Ok guys, I'm starting to become confused as to what are the problems both DOCUP and the TWITS of zuluhour see. I reporduce the last screen shot of the situation in the vicinity of Kukong.
ORIGINAL: DOCUP
1. Kukong has about 1600 Chinese AV present.
2. There are Japanese land forces located in the Kukong hex itself, and the hexes immediately to the NE and SE of Kukong. The size of those Japanese forces in all 3 hexes is not specified.
3. The Kukong hex has only 2 inner doors coloured green. One hexside coloured green is the SW hexside, the other is the NE.
4. If forced to retreat, the Kukong Chinese garrison has only one escape route viz., through the inner door of the SW hexside. The garrison will not retreat through the inner NE hexside because there is a Japanese force in the NE hex.
5. There is a Chinese relief force in the hex NW of Kukong.
6. Barring any Japanese moves, and the reproduced screen shot shows there are no Japanese moves in motion at the present, if a single Chinese unit moves through the outer door into Kukong, the Kukong garrison will acquire a more direct retreat path back to the main Chinese MLR.
Now it seems to me that DOCUP has raised a new question viz., whether the Kukong garrison should stay in situ or move out. My main confusion arises from his statement that when he moves a Chinese unit into a besieged position, it immediately gets kicked out.
This is how I would approach the situation.
(a) Currently the Kukong base will only receive supplies through the SW hexside. This is a long and inefficient route for supplies to get in, assuming there are any surplus supplies which can be automatically transported.
(b) By moving a single LCU from the relief column through the outer door, the supply path is considerably shortened. When that is accomplished, the Kukong base will receive any overland supplies automatically through the NW hexside. This also opens up the NW hexside for retreat if it becomes necessary for the Kukong garrison.
(c) The single LCU moved through the outer door will not be kicked out by a Japanese attack at Kukong. Upon arrival at Kukong, the unit immediately assumes the base fortification level. It will only be forced to retreat if all the other units present at Kukong are also simultaneously forced to retreat and the base itself is captured by Japan.
(d) In a perfect world, all of the relief column, excepting the one unit sent to Kukong via the outer door, would march due east to pin the Japanese forces in the Kukong NE hex from moving due west. It is not immediately obvious to me that once the relief column arrived in the eastern hex, the Japanese forces currently in that hex would be sufficiently strong to immediately eject the newly arrived Chinese.
Doing all this gives you the option to remain in Kukong. Whether you should remain depends largely on the undisclosed strength of the besieging Japanese force. However if you do not open a better supply route into Kukong (which can double up as a retreat path too), then the question of a voluntary withdrawal from Kukong before you are forcefully ejected becomes a valid question.
Alfred
