[DRG]

I could write a huge email discussing the quote from Stalin that "quantity has a quality all it's own" but I'll content myself with this. We built the cost calculator to ensure that every tank from every nation was treated exactly the same. Armour, gun, ammo load and type and dozens of other factors are entered in to the calculator to determine the "cost" of the unit. However, what this **CANNOT** calculate is the number of tanks any given army may field. We have no way to work into the calculation that if Nation X= Y then they shall have a Z cost advantage due to the high numbers of tanks it can field.

Western tank design has evolved into being able to stand toe to toe with "eastern" armour and survive the hits they may take and be able to acquire new targets faster and more accurately because it was expected they would face larger numbers of opponents. The situation is, in a very , very general way, similar to what the various combatants in Europe in 1944 faced. If you are a commander of a US or British tank company of Sherman's in July 1944 do you try to slug it out toe to toe with Panthers and Tigers?

No. If you try that you will be slaughtered and don't try slugging it out toe to toe, one on one with a T-80 vs an M1A2 either. As stated above, the M1A2 was **designed** to come out on top in situations like that.

In the modern battlefield there is very little margin of error. Stick your turret over a hill and suddenly a half dozen enemy tanks are firing at you AND scoring hits. Not like in a WW2 era battle where you might be able to bull your way forward because gunnery and target acquisition wasn't nearly the art form it is now and you might be able to actually make it to that next tree line unscathed by dropping a bit of smoke. Now you might be lucky to get two hexes before you're stopped cold. That IS the reality of the modern battlefield. It may very well account for the reason we all make nice with one another ( more or less... )

What's the answer? Combined arms. A well timed attack with a few Russian Msta-B Sections can wipe out an entire company of western tanks in seconds. ( I just tried this with a Challenger 1 Squadron at a cross roads and three Msta-B Sections left every one a flaming wreak on the first turn ....that would make the job of the armoured units following up a bit easier.....Ja? ) Infantry with RPG's are particularly nasty and the sides of all western tanks are penetrable by "eastern" tank armament. Start thinking of your T-90s as Sherman's , go for the flanks and stop trying to slug it out with Western tanks and, if players insist on playing out "Kursk 1999" then start thinking about just what kind of numbers the Russians could field in a situation like that vs what the "Nato" ones could. Try playing at 6:1 odds for a start.

Don