Special Supply (again, aaghhh)

[alfonso]

I have a question to all WIR players. According to the house rules, one cannot change the HQ twice in the same turn. This is to avoid the use of HQ "mules", and this topic has been discussed a lot of times. I only change HQ before Special Supply, but never after it. So, my armies/corps suffer the penalty of being under the control a HQ with few OP points (and therefore I seldom use Special Supply). However, one can "specialsupply" a Korps, then change the HQ, (and bring a great leader to the new HQ), and according to the rule this is OK, because there is only one change. However, the Korps benefits from receiving Special Supply but then fights under the command of a good leader with plenty of OP points.
I find the way I play more natural, because it seems a little bit strange to me that a HQ makes an effort to supply its forces only to transfer them to another general. But perhaps this is too strict and this confers less flexibility to my play. So, the question is, what is your use of Special Supply?. Am I alone?.

[K62_]

Well, under the current house rules one feels forced to special supply then change HQ, since it is allowed and the opponent most likely does the same. I would personally like to play with a house rule that said no special supply .

I don't know what the hell it simulates. It's a hassle to use, you always have to check that the HQ is in range, to calculate and see you have enough OP's for it etc.

Also it can lead to ridiculous situations such as the Germans in '45 with the oil down under 10 and the entire line on the Oder at 99% because of special supply! What are they doing, sending the generals to dig for oil?

[Mikser]

Originally posted by K62
Also it can lead to ridiculous situations such the Germans in '45 with the oil down under 10 and the entire line on the Oder at 99% because of special supply! What are they doing, sending the generals to dig for oil? Absurd!

I'm not quite sure I understand this passage. Couldn't this be interpreted as that despite the terrible overall supply situation, fuel, ammo and such (=OPs) have been stockpiled as reserves over time into some HQs and they are using just that to temporarily boost effectiveness, without likely being able to do so again since the OP level raises now abysmally slowly due to the minimal oil level(<10)?
Seems somewhat reasonable for me, assuming the HQs do NOT regain OP points fast enough/almost at all at such low oil levels.
I don't know unfortunately how it really reflects in the game, as I've never witnessed a game with such an abysmal oil situation.
On the other hand, now that I think about, special supply has limitations (once per HQ) probably to prevent just such a situation, and as such it reeks distinctly 'gamey'.

[K62_]

Originally posted by Mikser

I don't know unfortunately how it really reflects in the game, as I've never witnessed a game with such an abysmal oil situation.

Really? How about your signature?:D :p

[MikeB]

As said previously, special supply sort of takes care of itself with limitation of overall army supply. Admittedly, i do not know impact of fighting with a low ops HQ...so my comments are somewhat as limited.

I tend to put most korps to a "combat" HQ. Logistics HQ are simply to provide special supply.

As such, i ignore any house rule of this nature. It doesn't sound real to me. Use your supply to boost your troops...but then hurt your command(SOMEHOW) when making the attack. Wierd.

If you insist on this house rule, what about special supply one korps, move a division of this supplied korps to another korps, then resupply the new korps. The moved division gets double supply! Great.

Remember though that once moved...or a division is moved to a korps, one CANNOT again change the HQ commanding it. This can cause risk taking...which cost me Kiev in my last game as a Russian.

To my knowledge, the only way to move Russian units out of harms way in 41 campaign is to special supply them! It would be a disaster for the Russians if special supply were not allowed.

Also, does the German really want his meagre number of fighters dispersed in front line supplying HQ ?

Special Supply is a MUST in my games. My latest game has gone as far as allowing the Russians to save twice per turn from Aug 10, 41 through Sept/Oct? 30 41....so as in order to use special supply. I seem to have a good game going @ Mar 42.(Mike German, Kerry - Russian).

[czerpak]

IMHO if player uses SS he shouldnt be allowed to change HQ. If you want Special Supply pay the cost. Otherwise it is another version of HQ mules.

[CRAZY_HORSE007]

Originally posted by MikeB


To my knowledge, the only way to move Russian units out of harms way in 41 campaign is to special supply them! It would be a disaster for the Russians if special supply were not allowed.

Not sure about that, for the first turn I use the 5000 railpoints to move menaced infantry on rail line and then transfert them away from Panzers and then I move all remaining infantry and Tank armies with move order as far as I can.

You just have to change the parent HQ of your moving unit in order to keep enough pp avoiding attrition loss.

And always let unit in range of panzers with good Supplied HQ.

With this tactic I save nearly the whole army.

Personnaly as Russian I never use special supply, I achieve better result with units good supplied than with renforced unit with special supply.

Marc

[Svar]

Special supply is a mechanism to allocate resources to the most active units. Right now OPs are sent to HQs based on the the supply level of the HQ and the replacement level set for that HQ but there is no provision to priortize supply to rapidly advancing units like Patton on the Western Front. OPs represent more that just supply so it is not perfect but it gets the job done. HQs that fight with low OPs pay a penality in readiness so be carefull when using special supply. BTW the AI will use special supply even if you don't so don't be afraid to use it. For HTH games whatever the players agree upon should suffice. It is very easy to abuse special supply, use all your reserve of OPs, and suffer low OP replacement for many turns to come.

[Ed Cogburn]

Originally posted by MikeB
As such, i ignore any house rule of this nature. It doesn't sound real to me. Use your supply to boost your troops...but then hurt your command(SOMEHOW) when making the attack. Wierd.

Gary Grigsby said he should have split SS into its important parts, so if there is a WIR-IV we won't see SS like we have now. However for WIR-III you must realize SS is also logistical infrastructure and command and control, kind of like "action points" in other games, an indifcator of much actiivity a unit can perform in a turn. When you realize SS is more than just physical supplies, using 2 HQs for one unit is what is weird, because swapping a unit between different commands holds no advantage whatsoever, its a disadvantage.