Is assaulting Bunkers too hard ?

[ComradeP]

The limited effectiveness of infantry assaults has been one of my pet peeves since Kursk, and the lower stacking limit in Normandy makes it more difficult to get a good infantry assault in. However, you do have more tanks that you can use to fire at the bunkers.

The reasons why taking bunkers, or any position, through assault can be difficult are often the same:

-All defenders need to be disrupted, so stacking several small units in a hex is more efficient than placing a single larger unit in a hex.

-Both sides use the same stacking limit, and there are no bonuses for attacking from multiple hexsides. PzC and PB are one of the few series where this is the case, as the majority of the wargames I play include bonuses for attacking from multiple hexsides. Both sides using the same stacking limit tends to favour the defender.

-Assault results are highly variable and less reliable than direct fire.

-Assault losses in general are low as a PDT setting.

I don't think the solution is to make units disrupt more quickly in all situations, as the game already has the issue of units having to pass a disruption check after taking any losses without taking the number of men lost compared to total size into account.

The 1 Man/D result is the bane of any Soviet line in PzC for example, where a unit loses 1/600 of its strength but still disrupts immediately. It's less out of proportion in Kursk and Normandy due to the smaller units, but attacking as the Allies can be challenging. At least their HQ's are decent to good.

It doesn't help that most of the Allied regular infantry units are C quality so they also disrupt fairly quickly.

Making strong assaults more costly for the defender would be an option. The mechanics tend to limit casualties per turn, which can be a good and a bad thing: it's nice that units don't die from direct fire in a single turn, but assaults could be more costly for the defender when facing strong assaults, to compensate for there being no multiple hexside assault bonus and both sides using the same stacking limit.