Ardennes 1944 AKA Battle of the Bulge

[MR SMW]

Really really really stuck.

I can take and hold either:
St Vith, Antwerp and Brussels
or
St Vith, Namur and Liege
(Bastogne is a given)
but all of them...

Combined; fog of war, enemy numbers and strength, lack of time etc...

Just how?!

I have been trying now for about 2 weeks and tried maybe 20 times and so many different combinations.

No lack of prestige, but 170 core slots.

Dropped the diifficulty level to the second lowest and still no joy, so if anyone has any tips how to succeed here, I'd appreciate it!

Typical attempt core =
8 Panther
4 Stug
4 Ostwind (thinking I'll trade these for more infantry next time)
12 Pioneer
4 Hummel
All aircraft in reserve as there is so little flying opportunity.

Can't use paras I don't think?

[Horseman]

I'd maybe try a few less Pioneers and a bit more artillery?

[BaronVonWalrus]

Adding to Horseman's thoughts, perhaps replace a couple of Panthers with Pz IIINs to give you more units to work with? 2 slots (with Panzer General trait) for a Panzer III and they have some good close defence stats making them quite versatile.

[PoorOldSpike]

Where the heck is the scenario, I can't find it on my system (sniffle)

[MR SMW]

In the campaign if you choose the path of fighting the Western allies rather than Russia.

[PoorOldSpike]

In the campaign if you choose the path of fighting the Western allies rather than Russia.

Weird, when I start a campaign I don't get an option to fight the western allies.

[Horseman]

In the campaign if you choose the path of fighting the Western allies rather than Russia.

Weird, when I start a campaign I don't get an option to fight the western allies.

You do. If you start in 1939 you follow the Poland to Norway to France. Then in 1941 you get to pick either Russia (3 fronts) or Africa.

If you keep historical once you go on the defensive I believe you get to pick again.

[MR SMW]

I've had several chances I think to switch to fighting on the Eastern Front...but politely declined each time

I have also just been informed about something I was wondering about which was when am I going to get some auxiliaries?!

Oh, OK, you buy them for one round only after you have deployed all your regulars

Right, that makes a big difference as I now have 8 more Pioneers plus 2 Nerbelwerfers and 2 long range arty units to take and hold Bastogne and St Vith while my regulars go off round the flanks to take the further stuff.

Only on round 4 but making more progress and will probably just about squeak a win now!

Auxiliaries eh? I did wonder about that but never checked

[PoorOldSpike]

You do. If you start in 1939 you follow the Poland to Norway to France. Then in 1941 you get to pick either Russia (3 fronts) or Africa.
If you keep historical once you go on the defensive I believe you get to pick again.

Thanks, but I just don't have the time or inclination to wade through a number of battles in order to get to the Ardennes 44 scenario, it's a pity we can't select individual scenarios to play outside the campaigns like we can do in Order of Battle and jump straight into them.

[Horseman]

You do. If you start in 1939 you follow the Poland to Norway to France. Then in 1941 you get to pick either Russia (3 fronts) or Africa.
If you keep historical once you go on the defensive I believe you get to pick again.

Thanks, but I just don't have the time or inclination to wade through a number of battles in order to get to the Ardennes 44 scenario, it's a pity we can't select individual scenarios to play outside the campaigns like we can do in Order of Battle and jump straight into them.

I think the problem is in balancing them. Should be relatively simple to port them over to single player scenarios though if you know how.

You can start layer in the war. 1943 start with the option of either west or east front.

[nexusno2000]

This is me on Generalissimus with a ton of negative traits:

Bastogne requires very little effort. Let you main attacks go north, using artillery and armor and antitank. Don't use planes much. You don't need them and weather hurts planes.

You have a LOT of time, so don't stress.

https://youtu.be/1E27Tt76ffc

[MR SMW]

This is me on Generalissimus with a ton of negative traits:

Bastogne requires very little effort. Let you main attacks go north, using artillery and armor and antitank. Don't use planes much. You don't need them and weather hurts planes.

You have a LOT of time, so don't stress.

https://youtu.be/1E27Tt76ffc

Thanks. If I fail this time, I'll watch your vid!

[PoorOldSpike]

I can take and hold either:
St Vith, Antwerp and Brussels
or
St Vith, Namur and Liege
(Bastogne is a given)
but all of them...

I've never played the scen, but I know some scens have got confusing victory conditions, so perhaps you don't have to take ALL the objs to get a victory?

[MR SMW]

Yes, you have to take them all, - it's victory or loss as all the scenarios are unlike PC1 where you could get a partial victory or even some losses still allowed you to progress.

[SSLConf_pewp3w]

There have been some helpful hints already, but to reiterate, you have way to much infantry. I haven't played the map yet, but you normally don't even need 4, depending on the level. During my playthroughs so far I found that during the later years I would probably be able to go without any Infantry at all in offensive scenarios, since you'll probably have some heroes that allow your tanks to attack into cities.
Anyways, 12 pioniere is way too much.

[SineMora]

The weather is worse than at Moscow, so grounding your air force isn't necessarily a bad idea as you get very little utility out of it here. 12 Pioniere is madness though; stick to 3 or 4 mechanized battalions depending on how much you rely on them for assaults, but no more. Get a few Königtigers to take the pressure off the Panthers when the British armour shows up, and bring more artillery or AT so you can actually suppress the defenders and protect your Panzers. Taking no recons at all when you have no air force and the entire scenario is basically just one long blizzard isn't a great idea either...



I cheesed this with perfectly balanced glorious SU-152s (courtesy of the Soviet Union) and Gustav, but you have so much time that there's little need to rush. You can use my AAR list for comparison purposes, but the gist of it is that you need -- a lot -- fewer Pioniere, a few heavier Panzers, more fire support and recons (II Luchs are tracked, which is an advantage given the weather conditions; always strive to use as many fully tracked vehicles as possible in snow).

[Chepicoro]

One question...after this mission one should continue with Rhine/Lake Balaton right??...Because I see no choices and the game sends me directly to fight Balaton

[SineMora]

One question...after this mission one should continue with Rhine/Lake Balaton right??...Because I see no choices and the game sends me directly to fight Balaton

No, the campaign tree is wrong; the last choice is the one between Cobra and the Baltic -- after that you're locked into one path or the other, either Cobra/Ardennes/Balaton/Berlin or Baltic/Rhine/Berlin.

[Chepicoro]

SineMora

Thank you very much...well then I have to repeat some missions.

[Blade0]

Yes, I think it will be your army composition.
This new system of slot points is to discourage the way you're used to to set up an army in PG. You will need way more diversity.
Panthers are awesome unless the target is in a close combat hex, or you're parking on it and get attacked. Any settlement, any woods, hills, mountains, swamps are deadly for tanks. (Trenches are NOT close terrain, but have very high base entrenchment ratio). Panthers are also pretty expensive - you can easily get 2 or even 3 PzIII-s and PzIV-s for one. So, if you need a big army, get more smaller, weaker ones, and keep around only 2-3 panthers (the best ones with most XP and heroes).
I can personally respect your choice of 12 infantry, but maybe you will want to mix pioneers (1/3) with other types (2/3). after 1943 it is evident that heavy infantry has better attack and defenses than pioneers, light infantry is faster, and a bit better. You need Pioneers to lead your attack against entrenched positions (if that is the strategy), but weaker units can also cope with less entrenchment and mopping up rooted infantry. Plus, consider that the fast APC costs a slot, while trucks and slower APCs don't. If you need to save slots, you may consider to downgrade the transport on the less important units. Air drops are also better in PC2 than in PG - you can deploy a paratroop in the air (if you get any transports, that is), and land in the 1st turn and move (but not attack) if you want.
ATGs are actually a defensive weapon here, not an offensive - it is excellent to protect your soft targets (or the hard ones) from enemy tanks, but not that good to hunt tanks. Panthers will do fine for that. Of course a few ATGs come handy, even 4, just choose something faster and cheaper instead of elephants or such. StuGs are fine, especially the ones that can be converted to artillery.
ADs are good - and there is a trick to them. When it is raining, just switch them to ATG mode - so you get 2 functions for 1 unit! OK, they're not so good as a StuG, still, they suppress attackers and avoid you a lot of damage they would cause.
If you don't have, or can't use aerial reconnaissance because of weather, recons become important too. Relatively cheap and fast, use their phased movement to explore, or get behind enemy ZoC and attack weak, essential units like artillery. Plus, that +10% accuracy they give beside attacked enemy units counts - and it counts for artillery bombardment, bombing/strafing attacks, and direct attacks too. Try to keep these lil' buggers alive, and they will serve you well.

I can't really comment on the map - I have only played it on PC1. As I remember it was full of bockage terrain - that counts as a close terrain, and harder to cross than woods. Easy to mix up with "countyside" - fields of crops which is a normal open terrain. That is a deadly mistake for your tanks and other vehicles.