Winter/Seasonal House Rules

@Smarties:

Not every winter is terrible, so at the beginning of a winter round (R3, R7, R11, etc…), someone should roll a die to see if the winter is going to be bad. If the roll is 1-3, then there is a heavy winter that lasts the entire round. Here is what I think that the winter should do:

1. Axis units may not make any combat movements (including amphibious assaults) into or through original Russian territories with their ground units. The same applies to Alaska, the Aleutians, and British territory in North America.

2. Allied units may not make any combat movements (including amphibious assaults) into or through Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark with their ground units.

3. Air units starting in any of the above mentioned territories are grounded, and they cannot make any kind of movement.

As you can see, winter can be really nasty! At least it only has a one in two chance of happening once every four rounds. :wink:

What about Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland?
The Battle of the Bulge was fought almost entirely in Belgium, and winter inflicted a devastating toll on Allied forces there.

The territories you listed aren’t the only territories affected.

I agree that maybe not every winter was bad, and a random factor is needed.

Still, one must consider scale, simplicity, and purpose.
On the global scale, terrain is hard to model, as many regions have a wide variety of terrain. More complicated rules are usually more realistic, but harder to implement. Does this HR do anything, or does it exist only to make the game more “realistic”?

I believe that a random roll for territories on the Northern third that limits movement regardless of side is simple, exists to aid the Russians slightly, and while not very realistic is at least slightly more realistic than the OOB game.

@Narvik:

Yes, exactly what do the rule say ?

Do winter limit combat move only ? In that case only Tanks will be weak.

Or do the defender get a bonus, like inf defend on a 3 or less during winter, and 2 or less during summer.

Or do winter limit the number of combat rounds ? Like you can only roll for one round of combat during winter, and unlimited rounds for summer ?

…or a combination of all the above ?

I was going with -1 combat move for all ground units. This would mean tanks could still operate, but less effectively, and infantry and artillery would be stuck in place. Perhaps I could also apply this to air units as well, which would be hindered in Winter. Maybe it could even be a reduction of two for air.

Naval units would be stuck completely in SZs touching the top of the board.

@GODLEADER:

I dont sure whit the -1 combat move…In the Ardenne german and Us infantry is not stuck in place… in the soviet counterattack at Moscow soviet infantry is not stuck in place. For me only mechcanized unit and air unit have a possibility of stuck in place.

It doesn’t mean the infantry are literally stuck. For example, Moscow is one territory. The Soviet infantry weren’t stuck, but they didn’t leave the area that is in A&A “Russia”. The Ardennes would be “Belgium” on the A&A board. I’m pretty sure the Battle of the Bulge never went outside that rough area (Maybe parts of France, but not all the way to Paris).

So the infantry could still move, but they certainly weren’t blitzing around Europe during the winter. This is reflected by Infantry not moving to other territories (though they can still “move” inside their territory).

@Narvik:

@Baron:

@GODLEADER:

I dont sure whit the -1 combat move…In the Ardenne german and Us infantry is not stuck in place… in the soviet counterattack at Moscow soviet infantry is not stuck in place. For me only mechcanized unit and air unit have a possibility of stuck in place.

Are yous suggesting that only Tank and Mechanized Infantry should be reduced to 1 move during winter?

As I said, winter did not effect the fighting, but winter made it harder to supply the troops. An A&A territory is huge as a country, and an A&A turn is 3 or 4 months. So in this operational scale, winter don’t effect combat much. Also both infantry and tanks used train to travel long distances, and winter don’t effect the railway too much. Actually both inf and tanks should move 2 in non-combat since they are supposed to be on train.

About infantry, this are men walking on feet, nothing can stop them, not mountains, not forest, not snow. French infantry walked from Poland to Moscow and back to Poland again during winter in the 1812 Napoleon campaign. I say that nothing can stop infantry.

Tanks is different, they got stuck in mud and snow. I figure that winter and some types of terrain may deny the tanks abilities, such as blitzing.

Thinking out loud, A&A is supposed to be a simple game, not complex like World in Flames or Gary Grigsbys war. A&A is grand strategy and it would be wrong to introduce too much of tactics at divisional level. To keep it simple I suggest that in winter all land units defend at 3, since winter slightly favors the defender, but most important, it is only one round of land combat in the winter turn, since winter have a bad impact on the supply line.

So end of line, naval and air goes as usual.
Land combat is restricted to one round only, and all land units defend on 3 or less.
No blitzing

“About infantry, this are men walking on feet, nothing can stop them, not mountains, not forest, not snow. French infantry walked from Poland to Moscow and back to Poland again during winter in the 1812 Napoleon campaign. I say that nothing can stop infantry.”
They also died in droves because of it. Death certainly stops infantry. I believe Napoleon lost over 90% of his men due to winter in that campaign. Maybe make so if you move infantry, roll a d6 for each one, on a 6 they survive. Remove all other infantry.

I’m a bit confused… you say winter doesn’t effect combat that much, but then make drastic changes to combat. I think combat should be left alone, and only effect movement (which relates to supply lines. Can’t advance if you have no fuel).