Bagration Scenario, Original Campaign

[The Reverend]

Is it just me, or is this scenario in the original campaign way more difficult then rest of the scenarios. I'm on my second playthrough (on normal) and have been cruising steadily along and then hit a wall on this one. Retried it 3 or 4 times before giving up and just beating it on easy. Now that I'm on to Normandy, the Ardennes, and Hungary, I'm back to mopping up allies. Wondering if there's something I'm missing on that scenario in particular.

[Grondel the 10/10]

just a hunch, but this is a defensive scenario. stay put and defend. there is no need to push into the russians. create chokepoints and then chop them to bits.

sers,
Thomas

[The Reverend]

You know I did try that on one of my playthroughs. It was my most successful. I actually "won" but I wound up burning so much prestige and losing so many veteran units that I decided to restart anyway.

[Grondel the 10/10]

Originally posted by The Reverend:

You know I did try that on one of my playthroughs. It was my most successful. I actually "won" but I wound up burning so much prestige and losing so many veteran units that I decided to restart anyway.

antitank guns and 21/17 cm with counterbattery are the most important here. then use ur airforce to push back areas where ur front is in danger. it´s been like 5 or 6 years since i last played that one. don´t remember exactly what to do, can just give some generell tips.

sers,
Thomas

[joel_schuster]

Guarding your vulnerable and expensive units by fighter planes is also very important. Do not put infantry in the open and tanks not in close quarters like cities/towns, hills, swamps and forests. Use covering fire by artillery and anti-tank as much as possible.

[SPAMBO]

I've met with success in 2 of 2 campaigns by moving the aux units from the south to the city in the north and deploying all my forces to crack the Russian units in the south before they can offensively deploy. You have to bbe quick about it as your armor will be needed in the north before 5 or so turns pass. I made a video, it's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYcXrm6fhD4

[The Reverend]

Originally posted by SPAMBO:

I've met with success in 2 of 2 campaigns by moving the aux units from the south to the city in the north and deploying all my forces to crack the Russian units in the south before they can offensively deploy. You have to bbe quick about it as your armor will be needed in the north before 5 or so turns pass. I made a video, it's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYcXrm6fhD4

Originally posted by SPAMBO:

I've met with success in 2 of 2 campaigns by moving the aux units from the south to the city in the north and deploying all my forces to crack the Russian units in the south before they can offensively deploy. You have to bbe quick about it as your armor will be needed in the north before 5 or so turns pass. I made a video, it's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYcXrm6fhD4

This is effectively the strategy I finally adopted and was successful. I ran all my heavy arty to the south (3x21cm) and counter battery fired all their artillery into submission, but this was on the easy difficulty. Does anybody know if there are any combat bonuses on the easy difficulty or is it just the prestige? It seems like my units are more effective on the easier scenarios.

[The Reverend]

Originally posted by Grondel the 10/10:

Originally posted by The Reverend:

You know I did try that on one of my playthroughs. It was my most successful. I actually "won" but I wound up burning so much prestige and losing so many veteran units that I decided to restart anyway.

antitank guns and 21/17 cm with counterbattery are the most important here. then use ur airforce to push back areas where ur front is in danger. it´s been like 5 or 6 years since i last played that one. don´t remember exactly what to do, can just give some generell tips.

sers,
Thomas

I'm curious what your experience with AT units has been. I've found that any non-armor AT units (so not Stugs, Elephant, etc) gets eaten alive by infantry so generally not worth it. Or do you primarly use them in a support role behind other units? On the other hand, AT armor is almost as expensive as regular armor and also junk against infantry so I wind up asking myself "why not just buy a tank for the same prestige and core slots?"

[joel_schuster]

Yes, do not let infantry get to attack those unprotected guns. Unless, your gun is dug in and/or elevated and covered by artillery.

Tanks do not provide anti-tank support fire as anti-tank units do. You may ignore this unit type on easy mode. But when you run into some heavy armour conflict on hard, you absolutely need them. Enemy will crush your tanks and inflict heavy casualties. Even on your Tigers and Panthers later on, unless they are covered by Stugs.

Ran through Spanish Civil War again recently, this time I completely ignored the more mobile Breda anti-tank as it was available. Pak36 is superior in firepower and really helps to limit your casualties and finish off tanks. Do not underestimate this unit type. But know how to use it.

[joel_schuster]

Originally posted by The Reverend:

Does anybody know if there are any combat bonuses on the easy difficulty or is it just the prestige? It seems like my units are more effective on the easier scenarios.

You can hover over the stripes when choosing difficulty for a new campaign to get that sort of info.

1st level (easiest) you get +3 on turn limit, +30% prestige and elite replacements for free during missions.
2nd level is default
3rd level is -30% prestige
4th is -60% prestige and +10% accuracy for the enemy
5th is -80% prestige and +20% accuracy for the enemy