Kampfgruppe Erwin September 1939

[KG Erwin]

Using ENH FR, I decided to embark on a German long campaign. I used the OOB Editor to form Kampfgruppe Erwin, a notional battlegroup formed upon a battalion of the Deutschland SS regiment and a company of army tanks. Each SS Zug has two MG34s and a 50mm mortar attached, and each SS Kompanie has two 37mm ATG and two 75mm IG attached to it. There are also two Sdkfz 10/4 mot flak guns for each SS kompanie. This construction is loosely based on 1939's Panzer Division Kempf.

Oberstandartenfuhrer (Lt Col) Erwin has his own SPW, as do each of the Kompanie kdrs (Schuldt, Praefke and Kleinheisterkamp).

The Panzerkompanie has three platoons (each composed of three Pz II and two Pz I), plus three sections of Pz IVC.

There is also a motorized Pionier Zug. This uses up 2809 purchase points. It is a very powerful combined arms force which I will take throughout the war, with upgrades along the way.

BTW, I AM using the "low carnage" settings, so this adds quite a bit of difficulty in registering kills.

Unlike my US Marine campaigns, I will be fighting mostly on medium/large maps with European terrain from Poland to France to the USSR. I doubt if I will see any North African battles, but one never knows.

[KG Erwin]

One thing I've noticed about setting up German long campaigns is the importance of setting minimum ranges for op fire. If you're defending, you often find yourself repeatedly hitting the "N" button when enemy units are spotted at long distances. Using "low carnage" settings, most units can't hit the broad sign of a barn past 10 hexes. The Poles, when attacking, seem to just charge straight ahead, so to stop them and kill them you need to suppress them and then let your artillery and 81mm mortars zero in. My main goal is to kill off their AFVs and then start the massacre of their infantry. It is brutal, yes, but effective. My SS VT troops have PB39s but they are only effective inside of 5-6 hexes against the lightly armored Polish armored cars. I try to save my tanks for counterattacks and to finish off the enemy. In the early days of the war, your tank killers are your ATGs and to a lesser extent your IGs.

[KG Erwin]

With my previous experience as a member of the OOB team several years ago, I have no problem with customizing the OOBs to suit my own needs. I also have a choice of different music files to accompany my German and USMC campaigns. I don't know if many SPWaW gamers do this, but customizing the files is easy to do once you become comfortable with it. I design my task forces to ease upgrading them from year to year. One of the things I do is design them backwards, from their 1945 final form to 1939 as the Germans and 1942 as the USMC. This reverse engineering prevents any awkward editing tricks, as both forces undergo drastic changes in the intervening years.

[forgorin]

Do you think you'll actually play a mission of this long campaign?

[forgorin]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

With my previous experience as a member of the OOB team several years ago, I have no problem with customizing the OOBs to suit my own needs. I also have a choice of different music files to accompany my German and USMC campaigns. I don't know if many SPWaW gamers do this, but customizing the files is easy to do once you become comfortable with it. I design my task forces to ease upgrading them from year to year. One of the things I do is design them backwards, from their 1945 final form to 1939 as the Germans and 1942 as the USMC. This reverse engineering prevents any awkward editing tricks, as both forces undergo drastic changes in the intervening years.

You mean you edited the OOB so the 1945 tanks are available in 1939 for easy wins and you downgrade those into 1939 tanks by 1945?

[KG Erwin]

No, I simply envisaged how my Kampfgruppe would look at the end of the war, and use 1939 weapons in the first battles in Poland. They will upgrade as the war progresses.

For me to play as the Germans takes a bit of mindset changing, but I have created a powerful battle group to start off with. Most of my troops are elite SS men. You have to remember such men as Paul Hausser and Felix Steiner trained these boys well in the previous 2-3 years.

However, when using LC settings, I still have to rely on fire and manuever to get good results. None of my future opponents can be taken lightly.

[KG Erwin]

Deleted

[Alby]

what NO USMC Long campaign??
LOL
[:D]

[KG Erwin]

Well, Alby, you know me very well, and I doubt I can stick to playing as the bad old Germans. It has been fun playing around with their OOB, though, as they just LOOK so cool.

I WILL say that JEB Davis' LC settings should be the game's standard, though.

[KG Erwin]

Alright, I finally started my campaign, with a delay mission on a 2000-yd front. So far I've destroyed most of the Polish armor, so I'm doing well. The Poles are brave soldiers, but are outclassed by my SS Kampfgruppe. Their attack is focused in the center and the left, so I'm moving my right wing forward to get into position for a counterattack. Visibility is 12 hexes, as there is a thunderstorm. I have offboard support from a 150mm artillery battalion and two battalions of 105s.

As of turn 13 I'm down to 91% efficiency, but I'm winning. The battle should be over in a few more turns. I've got a platoon and my engineers about to turn the enemy's left flank, but movement is slow in the bad weather.