[updated 1 August 2023]
Theater of War Mission Pack: Operation Barbarossa
Mission: Leningrad Approach
“Leningrad Approach” is a 2v2 set in winter with blizzards and freezing troops, with less access to fuel/munitions than in previous missions. There is only one muni point near the center of the map. Your CPU-ally is very weak and does the usual random suiciding of its units in the direction of the Russians; sometimes it will collapse completely so that the Russians rush the German base area and also combine to overwhelm your defenses at any point they choose. The Russians have superior numbers, unit quality, and resources, and at the end of the day they have Katyushas that can stand back and blast your forces to bits. Your 1941 German armor is less than worthless because of the expense, so you have no mobile assault capability. There is snow everywhere and your infantry move with extreme slowness much of the time. You have Paks but no good way to protect them from Russian indirect fire. What’s the point?
It’s yet another T-o-W mission spoiled by the devs’ incompetence/neglect. I also think, balance aside, that the map was badly designed from the start. To win as Germany (when playing with a CPU-ally) you are really confined to a “cookbook” strategy (HMGs, Paks, mortars) that leaves little room for anything else. It ends up being just a chore to complete.
This mission can be won on General difficulty level, but it is not consistently winnable, for the reasons noted above. Captain level is a bit more winnable but still feels very unbalanced, broken, and un-fun.
If you wantย to attempt this mission on either of those difficulty levels (from the default upper base), your key points are the upper left VP, the upper fuel point, and the territory point just SE of that fuel point. These three points are in a line, and the upper right VP is behind them so automatically defended. You need plenty of HMG/bunker-HMG and Pak power at each point, with some indirect fire support (though be aware that German mortars are extremely nerfed). You probably won’t have pop points for a tank, but even if you do, virtually any Russian infantry unit will be able to destroy it in seconds. You also won’t ever accumulate many muni points, so a lot of call-in abilities will be unusable.
Playing from the lower base and focusing on the lower VP is even more un-fun. Even if you succeed in holding that VP, you won’t be able to hold any other VP, and your CPU ally won’t hold any VP, so you’ll lose slowly . . . and then all at once when your CPU ally collapses and you are attacked by both Russian forces from three sides.
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