[Brian61]

Yes surprises are great and battle locations are easy to change, neither subject is involved in this issue.

Maybe its just a complete misunderstanding over my use of the term 'historical campaign'. When I play a 'historical campaign' I first research the history of the unit in question, like read books and do web searches. I then pick a core force drawn from the unit based on its actual historical TOE/OOB as best as can be determined. I then play battles against the opponents in the places that the actual real unit in history saw action. Call it a form of handicapping if the desire to study history in this manner can't be understood.

So, if 3rd Panzer Division fought in the Battle of Hannut then I desire to play a battle versus France in the low countries type geography *not* a river crossing at Sedan or a battle versus Belgium or Great Britain. That is, I want to follow the path the real unit followed in history to perhaps get a better feel for what its commanders and troops faced as well as the strengths and failings of its equipment in the historical battle.

While it would be nice to know the battle type as well as the opponent prior to making rebuild changes that might be thrown away, even just knowing the batloc and opponent would help reduce the tediousness of the present workaround. The batloc is important in some cases because of river crossings. You can't change a river crossing into anything else as far as I'm aware, nor can you change the opponent.

This issue occurs with all countries in all theatres in the long campaign were there are multiple possible opponents (and/or sub-theatres), as far as I am aware, not just Germany in the Poland -> Europe -> Balkans -> Eastern Europe -> Western Europe chain.

Finally, yes I am aware that this is a game and not a simulator and I'm pushing its limits by using it in this regards. It is, however, a testament to the designers and maintainers/modders, that it models historical reality well enough, within limits, that real world tactics in many cases actually work in the game and a certain feeling for the real historical battles can be obtained by playing the battles in the game. It is also a quite fun and entertaining way of handicapping yourself to make the game still challenging after over a decade of play.

Thanks,
Brian