Hitler Launches a Surprise Offensive into the Ardennes Forest! - Page 2

jasev · March 31, 2003, 15:27

Do I have your permission to upload it to the Spanish Site, Darthveda?

DarthVeda · April 1, 2003, 01:43

¡Claro que sí!

our_man · April 1, 2003, 10:01

Went home for a day and played the first two turns... I really, really liked it!

Unfortunately I then had to go back to University, so a detailed assessment will have to wait. First impressions though: look at those stats on the German tanks.

Heh, this is going to be a walkover!

Aufwiedersehn Allies! Keep in mind I've only played two turns, so this might be grossly optimistic on my part.

Lots of really neat touches, very polished, a lot of work put in. I'd definitely like to see more like it, which is why I'm sad to here the news that you're planning to retire after Koyjitsu. I do hope you'll change your mind, the community needs designers like you DV!

Congrats on a great scenario!

Cal · April 1, 2003, 11:23

Quote:

Originally posted by our_man
First impressions though: look at those stats on the German tanks.

Heh, this is going to be a walkover!

Aufwiedersehn Allies! Keep in mind I've only played two turns, so this might be grossly optimistic on my part.

Well, consider two things:

All cities are built on this land called: "urban," which gives a 150% defensive bonus. And, all of the cities have anti-tank defenses (city walls) which ups that by 3...

It's insane.

Of course, if you catch the allies out in the open then there's no contest.

Boco · April 1, 2003, 19:30

Quote:

Heh, this is going to be a walkover! Aufwiedersehn Allies!

For Xin Yu. Others may need a little practice.

Like Cal says, you can't count on most German tanks to defeat Allies in cities. On the first turn or so, the defenders have a lot of weaker units. That changes.

Cal · April 2, 2003, 01:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Boco
For Xin Yu. Others may need a little practice.

Anything's a walk over for Xin Yu.

And... it's good to see someone finally thought of a way to show where a city had been destroyed, by building them all on "rubble."

DarthVeda · April 8, 2003, 09:54

Yeah if Xin Yu can completely beat this scenario I'll be impressed.

Cal · April 10, 2003, 11:05

It's morning on Dec. 18th. After a night of sleep, and limited attacks, the soldiers at the front are ready to continue the assault. In the north, Sloumont was just taken and the drive forward will continue in the next few hours. Damn our enemies for cutting off the choke point at Trois Ponis. They are only delaying the inevitable.

Meanwhile, South St. Vith was taken the evening the day before, and an offensive is planned for today. Surveillance has indicated the east part of the city is within our reach, but only with the sacrifice of a great number of our troops. German High Command has yet to determine whether this falls within the acceptable number of casualties, and for now the enemy occupies both North and East St. Vith.

Meanwhile, after unpexcted delays, a number of tanks and volkssturm are moving toward Clervaux to take that city. Meanwhile, kubelwagons and several mobile infantry are making rounds along the area beyong Wiltz to determine if the defenses along that route are weak enough to cover the cost in time it would take to move troops over the broken roads.

What a great scenario. I wonder if I'm progressing fast enough... Will we be in Antwerp by January?

Cal · April 12, 2003, 04:54

St. Vith Falls!

As dawn approached, German High Command pieced together the final steps of a plan to take St. Vith without suffering a single casualty! Many units lie depleted, but not destroyed, and East St. Vith fell into German hands at 9 am. Panther and Tiger tanks were immediately brought in to mop up the center of the city, and the North part of St. Vith braced for the worst. Fortunately the Allies will to defend the city was no match for German strategic might, and North St. Vith fell in a matter of hours. At the end of December 18th, St Vith was completely cleared of any remaining allied forces, and our panzers are already pushing beyond the city to continue the assault. The attack will continue as scheduled with little to no delay. As night fell, Clervaux was taken with the aid of what remains of the Luftwaffe, and forces are gathering for a combined thrust from both east and north positions, with the tanks done seizing St. Vith. Bastonge will soon be a stone throw's away, and is expected to fall either on the 19th, or the 20th at the latest. Then the drive to Nemur can continue. Born is untaken, though it is estimated that small village will have to be destroyed, eventually. Forces in the North have encountered roadblocks, and will need to return south so they can be put to better use.

Reports that the allied air force has arrived are alarming, but with luck, the beneficial weather will hold and the cities will remain poorly defended.

This is fun.

It's like a mixture of Second Front (with fuel supplies) and Red Front (for huge scale, and units).

Strategy: Your worst enemies are casualties, and time. There are no barracks in the game. Luckily, there is a temporarily solution to running out of steam because your units are all in the red: whenever a unit takes a city, that unit will have its energy bar completely refilled. Exploit this. Otherwise, learn to time your attacks. After 3 pm, it'll be 9 pm, and night will fall. Your tanks should be inside cities resting to recover lost energy when night falls, and infantry become even more useless, because their movement slows down dramatically with the exception of fallschrim and the SS. Try to attack without losing units. Your tanks are invinceable out in the open, but when attacking cities, the allies get a 150% defense bonus, and then 3 times that result because of city walls. Read the guide, it has good strategy on what units to take cities with. Do not fear massive allied counterattacks in the early stages. Do not try to launch all-out attacks at night. Day is the best time for that. Use your kubelwagons both for reconaissance and to attack stranded units. There's nothing in the house rules that keeps you from attacking a unit with a kubelwagon, only bribing it. Go back and waste money to rush build units in your cities with supplies, it's worth it. It's a long journey to the front...

On a side note: After taking St. Vith, I am noticing up to 6 units appear right next to North St Vith every turn!

I am very glad I didn't wait too long to take that city!

kobayashi · April 12, 2003, 07:34

Wasting time and units on St Vith was a fatal mistake.

FiGu · April 12, 2003, 07:41

Great Scenario! I just got it to work on my computer.

DarthVeda · April 12, 2003, 11:11

Yeah resistance crops up for quite some time in St. Vith.... until the 23rd. It's not really hard to deal with. I just left a few armored units behind.

Cal · April 12, 2003, 12:47

Quote:

Originally posted by kobayashi
Wasting time and units on St Vith was a fatal mistake.

Huh? You mean it should just be bypassed completely?

Well, it's true it doesn't count at all towards objectives...

DarthVeda · April 12, 2003, 17:00

I was pretty sure St. Vith was counted as an objective city? If it's not then it definately should be...

Cal · April 12, 2003, 17:17

Quote:

Originally posted by DarthVeda
I was pretty sure St. Vith was counted as an objective city? If it's not then it definately should be...

Oops, it seems you're right. They are objectives.

edit: St. Vith North isn't an objective.

kobayashi · April 16, 2003, 10:25

I'm on the second try now having faced a marginal defeat (16 points).

Night of 18th and I'm on the outskirts of Longvilly and Hollange, to the north and south of Bastonge with a third spearhead just outside La gleize. Learned my lesson the first time.

Where does it say what the objective cities are. I can't click on the Allied cities since trade hasn't been discovered.

DarthVeda · April 16, 2003, 11:01

Kubelwagen + city = city report

Cal · April 17, 2003, 05:54

Deep into enemy territory, on December 20th, it now becomes clear to me why Kobayashi said concentrating on St. Vith at first was a mistake! The panzers really have a long way to go to reach the Meuse. You can't conquer every city on the way and expect to win, or stubbornly plod down roads being destroyed by the americans and not expect it to really disrupt your timetable.

Anyway, restarted the game, took St. Vith on the 17th, laughed when the events talked about air droppings being made and troops holding out. Took the one fuel supply in the town whose name I don't remember just in time before I ran out of fuel in Mayen. Bastonge is nearly completely surrounded, while troops make the long journey to Nemur. It looks like that may be taken, if not today, then tomorrow. After that, I need to find a fuel supply town QUICK before my tanks start being lost from lack of fuel.

Victory is so close, yet so far! It's evil! Insane! I love it.

Have a stalemate now, anticipate either keeping it, or being pushed back to a marginal defeat. Next game will try to do better.

PS: Darth, have you checked your e-mail recently?

kobayashi · April 17, 2003, 08:41

The trick was to refuel some of the SS tanks units from Mayen at Bitberg (or Daum) before bringing them into action. As units get killed, refuel new units built on their way to the front to maintain a balance.

Also stop producing the useless gas guzzling grenadiers at Bitberg and Daum.

Cal · April 17, 2003, 21:13

Quote:

Originally posted by kobayashi
The trick was to refuel some of the SS tanks units from Mayen at Bitberg (or Daum) before bringing them into action. As units get killed, refuel new units built on their way to the front to maintain a balance.

Also stop producing the useless gas guzzling grenadiers at Bitberg and Daum.

THere is a use for them: as you progress farther and farther into the ardennes, you'll need some useless units to sit back and guard so a lone infantry doesn't end up destroying that objective city you need. So, it's good to have a few, I think...

Meanwhile: It's the 21st. Bastonge has fallen. Nemur has fallen. Huy has been taken. Another hidden fuel supply has been taken. Marginal Victory achieved. Units heading north to take out the last real resistance there. Decisive victory may be possible.

kobayashi · April 21, 2003, 05:52

Christmasday. Stalemate achieved already, I have 26 points.

Found 2 of the invisible fuel depots.

2 well placed veteran tigers at Bercheux and Houffalize have all but neutralised the so called counter offensive. I can see they are holding back at least 50 units each.

I've raced all the way to Givet on the left edge intending to sweep upwards after that only to find it protected by another of those $^%^# bunkers. The first three letters of the home city of that bunker doesn't match anything thing that is visible so I guess I am finished.

I had another group in the north headed for Huy only to find it protected by another of those $^%^# bunkers and I thought I'd turn south for Marche instead and guess what, another bunker.

Cal · April 21, 2003, 06:16

The bunkers make kubelwagens essential. That, or trial and error, which can be costly.

The most important city to take is Namur. It's visible from the starting point, so try to take that city over all others on the Meuse.

As for me, I managed to finish up with a Decisive Victory of 47 objectives. The only cities I couldn't take were Spa (which had a bunker in it homed to itself), Manhay (which I waited too long to take, so near the end it had some fifty odd units stacked in there), and Trois Ponts (which I couldn't take because by the time I got the bunker out of that city, the allies had their airforce and would destroy any units I sent out to take it).

The key to winning this scenario, I think, is taking St. Vith as early as possible. I managed to take it on the 17th in that game. I won't go into more detail, because I'm not sure if it counts as ruining what happens in the scenario.

There is a bug, I think. If a city has no defenders in it other than a bunker, then when the city that supports the bunker is taken, the bunker will rehome to the city it's in rather than let it disband and leave the city defenseless. At least, I can think of no other explanation as for why that happened...

EZRhino · May 15, 2003, 18:57

Im on my third try for this scenario, and this time I am doing well, Ive taken Bastogne in the south and B.D. Fraiture and Houffalize in the north. It is the night of the 18/19th and so far I have had light casualties. My northern pincers are at the gates of Manhay and Marche. I plan on leaving a sizeable force behind in B.D. Fraiture so that when I take the cities with home the bunkers in that area, I can quickly secure the area and support the drive to Namur and eventually Liege. In the south, the offensive has stopped and forces in that are are working to shore up defences and are waiting for re-inforcements to resume the invasion of the cities south of Bastogne. Fuel is going to start running low, so many armored units are rehoming to Houffalize and my kubelwagens are prowling for more hidden fuel depots.
So far, one thing about the scenario perplexes me: is there any reason for the axis to build Allied POWs?

DarthVeda · May 15, 2003, 23:27

I can only wonder if you guys are playing on deity?

Cal · May 15, 2003, 23:35

Quote:

Originally posted by DarthVeda
I can only wonder if you guys are playing on deity?

Of course!

The secret, I've found, is to throw everything you have at st. vith. Jadgpanthers and the tanks that become active on Dec. 17 should be enough to take St. Vith south, at least. Then, take the rest of the city. It saves a lot more time than waiting until later.

Also, if you take Wiltz on the first or second turn, the road to Bastogne isn't cut. You can send troops easily to longvilly.

edit: As for allied POWs, the only reason you want might to buy them is when you need to move your army, but you don't have any cheap volkssturm to leave to guard the city. Having 20 allied pows defending might give enough time to quickly bring a few units back if an allied tank does manage to reach the city. When I reached Liege, and Namur, and the other cities on the Meuse, I just built a # of allied POWs in those places, because I had to keep my tanks going to get more objectives.

EZRhino · May 16, 2003, 00:55

I dont play scenarios on anything less

I took St. Vith on the second turn of the first night. The majority of my forces went that route. All the forces at Vianden and Dasburg went for Wiltz.
That thought about pows had occured to me, but many of the cities unimportant enough not to leave volks or motorized infantry behind in, dont have citiy walls, so using pows as meat shields in unfeasable.

Cal · May 16, 2003, 00:57

Personally, I try to keep anti-tank defenses in every city. Or at least, objective cities, and the ones on the front.

DarthVeda · May 16, 2003, 01:36

Well I am planning on another version sometime within the next few weeks. I was wondering what recommendations you guys had?

I've already received a few through email but I want to know what I can do to keep you from taking St. Vith until the 21st-23rd?

Cal · May 16, 2003, 02:01

Quote:

Originally posted by DarthVeda
Well I am planning on another version sometime within the next few weeks. I was wondering what recommendations you guys had?

I've already received a few through email but I want to know what I can do to keep you from taking St. Vith until the 21st-23rd?

Is that the historical time? I wouldn't try to add anything... I mean, if you're late even one turn or something it's hard, if not impossible, to take St. Vith. You really have to plan and rush to get it so early, before the units start springing up like crazy.

But if you feel the need to add something... maybe more units in the city that's right before south st. vith? The name escapes me at the moment.

kobayashi · May 16, 2003, 05:42

My own feeling is the scenario is too constrictive already visavis the ultimate bunker home. Couldn't the major Allied cities on the far left each control the bunkers along the same latitude? Why try to force everything into a straight jacket?

As for the reinforcements (like for St. Vith), I think using city taken/give advance/terrain change triggers to start and stop them would be much better.

Why not slow the research rate down so you don't have to keep choosing future tech. If you need the AI to get certain techs, use the random or fixed turn trigger.

Adding a few smaller (like two surplus) hidden fuel dumps?