Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

thanks for the fast work.

Anyway here a breakdown of my Units so far

HQ

1st Kompanie

HQ Section
1xInfantry section(veteran)

Rifle platoon
3xInfantry section(veteran) 1xengineer section(green)

scout platoon
1xpatrol(destroyed), 1xscout section(veteran)

AT-platoon
2xAT-rifles(1xveteran,1xdestroyed)

Scout car platoon
1xwz.29 polish scout car(veteran),1x S-35 french tank(veteran),1xcrew(veteran),PL destroyed

2nd Kompanie

HQ 1xrifle section

3 rifle platoons including one understrength (-engineer)
3x rifle squads, 1xenginneer squad

MG-platoon
2xHMG Sections (veteran)

Independent Tank platoon

1xPz 4D
1xdamaged Pz 38(t)
3xPz2c(one destroyed)

AT-Gun Battery
2x3.7cm At-guns
1(1) crew

Artillerie Battery
3x7.5cm inf guns
1.7.5cm gun(manned by infantry)
1x10.5cm howitzer(manned by infantry)

Transport platoon
3xAPCs+1 destroyed

For the balkans i will add one bulgarian infantry company with mortars and probably some kind of AD.


Anyway thanks for the metaxas line scenario but i was thinking to branch out a bit before.

What about some scenarions in the desert starting june 1940 with 2 companies of italian infantry more or less including support weapons and tanks. i would add them to the core and use only these units. then when the rest gets to afrika they would fight together. i will see if i can change the nation of the campaign to italian for these fights.

the idea would be to do this till may 1941 then attack through the balkans with the other part of my units. and then after barbarossa they fight together in the desert.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Good idea. Next stop: British Somaliland. You probably wont need any tanks heavier than the tankettes in the first scenarios.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

cool thanks for going with the idea. I will buy one company of infantry and one of Askari together with a support troop and some Blindaos

andiamo Arribo subito ehehhe

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Colonel Roberto Baggios plan is simple. Fix the enmy with a broad front attack while attacking him on the flank.

He has one company of black shirts and one of Askari. Booth reeinfroced with some regulars.

The recon platoon of the militia company will attack the northern hill and swing south to the village supported by the tanks and the rest of the company who advances through the valley in the centre and then attacks either north to the hill or the village.

the askari company will advance in broad front in the center. acting as diversion.

Baggios colonials are low on moral and experience so it has to be seen if it actually needs a company for the job it would normaly give a platoon.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

btw ithink the date should be 8/1940 here since the attack on somaliland happened at this time according to wikipedia at least.

in february 1941 the italians were already on the defense.

I could pass some nice months until april 1941 fighting there until going to the balkans :)


Is it possible to go back in time after a scenario or will it crash?

On another note why do the Pzgrenadiers have smgs in the platoon leader squad that always confused me. for the game it makes no sense to have the platoon leader in the assault squad.

i know it has nothing to do with the scenario the oob is that way but its strange anyway.

see ya

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

ah crap, the date was a mistake on my part. Well it is not so bad, I don't think the oob changes much in that time.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

since we are selecting the units anyway it shouldnt be much of a problem. i checked it out an it is a bug from the program if you play britain against germany in august 1940 it jumps right to february 41 every time.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Not a bug - since nothing happened (on land) in that month between the UK and Germany, the game automatically advances the clock until a suitable battle date (arrival of DAK).

Italy v Great Britain will generate Tug Argun at that date.

Andy

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Ahh, so that's the reason. I left the player nation as Germany, because I was afraid it would cause a bug if we switched to Italy in the middle of the campaign. I didn't notice it switched to February automatically. In fact, isn't that a bit strange? Shouldnt I be able to set whatever date I want in the editor to do what ifs and stuff?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

The game is set up to follow the historical WW2 timeline, otherwise it all goes to pot especially in campaigns. We would get end-user "bug" reports for UK v GE in that date if placed in say a generic "Northern Europe" location, and what happens in the months in between fall of Tunisia and Sicily?

So no, what-ifs aren't the focus of the game, though they can be worked around for individually hand-crafted scenarios (even if a Sealion (say) scenario has to have a false date). But there wont be a Sealion scenario presented in the LC - as it did not happen.

Andy

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

I am not on the LC anymore we are just stringing together scenarios in a campaign.

Also i just found out that there was a motorised company east afika fighting with the italians in somalia during that period.but that was only one company ok.

Also what about the SMG squad for panzergrenadier platoon leaders doesnt make sense at all does it? This makes you lead the attack with the platoon leaders in front.

Or is it this way because of historical accuracy?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

That is a bit of an abstraction. IRL the Germans had a platoon HQ with a few guys and then three full squads, but that would lead to too many little command squads on the fields. Since the squad is full strength, why not use it to assault? My guess is they have smgs for variety, since the Germans did issue more smgs to mechanised infantry, even though they didn't equip whole squads with them at this point.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

yeah but a platoon leader with smgs is useless if the other guys have rifles. the platoon leader should be i on the back giving support not in the front assaulting with smgs. ina cmpiagn if i buy pzgrenadiers i always change them to have the PL as rifleequipped.


btw thanks again for the setup help!its great fun!!!

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

The attack into british somali land started with a small success.
The blocking forces could be pushed back and one 2-Pdr AT-Gun was captured intact.

The british colonial troops were about 2 companies supported by armored cars and at guns and a pair of Gloster Gladiator Bi-planes. They were slightly better trained and equipped then the italians that had more artillery.

In the north the italians attacked with a platoon supported by 5 light tanks. Together with the artillery they quickly took the hill.

in the south the askari and 2 platoons of the CCNN infantry company advanced under cover of 4 75mm guns and supporting direct fire guns. While taking losses they managed to push aside the british without much delay and took the crossroads and village in front of them.

Later their attack was supported by the tanks of the northern attack. Here one Armored car was lost to long range AT-gun fire (of course on the first shot as always).

There were 2 counterattacks one by Armored cars that were quickly destroyed by the tanks since they themselves didnrt have AT-weapons and one by light horse that was stopped by rifle and lmg fire of the italian askaris and colonial troops.

Colonel Baggios task force lost 8 men KIA and 32 WIA while taking over hundred uk prisoners. Unfortunatly the crews of the 3.7 in howitzers managed to destroy there guns before the askaris reached them.

Fortunatly most of the losses could be replaced and the one damaged tankette only had some holes from AT rifle fire.

Now the Italians could continue to the coast aiming to capture the city of Gerisa on the way.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

i tried changing the country to italy and setting the date to august 1940. it works without problems.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Ok to make this clear: I can now set the date to August 1940 and it will work?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

you have to make the player country italy and it will work. if you stick with germany it will change to february 1941 again.

i made a test scenario with italy against uk 8/1940 and it loads ok.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Yes but afaik you cannot go "back in time" in campaigns.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

On his way to the coast baggios colloumn gets reeinforced by another company of askari marching in from the west.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

i just tried it out no problem.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

here is my group so far. one 2 pdr got captured. the other 2 at guns i will give away before the next scenario there were just bought so i could at one 2 pdr to my units.

the company of german infantry i will change to askaris and colonials with experience around 55 moral the same

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

of course the german and slovak units are not used in somalia only the italians

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

OK the scenario is set to august 1940, hope it doesnt screw anything up.
The allies are starting to retreat from somalia, with the elite black watch covering.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

here the plan for this battle. The "regulars" who are best equipped will move forward along the southern flank going for the hills dominating the dried out riverbed.

the 1st askari company will pass through the village on the hill and join them while the second least experienced unit will attack the center hill and then move slowly for the northern hill if possible.

intelligence suggests the uk units are mainly infantry with very few artillery and other guns lets hope so.

unfortunatly this time our artillery is also quite limited so the center hill will be taken without preparation mybe it is not occupied anyway.

Smoke will be dropped on the southern approach while in the north 2nd askari company will show itself in order to attract some attention by uk artillery and counterattacks.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

turn 1-4

All units advance with maximum speed since the uk forces are trying to get away and evacuate. While climbing the centre hill no resistance is met and the support weapons stationed further back prepare to be moved on this hill from where they have excellent field of fire onto the eastern riverbank

turn 5-8
The center hill is taken without any resistance and the support guns mount their trucks in order to get into position. in the north the scouts get attacked by an at rifle return fire and the result is one scout wounded at rifle crew not impressed at all. the scouts retreat and one askari platoon gets read to fire with 27 rifles on the uk 2 man team lets see what that happesn then.

in the south the regular company gets attacke by hmg fire and pops smoke also a british armored car platoon tries a spoiling attack exactly where it bothers the italians the most damn.

turn 9
In the north a Vickers squad fires on the askaris casuing one casaulty. th e askaris retaliate by taking out one at rifleman and sending the other running.

On the southern flank tanks and sniper fire destroy 3 uk vehicles while 2 remain in the dried out river. a uk sniper hits an askari but his location is spotted.

turn 10

the uk sniper hits two more men this time the AT-rifle team from 1st company. the italian sniper fires back but finally the black watch man is shot by askaris who dont like to take snipers prisoner. the last 2 attacking vehicles are also destroyed one 2 pdr portee by small arm fire and one armored car by the 20mm gun of a tankette. ! st company takes further causalities while storming into a vickers mg position which is finally pinned down with brixia mortar fire which forces the hmg crew to retreat and opens up the route to advance further onto the opposite river bank.

on the northern flank a smg squad fires on the askaris who return fire and force the taking out two brits while the other 2 retreat. still somewhere on the other side are 2 vickers hmgs.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

turn 14-22: the black watch have set up machineguns in the few areas that are covered with trees and also about one company of infantry is suspected to be guarding the riverbank. so far about one platoon has been identified and all three companies are fighting to push them back.

Also 4 heavy artillery guns cause causalities but the mortars cant do counterbattery fire since they are busy with supporting the advance. While the italians push closer taking and inflicting losses two mortars batteries also open up fire. the defender is better equipped then the attacker and stil the italains succed pushing back the british infantry more and more. in the south resistnace has collapsed and italians are the owner of the eastern and western riverbank attacking the brits in the flank now it is only a matter of time.

Seeing this the british comander retreats taking with him the artillery and ad guns that would have been lost to the italians otherwise.

final result of the battle was a draw with the italians loosing their sniper in the final bombardment.

44 italians were causalties as opposed to 104 commonwealth troops. A few turns more and the battle would have ended in total defeat for the brits as i was coming with 2 companies from the left flank. i should have made a frontal attack the maneuvering around on the flanks cost me to much time.

At least a 2pdr portee gun was captured even if the 2 pdrs are of very limited use sans he ammo.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

With the British retreating from Somaliland, you have some time to rest and refit until the battle of Keren, starting February 1941.

After you finish this one, please send me the final savegame.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

the rest and refit is urgently needed maybe i can also find some lmg for my askaris but the supply situation is bleak. What we do have is wine though. There might be also some time for safaris.

your almost as fast as the scenario generator only much better thx hehe

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

the country swap works prefectly. i know even have italian ranks when adding new units while the german units maintain their german ranks.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

die the italians think of laying mines and barbed wire in keren?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Dunno, I guess?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

So the italians fortofied themselves heavily with mines and barbed wire.

The only mistake they made was to try a spoiling attack with the tank platoon that didnt meet any enemy until it ran into a 2pdr that destroyed 2 tankettes completely(especially the brixia smoke thrower will be missed)

The indians are getting pounded in the center and in the north the mortars hit them heavily. Only problem is what happens in 5 or so turns when the mortars run out of shells before the indians run out of infantry?

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Well you know you can always retreat to save you core force, I mean it's not important to get only victories in a campaign like this.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

yeah so far everything is stable only problem is the lack of smoke for the askari which makes planning the right moment for retreat important since you have to drop smoke with the mortars for them.

in the south i have a whole company free and i am sending one platoon to scout out counterattack possibilities.

also i have to learn how to defend against planes they really are killers.especially for soft vehicles.

the worst is the loss of the tanks since i dont know if it will be possible to replace them in east africa probably not.

i dont care about the victory levels at all just about a good fight and saving as much of my units as possible

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Finally my mortars ran out of ammo and even an infantry squad is left with only 9 handgrenades and no rifle ammo.

luckily the indians are all retreating now and on the south i have one company counterattacking maybe they will be able to reach the english guns and mortars.

if there wont be any late surprise things are under control right now but a little bit more enemy infantry and they might have broken through since i am low on ammo now

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

OK, you have two choices: Either you can continue resisting in this position for another round to buy more time (in which case please send me the last savegame), or you can retreat to the Keren main position, which is better fortified and supported and continue the fight from there.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

so it was a acomplete rout for the indians. while my third company was on the way to overrun the uk gun positions the scenario ended.

so i predicted the result by coin toss and it was decided that we managed to take some of the guns (2x 2pdr,1x4.5 in,2x25pdr guns) before they were destroyed by the crews. also we captured more lmgs for the askaris. With that reeinforcments Colonel Baggio was ordered to hold his current position.

I maybe used a bit to many support points in this scenario since my position already is quite heavily fortified.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

as always the planes have been a big problem i think they caused almost the most causalities. whats hurts most are the 2 burning wrecks of tankettes on the southern hill. if only i could hav cpatured that a13 cs.....

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Next one

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

After the defeat of the indian 5th division probing attack there was some time for reftitting and fortifying the positions. ne ammounition stocks were brought from Keren so now the mortars wouls be able to fire without pause. Also the trenches were changed a bit to make defense easier and the recently captured guns were put into position (1x 4.5in 2x25 pdr aND 1x2pdr).

Already the dust kicked up by the coloumns of 5th division trucks can be seen in the distance. time to move into the trenches and ready the guns....

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

The indians have brought their best this time. In the not so far distance 3 platoon 1st company sees ghurkas and engineers advancing on the weak spot of the line suppported by the almost impenetrable matilda tanks.

in the north a group of a pair of cruiser tanks runs into the lines no infantry seen yet that might get very interesting very soon i might have to think about some repositioning of my infantry.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

Wait so the cruiser tanks are manned in your version? I deleted the crew on them and if I start the scenario they are "destroyed". Theyare supposed to be the tanks you knocked out last time.
Maybe this doesnt work in campaigns??

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

closer investigation shows that the tanks are just burned out hulls from last battle. the matildas are all to real though

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

after a few hours of heavy fighting the ghurkas managed to gain a foothold on the western side of the central hill. since they couldnt do anything to hurt the matildas the italians hat to retreat onto the other side of the hill.

With half their tanks immobilised by tanks and one destroyed as he tried to cross the hill by infantry assault.

3rd company then started a counterattack in the south overruning a mortarteam.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

after advancing a few hundred meters 3rd company is driven back buy fresh indian troops. They retreat to their trenches as it gets dark. As colonel baggio sees that there are new reeinforcments arriving for the attackers and with scouts reporting a move of commonwealth troops tocut of his retreat lines he decides to use the cover of darkness to retreat back to keren. He hopes to escape before the cw units arrive in his back.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

OK, the Keren main position. Note that no reinforcements will reach you in the foreseeable future.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

there is always the question if mymen had enough time to fortify the positions further cause a few extra mines always help hehe

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

This time no, there already are fortications.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

ok i think i will restrict support points to 100 for the next scenarios so i rely only on the support units in the scenario the temptation to fill everything with mines and barbed wire is just to big.

So now we reached the formidable defensive terrain at keren. i pitty the attackers here huge losses will surely be taken since they have to advance over a lot of empty space an i have some artillery to make their live miserable.

A full AD platoon is present protecting our guns and they will probably be very busy. Already during the retreat the coloumn was repeatedly attacked by british fighters while our own airforce has been quite absent the last days.

Although we have the high ground the indians have been following closely behind us and so as they arrive we didnt even have time to fully man the trenches closest to the front( the start up line is a bit to far to the east ;) )

The biggest concern are the matilda 2 tanks and until know we still dont have any idea on how to stop them.

Re: campaign scenario setup help
 

These "forward trenches" are actually Indian.