Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: Jagger2002

I remember reading McDonnald's book Company Commander. The "hold at all cost" order was actually given during the Battle of the Bulge at very points and in his case, he took it seriously.

Currently, I have been playing the St Vith scenario which I think is excellent. There are a lot of good US defensive positions-chokepoints which are hard to bypass. I could see using Hold at all Cost or Stubborn defense and holding them for several turns. Not only would the Germans get smashed with artillery but it would take several turns to get through those positions. They can't afford losing that many turns due to having to wipe a large unit out-not to mention the heavy losses to artillery. In addition, the regular defense works fairly well. There are times when the Germans still end up stuck in the open even against regular defense.

The opposite side of the argument, is can the US afford to lose complete units intentionally. So how often would they use it. But then, the player can still pull the unit out before it is wiped out if it survives several turns. Personally I would use it in chokepoints if the situation allowed me to use it.

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There is a retreat parameter in unit configuration. You can configure any unit to fight to the bitter end (and in this case will only retreat if routed&panicked). It is not enough ?

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ORIGINAL: Jagger2002

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There is a retreat parameter in unit configuration. You can configure any unit to fight to the bitter end (and in this case will only retreat if routed&panicked). It is not enough ?

My concern is there are no limits to the use of "Hold at all Cost" and too effective.

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I have zero experience with the cards so far in this new game system, and I am obviously way off base here thinking that it would be same as say, Case Blue.
Where in they cost a lot and they disappear after its being used and has to be 'earned back' over several turns.

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I've never tried it out. I should perhaps in my PBEM against Audie; my US defenders are being mauled.

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ORIGINAL: Jagger2002

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I have zero experience with the cards so far in this new game system, and I am obviously way off base here thinking that it would be same as say, Case Blue.
Where in they cost a lot and they disappear after its being used and has to be 'earned back' over several turns.

The Ardennes system is basically the same as Case Blue. Army, Corps and Divisional officers have a variety of officer decision cards of varying costs which improve the performance of their troops. Card costs and accumulation of officer command points limit the use of those officer command cards. They are very useful cards but due to limitations on their use, the player has to carefully consider when it is best to use the cards. A nice feature to reflect command influence on operations.

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That option is already available in the form of the retreat level parameter on each unit. The default is 50% which means the unit will retreat when 50% of the elements in the unit, by strength have gotten either KILL or RETREAT results. It can be set to 100% which would mean the unit would not retreat until all elements in the unit have been either killed or got RETREAT results. If you want a unit to just serve as a delaying force without getting seriously hurt then set it to 25%.

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The fanatical rearguard troops in DC Ardennes are, well, a bit much to take. Even if given a 'stand and die' order I'd say theres a 50 50 chance from the git go the men say, Fug off, and even if it gates past that stage, when the battle heats up ( if they stayed) theres another 50 50 chance theres a bug out.