The Blucher

[Scrapulous]

Has anybody managed to save it yet? I'm playing with the "Bad Luck" general trait, and don't see a way to manage it with my air force and heroes, but it feels like it could be doable, with luck and perhaps some strong air heroes, like double attack. My Il-2 almost managed to get the Norwegian bunker down far enough on its own, but if it had a Double Attack hero, it wouldn't have been a problem, I think. I'm curious how other people approached it, or if you left it for dead.

[sebb81]

I could save it with an overstrength Il-2 and OS He-111 and one double movement hero to be able to do two air attacks per turn.

[scott_mathieson]

yes you kinda need heroes on bomber with longer range than the stuka, i'm 99% sure if you play this without importing core th eheroes you start with include double attack, you can also land overstrength paratroopers on the island.

[Kerensky]

I have a lot to say on this particular ship... but I want to wait for more people to get further into the content before spilling all the beans.

[Tassadar]

yes you kinda need heroes on bomber with longer range than the stuka, i'm 99% sure if you play this without importing core th eheroes you start with include double attack, you can also land overstrength paratroopers on the island.

The bombers can be tricky, as they have a tendency of going back to a hex of the airfield just slightly out of range to reach it the next turn. But two paratroopers as well should finish the job done nicely (or indeed a single OS one).

[adiekmann]

Yes, I did save it. Ju 88A with Lethal and Double Attack, two FSJs landing near the port, and a Stuka working together. I target the AA gun first with my Strat bomber, then secure the port so your men have supply. Then I take out the artillery piece next. Then of course the fort itself. First time I tried the fort was able to take out my ship before I could complete the job. Bad luck, a 4 strength hit meant it couldn't survive long enough, but did better the next time. The warship of course can provide some support fire too, but not at the fort itself as the risk to accelerating the damage to your cruiser is too great. The reward is worth the effort. You can then clean up and have your two FSJ leave the island by ship heading north. They can arrive in Oslo in time to help capture the city's flags but not much else, so plan accordingly.

[dalfrede]

The default army includes a 2x hero, place it on a Stuka and you should be able to take out the fort before it takes out Blucher.
Blucher should shell the AA to help out.

If your imported army has a Double Shot hero it works the same.
Saved Blucher 2 out of 3 tries. [Beta]

A Strat with lethal could replace TB.

[adiekmann]

The default army includes a 2x hero, place it on a Stuka and you should be able to take out the fort before it takes out Blucher.
Blucher should shell the AA to help out.

If your imported army has a Double Shot hero it works the same.
Saved Blucher 2 out of 3 tries. [Beta]

A Strat with lethal could replace TB.

I imported my core. I had a 1.5x on my Stuka (I've never seen the 2x awarded randomly in the game), the lethal and double attack on the strat bomber. Both were experienced units (the strat had 1 star and the Stuka 2).

[Scrapulous]

I played the mission three times. The first time, I didn"t outfit my air force with heroes for the job< and i lost the Blucher. That's when I made the OP.

The second time, I allocated Double Attack and Crippling Blow heroes to my Sturmovik, and saved the Blucher. I didn't seize the fort, though.

The third time, I kept the hero allocation from the second approach, plus assigning my other Double Attack hero to a strat bomber (He-111 H2). I also rebalanced my army, since I noticed in the first two runs that I had far too many land forces for the map. So I dropped a tank, a SPAT, and an armored car in favor of more aircraft. I also pulled in my reserve Fallschirmjager so that I could send one airborne infantry to help the auxiliary airborne in the north while my other two airborne headed east to seize the fort. I would have bought a fourth airborne if I had been able to, but (maybe because of my Retrograde general) I couldn't. This run through was much easier; In part because I also reimported my core and shifted my general traits around to take advantage of the new ones, which I hadn't noticed until I saw the post here calling them out. Oops. This time I easily saved the Blucher and seized the fort.

[Tassadar]

I also pulled in my reserve Fallschirmjager so that I could send one airborne infantry to help the auxiliary airborne in the north while my other two airborne headed east to seize the fort. I would have bought a fourth airborne if I had been able to, but (maybe because of my Retrograde general) I couldn't. This run through was much easier; In part because I also reimported my core and shifted my general traits around to take advantage of the new ones, which I hadn't noticed until I saw the post here calling them out.

Interesting, were you able to access Fallschirmjäger with Retrograde by this scenario? Or did you have them imported from the 1939 DLC core and bought in Denmark without Retrograde and got Retrograde in 1940 as part of changing the traits? I'm asking since I currently have two runs with Retrograde trait from 1939 and I already did a quick test to confirm that the Units.csv file paras have a service date of 01.01.1940 - 01.01.1943, so if you add 6 months to it they are not possible to buy with Retrograde for the Fornebu scenario, but also later for Vaklenburg and Eben-Emael.

Checking on the off chance this was actually addressed and my Units.csv file simply did not update properly after adding AO 1940.

[Scrapulous]

Your first guess is correct: this is an imported core from a '39 run without Retrograde. I suppose I could have reloaded one of my last '39 saves and bought several fallschirmjager for my reserves, but it didn't occur to me. After finishing the training mission, I wished I had. When I saw the choice between operations in NL, requiring heavy airborne forces, or BE, requiring some airborne and heavy armor, I went with Belgium. Three airbone was barely enough to secure Eben-Emael before my armor was able to relieve them. I doubt I would have done well in the Netherlands. I prefer the airborne play, but I guess a big, dramatic armored conflict in Hannut will be fun, too.

TL;DR: I think your units file is behaving as intended.

[IceSerpent]

When I saw the choice between operations in NL, requiring heavy airborne forces, or BE, requiring some airborne and heavy armor, I went with Belgium. Three airbone was barely enough to secure Eben-Emael before my armor was able to relieve them. I doubt I would have done well in the Netherlands. I prefer the airborne play, but I guess a big, dramatic armored conflict in Hannut will be fun, too.

Operations in Netherlands can be completed comfortably with 4 paratroopers. It's most likely doable with 3, but it would be a bit more of "edge of your seat" gameplay. Regarding Blucher, as others have already said above, use strategic bomber + Blucher to suppress flak and tactical bomber with double attack to take out the fort. After that you can clear the island whenever you feel like it - I did it after securing the airfields near Oslo. If you don't have double attack / double move heroes, you can use paratroopers + bombers to take out the fort right from the start.

[monkspider]

Good job on saving the Blucher lads, never give up even when Hauptmann Wagner tells you they are doomed!

[Tassadar]

Good job on saving the Blucher lads, never give up even when Hauptmann Wagner tells you they are doomed!

I need to take on the Modlin fortress one day then.

[Kerensky]

SPOILERS ahead. And it's neat to be able to say Spoilers in a WWII game, where normally historically minded people know exactly what is coming and how it ends.






So after the effort to save the Blucher, and that moment when it arrives to reinforce the ragtag half historical half 'no way those ships should be there' German Fleet participating in Sea Lion, was a little heartbreaking to face down that overload of British warships? I had flashbacks of Final Destination with the Blucher when it appears in Brighton. It escaped it's fate... only to meet a very different kind of fate. Or maybe it didn't escape it's fate afterall, it just got a postponement.

The Brighton/Sea Lion thread on the Steam forum really blew up with discussion that's for sure.

[WalterTFD]

My Kriegsmarine were crushed at Brighton. I pulled them in by a friendly coast and used all three of my level bombers for support...but nothing could be done. The Blucher, and then the mighty Bismark, slipped beneath the waves. We are stranded in England now.

[impossible]

i saved the bismarck and all 3 CAs on 2nd hardest difficulty 4 by taking them immediately to the botton-right corner and commit all my airforce to kill off the fighters, bomb the capital ships and the enemy CAs and kill off the enemy swordfishes. i had an imported core from ao39 - 3 overstrength figthers (the new 2x attack fighter hero, a no retaliation and a 1st strike, no galland), 2 overstrength ju88a-s (one lethal s13, one double attack s11), an s12 stuka-b (double attack), a recon with leadership hero. if i allowed myself to stack 3 heros it would be pathetically easy tbh.