HtH Etiquette

[HMCS Rosthern]

HMCS Rosthern,

I thought I covered this petty well in my post #9 in this thread. However, here is the best explaination from the France 40 design notes file/

Why start with so many units FIXED on the map instead of arriving as reinforcements?

This one is simply a matter of design logistics. The game editors make it a lot easier to work with units that are on the map rather than manage them in a reinforcements list. Furthermore, there are still a large number of units arriving on the map edge as the game progresses but having this many on the map at the start definitely helped during the testing phase to adjust the rate of arrival of the German units crossing into Allied territory.

Dog Soldier

My question was not why they were placed in the hex and fixed, as I can appreciate this scenario design technique, but rather why in the hex in travel mode. The designer is making a trade-off in design of the scenario. These units are not really in that hex until the exact date and time, and they might appear there in travel mode especially if on a road. But in the meantime, the designer might want to make some effort to protect them to make this trade-off as realistic. After all, for example, it is possible for someone playing the scenario blind to do air recce on the hex and discover them. On the other side, perhaps leaving then in travel mode avoids slowing down the column if there is some heavy artillery that needs one turn to limber. And a house rule to avoid gamey play also helps.

As usual, writing this response has made me think about this a little more.