Rules Book

Deluxe Edition

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RB 2018 Rules v5.indd 1 07/10/18 3:35 PM

 Table of Contents
continued .....
Rule# Title Pg #

Rule# Title Pg # 13.6 Special Supply Cases 25

13.7 Combat Supply 25
1.0 Introduction 3 13.8 Caucasus Mountain Region Supply 26
2.0 Components 3 14.0 Dictators and Field Marshals 26
3.0 Sequence of Play 6 14.1 Dictators 26
4.0 Zones of Control 7 14.15 Loss of a Dictator 26
4.1 City Control 7 14.16 Dictator Evacuation 27
5.0 Stacking 7 14.2 Field Marshals 27
6.0 Ground Movement 8 15.0 Russian Air Drops 27
6.1 Movement Restrictions 8 16.0 Partisans 28
6.2 Straits of Kerch 8 16.1 Placing Partisans 28
6.3 Leningrad Ice Road 9 16.2 Partisan Effects 28
6.4 Northern Swamp Hexes 9 16.3 Eliminating Partisans 28
7.0 Rail Movement 9 16.4 2nd Stage Partisans 28
7.2 Converting Rail Lines 11 16.5 2nd Stage Partisans Benefits 29
8.0 Sea Movement 12 17.0 Reinforcements 29
8.1 Sea Movement Restrictions 12 17.1 Russian Reinforcements 29
8.2 Resolving Sea Movement 12 17.13 Release of the Trans-Caucasus Garrison Units 30
8.3 Sea Transport 13 17.14 Northern Finland 30
8.4 Sea Invasion 13 17.2 Axis Reinforcements 30
8.6 Sea Evacuation 13 17.3 Special Axis Reinforcements 30
8.7 Caspian Sea 14 17.31 Northern Finland 30
9.0 Automatic Victory 14 17.32 Rumania Surrender 30
9.1 Achieving an Automatic Victory 14 17.4 German Panzergrenadier Upgrade 30
9.2 Resolving an Automatic Victory 14 17.5 Luftwaffe Ground Units 30
9.3 Automatic Victory Restrictions 14 17.6 Berlin Garrison 30
9.4 After the Automatic Victory 15 18.0 Withdrawing Units 31
9.5 Automatic Victory and Other Units 15 18.1 Air Units Withdrawal 31
10.0 Combat 15 18.2 Ground Units Withdrawal 31
10.1 Combat Requirements 15 18.3 Panzer Corps Withdrawal 31
10.2 Combat Resolution 16 18.4 SS Panzer Corps Withdrawal 31
10.3 Terrain Effects on Combat 16 18.5 Field Marshals Withdrawal 32
10.4 Air Support (Ground Attack) 17 19.0 Replacements 32
10.5 Armor, PzGrdr, Shock or Mech Units 18 19.1 Axis Replacements 32
10.6 Combat Results 18 19.2 Russian Replacements 33
10.61 Step Losses 18 20.0 War Economy Counters (WEC) 33
10.67 Elimination 19 20.1 WEC Placement 34
10.68 Surrender 19 20.2 WEC and Combat 34
10.7 Retreats 19 20.3 WEC Lost 34
10.8 Advance After Combat 20 20.4 Urals WEC 34
10.9 Blitzkrieg Attack Combat 20 20.5 Lend Lease WEC 34
11.0 Air Ground Support 21 20.6 WEC Evacuation 35
11.1 Airbases 21 20.7 Murmansk Emergency Rail Line Construction 35
11.2 Air Eligibility 22 21.0 Oil Wells 36
11.3 Air Availability 22 21.1 Baku Capture 36
11.4 Allocating Air Missions 22 21.2 Capture of Russian Oil Wells 36
11.5 Air Combat Effects 23 21.3 Ploesti Oil Fields 37
11.6 Landing Air Missions 23 21.4 Special Russian Armor Consolidation 37
11.7 Air and Automatic Victory 23 22.0 Russian Shock Armies 37
11.8 Terrain and Enemy Units 23 23.0 Game Start/Initial Setup 38
11.9 Readying Airgroups 23 24.0 First Turn Special Rules 38
12.0 Artillery 23 24.1 Axis First Impulse Restrictions 38
13.0 Supply 24 24.11 Rumania 39
13.1 General Supply 24 24.12 Hungary 39
13.2 General Supply Path 24 24.13 Finland 39
13.3 Unlimited Supply Sources 24 24.2 Shock of War 39
13.4 Limited Supply Sources: Major Cities 24 24.3 First Turn Sea Invasion 39
2 13.5 Supply Path Restrictions 25 24.4 First Turn Weather 39
continued .....
Rule# Title Pg #
24.5 First Turn River Costs 39
24.6 First Turn Terrain Benefits 39
25.0 Special Axis Minor Ally Restrictions 40
25.1 Hungarian and Rumanian Units 40
25.2 Finnish Units 40
26.0 Surrender of Axis Minor Allies 40
26.1 Finland 40
26.2 Hungary 40
26.3 Italy 40
26.4 Rumania 40
26.5 Axis Recapture of Minor Ally Capital 41 The Russia Besieged 3rd Deluxe Edition Printed Rules
27.0 Victory Conditions 41 supersede all other editions of the rules.
27.1 German Victory Conditions 41 Copyright © 2004, 2008, 2009, 2018 L2 Design Group
27.2 Russian Victory Conditions 41 Copyright © 2018, Art Lupinacci
Credits 41 Copyright © 2018, Compass Games, LLC
Index 42 Published Under Licensing Agreement
Developer’s Notes 44 Rules Revision Date: June 22, 2018
Designer‘s Notes 46 Copyright Notice: No part of this game may be copied
Advanced Rules, Examples of Play, in whole or in part, by any means, without the expressed
Clarifications, Scenarios etc. See Play Book written permission of the copyright holder.
1.0 Introduction
Russia Besieged is a two player game based on the epic
Playing Pieces Information and Symbology struggle between Russia and Germany (including its mi-
Panzer
XXX Corps nor allies) spanning the entire Eastern Front theatre from
Armor Type

XXXX Army Helsinki to Baku. While World War II spanned the globe,
PanzerGrenadier/ HQ Front Headquarters
the Eastern Front was arguably the most critical theatre
Mechanized It Italian
R Rumanian of the War. Russia, with significant economic help from
Shock Army H Hungarian its Western Allies, crushed Germany by mid-1945.
F Finnish Note: There are no counters in the game for Persia,
Mechanized Gd Russian Guards
Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. No units may enter or retreat
NON Armor V Variant Counters
FFL French Foreign Legion into these countries or Turkey during the course of play.
Infantry
Infantry Type Units

ROA Vlasov’s Army These territories are here for future expansion scenarios.
Cavalry Volkssturm
Sp Spanish
Also, certain rules refer to the country of “Germany” or
Paratrooper N,C,S,A German Army Groups “Russia” - Germany is defined as all hexes west of the
B,W,K,O,L Russian Military Districts “At Start” setup border with Russia’s Baltic, Western and
Moutain Infantry LEN Russian City Garrisons Kiev Military Districts, and north of Hungary. Russia is all
hexes east of the “At Start” western set up boundaries of
Partisan Partisan
the Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev and Odessa Military
Artillery Districts, east of Turkey and north of Persia. The term
“Axis” refers to German, Italian, Rumanian, Hungarian,
Nationality by Counter Background Color Finnish, French and Spanish units.

2.0 Components
Axis Axis Axis Axis Russian Russian Russian Russian (1) 36 x 44” Map
Armor Infantry SS Luftwaffe Armor Infantry Guards Shock (3) 5/8” Die Cut Counter Sheets
Axis Minor Ally Colors (2) Order of Battle Cards (German and Russian)
(1) Turn Track
Finns Italians Hungarians Rumanians (3) Player Aid Cards (back printed)
Variant Axis Unit Type Box Colors (2) Scenario Setup Cards (Downfall - Fall Blau)
(1) Scenario Start Lines Card
Vlasov Spain Luftwaffe French Turkish (1) Rules Booklet
ROA Foreign (1) Playbook (includes Scenarios)
Legion
(1) 10 sided die 3
 Bombers Unit Counters Bombers Air Base Counters
Front Back Front Back
(Available) (Spent) (Available) (Staged)
German Formation German Formation
Bomber ID # Air Base ID #

Not
Color
Available
Color Back
Identification Identification
(Staged)
Russian Russian
Bomber Air Base
Formation Formation
ID # ID #

Color Not Color

Identification Available Identification

Leader Counters Field Marshal Unit Counters

Front Back Front Back

Combat Value of Leader Combat Value of Leader Combat Die Roll Modifier Field Marshal ID
when he is in his Capital City when he is not in his Capital City Front +1/Back -1

War Economy Counters

Front

City Name on d10 denotes a die roll Number in Number show sideways
bottom denotes each turn to determine black hexagon on the right side of
starting City the number of War denotes WEC counter denotes
placement Economy Points to add Defensive the turn of entry.
to the Russian total Combat Value Place in any friendly
controlled City. (See Rule 20.1)
Back
NOTE:
The Moscow
WEC is the only
WEC that has a
Step Reduction.

The Moscow
On Map Lend Lease WEC can take a
Hex ID Name ID Turn of entry On Turn #13, URALS Combat Step
in &
for named Urals counters WEC points production Loss.
City GREEN increases to 6
are placed off map
See Rule 20.22
4
 Armor Unit Counters 2nd Breakdown Counter
Front Back Front Back
Unit Type
Unit ID

At Start Unit ID Unit ID

Set Up
Group
Designation. Blank
A # here Movement Factor
denotes Combat Factor Pink background on
turn of Combat Factor at and Movement Unit Type symbol and
entry. Full Strength Factor in white Combat Factor and
Pink bar denotes 2nd Movement Factor
on back is step loss. Original reduced
Unit Size REDUCED side, in Black.
counter is replaced with
flip after 1 step this new counter.
loss
SS Armor

Blank
Second Step Loss,
Reduced Side Combat counter has WHITE Note: Only 1st and 2nd
Factor and Movement band and Black SS Panzer Corps have
Factor shown in Red. Numbers. a second breakdown
counter
Russian Guards Armor

Reduced Side has Reduced Side has

unit type symbol in Tan Blank
unit type symbol in White
and a Yellow Stripe on and a large Yellow Stripe
bottom of counter on bottom of counter

Russian Shock Army

Dark Brown
Unit ID and Tan Step Reduction
Band on Counter is
all sides an ARMY
of counters sized unit

Unit Size
SHOCK ARMY
Unlike all other Armor, this unit has an
extra step and special rules to build

PanzerGrenadier and Mechanized Unit Counters

Front Back Front Back

Unit ID At Start Unit ID

Turn of
Entry Set Up
City or Military
District
Designation.

All unit types depicted on this page are treated as Armor for combat purposes. 5
 3.0 Sequence of Play 4. Russian Player First Impulse
Russia Besieged is played in game turns of two months,
with two impulses per turn roughly equaling one month a. Russian Player Movement Phase
each. All game activities must be completed in the follow-
ing sequence. Items off-set with a bullet may be done in • Russian player moves units via ground, railroad or sea
any order within the phase (e.g. Move and take replace- • Russian player takes replacements
ments or take replacements and then move). • Russian player can convert Partisans from Level 1 to 2
• Russian player places reinforcements as per the
Note: † indicates an Optional rule. Russian Order of Battle card
1. Weather Determination Phase • Russian player flies Bomber Missions (attack or stage)
• † Russian player releases reserves
a. Both players adjust their Air unit counters so that • † Russian player places units into Reserve
the Air units are available and the Airbase counters
are not showing their staged side b. † German Reserve Movement Phase
b. German player rolls the die once and consults the c. Combat Resolution Phase
Weather Table to determine the weather results for
both impulses. d. † Post-Combat Reserve Movement Phase
2. German Player First Impulse
e. Adjust Railhead Counters
a. German Movement Phase
5. Russian Player Second Impulse
• German player moves units via ground, railroad, or sea
• German player takes replacements
a. Russian Movement Phase
• German player places reinforcements as per the
German Order of Battle card
• Russian player moves units via ground, railroad, or sea
• German player flies Bomber Missions (attack or stage)
• Russian player places reinforcements as per the
• † German player releases reserves
Russian Order of Battle card
• † German player places units into Reserve
• Russian player flies Bomber Missions (attack or stage)
b. † Russian Reserve Movement Phase • † Russian player releases reserves
• † Russian player places units into Reserve
c. Combat Resolution Phase
b. † German Reserve Movement Phase
d. † Post-Combat Reserve Movement Phase
e. Adjust Railhead Counters c. Combat Resolution Phase

3. German Player Second Impulse d. † Post-Combat Reserve Movement Phase

a. German Movement Phase
e. Information Marker Adjustment Phase
• German player moves units via ground, railroad or sea.
• German player places reinforcements as per the • Adjust Railhead Counters
German Order of Battle card • Stage 1 Partisan counters may be removed and/or
• German player flies Bomber Missions (attack or stage) placed on the map
• † German player releases reserves • 2nd Stage Partisans can move
• † German player places units into Reserve • Determine all Russian units’ supply status and
place or advance Russian out of Supply Markers
b. † Russian Reserve Movement Phase • † Advance all units in the Russian Unavailable Re
c. Combat Resolution Phase serve box to Available status

d. † Post-Combat Reserve Movement Phase 6. End of Turn

e. Information Marker Adjustment Phase
Advance the marker on the Turn Record Chart to the
• Adjust Railhead Counters next turn and repeat the Sequence of Play until the
• Determine all German units’ Supply status and game is completed.
place or advance German out of Supply Markers
• † Advance all units in the German Unavailable
6 Reserve box to Available status
4.0 Zones of Control Note: The unit may advance after combat normally.

Most units have a Zone of Control (ZOC) in the hex they 4.07 Units which are marked Out of Supply lose their
occupy and the six adjacent hexes. Some units do not. ZOC (See rule 13.12)

4.1 City Control

NO NO
ZOC ZOC ZOC Control of cities is important for several rules, including
NO NO NO NO
ZOC ZOC ZOC ZOC ZOC ZOC 7.22, 11.1, 13.7, 17.1, 20.11, and 27.2.
NO
A player controls:
ZOC NO ZOC NO NO ZOC NO
ZOC ZOC ZOC
NO
ZOC ZOC
NO
ZOC • All cities on his side of the border at the start of
ZOC ZOC ZOC the game.
• ZOC in Hex • ZOC in occupied • NO ZOC in any • A city if he has a ground combat unit in the city. A
• ZOC in all 6 Hex ONLY Hex
adjacent Hexes Both Leaders WEC Air Bases Field Marshals HQ OIL Bombers
ground combat unit is any unit with a combat factor.
GERMAN RUSSIAN SS
Partisan
GARRISON
If neither of these conditions apply, the city is controlled
1-8 by the player who last satisfied a condition for control. If
city control status changes, it takes effect immediately,
even during movement or combat.
ZOC in hex occupied only: Airfield units, Russian War
Economy Counters, Russian Paratrooper units, Hitler and 5.0 Stacking
Stalin, Partisan units, German 1-8 SS Polizei unit,
The term “stacking” refers to the ability of more than one
Volkssturm unit, and the Berlin Garrison unit.
unit to occupy the same hex.
N0 ZOC: Air units, Field Marshals, Army Group
Headquarters units, and Oil Production counters.

4.01 ZOCs that extend into the adjacent 6 hexes are al-
ways in effect with two exceptions:
• A ZOC never extends across the black coastline,
into lakes or seas Two Army Three Corps One Army,
Size Units Size Units One Corps
• ZOCs do not extend into hex 0713 Size Unit
NOTE: ZOCs are an integral part of Combat (See rule 5.01 Army sized units may be stacked 2 per hex; Corps
10.0), they may be limited by terrain (See rule 6.23) and sized units may stack 3 units per hex. Any combinations
the type of units. of Corps and Armies may only stack 2 units per hex.
4.02 Units must stop as soon as they move into an en- 5.02 Units may temporarily exceed stacking limits during
emy ZOC during their movement phase. movement but must be within stacking limits at the end
of each Movement phase and at the end of each Combat
4.03 Units advancing or retreating after combat may be Resolution.
restricted by enemy ZOCs (See rules 10.8 and 10.9).
5.03 Units entering the map as reinforcements or re-
4.04 Units that begin the First impulse Movement Phase
placements may be over-stacked prior to and during
in an enemy ZOC may exit that ZOC only if the first hex
movement, but must adhere to stacking limits by the end
they enter is not in an enemy ZOC.
of their movement of the current impulse.
4.05 Ground Units may not move directly from one en-
5.04 At the end of each Movement and Combat phase,
emy ZOC into another enemy ZOC, even one exerted by
players must check for over-stacking. In each hex with
a different enemy unit.
over-stacked units, the owning player must eliminate
4.06 Units that begin the Second Impulse Movement enough units to bring that hex back to within stacking
Phase in an enemy ZOC may not move. limits.

Exception: The enemy unit exerting the ZOC is elimi- 5.05 Certain units have no stacking value and can be
nated by a second impulse Automatic Victory attack and freely added to any stack: Airfield units, Russian War
the friendly unit to be moved did not participate in that Economy Counters, Russian Paratrooper units, Hitler
attack. and Stalin, Partisan units, German 1-8 SS Polizei unit,
7
 Volkssturm unit, Air units, Field Marshals, Army Group 6.15 Units not specifically using rail movement (See rule
Headquarters units, and Oil Production counters. 7.0) may NOT utilize rail lines to negate the movement
effects of terrain.
5.06 One Artillery unit and one Russian Paratrooper unit
may stack for free per hex. Any additional units, of these 6.16 Minimum Move
types, in a hex are treated as a Corps sized unit.
Regardless of weather or terrain effects, a unit may al-
5.07 Hungarian units may never stack with Rumanian ways move one hex, even if it does not have enough MPs
units and vice versa. Either may stack with other Axis to enter the hex, subject to the following restrictions:
units.
• The unit must be eligible to move in the current impulse.
5.08 The Berlin Garrison and Volkssturm counters stack • The unit does not enter prohibited terrain.
for free in Berlin. If moved outside of Berlin, treat the units • The unit does not move directly from one enemy
as Corps sized units. ZOC to another.

6.0 Ground Movement

6.2 STRAITS OF KERCH
In the Movement portion of your turn you may move as Treat hex 3822
many of your units as you wish: all, some, or none. The DO
NOT as a RIVER HEX.
die has nothing to do with ground movement. STOP in Costs 1 MP
HEX to Cross!
1 1
3822 STOP STOP 3922
6.01 Units may move in a continuous path of hexes in Note: Combat
STOP
any direction or combination of directions, depending on across the Strait
is treated like
3823
their movement factor. The Movement Allowance Chart combat across
shows the Movement Points (MPs) available to units for 1
Two Army
Size Units
a river spine. 3822

their first and second impulses in various kinds of weath-

er, and is differentiated by nationality and unit type. Gen-
1 • Costs 1 MP to go to 3922
• Costs 1 Additional MP to
cross 3822, just like a River!
erally, a unit moving its “full” movement allowance can Unit MUST STOP in 3922!
move a number of Clear terrain hexes equal to its move-
STOP
ment factor. • 1 RUM Mtn moves 1 MP to
1 cross and 1 MP to get into
6.02 Movement points cannot be transferred from one unit 1 Hex 3922 and STOPS.
- pays 2 MPs total.
to another, nor can they be accumulated from turn to turn.
• 29 PzGrd pays 1 MP to enter
Any movement points not used in a given impulse are lost.
1
3823, 1 MP to cross 3822,
1 MP to get into 3922 and
6.03 Units may also use Rail Movement (See rule 7.0) or STOPS. Pays 3 MPs total.
Sea Movement (See rule 8.0) instead of ground movement.
• 3 Hun pays 1 MP to enter hex
3824, pays 1 MP to enter hex
6.1 Movement Restrictions 3823 and only has 1 MP left. It
can pay to cross 3822, but
6.11 ZOC of enemy units limits movement (See rule 4.0). cannot pay to enter hex 3922,
so it has to stop in hex 3823.
6.12 Units may enter any hex, full or partial, as long as
the hex has a 4 digit hex number in it. If the hex has no
number, units may not enter it at all. 6.21 Movement across the black coastline is allowed
6.13 When entering non-Clear terrain, units must expend only by rail or sea movement and across the Straits of
more MPs. Different types of units will pay different ter- Kerch (hexes 3823-3922).
rain costs (for example, an Armor unit may pay more
6.22 Crossing the straits constitutes moving from hex
MPs to enter a particular hex than would an Infantry unit).
3823 directly to hex 3922 or vice versa. Units crossing
Consult the Terrain Effects Chart (TEC) for a complete
the straits pay 2 MP in total to cross (1 MP to cross the
listing of terrain movement costs.
coastal hex and 1 MP to move into hex 3823 or 3922).
Example: A German 5-5 Infantry unit begins its move in Units that cross the straits must stop in the first hex after
hex 2631. It moves to hex 2729. The unit expended 3 crossing (either 3823 or 3922), regardless of how many
MPs for the three Clear hexes and two MPs for the two MPs they have left. Crossing the straits does not consti-
river hexsides, for a total of 5 MPs. tute sea movement. Units may not stop on the red arrow
in hex 3822.
6.14 A unit cannot expend more MPs than it has (Excep-
tion: See rule 6.16). In the above example, the Geman 6.23 Zones of Control do not extend across the straits.
Infantry unit could not move to hex 2628 since this would However, units may conduct combat across them. Treat
8 require 6 MPs. combat across the straits as combat across a river. An
Automatic Victory may be achieved but a Blitzkrieg at- and re-establishing Soviet supply into Leningrad (See
tack is not allowed across the straits. rule 13.62).

6.24 Supply lines can be traced across the straits count- 6.31 The Russian player may attempt to move 1 unit per
ing as only 1 hex distance across the straits. impulse, during snow impulses, to or from Leningrad and
hex 0812 via hex 0713. This movement uses up the unit’s
Example: An Axis unit in hex 4022 would count 5 hexes entire movement allowance for the impulse.
to get to a supplied rail hex at 3726 (assuming the rail line
6.32 If any Axis units occupy or exert a ZOC on hex 0813,
leads back to the Axis edge of the board).
then the Russian player must roll for his unit to move
6.25 Control of both sides of the straits affects Sea Move- through hex 0713. In this case, at least one other Rus-
ment (See rules 8.12 and 8.13). To control both sides of sian unit must occupy hex 0812 before the move is at-
the straits, a player must control both hexes 3922 and tempted.
3823. Control of these hexes is determined the same way 6.33 When any unit attempts an ice road movement, the
as city hexes (See rule 4.1). Control is determined at the Russian Player rolls the die, applying the following modi-
moment of sea movement. fiers:

6.26 Units may retreat across the Straits of Kerch as a re- • If hex 0813 is NOT OCCUPIED by an Axis unit but is
sult of Combat; however, any stack (or unit) forced to do an Axis ZOC: Add +1 to the die roll
so takes a 1 step loss to one combat unit (of the owning
• If hex 0813 is OCCUPIED by an Axis unit: Add +2 to
player’s choice) in that stack. A retreat across the strait is
the die roll
considered to go from hex 3922 through hex 3823 or vice
versa, and counts as 1 hex of a retreating unit’s required On a die roll of 1 - 6, the move is successful.
distance. On a die roll of 7 or 8, the move is successful but the unit
loses a step.
6.3 Leningrad Ice Road On a die roll of 9 - 10+, the unit is eliminated.

B
0811 6.4 Northern Swamp Hexes
D 0912 All swamp hexes on or north of Hex row 16XX are treated
as Forest hexes for movement purposes during Snow
Hex 0812 impulses.
C 1012

7.0 Rail Movement

0913

A German Rail Capacity Chart

Weather Max for Turn Max 1st Max 2nd
Impulse Impulse
Non Snow/
Non Snow 6 6 3
Non Snow/
Snow 5 5 2
Leningrad is OOS-1. The German unit in hex 0813 exerts a ZOC
on hex 0812. Russian units in hex 0812 negate Axis ZOC for
purposes of using the Ice Road. For example, a German unit in
Snow/
Snow 4 4 2
5 4 3
hex A and a Finnish unit in hex B would exert ZOCs on hexes Snow/
C and D, negating the Ice Road. See example in Playbook. Non Snow
The Leningrad Ice Road is denoted on the map by the
dotted white hex. This hex is the ice road link to Len- 7.01 Axis Rail Capacity: The numbers in the chart be-
ingrad (hex 0714) over Lake Ladoga (0713) to land hex low represent the number of units which can be railed
0812. The Leningrad Ice Road has a special effect allow- per turn and then broken down by impulse. The following
ing the movement of a combat unit to/from Leningrad modifiers apply to the number of units which can rail:
9
 • -1 during Snow/ Snow turns the First Winter ered to be Axis-controlled. All rail hexes beyond the Axis
(November / December 41 and January/February 42) Railhead markers are assumed to be in Russian control.
7.06 Units using rail movement cannot move into, out of,
• -1 beginning July/August 1944 until game end or through an enemy ZOC including its starting and end-
• -1 if at the end of the previous turn, Russian 2nd ing hexes. Friendly units do not negate an enemy ZOC
stage Partisans occupied 2+ Rail hexes of the Axis for rail movement.
Rail lines (See rule 16.52) 7.07 A unit traveling by rail must begin and end the move-
ment on the rail line, and may travel an unlimited distance
When subtracting 1 for a turn, subtract 1 from each num- within those restrictions, ignoring the terrain in the hexes
ber shown. Examples: September/ October 1944 (Non- traversed.
Snow / Non-Snow) would be 5 5 2 and January / Febru-
ary 1942 (Snow / Snow) would be 3 3 1. 7.08 Units may use rail movement to exit the board and
immediately re-enter it at another friendly rail hex on the
same board edge. Russian units may only perform this
Russian Rail Capacity Chart on the east board edge. Axis units may only perform this
on the west board edge.
Turn Max for Turn Max 1st Max 2nd 7.09 All replacements and reinforcements placed onto
Impulse Impulse the board or entering from a board edge during an im-
pulse may move by rail in addition to the normal rail allot-
3 3 1
May/
June ments. Exceptions: See rules 17.07 and 17.12.
1941

5 5 2
July 1941 7.10 Units moving by rail may not move by any other
/ means during that impulse. Even units which can not
June 1943
move during the second impulse can be railed if they

6 6 3
July 1943 begin on a rail line.
/
June 1945
7.11 Note that there is no rail connection between hex
3810 and hex 3711. Units moving by rail along this line
must end their rail movement immediately upon entering
7.02 Russian Rail Capacity: The numbers in the chart one of those two hexes. They may use normal movement
above represent the number of units which can be railed during a subsequent impulse to move between those
per turn, broken down by impulse. hexes.
7.03 A unit may use rail movement only along a path of 7.12 The rail line connecting hex 3523 and hex 3624 can
adjacent rail hexes, through hexsides crossed by the rail be used for rail movement and rail supply ONLY. Units
symbol, which are in friendly control and that lead back may not cross that hexside using any type of non-rail
to a friendly controlled city or a friendly board edge. movement nor can they trace a ground supply line across
it to reach a friendly rail line.
Note: The friendly-controlled city hex must be occupied
by a friendly unit if it is in an enemy ZOC, and the rail line
from the city to the unit cannot pass through any enemy
ZOCs or enemy-controlled cities.
Example: Units using rail movement cannot move directly
from hex 1718 to 1818. They must follow a controlled rail
line back to a junction (such as hex 1719) which leads
back to hex 1818.

7.04 No unit (belonging to either player) may use rail

movement along a Converting section of a rail line (See
rule 7.2).

7.05 The Axis player uses the Railhead markers to iden-

tify the most advanced Axis-controlled rail hexes. All rail
hexes from the west edge of the map up to and including
the hexes marked with Railhead markers, which are not
occupied by Russian units or converting, are consid-
10
The Green ( ) dotted line denotes the extent of German controlled territory. Railhead markers show the
farthest point German units may rail at the start of the German first impulse. The white letter “A” on a red dot show the
rail lines controlled by the Germans that lead off map, to the board edge. Rail hexes W, X, Y and Z are Russian controlled.
• If 4th Infantry moved along the red line to hex 2716 (Y), moving through W converts the junction in hex 2516.
Hex X would not change from Russian to German.
• If 11 PzGrd moved to hex 3016, a Rail Converted marker would be placed on hex 2817.
• If 5th Infantry moved to Z, a Rail Converted marker would be placed on Z.
• If 2SS Armor moved thru hex X to hex Y, Kursk would convert to German controlled, a rail conversion marker would
be placed on Y. The Rail line from Kursk (X) to Bryansk would not be converted through the junction at W unless a
German unit also moves through hex at 2516. (See Rule 7.25)

At the end of this impulse, all Rail Converted markers would flip to Railhead markers and the Railhead markers
would be adjusted to W, Y, and Z. Kursk would be German controlled.

7.2 Converting Rail Lines from the hex it occupies to the east board edge or to a
Russian-controlled Baku. When a Rail Converted mark-
As the Axis player advances forward via movement or er is shortening an Axis-controlled rail line, it should be
advances from combat results, he will want to mark rail placed one hex beyond the Russian advance so that it
lines with Rail Converted markers so his supply line will denotes the farthest Axis-controlled hex on that rail line. If
be extended. The Russian player will wish to shorten the the Russian unit occupies a hex on the west board edge,
Axis player’s supply lines by moving through Axis-con- place the Rail Converted marker just off the west edge.
trolled rail hexes and therefore cutting them.
7.24 A player does not have to physically move a unit
7.21 Combat units (units which exert a ZOC into adja- through each non-Rail junction hex to take control of it.
cent hexes plus paratroopers and the SS Polizei unit)
may place Rail Converted markers by simply moving or 7.25 A player gains control of a rail junction hex if, at
advancing through hexes along a rail line. any point during his turn, one of his ground combat units
moves into or through the hex.
7.22 An Axis unit can place a Rail Converted marker in a
rail hex that it occupies at any point in the impulse if an 7.26 A rail junction that is not a city hex also converts if
unblocked path of rail hexes, traced along the rail line, every rail line leading out of the junction leads to one of
can be traced to the friendly west board edge or to an the following without passing through an enemy ZOC, or
Axis-controlled Helsinki. This path is blocked if any hex in an enemy-controlled city or rail junction:
the path is in a Russian ZOC, is a Russian-controlled city,
or is a Russian-controlled rail junction (unless the junc- • a friendly-controlled Railhead
tion will convert simultaneously as per rule 7.26).
• a Rail Converted marker (See rules 7.22 and 7.23)
a friendly board edge, or friendly-controlled Helsinki
7.23 Similarly to rule 7.22, a Russian unit can place a Rail (Axis) or friendly-controlled Baku (Russian). At least
Converted marker if an unblocked path can be traced one rail line must satisfy this condition. 11
 7.27 The Section of the rail line between the Railhead fier on the Sea Movement Table in the Black Sea/Sea of
marker and the Rail Converted marker is considered to Azov, the active player attempting the sea move must
be “Converting” on the same impulse that a player takes control both sides of the Kerch Straits (See Rule 6.25).
control of it.
8.13 No sea movement may pass through the Kerch
7.28 Sections of rail lines that are Converting will become Straits unless the player attempting the sea move con-
player-controlled at the end of the current player’s im- trols both sides of the Kerch Straits.
pulse. The railhead is advanced from its location at the
start of the impulse up to the hex containing the Rail Con- 8.14 No Sea Movement of any kind is permitted in the
verted marker. Any Rail Converted markers are flipped to Sea of Azov during the January/February turn of each
their Railhead sides, and any existing Railhead markers
year. Rostov is not considered as a friendly port for reso-
replaced by them are removed from the map. In the event
lution of sea movement during this turn. Note: The
that the rail line becomes blocked by a retreating unit or
its ZOC during the preceding Combat Phase, the Rail- sea is substantially covered in thick ice, not allowing sea
head is advanced up to the point of the blocking ZOC. movement.

8.0 Sea Movement 8.2 Resolving Sea Movement

Sea movement of units is an area movement process Any unit using sea movement must roll for survival on
over contiguous bodies of water. Hexes and movement the Sea Movement Table, which is found on a Player Aid
points are ignored for the purpose of Sea movement. card. The die roll result is adjusted according to the mod-
ifiers list on the Player Aid Card. All die roll modifiers are
8.01 Sea movement is not automatic; units attempting cumulative.
to use Sea movement must roll on the Sea Movement
Table. (Exception: See rule 8.72) Port modifiers apply only to the sea area that a unit is at-
tempting to move through. For example, ports controlled
8.02 A unit that moves by sea may not use any other form
in the Caspian Sea area have no impact on sea move-
of movement during that impulse.
ment in the Black Sea/Sea of Azov area.
8.03 A unit, with an impulse MP allowance of “0” or in
an enemy ZOC may not use Sea Movement (Exception: Major Naval Bases: There are three Major Naval Bases:
Evacuation See rule 8.62). Konigsberg (German), Leningrad (Russian), and Sevas-
topol (Russian). Major Naval Bases, controlled by their
8.04 There are three separate types of sea movement: original owner, provide a special DRM for sea move-
Transport, Invasion, and Evacuation. A unit may only use ment.
one of these types in an impulse.
• If the player performing sea movement
8.05 The Caspian Sea, Black Sea/Sea of Azov and Baltic controls his own Major Naval Base at the start of
Sea are three separate sea areas and therefore no unit the impulse, he receives a -2 DRM.
may move from one of them to another in the same im- • If the destination hex for a player performing
pulse using Sea movement. sea movement is within 4 hexes of an enemy
Major Naval Base, there is a +2 DRM.
Note: Each sea area may have rules that are specific to
that area only, the Caspian Sea being one such example.
Examples: If the German player controls Konigsberg, he
8.1 Sea Movement Restrictions receives a -2 DRM in the Baltic. If the Russian player con-
trols Sevastopol, he receives a -2 DRM in the Black Sea.
Sea movement on any body of water requires friendly If the destination hex of a German sea move in the Baltic
control of at least one port bordering that sea area. Once is within 4 hexes of a Russian controlled Leningrad, there
a side loses all ports in a sea area, no further sea move- is a +2 DRM. If the German player controls Sevastopol,
ment is permitted by that side in that sea area for the he receives only the -1 port DRM in the Black Sea since
remainder of the game. he did not originally own Sevastopol.

8.11 Each player may sea move only one unit in each sea 8.21 A unit eliminated by the roll on the Sea Movement
area per impulse. Exception: Only the Russian player can Table is placed in its Replacement Pool.
use Sea Movement in the Caspian Sea.
8.22 A unit eliminated or aborted by the Sea Movement
8.12 To have Rostov, if friendly-controlled, count as a Table counts toward the limit of Sea Moves that impulse,
12 friendly port for purposes of gaining a Sea Port modi- and it counts as an invasion if it tried to Invade. (See Rule 8.4)
8.23 A unit which is aborted will return to where it began port’s effect of imparting an enemy-controlled port DRM
its sea movement. If it begins in: to the Sea Movement Table die roll.
• a port, then it returns back to that port 8.46 Russian units may not invade Germany in 1941-
• a coastal hex, then it returns to the hex from which 1942.
it was trying to evacuate.
The unit(s) will be available to move, if eligible, again dur- 8.47 An invading unit may land anywhere on the coastline
ing the next player’s impulse. of the target sea area except hexes 3423 and 3424. The
landing hex may not contain an enemy unit that has a
8.3 Sea Transport ZOC.

Sea Transport can be used in one of the following ways: 8.48 A unit which was evacuated during the prior impulse
may not perform an invasion.
8.31 A unit in a friendly port (marked with an anchor sym-
bol) and not in an enemy ZOC may attempt sea transport 8.49 An invading unit may engage in combat. It cannot
to another friendly-controlled port in the same sea area. retreat nor advance after combat.

8.32 A new reinforcement or replacement unit may at- 8.50 If a unit is forced to retreat during combat in the
tempt Sea Transport using this two step procedure. First same impulse it invades, it is eliminated instead. Note:
it is placed in a friendly-controlled port that can trace a a unit cannot invade and be evacuated in the same turn.
line of supply by rail to its friendly board edge. Then it at-
tempts to sea move according to 8.31 above. 8.51 The invading unit is in General and Combat Supply
on the invasion turn only; the unit will not be eliminated at
8.33 A unit using Sea Transport may engage in combat. It the end of the player’s turn if a regular supply path to the
may retreat or advance after combat. board edge can not be traced. If this is a Snow Impulse
of the first winter, then the Axis unit would still receive a
-1 combat DRM (See rule 13.74).
8.4 Sea Invasion
Sea Invasions may only be made in the Baltic Sea or the If at the end of the following turn, the invading unit is un-
Black Sea/ Sea of Azov areas, never in the Caspian Sea able to trace a General Supply line to its friendly board
area. edge, it must be eliminated. This elimination applies even
if it is located in, or can trace a supply path to, a “Limited”
8.41 Only 1 invasion per player per sea area is allowed supply source Major city.
per turn.
Example: A German infantry unit successfully invades
8.42 The only units that can invade are as follows: next to Sevastopol in the September/October 1941 turn.
• German: Any Infantry or Mountain unit In the November/December 1941 turn, the infantry unit
• Italian: Any Infantry or Mountain unit moves into Sevastopol. If the German unit is unable to-
• No Finnish, Rumanian, or Hungarian units may sea trace a supply line from Sevastopol to the West board
invade edge by the end of the November/December turn of
• Russian: All non-Guard Infantry units 1941, the German Infantry unit will be eliminated even
though Sevastopol could be a “Limited” Supply source
8.43 Each Invasion may include only one of the following: for the unit.
• a reinforcement or new replacement unit (See Rule
8.32) 8.52 Axis variant units listed in Advanced Optional rules
• a unit from a friendly port in the same sea area may never perform an invasion.

8.44 Each player may attempt a limited number of Inva- 8.6 Sea Evacuation
sions over the course of the game:
A unit may be evacuated from a port in an enemy ZOC or
a) The Russian player may attempt 2 Invasions in the from a coastal hex.
Black Sea/Sea of Azov and 1 invasion in the Baltic Sea.
8 .61 Units are evacuated to a friendly-controlled port in
b) The German player may attempt 1 Invasion in the that sea area. This port cannot be in an enemy ZOC.
Black Sea/Sea of Azov and 1 Invasion in the Baltic Sea.
8.62 A unit may evacuate even if it is in an enemy ZOC or
8.45 Invading an enemy’s port hex does not negate the has a movement allowance of zero for the impulse. 13
 8.63 Evacuated units cannot engage in combat that im- 9.0 Automatic Victory
pulse.
Automatic Victory (AV) is a form of combat that occurs
8.64 Units cannot be evacuated to satisfy a retreat result. during the Movement Phase instead of the Combat Res-
olution Phase.
8.7 Caspian Sea
These two
8.71 Only the Russian Player may use Sea movement in armor units
the Caspian Sea area. start HERE
8.72 He may Transport one unit per impulse between As-
and MOVE
trakhan and Baku, in either direction. This move is au-
tomatically successful and does not require a die roll on
the Sea Movement Table. Exception: If there is a German
airbase within 9 hexes of the destination hex, a roll is
required on the Sea Movement Table. A -5 DRM is ap-
plied to this roll. This is in addition to any other applicable
DRMs. Start of the German Turn:
German Armor, 39th and 14th, begin the turn on hexes 1929 and
8.73 Units may be evacuated from Caspian Sea port or 1930, and move to hexes 2128 and 2129.
coastal hexes. A roll is required on the Sea Movement
A 10-1 AV is achieved against the Russian unit in hex 2228 (9-1 plus
Table for an evacuation. A -5 DRM is applied to this roll. one Stuka). The 6-5 in hex 2330 makes the required attack against
This is in addition to any other applicable DRMs. the Russian unit in hex 2329.

8.74 No Invasions are allowed in the Caspian Sea area.

However, the Russian player may Transport one Infantry 9.1 Achieving an Automatic Victory
unit of 5 or less combat factors from Astrakhan to an un-
occupied but German controlled Baku. A roll is required If during a movement phase conditions for an attack at
on the Sea Movement Table for this special Transport. A 10-1 or greater odds are established, an automatic vic-
-5 DRM is applied to this roll. This is in addition to any tory may be achieved (Also see Rule 10.91).
other applicable DRMs.
9.11 All normal combat and stacking rules apply unless
Sea Movement Examples: superseded by rules in this section. The units participat-
ing in the AV must meet the stacking limits. Other units
Example 1: The Russian Player is attempting to Transport
in the hex that are not participating in the AV may move
a 7-4 Infantry Army in the Black Sea/Sea of Azov sea
after the AV has been resolved so that they meet stacking
area from the port city of Sevastopol to the port city of
limits by the end of the Movement Phase.
Rostov. Odessa and Constanta are ports controlled by
the Axis. There is an Axis airfield counter in hex 3122. The
9.12 The attacker must declare which units will partici-
Infantry Army receives a -2 modifier for the major port of
pate in the AV. These units will be marked with an AV
Sevastopol and a -1 modifier for each other friendly-con-
marker.
trolled port in that area (Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Batumi,
and Rostov) for a total of -6. The unit also suffers a +1 9.13 Air Support (See rule 11.5) may be used in an AV at-
modifier because the destination hex is within 9 hexes tack to increase the odds ratio.
of an enemy airfield. The total modifier to the die roll is
-6+1= -5. The Russian Player rolls an 8, modified by -5
9.2 Resolving an Automatic Victory
for a final result of 3 which, when referenced to the Sea
Movement Table, results in a step loss for the moving
Defending units surrender (See rule 10.68) and are imme-
unit. The Infantry Army takes one-step loss and ends the
diately removed from the game permanently.
move in Rostov.

Example 2: The German player is attempting to Invade 9.21 Any of the attacker’s units participating in the AV
Tallinn with a 5-5 Infantry Corps. The German player may advance into the vacated defender’s hex adhering
controls Konigsberg (a major port), Stettin, Danzig, and to normal stacking limits.
Helsinki for a total modifier of -5. Since Tallinn is a Rus-
sian controlled port, the German player also suffers a +1 9.3 Automatic Victory Restrictions
modifier for the enemy-controlled port. The net modifier
is -4. The German player rolls a 6 modified to a 2. The 9.31 Each side is limited as to when it may use Automatic
14 Invasion is successful and the 5-5 lands at Tallinn. Victory as follows:
 a) Axis: against the defender (non-moving player), based on the
1. From the beginning of the game through the rules which follow. They are resolved, one at a time, in
July/August 1943 turn, the Axis Player may conduct any order the attacker chooses.
as many AVs as he wishes.
2. After the July/ August 1943 turn, the Axis Player 10.1 Combat Requirements
may not conduct any AVs.
When a unit ends its movement in an enemy ZOC, the
b) Russians: enemy units exerting that ZOC must be attacked.
1. Prior to the July/August 1943 turn, the Russian
Player may not conduct any AVs. Exceptions:

2. From the beginning of the July/August 1943 turn • Friendly units are not required to attack enemy
through the November/December 1943 turn, the units across a river hex side. If they choose to attack
Russian player may conduct AV attacks only when at one adjacent enemy occupied hex across the river,
least one Russian Air Unit or one Russian Artillery they are not required to attack other adjacent enemy
unit participates in the attack. occupied hexes across the river.

3. From the beginning of the January/February 1944 • Friendly units in a major city do not have to attack
turn through to the end of the game, the Russian any adjacent units. If they choose to attack, then all
Player may conduct as many AVs as he wishes, adjacent enemy units which are not across a river
regardless of whether or not he uses Air Units or hexside or not being attacked by other friendly units
Artillery units. must be attacked by them.

9.32 No unit may participate in two AV attacks in the • Friendly units do not have to attack any adjacent
same game turn. units which are marked OOS.

• Friendly WEC and Dictator units do not have to

9.4 After the Automatic Victory
attack adjacent enemy units even if they are in a hex
by themselves.
Attacking units that took part in the AV cannot move any
farther or attack any other enemy units for the remainder
10.11 When several attacking units are adjacent to sev-
of that impulse. After the AV attack, units which did not
eral defending units, the attacker has the choice of how
participate in the AV attack can ignore the fact that the
to resolve combat provided:
defending units were in the hex for the rest of that same
impulse. They may move normally into and through the
• All friendly units in an enemy ZOC must attack one
hex where the defender(s) used to be, even if they started
or more enemy units or stacks,
the impulse in the ZOC of the AV eliminated units
• All enemy units triggering friendly attacks are
9.41 Participating ground units may move normally and themselves attacked, and
attack in subsequent impulses. Exception: See rule 9.32.
• Each attacking unit is adjacent to the specific
9.5 Automatic Victory and Other Units defending unit it is attacking.

Units declaring an AV may be next to enemy units not be- 10.12 In any attack, the factors of all attacking units are
ing attacked by the AV units. Since those units must be added up into one combined attack factor.
attacked during the subsequent Combat Phase for the
AV to be declared, friendly units must be moved adjacent 10.13 Units stacked in the same hex may attack different
to the enemy units not being attacked by the AV units, hexes; they do not all have to attack the same hex.
observing all stacking and legal attack conditions prior
to the instant that the AV is to be performed. 10.14 Attacking units in a single stack may choose to
attack enemy units stacked in more than one adjacent
hex as one combined attack. Exception: Blitzkrieg Attack
10.0 Combat
(See rule 10.9).

Combat occurs after all movement for that impulse is 10.15 The factors of all defending units are added up into
finished (Reminder: Automatic Victory is a function of one combined defense factor. The attacker may not di-
movement). The attacker (moving player) will make as vide combat against defending units stacked in the same
many different attacks as he is required to or decides to hex, but must attack them as one combined defense factor. 15
 10.16 Every attacking unit can only fight one battle in any the TEC (See rule 10.3), Armor (See rule 10.5), Field Mar-
one impulse. Every defending unit can only be attacked shals (See rule 14.2), and calculate a cumulative DRM.
once in any one impulse. Units which are in a defending The maximum cumulative DRM for a combat resolution ,
hex after they have retreated do not add their combat not including Field Marshals, is a +/- 2 DRM.
value to the defense but will suffer the combat results
like the original defenders and are the last to be assigned d) Reference this final odds ratio with a column heading
any step losses. on the CRT or BAT, and then the attacker rolls one die.

10.17 The combat factor of an individual unit may never e) Apply the cumulative DRM to the die roll, cross refer-
be split so that the unit participates in more than one at- encing the adjusted die roll under the appropriate column
tack. and apply the result listed.

10.18 The attacker may deliberately attack with one or 10.22 Odds of 8-1 or 9-1 are resolved as 7-1. Odds
more units, at unfavorable odds in order to gain more greater than 10-1 are treated as 10-1.
favorable odds over other defending units. This game 10.3 Terrain Effects on Combat
tactic is called “soaking off” and cannot be done at odds
Terrain will affect the combat values of the defender as
lower than 1-5.
well as causing DRMs to combat resolution.
10.19 If an attacking unit is in a position where it can- 10.31 As indicated on the Terrain Effects Chart (TEC),
not attack at minimum legal odds (1-5 or better), the unit units defending in mountains, major cities, or behind riv-
surrenders and is permanently removed from the board ers have their combat factors doubled.
before any other combat is resolved.
Note: Units behind rivers are not doubled if one or more
Note: This is usually the result of an unfavorable first im- of the attacking units are attacking them through a non-
pulse attack and the attacker cannot bring up enough (or river hex side. Also see the Turn 1 Special Rules for Rus-
any) additional units to make a legal attack in the second sian units defending in various terrain types (See rule
impulse. 24.0).

10.2 Combat Resolution 10.32 A defending unit’s combat strength can never be
more than doubled, regardless of the number of terrain
Combat between adjacent units is resolved via a die roll types.
on the Combat Results Table (CRT). The CRT is based on
the strength ratio or “odds” of the battle.
Example for Rule 10.33
D1 Voluntary Step
Note: the Blitzkrieg Attack Table (BAT) is also a CRT (See Loss to
rule 10.9). remain
in City

10.21 Combat Resolution Procedure: 1st Step Loss 2nd Step Loss

a) Determine the raw odds ratio by dividing the total

attack factor by the total defense factor, taking into ac-
Units in Stalingrad AFTER
count any possible terrain effects (See rule 10.3 and D1 Result where Russian
the TEC). Round any fractions down in favor of the de- chooses to remain in City by
fender and express the result as an odds ratio. An at- taking 1 additional step loss.
tack may always be made at a lower odds ratio than
actually calculated, at the option of the attacking player.
(For example, 11 divided by 4 produces 2.75:1, which During Combat, the German player rolls a D1 result against the
rounds down to a 2-1 ratio. An attack of 4 combat fac- Russian Defenders in a Major City. In this example, the Russian
tors against 11 would produce 1-3 combat odds (1:2.75). player has a WEC and 2 full strength Infantry Armies in the City.
A D1 result calls for 1 step loss and the Defender must vacate
the hex, unless he is in a Forest or Major City, as in this example.
b) Apply any applicable ratio shifts for use of Air Units or
If the Russian player chooses to retreat, the WEC is automatically
Artillery (See rules 10.4, 11.5 & 12.04) to achieve a final lost because it cannot retreat. To save the WEC, and to hold onto
odds ratio. Attacks at a final odds ratio of less than 1-5 the City, the Russian player may choose to take 1 additional step
are not allowed (See rule 10.18). loss and remain in the City. The Russian player may choose any
unit in the City with a step. In this example, he will take a step
16 c) Determine if any Die Roll Modifiers (DRMs) apply per loss on the 64th Infantry.
10.33 If the combat result requires that units in a forest 10.35 Northern Swamps: All Swamp hexes on or north of
hex retreat, these units do not retreat. They do not have Hex row 16XX are treated as Forest hexes during SNOW
the option to retreat. impulses but they do not negate the retreat requirement.
All other swamp hexes are treated as Clear hexes during
If the combat result requires that units in a major city re- Snow impulses.
treat, these units have the option of taking one additional
step loss instead of retreating. This additional step loss is Note: Frozen swamp hexes that are considered to be
one step total, not one step per unit. Forests during Snow impulses do NOT function as For-
est hexes for purposes of rules 10.33 and 10.34.
10.34 If defending units occupy a major city or a forest
hex, a DR combat result is treated as a BR. In a multi-hex 10.36 In a combat where defending units are in more
attack where defending units occupy more than one ter- than one hex and one (or more) of those hexes contains
rain type, units defending in a major city or forest hex do defensive terrain which benefits the defender, each hex
not retreat; defending units in other types of terrain must must be considered individually to determine the de-
retreat. fender’s combined defense total and combat DRMs. If
the terrain doubles the defender, only double the units
DR/BR Result which are in that hex. If the terrain provides a DRM (Each
Each side Loses 1 Step and terrain type DRM counted only once per combat), apply
ALL units remain in place. that DRM to the combat. Additionally, the armor bonus is
negated if any defender’s hex has terrain which negates
it. Also, the attacker suffers a -1 DRM for each additional
hex beyond the first being attacked in the combat. Note:
This is due to diffusing the attack in two or more direc-
tions. This DRM may cause the cumulative combat DRM
to be less than -2.
During combat, the German player rolls a DR result against the Russian
Defenders in a Major City. The DR combat result is treated as a BR. Both
sides take a step loss and remain in place. Example: The German player has an opportunity to elimi-
nate 2 units with one combat and is attacking 2 adjacent
If attacking units occupy a major city or a forest hex, an hexes with one stack of 24 factors, a single Stuka, and
AR combat result is treated as a BR. In a multi-hex at- a Field Marshal in support during the August impulse of
tack where attacking units occupy more than one ter- 1941. The first defender’s hex is a Major city with a 2-3
rain type, units attacking from a major city or forest hex (reduced 4-4 Russian Infantry). The second hex is clear
do not retreat; units attacking from other types of terrain terrain with another 2-3 Infantry in it. The defender has 6
must retreat. factors, one 2-3 being doubled for the major city. The at-
tack is 4-1 raised to 5-1 by the Stuka. The DRM is -1 for
the Major city, -1 for two defending hexes, and +1 for the
Field Marshal for a net of -1. The +1 armor bonus does
not apply since a Major city is being attacked.

10.37 Mountain units receive a +1 DRM when they are at-

tacking into a Mountain hex. Mountain units receive a -1
DRM when they are defending in a Mountain hex.

10.4 AIR SUPPORT (Ground Attack)

The Russian player is making a 2-1 attack against the German Panzer
corps with a -1 DRM for the forest. Up to four (4) air units may be used in an attack to shift
1) A DR becomes a BR which results in each player losing one step. the final combat odds. Each air unit shifts the odds one

AIR SUPPORT CHART

The German Panzer is flipped to a 6-8 and the Russian player flips his
unit with the highest printed combat strength (the 7-4) to a 4-3. The
Impulse
6-8 does not retreat.
Maximum number of
Air Units that can be
2) An AR becomes a BR which results in each player losing one step.
The German Panzer is flipped to a 6-8 and the Russian player flips his Weather used in any Attack
unit with the highest printed combat strength (the 7-4) to a 4-3. The
4-3 must retreat; the 5-4 and the 6-4 do not retreat. Clear 4
3) On a D1 result, the German Panzer is flipped to a 6-8. The 6-8 does
not retreat. Lt. Mud 3
4) On an A1 result, the Russian 7-4 is flipped to a 4-3. The 4-3 must
retreat; the 5-4 does not retreat. The 6-4 may retreat or take a step Mud 2
loss and remain in Minsk. 17
 ratio higher in an attack. The defending side may not al- COMBAT RESULTS TABLE KEY
locate Air Units to a combat unless using Optional rule AE* All attacking units are eliminated. All at-
A3.0. tacking units that were surrounded are
surrendered immediately. (See Rule 10.68).
AE All attacking units are eliminated.
10.41 The maximum number of air units available for sup- A# Attacker suffers # step losses and any
port depends on the nationality, year, and the weather surviving units must be retreated 2 hexes.
(See Rule 11.5 and the Bomber Availability Chart). AR Attacker retreats all attacking units
1 or 2 hexes, at his discretion.
BR Battle Rages - The Battle is unresolved
10.42 The maximum number of air units that may be add- and both sides take 1 step loss. No retreat
or advance occurs. If the BR result
ed per attack depends on the weather and is specified happens in the First Impluse, units are
locked in combat for the Second Impulse.
in the Air Support Chart above and cannot exceed the
number of attacking ground units. X2 Exchange: Both sides suffer 2 step losses.
If either player has only 1 step to lose, then
his opponent only loses 1 step. Any surviv-
ing defending enemy units are retreated 1
10.5 Armor, PanzerGrenadier, Shock or or 2 hexes.
Mechanized Units DR All defending units are retreated 2 hexes.
D# Defender suffers # step losses. Any
surviving units must be retreated 2 hexes.
DE All defending units in the hex are eliminated.
DE* All defending units in the hex are eliminated.
All defending unis that were surrounded are
surrendered immediately. (See Rule10.68).

A one step unit takes a step loss by removing the unit

Armor PanzerGrenadier Shock Mech
from the map and placing the unit in the Replacement
Pool (Exception: Surrender). A 3 or 4 step unit whose 1st
Armor type units (armor, shock, panzergrenadier, mecha- counter is flipped and needs to take a step loss would be
nized) impart a special combat DRM on the attack and replaced by the unflipped 2nd counter.
defense in any weather. The following conditions apply
to receive this benefit: 10.62 When the combat result calls for step losses, the
unit with the highest printed combat strength takes the
• Defending units must be in a clear terrain hex, with or first loss. In rare instances this may require a one step
without a minor city. unit to be eliminated before a two-step unit is reduced.
Any subsequent step loss may be taken from any other
• +1 DRM if only non-armored type units are defending units at the discretion of the owning player.
and the attacking forces include armor type units.
10.63 If both the attacker and the defender have armor
• -1 DRM if only non-armored type units are attacking type units, the armor type unit with the highest printed
and the defending forces include armor type units. combat strength must take the first step loss for either
side. This is an exception to 10.62.
Note: The Hungarian mechanized corps and the SS Po-
lizei unit cannot be used for the above benefits. 10.64 If the armor unit is also the highest combat strength
unit, reducing it as the first step will also meet the re-
10.6 Combat Results quirement of rule 10.62. Any subsequent step losses may
be taken at the owning player’s discretion.
See the CRT Results Chart Key, below for results inter-
pretations. 10.65 If the armor unit in the hex is not the highest
strength unit, it is still reduced first if both attacker and
Note: A DR result, when any of the defending units are defender have armor. If more step losses are called for
in a Major City or Forest, and an AR result, when any of (i.e. a D3 result), the next unit that must take a step loss is
the attacking units are in a Forest or Major City, results the highest printed combat strength friendly unit involved
in each player losing 1 step. In a multi-hex attack where in the combat. The 3rd step may be taken from any other
units may occupy more than one terrain type, only those unit at the owning player’s discretion.
units would have to retreat that are not exempted by the
TEC (See rules 10.33 & 10.34). 10.66 If the preceding step loss priorities do not clearly
indicate which unit takes a step loss, the owning player
10.61 Step Loses has the choice as to which unit takes the loss.

Most units in the game have two steps, the back of the Example: A defending stack with a 5 strength one step
counter being the weaker step. A two-step unit takes armor unit and a 5 strength two-step infantry unit must
18 a step loss by flipping the counter to its reduced side. take a step loss. The attacker did not have armor in the
attack. The defending player can eliminate the one step Priority 3: End the retreat in a hex that is a legal supply
armor unit or flip the two-step infantry unit to its reduced source such as:
side.
1) a rail hex with a path of friendly-controlled rail hexes
10.67 Elimination free of enemy ZOC to a friendly board edge.

Units eliminated (AE, AE*, DE, DE* results) are removed 2) a friendly-controlled major city that is not already
from the map and placed in the Replacement Pool, un- providing limited supply to its maximum number of
less they Surrender (see below). units.

10.68 Surrender Priority 4: End the retreat as close as possible to a legal

supply source.
Any units which receive an AE* or DE* result from the
CRT and are unable to trace a line of General Supply at Priority 5: Axis units retreat west, northwest, southwest,
the instant of combat are considered surrounded and or a combination of these. Russian units retreat east,
surrender. northeast, southeast, or a combination of these.

10.69 Surrendered units are removed permanently from Priority 6: Units directed to retreat 2 hexes must end the
play and cannot re-enter the game by being rebuilt. Ex- retreat 2 hexes away from the hex where they fought the
ception: See rule 22.04. battle if possible. They may only end a 2 hex retreat ad-
jacent to the hex they fought from if it is not possible to
10.7 Retreats end the retreat 2 hexes away. If the attacker can elect a
one hex retreat for defending units, then this priority is
All retreat results, whether attacker (AR or A#) or defend- ignored.
er (DR, D# or X2) are performed by the attacker.
Priority 7: Retreat into a friendly-occupied hex in an en-
10.71 Units are retreated individually with the Defender emy ZOC. If there are several of these, go back to priority
always choosing the order in which his units will be re- 2, etc. to decide among them.
treated.
Example 1: A Russian unit in hex 1717 is attacked from
10.72 A unit may never be retreated: hex 1718. On a DR result it may retreat to hex 1615, 1516,
or 1815. It may not retreat to hex 1715 or 1916 since these
a) into an enemy occupied hex (Enemy unit must
hexes violate priority 3. It may not retreat to 1917 or 1517
have ZOC in hex)
b) into a vacant hex in an enemy ZOC since these hexes violate priority 5. It may not retreat to
c) across the black coastline hex 1816 since this violates priority 6.
d) into a sea or lake (including into the ice road during
Example 2: A Russian unit in hex 2615 is attacked from
snow impulses)
e) off the map board hex 2716 and a DR result is rolled. The unit must retreat
f) Russian units into Hungary on the May 1941 impulse to hex 2714, 2414, or 2613. It may not retreat to 2814,
g) into Turkey, Persia, Iraq, Lebanon, or Syria even if hex 2715 is Russian-occupied, since this violates
priority 1.
10.73 A retreating unit is eliminated if all retreat routes
are blocked. A retreating unit may end its retreat over- Example 3: A Russian army size unit in hex 4109 is at-
stacked. In that case, the owning player must remove tacked from hex 4009. It must retreat to hex 4007 to be
units at the end of the Combat Phase until the hex is no as close as possible to a supply source rail hex. However,
longer over-stacked (See rule 5.04). if Axis units occupy Saratov and there are only none or
one unit near Astrakhan, Astrakhan is the closest supply
10.74 The attacker may not specify a retreat route that source and the unit would have to retreat to hex 4308
eliminates the defender if a legal retreat route is available. instead.

10.75 Terrain does not affect retreats unless explicitly Note: The spirit of the retreat rule is to reflect friendly
specified. units retreating rearward, towards their friendly lines of
communications to stay in supply, not forward and con-
10.76 Units retreat according to the following priorities: quering new ground.

Priority 1: Retreat into a hex free of enemy ZOC. 10.77 Units that began combat stacked together and are
forced to retreat into or through an enemy ZOC hex oc-
Priority 2: Rumanian and Hungarian units do not end a cupied by a friendly combat unit take an additional 1 step
retreat in the other’s country (See rule 25.1). loss (in total for all that were stacked together) over and 19
 above any loss called for by the CRT or BAT. Apply this or higher is normally an AV. However, the attacker may
condition for each hex of a 2 hex retreat. choose to resolve the attack on the 10-1 column of the
BAT instead. Note: If the attacker achieves a 10-1 attack
10.78 Units may be retreated through an enemy ZOC hex during a Movement Phase, and wishes to execute it as a
occupied by a friendly combat unit to get into or stay in Blitzkrieg Attack, he must wait until the Combat Phase to
supply if the only alternative is to retreat to a hex that resolve it. This means that an AV has NOT been achieved
would leave them out of supply (owning player’s choice). and that the defending unit remains on the map and is
Similarly, units may be retreated through an enemy ZOC attacked during the following Combat Phase.
hex occupied by a friendly combat unit to avoid retreat-
ing to an over-stacked hex. 10.92 All rules for combat using the BAT are the same
as the rules for combat using the CRT except as noted
10.8 Advance After Combat below.
10.81 For the rules for advance after combat when using 10.93 Blitzkrieg attacks may only be made under the fol-
the Blitzkrieg Attack Table, see rule 10.9. lowing conditions:

10.82 For attacks using the CRT, the attacker may ad- a) The weather is clear or light mud
vance into the defender’s hex(es) if either of these follow-
ing conditions are true: b) The defending units occupy only one hex

• If the combat result was DE or DE* c) The defender’s hex is clear or clear with a minor city

• If the combat result was a D# or a X2 that required d) It is an Axis attack on or before August 1943
more step losses than the defender has
e) It is a Russian attack on or after March 1944. The
The advance ends in the defender’s hex(es). Russians may also make a Blitzkrieg attack from the
beginning of the September/October 1943 turn
Example: A single step unit is attacked. On a DE*, DE, through the November/December 1943 turn provided
D3, D2, or X2 result, the attacker may advance. On a D1, that at least one Guard Tank Army and at least one
BR or DR result, he may not.
Shturmovik participate in the attack.
Note: Steps that are lost due to blocked retreat routes
f) The attack is not across the Kerch Straits
are not considered as losses for purposes of determining
whether the attacker may advance.
g) At least one armor type unit is attacking
10.83 Units may advance even if both the hex they attack
from and the defender’s hex are in enemy ZOC. Note: The Hungarian Mechanized corps and the SS Po-
lizei unit cannot be used to enable a Blitzkrieg Attack.
10.84 A unit may advance even if it has no movement However, they may advance like an armor type unit after
capability that impulse. one.

10.85 The only effect that Terrain has on advance after 10.94 If the conditions of Rule 10.82 are satisfied, place a
combat is that units cannot advance into hexes or across Blitzkrieg marker in the defender’s hex. Any and all units
hexsides which they normally could not move into or that attacked may advance into the defender’s hex at no
cross. cost, even if this causes a temporary over-stacking situ-
ation in the hex. Any additional advances will follow the
10.9 Blitzkrieg Attack Combat guidelines of rule 10.96.

The Blitzkrieg Attack Table (BAT) is used for combat reso- 10.95 If the conditions of Rule 10.82 are not satisfied,
lution where the attacker’s primary focus is to penetrate any and all attacking armor type units (only) may advance
the defense and gain territory instead of killing the units into the defender’s hex, but this counts as the first hex of
being attacked. the advance listed on the BAT. Mark the defender’s hex
with a Blitzkrieg counter.
10.91 The BAT is used in lieu of the CRT at the attack-
ing player’s option provided that the requirements of rule 10.96 After attacking units are placed in a hex with a
10.93 are satisfied. The attacker must select the Table to Blitzkrieg marker, they may continue to advance subject
20 be used before rolling the attack. An attack at 10-1 odds to the following rules:
 a) Non-armor type units may not advance farther 11.0 Air Ground Support
than the defender’s hex.
German Bomber Russian Bomber
b) Armor units may advance as many hexes as called
for on the BAT in any direction or combination of di
rections, together or separately. Note that if the con
ditions of Rule 10.82 are not satisfied, one hex of the
advance is taken to occupy the defender’s hex.
Front Back Front Back

c) Advancing armor units may ignore the ZOC of non-

armor type units, but must stop if they enter the ZOC Air support in Russia Besieged is represented by nine
of an armor type unit. If the defender’s hex is in the German Stuka counters and six Russian Shturmovik
ZOC of an enemy armor type unit, no further advance counters with their associated airbase counters. The pri-
is possible. mary function of the Stuka and Shturmovik Ground Sup-
port Air groups (hereafter referred to as “Air” units) is to
d) Advancing units must stop in forest, swamp, or provide air support for ground attacks. This is known as
mountain hexes, and may not cross the Kerch straits. a ground support mission.

e) A unit may not gain more hexes to advance than Note: The terms “air support”, “ground support”, “bomb-
its second impulse movement allowance for the cur er”, and Stuka / Shturmovik are used interchangeably for
rent weather, including occupying the defender’s Air units. The terms “airfield”, “airbase”, and “base” are
hex. For example, a unit that may only move 2 hexes also used interchangeably.
in the second impulse would only gain 2 hexes should
a 3 hexes gain result be rolled on the BAT. 11.1 Airbases
10.97 A combat result that does not satisfy the condi- German Airbase Russian Airbase
tions of Rule 10.82 is resolved as follows:

• apply the step losses to the enemy units

• retreat any surviving enemy units the number of

Front Back Front Back
hexes called for by the results of the BAT die roll,
guided by the Retreat rules (See rule 10.7).
11.11 To fly a ground support mission, an Air unit must
• advancing attacking units must count the vacated be stacked with its corresponding airbase. Note that the
hex as the first hex of the advance called for by the airbases and Air units are color coded in addition to hav-
BAT result ing the same number.

11.12 Airbases must be located in controlled cities.

Example: The Axis makes a 6:1 attack on a 4-step stack of
Russian units in a clear weather turn in 1941. He chooses 11.13 A major city can hold up to 4 air units and 4 air bas-
to use the Blitzkrieg Attack Table to conduct the attack. es. A minor city can hold up to 2 air units and 2 air bases.
The attacker rolls a modified 7. The result is D3-Adv2.
The defender loses 3 steps and the surviving unit is re- 11.14 An Airbase can move to (Stage) to another con-
treated 2 hexes by the attacker. The attacker chooses to trolled city during its Movement Phase. Simply pick up the
advance the armor units that participated in the attack 1 airbase counter and its air unit and place them in another
hex into the vacated hex. He then moves his armor type friendly city that is within 18 hexes and was controlled at
units 1 more hex and can advance no farther. the start of the impulse (Exception: See rule 11.15). The
Air unit stacked with the airbase stages with the airbase
Had the attacker rolled a 10 and received a DE-Adv3 re- to the new city and is placed under the airbase coun-
sult, all enemy units in the hex would have been elimi- ter to denote that it cannot fly a ground support mission
nated. The attacker would advance into the hex at no this impulse. Flip the airbase counter over to its “Staged”
advance hex cost and then could voluntarily advance his side. Airbases may stage once each impulse. Airbases
armor type units 3 hexes as called for by the BAT result. can not stage if their air unit flies a ground support mis-
Any Axis Minor armor type units during Clear or Light sion that impulse.
Mud would only be able to advance 2 hexes from a BAT
attack because their 2nd impulse movement is 2. 11.15 During Clear and Light Mud impulses in 1941, the 21
 Axis player may stage airfields to any city currently con- In the May to December chart, the Lt Mud / Clear column
trolled by the Axis player. works the same way as the January to April chart (see
below).
Note: Axis Engineers and ground crews displayed great
energy in quickly making captured airfields operational 11.32 The January to April chart works in a similar way.
during the summer and fall of 1941. The second column is used to determine the maximum
number of Air units that can fly a ground support mission
11.16 All Air units must immediately stage 9 hexes if an in the second impulse, and for the entire turn. The first
enemy combat unit (including stage 2 partisans) enters column represents the maximum number of Air that may
their hex. If unable to stage to a friendly airbase within 9 fly a ground support mission in the first impulse.
hexes because none exist or they would be over-stacked,
remove the units. They are held off of the map for one full Example #1: September/October 1941 turn:
friendly player turn. They arrive as reinforcements on the
following game turn. • A CLEAR - MUD combination results in 9 Stukas
available for the entire turn. All 9 may fly in the first
Example: The Axis eliminate a Shturmovik during their impulse. If 8 Stukas were used in the first impulse,
July/August 1944 turn. The Shturmovik unit returns at only 1 would be available in the second. If 6 Stukas
the start of the Russian September/October turn. The flew ground support missions in the first impulse,
Russians eliminate a Stuka during their March/April 1942 only 2 Stukas would be able to fly in the second im
turn. The Stuka unit returns at the start of the Axis July/ pulse as MUD is rated for 2 Stukas. The other Stuka
August turn. not flown in the first impulse cannot fly a ground sup
port mission for the remainder of the turn.
Note: Stage 1 Partisan units do not affect airbases. Air-
bases may even stage to a city hex occupied by a Stage Example #2: November/December 1941 turn:
1 Partisan.
• A Lt Mud - Mud combination results in 5 Stukas
11.2 Air Eligibility available for the entire turn. All 5 may fly in the first
impulse. You can save 2 Stukas for the second im
An Air unit is eligible to fly a ground support mission if pulse. However, even if you don’t use any Stukas in
ALL of the following requirements are satisfied: the first impulse, you can still only fly 2 in the second
impulse.
1) It has not already flown a ground support mission
this Turn. Note: Air units are flipped to their not available Example #3: March/April 1942 turn:
(N/A) side when returning from a ground support mission.
• A MUD - Lt MUD combination results in 3 Stukas
2) It is stacked with its airbase counter and the airbase available for the turn, determined by the better
has not staged this Impulse. weather second impulse. Assume only 1 Stuka flies
in the first impulse. If the 1 Stuka flies in the first im
3) The weather is Clear, Lt Mud, or Mud. pulse, a total of 2 Stukas could fly in the second im
pulse.
11.3 Air Availability
• A SNOW - MUD turn would yield a total of 2 Stukas
The number of Air units that can fly ground support mis- available in the second impulse only. SNOW would
sions during each Impulse of a Turn is dependent on the prevent any Stuka from flying in the first impulse.
Nationality, Year and Month, and the Weather. These lim-
its are specified on the Bomber Availability Chart. Note 11.4 Allocating Air Missions
that there is a separate column for each combination of
weather that is possible that turn. Air units may be allocated to support AVs during the
Movement Phase and at any time, up to the moment of
11.31 In the May to December chart, the first column rep- combat, during the Combat Resolution Phase to support
resents the maximum number of Air units that may fly a attacks.
ground support mission in the first impulse, and for the 11.41 Air units may fly up to 9 hexes to the hex being at-
entire turn. The second column represents the maximum tacked and then back to their airbase.
number of Air units that may fly a ground support mission
in the second impulse. 11.42 Air units may only be allocated to hexes being at-
tacked by friendly ground units. Air units cannot attack by
22 Exception: Lt Mud / Clear. See Bomber Availability Chart. themselves. If an attack is being made against more than
one hex, the Air unit must be able to reach all defending kas (1, 2) in Konigsberg, 4 Stukas (3, 4, 5, 6) in Warsaw,
unit’s hexes of the combat to which it is allocated. two Stukas (7, 8) in Kracow, and 1 Stuka (9) in Bucharest.
All airbases are with their corresponding Stukas.
11.5 Air Combat Effects
1. Stuka 1 and its airbase stage to Helsinki. Stuka 1 can-
11.51 Each air unit increases the combat odds by one.
not fly a mission during the first Impulse since its airbase
11.52 A maximum of 4 air units may support a single at- has staged.
tack dependent on weather (See rule 10.4).
2. The German player can fly ground support missions
11.53 The number of air units supporting an attack can- with all 9 Stukas this turn but only 5 on the second Im-
not exceed the number of attacking ground combat units. pulse. Therefore, the German player plans to fly 5 Stukas
during the first Impulse and save 4 Stukas to support
Examples: A 3-1 attack plus two Stukas is resolved on second Impulse attacks.
the 5-1 column. A 6-1 attack plus three Stukas is 9-1 and
is resolved on the 7-1 column. A 6-1 attack plus four Stu- 3. The German player flies Stukas 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 to sup-
kas is 10-1 and is an AV. A 1-6 attack plus one Stuka is port first Impulse ground attacks. Stukas 2 and 3 sup-
resolved on the 1-5 column. A 4-1 attack plus one Shtur-
port one attack, Stukas 4, 7, and 9 support three other
movik is resolved on the 5-1 column.
attacks.
11.6 Landing Air Missions
4. During the second impulse, Stukas 2 and 3 with their
Air units are landed immediately after their combat is re- Airbases stage to Brest, which was captured by the Ger-
solved. Upon landing, they are flipped to their used (N/A) man player during the first impulse. Stuka 7 with its Air-
side. base stages to Bucharest. Stuka 1 flies a ground support
mission from its new airbase location in Helsinki. Stukas
11.61 After completing their mission, air units land at 5, 6, and 8 also fly ground support missions.
their airbase.
12.0 Artillery
11.7 Air and Automatic Victory
Air units may support AV attacks. Example: A 10 - 1 AV Artillery Units
could be obtained with a 8-1 attack plus two Stukas.

11.71 The Air units land as soon as the AV attack is re-

solved.

11.72 From July to December 1943, a Shturmovik is one

of the possible requirements in order for the Russian
player to conduct an AV attack (See rule 9.31 b.).
Artillery units represent a high concentration of artillery
11.8 Terrain and Enemy Units Groups (ARKO) in a specific area capable of bringing a
large amount of firepower to a specific target.
Terrain does not affect staging or flying ground support
missions. Air units and airbases may fly over water as if a 12.01 Artillery type units are treated as infantry for move-
hex grid was superimposed on the map. For example, it ment and ZOC purposes.
is two air hexes from Tallinn to Helsinki.

11.81 Enemy units and their ZOCs do not affect air unit 12.02 One Artillery unit per hex may stack for free. Each
movement nor airbase staging (Exception: See rule additional Artillery unit in the same hex stacks like a
11.16). corps sized unit.

11.9 Readying Airgroups 12.03 Artillery units, alone in a hex, attack and defend
and function like any other combat unit.
At the beginning of the Weather determination phase of
the game turn, both players will flip their Airbases so that
they are not marked staged. Air units are flipped to their 12.04 An Artillery unit has its combat factor shown in
available sides. brackets to indicate that it shifts the attack one odds ratio
upwards every time it is used in an attack in conjunction
Examples of using Airbases and Air Units: with other units, in addition to adding its combat factor.
When attacking by themselves, they do not receive this
It is the May / June 1941 turn. The Germans start 2 Stu- odds shift benefit. 23
 12.05 Artillery units may be used in conjunction with air 13.22 A rail hex usable for the part 2 supply path is
units as long as other combat units are used in the at- termed a “supply source”.
tack.
13.23 The part 1 supply path is limited to 6 hexes if the
12.06 From July to December 1943, an artillery unit is impulse weather is Mud. The part 1 supply path is limited
one of the possible requirements in order for the Russian to 4 hexes if the impulse weather is snow. Exception: See
player to conduct an AV attack (See rule 9.31 b.). rule 13.64.
12.07 Artillery units do not impart an odds ratio shift on
defense nor do they negate the attacking artillery shift. 13.24 If hex 0111 is the unlimited supply source, the part
1 supply path is limited to 6 hexes, 4 hexes if the impulse
13.0 Supply weather is snow.

Generic Out of Supply Counters

13.3 Unlimited Supply Sources

13.31 Rail hexes on the West edge are unlimited supply

sources for all Axis units.

13.32 Rail hexes on the East edge are unlimited supply

sources for Russian units.
Denotes the number of turns a unit is out of
General Supply 13.33 Hexes 0120 and 0111 are unlimited supply sources
13.1 General Supply for Finnish and German units only.

13.11 There are two kinds of supply: General Supply and 13.34 Finnish, Hungarian, and Rumanian units may use
Combat Supply. A unit can be in General Supply only, their capital cities (Helsinki, Budapest, and Bucharest re-
Combat Supply only, both, or neither. General and Com- spectively) as unlimited supply sources.
bat supply are completely independent.
13.4 Limited Supply Sources: Major Cities
13.12 Units not in General Supply operate normally ex-
cept those units which have an Out of Supply (OOS) Friendly Major Cities unable to trace a supply line by rail
marker on them which are individually halved (rounded to a friendly board edge may be used as a limited supply
up) when attacking and they lose their ZOC. Opposing source by friendly units who also can not trace a supply
units can move adjacent to units which are marked OOS line but are within range of the city.
and do not have to attack them.
13.41 A Major City may provide limited General Supply
13.13 A unit not in General Supply at the end of its via a non-rail supply path to two army sized units or three
player’s turn is removed from the board and placed in corps sized units. In addition, a WEC, a Dictator, one HQ,
the Replacement Pool (Exceptions: Partisans (See rule one artillery, one Russian paratrooper, the SS Polizei, and
16.0), units that invaded that turn (See rule 8.51), 1st the Volkssturm unit may be supplied. All units in excess
Guard Cavalry (See rule 13.61), and paratroopers that of the above limits are eliminated at the end of the own-
airdropped that turn (See rule 15.06). ing player’s second impulse. The owning player chooses
which units to eliminate.
13.2 General Supply Path
13.42 Units drawing General Supply from a Major City
General Supply is obtained by tracing a path to an unlim-
can hold out for one turn. Certain Russian Major Cities
ited supply source or a limited supply source. A General
enable Russian Units (only) to hold out for more than one
Supply path consists of two parts:
turn:
Leningrad, Baku and Sevastopol: 4 turns
1) A path of 8 or fewer hexes to a friendly-controlled
Moscow and Stalingrad: 2 turns
rail hex and
This is denoted as follows.
2) A path of unlimited length along a continuous
controlled rail line to the unlimited supply source. • Units drawing General Supply from a major city are
marked with an OOS-1 counter at the end of their
13.21 Part 2 of the supply path is not necessary if the 8 second impulse.
hex path leads directly to the unlimited or limited supply
24 source. • If the unit has an OOS-1 counter already and is not
 a Russian unit drawing supply from Baku, Leningrad, through an enemy ZOC unless the hex is occupied by a
Moscow, Sevastopol, or Stalingrad, it surrenders and friendly Infantry (not Artillery, Russian Paratrooper, or 2nd
may never re-enter the game. Units drawing supply Stage Partisans), Cavalry, Armor, Mechanized, Mountain,
from the above cities have the OOS-1 counter flipped or Shock Army unit.
to its OOS-2 side.
13.52 A supply path may not cross a black coastline (Ex-
• If the unit has an OOS-2 counter already and is not ceptions: Leningrad Ice Road (see rules 6.3 and 13.62),
a Russian unit drawing supply from Baku, Leningrad, Straits of Kerch (see rule 6.2), and the part of a rail supply
or Sevastopol, the unit surrenders and may never path from hex 3624 to hex 3523.
re-enter the game. Units drawing supply from the
above listed cities have the OOS-2 counter replaced 13.6 Special Supply Cases
with an OOS-3 counter.
13.61 The Russian Guards 1st Cavalry Army has special
• If the unit has an OOS-3 counter already, it is flipped supply abilities. It can operate behind enemy lines with-
to its OOS-4 side. out tracing supply for 3 complete game turns before it
is eliminated. Mark the counter with a numbered Out of
• If the unit has an OOS-4 counter already, the unit Supply counter (1, 2 or 3) at the end of every Russian
surrenders and may never re-enter the game. turn it cannot trace supply. It is surrendered at the end of
the 4th consecutive Russian turn if it is out of supply and
13.43 If a unit with an OOS counter is able to trace Gen-
permanently removed from play.
eral Supply to an unlimited supply source at the end of its
second impulse, the unit survives and the OOS counter
13.62 The Leningrad Ice Road is a limited supply line to
is removed.
an isolated Leningrad during any weather. Mark Lenin-
grad with an OOS-1 counter, which does not increase
Example: It is the end of the German July/August 1941
while the Ice Road remains open. If the Axis cut the Ice
turn. The Russian player has two armies in Minsk and two
Road by occupying hex 0812 and the Russians recapture
armies adjacent to Minsk, surrounded by German units.
this hex while Leningrad is at a higher than OOS-1 level,
During the Russian player turn, the surrounded units fail
to open a supply line out of the pocket. At the end of the lower the Leningrad OOS to Level 1 at the end of the
Russian July/August 1941 turn, remove two armies from Russian player’s turn.
the pocket and place them in the Replacement Pool.
Then place an OOS-1 counter on the remaining 2 units. 13.63 Partisans are always in supply.

At the end of the September/October turn, if the Russian 13.64 Units in Sevastopol are in supply during snow im-
units are still surrounded, they surrender and are perma- pulses if they can trace a supply path of 5 hexes across
nently removed from the board. the Kerch straits to Novorossiysk, and then along the rail
to the east edge. The supply status of units outside of
13.44 If a major city is unable to trace General Supply to Sevastopol that are tracing limitedsupply to Sevastopol
an unlimited supply source, reinforcement units entering is determined as per rule 13.4.
the board from the Order of Battle (OB) card or replace-
ments entering the board from the Replacement Pool 13.65 Hex 0107 is a limited supply source like Moscow
may not be placed there. The Russian player may howev- (2 turns) for the Russian player provided that Archangel
er, rebuild reduced strength units depleted in battle that can trace a supply path by rail to the east edge and it has
remain in the city with a WEC unit by using replacement never fallen to the Axis.
points.
13.7 Combat Supply
13.45 A player cannot eliminate an OOS unit at the end
of the turn if it can trace a limited supply line to a OOS All units are in Combat Supply during non-snow impuls-
Major city. Only units in excess of the supply capability of es.
a Major city can be eliminated.
13.71 Finnish, SS, Luftwaffe ground units, Axis Mountain
Note: This rule is to prevent players from eliminating units units, and Russian units are always in combat supply.
to prevent them possibly surrendering later if they are not
able to get back into regular supply. 13.72 During snow impulses of the first two winters,
other Axis units are out of Combat Supply unless near a
13.5 Supply Path Restrictions friendly-controlled major or minor city as follows:

13.51 No part of a supply path can be traced into or • During the snow impulses of the first winter, Axis 25
 units in Russia are in combat supply only if they are specified in Rule 13.4, is due to the port of Krasnovodsk
in a city or adjacent to a friendly-controlled city. The on the east side of the Caspian Sea.
First Winter is from November 1941 through March
1942. 13.83 Tbilisi may also function as a limited supply source
for Russian units in the same manner as Leningrad or
• During snow impulses of the second winter, Axis Sevastopol, provided that a rail path, free of Axis ZOCs,
units in Russia are in combat supply if they are in can be traced from Tbilisi to Tabriz. Otherwise, Tbilisi
a city, adjacent to a friendly-controlled city, or two functions as a limited supply source like other Major Cit-
hexes from a friendly-controlled city and the interven ies (See rule 13.41).
ing hex is occupied by a friendly unit (See rule 13.51)
or not in an enemy ZOC. The Second Winter is from 14.0 Dictators and Field Marshals
November 1942 through March 1943.
Dictator Counters Back Back
13.73 Axis units not in combat supply have their combat
factors halved (rounding up), for both attack and defense.
The combat factor of each unit is determined individually
(i.e. a 2.5 rounding to a 3). Normal terrain effects are ap-
plied after this rounded reduction.

13.74 During the Axis snow impulses of the first winter, 14.1 Dictators
Axis units that are in combat supply suffer a -1 combat
DRM on their attacks. The Hitler and Stalin pieces represent the respective Dic-
tators themselves, their governments and the military
Note: In an attack where the some of the Axis units in- organizations of their respective countries. The combat
volved are out of combat supply and some are in combat values printed on a Dictator’s counter can only be used
supply, the units out of combat supply are halved and the for defense, never in an attack.
-1 DRM applies to the combat. The Axis player does not
receive a -1 DRM if all of the attacking units that are in 14.11 Dictator counters have two sides: The higher com-
combat supply are the type units specified in Rule 13.71. bat factor applies when the Dictator is in his capital (Ber-
lin or Moscow). The lower combat factor applies when
13.75 The combat supply condition is determined at the the Dictator is elsewhere. Flip each counter to its appro-
moment of combat, and therefore can change during an priate side for its current location.
impulse due to results of earlier attacks.
14.12 The Hitler and Stalin pieces are not considered
13.8 Caucasus Mountain Region Supply HQ’s as per Optional rule A1.0.

Russian units south of the Terek River, from hex 3922 14.13 These two counters may use rail movement for
through to hex 4811, remain in general and combat sup- free, or sea movement from a port (either impulse), but
ply in the following manner: cannot move otherwise. Stalin may never move out of
Russia.
• using the standard supply rules as described in rule
13.0, or 14.14 These full strength units can absorb two step loss-
es if in their capital; one step otherwise. If reduced by
• tracing an 8 hex supply line to a rail line leading to combat, they cannot be rebuilt to full strength.
the major city of Baku in hex 5710.
14.15 Loss of a Dictator
13.81 Baku can be used as a base of general supply for
an unlimited number of Russian units provided Astrakhan A Dictator counter cannot retreat and is eliminated if left
(hex 4509) can trace a general supply path by rail only, to alone in a hex when friendly forces retreat or are elimi-
the east edge of the board. nated by combat.
a) Loss of a Dictator can cause the end of the game. See
13.82 If Astrakhan cannot trace a general supply path by Rule 27.0 Victory Conditions.
Rail, Baku may function as a limited supply source for
Russian units in the same manner as Leningrad or Sev- b) Loss of a Dictator, when not ending the game, has
astopol. Plus Baku can serve as a Limited Supply Source serious consequences. The following effects are imple-
for an additional 2 Armies, 1 Corps, and 1 WEC. Note: mented during the next impulse (only) taken by the player
26 This additional limited supply capability, beyond the units losing the Dictator:
 i) At the start of the movement phase, all friendly units ure of a general. They represent the more skilled Gener-
adjacent to enemy units must retreat one hex follow- als of both sides.
ing normal retreat rules.
14.21 Field Marshal counters may be used ONCE per
ii) Friendly units may not use ground movement to YEAR. Used Field Marshals are placed in the Spent side
end their move farther from their board edge nor far- of their respective Leader Boxes.
ther from a friendly supply source than where they 14.22 They may be placed on any attack and impart a +1
began their move. They may not move adjacent to an or -1 on the combat die roll.
enemy unit.
14.23 A Field Marshal may be placed in either impulse,
iii) Rail movement may be conducted normally ex- in either player’s turn, for attack or defense at the owning
cept that a unit cannot be railed adjacent to an enemy player’s discretion.
unit. Sea movement may be conducted normally ex-
cept invasions may not be conducted and units can 14.24 The attacking player must declare use of his Field
not be Sea Transported adjacent to an enemy unit. Marshal first and each player may only use one Field
Marshal per attack.
iv) They cannot attack.
14.25 The Zhukov unit is a Russian reinforcement in the
Exception: If the Dictator is lost during the 2nd impulse July/August 1941 turn. It may only be used defensively
of his turn, the following two effects are implemented in- until the start of the Russian November/December 1941
stead of the above four effects. turn, when it can be used as any other Field Marshal.
• At the conclusion of the combat phase of that im-
14.26 Aside from rule 14.25, a Field Marshal is available
pulse, all friendly units adjacent to enemy units must
for use immediately on the impulse he enters.
retreat one hex following normal retreat rules.
14.27 Field Marshals which are required to withdraw (per
• The enemy player increases all of his attack odds by German OB card), are removed at the beginning of the
one during the 1st impulse of his next turn. turn and may not be used that turn.
c) If the Dictator is lost while inside his capital city, there 14.28 Marshal Mannerheim can only be used in a combat
are no additional effects (except for the Victory Condi- which involves at least one Finnish unit.
tions check, if triggered).
15.0 Russian Air Drops
14.16 Dictator Evacuation
The Russians have three paratrooper units that may be
air dropped during the game.
A player may attempt to evacuate his Dictator during his
movement phase if he is unable to rail the Dictator from Russian Air Drop Counters
his current location to a friendly major city. In addition,
Hitler may be evacuated if he is outside of Germany and
is unable to trace a General Supply path to the west edge.

To conduct the evacuation, roll one die. On a ‘1’ roll, the

Dictator is eliminated and Rule 14.15 applies. On a roll
of ‘2’ through ‘10’, Hitler flies to any city in Germany or
Stalin flies to any city in Russia. An evacuated Dictator 15.01 Unless stated otherwise in the rules, paratroopers
counter can never be on its stronger side for the rest of move and function as infantry.
the game, and Hitler may no longer leave Germany.
15.02 A Paratroop unit may be air dropped if all of the
following criteria are satisfied:
14.2 Field Marshals
a) The Paratroop unit begins the impulse in a Russia
Field Marshals CountersBack Back controlled city that can trace a rail supply path to the
east edge.
b) Between November 1941 and March 1943 inclusive,
if the weather is Snow; or, on any impulse beginning
September 1943.

15.03 The paratroop unit may be dropped within eight

Field Marshal counters are denoted by the standing fig- hexes of its city. 27
 15.04 Paratroop units cannot be dropped into hexes in er’s discretion. All partisans previously removed from the
an enemy ZOC, major cities, forest hexes, mountain hex- map may be placed back on the map.
es, or swamp hexes north of hex row 17XX (see rule 6.4).
They may be dropped into swamp hexes south of hex 16.15 Partisans may no longer be placed on the map
row 16XX. or built to 2nd stage Partisans when there are no Axis
15.05 They cannot move on the impulse they are dropped. units left in Russia. When this situation exists and second
stage partisans remain on the board, they are removed
15.06 Paratrooper units do not need to trace general sup- and 1 infantry replacement point is added to the Russian
ply the turn they are dropped. If at the end of the follow- Replacement Pool for each 2“ Stage Partisan removed
ing turn, the paratrooper units are unable to trace a Gen- for that turn only.
eral Supply line to their friendly board edge, they must be
eliminated. This elimination applies even if it is located in
16.2 Partisans Effects
or can trace to a “Limited” supply source Major city. You
may mark OOS paratroopers with OOS counters as you
16.21 A 1st Stage Partisan’s ZOC functions as a normal
would units drawing limited supply from a major city to
keep track. ZOC in all respects except as noted below:

15.07 Each Paratroop unit may only be air dropped one • A 1st Stage Partisan cannot control a city or rail
time. junction.

16.0 Partisans • An Axis ground combat unit may move through

The Russian player has 4 partisan counters that are used (but not rail through) a hex containing a 1st Stage
to cut railroads and to inhibit Axis movement and supply. partisan at a cost of one additional MP.
They never need to trace supply.
• A 1st Stage Partisan does not block airbases from
Russian Partisans Counters staging nor Air units from taking off or landing in a
Front (Stage 1) Back (Stage 2)
city occupied by an Axis airbase. These units may
co-exist in the hex. A partisan still blocks rail move
ment and supply if in a city hex with a German air
base.

• A 1st Stage Partisan does not block Axis retreats.

16.01 Partisan counters are two stage counters. The first
stage has no combat factor and costs nothing to deploy 16.22 A city with a 1st Stage Partisan unit occupying it
onto the map (See rules 16.4 and 16.5 for the second cannot act as a supply source until the partisan counter is
stage effects). removed, whereby supply is immediately re-established.

16.1 Placing Partisans Units

16.3 Eliminating Partisans
16.11 Partisan counters must be placed and remain in
16.31 A 1st Stage Partisan is removed from the board if
Russia, either in an Axis-controlled city or on an Axis-
an Axis unit’s ZOC influences the hex a Partisan occu-
controlled rail hex. This rail/city hex must be a hex that
pies at the end of a German movement phase or at the
the Axis player could legally rail move a unit to, if not for
end of either player’s combat phase. A 1st Stage Partisan
partisan(s).
is also removed if the German SS Polizei unit is within 5
hexes of the Partisan at the end of a German movement
16.12 To put a 1st Stage Partisan unit in play, the Russian
phase or at the end of either player’s combat phase.
player picks a rail hex or city eligible to receive the par-
tisan and simply places it on the board at the end of the
Russian turn when all movement and combat are over. 16.32 Partisans cannot be permanently eliminated. They
return to the Russian Player’s force pool for immediate
16.13 Partisan units may not be placed in an Axis ZOC use in the Russian player’s next turn.
except if being placed into a city only occupied by Ger-
man Airbases/Air units and not in another Axis unit’s 16.4 2nd Stage Partisans Units
ZOC. A Partisan may never be placed within 5 hexes of
the German SS Polizei unit. Beginning in January 1943, 1st Stage Partisan units that
were not removed from the board during the German
16.14 At the end of the Russian player’s turn all 1st Stage player turn, may be converted to 2nd Stage Partisan
28 Partisan units may be re-positioned at the Russian play- units.
16.41 During the Russian’s first movement impulse, he general supply path, the Russian player may move one of
can flip each 1st Stage Partisan to its 2nd Stage 1-2 side his 4 Partisan units at its 2nd Stage level to a hex within
at a cost of one infantry replacement point per unit. 5 hexes of the 1st Guards cavalry unit. The 1st Guards
cavalry is considered to be in General Supply if it can
16.42 A 2nd Stage Partisan counter acts as a one step trace a path up to 5 hexes to the 2nd Stage Partisan unit
non-Guards infantry combat unit except it cannot stack that does not go through a hex containing an Axis ground
with any other unit and it only has a ZOC in its own hex. unit or Axis ZOC. To enable this benefit, the 2nd Stage
Partisan unit must be able to trace a general supply path
16.43 2nd Stage Partisans may only attack units in Rus- itself.
sia.
17.0 Reinforcements
16.44 The Russian player does not have to create a 2nd
Stage Partisan. The Russian player may chose to rede-
At the beginning of their turn, players check the Turn Re-
ploy these 1st Stage Partisans to another hex.
cord Chart (TRC) on the Turn Track map to determine
whether reinforcements or special instructions are re-
16.45 2nd Stage Partisans can not control a hex or city.
ceived this turn. If their TRC box for that turn contains
16.46 A 2nd Stage Partisan unit may only be removed a reference number, they check their OB Card at the ap-
from the board if eliminated by combat, if it is stacked propriate referenced number to see what reinforcements
with another Russian unit, or as per rule 16.15. It may not are available to arrive.
be lifted off the board like a 1st Stage Partisan (Excep-
tion: See rule 16.15). 17.01 The two months of a turn equate basically to the
first and second impulses of a turn and, therefore, units
16.47 2nd Stage Partisan units can move 2 hexes of shown as arriving during the second month may not be
ground movement, regardless of weather and terrain, used until the second impulse.
observing all enemy ZOC, during the Information Marker
Adjustment phase of the Russian player’s turn. They can- Example: July/August 1941 the German player receives
not use rail or sea movement. 7 units in the first impulse (July). He must wait until the
second impulse (August) to receive the Rumanian 5th in-
fantry, 3rd Italian Infantry and 27th German Infantry.
16.5 2nd Stage Partisans Benefits
17.02 Reinforcements may be placed on the board any
There are three special benefits for the Russian player time during the movement phase of their impulse (month)
that are enabled by a 2nd Stage Partisan unit. of arrival.
16.51 Once per Impulse, the Russian player may modify 17.03 Arriving units are placed on the specified hex or
ONE combat in Russia by a +1 or -1 DRM if a 2nd Stage map edge as listed on the OB Card. See the explanation
Partisan is three or fewer hexes from all the defending of the OB card on page 43.
units in the combat and is unable to trace a general sup-
ply path. This DRM may be applied to ONE combat only 17.04 Units arriving during either impulse may use nor-
per impulse in total, regardless of how many 2nd Stage mal movement (See rule 6.0), rail movement (See rule
Partisans meet this condition. 7.0), or Sea Movement (See rule 8.0).

Example: All four 2nd Stage Partisan units are on the 17.05 The initial placement hex does not count against
board. During the German’s turn, ONE of the 4 partisans the movement allowance of the entering unit.
uses its -1 DRM to influence a German attack because
it is within 3 hexes of all of the Russian defenders. Then 17.06 Reinforcements may be voluntarily delayed (or for-
during the Russian player’s turn, friendly forces attack a gotten), in which case they may show up the next impulse
German unit that is within 3 hexes of a 2nd Stage Parti- on their friendly board edge. Exception: See Rule 20.11.
san and the Russian Player takes advantage of a +1 DRM
to the combat. 17.07 Units that are delayed arriving, may be brought on
by rail movement in the next impulse. If done so, they
16.52 If 2nd Stage Partisans occupy two or more Axis- count against the player’s rail capacity limits for that turn
controlled rail hexes at the end of the Axis player’s turn, (See rules 7.01 and 7.02).
then the number of Axis units that may move by rail within
Russia is reduced by one on the next German player turn. 17.1 Russian Reinforcements

16.53 If the 1st Guards cavalry unit is unable to trace a 17.11 If the Russian unit’s listed entry city is Axis-con- 29
 trolled or unable to trace a supply line to an unlimited anywhere between hexes 0107 and 0111 inclusive the
supply source, the unit must enter from the east board turn after Archangel is captured (See German OB Card).
edge instead. The unit must also enter from the east
board edge if placement in its listed city would cause it 17.32 Rumania Surrender
to have no possible move where it could satisfy stacking
limits. In this case, enter as many units as may legally Beginning January 1944, the Axis player receives the 22nd
be placed, and any extras (Russian player’s choice) enter Mountain Corps as a reinforcement the turn after Ruma-
from the east edge. nia surrenders.
17.12 All arriving 1st impulse reinforcements, regardless
of whether they arrive in cities or on the east edge get 17.4 German PanzerGrenadier Upgrade
free rail. Only reinforcements on the 2nd Impulse, which
enter normally from the “East”, may use free rail. During The German OB Card indicates that certain German in-
the 2nd impulse, units scheduled to arrive in cities (even fantry units can be upgraded into Panzergrenadier units
if they come on the east edge due to 17.11) do not get in July and November 1943.
free rail. Normal rail movement rules (rule 7.0) apply. Rus-
sian Air units are placed in any Russian controlled city in 17.41 An on board infantry unit is exchanged, in place,
General Supply in Russia at the start of the impulse. for the indicated available Panzergrenadier unit from the
OB Card.
17.13 Release of the Trans-Caucasus Garrison
Units 17.42 If possible, the infantry unit removed must have the
same unit designation as the Panzergrenadier unit.
1) The 44th and 47th Infantry armies are released if the
German player attacks either Rostov or Sevastopol. 17.43 If the Infantry unit is reduced, it must be built up
to full strength with infantry RPs before it is upgraded to
2) The 44th, 45th, 46th, and 47th Infantry armies are re- Panzergrenadier.
leased if the German player does any of the following.
17.44 If the designated units cannot be built up to full
• Enters hex row 38xx between 3801 and 3818 strength or have been eliminated, the German player may
• Crosses the Kerch straits to hex 3922 choose any other on-map German infantry unit of equal
• Invades any coastal hex between Rostov and Batumi, combat value for the exchange.
inclusive
17.45 This exchange cannot be performed with a unit in
3) All units not already released are free to move on the an enemy ZOC nor with a unit that cannot trace a general
Russian June 1942 Impulse. supply path.

17.14 Northern Finland 17.5 LUFTWAFFE GROUND UNITS

If the Russians capture Helsinki, the Russian 14th Army Luftwaffe Ground Unit Counters
arrives as a reinforcement in hex 0107 the turn after Fin-
land surrenders (See Russian OB Card).

17.2 Axis Reinforcements

17.21 Rumanian reinforcements start at Bucharest.

The German 3rd Paratroop Corps arriving in May 1942
17.22 Hungarian reinforcements start at Budapest.
and the Goring Panzer Corps arriving in July 1944 are
17.23 Finnish reinforcements start at Helsinki. Luftwaffe ground units. They cannot airdrop. The 3rd
Paratroop Corps is rebuilt or replaced as a regular Infan-
17.24 German and Italian reinforcements enter anywhere try unit; the Goring Panzer Corps is rebuilt or replaced as
along the west edge. a regular armor unit.

17.3 Special Axis Reinforcements 17.6 BERLIN GARRISON

17.31 Northern Finland 17.61 Beginning with the January 1943 impulse, Berlin
If the Axis capture Archangel, the 19 Mountain, 36th
th has an intrinsic garrison that is placed on the board the
30 Mountain, and Finnish 3rd Infantry Corps enter the game instant a Soviet ground unit moves or advances to within
 Berlin Garrison and Volkssturm Unit Counters 18.2 Ground Units Withdrawal

18.21 In January 1944 and March 1944, the Axis player

must withdraw a Panzer Corps from the game (See rule
18.3). In May 1944, the Axis player must withdraw two SS
Panzer Corps from play (See rule 18.4).

18.22 To withdraw the units, simply pick them up and re-

4 hexes of the city. The Axis player simply asks the So-
move them from the board placing them on the OB card.
viet player to pause his movement momentarily while he
places the Berlin Garrison unit in the city. 18.23 Units withdrawn must be at their highest possible
full strength level.
The Berlin Garrison counter stacks for free in Berlin. If
moved outside of Berlin, treat the unit as a Corps sized 18.24 Ground units must be in general supply to be with-
unit. If eliminated, it cannot be rebuilt. The Axis player may drawn.
at any time after May/June 1944 permanently remove the
Berlin Garrison unit from on the board and increase his 18.25 Units which cannot move due to enemy ZOCs can
German Infantry replacement points by 2 factors. not be withdrawn.

If the Berlin Garrison counter is still on the board at the 18.26 The withdrawal occurs at the very start of the in-
beginning of the September / October 1944 turn, it is re- dicated impulse and, therefore, the units cannot move or
moved from play. The Berlin Garrison counter is not avail- attack that impulse.
able to be brought on to the board after the July/August
1944 turn.
18.3 Panzer Corps Withdrawal
17.62 At the beginning of the Axis January 1945 impulse,
18.31 The two Panzer Corps withdrawn in January 1944
the Volkssturm unit is placed in Berlin. The Volkssturm
and March 1944 must be the 14th and the 47th Panzer
unit functions as an infantry unit. It stacks for free in Ber-
Corps, if they are in play.
lin. If moved outside of Berlin, treat the Volkssturm unit
as a Corps sized unit. If eliminated, it cannot be rebuilt.
18.32 If the specified Panzer Corps is not available to be
If the combat result calls for 2 or more step losses, the
withdrawn, then another Panzer Corps of at least equal
Volkssturm unit takes the 2nd step loss. It may be taken
combat factor must be withdrawn in its place.
as the step loss to negate a retreat.
18.33 The Axis player must spend accumulated Replace-
ment Points and/or reduce on board armor units the nec-
18.0 Withdrawing Units essary number of steps to rebuild the withdrawing unit
(or any other armor unit chosen) to its full strength.
Withdrawal of Axis units are mandated on the German
OB Card. The Axis Player will need to check his OB Card
18.4 SS Panzer Corps Withdrawal
for the these withdrawals.
18.41 The two Panzer Corps withdrawn in May 1944
18.1 Air Units Withdrawal must be the 1st SS Panzer Corps and the 2nd SS Panzer
Corps, if they are in play.
At the beginning of his January 1942 impulse, the Axis
player must withdraw 3 Air units and their Airbases per- 18.42 If one of these Corps is not available to be with-
manently from the game. At the beginning of his January drawn, then the 3rd SS Panzer Corps must be with-
1943 impulse, the Axis player must similarly withdraw 2 drawn. If SS Panzer Corps are not available, panzer units
Air units and their airbases. The Axis player must with- with the highest combat factors on the board must be
draw 1 air unit and its airbase at the beginning of the fol- withdrawn in their place.
lowing impulses: September 1943, January 1944, Sep-
tember 1944, and January 1945. The Air unit(s) that are 18.43 The Axis player must spend accumulated Replace-
withdrawn are the Axis player’s choice. ment Points and/or reduce on board armor units the
necessary number of steps to rebuild the withdrawing
Historical Note: German air departed the Eastern Front SS units (or any other armor units chosen) to their full
after Kursk for Italy, and then to the West after D-Day. strength.
Also, many Luftwaffe units went back to Germany to de-
fend against the Allied bombing campaigns. Example: If the 1st SS Panzer Corps has its 4-8 counter 31
 on the board due to losses and it could be the 12-9 coun- 19.1 Axis Replacements
ter on the board, the German must rebuild it to the 12-9
level, spending 8 armor replacement points, reducing The Axis receive their Replacement Points starting No-
other on-board Armor units by that amount to rebuild the vember 1941 as noted in the Replacement Points Sched-
8 points, or a combination of armor replacement points ules found on the Player Aid Cards.
and on-board unit reduction.
19.11 Accumulated replacement points are lost if their re-
18.5 Field Marshals Withdrawal spective capitals (Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Helsinki)
are occupied by the Russians.
The Axis player must withdraw two Field Marshals in
January 1942, January 1943, January 1944, and January 19.12 The Axis player keeps track of his accumulated
1945. infantry and armor replacement factors on the Accumu-
lated Replacement Point Track on the Turn Track.
19.0 Replacements
19.13 The only limit on the number of replacement points
During play, both sides receive replacement points at the that may be spent each turn is the total number of accu-
beginning of their First Impulse. These are “spent” during mulated points available.
the first friendly Movement impulse of the player’s turn to
rebuild units on the map and/or to recover units from the 19.14 On the January 1945 turn, all accumulated Axis
Replacement Pool. replacement points are lost and no further replacement
builds can occur.
19.01 Each replacement point equals one strength factor.
19.15 Units rebuilt from the Replacement Pool enter as
19.02 There are two types of replacement points: follows:

• Infantry: used to rebuild/replace Infantry, Cavalry, • German units in Berlin or the western map edge
Mountain, Paratrooper, and HQ units.
• Finns in Helsinki
• Armor: used to rebuild/replace Armor, Shock Army,
Mechanized, Panzergrenadier, and Artillery units. • Rumanians in Bucharest

19.03 To rebuild a unit from the Replacement Pool, a • Hungarians in Budapest

player expends a number of replacement points equal to
the unit’s full combat factor strength. • Italians on the western map edge

19.04 Units from the Replacement Pool may not be re- 19.16 At all times, if the Axis player decides to rebuild
built at reduced strength (Exceptions: Guards Armor units, SS units must be rebuilt to full strength first before
units per rule 19.31 and Russian Infantry units in 1941 any regular army units of the same type (infantry or ar-
per rule 19.32). mor) can be rebuilt. If SS unit losses are higher than avail-
able SS replacement points, the German player must
19.05 Reduced strength units which are on the map can spend non-SS replacement points to build SS units up
be rebuilt in place. They must be in General Supply and to full strength first before any other German units of the
not in an enemy ZOC (Exception: A reduced unit in a Ma- same type (armor or infantry) are rebuilt. The SS Polizei
jor city hex with a WEC). The player simply states he is unit does not require an Armor replacement point to be
rebuilding the designated unit by expending the number rebuilt, just an infantry point. On the November / Decem-
of replacement points equal to the difference in combat ber 1944 turn only, after all SS units are at full strength,
strength between the full and reduced strengths of the any remaining SS replacement points may be added to
unit. the regular army replacement points and spent freely to
rebuild / replace German units.
19.06 A reduced strength unit on the board, if being re-
built, must be rebuilt either before or after it moves (not 19.17 If the Axis player chooses, each turn in which he
in the middle of movement). Also, these units do not get has available replacement points, he may transfer up to
the free rail movement that units being replaced from the 1 German non-SS replacement point to an axis allied na-
Replacement Pool get. If a unit is going to take replace- tion. This increases that country’s replacements of that
ments in an impulse in which it conducts an invasion, it type by 1 point that turn. The restriction of rule 19.16
must take them before invading. must be observed first before this can be done.

19.07 Replacement points may be used on the turn of Note: This represents the transfer of “captured” and “ob-
32 their arrival, or saved for use later in the game. solete” equipment that the Germans gave to their allies.
19.18 If the Rumanian Mechanized corps has surren- WEC does not provide enough points by itself to pay for
dered, add the following replacements to the Rumanian the upgrade. Note: Each Russian OOS Major City with a
total. WEC is eligible to rebuild a unit in this manner.
a. Add 1 infantry replacement point each July turn
beginning in 1942. 19.28 The sum of all Russian War Economy Counters on
b. Add 1 infantry replacement point for every 3 already the game map, plus the URALS WEC, plus the evacuated
accumulated armor replacement points. factories that are generating replacement points again,
plus Lend Lease Aid equals the Russian Infantry Combat
Note: Since the Rumanians do not have any other units to Factor replacement capacity for that turn.
replace with armor RPs, the Rumanian armor RPs cease
when the Rumanian Mechanized unit is surrendered. 19.29 The sum of all Russian-controlled oil wells on the
map is the number of Russian armor replacement points
19.2 Russian Replacements available to rebuild Armor, Mechanized, Shock Army, and
Artillery units that turn.
Russian Replacement Points are received at the start of
each Russian player turn by three methods: War Econo- 19.30 There are no restrictions on the type or quantity
my Counters [WEC] (See rule 20.0), Lend Lease (See rule of units that can be built, provided enough Infantry and
20.5) and Oil Production (See rule 21.0) each of which Armor replacement points are available. Exception: See
has its own special rules. rule 19.33.

19.21 The Russian player keeps track of his accumulated 19.31 Guards Tank Armies enter the game in a reduced
infantry and armor replacement factors on the Russian status and may not be built to full strength until the Janu-
War Economy Track on the Turn Track. ary 1943 impulse. They may be built up to full strength
through the expenditure of Oil points.
19.22 The only limit on the number of replacement points
Note: Guard Tank Armies may be rebuilt at reduced
that may be spent each turn is the total number of accu-
strength from July / August 1942 through November /
mulated points available.
December 1942.
19.23 A Russian unit rebuilt from the Replacement Pool
19.32 The Russian player may rebuild two reduced
may enter the game in one of four ways:
strength Infantry units per turn during 1941 directly from
the Replacement Pool. Replacing these units does re-
a) It will move onto the map during the movement phase
quire expenditure of RPs like any other units being re-
with any east edge hex being its first hex of movement.
placed. The cost, however, is only equal to the reduced
b) It may be placed in a city containing a WEC unit (pro- strength factor.
vided that the WEC unit can trace General Supply) and
Note: This represents weak Russian rifle units being
be moved from there. Only one unit may appear per city
raised quickly in 1941 and sent to the front in an effort to
in the same turn.
slow the Axis advance.
c) It may use Rail Movement.
19.33 The Russian player may replace Paratroop units
d) It may use Sea Movement. with the following restrictions.
• They cost 3 Infantry RPs each
19.24 Replacements using rail movement do not count • A maximum of one Paratroop unit may be
against the number of units moving by rail but must con- replaced per Turn.
form to all other rail movement rules.
20.0 War Economy Counters (WEC)
19.25 Replacements using sea movement count against
Russian War Economy Counters (WEC)
the number of units that can move by sea that impulse.

19.26 Reduced strength on-board Russian units can be

rebuilt (See rule 19.05).

19.27 One reduced strength Russian unit, tracing Gen-

eral Supply to an OOS Major City, may be rebuilt to its full
strength side if the city contains a WEC. This one unit can The numbers on the Russian War Economy Counters
even be an armor unit, even though it is unable to trace a (WEC) refer to their combat factors (white number on
supply line to be able to access Oil Points and even if the black hex) and replacement values (yellow number on 33
 red circle). The replacement value on the WEC counter is 2 strength side. Do not place this counter in a city. Place
the number of Infantry replacement points that the Rus- it in the Urals box on the Russian War Economy Track on
sian player receives for that counter. the side of the map and add its production totals to the
Russian War Economy Track. These replacements are
20.1 WEC Placement available to the Russian player immediately.

20.11 Russian WECs must be placed at the beginning In May of 1943, the Russian Urals WEC reaches full pro-
duction and the Urals WEC is flipped to its full 6 strength
of the first impulse, or any first impulse thereafter, that
side.
they are available as per the Russian Order of Battle card.
They may be placed in any friendly-controlled city in Rus- 20.5 Lend Lease WEC
sia that can trace General Supply to the east board edge
with the following restrictions: Starting January 1942, the Russian player begins receiv-
ing additional replacement points (RPs) representing the
• No WEC may ever be placed in the following cities: Allied Lend Lease arms shipments. One out of every 5
Wilno, Riga, Brest, Lvov, and Tallinn. RPs may be an armor RP; the remainder of the RPs are
infantry. Example: The Russian player receives 7 Lend
• No city may have two WECs until all friendly Rus Lease RPs. One RP may be armor and the other 6 infan-
sian cities have one, and no city can have three until try.
all have two.
20.51 Lend Lease is received through three separate lo-
• If Voronezh is not Russian-controlled when its WEC cations as shown on the Lend Lease Russian Aid (LLRA)
comes onto the board, it may be placed in another table.
friendly city of the Russian player’s choice.
20.52 All LLRA replacements stop permanently begin-
20.12 WECs have no stacking value and thus can be ning January 1945.
added to any stack.
20.53 The number of Lend Lease points varies from turn
20.13 WECs cannot be moved once placed. Exception: to turn. At the beginning of each eligible turn, roll one die
Evacuation (See rule 20.6). and consult the LLRA table.
20.14 New WECs become operational immediately and
20.54 To receive the full benefits of Lend Lease, the Rus-
replacements may be generated from them during the
sian player must be in control of (be able to trace move-
turn of placement.
ment along) certain rail lines leading off the east edge of
the map.
20.2 WEC and Combat
20.21 WECs can only defend, not attack. A WEC’s de- 20.55 LLRA through Murmansk is available if a continu-
fense value is doubled in a Major city. ous rail line running from hex 0107 to the eastern map
edge is Russian-controlled. If any part of this rail line
20.22 WECs can be chosen as casualties just like other connection is blocked by an Axis unit or its ZOC onto a
units (Note: the Moscow WEC has 2 steps). In the rare hex of this line not occupied by a Russian unit, the “Aid
case where a WEC has a higher combat strength than Through Murmansk” value is subtracted from the LLRA
any combat unit in the hex, then the largest combat unit table result (Exception: See Rule 20.7 Murmansk Emer-
may take the first step loss. gency Rail Line Construction).

20.23 If a WEC is forced to retreat, due to a combat result Example: A Russian unit in hex 0812 negates an Axis
called for by the CRT, it is eliminated. ZOC on that hex for the purpose of tracing a rail line back
to Murmansk for Lend Lease.
20.3 WEC Lost
20.56 LLRA through Archangel is available if a continu-
An eliminated WEC cannot be replaced and its replace- ous rail line running from hex 0302 to the Eastern map
ment points are permanently lost. Reduce the Russian edge is Russian-controlled. If any part of this connection
War Economy Track Infantry RP total immediately with is blocked by an Axis unit or its ZOC onto a hex of this
every loss of a WEC. line not occupied by a Russian unit, the “Aid Through
Archangel” value is subtracted from the LLRA
20.4 URALS WEC table result.

34 The Urals WEC arrives in September 1941 on its flipped 20.57 The full amount of LLRA through Persia is available
if either of these conditions is satisfied: Russian War Economy totals until they return. They con-
tribute normally the turn they are returned to the game.
a. The Russian player controls a continuous path of Player Note: Put the removed WEC counter on the turn
rail hexes free of Axis units or their ZOC from Tabriz record track on the month it is to return, in the following
to the East edge. year.

b. The Russian player controls a continuous path of 20.7 Murmansk Emergency Rail Line Construction
rail hexes free of Axis units or their ZOC from Tabriz
to Baku, and a continuous path of rail hexes free of The Archangel to hex 0107 rail line was built during the
Axis ZOC from Astrakhan to the East edge. war. To indicate that it has not yet been built, the Mur-
mansk Emergency Rail Line Inactive marker is placed
If the Axis player blocks both of the paths described in hex 0305 at the beginning of the game. This rule can
above, but the Russian player still controls a rail line from come into effect, when the conditions are met, on or after
Tabriz to Baku, the Russian player can still receive 1/2 the January/February 1942 turn.
(rounded up) of the Persian LLRA RPs. If the Axis player
blocks all the paths of rails described above, the Russian 20.71 The turn AFTER the Axis has cut off the Murmansk
player only receives 1/2 (rounded down) of the Persian rail line (that runs from hex 0107 to 0812), the Russian
LLRA RPs. player may build a special rail line on the following hexes:
0107, 0206, 0306, 0405, 0404, 0403, 0402, and 0302. To
20.58 The Lend Lease die roll is modified by a -2 DRM build the rail line, the following conditions must be met:
each turn in 1942. Note: The net Lend Lease die roll can
never be less than 1. • The Russian player must control hex 0107
• No Axis unit or its ZOC can be on any of the listed
Example: Assume 0812 is Axis occupied during 1942. hexes at the start of the Soviet Turn.
The Russian player rolls an 8, reduced to 6 for being in
1942. The result yields 4 Lend Lease points from Persia, 20.72 It takes one turn to build (completed at the end of
0 from Murmansk since the rail is blocked, and 1 from the Russian player’s turn) and once built, this rail line is
Archangel for a total of 5. permanent and cannot be destroyed.

20.6 War Economy Counter Evacuation 20.73 As long as this rail line is built and is not blocked,
no replacement points are lost from Murmansk due to
Beginning with the July/August 1941 turn, the Russian rule 20.55.
Player may choose to evacuate WECs to the Urals.
20.74 If both routes are blocked, then the LLRA point(s)
20.61 Only the following cities may evacuate their WEC
from Murmansk is (are) lost.
counter:
Example: The Axis cut the rail line (at hex 0710) from
• Rostov • Kharkov • Dnepropetrovsk
Murmansk in their March/April 1942 turn. The Russian
• Stalino • Kiev
player will have to wait until May/June 1942 to build the
20.62 The Russian player, at the beginning of his turn, Murmansk Emergency Rail line. At the end of the Russian
announces he will evacuate a WEC counter and allocates player’s May/June 1942 turn, if all the conditions of 20.71
one rail move to successfully move it off the board (ad- are met, the rail line is operational.Remove the Murman-
hering to the rules of rail movement). sk Emergency Rail Line Inactive marker.

20.63 There is no limit to the number of WECs that may 20.75 If an Axis unit or ZOC prevents the entire rail line
evacuate per turn provided one rail movement per WEC from being built, the Russian player may partially build
counter is available. the rail line. The Russian player builds the rail from Arch-
angel towards hex 0107 as far as he can go before en-
20.64 A WEC’s replacement points do count towards the countering an Axis ZOC. He places the railhead marker
turn’s total and a replacement unit can be built there be- with the red stripe on it to indicate how far the rail line has
fore the WEC is evacuated. been built. On subsequent impulses, the Russian player
can extend the rail line farther towards hex 0107 until the
20.65 They return to the Urals Box the same month of rail line is completed.
the following year, i.e. removed July 1941, it is returned
July 1942. Example: On the turn that the Russian player can build
the rail line, there is a Finnish unit on hex 0107 with a
20.66 Once evacuated, they do not count towards the ZOC on hex 0206. The Russian player places the special 35
 railhead counter on hex 0306. On a subsequent turn the Modify the base amount by the listed modifier.
Finnish unit is eliminated. The Russian player could then
extend the railhead all the way to hex 0107. • The resulting amount can never be more than
2/3rds (rounding up) of the total Oil Well factors using
21.0 Oil Wells Baku this way.

Russian Oil Wells generate armor replacement points • Each turn, after the turn the initial base amount was
(combat factors) for Russian Armor, Mechanized, Shock determined, add +1 to the prior turn’s modified value
Army, and Artillery units only. until it reaches a maximum of 2/3rds of the total Oil
Well points using Baku.
Russian Oil Production
• If the Germans capture one or more of the Oil Wells
which are already using this procedure, do not deter
mine a new base amount. Just determine what the
new 2/ 3rds maximum amount is and adjust the mod-
ified total to that amount if it is above. Otherwise just
As war progresses, Russian Oil Production per well, increases. See add +1 to the previous turn’s total.
the Russian Order of Battle Card.
Example: The Germans cut the rail supply line from As-
21.01 The sum of the numbers on all the Russian-con- trakhan to the east edge on their July / August turn. The
trolled on board oil well counters is the maximum armor Russians currently have 8 oil points cut off from the unlim-
replacement points generated by the oil wells this turn. ited supply source, but can trace to Baku. 1/3rd (rounded
A small number of Lend Lease armor RPs may also be up) of this total is 3 oil points. The Russian player rolls a
received (See rule 20.5). 6 and consults the table, which modifies the base of 3
by +1 to 4. This will be the amount of oil points that he
21.02 Oil replacement points can also be used to build will receive in July / August. In September / October he
Russian Shock Armies (See rule 22.0). would modify the prior turn’s total of 4 by + 1 to 5. In No-
vember / December, if the situation still existed, he would
Example: In January/February 1943, the Russian player modify the prior turn’s total of 5 by +1 to 6. In January /
has 12 oil points to spend. He chooses to build three February, he would not be able to modify the amount any
armor units: Two 4-6s and one 3-6 for a total oil point further because 6 is the maximum that could be received
expenditure of 11 points. He has 1 point left over. He (2/3rds of 8 rounded up). If the German player were to
chooses to take an infantry unit and the 3-6 armor unit, capture a 2 capacity oil well in November / December,
plus spending the 1 left over oil point to build a Shock the Russian player would receive only 4 oil points that
Army. He places onto the board the two 4-6 armor and turn because 4 would be the maximum he could receive.
one 6-6 Shock army. The Infantry and the 3-6 mecha-
nized units used to build the Shock Army are placed onto 21.06 If the General Supply path to the east edge is re-
the correct Shock Army box on the Russian OB Card. gained, the oil points are returned to normal on the fol-
lowing turn. Any increases in output while the oil wells
21.03 Unlike WEC, Oil wells cannot be destroyed by were not in general supply are permanently lost and fur-
combat nor by being out of supply. ther increases start from the level it was at when cut off.

21.04 Oil wells have no ZOC and cannot be used to ab- 21.07 If an oil well hex is occupied by an enemy unit,
sorb a step loss. the oil well is captured and no longer benefits its original
owner.
21.05 If an Oil Well is unable to trace a General Supply
line to an unlimited supply source, its oil points are re- 21.1 Baku Capture
duced.
If Baku is captured by the Axis, no new Russian oil points
• If an oil well cannot trace a rail supply path to the are available other than Lend Lease. The Russian player
east edge nor a friendly-controlled Baku, the oil may use any accumulated armor RPs that he has. Once
points are not available. Baku is recaptured by the Russian player and can trace a
rail line back to the east board edge at the start of a turn,
• If an Oil well can trace a rail supply path to Baku, the Russian player receives normal oil points.
but not a rail link from Astrakhan to the east edge, a
reduced amount of oil points will be available. Total 21.2 Capture of Russian Oil Wells
up all the Oil Wells in this situation. Then make a die
36 roll and consult the table on the Player Aid Card. Upon the capture of a Russian Oil Well by the German
player, half (rounded up) of the current production value 1944 turn. Two (2) oil points for the oil field will become
for that oil well is applied to one of the four turns the Ger- available in the Russian November/December 1944 turn.
man player receives armor replacement points; March,
May, July or September. Once used, rotate the Oil coun- 21.34 Beginning September 1944, the Axis player ex-
ter 180 degrees to indicate it has been used. When a new periences fuel shortages if he does not control Ploesti.
year begins, return it to its un-rotated position. The effect of fuel shortages is that all Axis armor, mecha-
nized, and panzergrenadier units lose 2 MPs during their
21.21 A captured Oil Well’s points are not available until 1st Impulse and 1 MP during their 2nd Impulse. A unit may
the second turn after the oil field was captured. never be reduced to less than 1 MP during an impulse by
fuel shortages.
21.22 The German player must use one of his rail mark-
ers for every 2, or fraction thereof, captured oil points 21.4 Special Russian Armor Consolidation
applied to his armor replacement points in a turn. Note:
This represents the logistical effort of transporting the oil This rule only comes into effect when the Russian Oil Well
back to Germany. To transport the oil back to Germany, capacity is reduced below 12 oil points per turn, begin-
the Axis player must be able to trace an unblocked path ning on the January / February 1943 turn.
of rail hexes, traced along the rail line, from the oil well(s)
to the west board edge. If the oil is transported back to 21.41 The Russian player may at any time remove armor
Germany during a second impulse, it is applied to the type units on the board and return them to the Replace-
next turn that the German player receives armor RPs. ment Pool, taking their combat factors and adding them
to the total oil points they have available for the turn.
21.23 Russian oil wells under Axis control never increase They may then take the increased oil points and build a
in output. They remain at the level of output they were larger unit with the available totals.
captured at.
Example: The German player captures the oil well at 5711 Example: The Russian player has 8 Oil points due to loss
in the January/February 1942 turn. The oil well output is 1 of oil fields. He wishes to build the 3rd Guards tank army
armor replacement factor at the time of capture. The out- that has been destroyed but does not have enough oil
put is not available to the German player until the May/ production points. He can remove a 4-6 mechanized unit
June turn. On the May/June turn of 1942, increase the from the board, by rail or by moving the 4-6 mechanized
German armor replacement factors from 9 to 10. off the east edge of the board, and spend 8 Oil points to
replace the 12-7 3rd Guards tank army. This army may
21.24 Russian oil wells that are re-captured receive their then use free rail onto the board as per the replacement
future increases, but start those from the oil well pro- rules or start from a WEC.
duction level at the time of Axis capture. All increases
scheduled while in Axis control are lost. The re-captured 22.0 Russian Shock Armies
oil wells resume production on every turn beginning the
second turn after they are re-captured. The Russian player may build Shock Armies when they
become available. See the Soviet OB card.
21.3 Ploesti Oil Fields
22.01 To build a Shock Army, the Russian player does
All Axis armor replacement points stop when the Russian one of the following:
player captures Ploesti.
a) During the first impulse, rebuild any full strength in-
21.31 The Axis player may spend points he has remain- fantry unit and any armor or mechanized unit of any size
ing on his Axis Accumulated Replacement Points track from the Replacement Pool. Spend the additional Oil
freely. points required as listed on the bottom of the Russian OB
card and choose the correct strength level Shock Army
21.32 Should the Axis player recapture Ploesti, he may (both oil expenditure and Shock Army’s strength level is
receive armor replacement points on the next available based on the year of game). This Shock Army can then
turn where armor points are allocated. be placed on board as any other replacement would be.
This Shock Army may move normally this impulse.
21.33 If the Russians capture Ploesti, 2 factors of oil out-
put are added to the Russian turn total on the second b) During the first impulse, remove any full strength in-
turn after the oil field was captured and every turn there- fantry unit and any full strength mechanized unit once
after. they are in the same hex. Spend the additional Oil points
required as listed on the bottom of the Russian OB card
Example: The Ploesti Oil field is captured in a July/August and choose the correct strength level Shock Army (both 37
 oil expenditure and Shock Army’s strength level is based player may set up units that are designated for specific
on the year of game). Then place the Shock Army unit in cities within one hex of their city.
that hex. If either component of this build method moved,
the Shock Army may not move this impulse. Exceptions: WECs and Stalin. Then he sets up the units
for the Military Districts (MDs) anywhere within their re-
A Shock Army which becomes available during the 2nd spective MDs, observing stacking restrictions. The 15th
Impulse of a turn (December) can be built during the 2nd Mechanized Corps (Kiev MD Reserve) sets up within 2
impulse only by the conditions of method b) above, but hexes east of the dotted green Kiev MD boundary be-
all the oil point expenditures must be spent during the 1st tween hex rows 21xx and 25xx, inclusive.
Impulse. These Oil points are lost if the Shock Army is not
built for any reason. 23.04. Next, the Axis player places his “At Start” units on
the mapboard observing stacking restrictions. The Axis
22.02 The component parts that were used to build the player must place his units west of the border and not
Shock Army unit are placed in the components portions adjacent to the border. Some restrictions apply to the
of the Shock Army section on the Russian OB card. Axis setup:

22.03 If a Shock Army is eliminated, return the Shock • Rumanian forces, and the three German infantry
Army unit to the OB card and eliminate the component corps (marked with a small “R” in the upper left cor
parts. ner), must start in Rumania between hex rows 26XX
to 34XX, inclusive.
22.04 A Shock Army unit is never surrendered due to
combat. It is returned to the OB card and the component • Finnish units must start in Finland.
units that made up the Shock Army are surrendered to
the German player. • Stuka Air units and their airbases are placed as follows.
Konigsberg (AGN): Stukas 1 and 2
22.05 The Russian player must use Oil Points when re- Warsaw (AGC): Stukas 3, 4, 5, and 6
building reduced strength on-board Shock Armies. Kracow (AGS): Stukas 7 and 8
Bucharest (AGR): Stuka 9
22.06 A 6-6 Shock Army on the map may be upgraded
to an 8-7 Shock Army on or after July 1943 by expending • No Axis unit may set up in Hungary.
2 Oil Points. The Shock Army must be in General Supply
and cannot be in an Axis ZOC. Place the 6-6 Shock Army All other Axis at start units are deployed within the addi-
in the Unit Breakdown Management Box on the Russian tional following north/south setup boundaries:
OB Card. Similarly, a 6-6 or 8-7 Shock Army may be up-
graded to a 10-7 Shock Army on or after January 1944 by • Army Group North (small “N” in the upper left corner)
expending Oil Points equal to the difference in the com- units must set up inclusive of hex rows 08XX to 10XX.
bat factors (either 2 or 4).
• Army Group Center (small “C” in the upper left corner)
22.07 Once built, Russian Shock Armies cannot be vol- must set up inclusive of hex rows 11XX to 16XX.
untarily disbanded. Note: Upgrading a Shock Army per
22.06 is not considered to be disbanding a Shock Army. • Army Group South (small “S” in the upper left corner)
must set up inclusive of hex rows 17XX to 26XX.
23.0 Game Start/Initial Setup
A maximum of three units from Army Group South may
23.01 Unfold the map board and place it between the set up in Rumania. Units from Army Group South that set
players. The Axis player positions himself at the west up in Rumania must be placed in hex 2632. No more than
edge of the map and the Russian player at the east edge. one of these units may be Panzer.

23.02 If not done already, punch out the unit counters. Once set up, the Axis player may begin his May / June
Place the counters on the appropriate sections of their 1941 turn.
respective Order of Battle (OB) Cards utilizing the set up
letter, hex numbers/city, or reinforcement turn on each 24.0 First Turn Special Rules
counter as an easy reference.
24.1 Axis First Impulse Restrictions
23.03 The Russian player is first to set up referencing his
OB chart to place all of the units that are designated for During the First Impulse of the May / June 1941 turn the
38 specific cities or hexes on the board first. The Russian Axis Player’s attacks, including Stukas, are limited as follows:
 • Army Group North and AGN Stukas may only attack Note: All of the Axis First Impulse Restrictions are lifted
Russian units in the Baltic Military District (Russian at the beginning of the Second Impulse. Exception: A
units marked “B”) and/or units in/adjacent to Riga. German unit may not be sea transported to Finland if one
was sea transported there during First Impulse. Finland
• Army Group Center and AGC Stukas may only attack enters the war during the Second Impulse; Hungary re-
Russian units in the Western Military District (Russian mains neutral until July 1941.
units marked “W”) and/or units in/adjacent to Minsk.
24.2 Shock of War
• Army Group South and AGS Stukas may only attack
units in the Kiev MilitaryDistrict (Russian units marked The Russians were unprepared for the start of war. This
with a “K”) and/or units in/adjacent to Kiev. means that special conditions are in effect for the May /
June 1941 turn.
• Army Group Rumania and the AGR Stuka can at-
tack any enemy units in reach. Note: Units from Army
24.21 During the First Impulse of the May/June 1941
Group South setting up in Rumania must abide by
turn, rivers do not double defending Russian units. Rivers
the Army Group South restriction above.
impart normal doubling starting with the second impulse
of the May/June 1941 turn. Exception: Russian units are
Note: Units in any Army Group may move through any
not doubled on defense behind rivers when attacked by
Military District provided they do not participate in com-
bat against units from military districts they are not al- Finnish units during the second impulse of May/June
lowed to attack in the First Impulse. They must, however, 1941.
set up within the specified areas at the start of the game.
Units from one army group may end up adjacent to ene- 24.22 All Axis attacks in both impulses of the May/June
my units they are not allowed to attack only if that enemy 1941 turn receive a +1 DRM.
unit is being legally attacked by units of the appropriate
army group, or there is a river hexside between the units. 24.23 The Axis player may ignore retreat Priorities 3, 4,
and 5 when retreating Russian units during the Axis May
24.11 Rumania / June 1941 player turn.

A maximum of one German Mountain or Infantry corps 24.24 The Russian Rail capacity is reduced to 3 units
may rail into Rumania and no units may rail out of Ruma- during the May / June 1941 turn.
nia. A maximum of one Stuka (from AGS only) may stage
into Rumania.
24.3 First Turn Sea Invasions
24.12 Hungary
Neither player may conduct a sea invasion during the
A maximum of one German Mountain or Infantry corps May / June 1941 turn.
may rail into Hungary. No Stukas may stage into Hun-
gary. A maximum of one Stuka may fly over Hungarian 24.4 First Turn Weather
hexes to stage into Rumania.
The weather for the first turn of the game is CLEAR/
No Russian unit may retreat into Hungary nor trace Gen- CLEAR.
eral Supply through Hungary. Axis units may only retreat
into Hungary if no other legal retreat is available.
24.5 First Turn River Costs
24.13 Finland
The Axis do not have to pay the +1 MP to cross any rivers
Finland is neutral. Finnish units may not move across they move across during the first turn.
the Russian border nor attack Russian units. They may
move adjacent to Russian units without having to attack. 24.6 First Turn Terrain Benefits
Russian ZOCs do not extend across the Russo-Finnish
border. The Russian Player receives no terrain DRM benefits ver-
sus any Axis attacks during the first turn. Also, Russian
A maximum of one German Mountain or Infantry corps retreats (whether attacking or defending) are not negated
may be sea transported into Finland during all of Turn 1. by Forest or Major City hexes during the first turn. Rus-
A maximum of one Stuka (from AGN only) may stage into sian AR (when attacking) or DR (when defending) results
Finland during the first Impulse. are not converted to a BR result. 39
 Note: The Axis armor bonus is still negated when attack- 26.0 Surrender of Axis Minor Allies
ing Russian units defending in forest, mountain, swamp,
or major city hexes and the German player still cannot 26.1 Finland
make Blitzkrieg attacks against Russian Units defending
in these four types of terrain. 26.11 Finland surrenders if a Russian unit occupies Hel-
sinki at the end of the Axis turn. When Finland surren-
25.0 Special Axis Minor Ally Restrictions ders, all Finnish units are permanently removed from the
game.
The following restrictions apply during the game:
26.12 If the Axis player does not control Leningrad at the
25.1 Hungarian and Rumanian Units beginning of the September/October 1944 turn, Finland
immediately surrenders.
• They may not voluntarily stack together. If Hungar
ian and Rumanian units are forced to stack, they 26.13 If Leningrad is Axis-controlled at the beginning of
must un-stack during their next impulse. the September/October 1944 turn, Finland remains in the
war until the Russians recapture Leningrad.
• Hungarian units may not be voluntarily moved into
Rumania nor attack Rumanian hexes. 26.14 Following the recapture of Leningrad, permanently
remove all Finnish units from the game at the end of the
• Rumanian units may not be voluntarily moved into
Russian turn.
Hungary nor attack Hungarian hexes.

If either of their units are forced to retreat into the other 26.15 If there are other Axis units in Finland when Finland
country, they must immediately move out of the country surrenders, immediately remove those units from the
during their next impulse. board. These units re-enter the game as reinforcements
on the following turn. Axis units may not re-enter Finland
25.2 Finnish units for the remainder of the game.

• They may not voluntarily be moved south of hex row 26.2 Hungary
08xx.
26.21 Hungary immediately surrenders at the end of the
If Finnish units are forced south of hex row 08xx, they Russian player turn when a Russian unit occupies Buda-
must immediately move back to hex row 08xx during pest.
their next impulse. If Leningrad is captured by the Ger-
mans, the 10xx hex row becomes the hex row for the 26.22 All Hungarian units not stacked with German units
above restrictions. are immediately picked off the map and placed anywhere
in Hungary by the Russian player. They may not be placed
• Finnish units may not use sea movement. in a German ZOC. These units are treated as Russian mi-
nor Allies and move as if they were Russian units. These
• Finnish units may not attack a Russian city defend units may no longer leave Hungary and remain Russian
ed by a Russian armor, mechanized, shock, infantry, allies until the game is over. Hungarian units may be used
or cavalry corps or army size unit, flipped or not. If to attack German units only within Hungary.
Finnish units find themselves in a position where they
are required to attack a Russian city defended as 26.23 Hungarian units stacked with German units at the
above, they must immediately retreat one hex. time of the fall of Budapest surrender and are perma-
nently eliminated from the game.
25.3 Rumanian, Hungarian, and Italian units may not be
voluntarily moved into Finland nor attack Finnish hexes. 26.3 Italy
If any of their units are forced into Finland, they must im-
mediately move out of Finland during their next impulse. 26.31 Italy surrenders at the beginning of the September
1943 impulse. All Italian units are removed from the map
25.4 Rumanian, Hungarian, and Finnish units always and are permanently eliminated from the game.
have the option to retreat back towards their capital or
into their home country, as long as it is not through an 26.4 Rumania
un-occupied hex in an enemy ZOC. This rule supersedes
40 the retreat priorities of rule 10.76. 26.41 Rumania immediately surrenders at the end of the
Russian player turn when a Russian unit occupies Bu- • If Hitler is out of Germany and is eliminated any time
charest. during a 1944 or 1945 turn, the Germans sue for
peace and the game is over.
26.42 All Rumanian units not stacked with German units
are immediately picked off the map and placed anywhere • The game ends IMMEDIATELY if the Russian player
in Rumania by the Russian player. They may not be placed prevents the German player from controlling the fol-
in a German ZOC. These units are treated as Russian mi- lowing minimum number of Major Cities at the end of
nor Allies and move as if they were Russian units. These the Russian player turn.
units may no longer leave Rumania and remain Russian
Immediate Russian Victory Chart
allies until the game is over. Rumanian units may be used (Sudden Death)
to attack German units only within Rumania. Check at the end of each November/December turn
End of Minimum Number of Major Cities
26.43 Rumanian units stacked with German units at the Year Required by German Player
time of the fall of Bucharest surrender and are perma- 1942 17
1943 10
nently eliminated from the game.
1944 5
26.5 Axis Recapture of Minor Ally Capital 28.0 Credits

If the Axis player recaptures Bucharest, all Rumanian

units are immediately removed from the board and are
permanently eliminated. If the Axis player recaptures
Budapest, all Hungarian units are immediately removed
from the board and are permanently eliminated.

27.0 Victory Conditions Art Lupinacci

Game Designer
Only one side can win the Campaign Game; there are no Rob Beyma
draws. When any one condition listed below is met, the Developer
game is over. Art Lupinacci
Art Director/Graphic Artist

27.1 German Victory Conditions 3rd Edition Playtesters:

Rich Allen, Richard Beyma, Rob Beyma, Art Lupinacci,
John Martino, Tom Moskios, Jack Parks,
and Mike Patterson
The German Player wins if one of the following conditions
Proofreading:
is met: Rob Beyma, Jim Eliason and Art Lupinacci

• Capture Moscow while Stalin has been eliminated. Rob Beyma, Art Lupinacci
Historical Research

• Capture Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad, and Ken Dingley

Production Coordination
hold them for one additional complete turn.
1st Edition Credits 2nd Edition Credits
Developer: Developers:
• Capture Baku, Astrakhan, Stalingrad, and Voronezh, Art Lupinacci Rob Beyma
and hold them for one additional complete turn. Art Direction & Graphics: Art Lupinacci
Art Lupinacci Lembit Tohver
Proofreading: Art Direction & Graphics:
• The German player can also win by not losing to the John Alsen Ken Nied Art Lupinacci
Russian player. Games concluded by the end of the Rob Beyma Wally Hnatiw Proofreading:
Jim Clark Art Lupinacci Rob Beyma
Russian May/June 1945 turn without a Russian victory Playtesting: Jim Eliason
are considered to be a German victory. Rich Allen Mike Patterson Nelson Isada
Richard Beyma Larry Pavlov Chris Kraska
Rob Beyma Doug Richards Lembit Tohver
27.2 Russian Victory Conditions Wally Hnatiw Bruno Sinigaglio Bill Vargas
Art Lupinacci Alex Tihanyi Sergio Zayas Jr
Dale Martin Playtesting:
The Russian Player wins if one of the following conditions Noted Contributors: Richard Beyma
is met: Craig Champagne Neil Randall Rob Beyma
Jim Eliason Valery Relland Jim Eliason
Historical Research: Art Lupinacci
• Capture Berlin while Hitler has been eliminated by Rob Beyma, Art Lupinacci, John Martino
Bruno Sinigaglio Lembit Tohver
the end of the May/June 1945 turn. 41
 INDEX First Turn Special Rules 24.0
Rule Rule # First Turn Sea Invasion 24.3
First Turn Weather 24.4
Achieving an Automatic Victory 9.1 First Turn Terrain Benefits 24.6
Advance After Combat 10.8 First Winter 13.72
After the Automatic Victory 9.4 French Volunteers A 13.0
Aid for the Axis Partners A 12.0 Frozen Lakes and Rivers A 5.0
Airbases 11.1
Air Availability 11.3 Game Start/Initial Setup 23.0
Air Combat Effects 11.5 General Supply 13.1
Air Eligibility 11.2 General Supply Path 13.2
Air Ground Support 11.0 German Panzergrenadier Upgrade 17.4
Air Movement: Terrain and Enemy Units 11.8 German Paratroops A 8.0
Air and Automatic Victory 11.7 German Victory Conditions 27.1
Allocating Air Missions 11.4
German North Africa A 11.0
Air Support (Ground Attack) 10.4
Ground Movement 6.0
Air Units Withdrawal 18.1
Ground Units Withdrawal 18.2
Artillery 12.0
Automatic Victory 9.0
Automatic Victory Restrictions 9.3 Headquarters A 1.0
Automatic Victory and Other Units 9.5 Historical Weather A 4.0
Axis Minor Ally Special Restrictions 25.0 HQ and Reserve Unit Special Rules A1.4
Axis First Impulse Restrictions 24.1 Hungarian Units Restrictions 25.1
Axis Recapture of Minor Ally Capital 26.5 Hungary: First Turn Special Rules 24.12
Axis Reinforcements 17.2 Hungary: Surrender 26.2

Baku Capture 21.1 Initial Set Up 23.0

Battle of the Bulge — East A 10.0 Initiative A 26.0
Berlin Garrison 17.6 Italy: Surrender 26.3
Blitzkrieg Attack Combat 10.9
Breakout Attempt from Encirclement A 2.0 Landing Air Missions 11.6
Lend Lease WEC 20.5
Caspian Sea 8.7 Leningrad Ice Road 6.3
Caucasus Mountain Region Supply 13.8 Light Snow A 23.0
City Control 4.1 Limited Supply Sources: Major Cities 13.4
Combat 10.0
Combat: Armor, Pzgren., Shock or Mech 10.5 Moderated Soviet Purges A 14.0
Combat Requirements 10.1 Movement Restrictions 6.1
Combat Resolution 10.2 Multiple Impulse Replacements A 17.0
Combat Results 10.6 Murmansk Emergency Rail Line Construction 20.7
Combat Supply 13.7
Converting Rail Lines 7.2
Northern Finland: Reinforcements 17.31
Northern Swamp Hexes 6.4
Defensive Use of Air A 3.0
Dictators 14.1
Oil Wells 21.0
Dictator Evacuation 14.16
Dictator Loss 14.15 Oil Wells: Capture of Russian 21.2
Operation Barbarossa — The Generals’ War A 16.0
Elimination 10.67
Entering Reserve A 1.1 Panzer Corps Withdrawal 18.3
Escalated Spanish Involvement A 9.0 Partisans 16.0
Partisans: 2nd Stage 16.4
Field Marshals 14.2 Partisans: 2nd Stage Benefits 16.5
Finland: First Turn Special Rules 24.13 Partisan Effects 16.2
Finland: Surrender 26.1 Partisans: Eliminating 16.3
Finnish Units Restrictions 25.2 Partisans: Placing 16.1
42 First Turn River Costs 24.5 Ploesti Oil Fields 21.3
Rail Movement 7.0 Vlasov’s Army A 7.0
Rail Movement into a ZOC A 18.0 Victory Conditions 27.0
Readying Airgroups 11.9 Volkssturm 17.62
Reinforcements 17.0
Release of Reserves A1.2 War Economy Counters (WEC) 20.0
Release of Trans-Caucasus Garrison Units 17.13 Weather Die Roll Modifiers A 24.0
Replacements 19.0 WEC and Combat 20.2
Replacements: Axis 19.1 WEC Evacuation 20.6
Replacements: Russian 19.2 WEC Loss 20.3
Reserve Unit’s Status A1.3 WEC Placement 20.1
Resolving an Automatic Victory 9.2 Withdrawing Units 18.0
Resolving Sea Movement 8.2
Retreats 10.7 Zones of Control 4.0
Retreat Confusion A 19.0
River Crossing: Invasion A 20.0
River Defense A 21.0
Rumania: First Turn Special Rules 24.11
Rumania: Surrender 26.4
Rumanian Surrender Reinforcement 17.32
Rumanian Units Restrictions 25.1
Russian Air Drops and Russian Paratroopers 15.0
Russian Reinforcements 17.1 Clarification
from rule 17.03
Russian Shock Armies 22.0
Russian Special Armor Consolidation 21.4
How to read the Order of Battle Cards entry label
Turn of Entry
Russian Victory Conditions 27.2 Month and Year of Entry

Sea Evacuation 8.6

Sea Invasion 8.4
Sea Movement 8.0
Sea Movement Restrictions 8.1
Sea Transport 8.3
Second Impulse Movement (Optional) A 22.0
These 3 Counters
Second Winter 13.72 enter from the
Sequence of Play 3.0 EAST edge These 2
Counters
Shock Armies 22.0 enter from a
Shock Armies (Optional) A 15.0 specific place
Shock of War 24.2 In Turn 2, July impulse of 1941, the 16th, 19th and 28th
Siberian Troops A 6.0 Infantry Armies enter from the East Edge of the board,
either by foot, or free rail.
Special Axis Reinforcements 17.3
Special Russian Reinforcements 17.14 The next two units, the 44th and 45th Infantry have City
names underneath. They are placed in Maikop and Batumi,
Special Supply Cases 13.6 as shown on the OB card. Red letters indicate a special
SS Panzer Corps Withdrawal 18.4 restriction, see the OB card for explanation.
Stacking 5.0 Units listed to come in, August 1941
Step Losses 10.61 the Second Impulse of the turn
Straits of Kerch 6.2
Supply 13.0
Supply Path Restrictions 13.5
Surrender of Axis Minor Allies 26.0
Surrendered: Combat Result 10.68 Enter
Enter in
Moscow from East Enter in:
edge Special
Terrain Effects on Combat 10.3 and Tbilisi, Restriction:
Kalinin Enter in: Krasnador Read Rule
with no Kursk, with Special 14.25
Unlimited Supply Sources 13.3 special Leningrad, Restrictions
Urals WEC 20.4 restrictions. Sevastopol
with no special
restrictions.
Vanity Field Marshal A 25.0 43
 Third Edition Developer Notes: reinforcements in 1943 and 1944 were overrated and
the Bucharest “Garrison” was generous. Paring back on
Rob Beyma these units is not only realistic, but it also helps play bal-
March 31, 2018 ance late in the war.

More than one Russian player has felt the pain of having
INTRODUCTION
to lose a 7-6 flipped Tank Army unit to satisfy a 1 step
If one is going to do a 3rd edition, one should strive to loss. To give the Guards Tank Armies more staying pow-
make improvements to the game. Three of my goals in er, it was decided to make them 3 step units along with
this Project were to simplify the rules, improve the histori- the large 1st Guard Infantry Army. This played very well
cal accuracy, and to improve play balance. I also wanted in the playtest games. While we were at it, we decided to
to add the three short Tournament scenarios and a 1942 also make the large (8 or more factors) Panzer Corps 3
Fall Blau scenario. step units too.

MAP SETUP

The map work began with adding the Moscow-Stalin- The Kiev MD setup area was tweaked with hex 2130 be-
grad rail line (it did not go through Saratov). We added ing added and hex 2529 being deleted. The river north-
the main rail line running into Kharkov from the east. It east of Lvov has been shortened by two hexsides; so,
always bothered me that the Russians could not rail into there is no longer a doubled river just behind the border.
Kharkov when the Germans captured Kursk and Dnepro- But hexes 1828 and 1928 are forest and swamp, respec-
petrovsk. The Russians used this rail line to build up for tively. The 15th Mechanized Corps sets up just behind
their spring 1942 offensive near Kharkov. While we were the Kiev MD. The Russian Reserve forces that set up in
at it, we took another look at rail lines in several other cities may now set up within one hex of the city. Many
places. The minor Russian cities of Yaroslavl, Tambov, of these forces were not actually deployed in the cities.
and Kazan were also added. Significantly, the Moskva There was not a Mechanized corps near Riga but there
and Klyazma rivers near Moscow were redrawn to better was a strong Mechanized Corps (5th) in Reserve that saw
correspond with the geography of the region. action in the center near Smolensk in early July 1941.

Art wanted to extend the map a little farther to the west. Perhaps the most significant change in the setup is that
While pursuing this, it became obvious that a little more the Historical German Air Deployment optional rule is now
work was needed on the terrain west of the Axis-Soviet a standard rule. If the German Army Groups have setup
border. The Elbe River, and the cities of Dresden, Brno, and 1st impulse restrictions, it seemed reasonable that
Stettin, and Kracow were added. The rail lines in Ruma- their supporting Luftflotten should too. Like their Army
nia and Bulgaria were also redrawn. The setup areas were Groups, the Stukas can attack anywhere within range on
tweaked and the graphics were improved to make them the 2nd Impulse. Only one of the three AGS units that can
much more visible. Kracow was a particularly useful ad- set up in Rumania (hex 2632) may be Panzer.
dition since the AGS Stukas could now set up there.
SEA MOVEMENT
ORDER OF BATTLE
There is no longer any off board sea movement and no
The Kiev MD had more Mechanized Corps and more of Transit Boxes. Units Sea Transport or Evacuate to a port
the modern T-34 and KV tanks than the Western MD. Yet in that Sea Area. Players can no longer circumvent ene-
Russia Besieged, and TRC before that, did not reflect my airbases by evacuating off board. If a player wants to
this. I added a fourth Mechanized Corps to the Kiev MD. sea move a reinforcement or replacement, he first places
The 15th Mechanized Corps was a particularly strong it in a friendly port that can trace a rail supply line to his
Mechanized Corps and was initially deployed in reserve edge of the map. If the unit gets an Abort result, it goes
behind the front line armies. While I was at it, all of the back to that port. A few Sea Movement DRMs have been
Mechanized corps IDs, strengths, and locations were re- tweaked. Most notably, the DRM for a major naval base
visited. The 21st Mechanized Corps was greatly under- (Germans: Konigsberg, Russians: Leningrad and Sevas-
strength and was in the rear. The 5th Mechanized Corps topol) has been doubled. The Russians can also perform
had recently arrived from the Far East and was at near full evacuations in the Caspian Sea and German air can af-
strength and in reserve. fect sea movement there.
In the review of the Axis OB, several areas for improve- COMBAT
ment were noted. Some of the Movement Factors of the
Axis infantry were overrated; most of them were on par Art wanted a beefed up Blitzkrieg Attack Table. We looked
with the Russian infantry. Two of the Hungarian regular at three variations:
Infantry Corps arriving in 1942 were underrated. One of
the low grade Hungarian Infantry corps that arrived in 1) An enhanced 7-1 column
early 1943 was actually a regular corps that was on the 2) Adding a 10-1 column
Don in 1942. The Hungarian Mechanized corps lost its 3) A special first turn Blitz rule
Armor DRM since it did not have any tanks. It had only
around 15-20 light scout tanks which did not rise to the We decided to add a 10-1 column where the results were
44 criteria for an armor bonus. Some of the SS infantry type more effective than 7-1. In particular, a net die roll of 4 or
more will result in an advance of 3 hexes. In situations four to five turn 1942 campaign. An old college friend
where a Blitzkrieg attack is possible, the moving player of mine once commented that any eastern front game
will have a choice of a 10-1 AV or a 10-1 Blitz attack. can be balanced by adding a few more Russian replace-
Russian defense on turn 1 just got more challenging. ments. The 3rd edition adds a few Russian replacements
and tweaks a couple replacement rules. Like the Axis, the
The Russian player is now capable of making a Blitzkrieg Russians can now accumulate replacement points.
Attack in September/October 1943 and November/De-
cember 1943 provided that he has a Guards Tank Army The Gorki WEC has been upgraded to 2 infantry RPs.
and a Shturmovik participating in the attack. This gives the Russians 15 infantry RPs at the start. A
flipped Urals WEC (2 points) arrives in September 1941.
AIR RULES This flips to its full strength 6 side in May 1943. The Urals
and Eastern areas were producing some replacements
The Russians now have 6 one column shift Shturmoviks before 1943. One out of every 5 Lend Lease RPs can
arriving between March / April 1943 and May / June 1944. now be armor. Example: The Russians get 7 Lend Lease
Not only does this give the Russians more counteroffen- RPs. They may receive 1 armor and 6 infantry RPs.
sive punch in 1943-1945, it simplifies the air rules. The
Stukas and Shturmoviks now use the same stacking and The Russians may replace up to two flipped infantry units
combat rules. Air units now fly ground support missions per turn during 1941. Replacement points are expended
up to 9 hexes from their base. The concept of 16 hexes for these units as usual. The Russians need several small
to a target and then 2 more hexes to a city is more ap- units in the summer and fall of 1941. Jim Eliason refers to
propriate for a single mission than multiple sorties over these units as “speed bumps”. They will not, of course,
a month. The number of air units supporting an attack stop the Germans but they will help a little. They rep-
cannot exceed the number of corps and army units at- resent some weak rifle divisions hastily assembled and
tacking. rushed to the front in 1941.

SUPPLY The German November 1941 replacements have been

slightly increased. The Germans can now replace one ar-
The supply rules are essentially the same. The one no- mor step and two infantry steps.
table change is the length of a supply line during Mud has
been reduced to 6 hexes. It remains 8 hexes during Light SCENARIOS
Mud. A minor change impacting rail supply lines is that
a player must enter an enemy city to seize control, just The 1st and 2nd editions had only the single Campaign
placing it in an undisputed ZOC is no longer sufficient. Game. I added the three Tournament Scenarios that have
been developed over the years for WBC and PREZCON.
PARATROOPS Players can choose a shorter scenario from among the 5,
7, and 10 turn scenarios, all starting in May / June 1941.
Russian paratroops can now airdrop within 8 hexes of a The Fall Blau 1942 campaign has always been a favorite
Russian controlled city that can trace a rail supply line to of mine. A long time Russia Besieged aficionado, Charlie
the east edge. The paratroops must begin the impulse in Catania, designed the scenario. I developed it a bit for
which they airdrop in that city. Thus, there is no longer a the 3rd edition. Art added a 1943 scenario and a 1944
need for the Ready Box. Similarly, German paratroops scenario.
(an optional rule) can airdrop within 9 hexes of a German
airbase. Russian Paratroops can be replaced, with some TURKISH VARIANT
restrictions, but can only airdrop one time each.
Andy Nunez and Art did a Turkish Variant a few years
WEATHER TABLE ago. Art decided to add the Turkish variant to the Deluxe
Edition. We decided to include the Turkish counters and
One small tweak was made to the Weather Table. A ‘3’ three additional Russian counters for it. Art doesn’t plan
roll in March / April was changed from Light Mud / Clear to do any more counters for Russia Besieged after this
to Light Mud / Light Mud and a ‘4’ roll in March / April was edition. I adjusted some of the movement and combat
changed from Light Mud / Light Mud to Mud / Light Mud. factors to make them more realistic for the Turkish army
The net effect is that one impulse of Clear was changed in 1942. The Turkish units were comparable to the Rus-
to Mud. The spring thaw really put a damper on opera- sian and Axis-Allied units.
tions in the east.
While I didn’t develop the rules for the Turkish Variant,
An optional Light Snow rule was added. Art really likes I do have one observation on Turkish entry (on the Axis
this rule. It gives the Germans a slightly better chance side). This would result in a reaction from the Western Al-
of “favorable” weather in late fall. Light Snow is not as lies in the Near East. Allied airpower would likely interdict
favorable as Light Mud but is better for the Germans than Turkish movement and supply (an Allied Air Interdiction
Snow. counter is included). There were few railroads or major
roads in eastern Turkey. The threat of a Western Allied
REPLACEMENTS attack would likely pin down a lot of Turkish formations
along the coast and in southern Turkey. The Allies would
An experienced German player will heavily attrition the also want to protect their southern Lend Lease route to
Russian army in 1941 and this will continue through a Russia. 45
 PLAY BALANCE DESIGNER’S NOTES

Russia Besieged has been competitively played for 12 To all aficionados of Military History and the war on the
years now. I probably have played over a 100 games my- Eastern Front, thank you for purchasing Russia Besieged.
self. The 1st edition favored the Russians. This was par- My hope, in designing Russia Besieged, is that the game
tially due to a 40% chance of Light Mud in September. provides you with many hours of entertainment and per-
The 2nd edition overshot the mark a bit in helping the haps, sparks an interest in you to read and delve further
Germans. The bids in the Tournament scenario jumped into the history of the Second World War. For your pur-
from around 18-19 to 20-21. It can be fairly depressing
playing the Russians the first 3 or 4 turns against a good chase and your support, I am extremely grateful.
German player. You will notice, my 2009 Designers Notes are still in-
cluded, this was done on purpose. My thoughts then
In both previous editions, the Germans had the advan- are the same now, no point in duplicating the effort for
tage in 1943-1945. It was very difficult for the Russians this, the 3rd edition printing. This time around, I want to
to reach Berlin by the spring of 1945. There were several express my gratitude and admiration to the true hero of
reasons for this: A continually shortening front, lack of the deluxe version of the game, and that is Rob Beyma.
airpower to push the offensive, and a lot of German units. I cannot tell you how many hundreds, if not thousands of
Also, at least in the 2nd edition, the Germans could delay hours Rob has invested in Russia Besieged over the last
the Russian counteroffensive until late 1943. The Russian decade. It is primarily through his efforts that you have in
player would run out of time before reaching Berlin. your hands, what I consider to be the finest Corps/Army
level game on the war between Germany and Russia
When researching the German OB in 1943-1945, I found ever printed. The game has been heavily tested over the
some interesting information. Some of the late war Ger- last decade in major face-to-face tournaments and email
man reinforcements were busy performing missions in tournaments as well as local play. Rob has very carefully
other places. The Bucharest Garrison was greatly over- thought out the rules changes and the historical changes
rated. It has now been changed to the Rumania Surren- we have made as well. And, all the changes were play
der Box. The German player receives one weak corps tested before they were included.
reinforcement following Rumanian surrender. The SS In-
fantry, Mountain, and Cavalry units were overrated; their Both Rob and I went through great pains to try and make
combat factors have been reduced a bit. the game as historically accurate as possible. We took a
very close look at unit histories and made the appropri-
The tweaks made to the setup rules and Russian re- ate changes to get the most accurate representation for
placements in 1941-1942, while not stopping the Ger- a game at this level.
man onslaught, will give the Russian player a little more
play during this time frame. The Russian army should be
a little stronger going into 1943 and perhaps can turn the I also hope that for the first time, we have published a
tide earlier in 1943. A few less German units and two ad- game that is errata free! Rob and I spent countless hours
ditional Shturmoviks should enable the Russian player to reviewing the graphics and text in an effort to produce a
push the offensive in 1944 and perhaps close in on Berlin game with no mistakes. It was a painstaking effort that
by the spring of 1945. we both undertook with a vengeance, in order to bring
you the best product possible. I would be remiss if I
CLOSING REMARKS did not mention Compass Games, Bill Thomas and Ken
Dingley. I can’t say enough about Compass Games, they
I want to thank Art Lupinacci and Compass Games for are a pleasure to work with and produce an exceptional
giving me the opportunity to develop the 3rd edition. product. Thank you! I am honored you chose to publish
Eastern Front WW2 games are a favorite of mine. I have
been playing Russia Besieged since it was originally pub- Russia Besieged. And finally, I would like to acknowledge
lished and accumulating ideas for improving the game the efforts of Jim Eliason. Jim has helped develop, proof
for the past several years. Russia Besieged, especially and edit the rules since the 1st Edition. Thank you, Jim.
the 3rd edition, is a rare combination of a historically ac-
curate and a playable game. Special thanks to John Mar- L2 Design Group has an official company page on Face-
tino for playtesting the 3rd edition changes with me sev- book to help support this game and others we have
eral times over the past few years. Finally, many thanks published. If you wish to communicate with me directly,
to Jim Eliason for proofreading the rules and commenting please feel free to sign up and I will be happy to help an-
on how the changes will play out. swer any questions you may have.

Looking forward to hearing your comments and reviews.

Art Lupinacci
46 22 June 2018
DESIGNER’S NOTES (Historical) before his eyes, but is not a push over. With reinforcements, the Rus-
sian player very quickly recovers. The German player, from the start,
Russia Besieged has allowed me to enjoy the single greatest sat- is under the gun to not only eliminate as many Russian units as pos-
isfaction one can have in the hobby. Quite simply, the realization of sible, but to also focus on deep penetrations into Russia without
adream to see one’s ideas for a game go to print. Russia Besieged, delay. The German player has a number of choices on strategy to
as a game, had been developing in my head for over 25 years and for employ and how to attack. I designed a combat system that reflects
any number of reasons, it took this amount of time to get me to put two objectives in making an attack. The first, reflected by the Com-
pen to paper and physically design the game. bat Results Table, depicts attacks which focus on destroying units
and taking the objective head on. The second is the Blitzkrieg At-
The design and graphics work that has gone into Russia Besieged tack Table which was designed to allow an attacking player to hit the
was at least three years in the making and I can honestly say it was a enemy and inflict loses, but more importantly, focused on obtaining
labor of love. I immersed myself in every single aspect of the design results which produced advances enabling penetrations behind the
and in looking back, I am not sure it was the wisest thing to do and enemy lines and thus cutting them off while gaining new territory.
most certainly was the cause of some of the delays, but I had to do
it and I have no regrets. In the end, I feel I have succeeded in bring- I coupled this with a much more flexible airpower system that can be
ing to market a high quality, playable east front game that addresses used in both impulses of the turn. The net result is a much more dan-
things players have wanted and have pasted onto other East Front gerous attack and threat of encirclement opportunity in the hands of
games. masterful players. This has added a huge degree of excitement and
movement to the game for both players, albeit it later in the game for
In the initial design stages, one of the more interesting challenges the Russian player.
I faced was how to adequately reflect the impact of the Russian
economy on the game. Oil was the single biggest Achilles heel of One of the challenges I faced was how to handle airpower. I very
the Russian War economy. Well over 75% of Russian oil came from quickly decided I would not add layers and layers of complicated
one region, very vulnerable to attack and destruction. If this area rules in the game to reflect every aspect of air combat. A corps
was lost, the consequences would have been felt immediately and if level game does not need this level of sophistication. Ultimately, air
lost early enough in the campaign, may have laid the blue print for comes down to a couple of simple factors, the most important being
disaster at Stalin’s feet. to reflect the ability for friendly bombers to be able to aid in the elimi-
nation of enemy units. I chose to eliminate fighter combat as the war
I very badly wanted to reflect this Soviet vulnerability to oil produc- on the eastern front almost followed a well written script. Namely, air
tion in Russia Besieged! I also wanted to include in the game all of superiority starts off with the Germans, thereby giving him the ability
western Russia that was reachable by the German Army (Most im- to almost strike at will across the map. As time progresses, this abil-
portantly, the Caucasus region). I chose to split Russian manufactur- ity is eroded as the Russian player brings in better trained pilots, bet-
ing into two parts: Oil production and “everything else”. Oil primarily ter planes and in greater quantities. Although no match for the better
fuels armor manufacturing in the game. Without oil you cannot drive trained and more experienced German pilots, quantity has a certain
the tanks you build. The most powerful offensive formations in the quality to it and eventually wears down the German war machine.
games are the tank armies and with the loss of the oil fields, the Rus- This was easy enough to reflect in the game by reducing bomber
sian player has a limited amount of time and resources to gain back power on one side and increasing it on the other.
the Caucasus region or suffer a slow and steady defeat by attrition.
I did add a layer of complexity to the use of bombers by adding a
The factory units in the game reflect a number of aspects of the matching air base counter. The air base reflects more then just physi-
Russian economy including manufacturing and civilian populations. cal airfields. It reflects ground crews, fuel, repair facilities and runway
Reducing the number of factories reduces the ability to rebuild de- maintenance equipment. Namely, everything you need to run an air-
pleted units. Lose enough factories early enough in the game and the field and equip and maintain your planes and crews. I didn’t want a
Russian player is almost doomed to defeat. Although the German totally abstract method that allowed the player unrealistic methods
juggernaut is very powerful at the start and it can wreak havoc at will, of deploying his bomber units.
it is not without its limitations and vulnerabilities and is quite fragile in
the first winter of the war. Players can fly long range missions and land in city hexes but cannot
fly again on the next impulse until their air base’s crew stages to the
As the German player penetrates into Russia, a few key factors oc- new location. In other words, the planes can’t fly without bombs and
cur to weaken the onslaught. The density of German units to space fuel. I find this element of the game to be the most elegant. It restricts
decreases as space increases. When the German gets beyond Ros- the use of air without a heavy layer of complex rules and introduces a
tov, a number of factors come into play. By pushing into the Cauca- level of realism in the management of a bomber air fleet.
sus region, the actual front line and the area the invading forces have
to cover more than doubles when you reach Baku. Your forces, if you I added another feature of flexibility to the use of bombers such that
are lucky, will barely remain the same and most likely will be reduced they can perform a mission in either impulse of the game. They have
due to combat. This means the effectiveness of your units to attack the option to conduct combat in an impulse or stage so they can be
across the entire front is virtually taken away. I thought this was a available to support ground attacks in the 2nd impulse. They can’t
simple enough design feature that required no rules and yet provides do both. How they are employed is up to the player and a feature I
a heavy historical feel to the game. like the most is that if you use all your airpower in the first impulse,
your penetrating units have little punch left in the second impulse. A
Wargames do not typically reflect the inability of armies to attack low complexity system with lots of flexibility and flavor added.
everywhere and all the time, as is often depicted in the play of most
strategy games. In Russia Besieged, depending on the strategy em- One key feature I insisted on having in the game was step reduc-
ployed, there can and will be static fronts which remain quiet, while tion due to combat. Most combat units in the game take two step
both players simply focus on the critical regions elsewhere. Unfortu- losses to be eliminated. When stacked together with other units, the
nately for the German player, time is not his friend, by any stretch of defender gains a little staying power. Indirectly, it also lets the game
the imagination, in this game. simulate the wearing down of armies much like real combat. The
longer your army attacks, the chances are greater that it will be a
The Russian player starts off poorly and sees his army disintegrate more brittle army consisting of units with only one step left and not 47
 enough replacement points remaining to rebuild them. Guarding the pages and pages of information contributed by Jim was incredible
flanks with brittle units is the recipe for an interesting and fluid game. and extremely beneficial to making the final product an amazing
piece of work. Chris Kraska is also a long time friend and at the last
A final comment, on the overall design of Russia Besieged, is that I minute, contributed a very fine eye to finding small grammatical mis-
chose to loosely model the game on one of the giant success stories takes, missing commas and a slew of other typos that would have
in our hobby, “The Russian Campaign”, designed by John Edwards. otherwise spoiled this work. I am grateful to all of you and I cannot
The Russian Campaign has a number of elegant design features that thank you enough!
simply could not be ignored and I hope that my enhancement of
some of these features will push the play of corps level games to a All of the new changes in the 2nd edition will help insure continued
new and enjoyable level. The staying power of The Russian Cam- enjoyment of play for aficionados of Russia Besieged and enthusi-
paign is a tribute to the genius of elegant design, by John Edwards, asts of the East Front.
that allowed a simple game to be complex enough to want to be
played over and over again. Art Lupinacci
July 20, 2009
I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to acknowledge the
work of a number of key individuals who helped shape my ideas into
a playable format. Bruno Sinigaglio made major contributions to the
Lend Lease system in the game as well as showing me how to play
an effective German. Rob Beyma and his playtest group was ex-
tremely dedicated and tireless when it came to testing, making rules
revisions and passing on notes. I am deeply in their debt and most
especially to Rob. His experience, depth of knowledge and insight
was a major asset in the project that shaped the game to a higher
level which I would not have been able to achieve without his input.

Ken Nied and Aaron Silverman deserve mention for their wonder-
ful work in transforming my rules essay into a document you can
read. My only regret is I did not employ them sooner to the task. I
also want to acknowledge the work of the Toronto playtesters that
include: Alex, Larry, Wally, Doug and Dale. Having the luxury of being
close to a large number of veteran gamers was a major asset. I give
credit and thanks to all those who contributed in making Russia Be-
sieged. Any errors or omissions that present themselves in this final
body of work are of course, mine alone.

Now, after some years, we come to the 2nd edition of the rules. In
this time, I have had the pleasure of meeting many gamers who have
taken a shine to the game and have, as a result, helped me to de-
velop the main body of rules further. Lembit Tohver is one such in-
dividual.

This entire rewrite could not have been possible without his dedica-
tion and countless hours of work. Not only did he rewrite the rules,
but he also helped me test them by playing a countless number of
games as my opponent to make sure the game remained balanced
after any significant change. Lembit has been a long time friend and I
am grateful for dedication to Rusisan Besieged and for the countless
hours of work he has done editing the rules. I enjoyed every playtest
session we had to get to this point. Everyone who loves this game
is in his debt!

There are a number of new changes in the second edition. Most no-
table are the rule changes for the opening turn of the war. These al-
low the gamer to experience the total unpreparedness of the Russian
Army and the complete surprise of the Nazi attack. My favorite rule
that was left out of the first edition and has now returned is the capa-
bility to rail in each impulse. There are a number of small rule tweaks
plus a large number of new optional rules included in the game. All
of these add greater depth and flavor to an already exciting and fast
paced simulation on the greatest conflict in the history of warfare.

I, once again, wish to thank Robert Beyma for his enthusiasm for the L2 Design Group Compass Games
game, his input in creating the tournament weather modifiers, and L2DesignGroup.com P.O. Box 271
for helping to tweak the weather rules to make for a more balanced Cromwell, CT 06416
game.Rob is another unsung hero of the game and has also spent
Phone:
many countless hours pouring over the rules to make sure they are (860) 301-0477
perfect and all encompassing. I also wish to acknowledge the moun-
48
Copyright Notice: All portions of this game are copyright protected. No part of this body of work may be copied for
tain of proofreading done by Jim Eliason. The size and scope of the any purpose, including electronically, without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder.