Second Front Guide??

[Caspian]

Ok, I really suck at this scenario...I do fine with Nemo's others. I think I'm pretty dam good at Red Front but I have just never mastered Second front. Does anyone know of a definitive strategy guide? I really want to play this all the way through (even get past the first section would be an advance forward) So, any ideas

[klesh]

Second Front always kills me too. I have never been able to establish a beachead with enough units left to push forward. The Brits are always struggling to advance with the weight of the panzer divisions comming in on them. This scenario is so nice, but it has always made a quick game of frustration for me. Here is a thread of Second Front discussions that was held in the Art of War forum here at 'Poly.

Xin Yu, the universally acclaimed "Master of the(any) Scenario" makes many an appearance in that thread... it is sure to hold some great info for you. Good luck.

-FMK.

[Xin Yu]

I think Nemo has revised the scn after this discussion so some of the strategies won't work.

Nemo's trick in this scn is switching two types of tough defense units (German side). In part 1 one type of the two has attack factor zero so combat engineers can take them out easily; in part 2 this unit has attack 1 and the other type has attack zero. This way you cannot advance faster than his timeline. At first your infantries are useless and some of your armors are weak as well. Only when you take certain targets within time window can you be rewarded some good units. This means that if you advance too fast or too slow you don't get reinforcement.

Check out this:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10069

[our_man]

Hmmm... strange that someone who mastered Red Front shouldn't be able to master 2nd Front (from my point of view at least, I thought RF was way harder!)
It's been a while since I played, but I don't remember D-Day being too much of a problem (once you know the right cities to attack with combat engineers ). On your first turn start moving your paratroopers into position to take St. Mere - if you move them into the correct positions its possible not to lose a single one on the German counterattack. I usually use the commandos to block the road from Caen to the cities on the coast. Make your gliders land within range of the naval battery near Ouiestraham - it will waste all of its shells attacking your gliders, leaving you with only the mines to worry about on your approach to that beach.

Make use of the Crocodiles 'all as road' ability to assault the cities on the British beaches (except for Arromanches, Ouiestraham and the 2 naval battery cities - use combat engineers for these). Then send in commandos (all as road) to seize them. You can also shell them with your battleships or bomb them to further soften them up, although I prefer to use planes to attack stacked troops or tanks out in the open. This also has the bonus of blocking enemy movement. If you want some more planes, try in the top right and left hand corners of the screen for German fighters to shoot down ( I think Xin Yu discovered this).

An essential piece of information when bringing your LCVP's closer to shore - if they're carrying tanks, the computer will shell them. If they only contain troops, the computer will not shell them. You still have to watch out for the mines though.

[Caspian]

Thx for all the tips. I know what u mean FMK about getting frustrated. Its a shame because the scenario is really well designed. I have all the same problems as u. It is the revised version that I try to play. The beach mines have been making mince meat out of my attacking force. In the original version the airforce could clear pretty much of these buggers away but in the latest edition this is much harder. I'll give all the tactics ago and let u all know how I get on.

Our_man, the reason I do quite well at red front is that this aspect of WWII has always captured my imagination more than the others and I've read quite alot about it. I found to start with that following real events closely (such as falling back to the correct cities) gave me victory. I have since refined the tactics by holding several key cities that really fell in the war. If u can hold Kiev in the summer of 41 by airlifting defensive units in, alot of pressure is taken of Moscow and cities such as Orel. The city will eventually fall, but hopefully the cities behind have been slowly reinforced so that by the time winter falls they are well defended. In the south, the Crimean cities of Sevastapol and Kerch are fairly easy to hold (combo of naval troopers, antiaircraft and T34). Rostov is a little bit tougher, but if u can hold it, it serves as a great offensive platform in the winter of 42/3 (although I think u screw up an event by not receiving Zukovs Tactics wonder for recapturing this city. However I think the pain involved in taking this city back is more of a penalty)