Slitherine

Things to be aware of:
Fairly standard scenario, but again it has that special feature of how the Italian aux works. How many did you start with? How many are still left over at the end?

7b) Etna Line South – beta 1

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige - Begin: 2,525. End: 2,875. Net: +350.
Result: DV at 17/17. 7/ 7 Aux units survived (I disbanded others; see below).
Replacements: Minor replacements for a few auxiliary units, Lots of damage in final attack/last two turns for repair next deployment.

Core changes:

• · Disbanded: several superfluous aux units.
  · Upgraded: One weak Pz.IV/H to a Panther.
  · Purchased an Elefant for static defense.

Problems:

• · I noticed you can disband the Aux units for prestige. Between upgrading, ignoring, or disbanding the very weakest units (AA, the tankettes, recon, etc.), I just disbanded them. I had 13 Aux units, but disbanded 6 before the scenario.
  · When deploying aux units, you can’t right-click and remove them/move them. They are treated like an in-scenario purchased unit – once placed, you can’t undo.
  · Advanving past this scenario, there’s a bug and your aux units disappear, making Messina pointless (noted in bug list).

General impressions/comments:

• · Scenario played well, seemed pretty straightforward other than deployment and upgrade problem.
  · 7/7 Aux units survived, mostly in good shape.

Lieutenant, DV 17/17
Prestige start/end: 2080/1985 (excl. DV bonus) went into Messina with 3185.

I did not disband any Italians, and placed them all on the map. Evacuating them is tricky, a lot of their units are quite slow so took 3-5 turns to make it to the exits. My evacuated AUX units showed up in Messina, so no problem for me there.

My Italian units:

Infantry: 2x It. infantry, 2x Alpini, 2x Bersaglieri '43. One of the Bersaglieri had a truck.
Tanks: P26/40, M15/42
Recon: AB41
AT: M41M 90/53, L40 da 47/32.
Arty: 105mm towed, M43 105mm SPA.
Fighter: G55 Centauro.

Lost the Centauro, the towed 105mm and a Bersaglieri '43. Also lost a core Churchill. The first Allied counterattack came right after I detected stationary units in the upper left corner on turn 6. Turn 7 brought a counterattack that gave me some trouble in the Northwest, the centre was OK, and the one near the coast (Catania) was quite easy as I had prepared a defense there already. (also because I play on Lieutenant ...)

Than, on turn 14 a whole heap of trouble came rolling in from the south. The planes concentrated on Catania, where I had stationed my 88mm Flak and two artillery units, and still I lost my Centauro fighter. As I had anticipated another counterattack I had halted on the Northen bank of the Dittaino River. In the west almost nothing happened (three trucks with infantry), the centre (Cateanuova) saw some action but was easily held, but Catania was a real meatgrinder. I rushed some extra units there from the too strongly defended west and centre, but could only delay, and I even lost a Churchill, which are very durable. Luckily I only had to last two turns under this attack.

Two remarks about the Allied counterattacks:
I think it would help if the Allied counterattacks have three stages instead of two, the first one (turn 7) can be as it is now, than maybe release another wave (part of the current second wave) a turn or two earlier (turn 11), and the rest as it is now. This way the AI won't get stuck in such a huge traffic jam, which degraded their effectiveness.

The cause of the traffic jam is because of another strange thing about the final counterattack: Basically, almost everything seemed to be headed for Catania, although Troina and Adrano were closer for some units. I counted 11 Allied units which didn't reach the fight (some by a long way) because they went around the south where the river ends near the coast, or started crossing the river towards Catania. A bit strange, maybe have the AI groups target specific objectives?

Etna Line South
Beta 2
General Level
Non-Imported Core
Ending prestige: 2060
Marginal Victory

After doing the Northern scenario last time, I had some new content to look forward to on this play through. Etna Line South was possibly harder than Etna Line North. I think the first 2/3rd of the scenario was a bit easier but the last wave felt even more brutal this time. My losses were pretty rough, I lost a Conscript, Pionere and FW-190. I did something kinda silly, in that I deployed an almost purely Italian force in the north. My Italians gave a good account of themselves but I realized later if I had spread them out, their absence wouldn't have been so painful and I might have at least made a good run at a decisive victory. Still, I wasn't too sad because I remember my "decisive victory" on Etna Line North came at a very steep cost.

Great scenario, I think I like this one better than north because I find the terrain to be a bit more strategically interesting.

beta 2

Colonel, DV 17/17. I started deployment with 1515 prestige, back to zero after reinforcing my core. Ended with 2881, so I have 3981 prestige for deployment in Messina. The extra 150 prestige per turn was generous.

I deployed all my 19 AUX Italians (full list: viewtopic.php?f=148&t=37446#p353475), only my G55 Centauro got killed, lost no other units but came close with some. That leaves 18 AUX Italians for Messina.

The new extra locations for the Evacution Hexes are very helpful, although when I was fighting of the first counterattack in the Northwest the hex at (5,3) gave me trouble, I couldn't attack properly several times because of it. In one particularly hilarious incident, one of my units dissappeared into the black hole after it could only retreat to that hex. It might be better to have that evacuation hex at (1,7) or (2,1) instead.

The new message warning for the big counterattack was nice, and a good reminder about evacuating your Italians timely.

The AI still seemed hypnotized by Catania, again only two trucks went to the Northwest, although this time a few more units showed up near Cateanuova (centre), but the rest went to Catania. I had prepared an even better defense than last time, so had no big losses there. I'm not sure if this is due to the AI routines in the game or an issue with the map, so I report it just to be sure.

Most noticable was the behaviour of the AI planes, they all flew straight to Catania, where I had one 88mm Flak en the AUX Italian 20mm Breda, and all my planes covering each other and the ground units as well. They flew up against my airplanes but didn't attack, so I started picking them off, and then a few finally went over to the centre (where I had mobile Flak), which made picking them off became even easier. But still most of them hung around Catania waiting to get shot, especially the strategic bombers were clueless. I even had to move my mobile Flak from the centre (were it was covering the artillery and units defending the river crossing) to Catania, because they refused to leave there.

Beta3 - imported core - Colonel level.
Sold most of the AUX-Forces and used only some of them: three infantery, a P26/40 and two artillery, totally six units.
Managed to upgrade all tanks to Tiger or Panther so the second AI-attack could be stopped in front of the objectives. Tough and enjoyable scenario, I like it. Wouldn't change anything.

beta 3 - Colonel, DV 17/17

prestige deploy fase/after reinforcing/last turn: 1621/190/2859

I sold one Italian unit, an L3/35, so I had 12 left. It is noticable that the Allied aircraft appear more spread out, very nice. There are less Allied ground units in the second wave, so the AI 'traffic jams' weren't there anymore, although the frontlines were as busy as ever, it was only after the last turn when reviewing the battlefield that I really noticed. So it seems about right now to me. I had no trouble evacuating the Italians in time.