Matrix Games Forums

Well, I'm back to playing SPWAW after a year's leave of absense.
I had made it as far as the Train Station in version 7.1 before I got hooked into playing alot of Third Reich PBEM.
I've returned to SPWAW to find v8.2 and a new Stalingrad Campaign! Sounds like fun!

'Back in the day' I played Avalon Hill's Squad Leader/Cross of Iron, which was predominately East Front action. SPWAW is the first PC adaption of that venerable boardgame classic I've seen. And I mean, it's all there. Even the time/unit scale is the same! Like the EA Games' commercail .. "If it's in the game, it's in the game," And I loved most Avalon Hill games in general, but Squad Leader in particular.

I'm still learning SPWAW, and from what I've read in the forums, the Stalingrad Campaign is highly recommend. I hope you like reading about my first real attempt to get through a campaign. I can tell SPWAW is Hall of Fame. Just like Nethack.

[8D]Games like this are the reason I'm computer literate in the first place.[8D]

Here's my Core Force selection: (2499 points of 2500 available)

GE HQ
GE Forward Observer
GE Medium Mortar Battery (6x81mm)
GE Sniper (placeholder for Ammo Truck)
GE Rifle Company (SMG, MG42 & 50mm Mortar support) minus the ATRs.
GE Engineer Company Commander (for extra rally of the ...)
GE Engineer Platoon (MG42 support)
GE Scout Team Platoon (all 2-man) x2
GE Motorcycle Platoon (gotta have one!)
GE Light Panzer Section (3xPzIIf Recon) x2
GE Support Panzer Section (2xPzIVf) x2
GE Assault Gun Platoon (3xSTuG ausf G Early model)
GE SP Gun Section (2xSTuIG 33B)

Initial plan is to upgrade the PzII's to PzIVf2's and the Recon Teams to Special Forces.
That will bring the core to almost two companies of Infantry and a half company of Panzers.
After that, the Sniper to an Ammo Truck, and at least one section of Mortars to large caliber Artillery.
Why the Assault & SP Guns and no PzIII's?
Because I wanted to have the historical feel of an Infantry Company supported
by infantry support units, instead of an AFV Company supported by infantry units.

I substituted the Assault Guns for the rifle company's original ATR's as they're much
more effective than ATR's at killing AFV's. And you gotta love the heavy armor too!

As a motorized Rifle Co would have had IG's in tow, I needed some SPG's for my boyz!
The STuIG 33B's are (almost) mandatory for East Front historical flavoring.
AFAIK they were only deployed for the Stalingrad Campaign anyway.

What about Flame Panzers and AA?
I couldn't find the points to include them in the core. Besides, I think they'll be more suited to an
auxilliary role, rather than trying to keep weak PzII's alive throughout the campaign.
I have a similar attitude towards AA units also.

Why not take a bunch of cheap units to upgrade later?
I have the feeling my entire core force must be combat effective from the starting gate.

Question: Is the Recon ability for Engineers a new feature in 8.2?
Either way, after previously playing a little H2H, extra Recon is very cool! [8D]

And I just noticed the Assault Guns are Elite!

Well - that's it for now. Any thoughts or comments?

[&o] Many thanks to Bryan Melvin, the author of the revised Stalingrad Campaign, for posting this previously!

ORIGINAL: BryanMelvin

I am posting the general flow of battle and a few tips that you might find Helpful:

Battle One - Bring home the Supplies: Ammo Trucks are worth over 200 points each. When a unit exits off the exit hexes – it triples in value. Units left on map will likewise triple the AI side’s Victory points. You must exit off the map to win this one. New.

Battle Two – 5 mile Combat Sweep: This should be a real easy battle to win. It was design to increase your core forces experience, morale, rally rates. You must avoid excessive losses. New.

Battle Three – Big Mech Battle: I suggest that you save and store the Deployment phase of this battle due to its re-playability. There are three deployment zones to choose from: north, west central, or south. You must avoid excessive unit losses to win this one decisively. You may destroy all the Russian units but end up achieving only a draw if you lose too many German units. New.

Battle Four – Breaking The 62nd Army’s Line: Big Assault battle – again avoid heavy loses. Please play this one realistically by not purchasing an overabundance of one type of unit like Artillery. Use Unit Rarity On when you buy the Support units. Should be moderately easy to win. New.

Battle Five – To those familiar with previous campaign – this is the Steppe Village fight. Included is a Mineram. Please note that this unit represents an experimental version of the 1943 MineRam that was a flop. Often experimental vehicles were given combat trials and here an early version gets a test. OOB corrections were made.

Battle Six – Don River Bend Battle: Revised scenario from older version with a few surprises added.

Battle Seven – Yes the Flak Chic Battle: Revised from older version. Use the new Support units and smoke and you should do well.

Battle Eight – North Flank Tank Battle: Revised from older version. Again – use this to build up experience for core force. Should be easy to win. Avoid Losses – period.

Battle Nine – Mav. Kurgan Hill fight revised.

Battle Ten – Revised Train Station One Battle: many new changes <Evil Grin>

Battle Eleven – Grain Silo: Revised older version

Battle Twelve – Mav Kurgan Hill 2 battle – New – I will give no hints here.

Battle Thirteen – Rattenkreig: New Battle – No hints except watch for Barges carry Russians troops ashore.

Battles 14, 15, 16, are all Factory Battles – You must control the points per turn Victory Hexes to win.

Battle 17 – New battle – Counterattack: Take a break and back on the Steppes again.

Battle 18 – Red Barricades: Revised Battle – no hints here.

Battle 19 – Romanian Retreat – Revised and updated this scenario

Battle 20 – 11-22-42 Battle – You must read the text. Lose this battle and automatically be placed back into Stalingrad pocket. Win battle and you will have a choice to remain inside the Stalingrad pocket or be apart of the relief attempt during Winter Storm. This is a New Battle that uses old map form older version.

Stalingrad Pocket Battles- there are 4 battles. Three new and one totally revised.

Winter Storm Relief Battles – There are four battles. Two have been totally updated and revised, State Farm 79 and Verkny Kumsky. The last two are New Battles – The last two are hypothetical what if battles – what if one platoon of rare Tiger Tanks reach the front from Leningrad in time for the last push to reach Stalingrad. If you lose this battle game ends - win and you move to the next battle: a Break out attempt and hold open a corridor so Sixth Army units can escape the Pocket. This last battle is unique. Core units enter form the South and Sixth army units enter from the North. You must open a corridor so the Sixth army units can exit map from the south by battles end turn. Sixth army units are worth many points – spare these from combat if you can <Very Big Evil Grin>

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Seems those boys in Intelligence do know a thing or two!

SPWAW Campaign Watcher <<---- click on the link

General info

Campaign Watcher is an utility to keep track of coreforce development over the course of a Steel Panthers: World at War campaign.

The idea is that after each battle, you use Campaign Watcher to take "snapshots" of the corresponding SPWaW save file. CW will then compare these snapshots and compile the information into a number of tables, graphs and reports.

You've just been assigned to the Eastern Front!






[X(] I think I'll command from the rear for awhile. [X(]


Coming soon .... the first DAR.
Time to get that convoy underway!

Battle One - Bring home the Supplies: Ammo Trucks are worth over 200 points each. When a unit exits off the exit hexes – it triples in value. Units left on map will likewise triple the AI side’s Victory points. You must exit off the map to win this one. New.

Praise the Lord and pass the bratwurst!

The troops are ready to march on Ivan and our first action is to escort trucks ?! [&:]

I smell an ambush ... and not just any ambush ... the sneaky infiltrating kind ...

I'll be setting the range to 1 for sure on this one, and spacing my troops a hex apart.
It's a new tactic I'm trying out ....

Nothing is more accurate than Friendly Fire.

Hmm ... 95 Support points.
Just enough for a section of PzA's (15cm SPA).
And we're escorting Ammo Trucks too! [:D]

14 Turns, Small map - maybe 30x30. The road curves around a wooded hill.
There's a small village at the top of the curve, and another on the far side.
And an Orchard/Field combination at the top, bordering the first village.
The road passes through woods on both sides of the hill.

Couldn't have picked a better spot for an ambush myself.

Dang. Only four Halftracks. Now my Engineer Captain must ride on a tank.
Now the moral dilemma ... do I treat this as a real ambush and not plot deloyment bombardment?

Sir! Ivan has killed the scout we sent into the village!

Answers that question. Besides, everyone's standing next to the trucks anyway ....



Reports from the front to be added soon! Stay tuned!

My artillery bombardment took care of any serious resistance Ivan had to offer in the first village. Casualties were light. Ivan killed two Scout Teams and immobilized a PzII at the southern village before he was routed. Those Partisan infiltrators pack quite a punch, knocking off two of my Rifle Squads. So much for my anti-infiltrator tactics. Ivan caused a tense minute or two, managing to fire on a couple of the Ammo Trucks. I'm pretty sure losing one will blow the chance of a Decisive Victory here. Halfway through the scenario and I've evacuated half the Ammo Trucks and two platoons of Infantry. I think I've taken care of that wave of infiltrators that hit a few turns back.

Turns 8-14: Yup - nothing left to do but evacuate the rest of my troopies. [:D]

BATTLE REPORT:

Casualties Incurred: 69 men, 1 heavy truck
Casualties Inflicted: 233 men, 5 artillery pieces (actually 2 HMG, 2 ATG & 1 Mtr)

German Victory Points: 14404, Russian Victory Points: 2386

DECISIVE VICTORY

Battle Two – 5 mile Combat Sweep: This should be a real easy battle to win. It was design to increase your core forces experience, morale, rally rates. You must avoid excessive losses. New.

16 turns, Huge map! Maybe 50 x 240.

I have to follow a road north to the main objective, a townlet about 150 hexes away.
Along the way there is a small village. Lots of open spaces and a few trees near the road,
with the obligatory overlooking heights at various places.

This should be interesting. I hope Ivan's not here in strength.
A few ATGs could really slow me down, and it looks like I'm on a tight schedule this time.

After fixing the damaged units in the core, (two Rifle Squads and two Recon teams),
I was left with exactly enough points to upgrade two PzII's to PzIVf2's. Sweet! [:)]

Looks like my core's on it's own this time - no support points!
According to Bryan, this is an easy battle. I wonder if he's joking ...

Exactly enough transport has been provided, and only the Recon Teams are
riding on the tanks (they're used to that anyway).

Auxiliary force is 3xMC, 3xAC, 2xAAHT, 2xPzIVf2, 2xMtr w/HT & a tracked FO.
BTW - does it seem silly to anyone else that you can't review the scenario's
Auxilliary Forces until after you've spent your Support Points?

I've deployed my forces and will resume hostilities later today. Stay tuned!

It's nice to see a DAR for this campaign. I'm currently playing it in version 7.1; got to the first Mamayev Kurgan scenario before RL caught up. Now I'm lucky to finish one turn a night. [:@]

The supply convoy was a nice start to the campaign. Like KNomad I suspected ambushers so I plastered the village on turn 0 and cleared the road before moving the convoy. I also expected the new Soviet units triggered by VH capture, although the infiltrators near the deployment area were a nasty surprise! [X(] Until I read Bryan's 8.2 notes in this thread, I didn't realize that German forces still on the board counted as Soviet VPs. [:@]

I'm looking forward to more reports. [:)]

very kool! keep going! [8D][:D][8D]

ORIGINAL: Hunpecked

I expected the new Soviet units triggered by VH capture.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite anticipate correctly.

Quite a shock to see my advance recon force charged like that!

Lost two recon teams there and a PzII was immobilized.
On the bright side, that PzII had the High Kill Award (with 3) for that battle!

On a scale of 1 to 5, I gotta rate that battle as .... <drumroll>



Great job Bryan! I must say, I'm hooked now!

ORIGINAL: KNomad

Battle Two – 5 mile Combat Sweep: This should be a real easy battle to win. It was design to increase your core forces experience, morale, rally rates. You must avoid excessive losses. New.

16 turns, Huge map! Maybe 50 x 240.

I have to follow a road north to the main objective, a townlet about 150 hexes away.
Along the way there is a small village. Lots of open spaces and a few trees near the road,
with the obligatory overlooking heights at various places.

This should be interesting. I hope Ivan's not here in strength.
A few ATGs could really slow me down, and it looks like I'm on a tight schedule this time.

After fixing the damaged units in the core, (two Rifle Squads and two Recon teams),
I was left with exactly enough points to upgrade two PzII's to PzIVf2's. Sweet! [:)]

Looks like my core's on it's own this time - no support points!
According to Bryan, this is an easy battle. I wonder if he's joking ...

Exactly enough transport has been provided, and only the Recon Teams are
riding on the tanks (they're used to that anyway).

Auxiliary force is 3xMC, 3xAC, 2xAAHT, 2xPzIVf2, 2xMtr w/HT & a tracked FO.
BTW - does it seem silly to anyone else that you can't review the scenario's
Auxilliary Forces until after you've spent your Support Points?

I've deployed my forces and will resume hostilities later today. Stay tuned!

Col. K - This is Aux MC Squad 1 reporting.
We have suffered a flat tire driving through a field.
I'm afraid we'll be stuck here for the entire battle.
Please advise.

Great! The first piece I move is a motorcycle that gets immobilized!

TURN 1: A pair of Soviet Light Tanks are discovered lying in ambush, just north of the deployment zone,
defending a path through the woods flanking the village. They are no match for my assault guns.

The truck sections, if they are ever going to reach the town of Jefrossinowka in any kind of timely manner, apparantly have no choice but to pass through the village. They'll be escorted by the SPG's (cuz they're about as fast as a truck anyway) and a section of Support Tanks. My MCs are currently playing cat and mouse with a lend lease Valentine in the village, awaiting the arrival of the assault guns. I'm under a tight timetable, so I order a preemptive bombardment of the village. The rest of the Kampgruppe is going to bypass the village and head directly for Jefrossinowka.

[HomerSimpson] D'oh! [/HomerSimpson]

A PzII gets immobilized while driving through the mud. Note to self: NEVER start AFVs in mud again.

Not a great start, I'm down two Recon units already. At least Ivan is too.
[&:] I hope that path through the woods isn't mined.

TURN 2-3: The mortar crews did a fine job shelling the village.
Not only routed Ivan, but pinned my MC Recons (which were 150m away) to boot!
Things are quiet now in the village. Spooky quiet.
Ivan's hard to spot after a good shelling.
If he's even still there ....

Col. K - This is Command.
Your current position is deemed strategically important.
Post a garrison in the village against a probable enemy counterattack there.
Command out!

So that's what the new VHexes mysteriously appearing there are all about.

TURN 4: The troop laden trucks have just arrived to secure the village. Despite significant losses, the MC platoon has driven Ivan to the far end of the village. Those motorcycle guys have got nerves of steel. The halftracks, having far outpaced their AFV escort (which, in hindsight, is sadly lacking the PzIVf2s) have almost pulled within sight of the outskirts of Jefrossinowka. A railroad is now running parallel to the road into town. The road is bordered with fields on one side, and there's a hill in the distance past the RR tracks.

A quarter of the way through this scenario and I can't even see the town to be captured.

TURN 5: Outside of Jefrossinowka. The platoon leader of the armored car section gets waxed by the 'ol AA gun on the hilltop trick. One shot at 18 hexes no less. Under fire of the unspotted AA gun, the lead MC recon platoon has flushed out a pair of Russkie medium tanks in the nearby woods. Sometimes you can just smell an ambush. The engineer platoon has been dispatched to deal with that, as my AFV escort is still lagging a few turns behind. The rifle platoon is in reserve understrength, having suffered the loss of a halftrack (and carried squad) some time back. Apparantly the driver, Pvt. AI, immobilized the vehicle amongst the only patch of trees within 100m of his intended route. Back in the village, the 50mm mortars facilitated the routing of the remaining red defenders.

TURN 6: The village has been secured and defenses are being set up. Two rifle platoons, the SP Guns, AAHTs, and a section of CS Panzers have been assign to the task. Outside of Jefrossinowka, a russkie tank has fallen to a satchel charge. Combat support tanks are just arriving on the scene, with the remaining Kampgruppe forces pushing north along the newly cleared road through the village.

TURN 7: In a fine display of leadership by example, the engineer's platoon leader assaults the remaining tank guarding the AA gun on the hill. His squad is pinned for their efforts, with the loss of four men. Their heroism inspires their fellow comrads to mount an assault of their own. At the hands of a flamethrower squad, Mother Russia losses another a brave tank and crew. The motorcycles are ordered to recon forward, and the AA gun claims a few good men before being subsequently spotted. As the engineers attempt to flank the now spotted gun, the pathfinding navigational unit on a halftrack goes the wrong way around some trees and it gets smoked by the AA gun. Fortunately, the passengers escaped unscathed. I'm still ticked off about it though. Two support tanks and three recon tanks pour suppression fireon the AA gun. I've got you now baby! I order an engineer loaded HT to close on the AA gun, and it stops 2 hexes short. Fine, that's as close as you wanna get?! Fine. The engineers unload and open up on the gun. I order another HT in to finish the job. It gets immobilized in the one hexrow of trees it has to cross before getting in sight of the gun. @$*#! Good thing I had one HT (carrying the engineer's Captain) left to finish the job. No more AA gun.

TURN 8: I've reached Jefrossinowka at last. I've begun a pincer attack on the town. Resistance has been light. My mortar battery has set up on the hill previously occupied by the enemy AA gun, overlooking Jefrossinowka. Just in time to assist in attacking the town. It's nice when a plan comes together like that.

Halfway through the battle and I seem to be making great time.
Casualties have amounted to one halftrack, one armored car,
and one badly mangled motorcycle platoon.

[&:] I wonder what Ivan's got up his sleeve this time.

More to come! Stay tuned!

Picking up where I left off yesterday ...
Our heroes are halfway through the second scenario of the Stalingrad Campaign.
Blitzkrieging across open Russian countryside, they have _finally_ reached their objective: the town of Jefrossinowka.
The advance recon tanks and motorcycles are probing the main entrance, while the faster halftracks are attempting to flank.
The mortar battery has just finished forward deploying, now covering much of the remaining map.
Two new Victory Hexes in a village we passed earlier has prompted posting a garrison there.

TURN 9: At the front gates, Ivan has greeted us with HE and AA shells. A recon tank has been immobilized. A mixed platoon of assault guns and support tanks is converging. Our flanking forces have drawn fire from a dug-in russkie squad on a rise bordering the town. The engineer platoon has been dispatched to secure that flank. The rifle platoon is poised to take Jefrossinowka's center, now at full strength and reinforced by a section of support tanks.

Col. K - 2nd Recon Platoon reporting. Enemy attacking at the village, strength unknown. Over.
Col. K - 1st Rifle Platoon reporting. Receiving small arms fire from nearby objectives.
Requesting indirect fire mission. Over.

Turn 10: Reinforced by the assault gun platoon, our forces have cleared the main road into town. They are proceding to their main objective, the stone building near the train juncture. The rifle company has routed Ivan's first line town square defenders at the cost of an armored car. To the demise of a pair of halftracks, the engineering platoon fell upon soviet tanks holding the high ground. Attempts at assaulting the tanks proved futile, but the supporting infantry has been eliminated. Ivan arranged a little counter battery fire for me, shelling one of my mortar sections. He has also attacked in strength at the village, however not gaining any ground upon encountering the StuIG's 150mm guns. [:D]

Turn 11: Support panzers enabled the recon elements to secure their primary objective. While closing on their secondary objective, red squads extracted their revenge. The Aux MC platoon has been lost (except for the squad with the flat tire) along with a recon tank. That's the last time I drive a tank through city streets without having infantry riding it. Urgent artillery support has been requested. 1st rifle platoon has secured town square, and has been ordered to relieve the aforementioned recon force. The PzIVf2s finally made their combat debut, coordinating an attack with the engineers to secure the high ground outside of town. They managed a kill during opt fire and an abandoned vehicle in direct fire. Ivan pressed the village attack, overunning one of 2nd platoon's squads. They died fighting. Our counter attack was very successfull in reducing enemy strength in the area.

Turn 12: All objectives in and around Jefrossinowka have been secured! Ivan has been evicted. The order is given to hunt down the remainer of the village attackers. I hope Ivan doesn't have reserves to test the now thinned village defense.

Turn 13: I've garrisoned Jefrossinowka with a rifle and a panzer platoon. The engineer platoon is going to have to split its forces to reach both remaining objectives before the scenario ends. We located and destroyed Ivan's mortar, but not before it pinned the remaining motorcycles. Ivan is still making sporatic attacks on the village. My StuIG's are down to under a dozen rounds of HE ammo between 'em, but fending off Ivan nicely.

Turns 14-16: The last village attackers finally nail an armored car for their efforts. There was a tense moment as a soviet squad threatened one of Jefrossinowka's objectives. The engineers located the red HQ, and it was finished off by the assault guns.

BATTLE REPORT

Casualties Incurred: 117 men, 3 ACs, 3 HTs, 1 AFV
Casualties Inflicted: 439 men, 8 artillery, 8 AFVs.

German score: 4751, Soviet Union score: 902

DECISIVE VICTORY

Where do u find this cam. watcher bud???I,d love to see my comparitive results to other players on a Basic british campaign, Played to nov.41/ eleventh battle already, started Jan./39 western europe will post core force later but needless to say, I'm in the Bir Hachim advance against the Italians and they aren't fiaring too well.
A draw with the germans in france, in May 40 to start then other 10 battles against Italy in africa 2 marginal and 8 decicive victories so far, last battle most severe lashing They lost 86 AFV to my 4 in a head on tank fight in a sandstorm at 18:00hrs visibility 1 hex,amazed I didn't get rammed by anyone!!!. also got 963 infantry and support casualties to my 16 men killed mostly just got real lucky and just finished reading post on off and on board arrty.timing just yesterday.
Thanks Capt. Pixel allready put to good use Later RT.

Col. K - this is Command.
Ivan is attacking with heavy armor and infantry along our northern flank.
We must stop them. Move your command to support our counterattack in this threatened sector.
Command out!

ORIGINAL: BryanMelvin, campaign author

Battle Three – Big Mech Battle: I suggest that you save and store the Deployment phase of this battle due to its re-playability. There are three deployment zones to choose from: north, west central, or south. You must avoid excessive unit losses to win this one decisively. You may destroy all the Russian units but end up achieving only a draw if you lose too many German units. New.

LOL - "Big Mech Battle" sounds like a throw back to my MechWarrior 2 days.
Also, I think it's unrealistic to make me spend my support points before I've reviewed my auxillliary forces and starting disposition.
I'll be resorting to the 'ol save game cheat to rectify that. Apologies if that seems to gamey for you hardcores out there.
If only there was a better description of your auxilliary forces in the scenario briefing.

250 pts to upgrade units again. After fixing the Rifle Squad and the PzII, I'm left with exactly enough points to upgrade another PzII to a PzIVf2 (making that a full section of 3xPzIVf2 now), and a whole Recon platoon to a Special Forces platoon. Excellent. I'm halfway through my planned primary upgrade path.

July 2, 1942 1300 hours, 18 turns, visibility 24, clear, river crossing, Don River region.
550 support points, with the caveat that I have to buy my own transport for this battle.

Auxilliary forces start in excess of a company each of panzer, mech panzgrenadaire, and mech recon.
Assorted mech AT, SPAA and TD sections; two offboad artillery, Stukas and Messerschmitts; plus reinforcements to boot! Looks like this is going to be a helluva battle! [:)]

The map is another 50x200+ one. All the current objectives are in the northern third.

The main auxilliary force is in Sector A is attacking from the north/northeast, deployed on most a large hill. Ivan's deployment line is just a scant few hexes in front. A screen away, where most of the objectives are, there is a large patch of forest and a small patch of forest flanking a villa on either side. This villa has a small stream running through it, bordered by fields, orchards and small woods.. And I mean a small stream, looks like a man could wade across it. Some river crossing mission. A screen away from that, in Sector B, a platoon each of halftracks and Panzer IIIs are deployed on highlands that span the width of the board. At the southern map edge, deployment area Sector C is just south of another small (unimportant?) villa.

About the only elements of the core I really need transport for is the artillery contingent. My infantry can easily ride on tanks, which is as it should be. However, that would require attacking in force from the north, where the bulk of the auxilliary forces start. Sounds like a plan to me.

Nothing exceeds like excessiveness.

With 550 support points, I buy an ammo truck, two heavy trucks, five motorcycle squads, two "tank buster" Henschels, and two Focke-Wulf ground attack planes. I've always wanted to play with a heavy Luftwaffe presence.

I start my core motorcycles in Sector C, an infantry laden Panzer platoon in Sector B, and the rest of the core in Sector A.
I've set the Special Forces to infiltrate the woods on the western edge near a road leading into the villa.

The troops are deployed and awaiting the enemy! Stay tuned!

Here's a tip I don't think I've seen mentioned before:
During the Deploy Phase, click on (and pivot) all your units, checking for LOS and enemy units.
Take your best recon and do the same throughout your deployment areas.

Scouts have reported multiple contacts with the enemy!
[:D] Looks like it's lock and load time before I even move a piece!

1300 hours, Turn 0: Infiltrators set, 10 gold stars placed. The offboard artillery starts to smoke out the small woods that is flanking my approach to the villa. No side shots for you Ivan! Scouting has detected an ambush on Sector A's hill, a convoy moving through the highands east of sector B heading towards the villa, and section of lend-lease tanks on a road just outside of the villa. <evil grin> The mortar battery sets up and pastes Ivan's ambush party, while a rifle platoon has unloaded and set up within firing distance. Air units are proceeding to attack the remaining untargeted red menace.

Another tip: Each plane can have a separate approach pattern.

Too bad that didn't help much. The AAMG fire from Ivan's tanks was effective it seems.
The fact my airstrikes exposed two platoons of lend lease tanks lying out of sight was of small console.
The Stukas are listed as damaged, and thier Messerschmitt escort is out of contact.
The ground attack aircraft lost a Focke-Wulf. Must be more careful when assigning airstrikes.
Combined they nailed a Sherman, got a Lee's crew to bail, and KO'd a truck. yippee.

Losses are piling up already. At least I got some good recon of the area approaching the villa.
Hopefully the air crews can repair the light damage the planes suffered from machinegun fire.

Back to the front! - Disposable Heroes, Metallica

TURN 1: Sector A report: My rifle platoon rushes in to attack Ivan's shell-shocked ambushers. They score three kills without a loss. 'Demz my boyz. Now I start a recon sweep. My armored cars soon discover that the LOS on this map is maddening unless you turn the hex grid overlay off. I wonder if this is one of those tips that haven't been shared yet. And another thing, there should be a toggle for that IMO. The ambushers had set up on a reverse slope, and the last few hexes on slope (that I can't see) are wooded. grrr... I know I shelled those woods, so I push a panzer up. The squad riding on the panzer took the brunt of what would have been a close encounter of the unpleasant kind had the soviet squad had it's way. Once Ivan was finally routed, local forces secured the area. Now that the local threat has been dealt with, its time for more recon. There are some per turn victory hexes along the road leading to the villa, just begging for my motorcycles to investigate. Thier durability makes them excellent point reconnascence (sp?). The good news, they captare both victory hexes. The bad news, one squad gets immobilized. I'm beginning to hate that. Sector A's remaining MC platoon begins to scout the western, forested edge. They are fired upon by pair of wheeled ATGs hiding in the woods. As the nearest core forces in the area, the STuIGs move up and open fire. The motorcycles promptly finished off the crews of the now flaming wrecks. I move an armored car just ahead of the motorcycles position, and it gets smoked by an ATG gun in the distance. Pressing its luck a bit, elements of the remaining mechanized recon company inch forward. They are greated by ATR fire from the large patch of woods between me and the villa. Well that pretty much halts my advance forward. The scout teams unload from thier transport, preparing to reconnioter the woods lying before them. The mortars have been ordered to fire on the leading treeline in anticipation, while the offboard artillery prepares to lay a smokescreen my advance on the opposite flank next turn. The remainder of the armored units set up positions along the crest lines of their newly claimed real estate. Mechanized infantry deploys behind the front lines.

Sector B: With the convoy before them pretty much shot up by the Luftwaffe, the motorcycle recon units press an attack on the troop carrying trucks, exposing their lend lease Stuart tank escort. The local forces advance, rendering one of the escort vehicles a flaming wreck. One Henshel is expected to make another fly over.

Sector C: Motorcycle recon squads, upon confirming the nearby villa was berift of opposition, began travelling the road leading onward. In the proceeding exchange with a bushwhacking ATG, a few brave sons of the fatherland gave their all destroying the gun.

Ivan's attempt to move his convoy toward the villa goes largly uncontested, until a Henschel arrives on the scene to blow up a truck. In a surprise move, Ivan has moved a company of light tanks out from concealment to contest my advance toward the northern villa. At the edge of LOS, one enemy tank was destroyed by the overwatching panzers.

More to follow as the days unfold. Stay tuned!

ORIGINAL: KNomad
The rest of the Kampgruppe is going to bypass the village and head directly for Jefrossinowka.

Great minds think alike! [:D] When I played this scenario I sent half my infantry through the west village, and the other half (with my core Panzers) further south, through the gap in the trees. They were led by my placeholder Kuebels acting as mine detectors. A Kuebel also captured the southernmost victory hex.

Very good DAR so far.

ORIGINAL: KNomad
Also, I think it's unrealistic to make me spend my support points before I've reviewed my auxillliary forces and starting disposition.
I'll be resorting to the 'ol save game cheat to rectify that. Apologies if that seems to gamey for you hardcores out there.

Generally a designer shouldn't surprise the player with his preselected AUX units. In this campaign I always bought my support before starting the scenario, but if I duplicated the supplied AUX forces too much, I restarted the scenario and changed my selections.

Campaign Watcher: http://campaignwatcher.go.dyndns.org/

I've just finished the opening turn of the "Big Mech Battle." You'll have to scroll back to read it.
This has the potential of becoming quite a lengthy thread.

With all the editing I do, it's tough to tell if I've garnered any readers, as the majority of the hit count is mine.
[:'(]Feel free to reply and let me know you're out there enjoying this.

Stay tuned!

ORIGINAL: KNomad
With all the editing I do, it's tough to tell if I've garnered any readers, as the majority of the hit count is mine.
[:'(]Feel free to reply and let me know you're out there enjoying this.

I am! The Melvin/Richards Stalingrad campaign is the best I've played so far. I'm curious to see how others approach the problems in the various scenarios. #3 in particular is a humdinger! [:D]

Unfortunately, at the rate KNomad is going he'll probably catch up to my campaign fairly early in the city battles (I'm still plodding through the first one) and then I'll have to stop reading for awhile. [:(]

BTW, in Battle 3 I set up everyone in the north because (1) That's where the victory hexes are; (2) Klotzen, nicht kleckern!

Scenario 3 "Big Mech Battle" of my Stalingrad Campaign DAR continues ...

Between upgrading/purchasing new units, initial deployment, and artillery priority planning, Turn 0 often takes me quite some time. Turn 1 pretty much sets the tone/pace of the rest of the game for me, and usually takes considerable time to work through as well. After that - the game peices kinda move themselves along at a fairly brisk pace.

Anyone else notice this pattern in their gaming?

TURN 2: Sector A: Along the western flank, motorcycle units begin probing the forested map edge. Recon teams converge on the large woods before them, discovering some russkie ATR units recovering from the previous turns shelling. With the aid of their attendent recon halftracks, the woodline is cleared. One of the halftrack crews had to bail momentarily, having drawn long range fire from Ivan's light tank company now threatening one of the per turn objectives. Two platoons of infanrty in halftracks and my STuIGs are positioned to attack their primary objective (the large woods) from the west, escorted by recon tanks.

From the leading ridgeline of the now secured hill, PzIIIL's engage Ivan's lead line of light tanks just coming into LOS. An entire platoon is laid to rest. Two more of Ivan's tanks are destoyed by the rest of my forces. My initial smoke barrage has enabled a platoon of those ever so swift halftracks to deliver a platoon of riflemen near the small woods on the eastern flank unmolested. The mortar battery has been ordered to announce our arrival to local defenders. The arrival of a towed twin-20mm AA gun has made my HQ artillery park feel more secure.

Sector B forces enjoy shooting up the remnants of Ivan's convoy, claiming only a tank and a truck for their efforts however. The infantry in the area was routed almost singlehandedly by the motorcycles in the area. A pair of assault guns arrive on the scene. At the southern end of the map, Sector C, my lone motorcycle platoon has been pinned by another ATG. Luckily, there is no sign of other enemy presence in the area.

As my offboard artillery is laying another smoke patch, I realize I hadn't planned orders for the Luftwaffe. Seems a plane didn't get orders to withdraw, and promptly flew over our troops, immobilized a panzer and destroying a Marder. I want that pilot's sight checked!

Ivan advances with his light tank company, losing a few more tanks while retreating my motorcycle squad off the victory hex. More than a fair trade I think, and I still control the victory hex! New victory hexes have appeared, along with some lend lease tanks emerging from behind the trees.

TURN 3: More reinforcements have arrived in sectors A & B, including the appearance of two of my special forces squads. Sweeping through the woods they infiltrated, they discover and destoy an anti-tank gun. Awesome. Motorcycle recon has advanced far enough down the west map edge woodline to support my special forces, and were ambushed by another ATG. Smoke from a combat support tank has rendered that gun blind now. While recon teams have explored the north half of the large woods, their recon halftracks draw some fire from Ivan as they dashed toward the cover of the treeline. Artillery is ordered to supress the southern half of those woods.

At that point the tank battle raged on. A platoon of cruiser tanks dispatched Ivan's lend lease Stuarts, while the PzIIL platoon an equal number of light tanks again. The motorcycles in the area dispatch many a red crew. Supported by assault guns and support tanks, the rifle platoon managed to rout Ivan's leading squads in the small woods. Close support mortar fire is expected to continue. The victory hex should be easy to secure next turn. Speaking of victory hexes, the remaining forces have secured them, and deployed defenses accordingly. The russian convoy has been totally destroyed, and forces are moving to secure the area before advancing toward the villa from the south. At the far south of the map, the motorcycles are lucky to get a few shots off at the ATG holding them at bay.

During his turn, Ivan has completely lost his light tank company, failing to reach the objective they were rushing. To the west of the large forest, where my defense is thin, Ivan committed the rest of his lend lease tanks. I've lost an AAHT. Soviet aircraft and mortar rounds have pinned an AT/Marder group providing overwatch in that area. Two platoons of heavy tanks were apparantly trailing that russian convoy, much to the regret of several halftracks securing the road through the highlands.

As documenting this battle is taking a bit time, we'll call it a night at this point.
The appearance of Russian & Allied heavy armor is starting to add some excitment to the game.

Stay tuned!