morganbj
Posts: 3634
Joined: 8/12/2007
From: Mosquito Bite, Texas
Status: offline
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That's true. But that's the gamble. Remember, the surrounded unit will seldom be able to turn 180 degrees and attack with full force. Instead, division trains, headquarters and so forth will retreat first. They're easy meat. They'll wait for help before pressing the issue, if, of course, they have no security forces with them. They probably won't unless they suspect you're there. When combat units begin to arrive to clear the escape route sometime later, they will typically arrive piecemeal. If you put up a stout enough defense, causing confusion, and not giving away too much of your dispositions and strength, they'll think you're a little larger than you are and will try to develop the situation some, while waiting for more combat units to arrive to help. Of course, if you do this badly, the security forces will just push you out of the way. You're dead.
Now, IF the main attack is aggressive enough, units trying to disengage and retreat can not afford to release too many combat units to clear the escape route very easily. And, that is once they know they need to. If the surrounded unit's cohesion starts to break down, then they will be the one to "evaporate" in TOAW terms. Remember, when a unit evaporates it is not necessarily 100% gone, it's merely 100% combat ineffective. (And I don't want to argue the point that their men and equipment don't hit the replacement pools. That's just an abstract way to account for scattered men and equipment after combat. It's an "on average" way of dealing with combat losses.)
The problem is that if the main attack is not agressive enough, your enveloping units will be toast, and quickly. Things have to go very, very well to pull it off, but it can be done.
In reality, as I said before, it may work that way once in ten. It all depends on who you're against, how well trained they are, their current mental state, the effectiveness of their leadeship, the available terrain that can multiply your force, and your own ability to sustain the defense. A lot of other things, too. A version of this was effectively used in the Gulf War. Yes, the units were a little larger, but there were many very light units in blocking positions, helping to cause chaos and confusion. They did. They played their part in causing the Iraqi army to "evaporate."
The point is, that it is NOT impossible, so it can't always be considered gamey. I do agree that it's a little gamey, only because it's GOING to work in TOAW; it might not in reality. If someone were to do it once in a game, I'd say it's just that well-planned surprise operation that veterans write books about. If someone uses it twenty times in a game, I'd call them a cheaten' son-of-a-<expletive deleted>.
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