Slitherine

"Come in ... Herr General!"
(I am so sorry, but as a German I always found the voice acting hillarious!)

I think about starting a series of AAR's to keep me motivated to "really" play this game instead of starting a campaign, playing for a few hours, then quitting for half a year and starting at 0 again.

As to my PC experience, I bought the game years ago and played the main campaign as well as GC39-41 on Sergeant since I couldn't be bothered to challenge myself. Since then some time with some life quality improvements passed and I finally got my behind up to start a "real playthrough". I never felt challenged by Sergeant and just wanted to blaze through and feel great in the few hours I had per day. Suffice to say I felt even more like shit.

So here it is: Starting today I will post all about my first Colonel attempt at the Wehrmacht campaign - the other campaigns may follow afterwards. The only adjustments I will make are "Limited Dice Chess" and "Reform Units" since even just playing the Tutorial today to refresh the basics made me realize how much I LOATHE the Standard Dice Rules. Clubbering a single AA to death with 5 infantry units with each having 5:0 odds just seems a bit much...

As a reminder: This is my first real playthrough. I will fail to grasp certain things, I will make mistakes, I will (probably) screw up my Army Composition. So please: If you notice something, tell me, so that I can improve my playstyle!

Beste Grüße! ("Best Wishes!")
Sharrapri.

Very nice to see this AAR too, I wish you all the best.
Dont worry about possible mistakes, we are here to help

This is great news! Will you add photos, too?

Bought a Ju-87, a 10,5 cm LeFH and a SP I.

The Plan was for "Gruppe Lodz" to move north, take Kalisz, swing south to take Radom, then approach Lodz from the South. "Gruppe Krakau" should take Cracow, swing east and approach Warszawa from the South. Lastly "Gruppe Cleszyn" should take Cleszyn, then split up with the Infantry and Tank units following "Gruppe Krakau" and the Gebirgsjäger helping the Slovaks in blocking the southernmost Polish Infantry.

It went sort-of well, but I might have taken a few unnecessary risks in order to push harder (the Cleszyn Attack & being shot up by Modlin Fortress) so I ended up with some units down to 50% manpower.


First Turn.


Last Turn.

Thanks for your kind replies!

Yes, there will be pictures! I looked through some of the AAR's in this forum, so I thought I use the standard layout for my posts with two screenshots (first and last round) and the replay file attached.

Some highlights in between would also be great!

PeteMitchell wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 9:39 pm Some highlights in between would also be great!

yes thank you add a couple more photos in between

This time with more pictures and more descriptions!

Bought another BF109E, a Ju88A Strategic Bomber, a Grenadier and a SdKfz 8 Rad. Upgraded my highest ranking Infantry to Grenadier.

The Plan for Operation Weserübung was for "Gruppe Oslo" to land east of Oslo, destroy together with a Fallschirmjäger unit Oscarborg Fortress and take the city. "Gruppe Bergen" should land in near Bergen and push east. "Gruppe Trondheim" should land south of Trondheim, take the city and its airfield, then stand by until Oslo and Bergen group could join them for the final assault on Namsos. The other two Fallschirmjäger units should take Stavanger and Kristiansand, then get airborne again and take the towns between Oslo and Trondheim. The Kriegsmarine should buy as much time as possible for the land operations to succeed without any regards for naval casualties.



The Order of Battle for this operation.



Turn 4: The Kriegsmarine pushing north to delay the Royal Navy. Bergen Landing was successful.



Turn 5: Trondheim landing was successful although the entire northern naval group was wiped out. Gruppe Trondheim is holding the perimeter to the north.



Turn 5: Southern landings were both successful. Gruppe Bergen is on transit to Oslo, Gruppe Oslo is pushing north.



Turn 9: Reinforcements arrive in Trondheim for the final push on Namsos. Royal Navy Battlegroup is wiped out, only 2 German Heavy Cruisers are still active.



Turn 12: Namsos has fallen. Only Andalsnes remains with a British presence. Decisive Victory with moderate losses.

Summary: The main problem was the weather. At every other turn it was raining, often with muddy ground conditions. The landings went well, only the battles between Namsos and Trondheim were problematic. All in all I am quite happy with this mission!

Excellent AAR and very well presented, you have a long mission though

Thanks faos! Yes, I know - especially if I decide to do the other campaigns afterwards

Sharrapri wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 2:17 pm Thanks faos! Yes, I know - especially if I decide to do the other campaigns afterwards

I think this will be a very great AAR and campaign!!

Keep it up

For your information: Since I did the Alternative History route in my Sergeant Playthrough I follow the historical route this time.

Bought a Bf109E and a SP I. Upgraded 2 Infantry to Fallschirmjäger, 2 Artillery to 15cm, the Bf110 to its newer version, both Pz I to Pz III and the Pz II to Pz IV. Every Infantry got an Opel transport.

The Plan was for the stronger "Gruppe Flandern" to push the northern route towards Ostende and Calais, while the more heavily armored "Gruppe Ardennen" approached Sedan, created a bridgehead and pushed further to Abbeville. The Fallschirmjäger should take towns at the roads which connected both routes.


Turn 1: The Order of Battle.


Turn 5: Gruppe Ardennen took Sedan and created a bridgehead.


Turn 10: Gruppe Flandern took Brussels and defeated the French near Charleroi.


Turn 17: The 34th French Infantry made their heroic last stand in Abbeville.


Turn 19: The Siege of Calais is underway.


Turn 19: All Channel Ports were taken. A Marginal Victory is won.

Summary: This was a tough battle since I struggled a lot against French Armored Units. I will invest in another Stuka as well as in a 8.8cm FlaK in the next mission to bolster my AT capabilities. Also the Battle of Lille was pretty hard since a pesky French fighter squadron perched themselves atop the FlaK unit at Lille Airfield.

I'd suggest a Pioniere unit or two.

I thought about it TSPC but do Pioniere have any advantages over Fallschirmjäger except their +2 Hard Attack and the Entrenchment Booster? I looked up the stats yesterday and apparently FJg seem to have better combat values (except HA) as well as the Bunker Buster Trait of the Pioniere? Or am I missing something?

How many artillery do you have?

Sharrapri wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 7:33 am I thought about it TSPC but do Pioniere have any advantages over Fallschirmjäger except their +2 Hard Attack and the Entrenchment Booster? I looked up the stats yesterday and apparently FJg seem to have better combat values (except HA) as well as the Bunker Buster Trait of the Pioniere? Or am I missing something?

Different roles, pioneers can attack mines, fortifications, have more ammo, less movement, must have transport etc
Paratroopers no transport, main use is to drop behind the lines, secure airports, objectives, also, we can redeploy for a second drop in the same scenario etc

Interesting - i used them the way you described but decided to take a look at their stats and felt I was doing it wrong. But then my initial choice to pick Pioniere for taking fortifications was right and I definitely take some with me. Thanks for the information faos!

And Ursulet, atm I use 2 15cm Towed Artillery and 2 SP I Self-Propelled Artillery to stick to a 2:1 ratio of Frontline Units (Inf & Tanks) to Artillery cover.

I am sorry, but some things need to change - thanks to my university - since I just got the approval to write the final two theses (thesi? thesis-es?) in my M.A. studies before starting my M.A. thesis itself. Since I try to finish them both until late June - early July I won't have that much time on my hands for gaming and stuff. I won't abandon this AAR but the posts will come in a bit less frequently - I will post them when I have enough time to concentrate on playing a game like PC1. We WILL reach 1945 eventually, just with larger breaks between the battles.

Remember: "This battle is far from over ... HERR GENERAL!"