Froonp
Posts: 7995
Joined: 10/21/2003 From: Marseilles, France Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: c92nichj With this setup you will not get the important forest hex in the southwest. You also only have two stacks to bring aginst the 5-3 making a breakthrough less certain. and even if you get a breakthrough, your units are vulnerable against a counter attack SW of brussels with four stacks against you. Good setup indeed. I've talked without looking at the map, and would not have thought of something so crafty. But after the first thought, I think that even this interesting setup will be defeated quickly. Antwerp falls in a split second, without needing ground strikes. Brussels falls in a split second too, without needing ground strikes. The DIV in the forest in SE Belgium is crushed, without needing ground strikes neither. Now for the 5-3, it is ground struck with at least 2 stukas maybe 3, flipped, and blitzed with the 2 better German armored stacks. The better stacks achievable by Germany for the time is around 18 combat points to a stack, makin 36 points, with 5 armored units (4 corps and the div). 36 versus 5 means rougthly +14, plus the ARM bonus, this reach +19, plus the flipped bonus, this makes +21, so the Breakthrough is assured. A 18-strength German (all armored with the Panzerjaeger) breaktrough to the hex SW of Brussels. It is subject to counter attack, but if the French advance, and fail their attack (wich is the most likely against an all armored stack with plenty of ground support - roughly 4 x 15 attacking vs. 25-30 defending (counting GS), which translate to around +4/+6, minus 5 for the German ARMs & TD, + 2 for the French ARM.... well... a +3 assault at most), they risk being disrupted in an incomfortable situation (with a saliant W of Brussels). The German following impulse might really break the French. Moreover, this oblige the French to align Belgium, otherwise they won't be able to stack with the Belgium DIV surviving in the forest. Which means that when Vichy is declared, Belgian Congo may become Vichy, denying the bit of inland route for the resources from South Africa which allow for a shorter sea route. For me it is too much constraints for no or little gains. I'd even say that the setup with corps only is better to defend, because Antwerp & Brussels are not sure to fall both on 1st Impulse, they will drain at least 1 Ground Strike each, leaving less for the rest. Next, if the Germans want to breakthrough to the forest SW hex, they will be flipped and will need an HQ nearby to reorganize them. So the "corps only setup" drains at least 3 GS, maybe 4, and 1 HQ from the Germans. The "DIV setup" drains 2-3 GS and no HQ for quite the same result because the forested SW hex will soon fall to the 3 Germans stacks around. However Steve decided, with reasons, not to allow the Minor Countries to breakdown their corps. With reasons because it is right that with only 1 DIV in their WiF FE oob, they are not able to do a breakdown (Talking about Turkey, Poland & Spain). I was just discussing the case, for the sake of discussing
< Message edited by Froonp -- 9/12/2005 4:59:31 PM >
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