Slitherine

This one is slightly personal but only slightly. My grandfather was from Częstochowa. Wrong war from him, he fled before WWI to work on a freighter (and later as a gaucho, a miner, a restaurateur etc) to avoid conscription into the (hated) Prussian army.

This is my 2nd attempt at a run, I abandoned the first because I ran out of prestige by about the 4th scenario (or close enough that I knew I couldn't keep up). This is a touch campaign. (I only play on Generalissimus, but I use officer traits.

In this second attempt, i will use "Trophies of War" and "Deadly Grasp." Not interested in the German hardware, at this point it's kinda crap. I also used a custom army.

Scenario 1. Krojanty.

This time through I got a MUCH better assortment of heroes, with camouflage hit and run and envelopment. There's already an "overwhelming attack" hero on the board. also This is an ideal formula for... SUPERTANK.

I disbanded a few units to free up slots (there are only 2 units that you have a shot at rallying aside from the Uhlans anyway, the other 3 will get wiped out no matter what you do). I maxed out the best tank (7TP mod 1939), which is slightly better than what you're likely to capture from the Germans. I didn't use the camouflage for this guy in this scenario, as I want that infantry unit waaaaay west of the map. Its situation is not hopeless, if you get a little bit lucky you may get to disassemble the Germans' temporary airfield you cross paths with if you run them away to the south. I made this guy an engineer unit and gave him a truck.

I put zero slots (you already have it) on an artillery unit and upgraded it to the biggest gun and max overstrength. Also this one got the Double Attack that's already on the board. This comes saddled with "vulnerable target" so it is best not used for a unit that gets shot at often (like Supertank). I upgraded the other artillery unit with the biggest gun, so that's 2 overstrength and one normal heavy artillery units for the price of 2.

I kept the antitank unit, didn't use it much. This was a mistake. This guy probably goes to reserves more or less permanently.

On matchday I withdrew back to a perimeter around he supply bunker and gradually expanded, absorbing the waves of attackers as they came. The best units offer the most prestige, so those were a job for SUPERTANK. They surrender, you cash in. I ended with 19k prestige, whereas first attempt with no Trophies and Deadly Grasp combo nor forced surrender i ended with about 2k. You have to creep forward and tempt them to come to you. Get too aggressive and you'll lose core units.

Once things opened up a bit and I could go for the HQ unit, I surrounded it. Then banked prestige, picking the units off with the artillery and Supertank combo, banking prestige and captured equipment. I ended the scenario by capturing hte HQ unit, but not before an Uhlan unit took all the flags. Cleaned the map except for the scout car and artillery unit parked on the road up north They never move anyway so I didn't bother. I used all 25 turns, but could have ended it in 21 without the Uhlans taking all the flags in the west.

Scenario 2. Mlawa is the one that broke my back last time. The knock on effect of the prestige I spend there ended my campaign.

This time I have banked 19k prestige thanks to setting up traits and heroes for thievery. STAND AND DELIVER! We are highwaymen not soldiers.

First attempt, and hopefully the only, for this run. I have set up 2 very simple task forces consisting of a stuffed tank, a stuffed AAA unit, 1 engineer unit, 1 uhlan, and 1 artillery (only the best artillery is overstuffed, and the lone scout car is kinda ronin).

Supertank now has camouflage. I put the new guy, Lightning Attack, with a Uhlan unit. Not sure where I'd want it but Supertank has no slots left and Tank 2 is right flank, which last time faced weaker attacks.

I'm not fielding any air units and don't have AAA Veteran. They have a lot of planes. This is gonna be rough. That's OK i have a LOT of prestige.

Uhlans are weak when used as cavalry. As infantry, they're probably the best 1939 infantry in the game. So it's like having a very strong infantry unit that's fast, because you don't have to manage your mount and dismount the way you do when they're in a truck (halftracks are slow, I like trucks even in AO46, they don't cost a slot and I try to avoid ambushes anyway.)

Wouldn't this and the "Ghost Division, hello.... with spoilers" thread fit the AAR section better? I always enjoy such threads that mention details of specific mission as it is worth comparing with own observations, but I feel they would fit the specific dedicated part of the forums much more accurately.

I really hate this scenario. I went as far as starting scenario 4 last attempt at a run, but my hatred for Mlawa made me say to myself "know what? **** this." So I went back and finished AO46 (i did it once in beta but didn't bother to finish at beta's end, because I had a core I'd nursed through from Spain to AO4, so I started another run. I was halfway through 46 when I paused to beta test Cyrenaica).

Most people hate hard on Ebro. This is not as hard as Ebro but not as satisfying. It's just a grind. REALLY hard to avoid losing a core unit while never being in even the slightest scenario of failing the scenario (like that's possible, this campaign is about "what's my path to losing each battle" LOL). It's just annoying. I have played through every DLC that's been released and I hate this scenario the most of the entire content of PC2. It's not more fun 2nd time through. If I play this campaign a 3rd time I think I'll escape and let the Germans win fast LOL

Still grinding away at Mlawa with my massive 44 slots.

Here's a list of my 10 favorite things about this scenario:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

I saved before I did my Brave Sir Robin routine and turned tail and fled, so I will probably fiddle with this. Of all the things I hate about the Mlawa scenario the thing I hate most is that while Panzer Division Kempf keeps increasing in size (97 UNITS by turn 14, compared to my 44 SLOTS), and the units on the map + the units destroyed IS LESS THAN 97. THAT IS THE WRONG KIND OF IMPOSSIBLE FOR A GAME.

Scenario 3. Westerplatte. This is a MUCH Better scenario. But still annoying. The post office fell ONE TURN before I got nursie to the exit hex. Made the mistake of putting my best units on the task of driving nursie around, blissfully unaware of how the SS units are nearly impervious to damage. So on the rerun I'll need a massive remix.

The whole campaign so far seems about halfway toward release rather than something that ought to be released as-is.

It's called "war stories"??? REALLY????? WHERE ARE THE STORIES???????? No other campaign has so little story to it.

The odds of the rest of the scenarios and/or the narrative payoff being so satisfying I like this campaign are very low. I will finish it , if only to finish collecting all the Steam achievements. But I'll only be playing this one once, unless a MASSIVE pleasant surprise awaits.

The campaign promised so much... and so far, has delivered so little. To be fair, i only hated one scenario of the first 3. BUt there's not much narrative and even less continuity. "Stories" my ***. There's no there there.

Westerplatte is flat-out easy, even on Generalissmo, once you know what to expect.

I like this scenario but don't love it. It's very raid-like--I like that very much--but once you know what to expect, it's too easy. That said if the rest of the scenarios are this good I may yet replay this campaign in spite of the lack of stories.... Well, at least this scenario had a bit of story to it, whereas the other 2 were "some guy survives."

Trenchard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 3:23 pm Most people hate hard on Ebro. This is not as hard as Ebro but not as satisfying. It's just a grind. REALLY hard to avoid losing a core unit while never being in even the slightest scenario of failing the scenario (like that's possible, this campaign is about "what's my path to losing each battle" LOL). It's just annoying. I have played through every DLC that's been released and I hate this scenario the most of the entire content of PC2. It's not more fun 2nd time through. If I play this campaign a 3rd time I think I'll escape and let the Germans win fast LOL

Trenchard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:36 pm I saved before I did my Brave Sir Robin routine and turned tail and fled, so I will probably fiddle with this. Of all the things I hate about the Mlawa scenario the thing I hate most is that while Panzer Division Kempf keeps increasing in size (97 UNITS by turn 14, compared to my 44 SLOTS), and the units on the map + the units destroyed IS LESS THAN 97. THAT IS THE WRONG KIND OF IMPOSSIBLE FOR A GAME.

I felt the exact opposite about this mission. It was on point for me, not only reflecting how orders might not be achievable and requiring to adapt to the changing situation on the map, which is in line with the historical context, but also refreshing to not be able to just deal with every unit on the map. It might not be subtle, but it does its job for me and the only thing I think it should better emphasize, is how important backing up and doing a fighting retreat is early enough to not get overwhelmed on the first try.

Scenario 4: Bydgoszcz.

This is the easiest scenario I've seen in all of PC2, not counting the ones where you park 1 tank and someone talks at you (AO has quite a few of those).

This adds to my impression that this campaign, which could have been brilliant, was released VERY prematurely.

PS: FInished in 6. It took longer to figure out how to type BYdgoszcz

Tassadar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 9:06 pm

Trenchard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 3:23 pm Most people hate hard on Ebro. This is not as hard as Ebro but not as satisfying. It's just a grind. REALLY hard to avoid losing a core unit while never being in even the slightest scenario of failing the scenario (like that's possible, this campaign is about "what's my path to losing each battle" LOL). It's just annoying. I have played through every DLC that's been released and I hate this scenario the most of the entire content of PC2. It's not more fun 2nd time through. If I play this campaign a 3rd time I think I'll escape and let the Germans win fast LOL

Trenchard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:36 pm I saved before I did my Brave Sir Robin routine and turned tail and fled, so I will probably fiddle with this. Of all the things I hate about the Mlawa scenario the thing I hate most is that while Panzer Division Kempf keeps increasing in size (97 UNITS by turn 14, compared to my 44 SLOTS), and the units on the map + the units destroyed IS LESS THAN 97. THAT IS THE WRONG KIND OF IMPOSSIBLE FOR A GAME.

I felt the exact opposite about this mission. It was on point for me, not only reflecting how orders might not be achievable and requiring to adapt to the changing situation on the map, which is in line with the historical context, but also refreshing to not be able to just deal with every unit on the map. It might not be subtle, but it does its job for me and the only thing I think it should better emphasize, is how important backing up and doing a fighting retreat is early enough to not get overwhelmed on the first try.

it *could* have done those things but on first impression there just isn't enough there there to make it meaningful.

I don't even mind how late the warning comes... I didn't get overwhelmed either run, just exited. The problem is that the narrative is sparse and muddled. I don't mean the "someone talking at you" stuff but context, what's happening as it's happening, and the implications of what just happened are to my eye, vague and basically unfinished.

Also, with these special personages, I think "some guy survives" is a really lame goal. at least in the next scenario one had to do *something* with Nursie. then it's back to "some gal survives" setup.

Did I say Bydgoszcz was too easy? Scenario 5, Early Warsaw, is even easier! 5 Turns, minimum effort.

5 scenarios, 1 good, 2 impossible and confused, 3 almost great, 4 silly easy, 5 even easier.

Too bad they released this before it was ready.

Scenario 6: Kutno Camp.

This is the park a tank and talk to someone scenario. As these things go, it's pretty good. i Haven't checked out any of the bling they give you when you talk to the 5 survivors, but it sounds good. the 5500 prestige will be great if you aren't using Trophies of War. I haven't checked out the rest of the bling yet but it sounds good. Kinda weird that this thing has 3 turns but that extra time seems more or less standard in PC2 for this sort of thing.

NOW it's starting to look more like a story, there is at least some shape to the campaign now.

I like the telegram /orders format overall, in spite of missing the briefings and debriefings.

This could have, and probably should have, been fleshed out more. I think a format wherein you get the telegram and other information and afterward have your second in command relay the info to your senior officers in a Q&A format would have worked well.

Scenario 7. Strykow.

Big boost in slots and better equipment after that 5 people talk at you scenario. In this one, the 5 people are supposed to have something to DO.... and supposed to tell you about it I'd guess LOL.

This is an attacking scenario, big map, small number of units, so I'll probably like it LOL. I might hate Mlawa less if it was clear what was going on, the sneaky continuous addition of more units to the division you're supposed to destroy, and hiding about half of them off the map (confirmed on inspecting the map after I exited) sucks. It would not suck if it was made clear "the enemy is pouring more and more units in, we have no chance" by the silent Captain who only said "our resistance made 'em mad." Mlawa could be fixed.

In addition to the 5 talking people having something to do besides survive, the overall arc of the campaign is taking shape. This scenario's probably gonna be a typical clear-the-map PC2 walk in the park, and narrative structure-wise, a false dawn to set up your ultimate despair. I expect this campaign to end in despair, if it doesn't they're doing it wrong. Considering it starts with despair I feel we are in safe hands in that department.

Toward the end of the campaign I'd like to see some real-life war stories. WItold Urbanowicz' escape from Poland is really over the top. I'd love to see stuff like that incorporated into the campaign but I am not holding my breath. Ah well, I'm only halfway in. We'll see.

As expected, Strykow was an old-school PC2 clear-the-map assault. I liked it and I like where it fits in with the idea of stories.

It's a bit disconcerting that only the civilians had goals, or even spoke up, in a "help the talking people" scenario. The other 3, the military ones, should have talked more. Not sure it would improve things if they had separate objectives like the civilians, but I come away not feeling like I'm sure I did everything. This is more like that war movie flaw where everyone looks the same because of the uniform than "fog of war." WRONG kind of lack of clarity, adding to my impression that this campaign was rushed out the door prematurely. It probably was, considering The Pacific didn't happen right about then.

If they went back and tweaked the narrative aspect for clarity and more story, especially early on, this could be one of if not THE best DLC so far. Right now it's bottom of the heap for me because of lack of clarity/half-finished feel.

The 3 rescued military units said *nothing* at the end of the scenario. Some acknowledgment, especially something along the lines of "marked alive" as was done for the civilians would have been nice. Adds to the half-finished feel.

Scenario 8. Lowicz.

Another huge map, all the 5 are there, so presumably *some* narrative events will happen as the pivoting assault happens.