Nice model but in a wargame does it have a purpose?
I have frequently used logistics / support units as part of the victory conditions in my games. Could be supply, could be recovery, could be medical units.
That depends, though, on the rules you play. I don't tend to play rules that have a rigid structure on victory conditions like "each side will have 2 objectives, and must take possession by doing this or that…" So I get to make my own victory conditions for each game. Still, even under the more rigid end-game mechanisms in some rulesets, I would imagine you could use log vehicles as more interesting looking objectives.
Played in a skirmish game once where one side had an ARV and were trying to recover a broken down tank when an enemy patrol came across them. The defenders had to drive off the patrol and recover the tank, the other side to prevent recovery and if possible destroy the tank. Fun game.
I quite enjoy game scenarios like this, which have a bit more development than just a meeting engagement by equal forces with a bucket of dice.
But I hope, in Fred's scenario above, that the ARV itself was also part of the victory conditions, and not just the recovery or destruction of the tank. I say this because, in my discussions with veteran armored officers in particular, but even with individual veteran armored crewmen, and in reading more detailed AARs and first-hand accounts, it is clear to me that an ARV is actually worth several tanks.
If you lose one tank, well you have several more in your platoon, company, and battalion, and your ARV might just bring it back for you to use tomorrow anyway.
But if you lose your ARV, you probably don't have another one handy, and now you may lose a substantial portion of the tanks that shed a track or pop a seal or drive into the mud in "indian country". And that can be a lot more than one tank in a typical operation.
-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)
looks at another D-Day: German set for Flames of War.
