Slitherine

Took me about a year to complete this epic campaign. Finally finished.
1944-1945 years are really challenging. So I ended the war historically - on the Elbe.
Great game.

Decided to share my final results and statistics.

Campaign: GC39 - GC40 - GC41 - GC42/43W - GC44W - GC45W.
Status: Completed.
Rules: Colonel difficulty, AI Level 2, Reform units OFF (dead is dead), normal combat random.
Scenarios Played: 63 (31 DV's, 26 MV's, 6 Losses)
Final Prestige: 6134
Core units lost: 56
Total Casualties: Axis - 238 Units, Allies - 2544 Units.
Survivors: 4 Units survived from 1939 - 3 tanks, 1 mobile artillery.

Final Core:

8 Grenadier43 (2 SE),
8 Tiger II (3 SE),
3 Maus (1 SE),
2 Jagdtiger,
2 30 cm Nblwf 43,
5 sIG 38(t)M,
4 12.8 cm FlaK 40.
(32 Units, 6 SE)

Best Unit: "Panzer 9" (Tiger II) - Kills/Losses: 1513/140 - 2 Heroes (+2 Attack, +3 Attack).

Congrats Panzerpimp... That is a great feat.

I have tried to go all the way myself, but I get off track when new DLC's and mods come out.

Thank you, okiemcguire.

Some general thoughts about the campaign:

39-40: Had no problems. German units are superior to allied counterparts; a lot of prestige points.
41: Heard a lot about Vyazma and Streets of Moscow, met some scary russian tanks, but again nothing special.
42/43 West: Surprisingly difficult. Not much prestige, limited core size and challenging objectives. Sometimes you get strange units (russian tanks, scout cars and even infantry ) as reinforcements from the Eastern front.
Here I made some mistakes (faced american counterattack with weak units), lost some veterans and had to rebuild my core after costly victories. In the end of 1943 I lost almost all of my air force at Volturno Line, so I disbanded the survivors and bought a lot of mobile AA to face the allied air superiority. (Later upgraded them to Ostwind - worked fine)
44-45 West: 44 was challenging, but I rebuilt my core, got new equipment and endured. In 1945 allies bombed me into the stone age. I had problems with prestige and suffered a defeat at Bastogne. Still the casualties were not so high, I survived the Pockets (Ruhr, Colmar) and built a strong veteran core. Then the war ended.

Congratulations Panzerpimp!!

Finishing this massive Campaign at any level and at any state is impressive the amount of time and investment it takes.

I am starting Storming Stalingrad in the 1942 campaign, but with beta testing and multiplayer action it is hard to find time.

Great game and great replay value.

Thank you, goose_2.

goose_2 wrote:Finishing this massive Campaign at any level and at any state is impressive the amount of time and investment it takes.

Yes, grand campaign is really massive, enjoyed It so much. Now I have "panzer addiction" again and want even more.
Not sure where to proceed next?

I guess I'm not ready for GC East, so apart from that there are these possible campaigns:

1) GC39 - Operation Sea Lion. (Really want to try that, how is the difficulty?)
2) Afrika Korps with Italian Core. (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 21&t=71211)
3) Allied Corps with American core. (Played with mixed core, want to replay allied campaign)
4) Soviet Corps.

Advice much appreciated.

Panzerpimp wrote:Thank you, goose_2.

goose_2 wrote:Finishing this massive Campaign at any level and at any state is impressive the amount of time and investment it takes.

Yes, grand campaign is really massive, enjoyed It so much. Now I have "panzer addiction" again and want even more.
Not sure where to proceed next?

I guess I'm not ready for GC East, so apart from that there are these possible campaigns:

1) GC39 - Operation Sea Lion. (Really want to try that, how is the difficulty?)
2) Afrika Korps with Italian Core. (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 21&t=71211)
3) Allied Corps with American core. (Played with mixed core, want to replay allied campaign)
4) Soviet Corps.

Advice much appreciated.

I will take them one at a time.
1) I am doing a blind playthrough of the Sealion Campaign on Field Marshall difficulty
viewtopic.php?f=145&t=68874

2) I will do a blind playthrough of Afrika Corps after Grand Campaign, so it will be a while.
3) Allied Corps did a quck Colonel playthrough as the British and never bought an American unit and I achieved both Steam Achievements.
4) Soviet Corps is new and I helped Beta test it so I have it and mostly play the balanced scenarios on it for multiplayer. (I am thinking of trying to do another tournament based on Soviet Corps after this one:
viewtopic.php?f=121&t=69735

Thank You.

Started Allied Corps with all american core, hope to finish in a couple of weeks. GC39 - Sealion will be next.

Decided to replay Grand Campaign with some new ideas... I'll post a report soon.

Quickly finished US Corps 42. Decided to post. Enjoyed it very much. Quite similar to Afrika Korps, well balanced scenarios, high difficulty.

Campaign: US Corps 42.
Status: Completed.
Rules: Colonel difficulty, AI Level 2, normal combat random, no reloads.
Scenarios Played: 12 (9 DV's, 3 MV's)

Campaign Path: Formation->Achnacarry->Casablanca->Djebel Abiod->Tebourba->Morning Air->Sbiba->El Guettar->Hills->
->Enfidaville->Mateur->Bizerte.

Final Prestige: 4271
Core units lost: 11

Final Core:

1 US Bridge Eng,
3 Rangers,
3 US Engineers 43,
4 M4A3,
1 Sdkfz 234/2 8 Rad,
4 M10 Wolverine,
4 155mm Long Tom,
4 155mm M12 GMC,
1 M15A1 MGMC,
3 P-47D (2 SE),
1 B-25B Mitchell,
1 B-24 Liberator.
(30 Units, 2 SE)

Continued my campaign with imported core in US Corps 43.
No luck with heroes: the game constantly gives me spotting heroes on artillery/AT units, no attack/defense/range heroes etc...
Salerno counter-attack was quite hard - the AI has multiple veteran SE panzers and a ton of infantry. Lost a tank and SE plane after a blunder. Then there was epic Cassino Breakthrough - had a DV with the help of mountain infantry.

Campaign: US Corps 43.
Status: Completed.
Rules: Colonel difficulty, AI Level 2, normal combat random, no reloads.
Scenarios Played: 12 (10 DV's, 2 MV's)

Campaign Path:
1.Gela. DV. 0 casualties.
2.Gela counter-attack. DV. 0 casualties.
3.Agrigento. DV. 1 core unit lost.
4.Palermo. MV. 0 casualties.
5.San Fratello. DV. 1 core unit lost.
6.Messina. DV. 0 casualties.
7.Salerno Landing. DV. 0 casualties.
8.Salerno counter-attack. DV. 1 core unit lost.
9.Naples. DV. 0 casualties.
10.Volturno Line. MV. 0 casualties.
11.Cassino Breakthrough. DV. 0 casualties.
12.Anzio link-up. DV. 0 casualties.

Final Prestige: 12534
Core units lost: 3

Final Core:

1 Alpini,
1 US Bridge Eng,
5 Rangers (1 SE),
4 US Engineers 43,
5 M4A3(76)W,
2 SdKfz 234/2 8Rad,
3 M10 Wolverine,
2 M18 Hellcat,
8 155mm M12 GMC,
2 M15A1 MGMC,
3 P-47D (2 SE),
2 B26-C Marauder,
1 B-17 G.
(39 Core units, 3 SE)

Playing the Soviet Corps now. Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket.
Thought this was funny: everybody on the map was low on fuel and ammo.

Finished the soviet campaign. Overall, quite easy, but interesting.
Playing vs germans with overpowered core and a lot of prestige is a new experience for me.

Campaign: Soviet Corps.
Status: Completed.
Rules: Customized general, no reloads, normal combat random.

Scenarios:

1. Battle of Khalkhin Gol. DV. 0 casualties.
2. Soviet invasion of Poland. DV. 0 casualties.
3. Winter War. MV. 0 casualties.
4. Battle of Bialystok-Minsk. DV. 0 casualties.
5. Battle of Smolensk. DV. 0 casualties.

6. Operation Silver Fox. DV. 2 core units lost.
Nice and challenging "puzzle" mission. Small map, difficult terrain. Lost 1 infantry unit and a fighter.

7. Battle of Moscow. DV. 0 casualties.
Good defensive scenario. Hard fought DV.

8. Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive. DV. 0 casualties.
Surprisingly hard evacuation scenario.

9. Second Battle of Kharkov. DV. 1 core unit lost.
Got overconfident and lost a bridge engineer here.

10. Sinyavino Offensive. DV on turn 17. 0 casualties.
Captured SE Tiger unit. Faced one dangerous counter-attack in northern part of the map. Overall, easy scenario.

11. Battle of Stalingrad. MV. 0 casualties.
12. Operation Uranus. DV on turn 14. 0 casualties.
A lot of experienced german armor and AT, interesting map scripts.

13. Operation Saturn. MV. 0 casualties.
Captured all objectives except Kursk: encountered a serious counter-attack that slowed my advance.

14. Battle of Kursk. DV on turn 14. 1 core unit lost.
Tiny map. Experienced SE Tigers, but not a problem for my overpowered tanks. Lost a fighter.

15. Battle of the Dnieper. DV on turn 27. 0 casualties.
Epic scenario, big map. Heavy resistance on the other side of the Dnieper.

16. Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket. DV on turn 13. 0 casualties.
Spent a lot of prestige here storming objectives and trying to eliminate all surrounded german units.

17. Crimean Offensive. DV on turn 16. 0 casualties.
Cleared the map easily; used strategic bombers against axis fleet.

18. Operation Bagration. DV on turn 15. 0 casualties.
Purchased a lot of IS-2 tanks.

19. Battle of Romania. DV on turn 15. 0 casualties.
20. Battle of Debrecen. DV on turn 16. 0 casualties.
Hard scenario. Harrassed by annoying planes. Resembled Kursk - small map, a lot of armor.
Unexpected massive counter-attack in my rear.

21. Battle of Budapest. DV on turn 17. 2 core units lost.
Quite challenging. Nice and interesting scenario. Fighting in and around Budapest.
Made a mistake and lost 2 infantry units in southern part of the map.

22. Battle of the Seelow Heights. DV on turn 16. 0 casualties.
A lot of volkssturm infantry, annoying tactical bombers and jagdtigers.
Didn't like the cheap trick at the final turns - Tiger counter-attack just spawned from thin air and immediately attacked my weakened units.

23. Battle of Berlin. Dv on turn 20. 0 casualties.
Liked this scenario. Reminded me of Grand Campaign for some reason.

24. Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Dv on turn 17. 0 casualties.
Many experienced and powerful japanese ground units. Strong airforce that harrassed me.
Challenging scenario. Very limited deployment.

Scenarios played: 24 (21 DV's, 3 MV's)

Core units lost: 6
Total casualties: player: ~60 units, AI: ~1500 units.

Final prestige: 20526

Final core:

3 YaG-10,
4 OT-34,
6 IS-2 (4 SE),
7 ISU-122.
(20 Core units, 4 SE)

Best unit: "Tank 3" (OT-34); kills/losses: 742/133, 74 units destroyed; 3 heroes: +1 attack, +1 attack, +1 attack.

Continued my US campaign with imported core. Completed US Corps 44-45.

Campaign: US Corps 44-45.
Status: Completed.
Rules: Colonel difficulty, AI Level 2, normal combat random, no reloads.

Scenarios Played: 15 (13 DV's, 2 MV's)
Core units lost: 0

Campaign Path:

1. Omaha Beach. DV on turn 14. 0 casualties.

2. Pointe du Hoc. MV. 0 casualties.
Hard scenario. Lost an important airfield and spent a lot of turns to retake it. MV, but DV was very close.

3. Carentan. DV on turn 12. 0 casualties.

4. Cotentin. DV on turn 14. 0 casualties.
Unexpectedly hard. Bocage everywhere. Some annoying AI unit spawn at the edges of the map.

5. Cherbourg. DV on turn 17. 0 casualties.
Easy scenario.

6. Caen. DV on turn 22. 0 casualties.
Hard. Difficult terrain, strong AI airforce. Many Tigers and some V-1 units.

7. Falaise. DV on turn 11. 0 casualties.
Chased 1 Tiger II unit for 3 turns...

8. Aachen. DV on turn 15. 0 casualties.

9. Rur. DV on turn 14. 0 casualties.
Serious AI armor counter-attack. Strong AI airforce, Tigers again.

10. Sankt Vith. DV on turn 16. 0 casualties.
Challenging defensive scenario. AI had many SE tanks. Spent a lot of prestige.

11. Bastogne. DV. 0 casualties.
Again many axis SE units, but the scenario itself was easy.

12. Houffalize. DV on turn 15. 0 casualties.

13. Remagen. DV on turn 16. 0 casualties.
Spent a lot of prestige here. AI retreated, but actively used wunderwaffe units and overpowered Tigers.
Ignored the annoying AI units and took the objectives.

14. Torgau. MV. 0 casualties.
Hard scenario. Strong wunderwaffe airforce and armored counter-attacks. After 9th turn it started to rain, so my advance slowed significantly. Then soviet units arrived and helped me to take the final objectives.

15. Wargames. DV on turn 25. 0 casualties.
Insane scenario. Didn't like it much. Boring and repetitive. Overpowered soviet units - wave after wave.
Soviet airforce was really annoying. Also waiting for the AI to move all its planes is not fun.
At some point the AI started its usual unit spam around the last objectives - hate this.

Perhaps the best Panzer Corps campaign. Interesting and challenging.
Really enjoyed it, except for the Wargames scenario.

Final results after 3 US campaigns.

Campaigns: US Corps 42, US Corps 43, US Corps 44-45.

Scenarios played: 39 (32 DV's, 7 MV's)
Final prestige: 4456

Core units lost: 14
Total casualties: AI - 2139 units, player - 164 units.

Final core:

1 B-29 SF,
2 A-26 Invader,
4 P-47D (4 SE),
4 Calliope,
6 155mm M12 GMC,
7 M36 Jackson,
7 M26,
9 Rangers (1SE).

(40 Core units, 5 SE)

Best unit: "Inf 4" (Rangers) - kills/losses: 741/146, 87 units destroyed. 3 Heroes: +3 Attack, +3 Defense, +2 Defense.

Panzerpimp wrote: 15. Wargames. DV on turn 25. 0 casualties.
Insane scenario. Didn't like it much. Boring and repetitive. Overpowered soviet units - wave after wave.
Soviet airforce was really annoying. Also waiting for the AI to move all its planes is not fun.
At some point the AI started its usual unit spam around the last objectives - hate this.

That's impressive and I concur that it's an insane scenario in terms of difficulty. Easily one of the hardest, if not the hardest, in the entire series.

huckc wrote:it's an insane scenario in terms of difficulty. Easily one of the hardest, if not the hardest, in the entire series.

Yes, it's really hard. What about "Operation Unthinkable"? Is it the same? Or it's even harder? More AI unit hordes?

Wargames was a strange scenario. I saw some strange AI behaviour that puzzled me.

AI tried to deploy paratroopers, but i spotted them and damaged/desroyed some of the planes.
After that they just flied around doing nothing...

One of the AI tank waves got stuck around the river advancing and retreating repeatedly.

AI amassed its mobile AA units in some swamp where they were easily destroyed.

Annoying AI unit spam during the last turns. There wasn't any spam in previous scenarios.

huckc wrote:Easily one of the hardest, if not the hardest, in the entire series.

The hardest for me was Mareth line in Afrika Korps. I couldn't get even a MV - there was a moment when AI planes were in every visible hex, it was madness.
Gazala line is also very hard.

Campaign: The Alternate Grand Campaign. (Mod by nikivdd)
viewtopic.php?f=147&t=53153

Status: completed.
Rules: General difficulty, no reloads.

Missions completed: 80 (75 decisive victories, 5 marginal victories)
The fastest decisive victory: turn 6.
The slowest decisive victory: turn 37.

Final prestige: 16706
Total casualties: AI ~2600 units lost; player - 69 core units lost.

Final core:

9 Tiger II (5 SE)
3 Me 262A
3 21 cm Mrs 18
2 43 Pioniere
2 30 cm Nblwf 43
2 Ostwind
1 Bruckenpioniere
1 43 Grenadier
1 sIG 38(t) M
1 He 177A

(25 Core units, 5 SE units)

Oldest unit in the core: "Fighter1" (Me 262A) - created 1 January 1937 during mission 6.
Has three heroes: +1 Attack, +1 Spotting, +1 Initiative. Awarded Iron cross 1st class and Knight's cross with golden oak leaves, swords and diamonds.
Kills/Losses: 1298/170. (114 units destroyed) 227 experience points.

Best unit in the core: "Tank5" (SE Tiger II) - created 1 august 1940 during mission 35. Awarded Iron cross 1st class and Knight's cross with golden oak leaves, swords and diamonds. 335 experience points. 3 Heroes: +6 Defense, +1 Movement.
Kills/losses: 1409/143. (129 units destroyed)

Comment: Overall great and very long campaign. Not historical, but quite challenging "puzzle campaign" with varied maps, objectives, enemies and units. Mostly small maps and small core. There is no prestige shortage and turn limit is generous, but some maps are tough mostly because the AI almost always has air superiority and sometimes it's annoying. All kinds of terrain - desert, snow, islands etc.

Some screenshots from the AGC mod.

More screenshots from the AGC mod.

Campaign: Allied Corps.
Rules: start in 1940, British equipment only, Montgomery difficulty level, normal random dice, no reloads.
Initial prestige: 100
Final prestige: 5422
Casualties: AI - 1282 units lost; player - 2 core units lost.
Scenarios: 24 scenarios played - 16 decisive victories, 8 marginal victories.

Final core:

5 Sherman Firefly,
4 Crocodile,
4 43 British HW Infantry,
4 Meteor Mk.III (4 SE),
3 Engineer 43,
3 Sexton,
2 BL 7.2 inch,
2 76 mm Land Mattress,
2 Crusader AA,
1 Commando (SE),
1 Bridgelayer,
1 Achilles,
1 Mosquito Mk.VI S2,
1 Halifax MK.III.

(34 Core units, 5 SE)

Best unit: "Tank 3" (Sherman Firefly): has 200 experience, 705 kills, 104 losses, 74 units destroyed; unit was created on june 16 1940 (Battle of Girba). Has 3 heroes: +1 Attack, +2 Defense, +1 Movement. Awards: Distinguished conduct medal, The George Cross, Victoria Cross.

Campaign path:

1) Border Raids: DV on turn 7, no casualties.

2) Fort Capuzzo: MV on turn 18, no casualties.
Low on prestige from the beginning. Eliminated some Italian supply dumps and got prestige award.

3) Battle of Girba: DV on turn 12, no casualties.
An easy battle, bought some artillery and a Cruiser tank for my core. Fought some light Italian tanks.

4) Italian Offensive: DV on turn 19, no casualties.
Easy defensive mission, added a Hurricane fighter to my core.

5) Taranto Raid: MV on turn 12, no casualties.
Strange and annoying mission. Managed to sink 4 Italian battleships.

6) Sidi Barrani: DV on turn 17, no casualties.
Overall very easy scenario. The only problems are some minefields and a sandstorm that slowed my advance a bit.

7) Bardia: DV on turn 18, no casualties.
No prestige problems so far. Mission is easy, but there are a lot of mines and some annoying fort artillery.

8. Beda Fomm: MV on turn 16, no casualties.
Was a quite difficult mission for me. Sandstorm every turn. 2 Italian units survived in the far corner of the map, so I got a DV.

9) Crete: DV on turn 18, 1 core unit lost.
A bit low on prestige again, can't really buy anything. Lost a fighter. Defense of the Khania city area is a bit tricky, but an easy mission overall.

10) Crusader: DV on turn 20, no casualties.
Bought 2 Churchill tanks. My Matilda tanks are super slow. Great and tough mission with a nice map and and an interesting objective.

11) Cauldron: MV on turn 16, no casualties.
Upgraded my Rolls Royce scouts to Daimler armoured cars. It was a tough mission for me. The AI easily and quickly crushed the 150th brigade. My main force got stuck in the blocking screen and AI launched a successful counter-attack. Still no serious casualties and I have enough prestige to continue.

12) First Alamein: MV on turn 17, no casualties.
Got my first SE unit - a Spitfire fighter. Destroyed almost all German units, but could not hold one of the positions for a decisive victory.

13) Second Alamein: DV on turn 20, no casualties.
Received a lot of prestige for the mission that was quite tough. A ton of mines, a serious German armored counter-attack.

14) Medenine: DV on turn 20, no casualties.
Outflanked the Mareth line with my Churchill tanks as It was suggested in the scenario briefing and blocked the Axis retreat. The mission was quite easy, no serious resistance.

15) Tunisia: DV on turn 15, 1 core unit lost.
Met a scary SE Tiger here and lost one Churchill tank.

16) Sicily: MV on turn 27, no casualties.
Captured everything except Messina and a decisive victory was very close. I really like this scenario -the map is nice, but the terrain is rough. German infantry was entrenched in the mountains with artillery support, some serious armor counter-attacks and experienced German air.

17) Salerno: DV on turn 19, no casulaties.
Easy and very straightforward mission. The only problem is a lot of overstrength on AI units. Apart from that you need only to land and advance.

18) Anzio Landings: DV on turn 22, no casualties.
Bought new Crocodile tanks and they are doing good against infantry. Bad weather and snow constantly. The Elefant near Campoleone was very annoying. Quickly advanced with my infantry and easily destroyed the railway artillery. Met one serious counter-attack in the western part of the map.

19) D-Day: DV on turn 18, no casualties.
Bought 2 Sherman Firefly tanks and an additional engineer unit. Bad terrain, a lot of well entrenched AI units. In the end I got a decisive victory, but spent a lot of prestige here. The landing itself is easy, but further advance is slow because of the terrain. One of my Sherman Firefly tanks managed to hold the victory hex bridge against the AI armor.

20) Cobra: MV on turn 20, no casualties.
Possibly the hardest scenario in this campaign for me. Awful bocage terrain, a lot of enemy units, experienced Tigers and Panthers with a lot of overstrength. The map itself is very big with a lot of victory hexes and complicated objectives.

21) Market Garden: DV on turn 16, no casualties.
It was an easy scenario: quickly advanced with armor and took control of the bridges. AI counter-attacks were weak.

22) V Rocket Sites: MV on turn 19, no casualties.
Received enough prestige to upgrade all of my air force. A lot of overstrength on AI Armor and a surprise armored train. Didn't get all the objectives in time, so just a marginal victory.

23) Berlin - West: DV on turn 27, no casualties.
Have 8492 prestige at the start of this mission. Epic and long scenario. All types of Axis units including SE and experienced air force. Got some very strong auxiliary units - mobile artillery, flamethrower tanks and paratroopers. The scenario is not that difficult, but I had to advance very slowly, because of the bad weather and low visibility. Very weak defense in the last two victory hexes in the south east of the map. Got a decisive victory on the last turn.

24) Allied Dispute: DV on turn 18, no casualties.
Have 11211 prestige at the start after replacements and upgrades. Received an invincible auxiliary tank unit from the HQ - T28. One tricky AI attack in the northern part of the map - the AI used a lot of bridge infantry units to cross the river. Then the AI unsuccessfully tried to drop some paratroopers in the south. The main AI assault was an armored attack in the centre. The first turns during the AI attack were hard, after that I advanced with my armor in the middle of the map without any serious resistance.