Stelle units in Bulge 44

[Mesquite]

What are these "Stelle" units in the campaign scenario of Bulge '44? At the beginning most of them are one turn only units and I have no idea what to do with them.

[Green]

What are these "Stelle" units in the campaign scenario of Bulge '44? At the beginning most of them are one turn only units and I have no idea what to do with them.

They can do the following;

• Be used as spotters for artillery.
  
• Be moved into Obstacle hexes to give them the penetrated status.
  
• Be moved into Minefields to give them the penetrated status (not very useful).
  
• Draw defensive fire.
  
• Reveal a unit by moving adjacent to it (Visibility is only one hex on turn 1).
  
• Use Recon Spotting (probably a waste of time).
  

Plus whatever else I have not thought of...

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

If you have ever seen the old movie Battle of the Bulge, they were the 4 man teams in captured American equipment and uniforms that were turning road signs and redirecting convoys and general sabotage stuff.

[Mowgli]

What are these "Stelle" units in the campaign scenario of Bulge '44? At the beginning most of them are one turn only units and I have no idea what to do with them.

They can do the following;

• Be used as spotters for artillery.
  
• Be moved into Obstacle hexes to give them the penetrated status.
  
• Be moved into Minefields to give them the penetrated status (not very useful).
  
• Draw defensive fire.
  
• Reveal a unit by moving adjacent to it (Visibility is only one hex on turn 1).
  
• Use Recon Spotting (probably a waste of time).
  

Plus whatever else I have not thought of...

Good points! I haven't taken a look at the scenario myself, but another usage for otherwise inutile units may be that they still create zones of control and can thereby prevent enemy units from advancing through your line.

[Green]

Good points! I haven't taken a look at the scenario myself, but another usage for otherwise inutile units may be that they still create zones of control and can thereby prevent enemy units from advancing through your line.

True, I had not thought of that but these are 'single use' units and so they are not available after the first turn. When you have had a chance to look at the scenario you we see that there is no likely advance that these units would be preventing on turn 1.

[Kuriltai]

I believe you are referring to the Brian Jennings Herbstenebel scenario. This is just of the top of my head as I don't have time to check and have the Gold version of Herb as well as the original so I tend to get them mixed up.
These units are artillery spotters.
Definetely not deception units.
In the Gold version, I believe some are single use simulating the German bombardment, then they and their artillery  units are removed to arrive later as reinforcements.
There is a read me file.

[Green]

I believe you are referring to the Brian Jennings Herbstenebel scenario. This is just of the top of my head as I don't have time to check and have the Gold version of Herb as well as the original so I tend to get them mixed up.
These units are artillery spotters.
Definetely not deception units.
In the Gold version, I believe some are single use simulating the German bombardment, then they and their artillery  units are removed to arrive later as reinforcements.
There is a read me file.

Yes, they are only relevant to the Herbstnebel campaign. The Notes say;

"Most German Nebelwerfer and Volks-Artillery-Korps units initially on the map are single use and will be removed at the end of the German first turn. Use them before you lose them!! They will then reappear as fixed reinforcements and will be released over the course of the next few days."

[Mesquite]

Ah, ok. I searched thru the manual for mention of them, but didn't think about looking at the notes. Still, the notes don't specifically mention "Stelle" units. Oh well, I'm well past the first turn now.

[Simulacra53]

What are these "Stelle" units in the campaign scenario of Bulge '44? At the beginning most of them are one turn only units and I have no idea what to do with them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif


The Einheit Stielau commando unit had been assembled from the brigade's best English speakers, but few of them had much if any experience of undercover operations or sabotage. There was little time to train them properly, but they were given short courses in demolition and radio skills, studied the organization of the U.S. Army and its badges of rank and drill, and some were even sent to POW camps at Küstrin and Limburg to refresh their language skills through contact with U.S. POWs.
Dressed in U.S. Army uniforms (the highest U.S. Army rank used was that of colonel), armed with U.S. Army weapons, and using U.S. Army jeeps, the commandos were given three missions:

1. Demolition squads of five or six men were to destroy bridges, ammunition dumps, and fuel stores.
   
   
2. Reconnaissance patrols of three or four men were to reconnoiter on both sides of the Meuse river and also pass on bogus orders to any U.S. units they met, reverse road signs, remove minefield warnings, and cordon off roads with warnings of nonexistent mines.
   
   
3. "Lead" commando units would work closely with the attacking units to disrupt the U.S. chain of command by destroying field telephone wires and radio stations, and issuing false orders.
   

[Simulacra53]

Started.pdf

“Don’t forget to move forward the four Einheit Steilau units. These are SPECIAL Deception Units and new rules for their use and effect are covered in the User Manual in the last section Additional Features.”

p.109 of the PzC user manual (user.pdf)

“The Deception Dialog displays both Deception Units that are available and those that have been deployed. Units with an ‘X’ before their name have either moved that turn or have been deployed that turn. Selecting a Deception Unit entry and clicking on the Deploy button, or double-clicking on the Deception Unit entry will close the dialog and deploy the unit provided the deployment conditions are met.

Once a Deception Unit is deployed, the regular counter is removed from the map and the location of the deployed Deception Unit is marked on the map using a special marker. Once a Deception Unit is deployed, it may be redeployed on the next opportunity to another hex within the distance of twice the Deception Range.

Deception Unit Effects
Once deployed, Deception Units have two effects on enemy units within the Deception Radius defined for their side. These effects are also caused by Partisan units without requiring deployment or being subject to detection.

• Enemy units moving in Travel Mode are subject to possible Disruption and loss of remaining Movement Points. The probability of this happening is determined on a hex by hex basis using the Deception Effect probability.

• Enemy engineer units attempting to blow bridges or otherwise cause damage are subject to possible failure of this action. The probability of this happening is determined by the Deception Damage probability”