Slitherine

Greetings everyone

Joining eskuche on his adventure through North Africa and finally start my second run of "Afrika Korps", modified by Locarnus for "Battlefield Europe + Addon".

No Field Marshal, only Rommel difficulty this time.
However I've thought again about some equipment limitations, BE+A is inviting you to try it. But I will not cry if I fail to follow them (or...maybe... ).



"rule of one"
...means you take only 1 individual unit per type into your core. E.g. only
1 Pz III
1 Pz IV
1 8.8 Flak
1 10.5cm leFH
1 Bf 109 series of fighters
1 MC series of fighters
etc.

What exactly means "only 1 unit per type" is, however, open for debate. Example, with the given efile, the StuG III B and E are infantry support units (tank in mode 1, short range 75mm artillery in mode 2) but the Stug III F, F/8 and G are tanks (no secondary mode). Would having a StuG III B and a StuG III G already break the rule? Or what about having a Pz IV F1 and a Pz IV H? The stat differences are quite significant between the two versions.

I won't be strict here and say "a StuG III B and G are 2 different units" for myself.
However:
- 10.5cm leFH with horse
- 10.5cm leFH with truck
---> are not 2 different units
But:
- 10.5cm leFH with horse
- 15cm NblWf with horse
---> are 2 different units
Meaning, I ignore organic transports, otherwise you would probably run out of units one way or another.



Replays:
Keep in mind you will need BE 2.3 or later (link to thread) and Addon 2.3 or later (link to thread) to watch the replays.

.

1) Reconnaissance in Force

The trickery of opening scenarios with fixed core: I wish we would start more artillery



2) Ras el Mdauuar

Replacements
none: aircraft
elite: 1x Italian Inf, SdKfz 10/4
green: remaining units

Disband
1x Italian Inf
L6/40 tank
AB 40 recon
3.7cm Pak

Purchase
15cm Nblwf (Krupp)
15cm sFH (SdKfz 7)
StuG III B

Upgrades
Bersaglieri to be without transport
PzJg I to Bison I
Pz III G to H



Deployment

1* ITA Inf
0* Bersaglieri
0* GER Inf (truck)
1* Grenadier (IFV)

0* M13/40
0* FlammPz II
0* StuG III B
0* Pz III H

1* SdKfz 222

0* 105mm can. (truck) ~ [1 OS]
0* 105mm leFH (tractor) [1 OS]
0* 150mm sFH (tractor)
0* 150mm Nblwf (truck)
0* Bison I

0* 88mm Flak (tractor)
1* SdKfz 10/4


Reserve
1* MC.200
1* Bf 110 D [9/10 strength]
1* Ju 87 R [8/10 Strength]



3) Brevity

Replacements
none: Italian Inf, Bersaglieri, M13/40, SdKfz 222
elite: FlammPz, SdKfz 10/4
green: remaining units

Purchase
3.7cm Flak (horse)
Sahariana
Z.1007

Upgrade
Pz III H to J
Bf 110 D to E


Deployment

1* GER Inf (truck)
1* Grenadier (IFV)

2* FlammPz
2* StuG III B
1* Pz III J

0* Sahariana

1* 75mm Obice (truck)
2* 105mm Can. (truck) ~ [1 OS]
2* 105mm leFH (tractor) [1 OS]
1* 150mm sFH (tractor)
1* 150mm NblWf (truck)
2* Bison I

0* 37mm AA (horse)
1* 88mm AA (tractor)
2* SdKfz 10/4

1* MC.200

1* Bf 110 E
1* Ju 87 R

0* Z.1007


Reserve
1* ITA Inf ~~~ [9/10 strength]
1* Bersaglieri [9/10]
1* M13/40 ~~~~ [6/10]
1* SdKfz 222 ~ [8/10]
1* Can. 100/17


https://www.dropbox.com/s/yiyemd8tmxihi ... y.zip?dl=0

.

4) Battleaxe

Replacements
none: Sahariana, SdKfz 222, Obice 75/18, Bison I
elite: all infantry, FlammPz, Krad, 3.7cm AA, MC.200
green: remaining units

Upgrades
Bf 109 E7 to F2 "tropical"



Deployment

1* ITA Inf ~~~~~~~ [1 OS]
1* Bersaglieri ~~~ [1 OS]
1* GER Inf (truck)

1* M13/40
2* FlammPz ~~ [1 OS]
1* StuG III B [1 OS]
2* Pz III J ~ [1 OS]

0* Krad

1* 100mm Can. (truck) ~ [1 OS]
2* 105mm Can. (truck) ~ [2 OS]
2* 105mm leFH (tractor) [2 OS]
2* 150mm sFH (tractor)
2* 150mm NblWf (truck)~ [1 OS]

0* 37mm AA (horse)
1* 88mm AA (tractor)
2* SdKfz 10/4 ~~~~~~ [2 OS]

2* MC.200 ~~ [1 OS]
1* Bf 109 F2 [1 OS]

2* Ju 87 ~~ [1 OS]
1* Bf 110 E [1 OS]

2* Z.1007 [1 OS]


Reserve
1* Grenadier
1* Sahariana [4/10 strength]
1* SdKfz 222 [8/10]
2* 75mm Obice [6/10]
2* Bison I [8/10]



Random thoughts
Brevity and Battleaxe had a lot of situations where I was pondering "more heroes for our units, or more prestige through forced surrenders?". When not playing on Field Marshal you have some liberty of choice in this regard.

SdKfz 10/4 madness, "awesome" bomber heroes, lots of cat and mouse and even an "eighty-eight" running out of ammo - that was a crazy playthrough of Battleaxe


https://www.dropbox.com/s/u8f5yxu2z1n2i ... xe.7z?dl=0

.

5) Dash to the wire


Replacements
none: SdKfz 222, Obice 75
elite: all infantry, M13/40, Sahariana
green: remaining units

Purchase
Fw 190 A2
He 111

Upgrade
StuG III B to E
Bf 109 F2 to F4
Ju 87 R to D
Bf 110 E to F



Deployment

2* Ger Inf (truck) ~ [1 OS]
2* Grenadier (IFV)
1* Kradschützen ~~ [1 OS]

0* Matilda II
2* M13/40 ~~ [1 OS]
2* FlammPz II [1 OS]
2* StuG III E ~ [1 OS]
2* Pz III J ~~~ [1 OS]

1* Sahariana [1 OS]

2* 100mm Can. (truck) ~ [2 OS]
3* 105mm Can. (truck) ~ [2 OS]
3* 105mm leFH (tractor) [2 OS]
2* 150mm NblWf (truck) [1 OS]
1* Bison I

1* 37mm AA (horse) ~~ [1 OS]
1* 88mm AA (tractor)
2* SdKfz 10/4 ~~~~~~~ [2 OS]

2* Bf 109 F4 [2 OS]
0* Fw 190 A2

2* Ju 87 D [1 OS] [Def+3]
2* Bf 110 F [1 OS] [Spt+1]
0* He 111


Reserve
2* ITA Inf
2* Bersaglieri
1* SdKfz 222 ~ [8/10 strength]
2* Obice 75 ~~ [6/10]
2* 15cm sFH
2* MC.200
2* Z.1007 ~~~~ [1 OS]



AI turn 1: I had made so many great preparations, but the AI decided to do something different

Turn 4: elite refit for the Krad

Turn 9
- our Sahariana "lets scout that airfield if it has AA"
- their 2 pounder "I love it when a plan comes together"

AI Turn 11: why was that Crusader able to shoot immedeately?

Turn 16: oops, right, the supply depots "side quest"

Many new heroes, and quite a few good ones


https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3saiqe1yi3o1 ... h.zip?dl=0





Dash to Wire bug:
The reward units shall appear after destroying the Hangars, but instead they appear in the players first turn.
I didn't intend to use them anyway, or at most in a very limited "fire fighter" role towards the end, so that the bug didn't affect the playthrough

JanD wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 7:16 pm Turn 9
- our Sahariana "lets scout that airfield if it has AA"
- their 2 pounder "I love it when a plan comes together"

AI Turn 11: why was that Crusader able to shoot immedeately?

Nice to see your second playthrough on Rommel, will you try out the Nebelwerfer upgrade to Wurfrahmen 40, like @eskuche?

I guess the Sahariana was saved by being a soft target now.
And PzC making no distinction between eg infantry soft targets and vehicle soft targets.
Which explains the lousy soft attack values of many AT guns.
"Sometimes no armor is the best armor".

AI turn 11: I looked in the scenario file and it seems that Crusaders spawn in that area during the game (no AI purchase). I guess that the original scenario designer did not anticipate player units at this location so early. I'm hesitant to do something about that at this time, especially after the issue with the reward units "fix".
I also encountered so much other stuff that I would like to be different (eg Suez scenario), that I have to draw a line somewhere to keep it close to the original Africa Corps DLC.

JanD wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 7:16 pm Dash to Wire bug:
The reward units shall appear after destroying the Hangars, but instead they appear in the players first turn.
I didn't intend to use them anyway, or at most in a very limited "fire fighter" role towards the end, so that the bug didn't affect the playthrough

Sorry about that, fixed the issue for the next patch. More info in my addon thread.

I'll try to publish that patch in the coming days, hopefully before you reach Kasserine (so that you get the SE Tiger in version 2022-05).