Slitherine

I am curious as to how others structure their core forces for the DLCs. At the end of the 1939 DLC playing at Field Marshal my 20 core comprises

6 Infantry:
2 Infantry (with SdKfz 251/1)
1 Jager (with with SdKfz 251/1)
2 SE Jager (with with SdKfz 251/1)
1 Kavallerie

3 Panzers
1 Pnz 38(t)A
2 Pnz IIIF (just upgraded from Pnz IB)

1 PdKfz 232 8Rad recon (again just upgraded from the SdKfz 222)

5 Artillery
3 10.5cm leFH 18
1 Sturmpanzer
1 Captured 105 wz.29

AA-AT
1 8.8cm Flak

4 Air units:
1 Bf 109E
1 Ju 87B
1 Bf 110C
1 He 111H2

I tend not to use paratroops or mobile anti-tank except for those as axillary units provided in scenarios.

I tend to upgrade this core through 1940 and expand this to add fighters and tactical bombers when the core is expanded in later stages. I also try to get panzers as the extra SE units in 1940 and 1941 (along with the captured tanks).

Cheers

Craig

This sounds pretty much like the setup i used myself with the exception that i prefer a mixture of Grenadiers and Wehrmacht Inf/Gebirgsjäger and tend to not use cavalry. I personally would like to get one more recon vehicle a well as i like to see whats coming at me but with the small size of the core in DLC39 it really is tricky to fit them in.

6 Infantry:
2x Wehrmacht
2x SE Grenadier
1x Pionier
1x Gebirgsjäger
- all Opel

2 Tanks:
2x Panzer IIIF (this is going to increase a lot in 1940)

4 Artillery:
1x 10,5cm
3x Sturmpanzer I


Strong Airforce:
2x BF109E
(I only got one more by the end of 1942, but by now I suggest training 4 BF109 early on and forgetting about the BF110. It's imperative to train lots of ace fighter pilots for the end of 1942. I wonder if they could stem the tide in 1943.)
3x Stuka
1x BF110 (got a 2nd one in 1941)
2x Ju88

Force Structure at the end of the 1941 DLC

Infantry:
2 - Grenader
1 - Gebirgsjager
3 - Pioniere
1 - SE Infanterie
1 - SE Grenader
All halftrack, except Gebirgsjager which has no transport.

Armor:
3 - Pz III/J1
4 - Pz IVF
2 - SE Pz III/J1
1 - KV - 1A (captured unit)

Recon:
1 - Sdkfz 232 8 Rad

Artillery:
5 - 15cm SfH 18 (halftrack)
2 - Wurfrahamen

AA/AT:
2 - 8.8cm FlaK 36

Air Force:
3 - BF 109F
2 - Ju 87D
2 - BF 110F

In reserve, not deployed:
Armor:
1 - KV - 1B (captured unit)

Air Force:
1 - Do 217E

For the start of DLC 1942 my core (from DLC 1939) looks like...

Infantry:
Pioniere x 3

Armor:
Panzer III x1
SE Panzer IV x4
Char B x1
Matilda II x1
T-34/41 x1
KV-1B x2

Anti-tank:
Marder IID x2
StuG IIIF x2

Artillery:
15cm x3
17cm x1
Wurfrahmen x2
StuG IIIB x1

AD:
8.8cm x1

Air Force:
Bf-109E x4
Stuka D x4
Bf 110F x1
Ju 88x1
He 111x1

In DLC 1939 I typically only have 2 or 3 tanks, and then in DLC 1940 and DLC 1941 my armor corps really gets an explosion in growth.

I'll probably trim a few units down from that list once DLC 1942 goes live (trade off the old captured tanks, pick up extra infantry for Stalingrad coming up)

I don't like the 109F at all though, all those improved stats don't impress me with the trade off for reduced firepower.

I'm constantly buying and losing recon units, so they get a lot of use, but don't hold a steady place in my core. Of all the classes of units, recon have the second highest loss rate, with infantry being the first naturally, heh.

Oh and 4201 prestige.

My core force at Narvik:

7 Infantry:

2 Gebirgsjäger (one on foot and SE on SPW)
1 Pionier/SPW
2 Grenadier/SPW
2 Regular inf with Opel

3 Artillery:

1 Sturmpanzer
1 10,5/Opel
1 Captured polish art

2 Tanks:

1 Pz IIIF
1 Pz 38T

Recon:

1 Psw222

Anti-tank:

1 Pz I Jagd

AA:

1 88 with SPW

Air:

2 Me 109
1 Stuka
1 Me 110
1 Ju 88

I Guess it's time to buy some more panzers in 1940

I have created a two "division" strong panzer corps for the 1941 campaign:)


Each of my "divisions" consists of:

-3 panzer units ( that I like to see as batalions )

-2 motorized infantry units ( regiments )

-1 pioneer unit ( should be a batalion really )

-1 recon unit

-1 anti air unit


The 4 artillery units and the 88 flak unit, I decided to keep at the corps level and assign them to each division, depending on the task.

As to the air assets, I disbanded the Me-110 unit and purchased another Me-109, in order to provide a protection for both of my Stukas.

Having two versatile divisions, that are well balanced in terms of the tank/ infantry ratio, allows me to focus my advance if necessary on the two, completely independent schwerpunkten.

NOTE:

In my core right now, there are no AT units present. I have lost my Panzerjager 1 unit and didn't buy it back. But I will need to purchase some decent AT units for each of my divisions before the Barbarossa starts.

As to my panzer regiments they consist of two Panzer IVE batalions ( for the general purposes ) and one Panzer III H batalion ( for the anti tank role ).

The Eben Emael scenario went rather smoothly (playing on general btw). So my reorganized core force at the start of scen 2/1940 looks like this:

I have now organized (and renamed) my units into divisions

1st Panzer Division:
1 Pz III
1 Pz IV
1 Pionier/SPW
1 Pz Grenadier/SPW
1 Sturmpanzer
1 Psw 222

2nd Panzergrenadier Division:
2 Regular infantry/Opel
1 Pz I Jagd
1 10,5 art/Opel

3rd Panzer Division:
1 Pz III (SE)
1 Pz IV
1 Pionier/SPW
1 Pz Grenadier/SPW (SE)
1 15,5 art/SPW
(Recon unit will be bought when allowed)

Korpstruppen:
1 Gebirgsjäger on foot *)
1 88 Flak/SPW
(A bridge engineer unit will be bought when allowed)

Luftwaffe:
2 Me109
1 Me110 **)
1 Stuka
1 Ju88

*) I often use this one to hold important backward objectives or flank positions, allowing the spearheads to advance.

**) I'm keeping the 110 because it's combined ground striking abilities and, when needed, finishing of crippled enemy air units, freeing up the 109:s for protection and escort duties ...and I like their well filled fuel tanks.

Kerensky wrote:For the start of DLC 1942 my core (from DLC 1939) looks like...

I don't like the 109F at all though, all those improved stats don't impress me with the trade off for reduced firepower.

I'm constantly buying and losing recon units, so they get a lot of use, but don't hold a steady place in my core. Of all the classes of units, recon have the second highest loss rate, with infantry being the first naturally, heh.

Ditto. I leave my airforce with 109Es and skip F's altogether. I lose recon once every other map it seems.

DrkCon wrote:I lose recon once every other map it seems.

The recon units is the ones i constantly reinforce to maximum 12-13 ...I like those guys to stay with their experience.

And I don't think saving those units i so hard, because you can allways move them again if you don't move them too far ...the trouble is to not get to excited with far off objectives with recon

I have now organized (and renamed) my units into divisions

Heh, I like the organization of the panzer divisions. Maybe on a subsequent play through, I might adopt something like your proposal.

deducter wrote:

I have now organized (and renamed) my units into divisions

Heh, I like the organization of the panzer divisions. Maybe on a subsequent play through, I might adopt something like your proposal.

Well I use it basicly to know which unit to place in which deployment spot ...and then I try to have them joined (as divisions ) and move them to accomplished the separate tasks. But I also form temporary "kampfgruppes" with mixed units if needed.

DrkCon wrote:

Kerensky wrote:For the start of DLC 1942 my core (from DLC 1939) looks like...

I don't like the 109F at all though, all those improved stats don't impress me with the trade off for reduced firepower.

I'm constantly buying and losing recon units, so they get a lot of use, but don't hold a steady place in my core. Of all the classes of units, recon have the second highest loss rate, with infantry being the first naturally, heh.

Ditto. I leave my airforce with 109Es and skip F's altogether. I lose recon once every other map it seems.

I would consider that a serious mistake as the F has a much higher initiative which means you take less damage. This saves you a lot of prestige. Attack value is a little less but you end up with a much better outcome with the F over the E plus a lot more fuel.

My current core force at Zhitomir '41 (trying to catch up here with the release of '42 getting closer) consists of:

6 Infantrie:
1 Wehrmacht
1 Para
1 Mtn
2 Pioniere
1 Brückenpioniere

10 Panzer (14 including 2 captured Char B1s and another 2 Mathilda IIs which see no use):
4 Panzer IVF
4 Panzer IIIH (all SE)
1 T-34/40
1 KV-1B

1 recon:
1 SdKfz 232 8Rad

1 AT:
1 Panzerjäger IB

7 Artillerie:
3 17cm K 18
2 Sturmpanzer I
2 Wurfrahmen 40

1 AAA/AT:
1 8,8cm Flak 36

11 Planes:
3 Bf109F (IMO the added fuel/range and initiative do make up for the lower airattack)
4 Ju 87B (here I prefer the higher softattack and let my 4 PzIII and the 8,8 deal with Soviet armor, but when I start to see tons of tanks I might switch at least some of them)
1 Bf110D (decent fighter/bomber when I have no idea how many enemy planes I will face)
3 Do217E (mainly for ships, but I usually take 1-2 to every scenario as long ranged suppressors)

Usually I take all my artillery, the 8,8cm and all the tanks for each scenario and switch between Wehrmacht/Brückenpioniere, the AT and 1-2 fighters or heavy bombers.

When better SP ATs become available I think I will get another 1-2 and most likely I will get myself 1-2 StuGs as well.

I still sit on about 20k prestige at the moment, so basically I am just waiting for new gear to become available

CharonJr

My core forces at the end of my first play through of the 41 DLC (on field marshall) was:

Infantry
1 Mountain (halftrack)
3 Pioniere (halftrack)
2 SE Grenadiers (halftrack)

Tanks
5 Panzer IV f (one is the captured Somua I upgraded)
2 Char B1
2 SE Panzer III J/1
2 T-34/40
2 T-34/41
1 KV-1A
2 KV-1B

Recon
2 sdkfz 222 8 rads

Artillery
6 15cm sFH 18
2 Wurfrahmen 40
1 captured 105mm wz.29 (probably will never upgrade this guy as he seems to work fairly well as is)

Airplanes
7 BF-109F
4 JU-87D
2 BF-110D
2 HE-111H2

You guys are still using 15cm artillery rather than the heavier versions due to the better rate of fire I assume. Is there really a noticable difference (never did the math to compare them)?

charonjr wrote:You guys are still using 15cm artillery rather than the heavier versions due to the better rate of fire I assume. Is there really a noticable difference (never did the math to compare them)?

I have found that two shots from the 15cm leads to a fairly similar result so I save the prestige and have more rounds. I find the extra round to be useful though at what point you draw that line is pretty much a matter of taste.

Infantry:

3 Grenadier
2 Pioniere
2 Fallshirmjager
1 Kavallerie

Panzer:

3 Panzer III
3 Panzer IV
1 Captured Char B1

Recon:

1 SdkFz 222

AT:

1 Panzerjager 1B

Artillery:

2 15cm sFH 18

Anti Air:

1 8.8 cm Flak 36
1 SdKFz 7/1

Airforce:

2 BF 109
2 Stuka
1 BF 110
1 He 111 H2[/url][/b]

I'm conquering Maginot Line in DLC '40, and my force is divided into 3 more or less independent KG's, which can stack together when necessary:

1 Recon (SdKfz 232 8Rad)
2 Tanks (Panzer IVD)
3 Infantry (1 Pioniere, 1 Grenadier, 1 SE Grenadier)
1 Arty (Sturmpanzer I)

Airforce:
3 Ju-87R
3 Bf-109E

UPD Maginot Line taken, and in the beginning of DLC GC '40 I just got a forth SE unit! Thought my Corps was limited to three.