Afrika Korps - Armies of North Africa

Morning Folks.

Now this is just a bit of fun really so let’s not take it to serious but I am sure everyone has been dreaming up ideas already for future armies and expansions so I felt like getting the ball rolling with what I think could work for a possible Armies of North Africa expansion, specifically the Deutsces Afrika Korps (DAK).

Introduction

The British commonwealth are advancing in North Africa making gains against the highly demotivated Italian army, threatening to capture Libya thus cutting off the entire continent. The highly resourceful German army steps in. General Erwin Rommel is sent with both a panzer division and light infantry division to counter attack and stabilize the situation.

This video gives you a brief feel for the theatre of war.



The DAK was initially formed from:

102nd (Italian) "Trento" Division
5th Light Division (inc Supply & Logistics)
15th Panzer Division

for more info checkout Deutsches Afrika Korps Blog and WW2 in Colour on Youtube

Army essence statement

The Deutsches Africa Korps are an initially well-equipped mechanized force, featuring a powerful commanding officer in the field who has the potential to really affect the battle. The German units that manage to arrive are fairly potent in many regards but have to learn to quickly adapt to the environment and the enemy. Pioneers become the main focus early on and can adapt too many roles, and vehicle crews are often found being forced to make do with what they have, often crudely repairing their own tanks, or finding new ones.

Furthermore, British naval dominance in the Mediterranean means a lack of certain types of support units, and supplies. You are forced to utilize whatever is available including an array of Italian equipment, as well as converting equipment such as the Halftrack and 88mm to fit your purposes.

Certain innovations such as water purification and engine filtration systems have the potential to turn the odds for the Germans, where desert conditions could cause serious setbacks. However these will require a large investment which could divert vital resources away from the battlefield.

Key Features

Divisional based HQ system with powerful operational upgrades

Flexible Pioneer squads and Halftracks that can be tailored to suit

Centralized Commanding Officer grows with your army

Highly mechanized units such as Panzer III all operating on the command net

Tank crews can disembark and escape as veterans also able to crudely repair vehicles

Army Composition WARNING - Very Wordy

T1 Command & Logistics HQ

Pioneer squad – A flexible 3 man rifle squad with repair, structures, mines etc. Upgrades occur after building each Tier buildings so:
-T2 adds optional weapon upgrades (booby trap point & demo charges)
-T3 adds global 4th squad member
-T4 global upgrade to panzer pioneer (faster repair, better durability & optional panzershrek upgrade)



Commanding Officer (Leutnante)– Lightly armed but essential to the Afrika corps, he can Garrison buildings, kubelwagons and particular halftracks and maintain his role. Keep him alive because replacements will lack experience! Grants aura of increased accuracy, rate of fire and morale bonus to affected infantry. Vetrancy is acquired from nearby troops which gives the following field promotions:

Vet0: Leutnante – Offering no bonus to nearby troops (need to rank up)
Vet1: Hauptleute – Circular Aura bonus
Vet2: Stabsoffizier – Terretorial Aura bonus
Vet3: Generale – Global Aura bonus

The CO is also affected from building the Tier 2,3 and 4 buildings, which give more utility to the actual unit.
-T2 adds 2 bodyguard grenadiers with MP40s
-T3 adds off map arty ability
-T4 aura bonus now also affects tanks and vehicles



Kubelwagon – an unarmed scouting vehicle, capable of early capping and transporting CO
-Commanding Officer can load into it for maneuvering, maintaining his auras and firepower



*HQ UPGRADE* Opel supply truck – Will improve getting supplies to the front line faster which will mean the Afrika Korps can get what it needs when it needs it.
- Unlocks the powerful Opel truck which can lock down points for resources

T2 Italian Division HQ

Reserves – A weak 6 man rifle squad which can bolster the lines and dig trenches.
-ability to “dig trench”



Breda 37 MG crew – A 4 Man Tripod mounted Breda MG
-ability to fire a “Suppressive Volley” increasing the area of affect massively





Carro Veloce 35 Tankette – Calls in a small lightly armoured suppressive platform, highly mobile it acts as the ideal scouting unit.
-Upgrade to “Flamethrower” adding a small trailer to hold fuel.



*HQ UPGRADE* Localized Field Craft – Making simple additions to all troops such as compasses and maps, along with help from locals should improve our troops field craft
-increased capping speed on points, and troops receive vetrancy faster

T3 Light Infantry Division HQ

Jager Infantry Squad – A 4 man light infantry squad armed with MP40s and grenades
-ability to upgrade with MG34 on bipod
-ability to throw grenade



Pak 38– An anti tank gun capable of penetrating thick armour
-ability “light barrage”



Sd.Kfz.251 Halftack – A general purpose halftrack for transport, can be modified to suit a variety of purpose
-Flak gun modification
-Mortar modification
-Command and Control modification (allows the commanding officer to operate inside)



Schwerer Panzerspahwagen Sd.Kfz.232 "8Rad" – An armored reconnaissance vehicle especially designed to suit the desert. Arguably the most advanced vehicle of the war in terms of electronics, it uses its large frame aerial to report any findings to nearby mechanized units and panzers.
-Ability "Intercept signals" (adds a lock down ability which allows the 232 to intercept enemy radio signals thus showing them on the minimap)





*HQ UPGRADE* Water Treatment Facility – Allows all infantry to push on harder and faster, without having to worry about lack of fresh clean water supplies back at base.
- A global movement speed increase to all infantry

T4 Panzer Division HQ

PzKpfw Panzer III Ausf G – A relatively cheap but well armoured tank, the primary force of the Afrika Korps. The PIII has the command net ability outright, so works well in numbers.
-ability to “blitzkrieg”
-ability to disembark crew
-upgrade "Frontal Armour"




Tractor Towed 88mm multipurpose gun – The mainstay of the Afrika corps artillery. This piece can be deadly once set up.
-Convert to Anti-Tank role (AP round ability activated)
-Convert to Anti-Air duties
-Convert to Artillery firing position (Barrage ability activated)



PzKpfw Tiger Ausf. E – The deadliest force on the battlefield, if you can get hold of one! Fills the role of tank hunter for the Afrika Korps.
-ability to “blitzkrieg”
-ability to disembark crew



*HQ UPGRADE* Panzer III refit -Upgrades to the Ausf M variant with the 5cm long barreled gun (increased penetration), adds an air intake filtration system to increase mobility and reliability (Increased Speed) and adds smoke dispensers (Smoke ability).

Since relic doesnt seem to mind to mix fronts, I really wouldnt mind to see a Afrika Krops vs Brits Expansion.

I think a German faction with a focus on more early war stuff would be really nice. Mobility over super heavies.

Also Desert Maps with Sandstorms, similar to Blizzards, but without all that freezing.

To much to read Bro, but yes, a thousands yes, they should make an Africa add-on in future. They forgot about this theater of war and it was spectacular! Sand storms instead of blizzards that could cause broken engines for tanks and limit units sight, heat effect on infantry units, and so on. Big generals like Rommel and Montgomery, elite units all over the place. They could exploit these ideas for so much time now, I wonder why didn't they do it.

To much to read Bro

I know! Don't expect many people to want to read it all. Some people might like to make army compositions themselves though as its weirdly interesting to think about...

Very cool theatre of war.

And the Cold Tech of CoH2 could be handily translated to Desert Tech such as:
-Sandstorms for Blizzards
-Loose sand for deep snow
-Heat exhaustion instead of freezing

And the theatre features a greater focus on fast vehicles and some rather interesting infantry engagements in towns, historically. Would make for a nice change of pace from current CoHs somewhat preponderance on heavy and late vehicles.

Montgomery and in particular Rommel, and associated forces, made groundbreaking progress in warfare in this theatre.
Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Unfortunately though it doesn figure much in the way of naval or air combat, which I would think, and have somewhat been led to believe, ismprobably the future impetus for CoH games.

In the meantime, Men of War 2 has an excellent N.Africa campaign.
I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately though it doesn figure much in the way of naval or air combat, which I would think, and have somewhat been led to believe, ismprobably the future impetus for CoH games.

Do you mean that CoH2 doesnt cater for the Air and Naval sides of the Theater? (which isnt part of the game anyway...)

or

Do you mean that there wasn't enough Air and Navy stuff in real life for CoH2? (in which case you would be wrong...)

Whilst I approve of some of the ideas, a lot of this is wishlisting and smacks of the fanboy. Presumably to be expected- but seriously, don't expect anything that good in game. No engine damage? Global unit buffs? Yeah, never ever gonna happen.

All in all, though, I think you have your tiering kind of... backwards?

The entire theater would make more sense if you begin with Italian 'stuff' and eventually tier up for german troops. having the primary focus on the late arrivals makes less sense, non?

And the Cold Tech of CoH2 could be handily translated to Desert Tech such as:
-Sandstorms for Blizzards
-Loose sand for deep snow
-Heat exhaustion instead of freezing

Yep! thats true

And the theatre features a greater focus on fast vehicles and some rather interesting infantry engagements in towns, historically. Would make for a nice change of pace from current CoHs somewhat preponderance on heavy and late vehicles.

It sure would. I mean balancing it could be tough but I feel that with the composition I came up with in a few hours I think Relic could make it work. I mean an 88mm would be sweeeet for the late game stuff atm!

Whilst I approve of some of the ideas, a lot of this is wishlisting and smacks of the fanboy. Presumably to be expected- but seriously, don't expect anything that good in game. No engine damage? Global unit buffs? Yeah, never ever gonna happen.

Yeah totally with you on the wishlisting It could work if they made it. The global unit buffs are something we had in vCoH and added that dimension. For some reason its been largely ignored in CoH2.

All in all, though, I think you have your tiering kind of... backwards?

The entire theater would make more sense if you begin with Italian 'stuff' and eventually tier up for german troops. having the primary focus on the late arrivals makes less sense, non?

Hmm yeah agree to some extent on this and I suppose they could make it work. I was trying to be interesting with the fact that this is the Afrika Corps and they utilised italians for support or ignored them.

I presume if they made an Italian army (which I think is unlikely) that would start more with the Italian units early on etc, maybe a few support German units in there too.

Do you mean that CoH2 doesnt cater for the Air and Naval sides of the Theater? (which isnt part of the game anyway...)

or

Do you mean that there wasn't enough Air and Navy stuff in real life for CoH2? (in which case you would be wrong...)

I mean both.

Due to the peripheral and distant nature of the theatre, and its environmentalmproblems, neither navy nor airforce participated particularly prominently. Youd think with the Brits holding Gibraltar and having general naval supremacy, that there would have been many amphibious actions and bombardment, but actually they where very rare and especiallynthe landings resulted in terrible failure.

Airfields where a key strategic focus, but again, though you would think air superiority would be crucial, especially in such open terrain, airforces played an astiundingly small roll, with some few key exceptions where entire armor collonades got wiped out in a clear day with good reconnaisance.

What made airfields so crucial, was their resupply potential. At the time, and to this day, N.Africa is mostly a barren expanse. The recent Libya engagement was almost comical in this regard. Basically trucks driving up and down the same coastal highways ad nauseum (though in a modern setting, air superiority was absolutely devastating to that, but notably, carrier based, which was never a British strength, and US carriers of the time where almost entirely in the Pacific). Back then thoug, the signifcance of airfield was primarily as a resupply point. Desert warfare is extremely taxing on vehicles and men, and there is nothing around in the wastes to use. The poisoning of wells was considered extremely unsoprtsmanlike, but happened on both sides, inevitably. The SAS found its inception here in an outrageously effecrive and fortuitous small group of British commandos. And Rommels strategic adaptation to the theatre is a modern legend.

But that is abitrary to my second point, which is if you look at other RTS, such as RUSE, and Total War, it is important to start more acrively involving air and naval forces as a "feature" of an RTS, rather than just vanilla land battles. Know what I mean? A product has to evolve and progress, and inclusion of naval and airforce is the logical extension.

Oh I see. Well yes I agree with you in those regards but in my opinion CoH doesn't need to take that step but should rather focus on the Armies. Its not really that type of game ya know?

All in all, though, I think you have your tiering kind of... backwards?

The entire theater would make more sense if you begin with Italian 'stuff' and eventually tier up for german troops. having the primary focus on the late arrivals makes less sense, non?

I took on board what you said now, and changed T2 and T3 around the other way. I should probably put this out there that in my composition t2 and t3 can both be built from the outset anyway as a choice, unlocking t4.

You were going so strong until you hit the tiger part. It should be a match about outflanking and tactics not heavies just going and killing everything

rename for Italo-German Army

You were going so strong until you hit the tiger part. It should be a match about outflanking and tactics not heavies just going and killing everything

lol, maybe the final T4 expensive reward unit that everyone builds up for should just be a magical pink fairy that flies around dusting everything in beautiful pink fairy dust... oh wait

rename for Italo-German Army

maybe

But the Afrika Korps originally started with 3 divisions.

102nd (Italian) "Trento" Division
5th Light Division (inc Supply & Logistics)
15th Panzer Division

I think I get this across in my composition quite nicely

They might be similar to PE too, and have a wide range of 250 vehicles available for use (eg mortar, At gun, command radios), rather than the 251 transport truck which ostheer and westheer have.

Good list overall, and if I was at Relic, would save as a future point of reference and inspiration, should such a project ever be conceived. The historically representative composition is a good place to start. Balancing of stats, as needs be, is secondary to that, and not a problem.

I think the kind of game this theatre would involve, however, requires some degree of a paradigm change, to more infantry and fast vehicle basis as measured against a slightly more fortified and defensive posture on some maps. Know what I mean? I thinknyou do, because much of your design seems to support the "essence" of how different desert warfare was to continental Europe. I think you nailed the gestalt of it all quite well.

Open maps, sue to terrain, but also town engagements. As I said earlier, the Men of War2 N.Afrika campaign pretty much nailed it ans shows it can be done.

Well done! (Love the extra effort for including pics)
Any chance for a hypothetical Brit/Allies lineup?

Good list overall, and if I was at Relic, would save as a future point of reference and inspiration, should such a project ever be conceived. The historically representative composition is a good place to start. Balancing of stats, as needs be, is secondary to that, and not a problem.

I think the kind of game this theatre would involve, however, requires some degree of a paradigm change, to more infantry and fast vehicle basis as measured against a slightly more fortified and defensive posture on some maps. Know what I mean? I thinknyou do, because much of your design seems to support the "essence" of how different desert warfare was to continental Europe. I think you nailed the gestalt of it all quite well.

Open maps, sue to terrain, but also town engagements. As I said earlier, the Men of War2 N.Afrika campaign pretty much nailed it ans shows it can be done.

Well done! (Love the extra effort for including pics)
Any chance for a hypothetical Brit/Allies lineup?

Thanks buddy! Like I said its just a bit of fun really.

Yes I have a few ideas for British Desert Rats and will put it together at some point and link them in description. Maybe also a few map ideas

Here is a good diagram of some of the vehicles that were used by the Afrika Korps. Despite the impressive utility of many German vehicles, at one point 70% of DAK vehicles were actually British made!