Expanding the map still banned?

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Vokt
Lieutenant Colonel - Panther D
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Expanding the map still banned?

Post by Vokt »

Is still banned to expand the map? I mean to add some hexes north for the russian convoy make all its way to Murmansk or to do the proper on the south to allow Red Sea not to be a mortal trap for allied ships when Suez is axis controlled, etc.
Peter Stauffenberg
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Re: Expanding the map still banned?

Post by Peter Stauffenberg »

As far as I understand it's not prohibited. We just need approval by Slitherine before thinking about doing that. There is no point going to them asking for permssion if people don't think an expanded map will enhance the game play. So first we need to find out if it's really something people want.

It's certainly possible to expand the map north so you can sail all the way to Archangel and having Murmansk in the proper location. if we do that then we need to think about possible pitfalls we introduce. One example is that the Axis can probably add along a line near the North Cape so the convoys can't sail through. That means the Allies will have to use escorts to clear the path. Those escorts can be picked on by Axis air units or naval units stationed in Norway.

On the other hand this is exactly what happened in the real war. It was very risky indeed being on a convoy ship sailing for Murmansk. The British were so scared about Tirpitz hiding in the Norwegian fjords they spent a lot of effort trying to locate the battleship and bombard it. Eventually Tirpitz was sunk near Tromsø. The Luftwaffe could harass the Allied ship so aircraft carriers were needed. And so on.

So we have to make sure we don't open up a can of worms adding new options. E. g. one that comes to mind is for the Germans to send lots of corps units into the Barents Sea and land these units east or west of Archangel. I'm not sure such an invasion was even possible. So we need some kind of new rules to make sure it can't be exploited. One is to prohibit amphibious landings in tundra terrain.
In the real war the White Sea was frozen for quite a few months each year.
JimR
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Re: Expanding the map still banned?

Post by JimR »

An interesting idea (with caveats noted), that might add a fun new wrinkle to the game. It would help to make Norway's value relative to the Murmansk convoy less abstract than it is now.
Plaid
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Re: Expanding the map still banned?

Post by Plaid »

Stauffenberg wrote: E. g. one that comes to mind is for the Germans to send lots of corps units into the Barents Sea and land these units east or west of Archangel.
True, but game is already full of unrealistic landing possibilities (Axis landing in Greece near Athens to get fast surrender, allies invading Portugal in 1940-41, Axis or Allies invading Turkey, Overlord in northern Germany/Denmark instead of France and so on), so whats so special about it.
Vokt
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Re: Expanding the map still banned?

Post by Vokt »

Plaid wrote:
Stauffenberg wrote: E. g. one that comes to mind is for the Germans to send lots of corps units into the Barents Sea and land these units east or west of Archangel.
True, but game is already full of unrealistic landing possibilities (Axis landing in Greece near Athens to get fast surrender, allies invading Portugal in 1940-41, Axis or Allies invading Turkey, Overlord in northern Germany/Denmark instead of France and so on), so whats so special about it.
Would these "odd landings" be avoided by including "beach hexes" in the map? I mean landing points (favourable orography, etc) which are supposed for an amphibious operation to have chances of succeeding. North Germany allied landings always come to mind because of the many times players skip landings in France and go for a direct assault to Germany. Not sure at all but I think those german coasts are not the best terrain for a landing. I have attached an image for you to see what I try to bring here:

Image

This is a satellite image of German Bight. It seems that the coasts of eastern Denmark, northern Germany and northern Holland are surrounded by lots of tiny islands. Note that in central Holland this doesn´t happen. I think that if the real allies would have had the chance to do the same they would have taken this route too but I have doubts that this is a terrain suitable for a landing.

The same could be said for norwegian fiords, etc.
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