@GeneralHandGrenade:
Realistically I think that makes much more sense than crossing Siberia or that mountain range like it was nothing and attacking Moscow without hardly breaking a sweat.
When it comes to terrain, nothing is impassable. The impassable just take more time to do. And it depends on the season too. In summer, marshes like the ones in Pripjat, Finland, Karelia and Sibir are really impassable, but in winter the ground get frozen and you can drive a Heavy Tank over the lakes and marshes like it was hard surface. Do you ever watch the Ice road Truckers on Discovery ? With mountains its the other way around. During summer its no problem to cross a mountain range, like here in Norway, or in Caucasus, or the Alps. But in winter, with blizzards and avalanches, snow and cold, the roads get closed even in 2017. Some heavy WWII games manage to include this, but at the cost of KISS.
The Rulebook including terrain and season would look like, you can only attack marsh terrain during winter, and you can only attack mountain terrain during summer. No blitz, and the defender get a huge modifier, like all defending infantry roll 4 or less as a hit. It is 4 seasons, so impassable terrain can only be attacked every 4 th Turn. A marsh is no good in fall or spring neither. Of course, the owner can non combat move through any territory as usual. Like in the Alps, you got the Brunner Pass, and you can drive trains and lorries trough it any time as long as it is friendly. But one load of TNT will close that pass for sure, and then you need climbers.
edit. In a game with terrain, we need units with different abilities. Desert rats dont perform as well as ski troops or mountain divisions in mountain terrain during winter and blizzards. In the battle of Narvik in 1940, and this was even in spring and early summer, if there are such a season this far north, the snow would reach 6 feet in may, but during winter these mountains are impassable. Well, the French and British troops did not bring winter gear, like warm clothes, ski or snow shoes or sun glasses, so after one week 65 percent of these troops were combat incompetent because of snow blind and frostbite, and they had to withdraw without firing one bullet against the Germans. The Germans were mountain division and had climbing gear, sun glasses and snow shoes, but lacked skies. They could move 3 miles every day on the snow, and had good firepower. The local Norwegians were ski troops, could move twice as long as the germans, like 6 or more miles every day, they lived here and nobody got snow blind or frostbite. Most of them were hunters too, and could snipe at the Germans from long distance.
So basically, in on a map with terrain, Tanks should do poor in mountains and marshes, general infantry keep their current values, and new units like mountain units should do superior, like move 2 attack on 3 and def on 4 or less, something like that. But in plain terrain, mountain troops dont perform better than regular infantry.
To keep it A&A, maybe any kind of elite units should cost 4 IPC ?
Inf cost 3, this is the base.
Mechanized cost 4, now you have to pay for trucks too.
Marines cost 4, you must pay for the extra landing crafts and training
Paratroopers cost 4, you must pay for the chute and training.
Mountains divisions cost 4, you must pay for ski, snow shoes, sun glasses, ice axes, climbing ropes, warm clothes, ski lessons and extra training.
But the firepower is equal. All infantry units attack on 1 and defend on 2 or less. They all fight with rifles, and in some cases knifes. The difference is in the movement. Regular infantry walk on feet, Mech inf ride on trucks, Paras jump from a plane, Marines swim ashore and Mountain divisions arrive on ski. So far basic logics.
Maybe this is the kind of advanced game designer Larry Harris is working on at the moment, we never know
