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Fabs -> (6/28/2000 7:11:00 PM)
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Canadians, Poles, Aussies...
who was the bravest? A very difficult question.
The armies fielded by the British Empire and its Commonwealth/Dominions were vast and varied. There were variances even within Divisions according to what time of the war one is looking at. The 7th Armored Division was one thing in North Africa and something else in North West Europe.
This was due partly to the dramatic difference in the terrain and type of fighting and partly because the Division had been engaged longer than most other units, along with the 51st Highland Division (another subdued performer in Normandy) and the 50th Infantry division (fared rather better in Normandy, but had a role that was more centre stage).
Indian, South Africans, New Zealanders, Gurkhas, Scots (arguably different from English troops)and Irish all fought alongside the English, covering themselves with distinction and occasionally falling short of expectations.
In the Steel Panthers series there is a marked interest in all things German, with a resulting sharp focus on the different elements of the German Armed forces, but even here Victorhauser argued, IMO correctly, that too much emphasis was given to Waffen SS (and Fallschirmjaeger) and Wehrmacht elite units, which existed in abundance, (Grossdeutschland, Panzer Lehr and certain Panzer, Panzergrenadier and even Infanterie formations from time to time)do not get any attention.
I believe that within the scope allowed by game design constraints it is difficult to accomodate everyone's preferences and, sometimes, prejudices.
In the "Italian corner" for instance there is a strong body of opinion to the effect that Italian troops are very superficially represented as weak and brittle, where the reality at the tactical level was more complex.
I have always solved the problem by hacking into the variables to model the troops I wanted to behave differently to my taste.
This is laborious, but is the only way in which ultimately everyone can be pleased.
If one designs scenarios for one's own use it is necessary to make many changes to the standard units available to model more realistic situations.
Squads, platoons and companies were rarely homogenously at full strength. If you need to play around with the number of men, and sometimes the weaponry, take a little time to change units and leaders experience, morale and weapon skills values. You can achieve pretty much anything you like.
This is what I love about this game system.
I am not so sure about the behavioural characteristics that are coded into "country training" (in other words, will a high experience/morale Italian squad with a strong leader still rout more readily and perform more poorly than an equivalent German squad?). You can, of course, turn this off, but I am not sure that that would be altogether satisfactory.
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Fabs
[This message has been edited by Fabs (edited 06-28-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Fabs (edited 06-28-2000).]
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