Locking Zones of Control: Do you use them?

[ComradeP]

milrevko: what you're describing is more like what currently happens with ZOC modifier/multiplier of 0. At least a unit can retreat if another unit can assist it by reestablishing contact.

I have not yet played with locking ZOC's either, as I prefer to give both attacker and defender a chance to rescue units.

ZOC's tend to be problematic in many wargames, as most tend to go to extremes of either having a locking ZOC or a ZOC that charges a certain number of additional movement points (or whatever the equivalent of movement points is called in that particular wargame) to move from one enemy ZOC hex to the next. In the former case, advances can quickly bog down as even small units have ZOC's. In the latter case, there can be situations where an attacker speeds through a defensive line. That is particularly problematic for fortified areas. There isn't much of a middleground.

A company can't control a 3km wide and deep frontage, a battalion also wouldn't be able to put up more than a screening force. They would, however, prevent an enemy force from simply storming through. Likewise, a single division stopping an entire enemy corps from moving out of a pocket is also not entirely historically accurate (although it would depend on the morale and resolve of the defenders) which is why I prefer some sort of movement point multiplier, but I like the "middleground" ZOC multiplier 0 Operational Campaigns system as well.