Some Questions Help ?

[DBeves]

I love what Frank has done with this game - very slick design ... shame about the manual ..

To my point ...

Are you required to activate units to move into enemy CONTROLLED hexes or just enemy occupied hexes ? I an unable for example to move austrian units into russian territory at the start of the game - (not those actually occupied by russian forces) unless those units are activated ...

Surely this makes the manual comments about the use of cavalry (which I presume were very cleverly designed to show their role as recon troops) null and void as they then can ONLY move into friendly controlled hexes unless they are accompanied by infantry whether they are activated or not ...

Why do artillery units not get activated - are they not allowed under any circumstances to move into enemy controlled or occupied hexes ? I have no problem with this as I could see resons for it either way but the manual says nothing about this and quite clearly from my reading says they can be activated ..

Praying for a manual re-write ...

[Hanal]

You cannot advance into an enemy controlled hex, even if empty, unless the unit has been activated by an HQ ...So you need to place your HQ's in the most advantageous positions so they can activate as many unit occupied hexes as possible...

[*Lava*]

And..

Cavalry can move into enemy territory without being activated so long as they start with an infantry unit in the same hex and do not try to move into rough terrain or cities.

Ray (alias Lava)

[DBeves]

ORIGINAL: Lava

And..

Cavalry can move into enemy territory without being activated so long as they start with an infantry unit in the same hex and do not try to move into rough terrain or cities.

Ray (alias Lava)

So is that an activated infantry unit or just any old unit ?

You know - I got it all when I thought it was offensives were required to move into enemy OCCUPIED hexes and the way I understood the rules - now, none of this actually makes any sense ... I can see for example why a Cav unit should not be able to move alone into an enemy OCCUPIED hex and doesn't require activation - but I dont really undrstand why merely starting out in a hex occupied by a friendly unit should make any difference to its ability to move into an empty enemy controlled hex.

I presumed offensives represented a kind of Attack supply - expended only during armed combat - cant see why that affects moving into empty hexes - refits do seem a little expensive just to represent command and control only ... hope frank pops in to explain the rationale behind all this as I'm confused now ... still doesn't explain the artillery bit ..

[SMK-at-work]

any old infantry will do - so yes it allows you to slowly move through enemy terrain using Cavalry to advance into a hex, then bringing the infantry up next move, then repeating the move after that.

[DBeves]

ORIGINAL: DBeves

ORIGINAL: Lava

And..

Cavalry can move into enemy territory without being activated so long as they start with an infantry unit in the same hex and do not try to move into rough terrain or cities.

Ray (alias Lava)

So is that an activated infantry unit or just any old unit ?

You know - I got it all when I thought it was offensives were required to move into enemy OCCUPIED hexes and the way I understood the rules - now, none of this actually makes any sense ... I can see for example why a Cav unit should not be able to move alone into an enemy OCCUPIED hex and doesn't require activation - but I dont really undrstand why merely starting out in a hex occupied by a friendly unit should make any difference to its ability to move into an empty enemy controlled hex.

I presumed offensives represented a kind of Attack supply - expended only during armed combat - cant see why that affects moving into empty hexes - refits do seem a little expensive just to represent command and control only ... hope frank pops in to explain the rationale behind all this as I'm confused now ... still doesn't explain the artillery bit ..

Although no ...

Offensives represent supplying units in hostile terrain and all that goes with offensive operations ... artillery can only move into friendly occupied hexes to represent their support nature ... cavalry can move from a hex that has friendly forces into an unoccupied hex in enemy terrain as it represents their screening base of operations ... have I answered my own question ?

[SMK-at-work]

Yes you have
 
Even advancing into nearly empty areas could "cost" a lot - the German army was almost exhausted by the battle of the Marne in 1914 with its boots worn out, and the Russians managed to advance into East Prussia only with some confusion and massive effort....and that was not jsut because they were Rusian - their organisations were pretty typical of the time and there was nothing particularly wrong with their troops in 1914.