Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Battle Reports & After Action Reports (AAR's)

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fitzpatv
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Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by fitzpatv »

I did it with Fallschirmjager. Didn't clear the map and had to deal with a spawning of Vickers MkVI tankettes in the NW at the end.
braccada
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Arras

Post by braccada »

Arras is not for the faint hearted :) Wave after wave of British forces hits hard and if that does not finish you off there is an endless spam of Vickers tanks in the end. With that in mind I decided the goal here is not a decisive victory, but a complete map wipe. After all that is the only way to prevent them from spawning all those tanks in the end and at 15 strength they are a problem, if let loose on the map. By the way sorry for the delay, videos will be more frequent again :)

Part 1:


Part 2:
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
fitzpatv
Lance Corporal - SdKfz 222
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Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2016 7:54 pm

Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by fitzpatv »

Gripping stuff and worth the wait. Congratulations on clearing the board and preventing any Vickers tanks from spawning. As you suggested, Calais could be hard going due to the close terrain, entrenchments and time limit. I managed it on the last turn and lost a unit. Overall, I had over 2,000 more Prestige at the end of the Stonne branch than I had on the Maubeuge one. Don't think it's because British units are stronger than French ones - they're just harder scenarios.

My multiple campaigns are now in '42 on both the Western and Eastern fronts. Haven't found the KVs and T-34s too much trouble on Manstein - yet - and just dealt with a pack of 18- and 20-point ones at Novoanninskiy (admittedly early models). One '42 West scenario (Bayonne) is probably impossible to get a Decisive on and Dieppe is extremely hard (worse than Vyazma or Streets of Moscow).
braccada
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Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by braccada »

Calais is surprisingly tricky. I will have to redo this one and I somehow doubt there is an ideal solution, because the defense is set up really nice. You can either rush in to block spawning and risk unit losses or fight through and risk running out of time. So far I have no idea how to break this cleanly.
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
goose_2
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Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by goose_2 »

I have not been able to watch your first Calais playthrough other than to see you ended up with a Marginal.

I know Decisive is possible, as I was able to do it on my playthrough, but those last few turns, like the last 3 or 4 are critical, so my suggestion is save your game with the last 4 turns to playthrough and retry at that point, as I know it is easier than the last French Path scenario
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braccada
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Calais (retry)

Post by braccada »

Since a marginal is not good enough in this case, I had to redo Calais. So might as well do it properly and aim at whiping the map clean :wink:

Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
braccada
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Dunkirk

Post by braccada »

Dunkirk: Time to finish the BEF and get back to the campaign path I already know from Rommel. Building on past experiences really helps.

Part 1:

Part 2:
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
fitzpatv
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Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by fitzpatv »

Have to say I take a minimalistic approach to this scenario, concentrating on the West side, abandoning the East entirely and mostly relying on aircraft to take-out the ships. It saves losses and prestige at the expense of missing-out on the prestige and experience for taking-on the main Allied force. It would be interesting to play both one after the other sometime and see how it balances-out. Doing it the way you did is more fun, I guess, but more stressful, too.

Reims (pronounced 'rance', I believe) is no joke, but a Decisive is certainly possible at Manstein. I did it in 19 turns and could have managed in 18. It did require a couple of expensive in-game replacements.

I'd be very interested to see how you tackle GC42/3 West at Manstein, as I've been finding it harder than GC42 East (which I've just completed). Parked it at the first Sicilian scenario to allow the Eastern Front to catch-up and have a viable force, but just 700 or so prestige following hard run-ins at Dieppe and Gironde.
braccada
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Re: Grand Campaign on Manstein (live streamed)

Post by braccada »

I did not consider that. Interesting approach, but you do not get the Matilda though. So with the prestige from the victory hexes added in I cannot imagine less damage makes up for that. Maybe. Reims I remember not to be easy at all on Rommel. Since the map is not "blind friendly" I can do a lot better now, but still, no risk of me underestimating it :)

And I will try West, too. But not in parallel. That would slow me down even more :)
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
braccada
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Reims

Post by braccada »

Operation Fall Rot is about to start and we are planning a bold maneuver to encircle the counterattacking French tank forces. At the same time Reims and other targets in the back will be secured by quick forces.

Part 1:

Part 2:
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
braccada
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Dijon

Post by braccada »

Distances are huge on the Dijon map and in order to secure the capturable Char B and all the victory hexes, we will have to attack at multiple areas at the same time. Once again a job for the Fallschirmjäger.

Part 1:

Part 2:
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
braccada
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Maginot Line

Post by braccada »

For the finale of GC40 we are up against some really massive fortifications. Curious whether my Level bombers will be able to put a dent into those Manstein level fortresses. Key unit to clear the strongpoints will the Fallschirmjäger with their special ability!

Part 1:

Part 2:
Follow my Grand Let's Play series: Rommel, Manstein and Guderian
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=53035
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