best strategies

[Henri]

Oops, sorry, I thought that neither player would see the threads for everyone. I modified my question in such a way that no information is given about what the two players really did, because I think that is a good subject for discussion independently of the real game. So here is another try without (I hope) no informationat all about what the players actually did.Please reply in the same way - forget what they actually did and the reasons for it, as they already have explained that.Imagine that you have no more info than that given before the game started.

The Germans have the onus of either attempting to reach the town before it falls, or of going slow and taking it back from the Americans.Deciding on the best strategy depends on a number of factors that are not obvious to me:

1) do the German orders imply that the town must not fall at any cost? Is it Ok to lose it temporarily? Are the expected losses in the latter case such that it is preferable to take more losses to get there faster?

2) Do the Germans have any choice? Do the snow and the narrow forest roads almost force the Germans to advance slowly and to take the chance that the town will fall to protect their advance?

3) Should the Germans divide their force? Since there are a number of paths to the town, should the Germans take a chance and send most or all of their force down a single path, the one with the least chance of a destroyed unit blocking the road? Since the Americans almost have to protect all the paths at least with a token force, wouldn't this have more chance of a quick breakthrough than splitting the force? Would 3 paths be better than 2? Or is this a given of the scenario (in which case some division commander should be kicked...).

Should the US defend against the German reinforcements with a token force or leave only a small force in the city and concentrate on blocking the reinforcements? What is the best ratio and disposition of forces when carrying out an assault while expecting enemy reinforcements? Would it be a viable choice for the US to throw everything at the town, hoping to take it before the German reinforcements arrive?

In sum, do the conditions justify both or both player to forego some rather fundamental military principles 1) Avoid dividing your force; 2) When reinforcing, your first priority is to get to the battle; 3) Try to do the unexpected.

Any ideas how the scneario should be played, independently of how the players are actually playing it?

Henri

[Guest Big Time Software]

Hehe... I beat your 2nd post I guess. The answer to your original one is over in the "Steve #3" thread.

I'll close this one up so we can keep the discussion all in one place. Also, we can say nasty things about Martin and Fionn's mistakes over in the other thread

Steve