(NOTICE: My view is tainted because I previously played the first 6 scenarios of this campaign almost a year ago. I got seriously ticked off that I quit the campaign because I didn’t know how to handle enemy reinforcements at that time, and I lost a lot of my most veteran units and a third of my army.)
After a year or so of creating campaign-based scenarios and learning the AI’s behavior, I finally got enough self-confidence in my ability to command a PGII army against SSI’s AI to replay a campaign that has eluded me for so long. (Seeing the first 6 scenarios of this campaign Unternehmen Barbarossa, and Brian Gosley’s high recommendation of it, motivated me to create The Lumberjack Regiment, which is all about enemy reinforcements.) Brian spoke very highly about Unternehmen Barbarossa because of its surprises. He said, “I was paranoid about where and when the reinforcements would appear and had to spare fighting units [to protect] my flanks”. I just finished playing it in its entirety, and needless to say, I was very disappointed.
The first 6 scenarios were excellent. In order to survive those first 6, a player would really have to know how to deploy his army. It’s imperative that he comes up with an efficient plan to take on the victory hexes quickly and not allow himself to be distracted by ownership and supply hexes.
Donets, the 6th scenario, is the scenario that made me quit that first time. This time I cheated. Instead of splitting my army into 3 groups, I only split it into 2 groups. I didn’t pay attention to those outside supply hexes because if I did, I would need to split my army into 3 groups. Futhermore, I put my 1st and 3rd most experienced tanks on the side in which I expected the reinforcements to come from (Traveler provides a warning of where enemy reinforcements are going to emerge from). I had 6 tanks at the time. The 2nd, 4th, and 5th most experienced tanks covered the other group. What was very helpful also is that I acquired a tank “Infiltrator” leader, which is absolutely necessary in going to and from the northern-most victory hex. I highly recommend getting a bridging unit in the event that an “Infiltrator” is not present. This second time around with Donets, I acquired a brilliant victory (BV) with 4 turns remaining, and my only loss was an infantry unit with a leader. This infantry unit deserves high praise because it was out in the open when it destroyed a tank that put itself in the forest. This is the most challenging scenario in the campaign.
After Donets, the rest of the campaign is very easy; even a below-average player can run through it. I feel sorry for the AI because he wasn’t given an army that was worth anything. If a player were allowed to lose Donets and given compensating prestige, he could run through the rest of the campaign just fine because there was little overstrength and entrenchment in the AI. Furthermore, I didn’t see the AI restrengthen itself, but I may be wrong, Traveler may have given the AI some prestige per turn.
Except for Saturn on the Chir+, and much to my disappointment, no enemy reinforcements came after the Donets scenario. The AI mishandled the reinforcements that he was given in Saturn on the Chir+ which negated his potency. In the Rostov+ scenario, the 7th scenario, I could’ve finished it 6 turns before BV, but I decided to withhold taking it 2 turns just to see where reinforcements might show. Nothing came. In the Beirut scenario, there was a perfect opportunity for reinforcements to come in for an amphibious landing (it is on the Salerno map), and there were a lot of victory hexes to maintain. I requisitioned new recon units to keep an eye on the sea. Alas, nothing came.
In his comments regarding my campaign The Gallantry of 7.Panzerarmee, Brian said, “A better balance for units is required. All the opposing units were overstrengthed and all were the latest equipment available. Variety is required.” In Unternehmen Barbarossa, there is variety, but they didn’t stand a chance against my army. I really felt sorry for the AI.
The only scenarios after the first 6 that were decent were Saturn on the Chir+, Suez, and Windsor+. Even in these scenarios, the AI is understrengthened; they presented no match against my Tigers (or in the case of Windsor+, my King Tigers) and fighters.
Traveler says, “This campaign might be difficult. At first play, 150% prestige mode is proper”. I played the campaign at 100%, and in my opinion (pertaining to the prestige after Donets) 100% is a little excessive. In the 2nd and 3rd to the last scenarios, I had prestige that I didn’t know what to do with. When I got to Windsor+, the last scenario, my army was massive. I didn’t want to reassign units to get my most experienced units up to 15-strength, so I allowed them to go at 12- or 13-strength. Anyway I was confident that I wouldn’t lose any of my King Tigers and fighters. The only losses I suffered were several of my rookie recons and one AAA unit. (My AAA units didn’t see much action; I didn’t use any of them to soften up enemy fighters and bombers. I had my fighters attack all enemy aircraft head-on, without AAA support. This allowed them to acquire experience at a much faster rate.)
Brian and Lasse Jensen said my campaign The Gallantry of 7.Panzerarmee was “boring”. If Lasse were to run through Unternehmen Barbarossa, and he didn’t have any bias (like we KNOW he doesn’t have – Yeah, right!), he’d fall asleep in this campaign.
I highly recommend that players run through Unternehmen Barbarossa just to see the first 6 scenarios. If anybody decides to stop anytime after the first 6 because he just wasn’t challenged enough, I don’t blame him. I cannot believe that it was this campaign, and Brian’s high recommendation of it, that inspired me to create The Lumberjack Regiment.
My army composition at the start of Windsor+ were as follows:
6 King Tigers, 1 Panther G
4 Me jet fighters, 2 FW fighters
3 HS bombers
5 K18 artilleries
8 reconnaisance vehicles (the latest models)
2 Waffen SS infantries, 1 Fallschirmjager
4 AAA units
The arties and bombers were at maximum overstrength. The rest of the units ran around with 1, 2, or 3 overstrengths that were left unfulfilled due to prestige limits.
The leaders I had were as follows:
1 infiltrator tank (2 other tanks had leaders)
1 devastating fire fighter
1 reconnaisance movement fighter
1 reconnaisance movement bomber
1 aggressive attack bomber (my 3rd bomber had a leader)
1 reconnaisance movement Fallschirmjager
1 determined defense Waffen SS
1 battlefield intelligence recon
1 sreet fighter recon
1 combat support arty
1 aggressive maneuver arty
14 July 2000