Tactics Question: Mobility VS Melee

[DeHammer]

I've played a few of the HiD (digital) scenarios. I've noticed so far that in the scenarios I've played victory for either side hinges either on being able to move fast to secure a specific area under significant time constraints, or hindering the the opposing side from doing the same. In both cases the attacker is really very hard pressed to even get their squads to the victory locations moving at full speed without stopping to fire, and the defender seems to be able to quite easily prevent that simply by spreading their squads out and engaging the attacker is melees. It doesn't even matter if they are successful in the melee, as just the existence of the melee counter is enough to slow the attacker down enough to thwart their ability to reach the victory location.

Scenarios that require a lot of movement make sense in a module that centers around The Battle of France (1940), but what tactics can the attacker deploy to counter the defenders 'slow them down using melee' tactic? The play balance seems to suffer greatly when melee is over utilized just to thwart enemy movement.

 

[Stéphane Tanguay]

Yes, the melee-pining thing can become gamey and it was probably overlooked in playtesting. In future scenarios, VPs could also be awarded for enemy units eliminated ONLY in melee; that would male this a less enticing proposition for the defender. Another solution is to make sure that you always keep some covering fire. Finally make sure that if your unit is engage in melee, this is done after it moves it,s full Mps. This way, if you get initiative the turn after, you can resume movement as if nothing happened.

As always, you need a good team of playtesters to catch theses, people that will try to break the scenario by being as gamey as possible

 

[DeHammer]

Thanks! Those are some great ideas.

Was also thinking it might be interesting if a smaller force without leader/hero had to do a morale check before trying to melee with a larger force.

Of course, in the digital game our hands are tied with regard to compensating rules. .

 

[Diesel_Kurt]

Or if you see defender spread out do likewise. There is a time to be stacked and a time not too. Remember sgt Horvath “3 men bunched up is an opportunity.... 1 man, a waste of ammo”. If the defender has 1 squad in a building across the street, sacrifice a squad to charge and melee him before he can do it to you. Then move around with the leader and other 2 squads.

 

[Diesel_Kurt]

Sometimes it might pay off even if he fires and breaks your squad, now he has fired and you can do what you want.

 

[Diesel_Kurt]

I do like the morale check idea on a single squad attacking multiple, makes sense just like close assault on a tank