Priest said:
Thanks for the input WaterRabbit. I'd like to ask you a question. Jazz also brought up the point that scenarios in which the defenders take a bad spanking and that the only way that they can win is by holding off the attackers just long enough that the attacker can't fulfill his victory conditions. How would BI affect these scenarios?
IME, that depends upon how bad a spanking they receive.
In general, ELR doesn't really start to drop until you have lost between 40-50% of your initial force (baring other factors like armor superiority, etc.). In some scenario designs, the defender can win with less than 20% of his initial force by holding off the attacker. This just doesn't happen with BI since all of your MMC will be broken, disrupted, conscripts by that point due to ELR loss.
IMO, BI is best in meeting style engagement type scenarios or in DYO where it can be planned for in advance. Also, BI makes little difference if your initial ELR is already really low. I once played in a DYO scenario using Historical ELRs. I played with the Italians with an initial ELR of 0 against the Americans. As you can imagine it didn't turn out very well.
Again, the big difference I observed playing with BI (btw, probably over two hundred games -- I played almost every night back then) was games rarely went to the last turn. A seven turn game would be finished by turn five -- just about the time once side took drop in ELR by two. We played mostly German/Russian scenarios (about all there was) and ELRs were typically 4/3 respectively.
I also think BI would hurt the Japanese more than most other nationalities. This is because of a quirk in BI. For most nationalities, few squads are killed outright -- most break. Often suffering quality reduction due to ELR failure. So, for example, that first line German squad that was worth 10 points if you killed him outright is only worth 7 if he first "scummed" before he was eventually killed. The Japanese rarely "scum" -- at least in the games I have played. So that Japanese squad is worth the full 13 points when it eventually withers away through multiple step reductions. Because of this, hand-to-hand combat is even more necessary as the Japanese. I am fairly certain that BI was never considered when the Japanese were being designed.
Even though I like the concept, I doubt I would ever play another scenario using BI unless it was either 1) a DYO or 2) listed in the SSR for that scenario.