First World War Campaigns - More insight into combat odds

[Volcano Man]

It actually *is* in the manual, the assault factor is determined from not just the assault rating, but also the defense rating of both sides. The section you are looking for is "Assaulting".

There are ton of variables involved, and the section is quite large. But the Assault Resolution subsection does say that the main assault value is derived from both the assault and defense values, so it isn't just the assault value of 7 and 11 (in this example) being taken into account. IIRC the French defense is 4 (if it is early war) and German defense is 6 so this (intentionally) removes *some* of the 7 vs 11 overmatch in this example. I presume this is why the values don't make sense to you because you thought it was only comparing assault factors.

I hope that helps.