Slitherine

Hi Sinemora - I've just caught up with your Korsun update. As someone who enojoyed the Korsun Pocket wargame from Matrix "back in the day", I enjoyed your "hardcore gamer" take on it with your extreme difficulty settings and patience for dealing with almost double the number of units thanks to your use of the Flexible Command trait.

I note with interest your advice on other threads about investing in "disposable" units for the initial stages of a battle, which you end up disbanding to purchase different units for the roles you have planned for them in later turns. Can I ask if that that means you can deploy your own reserves later on, or are you limited to "buying" new units?

BaronVonWalrus wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 10:15 pm Hi Sinemora - I've just caught up with your Korsun update. As someone who enojoyed the Korsun Pocket wargame from Matrix "back in the day", I enjoyed your "hardcore gamer" take on it with your extreme difficulty settings and patience for dealing with almost double the number of units thanks to your use of the Flexible Command trait.

I note with interest your advice on other threads about investing in "disposable" units for the initial stages of a battle, which you end up disbanding to purchase different units for the roles you have planned for them in later turns. Can I ask if that that means you can deploy your own reserves later on, or are you limited to "buying" new units?

Glad to hear that As someone who could spend hours creating my perfect OoB in Hearts of Iron I understand the desire to have an orderly OoB to respect, but I can't really get into that mindset in PzC, possibly because the shifting scales make units so abstract. I think the AAR serves as a good illustration of the general strategy, but it might've been a little too lazy to forego a proper narrative; it doesn't make for particularly engaging reading. I suspect you need to appreciate the control it gives you to play like this, as it does take more time -- my first campaign was the polar opposite, where a few demigod hero units smashed their way through entire armies on the own -- especially in scenarios such as Kursk and Bagration where you control a large number of auxiliaries in addition to your own forces.

As to your question, yes, you can transfer units from your reserve and deploy them after disbanding temporary core units; I did precisely that in Bagration. Of course these are still subject to the same limitations as newly requisitioned units, so they'll have to be deployed near supply hexes (or airfields for aircraft) rather than on the hexes available during the deployment phase. NB: Disbanding aircraft can require some planning as units have to have their movement action available and be on top of a supply hex to be disbanded, which in practice means you need an airfield with a supply hex or an airfield next to a town with a supply hex to be able to do so. Still, it's a tempting -- if gamey -- option when you expect a significant enemy air force as fighters have limited utility once you have achieved air supremacy.

I hear you loud & clear about the pleasure (?) provided by HOI's OOB functionality - shame HOI 4 was so poor compared a modded HOI 3.

Thanks for the detailed answer on "temporary" core units and our ability to replace them with reserve units from the core during a scenario. I think it's unquestionably a legitimate (and not gamey) tactic, as why wouldn't an additional JG group be called in to try and achieve air superiority and then be moved to other duties once that had been achieved? Why wouldn't the Corps reserve get called on as the operation developed - isn't that what reserves are for?

An ideal solution would be the ability to swap core units in and out of reserve at rear-area supply hexes rather than disbanding "temporary" green units that have been purchased in that deployment phase. Perhaps it could be a specific trait, maybe"flexible reserve", so it comes with 1 point trait cost at campaign start?

The inability to rotate your troops out in favour of reserve units is what makes it gamey, as I assume it was a deliberate choice by the developers to make it less appealing to frontload on fighters and fighter-bombers. I'd prefer for it to be possible as well, if only in a limited capacity, perhaps something similar to how the Auxiliary Force trait works.

Scenario XXI -- Cobra



Initial Prestige: 187867
Final Prestige: 205555

Core

• Infantry
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1 [NEW]
  • Gebirgsjäger [NEW]
• Tanks
  • IS-1
  • IS-2 [NEW]
  • IS-2 [NEW]
  • Panther A [NEW]
  • Panther A [NEW]
  • Panther A [NEW]
  • Panther A [NEW]
  • Panther A [NEW]
  • Panzer IIIN [NEW]
• Recon
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad [NEW]
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad [NEW]
• Artillery
  • Schwerer Gustav [NEW]
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Brummbär
  • Brummbär
• Anti-Aircraft
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
• Fighters
  • Fw 190A
  • Fw 190A [NEW]
  • Fw 190A [NEW]
  • Fw 190A [NEW]
  • Bf 109F
  • Bf 109F [NEW]
  • Bf 109F [NEW]
• Tactical Bombers
  • Bf 109 PR
  • Fw 190F [NEW]
  • Fw 190F [NEW]
  • Me 410A [NEW]
• Strategic Bombers
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E [NEW]
  • Do 217E [NEW]
  • Do 217E [NEW]

As it proved successful in Bagration I opted to use a number of temporary assets again (marked in red) that I swapped halfway through for the ones marked in green, but Cobra turned out to be a stroll in the park after Bagration so it was really more effort than it was worth. Now to actually do some write-ups before the Battle of the Bulge.

Scenario XXII -- Ardennes



Initial Prestige: 200273
Final Prestige: 219412

Core

• Infantry
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1 [NEW]
• Tanks
  • IS-1
  • IS-2
  • IS-2
  • Königstiger [NEW]
  • Königstiger [NEW]
  • Königstiger [NEW]
  • Panther G [NEW]
  • Panther G [NEW]
  • Panther G [NEW]
  • OT-34 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 251/7 Brücken [NEW]
  • SdKfz 251/7 Brücken [NEW]
• Recon
  • Panzer II Luchs [NEW]
  • Panzer II Luchs [NEW]
  • Panzer II Luchs [NEW]
• Artillery
  • Schwerer Gustav
  • 21 cm Mrs 18 w/ SdKfz 7 [NEW]
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • Hummel
  • Hummel
  • Hummel
  • Hummel [NEW]
  • Panzerwerfer 42 [NEW]
  • BM-8-24 [NEW]
  • Brummbär
  • Brummbär
• Anti-Aircraft
  • Gepard [NEW]
  • Gepard [NEW]
  • Gepard [NEW]
  • Gepard [NEW]
• Fighters
  • Fw 190D-9 [NEW]
  • Fw 190D-9 [NEW]
  • Me 163B [NEW]
  • Bf 109K [NEW]
• Tactical Bombers
  • Bf 109 PR
  • Bf 109 PR [NEW]
• Strategic Bombers
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E

Long week at work so I unwinded by playing through the Ardennes; I'll get around to finally finalizing these reports over the weekend. The Battle of the Bugle easily had the worst weather of any scenario in the campaign, and considering how little utility I got out of the air force I'd seriously consider leaving everything but the recons and the odd fighter and bomber out in the future; you can reasonably expect it to be snowing at least 80% of the turns, and when it's not snowing it's cloudy. Rivers never seem to freeze though unlike on the Eastern Front.

Anyone who actually bothered to count the core slots would've noticed a discrepancy in the Cobra list; I thought I'd just made a mistake when tallying up the numbers but the same thing happened after the Ardennes, and as far as I can tell by disbanding a core unit twice (by splitting it) you get double the points back, effectively allowing you to go over your limit. This is reset for the next scenario but explains how I ended up with too many units.

Scenario XXIII -- Balaton



Initial Prestige: 216443
Final Prestige: 239250

Core

• Infantry
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1
  • Pioniere w/ SdKfz 250/1
• Tanks
  • IS-2
  • Königstiger
  • Königstiger
  • Königstiger
  • Panther G
  • Panther G
  • Panther G
  • Panther G [NEW]
  • OT-34
  • SdKfz 251/7 Brücken
• Recon
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad [NEW]
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad [NEW]
  • SdKfz 234/1 8Rad [NEW]
• Artillery
  • Schwerer Gustav
  • 21 cm Mrs 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • 21 cm Mrs 18 w/ SdKfz 7 [NEW]
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • 17 cm K 18 w/ SdKfz 7
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • SU-152
  • Hummel
  • Hummel
  • Panzerwerfer 42
  • BM-8-24
  • Brummbär
  • Brummbär
• Anti-Aircraft
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
  • SdKfz 7/1 [NEW]
• Fighters
  • Fw 190D-9
  • Fw 190D-9
  • Fw 190D-9 [NEW]
  • Fw 190D-9 [NEW]
• Tactical Bombers
  • Bf 109 PR
  • Hs 129B3 [NEW]
• Strategic Bombers
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E
  • Do 217E [NEW]
  • Do 217E [NEW]
  • Do 217E [NEW]
  • Do 217E [NEW]

The backlog is getting really bad now. It struck me that I still have deployment saves (well, for the later scenarios at least), so if anyone reading this is interested in testing what it's like to play on Generalissimus with these settings I could throw some of them up as attachments, e.g., playing Stalingrad w/o having to slog through half the campaign first. I might do that anyway once I've finished the campaign I suppose. It also -- rather belatedly -- occurred to me that accessing this on a phone is a nightmare, so if I do a proper AAR down the line I'll probably split it into more posts to cut down on the loading and scrolling required.

Operation Bagration is finally complete, so things are moving once more. I should try to finish the AAR before the DLC hits at least

The enemy looks to have brought significant force in last few scenarios, especially at Bagration. I look forward to how the final defense of Germany goes.

best75 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 1:16 pm The enemy looks to have brought significant force in last few scenarios, especially at Bagration. I look forward to how the final defense of Germany goes.

Yes, Bagration and Kursk probably feature the largest enemy forces in the game (by pure numbers Kursk wins by a landslide -- IIRC there are some 330 Soviet units in that scenario -- but many of them are minefields and shouldn't really count), but just as your number of core slots goes up the size of the average enemy force also increases.

With the unfortunate end of another AAR, I'll just post a note that I will get around to finishing what remains of this AAR, but due to other commitments this isn't likely to happen before the FM Edition early access for the Spanish Civil War release in early July.

SineMora wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 6:36 pm With the unfortunate end of another AAR, I'll just post a note that I will get around to finishing what remains of this AAR, but due to other commitments this isn't likely to happen before the FM Edition early access for the Spanish Civil War release in early July.

It'll be worth the wait I'm sure. I enjoy seeing your methods especially on some of Those tough end war scenarios.

Oh dear, I completely forgot I never finished this. Perhaps I still have the save file lying around.