DF 85 - The Elbe Estuary

[Elxaime]

This is the sort of meaningful trivia perhaps only wargamers can appreciate, but it seems relevant to the Danube 85 campaign.

On the map north of Hamburg runs the Elbe estuary leading to the North Sea. In the Modern Campaigns system bridge engineers can lay full hex bridges. Along the Elbe are at least nine spots (not counting the island west of Elmshorn) where a Warsaw Pact force advancing north towards Denmark might conceivably pivot at least some of its force west, lay a bridge across the Elbe north of Hamburg where it narrows to one hex, and then once the bridge is laid march into largely undefended West German territory. Granted, NATO can send some units to watch these hexes, but that is a further dispersal of already limited NATO forces. A helo can do it, but again, NATO helos are in short supply and desperately needed elsewhere.

Is it intended by the designers that the Elbe Estuary be bridgeable in this way? I am not sure such a devious strategy has occurred yet to Warsaw Pact players, but it seems to me it is only a matter of time and I thought it best to breach the issue now.

To my mind, the Elbe Estuary north of Hamburg, as a game balance issue, might need to be made impassable hexes. It would be best, of course, if we had some rationale for it besides that. I am thinking two such rationales may present themselves:

1. Tidal surge in the Elbe Estuary preventing military bridge laying?
2. NATO naval and naval air intervention?

As an alternative to making these hexes impassable, a designer might want to simply create some "alarm" type units, neglible combat strength security, police or marine infantry units that can be placed at the potential crossing points so that NATO at least gets some warning.

Thoughts?