Slitherine

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Kasserine Beta 2

Level: General
Start Prestige: 6787
End Prestige: ?
Result: Victory, couldn't take Kasserine
Bought/Upgraded/Losses: Start Prestige 3628, I disbanded the ENTIRE core except a Sherman or so and replaced with P47D, Mosquitos, Churchills, M12 Artillery, Ranger Infantry.

To be continued

EDIT: I will now drink something alcohol free, watch TV and when I am no longer shaken I will try again, lost 3 core units already.

EDIT 2: http://www.filedropper.com/longkass (<- last time I do this, I doubt anyone wants to see all the time what I did. But this time it might be helpful)

I lost 3 or 4 core units, Rangers, Tanks, ugh...! Very brutal scenario, but well, seems Americans are in for a baptism of fire, eh?
But you also get generous Prestige and a Victory should be possible. The initial onslaught is brutal, then the Axis slows down.

Very hard to get a major victory here IMO. But I think this scenario is quite okay and this was historically a really shitty battle for the Americans.

Edit 3: IMO this scenario is perfect for demonstrating the player "close defense" and how to destroy superb axis armor in restricted terrain. But on the other hand there is nothing that screams "tutorial" about this scenario!

Beta 2. General. Starting prestige 5694, ending 72. Victory on 16/16. Upgraded Tanks to M4A3. Upgraded artillery to M12 GMC. Upgraded all infantry to 1943 versions of HW and 1 Ranger. Upgraded P40s to P-47D.

A brutal battle. The aux units were swept away like chaff. I decided to stay put and make my stand in front of Thala and Tebessa while pounding the Axis armor with air power as they advanced. This worked fairly well, but the Germans were clearly superior to my forces. Despite backing by artillery, I took losses that had to be replaced. Hence my prestige quickly went down to almost nothing. But I was able to hold on as the Axis push lost steam. No chance of advancing to reclaim lost territory. I was happy to hang on and get the victory.

16/16, victory, Colonel, lost one HW infantry, still had over 1500 prestige left. Updated everything I could beforehand!

Took note of the previous comments, and my own knowledge of what happened here historically, and set up camp at Thala & Tebessa. I got up on the rivers where possible and destroyed the enemy one at a time as they tried to cross the aptly named Barrage River. It was more of a contest at Tebessa because I was more exposed, but I remained unbroken. I even managed a counter attack on the last 2-3 turns but the defence around Kasserine was still quite substantial and I decided not to risk any more losses.

I think knowing a victory was good enough to progress helped me decide to take a defensive posture here. Very enjoyable scenario to play as you get attacked from many directions at once and have to shuffle your forces.

US artillery, especially the 155mm, and superior air power used together, were able to level the advantage held by the German armour. Found the PzIIIL very deadly.

Kasserine

IDS_SCEN_AXIS_CAM_OBJECTIVES +
IDS_SCEN_AXIS_SCN_OBJECTIVES +
IDS_SCEN_ALLIED_SCN_OBJECTIVES
Tebesa = Tebessa

Beta 3, FM, Chess mode, Triumph 14/16, Ending prestige 1420.
Hard battle, especially at the beginning. I had to restart the map, when I understood that my southern force near Theleple would be destroyed. Enemy gebirgsjaeger are also really awful as they move fast in the mountains and attack from the side/behind. On the second try, I was able to survive without losses.

I changed quite a lot my core, deploying a SE Spitfire, a P47D, 2 Stirlings, 2 B25, 2 Mosquitos, 1 M4A3, 2 Churchill, 4 M12 GMC and 4 Rangers. On such terrains, infantry such as rangers are really needed, especially to destroy enemy armors.

A note, arriving at Tunis scenario, my core is really worse than the UK one I had at that time.

Opened beta 3 entering here. Quick notes:

ability of German infantry to overwhelm pre-positioned US infantry (albeit green), backed by two heavy artillery units, was ridiculous.

I positioned some artillery and armor at the obvious river crossing and easily disposed of all axis armour. But the inablity of prepositioned untis to stand with massive artillery support was just silly. Victory with core bases held and Kasserine a distant dream.

Kasserine:
Beta 4
General Level
Marginal Victory 16/16

This scenario is very difficult, and probably a bit too difficult for a opening scenario, considering the player can only access this one from the Torch start. I think there are just too many German units, and your units are just too inexperienced. Still, it was a fun scenario, being a defensive battle.

I played this as a stand alone scenario. Playing as the Axis this scenario is very easy on Colonel setting. I managed to capture Tebessa on turn 10. The victory conditions said to capture Tebessa or Thala. Shouldn't the battle end after capturing only one city? I ended up capturing both, but the battle did not end until all the turns passed (turn 16). I would consider strengthing the Allies.

Thanks to all for the feedback so far. Battles can be tough in close terrain but due to narrow passages that can went to players favour. I personally move in front of objectives and put road blockades with reserves and artillery support. Special contingent of Axis units appears on the far side of the map at some point and they do travel to Kasserine where they took defensive posture. Without this Kasserine would be almost empty. Pushing trough and outflanking Axis forces trough leftmost road (from El Abiod to Feriana) is a good way to reach Kasserine on time.

2nd Churchill Mk. IV unit would not reinforce. All other Allied units seemed OK.

Here's my video on youtube on Kasserine pass on Lieutanant difficulty. Used defult units instead of campaign tree. Check vid on youtube.

Kasserine Beta 4
Start prestige:15,000
End Prestige:10,917
Result: Victory, Held Tebessa and Thala and recaptured Kasserine,(Can't kill that last jerry in the mountains str1)
Bought: 1 US HVY Infantry,
Losses: All of the US aux except the US engineer and MkIV Churchill seen in vid.