Slitherine

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1) How can I get OBA to stop firing after say 10 turns (to simulate initial Russian bombardments) ?
A: You cannot do this per say, but this would be a great addition to the game - pre-planned artillery concentrations and rolling barrages (especially for you Russians!). Propose it to Jason Petho!

2) How can I create hidden minefields ?
A: I believe that if you play with fog of war - you will not automatically detect minefields.

3) How can I simulate vehicles potentially breaking down (eg from lack of fuel) ?
A: I believe this is already factored in to the rules, but in a rather indirect and abstract way. When a machine gun platoon fires at a tank platoon; and through miraculous luck inflicts casualties - most players cry foul. I view the damage as a little luck (okay a lot), but also the cumulative effect of non-catastrophic battle damage, vehicles getting stuck, breakdowns, part shortages, crew injuries, units getting lost, units getting different orders, etc. The Russians continued to employ anti-tank rifles throughout the war, not out of the illusion that they were going to destroy a late war German AFV with a single shot, but they kept shooting up main gun optics, vision blocks, smoke launchers, and of course any unfortunate crewman or commander who exposed himself. This got so bad that the Germans were constantly redesigning AFV vision blocks and weapon sight covers, replaced the commander's couples with progressively less prominent ones etc. One of the ugly secrets of the WWII is that most German tanks (including the Panther and Tiger) had ongoing issues with transmissions, final drive units, fuel pumps etc. that left them fairly unreliable mechanically compared to Allied tanks; particularly U.S. AFVs. E.G. the initial T34s tanks were manufactured to very high quality standards before the Soviets had to move their factories. Go look at unit operational reports in German units and you find a fairly consistent string of incidents throughout the war like Jadgpanther companies loosing half their strength in a 25 km road march due engine fires (fuel leaks).

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ORIGINAL: dundas61
BTW, the reason for the numerous German mechanical faults was apparently due to frequent covert sabotage by the many slave labourers used by the Germans, so we should never forget their hidden and long unrecognised contribution to the war effort !