Capturing the enemy supply points and reinforcement entry hexes ...

[burroughs]

Hello fellow wargamers.

Actually this thread is a kind of a poll perhaps as what I would like to know is the common feeling in the community towards the issues that I displayed in the thread title.

I can vaguely remember that there was once a thread somewhere here regarding the hypothetical NATO - Warsaw Pact scenarios where lots of folks were discussing whether it is a legitimate move to drop the WP paras onto NATO supply point and reinforcements entry hexes early in the game thus blocking them completely.

I have come across such tactics in my Nghia Lo '51 scenario where an opponent of mine dropped the French CEFEO paras onto my supply points and erased them completely off my supply net. I deem that a gamey behaviour as it is making the most of the simplification of the supply model in the game as it cannot be fully modelled the way it functions in reality. In fact what one gets in a real world is a supply net with hubs rather and not the supply point that are firmly placed therefore in reality the supply network is much more flexible and not a two dimensional point approximation. In the aforementioned Indochinese scenario there was no point for me in carrying on with that as the Viet Minh were completely unsupplied throughout the rest of the scenario - a strategic blow which came ona tactical and operational level, because the other player can switch the supply point on on the map and get to know immediately where they are for both sides. It's the same like peeking into the other side's OrBat to get to know where and what appears to block the entry hexes - a cheat definitely. I'd say that it's like a boxing match in which one folks refuses to cross the gloves and instead of wearing them, he goeas for strangling the other one with their laces.

Don't mistake that though for a completely legitimate outmanoeuvering the enemy in order to interdict his supply lines as it is a principle of a mobile warfare which I have been applying all the time. I know that there is a difference between horizontal and vertical envelopment though.

What's Your stance, fellas?

I doubled that at the Matrix Games and Rugged Defense.

[harvestgreen]

i agree with you

[Murphz]

Totally agree with you in the case you described, as the game cannot simulate correctly an airdrop far behind the frontline and the supply points are just too minimized.

Sure it was a gamey move. Plus (historically the supply points were not totally known by the enemy: position, defense strength etc) watching of where they are exactly and so on, is another cheat.

But obviously, as you said, a cut off action is different if it's intended to support the troops and damage the enemy supply (in a linear situation of a mobile warfare tactic) . This is totally different and accepted than airdrop some units at the edge of the scenario.