KWhitehead wrote:
Rule of thumb: Melee is decisive, fire is attrition.
Melee does fatigue your unit but it decisively fatigues the loser. Usually losing a melee puts a unit out of effective combat while doing little damage to the winner.
The key to melee is never do it unless you are going to win.
Another rule of thumb: A melee of 2:1 is actually an even odds battle. So never melee at 2:1 or less. Preferred odds are at least 3:1 with some other favorable modifiers thrown in like leader, not firing, quality, etc. Aim for at 90% or better chance of winning. Keep you command in range of leaders and they will probably return to fully ordered for the next turn. The enemy will have badly fatigued units with heavy losses as well as disrupted and probably routed as well.
In Turn type games, it is the preferred method of combat for the attacker. Almost no down side.
In Phased play, the defender does have quite a bit of fire power so it isn't quite as good.
Hello
REALLY appreciate this info. Had been wondering if there were rules of thumb for combat odds in melee and LO, here they are.