Matrix Games Forums

Playing as the Axis...is there a way to ascertain the strength of a unit before engaging in combat? I understand the 2=2 thing...but I'm often perplexed when some seemingly strong units route...and other apparently weak units hold.

In my experience, Rifle Divisions are the ones you have to be careful of. Anything else is pretty easy to knock around as long as you have a 2-3 times greater displayed CV. In particular, cavalry and tank/motorized soviet divisions tend to suck and get retreated/routed easily. Airborne brigades are the same story. But Rifle Divs can be misleading, I usually try to make sure I have at least 3x the displayed CV for a deliberate attack, and 5x for a hasty attack. Otherwise, they are likely to hold, especially with forts at 2 or higher.

There is a battle tactics guide in the manual on Page 302, that tries to explain that the numbers on the counters are only guidelines, and gives a couple of ideas on how to deal with the variance in CVs on both sides. But, even with all this, you will see "freak" results. They do happen for both sides, and they do even out over the course of a long game.

It is, for me, one of the best features of the game - it adds to the excitement and sense of risk, generally creating an effective simulation of the uncertainty of warfare from the commander's position. Just playing at the moment (my first PBEM, me as Axis, grand campaign) and have already, in turn 2, had one very nasty rebuff from an allegedly weak division that almost derailed the entire operational plan for AGS (and may well still do, depending on the defensive response) but have also had one delightful success in which an apparently strong division melted into air and enabled me to pose a serious question to the defenders at the Dnepr on turn 2. Sure most games have some random element in combat but often it can be rendered less relevant by gaming the simulation. WITE's seems to me to be much more 'random' in its results but probably based on much better logic underneath.