Battlefield Europe v1.09 - brief summary (no pics)
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:27 am
Just finished a playthrough of the entire campaign (including the intro scenarios). My plan was to conquer everything except Britain. I played on General difficulty with random dice and brought in 3 panzer IV’s and 2 fighters. I briefly summarise my progress during the war (sorry, no pics):
Eastern Front
I focused on closing the Kiev gap, with Moscow as a secondary objective. Kiev gap successfully closed, with Moscow falling in Spring ’42. No serious attempt was made to encircle Leningrad until late ’43 at which time it was fairly quickly taken in early ‘44. However a lot of my infantry were tied up around Leningrad fighting the Russian infantry and occasional Russian counterattacks. Also early on I managed to advance to Rostov in the south and Kursk in the center.
In ’42 and ’43 my armies made very little ground in the center and south, as I was constantly battling Russian counterattacks (especially around Kursk). The main advances were in the north where I advanced to and captured Gorky, before enduring massive counterattacks which I was able to stop. ’44 saw me advance on Stalingrad in the south with my southern flank anchored around Rostov (no attempt was made to advance towards the Caucuses). Also in ’44 I advanced from Gorky along the northern bank of the Volga with the idea to swing south towards Stalin’s bunker. Again there were massive counterattacks which slowed me immensely, although I could beat them back. I made no attempt on the central front as there were no strategic objectives here, holding the line around the west bank of the Don River with mostly second rate troops (Panzer IV’s, AT, Hungarian/Romanian troops, etc.). This meant I was doing a giant pincer movement heading towards Stalin’s bunker. I captured Stalingrad in winter ’44 and advanced northwards along the east bank of the Volga, with my other northern army advancing southwards. Lack of funds, plus massive Russian counterattacks prevented me from capturing Stalin’s bunker within the required time.
Mediterranean/Middle East
I immediately set out to gain sea superiority in the Eastern Med and made landings on the Syrian Coast. My forces then drove straight to the oilfields, which I captured in late ‘42/early ’43, during which I beat back 2 counterattacks (1 from the east and later 1 from the west). My forces then swung north to the Caucuses, where I captured Baku in early ’44 and eventually Tbilisi in Spring of ’45. Due to strong defense by the Russians and some counterattacks/ambushes, my forces were mostly destroyed and I had to adopt a defensive posture at Tbilisi. A late Russian counterattack saw me lose Tbilisi, but I recaptured it on the final turn.
Around Tobruk, I defeated the first counterattack in late ’41 and then invested Tobruk, capturing it a couple of turns before the large counterattack from the Suez. The Suez counterattack split into 2 groups, 1 comprising predominantly of armour which headed towards the oilfields (around 5 units) and the remainder which attacked my forces at Tobruk. Because they split their forces in this way, it was easier for my defenders at Tobruk and I defeated their counterattack without having to commit too many of my troops. This allowed me to focus more on defeating the Torch landings.
Rudel and the Luftwaffe managed to take Malta just before Torch commenced, which helped immensely. We undertook a fighting withdrawal from Kasserine Pass and stopped the enemy just east of the hills, eventually destroying all enemy forces. As I had just read General Werner’s AAR (where Rommel’s army was annihilated during Torch), I expected to also fail and so garrisoned a strong force in Sicily. This turned out to be unnecessary and a somewhat costly mistake as I desperately needed the Sicily garrison forces elsewhere.
After defeating Torch/Suez attacks, my armies split into 2 groups. One (mostly the troops in Tunisia), headed to western Europe to assist against the Normandy landings. I experienced a large bottleneck of troops due to limited ports/transport craft and therefore this transfer took significant time, with my troops arriving in dribs and drabs. The second group (mostly Tobruk garrison) landed on the Syrian coast and recaptured the cities there, before heading down to the Suez and Cairo, which I captured in late ’44. I then transferred these troops to the Eastern Front, although they arrived too late to make a difference.
Western Front
I decided to contest the skies and massed large amounts of AA (some upgraded to heavy caliber), plus 4 Fw 190’s. It worked early on, but failed during Normandy as the overstrength Mustangs were just too powerful. I was slow to entrench troops on this front, as I overestimated the Torch landings (see above), meaning that my defensive positions weren’t as strong as they could have been. Even though I had massed AA, the enemy air attack was relentless and even when covered by AA, my key units (tanks/artillery) would suffer hits most turns. So this was a very costly fight and after running short of prestige I had to reinforce with green troops (including my fighters), which made things even more difficult. In this respect I found the late SPAA to be really worthwhile (Ostwind and Wirbelwind). They have good mobility, which makes them a perfect match to support armour, whilst also being tough enough to shrug off hits from enemy infantry (although not the stronger enemy armour). I upgraded 2 of my AA to these units and found it to be worthwhile.
I held onto Paris until the end of the war, but was driven back to near the Rhine River in the north. This front bled me of resources.
Result
Draw, although Russia was really on its last legs. In all honesty i was also on my last legs and if the game had been extended i am sure the Commonwealth and US troops would have penetrated into Germany.
Eastern Front
I focused on closing the Kiev gap, with Moscow as a secondary objective. Kiev gap successfully closed, with Moscow falling in Spring ’42. No serious attempt was made to encircle Leningrad until late ’43 at which time it was fairly quickly taken in early ‘44. However a lot of my infantry were tied up around Leningrad fighting the Russian infantry and occasional Russian counterattacks. Also early on I managed to advance to Rostov in the south and Kursk in the center.
In ’42 and ’43 my armies made very little ground in the center and south, as I was constantly battling Russian counterattacks (especially around Kursk). The main advances were in the north where I advanced to and captured Gorky, before enduring massive counterattacks which I was able to stop. ’44 saw me advance on Stalingrad in the south with my southern flank anchored around Rostov (no attempt was made to advance towards the Caucuses). Also in ’44 I advanced from Gorky along the northern bank of the Volga with the idea to swing south towards Stalin’s bunker. Again there were massive counterattacks which slowed me immensely, although I could beat them back. I made no attempt on the central front as there were no strategic objectives here, holding the line around the west bank of the Don River with mostly second rate troops (Panzer IV’s, AT, Hungarian/Romanian troops, etc.). This meant I was doing a giant pincer movement heading towards Stalin’s bunker. I captured Stalingrad in winter ’44 and advanced northwards along the east bank of the Volga, with my other northern army advancing southwards. Lack of funds, plus massive Russian counterattacks prevented me from capturing Stalin’s bunker within the required time.
Mediterranean/Middle East
I immediately set out to gain sea superiority in the Eastern Med and made landings on the Syrian Coast. My forces then drove straight to the oilfields, which I captured in late ‘42/early ’43, during which I beat back 2 counterattacks (1 from the east and later 1 from the west). My forces then swung north to the Caucuses, where I captured Baku in early ’44 and eventually Tbilisi in Spring of ’45. Due to strong defense by the Russians and some counterattacks/ambushes, my forces were mostly destroyed and I had to adopt a defensive posture at Tbilisi. A late Russian counterattack saw me lose Tbilisi, but I recaptured it on the final turn.
Around Tobruk, I defeated the first counterattack in late ’41 and then invested Tobruk, capturing it a couple of turns before the large counterattack from the Suez. The Suez counterattack split into 2 groups, 1 comprising predominantly of armour which headed towards the oilfields (around 5 units) and the remainder which attacked my forces at Tobruk. Because they split their forces in this way, it was easier for my defenders at Tobruk and I defeated their counterattack without having to commit too many of my troops. This allowed me to focus more on defeating the Torch landings.
Rudel and the Luftwaffe managed to take Malta just before Torch commenced, which helped immensely. We undertook a fighting withdrawal from Kasserine Pass and stopped the enemy just east of the hills, eventually destroying all enemy forces. As I had just read General Werner’s AAR (where Rommel’s army was annihilated during Torch), I expected to also fail and so garrisoned a strong force in Sicily. This turned out to be unnecessary and a somewhat costly mistake as I desperately needed the Sicily garrison forces elsewhere.
After defeating Torch/Suez attacks, my armies split into 2 groups. One (mostly the troops in Tunisia), headed to western Europe to assist against the Normandy landings. I experienced a large bottleneck of troops due to limited ports/transport craft and therefore this transfer took significant time, with my troops arriving in dribs and drabs. The second group (mostly Tobruk garrison) landed on the Syrian coast and recaptured the cities there, before heading down to the Suez and Cairo, which I captured in late ’44. I then transferred these troops to the Eastern Front, although they arrived too late to make a difference.
Western Front
I decided to contest the skies and massed large amounts of AA (some upgraded to heavy caliber), plus 4 Fw 190’s. It worked early on, but failed during Normandy as the overstrength Mustangs were just too powerful. I was slow to entrench troops on this front, as I overestimated the Torch landings (see above), meaning that my defensive positions weren’t as strong as they could have been. Even though I had massed AA, the enemy air attack was relentless and even when covered by AA, my key units (tanks/artillery) would suffer hits most turns. So this was a very costly fight and after running short of prestige I had to reinforce with green troops (including my fighters), which made things even more difficult. In this respect I found the late SPAA to be really worthwhile (Ostwind and Wirbelwind). They have good mobility, which makes them a perfect match to support armour, whilst also being tough enough to shrug off hits from enemy infantry (although not the stronger enemy armour). I upgraded 2 of my AA to these units and found it to be worthwhile.
I held onto Paris until the end of the war, but was driven back to near the Rhine River in the north. This front bled me of resources.
Result
Draw, although Russia was really on its last legs. In all honesty i was also on my last legs and if the game had been extended i am sure the Commonwealth and US troops would have penetrated into Germany.