Night Turns -- Call for best Practices

[redboot]

I'm curious how conservative or not players are in night turns and what makes players decide whether to be aggressive or passive at night.  I have noticed widely disparate approaches.  A few principles I have come to on my own may or may not be sound:

1.  Avoid assaults unless timing is crucial or (to a lesser extent) you are trying to reduce a disrupted stack.

2.  If on the front lines, assume your opponent will fire on you to reduce your chance of recovery and fire first (thereby minimizing your recovery but causing some damage and fatigue). 

3.  Pull tired units out of the line at dusk to maximize their recovery at night.

4.  However pulling back at dusk when on the attack to rest is often ill advised lest your opponent take advantage by stealing back that hard-won kilometer.  Tough choice here sometimes. 

5.  Tend to err on the side of conservatism in longer scenarios when fresh troops in the end game could be crucial. 

Thoughts?

Regards, redboot.

[JDR Dragoon]

-Units in Travel or Rail mode are immune to interdiction during night turns (this goes for Modern Campaigns as well, as little sense as that might make).

-Units equipped with Thermal Sights gets a 50% bonus on attacks and a 50% discount on attacks directed against them (this goes for all fire directed by or at maximum visibility by TI equipped units, but during Night Turns this bonus is always applicable, since maximum visibility during night turns is always 1).

[Kool Kat]

I'm curious how conservative or not players are in night turns and what makes players decide whether to be aggressive or passive at night.  I have noticed widely disparate approaches.  A few principles I have come to on my own may or may not be sound:

1.  Avoid assaults unless timing is crucial or (to a lesser extent) you are trying to reduce a disrupted stack.

2.  If on the front lines, assume your opponent will fire on you to reduce your chance of recovery and fire first (thereby minimizing your recovery but causing some damage and fatigue). 

3.  Pull tired units out of the line at dusk to maximize their recovery at night.

4.  However pulling back at dusk when on the attack to rest is often ill advised lest your opponent take advantage by stealing back that hard-won kilometer.  Tough choice here sometimes. 

5.  Tend to err on the side of conservatism in longer scenarios when fresh troops in the end game could be crucial. 

Thoughts?

Regards, redboot.

Gents:

I am currently playing a Sicily 43 campaign scenario (Dry Feet Campaign - 172 turns) and can add insight to your post.

1. I usually avoid night assaults. Key deciding factors include my assault units' current fatigue and morale. I avoid night assaults with any highlighted yellow or orange fatigue numbered units and any units that have a "C" or lower morale.

2. I don't assume my opponent will fire his front line units on mine because enemy units that fire at night (or perform any other operation; e.g. build IPs, lay mines, move, etc,) will also NOT recover any fatigue or morale. Night actions are a double-edged sword by impacting both attacker and defender. 

3. I pull fatigued units out of the front lines and send these units to secondary defense positions where they can rest & refit during the night turns and for several daylight turns without enemy interference.

4. I think it is ill advised to be conducting night attacks (usually), so I try to plan for direct fire combat to wind down / cease prior to night turns. I will use my artillery to harass any spotted enemy units during night turns.

In Sicily 43 and other PzC titles, it comes down to the side having the most points wins. It does not matter how much terrain you occupy or necessarily "give up." It's all about preserving both your units (points awarded for enemy men, artillery, armor, etc. losses) and the capture of victory hexes. The German player has excellent Morale A motorized, artillery, and armor units... but he MUST preserve these units (manage fatigue, morale, and readiness effectively) by withdrawing units in need of rest & refit and to avoid being surrounded / cut off by enemy formations. I never understood the idiocy of Hitler (or other players) to order units to "stand and die" - especially when the Axis player has few (or no) reinforcements. In Sicily 43, the German player MUST construct secondary defensive lines with his "rest & refit" units or the Allied player will eventually push through the Axis front lines... and the Axis player will have nothing left to stop the enemy.
 
5. In the longer campaign scenarios - 80+ turns, effective fatigue and morale management are critical to maintaining troop integrity and formations.

[Kool Kat]

Hey Redboot:

Are you going to participate in the thread that you created?  

[Ricky B]

For me, it depends on the situation. If I am attacking, I will try to probe with a small portion of my force at night, frequently the more fatigued part, to drive up enemy fatigue. I will plan on resting those units on the following day/night, and push the fighting in the coming day with the resting units. I don't want to let up pressure at night.

I will assault, especially for valuable objectives if ripe for falling. And sometimes I will try to pull back a bit and redeploy to a different are to surprise my opponent in the morning.

On defense, I try to rest high fatigue/losses units, while digging in with rested units, where needed. I try to build a reserve that can rest for a bit. On defense, it is hard to choose what to do, though.

[smurf309]

For me, it depends on the situation. If I am attacking, I will try to probe with a small portion of my force at night, frequently the more fatigued part, to drive up enemy fatigue. I will plan on resting those units on the following day/night, and push the fighting in the coming day with the resting units. I don't want to let up pressure at night.

I will assault, especially for valuable objectives if ripe for falling. And sometimes I will try to pull back a bit and redeploy to a different are to surprise my opponent in the morning.

On defense, I try to rest high fatigue/losses units, while digging in with rested units, where needed. I try to build a reserve that can rest for a bit. On defense, it is hard to choose what to do, though.

I like to play the smaller battles of 30 turns or less.which of these great ideas work best for these short battles?

smurf309

[JDR Dragoon]

I like to play the smaller battles of 30 turns or less.which of these great ideas work best for these short battles?

smurf309

In my experience you can usually afford to press your forces slightly more, both with regard to casualties and fatigue in shorter scenarios. This goes especially for the attacker, who will be unable to reach his objectives during the short time if not pressing actively (and most of the stock scenarios in the MC/PzC games I have played are definitely objective drive, no objectives=no victory, you will typically not be able to score enough VPs through casualties alone).