The problem with no stacking...

[Jeff Heidman]

This game relies on each players ability to bring enough firepower to bear on an enemy to do one of two things (if not both) during a single turn:

1. Destroy a unit, or

2. Damage enough units that your opponent cannot repair them during their turn.

Right now I am playing a PBEM game where I just bought a ton of Infantry Corps as the Russian player. I now have a vertical line of them stretching up the map from Odessa to Leningrad (roughly).

Now the Corps are pretty weak themselves, but since my line is straight, my opponent cannot attack any one of them with more than two units per turn, plus whatever air power he can bring to bear. I can easily absorb the losses he can inflict, and repair them faster than he can destroy them, because it is hard for him to actually destroy a unit, much less the 2-3 adjacent ones he needs to breach the line.

And that is the rub with this combat system. We have a hex based system that seriously limits concentration of firepower, and it is combined with a combat system where units are never forced to "retreat" but stay in place until they are destroyed.

This makes breaching a line a very difficult process, even more so than historically the case. So even though my opponent might have significant quantity advantages (and very signifcant locally), and very significant quality advantages (much more armor, armies instead of Corps, and air power), he cannot achieve a high enough density to actually punch a hole and accomplish anything.

It actually feels very WW1-ish, where local superiority is defeated by the ascendancy of the defense.

Jeff Heidman

[Good Soldier Svejk]

Not quite WWI. You are correct if your opponent attacks like you defend, in linear fashion. To succeed in SC, you must mass and think beyond the front line units (and beyond simple ground units). This is a strategic game, and a major offensive does have to be gathered and echeloned.

In short, you must concentrate power to achieve a breakthrough and then must have follow on forces to move through it (which, in this game, can also attack once through the hole, an aspect that often seems to be overlooked).

So, in the situation that you describe, which is very much like the situation that confronts the Axis as they reach the French border, if you mass three or more air units vs a single corps, then hit it with two full strength armies (in the adjacent hexes, assuming that it isn't a "bend" where you can hit it with three), I guarantee that it will not be there at the end of the attack (or if it is, then you are extremely lucky; repeat the procedure another turn and it will work then). You may not even have to attack with the second adjacent Army to make it go away (in which case, that army is free to attack the next unit, which can lead to an even bigger hole: read on).

Next, if the attacker has prepared for the breakthrough, he has positioned a couple of fast moving corps and perhaps (even better) two or more armor groups behind the assaulting front line units (which, you are correct, aren't moving any longer). If he has the numbers and quality that you speak of, maybe he has an air unit left over (or two).

These ground units now move through the gap (since zones of control don't lock) and can attack themselves after moving; one or more of your units holding the flanks of this hole can quite possibly get hit by three or more units (the breakthrough units that wrap around it and one or more from the front) plus an air strike to finish it off--the hole is now two hexes wide and occupied by lots of fast moving, hard hitting bad guys.

Try it. It works on a front as narrow as France. It surely will work on a wider front like Russia.

Salute!

[Norse]

Originally posted by Jeff Heidman:

1. Destroy a unit, or

2. Damage enough units that your opponent cannot repair them during their turn.

Enough said. Both you and your PBEM partner seems to neglect headquarter units. Once you notice that each unit has a unique supply status, entrench status, experience status and readiness status, then you can begin to move your elite units (make sure they are commanded by a good hq that increases moral!) against the weakest enemy units. Then, trust me, you'll have your breakethru.

As always, use your air-superiority for maximum battlefield efficiency.

It appears to me that you judged this book by it's cover...

Good luck!

~Norse~

[Desert Dave]

As originally posted by Jeff Heidman:

Right now I am playing a PBEM game where I just bought a ton of Infantry Corps as the Russian player.

Well, it seems as though your opponent has encountered vast misfortune somewhere along the road -- too much tech investment without adequate return, or a series of bad dice rolls, or not enough Sturm & Blitz.

The German player right at the outset of Barbarossa (... France as well -- true Good Soldier Svejk, you CAN blast holes through the old guard grognards... )MUST attack and attack and move lightning fast. :cool:

If you allow the Russian player time to clog up the tundra with untold no-name corps, then you are already in the process of defeat -- better to begin the long march home sooner as wait until later when all the daffodils are pale and wilted.

This is not WWI nor a leisurely stroll along Disney World walkways -- get the forward leaning Wehrmacht stoked up! and choked with experience and the ME 109s & Stukas spitting mad, else you really have no chance.

Pretty nice little Queensbury punch & parry ain't gonna get it.

[Fubarno]

Two good army units supported by 1 or 2 air units all under the direction of a good leader will make a guaranteed hole. Panzer units just behind the armies go through the hole and attack the defence line from the rear. If one doesn't let the panzers get cut from their supply, they are going to punch another hole on the next turn and cut off some enemy units. If you do it in two places and connect the two pincers, you'll cut off a lot of units from supplies and they'll be easy pickens' for the follow-up units to wipe out.

Yeah,.. what everyone else said too.

[pzgndr]

If you allow the Russian player time to clog up the tundra with untold no-name corps

Being on the receiving end of IE's relentless blitz in a PBEM game, it has been a struggle to maintain a decent Russian defense. To his credit, he managed to kill or isolate ALL of my front line armies on turn 1 and kill the survivors on turn 2, which really hurt as time went on. (Being the default setup in July 41, I had little control over this!) The US and Siberians have finally arrived, but Leningrad has fallen and winter provides no help in this game. If I ever get to the point of being able to buy tons of corps and form a line, I'll let you know.