MARS42

The second mission is the hardest, i have ever played. (I play combat mission since the very beginnings)

1. In the first try i lost a lot of infantry to the german artillery, because i left my troops for too long at one place. I had not expected such a amount of ammunition on the german side. So i tried again.

2. In the second try, i manouvered my troops (one unit after another to give no great target to the enemy-artillery) to the right and at this edge of the map up the hill. Every unit stayed only short at a firing positions an then moved on to escape the artillery-fire.
I was even able to fight across the street and up to the main hill. Problem was, the introduction tells you, that your attacking company is also used in a second mission of the campaign and i had not enough troops left for such a task. New try!

3. Now i knew the main positions and also, where the mortars of the enemy were on the map. So i destroyed them with the first artillery-strike, set my pre-arrangend artillery firing points at the right spots and fought up the hill with 22 dead and 2 halftracks lost. 2 platoons are in good shape, so i will go on to mission 3 now.

What i really did not like:
Normally you need a 3:1 advantage as an attacker, especially in such a uphill fight, but there is nothing like that. It´s o.k so far, makes it more challenging.

But... if you get not enough troops by the designer, he has to give the player troops with much more experience, not mostly green or regular with bad leadership marks. I often had the chance to attack a single enemy positions with a superiority number of troops, attacked tactically correct, but failed, because my soldiers did a crap-shooting, were easily supressed and retrieted after a minute. The biggest problem were the canon-halftracks, which were of no use, when they got some enemy traces (from the front!) on there armoured-plates.
The only vehicle, that was kind of senseful, was the halftrack with the 50 cal. MG.

To summon it:
Very interesting and challenging scenario, but not senseful with the wrong kind of toops on the US side. I dare say, that no one of the players, who normally play a campaign without savegames, ends this scenario succesfully in the first try.
Successfully means, at the end, he has enough troops left to fight another scenario of the campaign. No chance in my opinion, even if we have tactic-gods around here.

Greets, MARS42

@Ghost Rider 3/3
 
"To those that have somehow managed Total Victory... nice.. would like to know where you placed your units."
 
I positioned in the setup zone as follows:
 
Middle: I made a great trench behind the forrest with the Bunker and positioned one platoon and a HMG in it. I used 2 schützenlöcher (dugouts), positoned the 2 Paks in it and gave them the direction to the right side of the battlefield (behind the forrest on the right side). In the first minutes, i drove the two HQ Tigers also to this position, which defended the left side of the forrest (street). When the russians came and artillery-fire ceased, i moved two infantry groups into the forrest to prevent my Tigers and my Paks from surprise-attacks through the woods.
 
Left side:
In the forrest left of the mentioned position (the one which is in the setup zone nearest to the enemy), i placed trenches and dugouts into the forrest and positoned a platoon, 3 HMGs and 2 additional Panzerschrecks in it. Behind this forrest i drove 4 Tigers, 2 aiming to the left, 2 to the right, securing the street.
 
Right side:
I positoned the remaining trenches and dugouts at the right edge of the map (where the russian forward observer is) and put two platoons in it or around it, because there were not enough trenches for all soldiers left.
After 2 minutes, i ran with both platoons forward into the forrest with the second bunker and positioned them there as a screen for the Tigers against the advancing infantry. 4 Tigers drove behind the forrest, two looked right, two looked left.
 
The rest of the soldiers were positioned on the right map side and ran to the rear at the beginning of the scenario.
All infantry-soldiers are in hide.
 
With this tactic, you loose some man through artillery, but not too much. The Tigers, the Schrecks and the Paks always fire into the sides of the T34s and so you have more hits with the first round.
 
I hope, this helpes a little bit.
 
By the way, i´m not a genius, i nedded some frustrating experiences with this scenario, before i figured out, that this tactic works fine.
 
@ Dragonwynn:
 
"I may release the missions as stand alone without the storyline."
 
Don´t do this, your storyline and campaign are great. But you should mention in the download area, that this campaign is not intended for CM-beginners, but for hardcore fans with a high frustrating tolerance!

Hello Dragonwynn,
 
after playing the first four minutes of scenario 4 (Defending the bridge), i was really frustrated, because i think, you have done the setup of the troops not as accurate as you did it in the first 3 scenarios. I closed the game and will play it again.
 
1. As i noticed in the other 3 scenarios before, i sometime don´t get it, why you spread the platoons as much and don´t hold them together.
 
2. The setup of the Tigers has to be corrected. I was really angry about the position of the Tigers of 1 and 2 platoon together with company HQ. They are standing in line on a street, which is getting incoming T34 fire after 5 seconds of the scenario beginning. So i loosed 2 Core units withing the first 60 seconds without the possibility to react. The enemys here are the 4 T34s in front of the Tigers behind a little wood. That must be corrected.
 
3. The setup of 3 of the Paks is not helpful. The have nearly no line of fire and are positioned tactically poorly. The same with the Panthers and Panzer IV. The tanks are not the problem, i can move them, but to move the Paks is not so easy, so they must stand in good positions at the beginning.
 
4. I don´t get the postions of the infantry either. Some troops here, some there. No mainpoint of defence. I recommend here the sentence of General Manstein "Who wants to defend all, defends nothing"
 
I have the feeling, that this scenario was developed too fast. I suggest to make a complete new setup for this scenario or to create some setup zones for the players.
 
Sorry for the harsh critic, not intended to offend you, but to help.

Hello dragonwynn,
 
i also finished the first scenario now successful.
 
In the first try i lost 8 Tigers, in the second 5, in the third 2, .... that´s now acceptable to go on for the next mission.
 
I agree mostly with Holien experience. The first mission is too difficult for an opening scenario of a campaign, because you have to save enough core-units for the following scenarios. That´s nearly impossible without repeating the mission.
On the other side i must say, that i had a lot of fun even at the third try, because of these huge challenges. As a stand-alone scenario it would be nearly perfect.
 
What really disturbed me, is the experience-level of the german infantry. It might be realistic, that some of the german units in 1944 were "green", but it does not help the campaign to play it in a realistic way.
 
I defended some woods with green units, had all advantages on my side, but my troops retreated always after the first few russian shots out of the woods an were then destroyed by russian tanks or artillery. Under this conditions, every tactical plan of a player is senseless.
In the third try i took only the regular and experienced forces towards the enemy and put the green (senseless) troops to the rear.
So i would suggest to upgrade all the current experience levels of the german infantry one step. Green to Regular, Regular to Experienced and Experienced to Veteran.
 
Greets, MARS42