El Agheila - Classic

[Agent]

Anyone have a strategy for beating this one with all objs on time on CLASSIC without scumming the conference to get the cards you want for the scenario? The difficulty I see is that even at fully ugraded range your HQ can't be both in a position to provide supply to any units flanking south and to use HQ actions to support an attack along the coastal road.

The only way to get to Bir el Merduma and the supply hub on turns 4-5 is to use the southern armor unit, and to do that you have to either have the HQ supply it or use the C-47 card (preferred imo). Simultaneously, your coast guys cannot wait for that armor brigade to put the El Agheila pocket guys out of supply because the time limit for classic means you must take El Agheila on 4 and Dor Lanuf on 5. To do that requires either the HQ in range for HQ actions, some combination of shore bombardment or Blenehim cards, or both.

But you can't have the HQ in range of both those things, so my strategy requires getting a C-47 card to supply the flanking armor and motorized unit. A Blenheim or shore bombardment card is a super bonus to help out. But I feel bad scumming for the card. Anyone have a realistic non-luck-based strategy that doesn't require cards? It's not the end of the world to scum them but I feel guilty.

[carrotboy]

This mission was the hardest one in the game so far. Although I haven't done the alt history track. I didn't get all objectives, missed the bottom left one, and it took some luck, baiting at armor attacks with rearguards and doubling up artillery units. I definitely used that c-47 card you get too. I wasn't able to get the turn 5 objective without all armour and motorized units attacking it so that's the reason there. Truck cards would be useful too

[Agent]

The bottom left one is undefended so you can just run the motorized brigade there easily... but that means not having it anywhere else which obviously makes taking the other objectives much more difficult.

[Agent]

For what it's worth I got all the objs on time on Classic just now but I used 4 cards to do it; C-47, Blenheim, the Shore Bombardment one, and a truck card to motorize all the infantry.

In retrospect the truck card was unnecessary and didn't help, but hard to see how it would have worked without the other 3.

[Paper]

Get all objectives on time on classic. The only card I use is one Blenheim I get from previous scenarios. Since this scenario will give you one card, I will use one anyway. WIthout Blenheim, you need to take some losses when taking Dor Lanuf on turn 5, but it is still possible to get all objectives on time.
I only send the 4th light armor brigade to the south. On turn 1, take the objective required. On turn 2, move to the southwest as far as you can. On turn 3, you can reach the eastern hex between the escarpment and the ridge. For the first 3 turns, use your HQ to supply the brigade, note that on turn 3 you should use your HQ before you move. On turn 4 you can reach the hex east to the escarpment. On turn 5, you are out of supply for 2 turns, but you can reach the objective with road supply, so supply won't be a problem. For the final objective, I place 2 supply hubs using the road supply as I mentioned before. The last two objectives are undefended, so supply is the only issue to worry about.

[Paper]

For the northern part, hold the bridge west of El Agheila on turn 3 with a rearguard unit to cut off any possible enemy counterattack. Then place two strong infantry units with artillery and engineer next to El Agheila to get it on turn 4. On turn 4, I also put one strong tank unit west of the bridge with counterattack to lure out enemy mobile units. This soften enemy defense around Bir el Merduma and Dor Lanuf.

[Agent]

Yeah I see how it might be done with fewer cards but there's only like 2 scenarios after this so burning all my cards was good enough for me!

I think this was the hardest scenario on the historical path. The following ones are very easy by comparison. Now on to the alternative aggressive path!

[EgoVermin]

I managed to get all objectives done on time, on classic, without cards. I do agree though, that it is probably the most difficult scenario in the expansion despite being on the historical track, and it did take me a few tries.

You'll want to save the solitary air supply for the unit that's taking the long road to the southern objectives (I used the motorised unit), while bringing the XXX Corps HQ around the flank with the New Zealanders. Emergency supply the light armoured brigade on turn 2, which will allow you to kill the Italian infantry on Bir el Merduma on turn 3. On turn 4, you move that same brigade past the objective to capture the nearby supply hubs (the ai always seems to leave at least one nearby) and then capture Bir el Merduma on the rebound. Nofilia should be empty to take on the next turn.

The trick, I think, is to not rush El Agheila. On the first turn, don't move any of your British infantry on the coast (maybe even entrench them during the prep phase) and when the German motorised unit leaves Mersa El Brega on turn 2, follow up with your infantry to the extent of the marsh - don't put a unit adjacent to El Agheila, as it will be smashed and the Axis will consolidate the position and you need the extra turn to prepare. On turn 3, begin the coastal push with support from the 22. Armoured Brigade, focusing on destroying as many enemy units as possible - while they will counterattack and wreck some of your infantry, doing so will force them to play hot potato with the units they put on Dor Lanuf and El Agheila, and neither will dig in. At the same time, supply what you can with the XXX Corps HQ on the flank (your motorised unit and the New Zealanders come to mind, perhaps motor pooling one of those brigades to push to Dor Lanuf) and then move the HQ back to the hubs near Mersa el Brega to help take El Agheila on turn 4.

Ultimately, in my game, on the enemy turn 3 they pulled the 'Ariete' division off of Sidi Tabet, allowing my New Zealander(s) to assist the coastal force in taking El Agheila (careful management of ZoC is required). This allowed my 22. Armoured Brigade to flank to Dor Lanuf on turn 4, and on Turn 5 easily captured it (again, sending one of the New Zealanders here instead of leaving it in the cold next to Sidi Tabet is a good idea).

This mission plays like a tougher 'Crusader' but you have less forces and the objectives are much stricter. The one major advantage you have is the small number of enemy units in this scenario, especially as one of the tough panzer divisions (if left alone) lets itself fry in the sun 'til it runs out of supply. Therefore on turn 2/3, destroy as many weak enemy units as you can, to force them to split their remaining forces between El Agheila and Dor Lanuf, stopping them from digging in.

[Xenomorph_0001]

Here's a little video of a default scenario menu start, all objectives captured, ending one turn early. The method is repeatable, the assault on El Agheila is the most unpredictable element, especially if you want it captured on turn 4.

The AIs movements are predictable up until the start of Turn 3, as long as you threaten Dor Lanuf, and keep your main line of British infantry relatively static. After Turn 3, the AI tends to smack whatever Infantry unit is on the Coast in front of El Agheila, so pick a unit that is likely to overrun instead of stand to the death to minimize step losses. My run definitely isn't perfect yet, but this should do alright to help with this scenario. Happy Hunting!

https://youtu.be/kFUIZe4aSQE