Occupying reinforcement hexes?

[cillmhor]

Another newcomer's question. When reinforcements are due to appear on a map edge and that map edge is controlled by the enemy and not occupied by the enemy, do the reinforcements still appear on the map edge. And what happens if enemy units occupy all of the map edge hexes, an unlikely event I know. Does the enemy controlling and not occupying the hex invoke the within two hexes rule?

Again thanks in advance for any help.

cillmhor

[fluidwill]

Most Land units will always appear at the location given in the
Formation Report, if that location is available. A location is only
considered to be available if it is either friendly-controlled or
located on a map edge. If for some reason the location is not
available, units scheduled to appear on a map edge will instead
appear at some other available location along the same map
edge, within two hexes. Units scheduled to appear away from a
map edge will only enter when the location becomes friendlycontrolled.

Fromthe manual,pg 28...

From reading that I'd say control of all 5 hexes (designated plus 2 each side?) is enough to deny arrival, I've never tested it though and am happy to be corrected.

[cillmhor]

Thanks for the reply, yes I read the manual and I thought that it might be possible to stop reinforcements by occupying the map edges around (five hexes as you say) the reinforcement entry points, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to test the theory as the reinforcements arrived and are now pushing me back:mad:.

[Kru]

I'll tell you my 2 cents on this one.
Historically speaking, I think denying reinforcements is nonsense.
First of all we have to distinguish two types of those reinforcements. First type is one that arrives at the edge of the map, the second type is one that mobilize somewhere on the map.
On huge scenarios like Europe Aflame you have whole continents thus virtually there are no edges where strategic reinforcements could arrive.
Speaking about normal scenarios from small to huge sizes, you must understand that the edge of the map is not the edge of the world. And reinforcements must enter the battle here or there.
In typical board games this problem is resolved easily, if reinforcement's hex is occupied, then those fresh forces can arrive at nearest possible free hex.
Realistically, any high command could change the direction of their reinforcements according to situation.
In Toaw3 we only try somehow to recreate those battles previously fought, and not necessarily everything could go along like it was in history. This is the point where game code wasn't programmed to predict every possibility leaving us completely unaware that simple unit like airborne infantry platoon dropped behind the lines at the map edge can deny appearance of much more stronger stacks of different forces.
This kind of problem is quite simple to resolve:
You and your opponent have to agree before the game commence that any reinforcements must arrive at the edge of the map. And prevent themselves from capturing such hexes.

The second type of reinforcements mentioned here are those which appear somewhere on the map.
I have no objection in capturing these hexes because if your forces were earlier in such area, all opponents reinforcements would not be able to mobilize. Simple.

[cillmhor]

Thanks for the input, yes I did think occupying reinforcement hexes would be more than a little gamey. I just wanted to know if it was possible, and since in most scenarios you do not know where your opponent's reinforcements are going to arrive (if you are playing the scenario for the first time) it is entirely possible that you can occupy them unwittingly.

Another thought on a historical note though, if you are dominating the battlefield (a very unlikely event in my case:)) to such as extent that you have pushed the enemy back to the game map edge, this could reflect control of roads and communications to the area and so realistically delay the historic entry of enemy troops as they try to ascertain through recon the situation before sending fresh troops who might run into a meatgrinder. Or a sufficient bloody nose in a battle or theatre might discourage the enemy from sending reinforcements to what is clearly a hopeless situation. Just a thought on how to justify the game engine deciding not to send in reinforcements to the map edge, or a more central hex.

As a matter of interest what are considered to be other gamey tactics in TOW, firstly so that I do not perpetrate them, and secondly so that I do not fall victim to them. Is using HQs as glorified recon units considered gamey for instance?

And one final question, how do Corps and Army HQs effect supply? Division HQs give the bonuses and supply to their own formation, does the Corps and Army HQ give supply to the whole formation, and does being adjacent to units help?

cheers

cillmhor

[Currahee]

I think what tactics are gamey depends on the scenario; it's not a huge problem in TOAW, but some scenarios are more susceptible than others; usually the designer will address this in the scenario briefing, as "honor rules".

All HQ's affect supply the same way; the key is the support level...internal, army, force, free. Div HQ's often are set on internal support, but they don't have to be; the system gives a lot of flexibility to the designer. Internal support, the HQ supports only units in the HQ's formation; army support, same two-tone color scheme; force support, same background color scheme; free, supports any friendly unit. It's a bit more complicated than that; any HQ can support a "cooperative" unit; for example, if a division formation is set on internal, the HQ can support all the units in that formation; but if there is a friendly unit not in that formation, but of the same background color, and it is set on force support, then the Div HQ can support it. Basically, you check both units, and the highest achieved cooperative level is the one that counts.

For the supply bonus to apply, the HQ must be adjacent. Arty support is different, it can support up to the maximum range. Special supply units have their own effective radius. But to get the HQ bonus, you need to be adjacent.

In most cases, the designer will set higher level HQ's on free or force support, sometimes army support, so they are more useful. It's a bit silly to have a corps formation containing a bunch of support units, and then set the HQ on internal support; you have basically limited it to supporting corps support units, rather than the divisions, brigades etc which are the corps commander's main concern.

[cillmhor]

Perfect, answers all my questions on the HQ hierarchy and supply. Thank you, I'm now off to enjoy what is a great game.