[arkhangelsk]

OK, let's try this again, step by step.

I select Battle, Russia (All Human) v Japan (Human Buy and Deploy, Computer Run). I change the Turn Count to 70 and buy Russia's units, then Japan's Units, so far, so good.

So, I get transferred to Japan's deploying screen. I want to see what the computer has to offer and then trim the worst of the decisions (for example, in some cases the Company Leader would be placed to the far North while all the subordinates platoons are clustered in the South - that's one reason for change). So I make the mistake of clicking "Auto-Deploy".

Now, as you will see if you can open the file, the computer scheduled the heloes to arrive, on Turn 34. I understand your theory but the delay algorithm must be getting confused by the massive Turn Count.

I give myself plenty of time because
a) I suck
b) intend to practice one-hex/turn, cautious infanty advances rather than advancing my BMPs until they get shot up.
c) I don't think I'm the first guy to have thought the default turn allocation is a little short
but really, the battle might not even last to Turn 34. Besides, if you look at the units as purchased, you'll see that the TOWs on the helicopters are a large part of Japan's antitank ability. If they come on Turn 34 by then their infantry would have been massacred by Russian armored units. If they are there from the start they might just harm the advancing (easy to spot) Russian columns. This will be made easier because I intended to place them in FM100-2-1 style Soviet March Columns.

Anyway, I've chosen Human Deploy to check the deployment, and I think the computer made a mistake that I have to correct. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to even clear the Reinforcement status using the @ key and then remember "Crap, they disabled this control in Battle mode".

So I tried to manually select those heloes from the HQ list and plop them in an unimaginative, linear formation (that's another reason I want to see what Auto-Deploy has to offer - I suck so much sometimes even the AI can still look innovative). I got them to show on the map, but the Help screen says they should be removed when the game actually starts. I Quit Deploy.

Obviously, I'm by now more interested in seeing how the game would process this, so I just Auto-Deployed for the Russians as well and concentrated my efforts on obtaining Manual Control of the Japan side so I can see the results. I ended my Russian 1st Turn and hit Escape until I got it.

And there you have it, the Save File. Note that the heloes are still on map. You might also notice that one of them have been moved. It draws fire from the Tunguskas but "Bad Target" keeps showing up, probably because of the Reinforcement status.

I'll agree that the ability to control Reinforcement is not that important in random battle. On the other hand, it may have some fringe uses (perhaps a veteran player can use it as a kind of quick handicap to a rookie), and it'll certainly end headaches when you disagree with the computer's decision to hold some in reserve.