Partisans

[koba]

I am wondering how the partisan rule is working out for the rest of you.

There are some questions that have come up and we’ve decided not to used the rule until we get clarification.

Do partisans block Axis movement through Soviet territory? For example, could one partisan in Pskov block an Axis blitz to Leningrad from, say, the Baltic states or Eastern Poland assuming Kiev and Belorussia are under Soviet control?

Are there any other restrictions placed on Axis forces due to the presence of partisans in a territory (e.g. air unit placement, rail movement)?

Does an infantry unit replace the partisans as soon as the second partisan is placed, or does the Russian player have to wait another turn to do this?

[WILD BILL]

Good questions Koba interested in hearing the official answer.

Just for the record, we place the pars at the beginning of Russia’s turn. If there was already a par in that territory (meaning it is still unoccupied by axis) then we replace it with a Russian inf and Russia takes control of it (at the very beginning of Russia’s turn). I’m not sure if that reverted Russian territory would be an eligible landing spot for Russian air units (later in that same turn), but because we make that transition before Russia’s combat moves, I would say yes.

Being that one par doesn’t revert control of the territory back to the Russians, I think that it wouldn’t block axis movement, and that axis air units would be able to land. In my mind pars would be more of a nuisance disrupting things in small pockets, but the Germans would still hold the air strips and they’re not going to stop a panzer division.

Edit:
We have killed off the pars as Germany in the past, but you bring up some good points. It does have a def value of 2, so it very well could block combat moves, and if not killed off could stop axis air units from landing.

If your using supply line, or rail (which we haven’t done), I would think a par could disrupt them.

I think that pars are very important to the Russians as a whole. They do a couple of things. Axis having to leave inf in each occupied red territory means fewer inf to attack with in the end. Even though they can continue moving forward as they bring in inf reinforcements, it’s still a slow process and they’re not buying faster mechanized units. The axis may even skip some red territories because they don’t want to strand inf behind. That could help Russia’s allies coming to the rescue having a place to land air units etc…

We were thinking that if a par is placed in say a Russian territory captured by Germany, and the par is still there in Germany’s collect income phase they shouldn’t be able to count the income for that territory (if it has income value) because they don’t have total control of it. Kinda like a penalty for letting it happen.

[koba]

Thanks for the reply Wild Bill,

I think your position on partisans in regards to the impact on rail and Axis income is the way to go. Partisans are definitely helpful in making the Axis assign resources to garrison duty as opposed to taking more territory. It’s a great rule, but like you, I can’t wait for clarification.

[WILD BILL]

Yeah, now that I think it over a par has a def value of 2, so it could possibly block combat moves, and the Germans shouldn’t be able to just ignore it (we have just killed them off in the past, not attempting to blitz through in combat). Obviously killing it off would allow you to NCM through with faster units to bring in reinforcements to the front lines.

I don’t know though, maybe you cold treat it like an amphib. Say a par stands in your way so you have to assign units to kill it, and if successful you can then combat your mechanized units through to the next territory for an attack (that didn’t participate).

Furthermore if there is a par in an unoccupied German territory, and you didn’t kill it off in combat you can’t land there (don’t have total control). If you kill off the par, then you put down the uprising and retained control allowing you to make landings.

[koba]

Yes,

there should be some rule regarding the restrictions partisans place on enemy units. I like the idea of not being able to land aircra in territories where partisans are active. Maybe there should be a die roll to deteremine if restrictions apply.