Against the Reich
Against the Reich Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Components and Basic Concepts
- 3. Sequence of Play
- 4. Operations
- 5. Actions
- 6. Movement
- 7. Combat
- 8. Introductory Mini-Game: The Battle of the Bulge
- 9. Supply
- 10. Ports, Beachheads, and Mulberries
- 11. Replacements
- 12. Surrender
- 13. The Theater Display
- 14. Map Zone Control
- 15. Amphibious Assaults
- 16. Reinforcements
- 17. Special Rules: I June and II June
- 18. Introductory Mini-Game: D-Day
- 19. Allied Victory Points
- 20. The Campaign for Northwest Europe
- 21. Optional Rules
- Designer's Notes
- Players' Notes
- On the Horns of a Dilemma
- Charts and Tables
- Abbreviated Sequence of Play
- Summary Charts
- Combat Value Modification Summary
- Combat Results Table
- Strategic Combat Results Table
- Percentage Loss Chart
1. Introduction
Rules Structure: Against The Reich may be learned in two sections, rather than all at once. The first group of rules deals with movement and combat; following these rules is an introductory mini-game on the Battle of the Bulge. The second group of rules introduces additional concepts such as supply, port activities, replacements, and amphibious assaults. A second introductory game, simulating only the D-Day invasion, will help you master the amphibious assault rules. You will then be ready for the Campaign Game.
2. Components and Basic Concepts
A complete copy of Against The Reich includes:
- Two 22" by 34" full-color maps
- 400 die-cut counters
- One 40-page rules and historical background booklet
- One color display
- One decimal die
There are two identical sets of pullout sheets at the center of the rules booklet, one for each player.
If any of these components are missing or damaged, write to us and we'll replace them. If you have questions concerning the rules of the game we'll be happy to answer them. Please phrase your inquiries so they may be answered "yes" or "no" or with short statements.
West End Games, Inc., 251 West 30th Street, New York City, NY 10001
2.1 The Map and Theater Display
There are two maps: the East map and the West map. The Campaign Game uses both maps; the two mini-games use only one. When using both maps, join them together along their common boundary, aligning the numbered hexrows so that they match.
Each hex has a four-digit number. Throughout the rules, hexes on the East map are designated only by their numbers, and hexes on the West map are designated by their numbers with the prefix "W": for example, hex W/1410 is Cherbourg.
(2.11) Major Terrain: Six types of major terrain are portrayed on the map. In order of priority, these are:
- Urban
- Lowland
- Mountain
- Rough
- Broken
- Clear
Each hex is considered to be only one type of major terrain. If two or more types appear within a hex, the hex is considered to be of the highest priority terrain among them.
Example: A hex with both rough and clear terrain is considered rough.
(2.12) Minor Terrain: Several types of minor terrain such as cities and rivers appear in hexes or along hexsides. These may affect movement and combat. They do not affect a hex's major terrain classification.
(2.13) Amphibious Assault Boxes: The several Amphibious Assault Boxes, each of which corresponds to an "invasion hex" (15), are used in the Campaign and short D-Day Games.
(2.14) Map Zones: The map is divided into a number of map zones, each with a name: for example, "Ile de France" and "Ruhr." Each zone corresponds to a box on the Theater Display. The Theater Display is used to record "control status" (14) of map zones, and for other strategic planning functions.
2.2 Playing Pieces
There are two types of playing pieces: units and markers. Units represent military formations which participated in the Western European campaign from June 1944 to February 1945. The German player controls German units, the Allied player controls all others. Markers are placed on the map and Theater Display to record information.
Summary of unit types (counter illustrations, front and back): US Infantry Division; German Parachute Division; British Armored Division; Canadian Headquarters; Allied Depot; and the German Fortress, Allied Depot and other markers, as shown in the rules booklet. Each unit's front (mobile) side shows its Combat Value and Movement Allowance, and its back (fatigued) side shows the reduced values used after activity (2.24).
Summary of counter elements:
- Size: the number of divisions or Headquarters the counter represents; "xx" indicates a division-size unit (2.25).
- Type: the kind of troops the unit contains — armor, infantry, parachute, headquarters, and so forth (2.25).
- Designation: the unit's actual historical identifying number, provided purely for historical interest; it has no effect on play (2.25).
- Movement Allowance: the movement points (MPs) the unit may spend in a turn (2.23, 6.1).
- Combat Value: the unit's strength in combat (7.1).
2.21 Combat Units and HQs
There are two types of units: combat units and headquarters (HQs). All units with "combat values" (7.1) above zero are combat units. Each player has several HQs, representing high-level command and logistical facilities. Allied HQs are differentiated by nationality (US, British, Canadian, and French).
(2.22) Subordinate/Superior: Allied units are divided into three groups by nationality. Each nationality is subordinate, basically, only to HQs of its own nationality:
- British, Canadian, and Polish units are subordinate to every British or Canadian HQ.
- US and French units are subordinate to every US HQ.
- French units also are subordinate to the French HQ.
An HQ is superior to any unit that is subordinate to it. Units benefit only from superior HQs.
(2.23) Movement Allowance and Class: The movement allowance — expressed in movement points (MPs) — indicates how far a unit can move in a turn (6.1).
Combat units also have a movement class:
- Motorized are those whose movement allowance is in brackets;
- Semi-motorized are those whose movement allowance is parenthesized;
- Unmotorized are those whose movement allowance is neither bracketed nor parenthesized.
(2.24) Mobile/Fatigued: All units have a mobile (front) and a fatigued (reverse) side. After a unit has undertaken a certain amount of activity during a turn it is flipped to its fatigued side (4 and 5.3).
(2.25) Unit Types: A unit's type indicates what kind of troops the unit contains — armor, infantry, parachute, headquarters, and so forth.
- The designation is the unit's actual historical identifying number and is provided purely for historical interest; it has no effect on play.
- The "xx" symbol appearing on many units indicates division-size units.
(2.26) Markers: Several types of markers are used in the game. These do not represent military forces, but are placed on the map to record information.
Marker summary (front/back as printed): Zone Control (Allied and German; "Contested" and "Fortress" markers); German Fortress marker (x2); Allied Depot; Out of Supply markers (Allied and German); Game Turn marker; Supply Level marker; Allied Victory Point marker; Allied Port Repair marker; Allied Mulberry marker; Allied Beachhead marker; Allied Port (Open/Damaged) marker; Besieged marker; German Victory Point marker.
Abbreviations used in the rules, on the counters, or on the map:
AACRT: Amphibious Assault Combat Results Table. AD: Armored Division. AD*: Heavy or SS Armored Division. BR: British. CA: Canadian. CD: Coast Defense Division. CONUS: Continental United States. CRT: Combat Results Table. DB: Division Blindee. DIA: Division d'Infanterie Algerienne. DIC: Division d'Infanterie Coloniale. DIM: Division d'Infanterie Marocaine. DMI: Division de Marche d'Infanterie. DMM: Division Marocaine de Montagne. FJ: Fallschirmjaeger. FR: French. HQ: Headquarters. ID: Infantry Division. LW: Luftwaffe. MD: Metropolitan Division. MP: Movement Points. PG: Panzergrenadier Division. PO: Polish. PTF: Provisional Airborne Task Force. PZ: Panzer. R: Reserve. S: Security. SCRT: Strategic Combat Results Table. SS: Schutzstaffel. V: Volksgrenadier. VP: Victory Points. ZOC: Zone of Control.
2.3 Zones of Control
Combat units (not HQs) exert zones of control (ZOCs). A ZOC consists of the six hexes surrounding a combat unit.
- ZOCs do not extend across sea hexsides (a hexside completely covered by sea — 1610/1709 for example).
- HQs do not exert ZOCs.
Friendly units sometimes negate the effects of an enemy ZOC when the friendly unit occupies a hex in an enemy ZOC, as will be specified in later rules. In all such instances, HQs negate ZOCs the same as combat units.
2.4 Command Radius
Headquarters exert a command radius, which is a continuous path of at most four hexes from the HQ's hex (exclusive) to another unit's hex (inclusive). A command radius may not:
- cross a sea hexside
- include an enemy-occupied hex
- include a hex in an enemy ZOC, unless a friendly unit (either combat or HQ) occupies the hex.
Any unit to which such a path can be traced is within the HQ's command radius. An HQ's own hex is always within its command radius. Units outside the command radius of a superior HQ fight and, sometimes, move less effectively. (6.14, 7.13, and 7.36).
2.5 Stacking
Players may stack more than one unit in a hex, but there are limits.
- No more than three combat units may stack in a hex or wave box of "Amphibious Assault Boxes" (15).
- HQs and depots (9.4) are not subject to stacking restrictions; an unlimited number may stack in the same hex.
(2.51) Stacking restrictions apply only at these times:
- At the end of each "movement action" (5).
- After "replacements" and "reinforcements" are placed on the map (11 and 16).
- When placing units for a parachute drop (4.71).
- When entering units from South France (13.2).
- At the end of an exploitation move (15.34).
Units may freely move through friendly-occupied hexes, as long as every hex is legally stacked at the end of each movement action.
(2.52) Allied units of different nationalities may stack together.
2.6 Line of Communications
Players are sometimes required to trace a line of communications. A line of communications is a continuous path of hexes (of any length), free of enemy units and hexes in an enemy ZOC unless occupied by friendly units. The path may not cross all-sea hexsides.
2.7 The Die
Against The Reich includes a decimal die, numbered from "0" to "9". Whenever the rules call for a "die-roll," roll this die.
- Treat a roll of "0" as "zero", not as "ten" as in some other games.
2.8 Game Scale
Each hex represents ten miles from side to side. Each "game-turn" (3) represents one-half a month. Each combat unit represents one division (between 12,000 and 20,000 men). An HQ represents an army headquarters and a large number of attached combat support and logistics troops.
3. Sequence of Play
Against The Reich is played in game-turns. Turns are designated by a Roman numeral plus the name of the month: for example, II July represents the second half of July. Each turn consists of a sequence of cycles, phases, and segments as outlined below. Each game activity must be performed at the proper time in the sequence.
The heart of the game is the open-ended Activity Cycle, in which movement, combat, and various other activities occur. Most of the steps of the other two cycles are omitted when playing the introductory scenarios (8 and 18) and certain phases are omitted in I June and II June (17).
The Game-Turn (Sequence Outline)
A. STRATEGIC CYCLE
- Theater Display Phase
- a. German Strategic Reserve Segment: The German player may place units in the Strategic Reserve Box (13.51).
- b. South France Entry/Exit Segment: First German units, and then Allied, may move between Provence and Gascony on the Theater Display, or between those boxes and the map (13.2).
- c. South France Assault Segment: The Allied player may make a minor amphibious assault against South France (15.4).
- d. South France Combat Segment: German and Allied forces in the same South France Box must engage in combat (13.3).
- Port Repair Phase: Repair a damaged Allied port and place the "Port Repair" marker on another port (10.2).
- Logistics Phase
- a. Supply Segment: Each player rolls on his Supply Table and increases his "supply level" (9.2).
- b. HQ Status Segment: Each player determines which of his HQs are in supply (9.3).
- c. Depot Segment: Each player (German player first) may place one Depot marker on each supplied HQ (9.4).
- Surrender Phase: Roll one die for each "cut-off" unit to see if it surrenders (12).
B. ACTIVITY CYCLE
- Reinforcement Phase
- a. German Reinforcement Segment: The German player:
- checks for variable reinforcements (16.1)
- checks for constant reinforcements (16.2)
- may deploy a special reinforcement (16.3); and/or
- reconstruct a unit (16.4). Record Allied victory points for special reinforcements or reconstruction (19.3).
- b. Allied Reinforcement Segment: The Allied player:
- may transfer units to the map from England and Italy.
- may deploy HQ reinforcements (16.6).
- may deploy French Metropolitan reinforcements (16.7).
- a. German Reinforcement Segment: The German player:
The players now perform a variable number of Operational Phases:
- Operational Phase
- a. Initiative Segment: Either player rolls to determine "initiative" (4.2).
- b. Operation Segment: The player with initiative performs an operation (4). After the operation is done, begin another entire Operational Phase.
- Continue conducting Operational Phases until the players pass in consecutive Operational Phases (4.3).
C. TERMINAL CYCLE
- Amphibious Assault Phase: The Allied player may conduct an amphibious assault (15).
- a. Deployment Segment (15.32)
- b. Parachute Segment (15.33)
- c. 1st Wave Segment (15.34)
- d. 2nd Wave Segment (15.35)
- e. Beachhead/Mulberry Segment (15.36)
- Recovery Phase
- Flip fatigued combat units and HQs to their mobile sides (5.33).
- Remove all Depot and Out of Supply markers (9.44).
- Allied parachute units in "Allied-controlled map zones" (14.1) may return to the Parachute Units in England Box (4.76).
- Replacement Phase: Each player rolls to determine the number of "replacement points" he may spend. Place replacement units on top of or adjacent to their HQs (11).
- CONUS Phase: The Allied player may transfer two units from the CONUS Box to England, Italy, or an operable port (13.11).
- Map Zone Phase: Determine the "control status" of each map zone (14.1). Record victory points.
- The Allied player receives "victory points" for "contested" or "German-controlled map zones" with inadequate garrisons (14.1 and 19.2).
This concludes the game-turn. Advance the Game-Turn marker to the next box of the Turn Record Track. Perform the above sequence each game-turn.
4. Operations
An historian should yield himself to his subject, become immersed in the place and period of his choice, standing apart from it now and then for a fresh view. — Samuel Eliot Morison
The players perform most movement and combat during Operational Phases in the Activity Cycle. In each Operational Phase, one player may conduct one operation. There are eight types of operations; some of these entitle players to activate friendly units and conduct movement and/or attack "actions" (5). Others permit only HQ movement or special activities.
Only mobile (2.24) units may participate in an operation. After an operation is completed, any units that operated are flipped to their fatigued sides and may not participate in any other operations in the current game-turn (Exceptions: 4.81 and 4.9).
4.1 The Operational Phase
Each Activity Cycle contains a variable number of Operational Phases. In each Operational Phase, the players roll the die to determine which player has the initiative; the player with initiative then performs one of the following eight operations:
- Pass
- Division operation
- Corps operation
- HQ Movement
- HQ Relocation
- Parachute Drop (Allied player only)
- Fortress (German player only)
- 6th Panzer Army Commitment (German player only)
The players perform successive Operational Phases until the Activity Cycle is terminated by the two players passing in succession (4.3).
- An Activity Cycle may contain any number of Operational Phases.
4.2 Initiative
In the Initiative Segment of each Operational Phase either player rolls the die to determine initiative.
- On any even die-roll the German player has initiative.
- On any odd die-roll the Allied player has initiative.
- On a die-roll of "0" the Allied player has initiative unless it is December, January, or February. In any turn of those three months, the German player has initiative on a die-roll of "0".
Note that, in principle, the same player could win initiative any number of times consecutively; the initiative does not alternate automatically.
Design Note: The Allied player's advantage in initiative simulates Allied air power. Allied air supremacy severely restricted the Germans' ability to react to a developing situation. Meanwhile Allied units could move with impunity. In periods of bad weather, however, the effects of air power were minimized, allowing the Germans to move and react more freely.
4.3 Pass Operations — Ending the Activity Cycle
A player who declares a Pass operation simply does nothing (passes). The current Operational Phase ends and another begins. If his opponent passed in the immediately-preceding Operational Phase, however, the entire Activity Cycle ends. The players stop performing Operational Phases and proceed to the Terminal Cycle.
- The Activity Cycle does not end when the same player passes in consecutive Operational Phases; it ends only when the players pass consecutively.
(4.31) A player may pass whenever he wins the initiative, and may pass an unlimited number of times per Activity Cycle.
(4.32) A player must pass if he has no mobile, "non-besieged" units (4.86).
4.4 Division Operations
In a Division operation, a single combat unit is "activated" (5), allowing it to move and/or attack. To initiate a Division operation, the player with initiative selects any one friendly mobile (not fatigued) combat unit (not an HQ). He declares this unit to be the active unit.
- The active unit receives 3 "action points," which it may expend to carry out movement and/or combat "actions" (5).
- A unit stacked with other units may be chosen for a Division operation, but only one unit may be activated in each Division operation.
4.5 Corps Operations
In a Corps operation, an entire stack of combat units is "activated" so that it may move and attack. To initiate a Corps operation, the player with initiative selects any one stack of friendly combat units. The stack must include at least two mobile combat units.
- In a Corps operation, the group of active units receives 3 "action points," which can then be expended to carry out actions.
(4.51) At least two units must participate in a Corps operation. A third mobile combat unit in the stack may be included at the player's option.
- A Corps operation may never include more than three units, since a stack may never include more than three combat units (2.5).
(4.52) HQs and fatigued units may never participate in a Corps operation even if situated in the corps' hex.
(4.53) Allied units of different nationalities may participate in a Corps operation together.
Design Note: Allied units of different nationalities did occasionally operate in the same corps, although this was uncommon. For example, the French 2nd Armored Division fought with an American corps for most of the summer of 1944. Similarly, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions fought with both British and Canadian corps during the fighting in Holland that fall. The US 104th Infantry Division was attached to the British I Corps in the Dutch lowlands in October.
(4.54) A player is not obligated to activate units stacked together as part of a Corps operation; he may activate them individually in separate Division operations (in separate Operational Phases, of course).
Example: It is I July. The first initiative die-roll is "1"; the Allies win initiative. The Allied player declares and performs a Corps operation. A new Operational Phase begins. The next initiative die-roll is "2"; the Germans win initiative. The German player declares and performs a Division operation. The initiative die-roll of the next Operational Phase is "8"; the German again wins the initiative and declares a Pass operation — he does nothing. The initiative is immediately rolled for again and the result is "0" giving the Allies the initiative (if it were winter, the German would have had the initiative); the Allied player declares a pass. Since the players passed in succession, the Activity Cycle ends.
4.6 HQ Movement and HQ Relocation Operations
To initiate an HQ Movement or HQ Relocation operation, the player with initiative simply selects a friendly mobile HQ. An HQ receives no "action points." Instead, it becomes eligible for movement (6.3) or relocation (6.4).
- An HQ may conduct a Movement or Relocation operation even when "out of supply" (9.3).
4.7 Parachute Drop Operations
Some Allied parachute divisions begin the Campaign Game in the box on the Theater Display called "Parachute Units in England." The purpose of a Parachute Drop operation is to bring parachute units in England onto the map.
- Only the Allied player may conduct Parachute Drop operations.
(4.71) To initiate the operation, the Allied player removes up to three parachute units of his choice from the Parachute Units in England Box. These units do not receive "action points" — they may not carry out "actions" — but attempt to enter the map as follows:
The Allied player chooses a hex into which he wishes to place ("drop") each unit. If more than one unit is being dropped, they may be dropped into different hexes. The following restrictions apply:
- A drop hex may not be more than 10 hexes from an Allied combat unit. The 10 hex range may be traced through German units, but not all-sea hexsides.
- A drop hex may not be enemy-occupied, but may be in an enemy ZOC.
- There may not be more than three combat units in the hex (including those the Allied player wishes to drop).
Design Note: Parachute units smaller than divisions have been omitted from the countermix. They have been incorporated into the divisions with which they fought. For example, the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade has been incorporated into the British 1st Airborne Division.
(4.72) After all drop hexes have been chosen, the Allied player rolls the die once for each unit dropped and modifies each roll for terrain or German ZOCs exerted on the drop hex, as follows:
Parachute Drop Modifiers
| Drop Hex | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Clear | 0 |
| Broken | 0 |
| Lowland | 0 |
| Rough | −2 |
| Mountain | −4 |
| Urban | −6 |
| German ZOC | −(Combined combat value of German units exerting ZOCs on drop hex) |
These modifiers are cumulative.
(4.73) The modified die-roll determines the parachute unit's fate, as follows:
Parachute Drop Outcomes
- Modified roll of 1 or less: The parachute unit is eliminated; it is immediately placed in the Replacement Box of any superior HQ (2.22).
- Modified roll of 2 or greater: The parachute unit is placed in its drop hex on its fatigued side.
Example: The Allied player drops the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions into a rough hex. Two fatigued German infantry units, each with a combat strength of 2, exert ZOCs into the hex. The modifier to the die-roll is −6 (−2 for rough terrain and −4 for the total German strength of 4). The Allied player rolls the die once for each parachute division. A roll of "7" modified to "1" means the 82nd is eliminated. A roll of "8" modified to "2" means the 101st is successfully dropped and is placed (fatigued) in the drop hex.
(4.74) Successfully-dropped parachute units are placed on their fatigued sides, and therefore may not participate in any other operation later in the same game-turn. In addition, during the Activity Cycle of the turn following the one in which paratroops drop there are two movement restrictions:
- Their movement allowance is 1 instead of 3.
- They move as unmotorized units, even though they are normally semi-motorized (2.23).
In the second turn following the drop and thereafter, parachute divisions regain normal movement capabilities.
(4.75) The Allied player may declare a maximum of one Parachute Drop operation per game-turn.
(4.76) At the end of the Recovery Phase, any or all Allied parachute units in an "Allied-controlled map zone" (14.1) may be placed in the Parachute Units in England Box, making it available to be dropped again; an Allied parachute unit may be dropped any number of times.
(4.77) Note that the special parachute drops involved with amphibious assaults use a slightly different procedure; see 15.33.
4.8 Fortress Operations
The purpose of a Fortress operation is to fortify a German port.
- Only German units may participate in a Fortress operation.
To initiate a Fortress operation the German player selects any one port hex that currently contains a mobile German unit. He may then place any or all mobile units in that hex underneath a Fortress marker. If there is not already a Fortress marker in the selected hex, a new one may be placed. If there is already a marker in the hex, simply place the units beneath the marker. The units do nothing more in that operation; they simply go inside the fortress.
(4.81) Units which participate in a Fortress operation remain on their mobile sides after completing the operation.
(4.82) A unit may not be placed underneath a Fortress marker while on its fatigued side. Other units in the hex can go inside, but the fatigued unit remains outside.
(4.83) Effects of Fortresses: Units inside a fortress:
- may never attack.
- defend with their printed combat values multiplied by two (7.14).
- are never subject to "depot" or "command radius" penalties (7.13).
- must surrender if eliminated (7.51).
- may be besieged (4.86).
The combat values of armored units attacking a fortress are not modified (7.11).
(4.84) If a fortress is ever vacant for any reason, remove the fortress marker. It may be used later for another Fortress operation.
(4.85) A unit which ends a "Movement action" (5) in a hex containing a fortress remains outside the fortress until it participates in a Fortress operation in a later turn. It is kept on top of the marker. None of the effects of rule 4.83 apply. All units in the hex, both inside and outside a fortress, defend together if the hex is attacked.
(4.86) Besieging a Fortress: The Allied player may besiege a fortress whenever the following conditions are satisfied:
- There are no German units outside the fortress in the fortress hex.
- There is at least one Allied combat unit within 10 hexes of the fortress. (The 10-hex path may not be traced through a German-occupied hex, nor through a German ZOC hex (even if Allied-occupied), nor through a sea hexside.)
To besiege a fortress, the Allied player places a Besieged marker on top of the fortress. Siege may occur at the instant the two requirements are satisfied — it is not an operation or action.
- Units inside a besieged fortress may not participate in any operation. They remain inside the fortress until eliminated in combat, or until the Allied player removes the Besieged marker.
Once placed, a Besieged marker may remain in place for the rest of the game; it is not necessary that the two conditions continue to be satisfied. However, if any German unit enters the fortress hex from outside, the Besieged marker is removed.
The Allied player is limited to the number of Besieged markers provided with the game (eight). The Allied player may voluntarily remove a Besieged marker at any time. Each marker may be re-used any number of times. However, a Besieged marker which is removed from the map for any reason cannot be re-used in that same game-turn. It can be re-used only in the following turn and thereafter.
Design Note: During the liberation of France a number of German units retreated into key ports such as St. Nazaire, Lorient, Bordeaux, and Dunkirk. In denying the Allies the use of these ports, Hitler hoped to tie down key Allied ground units in siege duty. However, the Allies were able to besiege these fortresses with non-divisional units, including Czech, Belgian, and Dutch formations as well as hastily-raised French Resistance groups. Most of these ports held out until the end of the war.
(4.87) Leaving a Fortress: A unit inside an unbesieged fortress may leave that fortress without penalty whenever it is activated for movement. To go back inside, the unit must again perform a Fortress operation. Units inside a besieged fortress may not leave.
(4.88) HQs never participate in a Fortress operation — they never go inside fortresses — and have no effect upon Fortress operations.
- HQs in the hex but outside the fortress prevent the besieging of a fortress, and lift a siege if they enter a besieged fortress hex.
(4.89) German units may not fortify Marseille or Bordeaux. (The "strategic combat system," 13.3, incorporates the effects of these forts.)
4.9 Sixth Panzer Army Commitment Operation
The German player (only) may declare a Sixth Panzer Army Commitment operation once per game, on or after I December. This operation commits the German "Strategic Reserve" (13.5).
"I am not a bit anxious about my battles. If I am anxious I don't fight them. I wait until I am ready." — General Sir Bernard Montgomery
5. Actions
"In war, there is no second prize for the runner-up." — General Omar Bradley
Units activated in a Division or Corps operation automatically receive 3 action points. They may expend these action points to conduct actions, which allow them to move and attack. There are four types of Movement actions and three types of Attack actions. Each action costs a number of action points to conduct. A player carries out successive actions with the active unit or units until he has exhausted all three action points (or until he wishes to stop).
5.1 How to Perform Actions
The seven actions and their action point costs are:
| Action | Action Point Cost |
|---|---|
| Tactical Movement | 1 |
| Operational Movement | 2 |
| Strategic Movement | 3 |
| Administrative Movement | 3 |
| Hasty Attack | 1 |
| Deliberate Attack | 2 |
| Intensive Attack | 3 |
(5.11) In a Division operation the active unit receives 3 action points.
- In a Corps operation the active stack (not each individual unit) receives 3 action points.
(5.12) To begin an action, a player states the action he wishes to undertake and expends the number of points it costs to perform the action.
- A player may not conduct an action which costs more action points than the number his active unit(s) has remaining.
(5.13) A Division or Corps operation may consist of any number or type of actions, performed in any order. When a unit or stack has expended its 3 action points, the current operation ends. A player may terminate an operation earlier if he wishes; he is not obligated to expend all 3 action points.
- All active units become fatigued at the end of an Operational Phase.
(5.14) HQs never undertake actions; only combat units participating in a Division or Corps operation do so.
- HQs move according to special procedures (6.3 and 6.4).
5.2 Actions in Corps Operations
A group of units activated together in a Corps operation must move and attack together for as long as they remain active.
- The player must choose one action at a time for the entire stack; all units must undertake each action chosen.
- In a Corps operation, units may not perform actions individually. (However, when a stack moves it may "drop off" active units in hexes through which it passes — see 6.17.)
5.3 Fatigue
When a unit or stack finishes an operation, it is flipped to its fatigued (reverse) side. This applies to all types of units participating in any type of operation. (Exception: Fortress operation and Sixth Panzer Army Commitment, see 4.8 and 4.9.)
- Units participating in a Division or Corps operation become fatigued at the end of the operation regardless of how many action points were used.
(5.31) Fatigued units may not participate in any operations.
(5.32) Except for parachute units which "drop" onto the map (4.7), units are always placed on the map on their mobile sides.
(5.33) Recovery: All fatigued units are flipped back to their mobile sides during the Recovery Phase.
6. Movement
Movement actions permit combat units to move. Combat units move from hex to contiguous hex, expending one or more movement points for each hex entered. HQs may only move during HQ Movement or HQ Relocation operations, and to retreat from enemy combat units.
6.1 Movement of Combat Units
A unit's printed movement allowance may be increased or reduced depending on the action being performed, the operation in progress, and the unit's movement class (2.23). In reading what follows, it may help to refer to the Movement Allowance Summary.
(6.11) A unit performing Tactical Movement in a Division operation uses its printed movement allowance. (See 6.14 also.)
- Semi-motorized units move as unmotorized units (they pay movement costs as if they were unmotorized.)
(6.12) A unit performing Operational Movement in a Division operation uses its printed movement allowance multiplied by two.
- Semi-motorized units must move as unmotorized units.
(6.13) A motorized or unmotorized unit performing Strategic Movement in a Division operation uses its printed movement allowance multiplied by three (6.14).
- At the option of the owning player, a semi-motorized unit may move either as unmotorized, with its printed movement allowance multiplied by three, or as motorized (provided that it is in "movement supply," see 6.14), with its printed movement allowance multiplied by five. Once the choice has been made, it may not be changed for the duration of the Movement action.
(6.14) Movement Supply: A unit is in movement supply if either of the following is true:
- It begins the action within command radius (2.4) of a "supplied," superior HQ (9.3).
- It begins the action in a hex with a friendly supply source (9.1).
- A unit is not required to fulfill the above requirements throughout its movement, as long as it meets either requirement at the start of its movement.
Effects of Movement Supply
- If a motorized unit moving in a Tactical, Operational, or Strategic Movement action in a Division operation is not in movement supply, its printed movement allowance is halved (rounded up). In an Operational or Strategic Movement action, therefore, this halved value would be doubled or tripled, for a net multiplier of 1 or 1.5 rounding fractions up. (When moving as part of a Corps Operation or conducting "Administrative Movement" (6.15) motorized units are not subject to the above penalty.)
- If a semi-motorized unit is not in movement supply in a Strategic move during a Division operation it must move as unmotorized.
- Unmotorized units, and semi-motorized units moving as unmotorized units, are never affected by movement supply considerations.
Design Note: All Allied infantry divisions effectively were motorized. They could be taken out of line quickly, mounted on independent truck companies or attached trucks, and moved at the pace of a fully-motorized division.
(6.15) A unit performing Administrative Movement uses its printed movement allowance multiplied by three.
- A semi-motorized unit must move as unmotorized.
Note: Administrative Movement entails certain special privileges and restrictions; see 6.24.
(6.16) Units participating in a Corps operation always move as unmotorized (even motorized units), with the following movement allowances:
Corps Operation Movement Allowances
| Movement Action | Movement Allowance |
|---|---|
| Tactical Movement | 2 |
| Operational Movement | 4 |
| Strategic Movement | 6 |
| Administrative Movement | Forbidden |
(6.17) A stack of units conducting a Corps operation must perform its operation as a single unit. However, when such a stack leaves a hex, the owning player may "drop off" one or more of the active units in the hex being exited. The dropped-off units are immediately flipped to their fatigued sides, lose active status, and may do nothing further. The unit(s) which continue moving may perform other actions as long as they have action points remaining.
(6.18) In all types of movement a unit may move as many or as few hexes as its owner desires, provided it does not exceed its movement allowance.
- Unused movement points may not be saved from action to action nor transferred from unit to unit.
(6.19) At the end of each Movement action, stacking restrictions must be obeyed (2.5).
Example: The Allied player has US and British armored divisions stacked together. They are within command radius of a supplied US HQ, but not of a British HQ. The Allied player could activate the US division in a Division operation and move it 6 movement points in Tactical Movement, 12 in Operational Movement, or 18 in Strategic Movement. He would be equally free to enter an enemy ZOC or enemy-controlled map zone in each case. However, if he activated the British division, in a Division operation he could move it 3, 6, or 9 movement points respectively, by rule 6.14. As another alternative, he could activate the units together in a Corps operation and move them 2 movement points by Tactical Movement, 4 by Operational Movement, or 6 by Strategic Movement, paying unmotorized movement costs. The British unit's movement allowance would be undiminished since movement in a Corps operation is unmotorized.
6.2 Movement Costs
As a unit moves from hex to contiguous hex it expends a number of movement points determined by the major terrain in the hex entered. The Movement Costs Chart lists all costs.
Movement Costs Chart (6.2)
| Terrain | Unmotorized units and any units in Corps operation | Motorized units in Division Operation | HQ Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Broken | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Rough | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Mountain | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Lowland | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Urban | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ordinary River |
NE: No Effect. P: Prohibited. * These costs apply only to Tactical, Operational, or Strategic Movement; there is no extra cost in Administrative Movement.
Movement Allowance Summary (6.1)
| Movement Action | Division Operation: Unmotorized or Motorized | Division Operation: Semimotorized | Corps Operation: All Classes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tactical | x1 (1) | x1 (pay unmotorized costs) | 2 (pay unmotorized costs) |
| Operational | x2 (1) | x2 (pay unmotorized costs) | 4 (pay unmotorized costs) |
| Strategic | x3 (1) | x3 (unmotorized costs) or x5 (motorized costs (2)) | 6 (pay unmotorized costs) |
| Administrative (3) | x3 | x3 (pay unmotorized costs) | Not allowed |
(1) In Division operations other than Administrative Movement, a motorized unit's movement allowance is halved (rounded up) if not in movement supply (6.14). (2) Unit may move as motorized only if it is in movement supply. (3) May use rail movement. Must remain in friendly map zones. May not enter (or begin move in) enemy ZOC.
(6.21) ZOCs: A combat unit must stop immediately upon entering an enemy ZOC, even if the hex is friendly-occupied. It may move no farther during that Movement action.
- A combat unit beginning a Movement action in an enemy ZOC may leave that hex, but may not move directly into another enemy ZOC hex.
- There are heavy movement costs to exit an enemy ZOC in addition to the normal cost to enter an adjacent hex (Movement Costs Chart).
(6.22) Rivers: Units must pay a special penalty to cross a river hexside during a Tactical, Operational, or Strategic Movement action. No penalties are applied in an Administrative Movement action.
- The Movement Costs Chart lists the penalties for Rhine River hexsides and for all other rivers separately. "Ordinary River" refers to rivers other than the Rhine.
(6.23) Roads: Whenever a unit or stack enters a hex through a hexside crossed by a road, it ignores the normal movement cost of the hex and instead pays 1 movement point.
(6.24) Administrative Movement: Administrative Movement has the following special effects on movement costs:
- A unit performing Administrative Movement benefits from railroads. If the unit enters a hex through a hexside crossed by a railroad, it ignores the normal movement points cost of that hex. It pays the following costs instead:
Rail Line Movement Costs (Administrative Movement)
| Movement Class | Movement Cost |
|---|---|
| Allied Unmotorized | 1/6 |
| Allied Semi-motorized | 1/6 |
| Allied Motorized | 1/3 |
| German Unmotorized | 1/4 |
| German Semi-motorized | 1/4 |
| German Motorized | 1/2 |
- A unit may freely combine movement on rail lines with movement off-rail; it need not begin nor spend its entire move on rail lines. Rail lines benefit only units using Administrative Movement.
Other Characteristics
A unit performing Administrative Movement must obey the following two special restrictions:
- The unit must start its movement in a map zone "controlled" by the owning player (14.1), and remain in friendly-controlled zones throughout its movement.
- A unit may neither begin its movement in an enemy ZOC nor enter an enemy ZOC for the duration of its movement. (This applies even to friendly-occupied ZOC hexes.)
- A unit performing Administrative Movement pays no penalties to cross river hexsides.
- A semi-motorized unit must pay unmotorized movement costs when using Administrative Movement.
Design Note: Administrative Movement simulates rapid highway and rail movement behind friendly lines. In game terms, "behind friendly lines" means in friendly-controlled map zones.
Note that there are no limits on the number of units you can move by rail each turn. Even the Germans, despite Allied air power, were able to move units by rail in large numbers. Allied aircraft could severely hinder German movement, which we simulate by the contesting of map zones. But air power proved unable to inflict lasting damage on the rail net. The Germans were able to use the railroads for both supply and movement during most of the campaign.
(6.25) A unit may never enter a hex if it cannot pay the required movement points cost.
(6.26) Units may never enter an enemy-occupied hex, nor may they cross a sea hexside.
6.3 HQ Movement
An HQ may move only during an HQ Movement or HQ Relocation operation, or when retreating from enemy ZOCs (6.5).
(6.31) An HQ participating in an HQ Movement operation moves from hex to contiguous hex. It may move up to 6 hexes. In effect it pays 1 movement point per hex entered, regardless of terrain. It pays no penalties for crossing rivers or leaving enemy ZOCs. However, it may never cross a sea hexside and may not move by rail.
(6.32) An HQ may never voluntarily move into a hex adjacent to an enemy unit, unless the hex is separated from the enemy unit by a sea hexside.
(6.33) If a moving HQ possesses a Depot or Out of Supply marker (9), the marker accompanies the HQ throughout its movement. Movement does not affect an HQ's supply status, nor does an HQ's supply status affect its ability to move.
6.4 HQ Relocation
An HQ performing a Relocation operation does not move from hex to contiguous hex. Instead, it is picked up and placed in any hex occupied by another supplied friendly HQ. The relocating HQ must be of the same nationality as the HQ to which it relocates. (Exception: British HQs may relocate to Canadian HQs and vice versa; French HQs may relocate to US HQs, but not vice versa.)
(6.41) To relocate, an HQ must be able to trace a continuous path of hexes from the HQ's original hex to the hex to which it wishes to relocate. The path may be of unlimited length, but the following restrictions apply:
- The path may not enter "an enemy-controlled map zone" (14.1). (This does not include the HQ's original hex.)
- The path may not include a hex in an enemy ZOC, unless that hex is occupied by a friendly unit. (This does not include the HQ's original hex, but does include the hex to which it relocates.)
- The path may not cross a sea hexside.
(6.42) If the relocating HQ possesses a Depot marker, this marker is immediately removed. If it possesses an Out of Supply marker, the marker accompanies it to its new hex.
6.5 HQ Retreat
An HQ must retreat the instant any of the following occurs:
- There are no combat units in the HQ's hex, and an enemy combat unit moves into a hex adjacent to the HQ. (Exception: A parachute unit dropping into an adjacent hex does not force an HQ to retreat; also, see 13.27.)
- After a combat, there are no combat units in the HQ's hex but there is an enemy combat unit in an adjacent hex.
- All friendly combat units leave the HQ's hex and there are adjacent enemy units.
The owning player must immediately retreat his HQ one hex into an adjacent hex of his choice.
(6.51) An HQ cannot retreat into an enemy ZOC unless that hex is friendly-occupied. An HQ may not retreat into an enemy-occupied hex, across a sea hexside, or off the map.
(6.52) If an HQ cannot retreat, it is eliminated. It is removed from the map and placed in the "Replacement Box" corresponding to its designation (7.51).
- If this occurs, any combat units occupying the eliminated HQ's Replacement Box are immediately transferred to the player's "Surrender Box".
- Eliminated HQs may return to play according to the replacement procedure (11). HQs are never placed in a "Surrender Box" (7.5).
(6.53) Remove a depot from an HQ that retreats or is eliminated. An Out of Supply marker is not removed from an HQ that retreats.
(6.54) An HQ must retreat regardless of whether it is on its mobile or fatigued side. An HQ may retreat an unlimited number of times per turn.
(6.55) A retreat is not movement and does not expend movement points. After the retreat, the HQ remains on the same side (fatigued or mobile) as it was before. Thus, retreat does not cause a non-fatigued HQ to become fatigued.
"If they still want war, they can have it. With victory in our grasp, we do not soften. Our artillery levels whole sections of towns. Flames lick over burning buildings. Infantry and armor prowl rubble-strewn streets, and blood flows needlessly in the gutters." — Audie Murphy
7. Combat
Whenever a player declares an Attack action against enemy units, combat must be resolved. The players determine "combat values" for the attacking and defending units and consult the Combat Results Table. The die is rolled and modified, and a result is obtained. Units that are destroyed are removed from the map and placed in either a Replacement Box or in the Surrender Box.
7.1 Determining Combat Strengths
Combat units have a single combat value that is used when attacking or defending. This combat value may be modified in the following ways:
Attacker Modifiers — Effect
- Armored Division multiplier — See 7.11
- Corps operations — Combat value doubled (7.12)
- Depots and Command radii — Combat value halved (7.13)
Defender Modifiers — Effect
- Improved Positions (German only) — Combat value doubled (7.14)
- Fortresses (German only) — Combat value doubled (7.14)
Always apply these modifiers in the order listed above. (For example, the attacker applies the effect of Corps operations before the effect of depots.)
(7.11) Armored Division Combat Values: Armored divisions have variable combat values. When an armored division attacks, its combat value is modified according to the terrain occupied by the defending units. Armored division combat values are not modified when defending. Note that Panzergrenadier divisions are not armored.
- If the defender occupies a clear hex combat values of attacking armored divisions are tripled. (Exception: If any defending unit is beneath a Fortress marker or is separated from the attacker by a river hexside, this multiplier does not apply.)
- If the defender occupies a broken hex combat values of attacking armored divisions are doubled. (Exception: If any defending unit is beneath a Fortress marker or is separated from the attacker by a river hexside, this multiplier does not apply.)
- If the defender occupies a rough, lowland, or urban hex combat values of attacking armored divisions are not modified.
- If the defender occupies a mountain hex the combat value of each attacking armored division is halved.
If defending units occupy more than one hex, use the terrain type most favorable to the defender.
(7.12) Corps Operations: Attacking units participating in a Corps operation have their combat values doubled.
- If there is only one active unit remaining in a Corps operation (because of combat results or 6.17) it is still doubled.
(7.13) Depots and Command Radii: If an attacking unit is not within the command radius (2.4) of a superior "supplied HQ" (9.3) with a Depot marker (of any value), its combat value is halved.
(7.14) Improved Positions and Fortresses: A defending German unit's combat value is doubled when occupying an improved position hex or underneath a Fortress marker. Improved positions and Fortresses benefit neither Allied nor attacking German units.
Improved positions are printed on the map and can never be destroyed. They benefit only defending German units in the hex. A Fortress marker benefits only units beneath it (4.8).
Design Note: Improved positions represent West Wall positions or old World War I and Maginot Line forts. These were extensive fieldworks, not terribly strong by the standards of 1944-45, but a firm foundation around which a defensive line could be established and quickly enhanced.
(7.15) A unit's combat value is modified individually. Individual modified values are then added together to obtain a total value for the combat.
- In computing each unit's value, retain fractions until you have applied all modifications, and then round any remaining fraction up.
7.2 Combat Initiation
Combat takes place only when an active unit or stack executes an attack action against enemy units in an adjacent hex or hexes. Only active units may attack.
- When a player declares an attack action, combat is resolved immediately.
- A player is never required to conduct an attack action.
(7.21) If an attack action is declared during a Corps operation, all active units must attack.
(7.22) Active units may make only one attack from a single hex in an operation. They may make a second attack during their operation, but it must be from a different hex.
(7.23) The attacker may choose any or all enemy-occupied hexes that are adjacent to his attacking unit(s) as the target of his attack. All hexes he wishes to attack in a particular attack action must be attacked in a single combat.
- Different units in a stack may not attack different defending hexes.
- The attacker is not obligated to attack all adjacent enemy-occupied hexes; he is free to select the ones he wishes to attack.
(7.24) Integral Defense: All defending units in hexes under attack total their combat values and defend as an integral whole.
- The defender may never withhold units from combat, nor may the attacker target individual units within a stack.
(7.25) An attack may not be made across a sea hexside.
(7.26) HQs may never participate in combat (in attack or defense); see 6.5.
7.3 Combat Die-Roll Modifiers
A combat die-roll may be modified because of:
- river hexsides
- Deliberate or Intensive attacks
- depots
- defender command radius
(7.31) River Hexsides: If at least one defending unit is separated from an attacker by a river hexside, subtract 3 from the die-roll.
(7.32) Deliberate and Intensive Attacks: If the attacker is executing a Deliberate attack add 2 to the die-roll. If he is executing an Intensive attack add 3.
(7.33) Depot (German Attacks): If all attacking units are within the command radius of a German HQ with a Depot marker of value 2 or more, they receive a die-roll bonus:
German Depot Modifiers
| Depot Value | German attack die-roll modifier |
|---|---|
| 2 | +1 |
| 3 | +2 |
| 4 | +3 |
(7.34) Depot (Allied Attacks): If all the attacking units are within command radius of a single superior HQ with a Depot marker of value 2 or more, he receives a die-roll bonus:
Allied Depot Modifiers
| Depot Value | Allied attack die-roll modifier |
|---|---|
| 2 | +2 |
| 3 | +3 |
| 4 | +4 |
Example: A Corps attack by one British and one US unit could never receive this bonus; there is no one HQ to which both are subordinate. An attack by a US and a French unit could receive it only via a US HQ unit (2.22).
Design Note: Depot bonuses simulate the effects of stockpiled supplies and of the many supporting units (artillery, engineers, etc.) attached at army level. In particular, each Allied army HQ had a tactical air army attached, and strategic bombers were sometimes used as well. For these reasons Allied depot bonuses are greater than German bonuses.
(7.35) An attacking unit or stack within command radius of more than one superior HQ receives a bonus only for the highest-valued depot.
- The attacker may not receive more than one depot bonus per attack.
- Depots are not expended after attacks; they are removed only in the Recovery Phase.
Note: Depots of value "1" do not provide a beneficial combat modifier; they do permit attacking units to avoid the penalties of 7.13.
(7.36) Command Radii (Defender): If any defending unit is not within command radius (2.4) of a superior "supplied HQ" (9.3), the attacker adds one to his die-roll. The HQ need not have a Depot marker, and there is no particular benefit to the defender if it does.
(7.37) All combat die-roll modifiers are cumulative, but the die-roll may never be increased by more than 7.
7.4 Combat Resolution
An attack is resolved as follows:
- The attacker states the type of attack action and the hex or hexes being attacked.
- The attacker combines the combat values of his units, modifying the values as required by 7.1.
- The defender combines the combat values of all units under attack, modifying their values as required by 7.1.
- Compare the attacker's and defender's final combat values and calculate the combat ratio: attacker's value to defender's value. Round the ratio in favor of the defender to one of the ratios shown on the Combat Results Table.
- Determine the major terrain (2.11) in the defender's hex and find the corresponding line across the top of the Combat Results Table. (Thus, the defender's terrain determines which line of column headings will be used.)
- The attacker rolls the die, modifying as required by 7.3. Cross-reference the modified die-roll with the combat ratio in the proper terrain line on the Combat Results Table to determine the result. Apply the result.
(7.41) If there is more than one defending hex, use the terrain most favorable to the defender.
(7.42) If the combat ratio is higher or lower than those provided on the Combat Results Table, use the right-most or left-most columns respectively.
(7.43) Note that cities (which are minor terrain) have no effect on combat, but urban hexes affect armored division combat values and affect the terrain line.
7.5 Combat Results
Each result on the Combat Results Table consists of two numbers separated by a slash. The left-hand number applies to the attacker; the right-hand number applies to the defender. Each result is the number of participating combat units (not HQs) that are immediately eliminated. The affected player chooses which units to eliminate.
- If the result is larger than the number of participating units, all units are destroyed and the excess is ignored.
Example: In the typical result "1/2", "1" is the attacker's result and "2" is the defender's. One attacking unit of the attacker's choice and two defending units of the defender's choice are eliminated. If there is only one defending unit, that unit is eliminated and the defender suffers no additional penalty.
(7.51) Both players have Replacement Boxes, which correspond to their HQs. Each player also has a Surrender Box. Eliminated units are placed in one these boxes. Whenever a player suffers a combat result of "1" or more, he follows this procedure:
- He selects the units to be eliminated.
- For each destroyed unit, he attempts to trace a line of communications (2.6) from the unit's hex to a supply source (9.1).
- A destroyed unit which cannot trace a line of communications is placed in the player's Surrender Box.
- A destroyed unit which can trace a line of communications is placed in one of the player's Replacement Boxes.
- A destroyed coastal defense unit must be placed in the Surrender Box.
- A German unit eliminated while beneath a Fortress is placed in the German Surrender Box.
- Allied units eliminated in an amphibious assault are placed in a Replacement Box (15.37).
- If the defenders are German the German player may have the Kampfgruppe option (7.53).
Design Note: The placement of a unit in the Surrender Box does not necessarily mean that it has surrendered. It can also indicate that the unit is so badly battered that it cannot be rebuilt. The Germans made no attempt to replace coastal defense divisions because these units were meant to fulfill one mission only: defense of a beach sector.
(7.52) Before placing a unit in a Replacement Box, determine the closest superior HQ to which the eliminated unit can trace a line of communications. The destroyed unit must be placed in the Replacement Box corresponding to this HQ.
- If two HQs are equally distant, the owning player may place the unit in either HQ's Replacement Box.
- A Replacement Box may contain any number of units.
(7.53) The German player may declare a Kampfgruppe option when:
- two or more German units are defending, and
- all those units can trace a line of communications to a supply source, and
- his units suffer a result of "2," "3," or "4" (not "5" or more).
If the German player chooses the Kampfgruppe option, he may place one or two of his eliminated units in the German Surrender Box instead of in a Replacement Box. Each unit placed in the Surrender Box counts as two units eliminated for the purpose of satisfying the combat result. (Exception: Coastal defense units and units underneath Fortress markers always count as one unit.)
Example: Three German units are defending and the German player suffers a result of "4". He may satisfy this result by placing two of the units in the Surrender Box, leaving the third on the map.
Design Note: The Germans, facing manpower shortages and desperate tactical situations, often kept battered divisions in the frontlines far longer than the Allies. After a week or so of heavy losses, a division would be reorganized as a Kampfgruppe and fight on. This forced the Allies to pay dearly for every inch of ground, but the battered division would virtually be destroyed and could not be replaced.
(7.54) Advance After Combat: If all defending units are eliminated, surviving attackers may advance into the vacated hex.
- A unit may advance only if it neither enters nor exits an enemy ZOC hex. Following a corps attack, some units can advance and others be left behind in the original hex. Any units left behind become inactive; their operation has ended.
There are no "retreats after combat" in Against The Reich. (Only HQs retreat; see 6.5.)
*Example: Two US armored divisions conduct an Intensive attack in a Corps operation against a mobile German infantry division and a fatigued Panzer division in broken terrain. The armored divisions have a total combat value 8, which is doubled for the broken terrain and doubled again for the Corps operation; odds are 32-7, or 4-1. A US HQ with a depot of value 2 is within command radius. He rolls "2," to which he adds 5 (2 for the depot and 3 for the Intensive attack). The net die-roll is "7," yielding result "1/2." The German player chooses the Kampfgruppe option, placing the infantry division in the Surrender Box. This satisfies both losses; the other division remains in the hex. The Allied player removes one of his armored divisions and places it in the Replacement Box corresponding to the nearest US HQ. He flips the other armored division over; its operation has ended because an Intensive attack consumes all 3 action points.
"Germany will either be a world power or it will not be at all." — Adolf Hitler
8. Introductory Mini-Game: The Battle of the Bulge
The following scenario introduces players to the game system and can be played without reading sections 9-21. It lasts only a portion of one turn and takes about a half an hour to play. It is intended more as an introduction than as a competitive game. It is well suited for solitaire play.
8.1 How to Set Up
Deployment instructions provide both sides' historical deployments as of the date at which the scenario begins. The instructions list:
- Hexes in which units are to be set up.
- Historical designations and types of participating units.
Important: Players are under no obligation in this or any other scenario to set up their units using the actual historical designations listed in the deployment instructions. The only requirement is that the correct numbers of units of the indicated types and nationalities be deployed in the proper set-up hexes. Unit designations are provided for historical interest only.
The abbreviations used in the set-up instructions are summarized below. Also listed, for reference, are the values printed on the mobile sides of each type of unit.
Allied Unit Types
| Abbreviation | Meaning | Values |
|---|---|---|
| AD | Armored Division | 4 [6] |
| AD* | Armored Division (Heavy) | 5 [6] |
| HQ | Headquarters | 0 6 |
| ID | Infantry Division | 6 (3) |
| MD | Metropolitan Division | 4 (3) |
| PD | Parachute Division | 5 (3) |
German Unit Types
| Abbreviation | Meaning | Values |
|---|---|---|
| AD | Armored Division | 4 [5] |
| AD* | S.S. Armored Division | 5 [5] |
| CD | Coastal Defense Division | 3 2 |
| HQ | Headquarters | 0 6 |
| ID | Infantry Division | 4 3 |
| PD | Parachute Division | 7 3 |
| PG | Panzergrenadier Division | 6 (3) |
Note: The designation "V" — Volksgrenadier — on many German units is for historical information only; it has nothing to do with unit type.
Example: The listing "US 79 ID" means the US 79th Infantry Division, but the Allied player may deploy any US infantry division, all of which have values of 6 (3).
Deployment Instructions
- Map: Use only the East map.
- Game Length: The scenario consists only of the Activity Cycle of the II December turn. Skip all other cycles and phases.
- Allied Deployment (All units are US)
| Hex | Units |
|---|---|
| 2608 | 9 HQ (with depot value 1) |
| 2708 | 2 AD* |
| 2609 | 3 AD* |
| 2610 | 84 ID |
| 2709 | 1 ID |
| 2808 | 9 ID |
| 2809 | 7 AD |
| 2906 | 78 ID |
| 3007 | 2 ID, 99 ID |
| 3207 | 106 ID |
| 3010 | 1 HQ (with depot value 1) |
| 3509 | 9 AD |
- German Deployment:
| Hex | Units |
|---|---|
| 3006 | 272 ID, 326V ID |
| 3105 | 6PZ HQ (with depot value 4), 167V ID, 79V ID, 9V ID |
| 3106 | 277 ID, 12SS AD* |
| 3205 | 2SS AD*, 9SS AD*, 3 PG |
| 3206 | 1SS AD*, 12V ID, 3 PD |
| 3306 | 18V ID, 62V ID |
| 3407 | 560V ID, 116 AD, Lehr AD |
| 3607 | 5PZ HQ (with depot value 4), 15 PG, 9 AD |
| 3507 | 26V ID, 2 AD |
| 3608 | 352V ID, 5 PD |
| 3708 | 276 ID, 212V ID |
8.2 Special Rules
(8.21) Neither player receives reinforcements. Thus, II December Reinforcement Phase is skipped.
(8.22) The play area is limited to the Ardennes, Lorraine, Champagne, and Belgium map zones. The rest of the map does not exist for purposes of this scenario.
(8.23) All HQs are "supplied" (9.3).
(8.24) Destroyed units are simply placed aside. The Replacement and Surrender Boxes are not used.
(8.25) The German player automatically has initiative for the first two Operational Phases. Starting with the third Operational Phase, initiative is determined normally.
(8.26) The scenario ends when the Activity Cycle ends.
(8.27) The only effects of depots are those described in the combat rules (7.13, 7.33 and 7.34).
8.3 Victory Conditions
The winner is determined by tallying victory points (VPs). Only the German player receives VPs. He gains VPs as follows:
- 5 VPs for each German combat unit (not HQ) that ends the game either outside the Ardennes map zone, or inside the Ardennes map zone adjacent to a Meuse River hexside. In order to score VPs in either case, the German player must be able to trace a line of communications (2.6) from the unit to Bonn (hex 3203) or Koblenz (hex 3502). This path may be traced through only the four playable map zones (Ardennes, Lorraine, Champagne, and Belgium).
- 2 VPs for each US combat unit eliminated.
- -1 VP for each German combat unit eliminated.
The German net VP total at the end of the game determines the winner.
Winner and Level of Victory
| Winner and Level of Victory | Net German VP |
|---|---|
| German Decisive Victory | 54 or more |
| German Substantive Victory | 46-53 |
| German Marginal Victory | 37-45 |
| Draw | 32-36 |
| US Marginal Victory | 22-31 |
| US Substantive Victory | 14-21 |
| US Decisive Victory | 13 or less |
Note: These victory conditions are suitable only for players just learning the system; an experienced German player should easily trounce an equally-experienced Allied player.
"The ordinary fighting man and the professional soldier have long seen the unnecessary continuance of fighting. But the honor to which they are bound as soldiers makes them continue to fight, especially the professional soldier. As long as the country is at war, they are honor-bound to fight." — Anonymous German officer
9. Supply
During each Logistics Phase the players check the supply status of all friendly HQs, determine their overall "supply levels," and place Depot markers on them.
- HQs are "supplied" or "out of supply" depending upon whether they can trace a "supply line" to a "supply source." Combat units do not trace supply lines, but those outside command radius of a supplied HQ do not function at full movement and combat capability (6.14 and 7.13).
- Supply levels for the Allied player depend upon his success at capturing and repairing ports. The German has less control over his supply level, which is most heavily dependent upon the game-turn.
- A player's supply level determines the number and quality of depots he may place on the map. Depots are important to the attacker's combat strength and die-roll modifiers (7.13, 7.33, and 7.34).
9.1 Supply Sources
Each player has a number of supply sources, which serve three functions:
- HQ units trace "supply lines" (9.31) to supply sources in order to be supplied.
- They determine the Allied player's "supply level" (9.2).
- Eliminated combat units must trace a line of communications (2.6) to supply sources if they are to be replaced (7.51 and 11).
(9.11) The Allied player has three types of supply sources: mulberries, beachheads, and operable ports (10.2).
(9.12) Allied supply sources have discharge values, used to calculate the Allied supply level (9.2).
- Each port's discharge value is printed in the port hex.
- Mulberries have discharge value 2.
- Beachheads have discharge value 0.
(9.13) Production centers are the German player's only supply sources. Production centers are printed on the eastern edge of the East map. German units cannot trace supply to South France (13.2).
(9.14) A supply source in an enemy ZOC remains functional, even if no friendly unit occupies the hex.
9.2 Supply Levels
Each player has a supply level which varies each turn. The players determine their supply levels during the Supply Segment of the Logistics Phase. To record supply levels, place Supply markers in the corresponding numbered boxes on each player's Supply Track.
(9.21) Allied Supply Level Calculation: The Allied player totals the discharge values of all supply sources to which at least one Allied HQ can trace a supply line. He consults the Allied Supply Table, rolls the die, and cross-references the die-roll with his total discharge value. The result is the amount his supply level increases.
- The maximum Allied supply level is 10. Supply gained in excess of 10 is ignored.
(9.22) German Supply Level Calculation: The German player consults the German Supply Table, rolls the die, and cross-references the roll with the current game-turn. The result is the amount his supply level increases.
- The maximum German supply level is 7. Supply gained in excess of 7 is ignored.
- If the Allied player invades Belgium or Picardy in his major amphibious assault the German player adds 1 to his supply die-roll in I July through II August (15.11).
(9.23) Supply need not be "expended" (9.4) in the turn it becomes available; it can be saved from turn to turn.
9.3 HQ Supply Lines
During the HQ Status Segment, the supply status of all HQs is determined. An HQ is supplied if either of the following holds:
- A friendly supply source is within the HQ's command radius (2.4).
- The HQ can trace a supply line by rail per rule 9.31.
If neither of these conditions is satisfied, place an Out of Supply marker on the HQ.
(9.31) Tracing Supply Lines:
- The player selects a railroad hex within the command radius of his HQ.
- From the railroad hex, he traces a continuous path of railroad hexes to a friendly supply source hex. This path may be of any length, but:
- may not pass into or through an "enemy-controlled map zone" (14), and
- may not contain an enemy-occupied hex, nor ZOC, unless friendly-occupied.
(The supply source itself may be in an enemy ZOC; see 9.14.)
(9.32) Beachheads and Mulberries: If the Allied player is tracing a supply line to a beachhead or mulberry, he need only trace along rail hexes to a rail hex within 3 hexes of the beachhead or mulberry. The 3-hex path must be free of German units and German ZOC hexes, unless Allied-occupied.
(9.33) Provence and Gascony as Supply Sources: In the Campaign Game, an Allied HQ may trace a supply line to a mulberry or operable port in Provence or Gascony. See 13.4.
9.4 Depots
During the Depot Segment of the Logistics Phase each player may (if he wishes) place one Depot marker on any or all supplied HQs, reducing his supply level by the depots' values. A player may not place depots such that his supply level drops below zero; otherwise, he may give each supplied HQ a depot of any value (Exception: 9.43).
(9.41) The Allied player places his depots first.
(9.42) Out of supply HQs may not be issued depots.
(9.43) The Allied player's placement of depots is subject to the following restrictions:
- To receive a depot of value 3 an HQ must be able to trace a supply line to an operable Allied port (10.2) with a discharge value of 3 or more.
- To receive a depot of value 4 an HQ must be able to trace a supply line to Antwerp (2111), Rotterdam (1707), or Marseille (Provence box of the Theater Display). The port traced to must be operable (10.2).
(9.44) All Depot markers are removed during the Recovery Phase.
Example: The German player has three supplied HQs on the map. Currently he has 5 points on his Supply Track. He places a Depot marker with a depot value of 2 on one HQ, a marker with a value of 1 on another HQ, and no depot on the third (which is still considered supplied). He reduces his Supply marker to the "2" box on his Supply Track. These 2 remaining points are saved until the next game-turn.
"It ain't the guns or armament, or the money they can pay, It's the close cooperation that makes them win the day, It ain't the individual or the army as a whole, But the close cooperation of every bloomin' soul." — J.M. Knox
10. Ports, Beachheads, and Mulberries
Ports, beachheads, and mulberries are the Allied supply sources. Mulberry and Beachhead markers are placed at invasion beaches following a successful amphibious assault (15.36). A captured port must go through a repair process to become open and useable.
10.1 Port Control
The German player controls each port until the port comes under Allied control.
(10.11) At the moment an Allied combat or HQ unit enters or passes through a German-controlled port hex, the Allied player gains control of it. The Allied player places an Allied Port marker on its "Damaged" side in the hex.
(10.12) If any German unit enters an Allied-controlled port, the Allied Port marker is removed and the German player regains control of the port. To regain the port, the Allied player must again fulfill the requirements of 10.11.
10.2 Port Repair
An Allied-controlled port functions as a supply source if the Allied Port marker has been flipped to its "Open" side and no German combat unit occupies any of its "port-control" hexes (if any, see 10.4); such a port is operable.
(10.21) The Allied player may repair one damaged port in each Port Repair Phase as follows:
- If the Port Repair marker is in a damaged port at the beginning of the phase, the Allied player removes the marker from the map and flips the port marker to its "Open" side. The port is now operable if no German combat unit occupies any of its port-control hexes (10.4).
- The Allied player may then place the Port Repair marker in any damaged Allied port on the map.
(10.22) The Allied player has only one Port Repair marker. It may be placed in a port only during step 2 of the Port Repair Phase.
(10.23) If a German unit enters a hex containing the Port Repair marker, the marker is removed. It may be placed on the map again in step 2 of any Port Repair Phase.
10.3 Beachheads and Mulberries
Beachheads and mulberries are placed on invasion hexes following a successful amphibious assault (15.36). They function as Allied supply sources. They may not be moved.
Design Note: Beachhead and Mulberry markers simulate the vast Allied facilities for unloading supplies across the invasion beaches. These facilities cannot be moved in the game. Landing supplies on the beaches was an incredibly complex affair requiring long advance preparation. Preparations made for one set of beaches (and facilities assembled there) could not be transferred to another location. A mulberry was an artificial port assembled on the spot, complete with a breakwater consisting of sunken ships; once in place, it could not be moved from site to site. During the winter, rough seas made these facilities unusable.
(10.31) If any German unit occupies a hex containing a beachhead or mulberry, the marker remains but does not function as a supply source for any purpose until the German unit leaves. When the German leaves the hex, the marker again functions normally.
(10.32) Automatic removal of Beachheads and Mulberries: Beachheads and mulberries are removed from the map during the Port Repair Phase of I November. They never reappear.
10.4 Port Control Hexes
The following ports have port control hexes:
- Antwerp (2111)
- Brest (W/1226)
- Nantes (W/2821)
- Rotterdam (1707)
(10.41) Port-control hexes have a one-letter label, that corresponds to the first letter of the port's name. ("A" stands for Antwerp, for example.)
(10.42) Effects: If a German combat unit is in a port control hex of an Allied open port, that port is not operable. Port control hexes do not affect port repair.
"It's here, chum, / It's here, chum, / It's the Second Front for you, / In spite of the old Atlantic Wall, / We've the boys to see it through, / It won't take long to finish it, / When we have got their range, / And then we can all go home again, / And live like humans for a change." — British army ballad
11. Replacements
Units eliminated in combat and placed in Replacement Boxes (7.51) may reappear. Each player receives a number of replacement points each Replacement Phase which may be spent to rebuild units in his Replacement Boxes. These units are then placed on the map with or adjacent to the HQ corresponding to the Replacement Box from which they were taken.
11.1 Obtaining Replacements
During the Replacement Phase each player (German player first) rolls the die. Each player's die-roll is the number of replacement points he may expend in the current phase.
- In December, January, and February turns, 2 is subtracted from the die-roll.
Design Note: The die-roll modifier in December, January, and February represents the increased losses from frostbite, trenchfoot, and other non-battle causes.
(11.11) The replacement point costs per unit are:
| Allied Units | Replacement Points |
|---|---|
| US non-parachute combat units | 1 |
| US HQs | 1 |
| Other non-parachute combat units | 2 |
| Other HQs | 2 |
| Parachute units | 3 |
| German Units | Replacement Points |
|---|---|
| All (including HQs) | 2 |
(11.12) Allied Requirements: The Allied player must replace at least one non-US, non-parachute combat unit each Replacement Phase, if replacement points permit and there are units available.
Example: It is I December. The Allied player rolls "5". He subtracts 2, because this is a December turn. He has 3 replacement points. He has British and Canadian units in his Replacement Boxes, and so he must replace at least one such unit. He selects a British unit, expending 2 replacement points. He then expends the third point to replace a US infantry division.
(11.13) Unused replacement points may not be saved from turn to turn.
(11.14) Units in the Surrender Box may not be replaced. However, see 16.4.
11.2 Placement of Replacements
After the players have chosen the units they wish to replace, they place them on the map (German player first).
(11.21) Combat units are placed with or adjacent to the HQ corresponding to the Replacement Box from which they were taken. The HQ does not have to be supplied or have a supply line at this time (but see 11.22). The placement hex:
- may not be separated from the HQ by a sea hexside.
- may not be overstacked at the end of the Replacement Phase.
- may not be enemy-occupied but may be in an enemy ZOC.
If these requirements cannot be met, a unit may not be chosen as a replacement.
Allied parachute unit replacements may be placed in the Parachute Units in England Box.
German replacements may be placed into the German Strategic Reserve Box (13.5).
(11.22) HQ Replacement: HQs may be placed in any hex occupied by a friendly HQ that can currently trace a supply line.
"You are a soldier of the United States Army. You have embarked for distant places where the war is being fought. Upon the outcome depends the freedom of your lives: the freedom of the lives of those you love — your fellow-citizens — your people. Never were the enemies of freedom more tyrannical, more arrogant, more brutal." — President Franklin D. Roosevelt
12. Surrender
In the Surrender Phase, each player must determine whether he has any "cut-off" units. A unit is cut off if every adjacent hex is either enemy-occupied or in an enemy ZOC. A player must roll the die once each Surrender Phase for each of his cut-off units. On a roll of "0", "1", or "2" the unit is placed in the Surrender Box.
- Units inside Fortresses are never considered to be cut off, and do not surrender.
- A cut-off unit within four hexes of a friendly unit which is not cut off never surrenders. Do not roll the die.
- HQ units never surrender. Do not roll the die.
"This war no longer bears the characteristics of former inter-European conflicts. It is one of those elemental conflicts which usher in a new millenium and which shake the world once in a thousand years." — Adolf Hitler
13. The Theater Display
The Theater Display serves two functions:
- It represents areas relevant to the campaign that are not portrayed on the map.
- It records the level of control players exert over zones of the map.
The effects of zone control are described in section 14.
Other parts of the Theater Display include "Allied Staging Boxes" (representing the Continental United States (CONUS), England, and Italy), South France (Provence and Gascony), and a special box for German Strategic Reserves.
13.1 Allied Staging Boxes
There are three Allied Staging Boxes on the Theater Display: Italy, England, and the Continental United States (CONUS). Allied combat units begin the Campaign Game in Staging Boxes.
- Staging Boxes may contain any number of units.
(13.11) CONUS: During each CONUS Phase, up to two Allied units may move from the CONUS Box and be placed in:
- The England Box (parachute units may move to the Parachute Units in England Box);
- The Italy Box;
- During or after I September, Antwerp (2111) and Rotterdam (1707) if operable Allied ports. No more than one unit may be placed in each port in the same turn and normal stacking restrictions must be observed after placement.
- During or after I September one unit may be placed in the Provence Box if Marseille is open (13.41).
(13.12) Units may never re-enter the CONUS Box after leaving it.
(13.13) Units may leave the CONUS Box only during the CONUS Phase.
(13.14) The US 13th and 17th Parachute Divisions: These units begin the Campaign Game in the CONUS Box. They may not be transferred out of it prior to I December.
(13.15) Allied units in the England or Italy Box may leave these boxes only under the following circumstances:
- During a major amphibious assault (15.12)
- During a minor amphibious assault (15.22)
- During the Reinforcement Phase (16.5)
- During a Parachute Drop operation (4.7)
Units may enter the England or Italy Box only from the other Theater Display boxes, never from the map. (Exception: see 15.35.)
(13.16) HQs are never placed in Staging Boxes. They enter the map as reinforcements according to a special schedule (16.6).
13.2 Provence and Gascony (South France)
Provence and Gascony are collectively called South France. The German Player begins the Campaign Game with units in South France. During the game, units may enter South France through Allied entry hexrows and German entry hexes, or from Allied Staging Boxes (13.1). Units which enter South France are placed directly in the appropriate box on the Theater Display. Units in South France are never activated and do not undertake operations; they may move and attack only as described below.
(13.21) German Entry and Exit: There are two sets of German entry hexes along the South mapedge, one for Provence, and one for Gascony. During the South France Entry/Exit Segment of the Theatre Display Phase, German units occupying entry hexes may be placed in the corresponding South France Box. Units already in a South France Box may be placed on their mobile sides in any corresponding entry hex, or may be moved to the other South France Box (i.e. from Provence to Gascony, or vice-versa).
- German units may be moved to a box in South France only if it already contains at least one German unit. Thus, once all German units leave a section of South France, no German unit can ever re-enter it.
- German units in Provence may not be placed on the map if the Allied player currently controls (14) both the Alsace and Burgundy map zones.
- German units in Gascony may not be placed on the map if the Allied player currently controls Poitou.
- German units may not be placed in Allied-occupied hexes (though they may be placed in Allied ZOCs) and must obey stacking restrictions when placed in entry hexes (2.5).
(13.22) Allied Entry and Exit: There are two sets of Allied entry hexrows along the South mapedge, one for Provence, and one for Gascony (These are distinct from German entry hexes.) After all German movement into and out of South France during the South France Entry/Exit Phase, Allied units occupying an entry hexrow may be placed in the corresponding South France Box. Units already in a South France Box may be placed on their mobile sides in any hex in a corresponding entry hexrow, or may be moved to the other South France Box.
- Allied units may not leave a South France Box that currently contains a German unit; thus a single German unit can pin all Allied units in a South France Box.
Note: There are two other ways that Allied units can enter South France: 1) During the South France Assault Segment, a minor amphibious assault (15.2) may be made against either box; and 2) During the Reinforcement Phase, units in England may move to Gascony as reinforcements, and units in Italy may move to Provence (16.81).
(13.23) German units may never enter or attack into an entry hexrow, even if German units occupy the South France Box corresponding to the hexrow.
- Allied units in an entry hexrow may attack adjacent German units normally, however.
(13.24) ZOCs do not extend into or out of an entry hexrow.
(13.25) Map to Hexrow: Allied units may enter a hex of an entry hexrow from any adjacent map hex using ordinary movement. All entry hexrows hexes are considered clear terrain; when an Allied unit moves into an entry hexrow from the map, it pays the clear terrain movement point cost.
- Units must adhere to stacking restrictions in entry hexrow hexes.
(13.26) Moving Within and Out of Hexrows: Units may leave any hex of an entry hexrow and enter an adjacent map hex. Units may also move from hex to hex within an entry hexrow, paying clear terrain MP costs for each hex entered. A unit must be activated to perform such movement (but not to move from an entry hexrow to the corresponding box).
(13.27) An Allied HQ in an entry hexrow is subject to the following rules:
- It does not retreat if a German unit moves adjacent (exception to 6.5).
- It is always in supply and never needs to trace a supply line.
- It may not be assigned a depot.
- Its command radius is fully functional, and extends out of the entry hexrow (Remember that German ZOCs do not extend into the hexrow.)
- It can be assigned replacements, which are placed with the HQ, or in any adjacent hex, inside or outside the entry hexrow. Similarly, Allied replacements assigned to HQs adjacent to entry hexrows may be placed in the hexrow.
(13.28) All HQs in South France are subject to the following rules:
- They are always in supply and never need to trace a supply line (but note 13.31, step 3).
- They may not be assigned a depot.
- Any replacements assigned to it are placed directly into the South France box containing the HQ.
- If there is ever no friendly combat unit in the HQ's South France box, they are immediately eliminated.
(13.29) Fatigue: All units occupying the South France Boxes remain on their mobile sides; they never become fatigued. Units that move from South France to entry hexes or hexrows are placed on their mobile sides.
13.3 Combat Within South France
If German and Allied units occupy the same South France Box during the South France Combat Segment of the Theater Display Phase, combat must take place. Only one combat takes place in each box, no matter how many opposing units occupy the box. In South France combat, there is no attacker or defender: a more abstract procedure is used.
(13.31) To resolve combat within a South France Box, follow this procedure:
- Each player adds up the printed mobile combat values of all his units in the box; combat values are never modified for any reason.
- Subtract the German sum from the Allied sum to obtain the combat differential.
- The Allied player rolls the die and applies the following die-roll modifiers:
- Subtract 3 if there is no Allied HQ in the box.
- Add 3 if there is no German HQ in the box, or if the German cannot trace a line of communications from at least one of his entry hexes of the appropriate area (Provence or Gascony) to a supply source.
Cross-reference the die-roll with the combat differential on the Strategic Combat Results Table to obtain the result.
- Results consist of two numbers separated by a slash. The left-hand number is the Allied percentage loss; the right-hand number is the German percentage loss.
- Each player consults the Percentage Loss Chart and cross-references his percentage loss result with the total number of friendly combat units in the box. The result is the number of his combat units (not HQs) which are eliminated. The affected player may choose which units to eliminate.
(13.32) Eliminated units are placed in the Replacement Box of any HQ in the box. If no friendly HQs occupy the box the units surrender.
(13.33) Voluntary German Surrender: If a German HQ occupies the box where the combat occurs, the German player may choose to place eliminated units in the German Surrender Box. Each unit placed in the Surrender Box under this option counts as two units eliminated in fulfilling his loss requirement.
13.4 Control of South France
Provence and Gascony are treated as map zones (14). Each can be controlled or contested like an ordinary map zone. The requirements are the same as for ordinary map zones, except that the provisions regarding fortresses, parachute units, and tracing lines of supply are not relevant.
(13.41) Marseille and Bordeaux: At the moment the Allied player gains control of Provence, he gains control of the port of Marseille. At the moment he gains control of Gascony, he gains control of the port of Bordeaux.
- In either event, the Allied player places a "Damaged" Port marker in the Marseille or Bordeaux Box on the Theater Display. These markers can then be flipped to their "Open" sides using the normal repair procedure (10.2). Once open, these ports are considered operable and contribute their discharge values to the Allied supply level normally.
(13.42) An Allied HQ may trace a supply line to a mulberry or open port in South France.
- To trace to a mulberry in Provence or to Marseille (once open), the HQ must be able to trace a supply line to hex 5315, 5024, or W/4901, and Provence must be Allied-controlled.
- To trace to a mulberry in Gascony or to Bordeaux (once open), the HQ must be able to trace a supply line to hex W/4903, W/4708, W/4613, or W/4221, and Gascony must be Allied-controlled.
13.5 German Strategic Reserves
The German Strategic Reserve Box is empty at the start of the Campaign Game.
- In the Reinforcement Phase of I December, the German 6PZ HQ unit is placed in this box along with a depot of value 4. This depot is not removed until these units are placed on the map.
(13.51) German combat units (not HQs) may be placed in the Strategic Reserve Box in the following ways:
- During the Replacement Phase, any replacements may be placed into the Strategic Reserve Box instead of onto the map (11).
- During the Reinforcement Phase, variable reinforcements, special reinforcements, and reconstructed units may be placed into the Strategic Reserve Box instead of onto the map (16).
- German "constant reinforcements" (16.2) may not be placed into the box.
- During the German Strategic Reserve Segment of the Theater Display Phase, German units may be removed from the map and placed in the box if:
A. They are situated in the Hessia, Wuerttemberg, or Ruhr map zones, and B. The zone they are in is German-controlled.
Units may be placed in the box on any turn until the Sixth Panzer Army Commitment operation has been declared (13.53).
(13.52) Up to 14 German combat units may occupy the Strategic Reserve Box. No HQ other than the 6PZ may be placed in the box.
(13.53) Units in the Strategic Reserve Box must remain there until the German player declares a Sixth Panzer Army Commitment operation. The German player may declare this operation on or after I December (never earlier).
It consists of placing the units in the Strategic Reserve Box onto the map, as described in 13.54 and 13.55.
Sixth Panzer Army Commitment may be declared once per game, but need not ever be declared. If it is not declared, all units in the Strategic Reserve Box never appear on the map.
Design Note: The Sixth Panzer Army was constructed from a shattered headquarters and support formations which had been removed from the Eastern Front and reconstituted. The army was ready for service by early December. This army is often erroneously called the "Sixth SS Panzer Army," but its true name was "Sixth Panzer Army"; the "SS" was sometimes attached because an SS officer commanded it.
(13.54) Deploying Sixth Panzer Army: When the German player declares Sixth Panzer Army Commitment, he immediately places the 6PZ HQ unit (with its depot) on the map:
- The 6PZ HQ may be placed in any hex in the Hessia, Wuerttemberg, or Ruhr map zones, provided the zone in which it is placed is currently German-controlled.
- Alternatively, the HQ may be placed outside the three map zones in any hex within five hexes of the Hessia, Ruhr, or Wuerttemberg map zones. The zone in which it is placed must be either German-controlled or contested. If the German player chooses this option, he must be able to trace a line of communications from the placement hex to a supply source.
- The HQ may not be placed adjacent to an Allied unit.
- The HQ is placed on its mobile side.
- The HQ is supplied throughout the turn of placement.
(13.55) After placing the 6PZ HQ on the map, the German player immediately removes all combat units from the Strategic Reserve Box and places them on their mobile sides in the HQ's hex and/or in any adjacent hexes.
- Units must obey stacking restrictions.
- They may be placed in Allied ZOCs.
(13.56) Initiative Bonus: In the two Operational Phases following a Sixth Panzer Army Commitment operation, the German player automatically has initiative.
- The two operations he declares need not involve Sixth Panzer Army units.
- Starting with the third Operational Phase following Sixth Panzer Army Commitment, initiative is determined normally.
"A conquering army on the border will not be halted by the power of eloquence." — Otto von Bismarck
14. Map Zone Control
The control status of map zones is important for victory, supply lines, Administrative Movement, and HQ Relocation. Control status is recorded on the network of boxes on the Theater Display, using Allied Control markers.
14.1 Changing Control Status
During the Map Zone Phase the control status of each zone is determined. There are three possible statuses for each zone:
- German control
- Allied control
- Contested
(14.11) During the Map Zone Phase, the status of each zone may change from controlled to contested or from contested to controlled, but never directly from one player's control to the other player's control.
(14.12) A player may contest a controlled zone if he has at least two combat units in the zone which meet the following requirements:
A. They are not besieged in a fortress. B. They did not participate in a Parachute Drop operation during the turn. C. They can trace a line of communications to a friendly supply source.
(14.13) A player gains control of a contested zone if he currently has two combat units in the zone that meet requirements A, B, and C above, and his opponent has no (zero) such units.
14.2 Effects of Control
(14.21) Units using Administrative Movement must remain in friendly-controlled map zones for the duration of their movement. (This includes their starting hexes.)
(14.22) HQ Relocation cannot be used into or through enemy-controlled map zones. (This does not include the HQ's starting hex.)
(14.23) The rail portion of an HQ supply line cannot be traced into or through an enemy-controlled map zone.
(14.24) The Allied player receives victory points for zones he controls. He also receives victory points if the German player fails to maintain garrisons in German-controlled map zones (19.2).
"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends." — General Dwight D. Eisenhower
15. Amphibious Assaults
The Allied player may launch up to two amphibious assaults per game: one major assault on the first turn, and one minor assault later. To resolve an amphibious assault, the Allied player places units into Amphibious Assault Boxes and attempts to advance them into the corresponding invasion hexes. Invasion hexes are identified by arrows (for example, hex 1620) that connect each invasion hex to its own Amphibious Assault Box. The box is subdivided into a 1st and 2nd Wave Box and lists the name of the beach and a German Atlantic Wall value, representing the strength of German beach defenses in that invasion hex.
(Diagram in the rules: an arrow labeled "Hex Number" points to the invasion hex (2105 in the illustration) and two arrows point to the "Wave Boxes" labeled 1 and 2 of the Amphibious Assault Box; the box's bottom row shows the beach name ("Dives") and the Atlantic Wall value ("2").)
15.1 Major Assaults
During the Amphibious Assault Phase of I June, the Allied player must make a major amphibious assault. This is the only major amphibious assault he can make during the entire game.
(15.11) Choice of Invasion Hexes: The Allied player begins by choosing the hexes he wishes to invade:
- Up to three invasion hexes may be chosen. They may be as widely separated from each other as the Allied player wishes.
- The major amphibious assault may not be made against South France.
(15.12) Choice of Participating Units: The Allied player then chooses units to participate in the invasion (assaulting units), and parachute units for a special drop during the assault.
- Only units currently in the England or Parachute Units in England Box may be chosen.
- The number of units which may participate depends on the map zone where the assault takes place. The Amphibious Assault Reference Chart lists the maximum number of divisions that may assault and parachute into each zone. In each case, a certain minimum number of units — also listed on the chart — must be British, Canadian, or Polish. British parachute units count toward this minimum number.
- If invasion hexes are situated in more than one zone, the smaller maximum numbers apply.
- The Allied player may choose to invade fewer than three hexes. If he invades only one, no more than six units (plus parachute units) may assault. If he invades only two, no more than twelve units (plus parachute units) may assault.
Examples: If there are invasion hexes in Poitou and Belgium, only 8 assaulting units plus one parachute unit could be chosen for the entire invasion. Only 3 need be British, Canadian, or Polish. If the Allies invade two hexes in Normandy, 12 ground and 3 parachute units may participate. A two-hex invasion of Poitou would still be restricted to the 8 assaulting units and one parachute division listed on the Reference Chart.
(15.13) HQs may not participate in the major amphibious assault.
15.2 Minor Assaults
During the Amphibious Assault Phase of any turn between I August and I October (inclusive), or during the South France Assault Segment of any of those turns, the Allied player may declare a minor amphibious assault. He may declare only one such assault per game and need not declare any.
(15.21) Choice of Invasion Hexes: The Allied player begins by choosing the hexes he wishes to invade:
- Up to two invasion hexes may be chosen.
- If more than one hex is chosen, they must be situated three or fewer "coastal" hexes from one another. (For example, W/1902 and W/1904 could be invaded, but not W/1902 and W/2105, because they are too far apart, nor W/1712 and W/1610, because, while they are within three hexes of each other, the three hexes are not "coastal" hexes.)
- Instead of a minor assault against invasion hexes, the Allied player may choose to invade Provence or Gascony (not both), but an assault against South France is launched during the South France Assault Segment, not in the Amphibious Assault Phase. See 15.4.
(15.22) Choice of Participating Units: After the Allied player has selected his invasion hexes, he must choose units to participate in the assault:
- At least half the units chosen must be US or French.
- 8 combat units plus 1 parachute unit may participate in the assault, regardless of location.
- If the invasion is not against Provence only units currently in the England or Parachute Units in England Box can participate.
- If the invasion is against Provence only units currently in the Italy Box may participate, including the parachute unit.
(15.23) No HQs may participate in a minor amphibious assault. (Exception: Assaults against South France; see 15.41.) However, in the turn after the minor amphibious assault is declared, the Allied player receives the 7US HQ unit as a reinforcement (16.62).
(15.24) Post-invasion Restrictions: During the turn following a minor amphibious assault the following special rules apply to Allied units that participated in the minor assault:
- They may not apply combat modifiers for depots, Corps operations, or armored unit combat values.
- Semi-motorized units must move as unmotorized units.
These rules apply only to Allied units that participated in the assault. German and other Allied units function normally.
15.3 Resolving Assaults
Except for assaults against South France (15.4), all Amphibious Assaults are resolved during the Amphibious Assault Phase, using the following procedure.
(15.31) Divide Units Into Waves: After choosing invasion sites and units, the Allied player divides his assaulting units into 1st and 2nd waves.
- In a major assault the 1st wave may include up to 6 infantry divisions. At least half of these must be British or Canadian.
- In a minor assault the 1st wave may include up to 3 infantry units; nationalities are irrelevant.
- The 2nd wave consists of the rest of the assaulting units.
- Any assaulting armored divisions must be in the 2nd wave.
(15.32) Deployment Segment: The Allied player must place his assaulting units in the Amphibious Assault Boxes selected for the invasion:
- All 1st wave units must be placed in 1st Wave Boxes.
- All 2nd wave units must be placed in 2nd Wave Boxes.
- No more than three units may be placed in a single 1st or 2nd Wave Box.
- Units of different nationalities may be placed in the same box.
- Units are placed on their mobile sides.
(15.33) Parachute Segment: The Allied player may make a special parachute drop, with up to the number of parachute divisions listed on the Amphibious Assault Reference Chart. The Allied player chooses hexes for the drop:
- The hexes must be adjacent to any of the assault's invasion hexes and may not be separated from the invasion hex by an all-sea hexside (W/1709, for example, is not adjacent to W/1610 for this rule).
- An invasion hex may not be chosen.
- An enemy-occupied hex may not be chosen (but an enemy ZOC may).
- The parachute units may not violate stacking restrictions during the drop.
For each parachute unit, the Allied player rolls the die to see if the drop is successful (4.72-74).
(15.34) 1st Wave Segment: The Allied player attempts to advance all 1st wave units into their invasion hexes. If the assault is "opposed," this requires combat.
i. Opposed Assault Combat: An opposed assault is one in which at least one German combat unit occupies the target invasion hex. The Allied player must separately resolve combat for each in any order he wishes. (See 15.37 for procedure.) In each combat, all Germans or all Allies will be eliminated; in the former case, the assault is successful.
- If a target hex is unoccupied or occupied only by a German HQ (the HQ retreats per rule 6.5 in this case) the assault is unopposed and is automatically successful.
ii. Occupation: Successful assaulting units of the 1st wave are placed in the invasion hex on their mobile sides.
- If placement of a 1st wave unit in an invasion hex would violate stacking restrictions, it is not placed on the map but is returned to England.
iii. Exploitation: Each 1st wave unit occupying an invasion hex may be moved (exploit) into any adjacent hex not occupied by a German unit.
- Exploiting units may not cross a river or sea hexside.
- Exploiting units may move from one German ZOC directly to another.
- Exploitation does not expend MPs.
- Units stacked together may separate and move to different hexes.
- Stacking restrictions apply at the end of the movement.
iv. Fatigue: All 1st wave units become fatigued.
v. German Reaction: The German player may make a "local reaction" (15.38).
(15.35) 2nd Wave Segment: The 2nd wave is identical to the first, but 2nd wave units perform all steps instead; 1st wave units do nothing.
- If the placement of a 2nd wave unit in an invasion hex would violate stacking restrictions, it is not placed on the map but is returned to England.
- Armored units may participate in 2nd wave attacks, but use their printed combat strength only (ignore 7.11).
- In the 2nd Wave Segment, the German player may make a "strategic reaction" instead of a local reaction (15.39).
(15.36) Beachhead/Mulberry Segment: The Allied player must place one Beachhead or Mulberry marker in every invasion hex he has successfully invaded from the sea (not by exploitation) in the current assault.
- Up to two mulberries may be placed following a major amphibious assault.
- Only one mulberry may be placed following a minor amphibious assault.
- A Beachhead marker is placed in each successfully-invaded invasion hex which did not receive a mulberry.
(15.37) Amphibious Assault Combat: Opposed assault combat is resolved using the following procedure.
- The Allied player adds up the combat values of all units in the Wave Box from which the assault originates. All units in that box must attack as an integral whole, combining their combat values into a single sum. The German player adds up the combat values of all units in the defending invasion hex. Only units in the Wave Box and the invasion hex — not units in any other hexes — participate.
- All units use their printed combat values. The modifiers of 7.1 do not apply.
- Find the ratio between the Allied and German total values (Allied to German). Round the ratio down (in favor of the German player) to one of the ratios shown on the Amphibious Assault Combat Results Table. Locate this ratio in the line corresponding to the invasion hex's map zone.
- The Allied player rolls the die and subtracts the invasion hex's Atlantic Wall value; the invasion hex's terrain is irrelevant.
- The Amphibious Assault Combat Results Table gives the modified die result needed for Allied success.
- If the modified die-roll is equal to or greater than the result needed, all German units in the invasion hex are eliminated and placed in a Replacement Box or in the German Surrender Box (7.51).
- If the modified die-roll is less than the result needed, all Allied units in the Wave Box are eliminated and placed in the Replacement Box of the nearest superior HQ. If an Allied unit is eliminated and no superior HQ is on the map, the unit may be placed in the Replacement Box of any superior HQ. The German units remain in the invasion hex.
Design Note: The lines for the different areas on the Amphibious Assault Combat Results Table represent the amount of air support, and to a lesser extent naval support, which would have been available.
(15.38) Local Reaction: The German player may make a local reaction in the reaction step of the 1st Wave Segment. Every mobile German combat unit (including Coastal Defense divisions, but not HQs) may perform one Tactical Movement action, if it is within four hexes of an Allied unit which performed an amphibious assault or special parachute drop this turn; the four-hex path may not be traced through sea hexsides. Units making a local reaction obey the rules of normal movement except:
- They may never execute an attack, cross a river hexside, or leave an Allied ZOC (units in Amphibious Assault Boxes do not exert ZOCs).
- They ignore movement supply restrictions (6.14).
- They remain on their mobile sides after completing the movement.
(15.39) Strategic Reaction: In the 2nd Wave Segment, the German player may make a strategic reaction.
What Units: Any mobile German combat unit (including those which made a local reaction) is eligible to participate, with the following exceptions:
- A Coastal Defense (CD) division in any invasion hex on the map may not conduct strategic reaction. (Such units did not have the transport to react quickly.) Non-CD divisions in invasion hexes may participate.
- Units in the Provence, Gascony, and Strategic Reserve Boxes may not react.
- HQs may never react.
How Many: The number of eligible units that may perform strategic reaction is limited by a modified die-roll:
-
In a major amphibious assault 3 is automatically added to the die-roll. In addition:
- If any invasion hex is located in Belgium add 2.
- If no invasion hex is in Belgium but one is located in Picardy add 1.
- If all invasion hexes are located in Poitou subtract 2.
The modified die-roll is the number of combat units which may participate, up to a maximum of 9.
-
In a minor amphibious assault 3 units may react. No die is rolled.
What They Do: Each unit selected to react may execute a Strategic or Administrative Movement action, ignoring movement supply restrictions (6.14). German units may exit Allied ZOCs and cross rivers during a strategic reaction but may not execute attacks. After a reacting unit has completed its move, flip it over to its fatigued side to keep track of which units have moved.
Example: The Allied player makes his major amphibious assault against three hexes in Picardy. He decides not to make any paradrop. He chooses 15 divisions, including the required 7 British divisions, for the assault. Three of these are armored. He places 6 infantry units — the maximum allowed — in the 1st wave, two units at each site. He places three divisions in each 2nd Wave Box. All armored divisions must be in the 2nd wave. Each hex is defended by a German coastal division; the ratios for all attacks are 12-3, or 4-1. To be successful, the Allied player must roll 0 or more on each die-roll. The adjusted die rolls, after subtracting Atlantic Wall values, are -3, 1, and 2. The Allied units in the first attack are destroyed. The German defenders in the other two attacks are destroyed and the 1st wave units take their hexes. The Allied player may now make a one-hex exploitation move with each unit of the two successful assaulting stacks. The German player may then make a local reaction — a Tactical Movement action — with any mobile combat units within 4 hexes of the Allied units. The Allied player then must attack with his 2nd wave at the beach where his 1st wave failed. This time the assault succeeds; his units advance into the hex and then exploit. The German player now makes his strategic reaction. His die-roll, after modification, is "8"; man combat units (except CDs in invasion hexes) may perform Strategic or Administrative Movement. Finally, the Allied player may place mulberries in any two of the invasion hexes and a beachhead in the third.
15.4 Minor Assaults Against South France
A minor amphibious assault against Provence or Gascony is both declared and resolved in the South France Assault Segment of the Theater Display Phase.
(15.41) To resolve the assault, the Allied player performs the following actions:
- He places units selected for the assault in the target box on the Theater Display. Units are placed on their mobile sides. There is no combat at this time even if German units occupy the box (see step 5).
- If a parachute unit is being used, it is placed in the target box. The Allied player does not have to roll the die — the drop is always successful. The parachute unit is placed on its mobile side, and suffers no special movement restrictions in the following turn. (This is an exception to 6.6.)
- The Allied player places the 7US HQ unit in the box being invaded.
- The Allied player places one Mulberry marker in the box being invaded. This mulberry is an Allied supply source and contributes its discharge value to the Allied supply level. Like all mulberries, it is automatically removed in I November. No beachhead is ever placed in South France.
- During the immediately-following South France Combat Segment, combat takes place between Allied and German units in the zone being invaded. The normal rules for combat in such a box apply (13.3). All Allied units in the box participate as usual.
(15.42) The Allied player cannot invade both Provence and Gascony in his minor amphibious assault — just one of the two. He cannot invade Provence or Gascony and also perform a minor amphibious assault against the map.
(15.43) There is no German local or strategic reaction.
"It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory." — General George C. Marshall
16. Reinforcements
The German player receives four types of reinforcements:
- variable reinforcements (depending on a die-roll each turn).
- constant reinforcements (available on specified turns).
- special reinforcements (available at his option).
- reconstructed units (surrendered units returning to play).
The Allied player receives few new units during the game — only HQs and French units (which arrive as France is liberated). He begins the game with very large numbers of units in the England and Italy Boxes, however, and gradually deploys these onto the map.
16.1 German Variable Reinforcements
At the beginning of all Reinforcement Phases starting with II July, the German player checks for variable reinforcements. He rolls the die and cross-references the die-roll with the current turn on the German Reinforcement Table.
- The result is the number of infantry divisions (4-3 units) he receives that turn.
- If the result is followed by an asterisk, he also receives a parachute division (7-3 unit).
- Any units not currently on the map, in the Surrender Box, in a Replacement Box, nor in South France may be chosen. Designations are irrelevant.
- If no unused units of the proper type are available when called for, the German player does not receive them.
16.2 German Constant Reinforcements
The German player receives four constant reinforcements on specified turns during the game.
(16.21) I July: If Maine is German-controlled or contested during the Reinforcement Phase of I July, the German player may place a single parachute division at Rennes (hex W/2316), Laval (hex W/2614), or Chateaubriant (hex W/2718) — his choice.
- The reinforcement may not be placed in a hex that was last occupied by an Allied unit, or which is currently within two hexes of an Allied combat unit.
- If the reinforcement cannot be placed in any of the three hexes listed, or if Maine is Allied-controlled, the German player does not receive this reinforcement.
Design Note: Historically, this was the 5th Parachute Division, which was being formed in Rennes with troops gathered from many ad hoc units, while the Normandy battle was raging.
(16.22) I August: During the Reinforcement Phase of I August, the German player may place a single parachute division at either Brest (hex W/1226) or Lorient (hex W/2025). (Historically, it was the 2nd Parachute Division.)
- The unit may not be placed in an Allied-controlled port.
- The reinforcement does not arrive if both ports are Allied controlled on I August.
(16.23) I September: During the Reinforcement Phase of I September, the 1FJ HQ unit arrives at any German production center subject to 16.84.
(16.24) I December: During the Reinforcement Phase of I December, the German player places the 6PZ HQ and a depot of value 4 into the German Strategic Reserve (13.5).
16.3 German Special Reinforcements
During each Reinforcement Phase beginning with I July, the German player may deploy a special reinforcement. (Historically, this would be a unit drawn from the Italian front.)
(16.31) A maximum of one special reinforcement may enter the game per turn.
(16.32) Any German armored or Panzergrenadier division not on the map, in the Surrender Box, Replacement Box, or South France may be chosen.
- If no unused armored or Panzergrenadier units are available, the German player may not deploy a special reinforcement.
(16.33) The Allied player receives 5 victory points (19.3) for each German special reinforcement deployed.
(16.34) In addition to the normal method of deploying German reinforcements (16.8), special reinforcements may arrive in Provence if German-controlled.
16.4 German Divisional Reconstruction
During each Reinforcement Phase beginning with I July, the German player may reconstruct one destroyed unit.
(16.41) Reconstructed units must be chosen from the Surrender Box (only).
(16.42) The Allied player receives 2 victory points (19.3) for each non-parachute unit reconstructed, and 3 for each parachute unit.
16.5 Allied Combat Unit Deployment
A great many Allied combat units start the game in the England and Italy Boxes on the Theater Display. Additional units can move to England or Italy from CONUS (13.11). In each Reinforcement Phase beginning with II June, the Allied player may deploy units from England or Italy onto the map or South France as reinforcements (16.81).
(16.51) A total of up to three combat units may leave the England or Italy Boxes per Reinforcement Phase. (Exceptions: see 16.52 and 16.53.) They may be of any type or nationality. HQ reinforcements do not count against this limit of three.
(16.52) During the Reinforcement Phase of II June the Allied player may deploy more than the usual number of units from England or Italy. The number depends on the location of the major amphibious assault of I June.
- If all invasion hexes were in Normandy, Picardy, or Belgium, up to nine combat units may be deployed.
- If all invasion hexes were in Brittany up to six combat units may be deployed.
- If any invasion was in Poitou up to four combat units may be deployed.
- If there were invasion hexes in more than one zone, the lowest applicable limit applies.
(16.53) Post-invasion Lull: During the Reinforcement Phase immediately following a minor amphibious assault, no units may be deployed from England or Italy. This includes units which have been delayed (16.85), but not units arriving from CONUS (13.11).
(16.54) British and Canadians in Italy: The British and Canadian units that start the game in Italy (historically, Canadian 1st Infantry Division, Canadian 5th Armored Division, and British 5th Infantry Division) may not leave Italy before I January.
(16.55) Units in CONUS: Allied units may leave the CONUS Box only in the CONUS Phase by the procedure described in 13.11.
(16.56) Units in the Parachute Units in England Box may be deployed as normal reinforcements if the Allied player chooses.
16.6 Allied HQ Reinforcements
New Allied HQs are available on certain turns. Allied HQs arriving as reinforcements are in addition to combat units arriving during the turn.
(16.61) The 1US and the 2BR may be deployed in any Reinforcement Phase starting with II June.
(16.62) If the Allied player makes a minor amphibious assault, the 7US HQ unit becomes available as follows:
- If the assault is made against South France, the unit enters play in the South France Assault Segment in which the assault takes place (15.4).
- If the assault is made against any other location, the unit is available in the Reinforcement Phase immediately following the turn of the assault. It must be deployed to a beachhead or mulberry that was placed during the assault.
- If placed on the map, the 7US HQ is accompanied by a depot of value 1. (The placement of this depot does not reduce the Allied supply level.)
(16.63) If the Allied player does not make a minor amphibious assault, the 7US HQ unit becomes available in the Reinforcement Phase of II October and is deployed normally (16.81). It is not then accompanied by a depot.
16.7 French Metropolitan Program
Design Note: After the liberation of France, French Resistance groups and hastily-trained recruits were organized into conventional infantry divisions. It took three or four months for these units to equip and train before they could be sent into combat.
(16.71) To receive French metropolitan reinforcements, the Allied player must control at least three of the following five zones during the Map Zone Phase of I October:
- Brittany
- Normandy
- Picardy
- Ile-de-France
- Maine
If he does not control at least three of these zones at that time, he never receives French metropolitan reinforcements.
(16.72) If these reinforcements arrive the Allied player receives:
- One French armored division and one French metropolitan division in the II December Reinforcement Phase.
- One French armored division and four French metropolitan divisions in the I January Reinforcement Phase.
(16.73) French metropolitan reinforcements may be deployed in any urban hexes situated in Allied-controlled zones within France.
"France cannot be France without greatness." — General Charles de Gaulle
16.8 Placement of Reinforcements
During the Reinforcement Phase, each player (German player first) places his reinforcements on the map (mobile side up).
(16.81) Allied Reinforcements: Allied reinforcements may be placed at any Allied supply source (but, see 16.73).
- Units leaving England may also go to Italy, or to Gascony (not Provence) if it is contested or Allied-controlled.
- Units leaving Italy may also go to England, or to Provence (not Gascony) if it is contested or Allied-controlled. The Allied player forfeits VPs for units deployed from Italy to England (19.4).
Design Note: Shipping reinforcements into a port does not affect the port's discharge value. All the men and equipment of a division constituted a very small burden compared to the massive volume of supplies moving through the ports. The men, after all, could walk right off the ships, whereas supplies had to be carried.
(16.82) German Reinforcements: German variable, special, and reconstructed division reinforcements may be placed either:
- at any German production center, or
- in the Strategic Reserve Box (13.5).
German constant reinforcements must be placed in their specified locations (16.2).
(16.83) Players must obey stacking restrictions when placing units on the map.
(16.84) Combat unit reinforcements may not be placed in an enemy-occupied hex but may be placed in an enemy ZOC.
- HQ reinforcements may be placed in an enemy ZOC hex only if another friendly unit occupies it. (The other unit could be a combat unit reinforcement placed there in the same phase.)
(16.85) Delayed Reinforcements: If a player has no hex available in which to place his reinforcements, they are placed aside. They may be deployed in any future Reinforcement Phase over and above the normal number of units allowed in that phase. A player may voluntarily withhold reinforcements for later deployment. (Exceptions: 16.21 and 16.22.)
(16.86) Reinforcing HQs are automatically supplied during the turn in which they are placed on the map (9.3).
"The proud German Army has once again proved the truth of the saying, 'The Hun is either at your throat or at your feet.'" — Sir Winston Churchill
17. Special Rules: I June and II June
Several special rules apply to I and II June.
17.1 I June
(17.11) Only the Terminal Cycle takes place; the other cycles are skipped. Also skip the Replacement Phase of the Terminal Cycle.
- The following abbreviated Sequence of Play summarizes these modifications.
I June Sequence of Play
A. TERMINAL CYCLE
- Amphibious Assault Phase (15.3)
- a. Deployment Segment - Assign units to Wave Boxes.
- b. Parachute Segment - Make special drop.
- c. 1st Wave Segment - Combat, occupation, exploitation, local reaction.
- d. 2nd Wave Segment - Combat, occupation, exploitation, strategic reaction.
- e. Beachhead/Mulberry Segment
- Recovery Phase
- CONUS Phase
- Map Zone Phase
- German Garrison Phase
(17.12) The Allied player must conduct a major amphibious assault.
(17.13) Only the Allied player may attack — and only to resolve opposed assault combat (15.37). None of the usual combat value or die-roll modifications listed in 7.1 and 7.3 apply.
(17.14) Eliminated Allied units may be placed in the Replacement Box of any superior HQ.
(17.15) Since there is no Logistics Phase, neither player determines a supply level, judges HQ supply status, or places depots.
17.2 II June
(17.21) The Logistics, Amphibious Assault, and Replacement Phases are skipped.
- The following Sequence of Play summarizes these modifications for II June.
II June Sequence of Play
A. STRATEGIC CYCLE
- Theater Display Phase
- Port Repair Phase
- Surrender Phase
B. ACTIVITY CYCLE
- Reinforcement Phase (only the Allies get reinforcements)
- Operational Phase
C. TERMINAL CYCLE
- Recovery Phase
- CONUS Phase
- Map Zone Phase
- German Garrison Phase
(17.22) Since there is no Logistics Phase neither player determines a supply level, judges HQ supply levels, nor places depots.
(17.23) During the Reinforcement Phase, the Allied player may deploy more than the usual number of units onto the map (16.52).
(17.24) German units beginning an Operational Phase in invasion hexes more than four hexes away from the nearest Allied unit may not be activated.
- German units in South France may leave either Provence or Gascony.
Design Note: The Germans expected a follow-up invasion to occur any moment, anywhere along the coast. Many of their troops were also lethargic and lacked transport.
(17.25) Allied semi-motorized units must move as unmotorized units.
(17.26) Most combat value modifiers listed in 7.1 do not apply; the only combat value modifiers that do are:
- Improved position and Fortresses double German defense values as usual.
- German (not Allied) armor combat strengths are modified normally for the defender's terrain (7.11).
- Neither side applies combat strength modifiers for Corps operations or the absence of depots (7.12 and 7.13). (Neither side had the equipment and supplies these modifiers represent.)
(17.27) There are no die-roll modifications for depots or for defending units outside superior HQ command radius (7.33, 34, and 36).
- All other die-roll modifiers apply normally.
(17.28) Eliminated Allied units may be placed in the Replacement Box of any superior HQ, but only if no superior HQ is on the map.
"I have to take the Americans along quietly and give them time to get ready; once they are formed up, they go like hell. I have got to like them very much indeed, and once you get their confidence they will do anything for you." — General Sir Bernard Montgomery
18. Introductory Mini-Game: D-Day
This scenario simulates the Allied invasion of France in June 1944.
18.1 Deployment Instructions
- Map: Use only the West map (easternmost half hexes are playable).
- Game-Length: The game consists of portions of I and II June. In I June, only the Amphibious Assault and Recovery Phases take place; all other cycles and phases are skipped. In II June, only the Activity Cycle takes place.
- Allied Deployment:
Starting in the England Box:
- 8 US infantry divisions (designations 1, 2, 4, 9, 29, 30, 79, and 90)
- 1 US heavy armored division (2)
- 4 British infantry divisions (3, 49, 50, and 51)
- 1 British armored division (7)
- 1 Canadian infantry division (3)
Starting in the Parachute Units in England Box:
- 2 US parachute divisions (82 and 101)
- 1 British parachute division (6)
- Allied Reinforcements on II June:
- 3 US infantry divisions (5, 8 and 83)
- 1 US heavy armored division (3)
- 4 British infantry divisions (15, 43, 53, and 59)
- 1 British armored division (Gds)
- The US 1st HQ
- The British 2nd HQ
- German Deployment:
| Hex | Unit(s) |
|---|---|
| W/1904 | 17LW CD |
| W/2005 | 346 CD |
| W/2105 | 711 CD |
| W/1907 | 716 CD |
| W/1610 | 709 CD |
| W/1311 | 243 CD |
| W/1419 | 266 CD |
| W/1124 | 343 CD |
| W/2025 | 265 CD |
| W/2000 (Dieppe) | 245 CD |
| W/1902 | 84 ID |
| W/1708 | 352 ID |
18.2 Special Rules
(18.21) The Allied player must make a major amphibious assault on I June. The invasion hexes selected must be in Normandy or Picardy. All three Allied parachute divisions must drop during the assault (in this scenario). Note 4.74.
(18.22) Allied units may never use Administrative Movement. German units may use Administrative Movement in all zones during I June; in II June, German units may use Administrative Movement only in zones not containing Allied units.
(18.23) Destroyed units are simply placed aside. Replacement and Surrender Boxes are not used. The German player may use the Kampfgruppe option if he desires (7.53).
(18.24) All of section 17's special rules apply.
18.3 Victory Conditions
Only the Allied player earns victory points (VPs). He gains VPs for the following:
- 1 VP for each German unit destroyed (including CDs)
- -1 VP for each Allied unit destroyed
-
VP for each of the following places physically occupied by an Allied unit at the end of the game:
- Cherbourg (W/1410) — 12 VP
- St. Lo (W/1910) — 4 VP
- Caen (W/2108) — 4 VP
- Granville (W/1913) — 4 VP
- Rouen (W/2402) — 4 VP
- Le Havre (W/2005) — 12 VP
- Lisieux (W/2306) — 4 VP
- Dieppe (W/2000) — 4 VP
The Allied player receives VPs for a city at the end of the game only if he can trace a supply line from the city to a beachhead or mulberry. This line is traced in the same way as a supply line from an HQ unit (9.3).
At the end of the game, find the Allied VP total on the chart below to determine the winner:
| Winner and Degree of Victory | Allied VP Total |
|---|---|
| Allied Decisive Victory | 28 or more |
| Allied Substantive Victory | 24-27 |
| Allied Marginal Victory | 18-23 |
| German Marginal Victory | 10-17 |
| German Substantive Victory | 4-9 |
| German Decisive Victory | 3 or less |
Transcription note: the printed rules contain the typographical errors "unts" (18.22, read as "units") and "mdifiers" (17.26, read as "modifiers"); they are corrected here. "Dieppe" appears as the bracketed name of hex W/2000 in the German deployment list as printed.
"Stay with me, God. The night is dark, The night is cold: my little spark Of courage dies. The night is long; Be with me God, and make me strong." — British Army prayer
19. Allied Victory Points
The Allied player wins the Campaign Game by scoring victory points (VPs). Only the Allied player receives VPs. He records accumulated VPs using his three VP markers and the Allied Victory Point Track. Place one marker in the hundreds box, one in the tens box, and one in the ones box. (For example, if the Allied VP total is 98, markers are placed in the "000", "90", and "8" boxes.) The Allies have zero VPs at the start of the game.
The victory point awards described below apply to the short and long Campaign Games (19.61 and 19.62). The Bulge and D-Day scenarios have their own schedule of victory point awards.
19.1 Map Zones
For every map zone that is Allied-controlled at the end of each Map Zone Phase, the Allied player receives a number of VPs equal to the VP Value of that zone. The VP value of each zone is given on the Theater Display.
For every map zone that is contested at the end of each Map Zone Phase, the Allied player receives a number of VPs equal to one-half the VP Value of that zone. Drop fractions, except that Brittany is worth 2. (Thus, the Allied player receives 0 points for contesting a zone that has VP value 1.)
- The Allied player receives the VP award for each zone in every turn that he controls it — he scores points every turn for the same zone.
Design Note: An important consideration in the victory point awards for zones was the location of V-weapon sites. For the British especially, it was a top priority to clear the coasts of Normandy, Picardy, Belgium, and Holland from which these weapons were being flung towards their cities.
19.2 German Garrisons
The German player is required to garrison eight map zones. During the German Garrison Phase, the Allied player receives 1 VP for each of those eight zones which:
- is German-controlled or contested, and
- does not contain at least two German combat units at that time. (Exception: The Allied player receives 1 VP for Provence if it does not contain at least six combat units.)
(19.21) The eight zones which the German must garrison are:
- Belgium
- Brittany
- Gascony
- Holland
- Normandy
- Picardy
- Poitou
- Provence
An asterisk appears in each of these eight zone boxes on the Theater Display, as a reminder.
(19.22) The German player is not required to maintain a garrison in an Allied-controlled zone, and the Allied player cannot receive garrison VPs for such a zone.
19.3 German Reinforcements
(19.31) Special Reinforcements: The Allied player gains 5 VPs each time the German player deploys a special reinforcement (16.3).
(19.32) Reconstructed Units: Each time the German player reconstructs a non-parachute unit (see 16.4), the Allied player gains 2 VPs.
- If the German player reconstructs a parachute unit the Allied player gains 3 VPs.
19.4 Allied Units Taken from Italy
For each Allied unit transferred to England from the Italy Box, the Allied player loses 1 VP. The Allied player loses no VP for a unit which is deployed from Italy to Provence, or which makes an amphibious assault against Provence.
(The Mediterranean command would have strongly resisted giving up their units for any purpose except an assault.)
19.5 Allied Units in Surrender Box
For each Allied unit which is placed in the Surrender Box, the Allied player immediately loses 1 VP.
19.6 Campaign Game Victory Conditions
At the end of the Campaign Game the Allied VP total is compared to the requirements listed below to determine the winner and level of victory. (Note: There are two versions of the Campaign Game: "The Short Game" and "The Long Game;" Each has its own VP requirements as outlined below.)
(19.61) The Short Game
At the end of the II November turn the Allied VP total is compared to the following chart to determine the winner.
| Winner and Level of Victory | Allied VP |
|---|---|
| Allied Decisive Victory | 220 or more |
| Allied Substantial Victory | 185-219 |
| Allied Marginal Victory | 150-184 |
| German Marginal Victory | 120-149 |
| German Substantial Victory | 90-119 |
| German Decisive Victory | 89 or less |
(19.62) The Long Game
Automatic Victory: At the end of II November, if the Allied VP total is 220 or more the game immediately ends and the Allied player wins a decisive victory. If the Allied VP total is 89 or less, the game immediately ends and the German player wins a decisive victory.
- If the game does not end in automatic victory, then at the end of II February the Allied VP total is compared to the following chart to determine the winner.
| Winner and Level of Victory | Allied VP |
|---|---|
| Allied Decisive Victory | 410 or more |
| Allied Substantial Victory | 370-409 |
| Allied Marginal Victory | 330-369 |
| German Marginal Victory | 270-329 |
| German Substantial Victory | 220-269 |
| German Decisive Victory | 219 or less |
"The colonel kicks the major, Then the major has a go, He kicks the poor old captain, Who then kicks the NCO, And as the kicks get harder, The poor private you can see, Gets kicked to bloody hell to save democracy." — British Army Ballad
20. The Campaign for Northwest Europe
This scenario simulates the northwest Europe campaign, starting with the Allied invasion in June 1944. Depending on the time available to the players, they may choose either of two Campaign Games of different lengths.
- Map: Use both maps in this scenario.
- Game Length: There are two scenario lengths (19.6):
- The short scenario begins on I June, and ends with the completion of II November.
- The long scenario begins on I June, and ends with the completion of II February.
- Supply Levels: Both sides start with supply levels of zero.
- Allied Deployment:
Starting in CONUS (All units are US):
- 25 infantry divisions (designations 26, 35, 42, 44, 63, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 78, 80, 84, 87, 89, 94, 95, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104, and 106)
- 9 armored divisions (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16)
- 2 parachute divisions* (13 and 17)
- * May not leave CONUS until I December (13.14).
Starting in the England Box:
- 9 British infantry divisions (3, 15, 43, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, and 59)
- 3 British armored divisions (7, 11, and Gds)
- 2 Canadian infantry divisions (2 and 3)
- 1 Canadian armored division (4)
- 1 Polish armored division (1)
- 1 French armored division (2DB)
- 12 US infantry divisions (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 28, 29, 30, 79, 83, and 90)
- 2 US heavy armored divisions (2 and 3)
- 3 US armored divisions (4, 5, and 6)
Starting in the Parachute Units in England Box:
- 2 British parachute divisions (1 and 6)
- 2 US parachute divisions (82 and 101)
Starting in the Italy Box:
- 3 US infantry divisions (3, 36, and 45)
- 1 US parachute division (PTF)
- 1 French armored division (1DB)
- 5 French infantry divisions (1DMI, 2DIM, 3DIA, 4DMM, and 9DIC)
- 1 British infantry division* (5)
- 1 Canadian infantry division* (1)
- 1 Canadian armored division* (5)
- * May not leave Italy until I January (16.54).
- Allied HQ Reinforcements (16.6):
| HQ | Turn Available |
|---|---|
| 1US | II June |
| 2BR | II June |
| 3US | II July |
| 1CA | II August |
| 9US | I September |
| 7US | II October (16.63) |
| 1FR | I November |
- French Metropolitan Reinforcements (16.7):
| Turn | Units Available |
|---|---|
| II December | 1 armored division (5DB) and 1 metropolitan division (10) |
| I January | 1 armored division (3DB) and 4 metropolitan divisions (1, 19, 27, and 36) |
- German Deployment:
Totals: 33 CD, 12 ID, 6 AD, 5 AD*, 1 PD, 1 PG, and 5 HQ.
| Hex | Unit(s) |
|---|---|
| 1103 (Den Helder) | 347 CD |
| 1505 (Amsterdam) | 16LW CD |
| 1508 (The Hague) | 719 CD |
| 1712 | 165 CD |
| 1814 | 712 CD |
| 1715 | 48 CD |
| 1717 | 18LW CD |
| 1718 (Dunkirk) | 326 CD |
| 1620 | 182 CD |
| 1622 | 47 CD |
| 1823 | 49 CD |
| 1824 | 344 CD |
- Zone Control: All zones begin German-controlled.
"We sure liberated the hell out of this place." — Anonymous American soldier
21. Optional Rules
Some or all of the following rules may be used upon the players' mutual agreement.
21.1 The Schwammenauel Dam
At the beginning of any Activity Cycle in which the German player controls the North Rhine zone or a German unit occupies the Schwannenauel Dam (hex 3104), the German player may destroy the dam. In this event, the five adjoining hexes of the Roer River Valley (2605, 2705, 2805, 2905, and 3005) immediately become impassable and may not be entered for the rest of the turn by either player's units. If a unit currently occupies one of these hexes, the owning player may displace it to any adjacent non-Roer River Valley hex that is not enemy-occupied. If this is not possible within stacking limits, the unit is destroyed. Command radii, supply lines, and lines of communication may not be traced into flooded Roer Valley hexes. At the beginning of the next turn, all Roer Valley hexes return to normal. The German player may use this option once per game.
21.2 British Divisional Disbandment
Unless the Allied player disbands two British infantry divisions during the game, the cost to replace any kind of destroyed British division goes up.
(21.21) At the beginning of any Replacement Phase, the Allied player may disband any destroyed British infantry divisions in a British or Canadian HQ's Replacement Box. When a division is disbanded, it is removed from the Replacement Box and placed in the Allied Surrender Box (note 19.5). (Historically, the British 50th and 59th infantry divisions were disbanded.)
(21.22) The replacement point cost to replace all types of destroyed British divisions is normally two. However, if the Allied player has not disbanded two British infantry divisions, the cost to replace British divisions of any type rises to three on I September, and to four on I November.
21.3 British "Funnies"
If the Allied player is conducting an opposed amphibious assault and all 1st and 2nd wave units occupying an Amphibious Assault Box are British, Canadian, and/or Polish, the Allied player adds one to his Amphibious Assault Combat Results Table die-roll because of the deployment of special armored vehicles, nicknamed "funnies."
21.4 Paris and Ile-de-France
(21.41) The German 325th CD division beginning in Paris may not be activated until an Allied unit comes within two hexes. (This unit was a security division.)
(21.42) The Allied player's supply level is reduced by one in the Map Zone Phase in which the Allied player first gains control of Ile-de-France. If the Allied supply level is already zero, the reduction takes place after the next Supply Segment. (The Allies were forced to divert vast quantities of supplies to avoid food shortages.)
21.5 The Battle of the Atlantic
If any units leave the CONUS box during the CONUS Phase, the German player rolls the die. On an odd roll, he rolls again. If this second roll is a "0" a single unit leaving CONUS is destroyed and placed in the Allied Surrender Box (note 19.5). (Historically, the US 66th Infantry Division was virtually destroyed by German U-boats and E-boats in its passage to the continent.)
21.6 Flooding Holland
At the end of any Map Zone Phase in which the German player controls Holland, he may cause a flood. A flood has the following effects:
- The Allied player immediately receives five VPs.
- The German player no longer loses VPs if his garrison of Holland is inadequate (19.2).
- All lowland hexes in Holland become impassable and may not be entered by either player, nor may command radii, lines of communication, or supply lines be traced into them, for the rest of the game.
- Any German units occupying lowland hexes within Holland are picked up and placed in 1800 or 1900, overstacking if necessary.
- Any Allied units in lowland hexes in Holland are placed in the Replacement Box of the nearest superior HQ.
Holland may be flooded only once per game. Control of Holland is judged normally following its flooding.
21.7 Alternate German Deployment
The German player may set up his forces as he wishes, rather than following the Campaign Game's rigid deployment instructions. He may also allocate Atlantic Wall values freely.
(21.71) The German player may freely deploy the units given in his Campaign Game starting deployment (20), with the following restrictions:
- He must deploy at least three combat units in each of these zones: Holland, Belgium, Picardy, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou, and Gascony.
- He must deploy at least ten combat units (including an armored division) and one HQ in Provence.
- All HQs must be four or more hexes from the nearest invasion hex.
- Two SS armored divisions must begin stacked on any production center. All other armored and SS armored divisions may be placed anywhere, so long as they are two or more hexes from the nearest invasion hex.
- Every invasion hex in Belgium, Picardy, and Normandy must be occupied by at least one infantry, coastal defense, parachute, or Panzergrenadier division.
- One CD must begin in one of the three hexes of Paris.
(21.72) The German player may divide 10 Atlantic Wall points among the Belgium, Picardy, Normandy, Brittany, and Poitou zones. A minimum of 0 and a maximum of 4 points may be allocated to a zone. The number of points allocated to a zone is the Atlantic Wall value of each invasion hex in that zone.
21.8 British/Canadian Supply Restrictions
Unless a British or Canadian HQ occupies Poitou, Brittany, Normandy, Picardy, Belgium, North Rhine, or Holland during the Depot Segment, the placement of a depot on that HQ reduces the Allied supply level by twice the depot value.
21.9 Brittany Port Restrictions
In any Supply Segment in which at least two Allied HQs are on the East map, the discharge values of all ports in Brittany are treated as one, regardless of their printed value.
Designer's Notes
The campaign in northwest Europe from mid-1944 to early 1945 was the most grandiose operation ever undertaken by American military forces. Over 40 years after the fact, we tend to take the Allied victory in this struggle for granted, viewing it as the inevitable triumph of the industrial democracies over the Nazi soldier-state, which, by 1944, was stretched to its breaking point across the length and breadth of Europe. In actual fact, however, the issue was very much in doubt for the Allies even after the successful invasion of Normandy in June. The vast majority of American, British, and Canadian troops waiting to give battle to the Nazis had never heard a shot fired in anger; their performance in combat was uncertain despite their enormous superiority in numbers and equipment. Moreover, Allied policy dictated that their greater numbers should be brought to bear as quickly as possible and the unconditional surrender of Germany brought about within a year of the invasion.
The dominant objective of Against the Reich is to portray the strategic decision-making process faced by high-ranking military planners, such as Churchill, Brooke, Eisenhower, Marshall, von Rundstedt, and Hitler. Above all, the game strives to be manageable. A firm decision was made to allow the full campaign to be played from start to finish in only a day or two of dedicated gaming. To achieve this, several design decisions were made which may appear unusual to historians and gamers, especially those familiar with the campaign or other simulations dealing with this subject.
Early in the design process, when the scope of the game was being decided, a judgment was made that the Allied player face the same dilemmas that SHAEF planners faced in 1943 and early 1944: namely, where should the invasion be made? Should there be a supporting second invasion? The inclusion of the invasion element in the game dictated that the map cover all conceivable landing sites from Biscay to Holland. The possibility of using troops from the Italian front in a secondary invasion of the Riviera was dealt with by incorporating a Theater Display. When playing the entire campaign, this turns out to be a game within a game.
The Map
Since the major emphasis is on theater-level grand strategy, the map was drawn as simply as possible. Only terrain features that significantly affected military operations at division and corps level were deemed worthy of inclusion. Considering that each turn is half a month and that each hex is over 100 square miles, the effects of minor terrain on various game functions was considered relatively insignificant. Some players may be surprised at the omission of some rivers that played an important role in the actual campaign, such as the Vire, Orne, or the Ourthe. If all rivers of this size were included on the map, fifty percent of the hexes would have rivers running through them. Essentially, only rivers comprising major watersheds of western Europe were included; even so, only portions of these rivers (and usually none of their tributaries) were portrayed because they were not always significant military obstacles.
Roads were generally omitted from the map because they were considered to run through virtually every hex on the map, the only exceptions being mountainous and rough terrain areas where the road network is relatively sparse. Thus, roads were portrayed in these generally inhospitable terrains, allowing players to discover the military significance of crossroads towns such as St. Lo, Caen, Bastogne, and Malmedy. Railroads, which are important for supply and movement purposes, were included only if double-tracked.
Time Scale
Typically, wargames of this unit and ground scale employ a two to four day turn. The actual campaign west of the Rhine lasted about nine months. Portrayal of the entire campaign — in a reasonable amount of time — necessitated a turn length four to five times as long as conventional simulations. This choice meshed well with the emphasis on high-level strategic operations; a two-week turn encourages players to think more of the "big picture" rather than of mundane details of division and corps operations on a day-to-day basis. The full campaign game lasts 18 turns and each turn should take no more than half an hour to play.
Order of Battle
The intention to place players in the shoes of Eisenhower and Hitler dictated that the order of battle be limited to division-size units, omitting the myriad sub-divisional outfits used by both sides. Traditionalists may argue that British tank brigades, American armored cavalry regiments, and German Panzer brigades and Tiger battalions played a significant role in the campaign; of this there is no doubt. But, given the game's scale, including them would have been both cumbersome to the players and minimal in effect. Instead, it was decided to represent these formations abstractly in the combat system — specifically in the vital combat bonus awarded to units operating as part of a corps. When a corps operates as a coherent mass, its combat power is significantly more powerful than the sum of its divisions, because of the assignment of numerous non-divisional units. The game emphasizes operations at corps level: no offensive against determined opposition can succeed without attacking units functioning together as part of a corps. However, corps are not represented as physical counters because they were flexible command organizations that changed significantly from week-to-week. A corps commander could find himself with six divisions one day and none the next.
*Transcription note: the printed text contains the typographical errors "communicaion" (21.6, read as "communication"), "fom" (21.7, "from"), and "sucessful" (Designer's Notes, "successful"); they are corrected here. The printed "Schwannenauel Dam" (21.1) is kept as printed; the section heading reads "Schwammenauel Dam".
Units
Experienced wargamers will note that, with few exceptions, a country's military units of a given type are essentially identical. Clearly, historians have recognized the high quality of some divisions throughout the campaign: the British Guards Armored Division, the German Panzer Lehr, and the American 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions, for example. The issue in terms of the game, however, was straightforward: was the superiority of a given unit worth a point or so of combat value? If so, would the differentiation of combat units on a judgmental basis be worth the inconvenience to the players in sorting out their counters for set-up and storage? The answer was an emphatic no. In my opinion, emphasis on units of high or low quality in this campaign has been somewhat overstated. Division-size units witnessed a 50% turnover of personnel in a matter of days and almost 100% in the time period covered by the game. As the campaign progressed, front-line replacements were thrown into battered divisions. As a rule, replacements, in all the participating armies, were not adequately trained. The result was that a division that fought in Normandy in June bore very little resemblance to the same unit fighting in the Rhineland in early 1945. To keep matters as simple as possible, combat values were based for the most part upon Table of Organization and Equipment strengths, with some minor modifications for intangibles such as the universally high quality of German Fallschirmjaegers (paratroopers) and the generally low standards of German static divisions and French metropolitan divisions.
Airpower
Another aspect that may surprise the experienced player is the apparent omission of air power rules. There is no question that the Allied air forces played a significant role in the ultimate defeat of Germany. Throughout the period covered by the game, Allied aircraft generally had free reign over the battlefield and German rear echelons. For precisely these reasons, the effects of Allied air power are incorporated into the game system rather than portrayed as an independent function under the players' direct control. Allied air power was a constant throughout most of the campaign; there was little high-ranking strategic decision-making regarding its week-to-week use. Each Allied army had a dedicated tactical air army that was used exclusively for front-line support. In addition, the Allies had a plentiful supply of deep-strike and interdiction aircraft which were used to inhibit movement of troops and supply in German rear areas.
At first glance, the effects of Allied air power may not appear very significant in the game. However, the first time a player assumes the German side, the inherent disadvantages brought about by Allied air power will quickly become clear. Primarily, the German player will continually be hard-pressed to buildup enough supplies to undertake a major offensive because the German Supply Table was drawn-up assuming a constant and powerful Allied interdiction campaign against German supply lines. Similarly, the movement of German motorized formations (and the movement of all German units by rail) is slower than comparable Allied units because of assumed Allied air power. Except in winter turns, when Allied air power generally could not be used to its full capacity, the game system gives the Allied player a significant advantage in terms of initiative. Generally, the Allied player will achieve initiative 60% of the time and the German player 40%. Finally, Allied front-line air support by tactical air armies is abstractly represented by the more powerful bonuses awarded to Allied divisions in combat when they are attacking within the command radius of an Allied HQ with a depot. However, it may be surprising to some players that direct Allied air support of front-line troops was not of significant importance in the actual campaign. In fact, as late as the Normandy breakout, techniques for air/ground cooperation were virtually non-existent. Allied aircraft played their most vital role in keeping German aircraft at bay and disrupting German rear echelons.
Victory
Although the Allied player has a preponderance of force, he is hard-pressed to win the game. The victory conditions are very demanding of the Allied player because, in reality, Allied expectations for a relatively quick end to the war were high. After the Normandy breakout and the liberation of most of France, Allied planners began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, as the summer of 1944 came to a close, they discovered that the German Army was very far from dead. From September 1944 to February 1945, no decisive rupture of the German lines were made, completely crushing all Allied hopes for a rapid termination of the war. Due to the stalemate on the German frontiers, Allied fears concerning the widening use of German "wonder weapons," such as V-rockets and jet aircraft, began to mount. The reconstruction of the German Army in late 1944 and the successful delay of the Allied armies along the Westwall was a German victory of sorts, although, of course, Germany's inevitable destruction was only postponed by a few months. It is important to note that in game terms, the Allied player must strive to meet or exceed Allied leaders' historical goals. A duplication of the actual Allied performance in the campaign would, at the very best, be no more than an Allied marginal victory.
Players' Notes
This is a tense, unpredictable, and very exciting game. The element of non-sequential movement makes it impossible to predict who will move next — a player could, theoretically, move all his units before the other moves one. What generally happens though, is that you move a few units, your opponent reacts by moving a few, you must react to that so you move one or two and so on. This intense player interaction — action/reaction — is the essence of the game and what makes it so tense. The game system does not determine the flow of the game; you have to predict your opponent's play. When the supply, combat, and command rules are added you have a game that forces players to make more decisions, to make them earlier than in most games, and, in particular, to play against the opponent rather than the counters, the CRT, or the die.
General Hints
Because of the intense action/reaction, combat does not consists just of "attacks," but actual battles develop — and often where and when you least expect them. Often a player will move up a division to pin an enemy unit which leads to an attack to release the pinned unit which leads to a counterattack and so on. Soon, more and more attacks suck more and more units into the bloody cauldron. Players must be careful not to commit units to battles that, in the long run, are not really important. The tactical situation of a battle is so fluid that decisions to attack or defend, advance or retreat, combined with the limited ability to respond with the units you want makes the aggressive player more aggressive and the cautious one more cautious. You must strive for a balance and keep your goals in perspective.
Remember that units are weaker when fatigued, and therefore more susceptible to counterattack. You Must Keep A Reserve! If you don't, you'll miss opportunities. Often the player that delays moving his main reserve the longest will realize a significant advantage. When a player has moved most or all of his units (and thereby weakened his army) the player with a mobile reserve force can, if positioned correctly, destroy a lot of the weakened enemy units.
Place your depots carefully and then defend them. An HQ that must retreat loses its depot and, again, weakens the army. Neither player can hope to engage in combat successfully without supplies accumulated at a depot. Once you place a depot, protect it!
Allied Play
Get Ports: This may seem an obvious point but it is more important than you may think. The discharge value of all your ports determines the number of depots you can place on the map. If you don't have depots your strengths are halved, your casualties increase, and your ability to attack is zip. Depots are critical — need I say more?
Consider the width of your invasion: If you invade on a wide front you increase the threat to the German; he'll be unable to tell where your main thrust will come from because each of your beachheads is potentially a major base area. The German may panic and make mistakes. Of course each landing area will be weaker than if you concentrated your units in the same area. The optimal invasion is wide enough to create many threats but narrow enough to be self supporting. Be careful about where and how you invade but remember, your first task is to secure a good supply source.
Run with the Ball: Once ashore, take advantage of any holes in the German defense. Send a couple of divisions (paratroops maybe) behind German lines to contest zones. The German will have a hard time catching the units and a harder time killing them. Also, contested zones impede his ability to move units by rail. When you get a breakthrough, don't be afraid to exploit it, to widen the line or to pin some German units. Units don't die just for being out of supply and a few units deep behind his lines can be a real pain he must address.
Kill Germans: Because of the replacement rates, Allied units come back faster than German ones. A constant attack will keep the German off balance and prevent the massing of large armies for counterattacks. If his army is short of units he'll be forced to give up territory without a fight. When your Replacement Boxes begin to fill up with destroyed units don't worry, they'll be back — and faster than you think.
The 2nd Invasion: You have a lot of options here. Provence is always nice — there's a good port, it forces the German to split his forces into two parts, and the Riviera is a beautiful place. On the other hand, if the 2nd invasion falls at a lightly-defended area behind his lines that's nice too. You've never seen an army pull back so fast (or attempt to). Don't count on the 2nd invasion having as much punch as the first, though — its weaker. But you will, if you're smart, be able to surprise the enemy.
Pursue: You must try to stay in contact with the enemy. This reduces his mobility and forces him to abandon fatigued units which you can gobble up at your leisure. With his mobility reduced he will not be able to pull back his main army to the Westwall but will be forced to rebuild it slowly with his replacements and reinforcements.
German Play
Bring up the Reserves: Send all the units you can to the front. You'll have time to replace these units and you'll need everything you have to face the growing Allied armies, whether you try to crush the invasion on the beaches or conduct a fighting withdrawal.
Seal the Beachhead or not?: If the invasion comes at Normandy or farther east, you have a chance to either contain the invasion or crush it. Particularly if the invasion is in Holland or Belgium your strong forces and reinforcements are near at hand — perhaps near enough to bring up the Panzers and slaughter the Allies on the beach. If it comes at Normandy, it will be tougher to stomp them on the beaches but you may be able to contain the intruders on the Contentin peninsula depending on how the initiative falls. Further west, while the invasion is almost impossible to crush, it is easy to contain if things go well.
Don't Panic!: If you stick around the beach areas too long you may find yourself virtually with no army left. If it becomes evident that you cannot contain the invasion begin falling back — but don't panic. This is possibly the most difficult aspect of the game because of the non-sequential movement, so think it through carefully. Even if you lose most of your initial forces — which you will if you hang around too long and the Allies continually get good initiative — all is not lost. Again, DON'T PANIC, and don't get discouraged! German reinforcements allow you to rebuild rather quickly, especially if you reconstruct whenever possible. Even if all looks lost just smile at the Allied player and say "Come and get it." He has to win quickly and will be hard pressed regardless of his success in the breakout.
Be Flexible: Pick defensive terrain for your main line of resistance (the Seine is nice — rivers are nasty to take) and hold it for as long as you can, then fall back to another preselected line (these operational retreats must be well-timed; don't try to hold any position too long. Don't worry about giving up territory: you won't be shot for pulling back. Be alert for the 2nd invasion. Terrain is your ally.
On the Horns of a Dilemma
Transcription note: the bylines printed under the Players' Notes and under this essay (the essay's author) are omitted as credits.
Rating generals has always been a cherished postwar pastime. With the coming of simulation games, it has gained new realism. Game players can feel, if not the full responsibility of military command, at least something of the awesome sense of quandary in which a general is likely to find himself.
The players of this game should emerge with a new respect for the leaders on both sides of this campaign — through France, the Low Countries, and Germany from June 6, 1944 to end of February, 1945 — from the invasion to the banks of the Rhine. I myself rated the commanders of this campaign, especially the American ones, in my book Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany, 1944-1945 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981). Intending to write a critical analysis of generalship that might be useful to future military commanders — even as playing simulation games may be useful — I sometimes delivered harsh judgments. Players will become increasingly qualified to decide whether my own and similar judgments were excessively harsh.
I suggested, for example, that US generalship, especially that of General (from December 16, 1944 General of the Army) Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, and Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, Commanding General, 12th Army Group (and until August 1, 1944, commanding First Army as well), was conventional, cautious, and predictable. Advancing across Europe on a broad front, relying on superior weight of resources to overwhelm the Germans in unsubtle, often head-on attacks, the senior US generals avoided risk-taking, even if the risks might have shortened the war substantially and saved many lives.
But given the weight of Allied and especially American resources, Eisenhower and Bradley could feel sure that, unless a bungle of almost incredible proportions occurred, the Allies would finally win the war. Therefore, why should they have run risks that might turn out to be bungles?
The Allied player stands in Eisenhower's place and, like Eisenhower, will have to grapple with balancing a cautious pursuit of what may seem certain victory — betting on a sure thing — against the risks of more rapid action. The game is structured so that delay rewards the Germans and penalizes the Allies. This is only a rough equivalent (but the nearest that can be incorporated into a simulation game) for the real-life penalties of excessive Allied delays — heightening of British war-weariness; exacerbation of tensions within the Grand Alliance of the US, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union; and worst, the prolongation of the horrors of war at the front and behind it, including the Holocaust.
Thus the game confronts the players, and particularly the Allied player, with the military phenomenon of the unforgiving minute: time and opportunities — once lost — tend never to return. Victory through caution is not quite so certain for the Allies as it first may seem; the outcome of running risks is usually less certain. Which horn of the dilemma will you grasp if you play the role of Eisenhower?
GENERAL (after September 1, 1944 Field Marshal) Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, commanding all Allied ground forces through the end of August 1944 and thereafter 21 Army Group, and the senior British commander of ground forces, has often been criticized as yet more cautious than the leading Americans. In Eisenhower's Lieutenants, however, I tempered such criticism with the recognition that Montgomery could not be other than chary about expending the resources and especially the soldiers of the British and Canadian armies under his command. For the British, there would be no divisions added to the order of battle once the campaign in northwest Europe began; heavy casualties would threaten the breakup of existing divisions. For the Canadian First Army, the constraints not only of a relatively small national population, but of the tensions between French- and English-speaking Canadians and the limits they imposed on conscription, made replacements even more scarce.
Montgomery, nevertheless, burned with ambition to strike the climactic blows that would shatter German power; he badgered Eisenhower to adopt a narrow-thrust rather than a broad-front strategy for the advance across the Low Countries into Germany. In Montgomery's design, the bulk of Allied divisions and logistical support would be concentrated for the narrow thrust in 21 Army Group.
The geographic advantages of Montgomery's axis of advance along the most level areas of the north European plain — albeit areas of wide rivers and often marshy soil — made it necessary for Eisenhower (and will make it necessary for the Allied player) to consider Montgomery's proposals most seriously. Operation Market-Garden, the combined airborne and ground effort to capture a bridge over the Rhine River at Arnhem and thereby turn the northern flank of the Westwall, was at least a partial gesture toward letting Montgomery try his hand at the narrow thrust. If Montgomery had succeeded in capturing his bridgehead, we can feel reasonably certain that Eisenhower would have diverted further resources to him, and that the narrow-thrust strategy would have received a substantial trial. The absence of such a trial resulted not only from Eisenhower's acknowledged predisposition toward the broad-front advance but also from Montgomery's own failure in tactical execution; he did not direct Market-Garden skillfully enough to win the Rhine bridgehead. This tactical failure cannot, however, justify the Allied player in neglecting careful consideration of Montgomery's proposed narrow thrust strategy.
WHAT might have happened if the cross-channel invasion of June 6, 1944 had placed the Americans on the Allied left flank instead of on the right? The circumstances that put the British on the left seemed so overriding that the necessity of bending to them was almost never questioned during the war. American reinforcements and supplies came from the west — from across the Atlantic — so the Americans occupied the western flank. But that meant the more mobile of the two principal Allied armies, and the one that could more readily concentrate a heavy weight of armored strength in Europe, faced terrain more unfavorable to mobility and to armored war: the hedgerows of the Normandy Bocage and the enemy inundations around the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. The relatively open part of Normandy around Caen, the part of the invasion area most suited to armored warfare and mobility, was the target of the Allied army less able to exploit such geographic advantages. Had the Americans invaded France on the Allies' eastern flank, the breakout from Normandy might well have come earlier.
And the pursuit across France might well have been more devastating to the Germans because the highly mobile US army would have had before it the most favorable terrain for a rapid advance toward Germany. In particular, the Americans would not have struck the rugged and wooded ground of the Huertgen Forest and adjacent forbidding areas, the narrow defiles of the Ardennes, the fortresses of Lorraine, and the mountains of Alsace. If the US Third Army, rather than the British Second, had captured Antwerp and struck the Scheldt estaury, would a general of George C. Patton's drive and energy have left the Scheldt unopened and access to the great port of Antwerp denied to Allied shipping for the nearly three months that actually intervened between Second Army's capture of it on September 5 and the arrival of the first convoy of ships on November 28? Would the German Fifteenth Army have been allowed the avenue of escape from entrapment? Would Operation Market-Garden have failed because the advance dithered and dallied at the Nijmegen bridge?
Historians know that such counterfactual propositions are perilous to entertain, but it is hard to escape the belief that the campaign would have been considerably different if Patton — the hard-charging cavalryman — had commanded in the arena where Montgomery did.
OF the fighting qualities of the German army, probably more than enough laudatory things have been said during the past decade or so.
Military historians (this writer included) have taken to praising the German army as qualitatively the best in the world from the first emergence of modern Germany in 1871 to the final downfall of Hitler's Germany in May 1945. With almost complete consistency throughout that long era, the German army appears to have performed better than any other in terms of ability to capture its objectives when on the attack, to hold ground when standing on the defense, and to extract heavier casualty rates from its enemies than it suffered itself.
The sources of the Germans' qualitative excellence included the unparalleled cohesiveness of its units, the ability of the German army to inculcate a sense of comradeship among larger numbers of men than in any other major army, and the unparalleled professional skill of both its commissioned and noncommissioned officers. These sources of excellence reinforced each other. If a German formation was shattered in battle, as long as a cadre of officers and NCOs escaped, the formation could be reconstructed in a remarkably short time, with practically all of its old cohesiveness and fighting power; the rules of this game reflect the capacity of German formations to recover rapidly from heavy losses. Meanwhile the consistent cohesiveness and reliability of German formations enabled officers to apply their tactical skills to the utmost through flexible groupings of interchangeable units and flexible creation of task forces (Kampfgruppen) of varying sizes and composition.
What did the German commanders hope to accomplish in the campaign of 1944-1945, and for what can the player acting out their roles hope? During the first phase of the Cobra battle that began on July 25, 1944, German commanders still entertained the dream that they could restabilize the front and cause the Anglo-Americans to lose patience with a stalemated war and their unnatural alliance with the Soviet Union. A separate peace with the Western Allies might yet be possible, the Germans hoped, perhaps to be followed by a combined effort against the Communists.
As Allied armies swept across France, these dreams faded. The Germans' eventual success in restabilizing the front along their own border notwithstanding, by autumn few German leaders retained much hope of the disruption of the hostile Grand Alliance. The principal exception to this generalization was of course the most important German leader, the Fuehrer — Adolf Hitler. When Hitler ordered preparation for and then the execution of the counteroffensive in the Ardennes that began on December 16, he was still pursuing the will-o'-wisp of an Anglo-American defection from the Soviets, to say nothing of the delusion that the British and Americans themselves might split.
By that time, however, the German military high command, embodied on the Western Front by Oberbefehlshaber West, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, nourished only the faintest hopes of any such rescue from the otherwise almost certain Allied victory toward which their opponents' cautious and conventional strategy was directed. To what end, then, did Rundstedt and his fellow German military chieftains obey Hitler's order shaping the Ardennes counteroffensive? They obeyed out of fear for their lives, to be sure, but the skill with which they obeyed implies additional motives. Retaining few of the Fuehrer's illusions and thus almost no hope of winning the war, for what did the German generals — and the army — fight at the end of 1944?
Mainly, they appear to have fought to retain their professional integrity as soldiers. Without an order to surrender, they believed their duty forbade surrender. If, therefore, they must go on fighting, they should as skillfully and bravely as possible. The rules of this game recognize this German motive rewarding the German player for achieving relatively modest objectives.
When Hitler ordered the Ardennes counteroffensive, virtually every German field commander knew that it was folly to expect, as the Fuehrer did, another breakthrough to the English Channel on the model of the Ardennes offensive of 1940. But, would it not serve Germany better — would it not grasp some final chance of a separate peace in the West, or at least better vindicate the skill of the army — to design the offensive for the overrunning of the maximum possible amount of territory, or for inflicting the maximum possible attrition upon the Allied armies?
Why, then, the implication that praise of that army has grown excessive? Americans have a tendency toward exaggerated self-deprecation. We tend to carry unfavorable comparisons between ourselves and others to extremes — especially since the war in Vietnam. The German army merits high praise, but players will recognize other realities demonstrated by the campaign in western Europe and particularly, for example, by the battles in the Ardennes.
US soldiers in the Ardennes — their commanders the victims of almost complete tactical and strategic surprise, their command echelons in fact often breaking apart, their vaunted communications including those between infantry and artillery often breaking down, their tactical air support grounded so much of the time — rallied to fight with a tenacity that denied the Germans their planned objectives virtually from the outset of the battle. Even an utterly green division, the 106th Infantry, cut off from the rest of the American front, mustered numerous patches of stout resistance; while the division was overrun or forced to surrender, the equivalent of a regimental combat team survived to play a creditable part in the defense of St. Vith, an episode as crucial as the more heralded defense of Bastogne. The veteran 28th Infantry Division was a weary skeleton after prolonged attrition in the Huertgen Forest, but again and again its tired soldiers imposed crippling delays on the Germans at important road junctions and defiles. The elite airborne divisions, the 82nd and 101st, though misused as ordinary infantry in prolonged fighting (the aftermath of Market-Garden) entered the battles in the Ardennes and played their usual stellar role, especially the 101st at Bastogne.
And these battles were not simply stubborn defensive actions. Repeatedly, Americans staged counterattacks as soon as they could. Little more than a week after the start of the counteroffensive the whole campaign was transformed into one of US initiatives to chop off the German salient. If it has been charged that the US army in 1944-1945 — and during the twentieth century more generally — has relied on sheer weight of material, the Ardennes battles demonstrate impressive American fighting in an hour when its usual superior resources were largely unavailable and the combat skill and bravery of the soldier — fighting as an individual or in small groups — had to suffice instead.
THE Ardennes battles also underline a chronic problem facing Allied high command. The Allied player will discover that he never can call on as many divisions as the demands of offensive warfare would make desirable. The Allied player's order of battle will be a consistent prod toward caution. It provides a perilously thin margin of reserve forces — a constant plague for the Allied player who desires to command boldly.
We have already noted that the British army was close to the limits of its manpower resources. But the US army did not compensate for manpower shortages of its Allies with the plenitude that familiar stereotypes of overwhelming American resources might lead the novice player to expect. The US Army fought the Second World War with only ninety divisions — for practical purposes eighty-nine, because the 2nd Cavalry Division was broken up early. World War II historians therefore speak of America's ninety-division gamble, because an army of this size was not an army of altogether impressive dimensions by great-power standards; Soviet and German divisions numbered well into the hundreds. Initial American plans for involvement in World War II had envisaged an army of 213 divisions by June 1944.
To be sure, the relatively modest size of the US army reflected the strains of a global war. For the most part, however, the modest size of the US army was the result of a conscious American decision to concentrate sufficient men and resources on industrial productivity to assure the "arsenal of democracy." American industry supplied not only America's own armed forces, but a major share of the Allies' needs as well, including those of the Soviet Union. Thousands of American trucks, for example, greatly increased the Red Army's ability to sustain its offensives over increasing distances in the final years of the war.
The cynical may complain that the allocation of American resources was designed to maintain a standard of living in the US comparable to that of affluent peacetime years. American civilians suffered few painful wartime shortages. Furthermore, a remarkably high standard of living was maintained for the men in uniform. Efforts of some US military commanders to create an army that was lean and tough, with a high ratio of "tooth to tail" — of combat troops to logistical and administrative personnel — met continual frustration. Apart from the Army Air Forces, by the end of the war there were 2,041,000 soldiers in ground combat units and nearly as many — 1,598,000 — in the Army Service Forces and other ground-force service units.
Of the eighty-nine US divisions, all were shipped overseas by the end of the war, and all but two saw combat. Viewed in a favorable light, this outcome could be interpreted as showing a superbly accurate calculation of the means necessary to win; the US Army fought World War II with no excess of combat forces, and, in that sense, with virtually no waste. Viewed less charitably, the outcome meant the US fought with no strategic reserve to call on in emergencies. The German Ardennes counteroffensive was an emergency that forced Eisenhower to throw all available combat formations into action, with nothing to spare for new surprises — and with almost every individual replacement soldier committed.
From another perspective, the ninety-division gamble meant that once engaged a division remained in action almost continuously to the end of the war. The combat soldier knew there was no escape from combat save death, severe wounds, capture, or the end of the war. Thus US divisions inevitably grew weary, demoralized, and lost much of their fighting elan; part of the explanation for lack of aggressiveness in the US infantry lies precisely here. Even the Germans after more than five years of war — and their casualties of the Eastern Front — contrived to maintain enough divisions for rotation.
With US divisions in short supply, and their combat edge likely to be blunted fairly soon because of high casualty rates among riflemen and the strain that lack of respite imposed on morale, the US army also suffered from a failure to have foreseen how high infantry casualties would be, and therefore to provide enough trained replacements. Soon after the invasion of Normandy, the US army had to begin combing out soldiers from noncombat assignments — and sometimes from other combat roles — and retrain them as riflemen. Nevertheless, supply never caught demand. The German Ardennes counteroffensive created so acute a shortage of infantry replacements that Eisenhower's headquarters was driven to insert black platoons or companies into white regiments; amid the racial attitudes that still prevailed in the US and its army in World War II, this was a sign of painful desperation.
When the new black infantrymen encountered sympathetic commanding officers, their qualities as soldiers proved a gratifying surprise to the prejudiced majority. Some of them had been willing to suffer a reduction in grade to get into combat; many of them were exceptionally good soldiers. The same could not be said for many other infantry replacements, because commanders of noncombat units, pressured to give up men for infantry retraining, often seized the opportunity to dump their misfits and malcontents. On a larger scale, furthermore, the US army tended to assign its least intelligent and otherwise least promising soldiers to the infantry. In some World War II armies, notably the Australian, nearly the reverse policy was adopted; the infantry received the best soldiers. A comparison of the results suggests another cause for the shortcoming of US infantry.
Even with the bulk of US divisions and infantry replacements going to Eisenhower, his divisional strength remained marginal. By January 3, 1945, Eisenhower commanded forty-nine US, twelve British, three Canadian, one Polish, and eight French divisions. Seventy-three Allied divisions confronted about seventy German. Even at this late stage of the war, an Allied division typically did not possess the measure of qualitative superiority to make this ratio comfortable. On the Eastern Front, the Soviets believed they needed a four-to-one advantage to assure success in an attack; the best efforts to concentrate at points of attack could rarely give the Western Allies such a margin. The Americans' ninety-division gamble paid off in the sense that it won the war without a waste of manpower; but the price included using tired men in tired divisions, forced to fight on and on without hope of respite except from an enemy bullet, prison camp, or the end of the war.
THE stereotypical image of America in World War II as a superpower whose armed forces overflowed with abundant resources does not quite fit the realities of European Theater. In logistics — unlike manpower — the fabled abundance usually existed somewhere in the pipeline leading to the front (except for certain artillery ammunition). Though the Allies achieved a breakout from Normandy, success brought new difficulties. From the beginning of Cobra to the German border, the advance exceeded logistical calculation. Plans anticipated a pause for consolidation and buildup when the armies reached the Seine and Loire Rivers. Instead, the temporary collapse of German resistance led Eisenhower's columns to race onward, until the exhaustion of supplies became a major factor in producing the "miracle of the West" — the rallying of German resistance in the Low Countries, along the Westwall, and in Lorraine.
The Allies contributed to their own logistical problems through their pre-invasion bombing of the French rail net. The French road net and available trucks proved an inadequate substitute for railroads, especially when trucks had to travel from Normandy to the German border. They had hoped to bypass Paris, but the rising of the Resistance within the French capital impelled the Allies to occupy the city on August 25, earlier than expected, and thereafter caring for the Parisian population aggravated supply difficulties. Above all, the most critical item of supply in twentieth-century war is POL — petrol, oil, and lubricants. Trucks carrying supplies add their own heavy POL consumption to that of armored combat vehicles and trucks at the front, drying up fuel tanks of advancing armies. In the late summer of 1944, the Allied advance literally ran out of gas.
Once the consequent halt gave the Germans the opportunity to display their resiliency in rebuilding divisions and creating new ones, Hitler was able to use his revitalized army and the fortifications around Metz, in the Maginot Line, and in his own Westwall to impose a stalemate reminiscent of the deadlocked Western Front of World War I. It was in the hope of nipping this stalemate in the bud that Montgomery persuaded Eisenhower to support Market-Garden. It was the specter of an autumn stalemate in the style of World War I that gave urgency to Market-Garden and that will motivate the Allied player to do better.
The shadow of the coming stalemate gave force also to the larger debate over whether the Allies should persist in the broad-front strategy, or attempt a heavier blow on a narrower front. Montgomery became the principal advocate of the narrow thrust, but the Allied player should consider the possibilities of a concentrated punch spearheaded not by Montgomery's forces but by the Americans.
Just as logistics set the stage for the debate over the broad-front/narrow-thrust strategy, so logistics dominated the course of the debate. The price of a narrow, concentrated thrust — and Montgomery never advocated a thin pencil-like advance, but an offensive by some forty divisions — would have been virtually to immobilize divisions elsewhere along the line. To do so would have posed grave risks. The Germans were planning (and, on September 19, began to deliver) counterattacks against Patton's Third Army in Lorraine. Because of Patton's aggressiveness, the Germans regarded Third Army's advance as the most dangerous Allied spearhead, despite obstacles of geography and fortification. How could Patton have thwarted these counterattacks if he had been denied fuel in order to supply Monty's narrow thrust? As it was, he was operating on a thin margin of POL when his army fought the biggest tank battles thus far in the western war.
At best, even by immobilizing the rest of the Allied armies, no forty-division thrust could have been supported deep into Germany. A narrow-thrust offensive would have been reduced to pencil-like dimensions after all if it had tried to advance much beyond the Rhine. If Montgomery had reached the Ruhr at all it would probably have been with only about nine divisions. To have accomplished much more would have required earlier planning by the logisticians — careful planning at least as early as the Cobra battles, of a sort the Allied player is encouraged to apply, but which did not in fact occur.
It is noteworthy that even in motion, German divisions could get along with considerably smaller tonnages of supply than their Allied equivalents. Allied regulations called for 650 tons of supplies per day. In North Africa, the Germans had calculated that a division on the attack required 350 tons per day — including water. Granting that Allied allocations may have been excessive, the Allied player will find himself, like the wartime commanders, confronted by logistical puzzles. The dependence of strategy upon logistics will consistently be apparent.
Any offensive launched without a pause to accumulate supplies will soon lose its punch. To conduct a sustained offensive, the player must take time to develop his depots. Will his attack be a slugging match, or does he dare contemplate a fast-moving pursuit? Always he will face the danger that logistical preparations, however necessary, may cost him the unforgiving minute — the right moment for successful attack which if not seized will never come again.
The German player will try to aggravate Allied logistical problems by judiciously timed counterattacks when Allied supplies are short (like those against Patton in Lorraine in September), or by retreating when the Allies have brought up ammunition.
Strategy cannot escape the grip of logistics, but, by taking thought, the players will be able to reduce the grip to a less tyrannical one. By taking thought, the players indeed can make the campaign evolve a good deal differently than it did in 1944-1945. The Allied player will feel the pressures inherent in the ninety-division gamble. The German will suffer from the dwindling condition of German resources in general. But opportunities that were missed in the real war need not be missed in the game.
We might suggest that opportunities were missed in the real war because of the paradox that the Allied commanders of 1944 took both much and too little thought of logistics to escape its tyranny. Aware of its grip, when they planned the invasion of Europe their careful thinking about logistics led them to anticipate pausing at the Seine and the Loire to replenish and advance their supply depots. When the unfolding of the Normandy phase led to an unexpectedly complete breakout, the intoxication of success induced the Allies to discard their plans and race forward to seize strategic opportunities. Having first given logistics too much weight in comparison with strategy, the Allies turned around to plunge across the Seine with only halfhearted consideration of logistical implications.
A better balance of logistical and strategic planning might have permitted the Allies to anticipate the possibility that their hoped-for breakout from Normandy might be so complete that to pause for regrouping might seem unrealistic when the time came. By merely anticipating the possibility of so complete a breakout, the Allied planners might have given thought to what it would mean not to halt at the Seine and the Loire. Even with forethought, unceasing pursuit would have overstrained the limited port and transport facilities; but with forethought, the logistical crisis at the borders in the late summer of 1944 might at least have been moderated.
Taking sufficient thought about logistics to moderate its tyranny might also have prompted more imaginative levels of thought. Fuller recognition of the importance of minimizing logistical constraints might have led the Allied generals to contemplate more carefully whether the breakout might be transformed into the destruction of the German armies. If the Germans could have been virtually destroyed in the breakout, any logistical crisis at the end of a pursuit would not have been so devastating. If the Germans could not have rebuilt their armies around cadres escaped from France, the Allies could have paused along the eastern frontier of France to restock and move forward their depots and resumed their advance when they were ready, without the danger of an autumn deadlock.
The possibility of accomplishing the virtual destruction of the German armies in the breakout battles resided in more imaginative thinking both about logistical constraints and strategic opportunities, and it involved also the issue of the Allied generals freeing themselves from their armies' histories: particularly the limitations imposed by the history of US strategic thought.
SINCE the coming of age of military power of the US in the Union armies of the American Civil War, US military thought had come to rely on the ability to overwhelm enemy forces by the weight of superior numbers and resources. After more subtle efforts to overcome the Confederacy by maneuver had failed, it was Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant's application of overwhelming force that simply ground down the Confederate armies to destruction. US military thinkers and professional schools interpreted Grant's Wilderness-Petersburg campaign of 1864-1865 as signifying that the most direct and, in the long run, least costly way to win wars is to strike the enemy's most powerful forces head-on and destroy them; all the rest of the enemy's strength will then collapse. World War I appeared to confirm this conception of strategy, by seemingly demonstrating the impossibility of strategic maneuver in modern war and the futility of any strategy except the direct application of superior force. Such was the lesson Americans saw in the flankless Western Front. In World War II, the US military tradition of direct application of superior power expressed itself most prominently in the insistence, against the British preference for peripheral assaults around the circumference of the German Empire, on a direct cross-channel assault as early as possible as the centerpiece of Allied strategy. Eisenhower's preference for a broad-front advance across Europe was by no means conditioned by logistical questions alone; rather, it was another expression of the American preference for direct overwhelming power.
History is always complex, and there were crosscurrents underlying this US strategic tradition. For one thing, the tradition was based less on the actual generalship of U.S. Grant than on interpretations of Grant. In his Vicksburg campaign of 1862-1863, Grant had demonstrated a mastery of the indirect strategy of maneuver, and in his 1864-1865 campaign his resort to the destruction of the armies by direct confrontation resulted from his acquiescing in a second-best solution; he would have preferred to trap Lee's army through maneuver but Lee was too skillful to be trapped until his army had virtually been destroyed. More than that, the US strategic tradition with its emphasis on overwhelming power was hardly in accord with the day-to-day history of the US army as a small but mobile Indian-fighting force, depending on movement to patrol the great distances of the American West. This latter tradition contributed to the shaping of Eisenhower's US divisions as highly mobile but limited in capacity for sustained fighting; the force structure of Eisenhower's divisions was less than consistent with traditional US strategic thought.
On the other hand, the ninety-division gamble was basically an expression of the strategy of overwhelming power: The US deliberately sacrificed the availability of divisions for the sake of an industrial arsenal that could bury the enemy under vast quantities of material. And despite the crosscurrents, the strategic tradition of direct assault shaped the American campaign in Europe throughout.
The Cobra offensive of July 25 was an example of the direct-assault strategy at its best. The offensive was planned primarily by General Bradley of the US First Army, with important contributions to the planning and able execution by Major General J. Lawton Collins, "Lightning Joe," of VII Corps. For both these commanders, especially Bradley, Cobra was the high point of their contributions to the success of the 1944 campaign, as the principal cornerstone on which their imposing reputations were built. For once, the US predilection for direct assault was combined with the concentration of heavy forces on a narrow front, the kind of concentrated punch that might have been expected to be the corollary of the head-on approach but too often was not. A carpet bombing of a target area of only six square miles by some 2,500 aircraft, including about 1,800 heavy bombers, was followed closely by a two-division assault on the same narrow area, while three exceptionally powerful divisions, the 2nd and 3rd Armored and the 1st Infantry (motorized for the occasion) were poised to exploit any breakthrough. The most outstanding part of Collins' contribution came when the assault seemed to be faltering despite its concentrated power. Collins perceived that the time was ripe to commit the three exploiting divisions. These formations broke the German crust and then plunged far into the enemy rear. Collins' boldness was exceptional in the US high command — an example that gamers may wish to bear in mind.
Following the Cobra breakthrough and breakout, however, the US propensity toward direct assault served the Allied cause less well. The breakout sent a strong American column driving down the long west coast of the Cherbourg, or Cotentin, Peninsula, with the possibility that the main strength of the column might turn eastward and eventually northward to meet the British coming south from Caen. The result might have been the encirclement of the German forces in Normandy, trapping them and creating a Stalingrad-style victory for the Western Allies. Adolf Hitler contributed to this possibility by insisting that his armies break off the potential pincer by cutting through it to the sea along the west coast of Cotentin, rather than withdrawing from the potential trap. Hitler's directives put his forces deeper into the noose. The Allies themselves, however, proceeded to undercut their opportunity to fight a battle of envelopment by sending large forces westward from the Cotentin into Brittany to capture seaports — the grip of logistics upon strategy again.
This diversion did not imply, however, that they were blind to the opportunity confronting them, indeed they still sent substantial US forces eastward and northward, and considered a battle of encirclement in either of two forms, a short envelopment to close the Anglo-American line between Argentan and Falaise, or a long envelopment to close the pincers along the River Seine. But the battle of the Argentan-Falaise pocket that developed out of the former scheme proved to be less than a Stalingrad.
The Germans lost some 10,000 killed and some 50,000 prisoners in the battle of the Falaise pocket, along with large quantities of material; but about 35,000 Germans escaped before the trap closed, and most importantly the cadre of armies, corps, and divisions got away to provide the nuclei around which to rebuild. If the Allied commanders at this juncture had been giving as much thought as they should have to the logistical crisis almost certain to overtake them at the climax of a pursuit across France, and if they had been reflecting on the likelihood of such a crisis in tandem with the German ability (albeit not yet fully appreciated) to reconstitute divisions around even small surviving cadres, then the Allies should have recognized the danger that the German divisions might be rebuilt precisely at the time when Allied logistics would be overstretched. The Allies might have perceived that unless they exerted themselves to close the Argentan-Falaise trap completely, rebuilt German divisions would likely bring the pursuit to an abrupt halt on the Eastern borders of France. Such perception might have impelled the Allies to spare no effort toward the maximum possible swiftness and completeness in shutting the trap.
Instead, the Allied commanders appear never to have committed themselves fully to the envelopment. Afterward, the Americans blamed the British and Canadians, and particularly Montgomery for moving southward from Caen at too leisurely a pace. But the Americans have been unfair. It is doubtful that any general in Montgomery's circumstance could have advanced much faster; the British and Canadians with their decidedly limited and dwindling resources met extremely heavy resistance. In these conditions, the Americans might, had they truly realized the magnitude of both the opportunities and perils before them, have suggested that the boundary between their sphere of action and the British be shifted northward, to permit a longer American advance. For a complex variety of reasons, however, General Bradley — the principal responsible commander — never made much effort to have the boundary changed. The reasons included personality clashes between Bradley and Montgomery, but they also included an evident failure of almost the entire US command to appreciate either the value of a strategy of envelopment in general or the implications of an Argentan-Falaise envelopment in particular. The Americans were not attuned to battles of maneuver and encirclement.
Thus, when resistance to the American pincer striking northward also began to grow strong, the US commanders began to lose enthusiasm for it. Later, when much less critical issues were at stake, Bradley developed a passion for battles of envelopment. Now, however, when the implications were so important, he was not sufficiently committed to closing the trap even to make a serious effort to talk to Montgomery about the inter-allied boundary. Patton, commanding the American pincer that was moving northward, must also receive a share of the blame for lost opportunities. Though he was the boldest and least conventional of US army commanders, he was above all the quintessential cavalryman, a general of movement, pursuit, and exploitation. When the resistance in front of his column stiffened around Argentan and forward progress slowed, he quickly grew impatient to resume moving again. Resuming movement meant turning eastward toward the Seine, where resistance was still light, but where the possibility of encirclement quickly gave way to the traditional American penchant for straightforward advance. Patton paid lip-service to the idea of shifting to the long envelopment along the Seine, but the idea was not strenuously followed through.
So a network of circumstances tending to lure the leaders back to the direct, head-on advance left the closing of the Argentan-Falaise trap incomplete, and the German cadres escaped. Around them Germany built her new armies that took the field at the end of the summer just in time to exploit the Allied logistical crisis and to prolong the war through autumn, winter, and into spring of the next year. The Allies could afford less than imaginative generalship because their superior resources assured them victory in the end; but the price of the opportunities lost by unimaginative generalship in the immediate aftermath of Cobra was very likely the prolongation of the war for an unnecessary half year.
The Allied player may well aspire to rewrite history in a manner that will bring a speedier end to the campaign and figuratively to the war. The German player will want to employ his limited resources in a way that will minimize Allied opportunities for Stalingrad-type victories. The German player's limitations of resources are so severe that victories comparable to those pursued by the Allies are unattainable for him, and seeking grandiose triumphs is likely to prove an invitation to disaster. Rather, the German player will find victory in slowing the Allied advance and inflicting so many casualties that, in the real world, dwindling manpower might have touched off political crises.
Whether on the Allied or the German side, you will find it both an avenue toward understanding the climatic campaigns of World War II in the west and an intellectual challenge that will enlarge sympathy and respect for the generals. As a military historian who has, like many of the breed, sometimes been too free with criticism easy to make from the safety and comfort of one's study, I commend this game to you for every reason for which such games are played, but particularly for the latter reason: for its ability to simulate the burdens of high military command.
Transcription note: the printed essay text contains the typographical errors "misued" ("misused"), "aggrevate" ("aggravate"), "particular Montgomery" ("particularly Montgomery") and "couteroffensive" ("counteroffensive"), each corrected in the text above. The word "estaury" (read as "estuary") is kept as printed.
Charts and Tables
Abbreviated Sequence of Play
(Reference card printed in the rules booklet.)
A. Strategic Cycle
- Theater Display Phase: a. German Strategic Reserve Segment; b. South France Entry/Exit Segment; c. South France Assault Segment; d. South France Combat Segment.
- Port Repair Phase
- Logistics Phase: a. Supply Segment; b. HQ Status Segment; c. Depot Segment.
- Surrender Phase
B. Activity Cycle
- Reinforcement Phase: a. German Reinforcement Segment; b. Allied Reinforcement Segment.
- Operational Phase
C. Terminal Cycle
- Amphibious Assault Phase: a. Deployment Segment; b. Parachute Segment; c. 1st Wave Segment; d. 2nd Wave Segment; e. Beachhead/Mulberry Segment.
- Recovery Phase
- Replacement Phase
- CONUS Phase
- Map Zone Phase
- German Garrison Phase
Summary Charts
Initiative Summary
- 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 — Allied
- 2, 4, 6, 8 — German
- 0 — German in December, January, or February. Allied otherwise.
Operations Summary
- Division Operation
- Corps Operation
- HQ Movement
- HQ Relocation
- Parachute Drop (Allied Only)
- Fortress (German Only)
- 6th Panzer Army Commitment (German Only)
- Pass
Action Summary
| Action | Action Points |
|---|---|
| Tactical Movement | 1 |
| Operational Movement | 2 |
| Strategic Movement | 3 |
| Administrative Movement | 3 |
| Hasty Attack | 1 |
| Deliberate Attack | 2 |
| Intensive Attack | 3 |
Combat Value Modification Summary
1. Armored Division Combat Values — attacking armored division combat value modifier, by defender's hex:
| Defender's Hex | Attacking Armored Division Combat Value Modifier |
|---|---|
| Clear | x3* |
| Broken | x2* |
| Rough | x1 |
| Lowland | x1 |
| Urban | x1 |
| Mountain | x1/2 |
*If defender is in fortress or behind river hexside, x1 instead.
2. Corps Operations (Attacker): Combat value of each attacking unit in a corps operation is doubled.
3. Improved Positions and Fortresses (German Defender): Combat value of each defending German unit in an improved position hex or inside a fortress is doubled.
4. HQs (Attacker): The combat strengths of attacking units not within the command radius of a superior supplied HQ with a depot are multiplied by 1/2 (rounded up).
Apply the modifications in the order listed above.
Combat Results Table
Defender's Terrain / Ratios. The column headings differ by defender's terrain; read each column using the ratio line for the defender's terrain. Columns are numbered 1 to 16 from left to right.
| Terrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 2-1 | 3-1 | 4-1 | 5-1 | 6-1 | 7-1 | 8-1 | 9-1 | 10-1 | 11-1 |
NOTE: Ratios higher or lower than those listed above are resolved using the right-hand or left-hand columns, respectively.
Combat Results Table Modifiers
- -3: At least one defender is separated from the attacker by a river hexside.
- +2: The attacker is executing a deliberate attack.
- +3: The attacker is executing an intensive attack.
- +1, +2, +3, +4: German or Allied attack within command radius of superior HQ with a depot of value 2 or more (see 7.3).
- +1: Defender not within command radius of superior supplied HQ.
Explanation: Left-hand number is attacker's units destroyed; right-hand number is defender's units destroyed.
Strategic Combat Results Table
Differential (Allied Combat Value Sum minus German Combat Value Sum). Column headings are the differential ranges, from left to right: -30 or less; -29 to -18; -17 to -9; -8 to -3; -2 to 0; 1 to 3; 4 to 8; 9 to 15; 16 to 24; 25 to 35; 36 to 46; 47 or more.
| Die | -30 or less | -29 to -18 | -17 to -9 | -8 to -3 | -2 to 0 | 1 to 3 | 4 to 8 | 9 to 15 | 16 to 24 | 25 to 35 | 36 to 46 | 47 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -3 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 75/0 | 75/0 | 75/0 | 75/0 | 75/0 | 75/25 | 50/25 |
| -2 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 100/0 | 100/0 |
Modifiers
- +3: If there is no German HQ in the zone in which the combat is taking place, or if no line of communications can be traced from an entry hex to a supply source.
- -3: If there is no Allied HQ in the zone in which the combat is taking place.
Explanation: The left-hand number is the Allied percentage loss and the right-hand is the German percentage loss. If a player suffers a loss, he must consult the Percentage Loss Chart.
Percentage Loss Chart
Number of friendly combat units occupying zone. Read the percentage loss row against the number of the player's units in the zone. The result is the number of his combat units (not HQs) destroyed.
| Percentage Loss | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
If a player suffers a percentage loss on the Strategic Combat Results Table, he consults this chart, cross-referencing his loss figure with the number of his units occupying the zone in which the combat is taking place. The result is the number of his combat units (not HQs) destroyed.
(14.14) Map zone status is recorded as follows:
- A contested zone has a Contested marker in its Theater Display box.
- An Allied-controlled zone has an Allied Control marker in its box.
- A German-controlled zone has no marker in its box. The absence of any marker indicates German control.
Example: The Germans control the Poitou zone. Two eligible Allied units are in the zone during the Map Zone Phase. The zone becomes contested (even if the Germans had no units in the zone, it could not be transferred directly to Allied control). During the next Map Zone Phase, Poitou is occupied by two eligible Allied units and one eligible German unit, so the zone remains contested. By the next Map Zone Phase the German unit has entered a fortress, so it can no longer contest the zone; Poitou becomes Allied-controlled. Before the next Map Zone Phase, the German leaves the fortress; the zone remains Allied-controlled though, because it takes two units to contest a zone.