Units

There are three types of units in the game: combat units (CC), support units (SU) and leaders units. The information presented on the units is always displayed along the same pattern. One can see the units inside the units detail panel (click on a friendly stack on map and click on the small tank button), where the most useful data is presented (combat, movement, morale, name, type). See illustration 4.3 below.

With a right-click on a unit counter, you can have the full unit information window opened, with extra data presented (See illustration 4.4 below).

Typology of units

 

The information on the unit counter, whether numerical or iconic, is presented in a similar way for air, naval or land units, as follows:

Top
• Top left, the owning nation flag (sometimes below it an icon to show its type, e.g. artillery, fighter, tank)
• Top center, the unit’s short name
• Top right, in a blue diamond, the Morale Factor (MF)

Center
• In the center the unit’s picture
• If the unit is a combat unit, on the middle-left en side, there is a hit point gauge (1 white rectangle/point). Non combat units (support) or leaders don’t have hit points bars.
• If the unit has some special characteristics, like Antitank or Elite, a special icon is displayed on the right, below the morale diamond. See examples on the right.

Bottom (from left to right)
• Bottom left, inside the white square, the stacking value (SV).
• Bottom mid-left center, over the icon, the Attack Factor, usually a value between 0 and 9
• Bottom mid-right center, over the icon, the Defense Factor, usually a value between 0 and 9
• Bottom right, the Movement potential in points, known as Movement Points (MP). Heavy units have a black background behind the figure, and motorized units show the figure on top of a circle.
• Some leaders or support units may be considered as boosters (an icon showing the boosted feature/icon such has with a + sign). Boosters give bonus to attack, defense, morale or a combination of those. If this is the case, the value is presented above a green background (e.g. 7th Army artillery is an attack booster).

Land Units

They can only move on land regions by themselves. They may be transported by sea by naval transport units (usually with a T symbol on their role) or even air transport units. This may vary according to scenarios, but transport feature is not used in SGS Afrika Korps.

Air Units

When not flying, they must be located an airport structure. Some units have the possibility to battle only in the air (usually fighters and interceptors, often indicated with the letter F below the nationality flag), some can do both (fighter-bombers, identified by F/B) and some can only attack land targets (bombers, letter of identification B).

On the right hand side of the unit panel; you can see a toggle button that allows you to shift between the values of the unit in the Air (3 planes and left part of the picture in Illustration 4.7 above) or against Land target (3 planes and right part of the picture above).

Support Units

They are essentially Artillery, HQ and some Logistical units.

Most of those Support Units (SU) only display a Movement Factor. Support usually have no combat or morale values, and not hit points, as those units never fight directly on the battlefield (see section combat).

When SU are found alone in a region and attacked by an enemy, they are eliminated.

Leaders

Leaders are units which illustrate the commanders (or key political commanders) that are particularly active or influential. They can also represent the ability of the said leaders to organize the various assets of their commands (such as engineers, supplies, corps or division extra artillery, reconnaissance, etc…).

Information (graphical or numerical) on leaders is very similar to the combat units, and the following:

Top
• Top left, the owning nation flag, and below it stars (1 to 3) which is an indication of the leader’s rank.
• Top center, the leader’s short name.
• Top right, in a blue diamond, the Morale Factor (MF). If the diamond turns green, the leader provides an extra Morale boost to all units under its command.

Center
• In the center the leader’s picture, as much as possible the real photo of the officer (for instance from the 1940’s).
• If the leader has some special characteristics, like breakthrough ability , a special icon is displayed on the right, below the morale diamond

Bottom
(from left to right)
• Bottom left, inside the white square, the stacking value (SV). It is usually 0 (unless the leader also represents other forces or supporting elements)
• Bottom mid-left center, over the icon, the Attack Bonus, usually a value between 0 and 3, which is benefitting troops under is command when attacking
• Bottom mid-right center, over the icon, the Defense Bonus, usually a value between 0 and 3, , which is benefitting troops under is command when attacking
• Bottom right, the Movement potential in points, known as Movement Points (MP).

Extra
• Hierarchy: shown only in the leaders detail panel, it’s a letter that allows distinguishing the hierarchical order of leaders of same rank (i.e. same number of stars)

Maximum Command and Command Penalties

In the game, leaders can efficiently command only a certain number of units. This is calculated in terms of units’ stacking points.

The * leaders may command without penalty up to 10 STACKING POINTS
The ** leaders may command without penalty up to 20 STACKING POINTS
The *** leaders may command without penalty up to 40 STACKING POINTS

If a leader commands more units than his allowed maximum, he receives a penalty of -1 to its MF (Moral) and-1 to its CF (Combat), both cumulative for each extra 5 STACKING POINTS in excess of its command maximum.

This is called Command or Grade Penalty, as per Illustration 4.8 below.