JEN, I dont take luck in to account, becasue luck is RANDOM.  As DR states (I paraphrase), counting on luck is inferior play.  You wouldnt bet on 1 INF beating 50 ARM would you?  So why would you do it on a grander scale?  I admit it is a clinical outlook, but its that kind of cynicism that makes the casinos in Vegas the big $.  I dont really understand your example.  Could you show how you got the numbers?  I cant make an assesment, so I wont comment.

JEN, I will go w/ 100 INF.  Consider this:

100 INF = 33.3 casualties
70 INF + 12 ARM + 3 FTR = 23.3 + 6 + 2 = 31.3 casualties

Not only has the more expensive units inflicted LESS casualties than the all INF defense, but assuming the attacker inflicted avg casualties, the mixed defense will have less units afterwards, because it had less to begin with.  Unit density makes up for ALOT of shortcomings.  This becomes clear after the first couple rounds.  Lets assume the mixed stack and the all INF stacks were both defending and inflicting their casualties on each other:

RND 2:
69 INF (100 - 31) = 23 casualties
37 INF (70 - 33) + 12 ARM + 3 FTR = 12.3 + 6 + 2 = 20 casualties

RND 3:
49 INF = 16 casualties
14 INF + 12 ARM + 3 FTR = 4.6 + 6 + 2 = 12 .6 = 13

RND 4:
36 INF = 12 casualties
0 (!) INF + 10 ARM + 3 FTR = 5+2 = 7 (!)

RND 5
29 INF = 9.6 = 9 casualties
0 INF + 0 ARM + 1 FTR = 2/3 of 1 casualty

So by the end of round 3 it is pretty clear that the all INF defense will kill the highest number and leave you with the larger force.  The rounds after that just makes it a masacre leaving the all INF defense w/ 28 INF, worth (28x3) = $84 lead.  For Russia, this like
3 or 4 turns of income.  Thats alot of time, money and orgaization down the drain for the mixed group which probably will leave the mixed groups borders undefended.

I believe that ARM (and ART) are very versatile on offense and give more options for overall play in revised, but simple numbers dont lie.  High unit count w/ respectable (2 in 6) chance to hit is simply very hard to go against on DEFENSE.

Gamer, I completely agree w/ replacing ARM w/ FTR for quality ground defense.  It is the same kind of comparison. ARM is 1/2 the price of FTR and almost as good at inflicting casualites.  I beieve Revised addressed alot of issues, and the ARM improvements were one of the best.  I also believe w/ more fornts and greater distances in revised does make ARM and any air more important.  But having INF for “strafe” attacks and defense still proves that INF is the king of the battlefield.

Hi everybody!  This is my first posting.  I have been playing axis and allies for a very long time; since the early 80’s.  The game has come a long way since then, but one thing hasnt changed and that is infantry as the best dfensive (ground) unit.

The article was pretty thorough, as far as it went, but it’s conclusion that ARM maybe an alternative to INF as a defensive unit does not seem like a valid strategy to use.  Certainly, not for a Germany or Russia.  This is for 2 reasons:

1. Even though ARM defends at 3 now, which is 1:6 better than it used to be, the unit still costs $5 to the INFs $3; almost 2x the cost.  For almost 2x the cost, it is not unreasonable to expect almost 2x the casualties.  But the math doest seem to hold up.  Let’s assume we have a $60 defensive budget:

20 INF = $60 = 6-7 defensive kills first round (1/3 of 20)
15 ART =$60 = 5 defensive kills first round (1/3 of 15)
12 ARM = $60 = 6 defensive kills first round (1/2 of 12)

Remember, the point of the article was to prove/disprove if INF was the superior defensive unit.  Well, in the example above, the 6 “sure” kills w/ INF, and the possibility of a 7th on the first round, is clearly better than ART’s 5 kills and marginally better than ARM’s 6.  But, remember, ALOT of combats go more than 1 round.  And on the second and later rounds, after casualties are removed, there will be alot less ARM left than INF (or even ART), which brings us to…

2. Unit density is VERY important to defense.  If you have fewer (but in equal cost to the same $ value in INF), “quality” units (ARM or FTR) defending, they WILL inflict casualties, but will be destroyed QUICKER, therefore you will have fewer rounds to use them, and thus, overall, inflict less casualties.  Again, we will use a $60 defensive budget against a similar attack force of ARM just as a simple example (NOTE:  I would never attack w/o supporting INF, but that is another subject…):

Attacker = $60 = 12 ARM VS. Defender = 20 INF/15 ART/12 ARM

Round 1 inflicts 6 casualties on your defensive force, leaving your defense @ 14 INF/9 ART/ 6 ARM.  You will notice that if you made the ARM purchase, the first round casualties not only cripples how many casualties you as the defensive player will inflict the next round (4-5 for INF, 3 for ART and 3 for ARM), but now your force has been cut in half!  And at a hefty cost in $ to boot.  But lets look at round 2.  As stated parenthetically above, 14 INF = 4-5 kills, ART = 3 kills and ARM = 3 kills.  So at this point, ARM is inflicting less casualties.  As the rounds continue, it gets worse; the ARM wont even be around for a 4th round, where as the INF (and the ART) will still be killing stuff in that combat, and indeed any future combats.

Mind you I am not diparaging ARM, or any piece in the game, I am just saying that as a purely defensive unit, nothing beats INF.  Period.  Yes, ART and ARM have special abilities and/or have better movement etc, but those are all offensive, not defensive and out of the perview of this response.  Also, if you dont survive your enemies turns becasue of a lack of INF, you will never get to use those “cool” abilites anyway.

Just as a sidenote about the article, which is about defense, and the improved versatiltiy of Transports (TRANS).  The author stresses how it increases the value of ARM and ART.  But I believe he looked at it backwards.  A TRANS could always carry 1 ARM.  It’s the extra INF aboard that is important.  Now when you hit the beach, it is not w/ 1 ARM, but 1 ARM and 1 INF.  The INF will be what dies on the beach or soak the losses of the counterattack.  I only wanted to point this out so readers can see yet another subtle advantage of INF over the others.

I really like this site and am glad you guys are here.