LSA - my review, thoughts, etc

[Overman]

Recently finished playing LSA, and I must say that it is indeed the most 'polished' of the re-releases. I loved the strat map and the pressure to capture bridges!

Played as the Allies vs German AI. Hardest settings, 15 min battles, FM on. Lost lots of bridges on the first day before I realized that speed and mobility were key. Territory up to Nijmegen was taken and held by Allied forces on 1500 of Sept 18th. All units south of Nijmegen were in full supply. By 1800 on Sept 19th, 504/82 (combined) broke through WAAL/North Bank to Oosterhout....makes contact with 4/1 UK AB on 0000 of Sept 20th @ Elst. As of 1500 on Sept 20th, all units on strat map are in full supply. GC ended on 1800 of the 21st, total Allied victory. Never got to use the Poles, lol.

Cohesion: Allies 73%, Axis 43%
Axis losses: 688 KIA, 1450 WIA, 21 Armor, 21 Vehicles, 16 Guns
Allied losses: 310 KIA, 658 WIA, 21 Armor, 4 Vehicles, 0 Guns

Pros:
-Best strat map yet! It is a game within itself.
-Smaller unit actions on large maps was very challenging.
-Less armor! Yay...an infantry game that doesn't have 50 King Tigers in one BG!
-More historical...less arcade
-Static BGs are a great idea...keeps the player from covering too much ground too quickly in the GC.
-Most satisfying GC vs AI I've played in years!
-Merging BGs is a very useful option

Questions:
-No regular American army units at Op M-G? They were all AB?
-Luftwaffe personnel had green rank badges?
-What is a 'four shot salvo'?? I never understood this concept, even after 17 years of playing the game. I noticed a bazooka crew reporting this after firing on infantry in a house.

Observations:
-Mortars are much more realistic than in WAR (where they had god-like abilities). They aren't KOing halftracks and armored cars in less than 3 shots any more.
-Halftrack armor is much more effective vs small arms fire. German HTs zipped past my infantry teams on several occasions, without their crew getting afraid due to being under fire. Grenades were less effective against them as well. Much more difficult to kill them with vanilla infantry, which is more realistic, IMO. I could even cruise my little Daimlers around without being wiped out by a burst of MG fire.
-Vehicles painted on the maps were too large and disproportionate to actual moving vehicles and soldiers.
-KG Becker has a duplicate 'FJ 8.8cm Flak36' in its FPool.

Suggestions:
-Foreign MGs in German service need NEW sounds...not duplicates.
-Cromwell and Stuart V were observed to have same 'very fast' speed, even on paved roads. Maybe I'm wrong, but HTs, ACs, and small tanks like the Stuart should be zipping around the map much faster...especially on paved roads. It was their speed that helped them survive and be effective recon and anti-personnel vehicles.
-Beef up German defending BGs in GC vs AI

[SteveMcClaire]

Hi Overman,

Thanks for your thoughts. Glad you enjoyed the game. To answer your questions:

No regular American army units at Op M-G? They were all AB?

That is correct. Market-Garden was a British operation and the US 82nd and 101st Airborne were the only major US combat units to participate.

Luftwaffe personnel had green rank badges?

I'd have to go back and look at the graphics and the historical color schemes, but this was likely a compromise solution by the artists, as there is only one rank image and the Luftwaffe personnel in this case were largely ad-hoc, pulled from whatever unit was on hand (AA, signals, etc.)

What is a 'four shot salvo'?? I never understood this concept, even after 17 years of playing the game. I noticed a bazooka crew reporting this after firing on infantry in a house.

There are cases where the AI will abort firing even when you've given them a fire order, so that they don't expend all their ammo on one target. This is the 'four shot salvo' message. Typically you see it with flame throwers but it can happen with any unit when you've given them an order to fire at a target that really doesn't match the primary function of their weapon (like a bazooka at a house).


Steve

[Overman]

Awesome, thx for the explanations.