Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France

[SaS TrooP]

Nah, just mentioning my experiences. I got under fire at positions that should be out of any particular interest. Normally it is bearable... unless you are truck/wagon based...

[Ts4EVER]

Note that the ai has a sniper close to the perimeter which can spot your units in the minefield gaps.

[Ts4EVER]

Anyway next one.

We have broken through the picket line and the outer perimeter and are advancing at a decent speed. From gun flashes we have a decent idea of where German strong points are located, so we might just be able to weave through. We are racing against time however: As the sun is slowly rising, we slowly but surely become sitting ducks, as the protective cover of darkness is lifted.

- Deploy your main force in the designated area
- Deploy the two tanks you scouted forward with in their area
- Reach the evacuation zone
- If you don't reach the evacuation zone in this round, the next battle will be at full visibility and the Germans will receive air support and reinforcements

[SaS TrooP]

German position was overrun completely at turn 22. So I had lightly 14 turns to evacuate the wounded, though I have lost or bogged down quite lot of transport (but this epic Bedford is fine, it can take lots of those remnants).
I failed to destroy entire artillery, just half of it. I did not want to risk unnecessary losses in my already battered battalion.

Way stands open. Entire passage is secured by at least weak formations providing some warning if necessary.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok cool. This concludes what I think is probably the first highlight of the campaign: The battle of Bir Hakeim. I think it went well.
Luckily I had already prepared the next scenario before the long hiatus, so I can post it immediately.
First of all: You can refresh and upgrade your force completely, cause we are making another time jump to October 1942, to the battle of El Alamein.
This scenario will be a bit more experimental and I hope it works well. You need to follow the instructions quite carefully for it to work! Also a little reminder that what you can see at the end of a scenario does not necessarily reflect what will be there next time (otherwise you could get spoiled). This is especially important in this one for reasons you will see.

After our ragtag group of survivors reached allied lines, we retreated. For weeks we moved east, into Egypt. There we were refreshed by reinforcements from England, consisting of French refugees and former Vichy soldiers from Syria. In the beginning of October we went into the line again at a place called El Alamein.

Here the Germans had been stopped in the summer, the battle ending in a stalemate. The trench warfare, characterised by nightly patrols and artillery duels, will soon end, as we prepare for a major offensive to push Rommel out of Africa once and for all.

It is 2 days before the big push and we think it is time for a bit of daring... patrols have identified a weak point in the line, where the Italian paratroopers facing us are not as diligent and well deployed as usual. A surprise attack at night might just break through and allow us to reach some juicy objectives directly behind the Italian lines...

- Deploy your forces in your trenches
- With the exception of your raiding force (more on that later), none of your infantry may move more than 2 hexes during the battle
- Fuel and artillery ammunition is being set aside for the offensive, so you may not use your artillery or vehicles
- Create a raiding force from your core force, consisting off:
- an infantry platoon
- an engineer squad
- heavy support weapons (up to 1 MG, mortar, antitank team)
- non motorized scouts and snipers from your recon unit
- Deploy this force in the indicated area
- Use this force to infiltrate behind Italian lines and hit any or all of the following objectives:
- an only lightly guarded command post
- a German bunker housing a liason officer
- a fuel dump that has not yet been distributed behind the lines
- After you have achieved what you set out to do, retreat the surviving units back to their starting positions
- If you feel that resistance is too strong, retreat
- You will not be able to recoup losses before the big offensive

If you fail to destroy any objective, the next battle will proceed normally. However, each objective you manage to destroy will give you a bonus in the next scenario.
- If you destroy the command post, you will capture papers and Italian officers: The position of all Italian strong points, minefields, artillery position and reserve positions will be marked on the map
- If you destroy the German liason officer, the Italians will not be supported by German planes or tank reinforcements
- If you destroy the fuel dump, all Italian vehicles will be immobilized

As you can see, quite complicated, but I hope it will work... if you have any questions, post them before starting.

[SaS TrooP]

Damn, I also hope it works. I was never good in objective based combat in Steel Panthers. There is even a big mission like that in SPWW2, forgot the exact location, but you play as Greece vs. Italy in 1940.
This is surely one of the most disastrous battles I have ever led xD

Just one question out of technicallity, also a note for future scenarios: Remember I do not use Z-fire against the AI. At all. I hope you include that part in scenario creation. All would be way too easy with Z-fire ability. And secondly, what is your approach to snipers? If possible, I recommend to rather avoid them on best training. I always considered snipers definitely overpowered. I also have only one in my core force and I will not increase the amount.

[SaS TrooP]

Anyway, here is the scenario completed:
- Italian Command Post has been eliminated and prisoners actually taken
- Ammo dump has been eliminated, AT guns has been destroyed as objective of opportunity
- Liason officer has not been accomplished

I have decided to play it slightly differently. I used my Genie section to carve path through the minefield. I have lost one man in the process.
Taking out the HQ was rather easy, I did not take any casualties on this one, especially I attacked from behind.
Second group, in the meantime, went for the fuel dump. This was quite tricky here, Italians were stubborn and I could not eliminate the guards. I suffered quite few casualties there. Finally though Genie destroyed the dump and infantry penetrated about 200 metres deep, when I called off the attack. The reason was 100 metres distanse was aparently not safe from the fuel dump. Secondaries went directly at me (not the Italians), instantly killing about 10 men. Due to casualties and one more loss on the minefield towards the liason officer, I decided to retreat. I used remaining time to increase the gap width from 50 to 150 metres. Should Italians not discover that gap and area of penetration, they may have issues rebuilding it.
Turn 45 depics general retreat towards my lines. Those two infantry squads are left on Italian side accidentally (I forgot about them and then just stood, so please consider them evacuated). I have left 3 men from recon team to overwatch the gap. In case Italians have it, gap is in range of my mortars and MG fire. I do not want Gustadori to rebuild it. Scouts pass the contact to the Battalion HQ and Vickers MGs are unleashed if needed.

Raid ended up with 20 of my mean being casualties. 50 Italians were taken out in the process.

[Ts4EVER]

Ok, then on to the main show:

In the upcoming assault, which is itself only a distraction from an even bigger offensive in the north, we will be supported by the British 7th Armoured Division, as well as lots of British heavy artillery.
We have send back the plans of the Italian offensives to the British, so their artillery will be able to precisely plan the big opening barrage. The Italians are out of fuel, so their tanks and trucks are immobilized and they will not be able to bring up their armored reservers. They ca call on German Panzers and Stukas though.
- Deploy your force in your trenches
- Plan the opening barrage
- Advance as far as possible

[Ts4EVER]

About z-fire: I don't do that myself tbh.
About snipers: I don't usually use them in bulk unless I wanna do some kind of harassing delay kind of scenario.

[SaS TrooP]

Allright, there we go.
At turn 33 enemy command post is about to be overrun. Same goes to artillery (no chance for it to extract itself on time). Most of Italian parachute battalion is anihilated, with just one strongpoint up there I decided to omit. German reinforcements have been pretty much taken out. IU have huge amount of tanks left working and I captured a lot of trucks. Enemy AT weapons are down.

Even though I still do not control whole area, I would declare it a win. Should the game be set to 40 turns... and I have the whole map.

My casualties are high. Just to let you know: about ~75% or more of my infantry losses were caused by 2-3 snipers. Yes, snipers killed me more than 100 men. Which is precisely why I call usage of snipers retarded. No need to mention I dispatched strong forces to look for them with very little effect. I stopped taking casualties only when they run out of ammo.
My combat abilities are now limited. If there were no snipers I would barely feel the losses.