The Combined Arms Penalty

[Xerxes77]

Mmmh well I still don't understand this rule? Are we saying pure armour attacks are better than a supported infantry attacks whether the support is 'adequate' or not? That doesn't make sense?

Start adding infantry to an attack and there is a chance your armour will be penalised?

I don't think that's the case. Take Green's second example: 20 tanks assaulting 50 men results in 5 unsupported tanks.

Now add just 10 men to the attacking hex. You have a total of 10 supporting infantry. The defending infantry exceeds the supporting infantry by 40 men, and that translates to 4 unsupported tanks.

So even this small amount of infantry is beneficial. Hope I got all of that right...?

So does this mean then that if there are 0 supporting infantry then all 20 tanks are penalized? I've always assume that they attack at full strength?

They don't all attack at full strength, but only 5 of them are penalized. Let's see the breakdown for a given HEX involved in an attack on a *non-clear hex containing enemy infantry*:

Attacking force: 20 tanks
Defending force: 50 men

Attacking supporting infantry: 0
Defending infantry in excess of attacking supporting infantry: 50

Tens of defending infantry in excess of supporting infantry: 5 (since 50 - 0 = 50, i.e. 5 tens)
Ergo, penalized tanks in attacking force: 5