How did it come to this?

[Xerkis]

Perhaps it was how poorly I fought at Stalingrad and Kursk; but to enter in to Bagration with zero auxiliary troops is just salt in the wounds. And the overwhelming number of enemy tanks, planes, artillery and troops made it like some sort of cruel joke. I took a snapshot at the end of the scenario – and only from the Northwest corner – but keep in mind that this is after I managed to destroy some of the enemy’s army. You can count around 30 armored and close to a dozen arty pieces.

Yes, I speak above out of jest and from the standpoint of the last page of a dying tank commander’s diary as he gets overrun by the Red Army.

But seriously – how did the Russians get all that fire power between the Kursk and here? And why was there not even one single aux troop to be found at the start of this?

[SardaukarCRO]

how? they produced around 2.000 tanks a month from 1943-1945.

and millions and millions of reserves coming to the front....

i had some problems with stalingrad on colonel difficulty, managed to achieve decisive victory in the last turn; kursk was a totally different scenario - with 6 tiger I tanks I had no problem of taking victory hexes in 8-9 turns.

[Kerensky]

Xerkis is talking about Bagration though, not the lead up to it.

[Xerkis]

Correct Kerensky.

I can see since I did so poorly on the two scenarios leading up to Bagration I would have a dwindled forces – but I didn’t leave the Russians with much either. So how did they get all those and I’m with no aux troops?

[Fritz]

Lake Balaton is also too difficult for my taste. Too much IS2 tanks which are nearly impossible to kill.

[Xerkis]

I’m alright with difficult – I like the challenge – but this seemed to be on the edge of fantasy for the Russians.

My poor troops had the deer in the headlight look when they saw those 50+ tanks coming at them and backed by about 15 to 20 arty pieces.

[Xerkis]

OK – I know it is sounding like I’m a sore loser but …

I just brought up the Bagration map in the editor – there are a fair amount of aux units there. Then I reloaded my game (I always save before I do anything on a new scenario) and guess what --- Zeros aux units on the map.

So where did they all go?

[Kerensky]

There are no AUX units in the Bagration map. When you open the editor, the forces you see are the core forces the Germans start with in a single play scenario.
Though my tag says 'Scenario Designer' these are several scenarios I didn't make. All I can tell you is you're supposed to lose, because that's what happened historically. At least that's the impression I get from them.

[Xerkis]

There are no AUX units in the Bagration map. When you open the editor, the forces you see are the core forces the Germans start with in a single play scenario.
Though my tag says 'Scenario Designer' these are several scenarios I didn't make. All I can tell you is you're supposed to lose, because that's what happened historically. At least that's the impression I get from them.

Ok, historically that makes sense – but a side question then.

This is somewhat off the subject but… I thought you could edit the scenarios and that would change them in the campaign? (I haven’t tried to do that because I want to keep the game as it was made.) So is the scenario I opened not the same one when you play the campaign? Or if it is the same one – then where (or how) do all those core units disappear?

....And thanks for helping me understand this.

[Kerensky]

Core units are not placed on a map if a scenario is being loaded as a continued part of a campaign.
The only exception to this rule is the very first scenario of the campaign.

[Xerkis]

Ah, OK.

Is that something that you have to build in to the scenarios or is it in the game design?

[Kerensky]

By design.