1941: Race to Moscow Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Inventory
• 2. Core Concepts
  • 2.1 Armies & Fleet
  • 2.2 Army Cards
  • 2.3 Supply Tokens
  • 2.4 Transport Tokens
• 3. Other Terms and Concepts
  • 3.1 Cards
  • 3.2 Markers
• 4. Game Setup
  • The Game Board
• 5. How to Win the Game
• 6. Sequence of Play
• 7. Player Actions
• 8. Core Actions
  • 8.1 Move All Field Armies
  • 8.2 Move One Armored Army
  • 8.3 Move the Fleet (Nord Army Group only)
  • 8.4 Take Supplies
  • 8.5 Transport Supplies
  • 8.6 Take Transport
  • 8.7 Theatre Re-organization Step
• 9. Bonus Actions
  • 9.1 Air Support
  • 9.2 Play a Held Pursuit Card
  • 9.3 Take an OKH Card
  • 9.4 Play an OKH Card
• 10. Combat
• 11. Railhead Advancement
• 12. Soviet Reaction
• 13. Optional Rules
  • 13.1 Army Redeployment
  • 13.2 Higher Difficulty Game Variants
  • 13.3 Abwehr Variant [for the 2/3-player game]
  • 13.4 Winter Counter-Attacks
  • 13.5 Total War
• 14. Soviet Player Variant
  • 14.1 Soviet Markers Use
  • 14.2 Soviet Markers Pool Variants
  • 14.3 Game Setup by Soviet Player
  • 14.4 Encounter with Soviet Markers
  • 14.5 Recon and Air Support
  • 14.6 Partisans
  • 14.7 Encirclement
  • 14.8 Soviet Reaction
  • 14.9 Victory and Medals
• Credits

1. Inventory

THE GAME BOX CONTAINS:

• this manual
• a game board
• ziplock bags to store game components

Common components:

• 12 OKH cards
• 40 medal cardboard tokens
• 17 plastic trains (9 for Transport Stock and 8/6/4 for Transport Reserve depending on number of players)
• 3 types of supply tokens: 1 fuel, 1 ammo, 1 food markers (for Supply Stock)
• 33 Soviet cards: 21 (#56-#75) with green background and 12 (#76-#87) with blue background
• 26 cardboard markers
• 16 plastic bunker miniatures

This game was produced with care for the quality and completeness of all its components. If the contents of the game box are damaged or incomplete, please contact us to receive any needed replacements.

And below we present a proposal for how to store the game elements:

Gray Player:

• 3 Army cards
• 3 plastic Army miniatures
• 5 plastic trucks (gray)
• 3 plastic trains (black)
• plastic supply tokens for Armies: 5 fuel, 9 ammo, 4 food markers
• plastic supply tokens for Main Supply Base: 3 fuel, 3 ammo, 3 food markers
• 1 Front card
• 1 Player Aid card
• 1 Logistics card
• 18 Pursuit cards
• 40 cardboard Control markers
• 1 plastic turn order Car
• 1 plastic HQ Staff Car
• 1 Air Support cardboard marker
• 1 Fleet cardboard marker
• 6 HALT cardboard markers

White Player:

• 4 Army cards
• 4 plastic Army miniatures
• 5 plastic trucks (white)
• 3 plastic trains (black)
• plastic supply tokens for Armies: 8 fuel, 12 ammo, 4 food markers
• plastic supply tokens for Main Supply Base: 3 fuel, 3 ammo, 3 food markers
• 1 Front card
• 1 Player Aid card
• 1 Logistics card
• 18 Pursuit cards
• 40 cardboard Control markers
• 1 plastic turn order Car
• 1 plastic HQ Staff Car
• 8 HALT cardboard markers

Brown Player:

• 4 Army cards
• 4 plastic Army miniatures
• 5 plastic trucks (brown)
• 3 plastic trains (black)
• plastic supply tokens for Armies: 6 fuel, 12 ammo, 6 food markers
• plastic supply tokens for Main Supply Base: 3 fuel, 3 ammo, 3 food markers
• 1 Front card
• 1 Player Aid card
• 1 Logistics card
• 18 Pursuit cards
• 40 cardboard Control markers
• 1 plastic turn order Car
• 1 plastic HQ Staff Car
• 8 HALT cardboard markers

Soviets:

• 33 Soviet cards: 21 (#56-#75) with green background and 12 (#76-#87) with blue background
• 26 cardboard markers
• 16 plastic bunker miniatures

2. Core Concepts

2.1 Armies & Fleet

Each player begins the game with 1 or 2 Armored Armies (Panzergruppe) and 2 or 3 Field Armies.

Armored Armies are your crucial forces able to move up to 3 areas. They are your main force, and you should always pay attention to properly supply them.

Field Armies usually move only 1 area per activation; they can also move 2 areas by forced march.

The gray player also controls the Fleet unit. The Fleet is essential to control the sea areas to cut off supply routes to enemy Baltic ports.

2.2 Army Cards

Army cards show the supplies currently possessed by each Army on the board.

The Army cards (3 for the gray, 4 for the white player, and 4 for the brown player) have identification numbers and silhouettes matching the Armies owned by each player.

Each Army card has 6 spaces to hold supplies. An army can not have more than 6 supplies.

The supply spaces have starting supply symbols printed on them. These are only used during game setup.

2.3 Supply Tokens

• Fuel – is used for Armored Army movement and sometimes during combat.
• Ammo – is used during combat and sometimes for Army movement (into fortified areas).
• Food – is used during Theater Re-Organization and sometimes for Field Army movement (forced march).

2.4 Transport Tokens

• Trucks – are used to mark jammed supply roads (road transport of up to 4 supplies). Each player has 5 trucks in their own color.
• Trains – are used to mark rail traffic (rail transport of up to 6 supplies). All trains are black and are shared among players.

3. Other Terms and Concepts

3.1 Cards

During the game, you use your Army cards and your deck of Pursuit cards, which are marked with your own player color:

• Gray – Army Group "Nord" (North)
• White – Army Group "Mitte" (Center)
• Brown – Army Group "Sud" (South)

The Soviet deck and the OKH deck are shared between all players (OKH = Oberkommando des Heeres = the High Command of the German Army).

Pursuit Cards

Pursuit cards depict different kinds of events which may happen during the race to the East. You have your own deck of 18 Pursuit cards (with your player symbol on the card backs).

Each time your Army enters an area with no Control marker and which has no Soviet marker on it, you draw and apply the top Pursuit card from your deck.

Soviet cards

These cards represent the enemy's organized defense that players will encounter on their way East. One Soviet deck is shared among all the players.

Each time your Army enters an area with no Control marker and which has a Soviet marker on it, you draw and apply the top Soviet card from the deck.

OKH Cards

These cards represent additional capabilities and single-use special actions occasionally available to players.

Front cards

Front cards show Soviet Reaction priorities for each one of the three military fronts assigned to players.

EXAMPLE (South-Western Front, Mikhail Kirponos): PRIORITIES — 1. Counter-Attack: If possible, perform counter attack. In case of multiple possibilities, choose the area resulting in cutting off the Axis army from supply base. OR 2. Objective city protection: If possible, place the Soviet marker within the objective city, situated closest to the nearest Axis army. If possible, place the Soviet marker in fortified area. OR 3. Victory city protection: Place the Soviet marker near Rostov in city situated closest to the nearest Axis army. If possible, place the Soviet marker in fortified area.

Logistic cards

Each player has one card placed in front of them, representing each player's logistic capabilities, known as their Logistics Level, at a given point of time. The Logistics Level moves from Level 1 to Level 2 (the card is flipped) as part of the first Theatre Re-organization.

The row values mean:

1. "Take" – the maximum combined amount of trucks and trains that you can take from those available on the Transport Stock during the Take Transport action.
2. "Place" – the maximum amount of trucks and trains that you can place on the map from your Logistics card during the Transport Supplies action.
3. "Possess" – the maximum combined number of trucks and trains that you can have on your Logistics card.

3.2 Markers

Control markers

Control markers are used to mark areas on the board which are controlled by each player as a result of their Army movement. An area with a Control marker is controlled by that player.

Control markers have railway track symbols on the back. These indicate rail coverage, letting a player transport supplies using trains, which can move more supplies than trucks.

Plastic cars are used to indicate the player order on the Player Order Track.

The starting areas (e.g. Warschau) and some areas nearby (e.g. Siedlce) have printed player markers. These areas are always controlled by the indicated player. These areas also have permanent rail coverage.

HALT markers

HALT markers mark Armies which are grounded, due to lack of food during Theater Re-Organization.

Soviet markers

Soviet markers mark areas where Soviet Units will be encountered. They also determine the end of the game – the game ends during the turn when the Soviet marker pool becomes empty.

Medals

As commanders, the players earn prestigious medals for capturing areas which have a printed medal symbol.

Medal tokens are two-sided. One side with the Hero of the USSR Star, represents a potential award. Once received by the player, flip it to its Iron Cross side.

Some cards in the Soviet deck also have medal symbols (Iron Cross) on them. A card with a printed medal has the same value as a medal token; if a player gains a card with a medal, the player does not also take a medal token.

HQ markers

A HQ marker is used to perform the Take an OKH card action.

Air support markers

An air support marker is used to perform the Air Support action.

4. Game Setup

• Each player takes the role of one of the available commands: Army Group "Nord" (gray), Army Group "Mitte" (white) or Army Group "Süd" (brown).
• Players sit with the white player (AG Mitte) at the bottom (west) side of the board, with the gray player (AG Nord) on the left (north) side, and the brown player (AG Sud) on the right (south) side.
• Each of you places your Army cards in your color in front of you, all face-up.
• Place fortified area markers all on the areas with a fortified (-1 ammo) icon, including the three Victory areas.
• Place Army miniatures in their starting areas (with corresponding flags).
• Place the Fleet in the sea area near Danzig.
• Each of you takes your own Pursuit deck, shuffles it, and places it within reach, face down.
• Place supplies onto each army card as printed on the cards. (3 fuel and 3 ammo for an Armored Army; 2 food, 1 fuel, and 3 ammo for a Field Army.)
• Each of you places your Logistics card face up (level 1) in front of you.
• Place the 5 trucks in your color, and 3 trains on your Logistic card.
• Place the Control markers of your color in front of you.
• Put 3 food, 3 ammo, and 3 fuel in each Main Supply Base.
• Put 1 food, 1 ammo and 1 fuel in the Supply Stock.
• Put 9 trains in the Transport Stock.
• Put remaining trains in the Transport Reserve (8 trains in a 3-player game, 6 trains in 2-player game, 4 trains in a solitaire game).
• Soviet markers. Place Soviet markers on the areas with the Soviet symbol (including the 3 Victory areas). Then, put Soviet markers beside the board, depending on the number of players:
  • 6 markers in a 3-player game
  • 4 markers in a 2-player game
  • 3 markers in a solitaire game
• Soviet cards. Divide the Soviet cards into two separate decks – with green and blue edges. Shuffle the blue deck and place it face down near the board. Shuffle the green deck and place it on top of the blue deck, also face down.
• Front cards and Player Aids. Gray takes the north-western Front card, White takes the western Front card, and Brown takes the south-western Front card. All players take a Player Aid.
• Medals. Put 1 Medal token (star side up) on each area with a printed medal (except Kiev, which receives 2 Medals).
• Air support markers. Each player has one air support marker in their own color.
• HQ markers. Each player has one HQ marker in his own color.
• OKH Cards. Shuffle the OKH deck and reveal the top 4 cards (3 cards in a 2-player game). Place these cards and the face-down OKH deck beside the board.

EXAMPLE: Players randomly determine that the player order is white, brown, gray. They put a white player marker onto space 1, a brown player marker onto space 2, and a gray player marker onto space 3. Players 2 and 3 (brown and gray) each take 1 Medal token.

TWO-PLAYER GAME

In a 2-player game, the areas belonging to the non-player colors (excluding double-color areas, if the non-player is white) are permanently controlled by this third non-player Army Group. Place their Control markers on these areas to block them. Players cannot enter or capture these areas.

SOLITAIRE GAME

In a solitaire game, you cannot capture double-colored areas unless you are playing as Army Group Center (white). If you are playing one of the other Army Groups, use Control markers of the non-player Army Groups to block double-colored areas.

The Game Board

The game is played on a point-to-point map of the Eastern Front.

The shortest route to Leningrad goes through Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia – areas forcefully incorporated into the USSR. In the middle of that, Belarus and Smolensk Oblast form a gateway to Moscow. Further south, there are the endless Ukrainian fertile areas that form a path towards the Caucasus oil fields.

Items depicted on the board are:

1. Ordinary areas – oval-shaped areas with borders in player colors (gray, white or brown). A player can only enter an area of their own color.
2. Double-color areas – 2-colored oval-shaped areas. Both players of the indicated colors can enter these.
3. Fortified areas – if you do not control this area, you have to discard 1 ammo marker from your Army card to enter this area. Moscow, Leningrad and Rostov are fortified areas.
4. Victory areas – 3 star-shaped areas represent the automatic victory areas (Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov). They are fortified areas.
5. Soviet symbol – these areas receive Soviet markers during setup, including the 3 Victory areas.
6. Main Supply Bases – cross shaped areas where you place supplies during the Take Supplies action.
7. Starting areas – Areas with a flag with an army identifier. Place the corresponding army there during setup.
8. Frontline Supply Base – an area where you can place supplies during the Take Supplies action.
9. Objective areas – areas with a printed medal. You receive a Medal token (if available) when you capture an objective area.
10. Line – connection (road) between areas, available for a player whose color matches the color of the line. Areas are considered adjacent if they are connected by an arrow (pointing in any direction and in any color). You place trucks and trains on these arrows during the Transport Supplies action.
11. Double line – works like a single line, but is available to the two players whose colors match the lines.
12. Red line – red connections between areas are unusable by players. They matter only during Soviet Reaction and Encirclement.
13. Harbor – an area where you can place supplies using the OKH Transportflotille card, if you control this area.
14. Sea areas – areas available for the fleet unit.
15. Logistics Cards – players keep their available trucks and trains on them.
16. Player Order Track – player markers on this show the player turn order.
17. Transport Stock – you take available trucks and trains from this stock during the Take Transport action. During Theater Re-Organization, all trucks and trains from the board are moved to this stock.
18. Transport Reserve – holds surplus trains until they become available to the players after first Theater Re-Organization.
19. Supply Stock – holds available fuel, ammo and food markers.

5. How to Win the Game

You win the game:

• Immediately if you are the first player to capture (place a Control marker on) a Victory area (Moskva, Leningrad or Rostov), and you can trace an unbroken chain of areas with Control markers from that city back to your Main Supply Base OR
• If you have the most Medals at the end of the round in which the last Soviet marker in the pool was placed. In case of a tie, the winner is the player with more Encircled Soviet cards. If there is still a tie, the winner is the tying player later in the player order sequence.

Moskva is the only Victory area that can be captured by any player. The remaining two Victory areas are assigned to particular players. The gray player wins by capturing Leningrad. The brown player wins by capturing Rostov.

Medals are awarded:

• For capturing Objective areas,
• For defeating larger Soviet Units (these Medals are printed on the Axis Unit card),
• For every 3 ammo markers on defeated Soviet Units cards (rounded down) which are not marked with a Medal,
• For capturing a Victory area (only relevant where the capturing player is not able to trace back to their Main Supply Base).

6. Sequence of Play

You play the game over a series of Rounds until an Army Group successfully captures a Victory area, or the last Soviet marker in the pool is placed.

In the case of the latter, play continues until the end of the Round (i.e. the last player on the Player Order track has taken all their actions), and then the game ends and the winner is determined. Note that even if later in the same round Soviet markers are returned to the pool following combat, the game still ends.

The sequence of play, in player turn order, is as follows:

1. Take actions
2. Railhead Advancement
3. Soviet reaction

7. Player Actions

On your turn you take 2 Core actions, and any number of Bonus actions. You may do these in any order and combination. You may take the same type of action more than once.

The Core actions you can take are:

• Move all Field Armies,
• Move one Armored Army,
• Move the Fleet (Nord Army Group only),
• Take Supplies,
• Transport Supplies,
• Take Transports / Theater Re-organization.

The Bonus actions you can take are:

• Air Support,
• Play a held Pursuit card,
• Take an OKH card (once per Theater Re-organization Step),
• Play an OKH card.

Each action must be completed in full before another action is taken.

EXAMPLE: You cannot play a Recon card during the movement of an Army; it must be played before the Army begins its move.

8. Core Actions

8.1 Move All Field Armies

All your Field Armies may move one area as a single action. This does not require the expenditure of any supplies. It is not required to move all your Field Armies as part of this action.

If the Field Army was not halted by the effect of a Pursuit card or by resolving a combat in the area moved into, you may spend 1 food from the Army's supply to move one additional area.

Each Field Army is moved in turn, you must complete the movement of one Army before starting movement of another one.

8.2 Move One Armored Army

To move an Armored Army you must spend 1 fuel from the Army's supply. You may then move the Army up to 3 areas.

COMMON MOVEMENT RULES

• You may not move the same Army twice in the same Round (including as a result of a Bonus action),
• All supplies spent by the Army as part of its movement, including when resolving combat, are returned to the Supply Stock,
• An Army may only enter areas that have your background color (including double-colored areas),
• An Army may move backwards or forwards – the direction of the arrows between the areas is for thematic purposes only,
• An Army may not enter an area containing any other Army, or a Control marker of another player.

If your Army enters an area with a Control marker there is no effect.

If it enters an area without a Control marker you must either:

• Draw a Soviet card and resolve a combat if that area has a Soviet marker OR
• Draw a Pursuit card from your Pursuit deck.

In either case, if you run out of cards to draw, shuffle the relevant discard pile and use it as a new draw deck.

You must resolve a card effect before continuing the Army's movement, or before starting another action if the Army has finished moving.

After resolving the card and any combat, place a Control marker of your color on the area, track-side down. Place the resolved Pursuit card in a discard pile, unless it is a card you can hold*. Place a defeated Soviet card in your player area, or shuffle it back into the deck depending on card instructions.

If, after resolving the card, an Armored Army still has some of its movement allowance left, and it hasn't been halted, it may continue to move.

Resolution of combat is covered in Section 10. A summary of the effect of the Pursuit and Soviet cards is set out on the Player Aid.

*EXCEPTION: If a Pursuit card grants the player additional supplies and there are no available supplies in the Supply Stock, the Pursuit card can be held as a temporary replacement until the supplies become available, or the supplies represented on the card are spent by the player.

Encirclement

If, by placing a Control marker on an area, you cut off other connected uncontrolled areas from tracing a continuous chain of uncontrolled areas to a Victory area, those areas are 'encircled'. Multiple areas may become encircled as the result of a single Army movement.

Uncontrolled areas may use red line connections to trace the chain, and in the North (Gray Army Group) theater they may trace the chain through uncontrolled harbor areas to Leningrad if the fleet is not in the sea area of that harbor.

EXAMPLE: 4 Panzergruppe has just captured Riga. Soviet markers in Siaulai and Liepaja are not encircled, since Liepaja has a harbor and an unblocked sea connection to Leningrad.

Once the Army's movement has finished, check for encirclement and place Control markers in the color of the encircled area; they are now controlled. In the case of double-colored areas being encircled, the active player gains control of the encircled areas.

Fortified areas are treated like normal areas for the purpose of encirclement. If an Objective area becomes encircled, the player placing the Control marker takes the Medal. If a Soviet marker is in an area that becomes encircled, the marker is removed and placed back in the pool and the active player draws the top card from the Soviet deck. This card is placed face-down in a separate pile in their player area. Place a defeated Soviet card in your player area, or shuffle it back into the Soviet deck if you do not defeat it.

The number of cards placed in this pile determines the outcome of a tie-break at the end of the game (see How to Win the Game), but otherwise have no effect on the game.

EXAMPLE: Brown is moving his 11 Army, which, after its victorious combat captures Mogilev Podolskiy and Brown places his marker there. Next, 1 Panzergruppe, after a successful combat, captured Brody. 1 Panzergruppe continues its movement and gains control of Proskurov. Then, the player removes the Soviet markers from Lvov, Stanislavov, and Czenovitsy and replaces them with his Control markers, because these areas have been cut off from all of the Victory areas. Also, the three top cards from the Soviet deck are removed (without being revealed) and added to Brown's player area. Brown also receives the medal for capturing Lvov.

If you lose control of the area due to a Soviet counter-attack you must return the Medal to the supply.

Entering a double-colored area

You may enter a double-colored area unless there is a Control marker of another Army Group already on it.

EXAMPLE: Vilnius is double-colored and can be entered by Army Groups North (gray) and Center (white).

Transporting Supply markers

If an Army moves into an area containing supply markers, they can be immediately moved onto the Army card (if there is no area on the Army card, existing supplies can be swapped out and left in the area).

Similarly, at any point during the Army's movement it can drop off supplies at its current area or areas it enters (provided there is a Control marker in that area, and it's within the Supply Limits of that area).

PLAYNOTE: This means that an Armored Army with 6 supplies on its card could spend a fuel to Move, and then pick a supply in its starting area (taking it back up to 6 supplies) before moving out of that area.

Movement halted

If you draw a card with the halt icon (all Soviet cards have this icon), after resolving the card, a Field Army's movement ends. An Armored Army, if it has not moved its full 3-area allowance, can spend 1 additional fuel to ignore this icon and continue moving up to its allowance.

Entering a fortified area

If you enter a fortified area (with a bunker) without a Control marker you must pay 1 ammo. There is an icon to remind you of this. If you cannot pay this, you cannot enter.

After paying the ammo, the bunker is removed, and then you draw the relevant card. Once a bunker is removed the area is no longer fortified, even if the Control marker is subsequently removed again by a Soviet Counter-attack.

Entering a Medal area

If the area has one or more Medal tokens, after placing a Control marker take the Medal and place it in your player area.

EXAMPLE: Gray's 4 Panzergruppe starts in Riga. The Army has 3 fuel and 1 ammo markers. The player starts moving this Army, removing 1 fuel from the Army card. The 4 Armored Army enters Jekabpils. Gray draws the top card of her Pursuit Deck: it's Soviet Bombers. In order to continue, Gray has to remove 1 fuel marker from the moving Army's card. Gray wants to conquer Velikiye Luki before White, so she removes 1 fuel to continue moving the Army. A gray Control marker is placed in Jekabpils.

Next, the 4 Panzergruppe moves to Sebezh, and the player reveals the top card of the Pursuit Deck: Captured Stock (+1). Gray places 1 ammo marker on the Army's card. A gray Control marker is placed in Sebezh.

For its very last move, the 4 Armored Army enters Velikiye Luki before White, who could also capture this city. Gray reveals the next card from her Pursuit Deck: Axis Latvians. There is a hand symbol on this card, so she places it in her player area. She can play it in some later turn for an extra action. Besides marking Velikiye Luki with a Control marker, Gray also takes Velikiye Luki's Medal token from the board and places it in her player area (with the Iron Cross side up). After the Army's movement is finished, there is 1 fuel marker and 1 ammo marker on the Army's card.

EXAMPLE 2: The situation begins the same as in the previous example, but the Pursuit card revealed after entering Jekabpils is Führerbefehl. Gray uses Führerbefehl to move the medal from Rzhev to Velikiye Luki (move one medal token onto another double-colored objective city) – so now there are two medals to be acquired there by capturing it.

After entering Sebezh, the player reveals a Pursuit card: Partisans. Gray immediately flips a White Control marker, turning the railway side down.

For its third part of this movement action, the 4 Armored Army enters Velikiye Luki, and the card revealed is Silberfuchs – no effect. The player receives both medals from Velikiye Luki and places a gray Control marker in Velikiye Luki. After the movement is finished, there are 2 fuel markers and 1 ammo marker on the Army card.

8.3 Move the Fleet (Nord Army Group only)

The Nord Army Group (gray) player can move the fleet between adjacent sea areas once per round. The effect of the fleet is to prevent a harbor area in the sea area where the fleet is located being used to trace a chain of continuous uncontrolled areas to Leningrad (see Encirclement rules above).

EXAMPLE: The fleet moves 1 area and blocks the Liepaja harbor. The Soviet markers in Liepaja and Siauliai are now encircled and are immediately removed back to the pool. Two Soviet cards are removed from the deck and placed face down in gray player's area. Gray places her Control markers in Liepaja, Siauliai, and Ventspils.

8.4 Take Supplies

You use the Take Supplies action to place supplies in your Main Supply Base, or – for the Army Group South (brown) player only – the Frontline Supply Base (in Piatra) if you control it.

If you are placing supplies in your Main Supply Base, you may take up to 6 of any type of supply in the Supply Stock and place them there. For the Frontline Supply, you may only take up to 3 of any type, and can only receive supplies in this way once per round.

Supply Limits

• A normal area, including the Forward Supply Base, can hold up to 6 supplies.
• A Main Supply Base can hold up to 9 supplies.

If placing supplies in an area would breach this limit, you must remove excess (back to the Supply Pool) to remain within the limit (you can choose which supplies are removed). Supplies held on the card of an Army in this area do not count towards this limit.

If a Control marker is removed due to a Soviet Counter-attack, any supplies on it are lost and placed back in the Supply Stock.

EXAMPLE: It's Brown's turn. For his first action, he takes 3 ammo and 3 fuel markers from the Supply Stock and places it into the Reichshof area. For his second action, he places 2 fuel and 1 food marker into the area of Piatra. He can place supplies there since it is his Frontline Supply Base. The player takes the markers from the Supply Stock and places them in Piatra.

8.5 Transport Supplies

Supplies can be moved between adjacent areas either by being transported by an Army as part of the Movement action, or through a Transport Supplies action.

Using the Transport Supplies action allows you to place available trains and/or trucks, up to your Logistics Level, from your Logistics card to transport up to 4 supplies per truck, or 6 supplies per train, from one area to an adjacent area.

A train or truck can be placed on any route between adjacent areas to transport supplies provided that:

• You control both areas between the route, and – for trains only – the Control markers between each area of the route have been flipped via Railhead Advancement to their track side, and the track-side up markers trace a continuous connection of areas to your Main or Frontline Supply Base. In both cases the direction of the arrows between the controlled areas is irrelevant.
• There is not already a train placed on that route if placing a train, or a truck placed on that route if placing a truck (a train and truck can both be placed on the same route).
• You do not place more trains and trucks per action than permitted by your Logistics Level (see page 6).
• You do not exceed the Supply Limit of an area at any point when moving supplies into it.

You may place trains and trucks at different routes provided they meet the above criteria – i.e. they do not need to be in a chain.

You may pick up and drop off supplies at any point as part of this action provided that you do not exceed the Supply Limits.

Trains and trucks remain on the route if a Control marker is removed due to a Soviet Counter-attack.

EXAMPLE: There are 3 ammo, 3 fuel, and 3 food pieces in Danzig. Gray takes the Transport Supplies action. She is at Level 1 on the Logistics Chart, thus she can place up to 3 transports. First Gray places a train between Danzig and Königsberg, and uses it to move 3 ammo and 3 fuel from Danzig to Königsberg. Then Gray places a second train between Königsberg and Tilsit, and uses it to move 3 ammo and 3 fuel from Königsberg to Tilsit. Then Gray places a truck between Danzig and Königsberg, uses it to move 3 food from Danzig to Königsberg.

At the beginning of the next turn, there are 3 fuel and 3 ammo in Tilsit. In Riga, however, there is the 4 Panzergruppe that has no supplies on its card. The railway track in Kaunas was built last turn. For his first action, Gray places a train and moves 3 fuel and 3 ammo pieces from Tilsit to Kaunas, and then places one truck between Kaunas and Panevezys, and another one between Panevezys and Riga, to move 3 fuel and 1 ammo to Riga. There are 2 ammo left in Kaunas.

8.6 Take Transport

Each player begins with 5 trucks and 3 trains on their Logistics card. These can be replaced or added to by the Take Transport action. If you take this action, you take the number of trucks (of your color) or trains, in any combination, from the Transport Stock, up to the amount permitted by your current Logistics Level, and place them on to your Logistics card. You can take trucks or trains in this way from the Transport Stock even if you have unused ones in your Logistics card, but you may never exceed the maximum amount allowed by your Logistics Level.

EXAMPLE: White is at Level 1 on the Logistics Chart and has 3 trucks and 1 train in their pool. According to the "Take" row of the Logistics card, he can take up to 6 transport tokens from the stock, but that would exceed the number he can possess, 9. So White can only take 5 (in any combination, e.g. 2 trucks + 3 trains, or no truck + 5 trains).

If immediately following this action there are no trains left in the Transport Stock, play is interrupted to resolve the Theatre Re-organization Step (see below). Note that the triggering of the Theatre Re-organization Step comes after the end of the Take Transport action, even if there were fewer trucks or trains in the stock than you had capacity to take.

EXAMPLE: There are 2 trains left on the Transport Stock. A player does the Take Transport action. Their Logistics Level allows them to take up to 6 trucks and trains (in any combination) but this player takes only 2 trains, as there are no more of them available on the Transport Stock. This triggers a Theater Re-Organization, which pauses their player's turn.

If the player did not want to trigger a Theater Re-Organization, they must choose to take only one train (or no trains) from the Transport Stock. If the player wants more trains, they need to perform another Take Transport action after the Theater Re-Organization is completed.

8.7 Theatre Re-organization Step

The Theatre Re-organization Step is not a specific player action. It is triggered when there are no trains left in the Transport Stock at the end of a Take Transport action. It interrupts play.

If the player that triggered it still has Actions left to take, they can be taken after the Theatre Re-organization Step is resolved.

The following applies to all players when the Theatre Re-organization Step is triggered:

• (First Theatre Re-organization Step only) Flip your Logistics card from Level 1 to Level 2.
• Remove all trains and trucks from the map and place them in the Transport Stock (trains and trucks on your Logistics card remain there).
• (First Theatre Re-organization Step only) Add trains to the Transport Stock from the Transport Reserve. Add 2 trains, then an additional number of trains equal to twice the number of players in the game (e.g. in a 3-player game add 8 trains). This only occurs once, during the first Theatre Re-organization Step of the game.
• Feed your Armies. Each of your Armies must spend a food (either from its card or from the area it is located in). If it cannot do this you must place a HALT marker next to it. It cannot take a Move action until a food has been moved to its area. An unfed Army will always spend a food if it enters its area (i.e. feeding the Army isn't optional if it's possible).
• Return all spent Air Support markers from next to the Soviet / Pursuit deck, and spent HQ markers from next to the OKH deck. Place them face up; they can now be used again.

EXAMPLE: An Army with a HALT marker enters an area with food available in it; it will be immediately spent and the HALT marker will be removed.

EXAMPLE 2: In a 3-player game, after players reached Level 2 on the Logistics card, 8 trains that were set in Transport Reserve during setup are now placed into the Transport Stock.

EXAMPLE 3: Gray has three Armies on the board. 16 Army has 2 food, 18 Army has 1 food and 4 Armored Army has no food on its card. After the Theater Re-Organization, 16 Army has only 1 food left, 18 Army has no food and 4 Armored Army is grounded – marked with a HALT marker and unable to take a Move action until food is delivered to its area. When food is delivered to its area, it will be immediately spent and the HALT marker will be removed.

9. Bonus Actions

9.1 Air Support

As an action you may place your Air Support marker on the top card of your Pursuit deck or the Soviet deck to secretly view the next card to be drawn from the deck. Leave the marker on top of the card until it is drawn; it will provide you with an additional 1 ammo towards any combat that results from the draw. Once the card is drawn the marker is flipped and becomes spent, and cannot be used again until after the next Theatre Re-organization Step. Leave it next to the deck to show it has been used.

Note that multiple Air Support markers can potentially be placed on the same Soviet card. Each marker only supports the player whose color it is.

EXAMPLE: White begins his turn. His goal is to capture Brest. His 2 Armored Army has 3 fuel and 3 ammo, but White worries this may not be sufficient. So as an additional action, White places his Air Support on the Soviet deck. White peeks at the top Soviet card – 6 Mech Corps – and returns it to the top of the deck, then puts his white Air Support marker onto the Soviet deck. Capturing Brest will now require 4 ammo markers in total: 1 for the fortification and 3 ammo (along with 1 fuel) to defeat the Soviet 6 Mech Corps. This is now possible thanks to the Air Support reducing the necessary ammo by 1!

White in his first action moves his 2 Armored Army from Siedlce, spending 1 fuel from its Army card. Then the Army moves to Brest and removes 1 ammo from the Army card for entering a fortified area. There are only 2 ammo left on the 2 Armored Army card. In Brest, the player reveals the top card from the Soviet deck (since there is a Soviet marker in Brest) – the identified 6 Mech Corps. To win this battle, the player needs 3 ammo and 1 fuel markers. The Army has the fuel but only 2 ammo, but the 3rd required ammo is provided by the Air Support – Brest is now captured! White places his Control marker in this area and the defeated Soviet card into his player area. He flips the Air Support marker to show it has been used. The player could spend 1 fuel token to move his Armored Army one more time (e.g. to Bereza), but decides it is too risky to leave his Army with no supplies.

9.2 Play a Held Pursuit Card

Some Axis Auxiliaries and Recon Pursuit cards have a 'hold' symbol and an accompanying 'action' (+1 additional action or review the top card of the Soviet / Pursuit deck) printed on the card. When you draw cards with this symbol you can either use them immediately, or you can hold them in your player area, to play on a later turn. There is no limit to the number of such cards you can hold, or the number you can play on a turn as a Bonus action. See the Player Aid for more details on the effects of these cards.

9.3 Take an OKH Card

Each player has an HQ marker (a staff car miniature). As a Bonus action this marker can be placed on its side (to show it is now spent) next to the OKH deck and you can take one of the available cards from the OKH pool.

The card is placed in your player area. A new OKH card is then immediately added from the deck to the pool. The HQ marker is refreshed and returned to your player area after the next Theatre Re-organization.

9.4 Play an OKH Card

You can play an OKH card in your player area at any point on your turn in any round of the game. After resolving its effects, it is removed from the game.

OKH cards and their effects:

• Transportflottille – Place 1 food, 1 ammo and 1 fuel in one harbor you control (Baltic sea or Black sea).
• Brandenburg – You can play this during combat to draw a different card from the Soviet deck. Place the first card back onto the bottom of the Soviet deck.
• Luftbrücke – Move 1 supply from the Supply Stock to one of your Armies.
• Panzerhaubitzen – You can play this on an activated Army to add 1 ammo to its card (at any time, even during Movement or combat).
• Pionieren – You can play this when activating an Army. This Army does not have to spend additional ammo when entering a fortified area.
• Grosstransportraum – You can play this during the Transport Supplies action. During this action, you can place 1 additional truck (above your Logistics limit), and each truck you place can carry 5 supplies instead of 4.
• Schnellkampfgruppe – You can play this during an Armored Army's activation to let it move 4 areas (instead of 3).
• Auftragstatkik – Activate a selected Army to move. No Army can be activated twice in the same turn.
• Stuka Geschwader – Use Air Support without flipping (spending) your Air Support marker. If the marker is already spent, unflip it (you may immediately spend it again).
• Sicherungs-Division – [Reaction] Cancels a Partisans card, after its target is revealed.
• Eisenbahnpioniere – Turn one of your Control markers so that the railway track faces up.
• Wolfsschanze – Move 1 Medal token onto any other area with a printed medal and with no Control markers. There may be no more than 2 Medals tokens in one area.

10. Combat

When you draw a card with a Soviet Unit you must resolve a combat. All cards in the Soviet deck feature Soviet Units, as do some cards in the Pursuit decks. To defeat a Soviet Unit you must spend supplies from your Army card to match the requirement of the Soviet Unit.

Each Soviet Unit has this requirement printed on the top left of the card. This will range from 1 ammo to up to 3 ammo and 1 fuel.

If the Army can meet this requirement:

1. Remove the required supplies from the Army card,
2. Place a Control marker on the area, removing the Soviet marker – if relevant – back to the pool,
3. Place the defeated Soviet Unit card in your player area, it will count towards your final number of Medals (see Section 5: How to Win the Game).

If the Army is unable to meet this requirement:

1. Remove as many ammo and fuel markers as possible to meet the requirement(s),
2. Move the defeated Army back to the area it entered from. Its movement action has now ended (you cannot continue movement by paying another fuel),
3. Shuffle the Soviet Unit card back into the deck from which it was drawn*.

*NOTE: This means that after the first time this happens with a card drawn from the Soviet deck the blue and green Soviet cards will now be mixed together.

Remember:

• If your Army is entering a fortified area, it must pay the 1 ammo cost before drawing the relevant card,
• If the drawn card has your Air Support marker on it, you gain +1 ammo for resolving the combat.

EXAMPLE: 1 Panzergruppe is in Briansk. There are 2 fuel and 4 ammo on the Army card. Additionally, there is 1 ammo marker in Briansk. For his action, Brown starts moving the Army, moving 1 fuel from the Army card to the Supply Stock and simultaneously taking the 1 ammo marker from the area.

EXAMPLE (continued): The 1 Panzergruppe has moved 1 area so far, so it may continue its movement. To keep moving after a battle, the player must spend another 1 fuel from its Army card. The 1 Panzergruppe enters Moskva. However, Moscow is a fortified area, and thus costs 1 ammo to enter. Next, the top card of the Soviet deck is revealed, since there was a Soviet marker in Moscow. The card revealed is 16 Mech Corps. The player spends 2 ammo markers from the Army card, but unfortunately does not have 1 fuel which is also needed to win this combat. So the 1 Armored Army has lost the combat and retreats to Kaluga. There are now no supplies on the Army's card. The enemy unit that was not defeated is shuffled back into the Soviet deck.

EXAMPLE 2: First the Army moves into Kaluga, spending 1 ammo, since Kaluga is a fortified area. The player draws the top card of his Pursuit Deck, revealing the Soviet 40th Army. The player spends 1 more ammo from his Army card to win this combat. He adds the defeated Soviet card to his player area and puts a brown Control marker into Kaluga and removes bunker miniature to the box. Kaluga has a medal, which the player collects and adds to his player area.

11. Railhead Advancement

After completing your actions, flip one of your Control markers so that it is track-side up. The flipped marker must be adjacent to one of your Control markers already flipped to its tracked side.

This will allow you to place trains between two areas with track-side up Control markers of your color.

EXAMPLE: Gray decides to flip his marker in Kedainai, planning to deliver supplies further to Riga (as described in an earlier example).

12. Soviet Reaction

Your turn always finishes with a Soviet Reaction, where the Soviets counter-attack and/or place Soviet markers on the board based on the instructions on your Front card.

Front cards

Each player has a dedicated Front card. The Front card is double-sided. The side with the '*' is the Advanced system, the other side is the Basic system. Before the game begins players should collectively agree which system to play (for the first few plays the easier Basic system is recommended).

The Front card provides instructions to each player on where to place the Soviet markers. Perform the priorities in the order set out on the card.

If the first priority is not possible, move on to the second priority, and so forth.

For the Basic system:

• If Counter-Attack, you counter-attack once, targeting another player's areas (you only target your own markers if you are playing the Solitaire variant);
• If Objective and Victory City Protection, these refer to your Objective areas (i.e. areas in your color with a printed Medal icon) and your Victory area, respectively.

For the Advanced system:

• For Counter-Attack, you counter-attack as many times as you can, including against your own areas;
• For other priorities, follow the specific instructions set out on the card.

If there is more than one Soviet marker placement choice that meets the placement criteria set out on the Front card, the player to the left of the active player determines the Soviet reaction. (Gray is left of white, who is left of brown, who is left of gray.)

Counter-attack rules

You remove a Control marker of the targeted player from the board back to their pool (as indicated by the Front card).

The removed marker:

• Cannot be in or adjacent to:
  • a) a starting Area or
  • b) an area containing any Army miniature;
• Must be adjacent to (connected by an arrow in any color) an uncontrolled area or an area with a Soviet marker on it.

Placement rules

In the Basic system, place a Soviet marker on any land area which meets the priority criteria, and:

• is adjacent to another area with a Soviet marker and
• has no Control marker or printed player symbol.

In the Advanced system, place a Soviet marker where instructed; it does not need to be adjacent to another area with a Soviet marker, but may still not be an area with a Control marker or printed player symbol.

If there is no valid placement, then discard the Soviet marker to the game box, it is no longer used in the game.

EXAMPLE: After White's move, Orsha is vulnerable to a counter-attack, since it is not adjacent to any friendly army. Note that Velikiye Luki cannot be counter-attacked because it is adjacent to White's 9 Army. Armies protect all adjacent areas against counter-attacks, even for other players' markers. Note that 4 Army protects Borisov regardless of being halted due to lack of food.

13. Optional Rules

Any of those optional rules may be used independently or together. Before the game begins, all players must agree to the optional rules that will be used in the game.

13.1 Army Redeployment

A player can use their trains (but not trucks) to transport their Field Army (not an Armored Army). Each train deployed can transport a Field Army and that Army's supplies to an adjacent area, but cannot also transport additional supplies.

13.2 Higher Difficulty Game Variants

In order to play a more difficult game, the number of Soviet markers in the pool is decreased at the beginning of the game:

Hard Variant:

• 3 in a 3 Axis player game
• 2 in a 2 Axis player game
• 2 in a 1 Axis player game

Veteran Variant:

• 0 in a 3 Axis player game
• 0 in a 2 Axis player game
• 1 in a 1 Axis player game.

In this mode you have to successfully encircle Soviet markers from the very beginning, otherwise you will fail miserably.

13.3 Abwehr Variant [for the 2/3-player game]

Players freely decide where to place Soviet markers or where to make a Soviet counter-attack (within the restrictions of the standard counter-attack rules in section 12), instead of following the rules on their Front cards.

13.4 Winter Counter-Attacks

If a Control marker or player's Army is in the winter area (depicted with snow on the map) winter counter-attacks may be performed.

All areas with Control markers in the winter zone are subject to the winter counter-attack, regardless of whether it contains an Army or is adjacent to it (this can result in multiple such counter-attacks per turn).

An attacked Army can either:

• defend its current position paying 1 ammo for it or
• withdraw to an adjacent controlled area and remove the Control marker from the lost area. If the adjacent area is already occupied by an Army of that player, that Army withdraws to an adjacent controlled space (at no cost) to allow for the withdrawal of the Army being subject to the winter counter-attack.

Should neither option be possible, the Army is considered lost and formed again in its Main Supply Base.

Finally, place 1 Soviet marker on the lost area.

13.5 Total War

Instead of getting an OKH card once per Theatre Re-Organization by flipping your HQ token, players can buy OKH cards with their earned medals.

• First OKH card costs 2 medals,
• Second OKH card costs 3 medals,
• Third OKH card costs 4 medals,
• Fourth OKH card costs 5 medals.

The players either win if one of them captures a Victory area (as per the Immediate victory conditions in Section 5), or they all lose.

14. Soviet Player Variant

This variant is playable with 1, 2 or 3 Axis players, plus one Soviet player. The Soviet player does not take a player turn like Axis players, but makes various significant decisions as described below. The rules below replace some rules of play. All other rules apply.

14.1 Soviet Markers Use

Soviet markers have two possible icons on their other side: infantry and armor. 15 markers have an infantry icon, and 11 markers have an armor icon.

When placing a Soviet marker (also during setup), the Soviet player freely decides whether it should be an infantry or armored marker. This information is secret to the other players.

14.2 Soviet Markers Pool Variants

Basic Variant

• 3 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers.
• 2 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except two marked with 3 stripes.
• 1 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except three marked with at least 2 stripes.

Hard Variant

• 3 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the three marked with 2 or 3 stripes.
• 2 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the four marked with a star or 3 stripes.
• 1 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the four marked with a star or 3 stripes.

Veteran Variant

• 3 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the six marked with stripes or a star.
• 2 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the six marked with stripes.
• 1 Axis player game – use all Soviet markers except the five marked with stripes.

14.3 Game Setup by Soviet Player

All Soviet cards are separated into two decks – infantry and armored decks. The Soviet Infantry deck is comprised of Army and Shock Army cards. The Soviet armored deck is comprised of Mech Corps cards.

The Soviet player places Soviet markers in areas with a star symbol, secretly deciding which type of marker to put in each area.

14.4 Encounter with Soviet Markers

Whenever an Axis Army enters an area with a Soviet marker, flip the marker. If it is an Infantry marker, then draw a card from the Soviet infantry deck. If it is an armor icon, then draw a card from the Soviet armored deck.

Resolve the combat as usual.

14.5 Recon and Air Support

Instead of peeking at the top card of a deck, an Axis player peeks at the other side of a Soviet marker adjacent to one of his Armies, then places their air support marker on the area.

14.6 Partisans

The Soviet player decides which Axis Control marker should be flipped due to a Partisans card.

14.7 Encirclement

Do not remove cards from the Soviet decks.

14.8 Soviet Reaction

During each Axis player's Soviet Reaction, instead of using the Front card, the Soviet player freely decides where to place a Soviet marker or where to make a Soviet counter-attack (within the restrictions of the standard counter-attack rules in section 12).

14.9 Victory and Medals

All medals placed on the board during setup belong to the Soviet player. In case of standard victory determination, count the remaining medals on the board: that is the Soviet player's score.

EXAMPLE: At the end of the game, Gray has 6 medals, White has 5, and Brown has 4. 7 medals remain on the board, so the Soviet player wins with 7!

Credits

Game design: Waldemar Gumienny

Development: Jaro Andruszkiewicz, Michał Ozon, Wojciech Sieroń, Agata Jurczyszyn

Historical Research: Jonathan Nikitas

Playtesters: Planszowe Opole, RasTafari, Zwierz, Piton, BoguszO, Śmigiel, Swiety_1984, Gafik, Ryszard "RAJ" Jeziorny

Art & Graphics: Peter Robichaud, Grzegorz Ryszko, Bartłomiej Jędrzejewski, Natalia Saluk, Krzysztof Klemiński

DTP: Krzysztof Klemiński, Artur Bartos, Katarzyna Jasińska

Proofreading: Russ Williams

Rulebook Editing (2024 version): James Buckley

Thanks for your support: Kickstarter Community, BoardGameGeek.com Community, ConsimWorld Community, Backerkit.com Community

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