Do's and don'ts of rest and refit and training

[jjdenver]

There was a thread a week or so ago that mentioned a few tidbits. But what should be known about resting and refitting and training units?

Should they be X hexes away from enemy units?

On a railhead?

Within 5 of HQ?

In a city?

Anything else?

[ComradeP]

Good:

-Refitting important units. Not all units need to have close to 100% TOE strength, but your spearhead and assault units do. Units in quiet sectors shouldn't generally be refitting, unless you moved a unit to a quiet sector so that it can refit/recover.
-Keeping an eye on production, so you get a realistic idea of how many units could successfully refit each turn.
-Refitting on or near rail lines/urban areas linked to the rail network.

Bad:

-Expecting that units will quickly refit at the frontline in mud, snow or blizzard conditions.
-Placing too many units on refit, where "too many" depends on how much manpower gets added to the pool and on equipment production. With the minimal AFV and motorized squad production early on, placing more than 2 Panzer/motorized divisions on refit is a bad idea for the Axis.
-Placing units that don't really need it on refit. Units that depend mostly on infantry should not normally be refitting when they have a TOE of 75% or higher, as they're still effective. Tank heavy units such as Tank corps are very fragile, so they might need to refit even at 75%.
-Failing to balance refitting of arriving units and frontline units on refit as the Soviets. Many Soviet reinforcement divisions arrive as shells. I'd advise refitting them for one turn, which will usually make them unready, and then guide them to a staging area near the frontline first. By the time they get there (it takes 2-3 turns), many should be close to ready status.

[jjdenver]

Ok, my original question wasn't actually about the "refit" setting in the game, but more about how to handle units that come on as inexperienced shell units, or have taken heavy combat damage (routed, etc). Maybe there is a different way to handle each category (inexperienced/under-strength vs routed).

I guess the way to handle them is put them to "refit" setting if you think you can support that based on production, move them onto a rail line, and how many hexes behind the line? Another thread said something about being X hexes behind the lines giving some sort of help/bonus. Also does it matter if they move? Or should they sit in place to get the most experience/damage repair?

[Flaviusx]

5+ hexes from the front on a rail line is good enough to flesh out a newly arrived depleted unit in one turn, if replacements allow. The unit may still not be combat ready, however, even with the replacements, on the following turn.

You can move the shells around on the turn they arrive without any issues. The main thing is that they end up in a good place, i.e., on a rail line some distance from the front.

[karonagames]

I don't wish to contradict my esteemed colleague, but I believe that if a unit is 10 or more hexes from an enemy unit, and it is in refit mode, it gets an extra morale boost or rather, stands a better chance of increasing morale.

9.1.1 page 164.

[Flaviusx]

Well, the morale boost is a different issue. Frankly, I'm not that keen on leaving reinforcements that far away from the front in 1941. I prefer to send them to a place where they can get to full TOE in short order and be available for commitment to battle. If you want to train them up you'll have to pull them further in the rear, yes. But I tend not to do this until the rasputitsa arrives and things settle down.

[karonagames]

Again, another example of different styles of play. You use Leadership and combat experience to get combat effectiveness increased, and I use training in the rear. I dig defences in the rear, you throw everything forward.

[Flaviusx]

Indeed. I lean very heavily on the leadership here to get them battle ready during the summer crisis. They don't need to be amazing, just ready.

That said, there's good reason to form deep reserves once the mud hits and the front starts to stabilize and get those trained up. You'll need to feed those into the blizzard offensive.

[jjdenver]

Thanks for all the comments.

I guess there are two things being discussed: philosophy for how to handle refit/reinforce/training/build-up, and the mechanics of it. I'm interested in both but I want to be sure primarily that I understand the mechanics.

So from this thread I gather the following conclusions about mechanics (not philosophy) so far - can someone let me know if any are wrong? I'm going to use the word "build-up" for simplicity to cover training, replacement of combat losses, filling up to TOE original shell units - all of that.

1) build-up 10+ hexes from the front for best results
2) build-up on a rail line for best results
3) movement while building up has no effect. Using zero MP's or all MP's makes no difference - just end turn on a rail and 10+ hexes away (see (1) and (2) above)
4) Set unit to "refit" mode to most quickly fill out its TOE

Anything I'm missing?

[Flaviusx]

That's it in a nutshell.

[Swayin]

At least in '41-'42, I like to move my shells to the Moscow area while they are still assigned to STAVKA. there they can build up manpower and supplies near their HQ, remain on the rail net, and also do a little digging while they're there.