Strategic View | Campaign Wargame: AB Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Almost every of four available campaigns is about taking crucial cities in within some particular amount of days (only the last scenario is defensive one, where you have to defend the city). It's only a theory, because sometimes you don't have to conquer all of those cities. In the right upper corner you can find information about the day and fraction's morale.
Number on left shows how many points you got (or have from the very beginning), on right, how much point you have to get to achieve a political victory (win the scenario). Getting one of the city marked as the main goal gives you a lot of morale points. But not only that. Also destroying enemy brigade gives you some morale points. It means, that you can win the second scenario without conquering Stockholm.
Each next scenario you begin with smaller amount of points and bigger limit to get, so it's harder and harder to win only by destroying enemy forces. Due to that, campaign gets longer and harder.
Few words also about brigades dislocation. Only airborne brigades may be dropped at any area. Remaining one will begin only in ports or airports you have in the any sector on west (NATO) or east (Warsaw Pact) Scandinavian coast, in border sectors or some defined sectors. In general, you can expect reinforcements from west and south (NATO) and east and north (Warsaw Pact).
Brigades are imposed and have some particular profile. Armoured: lot of tanks, mechanized: the most universal ones, airborne: a lot of aircraft and helicopters. When fighting armoured ones, expect rather good tanks, in the remaining ones tanks are rather weak.
NATO has, in general, light brigades, while Warsaw Pact has much more armoured units.
You have some part of army from the very beginning and you can buy the rest units in following days (turns) of war if you have enough political points. You get there every day for controlling sectors (normal sector - 1 point per day, entrance sector - 3 points, capital - 6 points). For this points you can also buy special actions for particular sectors. One of most useful is, for sure, commandos attack, because it immobilizes every brigade on the chosen sector. In general, it's good to have new units as you can win battles with them.
Initiative is responsible for amount of dislocation points you have at the beginning of every battle to set up your units. It may be increased by Rest order and calling reinforcements (brigade loses turn in such a case) and it decreases with every battle. With numerous battles, it may drop even to 250 dislocation points for battle what means that enemy will outnumber you if he has any fresh brigades. This advantage may be, in some cases, neutralized (read further). If you attack one brigade with three, you get one initiative point for each of you but enemy will lose three points, even if you can't destroy him.
Besides a fraction's morale, there is also brigade's morale. The higher it is, the less number of enemies you have to destroy in battle to win. Loses are counter basing on unit value in dislocation points. So morale stands for the upper level of those points.
Only total victory forces enemy to retreat (what is more, winner's morale increases about 3 points and defeated drops about 3 points), who may be eliminated if he gets attacked by other brigade and sector to which he retreats isn't occupied by an ally unit. So even if you win (big win +2 morale, small win +1 morale), the battle will follow the next day. Draw (each gets -1 initiative and morale) is every battle in which no one gets an upper limit of points for destroying enemy units. The lowest level is 750 dislocation points.
Adjust type of brigade for the target you want to take over. In the third scenario, 7 Naval Assault Division when takes over Stockholm, may defend against several brigades at once, getting total or big victories.
Notice also composition of your brigade. Mentioned above 7 Naval Assault Division has 8 troops of recon in assault helicopters Mi 24 in bookmark "Recon".