Frontlines - Cyrenaica: Pizza and Chips

[Tassadar]

Time for Frontlines: Cyrenaica, first with general Bernardo Bertorelli, a lesser known relative of the famous Alberto, who will one day conquer America. Then, it will be time to try out the British campaign as well in the same AAR, but for the time being I am focusing on the Italian route. This ARR will not be narratively written, I have somewhat restricted this to just specific campaigns, so everything will be from player perspective this time and takes more time, which I am bit short on this month.

Italian Campaign

Difficulty - Generalissimus

As per usual these days.

Traits - Aggressive Deployment, Arrogant, Master of Blitzkrieg

An immediate surprise is that I cannot select any of the supply related general traits, they are disabled for the Italian campaign. I wanted to try out Chaotic Fire, as it seemed flavorful given the issues Italians had with their mid-level commanding officers, but sadly I need to explore other options I have not tried out before. Poor Ground Control seems like an especially horrible idea on desert maps, so I skipped that. Slow Reaction is something to test out on more hero intense runs, with plenty of support fire, but I can't deny it would fit somewhat... Given the options remaining, I went with trying out the Arrogant trait. It will be interesting to see how much my own memory of the rules and stats will work out. I guess Bernardo is really looking up to his older brother and thinks he can succeed as much! For positive traits, I'm going with Aggressive Deployment and Master of Blitzkrieg, for a fast motorized core, an elite of the Italian army that ties in to the Arrogant trait in a way. Crossing of minor rivers will probably not come up much, but that +1 movement for tanks can help for sure.

While I am not using the Collector extra rule, I'll try to not duplicate units where possible, maybe aside from infantry.

Hero:


If I understand correctly as with the Bulge DLC two heroes are random and one is pre-set. Considering this, Gabriele Demarco is a great roll, allowing me to ambush British tanks in the desert. Other uses of Camouflage come to mind, but I prefer to be able to counter Matildas reasonably.


Another great hero, Tommaso Greco will be a fighter pilot for sure! Even the photo matches this idea.


Finally the last hero, this time one created by the designers directly. A clear infantry choice (and even a historical infantry commander). I am just pondering if it is better to use him more for engineers due to the first trait, or cavalry due to the latter.

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Invading Egypt

Starting Prestige: 335

New Units Commissioned:

3º Battaglione Carri - L6/40
1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 (Truck)
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 100mm 100/17 (Lancia 3Ro)
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck)
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - OS11 - CR.32
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65

Yes, I know that the L6/40 was not used in Africa at this stage, but I'll take what I can get! Other then that, a towed AT gun is a cost efficient unit to get with Camouflage. Some extra artillery will be critical for Italians and I am very curious about mortar infantry. Extra planes also can help given long distances to cover and the CR.32 is a compromise nod to history, a bit of a way to even out justifying the L6/40 unit.

New Equipment Provided:

1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck)
1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf
1º Battaglione Autoblindo - AB 40

I get better infantry, some flame tanks and a recon car instead of the motorcycle. The last change is purely for unit naming reasons, since I was not able to research a believable name for a motorcycle recon unit, as they were apparently used in support role for infantry formations and not really as standalone formations.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck)
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck)
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - Cheap Replacements, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf
2º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35
3º Battaglione Carri - L6/40

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 (Truck) - Camouflage

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck)
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 100mm 100/17 (Lancia 3Ro)
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck)

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - OS11 - CR.32

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65

Highlights


I guess the briefing canonically confirms the Arrogant general trait?


First lost unit found in the desert. It joins as an auxiliary tank, which is appreciated. Too bad I am for now stuck with less stellar vehicles in the core force.


Arrogant trait does not show combat predictions when moving next to the enemy, so far so good, as expected.


Also works fine on attacking, that's good as well.


Interestingly, defensive predictions still remain. That's probably not as designed. It can probably help a bit in certain circumstances, but I'd prefer it also would show nothing. Since attack is rather different than defense and not equivalent in predictions, it is not very abusable, but I'll refrain from looking at this if I can help it.


Ferocious fighting for the outpost on the way south.


That airport near Musaid will be critical, my planes are struggling with range.


I decide to take the main road as time is of the essence and I've dillydallied for a bit to long. I still send some units around the desert to see if they can help encircle British positions.


My fighter planes do not have anything useful in range, so they switch to a scouting role and ultimately find remaining two missing tank units. That hero is a very useful one to have, as Provocator is a powerful way to break through defensive positions or deal with dangerous counterattacks.


All that is left is to capture Sollum. Looks like I was unnecessarily concerned, as most of the heavy fighting happened early on in the scenario. All that was left later was to mop up a few remaining British units.

Summary

Final Prestige: 2801 (up 2466)

Overall

First scenario and a very positive prestige trend is a welcome sight, as it gives me time to build a reserve in case the difficulty spikes later on. I liked the mission, as it was a constructive demo of what I expect to find on the desert further. It taught how to handle terrain well (dunes are surprisingly tricky to navigate and deceitfully safe), it showcased how powerful aircraft are, but how limiting the range on planes is and how absolutely critical airfields will be, as well as allowed to check how individual Italian units behave depending on core composition. I Immediately liked the mortar infantry, especially with the Aggressive Deployment trait, as well as the 65/17 M13, but it will need some experience and heroes to get some extra firepower. I was less impressed with Ascari del Cielo due to not giving them truck transports. Since I am unlikely to get options to use them as paratroopers (as per the historical limitation), I need to think of them as normal infantry, but cannot justify using them non-motorized, the maps are just too big for that. Their Camouflage trait so far did not pay of, but can be potentially very powerful if I increase their mobility.

As for the traits I selected, Aggressive Deployment is working well. I just realized I selected them same for "War Stories: Fall of Poland", so I promise, for the British side I've got something different in mind. Extra movement on tanks also was quite useful, not to cover more ground attacking, but rather to return within support fire range. Arrogant is certainly unusual and feels it will take time getting used to. I did not stumble due to it at any point, but then again, I was in a position when the enemy was often attacking me instead, so the issue rarely came up. I guess it will be all about closely monitoring suppression levels and entrenchment, but so far aside from taking some more losses and slightly increased prestige spend it should not be a backbreaking limitation. Of course I reserve the right to be wrong and make some silly decisions in the future. I also noticed that an AT gun with Camouflage is more difficult to abuse than normal. Since the British have many recon cars, I need to prioritize their destruction, else a well laid trap might backfire entirely.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Halfaya Pass

Hero:


I will combine this hero with Provocator and hopefully get a unit that at one point is almost impossible to damage, a roadblock that will stay alive with a few points of health and misdirect enemy attacks.


Second pre-generated hero of the campaign is in theory good for both tanks and aircraft, but I will assign him to a unit of engineers as an experiment, making it easier to attack key objectives not worrying about artillery support and also reducing the damage if it gets attacked in other circumstances.

Starting Prestige: 1525

New Units Commissioned:

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck)

I will not be able to use the strategic bomber due to lack of non-dirt airfields, but I get one just in case for later. Since I plan to get two groups of units attacking from separate directions, I need to get a second AA gun, despite that fact it conflicts a bit with the collector spirit. Unfortunately I have no other AA choice in the roster for now. The modal artillery piece is here for core slot restriction reasons.

New Equipment Provided:

2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro)

A proper light tank instead of a tankette will be much, much better! I also do the upgrade to a 105mm artillery piece, but ultimately cannot deploy it this time as I am one core slot short. Also, I mentioned earlier how Ascari del Cielo could do better with a truck, but I ultimately decide against it, after realizing that rough desert block wheeled movement. Having a special role unit that can step into such hexes can give tactical options.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - Lighting Attack, Readiness
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - Cheap Replacements, Flag Killer

Tank

2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39
3º Battaglione Carri - L6/40

Recon

2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - *

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - Camouflage

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck)
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck)
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck)

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79

Reserve

2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf
1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - *
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro)
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - CR.32
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Highlights


As long as it is not spotted by enemy recon cars, the camouflaged anti-tank gun does its job well.


Slowly setting up Provocator traps. With the Prudent hero it actually advantageous not to reinforce the damaged unit at all.


As in the first mission, early control of remote airfields is critical. The long distances limit the usefulness of planes, but due to weak armor on ground units, having air support can still mean a lot.


Ascari del Cielo sneak up on artillery I spotted in the mountains. Looks like not giving them truck transports was a good idea, as it allows them to slowly, but surely move though rough dessert.


Their ability to encircle enemy positions may be useful in many more occasions in the future. I will probably not deploy these units in every scenario, but they will make a difference when they do appear.


Halfaya is well defended and what's more, an annoying recon car is getting in the way of my camouflaged AT guns yet again. Fortunately, my ambush infantry is performing as intended, guarding the advance and preventing successful counterattacks on vulnerable targets.


I finally dispose of the last British artillery piece and capture Halfaya, but this happens on the very last turn. It was not a lenient timer!

Summary

Final Prestige: 3005 (up 1480)

Overall

Halfaya Pass was quite the difficulty spike compared to the previous mission. The limit of just 16 turns is not an easy one to meet given how much of a distance there is to the targets, the unfavorable terrain and lack of heavier units that could help push through well defended British positions. I was relying on heroes, the air force and luring the enemy into support fire to meet my goals, but that strategy was slower than I hoped for. The last few turns ended up nervous and I just finished with literally almost no extra moves to spare. It was surely one of the most tense experiences I had playing all of Panzer Corps 2 an I really appreciate that challenge. If I optimized my core more it would have been undoubtedly easier, but not as exciting.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Road to Sidi Barrani

Hero:


This time I only get a pre-generated hero, no random ones. I don't complain, since the Reduced Slots ability combines very well with the option to finally get the 149mm 149/19 artillery. It means that this valuable heavy gun will not burden my core as much, and it will also give surrounding units that little extra boost.

Starting Prestige: 1673

New Units Commissioned:

4º Reggimento Artiglieria - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro)

Finally some serious artillery that can compete with British firepower. It will make sieges much easier and also allow to defend against all sort of targets.

New Equipment Provided:

2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro)

I am allowed to get a different AA gun which is good for the spirit of a more collector run and also hasr a decent secondary anti-tank mode. An upgrade that will make a difference given that British air presence is a constant threat.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - * - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - Lighting Attack, Readiness
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - * - Cheap Replacements, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39
3º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - * - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - *
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - ***

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - Camouflage

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - *
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro)
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck)
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - Leadership, Reduced Slots
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - *

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck) - *
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro)

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50

Strategic Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Reserve

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65

Highlights


It would be tempting to advance quicker, but I initially take my time to make sure I do not get ambushed as I establish my formations moving through the desert.


One group takes the coastal road. It is a more heavily armed team that is meant to break through potential heavy defenses the British would logically set up in the area.


A more mobile team utilizes the desert paths to attack from the south, targeting a nearby airfield and enemy outposts.


A formation in which Provocator infantry is guarded by two pieces of artillery on both flanks able to support against hard and soft targets, as well an an AT gun in the back, is my new favorite siege style. It only work in narrow passages however, as otherwise it would be easy to go around such a trap. Rough desert and other environmental obstacles can be utilized with great results. Sometimes the trap is so tempting, that defenders leave the town they were supposed to guard!


Terrain can be also a deadly trap in other circumstances. Here British infantry got itself surrounded, tempted by the perspective of dealing some minor damage to my mortar team.


This British light tanks really had a bad day, getting caught in triple support fire!


Sidi Barrani in sight of the main team. I have time to spare, so the luxury to proceed carefully, not knowing the scale of potential defenses.


Nibeiwa was guarded by some tanks and artillery, but noting my soldiers couldn't handle. Especially, since the air force was not in total control and could assist in the attack.


Tummars outpost fell just as easily, the British had just a few units in the area.


Sidi Barrani was a much tougher target, but fell pray to the Provocator siege tactics.

Summary

Final Prestige: 6710 (up 5037)

Overall

This was a much easier experience than Halfaya Pass, mostly due to the sheer firepower of the 149mm 149/19 artillery unit, but also due to the usefulness of Provocator in many different situations. I was constantly able to bait the enemy into very unfavorable attacks, weaken their forces and surround them to then make individual enemy groups surrender. It resulted in much prestige gained, and not that many losses aside from damage on a few units that were already expected to get hit. Since my strategy is concentrated around heavy suppression and close support, so far the Arrogant trait is not proving to be a hassle. It of course does mean some moves are more risky, but ultimately this early into the war units do not deal that much damage in one attack, so the threat of getting accidentally overrun is much lower than let's say in 1943 or 1944 where vehicle attack values suddenly skyrocket.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - The Defense of Sidi Barrani

Hero:


Excellent hero for the new 3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea. Those big AA guns will benefit from such increased accuracy.


This time the hero choice is simple, it is a perfect way to make the best of my mediocre tanks stand up better to the enemy armor, especially to the Matildas.

Starting Prestige:

New Units Commissioned: 5643

3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro)

I get an additional AA gun as it is the best available and also, I plan to split my force into three teams. This way each will have some defensive support again possible air raids.

New Equipment Provided:

3º Battaglione Carri - M13/40
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40

Time to say goodbye to most of my tankettes, leaving just the flame variant. They are just not up for the task anymore.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - ** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - * - Lighting Attack, Readiness
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - * - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - *
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39 - * - Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - M13/40 - * - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - ***
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - ****

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - * - Camouflage

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - ** - Shock Tactics, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - *
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - *
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Leadership, Reduced Slots
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - *

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro)
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *

Reserve

1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Highlights


Ascari del Cielo certainly have amazing defensive value! Nothing beats ambushing attacking infantry in their transports!


Aside from that one hidden sneaky infantry unit, I split my forces into there groups to block expected directions of British attack, since the turn timer was short and map large, so I probably would not have the luxury of moving reinforcements besides recon cars and cavalry. Bug Bug and the nearby passage though the dunes seemed easy enough to defend, so only got a small part of my forces.


I set up a Provocator ambush near Matkila and sent some light units to monitor the pass in the south. That was a good idea, as some British infantry attempted to sneak past.


Main battle around Nibeiwa was intense, but luckily the power of camouflaged AT support and a lot of artillery helped hold the ground and also defend that critical airfield. I also quickly learned why the hero tank granted for this mission had No Surrender...


The enemy harassed Matkila with ship bombardment, but the attack itself was rather weak, so the area was in no real danger.


I even managed to counterattack a bit and destroy the entire advancing British force there.


Bug Bug also held, despite some enemies constantly trying to encircle me via the dunes.


Nibeiwa was indeed the heart of the battle, but it held, as the British were unable to break the defenses I set up.


I even managed to sink one of the ships bombarding Matkila!


Just a few attackers were left in the south in the end...


...while in the west the situation was stabilized entirely, with encircled Matilda tanks falling prey to AA guns in secondary anti-tank mode..

Summary

Final Prestige: 7914 (up 2271)

Overall

Going full defensive mode was not so bad this time, but the enemy had some nasty surprises. In the east, thanks to the Provocator trap setup and some Ascari del Cielo in the dunes, I never felt I was threatened. Ship cannons were annoying and dealing constant chip damage, but not enough to make me fear loosing the position. Western defenses were a bit more tricky due to the small path though the desert that required a more mobile defense. Here the Aggressive Deployment trait helped a lot, giving my artillery the option to move and fire as needed. Finally the southern defenses had a small remote path that just a recon car and a tank could guard well, but the airfield was the tricky part. I am glad I not only assigned the No Surrender tank to guard it, but also noticed the enemy hero with one of the super traits threatening surrenders on attack. If I placed another unit there or did not notice this dangerous foe in time, I could have paid dearly. Getting pushed back out of and airfield in a sandstorm would have been devastating. It just proves how important it is to read though enemy hero descriptions in detail. I am not sure how I feel about giving the AI such a powerful threat, but one thin is for sure, now that I have been warned once and even given my own hero to counteract this effect, I will remain vigilant about the option of this appearing in the future again. Such units will be top priority to destroy before they can reach my positions.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Bardia Stands

Hero:


I'm going to use this hero in 1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori engineers unit, which is one of my two defensive infantry options.

Starting Prestige: 7691

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - ** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - * - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Readiness
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - * - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - ** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39 - * - Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - M13/40 - ** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - *

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - ***
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - *****

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - * - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - ** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - *
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Leadership, Reduced Slots
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - **

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck) - *
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - *
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - *

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *

Reserve

1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Highlights


In the south, each fortification aside from the one impossible to defend got a small set of units that were meant to slow down the enemy and protect the bunkers.


There was a larger attack southwest with one of those scary enemies that can force surrenders. That was top priority for destruction immediately.


Northwest I created a distraction to allow Annibale Bergonzoli evacuate as planned.


Wow, that was well worth it! There's a reason On the Roll is no longer possible to normally get from the random hero pool. I'll add this hero to the Sahariana unit, since I don't want to decrease the difficulty too much with using him on a tank and triggering all the overruns in the world.


British airfield captured by Ascari del Cielo. It was high time to take out that annoying Hurricane fighter that's been harassing my forces since the very beginning of the mission.


One British unit tried to sneak past my defenses and resulted in a slightly chaotic chase!


I wad content with a more defensive approach in the north, as there was no reason to risk getting hit by tanks and artillery.

Summary

Final Prestige: 7547 (down 144)

Overall

Somewhat similar to the Defense of Sidi Barrani mission, this scenario suggested splitting defensive forces into a few groups and dealing with attacks form multiple directions. Granted, things would have ben a lot easier if I carefully read the objectives that only required to hold key points, not defend the bunkers. I initially got a bit fixated on keeping them alive only to realize after a while that it is not really required. Just taking over the hexes they are one would be enough. This misunderstanding meant I took heavier damage early on and despite forcing some good surrenders later, I was for the first time in the red prestige wise. Without rushing things I could have allowed the British to bleed out on the minefields and spread themselves thin, only to counterattack when they were more vulnerable.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Battle of Tobruch

Hero:

None, but I don't mind given how often custom heroes are granted.

Starting Prestige:

Starting Army Composition: 6720

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - ** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - ** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Readiness
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - ** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - ** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39 - ** - Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - M13/40 - ** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - ** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - ****
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - ** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - *** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - *
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - *** - Leadership, Reduced Slots
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - **

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- *
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - *
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - * - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - *

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *

Reserve

1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Highlights


First attack came from the west, so I deployed a defensive force there. Nothing too powerful, just solid enough to hold the enemy in place and both buy time, as well as free up better units for other, more important roles.


The bulk of my army marched southeast, leaving some infantry and artillery to defend Sidi Mahmud, while using the heavier, more mobile formations to both retrieve the explosives needed for the bonus objective, as well as to secure the British airfield. AA guns had to do the heavy lifting protecting my ground troops until I was able to deploy my own planes.


With the airfield near El Adem secured, it was now time for revenge. The British had no other air bases, so I could fully focus on helping my own ground units.


Since the attack in the west broke apart, I was able to hunt down some remaining enemies. AA guns were quite useful in their secondary anti-tank role.


Some attacks were directed at Sidi Mahmud, but since they only involved infantry, there was no real threat of breaching these positions.


I managed to complete the bonus narrative objective... but did not get the reward. Something is bugged with this script, so I took the liberty to fix it in files directly. Still, I hope this gets identified and patched in the future.


Holding the forts granted yet another custom hero, a clear choice for artillery or AA gun batteries.

Summary

Final Prestige: 10834 (up 4114)

Overall

An enjoyable mission combining defensive action with a push to retake an airfield. This was tried out in earlier DLC, and has always been a more dynamic, tense scenario type than just purely setting up defenses and watching how enemy waves break upon them. The bugged bonus narrative objective was a shame, but ultimately I found a workaround. If there is one thing I would change about it, aside from fixing the broken script, would be putting British ships outside the range of the immobilized San Giorgio, to prevent the temptation to try and sink those vessels creating some narrative dissonance. Ironically, despite the whole bug situation it was one of the missions I enjoyed the most so far! Also, it is interesting how much prestige I was able to gather, the Shock Tactics artillery is perfect for massive captures.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Interception at El Mechili

Hero:


Decent, if not slightly uninspiring hero. Should work well on the CR.42 Falco biplanes, but certainly will not break the balance in any way.


The second hero is the exact opposite of the first, combining superb abilities that can be used both offensively and defensively. I guess since I already have Fierce Fighter on my engineers, I might as well power them up further and still remain on theme.

Starting Prestige: 10019

New Units Commissioned:

None, since my existing core force without planes already took all pre-deployed locations. I could get some extra units and add them later near the supply hex, but at this stage I think my core slot count will never go up. Since new purchases start without any awards, it seem like a waste. Instead, I took some of my extra slots to overstrength existing units.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - OS17 - Bersaglieri (Truck) - ** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - OS18 - IT Engineers (Truck) - ** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - OS17 - IT Cavalry - ** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - ** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39 - ** - Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - OS12 - M13/40 - *** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - ** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS11 - AB 40 - ****
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS12 - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS15 - 47/32 M35 - ** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS13 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - *** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - **
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS15 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - *** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - ***

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- *
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - *
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - * - Expert Support

Reserve
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - *
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - Breda Ba.65
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Highlights


Looks like all the heroes are barely able to fit on the UI screen considering the extra abilities engineers grant. Time to change this to add a third row with even smaller fonts?


I never though crossing minor rivers using Master of Blitzkrieg will come up in this DLC, but it actually did now.


Best defense is a good offense, so I moved east with my units trying to take the enemy head on and block key paths to prevent the British from sneaking past my units in the sandstorm.


This Double Support unit was probably overkill. Any ambush triggered just deleted enemies instantly.


Of course rivers meant bridge engineers. That was now a priority target since recons cars, fast tanks and motorized infantry could circle around my defenses.


The number of tanks kept going up, but so far my army was able to hold ground and block only paths viable for vehicles.


I even managed to surround and encircle some British units, but it was clear at this point that the attack could come from any direction and I should not neglect recon.


Luckily this time the script for the extra core slots triggered as expected. The earlier issue must have been some minor occasional bug.


Spoken too soon it seems! I found some other broken scripts, fortunately these do not seem to affect anything permanently on my end, probably just some mission reinforcement calculations.


Due to British artillery shelling my positions, I was forced to pull back slightly to go beyond the range of big guns and set up new ambushes.


This is a great hero, but it does mark a point when I think the number of excellent combinations is getting slightly out of hand. It would not hurt to simply remove other Zero Slots or Envelopment given how many good heroes were given out already in a very short timeframe. I guess I will use this hero on 1º Battaglione Autoblindo.

Summary

Final Prestige: 9805 (down 214 )

Overall

Once again a change of pace with no ability to use aircraft and interesting objectives that require constant situational awareness, as even a single missed recon car could invalidate them. I think this type of mission best works narratively for the defensive style setup. With the player only guarding a smaller part of the frontline it makes sense that the situation elsewhere might not be going equally well, a local success might still not change the bad strategic situation. Especially, since it does seem to convey this well in gameplay as well. The strength of the British counterattack was nothing to sniff at, forcing even my elite units to move back and regroup temporarily. The fact is it just the second mission where I lost prestige is best proof of the increased difficulty, at least locally in some points of the map. It was especially driven by those annoying artillery pieces. I grew so paranoid of dunes beyond escarpments that I expect some British howitzer to lurk in each such location. However, even with such spikes in challenge, I am starting to see the hero issue people described. Even when not assigned optimally they are just so many, that in the low powered unit era, they wrap the gameplay around their presence. While I do not consider this an issue, it does change the way things were usually done in Panzer Corps 2.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Wadi Derna

Hero:

None, again. I have no issue with this, but after a few such cases I would for sure prefer toned downs special heroes and getting one random one each scenario instead.

Starting Prestige: 9609

New Units Commissioned:

None, but I decrease some overstrength to make room for my air force once more. This DLC has shown a new perspective for me on customizing core slot efficiency, as usually I used to not change the value so often, preferring to instead add more units. This alternative does have its merits, but in longer linked campaigns I'd still deploy fresh troops for flavor purposes.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - *** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - ** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - *** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - ** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - M11/39 - ** - Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - M13/40 - *** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - ** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - AB 40 - ***** - Combat Luck, Envelopment, Zero Slots
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - ** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - **** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - **
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - **** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots, Skilled Support
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - ***

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- *
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - *
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - *

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - *
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65

Strategic Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007

Reserve

2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *

Highlights

[
In the west part of the map, artillery was dealing with bridge engineers quite efficiently. That is, until the British got their own big guns to provide counter battery fire.


Further east, I did not manage to bring as many defenders quickly, so the situation was more difficult. I was able to use Provocator infantry to block the path , but at the same time I needed to be wary of heroes with abilities to cause instant surrenders.


Martuba only required minimal defenses. The path was easy to block with the forces I had and never really in any danger. While the RAF was annoying, it only managed to deal some minimal damage.


With most bridge engineers destroyed, the enemy tried to move along the river and strangely did not pull the remaining bridging units up to try another crossing. It gave me some peace of mind and allowed to focus my efforts elsewhere.


Narrow path east was very easy to block with tanks and artillery, while the British mostly had infantry, incapable of breaking through.


Martuba was not fully secured and I could focus on mopping up remaining enemies.


Destroying required number of bridging units granted another Provocator hero, this time with Ambusher to boot! That is quite powerful, but it's now the third custom soldier with the same ability. If it was due to RNG at the start of the mission, it would have been fine, as the system can create very different runs depending on such rolls. However, being that much scripted really railroads the gameplay into a specific pattern.


I just spent the rest of the mission taking out some British units randomly moving around the map with no ability to threaten my positions. I was surprised there was no second attack from the east this whole time.

Summary

Final Prestige: 9799 (up 190)

Overall

This scenario had a really interesting concept, but failed to utilize it partially due to design and partially due to AI limitations. There should have been at least one more wave from the east, focusing the player to maintain constant presence in the area and having to divert some of the forces there. It would spice up things while also increasing the difficulty of defending the crossings. At the same time, the AI was unable to correctly use its engineers. It just deployed them in pre-selected positions, but did not send those deployed on the southern river further up, even when all units already crossed the first obstacle and their presence there was meaningless. It might be an engine limitation, as it seem this would have been much more difficult to code within the confines of the scripts. The crossing itself also showcased the biggest issue with custom heroes in this DLC, as it boiled down to a game of cat and mouse between Provocator defenders and Overwhelming Attack/Envelopment/Shock Tactics attackers. That chess-style gameplay was interesting the first few times, but once its figured out, it can get a bit stale. With just one such unit, that would have been fine. With now three, I would prefer some additional different options.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Retreat to Bengasi

Hero:


I appreciate Zero Slots and Distraction, but another surrender enabler? Seems like a bit much to say the least.

Starting Prestige: 9796

New Units Commissioned:

None, just some overstrength for tanks due to core slots freed up by Zero Slots/Reduced Slots heroes.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - *** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - *** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - *** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - *** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - OS12 - M11/39 - ** - Ambusher, Provocator, Reduced Slots, Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - OS12 - M13/40 - *** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - *** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - AB 40 - ***** - Combat Luck, Envelopment, Zero Slots
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS12 - 47/32 M35 - *** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - **** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - ***
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - **** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots, Skilled Support
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - ***

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- **
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - **
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - * - Distraction, Shock Tactics, Zero Slots

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - **
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65 - *

Strategic Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007 - *

Highlights


Some lighter units that will be less useful in holding the enemy advance were responsible for destroying the supply depots along the mountain roads. Once done, they could join the frontline.


I immediately set up some roadblocks both in the southern and northern pass. I also needed to send some cavalry and Provocator units up north to protect the retreating infantry.


Ascari del Cielo were used to block the desert paths. It was probably not the most prestige efficient solution given that I did not provide them with support, but a it worked fine. The key was constantly retreating into repeatable ambushes.


The British also attempted to move directly north into the mountains from the desert area, but some well-placed (and some not-so-well placed, but I had little choice) defenders meant that these were just futile efforts.


Meanwhile, the narrow passages closer to the sea were all easy enough to entirely block. The only pain was British heavy artillery, using the advantage of range to harass my forces. Some cavalry counterattacks and decisive air bombing despite heavy AA cover dealt with this threat.


Infantry units finally made it to the evacuation area in Bengasi. They were in no danger after they got away from the fighting, just needed some time to travel on foot.

Summary

Final Prestige: 14055 (up 4559)

Overall

A relatively straightforward mission with some unexpected trouble down south, but that was mostly due to having not enough experienced infantry to place in close terrain and sometimes on desert maps it is more difficult to tell what is close terrain, and what is not. It did not really threaten the objectives, but a few units were damaged badly and had to be rotated to the back row for repairs to avoid being taken out. This, alongside the range advantage of BL 7.2 inch artillery, meant that the usual overpowered Provocator blockades were not that easy to pull of and could in fact backfire easily. This is how I feel the difficulty should have been handled in other missions as well, instead of giving the AI all those powerful heroes. I'd also give the AI some airfields in this scenario (could be even the hidden "deployable") ones to maybe offer some threat to the retreating infantry. It really was in no danger at all once it retreated just slightly

[DefiantXYX]

Final Prestige: 14055 (up 4559)

How do you get that much prestige in this map? Thers is almost nothing to conquer, although I remember a city with a 500 prestige cache.
I was abusing all the crazy heroes you get, to force a lot of units to surrender, but I also had to repair a lot.

A relatively straightforward mission with some unexpected trouble down south, but that was mostly due to having not enough experienced infantry to place in close terrain and sometime son desert maps it is more difficult to tell what is close terrain, and what is not.

Oh yeah, that is very annoying. Not sure if this is a feature, that you as a player have to be very careful. Otherwise it would be nice if there is a feature, to highlight close terrain a little bit.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Pushing to Beda Fomm

Hero:


This is quite silly now, another surrender enabler? I mean, I guess it makes the mission easier or sure, but I'd much rather have a Last Stand and some other defensive bonus, let's say No Surrender or No Retreat, than this. I've got two pre-generated Overwhelming Attack heroes now and two Shock Tactics heroes. Even if not combined on the same units, these absolutely dominate the battlefield and farm prestige at an absurd rate.

Starting Prestige: 13707

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - Bersaglieri (Truck) - *** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - IT Engineers (Truck) - *** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - IT Cavalry - *** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS11 - L3/35 Lf - *** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M11/39 - ** - Ambusher, Last Stand, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Reduced Slots, Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M13/40 - *** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - L6/40 - *** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - AB 40 - ***** - Combat Luck, Envelopment, Zero Slots
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS12 - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS15 - 47/32 M35 - *** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - **** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - ***
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS14 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots, Skilled Support
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - ***

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- **
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - **
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - * - Distraction, Shock Tactics, Zero Slots

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - **
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65 - *

Reserve

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007 - *

Highlights


Defensive utility of Ascari del Cielo cannot be underestimated! This infantry is always brutally effective at catching the enemy off guard and baiting him into traps. This time they guarded the southern flank of my Sceleidima defense.


Some more broken scripts in this mission, but luckily nothing affecting the gameplay in any noticeable way.


A 15 overstrength, camouflaged 47/32 M35 was a deadly counter to British tanks as I moved towards Beda Fomm!


The airfield near Ghemines was absolutely critical. I could not risk it getting captured, especially due to the chance of sandstorms grounding my aircraft and not being able to rebase them elsewhere. I dare say it would have been safer to play this campaign without planes and with the AA veteran trait.


The Pimple hill captured, now it was time for the Agedabia town and airfield that were another important target.


Defenders of Sceledima were doing perfectly fine, and did not require any assistance. The could realistically hold until the end of the scenario, and in fact they did.


With Agedabia encircled, the few remaining British units could not hold out for long.


The enemy tried one more attack towards Ghemines and Soluch, but I was prepared for such an eventuality and immediately once Agedabia was sure to fall, pulled my forces back up north to reinforce that area against a probable second wave.

Summary

Final Prestige: 15086 (up 1379)

Overall

Quite a fun mission given all the different circumstances and objectives. First, Sceledima - easy to defend, but required some though about a proper setup of forces. Then there was Ghemines with an airfield that tempted plane deployment, but after some thought it was a clever ruse given all the bad weather and needed to be constantly well guarded. All this while moving south and being wary of ambushes, counterattacks and the ticking timer. I really enjoy missions like this where there is more things going on at once and as such it will be probably one of my favorite missions in the Italian branch of the campaign.

Final Prestige: 14055 (up 4559)

How do you get that much prestige in this map? Thers is almost nothing to conquer, although I remember a city with a 500 prestige cache.
I was abusing all the crazy heroes you get, to force a lot of units to surrender, but I also had to repair a lot.

You are right on the surrender front. Especially this guy: 1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - **** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer - is a real prestige farmer. This gun has low base stats, so it suppresses the target (boosted by Tank Killer vs. tanks), doing almost no kills, but removes movement points. All that's left then is to follow up with a hit form some unit like especially the Frist Strike/Double Move cavalry that can retreat back into support fire cover, and I could easily get at least one, if not 2 surrenders per turn using the narrow passages to my advantage. As for the losses, as long as I abused Provocator, the only unit I cared at all on the British side were the BL 7.2 inch and BL 6 inch 26 cwt artillery. Anything else was cannon fodder. I had the luck in the past of getting some good experience with two early Provocator heros in Frontlines - Bulge playthrough, so had good experience relying on them to carry a run. If placed correctly in tight pathways, these guys can stop all advance with minimal losses, aside from the aforementioned artillery. I guess I need to revisit my old hero thread and give Provocator S tier, at least in single player. The Bersaglieri unit I have here with the extra Prudent trait is an especially silly combination. I will often intentionally leave it with 5-6 strength and not repair, as the defense bonus versus early game units means that as long as it is defended by my own support fire, it is basically impossible to damage, so I never spend prestige on reinforcing anything. And finally, I made sure to enact revenge of those British heavy guns and capture every single one of them as reimbursement for the kills suffered from their shelling.

By the way, that city is not a 500 prestige cache. It's a -500 prestige penalty for disobeying orders.

[DefiantXYX]

By the way, that city is not a 500 prestige cache. It's a -500 prestige penalty for disobeying orders.

Really or are you joking?
If not, praise the devs. Tbh thats a good element to balance some maps.And that could make it clearer, that prestige is not just money.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Giarabub Oasis

Hero:

None

Starting Prestige: 14292

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - *
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - OS19 - Bersaglieri (Truck) - *** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - OS18 - IT Engineers (Truck) - *** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - OS19 - IT Cavalry - *** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS13 - L3/35 Lf - *** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M11/39 - ** - Ambusher, Last Stand, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Reduced Slots, Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M13/40 - *** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - OS12 - L6/40 - *** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - AB 40 - ***** - Combat Luck, Envelopment, Zero Slots
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS15 - 47/32 M35 - *** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS15 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - **** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS12 - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - ***
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS15 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots, Skilled Support
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - ***

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- **
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Expert Support

Reserve

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - **
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - * - Distraction, Shock Tactics, Zero Slots
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - **
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65 - *
1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007 - *

Highlights


All three Provocator heroes got assigned to what they would do best, guarding the vulnerable observation posts against British attacks.


Meanwhile, a strong force moved along the road to Ain Melfa, to free the units there and get support for dealing with secondary targets.


Thanks to Double Move, cavalry of 1º Reggimento di Cavalleria was able to patrol the desert and attack enemy AA gun batteries with minimal risk of getting into danger.


Especially in sandstorms this highly mobile unit was absolutely irreplaceable, hitting hard out of the blue and quickly retreating into safe territory.


Giarabub itself only required minimal defense, the garrison was doing fine, supported by tankettes and light tanks.


Sahariana patrols joined the cavalry in tracking down and taking out all the AA gun posts. They used the same tactics of striking unexpectedly and moving back to safety, beyond infantry range.


With Ain Melfa taken and the defense of Giarabub as well as observation posts holding well, I could even commit some more units to the artillery hunt.

Summary

Final Prestige: 16709 (up 2417)

Overall

Was this scenario the ultimate test for an experience core full of heroes? I a way, yes, since the difficulty did not come from the strength of the enemy, but rather from the relatively large map and not so generous time limit. Ain Melfa is an interesting conundrum if I ever play this mission again in the future. On the one hand, Sahariana units it grants are certainly useful and help deal with AA batteries much quicker. That said, the road to that location is absolutely swarming with British troops, becoming a question of how to push ahead and not get trapped or ambushed. Observation posts were in no real danger, the good old Provocator traps help off mediocre attack by the British army.

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Italian campaign summary

Starting Prestige: 335
Final Prestige: 16709 (up 16374)

Final Army Composition:

Infantry

1º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
2º Reggimento Paracadutisti - Ascari del Cielo - **
1º Reggimento Bersaglieri - OS19 - Bersaglieri (Truck) - **** - Provocator, Prudent, Unyielding
1º Reggimento Genio Guastatori - OS18 - IT Engineers (Truck) - **** - Fierce Fighter, Lighting Attack, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Readiness, Tenacious Defender
1º Reggimento di Cavalleria - OS19 - IT Cavalry - **** - Cheap Replacements, Double Move, Fearsome Reputation, First Strike, Flag Killer

Tank

1º Battaglione Carri - OS13 - L3/35 Lf - *** - Steamroller
2º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M11/39 - ** - Ambusher, Last Stand, Overwhelming Attack, Provocator, Reduced Slots, Steamroller
3º Battaglione Carri - OS14 - M13/40 - **** - Evasive, Reduced Slots, Steamroller, Tank Killer
4º Battaglione Carri - OS12 - L6/40 - *** - Steamroller

Recon

1º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - AB 40 - ***** - Combat Luck, Envelopment, Zero Slots
2º Battaglione Autoblindo - OS15 - Sahariana - ***** - Hit and Run, On the Roll, Survivor

Anti-Tank

1º Battaglione Cannoni Controcarro - OS15 - 47/32 M35 - *** - Camouflage, Skilled Support

Artillery

1º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS15 - 65/17 M13 (Truck) - ***** - Shock Tactics, Skilled Support, Tank Killer
2º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS12 - 105mm 105/28 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***
3º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS11 - 74/32 M37 (Truck) - ***
4º Reggimento Artiglieria - OS15 - 149mm 149/19 (Lancia 3Ro) - ***** - Double Support, Expert Support, Leadership, Lethal Attack, Reduced Slots, Skilled Support
1º Compagnia Mortai - Mortaio da 81 M35 ATY (Truck) - *** - Skilled Support

Anti-Aircraft

1º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS12 - Breda 20/65 M35 (Truck)- **
2º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - OS11 - 75/46 C.A. M34 (Lancia 3Ro) - **
3º Battaglione Artiglieria Contraerea - 90/53 M41C (Lancia 3Ro) - ** - Expert Support

Fighter

1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 1 - OS11 - CR.42 Falco - ** - Evasive
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 2 - MC.200 Saetta - First Strike - **
1º Gruppo Caccia Sq 3 - G.50 - * - Distraction, Shock Tactics, Zero Slots

Tactical Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 1 - SM.79 - **
1º Gruppo Bombardamento Veloce Sq 1 - OS11 - Breda Ba.65 - *

Strategic Bomber

1º Gruppo Bombardiere Sq 2 - CANT Z.1007 - *

Thoughts:

Before I move on to the British campaign, what can I say about the Italian one? I certainly enjoyed the setting, the extra units added to the game (I did not use the recon bikes). Mortar infantry was probably my favorite, even if from a logical standpoint I don't see how it should have the range it did. The new terrain was fun to learn and understand and maps utilized terrain features very well, exactly as advertised. Narrative was fitting and presence of historical figures made sense. Since this was a short isolated campaign it was fine to have this stick to facts closer than drive a more personal story, for which grand campaigns are more suited. If anything, I would change the defensive scenario feel similar to what was done in Interception at El Mechili, so it helps logically explain why the army needs to retreat despite the player's victories. The was also almost always a few things to do in each scenario, forcing some solid planning and thinking not only about just defeating every enemy on the map.

What seemed over the top was the overabundance of powerful heroes, who I feel should be toned down in some way. I'd have no issue seeing fewer pre-generated heroes, having less impactful abilities, or at the very least restricting them to unit types. As it stands, like some other users stated, the existing heroes specifically pivot the player into a certain game style, which can impact replay value slightly. Other DLC gave more freedom in this regard. I am fine with their raw power level, but there was also to many similar abilities among the ones listed.

Another controversial aspect was the presence of all the AI heroes that can cause units to surrender more easily. They were likely added to counter players setting up unmovable blockades that the AI could not beat, but there were other ways of achieving the same result that I feel would have worked better. Giving the British more aircraft or heavy artillery would allow to easily manipulate the difficulty, while not feeling that much forced. If there are already scripts that add reinforcements if the player is doing well, then why not make these waves stronger like that?

Finally, the elephant in the room which which is script bugs. Aside from the bug that denied me two core slots in Battle of Tobruch, there were quite a few of error messages appearing in various missions that luckily did not have a noticeable impact on anything. The new and more extensive scripts used in this DLC made form some really unusual and fun objectives or interactions, but at the same time they clearly need polishing and patching, as well as more detailed testing if a similar approach should be used in the future.

Overall, the Italian campaign was really solid, for sure an improvement over Frontlines - Bulge and a clear indication that lesson were learned based on the feedback gathered in the previous entry... well maybe aside from the overabundance of certain hero types - all the Provocator and surrender options remined me of those pesky Vigilant German tanks.

Finally a note on the Arrogant general trait. It was a slight inconvenience sometimes, but I essentially learned to just look at enemy suppression levels and they totally replaced combat predictions for me. I also played a lot more defensively, reducing the need to rely on tooltip hints. In short, it's maybe not a free point, but close to it, as long as someone already played at least one or two earlier campaigns. However, I'm not going to use it often just for for the sheer convenience of looking at predictions. there is also something satisfying in looking at numbers go up.

Now it's time to try the British side!

By the way, that city is not a 500 prestige cache. It's a -500 prestige penalty for disobeying orders.

Really or are you joking?
If not, praise the devs. Tbh thats a good element to balance some maps.And that could make it clearer, that prestige is not just money.

El Mechili hex 33,19 is indeed a -500 prestige one. I was also very positively surprised when I saw that, it seems like a natural and logical way to restrict the player by showing him that this is not what the orders involved and that there will be consequences. I would gladly see this more often, especially in defensive missions or some other scenarios where the narrative is meant to guide the player into a specific approach. What I think should just be done to reinforce it's utility, is some UI adjustments to make it absolutely clear, such as showing the hex prestige value on the map in red and similarly showing the floating pop-up upon capture in red also. This is so the feedback from the game is clear that you're not doing something as expected from your superiors.

[Tassadar]

British Campaign

Difficulty - Generalissimus

Traits - Battle Academy, Inept Logistics, Force Concentration, Killer Team, Old Guard, Operational Initiative, Poor Ground Control

Since the Italian run was less challenging with just one negative trait (Arrogant), I decided to test out an entirely different set-up. I have chosen again two negative options I have not experimented with. Inept Logistics to slightly limit my core force size and Poor Ground Control to both really feel the danger of vast desert terrain, as well as not be able to so easily abuse Provocator if it turns out that in the British campaign this hero is given as commonly as in the Italian one. Especially the second negative option should be quite challenging to play around, so for the positives I get Battle Academy, Force Concentration and Killer Team, which should give my fewer units more experience and more punch. Operational Initiative should likewise help in the first few turns after deployment. I also test out Old Guard in case Poor Ground Control leads to accidental unit loss. That's a lot of minor positive traits, but both of my negative ones are worth quite a few points and are quite impactful.

Hero:


First hero I will use on light Vickers tanks with Rapid Fire 1.5x. This will make them relevant for the whole run.


A hero for a recon Chevy-WB unit. Nice to not be immediately too worried about prestige!


Prefect combination with Artillery Support for the light tanks!


A useful hero I will apply on heavy infantry for approaching more difficult targets.


Well then, a great pull, but this slightly undermines my negative Inept Logistics trait. Of course with time it will have reduced impact, but still funny to see how the game decided to compensate my trait choice immediately.

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Sollum

Starting Prestige: 764

New Units Commissioned:

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier)
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier)
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier)
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier)
1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI
1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB
1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee
1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier)
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry)
1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA
No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Gladiator Mk.II
No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Wellington Mk.IC

I essentially undeployed all pre-placed units and got my own core force. It is more custom-tailored to my needs and core slot allowance. Bren Carriers put a strain on my supply, but at least give infantry and artillery extra fighting power, especially this early into the war.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier)
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier)
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - Artillery Support, Butcher

Recon

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier)
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry)

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Gladiator Mk.II

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Wellington Mk.IC

Highlights


Italian aircraft immediately attacked my ground forces. Given the Poor Ground Control trait I decided my initial deployment in each mission should involve keeping all forces close, to have as much terrain covered and paths blocked as I can.


Commando units went tank hunting. Vehicles are easy pickings on dunes.


While the enemy could break out of almost any encirclement due to my trait choice, the suppression at the start of the turn still kicks in each time, so this maneuver wasn't a totally wasted effort.


I spent the first few turns learning how to operate with the risk of enemies moving freely between my units. It was a few misses, but mostly a quick learning curve out of necessity.


The artillery Vickers tank proved invaluable already. Even if Italian infantry managed to sneak past my forces, it dared not attack vulnerable targets straight into support fire.


Commando unit also proved efficient. Same as with Ascari del Cielo its camouflage allowed for some ambushes, but the Bren Carrier greatly increased its mobility as well, allowing to use it more offensively.


The biggest pain to deal with were Italian motorcycles, due to the ability to strike and retreat and also being counted as soft targets, meaning they could effortlessly attack many of my units and only get hit weakly in return.


Some of these annoying recons almost got to Sollum, but were fortunately stopped in the mountains.


Well, as I saw in another post on the forums, the debriefing does not really match the situation. Looks like there will be some narrative dissonance in the first few British missions!

Summary

Final Prestige: 3494 (up 2730)

Overall

That was a tough lesson, even if the prestige gain does not show it, as this was prior to repairs. A lot of my units took damage they would normally not, since I was still learning how to work around Poor Ground Control. Quite the hard way at times. This trait will surely affect the campaign in a major way, but while challenging, I already like what it is doing to my decision making options. It forces to think about unit positioning a lot more, often a few turns ahead, reducing the pace of attacks and making any retreat a dangerous attempt. Can't wait to see how things develop, but it should be a totally different experience compared to the Italian run when I was operating according to more basic rules.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Holding Halfaya

Hero:


Hahaha, seriously! It's like the game acknowledges that I felt Provocator was overwhelmingly good when playing the Italian campaign and decided to give me one extra for the British run as well - in addition to the hero carried over from the 1st mission with that deadly Avenger, First Strike, Provocator set. I left that on the Matilda I tank, and this Provocator hero on an engineering unit.

Starting Prestige: 2238

New Units Commissioned:

2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.III
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Matilda I

I just get two new tanks. One for the inherited defensive tank hero and one for more mobile, offensive purposes.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - * - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - Provocator
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - *
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - * - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.III
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Matilda I - Avenger, First Strike, Provocator

Recon

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - **
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - ** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier)
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry)

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - *

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Gladiator Mk.II

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Wellington Mk.IC - *

Highlights


With Poor Ground Control any escarpments where I can cut off access to my artillery are especially valuable locations. I have built my whole defense around these points.


Provocator Matilda tank and camouflaged commandos guarded the airfield to make sure it was not taken over in a sandstorm by some sneaky Italians.


While the rest of my forces have been stationed around Halfaya pass, I decided to move them forward and meet the enemy further west.


The critical artillery location soon became the sight of intense air combat.


Up north I blocked the only two passages and was constantly damaging enemy units to make sure they wasted their time retreating and reinforcing instead of doing anything more unpredictable or dangerous.


Italian army attempted an attack via dunes in the south. Fortunately I had this mostly under control, setting up ambushes around key access points.


It was certainly worth doing the bonus objective. This will be a very useful hero for my 25 pdr artillery unit.


As time went on, I pushed even further west, to take better defensive positions and to surprise the unexpecting enemy.


Even with constant reinforcements it seemed that Italian forces were unable to break past my lines. In some rare cases I had to give chase to individual units, but they were already badly damaged at that point and could not threaten Halfaya.


After some more fighting, the enemy attack finally broke apart. I successfully defended all artillery units and key locations despite what the rather grim debriefing implied.

Summary

Final Prestige: 2461 (up 223)

Overall

It was not so easy to keep my prestige situation afloat this time, mostly due to challenges around securing such a long frontline. Every wide and open area was a real nightmare, so I needed to make sure the enemy attacks are guided towards my units, sometimes trading a few hits for the perspective of preventing an encirclement or a fast recon vehicle ignoring my forces ang going straight for the main objective. Once I have some better units and heroes, this should become easier to manage. More close terrain should also and this map was anything but that. Now that I remember, it was also a challenging mission during my Italian run, when I finished it on the very last turn. Interesting how consistent the experience was for both sides!

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Retreat ot Sidi Barrani

Hero:

None

Starting Prestige: 1986

New Units Commissioned:

2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry)

The universal support fire artillery for both hard and soft targets is ideal for ambushes. It will surely become one of my more important core units.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - ** - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - * - Provocator
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - *
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - * - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - ** - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.III
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Matilda I - * - Avenger, First Strike, Provocator

Recon

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - ***
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - ** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee - *

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier) - * - Double Support, Expert Support, Famous
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry) - *
2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry)

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - *

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I - *
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Gladiator Mk.II - *

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Wellington Mk.IC - *

Highlights


My defensive lines were barely in range of Italian aircraft, so as long as did not move too far east, I was able to provide perfect cover. What was also important, all three passages could be blocked perfectly by Provocator units or just close troop placement.


The only challenge was that my starting positions were remote and concentrating around far objectives. I had to get my units to the frontline and this meant that some enemies had the time to attempt getting past my defenses.


Once the situation was stabilized, I set up such placement that the enemy just was not able to move, or kept running into various traps and getting destroyed with almost no losses on my side.


Further south, I had a different type of ambush. No. 1 Commando was waiting in the desert for tanks tempted by the regular infantry looking like an easy target. I did not even have to block the pass. The opponent was kind enough to do it by himself.


In the end, wrecks littered the battlefield and Italian army did not make any progress at all. Their attacks kept breaking apart with little to no effort on my side.

Summary

Final Prestige: 5518 (up 3532)

Overall

This was probably the easiest mission so far in Cyrenaica. Since the were just four very narrow paths the enemy could attack from, it was not a complicated task blocking them entirely and making the AI just suicided its units into pointless attempts at breaking through. There was no room for maneuver, no alternative way to go through and no reinforcements form an unexpected direction. As such, the is not much I can say about this scenario. It was all about setting things up and just watch the turn timer go, occasionally using reinforcements and making a few captures when an opportunity presented itself.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Bir Rabia

Hero:

None

Starting Prestige: 4496

New Units Commissioned:

2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers - OS17 - GB Bridge Eng (Truck)
2nd Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Daimler Dingo
2nd Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - OF 2 pounder (Bren Carrier)
1st Heavy Regiment, RA - BL 7.2 inch (Lorry)

With my air force in reserve, I had some extra core slots to use for additional units to serve various critical roles. More recon cars would always be welcome in the desert and an additional AT piece was also needed due to the fact that Italian tanks hit surprisingly hard, especially against Cruisers. I could finally also deploy heavy artillery with Counter Batter Fire ability. That was one big advantage over the Italians, who had no such guns in their inventory. Their best 149mm piece was just the BL 6 inch 26 cwt equivalent, so now I had support fire and a range advantage. Bridge Engineers were just an effect of having an extra core slot to use for a unit to just serve as a basic obstacle for less critical locations.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - ** - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - *** - Provocator
2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers - OS17 - GB Bridge Eng (Truck)
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - **
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - ** - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - ** - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.III - * - Steamroller
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Matilda I - * - Avenger, First Strike, Provocator

Recon

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - ****
2nd Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Daimler Dingo
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - *** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee - *
2nd Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - OF 2 pounder (Bren Carrier)

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier) - ** - Double Support, Expert Support, Famous
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry) - **
2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry) - *
1st Heavy Regiment, RA - BL 7.2 inch (Lorry)

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - **

Reserve

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I - **
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Gladiator Mk.II - *
No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS 11 - Wellington Mk.IC - **

Highlights


Sofafis did not look defendable. I planned to retreat all units but the lone infantry in the town, and use the narrow passages further east, just like I did in the last mission.


There was not much time to organize, as Italian units immediately appeared in the north. Fortunately, for now these were just limited scouting forces.


Thanks to the sacrifice of the brave garrison in Sofafis, I had much more time to prepare my blockade in the southern part of the map.


Suddenly, in the middle of a sandstorm as I was dealing with Italian motorbike scouts, enemy tanks struck from the rear! It seemed that the threat would not be as easy to manage as in the past mission and I would not be able to completely block all access points to Bir Rabia. This required a change of plans.


I used the Cruiser tanks that I was supposed to protect, as well as some other fast vehicles I could spare, to patrol the desert southeast so in case of further surprises, this backup force could quickly gather and stop any threat.


There were indeed some attempts to sneak past my main line, and while I could not encircle the enemies permanently due to my negative general traits, I tried to constantly keep these lone enemies in check and suppressed.


Northwest the main Italian attack arrived, so desperate that some tanks even attempted to pass through the more mountainous terrain. I was prepared for this possibility and after calling in some reinforcements, managed to deal with the threat.


Some Italian units reached Bir Rabia before I could chase them down, but by that time the garrison was ready and fully entrenched, so scattered remains of the enemy army were not large enough to pose a serious threat.

Summary

Final Prestige: 6176 (up 1680)

Overall

This time Poor Ground Control really was a significant issue, effecting my way to control the situation. I was forced to use a large portion of my core to block two obviously paths the enemy could take in the west, not leaving me with enough units to reliably cover the rest of the map. Fortunately, attack from these unprotected directions were rather limited. Any larger enemy presence would require diverting a force large enough that it could threatened the stability of my defenses. Looking back, the probably smarter choice would have been simply converging around the town itself, as none of the main or bonus objective really forced me to fight the enemy so for west. The terrain might not have been ideal, but this strategy would likely be much more efficient now that I think about it.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Battle of the camps

Hero:


First random hero in some time, perfect for portee vehicles due to their high mobility and thus that's how I'm going to use him.

Starting Prestige: 5657

New Units Commissioned:

4th Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser Mk.IV
2nd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 20 mm portee
3rd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 40 mm SPAA
No. 4 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS11 - AW Whitley Mk.V

Some new acquisitions involved a Cruiser tank, strategic bomber and two portee AA guns. Italian air presence so far was not as dangerous to justify them, but these are cheap units that can serve a secondary AT role and thus give a lot of value for minimal core slot cost.

New Equipment Provided:

2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser Mk.IV
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - Matilda II
4th Royal Tank Regiment - Wasp MkIIC

I immediately upgraded the new tanks unit I got that had Cruisers into a flame unit. The Cruiser Mk.IV tanks were instead assigned to the more experienced regiment to have an edge against enemy armor. I finally also got the powerful Matlida II tanks which with Provocator would become basically unmovable death traps for any enemy unit.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - *** - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - *** - Provocator
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - ** - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - *** - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser Mk.IV - * - Steamroller
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - Matilda II - ** - Avenger, First Strike, Provocator
4th Royal Tank Regiment - Wasp MkIIC

Recon

2nd Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Daimler Dingo - *
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - *** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee - * - Double Move

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier) - *** - Double Support, Expert Support, Famous
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry) - ***
2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry) - *
1st Heavy Regiment, RA - BL 7.2 inch (Lorry) - *

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - **
2nd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 20 mm portee
3rd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 40 mm SPAA

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I - **
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Gladiator Mk.II - *

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Wellington Mk.IC - **

Strategic Bomber

No. 4 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS11 - AW Whitley Mk.V

Reserve

2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers - OS17 - GB Bridge Eng (Truck)
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - **
1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - *****
2nd Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - OF 2 pounder (Bren Carrier) - *

Highlights


I was able to finally deploy an army that properly looks like one and has the full combined arms approach to the battle. Now I just needed to to assign the units to specific tasks, as the map was large with a lot of terrain to cover.


Initially I simply threw the bulk of my army towards Nibiewa as the enemy was supposed to have major defenses there. Afterwards I planned to split the force accordingly.


While the Provocator hero does make the whole campaign much easier, I am still not bored of how it works. That said, I feel it would have been more fair to either just have one pre-generated one in each run, maybe just accompanied by randomly assigned ones. Italian campaign had an overabundance of Provocator, I wonder how it goes on the British side.


Italian commander has been dealt with. I just hit him with all I had in a single turn and that was it.


A new custom hero appeared, but with him, also a script bug, the first one in the British run. There should apparently be a hero granted for taking two specific towns, but this never happened for me. Despite meeting the objective no new hero appeared and this one did not follow to the next scenario. I decided to move along without him since I did not have difficulty problems that would require even more heroes, but it is a shame to see yet another scripting issue in the DLC.


Bir Rabia was easy enough to take, as the Italians only had symbolic defenses.


Maktila fell to Selby's tanks and some ship support.


Buq Buq was also a poorly defended target that I was able to quickly secure with minimal effort.


Sidi Barrani itself... well that was much tougher nut to crack! Ultimately I was able to coordinate attacks from all directions so the city fell, but the number of enemies defending it was quite significant, probably the biggest force I encountered so far.

Summary

Final Prestige: 8799 (up 3142)

Overall

Very enjoyable and well-paced mission slightly overshadowed by the unfortunate hero bug I encountered. It is a minor inconvenience I hope will get patched, but Cyrenaica does have more things like this than any DLC to date. It luckily does not change the fact that I like the gameplay details in this mission. Having to think about multiple remote goals and not knowing how well they would be defended presented some questions as to how big of a force can be diverted from the main target. Too much, and I could struggle to capture Sidi Barrani in time. To little, and I would be forced to divert reinforcements, endangering the smaller groups. Since air recon was not as reliable due to remoteness of airfields, it did present a fun challenge in deployment and later allocation of forces.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Battle of Bardia

Hero:


This special hero has a few abilities I would not normally combine. Double Attack might be more difficult to use on the same unit types Lightning Attack is good on. I ultimately went for a recon car option, as the extra mobility seemed the easiest way to maximize the utility.

Starting Prestige: 8447

New Equipment Provided:

No. 4 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - Stirling Mk.I

Small upgrade of the strategic bomber squadron. I rarely got to use it so far, but at the very least I would like it to be available in the best version when it happens.

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - *** - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - **** - Provocator
2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers - OS17 - GB Bridge Eng (Truck)
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - **
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - *** - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - *** - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.IV - ** - Steamroller
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - Matilda II - *** - Avenger, First Strike, Provocator, Steamroller
4th Royal Tank Regiment - Wasp MkIIC - * - Steamroller

Recon

2nd Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Daimler Dingo - *** - Butcher, Double Attacks, Lighting Attack
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - ***** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee - ** - Double Move
2nd Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - OF 2 pounder (Bren Carrier) - *

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier) - *** - Double Support, Expert Support, Famous
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry) - ***
2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry) - *** - Skilled Support
1st Heavy Regiment, RA - BL 7.2 inch (Lorry) - **

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - ***
2nd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 20 mm portee - *
3rd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 40 mm SPAA - *

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I - **
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Gladiator Mk.II - **

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Wellington Mk.IC - **

Reserve

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - *****
No. 4 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - Stirling Mk.I - *

Highlights


One group with Matilda II tanks attacked from the north, since it was the shortest way to the objective. This way these slow vehicles would not have much terrain to cover.


Due to Poor Ground Control, I constantly needed to be wary of encirclement and attacks from undefended directions. Checking enemy range became the fist step I took before deciding on any move.


My attack in the southwest was not as successful, since I lacked heavier firepower to deal with fortifications easily. I had to grind through the defenses steps by step, at a much slower pace.


Similarly in the south, while I had heavy artillery to deal with bunkers, I was lacking some lighter pieces to provide support fire against infantry, so I could not risk more aggressive tactics.


Italian commander contributed towards his own downfall by running straight into my units instead of trying to sneak via some less guarded path.


Now this special hero is more like what I would expect. Useful abilities combined, but nothing too powerful as to warp the whole gameplay around itself. I wish others were designed with a similar rule in mind.


As I advanced, I managed to cut off some Italian forces from supply, which made dealing with this remaining resistance quite easier.


Similarly, isolated strongpoints with no further support were not difficult to take out.

Summary

Final Prestige: 11406 (up 2959)

Overall

Main difficulty of this scenario was the need to spread my forces into several groups. Since I did not optimize my core force and only had one of each unit type, some less useful than others, there were a few areas in which my units were noticeably weaker and needed more time to deal with the Italians. This, combined with the constant risk of getting attacked from unexpected directions added some puzzle-like elements to the mission. For more optimized cores and players with less punishing traits this scenario should be much easier. I was also surprised how easily the enemy commander got located and taken out. It was much more tricky to evacuate him in on the Italian campaign path then to hunt him down on the British one.

On a side note, I am no halfway though the campaign and so far both Force Concentration and Old Guard traits seem to be duds rather than legitimate picks.The former since there are not that many random heroes and the custom ones do not combine in particularity interesting ways, while the latter since I am not really seeing that much threat to my vulnerable units, especially after completing a few missions and getting used to the challenges of the negative traits. This is however not against the DLC, just that I planned their use for circumstances that simply do not occur often.

[Tassadar]

Frontlines: Cyrenaica - Capture of Tobruk

Hero:


That's some very powerful abilities on a hero! Entrenchment Killer 3x is a small bonus, but Rapid Fire 1.5x and Vigilant are top tier abilities. It seemed logical to me to assign Stanley to a Matilda Tank unit.

Starting Prestige: 11459

Starting Army Composition:

Infantry

No. 1 Commando - OS20 - Commando (Bren Carrier) - *** - Zero Slots
1st Field Company, Royal Engineers - GB Engineers (Bren Carrier) - **** - Provocator
1st Infantry Battalion - GB Infantry (Bren Carrier) - **
2nd Infantry Battalion - GB HW Inf (Bren Carrier) - *** - Fearsome Reputation

Tank

1st Royal Tank Regiment - OS11 - Vickers Mk.VI - **** - Artillery Support, Butcher, Steamroller
2nd Royal Tank Regiment - Cruiser MK.IV - ** - Flag Killer, Ignores ZOC, Steamroller
3rd Royal Tank Regiment - Matilda II - *** - Avenger, Entrenchment Killer 3x, First Strike, Provocator, Rapid Fire 1.5x, Steamroller, Vigilant
4th Royal Tank Regiment - Wasp MkIIC - * - Steamroller

Recon

1st Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Humber AC Mk.I - *****
2nd Armoured Car Rgt., RAC - OS11 - Daimler Dingo - **** - Butcher, Double Attacks, Lighting Attack
No. 1 Long Range Patrol Unit - Chevy-WB - ***** - Legendary

Anti-Tank

1st Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - Bofors 37mm AT Portee - ** - Double Move
2nd Anti-Tank Reg., RA - OS11 - OF 2 pounder (Bren Carrier) - *

Artillery

1st Field Regiment, RA - QF 25 pdr (Bren Carrier) - *** - Double Support, Expert Support, Famous
1st Medium Regiment, RA - BL 4.5 inch (Lorry) - ***
2nd Medium Regiment, RA - BL 6 inch 26 cwt (Lorry) - *** - Skilled Support
1st Heavy Regiment, RA - BL 7.2 inch (Lorry) - **

Anti-Aircraft

1st Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - Vickers AA - *** - Skilled Support
2nd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 20 mm portee - *
3rd Light AA Reg., RA - OS12 - 40 mm SPAA - *

Fighter

No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - Hurricane Mk.I - **
No. 2 (Fighter) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Gladiator Mk.II - **

Tactical Bomber

No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - OS11 - Wellington Mk.IC - ***

Strategic Bomber

No. 4 (Bomber) Squadron RAF - Stirling Mk.I - *

Reserve

2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers - OS17 - GB Bridge Eng (Truck)

Highlights


I only sent a small group to approach Tobruk from the west, as the deployment zone there was rather limited, so I could not assign many units to launch a decisive strike.


Similarly in the east, I could only sent a few troops, so I decided for a slower, more defensive set-up that could get the enemy attention and keep him occupied for a long time.


My main thrust was from the south and quickly located the marked artillery unit. Its destruction did indeed weaken Italian artillery on the entire map.


Sidi Mahmud was a key point that needed clearing before I could approach Tobruk. Since I was on a timer to sink the San Giorgio, I really needed to strike hard and prioritize enemy unit destruction, which almost cost me an infantry unit, placed in a dangerous spot without soft support fire.


Tobruk fell rather easily, but the San Giorgio was tougher to crack - that is until I realized I can also attack it from land with infantry for some good damage.


All that was now left was the capture of Fort Solaro and Fort Pilastrino, as well as defeating remaining Italian forces. As it was possible to encircle them easily at this point, they did not stand a chance.

Summary

Final Prestige: 14527 (up 3068)

Overall

Fun scenario on a rather tight timer for the bonus objective. It was not that obvious to use ground troops against the ship, so maybe the briefing could hint at this possibility? There was also one more thing I enjoyed very much, and it was the use of scripts to grant some mission specific bonuses. We observed this type of utility first time in the base game campaign during the Warsaw scenario, where dealing with a bunker suppressed the defenders for a turn. Sadly, these mechanics have been the underutilized in DLC, so it is nice to see them come back in Cyrenaica in many forms, be it extra experience, prestige or making the rest of the mission easier. Awards do not always have to be unique heroes, new units or additional equipment. Embracing these different possibilities makes for a much more dynamic and less repetitive experience. I strongly hope similar ideas will be continued and utilized more often in other campaigns, as they have huge potential.