Can anyone explain . . .

[Steelrain60]

why cavalry platoons' defense and fire values are so low?

I ask because the Polish cavalry was considered to be the elite of the 1939 Polish Army, and frequently fought dismounted as infantry. While researching OOBs for 'Death Road at Oltarzew', I discovered that Polish cavalry units were equipped very similarly to Polish rifle units, with Mauser 98s and the Polish variant of the American BAR. It seems to me that Polish cavalry platoons, and by extension, most other armies' cavalry, should have defense and attack values closer to those of regular rifle platoons.

Thoughts on this?

[umbro]

Hmm, there does seem to be a good point here.
The Polish rifle platoon and the cavalry troop seem to have almost identical weaponry and there are 4 more guys in the troop than the platoon, but their effectivenesses are 8-4-2 vs 6-3-1.

The only difference is that the rifle platoon also had a 46mm mtr attached. Assessing the mortar as 25% of the firepower of the platoon at short range seems to be overkill. However, that would likely result in the cavalry platoon being 7-3-1.

As for them being elite, this would be reflected in their morale rather than their firepower. Morale 7 or 8 would reflect their "elite" rating.

umbro

[Steelrain60]

Hmm, there does seem to be a good point here.
The Polish rifle platoon and the cavalry troop seem to have almost identical weaponry and there are 4 more guys in the troop than the platoon, but their effectivenesses are 8-4-2 vs 6-3-1.

The only difference is that the rifle platoon also had a 46mm mtr attached. Assessing the mortar as 25% of the firepower of the platoon at short range seems to be overkill. However, that would likely result in the cavalry platoon being 7-3-1.

As for them being elite, this would be reflected in their morale rather than their firepower. Morale 7 or 8 would reflect their "elite" rating.

umbro

Umbro,

Thanks for the response. I agree with you on the "elite" status being reflected in their morale. I don't know the max effective range of the 46mm mortar, but how about 7-4-2 for the Polish cavalry troops' attack values? Finally, what do you think about the universal cavalry values of 3 and 4 in JTCS (except for the Japanese cavalry, I believe) for assault and defense, respectively? I tend to see the assault value as being accurate, given that cavalry were generally looked upon is a scouting role, rather than a close-combat role. The defense value, however, should be closer to that of a standard rifle platoon, IMHO.

[umbro]

Looks like the range of the wz.36 was 800m - so three hexes. It's anyone's guess whether a single 46mm grenade launcher has the equivalent firepower of 20, 30 or 40 riflemen.

re:assault - I think that this is a game balance issue. Remember mounted cavalry assault at x3 the riders assault value, so the cavalry 3 becomes 9 when mounted. That would be 4x3=12 if they had the same stats as the Polish riflemen, which does not seem too outrageous. Not sure which I would rather face 60 cavalrymen or 6 wasps firing flame throwers... on second thoughts, if I had an mg34 I would probably take the cavalry so perhaps 9 is a better model than 12.

re:defence - this one seems to be completely out of whack. I can't think of a reason why this would not be the same as the rifle platoon. When mounted they use the horses defence value of 3 which is appropriate, but when dismounted they were trained to operate as infantry, and thus really should be 7.

umbro