In addition to the old effect this card now "prevents the improvement of any axis on-card countdown marker". The majority of axis on-card countdowns are used to establish the duration of some desirable effect, so clearly they won't be targeted. The only axis card I can see where the countdown is analogous the HQ/city countdowns is Winter Preparations which could only be played well before the start of Barbarossa. So this effect of Scorched Earth seems completely useless. What am I missing?
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I understand winter prep is in the deck but the cost of playing once the war has started seems excessive so I discounted that possibility. I suppose the countdown overlapping rasputitsa might not be much loss of momentum. On the other hand frostbite doesn't seem all that bad and might not even happen.
I just finished Stahel's Retreat from Moscow this afternoon. Very amusing after his earlier three which proclaimed the axis has now lost the war at Smolensk, then Kiev, then Moscow. Now it is the Soviets who have lost big time.
When Starting TiTE2 at Barbarossa, the Winter Preparations Card is in the German deck and it has not been used. Historically it was not used and the Germans just paid the price in steps. Because the card countdown blocks any HQ from going into Attack Mode, timing will be important. It is a Large card so it must be drawn in July or October. A January draw would not help in time. Usually an Oct 1 draw and then an Oct 2 play allows the countdown to finish before Dec 1 possible Extreme Cold. Playing Scorched Earth later could open a risk to the Germans for Frostbite. If the Germans had planned some other cardplay so a card would finish its cycle and then be placed ahead on the turn track. A play of the Scorched Earth card could push the cycle into the next season and delay the card a full quarter but, this would be rare. Usually the card just hinders HQs and supply cities in the Summer of 1941 from coming online by a turn.