Winterization Trick

This trick was uncovered at Origins by eavesdropping on Fest attendee, Frank Skog. Mr. Skog mentioned that breaking a winterized division down into three unsupported regiments and a division HQ yields 4 winterized REs, as opposed to the 3 possessed by the intact division.

There are both offensive and defensive benefits to be obtained by making use of this trick. Suppose that you, as the Soviet player, have an attack force made up of 4x 4-6 Rifle XX, 1x 5-6 Gds Rifle XX, and 4x 2-6 Art X. You plan to use these units to hit a lone German 7-6 Inf XX in clear terrain in zone B during a snow turn of the first winter.

Attacking with the above forces yields a 4:1 (0) attack, as the proportion of winterized REs in the attacking force is less than 1/5 (3/19). But suppose you "skog" the Gds Rifle XX, breaking it down to 1x 2-6 Gds Rifle III, 2x 1-6 Gds Rifle III, and 1x 6 Gds Rifle XX HQ. Your winterization ratio just jumped to 115 (4/20), and the loss of the strength point caused by the break down does not erode your odds. The attack goes in at 4:1 (+1).

On the other side of the line every Axis winterized RE is precious. An Axis player must use his winterized REs in a defensive role, to ward off Soviet attack modifiers. Unfortunately, there are few Axis divisions that can be "skogged."

The only Axis winterized divisions capable of breaking down are Finnish Rifle XXs, German Mountain XXs, and the 7th Para XX (if it has formed up). And even more unfortunately, "skogging" these divisions (with the sole exception of 7th Para XX) does not yield any extra winterized REs.

Nonetheless, the German player may find it to his advantage to spread his winterized REs around, achieving a ratio of 1/5 in as many hexes as possible. "Skogging" a few of the Mountain XXs may be just the ticket to obtain maximum flexibility in this regard.

This trick raises some other interesting asides which we shall consider next.

Spanish Blue and Walloons, Too

One might argue that the German player should be able to "skog" the Spanish 250th "Blue" Division. However, this would be a sick trick. Even if you are not using the pretty blue counter from Spain and Portugal for this unit, it is obviously not a regular German division. In fact, it is printed in the German foreign contingent colors.

Rule 34A states that German foreign contingent units are considered to be their own nationality for all replacement purposes. This means, first of all, that German RPs may not be used to replace foreign contingent units. It also means that for special replacement purposes, foreign contingent losses are divided by five instead of four, and maintained in their own pool.

The above situation guarantees that the foreign contingents will see only the occasional stray RP. A most likely candidate for replacement is Leon Degrelle's "Walloon Legion," the 1-6 Inf II 373. This is appropriate since this unit was repeatedly butchered and reconstituted throughout the bitter struggle on the Eastern front.

German "Winterized" Infantry

In TEM # 27, John Astell talked about the possibility of allowing the German player to "train" a certain number of divisions each year in winterization skills Also see Jason Long's comments on pages 17 and 18 of this issue. Should this ability find its way into the Collector Series game of FitE/SE, then such units will provide an additional pool of "skogable" Axis divisions. If the winterization rules survive intact in the revision, it will be necessary to identify these divisions, as well as their divisional breakdowns, as being winterized.

As a general comment, I concur with Jason that the number of German REs possessing winterization appears too great. Stripping a few German units of their winterization classification would put a little of the kick back in the Soviet 1941 winter counteroffensive.

More HQ Tricks

Breaking a division down into its unsupported regiments and its HQ can come in handy in other spots as well, although these occasions can easily be overlooked, even by careful players. (Or are they just fastidious? Or reasonable?)

Perhaps the most frequently overlooked aspect of a HQ unit is its "ant" status. Suppose you, as the German player, need to send out an ant to sit on a rail line (come on now-we all do it!), but there are no ants available, only a motorized division. It would be a shame to send a nice 3- 10 regiment to do an ant's job.

But wait--a moment's thought suggests that you dispatch the divisional HQ unit. (Is this as distasteful to read as it is to write? I can just see it... "Don't worry men. Just stay right where you are, safe with that panzer division, while the General and his staff take the divisional guns and go to occupy yon rail junction!")

Or if you have three Soviet rail hexes to occupy and only a single motorized division handy, the HQ unit gives you the extra unit you need. If the same motor division is ordered to destroy rail hexes, then breaking down and letting the HQ unit do its fair share of the job can prove helpful to the cause... Wait a minute!

I can pursue this topic no further without tossing my cookies. Maybe Europa should dispense with HQ units altogether. What are they good for anyway except abuses and a bunch of rules questions? For example, we all know that it takes 1 RP to replace a motorized division HQ unit, but would that RP be armored or infantry?

In WitD, it would be infantry, but for FitE/SE it would be armored--I think. But I confess this is just a hunch based on the example of the 1-10 motorized infantry unit.

Seriously, would it be so bad if all divisions broke down into supported regiments or brigades and we lost the pesky HQs? Would Western Desert play differently without the HQ aspect? What do you think? Let me know what you think of this heresy, but be gentle.