Taking advantage of scenario knowledge

[John Given]

Hmm, there are so many interesting points made in this thread that I honestly don't know where to begin. So, I'll start with this:

Is there anyone who starts an unfamiliar scenario without opening and studying it in advance?

IMO. you should never look at the scenario in advance by opening it up - either with the editor, or by starting up a "me vs. computer" game to look at the enemy forces. It ruins the mystery of the scenario for you, and it could easily cause an unbalanced or inaccurate result, flow of battle, undeserved win, or a combination of the above. Some players could also consider it cheating. Scenarios I have played before strike me as not nearly as fun as blind scenarios.

Actually, with many reinforcement entry hexes located far behind the front lines, only fast moving recon units skirting around the flanks or poor play by your opponent will allow you to gain access to the reinforcement areas? In these cases, should not your forces be able to intercept enemy reinforcements - regardless of scenario knowledge?

Also, on the flip side of the argument, should not players guard reinforcement entry hexes to counter possible interdiction moves by your opponent?

I agree with the above quote. We're getting into an area of (bad) tactics here more than scenario do's and don'ts (or is it "can'ts" and "shouldn'ts?"). Also, I am having trouble envisioning a situation where a person so badly flubbed his strategy that he has an enemy swarming all over his reinforcement areas, which IMO is a way of saying that the enemy is ready to enter the next enemy/battle area, on another map - possibly the very definition of Major Defeat.

That isn't an exploit - it's simply a defeat for the guy who ignored security and didn't patrol his entry area (or anywhere else, which is why the enemy is all the way at the back of the map in his rear area).

One thing I'd like to add; it's NOT required for you to bring your reinforcements onto the map when they arrive. If you see that your forces have lost control of the reinforcement area(s), then at the end of your turn when you try to advance the turn, the reinforcement dialog will pop up. Press CANCEL, and the you can bring these forces on-board next turn, if you want. At least this way, you won't lose your new arrivals to rampaging enemies in view of the arrival areas.

If you don't protect your own reinforcement hexs............the blame is yours as a commander..............if you can't protect your own reinforcement hexs..........the blame is the designers.........wether there is foreknowledge of the reinforcement hexs or they are just discovered makes no difference.......a better way of saying this "You better cover your own butt"

Who can argue with that?? Not me.

Furthermore, is it, given prior experience with a scenario, unfair to plot artillery in certain areas of the map or air forces?

Blind shelling is an important part of my strategy. Blind-shelling is mostly a common-sense tactic; shelling the best quality road hexes (leading to/from the board edge) in the enemy portion of the board. Basically, you'll want to hit loaded trucks, halftracks, infantry passengers on AFV's, and HQ's, all of which can be vulnerable to even low-strength attacks. Occasionally, I'll get a kill on an enemy officer or even a tank. (I watch the "strength dialog" under "losses" like a hawk)

For me, the major purpose of blind shelling is not victory points - it has never won a game for me...directly. However, I like to think of it as "interdictive" fire; that is, it encourages the enemy to use less convenient (and less obvious) routes of transport, encourages the enemy to unload troops early, wasting the enemy's time (and blocking roads), and keeps the those same routes more-or-less open for MY use.

Finally, in 3d mode (best is extreme zoom-out 3d AKA view "3") you can see the muzzle flashes of enemy artillery during the replay. Watch the map carefully for these "flashes" and you should be able to put down some good counter-battery fire on him next turn. In this one application, my blind-shelling can cause some pretty hefty damage to enemy forces.

Interesting thread - lots of nice ideas.