Pillbox

[Der Kuenstler]

I would like to add a pillbox unit to our game that looks something like this:

I want it to do what a pillbox does - only enhance the survivability of the infantry inside. My initial thoughts were:
· One allowed per territory. Cannot move.
· Presence of a pillbox allows five hit chips to be put on the battleboard to soak hits of attackers.
· Cost 10 IPC and cannot be destroyed.
· Enemy Airborne can remove chips matched 1:1 basis.

But then I thought - for 10 IPCs this is underpowered - I would rather buy 3 infantry for that price that soak up three hits plus can shoot back. I also think maybe it should be destroyed in a battle as tanks firing into it and satchel charges would likely make it unusable.

Now I’m thinking make it cost 6 IPCs and soak up 6 hits before being destroyed and removed. You would have to buy 18 IPCs of infantry to soak that many hits.

I’d appreciate any thoughts you have about it…? Thanks

[CWO Marc]

It could be a fun unit to add.  One suggestion I’d make would be to impose limits on where they can be built.  In WWII, concrete fortifications were typically found only in places where there was no military movement for an extended period of time – say, a year or more.  Specifically, you’d find them on the pre-war borders of countries (the Maginot Line being a prominent ultimate example) and in places where the front has stabilized on a long-term basis (as in the case of the Atlantic Wall).  They weren’t usually found in areas where the fighting was fluid and the front was in motion.  So perhaps there could be a rule saying that units of this type can only be built in territories which a player has held for such-and-such a number of moves.

[the_jetset]

Off topic.  But how do you load a picture into a post?

[Der Kuenstler]

@CWO:

It could be a fun unit to add.  One suggestion I’d make would be to impose limits on where they can be built.  In WWII, concrete fortifications were typically found only in places where there was no military movement for an extended period of time – say, a year or more.  Specifically, you’d find them on the pre-war borders of countries (the Maginot Line being a prominent ultimate example) and in places where the front has stabilized on a long-term basis (as in the case of the Atlantic Wall).  They weren’t usually found in areas where the fighting was fluid and the front was in motion.  So perhaps there could be a rule saying that units of this type can only be built in territories which a player has held for such-and-such a number of moves.

Good point - what stats would you put on it?

[Der Kuenstler]

@the_jetset:

Off topic.  But how do you load a picture into a post?

I load my pics to Photobucket and link to them there.

[baron Münchhausen]

A way to improve defense to existing Infantry units can similar to bases.
Pillboxe increase defense by 1 to up to three infantry.
Cost 2 PUs or IPCs.
Destroyed if all three units are taken as casualty or when TT is conquered.

[Der Kuenstler]

@Baron:

A way to improve defense to existing Infantry units can similar to bases.
Pillboxe increase defense by 1 to up to three infantry.
Cost 2 PUs or IPCs.
Destroyed if all three units are taken as casualty or when TT is conquered.

Does a pillbox make you aim better or does it just keep you from getting killed longer? I was wanting to replicate more accurately what a pillbox does.

[General 6 Stars]

Pillboxes are more for defense. Looking at your pic of pillbox you want to defend from 5 sides. A lot of pillboxes were empty or facing the wrong way.

I have in my game what Baron said in his post with cost of 3 icp and either pillbox absorbs first 3 hits ( then destroyed ) or +1 on  defense up to 3 inf and 1 inf at all times must be in pillbox. So if you buy a pillbox you have to have 1 inf in territory before you place pillbox in that territory or move 1 inf into that territory on non combat move.

So based on your pic you may want to go with the +1 on defense for up to 3 inf do to defending from 5 sides.

[CWO Marc]

@Der:

Does a pillbox make you aim better or does it just keep you from getting killed longer? I was wanting to replicate more accurately what a pillbox does.

It depends on the type; “pillbox” is perhaps too vague in this regard.  Some concrete fortifications are simply observation posts, ranging from tiny ones for a few enlisted men to more elaborate installations designed to be command-and-control facilities for an officer.  For an example of the latter type, see the observation bunker used by Major Pluskat in The Longest Day.  Likewise, there are field fortifications whose only purpose is to provide shelter to troops during enemy bombardments; for an example, see the scenes in All Quiet on the Western Front (the 1930s version of the film) in which German troops inside an underground earth-and-wood shelter endure a long preparatory shelling prior to an Allied attack.  A rather megalithic application of the “defensive shelter” concept can be found in the massive concrete U-boat pens which the Germans built along the Atlantic coast (one of which I visited in Saint-Nazaire).  It had roof about ten feet thick, as I recall, with an elaborate system of superimposed beams designed to detonate bombs prematurely and channel the blast horizontally away from the roof itself.

There are concrete fortifications, however, which are designed as positions from which the troops will actually fight while under cover.  Some of the Atlantic Wall facilities were of that type, and so were many of the Maginot Line components.  The German flak towers (Flakturm) in Berlin and other cities are another example, including the famous Zoo flak tower built near the Tiergarten.  I think it was one of the last positions in Berlin to surrender in May 1945.  After the war, the G Tower part of it stood up impressively well to Allied attempts to demolish it: it took the British three tries to succeed, using 25 tons of dynamite on the initial attempt and 35 tons on the last one.