ORIGINAL: ravinhood
Hrmmm, yeah didn't think of that, building a pontoon bridge could take "hours" right?
What about maybe with some link to the campaign in that same day like Stridor said could happen? Thus the initial battle is to give the engineers time to build the bridge, but, of course there could still be action trying to prevent them from doing so throughout the campaign???
Having been a combat engineer, in an armored division, I can shed some light on the activities engineers preform and the time tables for a tactical level game.
Engineer Construction Tasks:
Bridges:
It takes hours to build any kind of a bridge. In the first place the bridging equipment has to be in the right spot at the right time. Sometimes it was. In a battle where you were going to simulate that it would be.
The larger the traffic for the bridge the longer it takes. Even an infantry foot bridge takes hours to construct under normal circumstances. Meaning a Divisional Engineer unit and not being backed up by Corps or Army level units.
Minefields:
It takes hours to put in or breach minefields. Not a hasty 5 mine field, but any deliberate field will take ALOT of time.
Most engineer actions take place between friendly and enemy lines. Minefields are no exception. They are full of explosives and often have antihandling devices attached. You don't place or remove them quickly.
Think about laying on your stomach and probing the ground gently with a probe of some kind and hoping that your actions don't explode a mine in your face.
Wire Fence:
Wire fence is a bit different. Still normally placed between the two forces but can be put up much quicker because it isn't loaded with explosives. The construction of even a small amount of wire fence would take in the range of hours though. It is usually put up in sections over a number of nights.
Abatis:
The use of trees to obstruct a road can be done within a span of a few minutes if the explosives are on hand. There is a preferred way to do it that takes a bit of time. But to just blow trees down in the road would no less than slow tanks. That could be done with any engineer unit in an forest area in minutes.
Antitank ditches.
Antitank ditches take days and weeks to construct. They were very hard to make in WWII. Even today can take alot of time for a divisional sized unit to create.
Engineer Demolition Tasks:
Blowing up bridges that haven't been prepared is as difficult as the construction of the bridge. If they are made of wood they are easy and could be done in a few minutes. If they are a class 60 stone bridge...meaning it would support a King Tiger they are going to take hours.
Breaching minefields. Hasty minefields, those with just a few mines and primarily laid on the top of the ground a few minutes. A deliberate minefield where they have been placed in the ground and camouflaged more than an hour...probably much more than an hour.
Breaching wire obstacles. With engineer units with demolition capability not hard. Tracked vehicles would also breach wire obstacles with little problems except taking the chance of fouling the wire in the tracks.
Breaching abatis/road blocks. Very time consuming. Sometimes tanks would fire to remove road blocks. But they pretty much won't remove trees from the road. Only lots of manpower and time will do that. Depending on the number of trees you can easily figure half an hour per tree at best.
River Assault:
Very little time prepare and only the boats need to be present.
As you said RH some of these could be available in battles and all could very likely be available for campaigns.
Good Hunting.
MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.
Founder of HSG scenario design group for Combat Mission.
Panzer Command Ostfront Development Team.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Development Team.
