Difficulty in later stages of Afrika korps campaign

[globule]

Ok so I'm progressing in the Afrika korps series and while the difficulty was a little irregular, there haven't been any impossible missions and it was going well, until I stepped in the middle east. Scenario is Persia : you are supposed to intercept a convoy going from south to north to Soviet lines.

But here is the catch: my veteran Fw190 gets blown up by P47. Enemy has all 3 star veteran with 12 overstrength at a minimum. Their artillery is absolutely obliterating my infantry in the hills, protected by 12 to 14 overstrengthed HW inf.
They have multiple 76mm AT guns standing around behind a double minefield, all of which hit for 7 or 8 on my PZIVG

To add to that, they have multiple B25 and other bombers blowing stuff up, and I only have 3 anti air (1 Flk88 and 2 Sdkfz) which was enough in other scenarios.

Needless to say, any rookie troops I got get one shot by anyone.

The only good news is my 3 tigers are competent against their super overstrengthed shermans (but the M10 can hurt them a lot)

So, the mission asks for fast intercept of the convoy, but I'm barely surviving as it is ! I tried it twice now and almost my whole force was destroyed.

Next try I will send all my troops north to try to zerg the soviets in the first rounds somehow...

How did you manage this scenario ?

[cerberusiv]

It is quite a while since I played this one. I would suggest you check out the AAR section within the PzC area of the Slitherine forums.

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=145

There are several Afrika Korps AAR's by better players than myself. The one by Goose_2 I found interesting.

What difficulty are you playing at? (I normally play at Field Marshal and don't remember it being that difficult. Then again I had mostly decisive victories which generates a snowball of more prestige -> more and better units -> more decisive victories).

From playing the US Corps campaigns I found the major weakness of the M10 is to infantry in close rerrain. If you can catch one in hills and without artillery support it is easy pickings for a grenadier or similar.

Hold your air units back at first. You don't need that many fighters, particularly with some AA. The US bombers are not always escorted - in which case pick them off as a priority. The P-47 is not a match for the Fw190A normally. Damage it with AA then finish it off with your fighters.

What I do remember is that I broke through in the North and managed to cut the convoys off. It was a close run thing though. I think I avoided the minefield by going north and south of it (I may have cleared one or two mined hexes with pioniere).

But do check out the AAR's.

[Sam96]

Found Persia really tough too and it took me a lot of tries to get the DV. I'm an adequate but excessively cautious general who plays on colonel.

As far as I remember, the first thing I did was to ignore the centre of the map; you don't need any of the hexes there and the US troops are well dug-in, meaning they'll take too long to break. Try deploying your forces for a double envelopment to the north and south. You'll need to break through to the Soviet-held road in the north within the first three or so turns to catch enough convoy trucks for the DV. Experienced 3-4 star Infantry and a **** load of self-propelled artillery (the Italian ones are ideal because they aren't an easy target for allied counter-battery fire) that can reduce entrenchment on the Soviets and simultaneously cover your own units on the enemy turn is key here. You'll be glad to hear that the scenario gets MUCH easier after the first few turns.

In the air, I had luckily decided by Alam El Halfa that my airforce was going to need some help, and the self-propelled AA halftracks are definitely worth investing a core slot or two in, even if they're less than useful late in a scenario after the enemy airforce has been destroyed (I've got two in my GC '44 East core). Not only can they weaken enemy fighters before I send in a fighter to finish the job, but they can prevent allied airpower from chipping strength points off your expensive panzers too. Try to trap the American fighters with your FW190s using spotting rules; Braccada is patient, a stand-up guy, and his Youtube playthroughs explain how to do this well.

If you can get a DV the Caucasus scenario is recommended. Had great fun and managed to score a DV there blind, although it's considered a tough scenario too.

[Sveroboi]

The bad thing about this scenario is the initial air attack. All their fighters are very strong, even the Soviet ones. But the American ones take the cake. There also comes a second wave of British fighters in the second or third round. If you have unexperienced fighters or are unable to protect your bombers double, keep them out of spotting range.
It is also good to bring 2 pioneers - there are initially some mines at crucial points. The best way to intercept - but its not easy to do - is to break through early through the US troops position. There is a zone covered by mines south of the mountains where the main US positions are. If you can block the road there leading to the north at turn 1 or 2, you can catch the trucks just as they are running north.
Generally, there is a lot going on in that scenario, but the inital positions are very strong. In this case, the best is to hit carefully the main frontlines of the Soviets and US, meaning not to push forward awkwardly, instead focus on spotting and do attacks where are you protected by your artillery against counter attacks.

BTW: it doesn't get much easier after that, there are four scenarios ahead, and aside of one, they all give you hard terrain, and top notch allied equipment.