy it completely in the next turn with your two units.
- Do not let them take the railways, where it gives you penalties: you will need all prestige in the war and not wasted in such situations.

Now let's see the given partisan-active regions. This will contain *minor spoilers*.

1., England: after you captured several key cities, there is some chance, that British partisans show up. Not very intense, but do not let the situation happen, that you miss a victory at the end, because some key cities are recaptured by a bunch of guys, called partisans. So, leave a few inf units in some of the cities. If a partisans show up, you can use the train to travel there fast.

2., Norway: just sporadic partisan activity, so no need to leave here strong troops. One is good south of Oslo to protect the fort. When a partisan show up, this fort is a worthy asset to handle together with you inf unit to destroy it. Another inf can be stationed west of Oslo, if any other partisans show up in that region, he can dealt with it. Again, the use of the fort is practical, before fighting the partisan directly. It is not an important region, because you will not get any penalties for partisans and there are also no vital transport lines there. At the worst, Allies can gain some airports or harbors. The third inf unit at Trondheim can be transported away with air in more important fighting areas.



3., Poland: a new "feature" in v1.6 - the activity is low, but if you do not focus on it, again, it can cancel you victory at the and, because the partisan capture one of your key German city, for example Breslau. It is also not comfortable, if for example the train, transporting the Tigers, will be cold-stopped and butchered by a partisan group...So it is useful to have one inf unit in the region. It must not be a German, it can be a weaker: Italians too. For historical reasons, do not let Hungarians fight the Polish. If one unit cannot handle with this partisans, you can call it another in, but this will be not many times the case.



4., Slovakia: there will be some uprising late of 1944 in there, so it is advisable to think about it. No need for stationary guards, if you see, what happened - for example, flag has been changed -, let there 2x inf units, they will handle it. In some cases, if you handle not enough fast, the uprising will be bigger, with arty and some light armor. In that case, you will need more resources to crush it. Again, it is not good, if a train will be cold-stopped and destroyed, so do not let this happen. Other way, no additional penalties are here.



5., Balkan: very intense partisan activity here, especially from 1944! But no penalties, like in Russia, so in worst way, you can leave it. But in that case, Budapest can be captured (-50 prestige/turn), or vital railway lines will be threatened. Also the Allies gain airports, and Italian naval forces loose vital ports, so, it is better not let to happen. On the pictures, you see, in which cities, garrison troops should be put. Only Bulgarian and a one Romanian and a few Italian troops (inf, L3/35) are needed. Your most effective units are here the Italian light armor L3/35 and the Bulgarian horse division. They are high mobile, so do not let any of it destroyed! If you loose Sicily and the Italians disappear (at least partly) and the masses of Allied planes arrives, than things will get much harder, but still it can be handled. Mostly...




6., Western Ukraine: just sporadic partisan activity, mostly in winters. But railway line has penalty-possibility and the line is also vital for transports. Two Romanian reserve units, or if you have yet enough of them, two Romanian inf units will be enough, plus the river boat, or a weakened light armor to guard the airport region next to it.



7., Pripjaty-marshes: the hive of the partisans! Always intense partisan activity, vital transport lines and penalty-bound railway lines, so you need many partisan hunters here. but again: 2nd, 3rd grade units are enough. I use Hungarian security inf's, plus one Hungarian regular inf and the Pz I. These units are enough to handle all threats.



8., Eastern Ukraine: sporadic to high activity changes here, plus waster region. The Gomel-Konotop-Bryansk triangle has to be guarded, but a few times, Smolensk will be also attacked from the South, so it has to be guarded also. The pictures shows, how to put your guard units. For this duty, Romanian reserves are the best, plus a Bridge eng unit (if not needed elsewhere), plus one of a few light armor - PzII, Pz35, S-35 Somua - can be useful.

Some great tips as always Uhu.

Regarding Norway, i swap out the German infantry with approx. 3 minor Axis infantry (2 in the south and 1 in the north).

For operations in the Med, its important to be aware that partisans can appear in Crete and Cyprus. For Crete at least i dont think its worth stationing a unit there to defend, as if a partisan appears, its relatively easy to just transfer one of your units from Greece to Crete to recapture it. Just be aware it can happen.

And whilst Uhu didn't mention it, French partisans appear later in the war (from around '43 onwards i think). For me, they always appeared somewhere south of the Loire River. So i usually keep a German infantry in Paris and transfer him by rail to the closest city whenever a partisan appears. Towards D-Day, the partisan activity in France increases.

Thank you for the plus information, I just forgot these regions.

- Crete: I agree with you, it is enough to have a garrison unit at Athens (an Italian inf is enough for that) and if a partisan appears, you just sail over and retake the objectives. It can be only frustrating, if you Regina Marina units need urgent resupply and Crete, as the nearest port has right at that time some "guests."

- Cyprus: I see absolute no need of having garrison for it. If you took Cyprus, you took very soon airfields in the Middle East too, so it looses it's importance. Until that, you will have anyway a few units, who captured the island earlier still there.

- France: IF the plan is to invade England, than it is enough to have as garrison, two Italian inf (one in Paris, one in Orleans). It would be no good, if a partisan capture the prestige-source Paris even for one turn... I also stationate one Italian inf at Lyon, because this town lay in a hard reachable region and it will be attacked many times.

Why Italian Inf everywhere? These units have to lowest battle value (and are also cheap, so replacement costs also fewer), German units are badly needed elsewhere...

JimmyC wrote:Some great tips as always Uhu.

Regarding Norway, i swap out the German infantry with approx. 3 minor Axis infantry (2 in the south and 1 in the north).

For operations in the Med, its important to be aware that partisans can appear in Crete and Cyprus. For Crete at least i dont think its worth stationing a unit there to defend, as if a partisan appears, its relatively easy to just transfer one of your units from Greece to Crete to recapture it. Just be aware it can happen.

And whilst Uhu didn't mention it, French partisans appear later in the war (from around '43 onwards i think). For me, they always appeared somewhere south of the Loire River. So i usually keep a German infantry in Paris and transfer him by rail to the closest city whenever a partisan appears. Towards D-Day, the partisan activity in France increases.

The Successful siege of Leningrad

Since 1.7 version of the mod, McGuba made the siege of Leningrad as a "quest", like the encirclements of 1941. I was really happy to see it, as it brings even more immersion and challenge. And, ofcourse...it got again harder... So, here is my guide for a succesful and relatively early capture of the city (turn 50). I write "relatively", because, with a high concentration of heay war equipment an earlier capture is probably possible - but than you will have the big handicap at other, even more important fronts.

I start the guide a little earlier, because as I wrote, the best strategy is to make the siege of the city with as little resources as possible, to spare the rest in other important fronts. Second, it is useful to start it as soon as possible to lower the strenght of the defenders as much as possible before the direct attack.

- Take Riga as fast as possible, because capturing it, gives a gate to the north. Also take Pskov very fast.
- Transport the Finnish AA to Helsinki, so you will see the Soviet submarine passing by -> you can calculate the later postion of it and attack it with 3x destroyers to make short story of it.
- Destroy/mop up with the Finnish army the Soviet units north of and around Viipuri and prepare to take the Siege Points south of the town (but do not take it, because, before the other Points are not yet taken in the south, you will just get not-stop casualties).
- Use an armored recon car to travel fast to Tallin. Blockade the port with 1-2 destroyer, or with a destroyer and the AA naval transport, than enter the port with the recon and scuttle the Soviet destroyer.
- Meanwhile send an Italian inf to Königsberg or Riga (if rail line is already free) and land 1-2 hex east of Tallin. It is also possible the use the rail, important is the very soon approach. Go with this unit to east of Narva and take the Siege Point.
- After taking Pskov, race forward with your inf units and with the a PzIIF and with the Pz IIF recon panzer - maybe you can use your recon car too - to reach the other Siege Points in the southeast. Bring the horse-drawn 10,5cm arty and a 20mm AA unit with you too.
- Take all three Siege Points as soon as possible. Do not worry: right now, you will not face any direct attack on the Points. Take now also the Siege Points in the north with the Finns!
- If you were fast enough, the siege could start at turn 9. Remember, that, with continous siege (at every end of the turn, Axis unit is stationed all of the Siege Points), most of the defenders loose 1strenght/6 turns (later more turn needed for that).
- Take Novgorod carefully, while you protect your flank with the armored units, because you will face some counter-attack from that direction (too ).
- Build a defense belt between the most eastern Point and Novgorod. Use the arty as backing your defending inf and use the AA the defend the arty.
- Bring several other German inf units to the area, because this battle will drain the strenght of you inf units, so you need to refresh them time to time and also you need the force to crush the Soviet forces east of the siege belt.

**Some update, since I played the v1.7 again:
1., You don't need to send all 3 destroyers to hunt the lonely Soviet sub. One could be enough to destroy it. Eventually I had several times bad luck and I couldn't destroy it (my destroyer got weakened to str 2), so I left. The also weakened sub did not make any trouble later, so I left it as it be.
2., If you are fast enough, you can even start the siege at turn 8. A could start it this time.

The siege of Leningrad, part 2:

- When you destroyed the northern Soviet forces with the Finns and you made already the siege belt, and the defensive belt southeast...
- ...leave the Finnish inf at the Siege Points. You can stationate the armored division in the near, if real trouble shows up (one of the sieging inf got to weak and need to be replaced with another unit), but later you can transport the AA, the AT and the armored unit to south and use them in another battles.
- Advance with the rest of the Finnish army (arty, Jäger too) to the direction of Petrozadovsk. By this time, winter is already arrived, so, visibility is slow.
- But beware: advance just at the western shore of the Ladoga lake and always use the arty as backing your units.
- When the 4 inf and arty units are set up west of the town, start the offensive and capture it. If you are smart enough and lucky too, than no units will be lost.
- If you captured the town, you can leave one inf behind to guard it (I do it always so, even, it get never attacked), and go south with the rest of the army to the Svir river.
- By this time, freeze will be probably over and the souther shore is heavily guarded, so crossing it will be not easy, but costly. But you accomplished the first goal of the northern task force. Now back to the southern part!
- Bring at least one other inf units to Narva. An Italian inf is good enough, as casualties will be constantly, while destroying the fort at Orienbaum can be done with every type of inf. Play with this 2-3 inf units: one should always stay at the western Siege Point. One should attack the fort straight from south to avoid the Soviet armor next to the city. With this slow, but effective and cost effective tactics, you even do not need the Karl-Gerät 040 to destroy the fort!
- When the weather got better, send a few level bombers and a defending fighter to destroy the battleship. It is also enough if you weaken it to str 1-2. It will make no further damage after it.
- Gather more and more inf units, while you defend the attacks around Novgorod. But the force collection will be slowly, as you have the defend yourself and the captured territories against the Soviet counterattack of the winter 1941/42. But if you were smart enough and you could capture Moscow, the enemy will be hindered to send strong reinforcements forces to the direction of Leningrad.
- When you have destroyed the main attack forces aganist Moscow, make a mopping up operation to clear the Rzhev-Pskov railway, which will made the buildup of your forces at Leningrad easier.
- Also advance northwest from Moscow and mop up the forces, blocking the Moscow-Kalinin-Novgorod railway. Neither of this task needs much reosurces - a few arty and inf is enough. Maybe some light armor, or a heavier one to deal with the T-34 near Novgorod, but it is possible to destroy also without it.
- If you succeeded to free up this resupply lines, than nothing hinders your...another mopping up operation, northeast of Leningrad!
- Meanwhile, hopefully, you could capture Odessa and Sevastopol already and you can bring the Heavy Beast, the Karl-Gerät 040 to help the siege. It should be at full strenght. Transport it to Novgorod and further to the city. You can use it, as an additional arty. It will always score one hit. So, you can weaken it the easter one of the KV-1, or the mortar in the city.
- A lot of turn is gone now. If you were always on all Siege points, you can already see the weaking of the defender forces. Note, that not all defenders got weakened, but be happy, that at least, many got weakened.
- The mop-up operation northeast of the city is a hard task, because of strong counterattacking inf and the deadly combo of a mortar and an arty team. They will make many casualties, but with the combined attack from south and from north with the Finns will eventually crush them.
- When you cleared the surroundings, than 4 points are already gone from the defenders of the city. It is time to initiate the direct attack!
- You can use addtional aircraft the make it faster. I always had to use them elsewhere, as time was scarce (I wanter to make the DV in 50 turn), so without them works it also.
- Aim to destroy the engineer first, than the way is open to destroy the mortar and eventually the arty. Be prepared, if you enter the city, the passive units around the city will be active and try to recapture the city!
- You can use this also in your help to lure the Sovier armor, recapturing the city, where they are easy prey even for the infantry. But a full, 10 str, 100+ xp inf can also destory one str point of a KV-1, so success is now right on the way.
- With the units, who successfully mop-up the area northeast of the city, you can also advance eastward to help the capture of Vologda, but that's another story...

I could capture Leningrad (the airport to be also captured) at turn 45, as said, without additional air, or armored assets. With such assets, the capture can be even faster.

Good luck!

Hi, I am currently playing the 1.6 version of the mod as Axis. As much as I am enjoying this fantastic mod, I desperately need some help. Much appreciated if anyone could shed some light,
1) How can you possibly take Malta? None of my bomber or battleship is able to damage the fortress on the island.
2) How do you deal with submarines? They seem to be so overpowered. They take no damage vs battleship, and almost a tie vs destroyer. I know some dive bombers can be effective, but as Axis they are very limited and always needed at other fronts.
3) How do you minimize your loss against 42/43 Russian winter offense? Panzer III/IV is no match against Russian tanks at that point, and infantries need to be on certain terrains to have any effect. It is almost impossible for me to maintain a defense line from kursk to Rostov withing suffering any heavy losses.
4) Is there any point of taking Tobruk? The Axis formation in North Africa is too weak to push on to Egyt, and later it needs to pull back defending Tunis anyway.

Many thanks in advance

Hi and welcome to the "Club"!

I would send back also a question: how many times did you tried the mod? But really: I think, in BE not prestige is the most important currency, but patiance.
My second universal though: what are the goals, you want to achive? A quick victory? A DV? An MV? Or a Draw? Because the actions you need to make depend on the goals.

0., Preparations: I don't know, if you played the 3 pre-missions, but if not, start the game from that point, because it makes huge difference, with what core units and how many prestige you start the main campaign. Also read my little advices in the main BE topic (for example about core units).
1.,Taking Malta: You can use the Italian bombers too, but at least with 100xp and you will not always score a hit. My tactics were simple: use the Italian bombers and fighters around and east of Tobruk to clear the path to Cyprus and for the landings in the Middle East (destroy all british sub and the moving ships) in 1941. Leave one italian Battleship (the one, which had to repaired first), one at least str 8 destoryer and the German sub and the special Italian sub to block the route of the British carriers to Malta. Destroy them!
When the winter come, transport all of the fighters to Russia, as the weaker Italian fighters are still good against the weaker Soviet planes. Send from Russia 1x Bf 109's to Malta, and upgrade it to FW 190A. Also send the Afrika Korps aiding JG 27 Bf 109 to Malta and upgrade it also to FW 190A on the way. Send also StG 1 (you former core, which should be already a well experienced, maybe hero unit) and StG 2 (Rudel, with +3A+3D) to Malta.*** (*** - ok, that is v 1.7, but still, in 1.6, you can use Rudel and 1, or 2 Italian bombers - or the another Ju 87). Clear all British fighter at Malta with them. If you did not let any carriers through, then opposition will not strong. Try to position one fighter above Malta, so the enemy cannot repair themself. When the sky is about to be clear, destroy with Stuka, and other tac bombers the fort. It will take some time, but except, if you have a lot of bad lack, you will destroy it in 1942. Send the Italian inf per air transport, stationed in Sicily and capture the island. Be happy with the high amount of prestige gift!
2., Dealing with submarines: you need...luck! I mean, the first step is always the weaken the strong British subs with tac bombers! (Protect them always!) But they many times evade... Still, you need to weaken them at least on str 6, then you can try to destroy them with many destroyers. But concentrate always on one and go with strong destroyers, otherway, you will just take high casualties, without real success. By the way, you need one Bf 109, upgraded to Fw 190A sent to the eastern Mediterrean and one pure Bf 109 (need not to be upgraded just us F is enough) to replace the sent away Italian airplanes.
4., Tobruk: it depends, if you want to make a DV. If yes, I advice to let it be, as it is, until the later time, when your - hopefully mostly intact - Italian capital ships fleet can aid in the siege. When I last time played, I sent 2-3 German inf east of Tobruk. Then weakened + supressed the Australian (?) inf, guarding the western entry of the city. Banished it from the trench, then I got free route to the damn arty! supressed it, captured it, than continued with the strongpoint, than with the AA, then with the AT, then with the another strongpoint, then with the rest of the inf...and that's it! I also wondered, how easy was, and how few resources it was needed (OK, the capital ships are high resources, but I did not needed them anyway, because Tunis didn't needed them and the battle for the shores of the Middle East Cairo and Alexandria was long time over).
- One extra hint: if you defeat the first British offensive in 1941, east of Tobruk, you can advance very fast to Mersa Matruh. Here, the geographical circumstances are wonderful to block and capture + destroy the 2nd, much stronger British offensive! You just need the 88mm Flak in AT mode, the 20mm Italian AA, the AT, 2-3 inf and the Italian armor and a 105mm arty. You even do not need the German panzer and the Italian rec, which are much more needed in the invasion of the Middle East! After, destroying the attackers, leave the area, because you still have time to take part with that units in the defense of Tunisia! Most units can be transported on foot, because they are fast on the roads. The inf can be tranported with air, the armor and the arty can be shipped west of Tobruk.
5., Defense of Tunis: Gather the defenders at Sardinia. When Torch is initiated, you can then transport them fast, before the arrival of the Anglo-American naval and air safely to Tunis. Land at Annaba and take the line at Constantine and south of it, parallel to the road. Hold this all along, because it gives you good possibility to move and change the weakened units to fresh ones. Now let's see, what forces are needed/enough: 2-4 German inf, maybe 1-2 2-star is good. The whole Italian army, which appears in 1942 - do not send them to Russia, but send most of them to Sardinia. You don't need most of the inf, you can use them as garrison/partinas hunt elswewhere, but the AA, arty, AT, Alpini are really important assets. Also send the other Alpini here too. After Torch, you will get a third bunch of Italian units. But they will be harder to smuggle over. If you have still sub(s) and the MAS ship, you can use bad weather to rec the route to Tunis and send them through, maybe not everbody will succeed, but most of them. The units will also arrive from Mersa Matruh. In this cause, you will have 2-4 AA, 2x arty, some AT, the armor, guarding the area at Gabes. This forces, if you use them smart are enough, not just hold, but slowly destroy the attacking enemy. Have one Italian inf in Tunis too and guard the shore from Anaba to Tunis with subs, because - at least in 1.6 - a commando operation is many times initiated to take the town at once. Never let this happen... I left here earlier some air forces. You can do that, but it is not needed, the AA can protect mostly your forces. And the FW 190A's are desperately needed over England, or Western Europe...

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DL1884 wrote:3) How do you minimize your loss against 42/43 Russian winter offense? Panzer III/IV is no match against Russian tanks at that point, and infantries need to be on certain terrains to have any effect. It is almost impossible for me to maintain a defense line from kursk to Rostov withing suffering any heavy losses.

That's another long story, so I answer it in another post.

The defense of the Tula-Voronezh-Rostov line in the winter of 1942/43:

Part I
First of all - it will be hard, in every way you play (OK, if you play on lower diff and you have plenty of prestige and you have upgraded everything to über units, than not )!
For success, you will have some earlier tasks successfully fulfilled:
- You do not wasted your units especially the minor allied ones. I think, I don not need to detail this more - in the terror of the Soviet attack, you need all of your units. For defense and for sacrifice...
- You captured at least partly Stalingrad and destroyed several units around and south of it. That is useful later, when you have time and resources to capture itt all and advance further fast. But it is also important, because it gives you time, when the attackers are first tasked to take the captured parts of the city back. If you were able to capture the whole city and you have 1-2 Romanian inf's in the near, than it is useful to send them in the city. They will be destroyed, but their sacrifices buy a lof ot time for you.
- You captured at least several towns, south of Rostov. Again, regardless, if you want to capture the Caucasus later, or not, while the enemy tries to capture these back, he looses precious time.
- Clearing the region north and south of Voronezh, all along the western shore of the Don river. If not, you will have not the space to build up the defense line.
- Capturing Rostov and Voronezh very fast. Because the earlier you capture the city and the region, the more time your units will have to dig in.

The main goal is to avoid high casualties and to block the attackers as long, as the snow is gone and the rivers are again major barriers - and you can use your superior air power too (althrough, in the first clear days, the Soviet airforce will be overhelming, so cautiousness is advised in that time).

Part II
Prelude: Do not forget, that the attack north and south of Stalingrad is already starting in turn 35, when the snow just started raining, but the field, the roads are still in good shape. My tactic is, that I attack the city and the surroundings south of it till the end of turn 34. But I already move the units, which has poor move capability in snow, west, to the safety. Only the tracked units remain. I also move the weakened and disposable units to the area (it depends, what your goals are, how many prestige you get, what is left, etc - Pz35(t), captured French H39, or S-35 Somua and I also perish the Finn 37mm AT gun, because I did not use it later). In turn 35 I move all units as fast as possible to west, south-west, behind the safety of the dug-in inf and AT guns. As rear guards are the disposable units and the captured T-34, eventually some Romanian inf, if needed, because, that loss is less, than taking heavy casualties with your armor.

Army streght: this article shows, how with a medium size and value army group you can still hold out. As I aimed in the last times for the "DV at turn 50" goal, I did not have the "luxury" to fight all of my units the attackers: I just had in this region:
- 1 x Pz IVF2 (upgraded as soon as possible to late G9, 1 x captured T-34, 1 x PzIIIL and a few light armor (Pz IIF, Pz38(t)E and Hungarian G type, the Finnish T-26, Italian L6/40)...and later the Tiger I and the Stug IIIG!
- But I had 5 x German 75mm AT's, the 3x Romanian and Hungarian 47mm AT's (it is not much worth to upgrade them on the low-75mm version - maybe, if you want to use them later, for better upgrade). I did not upgrade any of the AT guns to Stug's, because I did not have the prestige for it and I did not needed it. Sure, the AT guns are more fragile, especially when attacked by arty first, but with smart defense and arty backup, they can mostly survive.
- 7x medium and heavy arty
- a lot of AA! (As I already fought in England, I did not need them in Western Europe - they came really handy, when the swarms of Soviet fighters filled the sky)
- mostly dug-in inf, plus a few other one for backup and some cavalry

* The "gift" Tiger I and the STuG IIIG are your most valuable assets. Take care of them! Guard the railways against partisans and try to give always fighter protection for the Tiger, but at least strong AA defense. Put them int action there, where the frontline got the most weakened or the enemy starts to break through. After the late G variant update, the Pz IVG can also used as firefighter, but it is still vulnerable, so use it carefully. Also the T-34, which is even more vulnerable.
* There will be a partisan unit appearing somewhere around Kursk. So, place several units west of it, that it cannot pass through.
* Use not just the good defense positions, but also remember on zone of control: if there are 2 hexes between your units, the enemy cannot pass through
* Let retreat space for the defending units. Surrendered units are gone...

The most important bastion places are:
- Tula, the hills and forest south of Tula,
- Voronezh, the hill west of Voronezh, the forest north of Izyum,
- Voroshilovgrad, the hill south of it,
- Rostov and the forest north of it,
- the 2 hills north of Izyum are also important to slow down the attackers but it can be given up (at least the northeastern one), if the situation get really bad.

I show now a few pictures. You can see the defense line. In the first 2 pictures, it is the start of Axis turn 36. The blue numbers shows, how deep the given inf units have already dug in. Dug in units do not just later retreat, but they have higher survivability too. Deep dug-in panzergrenadiers will many times even not be attacked by the enemy. But that is random, so try to backup them with arty. The unit in Rostov cannot be backed up, but luckily, it will not be attacked mostly. But the unit in forest north of it has to be defended!
The second 2 pictures are the end of Axis turn 40. The defense line is full, the Tiger is already present, the Stug just arrived.

What else?
- If you want to take the Caucasus (I had no time for it and do not needed it.), it is practical, that you take also Novorossiysk and hold it. It is not very hard: with an arty, some dug-in Mnt troops is enough. You can try, if you have already advanced to the direction of Grozny, to make a defense circle at Voroshilovsk. You can succeed, but it is a risky one and there will be casualties.
- Look the weather forecast and when it predicts better weather, place to bombers on possibly appear places of enemy armor. After that turn, fly away, other way, your bombers will be butchered! I also advise to stay only with the thoughest fighters in the fighting area, because the weaker ones will be also butchered. Use the AA's to weaken them and try not let any damaged Soviet airplane to get away.
- Look the weather forecast and when it shows the end of freeze, make plan, how to use it - many Soviet units will be stranded and easy prey. For example, it is a good tactic to lure/put the Soviet armor on river hexes, because when the snow melts... Also try to reach the western shore of the river Don around Voronezh, because if you can, than you can close the way of the Soviet units and they can only cross through the river - and that will be much more defensible.

Good luck and write your experiences!


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Uhu is so right: patience is important in this Mod.

I learned it also in my first game with this Mod (you find the AAR of this punishment in the library of the Mod) that there is a time to attack and there is a time to defend (nearly at all front lines).

Especially in the east if you stay in attack move until the snow starts to fall you will be overrun by a huge number of Russian units in their winter attack. They will kick out your infantry from the shortly captured cities (because they are not deeply entrenched) and they will destroy your tank forces and overrun the supporting artillery. Very nasty and if you loose important experienced troops in the first winter more or less you have already lost the whole war in the east (even if you do not realize it in that moment).

But you can prevent this:
1) Begin of October start to think about defense. Set up your defense line for the winter. Look where a line could be stable. Look for cities, forests and hills. Move German infantry (I always upgrade to Grenadier) in the cities or forests and mountaineers on the mountains or hills. Transport all the towed AT equipment from France to the east. In France totally useless, at the eastern front for attacks not very usefull but in the winter defense they show their power. Again set them up in cities or forests if possible in time that they can entrench. If supported by an artillery they can also stand in open terrain. Distribute your artillery over the front line behind your entrenched troops. Keep holes behind the front line where a unit can retreat. Most nasty if you loose a tank division because it cant' move and surrenders. Move back your tanks in safety in the defense line or even (better?!) behind the line. Wait for the Russians: they will come to you.
2) Look where the main attacks are done. Normally there is a main focus at Moscow or in the south near Rostov or often in the center (Kursk, Voronezh). Move enforcements there for example your tanks. Hold the lines until the Russian attack is defeated or clear sky is coming and your bombers can help you.
3) Save your tanks!!! Especially your III tanks are very valuable because for example a IIIM tank later can be upgrade for less than 400 prestige to a Panther. If necessary risk the tanks of the other Axis countries.
4) Especially if you defend with tanks in open terrain. Keep a reserve. If your tank is damaged by a T34 move him out of the defense line for complete repair and close the hole with a reserve tank of if not available with infantry. Even a Romanian infantry entering the hole will save you one or two rounds time. You are really in trouble when you have no reserves for replacement anymore. The damaged tank unit can't be repaired completely due to the adjacent enemy units and they will weaken it again and again until it is destroyed and the enemy starts to break through your lines.
5) Save your tanks. I have to repeat it.
6) Winter 41/42 will be tough. T34s. Stop them with infantry and your ATs. Do not forget the 88er Flak in AT mode.
7) Winter 42/43 will be tougher. Even if you made good approach in summer 42 don't get careless. The Russian hammer will fall with the first snow. But now you should have some Stugs III by upgrading experienced towed AT to Stug III. Your best weapon in this winter (together with deeply entrenched infantry). Good attack and defense values and can move very far. So you can leave it to the Stugs to close the holes in your defense. The mass of your tanks can't still really compete with the Russians, so ... save your tanks.
8 ) In winter 43/44 if you were successful the Russian counter attack should be much weaker than in the year before. And you have upgraded your III tanks to Panthers. Then you can relax concerning the tanks. A Panther is really tough. I fear only a strong (lucky) strike of a tactical bomber followed by a Russian tank attack. That can even destroy a Panther. May be even you stay in attack mode trying to reach the last well defended Russian cities before spring 44 (Overlord).
9) You will loose many troops in this war. Important is to save the ones you will need later in the war (experience, upgrades). I guess that you can loose a third of your troops and still can defeat the Allies if you did not loose the really important ones.

Concerning North Africa it is similar.
You will face strong tank forces on British side. So prepare with some AT enforcements and some tactical bombers.

First defend against the British tank army coming from east.
Then attack and capture Tobruk and if you are quick enough start to attack Mersa Matruh
Then you have to defend against a stronger British tank army coming from Egypt (for example like Uhu wrote it above at Mersa Matruh where you can force several surrenders if the enemy tanks cant' t move).
After that the door to Egypt, Palestine and the Iraqi oil fields is open.
If you retreat after Tobruk with the Afrika Korps to Tunisia you will face the American troops from the west and the British troops from the east at the same time. I prefer to set up a second army in Tunisia and keep the Afrika Korps in the east.

Important for the success in this theater is the Italian fleet (and bombers). I always keep them at a good shape. Hardest task is the fight against the Torch fleet that comes with 4 overstrenghted battleships, a heavy cruiser and some destroyers. Luckily the AI is not so strong supporting this fleet with planes and submarines. The Allied subs typically arrive at the battlefield when the battle is already decided.

Taking Malta is important.

You need good tactical bombers (with a hero). Sometime also a fighter can hit. Using battleships is useless.

I tried also a wide range artillery in Sicily by upgrading an artillery to the 17" that has range four. It can do some damage and it can do it also during rain and snow. Later you can hand it over to the Afrika Korps. You can need it at Mersa Matruh and in Egypt.

All in all it is luck how long it takes. Quickest for me was 4 month only with an Italian tac bomber and a German from France. But I also needed 1,5 years even sending Rudels Stukas from the east front to Malta.

Thanks Uhn and GeneralWerner for taking time providing such valuable insights.

Just as I said, I only started playing the Mod and currently on my second try. I did not play any of the previous scenarios and did not really have any objective in mind. My first try failed miserably as I had no idea what was coming from the Russians. After I took Kursk and Moscow in mid 1942 , I was so naïve thinking I had changed the history LOL and was totally unprepared against the 42 winter offense. The second one has been going better, as I am defeating Russians and got kicked out of Africa, well better than Wehrmacht at least.

I am looking to start a new one and after studying your writings. Thanks again for that.

My only gripe is this Mod is so addictive I wish I had 48 hours a day!

Uhu wrote:The Successful siege of Leningrad

.../...
- Destroy/mop up with the Finnish army the Soviet units north of and around Viipuri and prepare to take the Siege Points south of the town (but do not take it, because, before the other Points are not yet taken in the south, you will just get not-stop casualties).
.../...
-

Bonjour Uhu,
Pourriez vous préciser les coordonnées du "siege point" au environ de Vilpuri ainsi que les coordonnées des trois autres "siege points" dans le sud de Leningrad.
Je ne maîtrise pas bien la langue anglaise et je ne vois rien de particulier sur la carte.
Vos AAR sont passionnants.

Yves

Hello Uhu,
Could you specify the coordinates of the siege point about Vilpuri and the coordinates of the other three siege points in the south of Leningrad.


I do not master English well and I see nothing special on the map

Your AAR are exciting.

Regards

Yves

Hello Yves,

glaude1955 wrote:Your AAR are exciting.

Thank you, I'm happy, if you can use them.

The siege points appear only after, when an ingame message informs you about the start of the siege of Leningrad. It will happen, after you take Pskov, or Riga - I do not remember now. Than the siege points markers will appear around the city - the same way, as at the encirclement at Kiev.

glaude1955 wrote:

Uhu wrote:The Successful siege of Leningrad

.../...
- Destroy/mop up with the Finnish army the Soviet units north of and around Viipuri and prepare to take the Siege Points south of the town (but do not take it, because, before the other Points are not yet taken in the south, you will just get not-stop casualties).
.../...
-

Bonjour Uhu,
Pourriez vous préciser les coordonnées du "siege point" au environ de Vilpuri ainsi que les coordonnées des trois autres "siege points" dans le sud de Leningrad.
Je ne maîtrise pas bien la langue anglaise et je ne vois rien de particulier sur la carte.
Vos AAR sont passionnants.

Yves

Hello Uhu,
Could you specify the coordinates of the siege point about Vilpuri and the coordinates of the other three siege points in the south of Leningrad.


I do not master English well and I see nothing special on the map

Your AAR are exciting.

Regards

Yves

I have no specified area.
I captured Vipuri, Riga, Pskov and Tallinn but not Narva.
I have not had the identical message to that of Kiev.

glaude1955 wrote:I have no specified area.
I captured Vipuri, Riga, Pskov and Tallinn but not Narva.
I have not had the identical message to that of Kiev.

Hmm, I don't know then. Try to ask in the Battlefield topic, McGuba will surely answer, but maybe others know the answer to. Or yuo can look for the exact trigger circumstances in the editor, but that would be a hard job to find, because there are a lot of triggers.

GeneralWerner wrote: Transport all the towed AT equipment from France to the east. In France totally useless, at the eastern front for attacks not very usefull but in the winter defense they show their power. Again set them up in cities or forests if possible in time that they can entrench. If supported by an artillery they can also stand in open terrain.

I'm a bit confused here, as i generally avoid setting up AT in close terrain as it makes them incredibly vulnerable to infantry. For example, the 7.5 cm Pak 40 has a ground defense of 7, compared to a close defense of 1. Or is the idea that if they are in close terrain and are attacked by a tank, the tank would also be incredibly vulnerable as it would have to use its close defense stats?

I put the AT guns always on clear ground. Mostly, when possible and when attack of the enemy is expected, with arty backed up. Only if they are well entrenched (for example southeast of Moscow), or behind a river and not in the main route of enemy attacks (south of Voronezh) let it guard the region.

JimmyC wrote:

GeneralWerner wrote: Transport all the towed AT equipment from France to the east. In France totally useless, at the eastern front for attacks not very usefull but in the winter defense they show their power. Again set them up in cities or forests if possible in time that they can entrench. If supported by an artillery they can also stand in open terrain.

I'm a bit confused here, as i generally avoid setting up AT in close terrain as it makes them incredibly vulnerable to infantry. For example, the 7.5 cm Pak 40 has a ground defense of 7, compared to a close defense of 1. Or is the idea that if they are in close terrain and are attacked by a tank, the tank would also be incredibly vulnerable as it would have to use its close defense stats?

I am about to re-start Barbarossa, and after reading several AAR's and tips, I still have a few fundamental start questions before going down the wrong path (I had to re-start because I upgraded too many inf units into pioniere with wheels, while spending too much - this answers one of my previous questions of why grenadiere vs. pioniere when the stats are same except better close def for pioniere). Probably stupid questions, but some early decisions can have outsized influence on the rest of the game, which is an investment of hundreds of hours...

First and foremost, the starting core. I have the following: Pz IIIH (+1 ATT hero), Pz IVF (+2 ATT +1 DEF), Pz IV (+2 ATT) - all panzers 2 -star; 10.5cm arty half-track towed 3-star, two Bf 109F (one with +3 DEF and +1 ATT, both 2-star), and 3-star stuka (1 DEF).
I have seen UHU and others speak about a different composition, which of course cannot be changed too much at this stage. Should I upgrade the arty to a sIG - in my previous run I've had a problem with arty keeping up with inf in the initial onslaught towards Moscow? Or maybe to a longer range arty (both for Malta and suppressing targets like enemy arty further behind)? Which units (if any) should I overstrengthen? I figured maybe just arty, but it's tempting to boost at least some panzers, as well, to reach Moscow more quickly... Any other suggestions?

Second, last time I upgraded most of my AA to 88cm (36 type) with the notion that I'd need it for more robust air war in France, and then anti-tank killing during the winter of '41 in the East. Good or bad idea?

Last time I had a lot of idle non-motorized inf moving on foot trying to catch up (trains have a limited throughput, especially in terms of receiving stations close enough to the front), and the same with horse-drawn arty. Any thoughts on motorizing inf and replacing horses (which unfortunately requires sometimes arty upgrade and is probably not worth it)? My experience is that it really helps in the blitzkrieg phase, but then is of limited value further down the road.

I also noticed that once HMS is gone, bombarding UK fortifications with the Atlantic fleet achieves two goals: 1) reduces the radars and forts to rubble - hence reduces vision and enables easier invasion later on, if one decides to go that way; 2) shipa are gaining prestige quikcly without any potential harm! However, it's almost an exploit... Why isn't the UK fleet alerted by this? Thoughts?

Final question on Atlantic shipping lanes. Does the AI "see" all units on the "$" hexes regardless of the noraml vision by their units? Is there any hint about an optimal placement/movement of subs? For example, one of my subs in the upper lane was left undisturbed for 20 turns or more, while the others got attacked seemingly out of nowhere.