Combat Commander: Mediterranean

Expansions

Combat Commander: Battle Pack #3 – Normandy Combat Commander: Europe – C3i #24 Scenarios Combat Commander: Resistance!

Combat Commander: Mediterranean Rulebook

Table of Contents

Introduction
Game Scale
Components
Glossary
General Rules
- 1. The Destiny Cards
Orders (O14)
Fire (O20)
Actions (A24)
Events (E42)
Terrain (T78)
Fortifications (F100)

Introduction

Combat Commander is a series of card-driven games simulating tactical infantry combat during the Second World War. In this first volume, one of the players takes the role of the Axis (Italy and the Axis minor allies) and the other takes the role of the Allies (the British and the Commonwealth, France, and the Allied minors). The players act by playing one or more DESTINY cards from their hand, so as to activate their units on the map for various military activities.

The players try to achieve victory by moving their combat UNITS across the map to attack the enemy's units and occupy as many OBJECTIVES as possible. The degree of success or failure of a player is measured by the scenario-specific objective markers, the destruction of enemy units, and by exiting friendly units off the enemy's map edge.

Each measure of game TIME is divided into a variable number of player TURNS. During each Turn, the sequence of play is fluid – the active player gives ORDERS and both players may take ACTIONS – depending on the cards they hold.

EVENTS, good or bad, will occur at random intervals to add a little chaos and uncertainty to the perfect plans the players have made.

Game Scale

Each hex of a Combat Commander map represents approximately 30 metres from one edge to the other. Each complete player Turn represents an arbitrary segmentation of the passage of Time; each measure of game Time represents several minutes of real time.

The units in the game represent a single man for LEADERS, a TEAM of 5 men, or a SQUAD of 10 men. RADIOS and individual WEAPONS (at least those larger than a BAR, a rifle or a pistol) are represented by individual markers.

Components

Note: the printed booklet's components list reads "Combat Commander: Europe contains" and is transcribed as printed.

Combat Commander: Europe contains:

6 double-sided 43 x 56 cm maps (12 maps in all).
352 large counters.
140 small counters.
216 playing cards.
1 rulebook.
1 scenario booklet.
3 player aid sheets.

Letters and numbers in square brackets – such as [O16.4] – indicate an important reference to another rule. Rules preceded by an "O" concern Orders; "A", Actions; "E", Events; "T", Terrain; and "F", Fortifications.

Glossary

Action—The ability shown beneath the picture on each Destiny card (and above it, in the case of the "Fire" Order/Action). Actions may be played during either player's Turn. [A24]

Activated—A unit or a player can normally only be "activated" for one Order per Turn.

Active—The player who is taking his Turn. Also any unit or marker belonging to that player.

Adjacent—Two hexes are considered adjacent when they share a common hexside. Units and markers in one of these hexes are adjacent to units and markers in the other.

Friendly—A unit, Weapon or Radio under your control. A hex occupied by a friendly unit. An Objective hex [2.3] under your control and not containing an enemy unit. Fortifications are never "friendly".

Weapon—Any small marker (1/2'') with a drawing of a weapon such as a machine gun or a mortar. Unlike other markers, Weapons always have a FP and a Range [11].

Artillery—Any Weapon with a white bar underlining its characteristics. Artillery must first acquire its target before it can actually fire at it; it cannot take part in a Fire Group; it cannot make an Opportunity Fire; and its characteristics cannot be increased by the presence of a friendly Leader in the same hex [O20.2].

Attitude—Attacker, Defender or Reconnaissance. The Attitude determines the number of cards in the players' hands [1.1]. All combinations of Attitudes are possible (although Attacker versus Defender is the most common).

Command—One of the five base stats, found only on Leader markers. Command is a measure of how effectively a Leader controls the friendly units close to him [3.3.1].

Cover—A value associated with each terrain type. The best Cover of a hex is added directly to the Morale of each unit occupying that hex. Multiple Covers are not cumulative [T78.3].

Die Trigger (trigger)—A game mechanism associated with ("triggered by") certain die rolls [1.9.1].

Enemy—A unit, Weapon or Radio under the control of your opponent. A hex occupied by an enemy unit. An Objective hex [2.3] under enemy control and not containing any friendly units. Fortifications are never "enemy".

Broken/Demoralised—A unit, Weapon or Radio whose reverse side is showing is "Broken/Demoralised". A Weapon/Radio cannot be used while it is Broken. A Demoralised unit may perform most activities, but with reduced capabilities. A piece that is not broken and that "breaks" becomes broken (it is turned over); a broken piece that breaks again is eliminated [3.2].

NdT (translator's note): the term "casse" (breaks) is used collectively for troops and equipment. When only personnel are affected the term "Démoralisé" (Demoralised) is used, and for equipment the term "En Panne" (Broken down).

Events—The random happenings listed beneath the Action of each Destiny card. Events are never triggered from a player's hand, only from the top of a player's Destiny Deck, because of an Event! trigger [1.9.1.1].

Hindrance—Terrain that affects fire passing through it; it never affects fire into or out of its own hex (except for Smoke). Hindrances are not cumulative [10.3].

Random Hex—The light green alphanumeric combination in the bottom left corner of each Destiny card. It is used to determine at random where Sniper fire and certain Events take place. The number is also used to determine whether a Broken Weapon can be repaired or eliminated [1.8].

Inactive—The player who is not taking his Turn, and the units or markers belonging to that player. If a game situation requires or allows both players to do something simultaneously, the inactive player always goes first.

Die Rolls—These are the six-sided "dice" in the bottom right of each Destiny card. A die roll is never made by taking a card from a player's hand: cards are only drawn from a player's Destiny Deck [1.9].

LOS—Line of Sight. In general, a unit in hex A has LOS to hex B if a straight line drawn between the centres of the two hexes does not touch the graphic representation of an obstacle between those two hexes [10].

Marker—Any counter (generally 1/2'') without a soldier illustration. Examples of markers: Weapons, Wire, Control, Sudden Death or Spotting Round.

MG—Machine gun.

Grey box, Example A: The Event "Walking Wounded" [E76] states: "Return one eliminated unit to play…". It does not say "eliminated friendly unit"; so if only your opponent has eliminated units when you play this Event, you must choose one of them and bring it into play.

Morale—One of the five base stats. It represents how much a unit can endure before becoming "combat ineffective" [3.1.4].

Movement—One of the five base stats. Movement is a measure of how effectively a unit can cross the battlefield [3.1.3].

OB (Order of Battle)—The forces allocated to each player in each scenario. The Fortification OBs are at the end of the Rulebook. Each nation has a player aid with its base OB on one side and its Support OB on the other.

Obstacle—A type of terrain which blocks LOS through it; never into or out of it [10.2].

Order—The ability shown at the top of each Destiny card. Orders may only be played during one's own player Turn [O14].

FP / Firepower—One of the five base stats. It measures the damage a piece can inflict on enemy units [3.1.1].

Piece—Any unit, Weapon, Radio or Fortification.

MP—Movement Point.

VP—Victory Point [7].

Range—One of the five base stats. It measures how far a piece can effectively fire to kill while remaining in the thick of the action [3.1.2].

SR—Spotting Round marker [O18.2.1].

Opportunity Fire (Op Fire)—The ability to play a Fire Action so as to fire on enemy units that are moving [A33].

Turn—When a player gives one or more Orders or discards zero or more Destiny cards [5].

Unit—Any large marker (5/8'') with one or more soldier silhouettes. This includes Squads, Teams and Leaders [3].

Grey box, Example b: The rule for the die-roll trigger "Jammed!" [1.9.1.2] states that all Weapons that fire break down. Just this. It does not say the attack is cancelled, so it is not cancelled.

That said, these rules cannot hope to cover the myriad situations that may arise during play. So if a strange situation appears, a good dose of common sense coupled with one or two existing rules should suffice to make things clear.

Grey boxes such as the ones above contain clarifications, play tips, design notes and advice intended to make your task easier.

Grey box, Example: For your first game you will only need to read the Components, General Rules and Orders sections, together with rule A33 on Opportunity Fire. Then prepare the Example of Play (in the Livret de Jeu, the game booklet) and follow it from beginning to end to understand how the game flows.

The last part of this booklet – Actions, Events, Terrain and Fortifications – can be skimmed quickly; read those sections in detail when you need them during play.

"Something seems random simply because of the limits of our knowledge." —Baruch Spinoza

There are three Destiny card decks supplied in the box: one for Germany (grey), one for America (green) and one for Russia (brown). Each player's deck of 72 Destiny cards represents the heart and soul of the game. When the game begins, no action on the card can be taken by a player – whether an Order or an Action – without a Destiny card in hand authorising it. While a player's Destiny card is in his hand, only the Order or Action on it may be declared: everything else (from the Event down to the bottom of the card) is ignored.

IMPORTANT: The Initiative card [9] and the three dummy cards supplied in the box are not Destiny cards and will therefore never form part of a player's hand.

Furthermore, when a rule refers to a "card" without identifying it, it always refers to a Destiny card – never to the Initiative card or a dummy card (which will always be identified as such).

General Rules

1. The Destiny Cards

1.0 Golden Rule

The effects of some cards conflict with one or more rules in this booklet (for example, the Event Interrogation [E61] conflicts with rule 1.2). When this happens, the effect of the card always takes precedence.

1.1 Hand Size

The number of cards in each player's hand depends on his Attitude: Attacker (6 cards), Reconnaissance (5 cards) or Defender (4 cards). This determines how many cards each player starts the game with and how many he may draw at the end of each of his Turns.

1.2 Card Knowledge

IMPORTANT: In Combat Commander, the watchword "a rule means exactly what it says" must be taken literally. In other words, as stated in another excellent game, Totaler Krieg!: "Do not imagine more than what is written in a rule. When in doubt, interpret it strictly."

The cards in a player's hand are always hidden from the opponent. The cards in a player's deck are placed face down and are therefore unknown to both players. The cards in a player's discard pile are visible to all and may be examined at any time by either player.

1.3 Revealing Cards

When a player must "reveal" a card – following an Event! trigger for example [1.9.1.1] – the card is taken from the top of that player's deck and placed face up on top of the discard pile so that both players can see it.

1.4 Reshuffling

Each time Game Time advances [6.1.2], a player must shuffle the cards in his deck and his discard pile together to form a new deck.

1.5 Orders

The Orders are shown at the top of each Destiny card. A player may only play a card for its Order during his own Turn, and may never announce more Orders during a Turn than his Order Capability allows [5.1]. When a card is played for its Order, it is immediately placed in the player's discard pile – so its Action cannot be played until the player again has that card in hand.

1.6 Actions

"You win battles by knowing the enemy's timetable and by using a timetable the enemy does not expect." —Miyamoto Musashi

Actions are shown beneath the picture on each Destiny card or, in the case of Opportunity Fire [A33], at the top of the card. A player may play a card for its Action at any time during any player's Turn, provided the conditions of use are met. When a card is played for its Action, it is immediately placed in the player's discard pile – so its Order cannot be played until the player again has that card in hand.

1.7 Events

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." —Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Events are shown beneath the Action of each Destiny card. Events are never played from a player's hand, either voluntarily or involuntarily, but only from the top of the deck, at random intervals based on certain die rolls [1.9.1.1 – printed as "19.1.1." in the French booklet, a reference typo].

1.8 Random Hexes

The light green hex at the bottom left of each Destiny card is the "Random Hex". Snipers [1.9.1.3] and certain Events require a random hex to be determined: in that case the top card of the player's deck is drawn, turned over and the alphanumeric combination inside the hex is read. This is the specific hex on the map where the Sniper/Event will act.

A Random Hex may also have an effect on Broken Weapons [11.4].

1.9 Die Rolls

These are the pair of six-sided dice at the bottom right of each Destiny card. "Real" dice are not used in Combat Commander. Instead, when a "roll" is needed, the player draws the top card of his deck, turns it over and reads only the dice result: the rest of the card is ignored.

When such a roll is made, the two dice are added to give a total (exception: for a Targeting roll, the dice are multiplied [O20.2.3]).

"They are not yet sufficiently trained, but they are learning, and they will soon make a first-class army." —Joseph Stalin

1.9.1 Die Triggers

Several die rolls are framed in red with the words Event!, Jammed!, Sniper! or Time! inside. These are called Triggers. These four triggers immediately and temporarily stop the normal progress of the game in order to carry out a specific task. The normal course of play resumes as soon as the effects of the trigger have been fully resolved.

IMPORTANT – A trigger (except a Time! trigger) that occurs with the last card of a player's deck will be resolved after the Time Marker has been advanced [6.1.2].

IMPORTANT – Any roll made while resolving a trigger (such as a Sudden Death roll during a "Time!" trigger, or a Melee roll during a Melee at the end of an Infiltration Event) cannot itself produce another trigger.

In other words, any die roll made while resolving a trigger must ignore any other Jammed!, Event!, Sniper! or Time! trigger associated with it.

IMPORTANT – Each of the triggers explained below is always fully resolved before the results of the die roll that triggered it are applied. In other words, the roll gives a result that will not be applied until the end of the resolution of the trigger.

Example: A Demoralised unit with a Morale of 6 makes a Rout roll. The roll gives "7-Event". That unit must retreat one hex, but not until the Event has been resolved. Even if the Event were "Medic" and this same unit were rallied, it would still have to make this Retreat (though no longer Demoralised).

1.9.1.1 Event! Trigger

"The reason the American Army works so well in wartime is that war is chaos, and the American Army practises it every day." —post-war debriefing of a German general

When a player makes a die roll and that roll is framed in red with the word "Event!" inside, the normal course of the game stops to resolve that Event: the player who drew the Event! trigger draws the top card of his deck and reveals it, then reads the Event aloud and carries it out [E43–E77], ignoring the rest of the card.

Unless otherwise stated, any decision to be made during the Event must be made by the player who reads it.

1.9.1.2 Jammed! Trigger

When a player makes a Fire die roll [O20.3.3] (only; no other roll will trigger a Jammed!, including a Targeting roll [O20.2]) and that roll is framed in red with the word "Jammed!" inside, then all Weapons that fire break down [11.4].

Note that Radios [12] and Mines [F103] are not Weapons.

1.9.1.3 Sniper! Trigger

"My helmet was knocked in and I found myself on my backside before I realised I had been shot at." —Lt. Col. Robert R. Moore

When a player makes a die roll and that roll is framed in red with the word "Sniper!" inside, the normal course of the game stops to resolve the Sniper: the player who drew the Sniper! trigger draws the top card of his deck, reveals it, and reads aloud the Random Hex, ignoring the rest of the card. That player may then choose a unit in that hex or in an adjacent hex and make it Demoralised.

In CC, a Sniper! result represents much more than a man patiently waiting with a telescopic rifle: this mechanism is also used to represent things such as friendly fire, panic, the shock of an explosion, a snake bite, despair, dehydration, fatigue, dust in the eye, and so on.

1.9.1.4 Time! Trigger

When a player makes a die roll and that roll is framed in red with the word "Time!" inside, the normal course of the game stops in order to Advance the Time Marker [6.1.2].

2. The Maps

2.1 The Battlefield

A hexagonal grid is printed on each map to standardise movement and combat, with an abstract scale of about 30 metres per hex. Each hex contains:

a specific terrain type [T79–T99] which may affect movement as well as attacks in or through it;
a central white dot used to determine Line of Sight [10] between hexes;
a unique alphanumeric identifier – such as "C7" – used to determine where Sniper fire and certain Events take place.

2.2 Around the Map

2.2.1 – In the top right of each map is the map number used to identify the map to use for a specific scenario.

2.2.2 – In the bottom left of the map is a compass rose corresponding to the orientation of the map's hexes. The compass is generally used for the initial orientation of the map during set-up and to determine a random direction during artillery strikes [O18.2.2], as well as for various Events.

On the compass, 1 points to the "top" of the map; 4 points to the bottom; 2 and 3 point to the right; and 5 and 6 point to the left.

2.2.3 – Two opposite corners of each map contain the Artillery Boxes used to place a player's Radio markers [12].

2.3 Objectives

"Whatever position you find yourself in, first determine your objective." —Ferdinand Foch

Each map contains five "objectives" – red circles with a white number from 1 to 5. An Objective awards a number of VPs to the side which was the last to control it [7.3.1], the quantity being determined by the Objective markers in play [7.3.2].

3. The Units

"Infantry does not change. We are the only military branch where the weapon is the man himself." —Major General C. T. Shortis

Name/Rank—The unit's name is used only for identification. Likewise, the historical rank insignia found on all Leaders is there for aesthetic reasons only. They have no effect on the course of the game.

Silhouettes—All units have one, two or four silhouettes which represent their relative size: one silhouette for a "Leader" representing a single man, two silhouettes for a "Team" of 5 men; and four silhouettes for a "Squad" of 10 men.

Each unit has a number in its top right corner and a series of three numbers along the bottom of the counter, even if one or more values is "0". Leaders (only) also have a number in a black hex on the right side of their counter.

3.1 Characteristics

"Morale is a state of mind. It is vivacity, courage and hope. It is confidence, zeal and loyalty. It is élan, esprit de corps and determination." —George C. Marshall

3.1.1 Firepower (FP)—This is the first number, at the bottom left. It represents the basic strength of a unit in Melee [O16.4] or when firing at an enemy unit [O20 & A33].

3.1.2 Range—This is the second number, in the middle. It indicates the maximum distance at which a unit may use its FP to fire at enemy units [O20 & A33].

3.1.3 Movement—This is the third number, at the bottom right. It gives the number of Movement Points (MP) a unit may spend to make a Movement [O21] from hex to hex across the map.

3.1.4 Morale—This is the number at the top right of the counter. It indicates the basic strength of a unit when it defends against enemy fire, or when it attempts to Recover [O22], or when it Routs [O23], among other things. A unit's Morale is always modified directly by the Cover [T78.3] of the hex it occupies.

Grey box: A Demoralised unit [3.2] is identified by a red bar at the top of the counter and its Morale value is in white instead of black.

3.1.5 Command—This is the white number in a black hex with a white border on the right side of all Leader counters (only). Command is used to activate additional units during Orders and Opportunity Fire [3.3.1.1], and also adds to the characteristics of certain units and Weapons stacked with the Leader [3.3.1.2 & 3.3.1.3].

3.1.6 Boxed Characteristics—Some units have their FP, Range and/or Movement boxed. With the exception of a boxed FP, which gives +1 in strength during a Melee [O16.4], boxed characteristics have no intrinsic significance except to allow units to undertake certain Actions [A26, A39 and A40].

3.2 Demoralised Units

"In an attack, half of the men in a firing line are terrified and the other half are discouraged." —J. F. C. Fuller

3.2.1 Demoralised/Normal—A unit is always in one of these two states: Demoralised or Normal. A unit generally begins a scenario on its Normal side, but Fire and other harmful effects can "Demoralise" it – the counter is turned over onto its Demoralised side (indicated by a Morale value in white and a red bar at the top of the counter).

3.2.2 Attached Markers—Units switching from Demoralised to Normal and vice versa keep possession of all "Supressed" [sic, as printed], "Veteran" markers, or Weapons they may have.

3.2.3 Attached Weapons—Demoralised units cannot use Weapons. A Weapon does not break down and is not repaired simply because the unit possessing it has become Demoralised/rallied, and vice versa.

3.2.4 Elimination—Any Demoralised unit that is Demoralised again is eliminated: the opponent receives its VP value [7.1] after it has been placed on the Casualty Track [4.2].

3.2.5 Rallying—When a Demoralised unit is asked to "Rally", it is turned over onto its Normal side. This generally occurs by succeeding on a die roll during a Recover Order [O22] or depending on various Events.

3.3 Leaders

"I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than of an army of 100 lions led by a sheep." —Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

3.3.1 Command

3.3.1.1 Command Radius—Normally, an Order [O14.1] or an Opportunity Fire Action [A33.2] allows only one unit to be activated. However, when a Leader is activated, he may in turn activate all, some or none of the friendly non-Leader units within his "Command Radius" to carry out the same Order/Opportunity Fire. The Command Radius is counted in hexes from the hex occupied by the Leader (the Leader's hex excluded).

Grey box: A Leader with a Command of "2" may activate friendly units within a radius of 2 hexes – even through impassable terrain or an enemy unit. A Leader with a Command of "1" may activate friendly units in his own hex or in adjacent hexes. A Leader with a Command of "0" may activate friendly units in his own hex.

3.3.1.2 Commanded Units—A Leader's Command value is directly added to the FP, Range, Movement and Morale of all friendly Squads and Teams (only) as long as those units are in the same hex as the Leader – even if the Leader himself is not activated. This effect is cumulative if two or more Leaders occupy the same hex.

Grey box: It should now be clear that Leaders can never affect themselves nor affect other Leaders.

3.3.1.3 Commanded Weapons—A Leader's Command value is directly added to the FP and Range of each friendly Weapon without a white bar carried by a unit that is not a Leader, as long as that unit is in the same hex as the Leader – even if the Leader himself is not activated. This effect is cumulative if two or more Leaders occupy the same hex.

Grey box: So for example a Mortar cannot be affected by a Leader stacked with it; and a machine gun carried by a Leader will not see its characteristics increased.

4. The Track Display (Fiche de Compteurs)

Grey box: The Track Display is the meeting point for most of the game's functions. It contains various counters that players will use throughout a scenario. Its sections are explained below, as well as in rule 6.

4.1 Victory Counter

4.1.1 VP Marker—The VP marker is placed on the Victory Counter at the start of each scenario, and will be moved in both directions along this counter – approaching and moving away from each player – as VPs are gained and lost during the game. The reverse side of the VP marker is used to indicate VP totals above 20.

4.1.2 Attack Total Marker—This marker is used only as a memory aid for players, to indicate the strength of the Attack Total of a Fire, a Mine Attack, an Artillery Impact or a Melee. This is useful when a player's Defence rolls are interrupted by a die trigger.

4.2 Casualty Track

"Cemeteries are full of indispensable men." —Charles de Gaulle

Each scenario indicates to the players where their Surrender marker is to be placed on the Casualty Track. The Casualty Track contains an upper row and a lower row, each "pointing" to the player who will use it.

Whenever a non-Hero unit is eliminated, it (and its possessed Weapon, if any) is placed on the Casualty Track. Weapons are placed in the large central box. Units are placed one per numbered space on their owner's side of the Weapons Box, occupying those spaces in ascending numerical order. Thus a player loses the game if one of his eliminated units is placed in the space occupied by his side's Surrender marker [6.3].

Grey box: Do not forget to mark victory points each time an enemy unit is eliminated [7.1].

4.3 Miscellaneous

4.3.1 OB Display—The OB Display occupies the bottom left of the Track Display. Each nationality has its own "OB Stats" marker, which is used on this display to indicate its quality (Elite, Line or Recruit) and the number of Orders allowed (1–6).

4.3.2 Scenario Date—Each scenario indicates in which space of the Year Counter the Year marker must be placed.

4.3.3 Objective Box—Place the drawn Objective markers [7.3.2] here. Each player places his "secret" Objectives in the section nearest to him. All "general" Objectives must be placed in the central section.

4.3.4 Data Boxes—The seven Data Boxes along the bottom of the Track Display allow players quick access to special rules associated with various Weapons and Fortifications.

5. Sequence of Play

A game of Combat Commander begins when one of the players (as indicated in the scenario) takes his first "Turn". When he has finished – and has completed his Hand [1.1] – it is the opponent's turn to take his Turn. Turns then alternate until a Sudden Death roll or another event [6.3] ends the game.

During a Turn, a player may choose between:

giving one or more Orders by playing cards from his hand [O14]; or
discarding any number of Destiny cards [O15].

5.1 Order Capability

"If you have no orders, find something and kill it." —Erwin Rommel

In Combat Commander, no player may give an Order without playing a card from his hand. The maximum number of Orders that a player may give each Turn is indicated in his OB section or by the scenario itself. Orders do not need to be designated in advance – they are played from the hand, and carried out one at a time. A player may observe the results of one Order before deciding to play another. The different Orders that a player may give are explained in rules O16–O23.

5.2 Action Capability

As for Orders, no player may announce an Action without playing a card from his hand. Players may take Actions whenever it seems appropriate to them, provided the conditions for playing the Action, if any, are met. There is no limit to the number of Actions that a player may take during one of his Turns or his opponent's, beyond the number of cards in hand.

The different Actions that players may take are explained in rules A25–A41.

5.3 Discard Capability

If a player chooses not to give an Order during his Turn, he may discard [O15] any number of cards, but without exceeding the discard capability of the nationality he commands (indicated on the player aids).

5.4 Refilling the Hand

At the end of each player Turn, the active player (only) must draw Destiny cards from his deck so as to have a number of cards equal to his Hand Size [1.1]. Refilling the hand may be temporarily interrupted by an Advancement of the Time Marker [6.1.2] if the last card of the player's deck is drawn – in that case, the remaining cards to be drawn to refill the hand will be drawn after the Time Marker Advancement procedure (and the discard pile will have been shuffled to form a new deck).

6. Passage of Time

"It is time that makes all the difference; five minutes is enough to make the difference between victory and defeat." —Horatio Nelson

6.1 Time Marker

6.1.1 Placement—Each scenario indicates on which space of the Time Counter (located on the Track Display) the Time marker is to be placed (usually "0").

6.1.2 Advancement—The Time Marker is advanced one space along the Time Counter:

when a "Time!" trigger is obtained; or
when a player reveals/draws the last card of his deck: treat this case exactly as if a "Time!" trigger had been drawn.

Grey box: The marker is advanced only once – not twice – if the last card of the deck revealed to make a die roll contains a Time! trigger.

Immediately after advancing the Time Marker, the normal course of play stops and the following procedure is applied:

The player who triggered the Advancement (only) shuffles his deck and discard pile together to form a new deck;
The player who triggered the Time! trigger makes a Sudden Death roll if appropriate [6.2.2].

Then, if the game has not ended due to a Sudden Death, follow these four steps in order:

The Defender (only) gains 1 VP;
The player who triggered the Advancement (only) must remove a Smoke marker from the card;
If there are one or more units in the space occupied by the Time marker, their owner brings them into play as reinforcements, placing them in any hex(es) of his friendly board edge (the inactive player first). The stacking limits [8] must be respected. A Radio arriving as reinforcement is placed in the (empty) Artillery Box of that player;
Both players may play Actions to "Dig In" (s'Enterrer) [A32].

When the six steps above have been fully carried out, the normal course of play resumes where it was.

6.2 Sudden Death Marker

6.2.1 Placement—Each scenario indicates which space to place the Sudden Death marker on the Time Counter.

6.2.2 Procedure—When the Time marker enters the space, or passes the space occupied by the Sudden Death marker, the player who triggered the Time! trigger must make a die roll – it is made after that player has reshuffled his cards and formed a new deck. If the result is less than the number in the space where the Time marker is located (and not the Sudden Death marker itself), then the game ends immediately [6.3, below]. Otherwise the game continues normally.

6.3 End of Game

"Only I and three men were left. It was not going to last long. Goodbye and see you later." —a British officer at the Battle of Sidi Nsir, Tunisia

In general, a game of Combat Commander may end in four ways:

When a player is forced to place one of his eliminated units in the Casualty Track space occupied by his Surrender marker;
When the last unit of a player on the map is eliminated;
When the last unit of a player on the map voluntarily leaves it [7.2.1];
When a Sudden Death roll [6.2.2] is less than the number in the space occupied by the Time marker.

6.3.1 – If the first or second of these situations occurs, that player immediately and automatically loses, regardless of the VP total. If both players simultaneously lose in this way, the player holding the Initiative card breaks the tie and wins the game [9.2].

6.3.2 – If the third or fourth of these situations occurs, and the first two situations do not apply, the players must reveal their secret Objective markers and award the VPs to whoever controls them. Then the player with the highest total of VPs – that is, the player whose VP marker is on his side of the "0" space – wins the game. If the VP marker is on the "0" space, then the player holding the Initiative card wins the game.

7. Victory Conditions

"I would like to tear out the pages of my journal where I wrote about the collapse of my will. But let them stay as a lesson that in life it is premature to draw conclusions simply because everything is going well." —Nikolai Moskvin, after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad

In general, a player wins the game by having more VPs than his opponent at the end of the game [6.3]. VPs are earned in three ways:

by eliminating enemy units;
by exiting friendly units off the opponent's board edge;
by controlling Objectives on the map.

7.1 Elimination Victory Points

When a unit is eliminated – regardless of the reason: by an Order, an Action or an Event – the opponent receives a certain number of VPs for it:

A Squad is worth 2 VP;
A Team is worth 1 VP;
A Leader (exception: Hero) is worth 1 VP plus 1 VP for each point of Command on his unbroken side;
A Hero is worth no VPs.

Grey box: These values are also given on the player aids to make the game easier to play.

7.2 Exit Victory Points

At the start of the game, each map is considered to have an impassable barrier to the left and right of each player. A unit may never exit the map by the left or right side.

However, the map edges nearest each player may be used to exit units from play (as if the dark grey border were another hex). In general, the voluntary exit of friendly units across the opponent's map edge during a Movement [O21] or Advance [O16] Order will earn you VPs, whereas friendly units exiting across your own map edge because of a forced Retreat during a Rout Order [O23] will cost you VPs.

7.2.1 Voluntary Exit—A unit that Advances [O16] or makes a Movement [O21] may exit the map – at a cost of 1 MP – across the opponent's map edge. The unit's owner immediately gains VPs for the exited unit [7.1]. That unit is then placed on any space of the Time Counter of its owner's choice. A unit is never placed Demoralised on the Time Counter, even if it was Demoralised when it exited. The unit keeps possession of all Weapons it was carrying – those are also repaired if they were broken down at the time of exit – but it must lose any Veteran or Supressed marker it had.

Grey box: Such a unit is now considered a completely different new "reinforcement" unit.

7.2.2 Involuntary Exit—A unit that Retreats [O23.3] may be forced off the map across its own friendly edge, being eliminated in the process. Such a unit is placed in the next free space of the Casualty Track after the opponent has gained its VP value [7.1]. The eliminated unit does not keep possession of the Weapons it was carrying – these are placed, repaired, in the "Weapons" section of the Casualty Track – and it does not keep any Veteran or Supressed marker it had.

7.3 Objective Victory Points

Each of the five Objectives on each map may be worth one or more VPs, depending on the Objective markers in play. Otherwise the default value of Objectives is zero.

7.3.1 Objective Control—Double-sided Control markers are used to indicate which side controls which Objective on the map [2.3].

For the initial set-up, the scenario will specifically indicate the Objectives and the nation that controls them. In some cases, Objectives may begin the game with no side controlling them: there should be no control marker on them. Otherwise, once the game has begun, the last player to have been the only one occupying an Objective places/flips the control marker so that it matches the nationality he commands.

7.3.1.1 Building Objectives—An Objective located in a building hex is considered to be the entire building if the building extends over more than one hex. In that case, every hex of that building must be free of enemy units for a player to take control of it.

7.3.2 Objective Markers—There are 22 Objective markers – or "chits" – supplied in the box. Objective markers are generally drawn at random and used to determine additional specific victory conditions for each scenario, usually by assigning a VP value to one or more Objectives on the map [2.3]. Each Objective marker has a victory condition on its "general" (open) side. Most are of this form (open side, "Objective" with the Objective number "X" and a value "= Y VP"; secret side, "(secret) Objective"):

This indicates that Objective X is worth Y VP to the player who controls it. These values are cumulative with other Objective markers. If all three markers of Objective 3 are in play (C, G and K), then Objective 3 will be worth 6 VP (1+2+3).

Several Objective markers contain the following (shown on the marker as a "= Y VP" value):

This means that the five Objectives on the map are each worth Y VP. These values are cumulative with other Objective markers.

The three specialised Objective markers indicate respectively that:

Just before each Sudden Death roll [6.2.2], if a player controls all five Objectives, then that player automatically wins the game regardless of the VP totals.
Exit VPs [7.2.1] are doubled for both players.
Elimination VPs [7.1] are doubled for both players.

Some Objectives may have no value at the end of the game. Players should always try to take control of all the Objectives on a map in case an opponent's secret Objective contains one or more with a value.

7.3.3 General and Secret Objectives—General Objective markers – as well as secrets which have been revealed during the game [E67] – should be placed with their "open" side visible in the centre of the Objective Box. Secret Objective markers must be kept face down in the Objective Box – only their owner may look at the "open" side under the marker.

Note that some Objective markers do not have a "secret" side – if a player draws one of them as a secret Objective, bad luck: it must be revealed as a general Objective.

The VP gains from General Objectives are obtained immediately during the game, whereas Secret Objectives generally only give their VPs at the end of the game (or when they are revealed).

When a General Objective changes hands on the map, do not forget first to subtract its value from its former owner before adding it to the VPs of the new one – thus an Objective worth 4 VP will produce a total change of 8 VP when it changes hands.

8. Stacking

Placing several units or markers in the same hex is called "stacking".

The oversized hexes of Combat Commander allow unit counters to fit comfortably in them. Although these counters may not be physically "stacked" on top of one another, they are nevertheless considered "stacked" in the same hex for the rules of the game.

8.1 Marker Stacking

The marker stacking limit applies as soon as they are placed. There is no limit to the number of markers that may occupy the same location except:

8.1.1 Unit Markers—Each unit in play may have at most one of each of the following markers stacked with it:

Suppressed
Veteran
Weapon (any unit may carry any Weapon)

8.1.2 Radios—There may only be one Radio in each of the two Artillery Boxes: one per player. The first Radio has priority.

8.1.3 Fortifications—There may only be one Fortification marker per hex. The first Fortification has priority.

Grey box: So if the Event "Shellholes" tells you to place a Foxholes marker in a hex already containing Wire, then the Foxholes are not placed.

8.1.4 Smoke—There may only be one Smoke marker in a hex. The one with the highest Hindrance takes priority.

8.1.5 Blaze—There may only be one Blaze marker per hex. While a Blaze is present in a hex, no unit and none of the markers listed above may be in that hex.

8.2 Unit Stacking

The number of friendly units that may legally stack in a hex is based on the number of silhouettes on the counters: any number of friendly units up to a total of seven silhouettes may be stacked without penalty. Any hex containing friendly units with eight or more silhouettes exceeds the stacking limit and is considered "overstacked".

The unit stacking limit applies at the end of each Turn. At that moment, the owner of the units in an overstacked hex must eliminate enough units to respect the stacking limit. In each overstacked hex, a player may choose to perform up to one free Deploy Event [E52] immediately before eliminating units.

Grey box: Example: During a Retreat, the Axis player realises that he has two Demoralised German Squads in one hex at the end of the Allied player's Turn. First he opts to Deploy one of them into two (Demoralised) Teams. Then he eliminates one of the Teams. He need not eliminate any more units, as there are now only six silhouettes in the hex, which respects the stacking limit.

Grey box: You are always free to exceed the stacking limit during a Turn – in order to Advance additional units into a Melee, for example – but you must remedy the situation before the end of the Turn, or else face the calamity of the cardboard.

9. Initiative

If you are playing an existing scenario, it will indicate who begins the game with the Initiative card. For a Randomly Generated Scenario, a player's Initiative value is indicated with the OB acquired: in this case, the player with the highest Initiative value begins the game with the Initiative card.

Grey box: IMPORTANT: The Initiative card is never part of a player's hand and therefore does not count towards his Hand Size.

9.1 Re-Roll

At any time during the game, the player who holds the Initiative card may choose to cancel all the effects of the last die roll made – including any trigger associated with it – and roll again. This decision must be made before any trigger or result of that die roll is applied.

When a player asks to re-roll in this way, he must give the Initiative card to his opponent, who keeps it until he in turn chooses to re-roll, and then gives it back to the first player. Giving the Initiative card in this way may be done an unlimited number of times during a game; even during the same series of die rolls.

9.2 Tie Game

When a scenario ends in a tie – "0 VP" after a Sudden Death, or both players surrendering simultaneously, for example – the player who holds the Initiative card wins the game.

Grey box: The Initiative card therefore acts as a balancing mechanism to temper the extreme results inherent in any game with cards and dice. Initiative will generally pass back and forth between the players according to the chances of war, although this is not compulsory – it is possible, but unlikely, that a player could refrain from using it for an entire game.

10. Line of Sight (LOS)

10.1 LOS Checks

In general, a unit in one hex must be able to "see" a unit in another hex in order to fire at it. A LOS check is made by drawing a straight line between the centre of the "observer" hex and the centre of the "target" hex. If the line touches the physical depiction of an Obstacle or a Hindrance in an intervening hex, then the LOS is blocked [10.2] or hindered [10.3] respectively. A LOS check may be made at any time by either player.

Any Obstacle or Hindrance that is in – or forms part of, such as a Fence or Wall [T84, T97] – the observer's or the target's hex does not affect the LOS.

Thus a side of a Wall hex that is not one of the six sides of the observer's or target's hex blocks LOS, even if the LOS is drawn exactly along the hexside of the Wall for its whole length.

LOS is always reciprocal: if unit A can see unit B, then unit B can also see unit A.

10.1.1 Units & LOS—Units – friendly or enemy – in an intervening hex do not block or hinder LOS in any way.

10.2 Obstacles & LOS

Any terrain [T79 – T99] bearing the "⊘" symbol in the LOS column of the Terrain Chart is called an "Obstacle". A unit cannot see a unit in another hex if the LOS is blocked by an Obstacle.

10.2.1 Blaze Obstacles—A Blaze marker [T79] is considered to fill the entire hex it occupies. In other words, a LOS passing through any portion of a Blaze hex – including along one of its hexsides – is blocked by that marker.

10.3 Hindrances & LOS

Some terrain is too sparse or too low to be considered a complete Obstacle to LOS. These are called "Hindrances", because they hinder fire traced through them toward another hex instead of preventing it.

10.3.1 Targeting & Hindrances—Any Accuracy [O18.2.2] or Targeting [O20.2] LOS passing through an intervening Hindrance hex will have its die roll reduced by an amount equal to the number shown for that terrain in the LOS column of the Terrain Chart. If the Weapon/Radio hits, any subsequent Artillery Impact/Fire roll is not affected by the Hindrance.

Grey box: The hindrance has already been taken into account by reducing the chances of scoring a hit against the target in the first place.

10.3.2 Fire & Hindrances—Any fire that is not Artillery Fire [O20.3] passing through an intervening Hindrance will have its FP reduced by an amount equal to the number shown for that terrain in the LOS column of the Terrain Chart.

10.3.2.1 Minimum Firepower—A Fire whose FP is reduced to "0" or less because of Hindrances is not resolved: a final FP of at least "1" is needed in order to make a Fire die roll. Actions which increase the attack strength of a Fire may be used so that the FP of the fire reaches 1 or more.

10.3.3 Hindrance Modifiers—Hindrances are not cumulative: only the highest modifier is used, and that modifier is not increased if the number of Hindrances between the observer and the target is greater than one.

Grey box: A Squad fires at a Team three hexes away. The two intervening hexes contain Brush. The Squad's total FP is reduced by -3 for a Hindrance caused by the Brush, and not -6 for both. If one of the two intervening hexes also contained a Smoke marker "4", the FP would be reduced by -4 because of the Smoke. If both intervening hexes contained Smoke markers "4", the modifier would still be -4.

10.3.4 Smoke Hindrance—A Smoke marker [T94] is considered to fill entirely the hex it occupies. In other words, a LOS traced through any portion of a Smoke hex – including along one of its hexsides – is hindered by that marker.

Grey box: The physical placement of a Smoke/Blaze marker in a hex does not matter: it is an "inherent" terrain which entirely affects the hex – including its six hexsides – as long as it remains in place.

In addition, Smoke hinders any LOS traced in or out of the hex where it is located, not only through it as printed Hindrances do on the map.

Grey box: Continuing the example from [10.3.3], if the Squad's hex contained a Smoke marker "5", its FP would be reduced by -5.

Examples of Line of Sight (LOS)

The examples below refer to the map diagram printed in the booklet.

A – Herzog in J9 cannot see Borbe in K6 behind the intervening Woods at the same elevation.
B – Herzog cannot see Bolter in L6 behind the intervening Hill at the same elevation as Herzog [T88.3.2]; if Herzog were on a Level 2 Crest Line, the LOS would be clear, as he would be higher than the intervening Hill obstacle.
C – Herzog can see Grein in N6 over the lower-elevation Woods obstacle [T88.4].
F – Schmidt can see Benzing in M4 because the LOS follows exactly the drawing of the road while crossing the Woods obstacle in M5 [10.2 and T93].
D, E – Guttman in J7 cannot see Schmidt in M9 because of the Woods which create a dead-ground hex [T88.4.1]. However, he can see Pfeiffer in N9, which is one hex further.
G – Schmidt can see Grein; however, any Attack between the two hexes will suffer a -2 penalty caused by the Hindrance of the Orchard in N7 [10.3.1 & 10.3.2].
H – Schmidt can see Wehling in N7, but with a Hindrance of 7 because of the Smoke [10.3.4]; if a Wall existed on the M8/N8 hexside, the LOS would then be blocked [10.1, grey paragraph].
J – Pfeiffer can see Wehling. Any Fire between the two hexes would suffer a -7 modifier caused by the Smoke Hindrance; and not -9 for the Smoke and the Orchard [10.3.3].

11. Weapons

11.1 Effects

Like units, Weapons have an FP and a Range – sometimes boxed – and possibly a negative modifier (in bold red, as in the example) for the Movement of the unit carrying them. When a unit is activated [O14.1], any Weapon it carries is activated with it. Only a unit that is neither Demoralised nor Suppressed [13] may fire with its Weapons, and it may do so separately or by forming a Fire Group [O20.3.1].

11.2 Transport

Each unit may "carry" only one Weapon; this is represented by physically placing the Weapon on the unit. Any Weapon acquired through the Support OB table of that nation must be given to the unit indicated with the Weapon.

11.3 Elimination & Transfer

A Weapon may be transferred to another unit by spending 1 MP during a Movement Order [O21.1.1].

A Weapon may be voluntarily eliminated at any time by its owner.

If a unit with a Weapon is eliminated or leaves the map, the Weapon leaves with it. A Weapon carried by a Squad that Deploys [E52] is given to one of the two Teams replacing it.

11.4 Broken Weapons

When a Weapon breaks down, it is turned over onto its "broken" side. A broken Weapon that breaks down again is eliminated.

When a player determines a Random Hex [1.8] – because of a Sniper! or certain Events – the number of the hex is compared with that of each broken Weapon in play. This happens before applying the result of the Event/Sniper.

If the number is within the "Repair" (Fix) result range of the Weapon, then it is turned over onto its normal side, and may be used immediately.
If the number is within the "Elim" results range, then it is eliminated and placed in the "Weapon" box of the Casualty Track.
Otherwise the Weapon remains broken.

11.5 Artillery

Certain Weapons – those with a white bar underlining their characteristics – are called "Artillery". Artillery:

must first ensure it hits via Targeting before it can make an Attack Roll [O20.2];
cannot take part in a Fire Group [O20.3.1];
cannot be used for Opportunity Fire [A33].

11.6 Specialised Weapons

A Flamethrower or a Molotov Cocktail automatically reduces the Cover of the target [T78.3] to "0", with no modification possible.

An Explosive Charge or a Molotov Cocktail is a single-use Weapon and must be eliminated after making its Attack Roll [O20.3].

12. Radios

Radios are markers representing off-map artillery batteries. They have an FP between 8 and 13. If a player obtains a Radio, it is placed in the Artillery Box nearest to him (in one of the corners of the map). Each player may only have one Radio in play at any time. A Radio is not a Weapon. See O17 and O18 for their use (printed "018").

13. Suppression

13.1 Placement

A Suppressed marker may be placed on a unit via Take Cover [E51], Interdiction [E60], or an Event of Suppressing Fire [E75], or in the case of a "tie" on a Defence roll [O20.3.4], a Rally [O22.3] or a Rout [O23.2].

13.2 Effects

A unit with a Suppressed marker sees its FP, Range, Movement and Morale reduced by 1. Its Command is not affected.

Weapons cannot be Suppressed, but a Suppressed unit cannot use any Weapon in its possession.

Grey box: The indicator "Ø Wpn -1" at the top left of Suppressed markers is there as a memory aid.

13.3 Removal

A Suppressed marker may only be removed from a unit at the start of a Recover Order, or if the unit is eliminated or leaves the map. A Suppressed Squad that Deploys [E52] transfers its Suppressed status to only one of the two Teams replacing it.

Orders (O14)

"Do or do not. There is no try." —Yoda

O14. General Rules

014.1 Activation—To execute – or "give" – an Order, the active player (only) must play a card from his hand and announce that he is executing the Order shown at the top of the card. The card is then placed in his discard pile. Then, if that particular Order "activates" something, he activates a friendly unit or a player (depending on the Order) that has not yet been activated during this Turn in order to execute the Order. If a Leader is activated in this way, then all, some or none of the friendly non-Leader units present within his Command Radius [3.3.1.1] may in turn be activated by that Leader to execute the same Order – none of these units may have been already activated during this Turn. All units activated for an Order must be clearly identified before it is executed.

IMPORTANT—An Order cannot be given without playing a Destiny card from one's hand, and the Order must be the one shown on the card.

014.2—An announced Order must be fully resolved before giving another Order or before the player announces the end of his Turn. This includes any Action requiring that Order to be in progress.

Grey box: You may not activate two units to make a Movement, move one, play a Rout Order on your opponent to clear an enemy unit, then move the other unit.

014.3—Players may announce any number of Actions during an Order, provided the conditions for applying these Actions are met. Any number of Events may also occur at random during an Order.

Grey box: If you activate a Leader and a Squad for a Movement, the Squad may move first and play one or more Smoke Grenade Actions before the Leader begins his Movement.

O14.4—When an Order is given, at least one of the units activated for that Order must physically carry it out.

Grey box: If a Movement Order is given, at least one unit activated must physically enter a new hex – you may not give a Movement Order for the sole purpose of playing an Action of Assault Fire, for example.

O15. Pass (Discard)

If a player chooses not to give an Order during his Turn, he may discard as many cards as he wishes, depending on the Discard Capability of his nationality (indicated on the player aids).

Grey box: The different Orders are explained in detail below.

NdT (translator's note): To respect the order of the original rules, and therefore the English alphabetical order, the Orders are given first with their English name, followed by the translation (if needed) in brackets.

O16. Advance (Progression)

"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat; excellent situation. I shall attack." —Ferdinand Foch

O16.1 Procedure

A unit activated to Advance may enter any of the six hexes adjacent to the one it occupies and must stop there. This may be done even if the hex is occupied by the enemy.

Grey box: This is the best way to engage a Melee against enemy units.

During an Advance, MP and the Movement Cost of terrain are ignored. In addition, the inactive player may not use Opportunity Fire [A33] against units Advancing.

Grey box: You may only advance one hex, but you are immune to Fire.

O16.2 Capabilities

A unit that Advances may:

enter a hex occupied by the enemy;
exit the map across the enemy's edge;
cross a Cliff hexside [T83] if it does not carry a Weapon.

O16.3 Restrictions

A unit that Advances may not:

enter an impassable hex [T79, T98];
enter or leave a Main Bridge hex [T80.1] except through its Road/Rail hexsides;
exit the map across the left, right or friendly edge.

O16.4 Melee

"The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility." —John Arbuthnot Fisher

At the end of an Order or of a trigger which results in units of both sides occupying a hex, a Melee takes place in that hex. If several hexes contain a Melee, the active player chooses the order in which they are resolved, one after the other.

O16.4.1 Melee Strength—After both players have played and resolved any Ambush Actions [A25], each player adds the FP of the units remaining – but not Weapons – in the Melee hex, then adds +1 for each unit whose FP is boxed, to obtain its "Melee FP".

If because of Ambush Actions one side (or both) no longer has a unit in that hex, the Melee ends with no further effect.

O16.4.2 Melee Roll—The inactive player makes a die roll and adds the result to his Melee FP to obtain his "Melee Total". Then the active player makes a die roll and adds the result to his Melee FP to obtain his "Melee Total".

Grey box: The rolls – although apparently simultaneous – are staggered in order to facilitate the resolution of any triggers, as well as the use of the Initiative card after each roll.

Grey box: If because of a trigger during a Melee Roll one side (or both) no longer has a unit in the hex, the Melee ends with no further effect.

O16.4.3 Melee Result—The side that obtained the lower Melee Total has all of its units which took part in the Melee eliminated. In case of a tie, both sides are eliminated unless one of the players began the Melee in a Bunker [F101] or a Pillbox [F104]: in that case only the other side is eliminated.

Grey box: It can sometimes be advantageous to overstack in a Melee situation in order to improve your chances of winning it (or as insurance against Ambushes™), even if you are likely to lose one or more of the overstacked units at the end of the Turn.

O17. Artillery Denied (Artillerie Refusée)

"Beagle calling Doghouse, come in Doghouse. Beagle calling Doghouse, come in Doghouse. Doghouse, this is Beagle, do you read me? Answer, please!" —Lieutenant Foley

When an Artillery Denied Order is given, the player simply breaks down the opponent's Radio [12] (turns the marker over). If the Radio was already broken down, it is eliminated. An eliminated Radio is always set aside instead of being placed on the Casualty Track.

Nothing is activated during an Artillery Denied Order; nevertheless there must be an enemy Radio in play for this Order to be announced.

Grey box: Remember that a Radio does not "break down" like other Weapons – an eliminated or broken Radio most probably represents the battery commander, far behind the lines, refusing to support your battle at this precise moment: other sectors of the front (off-map) may have more pressing needs, and so their missions of fire were carried out before yours.

O18. Artillery Request (Demande d'Artillerie)

"Artillerymen believe the world is divided into two categories: other artillerymen and targets." —unknown

When an Artillery Request Order is given, the player must choose between making an "Access to the Battery" or an "Effect Fire". Access to the Battery may only be chosen if he has a broken Radio [12] in play. Effect Fire may only be chosen if he has a Radio in good condition in play and a non-Demoralised Leader in play who has not yet been activated during the game. If none of these conditions exists, the Order cannot be given.

O18.1 Access to the Battery

If Access to the Battery is chosen, the active player simply "repairs" his broken Radio by turning the marker over onto its normal side, ready to be used immediately.

Grey box: As with the Artillery Denied Action, nothing is activated when this option is chosen – the active player simply needs to have a broken Radio in play. This means that if the active player has a second Artillery Request card in hand, he may use it for his next Order and choose an Effect Fire.

O18.2 Effect Fire (Tir Pour Effet)

If Effect Fire is chosen, the active player activates one of his non-Demoralised Leaders (only). This Leader will act as an "Observer" for the coming bombardment. The active player then resolves the following three steps, in the order indicated:

Spotting;
Accuracy;
Impact.

Each step is explained in detail below.

Grey box: An Artillery Request represents a Leader asking for an "Effect Fire" in order to bombard several hexes. It is considered that the Radio operator spends his time between the questions asked by the artillerymen, the spotting and the correction of the spotting rounds.

O18.2.1 Spotting—First place the Spotting Round (SR) in any hex within the LOS of the Observer: this indicates the hex which will potentially be the centre of the artillery bombardment. This hex may be an impassable hex (such as a Blaze or a Wet Terrain).

O18.2.1.1 Smoke Shells—Most Radios are capable of placing Smoke in the targeted hexes instead of making Impact rolls against them. This capability is only available for Radios with the word "smoke" to the right of the Radio's drawing. If the active player wishes to place Smoke, he must announce his decision aloud now, before making his Accuracy attempt.

O18.2.2 Accuracy—Once the SR has been placed, make a normal Targeting roll [O20.2.3] using the range between the Observer and the SR's hex. This roll is modified by any Hindrance in the LOS, as usual [10.3.1].

O18.2.2.1 Direct Hit—If the Targeting roll succeeds in hitting, the Artillery is accurate: draw the top card of the deck and ignore everything on it apart from the two dice (this is NOT a die roll, so ignore the triggers). Using the compass printed on the map, each die gives the direction of movement of the SR: the SR moves one hex in the direction given by the white die, then one hex in the direction given by the red die.

Grey box: Yes, this may bring the SR back to its original hex – nice shot!

O18.2.2.2 Failure—If the Targeting roll is "missed", the Artillery is not accurate: draw the top card of the deck and ignore everything on it apart from the two dice (this is NOT a die roll, so ignore the triggers). Using the compass printed on the map, the first die (the white one) gives the error direction of the SR and the second die (the red one) gives the number of hexes the SR must move in the direction obtained.

Grey box: Yes, this may bring the SR onto your own troops – that is bad!

O18.2.2.3 Off-Map—Any SR that leaves the map – even briefly – is removed from play without further effect and the Order ends. And, because of the 7-hex blast area (see below), an SR may occupy an impassable hex (such as a Blaze or a Wet Terrain).

O18.2.3 Impact—The hex in which the SR ends its course becomes the central hex of the artillery impact of the activated Radio; in other words, the SR's hex and each hex adjacent to it will be affected. The active player determines the order in which the seven hexes are attacked; however, there may only be one Impact roll per hex.

O18.2.3.1 Smoke Barrage—If during the Spotting step the active player announced "Smoke" instead of a normal artillery barrage, he simply places seven Smoke markers drawn at random on the map – one in the hex occupied by the SR and one in each adjacent hex. This ends the Order: remove the SR from the map.

O18.2.3.2 Artillery Barrage—If it was not a Smoke barrage, then each hex in the impact area that contains at least one unit or Fortification must undergo an Artillery Impact roll individually. Hexes located in the blast area but which contain neither a unit nor a Fortification cannot be attacked.

An Artillery Impact roll follows the same rules and restrictions as a Fire roll [O20.3.3 and O20.3.4] but, as Radios are not Weapons, a "Jammed!" trigger will not break down the Radio.

O18.2.3.3 Against Fortifications—The Artillery box on the Track Display gives a "Fortification Vulnerability" value for the FP of each Radio. If an Artillery Impact roll is equal to the Fortification Vulnerability value associated with the FP of this Radio, then any Fortification in the target hex is destroyed before the units in it make their Defence roll.

Grey box: Note also that most Fortifications (Foxholes, for example) have a Cover modifier of +1 when targeted by artillery.

O19. Command Confusion (Problèmes de Commandement)

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." —Napoleon Bonaparte

This card cannot be played as an Order. It is a "dead" card in your hand – all you can do is hope to have a decent Action on this card.

Fire (O20)

O20.1 Potential Targets

For a Fire Order to be given, at least one of the activated units (or its Weapon) must have an enemy unit in its LOS and in Range.

Grey box: You may activate a Leader A to fire, who in turn activates Squad B. This is legal if Squad B is the only one of the two to have an enemy unit in its LOS and in Range. You may also activate a Team with a Range of 2 to fire even if the nearest enemy unit is three or more hexes away, if that Team carries a Weapon capable of firing at that enemy unit.

O20.2 Artillery & Targeting

All Artillery Weapons [11.5] must first ensure that they hit the target hex before being able to make a Fire roll against it. All other Weapons – and all units – do not need to make a Targeting roll and go directly to the next step [O20.3] when they fire.

In general, the distance between the Artillery and the target hex is determined, then a Targeting roll is made to see whether the Weapon hit; if it did, a Fire roll [O20.3.3] is made using the FP of the Weapon.

Grey box: And do not forget that the characteristics within a white bar are never modified by the Command value of a friendly Leader [3.3.1.3].

O20.2.1 Smoke Shells

Certain Weapons may place a Smoke marker in the target hex (indicated by the word "smoke" to the right of the Weapon's illustration) instead of making a normal Fire roll. Artillery may take as its target any hex in Range – even if the hex contains no enemy unit – if it wishes to place Smoke. The active player must declare this decision aloud when he chooses the target hex, before making the Targeting roll.

If a Smoke placement is announced, then a successful Targeting roll will place a Smoke marker drawn at random in the target hex, instead of using the FP of the Weapon to make a Fire roll.

O20.2.2 Targeting Range

Determine the range by counting the number of hexes from the firing unit to the target hex – including the target hex and excluding the firer's hex. If this range is greater than the Range printed on the Weapon, the fire cannot be carried out.

Grey box: Note that Mortars also have a minimum range from which they may fire. For example, the Russian Light Mortar has a Range of "2-14", so it cannot fire into an adjacent hex.

O20.2.3 Targeting Roll

"Nothing in life is quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." —Winston Churchill

Once the range is determined, the active player must make a die roll – but multiplying the two dice rather than adding them as for other rolls – the result of which must be strictly greater than the range in order to be sure of hitting the target hex. Any other result is a failure, and the attack is cancelled with no further effect.

Grey box: Thus a Targeting roll of 1•6 (total "6") will fail at a range of 6 or more, and will hit at a range of 5 or less. A Targeting roll of 6•6 gives "36" and will hit anything, whereas a roll of 1•1 gives "1" and will always fail.

Targeting & Hindrances—Targeting rolls are always modified by the Hindrance applicable in the LOS [10.3.1].

Grey box: Artillery firing at a target 5 hexes away with one or more intervening Brush hexes (Hindrance -3) will need a roll of 9 or more to hit instead of 6+.

O20.3 Fire

"It is better to act quickly and be wrong than to hesitate until the moment of action has passed." —Karl von Clausewitz

Each counter activated to Fire may make a fire against any hex in Range and in its LOS, either alone or as part of a Fire Group [O20.3.1]. And, unless it is firing Smoke [O20.2.1], there must be at least one enemy unit in the target hex in order to fire.

IMPORTANT—Units (friendly or enemy) in an intervening hex are not affected by a Fire passing through their hex.

In general, the FP of a unit – modified by the Command and the Hindrances between it and its target – is added to a Fire roll to obtain an "Attack Total". Then, each unit in the affected hex adds its Morale – modified by Command and/or Cover – to a "Defence roll" to obtain a "Defence Total". If the Attack Total is greater than the Defence Total of a unit, then that unit is Demoralised [3.2]. In case of a tie, a target that is moving is Demoralised, whereas a stationary target suffers Suppression [13]. Any other result has no effect.

Grey box: It is by this means that we have made moving a little more dangerous than staying still: if the active player's moving units are fired upon by an Opportunity Fire [A33], then in case of a tie they will be Demoralised rather than suffer Suppression.

O20.3.1 Fire Groups—Two or more activated units/Weapons may fire together by forming a Fire Group. Each element of a Fire Group must have a clear LOS to the target hex and be in Range in order to make the Fire roll. Moreover, if units of a Fire Group occupy several hexes, each hex must be adjacent to at least one of the other hexes (so as to form a "chain" of adjacent units).

O20.3.1.1 Artillery—Weapons with a white bar must always fire alone and can therefore never be part of a Fire Group.

Grey box: Fire Groups are never compulsory – the elements that could form a Fire Group may choose to fire individually or to form several smaller Fire Groups, at the player's choice. A unit and its Weapon may even fire separately; in the same hex or in different hexes.

O20.3.1.2 FP of the Group—The total FP of a Fire Group is X+Y, where X is the FP of one of the elements of the Group and Y is the number of the other elements that fire [see "C" in the Attack example on the next page].

O20.3.2 Hindrances to Attack—If the LOS of any non-Artillery element is hindered [10.3], then the FP of the fire is reduced by the greatest Hindrance. If this reduces the final FP of the attack to zero or less, the fire cannot be carried out; however, the element(s) may still attempt a different fire with a lower (or no) Hindrance.

Grey box: Do not forget that Actions such as Crossfire [A30] or Weapon Proficiency (Marksmanship) [A37] may increase the strength of a Fire to a value above 0, thereby allowing a hindered fire to still be made.

O20.3.3 Fire Roll—Once the final FP is determined, the firer makes a die roll and adds the result to his final FP to obtain an "Attack Total".

O20.3.3.1 Jammed! Trigger—If there is a Jammed! trigger during a Fire roll, then all Weapons that fire break down. This does not cancel the attack nor reduce its effectiveness (apart from the fact that Jammed! triggers occur on extremely low rolls…).

O20.3.4 Defence Roll—A player must make a Defence roll – one at a time, in the order he wishes – for each of his units which are in a hex at the moment a Fire has been directed against it. All the Defence rolls for an attack must be made before announcing the next attack, even if it is the same hex which will be targeted.

Grey box: As a Demoralised Leader has a Command of 0, you will generally make the Defence roll of the Leader last (in case he is Demoralised) so that the other units in the hex can benefit from the Morale bonus of his Command.

The Morale of a target unit – modified by Cover [T78.3] and Command [3.3.1.2] – is added to a die roll to obtain a "Defence Total":

If the Defence Total is less than the Attack Total, the unit is Demoralised [3.2].
If the Defence Total is equal to the Attack Total, the unit is Suppressed [13] unless it is currently activated for a Movement [O21] – in which case it is Demoralised instead of being Suppressed.
If the Defence Total is greater than the Attack Total, then the unit is not affected.

Examples of Fire (Exemples de Tirs)

A – The Axis player announces a Fire Order by activating Sgt. Grein in K8. Grein then activates the Team and four Squads within his Command Radius. Weapons are "activated" together with the units which control them [11.1]. Grein cannot activate Lt. Bolter [3.3.1.1].
B – The Light MG in K8 cannot fire because it is carried by a Demoralised unit [11.1]. However, the Demoralised Squad may fire at a distance of 3 hexes, thanks to Grein's Command [3.3.1.2].
C – A Fire Group is formed [O20.3.1] to fire at hex M6, which contains a US Squad. The German player decides to use the Squad in L8 as the base (FP 6 thanks to Bolter's Command). To this is added +1 for each of the Squads in K8, J7 and J6, and for the LMG in J6 [O20.3.1.2]. Grein does not have a sufficient Range to reach the target hex himself, and the Mortar, as Artillery, cannot take part in a Fire Group. Finally, +1 is added again because at least one unit is firing towards a lower elevation [T88.2], for a final FP of 11. To this is added the result of a Fire roll [O20.3.3] of 4•1, for an Attack Total of 16 (place the Attack Total marker in any space of the Victory Counter showing the value "16").
D – The US Squad in the target hex must now make a Defence roll [O20.3.4] against an Attack Total of 16. Its Morale is 5 (base 6; -1 for the Open Terrain Cover with a Road [T93]). To this is added a Defence roll of 6•4, giving a Defence Total of 15: a good roll, but not sufficient to exceed the Axis total, so the American Squad is Demoralised [O20.3.4, first point].
E – The Axis player then chooses to have the HMG fire alone, again firing at the same hex containing the US Squad (now Demoralised). The MG has an FP of 9 (8; +1 thanks to Bolter's Command). The Axis player plays a Sustained Fire Action [A41] for +2 FP, then another [A24.1] for +2 additional FP. To this is added the result of a Fire roll of 1•6 – Event! for an Attack Total of 20, which is indicated by placing the Attack Total marker in a "20" space of the Victory Counter.
F – The game is now suspended to resolve the Event [1.9.1.1]: the Axis player draws a card from his deck and obtains the Event Interdiction [E60], which allows him to place a Suppressed marker [13] on the Squad at which he is firing!

O21. Move (Mouvement)

"Führer, we are on the march! Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today!" —Benito Mussolini

The units activated for Movement may move from hex to hex across the map, spending MP upon entering each new hex. A unit may spend as many MP as its current Movement value during a Movement Order, which may be modified by Command [3.3.1.2] or by entering a Road hex [T93], among other things.

O21.1 Movement Costs

Each terrain type has a "Movement Cost". In order to enter an adjacent hex during a Movement Order, an activated unit must spend a number of MP equal to the Movement Cost of the terrain in that hex. There may be an additional cost if the unit crosses certain hexsides (such as a Wall, for example) or if it moves to a higher elevation.

IMPORTANT: A unit may not enter a hex if it does not have enough MP to pay the total cost of entering that hex.

Grey box: Units which do not have enough MP even to move one hex – perhaps because they are Demoralised or carry a heavy Weapon – must wait for an Advance Order (or a Rout!) in order to enter it.

O21.1.1 Weapon Transfer—At any time during a Movement Order, an activated unit may transfer its Weapon to a friendly unit stacked with it for a cost of 1 MP. The unit receiving the Weapon does not need to be activated for the Movement, but it must not already have a Weapon in its possession.

O21.2 Group Movement

The Movement of one unit must be completely finished before another activated unit may move. The only exception is that activated units which begin a Movement Order in the same hex may move as a group, provided they remain together for the whole duration of the Movement Order.

Grey box: Consequently these units will always end their movement in the same hex, and it is the unit with the lowest modified Movement value which will determine how far the group can move. If one of the units becomes Demoralised en route, it will cause the whole group to stop immediately.

O21.3 Opportunity Fire and Movement

The inactive player may use Opportunity Fire [A33] against the units moving of the active player each time they enter a new hex.

Grey box: See the Opportunity Fire example, page 19.

O21.4 Movement Restrictions

A unit that moves may never:

enter a hex occupied by the enemy;
enter an impassable hex [T79; T98];
cross a Cliff hexside [T83];
enter or leave a Main Bridge hex [T80.1] except through a Road/Rail hexside;
exit the map across the left, right or friendly edge.

Grey box: However, exiting a unit across the enemy edge earns VPs [7.2.1].

O21.5 Etiquette

Each time the active player moves a unit or a group of units into a new hex, he should clearly announce the cumulative MP expenditure so far, then pause for a second or two. This gives the inactive player a moment to decide whether he announces an Opportunity Fire into that hex (or, if he is the Defender, to play a Mines [A35.2] or Wire [A35.5] Action).

In addition, it is the responsibility of the inactive player to pay attention and to say "stop!" when he may have an Action to play or a Fire to make in response to the active player's Movement.

Grey box: The moving player could get into the habit of asking "Actions?" after each entry into a new hex; or of making a brief pause with eye contact with his opponent.

O21.6 Activities & Movement

After each expenditure of MP, the inactive player must play all the Actions he wishes to before the active player may begin to play any.

Grey box: So if the moving player wishes to play a "Smoke Grenades" or "Assault Fire" Action after entering a new hex, the inactive player will still be allowed to play a "Mines" or "Wire" Action first, and/or to make an Opportunity Fire into that hex.

O22. Recover (Récupération)

"I do not measure the success of a man by the height to which he bounces when he falls on his backside." —George S. Patton

O22.1 Activation

When a Recover Order is announced, the player chooses to "activate" himself, provided he has at least one Demoralised and/or Suppressed unit in play and he has not already been activated for a Rout Order [O23] earlier during the same Turn.

IMPORTANT—Demoralised/Suppressed units are not activated during a Recover Order: only the player himself is.

Grey box: It is therefore not possible to play more than one Recover Order per player Turn, as the player will already have been activated. Moreover, a unit affected by a Recover Order may be activated during the player's next Order, or vice versa.

O22.2 Recovery Procedure

First, the player making the Recover Order removes all "Suppressed" markers from his friendly units. Then he makes a Rally roll for each friendly unit that was Demoralised at the moment the Order was announced.

Grey box: Units which become Demoralised because of Events during a Recover Order may not make a Rally roll.

If the active player has more than one Demoralised unit, he chooses the order in which the units are affected.

O22.3 Rally Roll

A Rally roll may have one of three effects on a Demoralised unit:

if the roll is less than its Morale, it is Rallied [3.2.5];
if the roll is equal to its Morale, it is Suppressed [13] and remains Demoralised;
if the roll is greater than its Morale, there is no effect and the unit simply remains Demoralised.

Grey box: So for a unit with a Morale of 7 – having already taken into account any Command and/or Cover modifier – a roll of 5 will Rally it; a roll of 7 will result in Suppression; and a roll of 9 will have no effect.

Grey box: As a rule, you will make the roll for your Leaders first, because if they Rally, their Command will facilitate the Rallying of other Demoralised units in the same hex.

O23. Rout (Déroute)

"They have us surrounded again, the sorry bastards." —Creighton W. Abrams

O23.1 Activation

When a Rout Order is announced, the player chooses one player to "activate" (himself or his opponent), provided the chosen player has at least one Demoralised unit in play [3.2] and that player has not already been activated for a Recover Order [O22] or Rout Order earlier during the Turn.

IMPORTANT—Demoralised units are not activated during a Rout Order: only the player is.

Grey box: There may therefore be no more than two Rout Orders per Turn – one per player. Moreover, a friendly unit which has just made a Rout roll may be activated during the player's next Order, or vice versa.

O23.2 Rout Roll

The active player – that is, the player who announced the Order – makes a roll for each unit belonging to the chosen player which was Demoralised at the moment the Order was announced.

Grey box: Units which are Demoralised because of Events during a Rout Order may not make a Rout roll.

If the chosen player has several Demoralised units, the active player chooses the order in which the units are affected.

A Rout roll may have one of these three effects on a Demoralised unit:

if the roll is less than its Morale, there is no effect and the unit remains where it is;
if the roll is equal to its Morale, it becomes Suppressed [13] if it was not already;
if the roll is greater than its Morale, it must "Retreat" a number of hexes equal to the difference between the roll and its Morale.

Grey box: So for a unit with a Morale of 7 – having taken into account any Command and/or Cover modifiers – a Rout roll of 9 means a Retreat of two hexes; a roll of 7 results in Suppression; and a roll of 5 will have no effect.

O23.3 Retreat

When a Rout roll is greater than the Morale of a Demoralised unit, it must Retreat a number of hexes equal to the difference between the roll and the Morale. A player always Retreats his own units, even if it was the opponent who gave the Rout Order. Each hex of the Retreat must be closer to the friendly map edge of the player controlling the unit than the hex it has just left (in other words, there must be fewer intervening hexes between the unit and the friendly map edge in the hex it must enter than in the hex it is leaving). If it is already adjacent to its friendly map edge, it is eliminated (because of the off-map retreat).

O23.3.1 Terrain—MP are not counted during a Retreat, so all Terrain Costs are ignored.

O23.3.2 Opportunity Fire—It is forbidden to make an Opportunity Fire against units which are Retreating.

O23.3.3 Wire—A Retreat is allowed in and out of Wire without having to stop there.

O23.3.4 Mines—Mines normally attack units which are Retreating, both when they enter and/or when they leave a hex containing a Mines marker.

O23.3.5 Elimination—A unit which is Retreating is immediately eliminated if it is forced to Retreat:

off the map across its friendly edge;
into a hex occupied by the enemy (it surrenders);
into an impassable hex [T79; T98];
across a Cliff hexside [T83].

Actions (A24)

"There are no absolute rules of conduct, either in peace or in war. Everything depends on circumstances." —Leon Trotsky

A24. General Rules

A24.1—Actions may be announced by any player at any time by playing a card from his hand, provided the conditions for use of that Action are met. Several Actions may be made in response to the same game situation. All the effects of Actions played consecutively are cumulative.

A24.2 Sequence—If both players wish to make one or more Actions (including Opportunity Fire) at the same time, the inactive player must make his Actions first, before the active player may begin to play his Actions.

A24.3 Activation—Actions which affect units do not activate those units as an Order would. The only exception concerns Opportunity Fire [A33]. Conversely, a unit which has already been activated by an Order/Action of Opportunity Fire may be the target of any number of Actions (other than Opportunity Fire).

Grey box: Apart from A33 Opportunity Fire, the following rules for the individual Actions [A25–A41] do not need to be read and memorised the first time you read the Actions: the Actions explain themselves with the indications on the card. This section may therefore reasonably be ignored until you need clarification during a game. The Actions are given in alphabetical order (following their English names) so that they are easy to find.

A25. Ambush (Embuscade)

"Mystify, deceive and surprise the enemy as much as possible." —Thomas J. Jackson

An Ambush may only be played before the dice are rolled for a Melee. The inactive player must play all the Ambushes he wishes to before the active player may begin to play his first Ambush.

Effect—The opponent must choose one of his units which takes part in the Melee and make it Demoralised [3.2].

IMPORTANT—All the effects of Ambushes are resolved before calculating the Melee FP.

Grey box: Note that both players may announce Ambush Actions. Note also that it is possible for both sides to be entirely eliminated because of an Ambush, even before the Melee rolls are made.

A26. Assault Fire (Tir d'Assaut)

"In a single combat, the winner is the one with the most bullets in his magazine." —Erwin Rommel

An Assault Fire may only be played if at least one of the units activated for a Movement (or its Weapon) has:

its FP boxed, and
an enemy unit in its LOS and in Range to fire at.

Effect—Each Assault Fire Action allows one single Fire. This Fire may form a Fire Group using all the units and/or their Weapons whose FP is boxed. The Fire must respect all the normal rules and restrictions concerning a regular Fire, as if it were made with a Fire Order [O20].

Grey box: Note that you may announce an Assault Fire Action before, during or after a Movement has physically taken place – the firing counters only need to have been activated for a Movement in order to use this Action.

A27. Bore Sighting (Pré-réglage)

Bore Sighting may only be played by the scenario's Defender – never by a player who is Attacking or on Reconnaissance – and just before making a Fire roll involving a Weapon whose printed FP is at least "5" (before modifications).

Effect—Increase the FP of the Fire by +2.

A28. Command Confusion (Problèmes de Commandement)

This card cannot be played as an Action.

Grey box: Let us hope you have a decent Order on this card.

A29. Concealment (Dissimulation)

Concealment may only be played before making a Defence roll.

Effect—Determine the Cover of the target hex and reduce the Attack Total by this value. If the firing player uses a Burst Fire [A40], the Cover of one of the target hexes is used. All Cover modifiers – such as Roads [T93] or a Mortar attacking units in Foxholes [F102] – are taken into account before the reduction.

Grey box: Yes, Concealment is used after the target player has seen the Attack Total. Perhaps the shooter only thought he saw muzzle flashes between those trees…

A30. Crossfire (Tir Croisé)

Crossfire may only be used before making a Fire roll, and only against one or more units Moving [O21].

Effect—Increase the FP of the attack by +2.

A31. Demolition (Démolition)

Demolition may only be played when the opponent discards one or more cards when he "passes" [O15].

Grey box: An involuntary discard caused by an Event [E57 and E61] does not count.

Effect—Eliminate a Fortification in any hex containing a friendly unit.

A32. Dig In (S'Enterrer)

Dig In may only be played at the end of an Advancement of the Time Marker [6.1.2].

Effect—Place a Foxholes marker [F102] in a hex containing a friendly unit. The hex may not be Wet Terrain, and must not already contain a Blaze marker or any other Fortification of whatever type.

A33. Fire (Tir d'Opportunité)

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." —Heinz Guderian

A33.1 Conditions—A Fire Action may only be played during an opponent's Movement Order, and only after the expenditure of one or more MP when a unit enters a new hex. This type of reaction fire is called "Opportunity Fire".

Grey box: Note that Fire Actions are shown at the top of a Destiny card, in the same position as a Fire Order. To help you remember this dual capacity, the word "Fire" when it appears at the top of a Destiny card will always be preceded by the words "Order/Action".

A33.2 Opportunity Fire Procedure—In general, when the active player makes a Movement Order, he should announce aloud the cumulative MP expenditure of his units each time they enter a hex. Each time such an expenditure is made, the inactive player may say "wait!" and temporarily stop the movement. If he does so, he may choose one or both of these two possibilities:

play a Fire Action from his hand and activate one or more units to fire into that hex (exactly as if he were activating units for a Fire Order [O14.1 & O20.1]); and/or
make a Fire against that hex with any of his units which have been activated for an Opportunity Fire at any time during the same Movement Order.

When such a Fire is finished – or if the opportunity is declined ("forget it, keep moving") – the active player may continue his Movement Order.

A33.3 Exceptions for Opportunity Fire—Units (and their Weapons) which are activated for an Opportunity Fire follow all the normal rules of a Fire Order [O20], with three important exceptions:

An Artillery Weapon [11.5] may not make an Opportunity Fire (although the unit possessing it may fire normally).
They are not limited to a single fire, and therefore remain activated and entitled to fire at Moving targets for the whole duration of this Movement Order (only).
The inactive player may not make more than one Fire per MP expenditure of the active player.

Grey box: Note that the units are activated for the Opportunity Fire, so they cannot be activated again for another Opportunity Fire during the same Turn if the active player announces another Movement Order.

Grey box: A unit which enters a Stream spends 3 MP to do so, but this is only one expenditure (although an important one). So entering a hex – whatever its cost – is always a single expenditure of X MP and can therefore only provoke one Opportunity Fire. If another unit enters that Stream hex later during the same Movement Order, it may be the target of another Opportunity Fire – even from a unit which has already made an Opportunity Fire.

Example of Movement/Opportunity Fire (Exemple de Mouvement/Tir d'Opportunité)

A – The Axis player announces a Movement Order by activating the German Squad in L8. He moves it into K8 and announces "two" (1 MP for Open Terrain; +1 to climb the hill [T88.1]).
B – The Allied player has a Fire card with "Order/Action" [printed "Odre"] in his hand, but he assumes (rightly) that the LOS to K8 is blocked by the Crest Line in K7 [T88.3.2], so he declines the Opportunity Fire [A33]. "Continue."
C – The Axis player plays a Smoke Grenades Action [A39] and announces that he places it in hex K7. He draws at random a Smoke marker "4" and places it in the hex.
D – The Axis player announces "three" (1 MP for Open Terrain; +2 already spent) while continuing the movement of the Squad into K7.
E – The Allied player says "wait!" and plays a Fire Action [A33.1] from his hand, activating the American Squad in L5. Unfortunately, its FP to fire into K7 is only 1 (6; -1 for firing uphill; -4 Smoke). This FP is added to a 6•5 roll for an Attack Total of 12. The fire affects both units in the target hex [O20.3.4], not only the moving unit. The Axis player makes a Defence roll for the Squad with a Morale of 8 (7; +1 for Biermann's Command), and gets a 6•2; then the Leader with a Morale of 8 gets 1•5; the two units suffer nothing and there is no trigger.
F – The Squad's Movement value is now 5 thanks to Biermann's Command [3.3.1.2], so the Axis player announces "five" to enter K6 (2 MP for the Wood; +3 already spent).
G – The Allied player says "wait" and immediately declares another fire with his Line Squad [A33.3] in K6, adding two Grenade Actions [A34] from his hand. This gives him a total FP of 9 (6; +4 Grenades; -1 Firing uphill). He makes a roll of 1•3 for an Attack Total of 13. The Squad adds its Morale of 9 (7; +2 Wood) to a roll of 6•3 and succeeds easily.
H – After leaving Biermann's hex, the Movement value of the Squad returns to 4, and as it has already spent 5 MP, it has now finished its Turn, unless it can make other Actions.

NOTE: If a second Movement Order were then announced by the Axis player by activating Sergeant Biermann, the American Squad in L5 could not fire at him [see A33.2, second point, and the first grey paragraph of A33.3].

A34. Hand Grenades (Grenades)

"Mr. Grenade is your friend." —Lt. Dave Farrow, 82nd Airborne

Hand Grenades may only be played before making a Fire roll, and only if at least one of the firers is in a hex adjacent to the target.

Grey box: In the case of a multi-hex Fire Group, only one of those hexes needs to be adjacent to the target hex.

Effect—Increase the FP of the attack by +2.

A35. Hidden (name) / Caché (nom)

"War brings strange, sometimes ridiculous, situations." —Dwight D. Eisenhower

IMPORTANT—The five following "Hidden" Actions may only be played by the scenario's Defender – never by a player who is Attacking or on Reconnaissance.

A35.1 Hidden Entrenchments (Retranchements Cachés)

Hidden Entrenchments may only be placed before the scenario's Defender makes a Defence roll. The hex affected by the attack may not be a Building or Wet hex, nor already contain any other Fortification.

Effect—Place a Foxholes marker [F102] in this hex.

A35.2 Hidden Mines (Mines Cachées)

Hidden Mines may only be played by the scenario's Defender after one or more units have made a Movement or an Advance (not a Retreat) into a hex. This hex may not be Wet Terrain nor already contain any Fortification.

Effect—Place a Mines marker [F103] in this hex. The Defender then makes a Mines Attack [F103.2] against each of the units Moving/Advancing.

Grey box: Any unit which was already present in the hex is immune to the initial minefield attack.

A35.3 Hidden Pillbox (Casemate Cachée)

Hidden Pillboxes may only be played before the scenario's Defender makes a Defence roll for an attack against an Objective hex, and only if the Pillbox is not already in play. The target hex may not be Wet Terrain nor already contain any Fortification.

Effect—Place the Pillbox marker [F104] in this hex.

A35.4 Hidden Unit (Unité Cachée)

The Hidden Unit Action may only be played when the opponent discards one or more cards by "passing" [O15].

Grey box: An involuntary discard caused by an Event [E57 and E61] does not count.

Effect—The scenario's Defender follows the steps in the order indicated:

Make a roll on the Support OB table of his nation;
In the column corresponding to the roll, choose one element which is not a Radio – free of charge – available for the scenario's year.
Place the chosen unit (with its Weapon, if any) in any hex which is: in its original set-up zone; containing no unit of either side; and with a Cover of at least 1.

A35.5 Hidden Wire (Barbelés Cachés)

"!*@&#^$% of wire" —anonymous playtester

Hidden Wire may only be played by the scenario's Defender after one or more units have made a Movement or an Advance (not a Retreat) into a hex. This hex may not be Wet Terrain nor already contain any Fortification.

Effect—Place a Wire marker [F106] in this hex.

Grey box: Note that this will end a unit's Movement, since a unit must spend all of its movement points to leave a Wire hex, and it has already spent at least one to enter it.

A36. Light Wounds (Blessures Légères)

"Doc!" (Toubib!)

Light Wounds may only be played at the moment when a friendly Squad – whether Demoralised or not – should be Demoralised [3.2].

Grey box: Light Wounds may only be used against a Squad which becomes Demoralised, not against a Squad which is directly eliminated – for example by a KIA Event or as a result of a Melee.

Effect—Lose 1 VP. Then, instead of Demoralising this Squad (or instead of eliminating it because it was already Demoralised), return it to the box, and take a Team from the box – of the same quality as the player's OB: Green, Line or Elite – and place it in the hex where the Squad was taken.

If the Squad was Demoralised when it was removed from play, the replacement Team enters play Demoralised too. If there was a Weapon, a Suppressed or a Veteran marker on the Squad, then the replacement Team keeps these markers. Finally, the activation status of the replacement Team is the same as that of the Squad it replaces.

A37. Marksmanship (Affinité avec les Armes)

"Undirected courage is useless in the face of educated bullets." —George S. Patton

Marksmanship may only be played before making a Fire roll. The attack must include at least one Squad or Team of the nationality indicated.

Effect—Increase the FP of the attack by +2.

A38. No Quarter (Pas de Quartier)

"Even pirates raised the black flag before attacking another ship." —General Bela Kiraly

No Quarter may only be played at the end of a Melee by the German player if the opponent is Russian, or by a Russian player, whatever the nationality of the opponent. In addition, No Quarter may only be played if at least one of the units of the player who plays this card has survived the Melee.

Effect—The player gains 2 VP.

A39. Smoke Grenades (Grenades Fumigènes)

Smoke Grenades may only be used by a unit whose Movement is boxed, and must be played when that unit is activated for a Movement.

Effect—Draw a Smoke marker at random and place it in the hex of the unit or in an adjacent hex. This hex may not be Wet Terrain nor already contain a Blaze.

Grey box: And do not forget that two or more Smoke markers may not stack; so after placing a Smoke on a Smoke, only the marker with the highest Hindrance will remain in place.

A40. Spray Fire (Tir en Rafale)

Spray Fire may only be played before making a Fire roll. All the firing elements must have their Range boxed. The two target hexes must:

be in Range of all the firing counters;
be adjacent to each other;
each contain an enemy unit.

For the determination of any intervening Obstacles and Hindrances, the LOS must be checked for all the firing elements toward both target hexes.

Grey box: Note that Spray Fire is not cumulative: it clearly indicates "2 hexes", not "one additional hex".

Effect—The Fire affects the two target hexes simultaneously. Only one Fire roll is made; however, all units in both hexes must make a Defence roll using this Attack Total.

Grey box: You may imagine that the two adjacent hexes form a single large hex with two LOS points, and possibly different Covers affecting the units in defence differently.

A41. Sustained Fire (Tir Soutenu)

Sustained Fire may only be played before making a Fire roll in which at least one Mortar or Machine Gun (MG) fires.

Effect—Increase the FP of the attack by +2. But if the Fire roll is a "double", a Mortar or a Machine Gun which fires must break down (at the choice of the firing player if there is more than one).

Grey box: Be careful – the drawback of Sustained Fire is cumulative with other Sustained Fires and/or with Jammed!, which could cause a Weapon that is already broken down to break down again immediately, thereby eliminating it.

Events (E42)

"Once again, it was a tactical situation beyond my control, but one which had to be accepted because it was there – like all the other unexpected and seemingly impossible situations we faced throughout the campaign, and which we resolved or avoided according to the inspiration of the moment." —Major Robert Crisp, Brazen Chariots

E42. General Rules

Events are never played from a player's hand: they happen according to certain die rolls. When this happens the normal course of the game stops immediately so that the player draws the Destiny card on top of his deck, reads the Event aloud and then follows its instructions.

IMPORTANT—

Ignore any part of an Event which is impossible to carry out given the conditions of play, but apply all the parts that are possible, if any.
When an Event indicates several things to do, they are carried out in the order indicated by the Event itself.
Die Triggers are always ignored when die rolls must be made during an Event.

Grey box: The following rules for the individual Events [E43–E77] do not need to be read the first time you read the rules. Most Events explain themselves by following what is indicated on the card, so this section may easily be ignored until you need clarification during a game.

Grey box: The various Events are described in alphabetical order (of their English names).

E43. Air Support (Soutien Aérien)

"Aeroplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value." —Ferdinand Foch

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]: if that hex contains one or more units, he may choose to Demoralise all of them. If the random hex is empty of units, then the nearest hex which contains one or more units (friendly or enemy) is affected instead: he may Demoralise all the units in it. In case of a tie in distance for the nearest occupied hex, the player who drew the Event chooses the hex affected.

E44. Battle Harden (Aguerri)

"Americans love a fight. All true Americans love the tension of battle." —George S. Patton

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it chooses one of his units without a Veteran marker and places a Veteran marker on it.

E44.1 Veteran Marker

Effects—A unit with a Veteran marker has +1 to its FP, +1 to its Range, +1 to its Movement and +1 to its Morale. Command is not affected by Veteran status.

Cancellation—A Veteran marker remains on a unit until it is eliminated or leaves the map. A Veteran Squad that Deploys [E52] transfers Veteran status to only one of the two Teams replacing it.

E45. Battlefield Integrity (Intégrité sur le Champ de Bataille)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it counts the total number of enemy units on the Casualty Track and then gains that many VPs.

E46. Blaze (Incendie)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]. If this hex is not Wet Terrain and does not already contain a Blaze, place a Blaze marker drawn at random there [10.2]. Remove any Smoke or Fortification marker present in the hex. Each unit present in the hex must be removed by its owner and placed in an adjacent hex containing no impassable terrain (inactive player first). Otherwise it is eliminated.

E47. Booby Trap (Mine Piège)

"Do not touch anything needlessly. Beware of pretty girls in dance halls and in parks, they may be spies; beware also of bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, weapons, dead horses, and men lying on roads – they are not there by accident." —Soviet infantry manual, mid-1930s

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]. If this hex is not Wet Terrain and does not already contain a Blaze or any Fortification, place a Mines marker [F103] there. Units already in the hex will not be affected by the Mines until they make a Movement/Advance/Retreat to leave it.

E48. Breeze (Vent)

When this Event occurs, remove all Smoke markers on the map. Then place a Blaze marker [10.2.1] drawn at random in each non-Wet hex which is both adjacent to and "downwind" of an existing Blaze marker. The downwind direction is indicated on the map by a number between 1 and 6, which corresponds to the compass of each map. Any unit in a hex where a Blaze spreads must be removed by its owner and placed in an adjacent hex which contains no impassable terrain. Otherwise it is eliminated.

E49. Command & Control (Commandement & Contrôle)

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer." —George S. Patton

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it counts the number of Objectives [2.3] currently under his control and gains that many VPs.

E50. Commissar (Commissaire)

"It takes a very brave man not to become a Hero of the Soviet Union." —Joseph Stalin

When this Event occurs, the Russian player must choose one of his Demoralised units [3.2] and make a die roll:

If the result is greater than its Morale, it is eliminated.
If the result is less than or equal to its Morale, it is Rallied [3.2.5].

E51. Cower (Mise à l'Abri)

"In battle one frequently encounters the unusual, and the abnormal becomes normal. Soldiers may behave like lions and then like frightened hares within the space of a few minutes." —S. L. A. Marshall

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it places a Suppressed marker [13] on each friendly Squad which is not already Suppressed and which is not in the Command Radius [3.3.1.1] of a friendly Leader.

E52. Deploy (Déploiement)

"Listen! I need five volunteers."

E52.1—When this Event occurs, the active player may choose a friendly Squad on the map. If he does so, this Squad is removed from play and replaced by two Teams of the same quality as its OB (Green, Line or Elite).

E52.2—These Teams enter play Demoralised if the Squad was Demoralised [3.2]. If it had a Weapon, Suppressed and/or Veteran marker, then only one of the two Teams keeps the markers. Finally these Teams are treated as the unit which created them – so if the Squad had already been activated for an Order during the Turn, they are also considered to have been activated; and any result which should affect the Squad (such as being Suppressed, Demoralised or eliminated) will also immediately affect both Teams.

Grey box: Deploying a Squad into two Teams gives you a little more flexibility of movement and stacking, and to protect Objectives. It may also increase your net FP when taking part in a Fire Group. The drawback concerns reduced characteristics, the loss of boxed characteristics, and – as there are now two units instead of one – it will be harder to control them without a friendly Leader nearby.

E53. Dust (Poussière)

"I cannot see my hand in front of my face. Fortunately for me, the enemy cannot see his hand in front of his face either." —Soldier Adamson

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]. If this hex is not Wet Terrain and does not already contain a Blaze, he draws a Smoke marker at random and places it in this hex.

E54. Elan

"Either I will find a way, or I will make one." —Philip Sidney

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it moves his Surrender marker to the next (upper) space on the Casualty Track.

E55. Entrench (Retranchement)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it may place a Foxholes marker in any hex occupied by friendly units, if it is not Wet Terrain and does not already contain a Fortification.

E56. Field Promotion (Promotion)

"The officers of the Italian Army are not qualified for this work." —Count Galeazzo Ciano

When this Event occurs, if it is not already on the map, the player who receives it may place the "Private" (NdT: second-class soldier) of his nation (the one with a "6" Morale and a "2" Command) in a hex occupied by one of his Demoralised units [3.2].

E57. Fog of War (Brouillard de Guerre)

"A battle is an orgy of disorder." —George S. Patton

When this Event occurs, each player draws one card at random from his opponent's hand. These cards are placed in their respective discard piles.

E58. Hero (Héros)

"A true knight is braver in the midst of danger than at the start." —Philip Sidney

When this Event occurs, if the player's Hero [E58.1] is not already in play, he must place it in any friendly hex. If he does so, he may Rally [3.2.5] one Demoralised unit in the hex where it is placed.

E58.1 Heroes

Heroes are treated as Leaders [3.3], with two exceptions:

A Hero never gives VPs to its owner when it leaves the map, nor does it give VPs to the opponent for its elimination. A Hero which exits/is eliminated is always returned to the box, never placed on the Casualty Track.
A Hero may be activated several times per Turn, thereby allowing it to carry out several Orders per Turn.

Grey box: Heroes like to run at full speed along a clear road towards an Objective hex. They also like to charge machine-gun nests to attack them in close combat. Other useful tasks will no doubt be discovered by players who like Hollywood war films.

E59. Infiltration

"When I started using my cricket, I thought the first man I met in the darkness was a German until he clicked. We threw ourselves into each other's arms, and from that moment I knew we had won the war." —Maxwell D. Taylor

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it carries out the following steps:

Make a roll on the Support OB table of his nation;
In the column corresponding to the roll, choose one element which is not a Radio – free of charge – and available for the scenario's year;
Determine a Random Hex [1.8];
Place the chosen unit (with its Weapon, if any) in or adjacent to this hex. The stacking limit [8] must be respected, and this unit may not be placed in impassable terrain (such as a Blaze or a Water Obstacle).

Grey box: This Event may trigger a Melee.

E60. Interdiction

"Mussolini is quite humiliated because our troops have not taken a single step forward. Even today they have failed to advance, and have stopped before the first French fortification, which offered them some resistance." —Count Galeazzo Ciano

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must choose a unit which is not Suppressed (enemy or friendly; Demoralised or not) occupying a hex whose Cover is less than 1, and place a Suppressed marker [13] on it.

E61. Interrogation

"Counter-intelligence means you hope to be more cunning than your adversary, but you can never be certain of it unless one of you is dead."

When this Event occurs, the opposing player must show you all the cards he has in hand. The player who receives the Event may choose one of these cards. If he does so, this card is placed in the opponent's discard pile.

E62. KIA (Tué en Action)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must choose one Demoralised unit (enemy or friendly) and eliminate it.

E63. Malfunction (Panne)

"Each regiment had already lost 500 men to frostbite… the machine guns were no longer able to fire." —Heinz Guderian

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]. The nearest Weapon (enemy or friendly) to this hex which is not broken down breaks down. In case of a tie, the player who drew the Event chooses which one is affected.

E64. Medic! (Toubib!)

"No guts, no glory."

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must choose one Demoralised unit (enemy or friendly) and Rally it [3.2.5].

E65. Mission Objective (Objectif de Mission)

"Do not fight a battle if you gain nothing by winning it." —Erwin Rommel

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it draws one Objective marker (secret) at random.

Grey box: This new Objective marker does not replace an existing Objective marker – it is used together with them – and may be kept secret unless it has no "secret" side.

E66. Prisoners of War (Prisonniers de Guerre)

"We can show mercy, but we will not ask for it." —Winston Churchill

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must choose one of his Demoralised units [3.2] which is adjacent to or in the same hex as an enemy unit, if there is one, and eliminate it.

Grey box: Even if this were not already a good idea in itself, try to keep your Demoralised units away from enemy units.

E67. Reconnaissance

"Much of the intelligence in war is contradictory; even more is false, and most is uncertain." —Karl von Clausewitz

When this Event occurs, the opposing player must choose and reveal one of his unrevealed secret Objectives, if he has any. The revealed marker becomes a general Objective until the end of the game.

Grey box: Do not forget to immediately give the VPs corresponding to this marker's Objectives to those who control them.

E68. Reinforcements (Renforts)

"If the General insists that I counterattack immediately, then I must insist on receiving some armoured and artillery reinforcements right now." —Colonel Melvin Hale

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it carries out the following steps:

Make a roll on the Support OB table of his nation;
In the corresponding column, choose one element – free of charge – available for the scenario's year;
If a Radio is chosen, he places it in his (empty) Artillery Box. If a unit is chosen, he places it (with its Weapon, if any) in a hex on the friendly map edge. The stacking limit [8] must be respected, and the unit may not be placed in an impassable hex (such as a Blaze or a Water Obstacle).

Grey box: This Event may trigger a Melee.

E69. Rubble (Ruines)

E70. Sappers (Sapeurs)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it may remove a Mines marker or a Wire marker from the map.

E71. Scrounge (Fouille)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it may choose one eliminated Weapon (friendly or enemy) on the Casualty Track and bring it back into play by assigning it to a unit which currently has no Weapon.

E72. Shell Shock (Onde de Choc)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must determine a Random Hex [1.8]. The unit (enemy or friendly) nearest to this hex is Demoralised [3.2]. In case of a tie for the nearest unit, the player who drew the Event chooses the unit affected.

E73. Shellholes (Trous d'Obus)

E74. Strategic Objective (Objectif Stratégique)

When this Event occurs, an Objective marker is drawn at random and placed face up ("open") in the centre of the Objective Box so that both players can see it.

Grey box: This new Objective marker does not replace an existing Objective marker – it is used together with them. And if this new marker indicates one or more Objectives on the map, do not forget to give the VPs corresponding to those who control them.

E75. Suppressing Fire (Tir de Neutralisation)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it places a Suppressed marker [13] on an enemy unit which has none and which is in Range and in the LOS of one of his working MGs – that is to say, the MG cannot be broken down, and the unit carrying it cannot be Demoralised or Suppressed.

E76. Walking Wounded (Les Blessés Marchent)

"Between late October and early November, we were astonished and disappointed to discover that the Russians who had been beaten did not seem to realise that they had practically ceased to exist as a military force." —General Blumentritt

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it must carry out the following steps:

Choose one eliminated unit (friendly or enemy) on the Casualty Track.
Determine a Random Hex [1.8].
Place the chosen unit in or adjacent to this hex, and Demoralised [3.2]. The stacking limit [8] must be respected, and the unit may not be placed in an impassable hex (such as a Blaze or a Water Obstacle).

E77. White Phosphorus (Phosphore Blanc)

When this Event occurs, the player who receives it may draw a Smoke marker at random and place it in a hex adjacent to one of his non-Demoralised Squads (only). The chosen hex may not be Wet Terrain nor contain a Blaze. If he does this, each player controlling a unit in that hex must choose one friendly unit and Demoralise it [3.2].

Terrain (T78)

"The roads which were so fine, red and thick on the map were in fact only tracks." —Gerd von Rundstedt

T78. General Rules

Grey box: The first time you read the rules, you will really only need to read the four sections that follow, on Types, Movement, Cover and LOS. The numerous rules for Hills, together with those for the other individual terrain types [T79–T99], may be read as needed, depending on the map used for the scenario being played.

T78.1 Types & Installations

Each hex of each Combat Commander map is defined by the "terrain type" it contains. The terrain type of a hex is that of the predominant terrain in the hex, be it Woods, a Building or Brush, for example. Certain hexsides also contain terrain which may affect fire or movement, such as a Cliff, a Fence, a Wall or a Hedge. Roads, Rail lines and Trails may also occupy a hex, generally modifying the movement of the units in it. Smoke and Blaze markers also act as terrain to a certain extent.

"Types" of terrain are indicated on the Terrain Chart on a green background. "Installations" are indicated on a beige background and will generally modify the terrain type with which they share the hex.

The Terrain Chart gives the different terrain types in a hierarchical order – that is, if a hex contains two different terrain types, the one nearest the top of the chart takes priority.

Grey box: For example, a Main Bridge over a Stream is in all cases a "Main Bridge hex" and not a "Stream hex" (and is therefore not a Wet hex). This also means that a hex is an "Open Terrain hex" only if it contains none of the other terrain types shown above it (those with text on a green background) – it may contain any of the installations shown below it (those on a beige background) and still be an "Open Terrain hex", but with some modifications.

T78.2 Movement Costs

Each terrain has a "Movement Cost", which is the number of MP a unit must spend to make a Movement [O21] into this hex or across this hexside.

T78.3 Cover

Each terrain provides a "Cover" in the form of a whole number which may be negative. At all times and in all cases, Cover directly modifies the Morale of any unit located in that hex. Cover is never cumulative; however, a player may choose the Cover to use if there are several.

Grey box: Squad A fires at Team B, which has a printed Morale of 7, in a Brush hex. The final Morale of the Team is 8 thanks to the Cover of "1" given by the Brush. If this Team were stacked on a Foxholes marker, its owner could choose to ignore the Cover of the Brush and add the Cover of 3 of the Foxholes, which would give it a Morale of 10.

T78.4 LOS

Each terrain specifies whether it is an Obstacle, a Hindrance, or Open.

Obstacles block LOS at the same level. Obstacles generally create a Blind hex [T88.4.1] for an observer at a higher level.
Hindrances reduce the FP of fire at the same level which passes through them.
Open terrain does not affect LOS.

See the LOS rules [10] for more details.

Grey box: The various types of terrain are described in detail below, and are given in alphabetical order (of their English names). The information that follows is also represented graphically on the Terrain Chart which is on the player aids.

T79. Blaze (Incendie)

MOVEMENT COST: Impassable. COVER: Impassable. LOS: Obstacle (at all levels).

T80. Bridge (Pont)

MOVEMENT COST: See below. COVER: 2, but note that a Road [T93] generally lowers the net Cover to 1. LOS: Hindrance 1.

T80.1 Main Bridge (Pont Principal)

A Main Bridge is defined as a bridge which extends across the whole of one or more hexes, with a small part extending across the outside of hexsides into the opposing hexes (which are not bridges).

MOVEMENT COST: Impassable, or 1 if the movement is along the Road/Rail. In addition, a unit may only leave a Main Bridge hex by one of its two Road/Rail ends.

T80.2 Secondary Bridge (Pont Secondaire)

A Secondary Bridge is defined as a bridge lying entirely within a single hex.

MOVEMENT COST: 1 when crossing a Road/Rail hexside; otherwise use the cost of the other terrain in the hex.

T81. Brush (Broussailles)

MOVEMENT COST: 2 COVER: 1 LOS: Hindrance 3

T82. Building (Bâtiment)

MOVEMENT COST: 2 COVER: 3 LOS: Obstacle; creates a Blind hex [T88.4.1].

Objective Buildings—If an Objective on the map [2.3] occupies a building hex, and that building extends over two or more hexes, then "the Objective" is considered to be the entire building (that is, each hex it occupies), and not simply the hex containing the Objective marker.

T83. Cliff (Falaise)

MOVEMENT COST: Impassable.

ESCALADE: A unit without a Weapon may Advance [O16] across a Cliff hexside. COVER: none LOS: Open

T84. Fence (Clôture)

MOVEMENT COST: +1 to cross. COVER: none LOS: Hindrance 1; or Open if the Fence is on one of the six hexsides of the observer's or the target's hex.

T85. Field (Champ)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 COVER: 0 LOS: Hindrance 1

T86. Gully (Fossé)

MOVEMENT COST: 2 COVER: 1; but a unit in a Gully cannot be seen, except from an adjacent hex or from a hex at a higher elevation [T88], and vice versa. LOS: Open

T87. Hedge (Haie)

MOVEMENT COST: +1 to cross. COVER: none; or 1 if the Fire crosses the Hedge while entering the target hex (does not apply when defending against Mortars or Artillery). LOS: Obstacle; or Open if the Hedge is on one of the six hexsides of the observer's or the target's hex.

T88. Hills (Collines)

Grey box: Because of the relative complexity of Hills, beginners should play their first games with scenarios without hills.

The standard green Open Terrain in Combat Commander is considered to be at level "0", or "ground level". Hills may be of level 1 (beige), 2 (light brown), 3 (brown) or 4 (dark brown). Consequently a unit on a Hill is above any terrain occupying a hex at ground level or on a Hill of a lower level. A Hill hex acts like any other hex at ground level, except for the following modifications.

T88.1 Movement Up

A moving unit must spend +1 MP to enter a hex at an elevation higher than the one it is leaving.

Grey box: A unit moving from a level 1 Hill hex containing Woods towards a level 2 Hill hex containing Woods must spend 3 MP (2 for the Woods plus 1 for the change of elevation). The reverse movement "downhill" would cost only 2 MP.

T88.2 Advantage of Height

A Fire suffers a -1 FP penalty if the target hex is at a higher elevation than any element firing. Conversely, a Fire gets +1 FP if the target hex is at a lower elevation than any element firing.

T88.3 Hills & LOS

T88.3.1 Military Crest Lines

A hex containing more than one level is called a "Crest" hex. The level where the centre point of the hex is located indicates the real level of the hex. In each Crest hex, the physical edge of the higher-level Hill is called the "Crest Line".

T88.3.2 Vertical LOS

A unit may only trace LOS in the first Crest hex of each elevation above it. Likewise, a unit on a Hill may trace LOS to a hex at a lower elevation only if that LOS never passes through a Crest Line of equal or higher elevation in an intervening hex.

Thus unit A on a Hill can see unit B at a lower elevation only if the LOS of unit A: crosses a Crest Line before crossing a hexside; and never recrosses a Crest Line of equal or higher elevation.

T88.3.3 Hills as Obstacles

A Hill blocks LOS traced between two hexes of lower elevation. A unit on a level 2 Hill may see behind an intervening level 2 Hill only towards another level 2, 3 or 4 Hill. If this intervening Hill were level 3, then the target would need to be at level 4 to be seen (and would also need to be on a level 4 Crest).

T88.4 Hills & Obstacles

LOS to or from a Hill is only blocked if it actually touches part of the physical depiction of an Obstacle at an elevation equal to or higher than that of the Hill hex. In other words, LOS to or from a Hill is not blocked by Obstacles located at a lower elevation (exception: Blind hexes).

A unit on a level 1 Hill may see behind (over) an intervening level 0 Building towards another unit on a level 1 Hill. However, if the Building were also on a Hill, this LOS would be blocked.

However, a Blaze marker blocks all LOS through its hex, whatever the elevations of the observer and the target.

Grey box: The obstacle created by a Blaze marker is considered high enough to affect all the LOS possibilities represented in the game.

A unit on a Hill may see normally into a lower-level Woods or Building hex, but may not see into the hex immediately behind that obstacle if that hex is at or below the elevation of the Woods/Building hex. In other words, a lower-level Woods or Building creates a Blind hex behind it for an observer at a higher elevation – all hexes behind this blind zone are visible (unless there are other Woods/Buildings in the LOS).

Grey box: A unit on a level 1 Hill may see behind a level 0 Building except in the hex immediately behind it. Conversely, a unit on a level 1 Hill may see behind an intervening level 1 Building in a level 2 or higher hex unless that Building is in the first intervening hex along this LOS.

T88.5 Hills & Hindrances

Any Hindering terrain on the map at a lower elevation does not hinder LOS to or from a Hill. A Hindrance on a Hill hinders LOS between two Hill hexes at the same level as the Hindrance. However, a Smoke marker hinders all LOS through its hex, whatever the elevations of the observer and the target.

Grey box: The hindrance created by a Smoke marker is considered high enough to affect all the LOS possibilities represented in the game.

Grey box: Note that all the preceding Hill rules are based on the principle that in Combat Commander each Hill elevation is higher than the obstacles on the map, and that each Obstacle is higher than the Hindrances.

T89. Marsh (Marais)

MOVEMENT COST: 3 COVER: 0 LOS: Hindrance 1 WET TERRAIN: No Weapon may fire from a Marsh hex. No Blaze, Smoke or any Fortification marker may occupy a Marsh hex.

T90. Open Ground (Terrain Dégagé)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 COVER: 0 LOS: Open

T91. Orchard (Verger)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 COVER: 1 LOS: Hindrance 2

T92. Railway (Voie Ferrée)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 for movement along the Railway (that is, the unit must cross a Railway hexside when it enters the hex); otherwise the cost of the other terrain in the hex is taken into account. COVER: Depends on the other terrain in the hex. LOS: Hindrance 1; or Open if the LOS follows the depiction of the Railway.

T93. Road (Route)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 for movement along the Road (that is, the unit must cross a Road hexside when it enters the hex); otherwise the cost of the other terrain in the hex is taken into account.

A unit gains +1 to its Movement value if it has entered a hex containing a Road at any moment during a Movement Order. This bonus ends at the end of this Movement Order. The unit is not obliged to have entered the Road hex across a Road hexside to obtain this bonus – we consider that crossing a road is quick and easy to do.

COVER: none; however, the Cover of any Fortification or terrain in a hex containing a Road is reduced by 1.

Grey box: Thus a Building hex with a Road will have a Cover of 2 (3 for the Building; -1 for the Road). A German unit with a Morale of 7 in an Open Terrain hex with a Road will have "-1" Cover and therefore a Morale of 6. If Foxholes [F102] are placed later in this hex, it will have a Morale of 9 (7; +3 Foxholes; -1 Road).

LOS: Open if the LOS follows the depiction of the Road; otherwise according to the other terrain in the hex.

T94. Smoke (Fumigènes)

Note: Before beginning to play, all Blaze/Smoke markers should be placed in a cup so that they can be drawn at random during the game.

MOVEMENT COST: According to the other terrain in the hex. COVER: According to the other terrain in the hex. LOS: Hindrance 1–10 into, out of or through [10.3.4].

Grey box: The Hindrance of the Smoke is printed on the marker.

T95. Stream (Ruisseau)

MOVEMENT COST: 3 COVER: -1 LOS: Open

WET TERRAIN: No Weapon of any kind may fire from a Stream hex. No Blaze, Smoke or any Fortification marker may occupy a Stream hex.

T96. Trail (Chemin)

MOVEMENT COST: 1 for movement along the Trail (that is, the unit must cross a Trail hexside when it enters the hex); otherwise the cost of the other terrain in the hex. COVER: According to the other terrain in the hex. LOS: According to the other terrain in the hex.

T97. Wall (Mur)

MOVEMENT COST: +1 to cross. COVER: none; or 2 if the Fire crossed the Wall while entering the target hex (does not apply to Mortar and Artillery fire). LOS: Obstacle; or Open if the Wall is on one of the six hexsides of the observer's or the target's hex.

T98. Water Barrier (Obstacle d'Eau)

WET IMPASSABLE TERRAIN: No unit or Blaze, Smoke or any Fortification marker may occupy a Water Barrier hex. MOVEMENT COST: Impassable COVER: Impassable LOS: Open

T99. Woods (Bois)

MOVEMENT COST: 2 COVER: 2 LOS: Obstacle; creates a Blind hex [T88.4.1].

Airburst (Éclats Aériens)—The Total Attack of a Mortar or Artillery Fire against a Woods hex is increased by 2. Thus a Mortar with an FP of 6 firing into Woods and obtaining a Fire roll of 7 will have an Attack Total of 15, and not 13.

Grey box: Shells fired at high trajectory – such as those of Mortars and distant artillery batteries – tend to explode at the tops of the trees. When this happens, the troops below are hit by splinters of wood and branches in addition to the impact of the shell which was not absorbed by contact with the ground.

Fortifications (F100)

"He who defends everything defends nothing." —Frederick II

F100. General Rules

Grey box: The following sections [F101–F106] do not need to be read and memorised for your first reading of the rules: they may easily be ignored until a Fortification actually comes into play – at that moment you only need to read the rules concerning that marker.

F100.1 Acquisition—There are six "Fortifications" in the game: Foxholes, Trenches, Mines, Bunkers and Pillboxes. A Fortification generally comes into play at the start of a scenario, but also during the game depending on various Events and Actions.

Note: the French booklet says "six" but lists five types (Foxholes, Trenches, Mines, Bunkers, Pillboxes); the list is transcribed as printed.

F100.2 Elimination—Fortifications can normally only be eliminated during the game by various Events, by the "Demolition" Action [A31], or by an Artillery Impact roll [O18.2.3.3].

F100.3 Stacking—There may be no more than one Fortification marker, of whatever type, per hex. The first Fortification placed in a hex has priority. No Fortification may occupy a Wet hex (such as a Marsh, a Stream, or a Water Barrier without a bridge).

Grey box: The different Fortifications are described in detail below, and are given in alphabetical order (of their English names). A condensed version of the information that follows may also be found on the Track Display, for quick reference during play.

F101. Bunker

A Bunker gives the hex it occupies an alternative Cover of "6" ("7" against Mortars and Artillery). As usual, it is not cumulative with any other Cover in the hex. During a Melee, the side which was the last to be the sole occupant of a Bunker wins the Melee in case of a tie.

F102. Foxholes (Trous d'Hommes)

A Foxholes marker gives the hex it occupies an alternative Cover of "3" ("4" against Mortars and Artillery). As usual, it is not cumulative with any other Cover in the hex.

F103. Mines

F103.1 General Rules—A Mines marker in a hex will attack any unit (friendly or enemy) which makes a Movement, an Advance or a Retreat into or out of that hex. Units which move together are attacked by a single roll; otherwise a roll is made each time a unit enters or is about to leave a Mines hex. Units which were already in a Mines hex at the moment another unit makes a Movement/Advance/Retreat into or out of the hex are immune to this Mines attack.

F103.2 Mines Attack—The strength of a Mines attack is 6 FP by default, unless the scenario's Defender has specifically received (or purchased) a Mines capability of 7 or 8 FP.

The Cover for a Mines attack is automatically "0", and may not be modified in any case.

A Mines Attack roll follows the same general rules as a Fire roll [O20.3.3 and O20.3.4] except that only the units Moving/Advancing/Retreating must make a Defence roll. The player who controls the units makes the Defence rolls, while his opponent makes the Attack roll.

IMPORTANT—A unit which is Demoralised [3.2] when leaving a Mines hex is always placed in the hex it wanted to enter.

Grey box: It has got through, but probably with some losses.

F104. Pillbox (Casemate)

A Pillbox gives the hex it occupies an alternative Cover of "5" ("6" against Mortars and Artillery). As usual, it is not cumulative with any other Cover in the hex.

During a Melee, the side which was the last to be the sole occupant of a Pillbox wins the Melee in case of a tie.

F105. Trench (Tranchée)

F105.1 General Rules—A Trench marker gives the hex it occupies an alternative Cover of "4" ("5" against Mortars and Artillery). As usual, it is not cumulative with any other Cover in the hex.

F105.2 Trench & Movement—A unit moving from a hex containing a Trench into an adjacent hex which also contains a Trench, a Bunker or a Pillbox (and vice versa) spends only 1 MP, whatever the terrain in the two hexes (EXCEPTION: Cliff hexsides [T83], which cannot be crossed during a Movement Order). This applies even if the unit climbs to a higher elevation or crosses a hexside which would otherwise increase its movement cost. In addition, this unit may not be the target of an Opportunity Fire [A33] in the hex it enters.

F106. Wire (Barbelés)

F106.1 General Rules—A Wire marker in a hex with one or more units affects them by reducing their FP, Range and Morale by 1. Command is not affected by Wire.

F106.2 Wire & Movement—A unit that moves loses all the MP it had left as soon as it enters or leaves a hex containing Wire.

Grey box: So if a unit begins its Movement in a Wire hex, it must stop in the first hex it enters – even if that hex contains a Road or a Leader. If it enters a Wire hex, its movement will stop automatically.

Units may Advance or Retreat into or out of Wire normally, as MP are not used for these activities.

F106.3 Wire & Fire—Units in a hex containing Wire may not form a Fire Group [O20.3.1] with elements outside that hex.

No Weapon may fire from a hex containing Wire.