Slitherine

Hello

Does Battle Academy 1 or 2 have a Command hierarchy and chain of command ? like platoons, companies, etc?

Plus whats the biggest scale battles can get ?

Hi, firstly there's no command structure, each unit is independent and you can order it to strut it's stuff without the hassle of checking to see if it's in command.
Tanks, vehicles and guns are single units, and most infantry are 5-man squads.

Secondly BA2 has got a 'Skirmish' random mission generator and you can set any size of battle you want, from 'very small' to 'very large'.
For example below is a 'very large' size battle, the map is huge and I've circled the two German battlegroups, this is an Axis June 1941 Attack and they've got to plunge into the hinterland to capture the flags at the far end of the map, it's SHOWTIME..

"The bulk of the Russian Army stationed in western Russia will be destroyed by daring operations led by deeply penetrating armoured spearheads.
Russian forces still capable of giving battle will be prevented from withdrawing into the depths of Russia."- Adolf Hitler, Directive 21 'Operation Barbarossa'




Below is a zoomed screenshot, the generator has given me a force mix of types appropriate for June 41 because that's the date I set on the setup screen.
I've got no idea what force the generator has given the AI Russians, they might be hordes of small T-26 or BT-7 tanks or - gulp- T-34's..

"..the Russian attacks were beaten off with heavy losses to the Russians, but not before a considerable impression had been made on the 18th Pz Division: this was hardly surprising since here, for the first time, the enemy employed his T34 tank, a tank against which our guns were largely ineffective"- Gen H.Guderian, p 162 Panzer Leader (Russian July 3rd 1941 attack against the Beresina crossing at Borissov)

There are also no supply rules in BA which means we can concentrate totally on the fighting..
However in Random Skirmishes there's a useful option to resupply infantry with anti-tank explosive charges when they run out, it's the second bonus icon down in the list below. You click the icon then click the unit to give the charges to.
The list appears in the bottom left corner of the screen during play,other useful ones are 'Rally' (the bugle icon) which gives a beat-up unit a morale boost to make him fighting fit again;
and 'Medic' (the red cross) to give a unit a new man to replace losses,
and 'Promotion' (iron cross) to give a unit a higher overall morale ceiling.
(We usually don't get given all the bonus icons at once, just one or two per game randomly and they can be used repeatedly every few turns)
The other two are smoke and HE arty barrages but they don't appear in Skirmishes.
(Sometimes we also get a Fighter and Bomber icon in Skirmishes)

Here's the setup screen when you select a BA2 random Skirmish battle, you can tweak loads of things to customise it, for example by choosing a Farmland, Wilderness or Urban (city) map.
You then hit "Go" and see what force the computer has given you to strut your stuff..

YOU PAYS YOUR MONEY AND YOU TAKES YOUR CHOICE..

After you've set the parameters for a BA2 'Skirmish' battle (as in previous pic), you're taken to the purchase screen as below.
I prefer the 'Split' force option as shown here which means the computer decides which units should make up half our force, but we're free to buy whatever else we can afford to make up the other half.
It's part of the FUN to select the units we think we'll need to do the job.
As a tank nut I usually spend to the hilt on tanks..

"That's what I want! That's what I want to have!"- Adolf Hitler at an early panzer demonstration at Kummersdorf, 1933