War on the S

[zovs66]

Howdy, not sure where to ask this but has anyone have any experience on this title (War on the Southern Front)?

Does it include a full campaign from June 1940 to May 1943?

Is naval warfare portrayed in this and if so how detailed?

How many full campaigns are included?

[CountryBoy]

Howdy, not sure where to ask this but has anyone have any experience on this title (War on the Southern Front)?

Does it include a full campaign from June 1940 to May 1943?

Is naval warfare portrayed in this and if so how detailed?

How many full campaigns are included?

I have it. It doesn't include the full campaign June 40 to May 43. The longest scenario is actually a Greece scenario which covers the Italian Greek war and is 63 turns long. There is also scenarios which cover Crete, as well as one in Syria and Malta. There is no naval warfare aspect as far as I am aware.

Here is the list of scenarios: (sorry for the formatting, it reads start date, end date, number of turns)

#200-Mareth Line
Started Scenario
15.6.41
23.6.41
4 or 5
#210-Greece-10-40.scn
Italian/Greek War
28.10.40
1.3.41
63
#211-Greece-40_short.scn
Italian/Greek War (short)
28.10.40
13.11.40
9
#212-Greece-11-40.scn
Greek counterattack on Italy
14.11.40
10.1.41
30
#215-Balkans-4-41.scn
Invasion of the Balkans 1941
6.4.41
1.5.41
14
#216-Greece-4-41.scn
Invasion of the eastern Greece
6.4.41
1.5.41
14
#217-Greece-4-41_Alt.scn
Invasion of Greece UK reinforced
6.4.41
1.5.41
14
#218-Crete-5-41.scn
Invasion of Crete
20.5.41
3.6.41
8
#219-Crete-5-41.scn
Invasion of Crete (variable entry)
20.5.41
3.6.41
8
#221-North Africa 12-40.scn
Operation Compass
7.12.40
9.2.41
32
#230-North Africa-4-41.scn
Rommel's First Offensive
24.3.41
25.4.41
17
#231-North Africa-5-41.scn
Operation Brevity
15.5.41
30.5.41
9
#232-North Africa-6-41.scn
Operation Battleaxe
15.6.41
23.6.41
5
#241-Syria-8-41.scn
Invasion of Syria
8.6.41
11.7.41
18
#250-North Africa-11-41.scn
Operation Crusader
18.11.41
20.12.41
17
#260-North Africa-1-42.scn
Rommel's Second Offensive
21.1.42
6.2.42
9
#261-North Africa-5-42.scn
Gazala to Alamein
27.5.42
22.7.42
29
#270-North Africa-10-42.scn
Alamein
23.10.42
15.11.42
13
#271-North Africa-10-42.scn
Alamein HTH
23.10.42
17.12.42
29
#280-NW Africa-11-42.scn
Torch Landings
8.11.42
11.11.42
3
#281-NW Africa-11-42.scn
Tunisia Campaign
17.11.42
31.12.42
23
#283-NW Africa-2-43.scn
Tunisia (Kasserine Start)
14.2.43
15.5.42
46
#290-Sicily-7.43.scn
Operation Husky
10.7.43
17.8.43
35

[CountryBoy]

As an addendum, the map is ugly as all heck. This is a screenshot from Operation Crusader:



This title really needs some 'Gold' love from WDS.

[Ricky B]

Thanks for jumping in with answers CountryBoy.

Also, note that all the scenarios, with some more details, are listed in our Scenarios page for the game, first page is here: https://www.theblitz.club/scenarios/b-15...137&page=1.

Rick

[Andrea G]

Howdy, not sure where to ask this but has anyone have any experience on this title (War on the Southern Front)?

Does it include a full campaign from June 1940 to May 1943?

Is naval warfare portrayed in this and if so how detailed?

How many full campaigns are included?

Dlazov is that you?

[zovs66]

Thanks all for the detailed answers!

Shame there is no full campaign or naval.

Andrea yes it is I.

[MichaelT]

I have a home grown Campaign Scenario that runs from Mar 1941 to Dec 1942. I planned to extend it to Dec 1940 to Mar 42. But I needed some extra features in the code. JT was not willing to do that. Pity, I really liked that series of games. I thought it would eventually move in to Russia and France 44. But it never happened.

I would entertain playing my Campaign Scenario if it interested you. However there are a few caveats. No FOW is possible as each turn I need to run a small script over the game files that increases the Unit Readiness Recovery Rate from 1 per turn to 4 per turn. There are also some house rules on Upgrades and a few other things. The scenario is quite playable.

You have at least rekindled my interest in extending the scenario out to 1940-43. I am going to look at this again.

[MichaelT]

Here are my designer notes:

Designers Notes

Sept 2009

Desert War 41-42

V 1.0

This scenario begins with the Axis attack from El Agheila in March 1941 and ends in December 1942, ranging from Tripoli to the Nile Delta for 324 turns. While an historical result is possible it is most likely that players will make their own history. Reading the designers notes is a must.

At this stage many of the functions that are required for a campaign game in the Total War in Europe (TWIE) game system do not exist. So I have had to improvise. To play this scenario players require a level of integrity. There are many situations where ‘gamey’ tactics could be employed. So to play the game as I intend players need to use some common sense. As TWIE evolves many of the solutions I have had to implement will be resolved within the game engine itself. Thus I will be able to remove my work arounds.

HQ’s

There are no HQ’s in the game. So don’t check the HQ optional rule. I could not use HQ’s because units in the rear all go ‘out of command’. This means reinforcements moving to the front are crippled. So at this stage no HQ’s.

Sea Capacity

I have modified the embark.dat file. You will need to use my modified file for the game to work properly. I have given the Axis a very small capacity in the Eastern/Central Med. This is needed for several reasons. Firstly the Axis were able to ship small amounts of supplies and reinforcements to Benghazi and Tobruk. Secondly I am using Crete as a holding box for replacement units. Players must ship out replaced units as need.

I have also greatly reduced the Allied sea capacity for the Eastern/Central Med. With the stock capacity and no limitation on port capacity it is too easy for the Allied player to ship units in to or out of Tobruk rather than moving across the desert.

AI

There is no AI in this scenario. It is strictly human vs human.

Rebuilding Eliminated Units

To date there is no method of bringing dead units back in to the game within the TWIE system. So I have placed a ‘shadow’ cadre for most units in Crete. Crete is used as ‘holding box’ for both Axis and Allied replacement units. Common sense by players is required here. These units should only be brought in to the playing area of the game if the original unit is destroyed. Replacement points should not be applied to these shadow units until brought in the game through elimination of the original unit.

Most units have the historical unit designation. But a few, like supply units, are generic. These are brought in to the game on a one for one basis.

Obviously Crete is not really in the game. Its just a holding box, not a theatre of war.


Air Unit replacements

To date there are no air replacements in TWIE. So every two months I have removed all air units and replace them with full strength equivalents. So use your air assets wisely. What you have has to last you 2 months.

Upgrades

Again no method in TWIE for upgrades. So the best I could do is this. When a unit is due for an upgrade it will be withdrawn one turn before the upgrade is due. On the turn of the upgrade the player will have a ‘Strategy Option’ presented to them which allows them to chose where the new upgraded unit(s) will appear. There are four choices each. For the Allied player they are Cairo, Matruh, Tobruk or Sidrah. For the Axis Tripoli, Agheila, just SW of Tobruk and just SW of Matruh.

Players must use common sense and fair play here. Units should be upgraded at the point closest to where the old unit was withdrawn from, not teleported behind enemy lines or to some other more advantageous point.

I have no way of knowing what the state the units being upgraded will be in. So all upgrades appear at full strength but at 80-85% effectiveness. This is open to abuse. Players should not run a unit about to be upgraded in to the ground because they know it will be upgraded soon.

Some Final Notes

This game is very playable if players use common sense. TWIE is not completely ready for long campaigns just yet. I have used some crude work arounds to cover the limitations in the game. Please bare that in mind.

Hopefully HPS will make TWIE campaign friendly as time goes on. It has great potential. If enough people play this mod and make suggestions/constructive criticisms via the boards HPS will improve the system.

I expect that as improvements are made to TWIE I will be able to improve this CG and remove many of the crude work arounds I have used. I also intend (if enough interest suggests it and HPS improve the TWIE system) to extend the game from Dec 1940 to May 1943.

Finally, if you play this game please make it known via the boards and make comments. The more you say the more HPS will listen and the closer we will get to the ultimate division level PC wargame. Hope you enjoy the game.

[zovs66]

Michael,

Thanks for posting all that!

I may just pick it up even though it has no CGs from 40-43.

I was hoping that it had that and some Naval aspect since that was important for this theater.

Don

[MichaelT]

The only naval units are Landing Craft, if they even qualify as Naval. I was at one stage part of the dev crew for this series. But I signed on to do a France 44 game. But it got side tracked in to a Arab Israeli War demo, which did not really interest me.