Slitherine

Things to be aware of:
A more standard scenario, nothing of significant note.

11) Volturno – beta 1

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige - Begin: 3,125. End: 2,850. Net: -275.
Result: DV at 17/17
Replacements: Used lots of elite to keep tanks, air, artillery at max over-strength.

Core changes: Upgraded last Pz.IV/H to a Tiger. Tank core = 3 x Panthers, 3 x Tigers.

Problems:

• · Allied bridging units at 8,19/8,20 at turn 4: These units are not on the map on turn 3; they just magically “appear” – and even after a Sherman has crossed the river, not before(!). I had a Panther positioned watching that possible crossing, moved it away end of turn 3, and next turn there are allied units across the river in strength. I can understand a flanking bridgehead, but the allied units should follow movement rules – e.g., be on-map and use a turn’s movement to place themselves on the river. After I finished the scenario I went back and restarted it to check this was not my imagination. I played with “fog of war” off for that turn, and noted the behavior.
  · Map errors regarding termini of Volturno and Biterno rivers. I posted under “map error” thread.

General impressions/comments:

• o Good scenario, nice tactical terrain.
  o I almost didn’t defend the SW area given the thinness of units, but glad I did as it was well balanced and manageable.
  o Surprised myself getting a DV – the balance of allied air/ground units against your fewer units felt good in this scenario; not overwhelming.
  o I know it's part of the general game structure, but the multiple "new equipment" notices popping up and dominating the screen a few turns before the end of the campaign is annoying. If these could be held until the next deployment, it would be much more logical and less disruptive. In a fast-moving, thinking battle mid-scenario, they create more annoyance than useful information.
  o If the intent of the sudden bridgehead at turn 4 is to simulate a surprise, it's done well - it was not impossible to beat them back and collapse the bridgehead. But when units just instantly appear on map in recon'ed terrain, it's a bit frustrating. Shades of "Wassigny" come to mind.

I will go back and play the Salerno options tonight or tomorrow.

General level. Starting prestige 1943, ending 324.

DV on turn 17/17, but it was just luck. The second wave of allied forces in the East almost overwhelmed me there. I managed to beat them back with a furious Tiger attack and a fortuitous combat result. I re-took the last victory hex on the final turn.

Like the previous post, I also noticed the seemingly magical appearance of the bridging units.

Throughout these DLCs I've had the feeling that the core force is a couple of units too small. I've been barely winning and my forces have been shot up quite a bit after each scenario. With the limited prestige for winning each scenario, I'm concerned that casual players may be overwhelmed and become very frustrated. Perhaps we could allow a couple of more units to be imported from the 1941 core force and perhaps a slight increase in prestige for DVs.

All in all, these have been very interesting scenarios. I'll go back and play the branches that I did not take.

Volturno Line
General level
Imported Core
Marginal Victory 17/17

Yet another extremely well-crafted defensive scenario. I managed to hold all but two of the objective hexes. Not enough for a decisive victory, but a satisfactory conclusion, nonetheless. Some parts of the map had some extremely intense fighting, the bridge engineers are perhaps your worst enemy on this map. I had hoped early on to go for the decisive victory but wasn't quite able to push through to the last two, enemy forces were simply too thick.

Good scenario, my usual objections for this campaign apply, more prestige and a slightly larger core (though my core felt closer to a fair size than most scenarios in this one).

Beta2

Kerensky wrote:Things to be aware of:
A more standard scenario, nothing of significant note.

Yes, a more standard scenario. Managed to capture the last winning hex in the last turn to receive a DV. If the second wave would attack one or two turns later I could not win this scenario because of all those M4, M18 and engineers cruising around. So I had time enough to crush this forces and move into the last winnig hex not defended by any unit. After all these new objectives in the former scenarios a "normal" and "old-fashioned" scenario. I would not change anything, this is a fair scenario to end GC43 West.

Volturno, beta 2 – stock core

Field marshal, DV at 17/17
Begin pp: 2,075 End: 2,125. Net: +50

Problems noted: None.

Observations:

• The way it just played, it was the most fun scenario of the campaign to me. Poking around, looking for angles, setting AA and fighter traps, etc.
• I noticed the river maps were altered, look good.
• The added deployment slot really gave flexibility. I debated between using the 90mm AA capture or another artillery piece. Went with the artillery, and it made the game more fun. Instead of statically holding the northern most river point (end of the Biterno at Termoli) with a lone Tiger, I used a strong Tiger and that "extra" arty piece to slowly move out. By the end of the game I had all of the map north of the mid-point, including two allied airfields. Gave some “game” to it.
• The air game was steady but not “choking.” Light at the end but perhaps because I had taken their airfield.
• The change to the engineer was interesting, it forced new attack routes on them and required more adjustments. Felt more fun.

This scenario played smoothly, I think in large part to the change in prestige allowing you to build up your units to decent experience by the end – all of my fighters were 12, one Tiger 13 and two more tanks nearing 13/300 exp. The core felt more balanced starting from stock than previously.

Suggestions: None. Felt solid, fun; a nice closing balance after some of the immediately prior grueling ones.

beta 2

Colonel, DV 17/17
Prestige when deploying 3077, after reinforcing and overstrenghting nearly everything to the max I had none left. Ended with 1517 prestige.

Nice scenario, the great variety in terrain really needs to be exploited to do well against the AI, and attacking one area while defending another makes every turn extra interesting to play. Amount of turns is just right I think.

I actually played this twice with different strategies, the first time a mad rush to the objectives, I even dropped a Fallschirmjager in Telese. Because I could only support it with airpower it got killed after a few turns but not before I had managed to get an SE Grenadier in the city, which I also lost a couple of turns later. They took a lot of Allied units with them, however.

In the centre near Campobasso I had to fall back behind the river after the Allied counterattack began, but managed to not get anything killed, mostly due to the fact that I could achieve air superiority. After I had beaten off the attack I sent armor south to Benevento (14,21) and kept arty and infantry around the mountains to mop up some Allied units.

Meanwhile I had a set up a defense in Caserta after I had fallen back behind the river there, and no Allied unit got across, but if my airforce had been less powerful or I had missed that Bridge Engineer northwest of Telese, it would have been more difficult. Now I just shot everything trying to cross, and they just kept coming. Strangely the AI did not really try to go around me through Castel Volturno, the just kept getting killed on the river hexes around Caserta.

All in all, my risky strategy did not really pay off but it could have worked.

Next a more slow, methodical approach, no losses this time, and captured Telese on turn 17 by sending infantry around the mountains and the rest in a huge sweep south, while having an 'anvil' in Caserta. I started blasting away the Allied forces which were going to counterattack, and sent fast units to capture every remaining hex on the map. It was a bit of an anti-climax to race south, the only unit left in the south was a big AA gun and a B-24 bomber, the rest was empty. In the end, the Allies only had their navy and one strenght 7 infantry unit left.

This time the US Bridge Engineer was more to the south, randomizing it is nice touch.

beta 3 - Colonel, DV 17/17

prestige deploy fase/after reinforcing/last turn: 2883/1470/2108

This time I only overstrengthed fighters and artillery, so I had to work a little harder to wipe out Allied units. Still I ended up with most of the map under my control, although I only captured the last victory hex on turn 16. Knowing the map and were the extra attack waves will be coming from made a big difference, otherwise I would have suffered some bigger losses.

I started the campaign with the stock core, and when it ended I still had the 105mm towed artillery and the SE Bf109 F, the rest has been upgraded. The only 'green' units I bought extra were an SdKfz 7/2 anti-air halftrack (very useful), an Elefant antitank and a Dornier 217 strategic bomber. And I received an extra SE tank.