Rail Repair

[LordDeadwood]

Just wondering if a mechanism for rail repair, esp. for long campaign scenarios, had ever been considered? I don't know how long it typically would take to repair rail lines damaged/sabotaged by the opposing army would take, but it seems to me that some of the long scenarios (i.e., France 40 or Normandy 44 Grand Campaign) cover enough time to give rail repair a realistic chance at success. Any idea of how much time was needed? Days, weeks, months? My efforts at Googling such information came up empty. Just curious...

[Al]

Interesting suggestion. Here's an article that covers a little about rail service in WW2

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2016/0...-breakout/

[LordDeadwood]

Thanks for the link. The article describes the work of the engineer corps to open the rail line from Foligny to Le Mans by August 15. The Normandy Grand Campaign runs through August 19. So in order to re-create historical conditions, the Allied player must be able to repair rail lines AND rail bridges.

This may not apply so much to the game I'm currently playing, the France '40 campaign. Although fairly long at 259 turns, it's still just under a month of time. But it's still a cool idea!

[unonimus]

It is stated in the manual that damaged rail means that its need of repairing is not actually possible in any scenarios' time. That's also why Partisan units cannot damage rail lines.

From p.33 of the new User Manual:

"Partisan units cannot be used to damage rail lines since the damage represented by hex rail damage in the game is extensive, requiring repairs beyond the scope of any one scenario. The limited damage achieved by Partisan units can easily be repaired and thus Partisan units in the game only block rail movement when they actually occupy the rail hex."

I think damaging rail might be too easy now. It just takes a unit's 1/3 of their movement allowance (so you can't damage with immobile units). You can damage rail with disrupted units, HQs, fixed units or small indirect fire units (like, those 2-gun battalion cannon in Japan.). And it doesn't seem to have some probability, so it happens 100% of the time (as far as I could test).

In FWWC, only engineers can damage rails. But I think it's not all right to change the rule in PzC like that.

[LordDeadwood]

It is stated in the manual that damaged rail means that its need of repairing is not actually possible in any scenarios' time. That's also why Partisan units cannot damage rail lines.

From p.33 of the new User Manual:

"Partisan units cannot be used to damage rail lines since the damage represented by hex rail damage in the game is extensive, requiring repairs beyond the scope of any one scenario. The limited damage achieved by Partisan units can easily be repaired and thus Partisan units in the game only block rail movement when they actually occupy the rail hex."

I think damaging rail might be too easy now. It just takes a unit's 1/3 of their movement allowance (so you can't damage with immobile units). You can damage rail with disrupted units, HQs, fixed units or small indirect fire units (like, those 2-gun battalion cannon in Japan.). And it doesn't seem to have some probability, so it happens 100% of the time (as far as I could test).

In FWWC, only engineers can damage rails. But I think it's not all right to change the rule in PzC like that.

I agree that it seems too easy to damage rail hexes. As you said, even fixed units, HQ units, etc. can perform rail damage. If rail damage is so extensive as to be un-repairable in any time frame, then it should also not be so easy to perform. At the very least, rail damage should be limited to un-fixed combat units with at least 100 men, or something like that.

[ComradeP]

Supply is not traced using Rail movement, and in many scenarios the attacker has no rail capacity. The effects of rail damage is thus small, even in larger campaigns. As blown rail bridges can never be repaired, the ability to use Rail movement beyond the initial frontline is limited unless Wired bridges are used and only bridges in the rear of the initial frontline area Wired.

Though I agree that most units being able to damage rail lines might be too forgiving, you need to tear up an entire rail line to make sure the enemy can't use it. Units can switch to Rail mode and use rail movement through any non-damaged rail hex, there's no check to determine if rail movement can be changed to the edge of the map. The ability to use Rail movement is also quite forgiving, not just the rail damage mechanism.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Supply is not traced using Rail movement, and in many scenarios the attacker has no rail capacity. The effects of rail damage is thus small, even in larger campaigns. As blown rail bridges can never be repaired, the ability to use Rail movement beyond the initial frontline is limited unless Wired bridges are used and only bridges in the rear of the initial frontline area Wired.

Though I agree that most units being able to damage rail lines might be too forgiving, you need to tear up an entire rail line to make sure the enemy can't use it. Units can switch to Rail mode and use rail movement through any non-damaged rail hex, there's no check to determine if rail movement can be changed to the edge of the map. The ability to use Rail movement is also quite forgiving, not just the rail damage mechanism.

Also, need to remember, that Western Europe was the same gauge.  Russia, I think, was using a smaller gauge.  The Germans had to rebuild the rail lines in order to use them.  The Russians had to do the same when heading West.

[wildb]

The rail gauge in the former Soviet Union are is 1,520 millimeters (1.52 meters) compared to 1,435 millimeters in Europe and China. This means the railroad tracks are wider in the former Soviet Union are wider. Trains pass between Europe or China and the Soviet Union the bogies (the wheel-carrying frames at the bottom of the train) have to be changed to accommodate the different train gauges.

https://factsanddetails.com/russia/Educa...-5155.html

[LordDeadwood]

Supply is not traced using Rail movement, and in many scenarios the attacker has no rail capacity. The effects of rail damage is thus small, even in larger campaigns. As blown rail bridges can never be repaired, the ability to use Rail movement beyond the initial frontline is limited unless Wired bridges are used and only bridges in the rear of the initial frontline area Wired.

Though I agree that most units being able to damage rail lines might be too forgiving, you need to tear up an entire rail line to make sure the enemy can't use it. Units can switch to Rail mode and use rail movement through any non-damaged rail hex, there's no check to determine if rail movement can be changed to the edge of the map. The ability to use Rail movement is also quite forgiving, not just the rail damage mechanism.

I agree about the ability to use rail movement being forgiving as well; I realize a certain level of abstraction is required. It just seems to me that it might be a little over-simplified... esp. for the really long scenarios.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

One other thing is the amount of rolling stock available.