Slitherine

Allied Corps Bardia

For me, this is one of the most challenging scenarios to execute within the timeframe for a Triumph victory. The scenario consists of strong points, minefields, forts, heavily entrenched units backed by artillery, well placed AA, tanks, hills, navy destroyer, and sand storms. Luckily the Italian Air Corps does not appear. But, did I mention the well placed AA?

Your mission is to capture Bardia and all other objectives. You will be challenged by Infantry, tanks, and lethal firing from the forts. Here are the Mission Orders and Victory Conditions...





You are notified of New Equipment availabilty...



Before we begin, I want to make a few purchases to round out my forces and assist in this scenario.

First, I want purchase another Infantry unit. I have two choices, British Inf or Engineer.

To review, Infantry are the king of close terrain, like cities, forests and mountains. In such terrain infantry are able to effectively exploit the weak spots of enemy units, by shooting against the opponent’s close defence rating. This makes them deadly against even the most well protected heavy tanks. In its close fighting role infantry is indispensable on both the defensive and offensive. Whereas, Military engineers are specially trained to fight in entrenched positions. For this reason they completely ignore the enemy unit’s entrenchment level and are immune to rugged defence. These units are also very effective against enemy structures, including forts and bunkers, and are able to completely clear a minefield in a single turn.

However, we have already been provide with 4 engineers. And, the Infantry has a movement of 3 vs 2 for the Engineer without the use of the carrier. This will become invaluable in the hills. What I need and I select is the British Inf w/Bren Carrier.



I have also decided to add another Tactical Bomber to my core arsenal for this scenario. I currently have the Beaufighter, which worked well in my last mission where there were fighter present and the airfields were close at hand. In this scenario, I selected the Vickers Wellington Mk.IC. As you can see, compared to the Beaufighter, the Wellington has a greater fuel range and Soft Attack. This will help us.



Here is my plan and deployment.

I will have two 2 small fighting forces:
North Force (NF): British Inf, Rolls Royce Recon, Cruiser I, BL 6 inch, and 2 x Aux Engineer.
South Force (SF): British Inf, Rolls Royce Recon, Cruiser I, Cruiser IV, BL 6 inch, and 2 x Aux Engineer.

Air Corps: Beaufighter IF, Wellington IC, and Sterling Bomber

We do have a Navy off shore consisting of 2 x Light Cruisers and a Destroyer.

The NF group will head East and take out the two strongpoints, clear a path through the minefield, destroy the Fort and capture the VH in the Desert. Watch for light armor and infantry. Stay on the South side of the hills and move to assualt Bardia.

The SF group will head North and take out the two strongpoints, clear a path through the minefield, destroy the Fort and capture the VH in the Desert. Again, watch out for light armor and infantry. Continue North to take out another strongpoint, AA, and Fort. Then head West to Bardia.

As soon as possible, the NF group will take the VH West of Bardia and destroy the remaining Fort and enemy forces.

Points to remember: 1) Use naval and air power to suppress fortifications until you can assualt with your artillery and forces, 2) Infantry works best in the hills in most cases, and 3) Keep your navy out of range of the 3 range coastal forts.



Turn 1

The SF group begins to move North and takes out a strong point using Artillery and the two Engineers.





The NF group begins to move East and takes out a strong point using Artillery and the two Engineers.





Our Air Corps hits the skies and searches for targets.



More to come...

Thanks okiemcguire. I think it would work better if you posted the screenshot as a jpg and either attach it or link to that image so it was embedded in the post as most people don't want to download a zip file and open it.

As you can tell, when I first started this AAR, I did not include pictures. I have since re-edited this entire topic to include pictures and explanations.

Let's continue...


Turn 2


The SF group has destroyed the second strong point, moved forward and encountered a minefield. A path will need to be cleared before we can proceed.




The NF group has destroyed the second strong point, moved forward and also encountered a minefield. A path will need to be cleared before we can proceed.




Our Air Corps have encountered targets (AT Gun @ VH, Light Tank, and Med Tank) and are attacking.




The Navy gets into the fray by bombarding the Med Tank.




Turn 3


While the engineers in NF and SF groups are clearing a path thru the minefield for our units to pass, the Air Corps has destroyed a Med Tank and heavily damaged the AT gun and Light Tank. The Beaufighter moves to the next target.




Turn 4


After clearing the minefield, the NF moves up to assualt the Fort and the desert VH. Air Corps has flown in to bombard the positions before the attacks. The Beaufighter has found a Light tank as a target.




After the battle, the Fort is reduced in strength but still potent. The AT gun at the desert VH was heavily damaged and retreats from it's position. The Beaufighter destroys another tank.




The SF group moves forward into a defensive posture. They are now in range of the Fort and have spotted another tank in the hills.




Turn 5


The Italians take the offensive. The forts target our artillery and weaken them by two strength points. Two tanks move up and attack our NF position while another tank and infantry attacks our SF group.




The NF group, with air support, responds to the attacks and destroys the fort and the tank on the VH. The other tank is reduced in strength.




The SF group, with the Beaufighter support, reduces the Fort's strength to half and destroys the tank. The infantry on the VH is heavily damaged and retreats to the hills. The group moves forward to capture the VH and takes a defensive posture. The Recon spots another strong point in the hills. The navy cruisers begin bombarding the strong point.




Turn 6


The Italians foolishly attack our navy with a destroyer...




No surprise here... it is easily sunk by our combined naval gunfire..




An Italian infantry attempts to occupy the desert VH by the NF group. It is heavily defeated and retreats. The NF group moves forward to occupy the VH and takes a defensive posture.




The SF group detroys the Fort and the infantry that retreated to the hills. The Engineers move out and detroy the Infantry that reatreated from the NF battle. SF moves up and takes a defensive posture.



We have sent the Stirling and Wellington back to our airfield for reinforce/resupply. As you can tell from our last picture, the Beaufighter is low on ammo and will also need to be sent back next turn. Stay tuned for more action.

Turn 7


The SF moves up and spots an AA that will need to be removed before I can use our Air power in this region. Also, the Italian infantry is backed by artillery. We will hold off attacking the infantry until the artillery has been suppressed and the infantry's entrenchment weakened. The Beaufighter was sent back to the airfield for resupply.




The NF moves up and destroys the AA guarding the entrance into the Bardia region. We will not attack the AT Gun or the infantry within the city until the supporting artillery has been suppressed or destroyed and the other two position's entrenchment weakened.




Turn 8


The NF group moves north onto the hills and attack the tank on the road. It is heavily damaged and retreats. This was a mistake as you will see in next turn.




The SF group hits the AA in the hills with artillery and naval bombardment before our infantry attack and heavily damages it. The AA retreats. Several SF units reinforce/resupply.




Turn 9


The SF destroys the AA and a fort guarding the Bardia bay entrance is revealed. We hit it with naval gunfire and air power reducing it's strength.




The Italians attack with the tank and a fort. I had foolishly got into range of a fort that cut my infantry strength in half. I destroyed the tank and moved back south out of range of the fort.





Turn 10


The NF group takes this turn to reinforce/resupply in preparation for the assualt on Bardia.




The SF repositions it's force in preparation to take out the fort and/or the artillery. We fire on the artillery with our artillery and air support, reducing it's strength. While the navy continues to bombard the fort and hit it with air power, further weakening it.





Turn 11


When the artillery was destroyed by the SF infantry, the NF moves up and attacks the AT gun, heavily damaging it and causing it to retreat. The fort is again bombarded by navy and air power. Then we hit it with the Recon but it still remains severly suppressed with little or no ammo. We will destroy it next turn.





Turn 12


The SF group has cleared out the units East of Bardia, but without incurring damage. The Fort and the AT gun is destroyed. In defeating the Infantry in the hills, our Infantry was heavily weakend. I pulled it back to reinforce/resupply. The NF repositions it's force for assualt. The air corps begins bombardment of the eastern city and the strong point covering the airfield. We need the airfield ASAP so that we do not have to fly such a long roundtrip for our air corps to refuel/resupply.





Turn 13


The air corps continues to bombard the eastern city of Bardia and the supporting artillery. Another fort covering the north entrance to the bay is bombarded by the navy and the air, weakening it. Our artillery in the NF group bombards the eastern city and preps for assualt next turn. The SF takes this time to reinforce/resupply in order to participate in the assualt.





Turn 14


The fort is heavily damaged and the assualt on the eastern city is succesfull. We take the city and prepare to assualt the airfield.





Turn 15


We heavily suppress the artillery and destroy the strong point on the airfield. I moved the recon to take control of the airfield. In hindsight, this was a very foolish thing to do since I had no supporting artillery backing it up.





Turn 16


The recon at the airfield held against an attack from the western city of Bardia. The recon then destroys the artillery supporting the cities. The NF then moves into position and hits the infantry within the city with artillery, infantry, and tanks destroying them. I move the recon to take the city.

The SF hits the port city, manned by infantry, with artillery, destroyer, air power and infantry heavily damaging it. The port city will fall next turn.

The navy cruisers move around the north part of the bay and bombard the AA located in the hills. We followed up by moving a tank to complete the job, but it remains with very little strength. We will destroy it next turn.





Turn 17



The Port city is taken with artillery, destroyer, and infantry. The AA unit is destroyed by the tank. The force moves forward and destroys and takes the last VH west of Bardia. We attempt to destroy the last fort, but only severly weaken it. In order to keep the remaining infantry and fort from retaking the VH or weakening our remaining core force, I placed the aux engineers in front of the enemy infantry and within range of the fort. I know, this is an evil thing to do. But, the idea of the game is to take and hold all the objectives within the timeframe while incurring as little loss as possible. We will meet the criteria.




We got the Triumph as planned.




We receive a message from HQ recognizing our efforts...