The Purist
Elder Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2004
- Messages
- 2,917
- Reaction score
- 1,480
- Location
- In my castle by the sea, Trochu, AB
- First name
- Gerry
- Country
-
We sat down and gave The Mighty Endeavor our initial run through this evening and it seems to have the potential to become a fun, fast paced game. With familiarity with the rules there is no reason one should not be able to get through this game in two or three 8 hour sittings.
The game flows quite smoothly and the 'attack' vs 'trace' supply rules definitely make the allied player think about his attacks before he decides who will get the supplies. Unfortunately, it is here that the game possesses a 'twitchy' rule that makes anyone with an objective grasp of the realities of the campaign cringe. I am speaking of the HQ unit for 3rd US Army.
'Attack' supply is generally quite scarce until the ports begin to come on line and it is very possible for the allies to have only Cherbourg supplying the northern armies for a time. One port will provide 'attack' supply for one HQ, which in turn will supply all national units (UK/Can/Pol or US/FFr) withing 5 movement points.
Allied army HQs as a rule cannot move during the exploitation phase and if 'activated' (given attack supplies) are flipped over to a slower (4 vs 8 MF)moving version of itself. These HQ need to link to a supply chain of trucks back to a functioning port. Thus, the further the allies move away from the intial landing area (ie Normandy, for this playing) the more stretched the supplies become. HQs tend to slowly fall behind the front if you simply dash off across France after breaking the German front.
Not so 3rd Army HQ. It is given the normal 8 movement allowance if it is simply providing 'trace' supply but for some reason is given 6 movement after being 'activated'. Even more remarkably is this HQ is also given the ability to exploit!!! Thus, you guessed it, if the Americans can catch the retreating Germans or break the line close to the German border, they can rush supplies forward, keep the units in supply and in range of the HQ and cover vast tracks of territory with hardly a worry.
The very thing happened this evening. The Germans were overtaken on turn 8 (Aug 21-31) in the area running between Rhiems and Troyes and after a series of overruns and attacks this line collapsed and allied armour (French and US) exploited the breach and bounced over the Moselle into the area between Nancy and Metz. A normal HQ (1 Can, 2 UK, 1 US, 7 US, 9 US, 1 FF) would have been left behind back at the old frontlines with the task of trying to catch the spearhead. Those same exploiting divisions would have been beyond 'attack' supply range and forced to consolidate the very large area they had just gained while they waited for the supplies to catch up. All very historical.
However, the ability to exploit with 3 US Army meant that the lead divisions were well within supply range and with the trucks coming up in Turn 9, 3rd army didn't have a worry in the world. By the end of the next turn (turn 9, 1 - 10 Sep), using strategic movement (twice as fast if you don't move out of supply or into enemy ZOC), 3rd Army pushed through the empty Westwall at Saarbrucken, encircled Trier, took Koblenz, Mainz, Bonn, Colgne and crossed the Rhine occuppying German victory point hexes at, 16.30, 18.31, 18.35, 25.34, 26.34, 27.34 along the way. The advance of 4th armoured division carried it some 18 hexes along empty roads. This remarkable advance was carried out by no less than 6 US and French armoured divisions and 5 more of infantry. The armour could have gone all the way to Emden but they halted at the edge of the supply range (as per rules on starategic movement). Yes, after driving all this way, 3rd US Army was still in supply (attack supply next turn as well). The supply line keeping 3rd Amy going ran from Cherbourg in a chain of 3 truck counters all the way to 24.31 (the HQs location).
Other allied troops under US 1st Army managed a mere crawl forward of 5 or 6 hexes to screen the southern Ardennes while the British and Canadians masked and pinned the Germans in central and western Belgium. The poor bedazzled Germans were left staring at the map trying to figure how they were going to retreat their army from Brussels to,...to,.. the Elbe(?), perhaps, while being totally pinned by allied air 'dominance'. 'Dominance' eliminates startegic movement for mechanized units as well as costing all units the road bonus (1/2 movement factor), infantry can still manage a decent rate of march.
Even if the Germans managed to escape into northern Germany and Holland they have all but lost the game at this point. With some 15 - 16 turns and 90% of the map lost there seems little hope of holding on.
Granted, this was just a first run through and we did make a few errors early in the game. We will be resetting the game and giving her another go,... probably two or three more times in fact. My biggest question about the rules for 3rd Army HQs wonderful ability to all but ignore supply is just where in the heck did the designer get the idea for this flight of fancy? Surely it is not from any history book. I suspect very strongly that wishful thinking is giving life to the myth surrounding 3rd Army and its flamboyant commander.
Now,...don't get me wrong, this is not a gamer breake by any means, unless it is not fixed. Every other aspect of the game rolls along quite smoothly giving the players a taste of the problems and potentials for both sides. To fix this 'uber HQ' problem simply reduce its values and abilties to the same as all the other army HQ in the game and be done with it. Afterall, the history books clearly show that 3rd Army's drive from the Seine to Nancy/Metz was no more spectacular than 2nd British Army's drive to Brussels or 1st US Army's drive into central and eastern Belgium.
The game flows quite smoothly and the 'attack' vs 'trace' supply rules definitely make the allied player think about his attacks before he decides who will get the supplies. Unfortunately, it is here that the game possesses a 'twitchy' rule that makes anyone with an objective grasp of the realities of the campaign cringe. I am speaking of the HQ unit for 3rd US Army.
'Attack' supply is generally quite scarce until the ports begin to come on line and it is very possible for the allies to have only Cherbourg supplying the northern armies for a time. One port will provide 'attack' supply for one HQ, which in turn will supply all national units (UK/Can/Pol or US/FFr) withing 5 movement points.
Allied army HQs as a rule cannot move during the exploitation phase and if 'activated' (given attack supplies) are flipped over to a slower (4 vs 8 MF)moving version of itself. These HQ need to link to a supply chain of trucks back to a functioning port. Thus, the further the allies move away from the intial landing area (ie Normandy, for this playing) the more stretched the supplies become. HQs tend to slowly fall behind the front if you simply dash off across France after breaking the German front.
Not so 3rd Army HQ. It is given the normal 8 movement allowance if it is simply providing 'trace' supply but for some reason is given 6 movement after being 'activated'. Even more remarkably is this HQ is also given the ability to exploit!!! Thus, you guessed it, if the Americans can catch the retreating Germans or break the line close to the German border, they can rush supplies forward, keep the units in supply and in range of the HQ and cover vast tracks of territory with hardly a worry.
The very thing happened this evening. The Germans were overtaken on turn 8 (Aug 21-31) in the area running between Rhiems and Troyes and after a series of overruns and attacks this line collapsed and allied armour (French and US) exploited the breach and bounced over the Moselle into the area between Nancy and Metz. A normal HQ (1 Can, 2 UK, 1 US, 7 US, 9 US, 1 FF) would have been left behind back at the old frontlines with the task of trying to catch the spearhead. Those same exploiting divisions would have been beyond 'attack' supply range and forced to consolidate the very large area they had just gained while they waited for the supplies to catch up. All very historical.
However, the ability to exploit with 3 US Army meant that the lead divisions were well within supply range and with the trucks coming up in Turn 9, 3rd army didn't have a worry in the world. By the end of the next turn (turn 9, 1 - 10 Sep), using strategic movement (twice as fast if you don't move out of supply or into enemy ZOC), 3rd Army pushed through the empty Westwall at Saarbrucken, encircled Trier, took Koblenz, Mainz, Bonn, Colgne and crossed the Rhine occuppying German victory point hexes at, 16.30, 18.31, 18.35, 25.34, 26.34, 27.34 along the way. The advance of 4th armoured division carried it some 18 hexes along empty roads. This remarkable advance was carried out by no less than 6 US and French armoured divisions and 5 more of infantry. The armour could have gone all the way to Emden but they halted at the edge of the supply range (as per rules on starategic movement). Yes, after driving all this way, 3rd US Army was still in supply (attack supply next turn as well). The supply line keeping 3rd Amy going ran from Cherbourg in a chain of 3 truck counters all the way to 24.31 (the HQs location).
Other allied troops under US 1st Army managed a mere crawl forward of 5 or 6 hexes to screen the southern Ardennes while the British and Canadians masked and pinned the Germans in central and western Belgium. The poor bedazzled Germans were left staring at the map trying to figure how they were going to retreat their army from Brussels to,...to,.. the Elbe(?), perhaps, while being totally pinned by allied air 'dominance'. 'Dominance' eliminates startegic movement for mechanized units as well as costing all units the road bonus (1/2 movement factor), infantry can still manage a decent rate of march.
Even if the Germans managed to escape into northern Germany and Holland they have all but lost the game at this point. With some 15 - 16 turns and 90% of the map lost there seems little hope of holding on.
Granted, this was just a first run through and we did make a few errors early in the game. We will be resetting the game and giving her another go,... probably two or three more times in fact. My biggest question about the rules for 3rd Army HQs wonderful ability to all but ignore supply is just where in the heck did the designer get the idea for this flight of fancy? Surely it is not from any history book. I suspect very strongly that wishful thinking is giving life to the myth surrounding 3rd Army and its flamboyant commander.
Now,...don't get me wrong, this is not a gamer breake by any means, unless it is not fixed. Every other aspect of the game rolls along quite smoothly giving the players a taste of the problems and potentials for both sides. To fix this 'uber HQ' problem simply reduce its values and abilties to the same as all the other army HQ in the game and be done with it. Afterall, the history books clearly show that 3rd Army's drive from the Seine to Nancy/Metz was no more spectacular than 2nd British Army's drive to Brussels or 1st US Army's drive into central and eastern Belgium.
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