EA or Not? That is the Question!

[Kool Kat]

Gents:

I've also discovered instances in which EA is an absolute mandatory optional rule.

Take for example my Rising Sun "Battle of Manila" scenario.

It was originally designed to not use EA, but repeated play testing with the original assault rules resulted in the Americans overwhelming the defending Japanese forces each time. Completely unbalanced.

Insert EA. Suddenly, Japanese troops in bunkers and IPs held up the attacking GIs for several turns. Americans in turn, had to target these hexes with massive artillery barrages accompanied with point blank tank cannon fire and than followed up with multiple close assaults. Now the battle more closely resembled historically what the Americans faced when they entered the ruins of Manila - a stubborn and hard to eliminate enemy hunkered down within bunkers and IPs. If the Japanese could trade some terrain for time, make the attacking Americans pay for each hex gained, and launch selective counterattacks, they had a better chance of securing a win. So, in this instance, EA was a "good thing" even if there were sometimes that lone SP unit that would hold out for several turns against company-sized attacks!