Questions Regarding Firing and Assault Resolution

[James Ward]

I use to never assault undisrupted units but now I occasionally will, particularly if it is infantry assaulting armour in non-clear terrain.
A lot of times you pretty much have no chance of causing casualities by firing but you may take out a few vehicles in the assault and if you get lucky you might get a disruption too.

[Mr Grumpy]

I was playing a small S43 scenario, i had a German company (180 men) of A quality Pz Gren (on foot) defending a rough hex which was also the highest point on the whole map, my opponent tried to disrupt my unit with arty and direct fire but with no success, with turns running out i thought i was totally secure until maybe out of desperation he assaulted my unit with about 1200 B quality Canadians, i held the hex but lost 60 men (to his 30) and gained a massive amount of fatigue, the next turn his assault succeeded again with minimal casualties.

So there is a rare example of a assault that succeeded (in two attempts) without a disruption shot, for me the critical factors were the odds 6.5/1 and the B quality of the assaulter's which overcame the factors in my favour being the A quality of my unit and the fact my unit defended at its full assault value.

(Reading through the assault rules again the height advantage has no effect of assault resolution that i can find.)

[Gordons HQ]

I just thought I would add some of my observations here from playing the game.
I often assualt without the enemy being disrupted especially when playing as the Russians.
They quite often seem to be facing small German units in bunkers or vehicles of some discription and are unable to fire at 1 hex range. But if you assualt these units with a reasonably large force it often seems to work. Sometimes you have to assualt with several units seperately, but in the end they generally seem to succeed.
So I hope that may help you a little get over the maths of it all, as like the others I don't understand any of that either, I just haven't a clue.

Cheers,
Gordon

[Glenn Saunders]

So I hope that may help you a little get over the maths of it all, as like the others I don't understand any of that either, I just haven't a clue.

Right - but you do have a clue about when to assault and when to hold and fire. It just isn't a decision based on math.

Another thing is as the combat of assault is deemed to occur all in teh same hex, the terrain effect and IP\Trench modifier is nullified. so rather than stand back and fire at a unit in a Trench in a Town which combined might have a High - fire modifier, it is often to just better to assault and get it over with. But maybe not at night because of higher Fatigue.

Also - Guns can't retreat, so if the defender is guns you may bag more than you bargain for if you act aggressively.

Bottomline - play the AI and setup some tests to get the feel with FOW and ON MAP results OFF so you can see the numbers. You won't see these in PBEM but it will help you get the hang of it.

But whatever you do, don't sweat the math - let the PC do that for you.

Glenn

[Dog Soldier]

GHQ's advice on the Russians is spot on. Simple orders.... close with and kill the enemy

Look at the difference in Russian assault values and direct fire values. Generally 10 for SA while 14 for assault. That is a 40% increase in effectiveness to assault!

Assaults in PzC are not bayonet charges for those reading this thread that are new to the system. Assaults are close combat with firepower and grenades. Now go back and look again at those SMG units in the VM _alt scenarios. AS Ed has said before, do not waste those guys exposed to enemy fire. Pounce with them in assault.

Dog Soldier