[Americans] Mortain Counterattack - Mission 13

[Druidika]

Mortain Counterattack

Having survived the night and stalled the Panzer Division's initial attack, Able company braces for a stiff counterattack on Hill 317.

[anonymousMarine]

Medal - Win the mission with more than 250 points

If you managed to preserve your production buildings and troops from the last mission, you'll have a much easier time in this one.

1. This mission is a 500-VP mission. There are 3 victory points; one south of your base, one to the east, and the last one is way up north.

2. Your Howitzer is vital in helping you get rid off enemy infantry and engineers assaulting the hill. The Axis troops WILL have plenty of cover while assaulting the hill because of tank wreckage so artillery support is vital. If they take the fuel point below the hill they'll also construct a Bunker, and convert the house opposite the road into a Barracks so blast it to hell.

3. Take the Airborne command tree. Don't ask just do it i'll explain why later.

4. Fortify all trench entrances, especially your Howie with MG nests. ALOT of MG nests

You'll start this mission with 2 sqauds of Riflemen, 2 Shermans and an M10 Destroyer moving in from the west into Mortain. You'll then be give instructions to take and hold 3 victory points. Trust me it's easier than it sounds. Immediately your 3 tanks up the hill, and have them guard the north , south-west, and east trenches. Spread at least entrenched AT guns covering the north side of the hill; that's where the Germans will be sending their Stugs/Panzers. There are German 88's South-East of your base, and will kill any infantry trying to take the south VP, and the eastern VP.


First off, don't be worried even if the Germans capture all 3. They're stupid enough not to hold them well. Send your Rangers up toward the north VP; if you can destroy any AT guns on the way that'll be nice. Clear out the church, and capture the VP. Now just garrison them in the house left of the VP, or an Oswind will show up and kill the church and anything within.

For the southern VP, get a Rifle squad, grab a Panzershrek (v. impt that you do so!), take the VP and hold out in the house beside. Now, there'll be a lone 88 in the right corner pounding you as you take the flag, take it out if you can. Above it are 3 more 88 emplacements which are conviently just out of your howies range, and will chew anything that tries to take the eastern VP. THis is where recon flights and Strafing Run come in. I asked you t take a Shrek coz once Axis gets tired of sending Pioneers to retake this point, they'll send Stugs/Pazners to kill whoever has it. Your troops have a gd firing position from the house to the road corner where the tank turns in.

The Axis have their tank producion facilities at the top corner of the map which i took out using Bombing Runs. Keep some supply lines open to captured Munitions Points. Drop Airborne Troopers on the hill for quick-hold action. You can send 1 squad to take the easter VP, and destroy and capture the last 88 firing on it. THis'll help you mash any Axis armour attacking the hill.

Once you have all 3 points Axis score will start dropping drastically and you win.

I got Silver Star as my medal for completing it with 418 points :]

[mtx]

I still cant pass this mission :(

[idiotbox]

It's important to have left over units from mission 12. I had to re do mission 12 to pass 13. Try to keep a squad of rifles on near the hill and a vet sniper. The sniper is vital.

At the start of 13:

select airborn command
air drop paratroopers onto the hill
send tanks and rifles up to hill
get the paratroopers on the AT guns behind sand bags
take the howitzer

After the initial push of tanks, you don't really need the howitzer. Mine was blown up. I lost all the tanks also. 3-4 AT guns can hold off all the tanks (drop paratroopers to replace AT crews when they get killed) and a vet sniper can pin down any infantry that try to attack.

Take the east victory point first, run a few squads of rifles/rangers/paratroopers and your tanks if you have them and quickly grenade or kill off the 88s. Take one of the 88s with your infantry and take the victory point. I left an AT gun at the VP to scout. The 88 should keep the retarded AI off the point.

Next go take the southern VP with some paratroopers. After you get it throw them in the house or something. Paradrop more troops onto the southern VP and hill as needed.

I had no problem beating this on hard difficulty after I finished mission 12 with a squad of vet rangers and a vet sniper left.

[Penitent]

I concur with idiotbox, you need men left on the hill from the last mission. I managed to hold the hill with one MG crew, two anti tank guns, a sniper and two squads of riflemen for the entire game by hunkering down in the small trench near the centre of the hill, the AI rarely attacks from the south so you'll be well protected. Build a medic station.

Use the reinforcements you get to capture points and build some defences at your base in the west, the northwest victory point can be held with a single machine gun in a house. The eastern victory point was quiet for me, an anti tank gun and a MG nest should cover it. The AI was really annoying with pioneer spam decapping my points so I had an armoured car ready to kill them off.

I managed it on expert on my third try. I initially tried it with airborne but found more success in using infantry company for artillery.

[mtx]

bah its still hard.....i think i might need some cheats to win LOL!

[Ian]

Ridiculous, there's no way in hell I'm doing Hill 317 again, it's already taken me 7
attempts and last night I managed to survive with one engineer who was getting shot
at as the Axis troops were retreating. Having said that, It was a challenging game up
to that point.

Then you go place a completely stupid timer on the first victory point level,
spam Axis tanks at every position I take, not to mention the AI is not even in the
areas I am capturing but seems to 'know' I'm there anyway, doh!

I mean, come on. I spent 7 years producing various games for the Amiga and PC in
the early to mid 90's, I know that timers really P*** people off, if it was an arcade
game then OK, but it's not.

So, here I am with a strategy game which requires no strategy other than to do
Hill 317 again and again just so that I can continue with the game, I am not flamin
impressed at all.

[Emberstrife]

This level's pretty simple, even on Expert. One thing you should note it is that you have full access to all field defenses and are allowed to choose and max out any doctrine, which are the keys to the level.

Here's a few key tips for any difficulty:

1. Use tanktraps+wire everywhere you can. You cannot be everywhere at the same time, but you can make assaulting certain areas nigh impossible, relieving your troops for offensive duties. Axis have no way of destroying tanktraps in this level, and pioneers do not use wirecutters, meaning tanktrap/wire walls are impassable.
---Deploy tanktraps and wire at the Abbey Square entrances, putting this VP off-limits for the AI.
---Deploy tanktraps at the road along the edge of the map next to the Abbey to stop the constant stream of ostwinds coming from there.
---Construct a bunker or deploy wire at your base's north entrance, to "keep the flies out".
---Deploy a tanktrap line at the NW road(the one with the large open field with a SP and hedgerows) so that it would seal off the corner.
---If you wish, drop additional tanktraps at the NE road as well, but that shouldn't be necessary.
~~~It's preferred that you start the whole barricading business on the first Hill 317 mission, as it will carry over. If done right, the west side will be tank-free for the rest of the game.

2. Doctrine choice doesn't matter much. Airborne and Infantry will give you easier destruction of the 88 battery by arty, but Armor has Field Repairs and Fast Deployment, which is why i used it myself.

3. This is important: have a small quick response force for quickly stopping lone panzers, pumas and infantry raids that find holes in your defense and can cause chaos on the hill. The force should consist of a AA Halftrack and 2 Panzershrek/LMG riflemen squads, the latter being easy to get from previous missions or countless axis squads. Keep the halftrack away from tank fire, and this force will get Elite in no time and be absolutely unkillable. Use it to capture east VP and for taking out lone 88s.

4. The huge 88 battery at the northeast corner of the map will prevent capture of the north VP, or deployment of field defenses in that area. Send in a lone sniper on Hold Fire and take them out manually. You can re-man them to defend the north VP, but that's not pop-effective at all.

5. Have 1-2 engineer squads following and repairing your tanks at all times. Do *not* use tanks for offense on this mission.

6. Do not let the Axis capture and OP up points around your precious Hill. Either hold onto them yourself, or keep them neutral. If you get surrounded, your carefully crafted defense ring won't work anymore. That's much easier to do than it sounds, too.

Just as a note - i started this mission with 2 Elite riflemen squads and 2 halftracks from the previous mission, but no AT guns, no MGs and no field defenses on the map, not even at the hill's top or my base, but won with 490 points on Hard and 380 on Expert. It's not hard at all, just don't panic when something goes wrong - the AI's too stupid to make full use of your goofups.

[Nidhogg_Rider]

This was one of the most frustrating mission's i'd ever played, every time I captured a point they'd send an annoying 1 man army to recapture it. If I hadn't needed to concentrate on the 50 people swarming all around the sides of the hills taking points and raiding me it would have been a lot easier. I still won the mission with 27 points though and having brought them to 0 after them bringing me to 27 in the beginning.

[def]

The simplest way of winning this mission is going with the Airborne tree. First send a recon run over the Axis north eastern base, followed by a paradrop behind their HQ. Consequently paradop two AT guns once your Paratroopers have landed and wipe the base out from rear. Recycle, rinse and repeat on the North Western base for a quick victory.

(Conducted on Expert Difficulty)

[Velite]

yes, it is a hard mission.
4 attemps and no success.
I will try your solutions, hope I will unstuck myself from Hill 317.
let's go....and have fun!!

[jdubbya]

LLLLLLLaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmeeeeeee
This mission has ruined the game for me.

Whos idea was it to give you 3 lame ass tanks to try to take out 20+ axis tanks? And just when you start to get somewhere, they spam airstrikes at you every 2 minutes.

Im done with this crap until some cheats come out. I guess its skirimsh time for me :smurf:

[Unkn0wn]

I hated this map, mainly because of the Victory Point system they applied to it. None the less, I got it right in my first try. They kind of overdid the Flaks but in the end it's not that harsh to control at least 2 points.

[jdubbya]

Nevermind, I finally beat it. Airborn is the way to go. I just paradropped and stormed all the points and the 88's

Then just winged it trying to hold at least 3 of them.

I think I won 24-0 on medium difficulty. Very close.

[evotech]

i beat it wiith armor commander, M8 greyhounds laying mines, capping points and a calliope to deal with the 88's.. then a pershing at the end to seal th edeal

won 3XX - 0 on medium or something

[myeewyee]

Thats weird I won 500-0 on hard...I used infantry doctrine (picked it at random). Use the howitzer to take out all the 88 batteries (its slightly out of range of the 4 in the corner but you can still hit them anyway by aiming a bit in front of them). Honestly I found it really easy, it was the previous mission that bugged me.

[anonymousMarine]

The Germans get the top flag first and you ended with top score?

show us a screenshot man

[Camphlobactor]

l also won 500-0 on normal. I had a maximum population cap from the previous mission, and l sent my veterans to capture the northern and south eastern victory points. The AI wasn't very aggresive.

[sipaldi]

I am also stuck good and proper on this map. I scraped the last one with a howitzer crew and a one man MG. By the time my three tanks get on the map and my squad of infantry the howitzer is blasted to high heaven. I am on my eigth attempt at this map and am seriously getting fed up of it.
Any of you guys manage it on medium difficulty with just the three tanks? Where am I going wrong?? HELLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!

[Scrap]

I'm utterly stuck on this mission. Tried over 20 times but keep failing. I only made the previous mission with one living soldier and nothing else.

When mission 13 starts It gives me 3 useless tanks, three engineers and one barracks... I have no HQ at all to create any more engineers and almost zero resources..

Soon as I make a single move I am wasted by overwhelming and a seemingly telepathic enemy!

I was really enjoying this game up to this point..
This has ruined it for me.

So do I really have to go back several missions and do them again so that Ill have more resources for this one?

Any advice please?

[evotech]

1 guy left eh? wah that sucks...

play the last mission and get more dudes?

[Scrap]

How do I get back to previous mission then? In saved games I only have the mission I'm on now and mission 4! Do I have to go back that far?

[Calax]

choose campaign instead of "continue campaign" and then select mortain (not the counterattack) as mortain is the only one that has any real effect on your resourses and manpower in the counter attack.

[Scrap]

Thank you Celax ... ok here we go again.. :)

[sgtsaunders]

Air support Question.

Can I fly in a bombing run without considering the fog of war? Do I have to recon the area first? or do in need soliders in the area to make a bombing run work?

PS- On my first try, I drop some airborne in, and made the 88's spin around, actually one 88 took out another, and the airborne just drop gernades in and got them.

[.sherman god.]

Ummm... the fog of war has to be gone where you do a bombing run. Camo'd sniper works and a recon run before the bombing will too.

[sgtsaunders]

This mission is all about map control over the VP. You need lots of guys from the last mission to carry over. I had a whole s***-load of them. Use ground troops to get close to the 88's and then drop airborne in, with gernades and the spinning 88's got them all.

Set up all the AT's on the left side of the hill, to help with incoming tanks, build some tanks of your own. And take as many resouce-points.

[=JpS=SgtRock]

I thought it was pretty easy. I finished Mission 12 with a full complement, so Dog Company put me up to something like 102. I don't think I even dropped below 95.

The real secret to doing well on this one is following the advice for 12: Get your engineers out early to lay barbed wire and tank traps to deny direct access to the hill.

I blocked the entrance facing the flag to the north, and added an MG nest to cover traffic on the road.

I left one small leak on the north side where Axis infantry had to face a couple of machine gun nests, a rifle squad, and a mortar.

I blocked the S turn road and the long straight road, so the only direct access to the hill from the south was up the slope through the clearing between the two road entrances. I covered that gap with a couple of guns, another mortar, and a sniper. I placed a 3rd mortar, another gun, and another machine gun nest on the south side.

I placed another eng squad and two guns down by the HQ. I used the eng squad to build some sandbags, build and repair a HW depot, and repair the HQ. I used the guns to deal with the leakers (mostly armored) attempting to take out the HQ.

I covered Mortain with the howitzer. I only had one halftrack and squad make it that far. One salvo took them both out.

This one was pretty easy, all things considered. :)

[thomasyyy2003]

btw make sure u build a halftrack with quad cannon
park it on the hill, make ur life much easier
for the victory point that is located at the far north side of the map, send a sniper, MG to capture it. garrision the building after u got the point--this will hold off the AI's attempt to recapture the victory point.

for the 88, use one rifle squad reinforce with one sniper. use grenade for the short range assult, and camo sniper for the long range.

[Dogtag]

:tomb: i`ve read and tried the info thats given by all.. but i keep gettin tonked. i have about a 10 men left from the prvoius mission but no hq.
I can hold the hill on the advice availabe but keepin hold of the vp`s is like tryin to knit a jumper with a bucket of FOG...

[TFKevin]

I don't get this one, well i do but where are all the emeny tanks coming from, i think the counter is broken i go down to zero in 5 minutes, i am at a lost here what do i attack first
Kevin

[Bobacanoosh]

Hmm... I found this really easy. Just go airborne and move all of the guys you start with on the hill. One airborne squad is enough to take the southern critical point at the beginning of the battle, and once you've got it and the one at the hill you'll have all the time in the world.

Then you can either advance on the one directly above the hill immediately (You don't even have to worry about the third one) or work on your defenses on the hill if they're weak, especially by airdropping AT guns. (Do the left side of the airborne tree first, the other abilities aren't really that useful)

I took the northern critical point with two airborne squads, upgrading them with recoilless rifles to hold off armor. Once you do that all you have to do is hold the center until the Germans are out of points.

To defend the hill just get a few airdropped AT guns and plenty of riflemen with BARs. Add in a sniper and you'll be good to go, especially with your airdropped machine guns and the starting tanks. Those tanks are just there to buy you time, so if they get destroyed don't worry about it. That said, it's a good idea to keep an engineer squad up there to repair them, especially since they can go ahead and build a medic station while they're up there.

[planner]

For me, mission 13 is impossible to accomplish - which means I have to give up the game. I tried all tricks and suggestions given below, but nothing works, even destroying the German headquarters with airborne. Because in due time my points simply are reduced to zero. On the hill itself the meagre defenses left from mission 12 are wiped out in about 30 seconds (also one one anti-tank gun left, badply placed), and when I send in tanks, even with airborne, the Germans keep churning out new tanks and halftracks and soldiers, for which I simply don't have the resources. Meanwhile a strafing run on the three 88's leaves them totally intact. Armor I cannot be build because of lack of resources (even when I managed to build a factory). And with infantery/artillery I have a munition problem. Very, very frustrating. Is there any solution - without replaying that terrible 12 - or, better still, a way to skip 13 and go on with 14?:rant:

[Erentil]

You can supposedly unlock missions. Look at the planetcoh faq: http://planetcoh.gamespy.com/faq/ down around 1.8.6 I think.

However, this mission isn't really as hard as people seem to think. I finished it at 500-0 on my third attempt. This one and mission 12 just take a whole different mental attitude. It does help to finish with a moderate amount of men left over from mission 12. You have a little time and use it to quickly grab every resource point you can and the northern victory point. The east and south victory points seem to be guarded by 88s so you need to wait on those. I put an mg nest and an AT gun to guard the north point and they did the job just fine. Put your tanks on the hill for mobile defense; there are too many German AT guns out there to send them out on offense missions. Keep your engineers busy all the time, building tank traps so that tanks can only come in from the east or the west and no where else, and wire off the sides as much as possible, and then mg nests as resources allow, and keeping tanks repaired. Keep the howitzer busy. I started shelling the bunched up 88's from the first second, hoping for scattered shells to actually hit and within 4 times of trying it eventually did take them out. Then I went for the single 88s guarding the victory points and then after they were down I started shelling the outskirts of the southeast german base, with the occasional shell actually landing in there. I did a couple of bombing runs on the two German bases for fun but didn't have the munitions to flatten them. I had a sniper do a lot of work, mostly taking out AT guns near my base and then killing everyone around the east vp so a squad could come in and claim it. Then I camped the sniper nearby to kill off pioneer units that kept showing up to reclaim it. Then I just waited until the points ran out.

[blackcat35]

just completed with 100 points, found the critical thing is to capture 3 extra strategic points....Holding the hill is important because its one of the strategic points.
There are 4 total strategic points, so if you hold just 2 of them you stabalize losing this map at all....holding 3 or more allows you to win it....

Grabbing various points around the hill will allow you to have the manpower/resources to grab those extra points...

My problem starting was that I panicked when they were attacking the hill again from all sides, and I had plenty of troops but first thing I did was run east and run into the 88's that blew my troops and armor to hell.....keeping the armor on the hill to defend it as long as possible is kind of important too...


Going north and south to start is easiest choice to grab one of the major strategic points, the strategic points are more important than resources....

I went air support choice, which helps immensely with paratroopers, dropping paratroopers behind the lines helps alot. To do this effectively even without line of sight, just recon the area you want to drop them in, and then drop the paratroopers. I dropped paratroopers just behind 88's, and worked very good...

you can afford to lose the hill, to stay even and not loose points that start at 500 vs 500, you need only 2 strategic points....

I believe going air of your 3 choices is the easiest way to complete this mission effectively......paratroopers with recon is extremely powerful, since you can have manpower without running them across the map, and hold the points once you take it with the paratroopers. Having paratroopers man the 88's against tanks is also a nice perk, very powerful.....

While I was using the paratroopers, I heard something about mines.....I didn't care....keep any vehicles you have on the hill, don't run them around the map....this map is designed to destroy yoru tanks, so keeping them on the hill is the best choice....:salute:

[Rankles]

I'm really struggling with this two. At the start I have two fully vet rifle squads, a fully vet halftrack, some fully vet engineers, a howitzer and two AT guns on top of the hill next to my barracks. The three tanks and riflesquad are at the bottom just approaching and I get cained in a matter of seconds to about four panzers and six squads of troops, inclduing shrecked grenadiers.

[FloppieTheBanjo]

I think this is the one mission I didn't get all the secondary stuff on. Now I'm gonna have to go back and play it :(

[hellomms]

Having paratroopers man the 88's against tanks is also a nice perk

I got my paratroopers behind one of the 88s on the NE side of the map but they dont shoot anything at all. I mean do we need to direct them? I was getting hammered by the Panzers but those 88 didnt do $hit.

I have 3 ATs, 3 MG squard and one infantry squad of six. I still cant do it. I run out of Manpower

[Joseph T]

88s have a long range, but nothing may be moving into it. I usually blast those, if you put the howitzer at the maximum range it can eventually take them out. Also use the howitzer to de-crew the 88 on the far north; I usually try to man that one with some rifle and M8 support. It has a great angle to put a huge dent in whatever tries to come up that side of the hill.

Also try to take the 88 in the southeast corner, overlooking the southernmost VP. You can use that one to cover the VP and the fuel point right above it if you can make it to it.

[hellomms]

Well, from what you are saying it sounds like they actually do cause damage....
The reason I am saying this is becuase I captured them a couple times and did not see them causing any harm to anything.

Will give it another try...!

[hellomms]

Ok, I just beat the mission.
116-0

I think there was a bug, either now or before. I saw bunch of Planes hovering on the North West and South East side of the maps. They didnt do anything ... just there.

I faced may be 3-4 tanks and a few infantry units of Axis and took out their 88s. Used the same level of difficulty (Medium) and took all the points - this time it looked 10 times easier than before not sure what caused that. But who cares. It was damn difficult mission.

[skigamer]

Use the airborne option. I had only a few men left from the prior mission and it didn't matter. Use the tanks initially to get the closest VP and then send the tanks up to the hill to defend it. Then drop paratroopers (after doing recon to get rid of the local fog) into the other VP areas. I also dropped a couple of anti-tank guns to the top of the hill to aid in the defense there. Its not that hard if you go this route.

[Guy with luger]

Here is what i did. Take the initial reinforcements to the "abbey" (northwest) and place them there. Place paratroopers on the eastern vp on the little village and take the rest of your force to defend the hill. Whenever you have resources get an AT gun to reinforce your paratroopers.

If you have any troops in bad shape and dont want to spend money on them, then send them at the bottom of the map to cap those munitions and fuel points which for me was never threaten.

Dont spend any forces on the northern vp as it is a highway for the enemys. Just concentrate on the west, east and your hill. Remember you dont need all your VP's aslong as you control more then half of them. So its ok to leave the northern one alone. You will still win if you hold the ones i suggested.

As for the 88's i just ignored that sidemission. If you just after a winning the damned thing just ignore them and save those resources to spend on defences and troops.

[stephen_wq]

Im having real trouble with this mission, population cap on this game pisses me off to no end. I really dislike games with a population cap, especially if its very small.

I've got heaps of squads, all with 2 or 3 out of 6 men or so in them, because im over the population cap by around 20 (99/75). and cant replenish them. I am at 99 units at the beginning of the mission. This is hardly enough units to hold the hill as well as get out there and take the others.

Is there a base i can destroy to stop the annoying constant flow of units? I attempted to use some of the forces on the hill to take one of the points, but tanks and men seem to come from any angle at any time constantly, so the hill pretty much got wiped out.

I attempted using tank traps and barbed wire walls to block off my base which worked, as well as the northern VP.
However someone said that the AI doesnt destroy the tank traps in the first page, but i had 2 stugs and an armoured car beating away at them.

The 88's are easy as, you stick a few howitzer barrages on them which cleans them out quickly.

So, is there a foolproof way of completing this mission? The pioneers are all over the place trying to take every point i capture, victory points or not.

It would be nice for someone to post a detailed map with no fog of war of where all the units come from, where the base is, and where suggested emplacements should be placed.

I see there are cheats/unlock all missions. Is there some consequence to using these to help get past this mission as a last resort?

[Dryden]

stephen_wq
man r u asking about 13 or 14 or both?
I guided both of them in topic about mission 14 so read it.

[Apex77]

One of the problems I have with this mession is defending the village of Mortain itself. I am able to hold the hill for a considerable amount of time but they send tanks after my HQ.

Also, trying to lock down resources is a pain because they keep spamming engineers to capture all the munitions and fuel points.

I was nearly successful with the following tactic.

I immediately sent my tanks straight up to their base (I'm not looking at the map now, so I can't tell you whether thats east, west, north or south) and destroyed it. This was a difficult task as the field leading up to their base is a mine field and they keep spamming engineers to repair the buildings as you try to destroy them. Plus they have AT guns there.

I finally destroyed the base but didn't have enough resources to attack the other base where tanks were being made.
So I kept fighting off mosquito's from taking all the resources and ended up losing.

None of the explanations of those who beat the level include an explanation of how o defend the town (maybe I missed it).
How do you micro all task?

- Defend Hill
- Defend town
- Defend and capture strategic and victory points

[Dryden]

i set in town 1 MG, 1 rifle and smth AT (rangers or 57mm) closer to HQ.

[jakonovski]

I just finished the mission with 482 points. The key for me was to gather up some infantry squads (3 rifles, 1 ranger) and the croc, then rush the German base to the east. After that the computer made a big effort to rebuild instead of attacking the hill, but the 88s and AT guns I captured on the way took care of everything while I dropped airborne all over the place to cap points.

I didn't even get to use my two howitzers for more than a couple of strikes, as the computer did an early nebelwerfer attack on the hill that destroyed pretty much everything there.

[Rashid]

I played this mission again recently and found that sending the armored force you get initially to the axis base north of the Abbey to be a very effective way to ease the hill defense. Your sherman crab can clear mines and buildings, your Croc can roast AT guns (yes, you'll take some damage but the AT guns will die much faster than your croc) and buildings, and your M10 sits back to snipe tanks that may come by (another option is to send the M10 to the hill, it will destroy any panzer IV that comes up).

You should be able to kill the base without too much trouble, paying just enough attention to the hill when enemies come up. If you built a quad in the previous mission (it helped me quickly reinforce my defense points), you can use that to pretty easily keep the VP on the hill from ever going down.

After you destroy that axis base, you can move your tanks back to Mortain for repairs/defense against the armor that's going to be coming. If they die, it frees up popcap for Airborne, which will make the hill defense/flak 88 destruction very easy.

[popej]

Played through the game on expert up until this mission, I can't even do it on easy...

I have about 6 vetted infantry/ranger squads from mission twelve but even vet 3 troops are nothing compared to the kraut units. I tried blowing up their base and succeeded but they immediately send everything they have to kill the left overs. Seeing as their troops are so tough a couple of LMG squads basically lock down my 6 vet 3 infantry squads with AT gun support.

Basically the balance changes have completely buggered the single player campaign to the point that any timed mission is insanely difficult. It's impossible to keep the manpower to keep up with their VP spam and airborne are utterly useless without vet, they usually get trashed by a pioneer squad with no flamer.

It's completely ridiculous. I'm going to cheat because I feel cheated after playing through the first 12 mission on expert only to find this one completely impossible. I haven't cheated in a game since I was like 16, 10 years ago. :/

Just thought I'd vent my frustrations/warn anyone playing through the campaign since 2.301. I've long campaigned for Wehrmacht equality in multiplayer since the game was released, its easy to see why the yanks were so overpowered on release, its because half the single player missions are nigh on impossible against a balanced german army.

[ZombieBunny]

Going to try and explain this sans pictures, but it works well.

The road leading north from your HQ branches off in two directions.

One leads offmap to the north, while the other leads to a backdoor entrance behind the Abbey. However, where both roads fork off from each other there is another area beteen the two roads taht appears to dead end just west of Northern Axis HQ. However, tanks and units can actually squeeze through the area and flank the northern HQ without ever having to hit or clear a single mine, thereby destroying one half of you opposition in the first 3 minutes.

[Monty76]

It's important to have left over units from mission 12. I had to re do mission 12 to pass 13. Try to keep a squad of rifles on near the hill and a vet sniper. The sniper is vital.

Bloody hell, I just passed mission 12 by the skin of my teeth. Are you saying I've got to do that one all over again and have men left on the hill?

[Susurrus]

If its any help, i didnt have a single man left on the hill on expert, and I still managed to do it with circa 450 CPs.. Just built riflemen, and took out the north west axis base.. Rangers are awesome..

[Thrud]

Its pretty easy once you get the knack.

Remember, you dont need to hold the hill on this level. You just need to hold 3 of the 4 points. The easiest way to do this is take out the base on the right (as has been noted).

You really need to finish the last level with a decent amount of troops. I can now finish that on expert more troops than the cap will allow. Either way, you need the howitzer to put fire down om the 3 88s to the north. Then send 2 snipers down to take out the survivng crews (take out the 88 and vp on the way). Para drop a new crew for the 2 nearest to the base, and shell it to buggery. No minefields to worry about. Send the snipers back up the hill. Take out the other 88. take that vp.

You should already have taken the vp at the church withoit me asking. Voila

[BlackOmne]

This mission is highly dependent on how well you complete the preceding mission on this map.

I've been playing through the Normandy campaign after not playing it for more than year. I totally owned both Mortain maps this time around on Hard difficulty. I remember how hard they were the first time I played them. But, after playing the skirmish version of this maps a few times and knowing the weaknesses of the AI from my mod testing job for Warnstaff's AI Mod, these two missions were a virtual cake walk. The germans never got close to the top of the hill in either part. I had locked down the map so much in the first part, that it took little effort to win the second part. By the time I finished the second part, which I won 500-0 on VPs, I owned all but two sectors of the map and had done serious damage to both german bases.

I would post screenshots of how I locked down the map, but I can't post pics in this thread.

I wish you could save replays of campaign missions so that people could post examples of how to win them or to post them for people to review to help people point out what the player is doing wrong.

[adamsun]

Normal level.
In last mission, some preparation should already been done, like build machine gun nests and triage centers on the hill, set more tank trap lines on the map near the hill so that enemy can attack from limited routes only. At beginning of this mission, some machine gun nests and tanks traps may be destroyed, so the first thing to do is to move my forces forward to the north of the church to make sure the tank trap lines there are created/prepared properly. Take the point in the church yard and build machine gun nests to protect it. Make sure these machine gun nests are protected by the L building so that they will not be attacked by enemy tank/AT fire. (Do not build nests here in last mission, they will be destroyed in the beginning of this mission.)

Tank trap lines at middle of NE board are not damaged. No need to worry tanks from there.

It is ok to build machine gun nest by the SE victory point in last mission(or at the beginning of this mission) to make sure enemy cannot take this point. Make sure they are as far away from the point as possible, otherwise they will be destroyed by enemy 88mm gun nearby. This 88mm gun should be destroyed by howitzer ASAP, otherwise it is impossible to take this point.

Set tank trap lines so that enemy tanks can attack the hill from NE only. Use howitzer to destroy enemy 88mm guns, although they are out of the range of the howitzer, they can still be destroyed by howitzer firing many times at the max range (The price is too high to send any other units to destroy these 88mm guns).

Use machine gun nests, 2-3 AT, mortar, artillery to attack enemy from NE side(the only way) of the hill.

Hope this is helpful.

[Dr Dave]

Not sure if people still have problems with this mission but have just been through it again a couple of times after completing OF. The key to success and medal, as many posters are finding, is winning mission 12 'well'. Having control of much of the map around the hill and havings left-over defences and troops makes it possible. This said you are still stretched and resources are tight! Indeed some posts suggest lots and lots of MG nests! You may find that even though you have much of the map you do not have enough resource for that many. However, the last twice I have won 500 - 0.

As with the last mission do not be rushed and set everyone working at the end of the cut-scene. I usually send my 2 tanks (1st one clearing mines near emermy base) to the enemy base in the top corner (like the artillary tree for self-repair). In the past these tanks have destroyed this base but this time they struggled and I lost one and got one back to the Abbey. I think in the past I have used artie to clear AT guns.

I send one squad of reinforcements to the Abbey with engineers also from base who take the ammo point. I set Howie to work blowing the 88 crew in front of the hill supported by some leftover troops who are nearby who will man this gun once free (best not to destroy it as it can single handely defend the point near it when you take it (you may have to get some engies to it for repair, pehaps when they have taken the point!). 2 depleted HMG crews (a 1 and a 2) can control the road from the north and the field (1 facing the road and one the field) (88 will soon be Vet so will help out here too). I sent the M10 to the hill and spread others standing around (from last mission) into trenches covering approaches. Think I had 3 AT left so had 2 facing the left slope and one on the front slope (some armour does come this way but be prepared to turn gun in response to attack). M10 helps. The point to the right of the hill can be difficult as an 88 covers it, I want that 88 and I go get it later. I usually still have a squad and a MG nest behind the farmhouse for now I leave them there. ALL of this troop deployment can be achieved on 'pause'.

As in the last mission release pause and things you have set up start to happen. Pause often. There is no concrete way I can tell you how this mission will go as it depends on what you have to hand. The Howie does destroy the big guns in the top right (1 or 2 rounds maximum range). Much of the map gets over-run with tank buster and flame troops and various armor 'pausing' helps you deal with it (vet rifles with sticky bombs are great!). Off map artie and Howie shread troops and buckle armor. This is how i get the 88 to the right of the hill which with the help of a crew and some engineers keep the right point clear. In the Abbey I pick up a HMG and set it up behind a wall with the left over troops and get Engineers to build a MG in the lee of the building (do get some amour here if base not destroyed) but my left over sherman dealt with this. If you get the 4 points their score drops rapidly and it is soon over!

Found this mission quite frustrating, like many others, when I 1st played but now I am more experiences it is not so hard.

[Gomer Pyle]

Not so bad if you did well in Mission 13.
First thing I did was set the Howie to maximum range and target the 88s. One salvo destroyed them all.
After beating off some attacks I sent my sniper over to take out the 88 guarding the eastern VP. As soon as they were down I sent an elite infantry squad to capture the VP and then occupy the house next to it. I also sent my Sherman to the curve in the road just behind the house in case any armor should show up. During all the time it was there it only encountered a puma and a Stug, the latter backing away after it reached 50% damage.
I then sent my sniper north to destroy the 88 guarding the VP there. I sent in my rangers to capture that VP but I had to send my sniper to destroy an 88 I had overlooked that was between the eastern and northern VPs guarding the northern VP. Once captured I withdrew them back to the hill. I left my camo'd sniper in some bushes just south of the VP where he beat off any attempts to recapture it. Some pumas and other armor would roll by but never close enough to where he was. After I had these points all I had to do was sit and wait. The AI wasn't as agressive as I expected trying to recapture those victory points. Instead they kept coming up the south side of the hill trying to take that VP and with my AT guns and M10 was able to beat back these attacks before they came close to hitting my base. A squad of engineers was always repairing the M10 and I had built triage centers close to the AT guns and infantry squads to keep them at full health.
Soon enough the Axis counter reached 0 and it was game over. I really have to to give a lot of credit to those who beat it on version 1.70 and below.I played with the latest version and it was not as hard as the earlier versions where panzers would spam all over the place and within less than 10mins the Germans had taken 3 VPs and the counter would drop to 0 in less than 5mins. I finished with 387 points.

[sailliak]

Can't even beat this mission on easy. I DID do well on the previous mission. With the reinforcements I'm over the population limit by 78/75 but this mission is still impossible. Tanks and men come from every angle, at once. I lose in about 5 minutes.

Howitzer sucks, doesn't hit anything. It took 3 tries to defeat one 88.

I can send units to capture 2 of the 3 points but it's worthless. Germans recapture them in an instant. The tank destroyer can barely go toe to toe with other tanks and the 88s rip it to shreds. the Croc is worthless in this mission because of the major amounts of enemy armor and the 88s. The sherman is the only thing worth a damn and even so one sherman is not nearly enough to fight a constantly replenishing supply of tanks + 4-5 88s that I can't even see.

[Dryden]

sailliak
Divide your teams to defend Vps and center. Engineers can repair tanks.
Use sniper(s) to kill 88s. Bring him behind them, so when he shots they need to turn. They usually dont manage to do that b4 he camoes again.

[simanos]

I wrote a small guide in the thread for the previous mission. Basically you just spawn camp them. There's 3 spawn points in the previous mission, but now it's only 2 and they are actual bases not just spawn points.

Make sure to have used barb wire and tank traps to cut off the route behind the small town (where you rescue the rangers) so they can't flank your HQ from there. Anything you built in this small town in the previous mission is gone so you just need to close the top gap again and forget about it. Now you can concentrate all defence on the two enemy bases. Do not defend the hill itself, it's pointless and dangerous. Defend with your infantry and use the 3 free tanks and a mortar on offence. Use the Howitzer to take out the 88 and the mines around it near the right enemy base so you can defend that side. You can use barb wire and tank traps to cut off that base's main exit from the previous mission so they are all forced to exit through a small gap right at the edge of the map. Defend there. Take over the 88 and use it to shell their troops and then their own base (use target ground). Make sure you have engineers with minesweepers.

Use pause a lot and do everything simultaneously. Use a Mortar to flank (from behind the trees) the other lone 88 (or artillery it), just take it over fast while your 3 free tanks (upgrade them) are moving fast to the top of the road. This was an enemy spawn point in the previous mission, but now it's free. Turn right and cut through the hedges along the edge of the map till you reach the 3 enemy 88s, I mean the patch of trees next to them that cover you. Follow your tank with a Mortar and a riflemen squad. After you cut the hedges move the tanks in the opposite direction and stay on the edge of the map. Keep going until you reach the enemy base. There's no mines from this approach so it's easy. Take it out from behind. Meanwhile your Mortar killed the crews of the 88s and your riflemen can take over 1 (or 2 if you're greedy). Use them to shell the enemy base with target ground. Even though there are trees in the way and you can't actually target enemies (right click them) you can still use attack ground and demolish the base. Most shots will pass through the trees. The Mortar helps too. If you attack this base from the entrance too watch out for the mines.

Basically you can destroy both bases fast and then run around to kill any remaining enemies this way and your defences can be concentrated in 2 places only. Easy money.

[BlackOmne]

The key to winning the counterattack mission is to prepare the map in the first mission on this map. Go back and play the first mission and prepare the map with tank traps and barbed wire to funnel the germans into kill zones.

[StickyBomb]

i just re-played the campaign on expert and was left with not much at the end of the previous mission. i struggeled at first due my leftover troops being all over the place but then it was all (figuratively speaking) uphill.
i used cheap engineers to take some mgs from the ground. 2 armored cars for rapid response and otherwise relied on rangers and the odd at-gun.
i strafed the 88s first and then stormed them with the rangers on fire up. people died but i got to crew two of them. then i went on to kill the base with the 88s.

i held the upper vp with a at gun as far back as possible to kill his vehicles. otherwise it was rangers again.

just remember to repair you armored cars, then you'll be fine. if youhave two with a bit of vet, you can even take on a single shreck squad if necessary.

if possible get a schreck or two with riflemen. together with BARs, it makes them REALLY strong vs everything. take care of those squads and they will serve you will in other missions - yes, you can keep the schrecks.

[Chong Warrior]

Finally managed it! Also somehow managed to finish the level with all 3 of my tanks still alive.

I think the sniper is vital, capture the abbey VP and fortify the area... the VP to the east can pretty much be kept with a vet sniper but you have to keep him alive.

[Thrud]

I think this level and the previous level are slightly more difficult, in that there are heavier waves, although I still managed to finish the 1st map with a full pop, and the second with 500 points.

the trick to the 1st map is getting all the little 2 man teams to capture territory, before grabbing an HMG, and setting up on top of the hill, and using the 2rifle squads to man whats left over while reinforcing (a cheap way to get HMG squads). By the time the attack comes you should have 9 HMGs 4 ATs 2 rifles 1 ranger and 2 engineers. Supplement this by getting 2 snipers (vet if possible) and build another AT to defend your HQ. Retreat the Rangers and 1 Engineer to hel defend the HQ, and retake mortain before the time limit runs out

This map has been made easier by not nerfing your popincome once you reach your cap. You can use this to spam HMG nests all over the hill (with some aid centes to heal your men which can be built on the hill), and around the HQ.

BE aware that the main attacks come from the top, and the right sides, with a small force pushing down the track top right. Keep an eye out for the mortar squads and snipers. Make sure the ATs can manouver to cover more than one side, and that they have infantry cover in front of them. You should be able to reinforce your squads when the Axis beign to retreat with 30 seconds left.

[AllRaj]

This had to be the hardest mission I managed to complete and gain the medal. I must have done the earlier mission about 20 times just so I could have what I thought I needed to begin this one.
As it turns out, the Germans will attack constantly for a while and then they back off a bit so, you have to hang on. This is one of those 'whack a mole' missions where the pio's are running around cutting off your supply of muni and fuel. There's no shortage of enemy armor to deal with either.
Get a sniper and a MG into your HQ. They'll protect your base from infantry and keep the hill connected to your base. One or two AT guns are handy to keep the tanks at bay.
If you lose the Sherman and croc early dont be too distressed as they are not that handy. It's better to stick with infantry for the 1st half.
I chose the AB doctrine despite the weakness of the paratroopers,just to be able to drop AT when needed. Keep about 2 or 3 squads in the abbey with AT and mine everywhere when you can.
Once the Germans begin to slow down, start to use recon flights in the north (flying north to west to avoid getting your air support shot down and wasting resources) quickly followed by bombing runs to take out all the tanks and flak weapons which build up there. I think I must have used about 2500 muni and still didn't get all of them. There's a heap of infantry building up there too so to mix it up a bit and strafe the mortars hanging around.
Eventually you can drop AB in there and clean up the remaining troops. The rest is pretty easy. Get a few snipers to take out the 88's and it's done.
The trick was to hold out until it settles down.

[gbanay]

The hardest mission so far and all you need are 3 snipers - here goes:

1. disregard all action and send your snipers to the 88 guarding the upper VP, kill it, choose airborne, parashoot a unit & take the 88 - once you have it, it kills instantly everything in its range as long as its not in the fog of war. now send a sniper to the VP as a spotter for the 88 and let the 88 kill whats around the VP, then send the sniper to capture it. leave the sniper as a spotter half way between the 88 and the VP - don't have to worry about this VP no more.

2. secure the right VP the same way just remember you need 2 snipers there - 1 to spot the VP, the other to spot for krauts coming from the north.

3. now you have 2 VP and the counter stops - your medal is secured.

4. be aware - once in a while the krauts will take these VP back - just wait till the 88 clears the area around then send the sniper to recapture it (don't forget to return him to his position afterwards).

5. with the upper 88 you can start shooting at the secondary 88's - its a bit out of range but finally you nail them. if not, use bombing runs (parashoot supplies and take ammo points around the map if you need - the one down left is easy). when the 88 die, send parashooters to take them and kill the base in the right upper corner where the stugs are coming from.

6. If you have a 4th sniper the 88's fall much easier - just send him camouflage and kill it's crews.

7. Now just parashoot and capture the remaining VP to complete the mission.

it takes a while and countless saves but it works.

[Toddeh]

This mission is easy

Put a tanktrap and barbwire sqaure around the left VP point area on the previous mission and place a bunker infront of the building the rangers were in for medal. That VP is completely safe now for the entire mission.

If you played previous mission well the Hill in the center should be completely protected with AT guns, bunkers , mortar and hmg's

All thats left is taking VP on the south side of the hill just keep dropping para's there and taking it. Jerry never defends the VP and its very easy to defend it.

No need to bother with the 3rd VP just sit back and relax.

U should finish 500-0 on expert with ease

[MarkJohnson]

Have they boosted the power of the enemy on this map with all the updates to this game?

I start off with 3 units on the hill and no defenses or bases on it.

I have two eng at HQ repairing from last mission

I have 2 units in Mortain for defense.

By the time I get my new units to HQ, I get hammered by over a Half dozen units from each West, North, and East. That's like 20 units total coming at me from all directions at once. Well, first froom the North, then a few seconds later from the west, then a few more seonds later from the East with no seeming chance to defend my base. Just too many units.

Should I tried to just abandon my HQ and let it destroy it, but then They come back as I try to repair it and I end up losing too much and unable to resupply my units.

Any new hints for this map?
-=Mark=-

[BlackOmne]

You win this mission by preparing for it in the first part or first mission. If you are on the verge of losing the first mission when it ended, you will lose this mission. Win the first mission handily and prepare the map (with TTs, wire, and other defenses) in the first part and the second mission should be a cake walk.

Although game updates have effected the relative balance between units somewhat, this mission is still easily winnable if you follow the general guidance above (ie, replay the first mission until you win it a very decisive manner and then continue to part/mission 2).

[Celution]

It also depends on how lucky the Wehr off-map artillery is. Sometimes it blew all my units away, and sometimes it fails.

[MarkJohnson]

Yeah, I replayed the first map, built fortifications and easily won this map. I don't think I even lost a unit on this map I won it so decisively.

I do remember it put all my units in the center of the hill when starting the second map, and one of the buildings it the abbey was gone and a few fortifications lost to the north. but I made sure the abbey was heavily bordered off.

[1211]

Finally managed it on expert with only a few units left from the previous mission.
As soon as the game begins, build two or three engineer squads and send them to the hill. Do not bother to protect Mortain as it's not important if you lose the headquarter and you need to protect three other areas (the hill and the 2 VPs). Send all reinforcements to the hill as quickly as possible because the enemy will start attacking early on. Use the first engineer squad to tank trap and barb wire the northern approach if it has been destroyed by artillery. With three tanks and infantry support you should be able to fend off the initial attacks. Once you' ve secured the hill re-built any buildings destroyed and build at least 3 Ats, 3 HMG and spam snipers (they 're deadly on this mission). Repair the tanks if necessary and send them to the western VP. The road to the western VP is virtually a minefield so proceed cautiously to clear the mines. The enemy defence on the western VP is meager, once you have defeated them leave 1 HMG one AT and one tank at this location, they should be sufficient to block any counterattacks. Use a sniper team (2 or three snipers) to clear any infantry on the eastern VP. Bring engineers with flamethrowers if the enemy has infantry inside buildings but don't bring any tanks because they're easy prey for the 88. For the rest of the mission move your forces back and forth between the hill and the eastern VP in order to hold out. If you' re doing well you may consider sending a sniper team to clear the other 88s and win the medal. Use an airstrike first to soften their defences.

[RANGEMASTER]

win with 490-0(silver)(500 gold) on easy,because im still newbie here,igot alot guy from previous mission,chasing retreating panzer IV with ranger &rifle with panzershreck,idont know this mission is continued,in result massive retreat soilder.used massive survival sniper with critital hp,got the AT/AA Flak cannon,i sugest to use Air/Armor company.having a allied AT Hotwitzer(still wondering why they cannot shot anything like the Axis Cannon)with critical HP,used Mg Camp,AT& a few tank to def the points .Eliminate they base also useful,leaving a few bunker left in result they cannot capture any VP.