TOAW3 - Scenario Recommendations?

[Currahee]

It sounds like you're doing fine, hang in there!

Actually France 40, altho one of the smaller scenarios, does have a huge number of units packed into a small space, which puts a lot of pressure on the retreat routines. Generally, retreating units will head toward their own lines; occasionally, a unit on tactical or local reserve will jump into the fray, and it looks like a retreating unit is "returning", actually it's a frest unit filling the gap.

Retreats are costly, and even if a unit retreats through a zoc, the adjacent enemy units are taking free shots at it, so it's usually routed or reorganizing next turn. ..altho from your side, the unit looks "normal", ie, only the owing player can see its routed or reorganizing status.

Yes, you have to completely surround a unit to get it to surrender, altho sometimes they will evaporate without being surrounded. To surround, you can split some units into 2 or 3 sub-units, to help fill those gaps. Also, if there's impassable terrain, like a major river, they can't retreat through that, unless they contain units with major fording ability, or unless there's a blown bridge there, and they have some engineer units.

On the combat phases per turn, you don't totally control that, because some battles take longer than advertised in the combat planner, usually because the wiley defender has put them on "ignore losses", or they're dug in. If your units are on "ignore losses", it will also drag out the round. Most French units in France 40 are dug in, so you're combat phases are taking longer; in some scenarios, it's lots easier to get more combat phases per turn.