While checking out a couple of possible attacks on the Soviet player, I plotted a brilliant manoeuvre using my panzers. Suddenly, I realize that as odd as it was, using a JU87 would lower my odds of getting the BT result because of rolling an armour symbol to zero. If I put in regular planes, I would have two chances to get it but of course, could miss on getting any shifts at all. Somehow this seems counter intuitive to me as it was the Ju87s were used to help breakthroughs. Am I missing something here or should the result be changed to be whatever die result the attacker wishes instead of the automatic success?
K.I.S.S.
You might be right. We're having a meeting on this point later today. Stay tuned!
If you have the time ... please possibly bring up the possibility of the Attacker choosing how many of the successful CAS rolls he wants to use ...
remember, if one rolls 3 shifts, and it winds up as an EX, that is worse than the original roll or even 1 or 2 shifts. Very difficult pill to swallow.
There I am at 2-1 (+3 CAS) and roll a "3." With one shift, a DP (whew), 2 shifts a DR (yipee) but 3 shifts (yahtzee!!!) to 5-1 and EX (?&#!#$).
Better plan is to allow the attacker to choose between using his 1, 2 or 3 shifts. I mean, 3 CAS shifts, and the defender "wins" with an exchange? Feels very unfair when rolling.
Okay, we've got better wording now for Jericho's Trumpets, I think:
But, Doc, I don't think inoculating players from unfortunate die rolls really helps the game. If you don't want those Support Shifts, don't commit to using them. If you do, yeah, sometimes things will not be pristine/perfect but, overall, you're better using them than not. You still received a proper result on whatever odds column you were shifted to, and that strikes me as fair.
I'm assuming with only the slight changes to the wording that are shown, there is still no automatic way to get a Breakthrough result if you also have the Panzerblitz card in play as it gives you the choice to use it or not? I'm not in love with this solution but at least you have an option. I still think the choice of result is cleaner but you probably have reasons for doing it this way.
Breakthroughs can be HUGE. They can't be made automatic.
I can see the problems if they were automatic. I only ever get them when they make no difference so they never seem to be that big of a deal. :-)
Sometimes a BT does not give a big plus. I am not sure how many turns you have played. As an extreme test, conduct the Sneak Attack with out the BT advantage unless rolled. As the Soviet get to a more normal line, a BT can force a rapid withdraw in an area. A stack or maybe just a unit comes off and the motorized can push though the line and trap other units.
There are uncommon ways to get automatic BTs, but losing two rolls for two Shifts with Jericho Trumpets can an interesting choice now--thanks Gordon. The familiar way to auto BTs is with the Blitzkrieg card. They all require 6:1+ odds, to ensure the vacation of the hex. Brandenburgers for Germans, Marshall Valilevsky for Russians, and an Airdrop Mission with two Transports can accomplish this as well. Brandenburgers can do this with a ST, so a single-step hex is vulnerable at lower odds. There can be surprises though, like the German intel card and Standfast and (?) to account for. Most BTs are not automatic, which is a good thing.