Question on tactics: Assault, assault and assault

[Mike Abberton]

Don't know how I can be more clear. What is the definition of an assault between armor. In other words what do they do, since they are not shooting as they can't shoot from the same hex. If they do shoot, why can smaller calibers suddenly penetrate armor they otherwise couldn't (ie a HT or Panzer I can destroy a bigger tank)

I guess I would describe an assault between armor to be intermixed vehicles where the more generalized armor factors start to break down as tanks could start to target individual items (vision slits, periscopes, known weak spots, etc.), rather than more general fire from longer distances. Also with intermixed units, hits on side and rear armor become a lot more likely.

Now admittedly, the game model starts to break down at that scale, but the alternative is that a tank platoon can never move into the hex of an enemy tank unit without getting a retreat first or wiping it out altogether.

And what happens when an enemy tank is stacked with an infantry unit? Would I be able to assault with a tank then? Assault with friendly infantry only?

Also, the armor-assualting HT issue/ROE is much more prevalent than the PzI issue. How many PzIs were even still in use by the time they started encountering T-34s? Compare that to how many times half-tracks and enemy armor were on the same battlefield. I don't think anyone who uses the "HTs cannot assault armor with their attached infantry" house rule is really saying that PzIs should be able to assault armor, it just doesn't come up enough to get mentioned. The HT rule is just a simple rule to limit the most commonly encountered assault glitch.[/quote]