Map Size
 

Hello,

what is your recommendation for map size in connection to point size of your army in the long campaign?

And does it change with different composition of force (mainly foot infantry vs. mainly tanks/mechanised vs. "balanced" ?

I prefer to play with fewer number of units than most of players (I plan to use core force of 1.000 - 1.500) at the beginning.

Thank you.

Re: Map Size
 

Currently playing a WW2 LC with a soviet rifle battalion core + a few light tanks. 80x80 seems fine for that. 80 deep allows you to get to the end zone in 30 or so moves in the attack or assault while walking.

(Frontage for a battalion would really be about 1-1.5 clicks, or 20-30 hexes, but a 40 wide by 80 deep map would be a little too restrictive methinks. )

Cheers
Andy

Re: Map Size
 

I'm playing WW2 LC (with German rifle company and two tank sections in support) and 80x80 seems fine for me. I play usually 28-32 turns per scenario, almost 40 in winter.
I think that with smaller ones there's no need to divide my force to different objectives.

As WinSP* games allow you to change the map size before every battle it doesn't really matter what size you'll start with. You'll be able to make up your own decision later and shrink/enlarge the map to suit your needs.

I know that at real front line a company would have much less to fight for but it leaded me to simple straight-forward style of play.
As I play with three clusters of objectives that means that with 80 high platoons can't support immediately each other.


@Mobhack: Do you play with shotgun pattern when having a rifle battalion? I've always found hard to secure all the victory hexes.

Re: Map Size
 

I have to say that I also tend to play the long WW2 campaign at the scale of a rifle company with support, and the 80x80 default seems too big to me. Next time I am going to try 40.

So what would be the real frontage for a company with support? I think players should go at least a little bigger than reality to avoid the issue of unrealistic flank protection given by the map edge.

Re: Map Size
 

See my previous post, and recall that a battalion is typically 3 companies, plus maybe an attached "foreign" one and some supports.

So - halve what I said, as it would be typically 2 companies "up" and the third held in reserve (as discussed in the game play notes section of the Game Guide). So 500-750 metres. (10-15 hexes), call it 20 to make the human player have to spread out a bit.

Andy

Re: Map Size
 

There are at least three factors involved in choosing a map size for me: force size, force composition, and opponent. I've never tried to directly relate any of these factors to points although I suppose it could be done.

I usually use somewhere between a company and an understrength battalion for my core force since I prefer smaller battles. If I'm using an infantry heavy force, then a frontage of as small as 30 hexes is workable. With a highly mobile force I prefer a wider frontage, usually 60 hexes - otherwise the force mobility isn't worth as much.

When it comes to depth, against the AI with a mix of armor and infantry I find that a 60 hex depth is a good choice. With an 80 hex depth the AI's infantry tends to be too far separated from its armor. If I turn on armor heavy, then 80 hex depth is more interesting. If the enemy force is predominately infantry an 80 hex depth works fine too, especially for larger battles.

Historically, I'd go with Andy's info but realize that in some periods and some fronts units were sometimes assigned a much wider frontage, especially when on the defensive. Keep in mind though that the AI doesn't seem to do as well in sparse settings.