Historical Realism

[harrybo]

Sounds good. I know you've got to be careful that random effects don't kill off the skill element. In the early days I think more use of that might be justified for the Soviets as the disorganisation wasn't just about reduced strength or lower movement ability, but just not knowing if orders got through, or if they did would they be acted on. Does the leader initiative affect all troops actions? Eg. in WIR, I think 'plotting' was affected, but marches and transfers weren't. I think it would add to the game if all were affected in some way.

More towns and cities to place troops in will help. A suggestion might be some sort of hybrid between 'Snow/Blizzard' and 'Rain' where you get a basic attrition effect even if you stand still (just not as bad as Blizzard is in WIR), but a heavy penalty if you try and move. This might make it less severe for Germans who 'dig in' even outside towns, but pretty disastrous for those that want to go places! This might replicate the theory that Hitler's 'stand or die' instruction in 41 arguably saved the Wehrmacht, as according to some it was the well-meant retreats ordered by the Generals that were really decimating the German troops.

[Helpless]

Does the leader initiative affect all troops actions?

Not all by quite many - movement, firepower, support units commitment, etc.

[IronDuke_slith]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

You can break all German and Finnish divisions down if you want to, but you're unlikely to want to as there are some disadvantages to doing so. Can't answer the artwork question yet as various artwork for the items is being done now. Guns, bombs are devices. Units are made up of elements each being a squad, guns or vehicle.

Where you break an armoured Division down into its component Regiments, does it break down into an armoured Regiment and 2 PzGr Regs or three hybrid Regs like (say) TOAWIII would?

Regards,
IronDuke

[Helpless]

Where you break an armoured Division down into its component Regiments, does it break down into an armoured Regiment and 2 PzGr Regs or three hybrid Regs like (say) TOAWIII would?

Hybrid Regs.

[IronDuke_slith]

ORIGINAL: Helpless

Where you break an armoured Division down into its component Regiments, does it break down into an armoured Regiment and 2 PzGr Regs or three hybrid Regs like (say) TOAWIII would?

Hybrid Regs.

A shame. I thought this was a weakness in TOAW since one of the reasons you might break down is to put the infantry into an urban area to defend and leave the Tanks in reserve since streets didn't agree with them.

Never mind.

Regards,
IronDuke

[hank]

I agree with IronDuke.  I wish TOAW allowed you to break Pz Divs into infantry regs and armored regs instead of the mixed arms units, but it doesn't.
 
Actually I think it would be best to have the option ... in some cases its best to keep them mixed ... in others its best to post your armor separate from your infantry (ID's example).  Give a player the option 
 
There are many cases where armor is not affective because of terrain ... with PzDiv hybrid units your forcing armor into hexes that may not be good and where infantry (PzGr's) are effective.  You may Have to occupy a hex with a PzDiv that's bad for armor.  Also, I would hope breaking a Div down in to Regs is not always a bad thing.  Why would it always be a bad thing or present a disadvantage to bread a Div down?

[IronDuke_slith]

ORIGINAL: hank

I agree with IronDuke.  I wish TOAW allowed you to break Pz Divs into infantry regs and armored regs instead of the mixed arms units, but it doesn't.

Actually I think it would be best to have the option ... in some cases its best to keep them mixed ... in others its best to post your armor separate from your infantry (ID's example).  Give a player the option 

There are many cases where armor is not affective because of terrain ... with PzDiv hybrid units your forcing armor into hexes that may not be good and where infantry (PzGr's) are effective.  You may Have to occupy a hex with a PzDiv that's bad for armor.  Also, I would hope breaking a Div down in to Regs is not always a bad thing.  Why would it always be a bad thing or present a disadvantage to bread a Div down?

I'd hope the penalties weren't too severe. The German Army had so many detached Regiments floating around at times that it would be difficult to see this as a real minus for them.

When I did the scenarios for Panzer Command: Kharkov, the OOBs were a real headache since the defending German forces seem to be a series of Regiments drawn from all sorts of places.

Regards,
IronDuke

[hank]

Is there any hope an option would be added to break down a division into hybrid units or actual historical regiments?
The more I thought about this the more historically accurate it would be to allow a generalized breakdown into regiments.  For example, the 2nd Pz Div (1943) was composed of the 3rd Pz Reg, 2nd PzGr Reg, 304 PzGr Reg, 74th Pz Arty, 2nd Motorcycle, 5th Pz Recce, 38th TD, 38th Pz Eng, and the 38th Pz Signal battalion.

It would take some research and decisions on how to allocate resources between 4 basic units, 1 Armor, 2 PzGr, and one HQ or Support unit that would include the artillery, Signal and other support.  Or you could just split all the arty and support units between 3 units.  I'm sure this is a pipe dream and may be too much work and research into the historical aspects of each division.

Being an amateur military historian I play these games for education and enjoyment. If you could break a div down into regiments you can get close to drilling down to units where the great warriors of WWII fought ... like in Barbarossa, Kurt Knisple, gunner, 29th Pz Reg, 12 Pz Div. ... or who everyone knows Wittmann ... and live through their victories and defeats

Just a thought.