Battle for China, 1937-1941 (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Map, Charts & Tables Errata
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Components, Concepts, Definitions & Abbreviations
• 3.0 Sequence of Play
• 4.0 Random Events
• 5.0 Political Rules
• 6.0 Strategic Phase
• 7.0 Organization Phase
• 8.0 Movement
• 9.0 Combat
• 10.0 Counterattack
• 11.0 Recovery
• 12.0 Supply
• 13.0 Turn Inter-Phase
• 14.0 How to Win
• 15.0 Preparing for Play
• 16.0 Special Rules
• 17.0 Optional Rules

Map, Charts & Tables Errata

The following corrections are printed at the top of the official eRules.

• Combat Results Table: Remove the reference to "floods."
• EP Cost Table: Add the following: It costs 1 EP to improve the Cadre Level of one unit: any size, any force.
• Map: The city in Anhui Province should be "Hefei," not Hubei.
• Set Up Table: For "Nanjing" in the KMT set up read instead "Jiangsu."

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Battle for China (B4C) is a wargame of what that people call their "War of Resistance Against Japan," specifically covering the struggle from the initial Japanese invasion in July 1937 to the end of 1941. The game is for two players, one directing the military forces defending China (the Chinese player), and the other commanding the forces of imperial Japan (the Japanese player). The game can also be played with a third player taking the Chinese communist forces.

1.2 Scale. The map is drawn at approximately 80 miles to the inch.

2.0 Components, Concepts, Definitions & Abbreviations

2.1 Map Areas. The map is divided into areas, each with its own name. The counters representing a player's military forces move from area to bordering area across the map (see 8.0). An area is either under the control of one of the sides in the game, and therefore has a "control marker" placed in it to signifying that, or it's contested, meaning neither side controls it, and hence no control marker. Gaining and maintaining control of areas (see 13.0) is important to keeping your units supplied (12.0) and gaining a high political support level. Within China, the area borders are generally congruent with its historical division into provinces. Outside China, the countries have been divided into more or less arbitrary zones.

Mapsheet erratum: The Disruption Recovery Table lists twice the DRM for recovery. Instead of that repeated entry, it should list after the "-1" DRM heading: "If enemy in area, pr PS Level <20 (-1 for each circumstance)."

2.11 Terrain Features. Within most areas is a city, marked by a box with a name. Note some areas have no cities while others have two. The position of a player's units within an area is important. If they're placed in a city box, they're considered to be occupying that city; otherwise they are "at large" within the area.

Some cities are also ports. That's signified by an anchor icon its box. Ports are important for naval transport (see 6.8) and supply (see section 12.0). Some cities are connected by rail line symbols. They're important to the Japanese player for judging when his units are in supply.

Some areas contain one or more kinds of "difficult" terrain—rough, jungle or mountains—indicated by appropriate icons inside the area's borders. Such terrains enhance the defense of "at large" units in the area during combat (see section 9.0).

2.12 Areas Out of Play. In addition to the dark-gray "Out of Play" areas on the map's west edge, units of both sides are forbidden from moving into or through the areas of Mongolia-1, Mongolia-2, Burma-3, Burma-4 and India-2. Chinese units may not enter the areas of Jehol or Liaoning-1 or Liaoning-2, Jilin, Chosin-1 or Chosin-2. Those areas are part of Manzhouguo and Chosin, puppet states under the control of the Japanese Guandong Army, another substantial force otherwise not represented in the game. No units may enter Indochina until the Fall 1940 turn. A chronologic and geographic expansion kit for the game will be made available in the future in which access to those presently forbidden areas will be opened.

2.13 Japan exists as a holding box on the map. Newly created Imperial Japanese Army units and AP appear in the Japan Holding Box, and may then be transported to the playable area of the map by naval transport (6.7).

2.2 Counters. There are 280 counters in the game. Most of them represent military units. Markers used by both players have black type and a white background color. Military units are each marked with one large number, which is their combat factor (CF). They are also colored by faction or nationality.

2.21 Chinese Unit Colors

• Communist Chinese: red background
• KMT (Nationalist Chinese) Central Army: light blue background
• KMT North Faction = pink
• KMT East Faction = yellow
• KMT West Faction = green
• KMT South Faction = orange

2.22 Japanese Unit Colors

• Imperial Japanese Army: white background
• Puppet Troops: gray background

2.23 How to Read the Units

2.24 Unit Sizes. The organizational sizes of the combat units in the game, from largest down to smallest, are as follows: XXXX—army; XXX—corps; XX—division; X—brigade. Note that headquarters, guerrillas and asset point markers have no size symbols on their counters. That's because they're of flexible and indeterminate sizes that could and did vary over time.

2.3 Definitions.

Chinese refers collectively to all units under the control of the Chinese player. The Chinese player controls two forces, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the KMT (Kuomintang, the main non-Communist Chinese political party), which is further divided into the KMT Central Army and four KMT factions. The CCP and KMT are on the same side in the sense that both of them are opposing the Japanese invasion, but they're antagonistic to each other within that alliance, since they were engaged in a civil war before the invasion.

Japanese refers collectively to all units under the control of the Japanese player, including Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and puppet troops.

KMT Factions is the collective term used for the various Chinese semi-autonomous armies under the nominal overall control of Chiang Kai-Shek. The KMT Central Army is the nearest thing to a true national army for the Republic of China. There were many factions, but for game purposes they've been abstracted into four regional groups: North, South, East, and West.

Puppet Troops. During the war at least 1 million Chinese defected or were drafted into the service of one or another of the puppet regimes the Japanese set up as fictionally autonomous governments inside occupied China. For the most part the Japanese used them as auxiliaries or rear area security troops.

Unit refers to the counters representing military forces in the game. There are three types of unit in the game: regular, guerrilla and headquarters. See the Unit Identification Chart on the mapsheet for the various unit types, formation sizes (division, corps and army) and their strength in terms of "steps."

2.4 Abbreviations.

• ?d6 means the sum of the roll of one or more six-sided dice, where the question mark is replaced by the number of dice to roll.
• 1d6? means roll 1d6 and add or subtract the indicated (?) number.
• +1 Markers. When one of these markers is placed beneath a unit, it means that unit has an improved cadre level (see 6.5 & 9.12); when one is placed under an AP marker, it means the marker represents two AP rather than one.
• Asset Points (AP) come in three types: air, armor and artillery. They're represented by icons of an airplane, a tank and a howitzer. AP represent concentrations of those weapons. Air AP are held in the Air Holding Box until committed to combat, while armor and artillery AP move on the map like other military units (see 6.5).
• Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Led by Mao Zedong, the CCP had its own party militia, the Chinese Red Army.
• Combat Factor (CF) is a quantification of a unit's fighting power. Note that a unit's CF and its step strength may be the same or different. See section 9.0 for the significance of that.
• Die Roll Modifiers (DRM) are added or subtracted, in order to determine a final result, when rolling a die or dice.
• Equipment Points (EP) are a quantification of providing arms, ammunition and other supplies to your units, as well as time spent training them, and extra supply for major offensives. The exact nature of each EP depends on the circumstances of its use (see 5.4, 6.0 & 9.11).
• Fog of War. Neither player may look beneath the top units of the other's stacks anywhere on the mapsheet. A given enemy stack may be examined only once an attack of some kind has been declared against it, and the information gathered during that examination does not then allow for that declared attack to be called off.
• Political Support (PS) is a quantification of a force's overall "credibility," and it's an important concept in the game. The players must keep track of three separate PS levels: KMT, CCP and Japanese. PS levels are quantified in Political Support Points (PSP). For the KMT, a high PS level means the fragile coalition of party factions is in good health and the faction leaders are more committed than usual to the common cause. For the Communists, a high PS level means they have the allegiance of a large number of rural peasants. For the Japanese player, a high PS level means he has the ear of the emperor and therefore has a better chance of obtaining more resources to pursue the war.

3.0 Sequence of Play

The time scale is three months per complete game turn. Each game turn, the players perform the following sequence of steps, in order. Each phase is described in detail in the following rules sections.

• a) Random Events Phase. One player (it doesn't matter who) determines what random event, if any, occurs this turn (see 4.0). Players also check the Turn Record Track to see if there is inclement weather, and for any historic events (4.1).
• b) Foreign Support Phase. The Chinese player determines whether there is more or less military aid forthcoming from foreign countries (see 5.3).
• c) Strategic Phase. Both players simultaneously collect EP from various sources and place any new or rebuilt units on the map within the restrictions of the rules (see section 6.0), as well as any armor or artillery AP. Finally, the Japanese player performs naval transport movement (see 6.8).
• d) Organization Phase. Both players simultaneously organize their units into stacks (battlegroups or BG) of one or more units. Those stacks will move and fight as one entity during the Movement and Combat Phases that follow (see section 7.0).

Japanese Player Turn

• e) Movement Phase. The player's BG move from area to area on the map under the rules governing movement (see section 8.0).
• f) Combat Phase. The player's BG engage enemy BG in the same areas with them under the rules governing combat. The Japanese player (only) may conduct anti-guerrilla operations (see section 9.0).
• g) Counterattack Phase. Within limits, Chinese BG in a given area that weren't attacked in the Combat Phase above may now attack the Japanese player's BG in that area (see section 10.0).
• h) Recovery Phase. Units belonging to the Japanese player that were disrupted as a result of combat in phases "f" or "g" above attempt to recover (see section 11.0).

Chinese Player Turn

The Chinese Player repeats phases "e," "f" and "h," using his own side's units, while the Japanese player will have a chance to counterattack in phase "g."

• i) Turn Inter-Phase. Both players determine the control status of all the areas on the map, and they make any final adjustments for this game turn to their PS levels (see section 13.0). The Chinese (KMT) player makes a corruption check (see 13.3).

Going through phases "a" through "i" concludes one full "game turn." That cycle is repeated until one player resigns, or his PS level falls to zero, or the end of the final game turn (Fall 1941) is reached, whichever comes first (see section 14.0).

4.0 Random Events

4.1 One player (it doesn't matter who) rolls 1d6 twice, and then both players consult the Random Events Table printed on the mapsheet. Use the first number rolled as the "tens," and the second as the "ones." For example, a roll of four followed by six would indicate Random Event 46 ("Desertion") has been rolled into effect.

4.2 Historical Events. In addition to random events, there are scheduled historic events because the other portions of World War II are assumed to unfold historically. Follow the instructions on the Turn Record Track (printed on the mapsheet) as each event occurs. When foreign support is noted as going up or down a level (from "neutral" to "weak" to "strong" and back down), move that country's marker to the box on the Foreign Power Track (again on the mapsheet) that reflects that level of support.

5.0 Political Rules

5.1 Political Support (PS) Levels. The Chinese player has two PS levels to keep track of for his two forces (the KMT and CCP), while the Japanese player has just one. PS levels are tracked independently of each other at all times during the game. Each force's PS level is measured in PSP on the PS Level Track (printed on the mapsheet), and is expressed as a number from 0 to 99.

5.11 Gains & Losses in PSP. The PS Level Adjustments Summary Table printed on the mapsheet stipulates when and by how much to change a force's PS level.

5.2 High & Low PS Levels. If a player's PS level is 80 or more, all his attacks gain a one column rightward shift on the Combat Results Table (CRT); his units have an increased chance of recovering from disruption, and he's able to recover more EP from his eliminated units. If a player's PS level is 20 or less, all his attacks suffer a one-column leftward CRT shift; it's less likely his units will recover from disruption, and he recovers fewer EP from his eliminated units. A player's PS level may not go above 99 or below 0.

5.21 Zero Japanese PS. If the Japanese player's PS level reaches 0, the game immediately stops. His forces in China surrender and he has lost the war there (see section 14.0).

5.22 Zero KMT PS. If the KMT PS level is reduced to 0, the government has collapsed and the Republic of China ceases to function. The Chinese player may resign at that time, or he may elect to continue fighting. If he doesn't resign, roll 1d6 for each KMT faction, including the Central Army. Rolling a one means all units of that faction are treated as Japanese puppet troops for the rest of the game. A five or six means that faction has rallied to the Communists: replace each army-sized unit within it with a CCP regular corps, and replace each corps-sized unit with a CCP guerrilla unit (limited by what CCP units are left in the counter-mix). Remove all units of a faction on roll of two, three or four. Finally, remove the KMT PS level marker and all KMT control markers; so all previously KMT-controlled areas become contested, and skip the Foreign Support Phase (b) for the rest of the game.

5.23 Zero CCP PS. If the CCP PS level reaches 0, the CCP collapses as a political and military authority. Roll 1d6 for what CCP guerrilla units remain, and another 1d6 for CCP regular units. Replace the indicated number of units with KMT guerrilla units and KMT Central Army corps, respectively (up to the number of CCP units that were present before the collapse, and limited by what KMT units are available in the counter-mix). Remove all CCP units, all CCP control markers (so all previously CCP-controlled areas become contested), and the CCP PS level marker.

5.3 Foreign Support. Getting and keeping material support from foreign powers is crucial to China's surviving the war. There are three foreign countries that may provide foreign aid to the Chinese: Britain, the USA and the USSR.

5.31 Affecting Foreign Attitudes. The position of each foreign country's marker on the Foreign Power Track (printed on the mapsheet) defines the level of support it's willing to give China. In each Foreign Support Phase (b), the Chinese player may try to affect the attitude of one or more of the foreign countries. He may try to do that only once per foreign country per game turn, and he must complete all his influence attempts before receiving any PSP or EP as detailed in 5.4 below.

5.311 Procedure. The Chinese player selects a target country, pays two KMT PSP plus ?d6 extra PSP (where "?" equals the DRM for the roll, up to a maximum of three), rolls 1d6, and adds any DRM for which he paid. He moves that country's marker one box to the left on a final score of one or less, one box to the right on a final score of six or more, and two boxes right on a final score of 8 or more.

5.32 Effects of Foreign Aid. A given country is neutral when its marker is in an unmarked box on the Foreign Power Track; it's giving weak support when its marker is in a box marked "W," and it's giving strong support when its marker is in a box marked "S."

5.321 Weak Support. The Chinese player adds 1d6 PSP to the KMT PS level if one or more countries is/are giving him weak support (no additional effect if more than one country is doing so). He also receives one EP from each country giving him weak support, as long as there's an appropriate port or land supply route open, and he may buy AP at a variable price in EP.

5.322 Strong Support. The Chinese player adds 1d6 PSP to the KMT PS level if one or more countries is/are giving him strong support (no additional effect if more than one country is doing so). He also receives 1d6 EP from each country giving him strong support, as long as there's an appropriate port or land route open, and he may buy AP at a variable price in EP. Finally, he may create KMT armies or convert them into existence from KMT corps.

5.323 Land Supply Routes. Foreign aid must make its way into China through either its port cities or one of three land routes. If all of China's port cities have been captured by the Japanese, aid from the USA or Britain will come via the Burma Road or Indochina Railway (either route is subject to closure during the game due to events in Europe), while USSR aid will come in via the Silk Road. The Chinese player may not receive aid through a route if it's been closed (or hasn't yet been opened), or if the Japanese player occupies the terminal supply city of the route (Kunming for the Burma Road, Nanning for the Indochina Railway, and Lanzhou for the Silk Road). See the Historical Events notes within the Turn Record Track printed on the mapsheet.

5.33 No Support. If no country is currently giving any degree of support, the Chinese player subtracts 1d6 PSP from the KMT PS level each such game turn.

6.0 Strategic Phase

6.1 In each Strategic Phase, players first determine how many EP they have received from various sources. Each player keeps track of his EP total on a piece of scrap paper. EP may generally be saved from game turn to game turn (exception: replacement EP: see 6.11). The KMT player may suffer some wastage in his saved EP due to inertia and corruption (see 13.3). Players use EP to create, convert or improve military units or to acquire AP. The procedures each player will use depend on the force involved. Finally, players place their new units and AP on the map.

6.11 Replacement EP. Each force in the game is able to recover some EP from its eliminated units. The player controlling a force totals the CF of units it lost in the previous turn and multiplies that by the replacement EP rate for that force, rounding down all remainders. The resulting number of EP must be spent in that Strategic Phase or they are lost.

6.12 Replacement EP Rates. Each force has the following replacement EP rate under normal circumstances: KMT = 10 percent; CCP = 15 percent; IJA = 20 percent. If, however, a force has a PS level of 80 or more, it adds five percent to its normal figure; if it has a PS level of 20 or less, it subtracts five percent from its normal figure.

6.2 KMT EP Sources. There are three sources for KMT EP: foreign aid, the domestic economy, and replacement EP. The amount of foreign aid EP changes each turn according to political circumstances and the roll of the dice and, under certain circumstances, foreign EP may not arrive at all (see 5.3). The amount of domestic EP received depends on KMT control of industry markers (see 16.3).

6.21 The KMT may not build guerrilla units until the Spring 1938 turn. The KMT may not create armies unless at least one foreign country is giving strong support. Newly created KMT Central Army units may be placed in any city then occupied by other Central Army units. KMT faction units are placed in the area where their faction's HQ unit is located. KMT guerrilla units may be placed in any area that already has KMT regular or guerrilla units in it.

6.22 KMT Factions & Required Support. The Chinese player, in the Strategic Phase, must spend at least one EP on each KMT faction to build or rebuild at least one corps of that faction. If he doesn't or can't, he loses one PSP for each faction not so served. (If a faction is already at maximum strength, as expressed by the limits of the counter-mix for it, the KMT player is thereby excused from its support requirement on such turns.) Eliminated KMT faction headquarters units are replaced free, and are replaced in any area containing units of its faction.

6.23 The KMT and CCP may not spend or lend or give EP to each other.

6.24 CCP EP Sources & Limits. As well as replacement EP, the CCP gets EP each turn equal to 10 percent of its current PS level, rounding down all remainders. The CCP may not create regular units from scratch: it must convert regular corps from guerrilla units. New CCP units may be placed in any area that already has CCP regular or guerrilla units in it, up to the number of units that were there at the beginning of that Strategic Phase.

6.3 Japanese EP. There are four potential sources of EP for the Japanese player: Manzhouguo, captured industry markers, replacement EP, and Japan itself. Each Strategic Phase the Japanese player gets two EP automatically from the off-map industrial areas in Manzhouguo, and one EP from each industry marker he may have captured and that is/are in cities that are in supply at that time. The Japanese player may also pay for extra EP and AP with PSP taken from his PS level, at the rate of two PSP for each EP and 1d6 PSP for each AP.

6.31 Newly created and rebuilt IJA units and Japanese AP generally appear in the Japan Holding Box and may then be transferred to China by naval transport. Exception: one Japanese AP of any type may appear in Manzhouguo per game turn.

6.32 Japanese Puppet Troops. The Japanese player's ability to create puppet troops is inversely related to the KMT PS level. Each Strategic Phase he rolls 1d6 and subtracts a number equal to 10 percent of the current KMT PS level (round up all remainders). He takes the remainder as EP to be spent on puppet troops. Those EP may be spent only on building puppet troops. (If the Japanese player wants to, he can spend Japanese EP to build puppet troops.) The units appear in any area that already has IJA or puppet troop units in it.

6.33 Puppet troops may also sometimes arrive as a random event, due to defections from dissatisfied KMT generals. Eliminated puppet troops don't generate replacement EP.

6.4 Rebuilding Units. Units previously eliminated in combat or removed from play due to random events, are normally available to be rebuilt and placed back on the map like newly arriving units.

6.5 Improving Military Units. The cadre level of any regular unit may be improved by one level (maximum) by paying the indicated EP cost. Place a "+1" generic marker beneath the unit to indicate the upgrade. If the unit is later eliminated or converted, the cadre level improvement is lost.

6.6 Converting Military Units. CCP guerrilla units may be converted into regular corps, and KMT regular corps may be converted into armies, by spending the indicated EP per unit converted and then substituting one counter for the other in the location of the unit being converted. That may be done only if an appropriate counter of the same force is available to be placed, the converting unit is in supply (see section 11.0), and—in the case of KMT corps into army conversions—that player is in a situation in which he's actually allowed to create armies (that is, one or more foreign countries is/are giving strong support to China).

6.7 Asset Points (AP). The KMT may "buy" air, armor, and artillery AP from abroad by paying a varying number of EP. The Japanese player follows the same procedure, except he's "buying" from Japan and is paying in PSP. The CCP may not buy or use AP.

6.71 Buying AP. When a player declares his intention to buy an AP, he rolls 1d6: the number rolled is the price of that particular AP. He rolls the die to determine the price each time he buys an AP. He may continue to buy until the first time he rolls a price (including the first) he can't afford or refuses to buy at that price. Air AP are simply added to the player's Air Holding Box. Chinese armor and artillery AP arrive only if there's a friendly controlled port city or functioning overland route (see 5.3). A maximum of one Japanese armor or artillery AP may appear in Manzhouguo per game turn; others appear in Japan and use naval transport to get to China.

6.8 Naval Transport. A limited number of Japanese units may be transported by sea-lift in the Strategic Phase, in a kind of pre-Movement Phase movement, depending on the sea state, which is a combined measure of Japanese command of the sea and the availability of transport. The Japanese player may transport three steps between any two Japanese-controlled ports per sea state number. For example, at sea state three, he could transport up to nine steps. Any mix of armor and artillery AP may be transported in a turn, but the total of AP counts as three steps. The Japan holding box is always a Japanese-controlled port.

6.81 The Japanese sea state is always four, except in the final two turns of the game, when shipping and naval units were being withdrawn to prepare for strikes on the Philippines, Singapore and Pearl Harbor. See the Historic Events portion of the Turn Record Track printed on the mapsheet.

6.82 Strategic Phase Example. The Chinese player receives two EP from domestic sources (because he has two industry markers on the map), and rolls 1d6 to determine how many EP he gets from the USSR, which happens to be giving strong support at the moment. He rolls a three; so he has a total of five EP so far. He examines his notes and sees he lost a total of 18 CF in the previous turn. Multiplying 18 by his replacement EP rate of 10 percent gives 1.8. Rounding down that remainder gives him one more EP, for a total of six. He declares his intention to buy an air AP and rolls 1d6 for the price: he rolls a three; so he pays three EP and places the AP marker in the "Ready" section of his Air Holding Box printed on the mapsheet. He then converts a KMT Central Army corps into an army at the price of two EP, and builds a corps from the KMT South faction for one EP. He loses two PSP because he didn't spend any EP on any other KMT factions. (One faction had all its corps on the map; so he didn't lose all three PSP possible here.)

7.0 Organization Phase

7.1 Battlegroups (BG). In this phase all your regular units in a given area may be formed/reformed into stacks of one or more units called battlegroups (BG). Those BG will move and fight as single entities during the following Movement Phase and Combat Phase.

7.11 Force Restrictions. Players may form BG within the following limits.

• KMT Central Army: up to two units (that is, two corps, or one corps and one army).
• KMT Factions may not form BG with units of other factions or with Central Army units. Within that stricture, KMT faction HQ units don't count. They otherwise use KMT Central Army limits.
• CCP regular units may not form BG with KMT units or AP. There may never be more than two CCP regular units in any one BG.
• Japanese: up to five units of any size. IJA and/or Puppet Troop mixes within the same BG are allowed.

7.12 AP in BG. In general, any number of armor and/or artillery AP may be in a BG, but only a limited number of them are usable (see 9.17). A BG composed entirely of AP may not attack and is automatically eliminated if attacked. Further, CCP units may not form BG containing any AP.

7.2 Guerrilla Units never form part of any BG, and they aren't allowed to occupy city boxes. They are always "at large" in an area.

8.0 Movement

8.1 Ground Movement Procedure. In the Movement Phase of his own side, a player may move his BG from area to adjacent area. BG are moved one BG at a time, as far as allowed by rules 8.2 through 8.5. Moving BG may "drop off" units to make new, smaller BG but may not "pick up" other units. A BG in an area is either "occupying a city" (located inside the box symbol of the city on the map) or "at large" in the area (placed anywhere in the area other than inside the city box).

8.11 Stacking Limits. Any number of friendly and/or enemy BG may be at large in the same area at the same time, but only one BG may occupy a city box at any one time.

8.2 Movement Restrictions. A BG must stop moving when it enters an area containing any enemy regular units. It may leave such an area only if it began the Movement Phase there, and even then it may only move if it enters an adjacent area that's free of all enemy regular units. Alternatively, such a moving BG could enter an adjacent area that contains enemy regular units, but only if other friendly regular units remain behind in the area it left; and only if those friendly regular units remaining behind have a printed CF that equals or exceeds the enemy regular units' printed CF.

Other than that, movement directly from one enemy-occupied area to another is prohibited. For example: In Jiangxi there are Japanese units totaling eight CF and KMT regular units totaling four CF. The Japanese player wants to move into Hunan, which is also occupied by KMT regular units. He may do so, but he must leave behind in Jiangxi units with a total of at least four CF.

8.21 Chinese Movement Limits. KMT and CCP regular units may move a maximum of three areas per friendly Movement Phase.

8.22 Floods. Every summer China's main rivers flood, making certain areas impassable. During turns when "floods" are indicated on the Turn Record Track, BG may cross the "flooded" Area borders (marked on the map with dashed blue lines) only by first rolling a 1-3 on 1d6. Make no more than one crossing attempt die roll per BG per Movement Phase.

8.23 Japanese Movement Limits. A BG that contains one or more puppet troop units may not move more than three areas in any Movement Phase. An all-IJA BG may, within the limits of all the other strictures given in these rules, potentially move into and through any number of areas during a Movement Phase.

8.3 Guerrilla Movement. Guerrilla units move a maximum of one area per friendly Movement Phase, but they ignore the presence of any and all enemy units when doing so. Guerrilla units may never occupy city boxes.

8.4 IJA Amphibious Assault (AA). IJA units (only) may carry out AA if the sea state is two or more. It costs one EP for one BG to conduct an assault, and another EP if the BG is of sufficient size for a "Major Offensive" (see 9.11). The BG must also have started the Movement Phase in a port city or in Japan. The BG may occupy any vacant Chinese port city, or it may "land" on the coastline of an area and attack any enemy BG in that area in the Combat Phase. It may not move any farther that turn, but it is automatically in supply during that game turn. The BG may also directly assault into an occupied port city, but if any Chinese units remain in that city box after resolving that combat the assaulting IJA BG must return to its point of origin after taking any losses.

8.5 Naval Reaction Movement. The Japanese player has a limited ability to reinforce his garrisons and counterattack by sea. In the Counterattack Phase, a Japanese BG composed only of IJA units that are eligible both to conduct counterattack and AA (see 8.4 and 10.0) may move from a port city or Japan to another Japanese-occupied port city if that player spends one EP (and a second EP if the BG is of sufficient size for a "Major Offensive"; see 9.11). The transported units, on landing, may conduct a normal counterattack on any eligible enemy BG in the Area.

9.0 Combat

9.1 Regular Combat Procedure. In the friendly Combat Phase, the phasing player's BG may attack enemy BG in the same area. A given BG may attack one, and only one, opposing BG that's co-located with it in the same area. A BG may attack only once per friendly Combat Phase, but a BG may be attacked any number of times during an enemy Combat Phase. Combat is voluntary between BG, but all units in a given BG must attack and defend as a unitary force.

The attacking player declares an attack, expends an EP if he wants to conduct a "Major Offensive" at full CF (9.11), compares the total CF in his BG to the defender's total, and derives an odds ratio corresponding to those in the top row on the Combat Results Table (CRT) printed on the mapsheet. He adjusts the final odds ratio for cadre level (see 9.12), a high or low PS level (see 5.11 & 9.13), the defender's terrain (see 9.14), and weather (see 9.15). He then rolls 1d6, adjusts the die roll for any AP involved (see 9.16 & 9.17), and applies that final result.

9.11 Major Offensives. A player must expend one EP to conduct an attack with a BG containing six or more steps for that BG to be able to attack at full CF. If he doesn't do so, they attack at half CF (round down any remainder). A player may not attack with only part of the BG in order to avoid this requirement. (You should have formed a smaller BG to start with.)

9.12 Cadre Level is a quantification of the professionalism and cohesion of the military forces involved. Use the highest cadre level found on each side; subtract the attacker's level from the defender's, and shift the final odds ratio that number of columns left for a negative number, or right for a positive number. Cadre Levels are as follows.

• Chinese Units
  • KMT Faction or Central Army: 0
  • CCP: 1
• Japanese Units
  • Puppet Troops: 0
  • IJA: 2

9.13 High or low PS Level. The attacking player shifts the odds ratio one column right if his PS level is currently 80 or more. He shifts it one column left if it's 20 or less.

9.14 Defender's Terrain. If the defending player's BG is occupying a city box, or is "at large" in an area with rough, jungle or mountain terrain, shift the odds ratio one column left for each such circumstance. Shift an additional column left if the defending BG is stacked with a fortification counter (see 16.2).

9.15 Snow/Monsoon. On turns indicated "snow" or "monsoon" on the Turn Record Track, shift the odds ratio column one to the left in areas affected by that type of weather. Snow falls in all areas north of the white-dashed "snow line" on the map, and the monsoon affects all Areas in Indochina, Burma, Siam and India.

9.16 Air AP are kept in the Air Holding Box until used. They may be used to support any attack or defense anywhere on the map, but each may be used only once per game turn. No more air AP than the number of units in the supported BG may be used to support it. Each Air AP gives a +1 DRM on attack or a -1 DRM on defense. If a six is rolled before applying the +1 or -1 DRM, one AP must be eliminated by each side that had one or more AP in that fight.

9.17 Armor & Artillery AP may generally form part of a BG. A BG composed entirely of AP may not attack and is automatically eliminated if attacked. The maximum number of armor and or artillery AP that may be used in attack or defense in a BG is equal to half the number of steps in that BG (round down - therefore, the maximum AP usable would be three in a KMT BG and five in a Japanese BG. Recall that CCP BG may not use AP.) Each usable artillery AP gives a +1 DRM on attack and a -1 DRM on defense. Each usable armor AP gives a +1 DRM on attack and may also be used in breakthrough attacks (see 9.3); however, armor AP have no effect when attacking BG "at large" in areas with rough, jungle or mountain terrain. Armor AP must be given up as part of "required losses" if they're used to generate DRM (see 9.21).

9.18 Odds Computation. Normally the attacking player should strive to have several times more CF involved in a battle than the defender. Such battles are called "high odds" attacks. To resolve such fights, the attacking player begins by calculating his "odds." Do that by adding together the CF of all the attacking units involved in the battle; then add up the CF of the enemy units defending in the battle. Divide the defender-total into the attacker-total and round down any remainder. For example, if 26 CF attack 7 CF, the situation yields an odds ratio of 3:1 ("three to one"). That is, 27÷7=3.71, which rounds down to 3. To turn that "3" into a ratio, you must set a "1" next to it on the right. Thus "3" becomes "3:1," which corresponds to a column-heading on the Combat Results Table printed on the mapsheet.

Battles in which the attacking force has fewer CF than the defender are "poor odds attacks." Procedures in such situations are modified from what's described above in that here you divide the defender's total by the attacker's, round up all remainders, and set the "1" on the left side of that result. For example, if a force with 5 CF is attacking a force with 11 CF, it's a poor odds attack. In that case, divide 11 by 5 (11÷5=2.2), and round up (2.2 becomes 3); then set a "1" on the left of that "3," yielding odds of 1:3 ("one to three"). Use the 3:2 column whenever the attacker has between 150 and 199 percent more CF than the defender.

9.19 Odds Limits on the CRT. Note the column headings on the CRT range from 1:3 to 6:1. Final odds higher than 6:1 are resolved using the 6:1 odds column; however, the defender's result is increased by one, or the attacker's result is reduced by one (attacker's choice, and may be a combination) for each notional column to the right of the 6:1 odds column. So, for example, an attack at 9:1 odds would see the defender's result increased by three, or the attacker's reduced by three, or two on one side and one on the other. Final odds worse than 1:3 are resolved using the 1:3 column; however, the defender's result is decreased by one for each notional column to the left of the 1:3 odds column. So, for example, an attack at 1:4 odds would generally result in no losses to the defender.

9.2 Regular Combat Results. Each result on the CRT consists of two letters or numbers separated by a slash. Results to the left of the slash apply to the attacker; results to the right apply to the defender. Use the descriptions below to interpret the results, and apply them to the units in the affected BG (only). Keep a running total of eliminated CF for determining how many PSP each force will gain or lose in the Combat Phase, and how many replacement EP each force will get in the next Strategic Phase.

• "1" through "6." That's the number (one through six) of CF in the BG the indicated player must remove. Players will replace units taking losses with units of lower CF, or remove them entirely. For example, a Japanese "3" CF division required to lose one CF would be replaced, in place, with a "2" CF brigade. A Chinese "2" or "3" CF corps, or a Japanese puppet troop corps, would be removed if it had to lose any CF. A KMT Central Army "8" CF army would be replaced with a "3" CF corps. Eliminating an armor or artillery AP, or a fortification counter, also counts as one CF toward satisfying loss requirements. Finally, either or both of the involved BG may be disrupted (see 9.22).
• "X" Escalating Exchange. The attacker eliminates one or more CF as losses (removing one armor or artillery AP may be counted as one loss). The defender must then remove at least as many CF as the attacker removed. The attacker may then repeat the process, the defender at least matching him each time, until the attacker stops or one side completely runs out of units. The side that lost more CF is then disrupted (see 9.22).
• "E" Elimination = remove to the dead pile all involved units of that side.

9.21 Required Losses. If the attacker had a DRM or odds ratio shift for cadre level or armor AP, at least one CF of any losses he incurs must come from the troops or armor used to generate that effect. Also, any time a "natural six" is rolled on the combat resolution die, one air AP is lost by each player who used them in that battle (that is, if any were used at all).

9.22 Disruption. After taking all CF losses, the BG that lost the most CF is disrupted. Flip over all units remaining in that BG. Disrupt both BG if they lost an equal number of CF. AP are never disrupted. Disrupted units may move, but they may not attack until they recover (see section 10.0). Disrupted units aren't affected by further disruption results, but a BG that attacks a BG made up entirely of disrupted units thereby reduces its own losses by one CF.

9.23 Going Guerrilla. In any combat in which a BG of CCP regular units is defending, the Chinese player can satisfy all his loss requirement by replacing each such regular unit with a guerrilla unit. If he does that, however, the attacking player thereby reduces his side's losses by one CF.

9.24 Advance After Combat. If a BG is attacking a BG in a city, and all units in the defending BG are removed, the attacking BG may move into the newly vacant city after satisfying its own loss requirement.

9.3 Breakthrough Attacks may only be made by IJA units. If all units in the defending BG have been removed, and the attacking IJA BG includes armor AP, the Japanese player must decide immediately if he wants to follow his initial success with a breakthrough attack. If so, all armor AP in the attacking BG, plus one brigade or division for each of those AP, may immediately form a new BG and carry out a second attack on any other one enemy BG in that same area. A maximum of one air AP may be added to support the breakthrough attack BG, if available. Breakthrough Attacks don't require an EP to be spent on them.

9.31 Regular Combat Example. A Japanese BG composed of two IJA "4" CF divisions, one "2" CF puppet troop corps, and one artillery AP attacks a KMT BG composed of two "2" CF corps located in a city. All units are in supply (see section 11.0), but the Japanese player would have to expend an EP to conduct the attack at full CF, since the BG has seven steps (see 9.11). He decides not to do so, however. Five (4+4+2 halved) attacking four (2+2) defending CF converts to an odds ratio of 1:1. The odds ratio is then shifted right two columns for the IJA units' cadre level (see 9.12), and is then shifted one left due to the defending BG being in a city (see 9.14), for a final ratio of 3:2. The Japanese player rolls 1d6 and adds one to that result (+1 DRM for the artillery AP). He rolls a four, plus one, to get a final five, which on the 3:2 column gives a result of 2/3. The Japanese player must lose at least one CF from the IJA units due to required losses rule (see 9.21); so he reduces one of the divisions to a "2" CF brigade. (He could have instead chosen to reduce one IJA division to a "3" CF division and then also removed the puppet troop corps.) The Chinese player must lose three CF; so he removes both corps.

9.4 Guerrilla & Anti-Guerrilla Combat. Guerrilla units may not attack enemy units in regular combat, but they do dispute control of areas. To clear them out, the Japanese (and occasionally the KMT) player may use one or more of his BG "at large" in an area to conduct anti-guerrilla operations (AGO) instead of regular combat. AGO are never major offensives and therefore don't require EP be spent on them. In the Combat Phase (not the Counterattack Phase), the AGO attacking player may have one or more BG roll on the AGO Table to attack any guerrilla units in their area. Roll separately on the table for each BG making an AGO attack. The number of guerrilla steps removed varies with the total CF in the BG and other modifiers, as listed on the AGO Chart printed on the mapsheet. The number of attacking CF eliminated varies with the number of guerrilla steps present in the area at the time the attack was resolved, and other modifiers as listed on the AGO Chart printed on the mapsheet. The required losses rule (9.21) doesn't apply to AGO attacks, nor are units ever disrupted as a result of them.

9.41 "Three All" Operations. The Japanese player may declare any of his AGO to be "Three All" operations ("Kill all, burn all, destroy all!"). That will double that BG's CF, but also adds 1d6 to either the CCP or KMT PS level, depending on which force had the greater number of guerrilla unit losses in that AGO.

9.42 Guerrilla Combat Example. The Japanese player has two BG at large in an area, and he wants to use them against the five CCP guerrilla units present there. One BG is composed of one "4" CF IJA division, and the other is composed of two "4" CF IJA divisions and one "2" CF puppet troop corps, for a total CF of 10. The BG attack separately. The Japanese player decides to attack first with the mixed BG: 10 CF means the guerrillas will lose 1d6 steps. The Japanese player rolls a three, for three steps eliminated, but that's reduced to two because puppet troops were involved in the operation. The Chinese player removes one guerrilla unit. There were 10 guerrilla steps (five units with two steps each) present at the start of the AGO; so the Japanese player must lose (1d6-3) CF. He rolls a four and will therefore lose two CF; so he removes the puppet troop unit. Next the Japanese player attacks with the single-unit BG, declaring it to be a "Three All" AGO. Four CF doubled to eight means 1d6 guerrilla steps will be lost. He rolls a four, and the Chinese player must therefore remove two more guerrilla units while also adding 1d6 PSP to the CCP PS level. The Japanese player rolls to determine his losses and gets a four, minus three, is one. However, he doesn't lose any CF because the Chinese player had equal or fewer guerrilla steps (eight) than the Japanese had CF (eight).

In the example of AGO above in 9.42, the Japanese player rolls a "5" the first time he checks his losses. 5-3=2, -1 for equal or superior CF, so the final result is 1 and he removes the puppet troops corps. If he had rolled a "4" he would not have lost anything.

10.0 Counterattack

In the Counterattack Phase, any enemy BG in an area that weren't attacked by your forces in the preceding Combat Phase may attack your BG in the same area. Eligible enemy BC may still attack only those of your BG that conducted attacks in the preceding Combat Phase. Counterattacks require an EP to be spent on them if they're of sufficient size (see 9.11) and the player wants them to attack at full CF. The Japanese player may not conduct AGP in the Counterattack Phase.

11.0 Recovery

In the Recovery Phase of his own player turns, the player rolls 1d6 for each of his currently disrupted units. A unit recovers on an adjusted roll of six or more. See the Recovery Table printed on the mapsheet. Roll once per disrupted unit, not once per disrupted BG.

12.0 Supply

12.1 Units need to be supplied (also called being "in supply") to function at their full capacity. The definition of this state depends on the force to which they belong.

12.11 KMT & CCP Regular Supply. To be in supply, a KMT Central Army, KMT faction HQ, or CCP regular unit must be in an area controlled by the same force, or adjacent to an area controlled by the same force. Alternatively, such a unit is still supplied if its area is contested, or even controlled by an enemy force, but at the same time all cities in that area are occupied by units of the same force. For a KMT faction corps to be in supply, it must be in an area that contains, or is adjacent to an area that contains, its faction HQ and that HQ is itself in supply.

12.2 Japanese Supply. To be in supply, Japanese units must be in an area with a railroad. Further, that rail line must lead back to a Japanese-controlled port city or to the cities of Jehol or Shenyang and, further, one or more IJA or puppet units must be present in each city box the rail line passes through on the way there. (It isn't necessary, though, for the Japanese player to control the area in which those various city boxes are located.) Additionally, Japanese units occupying port cities are in supply as long as the Sea State is at least one.

12.21 Weather & Japanese Supply. In turns when floods are in effect, the Japanese player may trace supply using rail lines that cross rivers only on a roll of one to three on a 1d6. All units in areas affected by Monsoons are automatically out of supply when that weather is in effect.

12.3 Guerrilla Supply. Guerrilla units are always in supply.

12.4 Out of Supply. Supply status is judged for both side's BG involved in a battle at the moment of that battle's resolution. A BG is out of supply at that moment fights at half its total CF (round up all remainders).

A BG that's both out of supply and of sufficient size to conduct a major offensive would attack at one-quarter of its total CF. The owning player would need to expend one EP to get it to half CF, and another for it to fight at full CF.

Being out of supply also adversely affects a unit's chance to recover from disruption; so supply status of such units must be checked during the Recovery Phase.

12.5 Extending Supply. The areas in the game are sufficiently large, and the front lines tenuous enough, that units could always be supplied by a special effort. Therefore, a player may always place a BG in supply when he needs to, by expending an EP on it at the moment called for. He must expend another EP in order to conduct a major offensive at full CF if the BG placed in supply is of sufficient size.

12.6 Supply status is judged, and flood turn effects are rolled for, BG by BG within the same area. So, yes, some BG using the same rail line for supply may be out of supply while others are in supply. The map areas and time scale of the game turns are large enough that this can (and should) happen.

13.0 Turn Inter-Phase

13.1 Control Determination. During the Turn Inter-Phase, the following events occur in sequence. Both players examine each area on the map and determine which are controlled by one side or another, and which are contested. Control of an area is judged anew each turn, as follows.

1. If there are no units at all in an area, it's contested. Neither side controls it.
2. If only one force has units in an area, that force has control there and a marker of that side is placed in the area to indicate that fact.
3. If units from more than one force are in an area, that area is contested, but one force may still get "effective control." To determine that, both players count how many steps from each force there are in the area. If the Japanese player has twice as many or more steps in the area than the total of KMT and CCP steps there, he has "effective control." If the Japanese player doesn't have "effective control," as determined by that step count, compare the number of KMT and CCP steps in the area. If one of those forces has twice as many or more steps than the other, it gets "effective control." If that's not the case, the area remains contested and no marker is placed. Note that "effective control" is, for all purposes, as good as regular "control"; only the mechanics of determining it are different.

13.2 Final Political Support Adjustment. Both players then adjust their PS levels as directed in the Political Support Level Adjustments Summary Table printed on the mapsheet. An area is considered to have left friendly control if its status changes from friendly control to contested or enemy control in the latest control determination process.

13.21 City Control. Controling cities is not always important in the game, except for combat, and that's really just a question of presence: your units are either in the city and thereby getting its defensive benefit, or they're outside and "at large." City control is also important for seizing industry markers, in that you can advance into the city after combat to take them. And it's also important for Japanese units drawing supply. That is, rule 12.2 states Japanese or puppet units must be present in each city box of their supply line leading back to the ultimate source of their supply, Manzhouguo or a port city.

13.3 KMT Corruption Check. The fractured and political nature of Chinese military administration assured there would be wastage and misdirection of supplies and material. At the end of the Turn Inter-Phase, the Chinese player rolls on the KMT Corruption Table, printed on the mapsheet, to see if he loses any unused KMT EP.

14.0 How to Win

14.1 If the Japanese player's PS level ever falls to zero, he's lost the war in China and the game immediately ends in a Chinese total victory.

14.2 If the KMT or CCP PS levels fall to zero, the KMT or CCP has collapsed. The Chinese player may either resign the game at that time, in which case the Japanese player wins a partial victory, or the Chinese player may decided to fight on with whatever force remains (see 5.22 & 5.23). If the Japanese player later forces the remaining force's PS level to zero, the game immediately ends in a Japanese total victory.

14.3 If the KMT hasn't collapsed by the end of the game (Fall 1941), the Chinese player wins a partial victory. If only the CCP has collapsed, both sides can claim a partial victory, with bragging rights going to the player with control of more areas at that time.

14.4 If no force has collapsed, and the KMT PS level is greater than that of the Japanese, but at the same time is only equal to or lower than that of the CCP PS level, that game is a draw. That approximates the historic result: China will fight on; Japan will be defeated by the Western Allies, but the CCP has garnered enough political strength that it will probably win the civil war when it resumes.

14.5 If no force has collapsed, and the KMT PS level is greater than the Japanese PS level and CCP PS level, that game is a Chinese partial victory. The KMT player claims the victory in a three-player game.

15.0 Preparing for Play

15.1 Setting Up. To set up, both players—Chinese first—place the specified units indicated in the areas listed on the Set Up Chart printed on the mapsheet, and note the amount of EP they have at the start (1d6 KMT; 2 CCP; 2d6 Japanese). Units may set up in fortifications if the player spends EP to place them there. They place control markers as appropriate (see section 13.0). Place the markers for the three foreign countries on the corresponding Foreign Power Track, in the "At Start" boxes indicated. The Japanese, KMT and CCP start with initial PS levels of 60, 40 and 25, respectively.

15.2 Hebei Province. In the period before 1937 Japan exerted political pressure on China to reduce its garrisons along the border with Jehol. Therefore, no more than five KMT corps may set up in Hebei and fortification counters may not be initially placed there. These restrictions are dropped as soon as play begins.

15.3 First Turn Special Procedures. Play begins with the Random Events Phase. Skip the Foreign Support and Strategic Phases during the first game turn.

16.0 Special Rules

16.1 KMT Faction Headquarters. Each KMT faction has a headquarters (HQ) unit, representing its political-military centre of gravity. Those units have no step strength or combat factor, nor do they cost anything to build, maintain or replace if eliminated. They must always be stacked with at least one other unit of their own faction, and they're automatically eliminated if all units in their own BG are removed from the map for any reason. Replacing an eliminated HQ is optional but, if it's not done, the remaining units of the faction will be out of supply and can't be replaced. At the same time, however, the KMT player then no longer incurs the PSP penalty for not spending EP on that faction. The KMT Central Army doesn't have any HQ units, and that force is exempt from this rule.

16.2 Fortifications. In the Strategic Phase a player may spend one EP to place a fortification counter in any city or area where he has one or more regular units in supply. Any number of fortifications may be built in an area in any one phase, but only one may be in any given city at any one time. Fortifications are a kind of static AP: their effect is to shift the odds ratio one additional column to the left. They're exempt from the required losses rule, but they may be removed to satisfy step losses (see 9.2), and they're automatically removed if ever left without any units stacked with them at the end of any phase. Fortification counters themselves don't count toward BG stacking limits, but no given BG may contain more than one such counter. Guerrilla units never make use of fortifications.

16.3 Chinese Industry Markers. China didn't have any true heavy industry at this time but could still produce limited amounts of arms and ammunition for itself. The Chinese player starts the game with three industry markers on the map in the cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. Each industry marker on the map generates one EP for whichever force has units stacked with it in each Strategic Phase. The player controlling an industry marker may, during any Strategic Phase, declare he's moving it. To do so, he removes the marker and re-enters it on the map two game turns later in any city in any friendly controlled area. Industry markers may be moved any number of times, but they must be in supply to move and must re-appear in a city that's also in supply. The Japanese player captures an industry marker if he ever eliminates all units in the city box in which it's located and advances into the box. He would then have to wait two game turns, however, before moving it or getting EP from it. The Japanese player may also choose to move captured industry markers off-map to Manzhouguo.

16.4 United Front. The CCP and KMT had been fighting a civil war for almost 10 years when the Japanese invaded China in 1937. They agreed to suspend hostilities between them while fighting Japan. During the war, however, the KMT kept up to 400,000 troops tied up blockading Communist-controlled areas, and there were numerous clashes between the two factions.

The game begins with a "United Front" in effect. While it's in effect, the two Chinese forces may not attack each other. CCP regular units may enter an area with KMT units in it only if they finish their movement in an area that also contains Japanese units, and vice versa.

The "United Front" may occasionally be suspended by a random event that will allow the KMT player to attack CCP regular units, or conduct anti-CCP AGO, for that turn only (KMT AGO are at half CF). Each game turn during which the KMT attacks CCP regular units or conducts AGO, the KMT PS level is raised by 1d6 and the CCP PS level is raised by 2d6. The CCP may not attack or counterattack the KMT, but they do get the rise in PS in compensation.

16.5 Multi-Player Version. The game may be played by three players. A three-player game has a Japanese player (who controls all IJA and puppet troop units), a KMT player (who controls all Central Army and KMT Faction units), and a Communist player (who controls all CCP units). The two Chinese players perform their movement and combat sequentially in the appropriate phases; the one with the higher PS level goes first.

The KMT player and the Communist player are in a "competitive alliance." If the KMT or CCP PS level ever falls to zero, that player is out of the game while the other player may fight on. If the Chinese side wins by forcing the Japanese PS to zero, or by lasting to the end of the game without having either force collapse, the Chinese player with the higher PS level wins.

17.0 Optional Rules

Players may agree to use either of the rules below in order to vary play.

17.1 Shifting Initiative. Players go in order of PS level each game turn, highest first (resolve ties with a die roll).

17.2 Variable CCP Control. In a two-player game, the player with the lowest PS level at the beginning of the Strategic Phase controls the CCP (resolve ties with a die roll). In cases where the Japanese player is the CCP controller, that doesn't mean the CCP becomes his ally; instead, the Japanese player would move CCP forces in such a way as to put the KMT at a disadvantage.