[WarInEur] Optional strategic Suprise rule.

[Wardall Clark]

The KC proposal for strategic surprise addresses a weakness of BWIE, unless the other player is 
unobservant, ignorant of your forces' capabilities, or too tired to recognize what is coming, you never 
really catch him off guard at the operational level.  This is especially a problem with respect to the 
soviet Artillery units, which have to move into place in the mechanized movement of the previous turn. Operational surprises like the German Bulge attack and the Destruction of AG center were a principle 
feature of WWII. Scenarios that give the first phasing player a free set up nicely mimic these surprises 
unfortunately, in Campaign WIE these key surprise points are either missing entirely, or handled by clunky,
unpopular rules such as the allied first move in 1940 or limitation on ZOC effectiveness such as were discussed
the other day.  
77.9 (New TEST Optional) STRATEGIC SURPRISE. 
-The allies and USSR get three strategic surprise opportunites per game each; the Axis gets six
-Playing a Surprise option at the beginning of a friendly player-turn allows the player to take the
equivalent of two turns back to back one particular front; the other-side just sits and watches. 
The other two fronts are played normally
-the use of Surprise opportunity "freezes" all opposing Surprise options for the remainder of the 
remainder of that cycle. A player may not use multiple Surprise opportunities in the same turn. 
 
With FOG OF WAR and secret production the ability to sucker punch in CWIE is vastly greater than in BWIE. 
For this reason I believe that the original proposal is too drastic. However, there might be a toned down 
version that could be made an option. (see below)
 
Letting a player effectively repeat his turn makes likely four 'rules' violations. (1) attacking the same unit twice 
in the same turn (2) Exceeding the RR capacity. (3) exceeding the Sea transport capacity, (4) attacking twice 
with the same unit.  The Surprise option also lets multiple units exceed their basic and RR movement capacities. 
But given that actual ability to move units by road under non-combat conditions far exceeds the movement rates in the 
game, this is no big deal. 
 
As I see it, the basic idea of the rule is to lift the prohibitions against attacking twice with the same unit and 
attacking during or after the Mechanized phase.  In Fortress Europa, the Axis can crush a beachhead via attacks in 
both phases of its turn.  The Allies can break out via this same technique.  Thus whereas a double thick 
line normally suffices in WIE, a triple thick line is sometimes required in Fortress Europa.  The Strategic Surprise 
option requires that the defender create a 99 mile thick defensive zone with substantial forces in the third
line so long as the opponent has the surprise option available to it.  Kent's proposal of extended rail sea and 
land movement would not have this effect, though it would ocaisionally take an unwary player off guard
as he was in the midst of rearranging his frontline units. 
 
With Attitrion introduced, the prohibition against attacking twice with the same unit has less historical justification. 
In the First Gulf War the American and British Mechanized units over-ran multiple enemy formations in a matter of 
hours rather than weeks.  Of course they suffered equipment and personnel losses along the way, this is what
the attrition reflects.  The Surprise option would enable units to over as many as four separate enemy stacks in 
a single week and participate in two battles. I do not find this at all ahistorical, provided that unit(s) in question is 
suffering attrition. 
That Said, I would argue that the Surprise option could too easy be abused. The particular problem is that two 
consecutive Cycles with Strategic Surprise would probably suffice to finish off the Soviet Union during the initial invasion 
year.   In particular, there is no prohibition on using one's own surprises twice in the same cycle to secure an insurmountable 
advantage.   Now that CWIE-2 is sort of available I am finally in a position to play test what would be the effect of
1 or two surprises on that critical period of War in the East. Basically all that is needed is the ability to edit the variable 
weather roll so that the one sides turns can simply be skipped. 
 
Which brings me to a version of the rule I would like to see included in CWIE-2. Instead of granting an extra turn, the option
could simply cancels hostile players turns in that front.  This way the option has no effect on long term supply, would not 
allow violations of rail and sea transport capacities, and would not involve multiple combats for the same units.  All that happens 
is that only one side moves and attacks his units that week. The other players with units in the front are limited solely to the 
reinforcement phase of their turns and may not redeploy air units into the front via Air Transfer until after the following turn's Air combats 
are resolved.  
 
ExampleA:  The Allies invade the continent on 1/6/41. Battles are resolved and any mechanized movement for the Allies is taken. The soviets
move normally and the turn ends. 
      In the following week the Axis would be limited to the Air points already in the front, Air points transferring in from the East and South are automatically unassigned for that week.  The Axis player can conduct replacement procedures and combine or disband units (and place partisans if applicable) but gets no initial movement, no rail & sea & Air phases, no combat phase,and no mechanized movement phase. He may place interdictions. 
      The Allies then take their 2/6/41 turn and from there the game proceedes normally. 
 
ExampleB:  The Axis player, (having already assigned all his AP indicates that 4/6/41 is a surprise turn in the East.)  He uses his 20 Divisions of 
total rail capacity to concentrate his Panzers without subjecting them to Attrition, fills up his ports with units to set up possible Naval movement
and pulls his readied Paratroops out of the South Front. His infantry and local Panzer units move to jumping off hexes on the border. 
The Axis makes no actual neutrality violations so there is no declaration of war. 
Due to surprise the Soviet player is prohibited from declaring or continuing limited war and (with no movement or combat phases allowed) he
makes no last minute preparations for the coming onslaught. 
In the Air war Phase for 1/7/41 the Soviet's previous turn's deployment of air units remains in effect (i.e. is reinstated) . The Axis then 
takes an otherwise normal turn. The Soviets or Allies must wait till their 1/8/41 turn in order to exercise any countering Strategic surprise 
option in the East. 
 
ExampleC:  The Axis player declares his option at the start of the 1/7/42 movement phase. He moves and attacks normally. The 
surprised Soviets are then prevented from redeploying to plug any holes or reinforce weak spots.  The Axis units attack the 
secondary line, blowing open a hole. Mechanized units stream into the Soviet rear unhindered by new air interdiction placements. 
In there 2/7/42 turn the Soviets fallback and a fluid battle of movement develops as the Axis races against time and distance to 
prevent the Soviets from digging a new line that protects the resource and personnel centers. 
 
I would limit the use of the Surprise option as follows. 
A player may play no more than one on any front within a calendar year. 
Use of the option prevents further use of the option by any player for the remainder of the cycle plus the following cycle. 
The Axis player gets 6 for the game. The Soviets get 3, the Allies 3. 
Any allied-controlled units in a Front where the Soviets declare surprise are frozen. (i.e. the Allies lose most of their turn the following week)
Any soviet-controlled units in a front where the Allies declare surprise are frozen. (i.e. the Soviet turn that week is mostly skipped.) 
 
BOB.
 
P.S.   The french Fleet in WWII was easily equal to the forces the British and US could afford to keep in the Mediterranean. It was 
therefore sufficient to allow transport and supply to all parts of the Mediterranean.  SPI official rule books may indicate otherwise
but BWIE [33.65] was offiicially changed via requests for clarification in June 1978. Hank Meyer published this clarification that allows
Vichy and 3rd Republic units to reach Corsica and Levant. 
 
FYI to the programmers: High Seas Intervention is not supposed to take place until the Destination hex is reached.  Thus Air interdiction 
losses are inflicted before High Seas intervention losses and no unit that sufers high seas interdiction my change debarkation hexes. 
CWIE-1 treated these two "combats" the same way, which is clearly incorrect according to SPI rules. 
 
 
>>kent wrote> > Could you simulate surprise in a computer game by giving players the option of repeating a single movement phase? This would normally be a Initial Movement phase or Mech phase.> > So if a player wanted to shift front rapidly they could double up on their initial movment phase and attack in unexpected force. Likewise, if they have breached the line they might want to take a double mech movement and really bust a hole.> > I think this would be fairly easy to code. Add some limits to the times a player could exercise the option and you would have your "surprise option."> 
 
 
> The double mech phase might also give Chuck's attack on the march idea a test. It won't give a double attack, but....> > Well I guess the Surprise Option could give you a choice of repeating any one phase. Then if you wanted you could do a double combat phase as well. That would really blow some holes in the lines.> > Kent 
> > The KC addendums offer a very clunky and very drastic rule, that I have never heard anyone playing> in CWIE; The rule addressed the fact that a certain times during WWII, events developed > so fast that operational initiative passed so completely to one side that the other side's high command > was reduced temporarily to the role of observer for roughly a week. > > The rule was simplicity itself. At the start of the initial movement phase a player can declares that he > will utilize one of his Strategic surprise options that turn. At the conclusion of his mechanized phase, > the phasing player restarts his turn. The Axis may do this six times throughout the game. The Russians> have three such opportunities and the Allies have three. Only one option may be used per cycle,and > the option applies only units within the designated Air Front. > > > This nicely simulates the major strategic surprises of the war by making possible tearing of enormous > holes in the opponent's defensive lines. Unfortunately, it also allowed violations of national capacity > rules such as railroad and sea transport limits. It has always seemed to me that this aspect of the > double turn would have to be clarified/proscribed in some way. > > I note that players of WIE keep complaining that echeloned defenses keep frustrating their blitzkrieg > efforts and making the game look like WWI. In the RW, such deployments nearly always succeeded, > when ample forces were available and the defenders high command was able to discern the point of> attack. It failed when either (1) the defender had insufficient reserves or (2) the high command was> unable to figure out quickly enough which rear area units to reinforce. > > The strategic surprise rule speaks to the second of these. By letting one side move&attack&mech move > and then do this a second time before the other side moves again, The classic double combat line can be > breached and penetrated in a single week. Great encirclements become possible again, and for weeks > and possibly even months afterwards the user of the option will be able to dictate the action as his> opponent scrambles to reconstruct his defenses well behind the original position. > > BOB > 
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