BootCamp 10 Trains, Wrecks, Engineers

[Jason Petho]

Supply trains are trains that are high victory point trains. They serve no purpose except for you to gain points by exiting them at a Exit Hex or your opponent to gain points if he destroys them. They are not intended to carry anything.

Troop trains should carry infantry and they did during testing. I will look at the platoon files to figure out why they aren't now.

Not sure if you saw this from the bootcamp document:

** Bootcamp 10 -- Wrecks!
EAST FRONT --- PLAY AS AXIS

Details: This is designed to play as the AXIS player, to be played with Fog of War and all options ON.

Purpose: This scenario depicts the Wreck Removal abilities some units have and some of the new unit type units; Troop Trains, Armoured Trains, Supply Trains, Werkstatt and Werkstattzug platoons.

Situation: As the AXIS player, you start off the scenario with your forces scattered about the map. Your mission is to move the rail units to the East Exit Objectives and remove them from the map.

Difficulty: This scenario is rated as Moderate to Difficult.

Scenario Play: You will notice that the area that you are playing on is long and narrow, with a railway traveling through a thick forest the full length of the map. At Hex 8,19 is a train station with a number of new train types. You are tasked with moving these units down the rails to the exit objectives at Hex 89,12. Your biggest problem appears to be that the rails are blocked with wrecks.

Now, in the Campaign Series, there is a way to clear wrecks! These come in the form of Maintenance Platoons, Dozers, Recovery Platoons or Werkstatt Platoons, depending on the nationality.

Since you are playing the AXIS side, if you move to Hex 20,10 you will find a Werkstat platoon. This is a mobile Wreck removal unit. In Hex 19,10 there is another wreck removal type, an infantry style Werkstattzug loaded on Krupp Protze. There are additional infantry Werkstattzug located around Hex 69, 28 available for use.

Using these Wreck removal units is fairly easy. All you have to do is move them into a hex that has wrecks in it and let them sit. The undisrupted removal unit will remove two wrecks per turn.

The scenario itself is fairly straightforward. Advance to the wrecks and clear them, allowing the trains to successfully exit the map at the Exit Objective. Be mindful of partisan and ambushes though, one has to make the scenario somewhat challenging.

Limitations: Unfortunately, HAL is outdated. The software does not know how to handle these special units.

Design Considerations: These are specialist type units and should be used sparingly in scenarios when it is warranted. These are non-combat units that have high Victory Point values and should only be used in secured areas, or heavily protected areas.


Jason Petho