First post here on the forums - I’ve been following along for a while but it feels good to finally get involved in discussions.
Flashman - Very interesting concept for Naval retreat and pursuit, it seems to follow the Law of KISS everyone has been harping about, while adding a bit more realism to naval combat in the game.
This may be more relevant in a Europe 1940 or Global 1940 thread, but I wonder if this concept could also be applied to the impact of retreating from combat/halting an attack on land, particularly with the presence of a General/Commander unit that many have used under various house rules. In my games, we have usually limited all combat to three rounds to add more urgency to attacks so that you cannot hammer away at a defender forever simply because you have enormous numerical superiority. Many times an initial round of combat has gone poorly for the attacker and they wish to not press the attack, or “retreat” - One house rule we have used with this is for the defender to roll a die: on a 1 or 2, they may take a free shot at the retreating attackers, at a -1 for normal atk (Tanks hit on a 2, artillery and mech. infantry with artillery support hit on a 1, etc).
This seems to me like a more realistic opportunity to represent the influence of a General/Commander unit; rather than simply adding an atk/def bonus to a few units, the presence of a General would impact an enemy retreat. Adapting from your Naval retreat rules above, it may look something like this:
When deciding to pursue a retreating enemy army, roll a die:
1: You lose touch with the enemy and cannot pursue. The combat ends.
2: Only your tanks and mech. infantry stay in range of the enemy; you may pursue with these units only or call off the pursuit.
3-4: Your army keeps up with the enemy and you reengage the combat.
5: You manage to cut off the enemy retreat (they remain in the territory they attacked). The combat ends with the territory contested.
6: You cut off the enemy retreat AND any tanks/ mech. infantry in your army get a free shot at the enemy (at -1 from normal attack).
I feel that this might help represent the tactical advantage that Generals such as Patton and Rommel brought to the war, by outmaneuvering an enemy and not allowing a retreat, you may allow them to remain in the territory and contest it but position yourself to better counterattack and destroy them on the next turn.
Again I feel this is much more relevant to any of the WWII games since the warfare and tactics then were much more fluid that the static war of attrition in WWI, but thought I should bring it up here since your naval retreat rules inspired the idea. Thoughts?