Alternative Salerno Campaign with extended Strategy Operations by Engelbrekt

[Mr Grumpy]

Alternative Salerno Campaign with extended Strategy Operations

Important Note: This scenario uses files, with the ending _alt. Just unzip to your Salerno 43 map, nothing will be overwritten. However, the download also contains a new map file (Salerno.map), overwriting the old, that changes some terrain as explained later. This new map file will be official and included in the next patch, so don’t be afraid to overwrite the existing file, for Pbem games just make sure your opponent has this file aswell.

v 1.1

- Changed so that Allied ships have a higher AA rating. From experience, it is way too easy for the Luftwaffe to sink ships in the Gulf of Salerno, at a high cost to the Allies and to an unhistorical level. One way of avoiding this is to play with Limited Air recon, but I think Air recon is needed in this campaign, so that both sides can bomb behind enemy lines. Now the Allies ships have doubled or tripled AA and higher defense values so it will be harder for the Stukas. They can still try though, if they find the ships.

- Corrected German Herman Göring Pz Div Hard Attack ratings for Marders and 75mm AT guns to be the same as Wehrmacht. In the stock scenario they had lower values.

- Made all 88 mm guns have the same values (52/3 HA)

- Placed a coastal defence unit and a bunker in hex 59,35

- Changed maximum visibility to 4. At visibility 5 Artillery and AA units were too unsafe for both sides and targeted too often, to an unhistorical level.

- Raised Rubble Fire Value to 3000, medieval stone villages don´t rubble so easily. This area also sees alot of earthquakes or worse (Pompeii, hex 6,38). I.e sturdier houses.

- Changed VP objectives. Some objectives have been removed and new placed. Stock scenario had some objectives that were way out of reach and had no apparent value, strategically, like Montella.
New objectives are, for example, the bridges at Scafa (connects the US and British sector), the bridge and pass at Controne (controls the Axis left flank) and the road leading to Ponte Sele. Most importantly Salerno have been raised to 250 points. The VP:s remain about the same in number, so it won´t affect victory levels.

- Made it easier for the Commandos to capture Salerno and the harbor. These changes were actually made by Glenn Saunders after I had brought it up in an email. In history, the Commandos basically just walked into Salerno but in the stock scenario any decent German player can easily drive reinforcements into the city and occupy the bunkers and trenches, making it almost impossible for the Commandos. Now the nearby Germans release a little later and a coastal defence unit has been moved a hex, so the Commandos have chance of entering the town before it is too late. I hope this does the trick but still makes it possible for the Germans to hold the town.

- Added Supply sources (value 20) for the various Allied airborne operations. In the stock scenario they did not arrive with any supply sources.

- Added Strategy Ops for the Rangers. Now they can be landed at three different places:

(1) Their historical placement, at Maoiri, has advantages in capturing the Chiunzi Pass and threatening the Naples-Salerno highway through Nocera and Pagani. But in the stock scenario it seems impossible for the Rangers to achieve their historical mission of cutting off this highway. They are too few and the terrain doesn´t help either. The Germans can simply climb the mountains and surround the Rangers, who have to spread out to defend all directions. Or the Germans could ignore them, because they do not hinder reinforcements going to Salerno, and destroy them later. Again, Glenn has changed some things, this time the terrain. The mountains around Salerno have more Rough hexes and Cliffs, emphazising the roads and valleys more. This should help the Rangers hold out, as they did historically. The Allied player can still, if the Rangers go elsewhere, capture Maiori later with elements of the 45th Division, if he chooses so.

(2) A landing east of Salerno, aiming to help the Commandos from the other side of town. The beach is not as good as a landing site so they will arrive disrupted but this option has the advantage of possibly blocking Salerno in 2 of 3 directions, east and north. The risk is that a successful German counterattack or defense of Salerno will leave them without any covering terrain and with an exposed and small bridgehead.

(3) Landing between the Sele River and the Bonificamento Canal, in order to advance inland and capture the bridges at Scafa thereby cutting the German line and possibly stopping him from blowing the bridges. It also forces any German units attempting to move from the British sector to the US, or the other way around, to take a longer route. Likewise it connects the Allied sectors for movement of units and supply. The risk is that this variant puts the Rangers in close proximity to powerful German Kampfgruppes, with lots of Panzers. Also, the area is not easy to defend.

Large Scenario 80 Turns, Designer Engelbrekt

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