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John S -> One Suggestion re Fight to the Last Man (12/24/2021 8:25:30 PM)
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I would suggest that most units which receive a “Fight to the Last Man” order should see an immediate reduction of morale and, more controversially, should have a die roll based upon integrity and experience to see if they lose a percentage of troops during the night turn through desertion. The exceptions should be SS and the paratroopers of both sides.
I suggest this for two reasons.
First, the trope that you see in movies where guys get the order, suck in their gut and bravely dig is not necessarily reality. On the US side at the start, you have a combination of troops who have just gotten into the front lines plus the Huertgen veterans who have been in the front lines too long. On the German side, setting aside their highly motivated troops, you have a lot of guys with 3-5 months experience, poor training and in many cases, little in the way of artillery and other forms of support. Having a generally distant commanding officer tell them to stand and die will not necessarily be the same as saying the same thing to, say, a group of Navy Seals. I think it would be wise for the game to consider this.
Second, the fight to the last man order can be used in very gamey ways. In game terms, There is virtually no downside to telling 30 rear area troops armed with bazookas and small anti tank guns to fight to the last man at a roadblock. Of course, the officer issuing such orders should, when he gets back into his jeep to drive away, ask himself what are the odds that anything like this will happen with the group at the roadblock. I don’t play PBEM games but I would think that those who do would see exactly what I mean. Basically, I think there should be some downside and risk to issuing fight to the last man orders.
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