Stalingrad campaign - train station #1

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 8:31 pm

hi all, am a bit flummoxed in the Stalingrad campaign (again!) having scraped together what's left of my force from the Mamyev Kurgan rumpus I've been fighting it out for the train station with most of my kampfgruppe complete. I've made two differing attempts so far but the losses have been nothing less than horrendous.

Seeing as it's so heavily mined and close up urban my first attempt was without tanks - as I've not seen any Russian armour anywhere. However, merely holding onto the train station seems nearly impossible as assault teams and guards inf units 'pop up' out of nowhere which leads to my own (engineer, mg) units fragging my own units while defending neighboring friendlies or (worse!) leaving them to their fate. This got so bad on only the left hand side of the station that my forces mounting that attack were so depleted as to be unable to progress. so...

I try again, going in with tanks. This is much slower as my precious pzivf2s have to be walked in slow to avoid all the mines and enemy popping out all over. But this seems too slow and has resulted in costly losses as my engineers are sadly needed at the front end of things.

I have a good mix of forces, engineers, inf, mg units with artillery supporting and enough decent tanks to see off any armour (although I don't think there are any). However I would really appreciate any hints and tips from anyone who has played through this one. I need a solid victory as the battle for Kurgan left me unable to replenish my total fighting force, I'm still in good shape but don't want to start down that slippery slope of attrition that the meat grinder of stalingrad just swallows me up.

hellcat

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Thu May 02, 2002 2:53 am

I am seeing that you are enjoying sightseeing at Stalingrad

I will be updating this campaign in the near future. There'll be new battles added and more branching too.

What is hard about the Station?:D

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Thu May 02, 2002 3:00 am

Hi there! all new version huh??? hmm... maybe I should hangfire and wait for that - how far thru am I if I'm at the Station now???
I guess it was more like general tactical advice I was hoping for as this scenario seems very challenging and I really don't want to draw this one as I need the rebuild builds from a victory to put my force back together again after the Kurgan Hill... I haven't played this thru yet as I was hoping to see what suggestions came my way before going for the endgame. I'm quite confident I can reach all the Victory hexes by driving in infantry wedges, holding them is another matter however!

Thanks for a good campaign though, it's been a real challenge so far and requiring differing approaches each time. any advice appreciated!
hellcat (currently masquerading in a pzivf2s)

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Thu May 02, 2002 3:28 am

The update will be awhile before it is released. Maybe July or August. Please play this one through as it will be awhile till the update

M4Jess · Post by **M4Jess** » Thu May 02, 2002 3:31 am

hellcat, I used alot of prayer on this one! Bryan did an outstanding job! As a matter of fact, his maps are better than most and 2nd to none (hint hint:rolleyes: )

M4

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Thu May 02, 2002 4:46 am

Originally posted by M4 Jess
hellcat, I used alot of prayer on this one! Bryan did an outstanding job! As a matter of fact, his maps are better than most and 2nd to none (hint hint:rolleyes: )

M4

Thanks for the compliment M4 - Question - when will you rejoin the Raider's??

I've been waiting

M4Jess · Post by **M4Jess** » Thu May 02, 2002 5:48 am

Thanks for the compliment M4 - Question - when will you rejoin the Raider's??

Bryan,

Soon...very soon... All I have left to do is beat up a Goblin......

Goblin- a Goblin cant hide"

M4 Jess

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Fri May 03, 2002 4:30 am

cheers guys, I shall press on, grinding down is par for the course in Stalingrad. I have to admit it's a helluva good campaign!

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Sun May 05, 2002 6:29 pm

well I got a draw

despite dropping paras in to get at those rear objectives and despite taking all victory hexes, man, now I'm in even worse shape than before but I don't see how I could have got a big victory here, just too much close up fighting... I'm onto the Grain Silo now, am starting to fear I won't make it to the end of the campaign... how did the monty python thing go? 'no... no fun in Stalingrad...' lol - soldiering on

hellcat

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Sun May 05, 2002 7:06 pm

Originally posted by hellcat
well I got a draw despite dropping paras in to get at those rear objectives and despite taking all victory hexes, man, now I'm in even worse shape than before but I don't see how I could have got a big victory here, just too much close up fighting... I'm onto the Grain Silo now, am starting to fear I won't make it to the end of the campaign... how did the monty python thing go? 'no... no fun in Stalingrad...' lol - soldiering on

hellcat

That's Stalingrad

stevemk1a · Post by **stevemk1a** » Tue May 07, 2002 6:59 am

Hi, I'm also playing the Stalingrad Campaign, I've just played to a very bloody draw at the Grain Silo! (had to rebuild an awful lot of my force)- the fact that bashing down a building in ver 7.1 with an AFV doesn't cause an automatic breakdown was a great help in this one (I love the Flammpanzer II:) ). I'm just wondering what version of Spwaw this campaign was designed for, and what consequence playing this one with ver7.1 has on play balance (easier-harder?). To me, direct fire from AFV's seems more effective than before and that fact combined with their ability to crash through buildings without throwing a tread gives the Germans an advantage... I'm really enjoying this campaign - usually my attention span is to short to finish them

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Tue May 07, 2002 8:25 am

willy, Campaign was designed for 6.0 versions. I hope to complete a makeover update by this summer for 7.1+ version(s).

It should play well in 7.1 but the AVF Building thing does give one an advantage

Keep me posted as how campaign goes

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Tue May 07, 2002 9:45 am

hey Willy what's your core force? Can u post it here? You mention you've just finished the grain silo have you been able to repair your core force completely up until then? I've not been able to since Kurgan hill

(where I got a draw) - what kind of victory did you get there? and at the train station?

hellcat

stevemk1a · Post by **stevemk1a** » Tue May 07, 2002 7:20 pm

Hi- IIRC my core was:
1 Platoon PzIIIL
2 Platoons Stug40
1 Rifle Co
1 81mm Mortar Batt
2 Ammo truck
1 Forward Obs
I think that was it...(may have forgot something) I lost the Ammo trucks in one of the first few battles (I forget which one) when the Sov's overran my foolishly placed Artillery park, and I could never afford to replace them. I upgraded the German ATRs to Flammpanzer II's and the PzIIIL's to PzIVf2's along the way. I think I got an MV at the Kurgan hill, with moderate losses, and rebuilt to close to full strength- then got a draw at the train station with lots of Infantry losses (darn infiltrators:mad: ) and only 15 rebuild points! Grain Silo was a bloodbath for me and I had a pretty sad little force left after it was over (I should have let the Sov's keep more of their VH's). However I got lots of rebuild points after that one and built up to about 80%:) - Tractor Works here I come!

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Tue May 07, 2002 7:51 pm

thanks willy! That reassures me some as I've been worried that maybe I'm starting down the slippery slope to destruction as I've not been able to patch up my core force fully for two battles now but it seems it has been largely the same for you. The Train Station was one hell of a battle and grain silo sounds even worse (not started it yet due to other battle committments). Do post on here to let us know how you fare! Best and good luck to you!

hellcat

degen · Post by **degen** » Wed May 08, 2002 10:05 am

Hellcat, it's been a while since I played the train station, but I will give a go for you. My strategy was to suppress the ruskies with artillery and machine guns, then move in with the auxillary troops supported by my engineers and FJs. I also used a flammpanzer on the north end to route out the russians. My other panzers were helpful for opportunity fire on the front line and to blast hexes that I know had russians in them--kinda of a mobile artillery force, but the smoke built up quickly to limit my view. I tried to use the auxillary troops as the initial assault group to preserve my core force. Once I was able to get established in the far side of the train station, I tried to take 2-3 hexes a turn to force out the russians. I kept them suppressed with artillery on the outer wall of the station, but a shell would occassionally land among my troops. (I used the same target hex for the artillery, so I was generally able to fire artillery each turn. Also, when you run out of regular ammo, drop smoke as it seems to have an effect on morale.) After I took the victory hexes, I loaded up hexes with engineers, MGs, and in one case, my flammpanzer rammed into a building. When the russians moved into try to retake the VHs, I would give them a healthy dose of opportunity fire with the MGs and the engineers' goodies. Then they would retreat into my artillery screen. This worked as a good meatgrinder on russian train station force.

Don't feel bad as I played this one twice and barely got a MV on the second go round. As for getting to the nail factroy, forget about it. Too many russians there to make a dent in their defenses. I focused on taking the train station and the VHs at the northen court yard, along with destroying as many russians as possible.

I can't recall my exact core force but it was something like a mixture of FJs and engineers, a platoon each of Pz III's and Pz IV's, 2 flammpanzers, an artillery section (75mm), and an ammo truck.

There were some threads on this battle and others when the campaign initially came out, so you may try to search for those for more help.

Good luck!

hellcat · Post by **hellcat** » Wed May 08, 2002 11:55 am

thanks degen quite insightful! In the end I got a draw despite securing all VHs (thanks to my paradrop in the far East side of the map) but overall it was far too costly. My force is pretty beaten up so I'm going to have to be really careful at the Grain Silo...

ivantheterrible · Post by **ivantheterrible** » Thu May 09, 2002 1:47 am

It appeared to be a small quick battle to me at first, but boy was I wrong! Some of those Russian marines, I bet ya they're elite level...

degen · Post by **degen** » Thu May 09, 2002 9:49 am

Originally posted by hellcat
thanks degen quite insightful! In the end I got a draw despite securing all VHs (thanks to my paradrop in the far East side of the map) but overall it was far too costly. My force is pretty beaten up so I'm going to have to be really careful at the Grain Silo...

Glad to be of help! At the grain silo I used similar tactics and found an approach from the top right side to be safest. Sneak tanks along the top of the map and manuver them along that back road to the grain silo to support your assault. The key also is to take the building with VHs in about the middle of the map, to the left of the grain silo. Doing so will secure a line of fire on the silos and anchor the bottom section of the map. The troops that I sent in the middle directly in front of the silos were torn to pieces by russian fire, so I would avoid a direct assault. This is a meat grinder for infantry and without auxillaries for cannon fodder, its tough to preserve the core force. As I recommended before, use artillery to suppress and hope to get lucky! Use smoke to scare the russians if you run out of ammo. And as always, watch out for some infiltrators...

I stopped playing the campaign at the next battle, which is an assault against a huge factory complex. I love urban combat, but the grind of some of these previous battles wore me out.

Have fun!

BryanMelvin · Post by **BryanMelvin** » Fri May 10, 2002 8:11 am

Degen, only a few battles till the wonderful outdoors in the winter wonderland of mother Russian

Try'n to protect those retreating Romanians

But before this - a few Factory buildings need taken

Stalingrad campaign - train station #1

Stalingrad campaign - train station #1

Be CAREFUL at the grain silo!