Serbia '14

[Volcano Man]

I am perfectly happy with the Chetnik representation, and it is intentional that the Chetniks have 3 hex disruption, and A-H has 2 hex patrolling range. I thought some of this was explained in the notes, but if not, there here are my quick thoughts...

While it is true that I was not entirely happy with how the patrolling feature worked during S14 development (I originally thought that patrolling protected the 2 hex radius around the patrolling unit, as most people probably also think here), but when you think of it another way: that the patrolling has to be able to locate the unit doing the partisan disruption, therefore the partisan unit has to be within the patrolling unit's radius, then it makes sense to me. I learned to live with it, because its a fundamental trait to how the feature works, and it wasn't possible to change the behavior (tracking individual hexes around patrolling units is just no practical or possible).

In an ongoing team campaign I am playing in - just this turn we have seen that often times Chetniks don't always do much at that third hex range. Its a die roll like anything else. Most importantly, the partisan side has no feedback whether they are being patrolled/suppressed, so its not an entirely one way street in favor of the partisans. The Chetnik unit can be sitting in place, thinking they are causing disruptions, but then a unit that is 2 hexes away is patrolling them. So you end up with the Chetniks doing nothing. Often the Chetnik player has to assume that they are being patrolled, and then voluntarily must move back to where they on the third hex away from the A-H side, which puts the patrolling range at the very edge of the unit to catch A-H units moving in (the third hex). Its not an ideal situation for the partisan unit, actually, because they are forced to pull back to ensure they aren't being patrolled, often when they aren't being patrolling at all (unknown to them) so again its not as if the partisan unit has all the benefits there, since they are forced to pull back to ensure they aren't being patrolled (hence the reason for the +1 partisan disruption radius vs. patrol radius).

And we can't forget that the partisan effects only apply to Travel Mode movements. I haven't seen many situations where the A-H are just marching along in Travel Mode columns on rapid advances. Yes, it usually means that they are always disrupting MG units and field gun units as they have to move forward in Travel Mode, but at the same time, all that A-H infantry that aren't moving up in Travel Mode have something they should be doing (patrolling) to protect those units. And even if MG and field guns units are disrupted in this way, they can usually recover from it relatively quickly enough that it is a minor hindrance.

TIP: If you suspect Chetniks are in the area, then its always best to avoid moving stacks of MG and guns. Try moving them one at a time to avoid possible disruptions (otherwise the entire stack will get disrupted together by the partisans, but then again, the entire stack might not get disrupted too). Of course by moving the units separately then you increase the chance that some will get disrupted, so its a pro/con thing.

So, I am pretty happy with the way it works, especially since historical accounts stress that the Chetnik threat was quite significant. Maybe if it was another theater then the partisans would be much less effective, but the Chetniks in Serbia must be a substantial headache for the A-H side to be historical (they weren't something that could be ignored).