Disband question

Wolf

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It is the early turns of a 3.2 game against MikeJ, the Germans are happily stomping Poland and the French have launched an audacious attack into the Rhineland. The French attack has dislodged a Corps into Luxembourg, now I know that Luxembourg is technically neutral but at no point in the game is there ever an option to DOW them, they generally just get rolled over in passing - by the letter of the House rules I should disband the units that retreated into Luxembourg, but at what point are they no longer considered neutral?
Long winded I know - the bottom line is do I disband the units in Luxembourg in accordance with the House Rules?
 

Mark Stevens

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No, whatever it says in the rules I'd just try to retreat back into Germany before launching any attacks with that corps. The opportunity for the Germans to invade Luxembourg is included in the 'Occupy the Low Countries' Theatre Option, and is spelled out in the News String accompanying it.

The idea behind disbanding units forced into neutral countries is really meant for anything larger than one hex (so don't worry about Andorra either!). We all know that Luxembourg would have been too weak to do anything other than make a diplomatic protest.

I do think that if the same thing happens in Belgium the corps should either be disbanded OR the German player be forced to declare the TO earlier than he would otherwise have chosen. Same if the German corps is actually isolated behind French lines and cannot physically move back into Germany without violating Belgian neutrality.

If the French want to cross into Luxembourg they should trigger the Allied 'Invade Belgium' TO, which will lead to most of the Belgian Army changing sides.

It's hard to invent house rules covering every single eventuality.
 

MikeJ

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Well, it doesn't really matter. If you want to keep the 2 corps in play go for it - I mentioned the rule because I assumed they had to be disbanded (which is why I left them alone unguarded and moved the French army forward).

The entire French Army stands between them and the Rhine, so they're almost certainly headed for reconstitution either way. It's only a question of whether or not they're going to take any Frenchmen down with them.
 
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