Volturno Line

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Chrisv
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Volturno Line

Unread postby Chrisv » Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:02 pm

Any tips on breaking through the Volturno Line? It seems like my units just cannot break through or outflank the Germans. Man, Italy is rough ;)

malkavian54
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby malkavian54 » Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:50 pm

You can greatly simplify things by taking the bonus objectives on avalanche.

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Spaceman95
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby Spaceman95 » Wed Nov 20, 2019 11:38 pm

malkavian54 wrote:You can greatly simplify things by taking the bonus objectives on avalanche.


If you get both you only have to clear Rapido in front of Cassino (and hang on to the Gustav Line breach).
The key to Rapido is to remember that you can attack from both the South and the North (via Campobasso). The north side is weaker so a good first couple of turns in the middle (hint: see all objectives) will help.

Also, it's all about strategic placement of bridges and dumps (and bridge repair, and using the deployment phase for this), and using engineer specialists.

A good idea is to play the 4th Cassino scenario as a standalone. It will even highlight one of the vital hexes for you there as an optional for keeping/getting the Gustav Line breakthrough, which will help you learn how to use bridges and engineers well.

DanL
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby DanL » Thu Nov 21, 2019 1:47 am

I did not have much trouble with Volturno because I had taken the bonus objectives on the previous scenario. However, Cassino, the next scenario, forced me to stop and really learn how to take a fortified position in UoC2. Here´s a summary:

Let´s say you want to take a position held by a veteran defender fortified behind a river in a ruined city hex in rainy weather. To avoid taking brutal losses, you need to get to at least 4 on the combat results table. The defender is going to get three shifts for the ruin, two shifts for fortification, two shifts for the rain, two shifts for the river, and one shift for experience. For a total of ten shifts in the defenders favor. So, you just need to find 14 shifts somewhere.
In most situations, you can use armor shifts, but these are negated when attacking ruins.
In most situations, you can use artillery shifts, but these are negated when attacking ruins.
You can attack with an elite unit, giving you two shifts. So, 12 shifts left to find.
You can use a set piece attack by a unit with two engineers and an artillery. This will remove the defender´s fortification with only suppression losses to you. So, 10 shifts left to find.
You can attack from a different hex, to get around the river. So, 8 shifts left to find.
What´s left? Only one thing: attacker/defender ratio. You can get 9 shifts with a 27:1 ratio. German infantry have a defense value of 3 (I think). So, if the defender has even one unsuppressed step, you will be lucky to get a ratio of 2:1, much less 27:1. You must suppress every single defending step. Curiously enough, once you have done so, the strength of your own unit will not matter. 1/0 = infinity = 27:1. 60/0 = infinity = 27:1.
So, how do we fully suppress the defenders?
Well, first cut off the defenders´ supply. You don´t want him recovering from suppression every turn. In fact, after cutting his supply, you could just wait him out. Eventually, he will become fully suppressed, and then lose all his steps as stragglers. What´s that? You don´t have that kind of time? We will have to speed the process up.
If you have the resources, you could suppress him with air attacks.
In most situations, you can use suppressive fire, but since the ruin has negated your artillery, it will be ineffective.
Feint attacks suppress one enemy step, but they can´t be used across a river. You will need to get around the river before doing this.

And there you have it:
Set piece attack to remove the fortification.
Cut off supply.
Fully suppress using air attacks and feints.
Finish off with elite units who have somehow gotten across the river.
How hard can it be, really? ;)

If the defender is in mountains instead of ruins, it is almost the same thing:
- The defender gets one less defensive shift.
- You don´t want to use armor for the final assault, since it loses two shifts when attacking into mountains.

If the defender is in a city instead of ruins, things change a little:
- The defender gets one less defensive shift.
- You don´t want to use armor for the final assault, since it loses two shifts when attacking into a city.
- You can use up to five artillery shifts for your eventual assault, which gives you some wiggle room in other areas.
- You can use suppressive fire for your suppression operation.
- You need to be judicious in your use of artillery and air power, because if you turn the city into a ruin, your life will get a lot harder.

Good luck! :D

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ZootAlors
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby ZootAlors » Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:02 pm


Ritalingamer
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby Ritalingamer » Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:23 am

DanL wrote:I did not have much trouble with Volturno because I had taken the bonus objectives on the previous scenario. However, Cassino, the next scenario, forced me to stop and really learn how to take a fortified position in UoC2. Here´s a summary:

Let´s say you want to take a position held by a veteran defender fortified behind a river in a ruined city hex in rainy weather. To avoid taking brutal losses, you need to get to at least 4 on the combat results table. The defender is going to get three shifts for the ruin, two shifts for fortification, two shifts for the rain, two shifts for the river, and one shift for experience. For a total of ten shifts in the defenders favor. So, you just need to find 14 shifts somewhere.
In most situations, you can use armor shifts, but these are negated when attacking ruins.
In most situations, you can use artillery shifts, but these are negated when attacking ruins.
You can attack with an elite unit, giving you two shifts. So, 12 shifts left to find.
You can use a set piece attack by a unit with two engineers and an artillery. This will remove the defender´s fortification with only suppression losses to you. So, 10 shifts left to find.
You can attack from a different hex, to get around the river. So, 8 shifts left to find.
What´s left? Only one thing: attacker/defender ratio. You can get 9 shifts with a 27:1 ratio. German infantry have a defense value of 3 (I think). So, if the defender has even one unsuppressed step, you will be lucky to get a ratio of 2:1, much less 27:1. You must suppress every single defending step. Curiously enough, once you have done so, the strength of your own unit will not matter. 1/0 = infinity = 27:1. 60/0 = infinity = 27:1.
So, how do we fully suppress the defenders?
Well, first cut off the defenders´ supply. You don´t want him recovering from suppression every turn. In fact, after cutting his supply, you could just wait him out. Eventually, he will become fully suppressed, and then lose all his steps as stragglers. What´s that? You don´t have that kind of time? We will have to speed the process up.
If you have the resources, you could suppress him with air attacks.
In most situations, you can use suppressive fire, but since the ruin has negated your artillery, it will be ineffective.
Feint attacks suppress one enemy step, but they can´t be used across a river. You will need to get around the river before doing this.

And there you have it:
Set piece attack to remove the fortification.
Cut off supply.
Fully suppress using air attacks and feints.
Finish off with elite units who have somehow gotten across the river.
How hard can it be, really? ;)

If the defender is in mountains instead of ruins, it is almost the same thing:
- The defender gets one less defensive shift.
- You don´t want to use armor for the final assault, since it loses two shifts when attacking into mountains.

If the defender is in a city instead of ruins, things change a little:
- The defender gets one less defensive shift.
- You don´t want to use armor for the final assault, since it loses two shifts when attacking into a city.
- You can use up to five artillery shifts for your eventual assault, which gives you some wiggle room in other areas.
- You can use suppressive fire for your suppression operation.
- You need to be judicious in your use of artillery and air power, because if you turn the city into a ruin, your life will get a lot harder.

Good luck! :D


That is a masterful explanation of what I had learned through trial and error and hard knocks. On Cassino in particular, it's super important to get behind the position via the highway or be crossing the river from the American sector.
Also, feint attacks are super useful in suppressing enemy steps, especially if you've specialized so they only cost 1 or 2 points.

ziro815
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby ziro815 » Tue Dec 31, 2019 2:25 am

I missed out on breaking through that line in avalanche so I'm stuck over at Napoli or Naples or whatever it is.

I've tried 3 times now, can barely make a dent in all the armour across the river. I'd actually go as far to say as it's impossible.

I can throw my entire southern battle group at a single unit and not make a dent. The best I managed was building bridges over and taking out one tank but then they just stomped my units that crossed. I can't even flank to kill supply. Totally stuck.

multimiffo
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby multimiffo » Tue Dec 31, 2019 10:49 am

If you are having this much trouble just completing the scenario then something is wrong, even if you didn't take the bonus objectives on the previous scenario. Taking all the extra objectives can be hard but the mandatory ones should not be a problem, especially if you are willing to accept a one turn prestige penalty on some of them.

Have you taken very heavy losses before this mission? You need at least some experienced units with artillery and one or two engineers. You get one extra engineer during the first turn of the mission, make sure to place it where it is most useful.

You can always try the mission as a stand alone outside the campaign and see if it is your starting forces that are the problem. I just tried this on classic difficulty and taking all mandatory objectives on time is not a problem.

If you still have trouble then I suggest looking at some guides or play-throughs to get the hang of the mechanics and how to overcome fortifications.

ziro815
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Re: Volturno Line

Unread postby ziro815 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 6:16 pm

I discovered the need to add steps / specialities to units and managed to beat the mission. I still don't really understand all that combat scoring stuff. Sometimes I've got a 2 step unit which destroys everyting, sometimes I've got a 5 step unit which gets owned by everything. It's not very intuitive and having to compute all the stuff makes it kind of obtuse. Kinda just want it in plain english.