Slitherine

Grand Campaign West 42-45 (Ultimate)

The focus will be maximizing prestige and getting marginal victories. If all goes well the campaign itself will end in a dubious victory on the Elbe.

Due to time restrictions I will be re-using my '41 core from here. Maybe if I was in prison or laid up in a hospital would I start this from '39

St Nazaire

The focus here was re-capturing flags primarily by breaking through the enemy front to the north, letting them capture most of those flags, then swooping back down.

Due to the 1000 prestige "bonus" and all the flag income it's important here to limit over-strength for the soft cap.




Dep


Fin

MV 9 of 9
Not too pleased with this one as I felt it might be possible to solve the south-side of the city and re-capture all those flags. 23 flags in total were re-captured.

God Bless you for doing this Huckc, this will help me a ton when I get there. I may ask you to send me the replay's to my email when/if I get there finally.

goose_2 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:48 pm God Bless you for doing this Huckc, this will help me a ton when I get there. I may ask you to send me the replay's to my email when/if I get there finally.

Sure, I'll send them all over after each campaign.

Bayonne

While I didn't bother trying to save the trains for the DV, since the engineers attacking them went from four to nine strength, I did destroy all ground units and take all flags.

Took a bit more damage than needed, but not enough for a restart.

Over the next couple of scenarios you're gifted some core units as the battle goes on. Most of them aren't keepers for me however so I beat them up a lot to lower the soft cap.




Dep


Fin

MV 10 of 10

Hardelot

Naval landing was in the south which means missing on all the flag re-captures in the northern city but made it easier to get the DV.




Dep



Fin
DV turn 11 of 11

How do you unlock Ultimate? Do you have to win a Grand Campaign at Rommel, Guderian or Manstein? Winning Soviet Corps at Zhukov doesn't seem to qualify.

fitzpatv wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:01 pm How do you unlock Ultimate? Do you have to win a Grand Campaign at Rommel, Guderian or Manstein? Winning Soviet Corps at Zhukov doesn't seem to qualify.

It has to be set up manually. That is what I did in my playthrough on my Ultimate difficulty playthrough

fitzpatv wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2019 12:01 pm How do you unlock Ultimate? Do you have to win a Grand Campaign at Rommel, Guderian or Manstein? Winning Soviet Corps at Zhukov doesn't seem to qualify.

You've already unlocked it but need to add the html to the UI file by following the instructions here:
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30415

Dieppe

Focused on holding the western half of the city which is easier to defend and gets you the captured Churchill.

The air waves were extremely problematic, the spitfires can and will kill the Fw-190s that spawn in.







MV 12 of 12

Gironde

Focus was destroying the commando submarine and maximizing surrender income. A few more turns would've gotten the DV too.







MV 13 of 13

Syracuse

Quite the puzzle here, getting the aux units out is especially important on Ultimate due to the 100% disband income. Got 22 out which is more than I got on Manstein surprisingly. The three artillery pieces and two AA will also be of great help in the next battle.

Two SE tanks to Panthers, the extra movement was vital for getting down to the aux units in time and screening their retreat.







DV 8 of 11
22 aux units out

huckc wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:19 pm Syracuse

Quite the puzzle here, getting the aux units out is especially important on Ultimate due to the 100% disband income. Got 22 out which is more than I got on Manstein surprisingly. The three artillery pieces and two AA will also be of great help in the next battle.

Two SE tanks to Panthers, the extra movement was vital for getting down to the aux units in time and screening their retreat.







DV 8 of 11
22 aux units out

Thanks buddy for sending me the replays. When/if I get there in my playthrough they will be must watch research.

I have not had time to type up at home. (So much going on with family.)

Good luck Huckc it will be very interesting to follow your progress, since I am playing West also, no comparison to my difficulty settings which are basic (basic) . I just finished Falaise, very interesting to see this one replay.

goose_2 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:43 pm Thanks buddy for sending me the replays. When/if I get there in my playthrough they will be must watch research.

I have not had time to type up at home. (So much going on with family.)

No problem, an easy drag and drop e-mail.

faos333 wrote: Good luck Huckc it will be very interesting to follow your progress, since I am playing West also, no comparison to my difficulty settings which are basic (basic) . I just finished Falaise, very interesting to see this one replay.

Thanks and and I'd welcome an AAR. All difficulties are challenging and an accomplishment.

Indeed planning on taking the Falaise route

Etna Line North 1 Reload

This battle is from hell and gave me huge trouble getting the DV. Reload on turn 3 due to just constant blow-ups leading to an ad nauseam amount of restarts.

Deployed a bunch of the aux units to help out as you're given exit hexes for them.


Dep


Fin

DV 12 of 12
Reload turn 3

Messina

Now for some cheese. Deployed a bunch of newly minted AA and paratroopers to get the 18 ground units on the mainland. Only "wasted" one aux unit by deploying it, the remaining 21 will be disbanded here and there when I actually need the prestige.

Despite the cheese there was still tough fighting to be done in the air.


Dep


Fin

DV 7 of 12
One aux unit squandered.
Gained the awesome experimental aircraft with excellent heroes and 12 base strength.

Catanzaro

Went with the British branch since prestige(?)...well I actually regret it now since I never fought at Salerno against the Americans.

Back to getting marginal victories. Not at all easy however for this one and the next.

I'm aware that I get more prestige for losses typically but would rather make due with less but get the victory. With all the disband income I should have plenty to get by.

I think I bought a couple support units, maybe a Wespe and strat bomber neither of which will get to 4-stars sadly.


Dep


Fin

MV 12 of 12

Taranto

Went for all victory hexes except for in Taranto, obviously for the very valuable capturable equipment and to avoid the powerful warships that will shred my infantry and fully suppress my tanks. Raced north along the coast to avoid all that.

The British landed unimpeded in the south but I used the thick forest to funnel their units and force some surrenders.


Dep


Fin

MV 12 of 12
Gained the two capturable Italian equipment

huckc wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:27 pm Taranto

Went for all victory hexes except for in Taranto, obviously for the very valuable capturable equipment and to avoid the powerful warships that will shred my infantry and fully suppress my tanks. Raced north along the coast to avoid all that.

The British landed unimpeded in the south but I used the thick forest to funnel their units and force some surrenders.


Dep


Fin

MV 12 of 12
Gained the two capturable Italian equipment

Hey Huck? Are you finding yourself reloading a lot. Richard Martin has been discussing this a lot in his playthroughs. I tried Arras this morning and a I found myself reloading a lot, but I want to stop doing that as it just feels wrong, I may still reload some, but want to accept the rolls and make it teach me to play better rather than gaming the system.

Just want to know what you are experiencing.