Digging in at the MSR hexes etc.

[burroughs]

If I attempt to entrench a location that a primary or secondary road leads through, a railway line or a trail maybe, is it that later on it is likely to hamper the movement there due to the presence of earthworks and other elements of strongholds and fortifications?

[JDR Dragoon]

No. Why on earth would you (IRL) dig-in on the road itself?

[Compass Rose]

If you know the enemy is going to have to come down a road due to mud or snow covered ground, why wouldn't you try to hold up the enemy advance with a welcoming committee!

It sounds like a good strategy from my POV.

[JDR Dragoon]

If you know the enemy is going to have to come down a road due to mud or snow covered ground, why wouldn't you try to hold up the enemy advance with a welcoming committee!

It sounds like a good strategy from my POV.

You can do that equally well from a position beside the road or offset to the side of the road. A position on the road (either dug in or blasted/broken into the tarmac) is immediately obvious and will be subject to fire, possibly even before it gets a chance to open fire itself.

[Compass Rose]

You can do that equally well from a position beside the road or offset to the side of the road. A position on the road (either dug in or blasted/broken into the tarmac) is immediately obvious and will be subject to fire, possibly even before it gets a chance to open fire itself.

Good point!

[burroughs]

Yes, I exactly meant a defensive position prepared in an anticipation of an inevitable withdrawal when one may find it useful in case of a rearguard action or as a blocking position. In my current Smolensk '41 campaign scenario played on the Stavka side it's well advised to consider a retreat at some point if not right away and then make it an organized one instead of a hasty one. Besides lots of those infantry battalions need to spend some time in the rear before they are forced to see some action and see the elephat finally so they could start digging in as well - I just wanted to make it make sense a little so I looked for spots in which such mundane tasks would alter the course of history just a bit.

However, what's that thing with a dugout in a road hexagon visible right away? Did You mean a direct LOS of an enemy unit advancing or an aerial reconnaissance maybe? Or it is going to be revealed at some point in the game by the general intelligence value as a part of the map that gets updated by the services responsible throughout the campaign?

BTW, I liberated Denmark some time ago in the battle of Schleswig - Holstein?Where do I share the lessons learned?Sir Colonel, Sir?

[Liebchen]

I think that he meant in real life, a bunker or trench line actually in the road would be visible from far away.

As for the game, the improvements are visible when they are in view of a friendly unit, although they won't be visible during actual movement unless you bump right up against them.

There is no general intel in these games. In fact, as someone was grumbling about only recently in these forums, you can lose track of your own improvements/defense measures once they're out of sight of your own units.

[burroughs]

There is no general intel in these games. In fact, as someone was grumbling about only recently in these forums, you can lose track of your own improvements/defense measures once they're out of sight of your own units.

Thanks a lot for calrifying that one, I had an impression that that is the case here, but it's good to be sure,of course. Yes, I think there was also a discussion about minefields should one bump into one's own etc.

In TOAW III as some may already know, there is a general intel value and certain defensive positions can be seen from a distance,but I have never worked out if those are only the ones we bulit or used in the past ourselves or also the ones prepared by the enemy in the meantime once in a campaign game, in a long scenario.

I think I'll be fortifying everything I can, the troops withdrawing may find a bit of extra cover useful once hard-pressed despite the NKVD blocking posts and the dear comrade Stalin's order "ni shagu nazad!" ( not a single step back )

[JDR Dragoon]

It is as Liebchen says.

Any comments, AARs or suggestions regarding my scenario design can be PM´ed to me.

As for blocking a road, there are only 3 ways it can be done in the game:

-It can be done as part of the general scenario design, by placing an "OBSTACLES" counter in the hex (I don´t think you can do this with an engineer in-game the same way you lay mines, at least not in all titles)

-If the road leads through some kind of built up area (Village, Town, City, Industrial) the hex can be reduced to "RUBBLE"

-Road demolition and obstacles can indirectly be represented by blowing up bridges leading across minor rivers.