Blocks in the East Rulebook

Table of Contents

Basic Game
Advanced Game
Optional Rules
Scenario Booklet

Basic Game

1.0 Game Components

The following 900+ components of the Standard Boxed Edition are used for playing the game. Some components (*) are not needed for playing the BASIC GAME.

N° 2 87x62cm double-laminated mapboards
N° 1 rules manual (with scenario booklet)
N° 1 booklet with Germany Map, Scenario Setup Charts, Play-Example
N° 156 wooden red blocks (Soviets, Soviet TECH Development Tokens)
N° 144 wooden black blocks (Germany, All Axis Minor Powers, Axis TECH Development Tokens)
N° 6 wooden light green blocks (Italian Forces)
N° 6 wooden tan/white blocks (German Strategic Assets, Turn Tracker)
N° 3 wooden dark green blocks (American Strategic Bombers)
N° 2 wooden blue blocks (British Strategic Bombers)
N° 318 PVC stickers (laminated, 2 stickers for the Turn Tracker Token)
N° 60 wooden yellow cubes (General Production Points)
N° 20 wooden red cubes * (Armor Production Points)
N° 20 wooden blue cubes * (Air Production Points)
N° 20 wooden yellow cylinders * (Repaired German Resources)
N° 20 plastic black cylinders * (Oil Production Points)
N° 10 plastic white cylinders ("Out-of-Supply" Markers)
N° 20 dark red discs * (Soviet Partisans)
N° 10 black discs * (Repaired German Oilfields)
N° 25 plastic red factories *
N° 20 plastic blue factories *
N° 5 plastic black factories *
N° 7 dice

1.1 Mapboard

The mapboard shows the area in which the Russian campaign was fought.

A hexagonal grid on the map regulates movement and allows the precise positioning of the units.

Individual hexagons are called "hexes". Terrain is simplified and adapted to conform to the hex grid.

In the upper right corner of the mapboard, there's the Turn Record Chart used to record the current turn, the weather, Lend-Lease supplies, and other important events.

Tip: You can put a thin tile of glass or plexiglass on the complete map to get a plain mapboard (Low-reflection material is highly recommended).

1.2 Unit Counters

317 wooden 16x16x8mm blocks of contrasting colors are provided for playing the game. These are the game's playing pieces. Most of them are the "units" of the game, some others are for better game manangement only.

Apply one unit-sticker to each block of the following color:

148 Soviet Units (red/pink/orange): red.
140 German (grey/black), Finnish (white), Romanian (light blue), Hungarian (green), and Slovakian (purple) Units: black.
6 Italian Units (light green): light green.
5 German Strategic Assets: 2 Interceptors (FJ2 and FK9), 1 Bomber (FFN), and 2 Uboats (Monsoon G. and Narvik): tan/white.
3 American Bombers (8th, 9th and 15th Air Fleet - blue): dark green.
2 British Bombers (4th and 5th Bomber Group - blue): blue.

Note: Some units of the Soviets and the Axis are blue or of another color, e.g., air units or navy units.

For details, see the complete list of units on www.ventonuovo.net.

Plastic Factories, wooden cubes and plastic cylinders are also provided to record production, supply status, technology research, etc.

1.3 Fog of War

The game can be played with Fog of War on (wooden blocks are placed on the map in such a way that the opponent player cannot see them) or with Fog of War off (all units are visible).

Note: For solitary play, the use of Fog of War is mandatory (38.2).

2.0 Setup

2.1 Side Selection

At the beginning of the game, players choose randomly or by mutual agreement who controls the Soviet faction and who controls the Axis faction.

2.2 Scenario Selection

Players mutually or randomly choose a sceario to be played (see scenario booklet).

2.3 Game Setup

Place the Turn Tracker Token on the Turn Record Chart with the Axis icon face up (Axis always has the initiative).

The starting month depends on the chosen scenario.

Set up all units, cubes, and other components according to this scenario.

3.0 Basic Definitions

The following terms are used throughout the different phases and steps of a turn. They are grouped here to avoid repetition.

3.1 Controlling Player / Enemy

A player always moves the units of his side, and is therefore the "controlling player" for his own units and territory. Whenever the rules refer to units moving, this means that the controlling player is the one moving them. What a player does not control is defined as the "enemy".

A player controls land hexes and cities if they are behind his front-line and not occupied by enemy units. If there is no clear front-line, mark controlled cities with spare cubes until occupied (and therefore immediately controlled) by units of the other faction.

A player controls a sea area if he controls at least 1 Major Port (Orange Anchor) or 2 Minor Ports (Anchor) in that sea. If both players meet this condition, then both players control this sea area.

3.2 Phasing / Non-Phasing Player

The "phasing player" is the player currently performing the phases for his side (Axis or Soviet phases). Thus, the Axis player is the phasing player during the Axis phases of his turn, and the Soviet player is the phasing player during the Soviet phases of his turn.

The player who is not the phasing player is the "non-phasing player".

3.3 Hex Control of Cities, Factories, and Production Centers

Once a ground unit enters and/or passes through a city, production center, or oilfield hex, that hex is immediately conquered and therefore controlled. Conquered enemy factories are destroyed once captured.

City Types: There are 5 city-types in BITE:

A Capital City hex has a large red dot (i.e.Moscow).
A Major City hex has a large orange dot (i.e. Kalinin). All rules for major cities usually also apply to capital cities (Den Haag and Luxembourg are Minor Cities).
A Minor City hex has a yellow dot (i.e. Rubinsk).
A Fortress City hex has an orange border and a fortress icon (i.e. Leningrad).
A Victory City hex normally has a special icon: Moscow (Kremlin), Leningrad (Soviet star), Stalingrad (Hammer & Sickle), Baku (Hammer & Sickle) and Berlin (Reichstag).

Victory Cities determine the winner in some scenarios and in the campaign.

Note: Historical Battle Sites have a very small black/yellow dot. These hexes (e.g. Uman, Demyansk) have no special functions at all in the game. They have been added only as an historical note.

3.4 Airbases

Airplanes must land in an airfield where they can be refuelled, re-armed and eventually repaired.

An airfield is any controlled fortress, major city or minor city hex that could serve as a supply source (4.0).

No more than 1 air unit may use the same airbase hex at the same time.

3.5 Railways / Strategic Rail Movement

Railways are the major rail lines mainly used for supply and strategic rail movement (SRM: 7.4).

3.6 Production Centers

There are 3 types of production centers in BITE that produce resources of different colors (Production Points: PP). However, in the BASIC GAME, only Yellow Production Points are used. These PP are generated by Population Centers (some Major Cities) and Mining Centers (hexes with a mine trolley icon). A black number indicates how many Yellow PP those hexes generate each turn.

3.7 Siberia and Off-Map-Boxes

There are 6 Off-Map-Boxes in the game: Narvik, Tromso, Petsamo, Murmansk, Krasnovodsk and Siberia.

These special areas are just too far from the playing area to be represented in the game as a hex, but all the rules applied to hexes also apply to Off-Map-Boxes.

Narvik is mountain terrain and belongs to Norway (Axis controlled). It has both land and rail connection to the map (Gallivare) and a land connection to Tromso.
Tromso is mountain terrain and belongs to Norway (Axis controlled). It has no direct connection to the map, but is land connected to Narvik and Petsamo.
Petsamo is forest terrain and belongs to USSR even if the Soviet Player cannot deploy any units here in 1941. It has both land and rail connection to the map (Salla) and is also land connected to Tromso and Murmansk.
Murmansk is forest terrain and belongs to USSR. It has both land and rail connection to the map (Kantalahti) and has also a land connection to Petsamo.
Krasnovodsk is forest terrain and belongs to USSR. It has a land and rail connection to Siberia.
Siberia is forest terrain, belongs to USSR and is the Soviet Main Supply Source. It has a land and rail connection to Krasnovodsk and is rail connected to the map through five railways: Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk and Chalov.

Note: The Baku-Krasnovodsk sea-route is not active at the beginning of the game. The Soviet player can build it in some scenarios.

3.8 Ground Combat Units

All Ground Units (GU) capable of attacking alone are Ground Combat Units: GCU.

Artillery and Headquarters are GU, but not GCU: they are Ground Support Units (GSU) and they can never attack alone!

3.9 Ground Support Units

Artillery is a devastating weapon. It moves as fast as infantry does, but fires before the other ground units if it is part of a combined combat formation. When planning a good attack, don't let your army lack these units!

Headquarters (HQ) are the nerve centers of every military force. Each power has its own national Leader or Supreme-HQ plus some special headquarters: Armor, Air and (Soviet) Navy-HQ. (These special HQs are not used in the BASIC GAME.)

3.10 Stacking

Normally, a maximum of three GU (of which a maximum two can be GCU) of the same faction may be stacked in the same hex, regardless if it is a friendly, empty or enemy occupied. Additionally, no more than one air unit may use a city as an airbase hex.

Example: 3 HQs/Arts, 2HQs/Arts plus 1 GCU, 1 HQ/Art plus 2 GCUs, but not 3 GCUs!

When attacking or defending, players may add one more air unit to support the combat (to have a combined air force of one fighter plus one bomber) for a maximum of five units, but this event is quite rare.

3.11 Steps (Combat Strength)

Every unit has a combat strength depending on how many steps the unit has and is indicated by a number.

When involved in combat, a unit rolls as many dice as it has steps.

3.12 Action Points (AP)

HQs have special steps called Action Points (AP) indicated by Oil Barrels.

These points function and are repaired as normal steps, but moreover they allow the HQ to perform as many actions and/or special actions as it has APs.

3.13 Tech Level (TECH)

The Tech Level defines how much training, experience and consequently firepower, Movement Points (MP) and special abilities a unit has.

The Tech Levels in BITE are predetermined: technology breakthroughs happen at a fixed time as listed in the Turn Record Chart and below:

March 1942: Soviet Infantry TECH 2
November 1942: Soviet Armor TECH 2
January 1943: Soviet Fighter TECH 2
July 1943: German Armor TECH 3
September 1943: Soviet Bomber TECH 2
May 1944: German Fighter TECH 3
July 1944: Soviet Armor TECH 3
September 1944: Soviet Infantry TECH 3
October 1944: German Infantry TECH 3
March 1945: German Bomber TECH 3

As a consequence, a predetermined, fixed amount of four yellow PP is subtracted every turn from the total amount (50 PP) of the Soviet (not other Powers) faction to give a final collected income of 46 PP.

Higher Tech Levels can also be reached with research by spending a certain amount of Production Points for several turns.

However, these rules are not used in BITE, but will indeed be used in combination with the other games of the BLOCKS series. (For further details see the Tech Level Chart.)

Note: The Tech Level of a unit has nothing to do with its steps (combat strength).

3.14 Firepower

Firepower is the ability of a unit to hit the enemy, e.g., most of the units usually hit at 6, while armored units have a better firepower and hit at 5&6.

Fighters usually have a better defensive (air-to-air) firepower than bombers, while bombers often have a better offensive (air-to-ground) firepower than fighters.

3.15 Hits and Damage

Hits are applied immediately after the die roll by reducing unit's steps. This is done by rotating the unit counterclockwise as many times as needed to fulfil the number of hits suffered.

Example: A German infantry unit at full 4-step strength needs 4 hits to be destroyed, while 1 hit only causes the unit to be reduced to 3-step strength.

The strongest unit must be reduced first. If two units have the same strength, the owner chooses.

Note: Some units (for example a Soviet Guards infantry unit with 7 steps) have a kind of "shield" and must suffer 2 hits to be damaged and reduced/rotated (7.7.8).

3.16 Fractions

When halving or quartering any values (e.g., Movement Points, Attack Strength), fractions are always rounded down.

3.17 Minimum Fire

Even if reduced to fractions below 1 and rounded down, units always roll at least 1 die.

3.18 Minimum Movement

Even if reduced to fractions below 1 and rounded down, units always have at least 1 Movement Point.

3.19 Zones of Control (ZOC)

All ground and air units have a "Zone of Control" (ZOC). This zone represents a degree of control of adjacent hexes by a unit: hex control, supply routes, retreats, and strategic rail movement.

A unit's ZOC normally consists of all six surrounding adjacent hexes with the exception of hexes occupied by enemy units.

Units in a battle hex, air units performing combat missions (flying) and ships at sea immediately lose their ZOC.

Also, a unit's ZOC does not extend across deep-water hexsides, straits, or into all-water lake, sea or water portions of coastal hexes.

In the ADVANCED GAME, the ZOC does not extend across an unfrozen river. Note: a unit's ZOC is not affected by the unit being supplied or unsupplied (4.0).

3.20 Axis Powers and RHG Units

The Axis forces consist of Germany plus its allies: Italy, Finland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

Slovaks and German Security RHG Units ("Rear Area of the Army"): These units are corps formations without any real combat efficiency. During the war, they have been used mainly for anti-partisan duty and are not used at all in the BASIC GAME.

3.21 First Turn: "Frozen" Units

During turn 1, some units are frozen and cannot move even if they can be attacked:

Hungarian units (H).
Romanian (but not the Antonescu HQ) and German ground units in Romania (R).
Finnish units (F).

None of these units can move, retreat or attack; they are "frozen" respectively neutral. However, Romanian air units are free to perform flying and combat missions over Soviet territory as German air units based in Romania can do.

The same restrictions of being "frozen" apply to all Soviet units inside the:

Leningrad Military District (L: white dots)
Odessa Military District (O: orange dots)
Caucasus Military District (C: brow dots)
Stavka in Moscow.

These restrictions end on turn 2 for all units.

3.22 Battle Hex

Combat in BITE occurs when a player moves at least one of his Combat Units into a hex occupied by one or more enemy units: this hex is called a "battle hex".

When many battles occur in adjacent hexes, it could be helpful marking these battle hexes with a spare counter and removing the combat units from the hex and placing them face up in an unused space on the map.

Place them face to face with the enemy units, with their actual step (combat strength) pointing to this temporary "front-line" without revealing them to the opponent (this happens in the Combat Phase)

4.0 Supply

Military forces require vast amounts of supplies – food, ammunition and fuel. This supply is checked at the beginning of the turn. Units that are supplied at that time remain in action at full effect until the Armor Exploitation Phase (7.10).

4.1 Main Supply Sources

The main/national supply sources are:

Siberia (not Moscow) for the Soviets
Berlin for the Germans
Belgrade for the Italians
Helsinki for the Finns
Bucharest for the Romanians
Budapest for the Hungarians
Bratislava for the Slovaks.

4.2 Other Supply Sources

Any rail or port hex that is directly connected to the main supply source by rail or sea is a supply source itself (a blue sea-route is not neccesary a supply source).

Note: The rail hex does not need to be a city. (Naturally, most ports are cities.)

4.3 "Out-of-Supply" Units

To be in supply, units must be able to trace a lane of maximum 3 hexes to a friendly supply source at the beginning of their turn. This supply lane can be traced through any land terrain hex, but not through any hex which is:

mountain or all-water terrain,
occupied by an enemy ground unit, or
in an enemy ground unit's ZOC.

Note: A hex in the ZOC of two or more units of both factions does neither support the one nor the other side. Thus, the supply lane cannot cross it.

A unit that cannot trace such a supply lane to a friendly supply source is considered to be "Out-of-Supply" and is marked with a white (empty) plastic barrel.

4.4 "Out-of-Supply" Effects

Supplied units perform normally.

All units marked with a white "Out-of-Supply" barrel cannot receive replacements of any kind during the Production Phase, have their Movement Points (MP) halved and cannot attack during the Combat Phase. Unsupplied air units may only be used to make a transfer movement from a friendly airbase to another one, but at half range. Any unit marked as "Out-of-Supply" which is still unsupplied in the Final Supply Status Phase at the end of a turn is forced to surrender and is eliminated from play (see below and 7.9).

4.5 Surrender

Each unsupplied unit that must surrender during the Final Supply Status Phase grants 1 PP to the enemy and is then removed from the map. (It can be rebuilt in a successive Production Phase.) This simulates the effect that the enemy can use some of the captured equipment, vehicles, aircraft, weapons and manpower for its own army and warfare.

In the BASIC GAME, all PPs are yellow. In the ADVANCED GAME, PPs are of different colors and values depending on the surrendering unit (12.5).

Note: 0-step units (e.g., Artillery, Soviet marine infantry and paratroopers, air units of Axis minor allies) when out of supply are reduced to 0 step, but do not surrender; they must be engaged and destroyed.

5.0 Fighting Powers

5.1 Soviet Union (USSR)

Stalin's emphasis was on production instead of research, development and training.

Inadequately trained and unexperienced Soviet soldiers equipped with aged weapons could not hope to compete with the German forces when the invasion was launched.

But, provided the Soviet Union can survive the initial onslaught, she has huge reserves in terms of natural resources and manpower to fill the gap and overcome the Axis forces.

The Soviets in the game: All units of the Red Army and Soviet Aviation (Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily: VVS) start the game at TECH 1 in every field.

Soviets are well prepared for the winter war and do not suffer any penalty for fighting in snowy weather.

Note: Soviets have no minor allies in BITE.

5.2 Germany

At the time Barbarossa was launched, the units of the German Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe were highly trained and equipped with the best weapons of the period. However, the Wehrmacht was not prepared for either a long campaign or for the Russian winter.

Securing the important industrial and mining areas and destroying the bulk of the Red Army are a must before it's too late.

Germany includes East Prussia and has already annexed Western Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic.

The Germans in the game: All German units start the game at TECH 2 in every field and have a considerable qualitative advantage in term of movement, firepower and special abilities.

Each turn, Germany can spread help to all their minor allies by sending them any kind of Production Points for repairing or rebuilding their armies subject to a maximum rate of 3 PP per ally per turn. But the German allies may not send any of their PP to Germany.

Note: Italy and Finland have no Production Points, so the only way to repair or rebuild their units is by asking Germany for assistance.

5.3 Other Axis Powers

In middle of 1941, the Italians and the Axis minor allies (Romanians, Hungarians and Slovaks - the Finns are an exception) did not have the same combat strength and experience as the German forces. Their troops were generally poorly trained and lacked a real willingness to fight. In addition, their equipment was inadequate for a modern war.

The other Axis powers in the game: All units of the Axis minor allies (except the Finns) and the Italian units start the game at TECH 1 in every field, so they act exactly as the Soviets do at the beginning of the game:

Ground Units have 3 MP (cavalry 4), they always hit at 6. Italians, Romanians, Hungarians, and the Slovaks cannot operate in the Soviet Union north of the green dotted line.

National Air Units may only support their own national Ground Units in combat.

Additionally, note that the Romanians and Hungarians may never stack together in the same hex. However, if embattled together, the Axis player must immediately eliminate one of these units before normal combat is resolved.

The Finns have special rules (5.5).

5.4 Italy

Italy is an Axis Major Power.

Despite a strong effort in the Mediterranean theatre and Italy's global weakness, fascist leader Mussolini wanted an Expeditionary Italian Corps (CSIR) to join his German ally on the Eastern Front.

Italians had often held in little regard by the Germans and were even at times accused of cowardice and low morale.

In reality, their relative ineffectiveness in combat was due to their very scarce equipment, obsolete weaponry and the primitive tactics of the Italian officers.

However, the rank and file often fought bravely, and Italian forces distinguished themselves in numerous battles such as in the battle of Nikolayevka.

But, absolutely unprepared for the kind of war to be fought in Russia, lacking proper transport and badly commanded, the Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia (CSIR), later expanded to Armata Italiana in Russia (ARMIR), was damned to Hell.

The Italians in the game: Italy has no Production Points, but can hope to have some from Germany. However, eliminated Italian units cannot be rebuilt and are permanently removed from play.

Italians may only enter Yugoslavia, Poland and the USSR south of the green dotted line and cannot operate north of this line.

5.5 Finland

After the defeat of Finland in the Winter War (1939-1940), Marshal Mannerheim's Finnish troops were seeking revenge. The Finns were very tough and fierce soldiers: during the overall war period they encircled and destroyed entire badly trained Soviet divisions that were unable to withstand the Finnish impetus.

Finland never agreed to join the Tripartite Pact, so the uncondictional surrender is not applied to Finland (see below).

The Finns in the game: Infantry class units start the game at TECH 2, so both infantry and artillery units have 4 Movement Points, and artillery hits at 5&6.

Because of their excellent snipers, Finnish infantry units receive 1 Bonus (7.7.6) when defending in forest or swamp hexes in their attacking zone (see following passages).

Finnish Ski Units (2nd and 4th Corps) receive also 1 Bonus when attacking in forest or swamp hexes in their attacking zone.

Furthermore, Finns are very well trained for winter warfare and do not suffer any penalty for fighting in snowy weather.

However, their limited logistics make these excellent soldiers unable to both fight and move too far away from their homeland.

So Finns (and German units sent to Finland during the game) cannot attack enemy units behind the FAZ white dotted lines (Finnish Attack Zone), cannot move further than or trace any kind of supply lane (neither east nor south) through the hexes with a large White Dot (Finnish Operational Area - FOA).

Finland has no Production Points, but can hope to have some from Germany.

The Germans in Finland: German units supplied through Finland cannot attack Soviet units outside the Finnish attack zone.

No more than 1 German unit may be stationed inside the Finnish (red) borders of 1941 before a Soviet ground unit crosses these borders.

Finnish Surrender: If Vyborg is Soviet controlled and 4 Finnish GU are out of play during the Victory Phase, Finland immediately surrenders.

Effects:

Finnish units are permanently removed from play and Finland reverts to neutrality.
German and/or Soviet units in Finland (if any) must immediately start evacuating Finland (1941 border).

5.6 Romania

The Romanians were the strongest of Germany's allies on the Eastern Front with over 600.000 men led by Marshal Antonescu.

Romania was also the most important German oil supplier: Losing the valuable reserves of the Ploiesti oilfields would equate to Germany losing the war. Romanian mountain troops distinguished themselves as tough fighters, sometimes even barefoot, and most of them were to lose their lives in the furious battles fought on the slopes of the Mt. Elbrus in the Caucasus at the end of 1942.

The Romanians in the game: may only operate in the Soviet Union (south of the green dotted line) and in Romania.

Remember: Romanian and Hungarian units may never stack together in the same hex (5.3).

5.7 Hungary

The Hungarians were led by General (and later Marshal) Ferenc Szombathelyi.

The Hungarians in the game: may only see action in their homeland, in Yugoslavia, in Poland and in the Soviet Union south of the green dotted line.

Remember: Romanian and Hungarian units may never stack together in the same hex (5.3).

5.8 Slovakia

The puppet state of Slovakia, ruled by Monsignore Josef Tiso, joined Nazi Germany in the anti-bolshevik crusade at beginning, crossing the Soviet border at the end of June 1941.

However, the Slovaks were not well prepared for such a huge effort. After a short time they were retired from the first front-line and sent back for garrison duty.

The Slovaks in the game: Slovaks can operate only in Slovakia, Poland, and the Soviet Union south of the green dotted line. Apart from that, Slovak units act as normal units of an Axis Minor Ally (5.3).

6.0 Units

While there are both Ground and Air Units in BITE, there are not any Naval units, except for the three Axis submarines used only for Strategic Warfare.

Units roll as many combat dice as steps they have.

Example: A Hungarian mountain brigade with 1 step rolls only 1 die, a strong Siberian shock army with 7 steps rolls 7 dice!

Units can have different firepower values due to their different Tech Levels (TECH) or nationality. The firepower when attacking can also be different to the firepower when defending.

Units can gain significant advantages in Firepower, Movement Points and special abilities by reaching a higher Tech Level.

Note: The following terms "Bonus" and "Malus" are combat modifiers and are described in 7.7.6.

6.1 Infantry Class Units

This unit class consists mainly of all standard infantry, static infantry, cavalry, mountain units, artillery, paratroopers and marines.

6.1.1 Infantry and Static Infantry

Infantry is the cheapest unit to employ. It is a must for defense and it constitutes the bulk of every good army.

Soviet and Axis minor allied infantry (except the Finns) had no real fighting experience in 1941 and were very poorly trained and equipped (TECH 1), while German infantry had already had the opportunity to build up an advantage in training and up-to-date equipment (TECH 2).

At TECH 2, infantry is faster and also gains 4 important capabilities: Desperate Attack, Reserve Mode and, in special cases, Amphibious Landings and Airborne Assaults.

TECH 2 artillery gains 1 Bonus in both attack and defense battles and can also follow blitzing armors (7.8).

Finally, when TECH 3 is reached, infantry gains 1 Bonus in defense, and artillery gains 1 significant extra Bonus.

Note that Soviet Shock Armies had already been employed in the Soviet-Japanese Border War of 1938/39 and gained good fighting experience: they are TECH 2 and have 4 MP.

Static Infantry: These units are unable to move normally. They can only be moved by SRM (7.4) and by Naval Movement (OR 18.0). They can neither attack nor retreat. Even if unsupplied, they never surrender nor do they get reduced.

6.1.2 Mountain Units

This specially trained infantry is very well suited for mountain battles: when fighting in hills and mountain hexes, it gets no Malus when attacking and 1 Bonus if defending.

6.1.3 Cavalry Units

Cavalry is a special horse-mounted infantry class unit. It has the same firepower as regular infantry in both attack and defense no matter is the Tech Level, but is 1 MP faster.

6.1.4 Artillery

Artillery is a devastating weapon. It moves as fast as infantry does, but it always fires before every other GCU and, when attacking, also before the defender's artillery does.

At TECH 2, Artillery hits at 5&6 while both attacking and defending, and it can follow and support blitzing armor units (7.8). When TECH 3 is reached, it hits at 4-6! However, if embattled alone, it does not fire at all.

Remember that an artillery unit must be reduced (rotated counterclockwise) after firing in the Ground (but not in AA) Combat Phase to simulate the consumption of ammunition. A 0-step artillery unit is no longer able to fight until "repaired".

Example: German 4°Army (Art), at full strenght (4PF), is attacked by a Soviet Startegic Bomber at full strenght (4PF). First, the German player rolls for AA fire: 4 dice (hit at 5&6 as it is TECH 2!), then the Soviet player reduce his Bomber by as many steps as hits taken and afterwards, rolls only as many dice as the Bomber has steps left (and hits at 6 as it is TECH 1).

6.1.5 Paratroopers and Marines

In the BASIC GAME, Paratrooper and Marine Infantry units are treated exactly like other infantry units and have no special capabilities.

(For special rules see OR 23.0 and 24.0.)

6.2 Armor Class Units

Mobile forces made the difference on nearly every World War II battlefield they were employed, especially if they were well commanded.

Armor units have the ability to move and attack twice a turn, so they can easily pocket and destroy the bulk of an enemy army.

There are two types of armor units in BITE:

Tankettes: light tanks; armored infantry.
Tanks: medium tanks; heavy tanks.

6.2.1 Tankette Units

Light tank units don't have the same attack power as medium or heavy tanks, but can be used smartly to fill the gap between exploiting tanks and infantry lines.

At TECH 2, they move faster and gain 1 Bonus in defense. Furthermore, they gain the ability of Blitzing, Exploiting, Panzers Attack!, Desperate Attack and Reserve Mode.

At TECH 3, they gain 1 additional Bonus in both attack and defense and can almost work like unstoppable assault machines.

6.2.2 Tank Units

Medium and heavy tank formations are the most powerful ground units. Their presence on the battlefield gives a huge advantage and makes it easy to chase and encircle the enemy forces. Basically, tanks attack at 6 and defend at 5&6, but when TECH 2 is reached, they attack at 5&6, move faster (4 MP instead of 3) and gain the abilities of Desperate Attack and Reserve Mode.

At TECH 3, they become heavy tanks attacking and defending at the very impressive firepower of 4-6.

6.3 Aircraft Units

Basically, there are two types of aircraft in BITE: fighters and bombers.

6.3.1 Fighters

Fighters (with Light blue background and/or an F) are the equivalent of infantry for an air army. They are cheap and good for escorting precious Bombers, even if they have a shorter operative range.

When they reach TECH 2, they gain 1 Bonus in Air-to-Air Combat (hit at 5&6) and become able to attack enemy troops on the ground (Strafing attacks hit at 6) and can follow and support blitzing armor units (7.8).

At TECH 3, they become Heavy Fighters with an increased range of 10 hexes, increased Air-to-Air Combat Firepower of 4&6 and better ground attack (Heavy Strafing) Firepower of 5&6. Fighters on the ground can immediately take off and fight when attacked by enemy Air Units (7.7.3).

6.3.2 Bombers

Bombers (with blue background and/or a B) are the best way to attack enemy GU and AU on the ground. However, they are very expensive and extremely fragile, so a fighter escort may be needed to preserve them from enemy fighters.

When Bombers reach TECH 2, they gain 1 Bonus in Ground Attack (bombing hits at 5&6) and become able to fight in Air-to-Air Combat against enemy fighters and they can follow/support blitzing armor units (7.8).

At TECH 3, they become Heavy Bombers with an increased range of 15 hexes, increased Air-to-Air Combat Firepower of 5&6 and better Ground Attack (Heavy Bombing) Firepower of 4-6.

The Soviets also have Aviatsiya Dal'nego Deystviya (2 Long Range Strategic Bombers) and the Western Allies in BITE have (only 5) Strategic Bombers (all 7 with dark blue background and/or a S). These bombers work like other bombers, but at an increased operative range of 15 hexes already at TECH 1 and without the need of air recon to attack at full capacity (OR 19.0), but they may make only 1 combat round (in both Air to Air and Air to Ground Combat step). If attacked by enemy Air Units, bombers on the ground must not take off in the first combat round (7.7.3.1).

6.4 Headquarters (HQ)

Headquarters represent not only the leaders, but also the vital amounts of ammunition, fuel, food and general supplies for the units.

Armor-HQ, Air-HQ, Soviet Navy-HQ, and the National Supreme HQ are support units.

They have Anti-Aircraft (AA) Firepower and, if activated, can make the special actions: Naval Movement (18.0) and Air Recon Missions (19.0), command armor units or send air units into battles (13.0), etc.

Armor-HQ (but not Air-HQ, Soviet Navy-HQ or National Supreme-HQ) are similar to tanks in that they have the same firepower and special abilities, but they can also act and fire as artillery (fire before other ground units, reduce 1 step after firing, etc.).

Like artillery, if embattled alone, they do not fire at all.

They have the same firepower as tanks.

Note: Armor, Air, and Soviet Navy-HQ are not used in the BASIC GAME.

6.5 Anti-Aircraft Guns (AA)

Every GU (so also every HQ) in BITE has Anti-Aircraft guns (AA) for defense.

If attacked by enemy aircraft, the AA will try to shoot them down before they can drop their bombs or strafe.

The Firepower of the AA is equal to the Defensive Firepower of its unit and the unit rolls for AA as many dice as it has steps.

7.0 Sequence of Play

The game starts when all setup is complete.

The game is played in turns, each representing the passage of one month. Each turn is divided into phases and steps that must be performed in a precise order.

A. Weather Determination Phase — May and October (AR only)

B. Axis Phases

Strategic Warfare Phase (AR only)
Supply Phase
Production Phase
Strategic Rail Movement Phase
Movement Phase
Defender Reaction Phase
Combat Phase
Blitz Phase
Final Supply Status Phase
Armor Exploitation Phase

C. Soviet Phases — As for Axis Phases 1-10

D. Victory Phase

After the weather is checked (AR; May and October only), the Axis player completes his phases first as described in the sequence below. Afterwards, the Soviet player complete his phases.

When both players have finished their phases, victory conditions are checked. The turn is now over and a new one may begin.

7.1 Strategic Warfare Phase

This phase is not part of the BASIC GAME. It is added when playing with the OR 35.0.

7.2 Supply Phase

The phasing player checks which of his units are in supply and which are not (4.0). He marks each unsupplied unit with a white (empty) barrel by placing it on the unit.

7.3 Production Phase

If they can act as a supply source (4.2), scenario parameters and resources (e.g., factories, mining centers) generate a particular amount of Production Points (PP) for each faction per turn (3.6/11.0).

These PP can be used to repair supplied units in play and/or to rebuild destroyed units:

Each black number of a unit costs 1 PP.
Each white number of a unit costs 2 PP.
Each red number of a unit costs 3 PP.
A blue number cannot be rebuilt.

The phasing player can spend all, some, or none of the PP in his PP pool. Unspent PP are saved for future use and are kept in the Saved PP Box of the Production Tracker on the mapboard.

Then, the phasing player checks his faction's Battle Sheet on the mapboard to see what reinforcements (new units) are available for free in this turn or if any units have to be removed.

7.3.1 New Units Arrival

Unless otherwise specified, rebuilt units and reinforcement units may be placed in a location, usually a Major City and/or a Fortress hex, of their home country, which must be able to act as a friendly supply source (4.2), but no more than 1 unit is allowed per hex (in all national capitals, Stalingrad and Leningrad, 2 units may be placed).

Note: Treat Poland as the "home country" for Italian units.

Armor units must enter at an armor factory plant (red). Air units and paratroopers must enter at an air factory plant (blue). Soviet Marine Infantry may only enter at either the Sevastopol or Leningrad shipyards (white factory). Reinforcement units enter at the strength level indicated on their Battle Sheet on the mapboard (usually at maximum strength).

7.3.2 Reinforcement Restrictions

Reinforcements and rebuilt units may only be placed in a city hex that is connected to their main supply source by rail or sea and can act as a valid supply source (4.2).

When placed in cities, these units may overstack until the Movement Phase. Reinforcements must be held back if their arrival location is controlled by the enemy or when it is not a valid supply source (4.2).

7.3.3 Holding Back Reinforcements

Reinforcements that must be held back or that the player voluntarily wishes to hold back may be put into play during this player's Production Phase of any later turn. In this case, they can be put into play without any penalties or costs.

7.3.4 Disbanding Units

After all production is completed, the phasing player may voluntarily disband any number of his supplied units. These units may be rebuilt starting from the next turn.

Also, for every unit disbanded, the player receives 1 Yellow PP, spendable from the next Production Phase.

7.4 Strategic Rail Movement Phase

In this phase only Supreme HQ may be activated.

The Strategic Rail Movement (SRM) allows the immediate redeployment of a certain amount of troops from one area of the front to another. It is the best way to move new units to the front-line. It's also used to mass troops before launching surprise offensives in a lightly defended area or reinforcing an area under threat. The Soviets can make a maximum of 5 SRM per turn. The Axis can make a maximum of 4 SRM per turn in the Soviet Union plus 1 in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and the Finnish Operative Area). Moreover, the Axis powers can make an unlimited number of SRM outside of Soviet Union territory, provided it is payed for as described below.

With each SRM a player can move 1 unit, but the SRM must be paid with 1 yellow PP or with 1 HQ Action Point (3.12/13.0).

To be eligible for rail movement, a unit must start the turn in supply, in a hex with a rail line and not adjacent to any enemy units. It can then move any distance on friendly rail, but it can never pass hexes adjacent to enemy units or end its movement adjacent to enemy units.

After this phase, the unit can move normally during the Movement Phase.

7.5 Movement Phase

Units may be moved alone or together in stacks that can be broken down at any point during movement.

Units are moved by tracing a continuous route of movement through the mapboard's hexgrid.

Hexes must be contiguous and may never be skipped.

7.5.1 Number of Units to Move

In the BASIC GAME, the phasing player may move as many or as few of his units as desired: all, some or none.

7.5.2 Unit Movement Order

Ground Units: First, the phasing player moves his ground units during this step.
Air Units: After that, the phasing player moves his air units.

He may move any number of his supplied air units to any enemy occupied hex within 5 (fighters), 10 (bombers) or 15 (Soviet long range bombers) hexes of their airbases, only if they have a strenght value greater than 0.

Alternatively, he may move any number of his air units from their current airbases to new friendly airbases at double the above range (rebasing).

Unsupplied air units may only rebase and have their range halved.

7.5.3 Movement Point Costs (MP)

Each unit has a Movement Point (MP) value depending on its type and/or Tech Level.

Example: A TECH 1 Soviet ground unit has 3 MP, while a TECH 2 German ground unit has 4 MP.

A ground unit that enters a hex expends a number of MP depending on the terrain of this hex:

Plain (clear hex): 1 MP
Forest: 2 MP
Hills: 2 MP
Mountains: 3 MP
Swamp: 3 MP

Note: Crossing a river does not cost any additional MP.

Regardless of terrain, air units expend 1 MP per hex entered.

No unit may enter a hex for which it lacks enough remaining MP.

Unused MP are lost. They are not transferable from one unit to another and may not be accumulated from turn to turn.

Units may pass through hexes containing other friendly units without penalty, paying the normal movement costs for the terrain.

Moving units may overstack when passing through a hex with friendly units (3.10).

The movement must end when a GU enters a hex containing an enemy unit.

A GU may move into a hex in an enemy unit's ZOC, but retreating ground units must not (7.7.15).

An air unit may enter and/or pass through hexes containing any enemy units without penalty.

Remember: Unsupplied units have their MP value halved.

7.5.4 Restricted Hexes

GU may not pass through or enter any all water hexes (although AU may).

Units may enter hexes that are partially land and partially water (called "coastal hexes") at normal movement costs, but may not move into partial hexes on the mapboard edges.

Partial Hexes: are not playable even if they sometimes give some PPs, such as Sverdlovsk. The last playable hex row in the north is the one passing through Salla. The last playable hex column in the east is the one passing through Magnitogorsk. Exception: Teheran is a playable hex.

7.5.5 Movement Across Red Arrows

Red Arrows are connections over straits and to Off-Map Boxes. Moving across these arrows always costs 3 MP and supply lanes through are 3 hexes long.

If the phasing player does not control both connected hexes, only infantry class units can cross these particular hexes.

Kerch Strait: to attempt a crossing of the Kerch Strait, the Axis player must also control Sevastopol at the time the attempt is made. (See Play-Example for details.) It is not possible to cross the Kerch Strait in rainy weather turns (AR 9.2).

7.6 Defender Reaction Phase

After the phasing player has moved all of his units, the non-phasing player may react by moving any number of his air units to any battle location hexes within 5 (fighters), 10 (bombers) or 15 (Soviet long range bombers) hexes of their airbases.

Air units which are already in a battle hex may not be moved to other battle hexes during this step, as they are already under attack.

7.7 Combat Phase

Individual combats in various battle hexes may be performed in any order determined by the phasing player but every combat must be completely finished before the next may begin.

Every unit capable of fighting in the battle hex must participate in the combat, thus artillery may not avoid combat to save ammunitions.

Resolve every single combat step by step as described below, after each player has revealed ALL (show down) his units:

COMBAT SEQUENCE

Air-to-Air Combat Step (multi round, simultaneously*)
Anti-Aircraft Fire Step (1 round, simultaneously)
Air-to-Ground Combat Step (1 round, simulatenously*)
Artillery Fire Step (1 round, Attacker first)
Ground Combat Step (1 round, Defender first)

*Strategic Bombers only 1 round

7.7.1 Air-to-Air Combat Step

This combat step happens only if both sides have air units in the battle hex and at least one side has fighters; otherwise go directly to the next step.

In this step the air units of both sides fight against each other simultaneously.

As usual, Air Units roll 1 die for each of their steps.

At the beginning of the 1941 scenarios and for several turns after, German Fighters hit at 5&6 while all other Fighters (and German Bombers) hit only at 6. Non German Bombers do not have Air-to-Air Firepower!

The hits are immediately applied.

Every hit normally reduces 1 enemy air unit by 1 step. Some air units need to suffer 2 hits before they are reduced by 1 step (7.7.8).

After each round of air-to-air combat, a side may decide to withdraw from the battle (defender decides first); otherwise, another Air-to-Air combat round automatically occurs.

7.7.2 Anti-Aircraft Fire Step

This combat step happens only if one side still has air units in the battle hex. Before these aircraft can attack enemy units on the ground, they must be attacked from the ground units' and/or localities' anti-aircraft guns:

Ground Units roll 1 die per step.
Major Cities/Fortresses roll 2 dice each.
Minor Cities or Bunkers roll 1 die each.

The AA firepower of a unit is equal to its Defensive Firepower (DF).

At the beginning of the game and for several months after, bunkers, fortresses, German armor units (tanks, tankettes, Armor-HQ, other tanks, and Soviet Armor-HQ) hit at 5&6.

All other ground units and cities hit only at 6.

Hits are immediately applied.

Every hit normally reduces 1 enemy AU by 1 step. Some AU need to suffer 2 hits before they are reduced by 1 step (7.7.8).

AU will return fire in the next step. Remember: GSU must not be reduced after AA firing!

7.7.3 Air-to-Ground Combat Step

AU that survived the two phases above are now free to attack enemy GU.

Every AU rolls 1 die per step.

German fighters and Soviet bombers and those of the Axis minor allies hit at 6.

German bombers hit at 5&6.

All other air units do not fire at all.

Hits are immediately applied.

Every hit reduces 1 enemy ground unit by 1 step. Some ground units need to suffer 2 hits before they are reduced by 1 step (7.7.8).

Note to the Air to Ground Combat Step: Air-to-Ground attack lasts for only 1 round, then goes to the Artillery Phase. During the first round of Air-to-Air Combat, the defender's fighter based on ground (if any) must react immediatly scrambling, while the defender's bombers based on ground (if any) must stay on the ground for the first round.

This restriction does not affect Defender's Reacting Bombers (as they are already in flight).

7.7.4 Artillery Fire Step

The artillery of the attacker fires first, then the defender's artillery returns fire. (This combat is not simultaneous).

Every artillery unit rolls 1 die per step and hits at the beginning of the game at 6 (German artillery and Mannerheim hit at 5&6).

Hits are immediately applied.

Every hit reduces 1 enemy ground unit by 1 step. Some ground units need to suffer 2 hits before they are reduced by 1 step (7.7.8).

After the dice are rolled, an artillery unit is immediately reduced by 1 step (rotate it counterclockwise) to simulate the use of ammunition. (4-step artillery is reduced to 2-step strength after it has fired.)

Remember: Artillery in a combat hex must fire. Step-0 artillery must not fire any longer.

7.7.5 Ground Combat Step

After both attacker's and defender's artillery have fired, all other ground units fire.

The units of the defender fire first. (This combat is not simultaneous).

Every ground unit rolls 1 die per step. For determination of the firepower of each ground unit consult the Tech Level Chart.

Hits are immediately applied.

Every hit reduces 1 enemy ground unit by 1 step. Some ground units need to suffer 2 hits before they are reduced by 1 step (7.7.8).

This concludes a round of combat. Additional rounds may be fought as described in 7.7.12.

Note on Air-to-Air Combat - Air Evacuation: If the phasing player's (attacker's) GU enter an airbase hex where there are only enemy air units on ground, those units must immediately evacuate this base: they lose 1 step and must rebase at an available friendly airbase in range (if any: 7.7.16). If they can't complete the evacuation movement, they immediately surrender.

7.7.6 Combat Modifiers: Bonus / Malus

The terrain in a battle hex modifies the combat strength values of attacking and the firepower values of defending ground units by adding a Bonus to the defender or a Malus to the attacker.

Adding 1 Bonus means that the unit gets a better firepower: it hits at a higher chance of +1.

Example: Soviet tanks normally defend at 5&6. With 1 Bonus they defend at 4-6.

Adding 1 Malus works in the opposite way and reduces the unit's combat strength: the unit rolls half the number of dice (halved rounded down).

Terrain features affect attacking ground combat units and their AA firepower, but not attacking support units (artillery and HQ) or air units. Some others, such as bunkers and fortresses, affect all attacking units (For details, see below BOX 1 or the Terrain Modifiers Chart on the mapboard.)

Air-to-air combat happens in the sky and is therefore not affected by the terrain. Air-to-ground combat is also not affected by the terrain (But it will be affected by bad weather and air reconnaissance when playing the ADVANCED GAME).

Generally, only ground combat and AA firepower is affected by the terrain.

Other circumstances add Boni or Mali as well (see AR and OR).

When given to the same unit at the same time, players can agree that a Bonus cancels a Malus and vice versa. (This agreement must be taken by both players at the start of the game and must be kept for the whole game.) Example: A TECH 1 mountain corps with 4 steps attacking in a mountain hex receives 1 Malus and 1 Bonus. Instead of rolling 2 dice at 5&6, it can roll its full 4 dice at 6.

7.7.7 Cumulative Modifiers

All modifiers are cumulative.

Example 1: A German 5-step tank unit normally attacks with 5 dice. If it is getting a Malus, it rolls half the number of dice (halved) rounded down: 2 dice.

If it is getting 2 Mali, e.g., for attacking in a forest hex and at the same time crossing a river, its combat strength is quartered and therefore reduced to 1 (the minimum).

Example 2: A defending TECH 1 infantry unit hits at 6. If defending in a forest hex that is also a major city hex and behind a river, it receives 1 Bonus for the river plus 1 Bonus for the major city and therefore hits at 4-6.

In the same example, the attacker gets 1 Malus for the river, 1 Malus for the forest, and 1 Malus for the major city.

Merging Dice: If 2 or more units in the same battle hex get the same Malus at the same time, sum up their steps first, and then halve the total. If the result allows the player to roll 1 more die than with a separate calculation of a Malus for every single unit, this excess die is rolled by the weakest participating unit.

Example: A German 3-steps armor unit hits at 5-6 and a 3-steps infantry unit hits at 6. If both attack together in a forest hex (1 Malus), roll 3 dice (2x3/2) and not just 2 (3/2 + 3/2, both rounded down). 1 of these dice hits at 5&6, 2 of these dice hit at 6.

7.7.8 Hits

Hits are marked by rotating a unit counterclockwise for the appropriate number of hits it has taken. Thus, hits reduce both a unit's steps and its combat strength. Some units (those which the arithmetic difference is 2 not 1) need 2 hits to be reduced by 1 step. If such a unit takes a hit that cannot immediately reduce a step, this hit is marked with a die or a half-turn of the unit (by 45°) and carried over subsequent combat rounds of this combat. When the unit receives the next hit, it is reduced by 1 step.

7.7.9 Spreading Hits

Unless that side has only one unit involved in the combat, hits can be spread over different units. The strongest units must always be hit (reduced) first. If two units have the same strength, the owner chooses.

7.7.10 Eliminating Units

A combat unit is eliminated and removed from the mapboard when the number of hits that the unit has taken equals or exceeds that unit's steps.

Example: If a 1-step infantry unit takes 1 hit, it is immediately eliminated.

Most support units respectively 0-step units (such as artillery and some others) cannot be eliminated in this way. They remain in play until they are embattled alone by enemy GCU.

7.7.11 Allocating Excess Hits

If a faction's units that are engaged in a combat have been eliminated and not all hits have been placed, any excessive hits and "half-hits" are lost at the end of the complete combat in this battle hex.

BOX 1: Combat Modifiers

Ground Combat Units

Forests, Hills, Mountains, Swamps: All attacking GCU (and their AA) get 1 Malus.

Rivers: In the first combat round, all GCU (and their AA) attacking across a river get 1 Malus and, if all the GU are crossing a river, the defending GCU, but not their AA, receive 1 Bonus.

Major Cities: All attacking GCU (and their AA) get 1 Malus and all defending GCU (except AA) receive 1 Bonus.

Red Arrows, Straits: In the first combat round, all GCU (and their AA) attacking across Red Arrows get 2 Mali and, if ALL the attacking GU cross the strait, all defending GCU (except AA) get 1 Bonus. Remember: If the phasing player does not control both connected hexes, only infantry class units can cross these particular hexes (7.5.5).

Plains, Hist. Battle Sites, Minor Cities: These hexes do not cause any modifiers, but other terrain in their hex does. Example: A minor city hex that is also a forest hex would cause the same modifiers as a forest hex.

All Units

Fortresses: Leningrad as well as Oranienbaum and Sevastopol are Fortress hexes and very difficult to conquer if well defended. All attacking GU and AU get 2 Mali (their combat strength quartered), all defending GCU (except AA) receive 2 Boni.

The German Gustav Heavy Siege Gun is not affected by any Malus when attacking a Fortress hex. Instead, it receives 1 Bonus (26.0) and may overstack.

If a Fortress falls into enemy hands, it immediately becomes a bunker and cannot be rebuilt in BITE.

Bunkers (Hanko, Tatarenwall at Armjiansk, Solone Ozero): While a lot of different types of trenches and fortifications were built during the overall war on the Eastern Front, only some are noted in the game.

All attacking GU and AU get 1 Malus, while all defending GCU (except AA) receive 1 Bonus.

The German Gustav Heavy Siege Gun is not affected by any Malus when attacking a bunker hex. Instead, it receives 1 Bonus (26.0) and may overstack.

If a bunker falls into enemy hands, it is immediately destroyed and cannot be reconstructed in BITE.

Note: The Solone Ozero hex is a bunker hex and also a swamp hex.

7.7.12 Additional Combat Rounds

Unless the engaged units of one or both sides are eliminated or one side decides to retreat (the defender always chooses first), the players have to fight an additional round of combat, starting from the Anti-Aircraft Fire step 7.7.2.

Later rounds of combat follow the same procedures and rules as the first round of combat, each starting from the Anti-Aircraft Fire Step.

7.7.13 Retreats

After the completion of any Combat Step, the defender first, and then the attacker, has the choice to retreat any number of his AU out of the battle hex, while the GU may be retreated from combat ONLY after the Ground Combat Step.

If neither side retreats, there will be another round of combat.

7.7.14 Retreat Movement

The controlling player moves a retreating GU into an adjacent hex and a retreating AU to an airbase hex in range.

If there are several retreating units, they may be spread in any manner over a number of adjacent hexes (or airbases), as long as all "retreat hexes" conform to 7.7.15-16.

Units retreat only to safe hexes. No unit may retreat into an enemy ZOC or into the partial hexes on the edge of the mapboard.

Retreat movement is "free" – it costs no MP.

7.7.15 Retreat of Ground Units

For GU, the adjacent retreat hex:

a. must be in a direction away from the battle hex where, if the unit continued moving in that direction any distance required, it would finally reach a supply source without moving farther and passing through any of:

an all-water hex,
an enemy ZOC (eZOC),
an enemy controlled city,
a hex occupied by an enemy unit (even if it is a plane performing an air mission),
another battle hex.

or the adjacent retreat hex.

b. may be a hex in any direction containing only friendly units or a friendly city (fortress, major or minor).

If both these conditions fail to be met, the unit is eliminated.

7.7.16 Retreat of Air Units

Air Units retreat to an airbase hex in their range (5 hexes for fighters, 10 hexes for bombers and 15 hexes for Soviet Long Range Bombers). If they are unable to reach an available airbase hex, they are eliminated.

7.7.17 Retreat Overstacking

Units cannot overstack due to their retreat.

GU and AU that are unable to reach a permitted retreat hex are immediately eliminated.

7.7.18 Units Involved in Retreats

AU may be retreated out of the battle hex after any Combat Step, while the GU may be retreated from combat ONLY after the Ground Combat Step.

In both air and ground combat, the attacker and/or the defender may retreat some or all of his units after each combat round.

The defender always have the first choice to retreat, then the attacker chooses to stay or to retreat.

Remember: Any unit that chooses to retreat and is unable to do so is eliminated.

7.8 Blitz Phase

Blitzing is the best way to pursue and knock out units that survived and successfully escaped from the first attack. Only armor units that have attacked in the Combat Phase may Blitz.

Soviet tanks and Armor HQ as well as all German armor units (tanks, tankettes and Armor HQ) may spend 1 additional MP to move in an adjacent hex, even if enemy occupied (in this case, a new combat will then happen: the Blitz Combat).

Soviet tankettes must reach TECH 2 to get this capability.

TECH 2 air and artillery units involved in the original combat may follow the armor units in this pursuit.

The attacker may perform the eligible Blitz movement and combat in the order he desires. He can move his "blitzing" units into any empty or enemy occupied hex(es) that he wishes to as long as he is able to pay an additional 1 MP cost per unit.

A Blitz attack is resolved as a normal attack except that the non-phasing player cannot react with his AU (but with his units in Reserve Mode: OR 31.0). Blitzing is not allowed in bad weather turns (as no hex entry costs just 1 MP).

7.8.1 Rebasing Air Units

At the end of this phase, all AU which have been involved in the combats and survived, must rebase as described in 7.7.16 (Defender first).

When completed, there should be no airbase hex containing more than 1 AU.

If this proves to be impossible, the controlling player must eliminate any excess AU.

7.9 Final Supply Status Phase

Any unit marked "Out-of-Supply" with a white barrel in the Supply Phase (7.2) must now be checked for supply again.

If the unit is now supplied, remove the white barrel.

If the unit is still unsupplied, it must surrender now and is removed from the map together with the white barrel (4.5).

Note: 0-step units and static infantry do not surrender and must be engaged/destroyed.

In the BASIC GAME, the non-phasing player gains 1 yellow PP for each surrendering unit of the enemy. In the ADVANCED GAME, the color of the PP depends on the type of the surrendering unit.

7.10 Armor Exploitation Phase

The Armor Exploitation Phase consists of moving the phasing player's armor units (and no other units) a second time during the turn.

Only Soviet tanks and Armor-HQ as well as all German armor units (tanks, tankettes, and Armor-HQ) are eligible for exploitation during the 1941 turns. (Soviet tankettes need to reach TECH 2 to gain the same advantage as the Germans. This event is scheduled to happen in November 1942).

A unit must be in supply at the start of this phase in order to be moved. (The unit may be unsupplied during or after the conclusion of this phase, but not at the start). Check supply normally and mark any unsupplied armor unit with a white "Out-of-Supply" barrel, even if no armor units will be eliminated if still unsupplied at the end of the Exploitation Phase. Supplied armor units move normally, exactly as during the Movement Phase, by using their full Movement Points. However, they must not start new combats and thus cannot enter a hex containing an enemy unit.

Then remove the white barrels (if any).

7.11 Victory Phase

Check the Victory Conditions of the scenario and the Surrender Conditions. Apply them immediately.

Germans, Finns, Romanians, Hungarians and Slovaks surrender now if their capital is enemy controlled: check the control status of Berlin, Helsinki, Bucharest, Budapest, and Bratislava, and if this is the case, remove all units of the surrendering Axis power permanently from the mapboard.

Also check the special Finnish surrender terms during this phase (5.5).

In the BASIC GAME, Italy surrenders in September 1943.

Soviets surrender under special terms described in the campaign (SBE9).

If Germany surrenders, the game ends immediately with a Soviet decisive victory (Sudden Death).

At the end of this phase, advance the Turn Tracker Token on the Turn Record Chart to the next field.

Advanced Game

8.0 ZOC

The ZOC does not extend across an unfrozen river and not into an enemy major city, bunker, or fortress (even if not occupied by any enemy units), except if the enemy major city/bunker/fortress is empty and completely surrounded by friendly units/ZOCs.

9.0 Weather

Most turns have a fixed weather: good = sunshine, bad = rain or snow.

The months May and October need a die roll to determine if the weather is good or bad (rainy). The Soviet player rolls for the weather: 1-3: Good, 4-6: Bad (Rain).

9.1 Weather Effects on Supply Lanes

Bad weather reduces all supply lanes to 2 hexes.

9.2 Weather Effects on Movement

Bad weather prohibits blitzing and affects movement:

Rain: All hexes cost 3 MP and it is not possible to cross the Kerch Strait.

Air Units cannot fly combat missions in rainy weather turns, but they still can rebase. However, air recon attempts are still possible (OR 19.0).

Snow: All plain, forest, and swamp hexes cost 2 MP, all hill and mountain hexes 3 MP.

All the ports in the White Sea, in the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Gulf of Finland and in the Sea of Azov freeze during a snow weather turn. They are marked with a white anchor.

The following actions/activities are forbidden in these waters and between frozen ports (both starting from and arriving to):

Any kind of naval movement (OR 18.0).
Sea transport of resources (PP).
Supply.

9.3 Weather Effects on Combat

Rain: During rain weather turns, air units cannot fly any kind of attack missions, although they are free to rebase.

All attacking GCU and defender AA (Recon!) get 1 Malus.

All defending GCU receive 1 Bonus.

GSU are not affected.

Snow: During snow weather turns, the skies are not clear. So all AU, all AA, and all attacking GCU get 1 Malus.

GSU are not affected.

Rivers are considered to be frozen and have no effects on combat for neither the attacker nor the defender.

Remember: All Finnish and Soviet units and Axis mountain units do not suffer any combat penalties due to snowy weather, but they still suffer the movement and supply penalties.

10.0 Elite Units

Both Soviets and Germans have elite units.

These units were highly trained and heavily equipped with the best weapons available.

Furthermore, their morale was very high and they were lead by the best commanders.

German elite units:

22nd Airlanding Infantry Division
7th Flying Division
Tank Corps Großdeutschland (GD)
Tank Corps "Hermann Göring" (HG)
All SS units

Soviet elite units:

All Guards units (Sowjetskaja gwardija)
All marine infantry units

Soviet Guards units and German GD/HG/SS units get 1 Bonus when attacking, while the Soviet marine infantry, the German 22nd Airlanding I.D., and the 7th Flying Division (and their AA) get 1 Bonus when defending.

Soviet Guards units are also fully motorized formations which have 4 MP from the beginning instead of 3 MP (so Cavalry Guards units have 5 MP).

Soviet Guards can be repaired while in play, but they can't be rebuilt when destroyed.

11.0 Advanced Production

When using the Advanced Production Rules, players receive additional resources (some more yellow PP) and also armor (red), aircraft (blue), navy (white) and oil (black) PP.

Note: while nearly all PP are represented by wooden cubes of the different colors, oil is represented by black plastic cylinders. White PP are not used in BITE.

Refer to the scenarios for details about how many PP every player receives every turn.

However, to repair or rebuild an infantry class unit, there is no difference at all to the Basic Production Rules. Instead, for repairing or rebuilding armor, air, navy, and HQ units, for every 1 generic yellow PP 1 additional red, blue, white or black PP must be spent:

Infantry: 1 Yellow
Armor: 1 Yellow + 1 Red
Air: 1 Yellow + 1 Blue
Navy: 1 Yellow
HQ: 1 Yellow + 1 Black

Remember: Black steps cost 1, white steps 2, and red steps 3 PP of every type. Blue steps still cannot be repaired or rebuilt.

11.1 Population, Mining, and Oil Centers

Population Centers are major cities with high density urban areas providing a lot of manpower for army recruitment and factory working.

Example: Leningrad has 2 manpower, so it produces 2 yellow PP each turn.

Mining Centers (mine trolley icon) are mines where natural resources, such as coal, iron copper, nickel and bauxite, are extracted for armament production. Example: Kerch produces 1 yellow PP each turn.

Oil Centers (drilling tower icon) are oilfields and/or German hydrogenation plants where petroleum is extracted. Example: The Maykop oilfields produce 5 black PP each turn.

11.2 Factories

There are 4 types of factories in BITE:

Armor factories (red) build tankettes, tanks, and Armor-HQ. Example: Leningrad's factories produce 3 red PP each turn.
Aircraft factories (blue) build fighters, bombers, airlanding troops, and Air-HQ. Example: Moscow's factories produce 3 blue PP each turn.
Shipyards (white) build fleets, marine infantry, and Navy-HQ. Example: The shipyards of Oranienbaum produce 1 white PP each turn. Note: Shipyards have no function in BITE.
Hydrogenation factories (black, only in Germany) are plants where the German synthetic fuel is produced. Only Germans are eligible to build this kind of plant. Example: The Police hydrogenation plants produce 2 black PP each turn.

Note: Only encircled factories on the mapboard are ready and produce resources.

Axis minor powers can buy and place an armor/air unit in their capital, even if they don't have a red/blue factory.

Production Points can be saved from turn to turn, but red, blue, white, and/or black PP must always be saved together with 1 yellow PP each.

So if a player only has colored PPs left in a turn (for example, 2 blue ones), he must discard them without use.

For a PP to be received and used, the resource center must be in supply by a rail or a blue sea-route connection to the main supply source.

Only Germany as the leader of the Axis can receive and use captured PP (i.e. Petsamo).

Note: Soviet partisans on a resource center, in a port or on a rail-hex can block the PP transport from/to production centers (29.0).

11.3 Mine Die Roll

If a PP is connected to the main supply source only by a blue sea-route across mined water (Azov Sea, Black Sea, Gulf of Finland), a Mine Die Roll must be made:

1-5: Transport succeeded, PP received.
6: Transport failed, PP lost.

Example: In June 1942, the Axis player controls the Kerch mining center. However, a Soviet partisan is placed on the rail-hex south of Solone Ozero, preventing the PP to be rail-connected to Berlin. Also, even if the Kerch port is not frozen in June, it is not a major port (Sebastopol is); so the Axis player cannot transport the PP by sea.

If the Axis would have controlled Sevastopol, too, then the transport and a Mine Die Roll would have happened: on a die roll of 6, the PP would be lost for this turn, otherwise it would be successfully transported to Berlin.

12.0 Advanced Supply

12.1 Siege Supply: Capitals and Ports

Units in ports (max 1 unit in minor ports, 4 units in Major ports and 5 units in Mulberries) or in their own capitals (4 maximum) that are completely surrounded by enemy units and/or enemy ZOC are in siege supply.

Those units are marked as "Out-of-Supply" and cannot be repaired, but at the end of the turn they lose 1 step instead of surrendering.

Once they have only the last step remaining, they surrender like other units.

Note: 0-step units and static infantry do not surrender and must be engaged/destroyed.

12.2 Fortress Supply: Sevastopol

Besieged units in the Sevastopol fortress hex are marked as "Out-of-Supply" and treated as all other unsupplied units: they cannot be repaired, cannot attack, and have their MP halved. But they don't lose any steps at the end of the turn and do not have to surrender.

Tip: Sevastopol can be put under siege to avoid that besieged units could be repaired.

12.3 Fortress Supply: Leningrad and Oranienbaum (Leningrad's Pocket)

Leningrad was besieged by the Axis, but the city succeded in a painful resistance for 900 days, thanks to the special Road of Life supply route open through Lake Ladoga.

Leningrad/Oranienbaum are besieged (Leningrad's pocket hexes: treat those 2 hexes as they were 1 for this purpose only) when all adjacent hexes are Axis controlled or in an Axis ZOC.

But if Leningrad can trace a valid supply lane through Lake Ladoga to Volkhov and from Volkhov via rail to Siberia, then its pocket hexes are considered to be in the special Leningrad Fortress Supply.

The Road of Life is always in service, even during snow turns (although Leningrad's PP cannot transit through frozen ports, as usual).

Soviet units in the Leningrad/Oranienbaum hexes that are supplied through The Road of Life are marked as "Out-of-Supply" and treated as all other unsupplied units: cannot attack, and have their MP value halved, but they can be repaired and new units can be built in Leningrad using only Leningrad's yellow and red PP. However, these unsupplied units neither lose any steps at the end of the turn nor do they have to surrender.

If the Road of Life is lost, all units supplied by Leningrad and Oranienbaum are considered to be in siege supply (12.1).

12.4 Enhanced Attack Ability of "Out-of-Supply" TECH 2&3 Ground Units

Unsupplied TECH 1 ground units still suffer all the penalties already described in the BASIC RULES (4.4).

In contrast, better trained and equipped units are able to better sustain such a kind of situation.

Example: The German 6th Army, surrounded in Stalingrad from the end of November 1942, was capable of fighting until February 1943.

TECH 2&3 ground units marked with an "Out-of-Supply" barrel have their MP halved but may make a Desperate Attack in an attempt to break out through enemy lines and restore their supply status.

12.4.1 Desperate Attack

A Desperate Attack is the only way unsupplied TECH 2&3 ground units can attack: they attack normally, but if they fail to clear the hex after the first round of ground combat, they must immediately surrender.

"Out-of-Supply" armor units can attempt a Desperate Attack even without an extra HQ activation (13.0).

This is the only case that artillery and other 0-step units must surrender!

12.5 Surrender

In BITE, a surrendering unit grants PP to the opponent: an infantry class unit as well as a navy unit (white) grants 1 yellow PP each, while other units grant 1 yellow PP plus 1 PP depending on the type of the surrendering unit: red, blue, or black (11.0).

13.0 HQ, Fuel, Movement

Armor and air units need a huge amount of fuel to move and fight at full efficiency. This fuel can be provided by an appropriate Tactical HQ (Armor-HQ or Air-HQ respectively) or by an appropriate Strategic HQ, that is activated for this purpose.

The phasing player can activate his HQ at any time he wants.

13.1 Appropriate Tactical HQ

Armor-HQ (red for the Soviets, black for the Germans) move only armor units, while Air-HQ (blue for both German Luftwaffe and Soviet VVS) move only air units. Remember: For the Axis player, Armor-HQ and Air-HQ of the single Axis powers cannot move units of a different nationality. Only the German FHQ can move all Axis units of any type and nationality, but in a limited number (13.8.2).

13.2 Supply of Armor and Air Units

Armor units (tanks, tankettes, but also unactivated Armor-HQ) and air units (fighters and bombers) are in full supply only if the controlling player activates an appropriate HQ by revealing it (tipping it forward, face up). In this case, they may move at full MP efficiency and can attack as normal.

13.3 HQ Range

To be moved at full MP efficiency and attack, a unit must be within a range of maximum 5 hexes from the activated appropriate Tactical HQ (or must be commanded by a Strategic HQ).

Those hexes must be friendly (not in an enemy unit's ZOC!) nor deep water hexes.

The phasing player may move an HQ up to its full movement allowance and then activate it.

The non-phasing player can activate his Air-HQ (if not already embattled) in the Defender Reaction Phase (7.6) in order to fly his air units, but he can't move the HQ: every non-phasing player HQ must be activated in the hex where it is.

In bad weather turns, the range of the HQ is reduced to 3 hexes.

13.4 Number of Units to Move

Players can move a number of units equal to the activated HQ's actual amount of oil barrels (Action Points).

Example: A 4-step/oil HQ has 4 Action Points. So it can move a maximum of 4 units.

13.5 Limited Supply

Without an HQ activation, all armor units are considered to be in limited supply: they cannot attack and have their MP halved.

An armor unit in limited supply can only attempt a Desperate Attack if it is also "Out-of-Supply". In this case, the unit has its MP value quartered, and if it fails to clear the battle hex after the first combat round, it must immediately surrender to the enemy forces.

Air units need an HQ activation for combat movement, but not for rebasing.

Minimum Command: If an HQ is marked as "Out-of-Supply", it still can be activated, but it works just at half efficiency. (Nevertheless, an unsupplied HQ can always move 1 unit.)

Example: An "Out-of-Supply" 4-step/oil HQ can only move 2 units. An "Out-of-Supply" 3-step/oil HQ can only move 1 unit.

13.6 HQ Deactivation

At the end of the Blitz Phase, every activated HQ must be deactivated by reducing it by 1 step and turning it upright in order to conceal it.

Activated 1-step HQs are automatically removed from play when deactivating. They can be rebuilt in later turns.

13.7 Blitzing and Exploitation

Armor, artillery, and air units can blitz without an extra HQ activation.

In the Armor Exploitation Phase, Armor HQ (but not national Supreme-HQ!) activation is still required to move armor units.

For this reason, Hungarian and Romanian armor units cannot move in this phase, except if they were put in Reserve Mode (OR 31.0) during the Movement Phase.

13.8 Strategic HQ

The National Supreme-HQs (Soviet Stavka, German FHQ and the HQ of the other Axis Powers 13.8.3) and the Soviet Navy HQ (details in 18.0) are Strategic HQ, thus they have all an unlimited command range (ignore then 13.3 HQ range limit) and special abilities. Their activation happens in the SRM Phase, and if activated they can perform a number of actions equal to their Action Points.

13.8.1 Soviet Stavka

The Stavka (Main Command of the Armed Forces) was the Soviet High Command.

It can be activated to perform a number of special actions equal to its steps. The actions may be chosen from the ones below, but no more than 1 action of each type may be performed per activation:

Move 1 armor as if it is in full supply.
Move 1 air unit as if it is in full supply.
Move 1 unsupplied unit as in full supply.
Make 1 free SRM (7.4).
Make 1 naval movement (OR 18.0).
Launch 1 airborne assault (OR 23.0).
Put 1 GU in Reserve (Motorization 31.0)

The Stavka is placed in Moscow and can never leave it. If Moscow falls, the Stavka is eliminated and can be rebuilt in Chelyabinsk.

If Moscow is not supplied or lost, the Soviet SRM capacity is reduced by 1 to 4 SRM per turn.

13.8.2 German FHQ

The FHQ (Führerhauptquartier) was the High Command of the German Wehrmacht in cooperation with the OKW, OKH, OKL and OKM. Even if it is a national Supreme-HQ, it has different rules to simulate its operations and simultaneous actions in the other grand theatres of World War II (e.g., Africa, Atlantic, Western Europe).

It must be activated every turn at the start of the turn and must be repaired in every Production Phase before any other units.

Therefore, the FHQ will always be activated at maximum strength (4), but it can only perform 2 different special actions from the ones listed above.

The FHQ is placed in Rastenburg (East Prussia) and cannot leave this hex. If the Soviets enter any hex in Germany, the FHQ must be immediately redeployed in Berlin without any movement actions or costs. It will remain in Berlin until the end of the game.

Note: The Volkssturm event (OR 28.0) is automatically activated in this case, too.

13.8.3 Axis Powers HQs: Gariboldi (Italy), Antonescu (Romania), Mannerheim (Finland) and Szombathelyi (Hungary)

The HQ of the military leaders of the Axis Minor Allies and Italy function in the same way the Stavka works. (They also have 1 air recon attempt if playing with air recon: OR 19.0.)

They can be used to move only their own units, not units of other allied nations.

Axis Cross Command: Once activated, the FHQ can move the units of Germany's allies, too. The reverse case is not possible.

Example: The FHQ can move an Italian unit, but Mannerheim cannot move a German or an Italian unit.

Optional Rules

14.0 New Terrain Modifiers

Mountains: All armor class units (tankettes, tanks, and Armor-HQ) are not allowed to move in a mountain hex.

In addition, only mountain units can enter mountain hexes during bad weather turns.

Furthermore, mountain units spend 1 MP less when entering a mountain or hill hex.

Mountain units (but not their AA) receive 1 Bonus when defending and ignore the Malus when attacking in mountain or hill hexes. (This modifier is not in addition to similar previous ones.)

Swamps: Armor class units get 1 extra Malus if attacking in unfrozen swamp hexes.

Non-Mountains Terrains: Regardless of the weather, cavalry units never spend more than 2 MP for non-mountain/non-snowy-hills hexes.

15.0 New Factories

Players may decide to start the production of new factories in order to improve their production throughput of a particular kind of unit.

1 red factory produces 1 Armor-PP/turn.
1 blue factory produces 1 Air-PP/turn.
1 black factory is equivalent to 1 oilfield and produces 1 Fuel-PP/turn (black drum). Remember: Only the German player may build this type of plant.
White factories cannot be built in BITE.

15.1 Building New Factories

To build a new factory of any kind, 10 yellow PP and 10 turns are needed.

Every turn in the Production Phase, the player may spend a maximum of 1 yellow PP to build the new plant. So it needs 10 yellow PP and 10 turns (do not need to be consecutive) to complete one plant. (Use the Production Tracker of the faction on the mapboard to track the status of the build up process.)

A player may build as many factories as he desires.

When completed, the new factory is placed on the mapboard in a location randomly chosen by a die roll.

Use the faction's Production Tracker on the mapboard to select the location: after the die roll, the player chooses the location between one of the two possible city locations. If one location has already reached its limit for this kind of plant, then the other must be chosen.

If both locations have reached their factory limits, then a new die roll is performed until the new factory can be placed. When the factory limits have been reached in all possible locations (= 12 factories), then the player may freely choose one of his major cities for the next factory – even if this would exceed the factory limit of this location.

The production of a new factory will start the next turn after completion.

Example: The German player wants a new armor factory. He spends 1 yellow PP and puts a red factory on the "1" box of the Axis Production Tracker. Each consecutive turn, he spends an additional yellow PP to finish this factory as soon as possible. When it finally reaches the "10" box, the factory is completed. The German player rolls a die and checks the result on the Axis Production Tracker. He scores a 2: Kassel/Magdeburg. As Magdeburg has already reached its limit, Kassel must be chosen.

16.0 Scorched Earth

"We must not leave a single kilogram of grain or a single litre of petrol to the enemy. Guerrilla tactics are to be employed: It is necessary to create in invaded areas conditions unbearable to the enemy. All workers must defend Russia in our patriotic war against German Fascism." (Joseph Stalin, Radio Address, 3rd July '41)

This option allows the Soviet player to automatically destroy oil, mining, and population centers (not factories!) when retiring from these hexes. (If it is difficult to remember these destructions, please make notes.)

Because of this strategy, the destroyed centers do not start generating PP to the Axis player in the turn after their conquest.

Every center must be repaired before it can restart functioning properly. The repair is similar to building new factories (15.0) and requires 3 yellow PP and 3 turns (maximum 1 PP per turn) for every single PP of the scorched center. (As usual, the turns do not have to be consecutive.) Each repaired PP starts its production in the next Production Phase of the controlling player.

Note: The Axis player places 1 yellow cube or black barrel to mark the progression of the repair and a Repaired Resources/Oilfields Token when finished.

Due to the mere economical power of the USSR, the scorched centers are immediately repaired to their full production if they are reconquered by the Soviet player.

16.1 Conquering Factories

Enemy factories are immediately destroyed when conquered and grant 1 PP of their specific type once to the conqueror.

16.2 Evacuating Factories

In 1941 only, the Soviet player has the option of shutting down and evacuating a factory at a cost of 3 SRM in the Strategic Rail Movement Phase.

When evacuating a factory, the Soviet player puts the appropriate factory counter on the "8" box of the Soviet Production Tracker and moves it forward by 1 box every successive turn.

When it reaches the "10" box, the new factory location is chosen randomly as for new factories, and the evacuated factory is once again ready for production.

17.0 Tech Levels

In BITE there are 4 different technology fields: Infantry, Armor, Fighters and Bombers.

Every TECH has 3 different levels. Higher the level, more will be the Movement Points and better the Firepower and Special Abilities.

In BITE, the Technology breakthrough for every level is predetermined and fixed as stated in 3.13. As a consequence, when playing the Long Scenarios and the Campaign a prefixed amount of PP (4PP for the Soviet Union, none for the Axis) is automatically subtracted every turn from the total amount.

For example, the Soviet Union starts the Dortmund Campaign with 46PP, not 50PP.

17.1 Axis Minor Powers Tech Levels

The minor powers of the Axis do not make their own research. Instead, they benefit from their leader's efforts.

The Tech Levels of the Finns, Romanians, Hungarians, and Slovaks are 1 level below the appropriate Tech Levels of the Germans (except the Finnish infantry class units).

Example: As soon as the Germans get TECH 3 for their armor units in July 1943, the Romanian and Hungarian armor units get TECH 2.

Italy as a Major Power of the Axis has its own research, but this is not represented in BITE. So Italy does not have any TECH development in this game.

18.0 Naval Movement

There are no naval units (like ships) in BITE (except for the 3 Axis Submarines). However, both players may move ground units by sea from a friendly port to another friendly port. The destination port must be in the same body of water and the transport cannot cross uncontrolled straits. (A strait is controlled if the player controls all its coastal hexes.)

Only the national Supreme-HQ (except the Finns and Hungarians) and the Soviet Navy-HQ can command such kind of movement with a special HQ-Action (13.8).

Historical Note: The Axis naval activity was low in both Black Sea and the Gulf of Finland where the Soviet navy had to escape inside the protected harbors of Leningrad and Oranienbaum for the most time of the war.

The Baltic Sea was a sort of an "Axis Lake".

18.1 Sea Transport of Ground Units

Some waters were highly mined (Black Sea, Azov Sea, Gulf of Finland: see mine icons on the mapboard), so transports were very risky and are therefore subject to Mine Die Rolls (like 11.3). When moving a ground unit by an enemy controlled sea, 1 die must be rolled:

1-3: Movement successful, unit reaches its destination.
4&5: Transporter hits a mine and is damaged, unit loses 1 step.
6: Transporter hits a mine and sinks, unit is lost.

18.2 Sea Transport of Resources

The same procedure applies when transporting any kind of resources (PP/Oil) by sea through heavy mined waters (e.g., Black Sea and Baltic Sea) or through waters controlled by the other player.

Remember: A player controls a sea area if he controls at least 1 major or 2 minor ports in that sea. If both players meet this condition, they both control this sea area.

A sea transport of resources could possibly happen for the Axis if partisans are blocking all the rail gauges from a specific resource center to Germany.

Roll 1 die for every PP that has to be sent to the main supply center via sea transport:

1-5: Transport succeeded, PP received.
6: Transport failed, PP lost.

19.0 Air Reconnaissance

Air reconnaissance allows the phasing player to reveal enemy units in the target hex.

It confers an advantage in combat, as air and artillery units need a clear vision of the target hex to attack at full strength: without a good air recon, attacking air and artillery units get 1 Malus in the Air-to-Ground and Artillery Fire Combat Step of the first combat round. After, the hex is supposed to be successfully reconned.

The defender, strategic bombers, and the German Gustav Heavy Siege Gun (26.0) do not need any air recon. Air recon in rainy weather is possible.

19.1 Air Recon Procedure

In addition to its normal abilities, during the Movement Phase, every activated Air-HQ may perform a number of RECON attempts equal to the number of its Action Points.

The activated HQ of Axis Powers (13.8.3) may make 1 RECON attempt, too.

Each attempt has a chance to reveal the enemy units in a target hex. This target hex must be in a range of 5/10/15 hexes depending on the Tech Level of that nation's fighters, and the same hex may be targeted more than once.

Note: It is not necessary to send an air unit for recon in the target hex. Air recon is just a special ability of some HQ.

Then, immediately after the phasing player has declared his willingness to attempt a RECON over a specified hex, the non-phasing player will try to interdict this action by rolling as many dice as in the Anti-Aircraft Fire Combat Step (Recon interdiction dice).

Then, if the non-phasing player failed to interdict the RECON, the phasing player will roll a die (Recon Die), which will be successful with a (modified) die roll of 1-4, and the non-phasing player must immediately reveal all of his units in the target hex by tipping them forward, face up.

The Recon Die is modified by the following circumstances:

Subtract 2 from the die roll for each Fighter Tech Level higher than 1.
Add 2 to the die roll if the hex is a forest, hills, mountains, or swamp hex, or if the hex contains a major city or bunker.
Add 4 to the die roll if the hex contains a fortress.
Add 2 to the die roll in bad weather turns.

(All modifiers are cumulative as usual.)

Note: Vologda is a major city in a forest hex. During bad weather turns, a recon attempt is of no use without fighter TECH 3.

Example: The German player in July 1941 has activated the 4steps 2LF air HQ, and wants to RECON the Smolensk hex, occupied by 3 Soviet units: 1 2step-infantry, 1 1step tank and 1 3steps fighter.

The Soviet player rolls 4 dice for AIR INTERDICTION: 2 dice for Smolensk (Major City hit at 6), 2 dice for the infantry (hit at 6) and one die for the tank (hit at 5/6): results are 4-4 for the city, 5-1 for the infantry, and 5 for the tank. So the RECON is negated. As the 2LF has 4 steps, he may make 3 more RECON attempts, so as soon as the RECON INTERDICTION DICE fail, the German player will roll the RECON DIE (successful with 1-4 in a Major City). Once discovered by AIR RECON or in combat, units (of both sides) remain face up till the Final Supply Check.

19.2 Air and Artillery Targeting

If the weather is sunny and the air recon successful, TECH 2 air and artillery units may target a specific enemy counter between 2 or 3 different enemy units with the same number of steps, such as an enemy artillery unit.

20.0 Cavalry Charge!

If the attacker has cavalry units in the battle hex and the defender has neither cavalry nor armor units, the attacker may declare a Cavalry Charge! Special Attack. Moreover, the weather must be sunny and the hex must be clear for this kind of attack.

In this case only, the attacking cavalry units fire before defending infantry units, but they must be targeted and thus reduced first by all possible hits of enemy response fire.

Once in the game, and in memory of the Isbuscenskij battle, the Italians may claim a special attack bonus of 3 additional attack dice if Gruppo Barbò is charging the enemy.

21.0 Panzers Attack!

If the attacker has armor units in the battle hex and the defender has none, the attacker may declare a Panzers Attack! and charge with his armors. Moreover, the weather must be sunny and the hex must be clear for this kind of attack.

Note: For this special combat option, TECH 1 tankettes are neither considered to be armored attackers nor armored defenders.

In this case only, the attacking armor units fire before defending non-armor units, but they must be targeted and thus reduced first by all possible hits of enemy response fire.

Tactical Note: The Panzers Attack! option could be the crucial breakthrough tactic in some specific situations, especially if attacking with elite armor units. But suffering heavy losses on these precious units could conversely be a disadvantage for a large scale offensive.

22.0 Jericho Trumpets

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka was a main asset for Blitzkrieg. It was a kind of air artillery, able to place bombs with deadly accuracy and to spread fear in the hearts of the enemies.

Thanks to their terrifying sirens (the "Jericho Trumpets Attack": JTA), Stuka formations at full strength throw 2 more dice (JTA) when all the following conditions are met:

attacking enemy units on ground without any kind of unclear terrain (minor cities do not negate the JTA),
the weather is sunny, and
the air recon was successful.

However, because of their high vulnerability to enemy fighters, these formations can't get this special attack if there are enemy fighters in the same hex. So be sure that your fighter escort clears every threat to get the JTA!

23.0 Airborne Assaults

German and Soviet TECH 2 paratrooper and German glider units may attempt an airborne assault respectively an airlanding attack if:

they start the turn in full supply, at full strenght and in an air base hex,
they are commanded with a special HQ Action by Stavka or FHQ only,
the weather is sunny,
the target hex is a clear hex and within a range of 5 hexes of the assaulting unit.

Glider units, like the German 22nd Airlanding Infantry Division, also need a German bomber unit acting as a transport to bring them to the target hex.

The phasing player must declare the action when it is performed (Movement Phase).

He may add escort fighters to protect the action, and the non-phasing player may try to intercept with his fighters and also (if any) with armor units in Reserve Mode (OR 31.0).

If the attack is conducted against an Armor Unit in Reserve Mode, the Paratrooper/glider unit is destroyed and the Armor unit may react normally.

Resolution: The Air-to-Air Combat and AA Fire Steps are resolved as usual, but every suffered hit is a hit to an air unit and to a paratrooper or glider unit. If any airborne unit respectively airlanding unit survives, it can be put ("grounded") in the target hex.

If the target hex is occupied by enemy units, the Ground Combat Step follows as usual (can be supported by air units). In the first combat round, grounded paras get 1 Malus.

Paratrooper and glider units may overstack in the turn they are used for their special attack.

Eliminated German and Soviet para and airlanding infantry units may be rebuilt with yellow and blue PP and must enter at a home nation hex with a blue factory.

TECH 3 BONUS: when Infantry TECH 3 is reached, then Paratroopers may choose a target which was previously forbidden due to the terrain (i.e. a Major City, a Forest hex…) at the cost of 1 extra hit as soon as they land (they cannot however land in a hex which has 2 types of difficult terrain, i.e. Forest AND a Major City, such as Vologda).

24.0 Amphibious Landings

In BITE, only Soviet marine infantry units get the special ability to make amphibious landings when the Soviet infantry reaches TECH 2. To attempt an amphibious landing, the following circumstances must be given:

The marine unit and its faction's Navy-HQ (which must be activated first) must both start the turn in the same port, fully supplied, and at full strength.
The weather must be sunny.
The target hex must be clear (with no shoals hex - like in the Gulf of Bothnia), and it must be within a range of 5 hexes of the starting port.

An amphibious landing is considered to be a special kind of naval movement and it is therefore subject to a Mine Die Roll (18.1).

For the first round of combat, defending ground units (if any) receive 1 Bonus and fire first, while the attacking marine infantry unit fires thereafter and gets 1 Malus.

However, if things get worse, marine infantry units can be re-embarked after every round of ground combat at a cost of a new Navy-HQ activation. In this case, the marine infantry unit loses 1 additional step and is again subject to a Mine Die Roll. Marine units may overstack in the turn they are used for their special attack.

Eliminated Soviet marine infantry units can be rebuilt with yellow and white PP and must be placed in either Leningrad or Sevastopol. (Only for this purpose, the Soviets have 1 white PP for these shipyard cities.)

25.0 Ekaterina BM-13 (or Katyusha BM-13)

Compared to other artillery, these multiple rocket launchers quickly deliver a devastating amount of explosives to a target area.

When the Soviet artillery reaches TECH 2, it will be equipped with this new 132mm rockets instead of the standard 80mm shells, and therefore it rolls 2 more dice (but not its AA).

As usual, 0-step artillery cannot fire at all.

26.0 Gustav Heavy Siege Gun

The German Gustav Heavy Siege Gun is a heavy artillery unit that never needs any air recon. It has the special feature to be very effective against bunkers and fortresses.

This unit hits bunker and fortress hexes with 1 Bonus and without the Malus that these fortifications normally give. As soon as the German infantry reaches TECH 3, this mortal weapon gains 1 extra Bonus, hitting at 3-6.

A lack of air recon does not affect this unit, so it's ideal to fight those kind of targets that could otherwise become too bloody for a combined ground/air attack. When used in other terrain, it works like any other artillery.

Even if it is not, the Gustav is considered an armor unit for movement purpose only, so an Armor-HQ or FHQ activation is needed for the full efficiency of the Gustav (13.0).

The Gustav may overstack when attacking a Bunker or a Fortress.

27.0 Garrisons

In order to keep conquered Russian territory under control, the Axis player should garrison Soviet (and any other conquered Power) cities because ungarrisoned cities generate partisans as described in 29.0.

Any unit (both AU and GU) and its ZOC may be used to garrison a city.

If playing with this rule, put in play the 3 German RHG Security Corps and the 2 Slovakian Corps.

The Soviets for their part must garrison the Turkish border in such a way that every Turkish border hex is in the ZOC of a Soviet unit freely chosen by the Soviet player. (A minimum of 3 units is required to do this.)

All these garrison units are brought into play and can act like normal units. Historical Note: The Soviets had to secure the Turkish border because until August 1944 it was not totally clear if Turkey became an allied or an enemy state for the Soviets.

28.0 German Volkssturm

The Volkssturm was formed by a "Führer" directive during the last months of life of the Third Reich, recalling to arms all the males from 16 to 60 years old in the desperate attempt to save Germany from the defeat.

If a Soviet ground unit enters any hex of Germany, the Volkssturm gets immediately activated. Starting from the next Production Phase, the Axis player will be eligible to put in play at no cost 1 infantry corps per round at 1 step strength in any controlled German major city - as soon as there are available corps and cities.

29.0 Soviet Partisans

Beginning with September 1941, the Soviet player starts deploying partisans in his Production Phase of every turn. There is a second way, not used in BITE, to deploy Partisans. Both the Soviets and the Western Allies may build partisans (Red and Blue respectively) at the cost of 1PP each. Partisans have no ZOC and cannot move, but they can make sabotage in the rear area of Axis lines:

Prevent SRM
Prevent the transportation of resources
Block supply lanes
Inhibit the retreat in the hex they occupy

Soviets can only pay for Partisans buildup in Yugoslavia, Albania and Italy (not in the Soviet Union!), while Great Britain may build in any conquered Power.

If a Soviet ground unit enters a hex occupied by Soviet partisans, these partisans are immediately removed from the mapboard, and an equal number of manpower (yellow PP) is added to the Soviet's saved PP, or may be used/collected by the American player to repair French Units in France (ONLY) respectively.

29.1 Deploying Partisans

First, sum the number of Soviet minor cities without a garrison in the Axis controlled area and divide this sum by 3. Then, add 1 for each Soviet major city that was captured by the Axis and has no garrison.

After that, the Soviet player deploys the corresponding number of partisans (= large dark red discs) anywhere in the Soviet Union, but out of an Axis ZOC. The maximum number of partisans that can be on the map at the same time is 20.

Vyborg, Salla, Petsamo, the Baltic States, and Bessarabia are excluded from both the city count and the partisan placement.

Effects of partisans in a hex:

1 partisan: Prevent SRM and transportation of resources by rail in or through the rail hex it occupies. As soon as an Axis ground unit enters or occupies a hex with only 1 partisan unit, the partisan is immediately removed from play (but can return in the Production Phase of a later round).

2 partisans: Prevent SRM, transportation of resources by rail in or through the rail hex they occupy, and block the ground supply lanes. If attacked, they act as 1 brigade with 1 step: roll 1 die and hit at 6.

3 partisans: Prevent SRM, transportation of resources by rail in or through the rail hex they occupy, and block the ground and rail supply lanes. If attacked, they act as 2 brigades with 2 steps: roll 2 dice and hit at 6.

30.0 Chechen Revolutionaries

The Chechnyan revolutionaries fought for the Chechen independence under the command of Mairbek Sheripov (1905 – 7th November 1942). He was one of the most important leaders of the insurgency against the Soviet Union in the 1940s and was killed 1942 in a Soviet reprisal raid.

When the Axis controls Grozny, or from January 1942 on if Grozny is not garrisoned by a Soviet unit, the Axis player may put the Chechnyan revolutionaries in play in his Production Phase.

This unit is for free and enters the game at full strength. It is a German unit for every purpose, but its main supply source is Grozny.

If destroyed, the revolutionaries can be re-put in play several times if one of the two above conditions is met.

31.0 Reserve Units

Having units in reserve can make the difference in critical situations.

There are 2 different moments to put units in the Reserve Mode, both require TECH 2 for these units:

Motorization: during the Movement Phase the phasing player can put his GU (both infantry and armor class units) in Reserve Mode. These GU cannot move during the Movement Phase but can instead move during the Armor Exploitation Phase.
Reaction: during the Armor Exploitation Phase the phasing player can put his armor class units in Reserve Mode. These reserve armor class units cannot move during the Armor Exploitation Phase but can instead move after the opponent's Movement Phase to reinforce battle hexes.

To put a unit in Reserve Mode, the phasing player has to spend 1 Action Point of an appropriate, activated HQ and puts 1 black barrel out of the common barrel pool on the unit.

While both Supreme Leaders (FHQ, Stavka, Gariboldi, Antonescu, Mannerheim and Szombathelyi) and Armor HQs may put a GU in Reserve Mode during the Movement Phase (Motorization), only Armor HQ may put units in Reserve during the Exploitation Phase (Reaction).

Tip: To hide the location of units in Reserve Mode, players can put a black barrel over the unit icon on their OB on the mapboard.

32.0 Strategic Bombing

Factories, ports, Mulberries (not used in BITE), mining centers, population centers, and rail stations can be strategically bombed to reduce the enemy's PP, supply or SRM.

During the Strategic Warfare Phase, the non-phasing player may move his bombers (not fighters!) to perform strategic bombing missions over a specific enemy target of his choice (e.g., 1 factory) and may also add fighters as escorts.

Fighters will not have any role in the Strategic Bombing Mission, except they escort bombers and take hit from both enemy fighters/AA, so preserving your precious bombers.

The defender can react as usual, sending in his fighters (not his bombers!)

In the Air-to-Ground Combat Step of the Combat Phase, the normal bombers with at least TECH 2 as well as the strategic bombers (e.g., the Soviet long range bombers) are cleared to attack the target but NOT the ground units.

As this kind of target is big enough, there is no other Malus than the weather for the strategic bombers at TECH 2&3, while the normal TECH 2 bombers are HALVED.

The phasing player's AA rolls a number of dice and has a FirePower depending on infantry TECH LEVEL:

TECH 1: 3 dice, hit at 6
TECH 2: 6 dice, hit at 6
TECH 3: 6 dice, hit at 5&6

As usual, after the resolution of the air-to-air combat the air-to-ground combat lasts only 1 combat round, and the result of strategic bombing lasts for only 1 turn. All targets that have not been destroyed are automatically repaired to their full function at the end of the controlling player's next turn.

32.1 Bombing of Factories, Population Centers, and Mining Centers

Every suffered bomb hit reduces the production of 1 PP for 1 turn.

10 hits in the same attack destroy a factory permanently (this is a very rare event).

32.2 Bombing of Ports/Mulberries

(Mulberries are not used in BITE)

1 bomb hit impedes the use of the harbor for both launching amphibious landings and moving of ground units by sea for 1 turn.

3 hits in the same attack also impede the use of the harbor for supply purpose for 1 turn (mark these ports with a white barrel).

32.3 Bombing of Rail Stations

Every city is a rail station. Every suffered bomb hit destroys such an amount of locomotives that the SRM-capacity of the non-phasing player is reduced by 1 for the next turn. Moreover, the railway cannot be used for strategic rail movement in that point: no SRM can start, arrive, or pass through the broken rail hex. (Mark these cities with a white barrel.)

33.0 Axis' First Winters

The winter of 1941-42 was one of the coldest of the last hundred years. The Axis troops were not equipped for temperatures of -30°C to -40°C, and many weapons and motors suddenly stopped working.

Because of the lack of working trucks, the supply lanes were already so stretched that it was almost impossible to resupply the combat units in an adequate manner.

In BITE, from December 1941 to March 1942 (incl.), all Axis units (but not Axis mountain units and all Finnish units) get 1 additional Malus even when defending, so:

Air Units are Quartered
Artillery is Halved
GCU and AA are quartered when attacking and halved when defending

Supply lanes are reduced to 1 hex for all Axis units except for Finns and German units sent to Finland: they get the normal reduction to 2 hexes due to the bad weather.

33.1 Winterized Locomotives

Only 20% of Germany's "winterized" locomotives were operationally available in late 1941. Conversely, the Soviet (and the ex-Imperial Russian) locomotives seemed to be in their natural element during the winter months.

So from November 1941 to March 1942, the Axis player's capacity of SRM in the Soviet Union is reduced to 1 (plus 1 in Scandinavia).

From November 1942 to March 1943, it is reduced to 2 SRM (plus 1 in Scandinavia).

From winter 1943 there is no SRM-reduction anymore.

33.2 T-34 550 mm Winter Tracks

Because of their larger tracks (550 mm compared to 400 mm tracks of German panzers), Soviet tank and Armor-HQ units (but not tankettes) had much more mobility in snow theatre: they have 4 MP from December 1941 to March 1942.

34.0 Lend-Lease Act

In 1941, the Soviet Union quickly recovered from the initial shock of the Axis' invasion thanks to foreign aid sent from the United States and Great Britain, usually known as Lend-Lease Act.

This help consisted of various kinds of equipment, weapons, ammunitions, artillery, tanks, and aircraft shipped to the Soviet Union through different routes:

The main route was the Pacific Route from Alaska to Vladivostok, carried on Soviet ships to benefit from the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact (13.4.1941).
The UK sent help through Murmansk and Archangelsk via the Arctic Route.
Starting with May 1942, a third route was opened through Persia: the Persian Corridor.

Note: The Lend-Lease supplies of the single routes are stated on the Turn Chart.

The amount of help varied during the war period and depended on many factors and also on the willingness of the USA and UK to help the Soviets by subtracting themselves of this precious resource.

In BITE, check the Turn Record Chart to verify the amount of Lend-Lease supplies for a specific period. The Lend-Lease for the Soviet player starts as follows with a fixed amount of resources per turn.

From September 1941: 8 PP: max. 5 Armor-PP, 3 Air-PP.

3 Armor-PP, 2 Air-PP from Vladivostok.
2 Armor-PP, 1 Air-PP from Murmansk.

From June 1942 (Persian Corridor opened): 10 PP: max. 6 Armor-PP, 4 Air-PP.

3 Armor-PP, 2 Air-PP from Vladivostok.
2 Armor-PP, 1 Air-PP from Murmansk.
1 Armor-PP, 1 Air-PP from Persia.

From June 1943: 11 PP: max. 3 Armor-PP, 8 Air-PP.

2 Armor-PP, 4 Air-PP from Vladivostok.
1 Armor-PP, 2 Air-PP from Murmansk.
2 Air-PP from Persia.

Those PP can be spent without the usual pairing with the yellow ones, but they cannot be saved.

New air and armor units built with these PP can be put in play in any Soviet major city (even without a specific factory) which is not only linked to Siberia as usual (7.3.2), but also to the specific Lend-Lease route from where they come from.

Except for the Pacific Route, the other 2 routes are subject to shipping losses due to submarine and air attacks in the Strategic Warfare Phase.

35.0 Strategic Warfare

This is a new phase that occurs twice a turn (before the Production Phase of both the German and the Soviet player).

While the Soviets were directly fighting the Axis powers on the Eastern Front, Great Britain (and from 1942 also the USA) started a heavy bombardment campaign over the Reich to reduce the efficiency of the German industry and to demoralize the German civilians.

In contrast, Germany tried to destroy as much Lend-Lease convoys as possible to reduce the resources of the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

35.1 Airwar Over Germany

During the Axis' Production Phase, the Western Allies that are virtually stationed in Great Britain fly their bombers over Germany, and the Soviet player can position them over specific target hexes (with a maximum of 2 bombers per hex).

The German player then reacts and flies his interceptors (and fighters based in Germany) to attack the enemy bombers. In this special case, no Air-HQ activation is needed in BITE.

First, 1 simultaneous Air-to-Air Combat Step occurs:

Strategic bombers of the Western Allies hit German fighters at 6 and from January 1943 at 5&6.
German interceptors and fighters hit the strategic bombers at 5&6 and from May 1944 at 4-6.

Thereafter, the German AA fires 6 shots (dice) against the enemy planes (AA Fire):

German AA hits at 6 and from October 1944 at 5&6.

The surviving bombers can drop their bombs on their targets (1 Air-to-Ground Combat Step):

They hit German factories at 5&6 and from January 1944 at 4-6. Note: The weather affects air-to-air combat, the AA firepower, but not the strategic bombers of the Western Allies when dropping bombs on the ground (during snowy turns they are not halved, and missions are allowed during rainy turns, too).

Every hit reduces 1 randomly chosen PP of a specific type that is produced in the target hex. Excessive hits are lost.

While the bombers of the Western Allies are automatically repaired every turn at no cost, the German interceptors and fighters must be repaired by spending the appropriate number of PP.

Note: German interceptors (JF2 and 9FK) cannot be sent to the Eastern Front, while other German fighters may be assigned to protect the skies over the Reich if the German player desires.

35.2 Lend-Lease Convoy Attack

The Axis player can attack the Lend-Lease convoys with his submarines and bombers.

This special combat lasts for 1 round only.

Arctic Route: 3 German Type VII U-boats (=1 unit with combat strength 3) and 2 bombers (=1 unit with combat strength 2). The submarines hit at 6, the bombers at 5&6.

Persian Route: 2 German Type IX U-boat (=1 unit with combat strength 2) and 1 Italian Classe Marcello U-boat (=1 unit with combat strength 1). All submarines hit at 6.

Every hit reduces 1 randomly chosen PP of a specific type that is delivered via that route.

As usual, excessive hits are lost.

Note: In BITE, the Soviet player is not able to attack either the Axis' submarines or the German strategic air units. In exchange, the German player has no option to reinforce these units.

36.0 Italy Surrenders

Italy does not automatically surrender in September 1943 as in the BASIC GAME.

Starting from July 1943, the Soviet player rolls 1 die at the beginning of each turn. Italy surrenders on a die roll of 1 in July, 2 or less in August, 4 or less in September, and 5 or less from October 1943.

37.0 Persia Joins Axis

In August 1941, the Persian leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi refused to break relationships with Germany and other Axis powers. As a consequence and without a declaration of war, Soviet and British forces invaded Persia.

In BITE, Persia becomes an Axis minor power at the beginning of August 1941, even if it has not any units. Eventually frozen Soviet units in the Caucasus region become immediately unfrozen and can invade Persia. As soon as Teheran is Soviet controlled, Persia surrenders. The Soviet player must maintain 1 ground unit in Teheran for the rest of the game.

Nine months after the fall of Persia, the Persian Corridor is opened and the Western Allies may start to send Lend-Lease transports through this route. Note: The Axis submarines in the Indian Ocean can attack these convoys in the Strategic Warfare Phase (35.0).

38.0 Team and Solitary Play

38.1 Team Play

The 4 short scenarios are not really designed to be played by 4 players, but the 4 longer scenarios and the Codeword Dortmund campaign can be played by 4 players in 2 teams.

The green dotted line on the mapboard (the one that the Axis minor allies cannot cross) is the border between the troops of the 2 players of every faction. Basically, one player takes command of all the troops north of this line, while the other player of this team controls the southern troops. If any units of a player cross this line, they immediately join the forces of his teammate and change the "Commander in chief." (So the players will soon start to demand more troops and resources, as Generals usually did in World War II.)

Even though the team players are free to act as they want, they have to share all resources of their faction and therefore must work together to win the game.

38.2 Solitary Play

BITE has no special game mechanics (a "Game-AI") for solitary play.

Nevertheless, the solitaire suitability from BITE is excellent.

Due to the Fog of War and over 300 units on the map, the single player can act like playing chess versus himself. He can create plans of grand strategy for both factions and will always try to reach the obvious goals for every side.

39.0 Optional Weather

May and October need a die roll to determine if the weather is good or bad, but with this optional weather rule, 2 modifications are added for a better balance of the game-play:

It is not possible to get the same weather in 2 consecutive variable months.
There's a third type of bad weather: Light Rain.

The Soviet player rolls for the weather:

1-2: Good
3-4: Light Rain
5-6: Rain

Light rain:

reduces all supply lanes to 2 hexes;
prohibits blitzing and affects movement: all hexes cost 3 MP (clear hex costs 2 MP);
affects combat: all AU, all AA, and all attacking GCU get 1 Malus.

Scenario Booklet

For BITE 9 scenarios have been developed and can be played. Each scenario has a different difficulty level, rated in brackets from 1 (Very Easy) to 10 (Very Hard).

Barbarossa Standard Setup (BSS)

Unit Block Description: Units may have a colored dot. The color indicates the area in which they start from in the 1941 scenarios or campaign.

Example: The Odessa Military District units have an orange dot, as have the Romanians and German 11th Army units.

Black dot units are placed in a specified hex as mentioned on the mapboard. Also, the position of the dot is very important and helps to setup a unit.

For the Axis units, the dot must be on the right-bottom corner (viewed from the west side of the map), for the Soviets on the left-bottom corner (viewed from the east side of the map).

Note: Not all of the starting units enter the game at full combat strength.

In the bottom-left corner there is the unit's name. In the upper-right corner there is the turn of appearance (if the unit does not have a dot).

Soviets: Generally, the Soviet units must be deployed on the east side of the Soviet national border (red line).

All Soviet units with a colored dot must be deployed in the appropriate Soviet Military District so that every hex on both sides of the Soviet national border with Finland, Germany (Poland), Hungary, Romania and Turkey is occupied by a Soviet unit or is in a Soviet unit's ZOC.

The colors of the Military Districts are: white = Leningrad, blue = Baltic, yellow = Western, green = Kiev, orange = Odessa, brown = Caucasus.

Axis: The German units with a colored dot must be deployed in the appropriate Army Group areas (blue = North, yellow = Center, green = South).

All Finnish units are deployed in Finland, Romanian units and the German units with an orange dot in Romania, Hungarian units in Hungary, and the Slovak units in Slovakia.

Every hex on the west side of the Soviet national border (red line) can (but may not) be occupied by an Axis unit.

The Italians are not part of the Barbarossa Standard Setup as they arrived later as indicated on the Axis Battle Sheet.

Both Sides: Units with a black dot must be deployed in the hex indicated on the Battle Sheet.

Remember: No more than 1 German unit may be stationed inside the Finnish borders of 1941 before a Soviet GU crosses the borders of Finland in 1941.

See the picture on the back page of this manual and the Battle Sheets of both factions on the mapboard for details.

Short Scenarios

These 4 short scenarios have been developed with the precise intent to be played quickly while learning the rules or whenever there is no time for a longer scenario. Every scenario can be played with the BASIC RULES.

Soviets always deploy units first in 1941.

Note: Due to some necessary abstractions, not every rule of the short scenarios matches exactly with the ADVANCED RULES (e.g., the count of the Production Points).

SBE1: Road to Leningrad

June – September 1941 (1)

This scenario is the easiest in the game.

Rounds: 4.

Map Area: Germany, Baltic States, Soviet Union north of the Dvina River.

Victory Conditions: The Axis player wins if he conquers Leningrad or at least can cut any communication possibilities with Siberia by railway and by the Road of Life. Failure to achieve one of these two conditions is a draw.

Setup: Setup is as for the BSS, but deploy only the Baltic and Leningrad Military Districts (12 white and blue dotted units) for the Soviets and the Army Group North (13 blue dotted units) for the Axis.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41): GER: 5 PP. USSR: 10 PP.

SBE2: Road to Moscow

June – September 1941 (2)

Rounds: 4.

Map Area: Germany, Soviet Union south of Dvina River/Valdai Hills and north of the Kiev hexrow.

Victory Conditions: The Axis player wins if he conquers Moscow or is able to surround it completely by the end of the game. Failure to achieve one of these two conditions is a draw.

Setup: Setup is as for the BSS, but deploy only the Western Military District (14 yellow dotted units) for the Soviets and the Army Group Center (23 yellow dotted units) for the Axis.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41): GER: 5 PP. USSR: 20 PP.

SBE3: Road to Rostov

June – November 1941 (3)

This is the hardest short scenario. The German player will face the best trained and best equipped troops of the Soviet Red Army.

Rounds: 6.

Map Area: Germany, Hungary, Romania, Soviet Union south of the Kursk hexrow.

Victory Conditions: To win, the Axis must reach the Caucasus' door before the heavy winter comes: Rostov, Kharkov, and Sevastopol are mandatory objectives. If all 3 are conquered and held by the end of November 1941, the Axis player wins decisively. Just 2 objectives are a marginal victory, while only 1 is a draw. A failure to seize at least one of these cities is a Soviet victory.

Setup: Setup is as for the BSS, but deploy only the Odessa and the Kiev Military Districts (30 orange and green dotted units) for the Soviets and Army Group South, the Hungarian Carpathian Army, the Romanians plus German Corps and the 11th Army in Romania (32 green and orange dotted units) for the Axis powers.

Remember that all units of the Odessa Military District, all units of the minor Axis allies, and the German Corps and 11th Army in Romania are frozen on the first turn.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41): GER: 5 PP. ROM: 2 PP. HUN: 1 PP. USSR: 15 PP.

SBE4: Short-Barbarossa

June – August 1941 (4)

This scenario covers the entire early phase of the invasion from Finland down to the Black Sea.

Rounds: 3.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: At the end of August 1941, the Axis player counts his Victory Points (VP): each Soviet major city controlled by the Axis counts as 1 VP, while Leningrad counts as 2 VP and Moscow as 3 VP.

Thereafter, check the Victory Points Table to determine a winner:

0-3 VP: Soviet Decisive Victory
4-6 VP: Soviet Marginal Victory
7: Draw
8-18: Axis Marginal Victory
19+: Axis Decisive Victory

Setup: Setup is exactly as for the BSS (109 units for the Soviets, 82 for the Axis), but no ADVANCED or OPTIONAL RULES are needed.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41): GER: 15 PP. ROM: 2 PP. HUN: 1 PP. USSR: 46 PP.

Long Scenarios

These 4 Long Scenarios and the Campaign have been developed for players who have the time and are willing to undertake the challenges of the most decisive battles of World War II on the Eastern Front.

The ADVANCED RULES are highly recommended for all these scenarios, while the OPTIONAL RULES can be added one by one as the players desire.

Scenario Setup Charts: These charts indicate how many blocks of a specific unit every Power has at the beginning of the scenario and how many steps these units have in total. Players may freely decide how many steps each unit should get as long as the sum doesn't exceed the number of steps.

Soviets always deploy first, except in 1944.

The Axis must deploy at least 2 German Mountain Units in Scandinavia.

Unit Removal: Some units must be removed at a certain time (usually they were sent to another theatre not represented in BITE).

Units that have to be removed are indicated on the OB card on the mapboard.

These units must be in play, supplied and at full strength. If such a unit is:

out of play because it was eliminated in a previous turn, then an equal amount of PP must be subtracted as if it should be built from new;
not at full strength, then the player must immediately repair it to full strength by subtracting the right amount of PP from the ones he has available, and then remove the unit;
unsupplied, then the unit must be removed as soon as it is supplied. Removed units cannot be rebuilt, even if sometimes they can come back in play some turns later.

SBE5: Barbarossa

June – November 1941 (8)

Even if many signals clearly revealed the aggressive intentions of Germany, such as massive troop deployment on the borders and alerts sent from both British and Soviet Secret Services, the Soviet Red Army was literally caught with its pants down when the Axis' attack was launched at 3.00 a.m. on that bloody Sunday morning of 22 June '41.

This is a very difficult scenario, especially for the Axis player; a mistake in the early steps of the invasion could compromise the final success.

Rounds: 6.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: At the end of November 1941, the Axis player counts his Victory Points (VP): the Axis gets 1 VP each for controlling Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, or Baku. Thereafter, check the Victory Points Table to determine a winner:

0 VP: Soviet Decisive Victory
1 VP: Draw
2: Axis Marginal Victory
3+: Axis Decisive Victory

Setup: Setup is as for the BSS.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41):

GER: 24 PP, 3 Armor, 9 Air, 10 Oil.
ROM: 2 PP, 2 Oil.
HUN: 1 PP, 1 Oil.
USSR: 46 PP, 7 Armor, 6 Air.

Note: The Soviets don't need to track oil consumption, as they have huge reserves.

Special Scenario Rules

Barbarossa Surprise: During the first turn, Soviet fighters cannot take off and the Soviet player does not have the option to react (skip the Reaction Phase).

No Soviet forces are eligible for any Bonus, while attacking Axis units are unaffected by any Malus except for Mali due to missing or failed air recon attempts.

All German artillery units and all Axis air units eligible for attack receive 1 additional Bonus for the first round of every combat.

Because of Stalin's direct order, Soviet AA guns are not allowed to fire at any Axis air unit during the first round of every combat (Air Recon included).

Frozen Units: in June 1941 the Stavka is shocked and cannot be activated.

Axis GU in Romania (but not Antonescu and their AU), Slovaks, Hungarians and Finns, as well as Soviet units in the Leningrad, Odessa, and the Caucasus Military Districts are frozen during June 1941.

Luftwaffe Total Supremacy: If playing with this deadly option, all Axis (Romanians included) AU roll double dice during the first combat round of the surprise attack. This costs a double reduction for all 3 LW HQ - but not Antonescu - if playing with the AR.

SBE6: Case Blue — The Drive to Baku

June – November 1942 (7)

"If I do not get the oil of Maykop and Grozny, then I must relinquish this war!" (Adolf Hitler, HQ of Army Group South in Poltawa, 6/1/1942)

"Not one step back." "There is no land behind the Volga!" (Joseph Stalin, Order No. 227, 7/28/1942)

After the initial success of the summer 1941 offensive and the unexpected halt during the winter, the Wehrmacht is now back again at almost full strength for the last attempt to crack the legs of the Russian bear.

Once again the Axis is running against the time: when the Soviets armor units reach TECH 2 in November 1942 and the fighter units in January 1943, Germany will probably not get another chance to win the war.

As the Axis player, your logistic system does not allow you a large scale offensive as in 1941. So first make your strategy choice: go for Moscow and try to surround it and its precious factories, or try the Caucasus gambit – seizing Rostov, fighting (and hopefully winning) the crucial battle in the streets of Stalingrad, and finally launching your mobile units to conquer the vital Caucasus oilfields and Baku.

As for the Soviet player, the Soviet Air Force, the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS), was swept aside by the German Luftwaffe. The VVS assembly in the area lost 201 aircraft between 23rd and 31st August and, despite a meagre reinforcement of some 100 aircraft in August, it was left with just 192 serviceable aircraft (just 57 were fighters).

The Soviets continued to pour aerial reinforcements into the Stalingrad area in late September, but they also continued to suffer appalling losses: the Luftwaffe had complete control of the skies. However, due to the massive relocation of the Soviet industry in 1941, Soviet aircraft production reached 15,000 in the second half of 1942. So the VVS was able to preserve significant strength and to build up a strategic reserve that could overpower the Luftwaffe.

Rounds: 6.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: Moscow, Leningrad, Baku and Stalingrad are the key objectives. If the Axis conquers and holds two of them until the end of the game, it automatically wins a decisive victory; to conquer and hold only one of them is an Axis marginal victory.

Otherwise, the Soviet wins a decisive victory.

Setup: Details about the fighting forces are found in the Scenario Setup Chart for 1942.

The Axis and Soviet forces must be deployed on the west and on the east side of the yellow dashed line respectively. Every hex on the border must be occupied.

Production (PP/turn starting from June '42):

GER: 36 PP, 8 Armor, 12 Air, 12 Oil.
ROM: 2 PP, 2 Oil.
HUN: 1 PP, 1 Oil.
USSR: 34 PP, 12 Armor, 12 Air.

Note: The Soviets don't need to track oil consumption, as they have huge reserves. Moreover, Leningrad's 2 PP are sea connected by the Road of Life and collectable if the weather is not snowy.

Special Scenario Rules

Soviet Infrastructure: From July 1942, the Soviets may start building the Saratov-Stalingrad (3 PP), the Stalingrad-Astrakhan (4 PP), and the Astrakhan-Baku (5 PP) railroads. These incomplete rail nets are marked with larger black dots on the map.

Also, a new expensive sea-route from Baku to Krasnovodsk (10 PP) could be built and become useful for petroleum delivery if Astrakhan is under threat.

The Soviet player must spend the complete PP to build one of these projects in the Production Phase of a single turn.

If he likes, he may build more than one project in a single turn.

SBE7: Operation Citadel — The Kursk Battle

June – November 1943 (6)

After the defeat at Stalingrad and the destruction of Paulus' 6th Army, Germany had to count on the forces of its weak allies to fill the front-line. The chances for final victory decreased day by day, but there was still a good opportunity for a small scale offensive to destroy an entire Soviet army massed in the salient of Kursk – Operation Citadel in July 1943.

But a failure to achieve this objective will automatically unleash the Soviet juggernaut in a dangerous summer offensive...

Rounds: 6.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: To win, the Axis must destroy at least 8 of the precious and non-replacable Soviet Guards units by the game end.

The Soviets win if they can cross the Dniepr and establish a supplied beach head of at least 4 GU on the west river bank. All other results are a draw.

Setup: Details about the fighting forces are found in the Scenario Setup Chart for 1943.

Axis and Soviet forces must be deployed on the west and on the east side of the Green dashed line respectively. Every hex on the border must be occupied.

Production (PP/turn starting from June '43):

GER: 37 PP, 13 Armor, 15 Air, 14 Oil.
ROM: 2 PP, 2 Oil.
HUN: 1 PP, 1 Oil.
USSR: 34 PP, 18 Armor, 18 Air.

Note: The Soviets don't need to track oil consumption, as they have huge reserves.

Special Scenario Rules

Soviet Infrastructure: See SBE6, but all projects are already completed in 1943.

SBE8: Operation Bagration

June 1944 – June 1945 (6)

After the landing of the Western Allies in Normandy, Germany had no further chance to win the war. Now it was just a matter of time.

While the Wehrmacht was only a shadow of the invincible army it had been in the past years, the Red Army had reached total ground and air supremacy over the entire Eastern Front.

Nevertheless, the German OKH was convinced that the Soviet main effort would be concentrated in a risky and probing offensive to Lvov and Galizia and accordingly, the Germans deployed the strong panzer divisions of General Hoth in Hungary.

But after the most devastating artillery fire preparation of history, the Red Army instead launched a strong offensive north of the Pripet marshes to liberate Minsk and Belorussia.

Hemmed in between the Western Allies advancing from France and the Soviets pressing from the east with a massive summer offensive (Operation Bagration from June to August 1944), Germany had to attempt to delay the inevitable whilst its scientists were developing "unbelievable new secret weapons" in the facilities of Peenemünde.

Rounds: 13.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: The Soviets must conquer Berlin and Peenemünde before the end of 1944 for a decisive victory. Achieving this objective before the end of June 1945 is a marginal Soviet victory, while a further delay is a draw.

Setup: Details about the fighting forces are found in the Scenario Setup Sheet for 1944.

Axis and Soviet forces must be deployed on the west and on the east side of the BLUE dashed line respectively. Every hex on the border must be occupied.

Production (PP/turn starting from June '44):

GER: 28 PP, 15 Armor, 18 Air, 14 Oil.
ROM: 2 PP, 2 Oil.
HUN: 1 PP, 1 Oil.
USSR: 43 PP, 18 Armor, 18 Air.

Note: The Soviets don't need to track oil consumption, as they have huge reserves.

Special Scenario Rules

Soviet Infrastructure: See SBE6, but all projects are already completed in 1944.

SBE9: Codeword Dortmund — The Russian Campaign

June 1941 – June 1945 (10)

The Axis player must hit hard and deep, running his tanks at full speed to reach and seize Leningrad, Moscow, and the important industrial area of the Donets Basin before the first snow falls. Holding the two most important Soviet cities will probably lay the groundwork for an Axis decisive victory.

However, after the happy summer, the Russian "General Winter" will inflict a lot of irreplaceable losses on the unprepared Axis forces and the Red Army will also have some good cards to play as soon as the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact is signed and the Siberian shock armies arrive from the Soviet Far East border in November.

German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms. This consisted of close cooperation between tanks, infantry, artillery, engineers and ground-attack aircraft.

To counter this, Soviet commanders adopted the tactic of always keeping their front-lines as close to those of the Germans as was physically possible. The later Marshal of the Soviet Union, Vasily Chuikov, called this "hugging" the Germans with a war of attrition.

Rounds: 49.

Map Area: Complete mapboard.

Victory Conditions: The Axis player wins immediately if he controls all 4 following Soviet victory cities or if he controls 1 of Moscow or Baku plus 1 of Leningrad or Stalingrad and scores a "1" with a die roll during the Victory Check Phase (add +1 if he controls 3 of these cities).

The Soviet player wins immediately if he controls Berlin before July 1945. The victory is decisive before January 1945 and marginal between January and June 1945.

Other results are a draw.

Setup: Setup is as for the BSS.

Production (PP/turn starting from July '41):

GER: 24 PP, 3 Armor, 9 Air, 10 Oil.
ROM: 2 PP, 2 Oil.
HUN: 1 PP, 1 Oil.
USSR: 46 PP, 7 Armor, 6 Air.

Note: The Soviets don't need to track oil consumption, as they have huge reserves. But, if the Caucasus is lost (the Axis conquers Stalingrad or reaches the Volga), start tracking oil consumption as normal.

Special Scenario Rules

Barbarossa Surprise: See SBE5.

Frozen Units: See SBE5.

Luftwaffe Total Supremacy: See SBE5.

Remove of the German 1st SS Panzer Corps "LSSAH": The German 1st SS Panzer Corps that arrives as reinforcement in turn 44 is an upgrade of the LSSAH.

If the LSSAH is in play and in supply, replace it with the 1st SS Panzer Corps, but retain all hits. If the LSSAH has been eliminated or unsupplied, the replacement must be held back or the unit must be rebuilt.

Additional Removes:

12/1941: 7th Flying Division, Hungarian Rapid Corps
7/1942: 22nd Airlanding Infantry Division

Industrial Development: Both factions start the game with 10 partially built (5/10) industrial plants:

Germany: 5 armor, 4 air, 1 oil factories
USSR: 5 armor, 5 air factories

Soviet Infrastructure: See SBE6.