Limited overseas supply

[juntoalmar]

Hi all,

So... we have started a Global War PBEM. We are both kind of rookies but I thought that "Limited overseas supply" would be a nice addition to the basic rules without adding too much complication. I always thought that the Afrika Korps being on supply on North Africa without having to fight through the Mediterranean was kind of awkward.

We are commenting the game on a wargames forum (in Spanish) and some people have argued that this rule is very disadvantageous to Allies (CW and USA). I am playing Axis here and I don't want to unbalance the game.

What do you guys think of this optional rule?

a) Does it unbalance the game to one side too much?

b) Is it a nice addition to the strategy of the game, or just adds an extra headache with no fun attached to it?

Thanks in advance

[AlbertN]

I personally find that optional a must.

Long in short - without it, it is extremely easy to keep something oversea in supply.
An airplane in a sea box can make it - just an airplane supplying a lot of units.

Without that Optional Rule, W.Allies can pratically land anywhere not fearing much a horde of Axis NAVs for example; or it would be very hard to cut the supply to Japanese island perimeter.

With that rule the need of a convoy or a TRS / AMPH is required at sea. Still one can supply a lot of units nonetheless - a limited amount. But it's something.
Convoys give a +X to the search roll of the opponent in non Storm weather and TRS / AMPH often are not that abundant.

I dare say to -NOT- use that optional, it will in the end umbalance the game way too much in favor to the W.Allies. (The US can skip many small isles of Japan or seize them even when in supply).

[paulderynck]

Mainly I agree with Cohen. If anyone is disadvantaged, it may be Italy because it is much harder for the Axis to keep North Africa in supply. But that is balanced by the extra difficulty the CW has keeping the mid-East in supply once Japan is in the war.

Originally my group played a few games with basic supply, but once we switched to LOS, we never went back.

[Centuur]

I'm opposed to using this rule. It simply doesn't fit the way it is written. 1 CP can put supply to millions of soldiers as to only a division of 10.000 soldiers. That's beyond believe. A division on an Island could survive of only 10.000 tons of goods (i.e. two to three merchant ships in WWII) for two months and even longer if the division isn't fighting during those months. A convoy point represents about 10 times that number of ships... On the other end, if the Allies have 30-40 corps and planes in France, that one CP keeps supply to that, which is just as questionable...

I believe this rule favours the Allies, since CP can only be put into the 0 box and are always vulnerable to attack. If you use this rule, IMHO, you should not play with the light cruisers, making things for the Allies a little more difficult to attack convoys.

The CW can and should build at least 2 - 4 convoy points a turn anyway. Supply to the Middle East by the CW comes out of India with convoys not in the Med, so the CW convoys can't be attacked. Supply for Italy has to cross the Med and can be attacked each turn by the CW and with only 6 Italian convoy points in the game, things are very, very bad for Italy, which tend to lose a lot of naval units, protecting those convoys.

The same also applies to Japan when at war with the Wallies. I therefore never play with this optional rule.

[paulderynck]

Well, IMO no one should ever play with CLs unless you want to hugely imbalance the game in favor of the Allies anyway. The Axis may as well forget about a BoA and with CLs and basic supply, the Allies will have 30 or so free extra units they can essentially throw away to maintain supply, if they want.

And 1 CP is unrealistic to supply five armies? Whereas with the basic supply rule, a squadron of Naval Air Bombers is? Or one CL is? Huh? A CP at least represents some amount of merchant shipping and you need a chain of them, so the longer the chain, the more tonnage of merchant shipping is represented. Meanwhile with basic supply what is needed in sea zones where there are no enemy surface or Navs? Bupkis, that's what. Obviously the realism here is that the home country turns out the schoolkids every weekend to stuff all the overseas' armies' supplies into bottles which are then cast into the sea so that friendly sea currents can serendipitously deliver them.

A CP gives a search bonus and in heavily contested waters it's a big mistake to rely on a CP for supply, you need a TRS or AMPH up in a higher box with escorts and air cover. BTW why are CW CPs in the Med invulnerable but Italian ones are? Isn't Italy allowed to attack CW shipping in the Med in your games?

[AlbertN]

BTW why are CW CPs in the Med invulnerable but Italian ones are? Isn't Italy allowed to attack CW shipping in the Med in your games?

Well ... CW can supply Egypt via around the Cape. The only real place that needs supply is Malta - unless they go as expeditionary forces in Greece and whatnot.

Italy struggles and in fact I feel it should start with way more CPs than 6.

[paulderynck]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

BTW why are CW CPs in the Med invulnerable but Italian ones are? Isn't Italy allowed to attack CW shipping in the Med in your games?

Well ... CW can supply Egypt via around the Cape. The only real place that needs supply is Malta - unless they go as expeditionary forces in Greece and whatnot.

Which is precisely why I said the CW troubles in the mid-east don't start until they are at war with Japan. (And the supply path from India is superior to the one from South Africa.)

[Joseignacio]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

BTW why are CW CPs in the Med invulnerable but Italian ones are? Isn't Italy allowed to attack CW shipping in the Med in your games?

Well ... CW can supply Egypt via around the Cape. The only real place that needs supply is Malta - unless they go as expeditionary forces in Greece and whatnot.

Italy struggles and in fact I feel it should start with way more CPs than 6.

That's not true if you play a complete campaign. It's pretty frequent that a combined JAP and IT effort unsupplies all the Northern Africa and Middle East allies.

[Joseignacio]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

ORIGINAL: Cohen

BTW why are CW CPs in the Med invulnerable but Italian ones are? Isn't Italy allowed to attack CW shipping in the Med in your games?

Well ... CW can supply Egypt via around the Cape. The only real place that needs supply is Malta - unless they go as expeditionary forces in Greece and whatnot.

Which is precisely why I said the CW troubles in the mid-east don't start until they are at war with Japan. (And the supply path from India is superior to the one from South Africa.)

That's it.