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Hi Folks -

Blast from the past! I haven't done a CC in about 10 years, so it's fun getting back into it.
I'll be running DAK (one of my favorite campaigns) at Troopie Level. 200%
(Franky, it's way too hard for me at 100%, I've tried and cried many times).

A few notes before I start on my strategy and thinking - and maybe some good advice for those of you who haven't experienced the hardships of Rommels North Afrika predicament:
- I need lots of AT to deal with enemy tanks. The benefit is big guns with LOTS of ammo, which means we don't need to reload as often as their tanks. If we can trap them, they're doomed as we run them out of ammo. That said, any units with lots of ammo will be very helpful. Tip: I like to keep one heavy german AT (5Flak41 and 8.8flak36) because they have 2 range and they're great against the endless waves of heavily armored Matildas you'll be facing. It's expensive, but I think it's worth it.
- Along the same lines, it's VERY difficult to find appropriate terrain to keep up supply, need to constantly watch for desert hexes that are hills, rough, etc (anything other than "desert").
- Mobile units with tracks are WAY better than those with wheels. Be mindful of the scouts you select. Horsecarts aren't bad either if you need to save money because they DO NOT HAVE TO REFUEL!! But they are slow - which is not a terrible thing for AT guns or Arty.
- Your airpower will very likely be outclassed in the early parts of the campaign. Be very careful with it! Keep some AA on hand to support your fighter. Tip: The heavy german AT's (5Flak41 and 8.8flak36) also have significant AA capability.
- You need at least one Sturmpionier to bust up some VERY heavy entrenchment.
- I like to carry two strong tanks for overruns. One PzIIIH (for armor) and one PzIVD for (mostly) artillery and infantry. Secondarily, a heavily armored tank can be great to run artillery out of ammo. Sounds crazy, but that's life in the DAK - forests of British 25 pounders can be a real trial for your vulnerable infantry.

So, my starting prestige is 4000 (don't laugh). Here's my initial core purchase:
Pz IIIH
Pz IVD
8.8 Flak36 with SPferdewagon x 2
5 Pack38 with SPferdewagon x 2
Sturmpioniere with Bussing-nag 4500
Infanterie with KFz.70 halftrack x 3
10.5 leFH 18 Arty with Opel Blitz x 2
8mm Schwartzlose (machinegunner) with Donkeys
Ju-87B-1
Banking 52 pp

Wish me luck!

Scenario 1: Beda Fomm - Benghazi

Turn 1: I sent off my aux scout plane to circle Beda Fomm and Antelat, discovering a pair of British 25 pdrs sitting behind Beda Fomm. I sent my two stukas out for their enjoyment and my fighter to cover (fortunately, they were close enough together that my fighter could cover both. The same city was flanked by a pair of Matildas, which did not make me happy. Meanwhile I used my Italians to quickly capture Antelat and the rest of my units to try to lure the matildas into my hastily constructed AT trap. There was an enemy Cruiser tank behind Antelat which I quickly disptached with my two panzers.

Turn 2: A second bombing run on the artillery scored a kill and I sent the stukas home to reload. My Pz IVD overran the 2nd arty and we were clear to attack Beda Fomm. But those cursed matildas charged forward - one stupidly stopped in the city to attack my lead infantry, so it set them up for a vicious counter attack - I used arty and machine gunner to loosen him up then finished the job with my infantry and pioniere. One down. The other ran into my AT web. It scored 4 points of damage on my buttoned up pak gun decoy, but it left itself in range of my 8.8, so it was well worth it. The 8.8 and Pak gun with some arty support dropped him to 2 strength and forced a retreat. Then I overran him with my PzIIIH. An auspicious start. I quickly advanced my italians to the hill between Antelat and Msus to reload and wait for the infantry to catch up. I also sent Rommel (my scenario-supplied scout car with <resilience> leader), 8.8 and a pak gun to support the Italian effort in the East. Put my remaining german infantry in place to take Beda Fomm next turn and left my artillery open in case the enemy got cute and tried a counter-attack.
Also of note: 10.5's have 5 range in this EQ. Woot!

Turn 3: The British airforce came to the party. An unidentified bi-plane throwback from WWI tried to get at my forward panzers and got eliminated by air cover. Their spitfire settled for a strafing run on my Panzer IVH to little effect. Rommel scouted Msus, spotting an overstrength British infantry holding the city. The rest of the italians advanced while the italian arty resupplied on the hill. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of resupply in this campaign. Do it as often as you can without slowing your advance too much. You have to find a good balance because you're often expected to cover a lot of ground. After artillery strikes and machine gun fire, Beda Fomm was burning. It was a simple thing for my german infanterie to kick the Brits out and capture the city. The rest of my germans buttoned up and advanced north. It would be a very long ride to Benghazi. I decided against counter-attacking the Spitfire 1a - that's pretty much suicide for my ME109, which is currently my only air cover for the bombers. On the advance, I captured Al Mogrun and placed a buttoned up truck in sight of Quaminis in hopes to draw the spitfire 1a. My ME109 was placed neatly between the two - any chance for an ambush, right?

Turn 4: No luck. The Spit missed my ambush by a hair and got stopped by a Stuka (covered by my ME109). The spit, wisely, held off the attack. I managed to spot a British Mark IVb wind-up toy poking his nose out at Suluq. I chased him away with My Panzer III and setup my Panzer IV on the road between Suluq and Msus to intercept if he made a run for it. The Mark IVB is crap, but he had leader (determined defense) so I expected he'd be causing a good deal of michief if I let him get away. I did NOT want him sneaking behind my lines. I sent some initial rounds of artillery into Msus and set up my Bersaglieri to take the city tomorrow. Meanwhile I moved rommel west a bit to catch the Mark IVB in case he tried to sneak south between my panzers. The supplied veteran scout is really fantastic in this scenario and can cover a lot of ground when you need him to. Baby this unit! It's incredibly useful.

Turn 5: Surprise surprise! The British infantry in Suluq left his entrenchment and ripped into my lead german Infanterie. A follow-up attack by a nearby engineer in carrier did a run-and-gun and nearly finished him off. He escaped at 1 strength (lucky!). Additionally, that darned Mark IVB ran south, behind my lines. I would have lost him if Rommel hadn't been there to scout. I quickly ran him south to get him out of harms way with the intention of leaving him in Beda Fomm as garison. This left me with a dilemma. To chase the IVB or secure Suluq for needed supplies (they have 3 supply hexes). I sent my panzers to trounce the artillery behind Suluq and ran my 2nd infanterie there to capture the city, hoping that Rommel could deal with the IVB with air and arty support. It worked, my ME109 getting the kill after I beat it down with Stuka, Arty and scout car. Problem solved. I then ran infantry and arty to suluz to resupply, hoping the panzers could cover them adequately, but I had my doubts. That british infantry that vacated the city was still in range, and undamaged. But if he did come back, he'd pay dearly for it. In the east, my aux italians knocked the Brits out of Msus with the help of my core Stuka (a bit of a risk because that Spit was in range and he had no cover. Worst case, my stuka could survive a hit as the spit ws understrength). Sadly I didn't have enough units in range to capture Msus. In the process my Stuka spotted a Herrington I scout car just outside the city.

Turn 6: The British infantry retreated toward Benghazi and the Spit attacked my Stuka. It scored 5 hits, but my Stuka, with a bit of luck, scored a hit in return (yay!). The Brits ran their scout into Msus in a last ditch effort to slow me down and their infantry held position in support. I destroyed the scout and took Msus, then launched an Arty/Stuka/PzIVD attack on the retreating British infantry, destroying him. Everyone else resupplied. Some were forced to resupply in the desert (works in a pinch).

Turn 7: The Spit strafed my italians in Msus which allowed me to set up an air ambush between Msus and the British airfield but my 109 ws spotted by a British Machine Gunner south of the airfield (argh!) so I sent my two tanks up there attempting to push him away - but he held. I sent my aux Stuka there as an afterthought which was a mistake as he got tagged by a hidden AT at the airfield. It scored minimal damage but it loosened him up for the Spit which would, naturally, attack him when it returned to the airfield. We destroyed the remaining British infantry and sent the italians toward a hill positioned between Msus and Mechilli to resupply. My pionieres moved north to set up for the attack on Benghazi and spotted an entrenched 25pdrAT due south of the city. It set my remaining units up to support the attack on Benghazi.

Turn 8: The spit did attack (as did the AA) but they only managed one hit my aux Stuka (amazing)! My tanks wrecked the machine gunners and started to work on the AA. I sent both stukas to Benghazi, discovering a 25pdr and 18pdr arty behind the city. I dive bombed Benghazi and the 25pdr arty to moderate effect, then inched up my infantry. My pionieres wrecked the AT gun despite support fire. Then I launched an arty attack of my own on Benghazi which started to burn. I drove both artillery north to get them in range of the enemy arty for next turn.

Turn 9: The spit strafed my infantry as the enemy AA bombarded it. My two tanks took the British airfield. The spit was down to 3 ammo, it didn't have long to live with no airfield to resupply. This lifted my spirits. I sent my stukas to blast the artillery north of Benghazi and my infantry to destroy the AT and set up around the city. The italians drove east with Rommel scouting.

Turn 10: A british scout car popped out and scouted my italians, then ducked back under cover. The Spit strafed my arty. I destroyed both artillery behind Benghazi using combined forces (air, arty and infantry). I saved one arty for the city then attacked with pionieres who fell victim to a rugged defense (noooo!). After the failed attack they retred at 1 strength back to Quaminis to lick their wounds. The airforce went to the newly captured airfield to resupply. We laughed heartily at the Spitfire. Rommel went hunting for the Herrington scout and found him sitting in the rough directly north. I sent my pak gun north to support him as well as the Italian tank. The rest continued the long drive east.

Turn 11: A British Engineer left Banina and retook the airfield (drat!), but the Spit strafed my Arty rather than refueling. So I bombed the engineer and attacked with my nearby tanks. This allowed me to retake the airfield and the nearby town of Banina. The reduced spit was down to 1 ammo, so I attacked him with my 109 and we traded 1 for 1. The spit was now toothless. yay. I bombarded Benghazi and my infantry drove out the brits, capturing the objective. Rommel continued to chase down the scout and head him off while my italians drove east toward the final objective.

Turns 12 - 17: I elminated the spit and flew my airforce west to support the italians. Rommel and the tank finally caught up with the scout car and started knocking him down. This was important because he was in a position to sneak behind my lines and take Msus back in the south. I didn't leave a garison behind there because I didn't want to risk any nasty surprises in Mechilli. Nothing worse than driving all that way only to discover you're short on forces. We eventually destroyed the scout and got our boys in position around Mechilli, though we encountered a bit of resistance on the road which reduced my Bersaglieri (a key unit) to 4 strength. Now that I had air supremacy I could bomb Machilli with impugnity. They had an armored supply base there with significant entrenchment. It was guarded by a British infantry with street fighter and a 25 pdr arty in front?!! of the city. Yes, sometimes generals make bad choices. It took about two more turns, listening to the grumble of my german artillery crews (I drove them all east to support the italians) before wrapping up the battle of Mechilli for a Turn 17 Brilliant Victory.

Scored a weird little prototype AT: IKH 290(r) in an SdKfz 251/1(sweet!). I'll never complain about AT's in the desert. The only trouble is that it came in at 5 strength <sigh>. We'll work with it...

On to Operation Brevity!

After Action Report:
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)

..
Current scenario: Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle, VH prestige is 320 , All map prestige is: 320
Army cost: 3948 , Current prestige is 612
AI stance is Aggressive Using map: 214
if BV: +100, Operation Crusader , cap 1300, 20 turns prestige: 500
if V : +90, Operation Crusader , cap 1300, 19 turns prestige: 500
if TV: +70, Operation Crusader , cap 1300, 21 turns prestige: 500
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 500

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 1 bars , 118 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 0 kill , 516 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 0 bars , 70 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 0 bars , 84 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:009
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 0 bars , 48 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 216 pp - U:010

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 1 bars , 111 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 4 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 117 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 5 kill , 336 pp - U:003

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 4 bars , 418 exp , Germany , 5/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001

Anti-tank
8.8 FlaK36 , SPferdewagen , , 0 bars , 35 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 516 pp - U:004
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 50 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 156 pp - U:005
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 30 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 156 pp - U:006
8mm Schwarzlose M08/18 , Maulesel , , 0 bars , 45 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 204 pp - U:014
+ IkH 290(r) , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 100 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:015

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 1 bars , 102 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 336 pp - U:011
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 0 bars , 77 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 336 pp - U:012

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 1 bars , 117 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 432 pp - U:013

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:8 TNK:4 RCN:2 AT:2 FORT:1 ATY:6 AD:1 FTR:1 TB:1 Total: 26
Lost : Total: 0

BV 1
V 0
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 320 exp, 5 kill, 1164 pp Average: 80 exp, 1 kill, 291 pp
Tank * 2 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 228 exp, 9 kill, 648 pp Average: 114 exp, 5 kill, 324 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 418 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp Average: 418 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp
Anti-tank * 5 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 260 exp, 0 kill, 1032 pp Average: 52 exp, 0 kill, 206 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 179 exp, 0 kill, 672 pp Average: 90 exp, 0 kill, 336 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 117 exp, 0 kill, 432 pp Average: 117 exp, 0 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 15 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1522 exp, 14 kill, 3948 pp Average: 101 exp, 1 kill, 263 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 20 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 6
Tank : 2
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 6
Fortification : 1
Artillery : 2
Air Defense : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 1


Player 2 United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, India - estimated force: 13 units
Infantry / Anti-tank : 16%
Recon / Tank : 20%
Air Defense / Mobile Air Defense : 4%
Air : 0%
Naval : 0%

* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Scenario 2 - Halfaya Pass Sollum Battle (Code Name: Operation Brevity)

HQ: I wanted another tank and some more AT because I knew that Operation Brevity was a beast and would require a huge flanking maneuver if I expected to win (more on that later). So I purchased another Pz IIIH and a pair of 3.7pak36 AT guns with mules to keep the costs down. If they survive I can upgrade them later. I also grabbed the best fighter I could afford which was an ME109E-3. The Italian airforce doesn't arrive early enough at Brevity for my tastes so I wanted some teeth in the air. I banked 12 PP.

Setup: Your units start north at Bardia and Sidi Azeiz. They are required to drive south in support of Fort Capuzzo against a huge British invasion force that is driving in from a point east of Halfaya Pass in the south. We have a lone Italian AT gun holding the pass and the Brits are already holding Sollum, due north with an under-strength infantry. Rest assured this little Italian 47mm AT will die. The length of its survival will have some direct impact on your strategy. I placed my defensive units directly north of Fort Capuzzo around the city of Bardia (it's quite a drive, so I put the most critical units in front) including mostly AT's and infantry. Around Sidi Azeiz I placed my flanking group which consisted of Tanks, Scout (Rommel), Arty and Elite Infantry (Pioniere and my best Infanterie). I considered sending my 8.8 but I knew it would be badly needed at the fort. It was around this time that I kicked myself for not purchasing an AA, but ...c'est la guerre. I'll grab one or two next time if pp allows. I'm also sad to report that my newly purchased fighter, Panzer and AT's were only 5 strength. I guess they have a shortage at HQ.

Turn 1: We drive south and watch the carnage at Halfaya Pass. First hardship of note is that there are only 2 ideal supply hexes at Fort Capuzzo and one is taken up by a garrison, so that will make life interesting. I'm glad my defenders are mostly AT (high ammo, remember?). There is also a hill about 4 hexes south of the fort with 4 supply hexes that may prove useful. To make matters worse - while taking Sollum and defending the Fort, we're also required to grab an objective 15 hexes south of the Fort - Sidi Omar. I didn't need that distraction, but thems the orders...we live to serve. I sent my airforce south west toward Halfaya Pass to give the Italians a bit of support in their final days. It was amusing to watch my long wagon train of mules and horses travelling south from Bardia - you'd think it was still WWI!

Turn 2: The assault on Halfaya begins! Two artillery, a scout car and an overstrength elite British infantry attacked the pass. They held! Fantastic! They also retained 8 entrenchment. This might be a good day! A buttoned up 25 pdr AT also drove directly west past Halfaya to setup against any tanks that maybe coming south to defend the fort. Ha! That was NOT going to happen. I sent my stuka to dive on the scout car and my plane strafed the infantry for light damage. I sent a pair of infantry out to confront the 25 pdr and raced one of my artillery to the Fort to support them and then refuel. The rest of my flanking force went directly south. I had a large patch of rough in my sights to refuel them while they prepared to flank. Identified units on the Brit invasion force (so far) included a pair of 25 pdr arty, a Herrington scout, an elite infantry and a Cruiser IIa tank. No big deal but I knew more was on the way. I chose not to counter attack at Halfaya but I did resupply them.

Turn 3: The second attack on Halfaya Pass had a bit more success, but the italians held at 3 strength! They also spotted some new players...3 big Matildas. Yeah, they're slow, but these beasts have 14 ground defense and 13 ammo. Very difficult to penetrate. So they tend to just keep on moving forward. Their guns are weak against soft targets, which is why I choose to confront them with AT rather than tanks. I could see they had a target in mind - Fort Capuzzo - but I'd have plenty of time to set up before they arrived. The Brits retreated their AT when they saw my infantry response. I sent my flanking infanterie south to Sidi Omar and discovered an understrength British garrison. I'd deal with them next turn. I sent Rommel southeast to scout my "rough" refuel zone and got spotted by the Herrington (dumb move, I should have noticed him driving south) and sent my Stuka down to try to end him. No luck. The rest of my flanking force drove south of the hill near the Fort to refuel. I'll note here that I've been moving my aux garisons south to Fort Capuzzo to shore it up a bit more, reasoning that if the Brits ever got far enough to take those cities, the battle was long lost anyway.

Turn 4: Well, that's interesting! The Brits took Halfaya Pass (no surprise), but two of the matildas diverted south to chase down Rommel. Hmmm...maybe I could make this work to my advantage. The Cruiser ran headlong into my new IKH AT just south east of the Fort. He took two hits due in part to some arty support fire. I counter attacked with the weak IKH and took a point of damage for my trouble, but my Pak 38 was in range to slide in and hit his flank for 2 more damage, but was badly damaged in the attempt (down to 6 str). I followed up with a machine gun and a pair of arty which knocked the Cruiser down to 1 Str, so I overran him with my nearby Pz III. My southern infantry blew away the garrison in Sidi Omar with no losses. I bombed the southern most Matilda and ran Rommel east hoping to pull the Matildas into a merry chase. I stopped a few hexes short of his max move (but out of range of the matildas) to give him a bit of fuel. I began to set up my AT guns and infantry to defend Fort Capuzzo. It was going to get hairy real soon. Part of that defensive strategy was to set up my 8.8 AT behind a wall of smaller AT's to take advantage of his 2 range (and preserve his strength). It would also fire defensively (and aggressively if I choose) if they came under air attack.

Turn 5: The Brits sent a scout west and spotted my forward infantry, then drove an elite infantry right up to their line in a truck and sent in their lead Matilda to attack it. As expected, not much was done, both Matilda and Infantry took one casualty. The southern Matilda chose not to follow Rommel and moved directly west instead. This put him between my flanking force and their next resupply destination. I briefly considered attacking full on while my infanterie captured Sidi Omar. I sent the airforce to attack the forward invasion group and had opposite results from what I expected. The stuka only scored 1 hit on the boxed up infantry. The fighter strafed the Matilda for 2 points (yay!). I also spotted the 2nd Matilda travelling west two hexes south of her sister (and two hexes north of my problem child that was supposed to be chasing Rommel). Perfect British formation. heh. I left one of my forward infantry in place to deal with the enemy infantry and retreated the other to the south side of the fort. Then pushed my AT's forward to complete my defensive line two hexes east. I advanced one of my new 3.7 AT's west to support my remaining infantry and the other just south west of him creating a nice line with a 2 range machine gunner behind them which could fire defensively. I did the same further down with my Pak38's and the 8.8 behind. A surprise attack there would be awfully sweet! I bombarded the lead matilda with my artillery, creating some rough ground for his enjoyment and knocking off another pip. Then I decided to send my flanking group in an even wider flank to avoid the southern most Matilda who was way out of position for an effective attack on the fort. I left my PzIIIH behind to resupply on the hill. I'd deal with him later if I had the chance. I spent a few precious prestige points to bolster my weakened AT guns and waited. Rommel drove north a bit and spotted a pair of 25 pdrs south east of Halfay Pass (which was currently held by that 25 Pdr AT I mentioned earlier. The Brit high command must have stuck their fingers in the petri dish, causing them to swap out the 25 pdr with their elite infantry at Halfaya (a mistake).

Turn 6: The attack on Fort Capuzzo is launched in earnest! The entire British line moved directly west into my waiting AT's. Sadly, none were surprised. They caused minimal damage. The British airforce showed up (still no Italians!) and tried to knock down my Stuka with a Beaufighter, my ME109 bloodied his nose in defense, but it managed to knock my Stuka down to 8 strength. The southern most Matilda attacked my PzIII on the hill to a stalemate allowing my flanking force to hit their destination without any trouble. This currently consisted of Two Panzers, Two arty and my Pioniere. They would join up with Rommel and my southern infantry from Sidi Omar in short order. My 109 still had plenty of fuel so I had him counter-attack the Beaufighter, knocking him down to 2. The stuka was out of bombs so I sent him north to reload. The counter-attack from my defensive line was glorious. Every attack seemed to work. I completely destroyed a boxed up 25 pdr AT and reduced the northmost Matilda to 4 strength. My Proto AT attacked a matilda and almost died for it, so I retreated him, then continued with AT attacks up and down the line which wore down the Brits in bits and pieces. I left my PzIII to defend the all important hill south of the fort. Rommel spotted an arty lagging behind Halfaya and snuck in for a quick attack, then retreated. It paid off, reducing it to 8 str.

Turn 7: The matildas attempted to push my Panzer off the hill, but only succeeded in scoring 2 points of damage. The rest of their front line faltered and redeployed. I retreated my badly wounded IkH back to Halfid Ridge. Then fueled up my flanking group to ready the attack to take back Halfaya Pass. My PzIIIH on the hill was given a significant gap to join the flanking group as originally intended. I moved an infantry to the hill in his absence. Then my AT's barked again. This time my target was the scout car, whom I had surrounded. He had an artillery in close support. But I was met with a nasty surprise. I slid my machine gun forward to weaken the artillery from range 2, but the artillery returned fire, obliterating my machine gunner! I briefly mourned my first casualty of the campaign and then launched several attacks on the Herrington to very little effect.

Turn 8: 4 new groups of infantry appeared near Sollum and started moving west. Several attacks were made on my line and I was forced to withdraw my Pak36 to the fort. My infantry held the hill against the determined Matilda. My reloaded stuka returned and bombed the scout car. The follow up attack from my 8.8 reduced him to 1 str. I finished him with the other Pak36 and nearly wiped out their close artillery with my Pak38. A quick overrun from a nearby panzer finished the job. I noticed a boxed up OBL 4.5 artillery moving toward the fort and I chased it down with Scout and Panzer, nearly destroying it. This would leave the panzer III exposed to a rather large infantry attack, but I felt it was necessary. That big gun would wreak havok on my AT's. With over 300 pp available, I grabbed some reinforcements at Bardia. A PzIV and Pz38(t)F. They came in at 5 strength, but I reasoned they'd be useful to help bust up this new crop of infantry moving against the fort. I resupplied the rest and waited.

Turn 9: The new infantry decided to run through the pass and assault my panzer III rather than march on the Fort. He held just fine, as did the infantry holding the hill against the stubborn Matilda. This was all good as it was distracting their forces from moving against Fort Capuzzo. I diverted my airforce against the new infantry and followed up with artillery blasts. This gained me a leader on one of my 10.5's (aggressive attack). Then I rushed the flanking group in to follow up. This had the desired result, destroying one and crippling a second. With combined AT fire I managed to destroy the big artillery and a matilda. I then repositioned my AT's for the next assault. The infantry on the hill continued to hold. I pushed one of my Pak38's east to give the matilda something to play with while I tore up their infantry at the pass.

Turn 10: The Matilda gave up the hill and started moving to the fort, the rest of the Brits did some ineffectual attacks and then the Italian airforce came to play. But also a new British Beaufighter. I immediately attacked (and destroyed!) it with my ME109 and then supported my Stuka run on the western most infantry. Then followed up with my two new panzers. But their reduced strength and green crew only managed to score a couple of hits. I jumped when I noticed the matilda had moved into range of my 8.8, so I took the shot at 2 range, but only managed some suppression. (I told you their armor was tough!). So I followed up with two infantry to try to run its ammo down as it was now dangerously close to the fort. I slid my Pak38 into range to help out the newbie panzers and scored an amazing 5 damage, finishing off that forward infantry. The Italians flew south and attacked the matilda - again no effect. Then finished off the crippled infantry near the pass with my panzers. Their 4 artillery pieces firing in defense made it very rough.

Turn 11: On the counterattack the matilda4 overran my new PzIIIH and followed up with an attack on my PzIV, while their artillery battered my pionieres. I trudged on for the pass. I sent my airforce and the Italians after the infantry in the pass and their 3 supporting 25 pdrs. Scoring several hits. Then I hammered the pass with my 10.5's. I used my AT's to attack the matilda and draw fire from the artillery in an attempt to run them out of ammo. This allowed my pionieres and surviving PzIIIH to push the Brits out of the pass. Then I surrounded the matilda near the fort with armor and infantry - eventually running him out of ammo. The pass remained vacant as it was too hot to capture immediately. I noticed my IkH was in range of the now empty matilda and I ran him south in his transport and gunned him down, forcing a retreat/surrender. That left one lightly wounded matilda, low on ammo and almost surrounded. All of their artillery was now empty and the airforce was choking their supply on all but one. Things were looking good.

Turn 12: Their retreated infantry took the pass back and attacked, getting torn up by my artillery in the process. Their matilda did the same and was reduced from 8 to 4 by support fire from my AT's. My panzers moved in for the kill and destroyed it. Follow up attacks reduced their infantry and artillery further. I was now fully on the offensive.

Turn 13 - 15: My combined troops moved in, secured the pass and took Sollum for a turn 15 Brilliant Victory. Sadly I lost a panzer and a machine gunner along the way. No prototypes were given. After the last prototype I feel like they owe me.

Next up - Operation Crusader!

After Action Report:
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory

..
Current scenario: Operation Crusader, VH prestige is 0 , All map prestige is: 240
Army cost: 4500 , Current prestige is 178
AI stance is Aggressive Using map: 45
if BV: +100, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 20 turns prestige: 0
if V : +90, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 25 turns prestige: 0
if TV: +70, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 26 turns prestige: 0
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 0

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 1 bars , 163 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 0 kill , 516 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 127 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 114 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 4 kill , 216 pp - U:009
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 112 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 216 pp - U:010

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 2 bars , 228 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 6 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 156 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 8 kill , 336 pp - U:003
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 105 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 168 pp - U:014
Pz 38(t)F , , 1 bars , 124 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:016

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 4 bars , 449 exp , Germany , 5/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001

Anti-tank
8.8 FlaK36 , SPferdewagen , , 0 bars , 68 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 1 kill , 516 pp - U:004
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 1 bars , 129 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 1 kill , 156 pp - U:005
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 60 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:006
+ IkH 290(r) , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 126 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 0 pp - U:015
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 109 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:017
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 124 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 66 pp - U:018

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 336 pp - U:011
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 1 bars , 145 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:012

Fighter
Me-109E-3 , , 1 bars , 169 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 312 pp - U:019

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 1 bars , 196 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 432 pp - U:013

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:13 TNK:8 RCN:3 AT:3 FORT:1 ATY:9 AD:1 FTR:1 TB:2 Total: 41
Lost : INF:1 TNK:1 AT:2 Total: 4

BV 2
V 0
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 516 exp, 6 kill, 1164 pp Average: 129 exp, 2 kill, 291 pp
Tank * 4 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 613 exp, 14 kill, 960 pp Average: 153 exp, 4 kill, 240 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 449 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp Average: 449 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp
Anti-tank * 6 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 616 exp, 7 kill, 960 pp Average: 103 exp, 1 kill, 160 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 345 exp, 1 kill, 672 pp Average: 173 exp, 1 kill, 336 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 169 exp, 1 kill, 312 pp Average: 169 exp, 1 kill, 312 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 196 exp, 0 kill, 432 pp Average: 196 exp, 0 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 19 Units * 3 Leaders Total : 2904 exp, 29 kill, 4500 pp Average: 153 exp, 2 kill, 237 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 50 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 16
Tank : 6
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 10
Artillery : 6
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 4
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 4


Player 2 United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa - estimated force: 51 units
Infantry / Anti-tank : 38%
Recon / Tank : 15%
Air Defense / Mobile Air Defense : 0%
Air : 0%
Naval : 0%

* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Scenario 3 - Operation Crusader

This one is tricky and, unfortunately, can be won very quickly in an odd-ball way due to the scenario design parameters "win by taking any flag". Conversely, if you fight really hard and do your best to hold onto all your VH's (and it can be done - at great cost) you will lose. This is unfortunate because it causes you to play in an unnatural way. The easy way to win Crusader is to lose a *NON-VH FLAG* and then recover it. If you lose an actual VH and recover that - it will not trigger a win for some reason. Maybe someone smarter than me can reconfigure the scenario in OG to trigger a win if you recover *any* flag - including a VH (which makes way more sense to me). Us old school Panzer General players are trained to focus on the VH's and only capture the other flags when it's strategic or if we're in need of extra prestige points. Unfortunately, in many of these desert scenarios, the flags don't always give you PP. Anyway - on to requisition...
I needed an AA gun and I badly wanted to upgrade this lousy proto IkH tank gun they threw at me. The only thing good about it was the transport. But I didn't have much PP to work with this time around. The quad gun Flakv 38 looked promising with a 14 air attack - and cheap! But it only carried 8 ammo, which should be enough. I could outfit it with a wagon at 66pp. That left plenty of prestige to upgrade that awful IkH to a proper 5Pak38 that could fire at 2 range, which used the same transport. That only cost 36. Done and done. That left 76 pp which wasn't good for much of anything. I briefly considered overstrength for some units, but decided to bank it instead.

Setup: Given the odd parameters of this battle, I felt like I had two choices. I could either cheese it and intentionally lose a flag, then quickly recover it. Or I could play it aggressively and attempt to capture the airfield near Tobruk, which I just noticed is a non-VH flag and may actually trigger a victory. But the deployment slots up in that zone is somewhat limited. I decided to try it that way to make things more realistic. And in addition, capture some good experience for my troops. Doing things the easy way may not yield enough experience which could hurt me later on. To that end, I deployed all my infantry and artillery in Sidi Rezegh along with Rommel and the 8.8. This, in effect, was a direct defiance of orders to abandon the attack on Tobruk and defend Halfaya pass. I deployed everything else in the zone just west of the pass with the intention of driving them north west in support of the attack on the Tobruk airfield. The only exception was my flakV38 - which I placed in the single deploy hex next to Bardia (north east coast). I would drive him west as well. This left all of my tanks near Halfaya which would be expected to drive across the open desert to join up with my forces in the north west.

Turn 1: I sent Rommel to scout the Tobruk airfield and he quickly discovered a Bunker with a pair of infantry behind it supported by a machine-gunner. I created a line of infantry for the advance and left the artillery in place to support them. I also pulled in a big italian gun (210 mm!!) and a Gustatori (italian pioniere) to help out. I didn't plan to push them all the way as I figured they had other surprises that hadn't shown their faces yet. I would need my tanks in all likelihood to help drive the victory home. Then I sent the entire airforce north west (This consisted of my own two units, an italian bomber and fighter, two aux german 109's, a FW109 and a stuka). I drove all my tanks and anything with motorized transport directly north west. My four AT's in wagons stayed behind to assist the skeleton crew at Halfaya. There were also three aux units at Bir el Gubi - directly south of Tobruk that weren't in the city, so I sent them north as well. The Tobruk defense was in for a surprise. Then I inched Rommel one step closer and discovered a whole lot more - a matilda, a British engineer (elite), another infantry, a 2pdr and a 18 pdr short range arty. They also had a 2nd bunker to guard the other side of the road. This would hurt a bit more than I thought, but I remained confident. My southern italian force spotted an infantry moving towards Bir Sheferzen, so I sent my italiant tanks out to attack. 3 25 pdrs (hidden) barked in response, so not much happened there.

Turn 2: In the southeast, the Brits did a full frontal assault on all positions - almost as if they knew I was focusing my attacks northwest... They captured the air base south of Halfaya pass and swarmed Sidi Omar with scouts, matildas and infantry. The forces held in defense, but it wouldn't last. In addition, the Brits had two units right on the doorstep of Halfaya pass. In the north east, the Brits advanced, but only managed on ineffectual attack on my scout car. Rommel counter attacked - trading 1 point blows with the boxed up engineer and withdrew to the city. I withdrew my infantry a step to get them all in range of my support guns (8.8's) and cut loose with the artillery and (in range) airforce. I focused on the lead infantry and engineers as they were my biggest threats. The idea was to bust them up enough that I could flank them hard when my tanks arrived. The fighter strafed opportune targets behind the bombers scoring minimal damage. The southern aux units arrived the join the line - leaving me with two 8.8's and three artillery to support the line. The second wave of air units were close enough to strike next turn. This would be glorious if it worked. Near the pass I inched my AT guns forward to prevent their armor from flanking my infantry. In the deep south, things looked very grim. But if my plan was sound, this would all be a side show. This was exciting but felt very risky.

Turn 3: Seven (yes, seven) artillery fired on Sidi Omar and wrecked the italian AT holding it. It was simple for the matilda to finish it off and drive into the city. Then the RAF arrived and supported the capture of Halfaya Pass. Grim indeed. Then I let my full airforce loose on the attackers from Tobruk. They destroyed an elite infantry and damaged the infantry and engineer that crashed into my line. I followed up with Artillery and 8.8's and reduced both to 1 str. My infantry finished off the engineers (who were too dumb to retreat). But my two-range aux machine gunner from the south picked off the retreating infantry. I decided to hold the line rather than advance because I could see the Matilda was getting ready to attack the line next round and I wanted to eat her up with my 8.8's. The italians tried to take back Sidi Omar (held by a matilda) but their 7 artillery said "no you won't either" and broke up the attack. This gave my flanking italian tank the opportunity to rush them from behind which did little more than use up more of their precious ammo.

Turn 4: The next British attack in the south east was devastating and the italians were now in full retreat. Halfaya Pass and Sollum were captured and Fort Capuzzo was barely holding on. That meant my AT's were in big trouble and the RAF was now strafing them. To make matters worse, the Royal Navy showed up and fired in support. It was about as ugly as things could be down there. I had to go on the offensive in Tobruk because there wasn't much time left. In the north west, the matilda hit my line and I responded with the 8.8 after bombing it with my stuka. Scratch one matilda. For some hilarious reason, their 2 pdr drove right up to my line of infantry, so I eliminated him too. There was one infantry left next to the British bunker so I bombed him and discovered a few more 18 pdrs behind the airfield, so I used the balance of my airforce to wear them down along with the machine gunner holding the airfield. The rest advanced and my tanks arrived in Sidi Rezheg. I was beginning to wonder if I needed them up there at all. If I were to do it over, I'd leave them in the south eastern defense to gain experience.

Turn 5: The Brits moved into Fort Capuzzo and surrounded my AT's, destroying one of the pak36's in the process with a swarm of scouts and spitfires. Near Tobruk, my infantry and artillery destroyed the bunker while my tanks refueled and the airforce had their way with the artillery. The rest advanced and prepared for the final assault.

Turn 6: The RAF devastated my AT's near Fort Capuzzo and the follow up attack destroyed one of my precious Pak38's (argh!). It was a mistake leaving them behind. I took a few shots at opportune targets and then defeated the Tobruk defenders in detail with air and artillery. Then drove into the abandoned airfield for a brilliant victory. But it didn't feel brilliant. Despite all good intentions, my tanks never fired a shot. I made a lot of mistakes here resulting in the loss of two AT guns. That will certainly cost me later on. And this next battle is no joke.

Received a Nebbelwerfer proto! Some good news after all the hardship!

OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory

..
Current scenario: Operation Crusader, VH prestige is 0 , All map prestige is: 240
Army cost: 4344 , Current prestige is 156
Prestige available on map yet is 160 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 6
AI stance is Aggressive Using map: 45
if BV: +100, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 20 turns prestige: 0
if V : +90, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 25 turns prestige: 0
if TV: +70, Mersa el Brega 1942 , cap 1500, 26 turns prestige: 0
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 0

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 1 bars , 177 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 2 kill , 516 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 151 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 124 exp , Germany , 9/10 , 4 kill , 216 pp - U:009
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 112 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 216 pp - U:010

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 2 bars , 228 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 6 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 156 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 8 kill , 336 pp - U:003
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 105 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 168 pp - U:014
Pz 38(t)F , , 1 bars , 124 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:016

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 4 bars , 469 exp , Germany , 4/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001

Anti-tank
8.8 FlaK36 , SPferdewagen , , 0 bars , 92 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 2 kill , 516 pp - U:004
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 84 exp , Germany , 4/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:006
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 126 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 0 pp - U:015
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 2/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:017

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 225 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 0 kill , 336 pp - U:011
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 1 bars , 180 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:012

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:107

Fighter
Me-109E-3 , , 1 bars , 181 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 312 pp - U:019

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 2 bars , 230 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 1 kill , 432 pp - U:013

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:17 TNK:9 RCN:3 AT:5 FORT:2 ATY:10 AD:1 FTR:1 TB:2 Total: 50
Lost : INF:6 TNK:1 AT:5 ATY:1 AD:2 Total: 15

BV 3
V 0
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 564 exp, 8 kill, 1164 pp Average: 141 exp, 2 kill, 291 pp
Tank * 4 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 613 exp, 14 kill, 960 pp Average: 153 exp, 4 kill, 240 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 469 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp Average: 469 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp
Anti-tank * 4 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 417 exp, 6 kill, 738 pp Average: 104 exp, 2 kill, 185 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 405 exp, 1 kill, 672 pp Average: 203 exp, 1 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp Average: 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 181 exp, 1 kill, 312 pp Average: 181 exp, 1 kill, 312 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 230 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp Average: 230 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 18 Units * 3 Leaders Total : 3079 exp, 31 kill, 4344 pp Average: 171 exp, 2 kill, 241 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 40 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 11
Tank : 6
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 7
Artillery : 5
Air Defense : 2
Fighter : 4
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 4

Player 2 United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa has 47 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 17
Tank : 4
Recon : 4
Fortification : 2
Artillery : 12
Fighter : 3
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 3
Destroyer : 1
Light Cruiser : 1


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Scenario 4 - Mersa el Brega 1942

My first run at Mersa el Brega came up about 1 or 2 turns short of a tactical victory, but with enormous casualties, so I tried again, hopefully wiser.
I used my prestige points to overstrength my artillery as they were the most critical units in this battle. The difficulty in Mersa el Brega is that you start with no airfield, so you can't deploy any of your airforce. They do start you off with a pair of planes, but they are outclassed by the RAF so you need to be careful - and mindful - as they are gruadually running out of ammo and fuel. Also you can only deploy 15 core units with available deployment space. So I left 2 of my pak guns behind for r&r.
Deployment: I placed key artillery and infantry on the road to Mersa Brega accompanied by my Flakv AA and led by my 8.8. The rest were placed in the desert just southeast of the road and they would be used to both take the airfield and set up for the additional two VH's which were quite far from the city.

Turn 1: I sent Rommel forward to scout the roads and discovered that most of the road and desert leading up to our first objective was clear. I did manage to spot a Daimler Scout car directly south of the airfield and a 25 pdr AT between airfield and city. I raced all units north east direct toward the city with an eye towards deploying my artillery in some rough patches near the city for reloading. I also sent one infantry wide to explore the VH hill south of Mersa Brega. If I was lucky, I'd be able to capture it with this single unit. My airforce (one Italian G.50 fighter and a German Me-100E) flew in to cover the main force.

Turn 2: The Daimler moved up and spotted my scout and the RAF moved in strafing scout and Panzer for minimal damage. The Bristol dive bomber moved in close to my G.50 and I scratched it. A second scout car (herrington) moved in front of the city so I laid into him with artillery, then followed up. My engineers creamed him for 4 damage then my PzIVs overran it, moving on to the Daimler for additional damage. Rommel inched forward and discovered a whole host of Brits. An overstrength matilda behind Mersa and a 40mm AA sitting on the airfield. He also saw an overstrength Cruiser IV and Infantry flanking wide near the Hill VH south of the airfield. They would certainly be planning a flank attack on my attackers, so I moved up my infantry and remaining tank (Pz38t) to hold them off. I spotted a hill hex two steps away from the hill objective and tentatively moved my flanking infantry toward it, keeping it out of site of the enemy. I sent my airforce out to strafe the Cruiser and boxed up infantry. That got me close enough to spot the defenders of the Hill Objective. An under-strength, midly entrenched machine gun nest. Then I placed Rommel in position to potentially ambush the tank.

Turn 3: The ambush was wildly successful, reducing the Cruiser IV from 12 to 8 - with no damage to my scout. The infantry moved in to follow up but scored no hits.
Near Mersa, however, the Brits ruined my day by wheeling in a 4.5" Artillery and running the matilda to the front of the city. Since it was deployed in the city supply hex, I had an opportunity to bloody his nose with a good infantry attack. I softened her up first with artillery strikes, then moved in my engineer. The results were glorious. Seven points of damage. So I flew in my ME-110 to tag him on the retreat. Complete destruction! I almost screamed for joy. That matilda could have been a major impediment. I ran a series of combined attacks on the daimler to push him out of position and sent my tanks south to support Rommel. The infantry reached the hill for supply and was guarded by my 5Pak38 in case the Cruiser decided to run south to flee the sudden panzer onslaught. I was now in position to potentially take both Mersa and the Hill in the next two turns. But time was not on my side as I only had 15 turns in total.

Turn 4: The RAF spotted my nebbelwerfer for the 4.5" gun to take a long range shot, destroying it before it ever fired a shot. argh! The cruiser happened upon my Panzer 38t and hit him hard for 3 points forcing a retreat. I ran rommel through the enemy lines and attacked the 4.5" gun before it could do any more catastrophic damage. I then sent my entire panzer force after the Cruiser IV. With a little help from the Pak gun and a final overrun by my 2 strength 38t for poetic justice, it died in a glorious explosion. A combined infantry/engineer attack ended the daimler, then I supidly sent the ME-110 after the 4.5" gun which got reduced by defensive fire from the 40mm AA. I sent the fighter in next to it to prevent the big gun from re-arming but he still had 2 ammo to play with. Hopefully he'd waste it on my resilient scout. I took a shot at the spitfire with my 8.8 and took two points of damage for my trouble (it was directly overhead) but it did finally run that pest out of ammo.

Turn 5: For some reason the crazy spitfire did not return to the airfield to reload, but he was out of my sight, so I tried to maneuver my units to spot him without giving up the main thrust of my attacks. The 4.5" gun blasted my elite 10.5 artillery, knocking it down to 2 strength. I'd have to retreat it after taking one last shot at the city. Rommel blasted the 4.5" in return and ran it out of ammo, then moved south, spotting the spitfire, which was very exciting for the G.50 who never downed a spitfire in his life (nor expected to). He attacked it, reducing it by 2 points. I sent my two best panzers to attack the airfield, reducing the 40mm AA and then attacked the city with artillery and engineers. The attack worked and I took Mersa, gaining a fair amount of prestige. I retreated my badly wounded artillery, not willing to risk the bomber that just reloaded. I began my attack on the hill and positioned my units around Mersa to push north toward Agedabia. It would be a long ride, but I still had 10 turns to play with.

Turn 6: The spit still didn't run to the airfield so I hit him again, scoring 4 more damage. It was now down to 1 pip. The 4.5" reloaded, so rommel hit him again. Then my nearby PzIIIH overran the 4.5", overran the 40MM and smashed the 25 pdr AT for the hat trick. Oh, he took the airfield too and I jumped for joy, for now I could deploy my core airforce. First order of business was to send the ME109 after the Blenheim. Devastating damage! Then I used the Stuka on the hill, which allowed my infantry to take out that machine gun nest and move in to grab the objective. One to go! I left a couple of units behind to cleanup the last infantry near the hill and prepared everyone else to drive north to capture the final objective.

Turn 7: The road to Agedabia was perilously short of supply hexes, so I refueled as much as I could in the city before leaving. The G.50 finished off the spit while the ME109 took down the Blenheim. My two bombers attacked the remaining units near Mersa. My lead tanks finished them off. Everyone else refueled or drove north east.

Turn 8 - 12: There was a single hill hex on the way to Agedabia, so I needed to plan this carefully. Rommel did the scout car trick of partial moves and resupply. The tanks stopped at the hill to refuel. Everyone else supplied before leaving Mersa. The planes flew ahead and did multiple bombing runs to soften them up for attack. The city had a single infantry and artillery to defend. Rommel arrived on turn 10 skirting the city to attack the artillery. My infantry destroyed the arty on turn 11. The rest arrived for a turn 12 Brilliant victory. To my surprise, I got a StuG IIIF proto! I was worried the high command didn't appreciate me trading in the first one for a better gun and losing the second one at Mersa. Who can blame them? I hated losing that nebbelwerfer, but this StuG would be a great asset with its 2 range attack!

After Action Report
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory

..
Current scenario: Mersa el Brega 1942, VH prestige is 320 , All map prestige is: 400
Army cost: 4344 , Current prestige is 25
Prestige available on map yet is 0 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 12
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 48
if BV: +100, Pursuit to Mechilli , cap 1700, 12 turns prestige: 0
if V : +90, Pursuit to Mechilli , cap 1700, 13 turns prestige: 0
if TV: +70, Pursuit to Mechilli , cap 1700, 15 turns prestige: 0
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 0

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 3 bars , 307 exp , Germany , 5/10 , Aggressive Attack , 3 kill , 516 pp - U:006
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 174 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 136 exp , Germany , 4/10 , 4 kill , 216 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 158 exp , Germany , 7/10 , 0 kill , 216 pp - U:009

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 3 bars , 305 exp , Germany , 5/10 , First Strike , 9 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 193 exp , Germany , 2/10 , 10 kill , 336 pp - U:003
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 142 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 0 kill , 168 pp - U:013
Pz 38(t)F , , 1 bars , 174 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 2 kill , 144 pp - U:015

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 5 bars , 525 exp , Germany , 4/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001

Anti-tank
8.8 FlaK36 , SPferdewagen , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 4/10 , 2 kill , 516 pp - U:004
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 84 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:005
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 144 exp , Germany , 2/5 , 1 kill , 0 pp - U:014
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:016

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 273 exp , Germany , 8/10 , 0 kill , 336 pp - U:010
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 216 exp , Germany , 2/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:011

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:018

Fighter
Me-109E-3 , , 2 bars , 221 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 3 kill , 312 pp - U:017

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 2 bars , 265 exp , Germany , 9/10 , 1 kill , 432 pp - U:012

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:19 TNK:11 RCN:5 AT:6 FORT:3 ATY:12 AD:2 FTR:2 TB:4 Total: 64
Lost : INF:6 TNK:1 AT:5 ATY:2 AD:2 Total: 16

BV 4
V 0
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 775 exp, 10 kill, 1164 pp Average: 194 exp, 3 kill, 291 pp
Tank * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 814 exp, 21 kill, 960 pp Average: 204 exp, 5 kill, 240 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 525 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp Average: 525 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp
Anti-tank * 4 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 458 exp, 6 kill, 738 pp Average: 115 exp, 2 kill, 185 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 489 exp, 1 kill, 672 pp Average: 245 exp, 1 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp Average: 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 221 exp, 3 kill, 312 pp Average: 221 exp, 3 kill, 312 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 265 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp Average: 265 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 18 Units * 4 Leaders Total : 3747 exp, 42 kill, 4344 pp Average: 208 exp, 2 kill, 241 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 20 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 4
Tank : 4
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 4
Artillery : 2
Air Defense : 1
Fighter : 2
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 2

Player 2 United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, India, France has 1 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 1


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Scenario 5 - Pursuit to Mechilli

I only had 25 PP to work with so I chose to bank it and move directly to deployment. So here I was, back in Beda Fomm - the high command barking orders at me to retake Benghazi and Mechilli - the cities I worked so hard to conquer at the start of this campaign. And I only had 12 turns to do it. That's a lot of ground to cover. I wondered what the Brits had left after all this action. Fortunately Beda Fomm and Antelat were already in our hands, so I wouldn't need to waste any time there. I'd send an adequate force north to Benghazi and my fastest units north east to take Msus and Mechilli. I had my doubts, but such is the life of a soldier.

Turn 1: Rommel drove north toward Msus and quickly spotted a pair of understrength tanks outside the city - Matilda and Cruiser IV. I immediately diverted my StuG east and drove the rest of the units up to support Rommel. I covered them with Stuka and 109. I used my aux ME-110 to spot Al Mogrun to the north and found it vacant, so I ran my infantry there to capture and grab some prestige. The rest followed suit.

Turn 2: The Brits didn't move, not having seen me yet. I drove north and captured Quaminis on the left flank which yielded some PP, then raced my other units as far as I could to catch up. Near Msus I wreaked havok on enemy tanks with artillery and air power. Then followed up with my tanks. My PzIIIH now had first strike and managed an overrun on the matilda before attacking the Cruiser for light damage. I positioned my artillery in the rough and moved the infantry forward to capture Msus next turn.

Turn 3: The cruiser tried to escape but the StuG was waiting with a 2 range shot, reducing him to 2. I finished him off with my other tanks then captured Msus with my arty, stuka and infantry attacks. No losses. I sent the PzIIIH east to cover Rommel's scouting run. The Brits vacated Suluq in the west so I grabbed it with a tank. Then scouted the desert on the way to Benghazi with aircraft. The desert hexes were empty so I charged north to set up for the attack.

Turn 4: The Brits had 4 artillery hiding behind Benghazi and an extra infantry which wiped out my lead Infanterie division. Very uncool. I pulled my infantry out of arty range and drove my tanks forward to attack the enemy artillery, backed by the full airforce. I also redeployed my PzIVH from the eastern force to assist in the west. Rommel's team drove east at full speed. I purchased a sturmpionier in a halftrack and sent him toward Benghazi.

Turn 5: Combined artillery and infantry destroyed my half strength PzIVH near Benghazi. I was seeing very little resistance on the road to Machelli, so I diverted more armor back to Benghazi. I attacked the airbase with my tank and diverted a fighter to destroy their Bristol tac bomber. The rest of my air focused on their mass of artillery behind the city. The big gun was down to 1 ammo, so I'd advance the infantry again next turn, and hopefully capture the air base.

Turn 6: Then a spitfire showed up from the east. I attacked the arty again with air power and set up an ambush for the spitfire between the airfield and his estimated position along the north border of the map. I hit the city with arty again and advanced my infantry. Also set up for the attack on Machelli.

Turn 7: The spit missed my ambush but got stopped by the Stuka. Machelli was easy as pie. A 4 strength machine gun nest with no support. I dropped it in one turn and sent my fast units back toward Benghazi along the northern road, grabbing flags along the way for PP. My panzer overran the little 20mm AA at the airfield and took the base so my planes could refuel. My arty did a huge attack on Benghazi allowing my engineers to destroy what was left. I drove my AT gun into the city for a turn 7 BV. My infantry loss was a huge detriment. I hoped I had enough strength to continue to Tobruk. No prototypes were awarded.

After Action Report
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory

..
Current scenario: Pursuit to Mechilli, VH prestige is 0 , All map prestige is: 400
Army cost: 4248 , Current prestige is 401
Prestige available on map yet is 240 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 7
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 116
if BV: +100, Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , cap 1900, 10 turns prestige: 0
if V : +90, Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , cap 1900, 11 turns prestige: 0
if TV: +70, Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , cap 1900, 12 turns prestige: 0
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 0

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 3 bars , 317 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 4 kill , 516 pp - U:006
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 184 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:007
Sturmpioniere , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 190 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 288 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 180 exp , Germany , 9/10 , 1 kill , 216 pp - U:009

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 3 bars , 329 exp , Germany , 9/10 , First Strike , 11 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 1 bars , 199 exp , Germany , 8/10 , 11 kill , 336 pp - U:003
Pz 38(t)F , , 1 bars , 189 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 2 kill , 144 pp - U:015

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 5 bars , 537 exp , Germany , 5/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001

Anti-tank
8.8 FlaK36 , SPferdewagen , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 2 kill , 516 pp - U:004
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 84 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:005
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 145 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 2 kill , 0 pp - U:014
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:016
+ StuG IIIF , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:019

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 3 bars , 338 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:010
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 255 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:011

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:018

Fighter
Me-109E-3 , , 2 bars , 253 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 3 kill , 312 pp - U:017

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 3 bars , 317 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Resilience , 1 kill , 432 pp - U:012

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:23 TNK:13 RCN:5 AT:6 FORT:4 ATY:13 AD:3 FTR:2 TB:5 Total: 74
Lost : INF:7 TNK:2 AT:5 ATY:2 AD:2 Total: 18

BV 5
V 0
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 871 exp, 8 kill, 1236 pp Average: 218 exp, 2 kill, 309 pp
Tank * 3 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 717 exp, 24 kill, 792 pp Average: 239 exp, 8 kill, 264 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 537 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp Average: 537 exp, 0 kill, 0 pp
Anti-tank * 5 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 659 exp, 7 kill, 738 pp Average: 132 exp, 1 kill, 148 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 593 exp, 2 kill, 672 pp Average: 297 exp, 1 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp Average: 200 exp, 0 kill, 66 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 253 exp, 3 kill, 312 pp Average: 253 exp, 3 kill, 312 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 317 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp Average: 317 exp, 1 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 18 Units * 6 Leaders Total : 4147 exp, 45 kill, 4248 pp Average: 230 exp, 3 kill, 236 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 20 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 4
Tank : 3
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 5
Artillery : 2
Air Defense : 1
Fighter : 2
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 2

Player 2 United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, India, France has 5 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 1
Artillery : 3
Fighter : 1


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Scenario 6 - The Gazala Line

I had 401 prestige to work with so I thought long and hard about my needs. I really wanted to overstrength some of my half-units to get them closer to an effective fighting force. So I did that. I also wanted a second recon, so I grabbed the cheapest one available with tracks. An sdkfz 250/1 just became available - the same as Rommel (who had the prototype, clearly). I grabbed one - 5 strength of course. I also purchased a cheap arty - 15cm sFH in a truck. Then Overstrengthed some infantry and the StuG.
Deployment: There are three deployment zones on the west side of the map and a long minefield is visible just east of the north to central line. There is also a small minefield visible in the deep south near the first objective (Bir Hacheim). It was pretty safe to assume there were mines the whole way down. So when I deployed, I tried to make sure there was an available engineer in all parts of the line. The north would be tricky because there were no deploy opportunities up there. I'd have to travel a bit, assuming there were no fires to put out in the center. I placed a mixed force in the center along with my understrength engineer. Our only airfield was in the deep south.

Turn 1: The situation was a bit of a mystery, so I did my best with available scout cars and infantry to understand where the holes were. With initial infantry movement, I could tell the north was going to be a problem, so I moved some of my central forces north to support them (this included artillery and flak). I used tanks to plug big gaping holes in the minefield to both set up for flanking and prevent enemy flanking moves. I attacked one infantry in the south, eliminating him with combined fire and (luckily) not taking any damage from their 3 arty in support (all 25 pdrs). I also removed a few mines where I had the opportunity. (note: These mines must be removed by entering the hex and typing the "9" key. You can't attack them). I sent my aux scout plane to the center and discovered a large armored strike force, so I sent the airforce there for their enjoyment, ensuring that every tank had a bomber to play with and every bomber had a fighter buddy looking out for him.

Turn 2: The British armored group in the center retreated, but the attacks in the far north and deep south were very effective. I diverted my italian bombers south to help deal with their forest of artillery and cleared some more mines. I also snuck my StuG in for a 2 range shot on the Matilda. A valentine (think matilda-light with 12 armor instead of 14) pushed into my lines as well. The rest of the centrally deployed plans worked on trying to kill that scout that was running with their armored group. Rommel scouted the center and found wide open flanking room to hit the southern artillery group, so I committed my armor and infantry in the center to do just that. I began that wide flank to hit the south hard, leaving the artillery, AA and italian infantry behind to slow down the enemy armor if they decided to come back. I held my PzIVH, overstrength Italian M13/40 and a SEM in reserve just in case the center found themselves under an aggressive attack.

Turn 3: It was worse. The north attacked again and pushed my weak auxiliary line back and at the same time the British armored group re-initiated their attack knocking my Pz38t down to 2. While thinking about where to commit my reserves, I began the flank attack on the southern artillery. The bombers and fighters destroyed one 25 pdr and knocked another to half strength. Then the panzers arrived, led by Rommel and busted up the other two - running them out of ammo. The valentine penetrated my line so I had a bit of a problem there too. I withdrew my StuG and kicked off a response using combined attacks to eliminate it. In the north I noticed they had overcommitted their 18 pdr arty, so I clobbered it with my infantry. But they had a backup that barked in response (of course). I still managed to reduce it by 7. So the north was still holding with help from my core arty, the center was tentative, but prepared, and the south was very close to wrapping up and driving aggressively toward the eastern objectives.

Turn 4: Both of my scouts got pounded hard (down to 1 str) and aux infantry started disappearing in the north and center. My stuka crushed another southern artillery and it was time to move on Bir Hacheim. My PzIIIH overran 3 units behind the city, clearing a path for Rommel to escape behind my southern line. I bombed Bir Hacheim directly and began the attack. My first infantry strike pushed them out of the city and allowed a capture. I snuck my StuG in and put two points of damage on the Matilda. Then dropped a bunch of infantry in to surround the matilda while cleaning up the remaining units around the fallen city. I spotted a Daimler in the center with infantry and rushed my two tanks in to bully it. To my surprise it went down hard knocking out the center armored group's eyes. Since the south was cleared up I committed my southern artillery to the center.

Turn 5: The Brits pushed hard again in the north and center, creating more aux casualties - mostly infantry. I started considering building an airfield with my engineers somewhere near the center because the closest airfield objective was about 25 hexes east of my line. First I wrapped up the south, starting with 2-ranges strikes on the Matilda with StuG and 8.8. This forced her to retreat right into my 5Pak38 which finished the job. I diverted the entire airforce to the center with the intention of moving north right after that. I tore up an enemy scout in the center and moved in additional units to finish him next turn if he didn't go into full retreat. I also committed my reserve armor to beating on the British Armored division in the center - destroying a Cruiser and surrounding the Matilda. This allowed me to advance the center artillery team. I had two elite Bersaglieri there to support, so I felt pretty confident. Then I looked north and frowned. The infantry was thinning and my arty was bearly able to keep their supply up. I dove in head first with my aux elite infanterie and blasted the arty with overwhelming attack. It worked like a charm despite huge support fire. And no casualties. I thought again about that airfield. It would really make a difference, so I tried it. I selected my engineer and hit "5". Hopefully he wouldn't be interrupted. Hopefully it was worth it.

Turn 6: Some tentative arty strikes in the north didn't do much, but I had to retreat my elite infantry to resupply. The Daimler in the center did not retreat so I blew him away with my 8.8. That left one. The airforce continued their reign of terror as they moved north, casually busting up a bunch of infantry that might be thinking about disturbing my engineers as they build their airfield. Then I picked apart the surrounded matilda in the center with combined units. Afte some repositioning in center and north, all southern units resupplied for the big drive.

Turn 7: I completed the airfield and then the RAF showed up to congratulate me - strafing and bombing my center forces - almost destroying my lead PzIVH. They also surrounded one of my Italian bombers, blocking his escape. They came in with a pair of spits, a pair of Beaufighters and a Bulldog. I captured Bir el Harmat, the first center objective - destroying the matilda sitting in the city. I drove my southern force at full speed toward Bir el Gubi, diverting some to the center to assist.

Turn 8: Devastating RAF attack in the center. They destroyed my new 15cm artillery. <sigh> and really banged up my elite 10.5cm arty to the point where I needed to retreat him. The north held very well but when I sent my scout plane up there, I spotted a 7 str Matilda moving in from the east. That could be devastating to my faltering infantry line. I sent my bombers north and inflicted massive damage to their remaining artillery. I also managed to scout Gazala, finally. They had a 12 str infantry, deeply entrenched. So I moved my artillery up to prepare for the offensive. I'd also need some tanks or AT to help defend against that monster moving in slowly from the East. Nothing was close enough, so I'd have to rely on air. In the center, things were basically under control (nasty air attack aside) also the spits decided to strafe ground targets rather than destroy my doomed italian bomber, so I retreated it towards the southern airfield.
I sent my aux tank to Knightsbridge (the 2nd central obective) and spotted a bunker so I repositioned my arty to start lobbing volleys there next turn.

Turn 9: The spit managed to pinpoint my retreating arty behind the lines and strafe it. Fortunately it survived. Now I was wondering where the radar station was. I started running it south to try to get it under cover of my air defense, but remained worried. I risked sending my scout plane further east and discovered two more tanks on the north road, moving toward Gazala. Matilda and Valentine. The fun never ends! Fortunately they are slow. I drove my southern force right to the doorstep of Bir el Gubi and found an entrenched infantry there as expected. I had no arty yet, but my engineers were in place. I decided to divert my aux SEM in that direction (thank you, Italy!). My engineers destroyed the bunker at Knightsbridge and I moved an aux infantry there to hold it. That left only Rigel Ridge in the center about 5 hexes north. I decided to take a chance on assaulting Gazala but it failed to a rugged defense. Time was of the essence here because of the armor moving west. I did have my 3 arty in position to hit it next turn. I had some prestige to work with (and an Italian supply hex in the center) so I purchased a cheap Italian AA gun (37mm) to help defend my weak units that were being harassed by spitfires. I hoped it was enough. I also purchased a motorized german AA (SdkFz 7/1) in the deep south to assist other scattered units. If that spit showed up, he'd have a nasty surprise on his hands. That german gun sported a 14 air attack.

Turn 10: A valentine showed up in the center and spotted my ME109. The spit flew in with his last shot and destroyed it. I vowed revenge and sent my aux 109 south with the intent of terminating him. He disappeared in a glorious ball of fire. My troops scored big damage in Bir el Gubi (south east objective) but didn't dislodge the infantry. So I moved my 8.8 in to two range to act as a make-shift arty next turn. I placed my pak gun on the road running north of that city to protect against incoming...anything. I cleaned up the attacking units around Knightsbridge and drove on to Rigel Ridge. Strangely, none of the armor in the north was moving, so I attacked Gazala with artillery and a pair of bombers, then captured the city with my aux infantry. I then moved all my arty up behind the city, partially protected by the minefield the enemy left behind for me. They still had a live infantry up there, but he was at 2 strength and I figured i'd weather it. At this point I began to question my ability to capture the remaining 7 VH's. But I did have 18 turns left, but my forces were thinning out.

Turn 11: More brutal air attacks in the center, another lost aux unit. Putting air and artillery to good use, I destroyed three enemy infantry around Gazala. I felt like I finally had some breathing room up there. The armor still hadn't moved from their positions on the north road and I had no intention of poking that hornet's nest. I managed to spot a Matilda sitting on a north-center objective called Point 209. I reloaded my stuG and started moving him in that direction with supporting infantry. I hoped it would be enough. I inched forward to attack Rigel Ridge and it was vacant, so I drove a truck into it for the capture. Yay! I captured Bir el Gubi using my "fake" 8.8 artillery and engineers. I drove my tank to the nearby airbase and it was also vacant, so I boxed up the engineers and grabbed it. I now had 518 pp so I decided to buy a hot-ass fighter. Browsing my options, I considered a FW190a, but that was 504 pp. hmm. I opted for the ME-109G instead. I deployed him in the southeast airfield I had just captured.

Turn 12: The RAF found my hastily constructed airfield and began to bomb its defenders. Two aux units and my new italian AA fell to aircraft fire. They also attacked my italian bomber that just reloaded, but the damage was minimal, so I sent it out to Point 209 to bomb the matilda, with the italian fighter for cover. Fortunately for my center group, Rigel Ridge consisted of a long ridge and rough zone that allowed my entire center group to resupply gracefully. I did so and carefully moved an advance group toward Acroma, the next stop on my road to conquest. My southern group, with Rommel in the lead discovered another large swath of rough terrain south of el Adem, which was their next objective. I had five objectives left and 16 turns, but only 5 for a BV - this was not happening today. And if history was any indication, Tobruk promised to be a beast.

Turn 13: A valentine and Matilda showed up at the doorstep of my constructed airstrip and crushed some aux infantry. I expect they came in (finally) from the north road after Gazala fell. The spit remained there, spotting I guess, so I shot it with my 8.8 and flew the aux 109 in to finish it. That left 1 more spit and a pair of Beaufighters. I was feeling better about the situation in the air, but I may need to abandon my constructed airfield. Things were getting very hot down there. I bombed point 209 and sent my StuG in for a 2 range attack, which was foiled by defensive artillery at extreme range. I was able to cobble together a small force around Gazala, so I decided to start taking the fight to them in the north. Long range artillery wiped out an AT gun and I began to move east. I moved my forward Bersaglieri to the threshold of Acroma and found an understrength AT. With artillery fire and infantry I wiped it out. Then drove a truck in to capture. Seemed too easy. I sent my understrength Italian fighter towards el Adem, and he was stopped by a Bulldog TB, I sent my new fighter to take him out and cover the bomber, then sent my stuka to join them. They would weaken el Adem next turn.

Turn 14: In the northeast, I wiped out another hostile infantry and inched east. My two fighters carved up the Beaufighter sitting near my airfield and he remained with 3 pips and no ammo. I split my bombers and hit rigel ridge as well as el adem. There were a pair of infantry holding the city. My stuG managed to reduce the matilda to 4 points. My secondary scout spotted two bunkers about 6 hexes out from Tobruk so I took an artillery pot shot at one of them. I had a pretty sizeable force fueling up at Acroma that would move in next turn.

Turn 15: The matilda and valentine found destroyed my 8.8 (it was in the wagon) so I retreated my engineers toward Point 209, which was falling rapidly. I had one lone Fanteria defending the constructed airfield, but no attackers in sight in that zone. I bombed Point 209 and fired with my StuG - dislodging the Matilda. There was a Valentine very close giving support, so I stepped my italian infantry in to (hopefully) hold it, while the newly minted ME109G sipped in to destroy what was left of the matilda. This whole situation swirling around Point 209 was very tenuous. I was holding the hill with a 9 strength fanteria and a Valentine right on his doorstep. My StuG was using stand-off fire from 2 range to knock down the armor with a big italian arty in support. I had two german infantry nearby (one a core engineer). All my units were on the east side. On the west was a pair of british guns (25 and 18 pdrs), A valentine and matilda behind them (would take two turns for them to arrive) and another Matilda moving in from north east. I needed support down there quick - so I decided to commit (carefully) my units from Gazala which consisted of 4 artillery, a fanteria, and (maybe) an elite German infanterie (who took Gazala. I was reluctant to send him too far because I felt Gazala still warranted a garrison. I also knew there was an 18 pdr and british infantry in their way (sitting between Gazala and Point 209). Watching this play out was probably the most exciting point in the entire battle as it could tip either way. I scouted just a bit more in the north east and found a machinegun nest blocking the road with an 8 range observation tower right next to it. My southern units began the attack on el Adem with support from the stuka. There was an airfield very close, but i had nothing in range to capture it yet (or even scout it) so I hoped I could do something to grab it before my stuka ran out of ammo. I decided to scout it from the outskirts with my stuka after the bombing run and discoverd it was held by 3 units. two infantry and arty set up to receive an attack from the west. This may be an opportunity given my southern auxilaries had finally caught up with the main force. I moved my forces out of Acroma, with the intent of hitting the Observation tower next turn.

Turn 16: I was now past BV territory. The western valentine continued west and attacked my lone infantry and was foiled by defensive artillery. It ws joined by the British infantry which also failed. I sent a large barrage in response and destroyed the infantry. Neither matilda moved. So I continued to attack the valentine near Point 209, scoring minor damage. A fortification near the observation tower reared its ugly head and caused some damage to my infantry with machine gun fire. My italian bomber flew towards el adem and found the Beaufighter the hard way, taking another point of damage. I fired on the Beaufighter with a nearby Me109 but no joy. Rommel drove north while his forces started attacking el Adem. He spotted the airfield south of Tobruk, guarded by 3 large bunkers. The airfield itself had a British infantry, entrenched. That airfield was an objective. The British Home Guards were putting up a vicious defense in el Adem, but we managed to wear him down to 5 pips. I would have given my hind teeth for another bomber or arty. So I moved my 8.8 to act as 'fake arty' next turn. I sent the Italian bomber to rough up the Observation tower (very successful) and the aux infantry destroyed it. Further combined attacks at Point 209 ended the threat of the Valentine and granted the stuG a leader (First Strike). My pzIIIH reduced the artillery at the center airfield to 1 and my ME109G aced another Beaufighter. That left 1 flying near Tobruk. My fake artillery pushed the HOme Guard out of el Adem and my infanterie walked in for the capture. Then the rest of my aux infantry arrived to support the PzIII at the airfield. My infantry force from Acroma started wiping out bunkers and nests and found another Observation Tower but they were, very quickly creating a wide open path to Tobruk and its airfield. And somehow, my make-shift airfield remained intact.

Turn 17: My two fighters doubled up on the beaufighter and reduced it to 2. My infantry blew away the remaining fortifications and the road was wide open to Tobruk. But there was a 25 pdr behind it, barking every chance it got. The el Adem airfield was proving to be a tougher nut than I expected so I sent my aircraft south for supply. There were only two objectives left. Tobruk and its airfield, and we were closing in with a very strong infantry force. It seemed the matilda on the north road was on the move, so I hightailed it back to Gazala and placed an arty behind me.

Turn 18: The single arty behind Tobruk multiplied to three and they hastily build 2 more infantry. We were in for a fight! We downed the Beaufighter and started sending bombers to Tobruk. My PzIIIH scored another triple overrun and took the el Adem airfield. Ran all available units toward Tobruk.

Turn 19-21: Captured the Tobruk airfield and moved my lead infantry to the foot of Tobruk.

Turn 22: Captured Tobruk with a surgical strike, I bombed Tobruk and all the artillery around it, used my aux infantry to run them out of ammo. Artilleried Tobruk and then attacked with my lead infantry and moved it in for the win.

Turn 22 Victory. That was a VERY tough battle and quite long. I'd love to hear suggestions on how to do it better if anyone decides to give it a go!

After Action:

OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory

..
Current scenario: Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus], VH prestige is 1600 , All map prestige is: 1680
Army cost: 4032 , Current prestige is 1102
Prestige available on map yet is 0 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 22
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 141
if BV: +100, Mersa Matruh , cap 2100, 16 turns prestige: 320
if V : +90, Mersa Matruh , cap 2100, 23 turns prestige: 460
if TV: +70, Mersa Matruh , cap 2100, 28 turns prestige: 560
Ls: Loss , turn prestige: 560

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 3 bars , 360 exp , Germany , 7/10 , Aggressive Attack , 9 kill , 516 pp - U:006
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 1 bars , 198 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:007
Sturmpioniere , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 192 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 288 pp - U:008
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 2 bars , 272 exp , Germany , 9/10 , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:009

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 4 bars , 413 exp , Germany , 8/10 , First Strike , 17 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVD , , 2 bars , 241 exp , Germany , 3/10 , 12 kill , 336 pp - U:003
Pz 38(t)F , , 1 bars , 195 exp , Germany , 2/5 , 2 kill , 144 pp - U:014

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 5 bars , 559 exp , Germany , 2/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001
SdKfz 250/1 , , 2 bars , 210 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 0 kill , 114 pp - U:128

Anti-tank
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 0 bars , 92 exp , Germany , 6/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:005
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 155 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 4 kill , 0 pp - U:013
3.7 PaK36 , Maulesel , , 1 bars , 115 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:015
+ StuG IIIF , , 3 bars , 310 exp , Germany , 5/5 , First Strike , 3 kill , 0 pp - U:018

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 615 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 6 kill , 336 pp - U:010
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 2 bars , 291 exp , Germany , 3/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:011

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 201 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 66 pp - U:017
SdKfz 7/1 , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:020

Fighter
Me-109G-2 , , 2 bars , 225 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 3 kill , 354 pp - U:016

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 573 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Resilience , 4 kill , 432 pp - U:012

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:41 TNK:23 RCN:10 AT:8 FORT:11 ATY:24 AD:3 FTR:4 TB:8 Total: 132
Lost : INF:16 TNK:2 AT:6 ATY:6 AD:3 FTR:1 TB:1 Total: 35

BV 5
V 1
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1022 exp, 14 kill, 1236 pp Average: 256 exp, 4 kill, 309 pp
Tank * 3 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 849 exp, 31 kill, 792 pp Average: 283 exp, 10 kill, 264 pp
Recon * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 769 exp, 0 kill, 114 pp Average: 385 exp, 0 kill, 57 pp
Anti-tank * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 672 exp, 10 kill, 222 pp Average: 168 exp, 3 kill, 56 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 906 exp, 7 kill, 672 pp Average: 453 exp, 4 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 2 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 401 exp, 0 kill, 210 pp Average: 201 exp, 0 kill, 105 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 225 exp, 3 kill, 354 pp Average: 225 exp, 3 kill, 354 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 573 exp, 4 kill, 432 pp Average: 573 exp, 4 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 19 Units * 7 Leaders Total : 5417 exp, 69 kill, 4032 pp Average: 285 exp, 4 kill, 212 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 43 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 14
Tank : 4
Recon : 2
Anti-tank : 5
Artillery : 8
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 3
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 4

Player 2 United Kingdom, Free France, India, Australia, South Africa has 16 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 5
Tank : 4
Anti-tank : 1
Fortification : 4
Artillery : 2


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

John, you have already lost some of your 10/10 strength core units - why don't you repeat the turn to avoid this? I think you will have problems later in the campaign if you are only commanding 5/5 units.

Yeah, that's a quirk of mine.
I try to play it through, regardless of losses.
Usually when I play OG (or PG, or Panzer Corps, etc), I try to play it all the way through to either victory or defeat.
If I get thrown out for a loss, I start over.
With campaign challenges I make an exception and replay scenarios if I lose (providing it ends the campaign).
I never replay due to casualties.

Mersa Matruh
HQ: I had quite a bit of prestige to work with so I overstrengthed my PzIIIH and upgraded my PzIV to a IVF2 (2 range!). I also upgraded my 3.7 pak gun to a 7.5 pak40 with an Opel Maultier transport. Can't have enough 2 range guns. I eyed that 12.8 PzSelb. What a beast! I really needed something to back-fill the devastating loss of my 8.8. But it was very expensive. In the end I couldn't resist. I really wanted to see this monster in action. I'd probably regret it. That left just enough money to OS my infanterie and Flak gun.
Deployment: When I opened the map I was heartened to see a huge number of auxiliary units at my disposal. At the same time I was a bit horrified at what the enemy might have out there to warrant such a force. Scanning the map, I was happy to see a much friendlier part of the desert than the last battle; many potential (and large) resupply areas and I immediately started planning my attack around the best use of those areas.

Turn 1: The first two objectives were undefended, so I snapped them up quickly. This gave me some prestige to work with and my spider senses flared again. Why are they giving me free prestige right at the beginning? I could only imagine I was in for a rough fight. I advanced my italians in the north gingerly. No trucks, just foot movement. They didn't have all that far to go to reach Mersa Matruh and I had 22 turns to work with. I wasn't getting caught with my pants down. In the center, I assembled a nasty strike force of recon and 2 range tank killers along with my best tanks and motorized AA. I'd use them where needed (i.e. strongest concentrations of enemy armor). I suspected they'd be busy. All of my pak guns were deployed in the north where the italian infantry seemed a bit anemic. I rolled them up behind the infantry line. I placed my fighter between the two northern arty with the stuka right behind.

Turn 2: The desert remained silent. No visible response from the Brits. huh. A trap? I suddenly noticed a rail line running across the map connecting with Mersa Matruh and Garawla, both objectives. I'd keep that in mind. I continued my ginger advance and noticed some mine fields in the center that may need attention. I sent the scouts out on a half move and found nothing but more mines. Peculiar. I remained hyper vigilant because I didn't want to overcommit. The hill southeast of Bir el Hukuma was in sight and I couldn't imagine the Brits would give that up without a fight. I proceeded with great caution.

Turn 3: Not a Brit in sight. So I started clearing mines. I went a bit deeper with my scout car and spotted an enemy Humbler II (scout) next to Bir Sidi Hamza - a non-VH flag in the south and suspected a British flank attack there. I withdrew my scout and prepared a flank attack of my own. Worst case, I could use them to capture the town and move deeper toward the objective at Bir Qaim. I moved one of my aux infantry within sight of the enemy scout to try to draw their attack in that direction, planning to counter strike with my 2 range tank killer force. I was careful to leave all other units out of the scouts spotting range. I had 5 artillery open and in range to defend that infantry. I used my planes to scout both sides of the southern hill. Clear. I remained paranoid.

Turn 4: The brits charged in to attack my intenionally exposed infantry in the south and it paid off. Their Crusader III was reduced to 3 pips and their scout's attack was entirely broken by artillery. The cost was 2 pips on my infantry. I moved in immediately and tested out my new Selb. The StuG first wiped out the Humbler and the Selb trounced the Crusader. I also spotted a scout plane who was running cover for a boxed up British infantry south of the Hill. I wiped out the plane with my 109 and bombed the infantry with the stuka, but didn't spot anything behind them. So I advanced my troops to the hill. A follow-up tank attack on the British infantry revealed an arty behind Bir Qaim. Looked like a 25 pdr. I wanted to grab up Bir Sidi Hamza in the south and found myself wishing for one more scout. Instead I drove an aux infantry up to the threshold and discovered a Daimler and Infantry holding the town. All my arty was out of range, so I used the balance of my tank killer group to knock out the Daimler. Then set up my arty for the next round. Was I moving too slow?

Turn 5: The brits opened up with artillery on my attacking force at Bir Sidi Hamza. The infantry in the city did a follow up attack and knocked out the Fanteria on the threshold, sustaining some loss from my defensive arty, but not enough for my tastes. I knew teh approximate location of the artillery and knew my tanks were in range, but I didn't have an available scout to find them. Instead, my scout found a British infantry south of the Hill. I sent my fighter to the suspected zone and discovered 3 25 pdrs. I bombed one and decided to send the tanks in hard. I led with my aux Italian tank who happened to be in the neighborhood and discovered a Matida. Most of my 2 rangers were not in reach so I fired off a shot with my IVF2 and blocked the matilda with my PzIIIH and Italian tank. Firing at them would have been a bad idea with 3 Arty in support. I received a bunch of air reinforcements and started moving most of them towards the large-ish battle developing in the south. Then resupplied everyone on the hill.

Turn 6: Well. In a painfully effective (read: lucky) attack, the Matilda trashed my PzIIIH despite heavy artillery support, knocking him down to 5 strength and taking no damage for his trouble. The arty fired from the desert and retreated a step away from my air attacks, but there was more to come. The Brits fired a very large gun from a hidden desert hex - looked like a 4.5" doing some serious damage to my italian tank near Bir Qaim. And my italians spotted a Beaufighter in the center while a pair of Blenheims bombed the same line near the hill. Now everyone had a job. First job was to send all three bombers to crush the southern artillery effort. They did well, reducing it, overall to about half strength. Then I took Bir Sidi Hamza. Next job was to deal with the Matilda. I had a lot of toys at my disposal for this. First I sent my italian tank crashing into the artillery line and overran the weakest. Then I used my Sems to shake up the matilda a bit before hitting him with my tank killer squad. The IVF2 knocked him down to 3 and the Selm finished the job. That freed up my StuG and PzIIIH to destroy the remaining artillery nearby. I really wanted those Blenheims dead today, but I knew I could only get one with available fighter power. I attacked one of them from both sides with my two available fighters and reduced it to 1. Well, it was a start. Then I discovered I had enough cash for a new fighter. So, impulsively, I bought it - opting for an Italian Re.2000 for it's awesome range. It was a bargain at 270. He finished off the first Blenheim. Rommel scouted the north and found a bunker guarded by a minefield and a strongpoint on the road behind it. There was one infantry sitting in front of Mersa Matruh. I expected they had another inside. I set up my arty and infantry in the north for an attack next turn while my AT guns waited patiently in case any tanks showed up. I ran some infantry off the hill in trucks to try to encircle Bir Qaim and hit the defending artillery in advance of a full attack. Then I noticed another fighter I'd forgotten about and hit the 2nd Blenheim. The Brits were now in full retreat in the south and I was free to advance next turn with confidence.

Turn 7: Caught a bunch of arty fire in the south and the north. And a team of spitfires strafed my northern line with backup from the Beaufighter. That wasn't a fight I could win, so I purchased a new AA (sdkfz 251/17) and sent it in that direction from Sidi Barrani. Then I laid into the bunker with artillery. One of my italian infantry got reduced to 2 pips by arty fire, so I used him to try to clear the mines, which failed. Two more infantry went after the bunker and were largely broken by fire support from the 3 arty in Mersa Matruh (I had only detected one prior). I flew the Henkel behind Sidi Qaim, spotting their 4 artillery and boming one of them. Then I sent the rest of the bombers in to wreak havok - saving my best stuka for the BFG (4.5"). The remaining available fighters strafed where they could in the same zone. I hoped it would be enough to capture that town next turn because I wanted to send the airforce north to assist with Mersa Matruh.

Turn 8: Two big ugly things happened at once. First - the guns behind Mersa Matruh barked and took out two key infantry units completely while the RAF continued to strafe. In the south, despite all my precautions, a large armored force (Matilda, Valentine and Crusader) came in on my flank and attacked the infantry positioning to take Bir Karima in the deep south. I still had Sems in the area to provide support fire and my tank killer squad was very close, so they had a new job to do. I had my Sems fire on the town and my two aux infantry managed to take it at great cost. Then I drove in the tank killers. It was a bit crowded so I couldn't get my squad in for any focus fire. Managed to force two of them into retreat though and did some pretty heavy damage on the first pass. At Bir Qaim, I did some strafing and sent the airforce north, then ran my italian tank in and overran all 4 arties an infantry and a humbler scout. Amazing. I did a double attack with artillery, then hit the town with Bersaglieri and they managed a rugged defense, but no damage was dealt. I began arty strikes on Bir Ali el Qadi in the center and wiped out the bunker in the north. The RAF was still a major issue up there and wearing down my much-needed artillery, but the new AA was getting close. And my own airforce was close enough to strike the Arty at Mersa Matruh next turn.

Turn 9: The armor counter attacked in the south, but wasted all their attacks eliminaing the infantry that took Bir Karima. My tank killers focused on the valentine and destroyed it. I artilleried Bir Qaim again and that 4 str infantry managed another rugged defense against my german infanterie. The next attack took it down and captured the VH. Took Bir el Qadi with engineers and light artillery. I sniped a spitfire with my aux 8.8 in the north and then sent two fighters to down it. I also sent the remaining two fighters to put some hurt on the Beaufighter. My new AA caught up aroudn the same time and prepared to defend. I bombed Mersa Matruh and saw nothing but guns there. All the infantry had been committed to slow down my advance and they were starting to falter. The remaining spitfire only had one ammo, so if he attacked my bombers, I'd jump him immediately. In the meantime I raced whatever forces I could muster in the center to set up on Bir Abu Shayit, the next objective on that line.

Turn 10: Argh! Instead of the bombers, that crappy spitfire suicided on my new italian fighter and downed it! I immediately destroyed him. In the south two more under-strength matilda's showed up and hurt themselves trying to kill my PzIIIH. A crazy scottish highlander joined in and was even less effective. My tank killers destroyed the Crusader and backed up a step to receive the next charge. they were running low on ammo, so I needed to make the next attack count. The rest of my southern force (mostly infantry and arty) ran to the last southern objective - Bir Khalda. I started marching my center/north Fanteria and Infanterie towards what would be the final objective - Garawla. Finally, I risked a deep recon with Rommel and spotted two fresh infantry and a pair of arty south west of Garawla.

Turn 11-12: Northern arty took out my 7.5 pak with long range fire. I downed the beaufighter and took out an arty in the city with bombers. In the south, the enemy tanks attacked my aux SEM that I threw out as a decoy, leaving them wide open to my tank killer squad. We took out the first Matilda, leaving one tank and the Scots. But my PzIIIH was out of ammo and fuel and in trouble. I reloaded the Sem and hoped for the best. The attack was started on Bir Khalda. They had a 6 pdr with arty behind it. The northern group focused their arty and infantry attacks on my infantry and continued to wear them down. There were some minimal attacks in the south to little effect. A Blenheim stuck his nose out and I knocked him down to 2 points. My bombers destroyed another arty at Mersa Matruh. I forced the matilda to retreat and ran the scots out of ammo while my Selb reloaded. I sent Rommel and an aux engineer on a very dangerous flanking operation behind the new artillery moving north west near the final objective. I sent a second full strength infanterie to meet up with them. And had 6 Fanteria moving north to intercept the Matilda that was sitting there waiting for orders and was dangerously close to my Mersa attack group.

Turn 13: That last Matilda did a head-on attack and forced my PzIVF2 to retreat. The Selb responded and ended him. The rest worked clean up operations on the Scots. After another artillery bombing the north was finally safe to attack. I destroyed one of their infantry defenders and reduced another to 1 pip. Their arty was in shambles and the strongpoint was reduced to 1 as well. I spotted and eliminated the Beaufighter, but also spotted a 40mm AA in the airfield, which meant I was in his range. Drat. I wiped out the Scots and the south was almost wrapped up. I choked out the Artillery behind Bir Khalda and expected to take that VH shortly. In the north, the Matilda attacked and was stopped by my Fanteria. I snuck the remaining for past him to the east to eventually move on Garawla. Rommel charged the artillery and then backed away with Super Scout Powers. The remaining 4 attackers caught up and fueled for the next attack and eventual drive to Garawla. My Mersa attack force took out the strongpoint and 4.5" gun and was preparing to take the city. I thought it would never happen!

Turn 14-15: Captured Mersa Matruh and Bir Khalda. That left Garawla. Operation artillery worked like a charm. Now I had 12 units in that zone ready to finish them off and drive on the final objective. Not to mention the Fanteria group pushing in on foot from the west side. I sent the Henkel into Garawla and discovered it was being defended by a lone Matilda. Should be a snap for my infantry if he stayed put. I had 3 turns left for a BV.

Turn 16-17: It was a simple thing to bomb Garawla and push out the Matilda with a Fanteria. On the follow up, he returned so I blew him away and grabbed the city, forcing the Brits to surrender. BV. The high command tells me I get to take Malta as a reward. I guess that's their idea of a Prototype these days. Special props to the aux italian tank (the overrun master) who ended the scenario with 12 kills and no love from the high command.

After Action:
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory

..
Current scenario: Unternehmen Herkules, VH prestige is 240 , All map prestige is: 800
Army cost: 4651 , Current prestige is 191
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 2
if BV: +1200, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 10 turns prestige: 200
if V : +900, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 12 turns prestige: 240
if TV: +600, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 14 turns prestige: 280
if Ls: +0, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 14 turns prestige: 280

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 3 bars , 397 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 10 kill , 516 pp - U:005
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:006
Sturmpioniere , SdKfz 251/1 , , 2 bars , 209 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 288 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 3 bars , 307 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Fire Discipline , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 4 bars , 493 exp , Germany , 10/10 , First Strike , 23 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVF2 , , 2 bars , 298 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 13 kill , 612 pp - U:003

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 5 bars , 574 exp , Germany , 5/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001
SdKfz 250/1 , , 2 bars , 254 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 114 pp - U:017

Anti-tank
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 1 bars , 108 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:004
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 157 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 4 kill , 0 pp - U:012
+ StuG IIIF , , 3 bars , 360 exp , Germany , 5/5 , First Strike , 6 kill , 0 pp - U:015
12.8 PzSelb. L/61 , , 2 bars , 220 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 4 kill , 414 pp - U:019

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 734 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 6 kill , 336 pp - U:009
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 3 bars , 330 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:010

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 201 exp , Germany , 6/5 , 0 kill , 79 pp - U:014
SdKfz 7/1 , , 2 bars , 204 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:016
SdKfz 251/17 , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 126 pp - U:018

Fighter
Me-109G-2 , , 2 bars , 256 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 5 kill , 354 pp - U:013

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 648 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Resilience , 6 kill , 432 pp - U:011

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:58 TNK:30 RCN:14 AT:9 FORT:14 ATY:38 AD:3 FTR:6 TB:12 Total: 184
Lost : INF:20 TNK:4 AT:8 ATY:6 AD:3 FTR:2 TB:1 Total: 44

BV 6
V 1
TV 0
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1113 exp, 16 kill, 1236 pp Average: 278 exp, 4 kill, 309 pp
Tank * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 791 exp, 36 kill, 924 pp Average: 396 exp, 18 kill, 462 pp
Recon * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 828 exp, 1 kill, 114 pp Average: 414 exp, 1 kill, 57 pp
Anti-tank * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 845 exp, 17 kill, 570 pp Average: 211 exp, 4 kill, 143 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1064 exp, 7 kill, 672 pp Average: 532 exp, 4 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 3 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 605 exp, 0 kill, 349 pp Average: 202 exp, 0 kill, 116 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 256 exp, 5 kill, 354 pp Average: 256 exp, 5 kill, 354 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 648 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp Average: 648 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 19 Units * 8 Leaders Total : 6150 exp, 88 kill, 4651 pp Average: 324 exp, 5 kill, 245 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 32 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 12
Tank : 2
Recon : 2
Anti-tank : 4
Artillery : 4
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 3
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 1
Submarine : 1


Player 2 United Kingdom - estimated force: 49 units
Infantry / Anti-tank : 18%
Recon / Tank : 1%
Air Defense / Mobile Air Defense : 12%
Air : 0%
Naval : 25%

* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Malta

Yeeha! What a crazy-assed suicide run. The only good part about it is that you can't really deploy your core (with few exceptions which I'll explain). I played this beast 4 times (just because I wondered if I could do it) before getting any kind of victory. The 3rd time I was about 1 turn away from a TV before running out of time. This last time I got a last-turn TV. IT is a brutal, unforgiving scenario that requires a huge amount of precision and absolutely punishes mistakes in real time. Here's what I did.

Early Turns are really about getting your forces landed intact and moving forward - always moving forward. The early turns are also about restraint. If you run in expecting to destroy everything in your path, think again. All units are heavily entrenched, with artillery cover and AA everywhere in case you had thoughts about actually using those fighters and bombers the scenario provides. The AA guns are also heavily entrenched so you lose a whole bunch of army strength trying to take them down. Your airforce is completely out-classed, so the only mission I gave them was air cover, forcing the enemy spitfires to attack them (or take serious lumps) if they want to get at my key units. Even so, it felt nearly impossible to keep my artillery alive as coastal batteries would one-shot an 8 strength LG-40 airborne mortar. So after taking my lumps through 3 interations, I made a very firm decision to avoid attacking (without proper bombardment from Navy, Arty and *occasionally* air strikes) and only attack key targets which are VHs, enemy artillery and coastal batteries.

Late turns are about consolidation of forces, staying alive and striking key targets with focused purpose to obtain objectives - especially the enemy deployment/ VH hex near the port, while picking apart vulnerable infantry and AA where it made sense. Other important objectives are airfields to 1. Deploy your own air units, and 2. keep the enemy spitfires from resupplying. In the end, I believe I had approximately 6 or so units left. I also deployed my core fighter after the first airfield was captured and used it VERY carefully because there was no way it could go toe-to-toe with a pair of spitfires. Last thing: I had to use prestige during the scenario, lots of it, to keep units alive and keep the attack moving forward. Also, I probably could have deployed my core if I had grabbed the port before the scenario ended, but I honestly cannot see a viable path to make that happen, so I didn't even try. In the end, the high command lied. There was no bonus prestige. I started the next scenario with what was left - around 24 pp. heh... That means (for those who want to know) I spent approximately 500 PP keeping units alive during the course of the scenario so that I could keep the attack rolling.

OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory
8 Unternehmen Herkules , #15 , Tactical Victory

..
Current scenario: Unternehmen Herkules, VH prestige is 240 , All map prestige is: 800
Army cost: 4651 , Current prestige is 24
Prestige available on map yet is 320 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 14
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 2
if BV: +1200, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 10 turns prestige: 200
if V : +900, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 12 turns prestige: 240
if TV: +600, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 14 turns prestige: 280
if Ls: +0, Alam Halfa Battle , cap 2600, 14 turns prestige: 280

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 3 bars , 397 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 10 kill , 516 pp - U:005
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 216 pp - U:006
Sturmpioniere , SdKfz 251/1 , , 2 bars , 209 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 288 pp - U:007
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 3 bars , 307 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Fire Discipline , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 4 bars , 493 exp , Germany , 10/10 , First Strike , 23 kill , 312 pp - U:002
Pz IVF2 , , 2 bars , 298 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 13 kill , 612 pp - U:003

Recon
* GS SdKfz 250/3 , HQ/[DAK] , 5 bars , 574 exp , Germany , 5/5 , Resilience , 0 kill , 0 pp - U:001
SdKfz 250/1 , , 2 bars , 254 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 114 pp - U:017

Anti-tank
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 1 bars , 108 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:004
+ 5 PaK38 , SdKfz 251/1 , , 1 bars , 157 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 4 kill , 0 pp - U:012
+ StuG IIIF , , 3 bars , 360 exp , Germany , 5/5 , First Strike , 6 kill , 0 pp - U:015
12.8 PzSelb. L/61 , , 2 bars , 220 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 4 kill , 414 pp - U:019

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 734 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 6 kill , 336 pp - U:009
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 3 bars , 330 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 1 kill , 336 pp - U:010

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 201 exp , Germany , 6/5 , 0 kill , 79 pp - U:014
SdKfz 7/1 , , 2 bars , 204 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:016
SdKfz 251/17 , , 2 bars , 200 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 0 kill , 126 pp - U:018

Fighter
Me-109G-2 , , 2 bars , 271 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 5 kill , 354 pp - U:013

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 648 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Resilience , 6 kill , 432 pp - U:011

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:66 TNK:31 RCN:14 AT:9 FORT:21 ATY:39 AD:6 FTR:6 TB:12 SUB:4 DD:3 Total: 211
Lost : INF:27 TNK:4 AT:8 ATY:8 AD:3 FTR:5 TB:2 DD:3 Total: 60

BV 6
V 1
TV 1
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1113 exp, 16 kill, 1236 pp Average: 278 exp, 4 kill, 309 pp
Tank * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 791 exp, 36 kill, 924 pp Average: 396 exp, 18 kill, 462 pp
Recon * 2 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 828 exp, 1 kill, 114 pp Average: 414 exp, 1 kill, 57 pp
Anti-tank * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 845 exp, 17 kill, 570 pp Average: 211 exp, 4 kill, 143 pp
Artillery * 2 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1064 exp, 7 kill, 672 pp Average: 532 exp, 4 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 3 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 605 exp, 0 kill, 349 pp Average: 202 exp, 0 kill, 116 pp
Fighter * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 271 exp, 5 kill, 354 pp Average: 271 exp, 5 kill, 354 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 648 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp Average: 648 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 19 Units * 8 Leaders Total : 6165 exp, 88 kill, 4651 pp Average: 324 exp, 5 kill, 245 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 30 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 11
Tank : 2
Recon : 2
Anti-tank : 4
Artillery : 4
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 1
Submarine : 1
Destroyer : 1

Player 2 United Kingdom has 21 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 3
Fortification : 4
Air Defense : 4
Fighter : 2
Submarine : 5
Destroyer : 3


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-14 20:34, Wednesday Malta

... In the end, the high command lied. There was no bonus prestige. ...

This is not correct. The high command never lies .
The designers are to blame for keeping the prestige cap too low. You already didn't get any victory bonuses since the first scenario (so did I) because both of us were already way above the prestige cap of 1150pp with our choice of starting prestige (200% = 4000pp and 150%=3000pp respectively). You just didn't notice because the bonuses were very small so far.
That's why I think it's also very important that the player doesn't lose any core unit (especially none with 10/10) because they might not be replaceable later due to lack of pp or 10/10 strength is not available.
This permanent lack of prestige and the thin 5/5 units - I don't have a good feeling about this campaign.

Unternehmen Herkules
Back to the desert! This one starts out a bit unnerving. You have another wide swath of desert to conquer with loads of aux units at your disposal. However, you get two deployment zones and both are way south, so you really need to rely on your auxiliaries to capture at least some of the northern objectives. There were some decent swaths of supply areas here - a couple of long ridges and rough zones that would do nicely once we got there. The last thing is that you don't get an airfield at start, so you're expected to capture one if you want to deploy your airforce. I deployed all my infantry and arty in the deep south near the first two objectives (which included the badly needed airfield). Bonus - high command provided two scouts in the deep south to work with my infantry, which mean I could give both of my core scouts to my tank killer squad which I deployed in the 2nd zone, just a few hexes northeast of my southern deployment.

Turn 1: After scouting, I sent artillery volleys into Qaret al Himeisnat in the deep south which immediately started burning. I drove my two strongest infantry to the doorstep and waited. I also started driving on the airfield just north of the city and discovred a 40mm AA guarding it. When I started moving I recognized a huge coverage gap in the center and considered driving some auxiliary tanks that way to plug the hole. I also realized very quickly that the northern forces were VERY thin. I also sent one of my core anti-tank units north to support the center. I sent my tank killer squad into a gap between my southern core and central aux to hit targets of opportunity. Rommel discovered infantry moving up but on the other side of the minefield. They'd probably make contact with my aux units in about 2 turns. I used my aux airforce to scout the center gap.

Turn 2: British turn was silent with the excepton of an enemy Mk VIb scout appearing near my northern forces. He was in arty and airforce range, but I had my doubts about taking him out, so I waited a bit to see how things developed in other parts of the line. I removed some mines in the far north and spotted an enemy bunker. I had an infantry waiting for orders so I artied the bunker and slid my infantry in to attack. I reduced it a bit. The rest of my available arty fired on the scout. I noticed that I had a tank-killer Italian AT sitting nearby so I moved it forward on the scout. I managed to reduce him down to 2 but he retreated, so I couldn't follow up with infantry. I thought about sending my stuka, but waited. Found no further viable bombing targets in the south, so I eliminated the scout with the aux stuka and covered with the FW190.

Turn 3: RAF appeared with a Blenheim, hitting my infanty in the deep south. So I took the airfield quickly so I could hit him back. It worked, but my 109 took unacceptable damage in defensive fire. A scout popped out right in front of my tank killers. In the process of killing him, I discovered a second scout due south, but my tank killers weren't fast enough to catch him. Instead I used Rommel to circle around behind him. Sent my stuka out to bomb, then sped my southern infantry forward in trucks to try to contain him further. In the north, a large gun barked and badly damaged my forward infantry. Then an overstrength Brit infantry stepped in front of the bunker and wiped him out. So I unleashed my artillery, doing a very small amount of damage. Follow up with Stuka was quite a bit better. Then I finished him with infantry attacks. My scout spotted one of the supply hexes in the center ridge area and discovered an infantry. We moved the center force forward to capture all 3 areas (2 flags, one objective) on Raweisat Ridge.

Turn 4: A few half-hearted attacks came from the British line in the north and the southern airforce retreated. We completed the encirclement of that scout and destroyed him, then sent the airforce to recon Alam Nayil, the more southern supply zone about ten hexes south of Raweisat. 5 overstrength infantry. All moderately entrenched. I didn't want to commit the tank killer squad to this effort, but I wasn't sure I had a choice. Decided on the next best thing - using them as a wall for my arty to hide behind temporarily while I got the southern infantry into a good flanking position. I sent my northern airforce south to do some spotting on Ruweisat and found a whole lot of ugly. Two infantry, 2 25pdrs, a 7.2" OBL (ack!) and a matilda. As things stalled in the north, I realized I would probably need help from my southern group to finally take those objectives, unless reinforcements arrived at some point. I saw an opportunity and made a tentative thrust in the north, but the Brits beat us back. One of our flags was labled "Axis supply hex) so I tried purchasing a Bursaglieri to bolster the northern forces. Sadly it didn't work. (I should have looked closer - the flag didn't have that 'greenish tinge' required for an actual deployment hex). The most interesting thing here is that I was able to buy a 10/10 unit, so I guess our supplies aren't so tight anymore!

Turn 5: My mobile flak gun picked off a scout plane (Bulldog) as it flew by, so that was exciting. I looked at the overhead map and decided that my grand strategy was actually working. I'd use my center forces to overwhelm the nearby VH's and then drive north to support that effort. My forces in the deep south would drive across the map and capture the rest. My main problem was that the enemy tanks were in the center and my tank killers were in the south. So I made my moves accordingly. The tank killers quickly wiped out half of the infantry force defending Alam Nayil. My center forces began pushing on Reweisat Ridge. My northern forces played defensive until help arrived. My infantry and Arty in the south started setting up to move on distant objectives via the Deir el Munassib road.

Turn 6: I completely wiped out the forces defending Alam Nayil and sent my tank killers north to deal with the artillery forest behind Ruweisat Ridge. I sent one of my pak guns south to garrison the airfield because I didn't quite trust all that wide open desert to the east. I couldn't advance the center because the artillery was too crushing. Next turn I'd take it once the tank killers did their job. The north resupplied and took some limited replacements.

Turn 7: An elite M3 grant came out of nowhere and overan my 2 lead units on the road east - a core artillery, a sturmpionier (5 str). Then a Blenheim came in an finished the 3rd - an aux scout. I was stunned. That left an artillery sitting out on the road alone. I had to redeploy the tank killers and finish that tank off immediately. I sent my two fighters in to knock the Blenheim down to size and trap him. Then I sent my one available bomber to hit the tank. I used two tank killers to wear him down and my PzIIIh to overrun him. Rommel scouted and saw two artillery and a matilda (elite) approaching. He also spotted a valentine to the north and in range to strike Rommel if he chose to drive that way. I managed to do some damage to the artillery at Ruweisat so I went ahead with the attack and captured two of the three flags there. The north remained stable. But my southern force was now in dissaray and vulnerable to the attack coming from the East.

Turn 8: Another unspotted valentine charged in and overran my stug after an arty strike wore him down to 2 pips, but was reduced 5 hits for his trouble. Then the Valentine moved in and clobbered my Selb (reducing him to 1). He retreated. The fokke wulf hammered the Blenheim and went looking for new targets. He discovered two blenheims covered by a spit due north near the Valentine's position. The Selb fired back on the Matilda for another point of damage and the nearby PzIVF2 overran her with Stuka support. I pulled the Selb back to the Alam Nayil supply zone. My PzIIIH had an overrun party with the Ruweisat artillery and the aux infantry moved in with reckless abandon. Blew away the northern bunker and started wearing down infantry positions with arty fire. In the midst of the large armor battle going on in the center, we spotted another mine field guarding Alam Halfa Ridge which contained two of the 3 objectives in that zone.

Turn 9: I finished off the infantry at Ruweisat and began to surround the Matilda. The center valentine retreated, but I chased him down with a stuka and discovered he had an arty right behind. I moved up my PzIVF2, but held my fire. We'd need a bit more support here before the push. I shifted some mobile AA to defend against the RAF attacks in the center and sent the FW190 in to bust up one of the Blenheims that had poor coverage from their Spit.

Turn 10: A Spit IX reared its ugly head and attacked my Stuka - Resilience, I think saved his bacon. The matilda tried in vein to take back Ruweisat Ridge. This put him in range of my aux 8.8 and I made him pay the price. The FW190 was getting low-ish on fuel, but I made one more attack on the Blenheims to send him limping home with his brother. After combined attacks from 7 units, the Matilda at Ruweisat was reduced to 3 strength and 6 ammo (ha!). I'd finish him next turn and send that force north. This new set of mines near Alam Halfa were different and required attacks from my infantry. So I used engineers exclusively to deal with them. The unfortunate part of that is their artillery was able to fire in response. It was at this moment that I realized the north had no objectives, all they needed do was hold. The airfield was just a supply hex and El Alamein (beyond) was the same. So I diverted most of the Ruweisat Ridge forces east to support the final phase. Given the troop positioning and timing I hadn't really lost any time so I wasn't worried. I just felt kinda dumb. It was still a long haul to the Alexandria supply line, but I was pretty sure I could make it.

Turn 11: Then the other shoe dropped. The matilda attacked my 8.8 - which I expected, but he didn't accomplish much except take back the ridge - which I would very quickly take away from her - my PzIII used the overrun to resupply on the ridge. In the east, the valentine charged my PzIVF2 and damaged it. Then the northern Valentine (which sat still for 4 turns) came in and attacked it from the flank (reducing it to 2) and an unspotted Crusader II drove in from the east and destroyed it. This put my morale at an all-time low. My tank killer squad was pretty much decimated and I was facing down 3 very solid tanks with a mottled infantry group with limited artillery. Finally, the Spit IX found my core ME109g and knocked it out of the sky. All I could do was try to regroup.

Turn 12: I scouted a bit further with Rommel and got more bad news. They had a 4th tank - M3 Grant - waiting for me. I hadn't even seen what was on the ridge yet. But that group - which hadn't spotted my infantry yet - started moving north, though not far enough to make me believe they committed. I decided it was time to kill the bunker at the crossroads in the center. I moved my Pioneire there to spot and hit it with artillery. The shot was beautiful, reducing it from 6 to 3, then the pionieres finished it. Maybe that would draw the tank group further north where I had a few AT guns to keep them occupied. Then my waiting infantry group could score the ridge. I supplied whatever units I could on the ridge and sent the rest eastward.

Turn 13: The Brits did not move, they just did some scattered air attacks and one of their infantry moved south from El Alamein to attack my aux AT. I basically ignored them and kept driving my units north east toward their supply line. If the tanks didn't move, I'd hit their airfield and the Alam Halfa Ridge from the north. It was a stronger force in any case. I sent my stukas in for a look at the ridge and almost choked. Five 25 pdrs (two of which I bombed), and three infantry (in addition to all those tanks). I didn't get a look at the airfield yet. I'd need to use both forces. So I drove my center force that had been waiting and resupplying in a wide arc around their defending AT gun to set up to hit the ridge where the artillery lived. It was wide open from what my aux italian scout had discovered. The south was now fully garrisoned and my FW190 was back in action. I staged him as air cover near my center flanking group. Things were going to get very hairy in a few turns.

Turn 14: The enemy spotted Rommel and destroyed him with two of their tanks. So much for resilience. I mostly repositioned units and continued the drive to the final objectives.

Turn 15: Long range artillery fire from El Alamein killed my Flakv38 AA. My scout spotted the airfield VH north of the final ridge and we pounced on the 40mm that was holding it. Artillery barked in response so I charged toward their position with everything that was in range. I only managed one attack at this time, but next round would be decisive and whatever those enemy tanks decided to do would be critical.

Turn 16: The tanks divided their strength. Sending at least two to the northern flank and one to the southern to eliminate my italian scout. I was pleased to discover that the north eastern supply objective was merely a bunker so I continued moving a single Bersaglieri (accompanied by my scout) to persue it. Artillery and airforce inflicted heavy casualties on enemy arty, but my southern force got stalled for supply reasons. My northern force acquired the airfield and positioned themselves well to deal with the tanks.

Turn 17 - 22: It was a bloody, bloody, bloody finale, but we finally took the ridge with mountains of losses. My small northeastern force easily captured the supply hex. I wasn't sure I'd have enough to move forward, but I'd give it a go or die trying. Turn 22 V. At HQ I had about 10 units and zero prestige. heh.

After Action

OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory
8 Unternehmen Herkules , #15 , Tactical Victory
9 Alam Halfa Battle , #7 , Victory

..
Current scenario: Alam Halfa Battle, VH prestige is 0 , All map prestige is: 560
Army cost: 3157 , Current prestige is 0
Prestige available on map yet is 400 pp ( 0 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 22
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 46
if BV: +100, Alexandria , cap 2700, 20 turns prestige: 0
if V : +90, El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , cap 2600, 22 turns prestige: 0
if TV: +70, El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , cap 2600, 26 turns prestige: 0
if Ls: +90, El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , cap 2600, 26 turns prestige: 0

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 4 bars , 449 exp , Germany , 4/10 , Aggressive Attack , 14 kill , 516 pp - U:005
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 2 bars , 212 exp , Germany , 8/10 , 4 kill , 216 pp - U:006
Infanterie , Kfz.70 , , 3 bars , 315 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Fire Discipline , 2 kill , 216 pp - U:008
Bersaglieri , AS37 , , 1 bars , 100 exp , Italy , 10/10 , 0 kill , 240 pp - U:045

Tank
Pz IIIH , , 5 bars , 634 exp , Germany , 3/10 , First Strike , 31 kill , 312 pp - U:002

Recon
SdKfz 250/1 , , 2 bars , 273 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 1 kill , 114 pp - U:017

Anti-tank
5 PaK38 , Pferdewagen , , 1 bars , 108 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 3 kill , 156 pp - U:004
12.8 PzSelb. L/61 , , 2 bars , 275 exp , Germany , 1/5 , 4 kill , 414 pp - U:019

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 940 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 9 kill , 336 pp - U:009

Air Defense
2 FlaKv38 , Pferdewagen , , 2 bars , 203 exp , Germany , 6/5 , 0 kill , 79 pp - U:014
SdKfz 251/17 , , 2 bars , 205 exp , Germany , 3/5 , 0 kill , 126 pp - U:018

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 814 exp , Germany , 4/10 , Resilience , 6 kill , 432 pp - U:011

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:76 TNK:36 RCN:17 AT:11 FORT:26 ATY:47 AD:8 FTR:6 TB:15 SUB:4 DD:3 Total: 249
Lost : INF:37 TNK:7 RCN:3 AT:11 ATY:10 AD:4 FTR:6 TB:2 DD:3 Total: 83

BV 6
V 2
TV 1
L 0

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 2 Leaders Total : 1076 exp, 20 kill, 1188 pp Average: 269 exp, 5 kill, 297 pp
Tank * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 634 exp, 31 kill, 312 pp Average: 634 exp, 31 kill, 312 pp
Recon * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 273 exp, 1 kill, 114 pp Average: 273 exp, 1 kill, 114 pp
Anti-tank * 2 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 383 exp, 7 kill, 570 pp Average: 192 exp, 4 kill, 285 pp
Artillery * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 940 exp, 9 kill, 336 pp Average: 940 exp, 9 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 2 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 408 exp, 0 kill, 205 pp Average: 204 exp, 0 kill, 103 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 814 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp Average: 814 exp, 6 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 12 Units * 5 Leaders Total : 4528 exp, 74 kill, 3157 pp Average: 377 exp, 6 kill, 263 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 35 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 15
Tank : 1
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 3
Artillery : 9
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 2

Player 2 United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India has 34 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 11
Tank : 4
Anti-tank : 3
Fortification : 5
Artillery : 6
Air Defense : 2
Fighter : 2
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 1


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

El Alamein, Montgomery Attack

Turn 1: The Brits moved in like an avalanche. They mowed down my minefield and attacked as many positions as they could reach immediately. Some cursory scouting revealed that there was no end to the troops moving in. I was immediately on the defensive and would need to stay there if I even had a prayer of surviving - let along campturing the four objectives I was handed. I had some initial success in the north, destroying a 7.5" gun with devastating fire (that hurt!) and blew some serious infantry strength trying to take down their first infantry in the north (overstrength with resilience). Even if I had a full core, I doubted my chances here. It was BRUTAL. They captured a hill (VH) that I was holding with a machine gun nest very quickly in the south and I found a huge number of artillery behind that position. I tried charging it with what was left of my tank killer squad and did minimal damage before I was stopped. They also had a triad of Blenheims moving around and bombing in formation. I received a FW190 and scout plan as reinforcement, but I didn't have high hopes.

Turn 2- end: I huge push of 15 overstrength infantry groups hit my center and I giggled. Then the full might of the RAF flew behind my lines and bombed with impugnity. It was a long, bloody retreat and in the end I captured the northern objective (I believe it's the El Alamein airfield) and after another big struggle I was down to 2 pockets of resistance in the north west. The airfield and the burning town of Tell el Aqqaqir. On turn 19 I still had 4 core units in operation. My old broken-down 5Pak38, my elite Stuka, my Sdkfz 251/17 AA (holding the town) and my elite 10.5cm artillery. All four were wreaking havok on the enemy. On turn 20, the Pak gun surrendered after surviving 2 previous rounds of infantry attack. On turn 21, the Brits had thinned out so much after killing themselves trying to take my last objectives that I was tempted to go back on the offensive. But I only had 3 turns left for a TV. Didn't make much sense. So I held until relieved. On turn 21 all was quiet. There was a lone British infantry south of Tell el Aqqaqir, so I destroyed him. I sent out my scout plane who somehow managed to survive and he discoverd no troops left in El Alamein. He also found British arty sitting on Ruweisat Ridge. I got my boys back on the move, but there wasn't enough time left to reach them aside from a few bombing runs. Their remaining spit harassed me until the scenario ended. Somehow, I was not dismissed. Loss. If I'd realized that up front I would have retreated my core right away. They're sending me to Tunis with my 4 units and 95 PP.

After Action:
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory
8 Unternehmen Herkules , #15 , Tactical Victory
9 Alam Halfa Battle , #7 , Victory
10 El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , #8 , Loss

..
Current scenario: El Alamein, Montgomery Attack, VH prestige is 480 , All map prestige is: 800
Army cost: 1410 , Current prestige is 5
Prestige available on map yet is 800 pp ( 480 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 25
AI stance is Aggressive Using map: 46
if BV: +100, Alexandria , cap 2700, 19 turns prestige: 540
if V : +90, Alexandria , cap 2700, 20 turns prestige: 540
if TV: +70, Sidi Bou Zid , cap 3000, 24 turns prestige: 540
if Ls: +90, Sidi Bou Zid , cap 3000, 24 turns prestige: 540

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 4 bars , 497 exp , Germany , 1/10 , Aggressive Attack , 14 kill , 516 pp - U:003

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 1206 exp , Germany , 9/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 15 kill , 336 pp - U:006

Air Defense
SdKfz 251/17 , , 2 bars , 224 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 126 pp - U:010

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 919 exp , Germany , 1/10 , Resilience , 9 kill , 432 pp - U:007

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:100 TNK:46 RCN:23 AT:18 FORT:26 ATY:53 AD:9 FTR:7 TB:16 SUB:4 DD:3 Total: 305
Lost : INF:57 TNK:9 RCN:4 AT:13 FORT:13 ATY:16 AD:6 FTR:7 TB:3 DD:3 Total: 131

BV 6
V 2
TV 1
L 1

Averages:
Infantry * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 497 exp, 14 kill, 516 pp Average: 497 exp, 14 kill, 516 pp
Artillery * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1206 exp, 15 kill, 336 pp Average: 1206 exp, 15 kill, 336 pp
Air Defense * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 224 exp, 1 kill, 126 pp Average: 224 exp, 1 kill, 126 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 919 exp, 9 kill, 432 pp Average: 919 exp, 9 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 4 Units * 3 Leaders Total : 2846 exp, 39 kill, 1410 pp Average: 712 exp, 10 kill, 353 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 24 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 8
Tank : 1
Fortification : 3
Artillery : 6
Air Defense : 2
Fighter : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 3

Player 2 United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, France has 32 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 7
Tank : 1
Fortification : 4
Artillery : 12
Air Defense : 4
Fighter : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 3


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Sidi Bou Zid

I took 3 of the 4 objectives (Two Hills and Poste de Lessouda) in rapid succession on turn 2. That left one nearby - Sidi Bou Zid - and the more distant one, Bir el Hafey, in the far west. If the allies put up an equally crappy resistance over there, I should be able to snag a BV here despite my inadequate force. On the following turn I took Sidi Bou Zid and cleaned up most of the remaining defenders. I unfortunately lost my aux recon in the fighting, so I was flying blind (stukas aside). I used my stukas to spot and I raced all units at full speed to the west (aside from necessary Garrisons on the north hill and Poste de Lassouda. I was most of the way to the objective by turn 6 and realized that I would never hit BV territory. Do do so, you need to haul ass right from turn 1, no mistakes, no delays. So I did what I could and grabbed a Turn 7 TV (missed a V by one turn). Not bad, since I expected to simply die on this scenario. Next up - Kasserine Pass.

After Action:
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013
Campaign: Deutsches Afrika-Korps, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r)
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory
8 Unternehmen Herkules , #15 , Tactical Victory
9 Alam Halfa Battle , #7 , Victory
10 El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , #8 , Loss
11 Sidi Bou Zid , #30 , Tactical Victory

..
Current scenario: Battle of Kasserine Pass, VH prestige is 320 , All map prestige is: 480
Army cost: 1443 , Current prestige is 1051
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 62
if BV: +500, Bone , cap 3500, 16 turns prestige: 500
if V : +150, Mareth Line , cap 500, 17 turns prestige: 520
if TV: +120, Mareth Line , cap 500, 18 turns prestige: 540
if Ls: +100, Mareth Line , cap 500, 18 turns prestige: 540

Infantry
Sturmpioniere , Büssing-NAG 4500 , , 5 bars , 508 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 16 kill , 516 pp - U:001

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 1266 exp , Germany , 11/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 15 kill , 369 pp - U:002

Air Defense
SdKfz 251/17 , , 2 bars , 224 exp , Germany , 5/5 , 1 kill , 126 pp - U:004

Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 972 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Resilience , 11 kill , 432 pp - U:003

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:104 TNK:48 RCN:23 AT:19 FORT:26 ATY:54 AD:9 FTR:7 TB:16 SUB:4 DD:3 Total: 313
Lost : INF:57 TNK:9 RCN:5 AT:13 FORT:13 ATY:16 AD:6 FTR:7 TB:3 DD:3 Total: 132

BV 6
V 2
TV 2
L 1

Averages:
Infantry * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 508 exp, 16 kill, 516 pp Average: 508 exp, 16 kill, 516 pp
Artillery * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1266 exp, 15 kill, 369 pp Average: 1266 exp, 15 kill, 369 pp
Air Defense * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 224 exp, 1 kill, 126 pp Average: 224 exp, 1 kill, 126 pp
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 972 exp, 11 kill, 432 pp Average: 972 exp, 11 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 4 Units * 3 Leaders Total : 2970 exp, 43 kill, 1443 pp Average: 743 exp, 11 kill, 361 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 29 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 12
Tank : 3
Recon : 2
Anti-tank : 4
Artillery : 4
Air Defense : 2
Fighter : 1
Tact. Bomber, Fighter-Bomber : 1


Player 2 USA, United Kingdom, Free France - estimated force: 49 units
Infantry / Anti-tank : 36%
Recon / Tank : 14%
Air Defense / Mobile Air Defense : 8%
Air : 3%
Naval : 0%

* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-13 00:56, Tuesday Scenario 6 - The Gazala Line
... I also removed a few mines where I had the opportunity. (note: These mines must be removed by entering the hex and typing the "9" key. You can't attack them).
...
I thought again about that airfield. It would really make a difference, so I tried it. I selected my engineer and hit "5".
...

Both keys are not active in the CC30 and there is no unit that can build an airfield!
Your pioneer with [Z] function is from the original LG-Efile and you are not playing the CC30 but:

Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013

The right E-File is:

Efile folder: C:\OpenGen 0.9X.X.0\efile_cc30\ * Efile version: CC30-Deutsches Afrika Korps with Latin Generals WW2 7.58

Parabellum wrote: ↑2021-07-15 07:10, Thursday

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-14 20:34, Wednesday Malta

... In the end, the high command lied. There was no bonus prestige. ...

This is not correct. The high command never lies .
The designers are to blame for keeping the prestige cap too low. You already didn't get any victory bonuses since the first scenario (so did I) because both of us were already way above the prestige cap of 1150pp with our choice of starting prestige (200% = 4000pp and 150%=3000pp respectively). You just didn't notice because the bonuses were very small so far.
That's why I think it's also very important that the player doesn't lose any core unit (especially none with 10/10) because they might not be replaceable later due to lack of pp or 10/10 strength is not available.
This permanent lack of prestige and the thin 5/5 units - I don't have a good feeling about this campaign.

Good point, I wasn't thinking about the cap. But don't give up yet! After a certain point you can buy 10/10 units again!

Parabellum wrote: ↑2021-07-16 18:42, Friday

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-13 00:56, Tuesday Scenario 6 - The Gazala Line
... I also removed a few mines where I had the opportunity. (note: These mines must be removed by entering the hex and typing the "9" key. You can't attack them).
...
I thought again about that airfield. It would really make a difference, so I tried it. I selected my engineer and hit "5".
...

Both keys are not active in the CC30 and there is no unit that can build an airfield!
Your pioneer with [Z] function is from the original LG-Efile and you are not playing the CC30 but:

Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\efile_olgww2\ * Efile version: Open LGWW2 v2.26 Apr.2013

The right E-File is:

Efile folder: C:\OpenGen 0.9X.X.0\efile_cc30\ * Efile version: CC30-Deutsches Afrika Korps with Latin Generals WW2 7.58

Huh, thanks for that, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I thought I was already in the LG E-File (at least that's what it shows me when I start the game).
Now I'm scratching my head...

j

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-17 02:13, Saturday
Huh, thanks for that, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I thought I was already in the LG E-File (at least that's what it shows me when I start the game).
Now I'm scratching my head...

j

This is exactly what is wrong. Please visit our download page.
There you have the possibility to download the CC30 as an individual http://www.open-general.com/installer-ccpack.php
or as a package http://www.open-general.com/installer-spec.php

Just install it into the main folder.

When you start the game choose the CC30 as equipment instead of the Latin Generals.

Ugh. Does that mean I have to start over?

jbehnken wrote: ↑2021-07-19 13:08, Monday Ugh. Does that mean I have to start over?

In principle, yes. But every principle knows (at least) one exception.

It depends on what your wish is - if you want to be included in the Scroll Of Honor, then you should at least finish this campaign with the correct e-file. My suggestion: Install the current CC 30 version from our download page, create a folder "Save" in the CC 30 subfolder and move your last backup from the LG file exactly there. Start CC 30 and try to load the last backup. But I am not sure if it works or crashes. But you could try it if you don't want to restart.

If you don't want to be included in the SoH, then keep playing the campaign as is. It will then not be considered a completed CC, but a playtest and I will move it to the "Designers Corner" subforum.

In the end, it's your decision ...

So I did as recommended and switched e-File. The game worked okay, but there were a few issues as noted below.


Kasserine Pass

1051 Prestige! Amazing! I began the rebuilding process, which consisted of purchasing one PzIIIL and a bunch of infantry. I grabbed two Jagers and two Bersaglieri. With my remaining 175 pp I grabbed a 7.5 Pak97/38 with horses.

Deployment: There was one deployment zone so I dropped my slower units in front and motorized units behind. Since there is a significant amount of auxiliaries in front of us I knew we'd have some time before the log jam was broken.

Turn 1: After an initial scout of Kasserine, I ran my aux infantry at full speed right up to the objective. Along the way we discovered an entrenched infantry in the mountains supported by arty. I sent my stuka to bomb the arty. After looking at the overhead view, I noticed we also had a force of Italians in the south which I gingerly advanced as they were quite weak. I guessed they'd be responsible for capturing the souther VH without too much intervention from our northern forces. I also noticed two objectives directly north, so I decided to divert some of my core to capture them.
Turn 2: My stuka finished off the arty in the mountains so I had my fighter strafe the infantry to loosen up entrenchment. We cleared Kasserine very quickly and went to work on the support units coming at us from the mountain. As my core moved up the mountain road they discovered an American jeep which the artillery knocked down to 1 pip. I raced the aux recon and two infantry past Kasserine to the south to focus on Thelepte - a french held objective.
Turn 3/4: Captured Thelepte with my German forward auxiliaries and the italians were poised to take Feriana just south of it. Once that happened, I'd send all those troops north west to capture the strategic VH between the mountains and then converge on Tebessa - the final objective. My northern forces cleaned up the units around Kasserine and forged ahead to Tebessa. My core ran into a very large force holding Sbiba and a few tanks rolling down from the north-central mountains.
Turn 5/6: The Italians grabbed their objective as well as a flag for some PP and joined with the German auxiliaries up the central road, where they ran into a concentrated American force at the pass. I started seeing some issues with the change in E-File here - a handful of enemy forces had no icon (just a red triangle indicating a graphics issue). But I forged ahead. My core knocked out most of the resistance at sbiba and were poised to take the objective next turn. The northern auxiliaries pushed past the river and ran into an american M10, a tough fight was ahead.
Turn 6-10: The wolverine had a massive force behind it, including an American BFG artillery, so I retreated them behind the river. I tried to hold that position with auxiliaries until my core was able to catch up and lost a few aux units in the process. Meanwhile, my combined forces in the center captured and bypassed the ridge in the west and started moving on the final objective. I caught a glimpse of what was over there and it wasn't pretty so I'd need to do a combined attack from both sides to make it work and with air strikes on that big arty. The allied airforce was overwhelming compared to mine, so I needed to be extra careful with my stuka.
Turn 10-16: There was a substantial armored force sitting around the Tebessa VH consisting of 3 tanks, two artillery, a Wolverine and some infantry. I managed to move in units from both sides sumultaneously, but at that moment a bunch of new forces that were waiting in the wings converged on the pass to the south so I had to pull a few italian units back to hold it. I was already out of BV territory and I was unsure I'd get a victory here at all. In the initial onslaught I lost my motorized AA. My stuka got attacked retaking the pass and had to withdraw at 3 strength, but the job there was done.
Turn 17 - end: The enemy focused heavily on my western force (auxiliaries) so I pressed hard with my core. It's important to note that due to the change in e-file, my all important Pioniere had lost his transport and up until this point, hadn't fired a shot. This was a huge detriment. I managed to create a small corridor with my armor - capitalizing on the fact that the enemy tanks went south - so that my infantry could flow towards the city, but I ran out of time.
Loss
OpenGen 0.93.4.0 * 25 Dec 2020 * AI version: Default (0.91)
Efile folder: C:\Games\OG\EFILE_CC30\ * Efile version: CC30-Deutsches Afrika Korps with Latin Generals WW2 7.58
Campaign: DEUTSCHES AFRIKA-KORPS, * Player prestige modifier 200% * AI prestige modifier 100%

Played Scenarios:
1 Beda Fomm - Benghazi , #0 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: IkH 290(r) [S]
2 Halfaya Pass & Sollum Battle , #1 , Brilliant Victory
3 Operation Crusader , #2 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: 28/32 NbWf41 [E]
4 Mersa el Brega 1942 , #3 , Brilliant Victory +++ Proto: StuG IIIF
5 Pursuit to Mechilli , #4 , Brilliant Victory
6 Gazala Line [Unternehmen Theseus] , #5 , Victory
7 Mersa Matruh , #6 , Brilliant Victory
8 Unternehmen Herkules , #15 , Tactical Victory
9 Alam Halfa Battle , #7 , Victory
10 El Alamein, Montgomery Attack , #8 , Loss
11 Sidi Bou Zid , #30 , Tactical Victory
12 Battle of Kasserine Pass , #31 , Loss

..
Current scenario: Battle of Kasserine Pass, VH prestige is 320 , All map prestige is: 480
Army cost: 1992 , Current prestige is 223
Prestige available on map yet is 480 pp ( 320 pp in VH to capture) * Turn: 19
AI stance is Defensive Using map: 62
if BV: +500, Bone , cap 3500, 16 turns prestige: 500
if V : +150, Mareth Line , cap 500, 17 turns prestige: 520
if TV: +120, Mareth Line , cap 500, 18 turns prestige: 540
if Ls: +100, Mareth Line , cap 500, 18 turns prestige: 540

Infantry
Sturmpioniere [E] , E:3984 out of range , , 5 bars , 508 exp , Germany , 10/10 , Aggressive Attack , 16 kill , 324 pp - U:001
Jaeger , , 2 bars , 222 exp , Germany , 7/10 , 0 kill , 120 pp - U:087
Jaeger , , 2 bars , 201 exp , Germany , 7/10 , 2 kill , 120 pp - U:088
Bersaglieri , , 1 bars , 188 exp , Italy , 5/10 , 0 kill , 144 pp - U:090

Tank
Pz IIIL , , 2 bars , 244 exp , Germany , 7/10 , 5 kill , 348 pp - U:086

Anti-tank
7.5 PaK97/38 [S] , Pferdewagen , , 1 bars , 171 exp , Germany , 10/10 , 1 kill , 168 pp - U:089

Artillery
10.5 leFH18 , Opel Blitz , , 5 bars , 1396 exp , Germany , 4/10 , Overwhelming Attack , 18 kill , 336 pp - U:002

Tactical Bomber
Ju-87B-1 , , 5 bars , 1165 exp , Germany , 3/10 , Resilience , 13 kill , 432 pp - U:003

Player 1 : Germany, Italy
Killed: INF:120 TNK:51 RCN:25 AT:26 FORT:26 ATY:62 AD:10 FTR:8 TB:17 SUB:4 DD:3 Total: 352
Lost : INF:66 TNK:10 RCN:6 AT:16 FORT:13 ATY:19 AD:8 FTR:8 TB:5 DD:3 Total: 154

BV 6
V 2
TV 2
L 2

Averages:
Infantry * 4 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1119 exp, 18 kill, 708 pp Average: 280 exp, 5 kill, 177 pp
Tank * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 244 exp, 5 kill, 348 pp Average: 244 exp, 5 kill, 348 pp
Anti-tank * 1 Units * 0 Leaders Total : 171 exp, 1 kill, 168 pp Average: 171 exp, 1 kill, 168 pp
Artillery * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1396 exp, 18 kill, 336 pp Average: 1396 exp, 18 kill, 336 pp
Tactical Bomber * 1 Units * 1 Leaders Total : 1165 exp, 13 kill, 432 pp Average: 1165 exp, 13 kill, 432 pp
* Summary: * 8 Units * 3 Leaders Total : 4095 exp, 55 kill, 1992 pp Average: 512 exp, 7 kill, 249 pp


Player 1 Germany, Italy has 15 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 7
Tank : 3
Recon : 1
Anti-tank : 2
Artillery : 1
Tactical Bomber : 1

Player 2 USA, United Kingdom has 16 units total (core+aux):
Infantry : 3
Tank : 3
Anti-tank : 2
Fortification : 1
Artillery : 1
Air Defense : 3
Fighter : 1
Tactical Bomber : 2


* <- original core (don't count against cap)
+ <- BV prototype
pp <- prestige points

Mareth Line
At HQ I used my limited PP to give my Sturmpioniere an Opel Maultier transport and over-strengthed what I could. This was very little.
Deployment: We deployed our entire force in one blob just east of the northern mountain range behind Oudref. The front line was pretty far south from that positoin but there were adequate forces to hold the line til I got there. Taking four objectives east of the Mareth line seemed like a bridge too far, but I'd do what I could.
Turn 1: I used my airforce to scout and bomb enemy bridging engineers due south of the Mareth line to try to slow down their advance. Follow-up artillery strikes did extra damage but didn't manage to knock out any of the bridges. There was a sizeable motorized infantry force at the western end of the line so I moved them down the road to Foum Tatahouime to stage a flank attack - possibly on the Ben Gardane airfield. I also sent my infantry over the river to receive the allied attack using the mine fields as partial cover.
Turn 2-9: The allies stormed over the river and my infantry slowed their advance a bit. The allied Navy showed up and started firing on my back-end artillery behind our river. My two stukas blew up both bridges, slowing them further and - hopefully - trapping their initial forces between the two rivers.
Massacre - elite grant tank with infiltration tactics overrunning everything in sight (11 kills by turn 9). Mareth changed hands two or three times.
a Brit flanking force showed up in north west and attacked my two static 8.8's that showed up turn before as reinforcements. 90% of my units were already committed to the line so this was very bad news. The southern flanking team captured air base near Ben Gardane but found two strong points defending the city.
Turn 10 - end: There was no way to hold Mareth any longer and to tell the truth, I kept my forces in there way too long. I withdrew my remaining core. Ben Gardane strong points simply would not fall to my auxiliaries despite multiple turns of attacks by 3 infantry and a scout.
By the end, my entire core was destroyed. The Brits took the final objective on turn 17.
There was another scenario, but I chose not to move forward with no core and only 8 pp.

Overall, there were many things I'd do differently. It was unfortunate that I was running with the wrong e-file. I may try this again in the near future.
Thanks!

I am sure that your next attempt will be successful.