The Norwegian Campaign - RELEASED!

[AGRICOLA]

@yaroslav

I also am not particularly thrilled by the bright flags that form the borders around the main map, popups and elsewhere, though for quite a different reason than you.

I find that the borders are a major distraction as they are much brighter and more eye-catching than than the maps or messages that they frame. It's like having a painting with a gaudy frame that completely overshadows the much more important artwork within.

I regularly do minor editing on scens with MsPaint to change minor things that I don't like. In this instance, it will take very little time to color all borders a nice, peaceful, non-distracting medium grey which is very easy on the eyes as well as politically neutral. I really do like Kobra's scens much too much to let an easily fixable thing like a border keep me from playing them.

[yaroslav]

thanks for the idea, Agricola

[Exile]

Like it.

Short story; Many years ago, as a kid, I tried to mail order a Norway Campaign wargame. Never got it. Ripoff. "Liberator Games." Ever since, I've wanted to see a really good Norway campaign wargame. Finally one appears.

Some things;

Are the German armored cruisers actually heavy cruisers? or are they the pocket battleships? If they're the former, they're too powerful--I sank the battlecruiser Renown with one of these.

My readme file doesn't work. It errors out every time I click on it.

The Rodney has a very heavy salvo. Moreso than the other British capital ships in the scenario.

Other than those very small observations, I enjoyed playing with this one.

Some things I liked;

1-for-1, ship-for-ship. Always a plus, IMO, and easy to compare one's performance versus the historical performance--who came out of it with more ships intact?

Great graphics. The whole set goes together seamlessly. The German aircraft are the best I've ever seen.

Great terrain. The snow theme is well done and looks good.

Giga map. I didn't realize that it was a gigamap until the first time that I started hitting the X key and zooming out to create a basic strategy. Then I realized how big the map was. Considering its level of detail and accuracy, it stands on its own as an accomplishment.

Colorful. The colors used are just right, and fit the scenario. Unlike my Canadian friend, I do like the garish borders. There's no doubt that I'm playing a totally NEW game when this scenario is being played.

I'm amazed at how you were able to isolate the non-combatant nations and drew actual national borders. If I could see how this was done . . .

Balanced unit values and good gameplay. The units provide for a fluid and fast-moving combat environment.

Historical accuracy. Outstanding.

These are just initial impressions.

[Eivind IV]

Re: Like it.

Originally posted by Exile
Short story; Many years ago, as a kid, I tried to mail order a Norway Campaign wargame. Never got it. Ripoff. "Liberator Games." Ever since, I've wanted to see a really good Norway campaign wargame. Finally one appears.

Some things;

Are the German armored cruisers actually heavy cruisers? or are they the pocket battleships? If they're the former, they're too powerful--I sank the battlecruiser Renown with one of these.

Are you talking about the German 'Gneisenau' and the 'Scharnhorst'? The Scharnhorst's design was a compromise between a Battleship and the heavy armament Pocket battleship. The Gneisenau is Scharnhorst's sister ship and is a Battlecruiser.

My readme file doesn't work. It errors out every time I click on it.

Strange I works with me. I take it you have MS Word? It's in *.doc-format. Anyway, I copied the text over to *.txt format and added it as an attachment.

The Rodney has a very heavy salvo. Moreso than the other British capital ships in the scenario.

Hmm, according to my rules.txt the HMS Rodney has the same stats as HMS Renown, HMS Repulse, HMS Valient, HMS Warspite and the two German battleships. What does yours say? Maybe the Rodney just outsmarted you and fired at you from the rear?

Other than those very small observations, I enjoyed playing with this one.

Thank you This is the best "review" I've ever got from a scenario. And coming from yourself I take that as a great compliment

Some things I liked;

1-for-1, ship-for-ship. Always a plus, IMO, and easy to compare one's performance versus the historical performance--who came out of it with more ships intact?

Great graphics. The whole set goes together seamlessly. The German aircraft are the best I've ever seen.

You can thank Fairline for the great looks of the Luftwaffe and nearly every other unit Skipper made the ships and is a savior as well.

Great terrain. The snow theme is well done and looks good.

If you don't mind me saying, I think so too

Giga map. I didn't realize that it was a gigamap until the first time that I started hitting the X key and zooming out to create a basic strategy. Then I realized how big the map was. Considering its level of detail and accuracy, it stands on its own as an accomplishment.

Yeah, that map took me some time. It's all well worth it when I get compliments like this

Colorful. The colors used are just right, and fit the scenario. Unlike my Canadian friend, I do like the garish borders. There's no doubt that I'm playing a totally NEW game when this scenario is being played.

I'm amazed at how you were able to isolate the non-combatant nations and drew actual national borders. If I could see how this was done . . .

Simple; ocean between Norway and Sweden with pollution on the top of it. As for Finland, the UK and the Baltics they are simply terrain and the flags are resources.

Balanced unit values and good gameplay. The units provide for a fluid and fast-moving combat environment.

Historical accuracy. Outstanding.

These are just initial impressions.

You don't stop, do you?
Thanks again, these comments really made my day

[Exile]

Follow-up

Ok, got the new readme file, it works fine, and now I know how to use the JU-52 transporters. I just assumed, (until better informed, lol) that the high defense value on these units made them the air-landing regiments of the German fallschirmjager divisions.

About the ships; No, the units I'm referring to are not either of the German battlecruisers. The unit I mean is the "schwere kreuzer." Now, I read this as "heavy cruiser," and, if that's what they are supposed to represent, then they are too strong, IMO. A German heavy cruiser should not be able to sink a British capital ship like the HMS Renown. However, if these units, these "schwere Kreuzers," are the pocket battleships, then the numbers are good. The Graf Spee wasn't the only one of these.

The reference I made to the HMS Rodney was ambiguous--my fault for not being clear. What I was trying to say is that, ideally, the Rodney should have a higher attack value than it does. This ship carried some very impressive and substantial armament, more than most other ships, and this should be represented. The Rodney should be slower than most other warships, however.

Brilliant idea for national borders and non-combatant nations. I'm still very impressed by that.

Overall, this is one of the best scenarios that I've seen appear in the last year or so.

[Shaka Naldur]

downloading...

[Case]

Wow, this is fantastic! I love the bicycle infantry unit!

[Cyrion]

Eivind, this is excellent!

Though I usually don't like "huge" scenarios where you need hours to play 1 turn, I just had to keep on playing this one!

Actually, the only time I didn't "switch off" in another scen upon seeing so many units to move on the first turn was with Red Front (and with RF, only on the 2nd try ), which says it all! Except of course the situation is much less oppressive in your first turn than in Nemo's

The care you took for details (how long did you spend on the map alone?? amazing work! ), the nice blend of units and graphics, the playability of the whole scenario, all of it makes for a nice, really enjoyable scenario! Congratulations!

I'll dare a few remarks/questions, if you don't mind:
1) are there some victory conditions? If yes, where can I find them??

2) as you said, the AI is utterly stupid! On day 4, I have already sunk Warspite, Renown, Valiant, Repulse, Rodney and the Aircraft Carrier, and what I guess is around 90% of the Norwegian/British Navy! I was probably lucky in that, but nonetheless the game seems a bit "easy" in SP (I haven't finished it yet, mind you, so I might be in for a nasty surprise...). And the combined use of bombers, land troops and Ju 52 makes for a fairly easy advance in the land, as the AI is desperatly unable to launch an efficient counterstrike!

So I guess that, even if the scen is REALLY enjoyable in SP, it would take it's real measure in a pbem, as I wouldn't dare using the same tactics against a human opponent!

3) as a comment: this scen should be just great in a pbem, for the following reasons:
- not too many players, meaning not much time to wait between turns! and not too many "stops" when a player suddenly disappears...
- many units to move every turn, and much happening in each turn, meaning it's always interesting
- 2 differents sides, with really different goals and strategies!
- and maybe the "allied" camp could even be split (in a pbem) between Norwegians and British??

All in all, good work Eivind!

[Eivind IV]

Re: Follow-up

Originally posted by Exile
About the ships; No, the units I'm referring to are not either of the German battlecruisers. The unit I mean is the "schwere kreuzer." Now, I read this as "heavy cruiser," and, if that's what they are supposed to represent, then they are too strong, IMO. A German heavy cruiser should not be able to sink a British capital ship like the HMS Renown. However, if these units, these "schwere Kreuzers," are the pocket battleships, then the numbers are good. The Graf Spee wasn't the only one of these.

I think you have just noticed a possible minor bug, Exile (Not for the German battleships, as most of their heavy cruisers are infact pocket battleship. The Blücher and the Lützow at least. Maybe the British heavy cruiser could have 16 in attack instead of 18. Although when testing now I failed to sink any British Capital Ships one the first try with German heavy cruisres.

I might do something about this, and the Rodney, in a future update

Originally posted by Exile
Brilliant idea for national borders and non-combatant nations. I'm still very impressed by that.

Overall, this is one of the best scenarios that I've seen appear in the last year or so.

Again, thank you!

(Just a little btw; Imp1870 is my all time favorite scens )

[Eivind IV]

Originally posted by Cyrion
Eivind, this is excellent!

Though I usually don't like "huge" scenarios where you need hours to play 1 turn, I just had to keep on playing this one!

Actually, the only time I didn't "switch off" in another scen upon seeing so many units to move on the first turn was with Red Front (and with RF, only on the 2nd try ), which says it all! Except of course the situation is much less oppressive in your first turn than in Nemo's

I take this as a great compliment

Originally posted by Cyrion The care you took for details (how long did you spend on the map alone?? amazing work! ), the nice blend of units and graphics, the playability of the whole scenario, all of it makes for a nice, really enjoyable scenario! Congratulations!

Thank you!
I can't remember how much time I spent on the map, but it was some time yes I had a great source book though. It was an atlas only about Norway as thick as a bible and as large as an A-3 format paper sheet.

Originally posted by Cyrion I'll dare a few remarks/questions, if you don't mind:
1) are there some victory conditions? If yes, where can I find them??

Victory conditions...hmmm. Just capture or liberate all Norwegian cities There are 121 objectives, excluding the British bases, so by controlling all of Norway I would say you can, with clean concience, declare yourself as the victor. Then you have a decisive voctory. By only controlling Denmark, as you do on turn 1, as Germany you have a marginal defeat.

Originally posted by Cyrion 2) as you said, the AI is utterly stupid! On day 4, I have already sunk Warspite, Renown, Valiant, Repulse, Rodney and the Aircraft Carrier, and what I guess is around 90% of the Norwegian/British Navy! I was probably lucky in that, but nonetheless the game seems a bit "easy" in SP (I haven't finished it yet, mind you, so I might be in for a nasty surprise...). And the combined use of bombers, land troops and Ju 52 makes for a fairly easy advance in the land, as the AI is desperatly unable to launch an efficient counterstrike!

So I guess that, even if the scen is REALLY enjoyable in SP, it would take it's real measure in a pbem, as I wouldn't dare using the same tactics against a human opponent!

3) as a comment: this scen should be just great in a pbem, for the following reasons:
- not too many players, meaning not much time to wait between turns! and not too many "stops" when a player suddenly disappears...
- many units to move every turn, and much happening in each turn, meaning it's always interesting
- 2 differents sides, with really different goals and strategies!
- and maybe the "allied" camp could even be split (in a pbem) between Norwegians and British??

You know, this scenario is optimized for PBEMs, for these exact reasons. Mainly because of the stupidity of the AI

Originally posted by Cyrion
All in all, good work Eivind!

Thank you very much, Cyrion! I'm glad you like it and that the hard work payed off

[techumseh]

I'm sorry I missed this one. I've only played a couple of turns, but it IS very well done. Congratulations, Eivind.

BTW, it looks like the kind of thing that works best as a 2-player. How does the AI do as the British?

[Eivind IV]

Thank you, techumseh! I'm glad you liked it

There's no doubt this works best in multiplayer. Having the Germans as the AI is catastrophic. They won't land their units on the first turn and thus their transporters becomes an easy target for the British navy. The result is a disaster for the Germans. So in SP, the Germans are highly reccomended.

Most of the Allied land reinforcements comes by event, so it works out ok. Not great, but ok. It would be interesting to get a report or review from someone who actually finished the scen.

[kobayashi]

I finally finished playing one turn. I was quite conservative and had very little casualties except for Allied naval counter attack that caught some ships in harbour on the top right captured city.

What's with Christiansand and the super gun-emplacement inside. Isn't it one of the objective cities? I suppose its home city is somewhere further back?

I think the transports have too high a defense factor.

Like the cities on fire when you capture them and the overall terrain design is superb.

Why don't you bother with the sounds anymore? Its mostly ships and infantry, it would have been very easy to do a rudimentary cut and paste fix for the sounds in 15 mintues.

[curtsibling]

I would be happy to do some wavs for anyone's soundless scenarios -

Just say the word!

[Eivind IV]

@kobayashi :
I wouldn't call it super-gun emplacement, but it sure is a gun emplacement. There's a cannon there because that's one of the places/cities that was defended with a larger coastal battery. There was no smart way I could have it physically on the outside of the city, like with the one on Oscarsborg in the Oslo Fjord (the one that sunk Blücher) and the one that defends Trondheim. But it's not that hard to take it out, is it...?

When I play scenarios, I never play them with sounds, and unless it is asked for by the players of the scen I never bother making them myself.

@Curt:
Curt, you're an angel under cover! I know you always have awesome sounds for your scens. Although I don't play with them, I always listen through them. I would be honoured if you could make me some sounds for this one!