Unbelievable Japanese escape at Sian

[matt.buttsworth]

Hello
I had a large Japanese army surrounded at Sian.
The city was occupied with another layer of Chinese troops to the south. These units had come from the East. The Japanese troops had marched north into Sian and were surrounded.
They were soon to be destroyed.
One Japanese unit - a tank regiment appeared in the surrounding troops - I had four divisions - and I spent one turn bombarding it to see what it was.
Next turn I shock attacked.
But then - bloody hell - the entire Japanese army escaped southwards from the contested city of Sian to the blocking layer of troops to the south.
They can now escape.
How the hell was this possible? It completelely destroyed my plans. I did not know surrounded troops could escape from one contested square into another.
If I had known this rule I would have shock attacked last turn!

Bloody hell.

Please advise.

Matthew Buttsworth

[DuckofTindalos]

Here's some advice: stop starting two threads every time you have a problem. It's spamming.

[matt.buttsworth]

Ok
But Terminus, can you offer any advice on hte problem?
How could I have stopped the escape?
In WITP they could not have escaped.

[Mistmatz]

In AE it's about hexside control. To definately pin a unit in one hex you need to cross all hexsides of that hex with your units.
Check the red/green lines in the hexside control view (I believe it's the 'a' key) to see who can use which path.

[matt.buttsworth]

Thanks, I will check that in the morning.

Matthew

[Grollub]

To check ownership of the hexsides, you use the "W" key, not the "A" (That one brings up the air units).

I'll give you an example from how this works from one of my ongoing games;

Here's a situation just NE of Sian in China. In the SW contested hex the Jap player attacked over the river into my prepared defenses. He didn't succeed. Since he entered from the NE, he owned the NE hexside and could use that as a retreat route. However, I moved one chinese unit in behind him, and then entered the hex the same way he did. This gave me ownership of the last hexside and also cut him off from any retreat. The only way he can bring some relief is by entering the same hex again, but as you can see, I'm ready to perform the same manuever again if he tries that. [:D]

[matt.buttsworth]

Thanks,
The explanation was needed and gratefully accepted.
Key W.

MB

[USSAmerica]

Great job, Per!  

[findmeifyoucan]

So in the case where All hexsides are controlled by allies can the Japanese not retreat to an unoccupied adjacent hex?

[Grollub]

Thanks Mike, I hope to get rid of the 2 divs & 2 Indep Bdes' in the pocket soon. Softening up has gone on for a while and the assaults will commence the upcoming turn. Given how hard the jap player has had it trying to dislodge me from similar postitions, I expect this to take a while. His relief force is on the way from further E, but I hope to be finished before they arrive. Even if I don't manage to kill the jap stack in its entirety, I will surely hurt him and gain some CHN experience on the way. [;)][8D]

Findmeifyoucan: As I have understood it, yes. Guess I will know for sure soon.