Re-reading my article, I think the statement NOS may have been responding to is the one where I said “the defensive advantage that infantry possessed in Classic has been largely neutralized in Revised.”
In one sense, that’s an overstatement, because there’s no question that, looking purely from a defensive standpoint, infantry hold up better than any other piece, on a IPC-by-IPC basis. You get more defense for your money, period. NOS proves this, I think, with his analysis.
But in another sense, I think the statement I made is true. That is because, as I have pointed out elsewhere, armor gives you a multiplier effect that you don’t get with infantry, at least on offense. Because you can get your armor to the front quicker than infantry, you can throw more rounds of production at Russia, for example, if you include armor in your attack force than if you simply used infantry. In that sense, I was saying that the OFFENSIVE capabilties of tanks (that they already possessed) are able to overcome the defensive advantages of infantry under the right conditions where the attacker can bring more rounds of purchases to bear against the same number of rounds of purchases by the defender. Thus, if Russia has its builds through Turn 7, let’s say, and Germany can bring either (1) its purchases through turn 3 only (infantry walking four spaces from Germany), OR (2) its purchases through turn 5 (infantry through turn 3 walking four spaces PLUS tanks purchased on turns 4 and 5), then I think Germany clearly has an advantage under Scenario #2 because any infantry purchased on turns 4 and 5 will not have arrived in time to attack Russia on Turn 7. IMO, this multiplier effect is very powerful, when played correctly.
Now, does this effect make tanks a better DEFENSIVE purchase than infantry? Well, no, not quite. Infantry still give you numbers and, with numbers, more fodder than any other purchase can give you. But as Jenn points out, you have to consider other factors besides just how many pieces you will have left over after a given battle. Because, if you merely hold territory, but cannot re-take territory because you lack offense, you will lose anyway because you will not have the IPCs to keep up with your opponent’s purchases, whatever they might be. And let’s face it, whatever good infantry does you on defense, they absolutely SUCK on offense.
