[narwan]

Keeping the CO's back to preserve them doesn't equate to suffering greatly in terms of combat effectiveness. On the contrary, it increases combat effectiveness.
First off, because it is not directly involved in the combat it doesn't need to rally itself. All of it's rally attempts should be reserved for the subordinates. With 3 or 4 tanks per platoon depending on experience that means that most of the subordinate tanks will be at full combat ability for most of the turn and for most of the turns. Increase the number of tanks and that quickly drops.

What is important is the total ROF at high percentage a platoon can project. What is better, 5 tanks each with 2 shots for the main gun (after moving one or two hexes) or 3 tanks each with 3 shots for the main gun (after moving one or two hexes)? Even though the first have a total of 10 shots these are only at 1/3 and 2/3 full percentage for a total score of 5 for the platoon. The three tanks fire at 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3 for a total score of 6 for the platoon. In terms of likelihood to hit the opponent the three tanks are more likely to hit than the 5 tanks are!

narwan