Break Down Battalions or No??

[Zemke]

Generally defending I break down where I need to cover a long line.

I do try not to for attacks and I really try not to when assaulting to get more attacks in as thats very naughty in my view.

In some games I try and use house rules so the attacker has to combine and stay combined in part because I think it helps play balance - any N44 campaign game needs this to help the Germans and it fits with the allied use of units as I understand it.

The company/battalion thing has always struck me as odd the ACW and Nappy games display 2?? men why not in Pz Camp it could be anything from 101 to 999 men and I am sure most people with exoerience would say you would be able to guess within +/- 100

This would be an excellent upgrade to the game if possible. How many times have you seen your opponent target a single XX infantry unit with lots of artillery hoping to eliminate completely. The current system is a little to "black and white". At XXX you are not sure what you are facing, then when you see XX you have a real good idea of what you are facing. Also XXX could mean a company or a Bn 800 men or 100 men, and that is a big difference. A system of a "range" of numbers would be excellent, so when a unit's actual strength is say 85, you would see a range of 200-50 or something like that.

[Gordons HQ]

I tend to break down my battalions as a Russian Commander when in defence.
As mentioned previously stacking an A class unit with others is beneficial to the stack.
As a Russian Commander you don't often get A class units and a tactic I've found sometimes useful is a scatter tactic.
The situation can often look hopeless against high quality Axis forces, but when you look at the VP's required by them to take a victory of some sort, it's not always that straightforward. Your objective obviously has to be to try to stop them achieving these VPs.
I find sometimes you can break down all your or some units and literally litter the battlefield with them.
It's not pretty, but the Axis commander then has to wipe all these company units out to achieve his victory, usually by assault and therefore gaining high fatigue.
Often his units become worn out and can't take all the objectives require in the time to gain victory.
If you are lucky you may have been able to keep some battalions back and he will be very open to a counter attack.