Allied: Crusader

[uran21]

Please post here your comments about this scenario.

[Kamerer]

10) Crusader – beta 1

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige: Begin: 800 (after purchases). End: 1,425. Net: +625.
Result: DV 17/20
Replacement policy: Sent air, arty, tanks out at 12.

Core Changes:

• Disbanded:
  • 1x Hurricane
    1x Cruiser tank
  Purchased:
  • 2x Spitfire Mk.Vb
    1x Typhoon
    1x Churchill tanks
  Upgraded:
  • 4x 6” arty to 7.2”
    1x Cruiser tank to Churchill (heroes too good to disband)

Problems:

• • Do not see an airfield marked “B” as per briefing. I assumed it was the one at 22,7 as it was named (Gambut). (I was wrong).

General impressions/comments:

• • Scenario was challenging and fun, difficult, and unpredictable.
  • I guessed the wrong airfield since none were marked. When I got there and saw a lot of armor I realized it must be the Italian one to the west. I used turbo to shift my units over there and take it on turn 7.
  • I had two Matildas, two Churchills and a Cruiser which kept the counterattacks at bay along with tactical air. If the Luftwaffe had been around it would have been pretty hard, it was challenging as it was.
  • I have to say, I read the “Rommel Papers” last summer or fall. The way forces kept crisscrossing, counter-marching, and the general confusion of this reminds me of the real thing as he described it. Good job.

[omegabet]

The german reinforcements from the south surprised me, good move.

Problems:

• Do not see an airfield marked “B” as per briefing. I assumed it was the one at 22,7 as it was named (Gambut). (I was wrong).

I tried the [2,12] italian airfield and had no message about "B" destroyed. Perhaps the message about it is missing?

Missing units:
New equipment types are available for purchase and/or upgrade, 2 units are missing:

• M3 Lee
• 155 mm Long Tom

As for M3 Lee, it can be purchase first in the next mission, Cauldron. But named Grant Mk. I
No stat difference between M3 Lee & Grant Mk. I
edit: got the M3 Lee, its the US version of Grant Mk. I


In Creta i could retreat ships and other units to the next mission. Although i hit the limit & couldn't purchase more core units (units to deploy 0/16) i could put the ones from Creta. Retreating units dodge the core unit limit!

[Rudankort]

Core Changes:

• Disbanded:
  • 1x Hurricane
    1x Cruiser tank
  Purchased:
  • 2x Spitfire Mk.Vb
    1x Typhoon
    1x Churchill tanks

Why not upgrade Cruiser to Churchill?

[Kamerer]

It had a low quality hero and little experience. I'm used to playing on Rommel so my habits are to mind the pennies. Plus I'm finding that with the new system, heroes come quickly. And I can partly overcome the loss of experience by buying overstrength. So I find I'm disbanding more units under this system than previously.

[nikivdd]

Colonel level.
Upgrades: 2x 6inch artillery to 7.2 inch, matilda II to churchill II
Purchases: churchill II, HW inf,Typhoon Mk IB
I didnt overstrength any units although after this scenario i might start considering it

I formed two spearheads, one towards Gasr el Arid and had a hell of a fight with the german units there. The second spearhead towards Bir el Gubi and had to fight my way through the minefields. The auxiliary units northeast of Sidi Omar i moved towards Fort Capuzzo. By the time most of my units closed in to Sidi Rezegh and El Adem, a naughty trigger occured (round 11-12). The italian units near Tobruk started to engage, the units i bypassed near Bir el Gubi moved towards Tobruk and the worst of all that the remaining german units in the vicinity of Bardia moved toward the hexes marked with A. They managed to capture several hexes in that area and i had to withdrew several units from the Tobruk front to engage them. I also redeployed the paratroopers that way except for one. That was the last heavy fight of this scenaio and i managed just in time to put the Service Corps units on the A hexes. In my unrelentless search for capturable equipment i captured all the hexes but found none and losing auxiliaries in the process. There was only one italian fighter which is very meager in such an action packed scenario. Once again i like the system of surpression while issueing replacements, and when lucky you can give such an enemy unit a hell of a spank , ofcourse the enemy did the same on a few occasions.
Last but not least but i believe that was already mentioned, there is no hex marked with B but the airfield with the hangar is on (2,12).

Losses:5-6 auxiliary units, DV 20/20, 4577PP

[Razz1]

Very tough map. British unit are real weak against Germans.
I thought it said I had to kill the hanger in 7 turns with paratroops.
Never found the Hanger until turn 6.

I kept on going back and forth back and forth with my 40mm SPAA. There wasn't anything to fight. Then finally it got caught on the wrong side of the map when the German air power showed up.

General
start 4506
end 2461
Triumph

I lost at least 4 core units. 40mm SPAA and Chevy WB and 2 star infantry.

Once again I did not deploy all my unit slots. Kept 3 or 4 in reserve. Then slowly deployed over course of game.

Ending composition:
Unit / strength
Inf 15
HW 9
Matilda 11
Cruiser MkI 10
Cruiser MkIV 12
M3 Stuart 4
M3 Stuart 9
Rolls Royce 10
Humber 9
2lb Portee 7
16" 10
16" 13
Hurricane 2
Hurricane IIC 7
Elite Spitfire 7
Whitley Mk V 5


No matter what I did I could not find a unit that I was confident in keeping. Nothing was a power house as when you play PC with the Germans.
Only exception is the 15 strength infantry, but that can not kill tanks very well.
Matilda is good but slow.
Hurricanes are good but need escort.

If you notice, I did not upgrade anything to Churchill or a few other type of units.

[billmv44]

Beta 1. General. Starting prestige 2882, ending 1482. Triumph on 20/20. Lost 1 HW inf from core.

This was the toughest one yet. Pretty straight forward until the axis forces triggered. Quite a swirling battle. I had to rush to and fro to counter the axis attacks. As mentioned by others, the airfield with the hanger is not actually marked "B". I found it at 2,12 and was able to destroy it with 3 para. I held one back as a reserve. Good thing too, it came in quite handy in holding off the axis units until I could bring my tanks back to deal with the axis. I was able to take all axis hexes except Bardia and the adjacent airfield. One key that I'm finding in the desert battles, is that each battle group better have a tank component. So far, the axis tanks have not been world beaters. But I've yet to meet their best - yet.

The best scenario yet.

[Tarrak]

Scenario: Crusader
Outcome: Triumph on turn 20/20
Starting Prestige: 4065
End Prestige: 4263 - 5894 (incl. victory reward)
Core: 3 x Infantry, 1 x Engineer, 1 x SE Commando, 3 x Churchil II, 1 x RR recon, 1 x Humber recon, 1 x 6 inch gun, 2 x 7.2 inch guns, 1 x Hurricane Mk.IIC, 1 x Spitfire Mk. VB, 1 x SE Spitfire Mk. VB, 1 x Beaufighter Mk.IF, 1 x Typhoon MK. IB

Got a SE Spitfire MK.I at the begin of the mission which i updated to SE Spitfire MK.V instantly. Updated three of my Cruiser tanks to Chuchils and 2 of 6 inch guns to 7.2 inch guns. Bought additionally a Humber recon and a Typhoon.

Mission started quite fine. I send the paratroopers to the airfield, my troops pushed towards Tobruk destroying the enemy in the path. Initially i kept a few of my core units down at the A-area but seeing the enemy is staying passive i let them join my main force .... a mistake as i learned later.

When i arrived near Sidi Rezegh quite a few german armored units attack me from the east. I could repel the attack tho just losing my RR recon car to the surprise. After i cleared the area around Tobruk i wanted to move the convoy down to A-area when the hell broke lose. Suddenly something that felt like the Germans called of all their forces from the eastern front to hit me happened. Countless enemy units started appearing from the east and overrun the A-Area and stood now between the convoy and my forces moving back. The amount of german units was plain staggering. They wasn't to hard to defeat but it simply took ages due to their sheer masses. I lost one infantry unit in the process and barely managed to move the convoy trucks onto the A-hexes just at the end of turn 20 ... sadly i was assuming as the trucks are ground units they will be able to recapture the airfield to resupply my planes .. which they wasn't capable of and i lost 2 of my planes due to low fuel. This was a bit unpleasant because totally unexpected.

I don't know where all the units that tried to overrun me at the end come from, either scripted spawn or was it all leftover defenders, but the amount of them was insanely high. A slight reduction in their amount would be in order imho especially as the German units are quite hard to destroy. More often then not they just retreat with a few strength points left and you are left with the option of either pursuing them and putting your unit into exposed spot to be possibly destroyed next turn or watch helplessly how it reinforces back to full and you can start from scratch. Alternatively adding around two turns to give the player more time to deal with the onslaught would be an option.

[Tarrak]

I replayed the scenario again and i saw now what happens .... the German seems to have more armor sitting in the desert then on the bloody eastern front and they all go amok at same point. Not sure if the trigger is moving one of the convoy trucks or a certain turn but in either case it's pretty retarded. The sheer amount of the enemy units is already overwhelming but adding to the fact that they outclass most of your own equipment and that the AI seems to have an unending amount of prestige for replacements make this mission a huge meat grinder. Heavy core loss are simply unavoidable and the mission become a nightmare.

I would say reduce the amount of prestige the AI has for repair so you actually can wear it's units down slowly .. with the British units you just can not destroy them in one go. Reduce the amount of armor parked in the desert and don't let them all go at once. It's no fun at all to have 3/4 of the mission close nothing to fight and then suddenly on the last few turns the hell breaks lose.

On the 3rd playthrough finally knowing whats going on i managed to pull a proper Triumph off on turn 20/20. I still stand to what i said .. i don't like the idea of tons of German armor just standing passive in the middle of nowhere and zerging you at the end. I did little adjustments to my core: replaced one scout with an additional churchil tank and swaped the Typhoon for a Wellington due to more fuel available. This time i abused as well the "German Desert Parking Center" and sent 2 of my Churchil tanks and one strat bomber over to pick em off one by one to thin em out before they activate. This did the trick tho the scenario was still challenging enough. At the end after the convoy trucks started to move it seemed to me as well as if the AI was going straight for them without actually having anything nearby to spot the trucks.

My idea how to change the scenario:
- remove big part of the German armor parking in the desert but place a few more tanks in between the defense lines. I think it is more fun to fight through tougher opposition constantly then to get zerged at the end by swarm of tanks
- keep the counterattack when reaching vicinity of Tobruk but do it with less units. If necessary rather use better units then the masses. Especially silly seem to me that everything on the map seems to abandon the position and go attack crazy. Everything including infantry and AT guns without transports. Maybe add a pop up windows with a warning that a german armored counterattack is about to come from the flank before it actually steamrolls the player.
- at the moment the scenario seems to be designed to be not winable (at least not with a triumph) at the first go. You seems to need knowledge of what happens or a lot of luck to be able to pull it off. If it's intended fine but it seems a bit strange to me.

[Longasc]

Crusader


Level: General
Start Prestige: 2452 + a Spitfire SE
End Prestige: 901
Result: Triumph, 11/20
Bought/Upgraded/Losses: Disbanded Matilda II for Churchill II, bought two Churchills, upgraded two recon units. Lost 1 core recon unit and maybe some aux stuff.


Very nice scenario!
What I loved: The uncertainty where the enemy will attack. The "surrounded" start. You are falling the Italians in the back, but the desert is huge and there will be multiple small theaters. It was also the first time a combined arms axis force shows up, with a notable lack of airpower. Interesting also the choice between the speed of "Cruiser" type tanks and the heavy Churchill Infantry tank and its impressive armor.

My strategy was to rush towards Tobruk and north to the Axis airfield. This was a combined effort and units switched between the groups till the distance became too great.
The attack on Bir el Gubi, that Italian desert hole, was ill-fated and only succeeded in the final turns when nothing else was left to do: I dropped my Paras behind the Italian lines at Tobruk and only one went for the airfield there. I had to support it with tanks and all in all that diversion cost me some time and initially my troops were not strong enough to take it.

I had a lot of trouble near the Axis airfield in the North, but my assault on ... Sidi Rezegh?, the axis city near Tobruk, worked out nicely and I quickly overwhelmed the troops there with Engineers and a Commando plus tank and air support.

What TOTALLY hit me by surprise and hard was an Axis attack with tanks and motorized infantry going straight for the British Airfield and victory hexes. I had a Churchill tank there, but only one and a Paratrooper who was capturing victory hexes, which was quite stupid as I would have to place the convoy units there anyways. But so I had at least some units there. My Infantry was LATE as it captured Fort Capuzzo which was a major mistake. So 2 other Churchills had to hurry back South. It really grieves me that the first time I use the Churchills I am constantly reminded of their shortcoming, speed 4.

WONDERFUL SCENARIO!

-> It was an intense battle, I found the new "suppressed" reinforcement rules work a lot in favor of the attacker. I find it interesting how differently my outcome was compared to others posted here and how little Prestige I have in comparison but I was finished 9 turns earlier on the other hand.


Suggestions:
* Mark the Italian airfield to the left better, with an "A" or something like that. Some went for the Axis airfield as I just read.
* I don't want to dumb this scenario down, but some others already said it and I think I agree, the Axis push "South" towards the player position is quite strong. But actually... I would leave it like that. The scenario is very doable and it's about time we have some WAR in a wargame!

I won't focus on briefings anymore, I hope some other guys like Ballacraine, ThvN and other native speakers will check the briefings after we did the initial testing runs and get closer to the end.

[uran21]

Thanks to all for the feedback so far. This is obviously far from tutorial scenario but nevertheless spot where border of tutorial gets blurred. Reason is lesson about how to use paratroopers is drawn on the map. Airfield to be attacked got "B" marking now. By the way if the hangar on the airfield is not destroyed in 7 turns this triggers stronger Axis air presence in the scenario. Axis prestige was reduced in this scenario but they can earn some by capturing flags. Better German tanks got cap on maximum strength. So when you put them bellow 5 they can return to 5 only. One concern I had with this scenario is that due to counterattack one of victory hexes can fall into Axis hands. This would not only make Triumph impossible but resulted in a loss so conditions for victory are changed. Out of 5 player needs to control 4 objectives to win. Airfield marked as "B" also looks as an objective but this will be removed by turn 8 not to make confusion later.

[deadtorius]

Glad the airfield has been marked, I scanned the map and noticed it was the only one with a gold border so thought it was the one. Got caught short handed after the special task force units left Tobruk, seems to have triggered a mass Axis onslaught. Had my forces all up front to open the way to Tobruk and not enough out back, also wasted a slot on an AA gun on map that sat on a victory hex and did nothing all game. Unfortunately I lost some of the rear victory hexes and was prevented from getting to the zone A hexes by German armour. Was fired for incompetence

note to self, leave the AA in reserve, put paras into victory hexes and send a force North to deal with that reserve force that will make life bad later. Easy to get into Tobruk hard to get out with the sudden mass Axis attack...

[produit]

Triumph 11/20. FM. Chess Mode. Ending Prestige 3075.
Surprising scenario with enemy units seeming to pop out of the blue ! I like it really much. I am playing without recon units, and on this map, I found enemy units when they attacked me (or came next to my Churchill tanks without attacking). I lost 2 aux units from the south east (artillery + 1 infantry) and most of the (A) hexes were captured before my force of tanks and bombers came back in force.

UK airforce is really powerful, without enemy (the lone enemy fighter was killed really fast). I have three Typhoon (OS 15 like all my units) and I have to say that they wreak havoc on enemy tanks (-8,-9 strength in one attack). With such powerful airforce, I had just to finish the enemy rests...

I really liked this map. You don't have enough units to be able to create a completely safe corridor. Thus, you are always at risk of a enemy attack. But, with 4 Service Corps units, you can really survive. One was attacked and lost 6 strength points, but all survived.

Don't change anything from my point of view. I hesitated to attack the last enemy cities, and I could have captured them easily with 9 turns left. But I have to move forward with the beta test...

[Kamerer]

2) Crusader – beta 2

Level: Rommel
Begin pp: 225. End pp: 700. Net +475
Result: Triumph, 15/20

Core Changes:
Received: SE SAS
Disbanded:

• 2x Cruiser tanks
  1x Vickers
  1x Matilda
  1x R.R. a/c
  1x Stirling bomber

Purchased:

• 5x Churchill tanks
  2x 7.2” field artillery
  2x Typhoon bombers

Upgraded: 2x Spitfires to Mk.V

Problems: None noted.

General Impressions/Comments:

• • Felt the same as before. Which was a fun scenario, so no problem with that.

[Razz1]

Beta 2
General
start
end 2867
Triumph on last turn

Well I do not know how I did this but I managed a Triumph.
Considerably harder starting from Crete. I save the game on the last turn. Looked at buying a new car, came back and low and behold there was a way I might just win.
Lost an infantry and 25lb artillery, but I did it.
If you do not take the hanger, I have no idea how you can win this if you start from Crete.

Perhaps reduce the experience a little on the German tanks? Let's see how other player do in Beta 2

[monkspider]

Crusader
beta 2
General level
Ending prestige 4497
Marginal Victory 20/20

This was a very difficult but classic scenario. Our first real, no holds barred battle with the Wehrmacht. This is one of those few highly complex scenarios that have a large number of different approaches. I made a few mistakes, and frankly, this one wasn't my best performance and i ended up taking heavy losses. In the end, I only got a marginal victory but a decisive victory was within reach and probably could have been achieved with less sloppy play.

My core currently consists of
1x Crusader Mk II
1x Matilda II
1x Valentine II
1x 2 Pounder AT
2xBritish Infantry
1x British Engineer
2x Field artillery
1x 3.7 inch AA
1x Rolls Royce Recon Car

2x Hurricanes
1x SE Spitfire
1x Beaufighter
1x Stirling Mk II
1x Fairey Battle

[Tarrak]

Replayed the scenario in Beta 2. Plays exactly same as in Beta 1 but with better knowledge what to expect it went a bit better. Only loss this time was a RR recon car.

This is one of the scenarios where reaching a Triumph at first playthrough is nearly impossible without insane skill or a lot of luck. With more information what happens a Triumph get easier is still not an easy task by all means.

I would still exempt some units from the final go crazy and run amok trigger. At least leave some garrisons in the enemy towns.

[Mariancdr]

A very challenging map. Got a triumph on turn 20/20, with all the enemy obj captured. The main strike was against the Sidi Rezegh (4 tanks+1 engineer+3 inf+2 art+1 recon); as I got close and started the assault I’ve used 2 inf and 2 artillery from Tobruk to attack El Duda (double envelopment). From this point I’ve used tanks and infantry to attack Gasr el Arid also where German forces were waiting !? I’ve destroyed all the forces from every position, step by step (because the enemy didn’t seems to have a single C2). The paratroopers took out the B Obj. in time (1 unit lost). Back home, 3 inf+1 engineer+1 artillery+ 1 Typhoon pushed towards fort Capuzo and Sollum, destroyed 1 art+2 inf before moving back to A point where they faced the heavy counter attack by German forces; luckily the aviation (1 typhoon +2 fighters) kept the enemy under constant fire until 2tancks (Churchil II) got there to solve the problems. Intense battle but with some unrealistic things… the fog of war is present all the time during real action, even so when you are making a blockade to an Obj. (Tabruk here), and there are forces attacking your neighbors (left or right), you usually help them [with artillery or inf units that are sitting and doing nothing! (until one point in the game when the start button is pushed )]. So the AI should be a little more improved toward this matter. Also as you main units are attacked you get infos about the enemy (number of units, what type), these are infos that you should use for the counterattack (and so you would send some tanks to help the German forces at Tobruk an less forces to capture Obj. A).

Eager to play other scenarios

[Ballacraine]

Service Corps trucks in the initial briefing should read Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) trucks.

( I know it is a small point, but my Father served in that unit throughout the war )

Balla.