Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! – Operation Barbarossa 1941 (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Section 1 - Game Structure & Turn Progression
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Card Descriptions
Unit Counters from Awakening the Bear 2nd Edition
- German Forces: Die Wehrmacht
- Soviet Forces: The Red Army
Abbreviations

Section 1 - Game Structure & Turn Progression

In this section you will learn how to set up a Firefight, command your forces, and play through a Firefight round.

1.0 Game Setup

The Firefights provided in Conflict of Heroes represent historical situations for you and your friends to battle through. Follow these steps to set up a Firefight:

Choose a Firefight to play and determine who commands each force. Each Firefight specifies which and how many maps and overlays, units, Command Action Points (CAPs), Victory Points (VPs), Hit Markers, and Action Cards are used. Also listed are the number of rounds in the Firefight, the Victory Conditions, and any special rules.
Each player takes a Track Sheet and marks his starting CAP level with a blue CAPs Marker and places a green Action Point (AP) Marker on the '0' AP space.
Each player places his yellow VP Marker on '0' Victory Points.
Either player may place the Round Marker on the Round 1 Box of his Track Sheet.
Configure the maps as described by the Firefight.
Place the starting forces on the map as specified by the Firefight. Unit setup locations are designated by the map coordinates as follows: Map #, then Row Letter and Column Number. Ex: 2-J10 designates map #2, hex J10, the gray stone church building to the right.
Units may only occupy and move through full hexes. Half hexes are never playable.
Some Firefights allow Hidden Units or artillery barrages during setup. Write down the hex number locations of the Hidden Units and artillery targets on a piece of paper. Note: To simplify this, players can download the free 'Hidden Movement and Artillery Targeting Maps' from our website at www.AcademyGames.com.
Sort the Infantry and Vehicle Hit Markers into two draw piles, keeping the side with the effects face down. (You may want to put the Hit Markers into 2 opaque cups.) These Hit Markers will be randomly drawn throughout the Firefight when units take hits.
Select and shuffle the Action and Bonus Cards specified by the Firefight. Then deal each player their specified number of cards.

1.1 Unit Types

This game includes units that represent infantry squads of 6-12 men, crewed support weapons such as mortars, individual vehicles such as armored cars and tanks, and many others. Summaries of all units are listed on page 22.

Each unit has a symbol and a unique identification number. Ex: a triangle symbol and "12" next to the LMG34 name.

Unburdened Foot Units refers specifically to units that have a red movement cost of 2APs or less. These include Infantry and Rifle units, crewed Machine Guns, Light Mortars, etc.

Unit counter anatomy (from the example Pioneers counter and LMG34 counter):

Unit Forward Facing — top of the counter
Unit ID — unique number, e.g. "16"
Cost to Move — printed top right of the counter
Cost to Attack — printed top left of the counter
Attack Ratings (AR) — bottom left corner: red Bullets & HE (Red) on top, blue Armor-Piercing (Blue) below
Defense Ratings (DR) — bottom right corner: red Flank Defense on top, red Front Defense below
Range — printed at the bottom center of the counter

Ex: For the unit shown, it costs 2APs to attack or 1AP to move. A unit's Attack Rating (AR) is listed in the lower left corner of the counter. Red AR is used to attack unarmored targets with red Defense Ratings (DRs) and blue AR is used to attack armored targets with blue DRs. A unit's DRs are marked in the lower right corner of the counter. In combat, a player rolls two 6-sided dice (2D6) and adds the result to his Attack Rating (AR) to determine his Attack Value (AV). AV = AR + 2D6.

Ex: The Pioneers attack an enemy unit with a red DR. The Pioneers roll a 9 for a red 13AV (4AR + 9 2D6 roll).

Ex: A defending unit with a 12DR is located in light woods. Light Woods provide a +1DM. So the defender has a 13DV (12DR + 1DM).

Hit Markers: "+1 R≥8 Suppressed (-2/-2)" and "R≥8 ∅ Pinned" are example Hit Markers.

2.0 Pre-Round Sequence

A Firefight lasts a set number of rounds. Prior to each round, the following steps must be taken in order:

Flip Spent Units to their fresh sides.
Reduce or Remove Smoke Counters (13.0).
Reset CAPs to their starting value minus casualties (7.4.2).
Draw Cards specified in the Firefight (8.0).
Target Off-Board Artillery for resolution in the next round's Pre-Round Sequence (12.1).
Resolve Off-Board Artillery targeted the previous round (12.2).
Prepare Reinforcements as specified in the Firefight (5.5).
Roll for Round Initiative (2.1).

2.1 Roll for Round Initiative

At the beginning of each round, the players each roll 2D6 for initiative. The roll may be modified by CAPs (3.2.4). In case of a tie, re-roll. The player with the highest result wins the initiative and takes the first turn.

2.2 Taking Turns

A round consists of a series of alternating player turns. During a player's turn, he may take one action, stall, or pass. An action is defined as any single thing a unit does such as moving one hex, attacking once, rallying, etc. Each action costs a certain number of Action Points (APs).

A unit is either fresh, active, or spent. A fresh unit can be activated by a player, giving that unit 7APs to spend. An active unit is spent after it has spent all of its APs. A unit is marked as spent by flipping its counter to the side with the red bar.

During each turn, a player may take one of the following actions:

Unit (AP) Action: Choose any fresh unit and activate it by advancing the green AP Marker to 7APs on the green Unit AP Track. This activated unit may take an action by spending these APs. Different actions can cost a different number of APs. If the activated unit has APs remaining after taking an action, it may take additional actions by spending more of its APs in later turns within the same round (3.0). The unit is marked as spent if it has spent all of its APs or if the player wishes to activate a different fresh unit with 7APs. A player may have only one activated unit at a time (exception - Shared Activations 9.0).
Opportunity Action: Take any one action with any fresh unit that is not the activated unit. Mark the unit as spent after it has taken the one action.
Command (CAP) Action: Take one action with any fresh, activated, or spent unit by spending only Command Action Points (CAPs). The unit's spent or fresh status is not changed by a Command Action.
Card Action: Play an Action or Weapon Card.
Stall Action: The player takes none of the above actions, but must spend either 1AP from the currently activated unit or 1CAP. This keeps him from having to take a Pass Action.
Pass Action: The player takes none of the above actions and spends no AP or CAP. If the passing player has an activated unit, he must flip the unit to its spent side and lose any of its unused APs. A player who has passed may take additional actions during future turns. However, if both players pass consecutively, the round is immediately over and no further actions may be taken until the next round.

Ex: A player may wish to stall instead of passing because his opponent could end the round by also passing.

Designer's Note: APs and CAPs are employed in the game to account for the efforts, planning, and time it takes to carry out specific actions. More involved actions cost more APs and/or CAPs.

Each player may simultaneously have an activated unit. Players alternate taking turns by taking Unit AP, Opportunity, Command, Card, Stall, or Pass Actions.
An activated unit may intersperse its Unit AP Action turns with Command Action (3.2) or Card Action (8.0) turns. Taking these other action turns does not spend the activated unit, which may continue to take AP Actions in future turns.
Other units may take Opportunity Action, Command Action, and Card Action turns between an activated unit's AP Action turns. These other actions do not spend the activated unit, which may continue to take AP Actions in future turns.
A player is not required to have an activated unit at all times. He may take several turns with no unit being activated by taking only Command, Opportunity, Card, Stall, or Pass Actions.

An activated unit may intersperse its AP Actions with OTHER units taking Opportunity (3.1), Command, and Card Actions.

2.3 Round Progression

A round ends when each player passes consecutively. Victory Points (VPs) are awarded, the Round Marker is advanced, and the next round's Pre-Round Sequence is followed (2.0).

2.4 Game End and Victory Conditions

The Firefight ends after the last round is played or when a Firefight's victory conditions have been met. The side with the highest VP total is declared the winner. In case of a tie, both players are losers.

2.5 Victory Points (VPs)

Typically, VPs are earned during the Firefight by destroying opposing units, controlling Control Hexes (2.5.2), and/or by achieving Objectives during Scoring Rounds.

2.5.1 Scoring Destroyed Units

When a unit is destroyed, the VP value for that unit is immediately awarded to the opposing player and recorded on the VP Track. If a player destroys his own unit (yes, it can happen), his opponent receives the VP value with its destruction.

2.5.2 Hex Control

Objective and Victory hexes specified in a Firefight are marked with Control Markers, which are placed with the controlling side's flag face up. During the course of the Firefight, control is maintained by one side until an opposing ground unit enters and solely occupies the hex, even if the unit simply passes through the hex. If an opposing unit enters an occupied Control Marker hex, control does not change until the opposing side becomes the sole occupant of the hex.

3.0 Unit (AP) Actions

A player may activate a unit by choosing any fresh unit on the map and advancing the AP Marker on the green Unit AP Track of the Track Sheet to 7APs. Activating a unit is not an action.

The activated unit takes one AP Action at a time by spending the APs available on the green Unit AP Track. When an AP Action is taken, its AP cost is counted down on the green AP Track to show the unit's remaining APs.

Ex: The Soviet Rifle '41 spends 4APs to attack or 1AP to move one hex.

A unit is marked as spent (2.2) as soon as it has no APs remaining or if a new unit is activated.

Ex: The Soviet player activates a fresh Rifle unit, marks its AP Track to 7APs, and attacks an advancing German Pioneer for 4APs. He counts the AP Track Marker down to 3APs.

On the next Soviet turn, he moves the Rifle forward 1 hex for 1AP, counting the AP Track Marker down to 2APs. On the next Soviet turn, he moves the Rifle into a heavy woods hex for 2APs, counting the AP Track Marker down to 0AP. The Soviet Rifle has spent all of its APs and is immediately marked as spent.

Designer's Note: The AP cost for a unit to attack takes many factors into account and does not represent just one shot, but the total attack power output of the unit during a two to three minute time frame. This involves target acquisition time, ammo replenishment, orders being screamed at squad members, and much more.

At the beginning of his turn, a player may mark an active unit as spent in order to immediately activate and use a different unit. The green Unit AP Track is again set to 7APs and this new unit may now take an action by spending these APs. In all cases, each player may have no more than one activated unit at a time (exception - Shared Activations 9.0).

Ex: It is the Soviet player's turn and he has an activated Rifle unit with 3APs remaining. But on the German's last turn, a Pioneer unit made a very threatening move by advancing on a Soviet MMG holding a key hill position. The Soviet player decides to mark the Rifle unit as spent, losing its remaining 3APs, activates the fresh MMG, and marks his AP Track to 7APs. He then immediately attacks the advancing Pioneer with the MMG for 3APs, counting the AP Track Marker down to 4APs.

The process of marking an activated unit spent and activating a new unit must be done at the beginning of a player's turn and does not count as an action.

An activated unit may intersperse its AP Actions with Command (3.2.2) and Card (8.0) Actions.

Ex: The Soviet player activates a fresh Rifle unit, marks its AP Track to 7APs, and then attacks an advancing German Pioneers unit for 4APs, counting the AP Track Marker down to 3APs. On the Soviet player's next turn, he plays Action Card #03 - 'Follow Me!' to rally a different unit. This does not affect the Rifle's AP Track balance, which remains at 3APs. On the next Soviet turn, the Rifle unit stalls for 1AP, counting the AP Track down to 2APs. On the next Soviet turn, the Rifle unit still has 2APs remaining and could take another AP Action. Instead, the Soviet player decides to mark the Rifle as spent, activates a fresh MMG unit with 7APs, and takes an action with it.

Ex: The Soviet player activates a Rifle unit, marks its AP Track to 7APs, attacks for 4APs, and counts the AP Marker down to 3APs. On the next Soviet turn, he takes a Command Action by moving a spent MMG one hex for 2CAPs. On the next Soviet turn, he takes a Card Action with Card #04 to attempt to rally a Tank that was previously hit. On the next Soviet turn, he returns to the activated Rifle unit and moves it forward into heavy woods for 2APs. The Rifle unit has 1AP remaining. On the next Soviet turn, the Soviet player decides to mark the Rifle as spent and activates another fresh unit with 7APs.

3.0.1 Variable AP Allocations (Optional Rule)

At the beginning of a Firefight, players may decide on the following option. Instead of a unit automatically receiving 7APs when activated, the player rolls three six sided dice (3D6) and sums the high and low dice rolls to determine how many APs the unit receives. Ex: 3D6 are rolled for a 5, 4 and 3. The unit receives 8APs for its activation.

Optional Rule - Additional Fog of War: For added suspense, players may decide to roll the 3D6 under a cup, keeping the results secret. Instead of setting the Track Sheet to the amount of APs received, the player tracks how many APs have been spent. Only once the unit has used all of its available APs and is spent, must the player show his opponent the dice result.

Ex: The player rolled for 8APs and attacks with the active unit for 3APs. He counts his AP Track Marker up from 0 to 3APs. On a future turn, after the unit has spent its 8APs or if the player decides to activate a different unit, the player reveals his dice.

3.1 Opportunity Actions

A player can only take an Opportunity Action with a fresh unactivated unit. An activated or spent unit may NOT take an Opportunity Action. Any one action costing any number of APs, such as attacking once, moving one hex, rallying, etc., may be taken as an Opportunity Action. This action does not cost APs or CAPs, but the unit is marked as spent after completing the action.

Ex: Fig 3. German Turn: The German player activates Rifle 01, moves it forward for 1AP, and counts the AP Marker down to 6APs on his green Unit AP Track.

Soviet Turn: The Soviet activates Rifle 05, attacks Rifle 01 for 4APs, counts his AP Track Marker down to 3APs, and misses.

German Turn: The German player wants to attack Soviet Rifle 05 with the fresh HMG 19, but activating HMG 19 to make the attack would cause German Rifle 01 to be marked as spent (thus losing its remaining 6APs). HMG 19 instead Opportunity attacks Rifle 05. The Opportunity attack marks the HMG as spent and it can no longer be activated for 7APs this round.

Designer's Note: Taking an Opportunity Action with a fresh unit is often less efficient than waiting to activate the unit later in the round. But sometimes a player needs to immediately react to a situation with a unit, without marking the currently activated unit as spent or using CAPs or Action Cards.

3.2 Command Action Points (CAPs)

A force's available command resources are represented by the CAP Marker on the blue Command Track on the Track Sheet. Each Firefight specifies the starting number of CAPs for each player. These CAPs are shared by all of a player's units during the entire round and are not replenished until the beginning of the next round. CAPs left over from one round are not carried over into the next round.

CAPs may be spent to:

Supplement an activated unit's APs (3.2.1).
Take a Command (CAP) Action (3.2.2).
Modify any dice roll (3.2.3), Stall (2.2), or play an Action Card (8.1).

Designer's Note: The strength, functionality, and effectiveness of a fighting force relies on its logistical and command structure. Leaders coordinate attacks, keep the morale high in the company, direct group attacks, and much more. The logistical structure is responsible for supplying ammo to the front line troops, evacuating wounded soldiers, communicating with the HQ command, etc. If a position had to be held, extra ammunition, spare parts, and men were sent to reinforce the defenders. Command and logistical availability are abstracted in the game through the use of CAPs.

3.2.1 Supplement an Activated Unit's APs

A player may use CAPs to supplement an activated unit's APs on a one-for-one basis. A player may spend as many of his CAPs as desired this way.

Ex: Fig 4. Continuing the previous example, it is the Soviet player's turn and he wants to attack with Rifle 05 again. It costs Rifle 05 4APs to attack, but it only has 3APs left on its Unit AP Track. The Soviet player has 5CAPs at his disposal for the round, which allows him to attack with Rifle 05 again by paying its remaining 3APs plus 1CAP. The blue CAP Marker is counted down one space on the blue Command Track to show 4CAPs remaining for the round. Rifle 05 has spent all of its Unit APs and is marked as spent.

3.2.2 Command (CAP) Actions

Command Actions are completely paid for with CAPs. CAP Actions can be taken by a fresh, active, or spent unit. Fresh units that take a Command Action are not marked as spent.

Ex: Fig 5 continuing the previous example.

German Turn: The German player has 3CAPs left on his blue CAP Track. He decides to use a CAP action to attack Rifle 05 with his spent HMG 19 for 2CAPs, and misses.

Soviet Turn: The Soviet activates Rifle 06, setting his green Unit AP Track to 7APs. Rifle 06 moves forward one hex for 1AP and counts his AP Track down to 6APs.

German Turn: Rifle 01 (which is still the German activated unit) attacks Rifle 06 for 3APs, counts its green AP Track from 6APs to 3APs, and misses.

Soviet Turn: Rifle 06 has 6APs remaining. It attacks Rifle 01 for 4APs, counts its green AP Track down to 2APs, and misses.

German Turn: Rifle 01 has 3APs remaining. It attacks Soviet Rifle 06, counts its green AP Track down to 0, and misses. Rifle 01 is marked as spent.

Soviet Turn: Rifle 06 has 2APs left, but the Soviet player decides to pass and marks the unit as spent.

German Turn: All German units are spent. The German could continue taking actions with these spent units by taking CAP or Card Actions, but instead decides to pass.

3.2.3 Modify Any Dice Roll with CAPs

A player may pay up to 2CAPs to negatively or positively modify any of his dice rolls on a one-for-one basis. He may never modify an opponent's dice roll. A player must state all CAP dice roll modifications before rolling. The CAPs spent are valid for only one dice roll.

Ex: The German player needs to roll ≥ 9 to hit a Soviet unit. Before rolling, the German declares that he will spend 2CAPs to positively modify his roll. He now only needs to roll ≥ 7 to hit (7 + 2CAPs = 9).

3.2.4 New Round Initiative Dice Roll

Players may pay up to 2CAPs to modify new round initiative rolls (2.1). The player with the most CAPs announces how many CAPs he will spend to modify his initiative dice roll. Then his opponent announces how many CAPs he will spend. Each player may only announce once what they will spend. Both players deduct the stated CAPs (up to two maximum), then roll, adding the modifications to the dice total. If tied, the players re-roll and can again spend CAPs to modify the new dice rolls.

Ex: At the beginning of a new round, the German player has the most CAPs and decides to use 2 of his 7 available CAPs to modify his roll. The Soviet player chooses to save his CAPs and uses none. The German player rolls a total of 6 (4 dice roll + 2CAP modifier). The Soviet player rolls a 7 and thus goes first.

3.2.5 Equalizing Play

If a Firefight is out of balance because the opponents have different levels of experience, you can equalize the Firefight by increasing the disadvantaged player's starting CAP level by one or two CAPs.

4.0 Terrain

The battle is played on a map consisting of hexes representing 40-50 meters of ground. On these hexes you will see various types of terrain. Each hex has a dot in the middle. Whatever terrain type surrounds the dot dictates the entire hex's terrain type.

Ex: If a center dot touches any part of a building, the entire hex is considered developed and thus blocks LOS - even if portions of the developed hex are open and LOS could be drawn through it.

Note: A building pictured in a hex represents several buildings and sheds, not just one individual building.

Open Terrain: Yards and rolling fields with intermittent clumps of brush and individual trees. Open terrain includes any hex that is not a building, plowed field, woods, or water hex.

Road: Any prepared surface intended for vehicles. These include dirt and paved roads. Roads do not change the terrain type of the hex, such as building or woods hexes.

Walls: Constructed stone walls that protect units which are directly behind them. They follow a hex's edge and do not change its terrain type.

Building (Wood): Consist of light cover wooden buildings and sheds. All are yellow/brown toned.

Building (Stone): Sturdier structures such as barns & farms built of stone/wood mixes or bricks. All are grey toned.

Hills: Higher level terrain. Level one hills (L1) are designated with a triangle behind the hex number. L2 hills have two triangles behind their hex numbers. Each level represents a 10-15 meter rise in elevation.

Steep Terrain: Terrain that increases two or more levels over a single hexside.

Plowed and/or Muddy Fields: Fresh tilled or muddy fields that inhibit tracked vehicle movement. Wheeled vehicles are prohibited.

Woods (Light): Overgrown areas with light tree and brush cover.

Woods (Heavy): Large, well-developed trees, with undergrowth.

Water (Rivers and Lakes): Bodies of water with a depth of over 1 meter and are passable only by unburdened Foot Units (1.1) and boats. Foot Units may not attack while in water hexes.

Terrain may give your units cover, conceal enemy units, block Line of Sight, and/or affect movement. The Foot Unit Movement and Terrain Table details how certain terrain types affect a Foot Unit's movements, defensive modifiers (DMs), and Line of Sight (LOS) restrictions.

5.0 Foot Unit Movement

Foot Units are units that have a red movement cost number in the top right corner of the counter. To move a Foot Unit into a hex, it must spend its movement cost number in APs. Some terrain types add terrain movement penalty costs to a unit's base movement cost. These additional costs are listed in the Movement and Terrain Table and are cumulative.

Foot Unit Movement and Terrain Table

Terrain	Additional AP Cost to Move into a Hex	Terrain Defensive Modifier (DM)	Terrain Blocks LOS?	Terrain Offers Cover?
Open Terrain / Road	+0 AP	+0 DM	No	No
Buildings-Stone	+1 AP	+2 DM	Yes	Yes
Buildings-Wood	+1 AP	+1 DM	Yes	Yes
Plowed Field	+0 AP	+0 DM	No	No
Wall	+1 AP	+1 DM	No	Yes
Water	+4 AP	-1 DM	No	No
Woods - Heavy	+1 AP	+2 DM	Yes	Yes
Woods - Light	+0 AP	+1 DM	Yes	Yes
Move Backwards	+1 AP	-	-	-
Move Uphill	+1 AP	-	-	-

Movement AP Penalty Costs & Defensive Modifiers are cumulative.

Optional Cautious Movement Rule (5.0.3)

	Additional AP Cost	Defensive Modifier
Unit is Moving Normally	+0 AP	-1 DM	-	-
Unit is Moving Cautiously	+1 AP	+0 DM	-	-

Ex: Soviet MMG 17 wishes to move into heavy woods. It must add the +1AP heavy woods movement penalty to its base 2AP move cost, for a total movement cost of 3APs.

Each Foot Unit's movement into a new hex is considered a separate action. There are no stacking limits. Units may move into and through hexes occupied by both friendly and enemy units. (Of course, an enemy unit may engage you in close combat if you move into its hex!)

5.0.1 Roads

Roads negate hex restrictions and terrain movement penalties. Units must follow the roads from hex to hex to gain the road movement advantage. Bridges function as roads over water. Roads do not, however, affect a hex's terrain Defense Modifier (DM).

5.0.2 Walls

A unit receives +1DM for incoming attacks, from all levels (11.0), if the attack crosses a wall that is in or bordering the target unit's hex. Other terrain modifiers still apply.

Walls do not offer cover against mortar and artillery attacks.

Moving over a wall hex side costs foot and tracked units +1AP. Wheeled units may not cross wall hex sides.

Walls act as Cover Terrain for Hidden Units, if all enemy LOS cross walls in or bordering a Hidden Unit's hex.

5.0.3 Foot Unit Cautious Movement (Optional Rule)

All Foot Units moving into a 'No Cover Terrain' hex, as listed on the Movement & Terrain Table above, are penalized -1DM. This penalty is only applied if an opponent attacks the unit immediately in the following turn. Transported Foot Units (17.1) are not penalized.

The DM penalty can be negated by moving cautiously. Foot Units can move cautiously by adding +1AP to their regular movement costs.

Designer's Note: A player must weigh the extra APs paid for cautious movement against the benefits of a higher DM when using these optional rules. Beginners may wish to gain some experience playing CoH before including this optional rule.

5.1 Facing

All units have a forward facing represented on their counters by a white arrow on a green or red field. A green field indicates a counter that can move and/or pivot, a red field indicates a counter that is stationary and may not move and/or pivot (Bunkers 18.1.2).

At all times, a unit's facing arrow must point to a hex side (as opposed to a hex corner). Units may move forward into any one of their 3 front hexes (see Fig 6). Units may pivot, to face any hex side at no additional AP cost, after they move into a new hex and before the opposing player's turn.

Flank hexes represent the 3 hexes outside of a unit's forward facing 3 hexes.

5.2 Backwards Movement

A unit may move backwards into any of its 3 flank hexes for an additional +1AP backward movement penalty cost (5.0). A unit moving backwards into a new hex may then pivot at no additional AP cost.

Backwards Movement is considered a Cautious Move (5.0.3).

Designer's Note: Facing is critical for a unit. Facing involves a unit's "focus" or attention as much as taking up positions to deal with that focus. While deployed behind a wall, against an embankment, etc., a unit is very vulnerable to attacks against its flank. Not only is the unit often more exposed, but flank attacks can be psychologically devastating. "Where did the enemy come from? Are we surrounded? Can we withdraw?" The natural instinct is often to either just run away or to hunker down. A unit's experience and leadership play a vital role in assessing the new threat and deciding how to react to it.

5.3 Pivoting

If a unit does not wish to move into a new hex, but wants to change its facing, it may pivot as an action for a cost of 1AP or 1CAP. The unit may change its facing to any hex side.

5.4 Enemy Occupied Hexes

Units may move into and through hexes occupied by both friendly and enemy units. If friendly and enemy units occupy the same hex at the beginning of a turn, a player may initiate close combat (7.7.3). If vehicles move through an enemy occupied hex without stopping (14.1), they cannot be engaged in close combat.

5.5 Unit Reinforcements

When a Firefight calls for reinforcements these units may enter the Firefight on that round or later rounds. If the reinforcements enter on a later round, they must still enter on the same hex(s) as specified by the Firefight.

Units move onto full hexes when entering a Firefight. Half hexes are ignored. The move can be made with a Unit AP, Opportunity, Command or Card Action.

If an enemy unit occupies an entry hex, the reinforcements may shift their hex of entry by up to 2 hexes.

Multiple units may enter the map simultaneously using a group move (9.1.1) or while being transported (17.0).

5.6 Exiting the Firefight

Units may never exit a map, unless specified by the Firefight.

6.0 Line of Sight (LOS)

Units have to see each other in order to attack each other. Hexes that block LOS are listed on the Movement and Terrain Table (5.0). If a line drawn from the center dot of the attacking hex to the center dot of the target hex is free of any Blocking Terrain, LOS is established. Units can see into a hex that blocks LOS, but not through it. So LOS is blocked if any part of the LOS crosses any part of a blocking hex. LOS rules apply in both directions. So if unit A can see unit B, then B can see A.

Ex: Fig 7. The HMG in hex A can see into light woods hex B, but not through it to hexes C or D.

If LOS crosses exactly along the edge of two hexes, it is always affected by the hex with the least restrictive LOS.

Ex: Fig 7. The HMG in hex A can see into hex E, because the LOS follows the hex edge between the woods D and the open terrain hex. The LOS is not blocked, because the open terrain hex LOS applies.

Players may check for LOS before they take an action.

Units do not block LOS or attacks.

6.1 Arc of Fire (AoF)

The forward 3 hexes extending outward from a unit's facing arrow represent the unit's Arc of Fire. Units may only attack targets in their Arc of Fire.

Ex: Fig 9. For 1AP, German Rifle 01 moves into hex A, which is in its front arc and is considered forward movement. The Soviet passes. The German moves to hex B for 1AP and again the Soviet passes. For 1AP, the German moves into hex C and pivots to face Soviet Rifle 05. Soviet Rifle 05 cannot attack the German because the German is now outside of its Arc of Fire. The German is also facing the Soviet's flank. The Soviet may now want to pivot Rifle 05 for 1AP, so that it again has the Germans in its Arc of Fire.

6.2 Fire Zone (FZ)

Any hex that is in a unit's LOS (6.0), is within its Arc of Fire (6.1), and is within its range (7.7) is in the unit's Fire Zone.

A unit can attack any enemy unit that is in its Fire Zone.

7.0 Combat

Combat involves one unit attacking another unit in its Fire Zone. All units have a red and a blue Attack Rating (AR) located in the lower left corner of the counter. The red AR reflects a unit's hand to hand, anti-personnel, and high-explosive attack power. The blue AR reflects a unit's armor-piercing attack power.

All units also have two red or blue Defense Ratings (DR) located in the lower right corner of the counter. Red DRs indicate that the unit is a soft target, such as men or a truck. Blue DRs indicate that the unit is armored, such as a tank.

When a unit attacks at an enemy unit, it attacks using the same AR color as the target's DR color.

7.1 Attack Value (AV)

AV is calculated by adding the attacking unit's AR to a 2D6 roll. Remember, attack dice rolls can be modified by adding up to 2CAPs (3.2.3).

AV = Unit AR + 2D6 + CAP dice roll modifiers

Ex: Fig 9. German Rifle 01, with a red 2AR, attacks the Soviet Rifle. The player rolls a 9 and scores an 11AV (2AR + 9 dice roll).

Units may attack even if they have a 0 or negative AR.

7.2 Defense Value (DV)

DV is calculated by adding either a unit's front or flank DR to the hex's Terrain Defense Modifier (DM). Attacks originating from outside of a unit's Arc of Fire are considered flank attacks and are resolved against the unit's flank DR.

DV = DR + Terrain DM.

Ex: Fig 10. The yellow lines represent flank attacks because the attack originates from outside of the unit's Arc of Fire. These flank attacks would be resolved against the Rifle's 11 flank DR.

Defenders may never add CAP modifiers to their unit's DV.

7.3 Combat Resolution

Combat involves one unit attacking another unit.

The black number in the top left corner of the counter shows the number of APs the unit must pay to attack. Each attack is considered a separate action and counts as the player's turn.

When attacking, compare the attacker's Attack Value (AV) to the defender's Defense Value (DV) of the same color.

Hit: If the AV is equal to or greater than the DV, the defender takes one hit (7.4).

AV ≥ DV = Unit takes 1 Hit

Critical Hit: If the AV is greater than the DV by 4 or more, the defender takes two hits.

AV ≥ DV +4 = Unit takes 2 Hits

A unit may be attacked an unlimited number of times in a round.

7.4 Hits

When an un-hit unit takes a hit, its player draws a Hit Marker and, without revealing it to his opponent, places it face down under the unit that has been hit. Pull hits against Foot Units from the shared Foot Hit Marker draw pile and pull hits against Vehicles from the shared Vehicle Hit Marker draw pile.

Foot Unit Hit Markers:

Stunned (x2): Unit cannot take any action other than rally. ≥7 needed to rally. The ability is lost (all stats affected).
Unnerved (x2): No stats are affected. ≥7 needed to rally.
KIA (x1): The unit is killed on the first hit. Immediately remove it from the map.
Panicked (x2): Unit cannot attack. Flank DR increases +1. Front DR decreases -2. ≥8 needed to rally.
Pinned (x5): Unit cannot move or pivot. ≥7 needed to rally.
Suppressed (x5): Costs +1AP to attack. AR decreases by 2 (-2/-2). ≥7 needed to rally.
Cowering (x2): Cost +2AP to attack (+1/+1). +1AP per hex to move or pivot. Range drops to 1. DR increases (+1/+1). ≥8 needed to rally.
Berserk (x1): Costs -1AP to attack (+1/+1). AR increases by 1. Range drops to 1. DR increases (+1/+2). ≥8 needed to rally.

⊘ = The ability is lost. A black symbol affects all colored stats. A blue or red symbol affects only the same colored stat.

All foot hit markers shown have the same back art.

A unit's stats and abilities are modified by the corresponding values printed on the Hit Marker. If no value appears in a corner of a Hit Marker, there is no effect on the corresponding stat of the hit unit.

Ex: A Soviet Rifle pulls a Suppressed hit marker. The unit's stats are modified as follows:

The cost to attack increases from 4 to 5.
The red AR decreases from 3 to 1 and the blue AR from 0 to -2.
Movement and Defense Ratings are not affected, since the corresponding areas on the Hit Marker are blank.
This hit unit may rally and remove the Suppressed Hit Marker on a 2D6 roll of 7 or higher (7.6).

Some Hit Markers have a ⊘ symbol, which negates a unit's ability.

Ex: A stunned unit cannot do anything except rally. However, its Defense Ratings are not affected.

Ex: A pinned unit cannot move or pivot, but none of its other stats are affected.

A player only needs to reveal a Hit Marker to his opponent when the hit unit's affected stats are used in play. In such a case, he shows the Hit Marker to his opponent and then places the Hit Marker back face down under the hit unit.

Ex: A suppressed unit wishes to attack. Its AR is affected by the Hit Marker, so the Suppressed Hit Marker must be shown to the opponent.

Ex: A panicked unit is attacked. Its DR is affected, so the defender must reveal the Panic Hit Marker to the attacker, regardless of the outcome of the attacker's subsequent dice roll.

The 'KIA' Hit Marker is immediately revealed when pulled and the destroyed unit is removed from the map. Hit Markers must also be revealed when a unit is destroyed or after it rallies.

Designer's Note: Taking a hit or being destroyed and removed from the map does not necessarily mean that these men were killed. Often these units were no longer physically or psychologically combat effective. Their morale could have been broken or their tanks no longer operable.

7.4.1 Destroyed Units

A hit unit is destroyed when it takes a second Hit.

Ex: A hit unit is attacked and hit again. It is destroyed.

Ex: An un-hit unit is attacked and critically hit (7.3). It takes two hits and is destroyed.

7.4.2 CAP Track Adjustments

Destroyed units are removed from the Firefight and are placed on its commanding player's CAPs Track. The first destroyed unit is placed on the starting CAP number specified in the Firefight, the second destroyed unit on the next CAP number lower, and so on. At the beginning of each round, the CAPs Track Marker is reset to its beginning value minus one for each lost unit.

Ex: The German player begins a Firefight with 9CAPs and loses 2 units in round one. The first unit is placed on the '9' space, the second on the '8' space. He begins round two with only 7CAPs at his disposal. The 7CAPs could decrease in future rounds, if the Germans lose more units.

If the CAP Track Marker is on the space where a destroyed unit must be placed, the CAP level is immediately reduced by one and the player loses the use of this CAP.

Ex: In the example above, the German player had 8CAPs left when he lost his second unit. The destroyed unit is placed on the '8' space and the CAP Marker is moved to the '7' space.

Designer's Note: As units are destroyed, the loss of front line officers affect a force's command structure and combat effectiveness.

7.5 Stacked Units and Multiple Targets

There are no stacking limits. When a hex with more than one unit is attacked, the attack is resolved simultaneously against all of the targeted units with separate dice rolls (Exception - Close Combat 7.7.3). The more units in a hex, the better the chances are that an attacker will hit one of them. This does not cost the attacker any extra resources and is considered to be one action. However, each dice roll CAP modifier (3.2.3) affects only one target in a multi-target hex. The attacker can pay CAPs on each dice roll separately if he so wishes. The attacker's turn only ends after all attacks have been resolved against all stacked units in the target hex.

Ex: Fig 11. The Soviet MMG 17 attacks LMG 10 and Rifle 02 for 3APs. Both defenders have a 12DV. The MMG attacks LMG 10 first. The Soviet player decides to add 2CAPs to modify his dice roll and scores a 14AV (3AR + 9 2D6 roll + 2CAPs) for a hit. Then the MMG attacks Rifle 02, this time without spending any CAPs to modify his dice roll. The CAPs spent on the first dice roll do not count for this second roll. The MMG misses and the Soviet ends his turn.

Multiple Target Types - A unit attacking a hex that contains opponents with different DR colors rolls against each using its corresponding colored AR.

Designer's Note: The stacking rules were developed to simulate target density. Having two tanks nicely lined up for an anti-tank gun is a fire fest, whereas if they were spaced out the gun would have to reorient itself between shots. Therefore, the more targets in a hex, the easier they are to target and hit. In WWII, forces were trained to spread out and not bunch up for these reasons. Concentrated forces were easier to manage, but could be devastated by mortar, artillery and MG fire.

7.6 Rally

Hit units can try to remove a Hit Marker by successfully rallying. A successful rally indicates that the soldiers have calmed and their leaders have inspired them to fight.

The cost to attempt a Rally Action is 5APs.

After spending 5APs, the player rolls 2D6. The rally attempt is successful if the 2D6 roll is greater than or equal to (≥) the rally number marked on the top center of the Hit Marker. The Hit Marker is removed, shown to the opponent, and then is placed back into the Hit Marker draw pile. If a rally attempt fails, nothing happens and the Hit Marker remains in place.

Units may also attempt to rally with an Opportunity, Command, or Card Action. A unit can attempt multiple rallies as long as it has enough APs, CAPs, and/or Action Cards to do so. Each rallying attempt is considered a separate action.

Some Hit Markers are marked as 'No Rally' and cannot be rallied for the remainder of the Firefight.

Hit Markers are returned to the Hit Marker draw pile after a unit successfully rallies or is destroyed.

Units in a hex with enemy units cannot rally.

7.6.1 Rally Dice Roll Modifiers

Units in Cover Terrain add a bonus +1 rally dice roll modifier to their rally attempt. The Movement and Terrain Table (4.0) and the Summary Sheet list which terrain acts as cover.

Units stacked with other friendly un-hit units receive a bonus +1 rally dice roll modifier per friendly un-hit unit in the same hex.

Rally dice rolls may be modified with CAPs.

7.7 Range

A unit's range represents the number of hexes away the unit may attack and is designated on the bottom center of the counter inside the country symbol. Blocking terrain naturally limits the LOS and effective range of a unit.

7.7.1 Long Range Attacks

If the range to a target exceeds an attacking unit's range, but is less than or equal to twice its range, it may still attack Long Range with a -2AR penalty.

Designer's Note: The ranges on the counters represent the distances at which the units historically attacked in combat situations, not their true maximum range capabilities.

7.7.2 Short Range Attacks

A unit in a hex adjacent to a target is considered to be in short range and adds a +3AR bonus to its attack.

Ex: Fig 12. German Turn: Pioneer 16 moves adjacent to the Soviet MMG 17. Soviet Turn: MMG 17 attacks. Since the German is in the adjacent hex, the MMG adds a +3AR short range bonus to his 3AR for a total 6AR.

7.7.3 Same Hex and Close Combat (CC)

Units may move into enemy-occupied hexes. A player, on his turn, may (but does not have to) attack one opposing unit in the same hex through CC. The CC attack requires an AP, CAP, Opportunity, or Card Action. If the opponent's unit survives, it may take an action to counter attack or retreat on its turn with an AP, CAP, Opportunity, or Card Action.

The AR of units in CC are modified as follows:

-2AR penalty for AR values over a white box. +4AR bonus for all other units.

Ex: The HMG has a white box under its red AR, so in CC its 5AR is reduced to 3AR.

CC does not affect other friendly units in the same hex.
CC is resolved against the flank DR of the target enemy unit.
Terrain DMs affect all units defending in CC.
Fortifications benefit only the occupying units (18.1).
Units in CC can only group attack (9.1.2) with other friendly units in the same hex.
Units cannot sight outside of their hex for attacking, spotting, or Victory Condition purposes while enemy units are in their hex.
Mortars, with minimum attack ranges (12.0), may still CC.

Advancing into an enemy hex is an action, so the defending unit may attack or withdraw during the next action if it can. If the defending unit decides to withdraw from the hex, it may not move into the same hex or either of the two adjacent hexes from which the advancing unit had just moved from. It may, however, move into these hexes in later turns.

A unit or group may CC attack only one enemy unit per turn.

Ex: Two German Rifles group move (9.1.1) into a hex occupied by a lone Soviet Rifle. The Soviet Rifle may CC attack only one of these Germans per turn.

Designer's Note: When attacking stacked units in another hex, the attacker rolls against each enemy unit. But in close combat, the attacker may attack only one enemy unit at a time to simulate overwhelming melee and overrun engagements.

Outside units can attack into a CC hex resolving the attack against all units in the hex, friends and foes alike. Terrain DMs and individual flank facings apply for attacks originating from outside of the hex.

Ex: A spent unit, with no CAPs or Action Cards to play, is surprised and cannot react to an enemy unit moving into its hex.

Ex: Fig 13. A Soviet Rifle occupying heavy woods is assaulted by German Pioneers.

German Turn: The Pioneers move cautiously forward into the hex next to the Soviets for 2APs (1AP cost to move + 1AP cautious move).

Soviet Turn: The Soviet Rifle attacks short range with a 6AR (3AR + 3AR Short Range Bonus) and misses.

German Turn: The Pioneers move into the Soviet Rifle's hex.

Soviet Turn: The Soviet Rifle CC attacks with a 7AR (3AR + 4AR CC Bonus) against the Engineer's 14DV (12 flank DR + 2DM Heavy Woods Bonus). The Soviet needs a 7 to hit (14DV - 7AR) and scores! The Germans get lucky and pull an "Unnerved" Hit Marker.

German Turn: The Pioneers attack with an 8AR (4AR + 4CC Bonus) against the Soviet's 13DV (11 Flank DR + 2DM Heavy Woods Bonus). They need a 5 to hit and a 9 to kill (critical hit).

You are now ready to play Firefight 1. Play this Firefight before continuing on with the rules.

Section 2

In this section you will be introduced to cards that add uncertainty and army-specific tactics to the game. You will also learn how to coordinate the efforts of your units.

8.0 Cards

There are several types of cards in the game.

Action Cards are played as an action.
Bonus Cards do not count as an action, but influence some other action the player is taking.
Event Cards trigger special events or scoring rounds.
Weapon Cards give players extra 'toys' to play with.

Each Firefight specifies which Action, Bonus, and/or Event Cards are shuffled into a draw deck at the beginning of the Firefight. Cards are specified by the Card ID Number in their lower left corners.

In each Pre-Round Sequence (2.0), players draw one or more cards (as specified by each Firefight) from the top of the draw deck. Action and Bonus Cards are held secretly until played, but Event Cards are played immediately. There is no limit to the number of cards a player may hold in his hand or play in a round. Un-played cards may be held into future rounds. Individual card descriptions are listed on page 21.

The cost to play an Action, Bonus, or Weapon Card is listed in the middle of each card (Card Title / Card Type Icon / AP or CAP cost to use / Card Description / Card ID # / Group Action icon). If the cost icon is blue, the cost must be paid in CAPs and if in green, the cost must be paid by an activated unit's APs. If the icon is split with both colors, the action may be paid with any combination of APs and/or CAPs. A card paid for with an activated unit's APs must be played on that unit. Cards with no cost or cards paid for entirely with CAPs may be played on any unit.

8.1 Action Cards

Action Cards have a green lightning bolt icon in the top left corner and are played as an Action. Action Cards give a player additional APs, CAPs, or allow him to take certain actions.

Ex: A fresh Soviet MMG is hit and draws a 'Pinned' Hit Marker. The Soviet player has Action Card 03 'Follow Me - Automatic Rally' in his hand. He plays it on his turn as an action, spending the required 2CAPs. The Hit Marker is removed, Card 03 is discarded, and the Soviet unit is not marked as spent.

8.2 Bonus Cards

Playing a Bonus Card does not count as an Action. These cards are played in addition to an action the player has taken or may take, including having played another Action or Weapon Card.

Action and Bonus Cards are discarded after being played.

8.3 Event Cards

Event Cards initiate events such as reinforcements entering the Firefight or a special scoring. Each Firefight specifies if and how these cards are to be used.

8.4 Weapon Cards

Weapon Cards represent weapons that the player or specific units can use during the Firefight. A weapon Card is discarded after use, unless specified otherwise in the Firefight. A weapon's Range and Attack Rating is detailed on the card.

Weapon Cards, other than Artillery, are assigned to specific units by a player at the beginning of a Firefight and can be used by a single unit or as part of a Group Action (9.1) an unlimited number of times in the Firefight. Playing a Weapon Card is an action.

A Weapon Card's Attack Rating is modified by any Hit Marker the unit using the weapon may have.

Ex: A German LMG with a 'Stunned' Hit Marker may not use an assigned Grenades card until rallied.

Ex: A spent German Rifle in close combat plays its Grenades Card against the enemy as an action for 0 cost. The Grenades attack with a red 5AR against the Soviet's 11 flank DR.

8.5 Card Icon Details

Some cards have icons printed on the bottom.

Group Action - The card may be played as part of a Group Action (9.1). Ex: Card 03 'Follow Me!' allows all units in a group to rally.
High Explosive - The weapon attack is always resolved against a target's flank DR.
Action Spent - Using the card is considered an action.

9.0 Shared Activations

Multiple fresh units can be activated together to coordinate their actions. The activated units take individual actions whose costs are subtracted from a shared 7AP pool. A player need not declare which units are going to share an activation before taking actions. He may add units at will. Units sharing an activation continue spending the shared 7AP pool, even if individual units within the group are destroyed. Each individual shared action counts as a turn, which is followed by the opponent's turn. When the shared AP pool is spent, all the units that shared the activation are marked as spent.

Summary: A player activates a unit and advances the AP Track Marker to 7APs. He may, at any time, also take actions with other fresh units, paying for their actions from this shared 7AP pool.

Ex: A Soviet Rifle is activated and advances the AP Track Marker to 7APs. It moves west into a clear road hex for 1AP and counts the AP Track down to 6APs. The German passes. A fresh Soviet MMG (with a 2AP movement rate) shares the Soviet Rifle's activation and moves 1 hex east onto the Rifle's hex. The MMG's 2AP movement cost is paid for from shared AP pool and the units have 4APs remaining.

9.1 Group Actions

Units may take any action as a group, including moving, attacking, rallying, or a Card Action.

Group Actions may only be taken by units in the same or contiguous (continuous adjacent) hexes.

Group Actions may be taken by:

Units grouping Shared Activations (9.0).
Fresh units grouping an Opportunity Action (3.1).
Fresh, activated, and/or spent units grouping a Command Action (3.2.2).
Fresh, activated, and/or spent units using an Action Card (8.1).

A player's turn ends only after all participating units have completed the Group Action.

9.1.1 Group Movement

Units in the same or contiguous (continuous adjacent) hexes may group move and pay only the AP cost of the moving unit with the highest cost to move.

Ex: The Soviet Rifle and MMG stacked together in the previous example. They now group move together into an open hex. The total cost for the move is 2APs, based only on the MMG's movement cost and they now have 2APs remaining in their shared AP pool.

Ex: Fig 14. Soviet Turn: Four Soviet Rifles, sharing an activation, group move towards the German HMG. Three Rifles move into open terrain, but the fourth moves into heavy woods, so the group must pay the costlier 2AP woods movement. Had all units moved into open terrain hexes, the group move would have only cost a total of 1AP.

Fig 14. German Turn: The German activates the HMG and attacks the second Rifle unit for 2APs and destroys it.

Units that are separated, either by moving away from each other or thru combat, can no longer group move until they are again adjacent.

Fig 15. Soviet Turn: The Soviet player has 5APs remaining in the shared AP pool and for his next action he could either group move the two adjacent units or move the lone unit in the woods. He may not group move all three, since they are not adjacent. He decides to move the group of two Rifles forward for 1AP, leaving him 4APs in the pool.

Not all units included in a group move action must move.

Ex: Three adjacent units initiate a group move action. The center unit holds its position, while the two adjacent Rifle units move forward one open hex each. The APs paid are determined by the unit with the highest cost to move. If the center unit had been a MMG with 2AP cost to move, the group move would have still only cost 1AP, since the MMG did not move.

Units included in a group move may separate by moving away from each other. Individual units involved in a group move may pivot instead of moving into a new hex.

Hit units that are able to move may participate in a group move.

9.1.2 Group Attacks

Multiple units may group attack. Attack groups must target a single hex. An attack group designates one unit as the Attack Group Leader, with the rest of the units in the attack group as Supporting Units.

A Supporting Unit must:

Be in the Attack Group Leader's hex and/or 6 surrounding hexes.
Have the target in its Fire Zone (includes turreted vehicles 15.4).
Be in normal range of the target (i.e., not in long range).
Not have a Hit Marker that affects its AR.
Have a 0AR or higher (this includes range bonuses and penalties).

Each Supporting Unit gives the Group Leader a +1AR bonus. Only the Group Leader's cost of attack is deducted from the shared AP pool. All attack modifiers are based on the Attack Group Leader.

Ex: Fig 16. A fresh German LMG and a fresh Rifle group attack a target. The LMG is designated as the Attack Group Leader and pays 2APs. Its AR increases from 4AR to 5AR due to the Rifle's support. These two units could also have been in adjacent hexes to group attack.

9.1.3 Group Rally

Units in the same or contiguous hexes may group rally for 5APs/CAPs. Each rallying unit rolls separately (7.6).

9.1.4 Other Group Actions

Multiple units in the same or contiguous hexes may take other Group Actions such as creating Hasty Defenses with a Group Card Action, etc. Ingenious combinations of Group Actions are limited only by a player's creativity.

Ex: An activated German Rifle moves next to a fresh HMG unit. On his next turn, the German plays a Hasty Defense Card on both units. They both receive a Hasty Defense Counter. The HMG is not marked as spent, since only a '0 Cost' Card Action was played on it.

9.2 Group Action Details

Group Actions may be taken and paid for in several ways:

Units with Shared Activations pay for a Group Action out of their shared activation 7AP pool. (The AP pool amount may vary if optional 'Variable AP Allocations' 3.0.1 is used.)
Multiple fresh units may take a group Opportunity Action (3.1). After a group Opportunity Action is taken, all participating units are marked as spent.

Ex: Two fresh German Rifles are stacked together and have been overrun by a Soviet T-34 tank. The Rifles group move with an Opportunity Action, separating and retreating backwards into non-adjacent hexes. Both are marked as spent.

Multiple fresh, activated and/or spent units may take Group Command Actions using only CAPs (3.2.2). Fresh and activated units are not marked as spent.

Ex: An activated German Rifle moves into a hex with a non-activated HMG. During their next turn, the two attack with a Group Command Action for 2CAPs (the HMG is the Group Attack Leader). The Rifle then continues moving, using what remains of its AP pool. The HMG is not marked as spent.

Multiple units may group Action Card Actions.

Ex: Two hit Rifles are in adjacent hexes, one spent, the other fresh. 'Follow Me' Card 03 is played on both Rifles for 2CAPs. Both Rifles automatically rally and remove their Hit Markers. The fresh Rifle remains fresh, since the action was paid with CAPs.

Ex: Four contiguous Rifles (two fresh and two spent) all move forward two hexes with 'Rapid Deployment' Card 05. The fresh Rifles remain fresh, since playing the card cost 0AP.

Players may intersperse Individual Actions and Group Actions.

Ex: Fig 17. German LMG 09 activates and moves into Rifle 01's hex for 1AP. The Soviet passes.

Fig 18. Both German units Command Group Move forward one hex for 1CAP. CAPs instead of APs are paid because Rifle 01 does not want to share LMG 09's activation. The Soviet passes.

Both German units Command Group Attack Soviet Rifle 05. LMG 09 is the Attack Leader, so the attack costs 2CAPs. Supporting Rifle 01 increased the LMG's 4AR to 5AR, and a hit is scored. The Soviet randomly draws a 'Pinned' Hit Marker. The Soviet passes.

Fig 19. The LMG 09 moves into the stone building for 2APs and has 4APs left on its AP Track. It may continue to attack, move, or take other actions in future turns. Rifle 01 is not marked as spent, since only CAPs were utilized for all Group Actions.

New Ex: Fig 17. This time the Germans will Share Activations. LMG 09 moves into Rifle 01's hex for 1AP. The Soviet passes. The Germans Group Move forward for another 1AP. The Soviet passes. In Fig 18, the Germans Group Attack for 2APs and miss. The Soviet passes. LMG 09 moves into the stone building for 2APs and the units have 1AP remaining in their AP pool. The German player decides to activate a new unit and so both LMG 09 and Rifle 01 are marked as spent.

10.0 Hidden Units

A Firefight will state if and how many units start the Firefight hidden. Instead of placing the units on the map, the locations of Hidden Units are written on a piece of paper. The opponent has no idea where these units are located, since no counters are placed on the map. Free Hidden Unit Tracking Maps are available at www.AcademyGames.com.

Hidden Units do not have a facing until they are revealed and placed on the map. At this time the player may choose their facing.

Hidden Units are revealed if:

10.0.1 A Hidden Unit takes an action.

Hidden Units remain hidden during hidden movement (10.1) but are immediately revealed, even if out of enemy LOS, if they take any other action, except stalling or passing. It, and all other Hidden Units in the same hex, are immediately revealed and placed on the map.

Cards may be played on a player's own Hidden Units, but doing so reveals them, unless stated otherwise in the card's description.

10.0.2 A Hidden and a Non-Hidden Unit are in the same hex.

Hidden Units are immediately revealed when they are in the same hex as any friendly or enemy non-Hidden Unit.

10.0.3 A Hidden Unit is attacked and hit.

Sometimes an attacker will attack a promising hex hoping to reveal an enemy. If multiple Hidden Units are in a hex, the incoming attack is resolved only against the unit with the lowest front DR.

Mortar and Artillery attacks (13.0) are resolved against the unit with the lowest flank DR.

If one Hidden Unit is hit and revealed, all other Hidden Units in the same hex are also revealed and placed on the map.

Attacks against hexes with potential Hidden Units are resolved, even if there are no Hidden Units in the hex.

Ex: A Soviet Rifle unit is hidden in a heavy woods hex for a red 14DV (12 front DR + 2DM heavy woods bonus). A German HMG attacks the hex because he thinks it may be a good place for a Hidden Unit. In this case he guessed correctly, but does not know it. He scores a 13AV and misses and the Soviet Rifle unit remains hidden. The Soviet player promptly ridicules the German for thinking that there could be a Hidden Unit in that hex.

10.04 An enemy unit moves into the same hex or near it.

Units hidden in open terrain hexes stay hidden until an enemy unit moves within 2 hexes of their hex and has a clear LOS.

Units hidden in cover terrain stay hidden until an enemy unit moves into the same hex.

Fortifications such as Bunkers and Hasty Defenses (18.1) count as cover. Higher elevation DMs do not apply as Cover Terrain. See the Movement & Terrain Summary Sheet for a complete listing.

10.1 Hidden Movement

Hidden Unburdened Foot Units (1.1) may move and remain hidden. Hidden movement adds:

+3AP Movement Cost Penalty when moving into cover terrain +6AP Movement Cost Penalty when moving into non-cover terrain

All other movement penalties are ignored.

Ex: It costs a Soviet Rifle unit 4APs to hidden move into a heavy woods hex.

Hidden units may move into or within enemy LOS. They may move adjacent to an enemy unit and still remain hidden, as long as they remain in Cover Terrain.

Ex: A Hidden Unit would be revealed if it hidden moved into open terrain that was within 2 hexes of an enemy unit and in its LOS, but would remain hidden if the hex were a woods hex.

To move a Hidden Unit, a player states which Hidden Unit he is activating, takes the action, and marks the new location on a sheet of paper or a "Hidden Unit Tracking Map" for future reference.

When a Hidden Unit is activated and performs a hidden move, the player deducts the AP costs from the Unit AP Track, the same as with any other unit. Once a Hidden Unit is spent, the Hidden Unit counter is placed next to the map in open view and is marked as spent.

10.2 Hiding Units During a Firefight

Un-hit Unburdened Foot Units, that are out of enemy LOS, may spend 7APs to hide themselves within a 1 hex radius of their current location. The destination hex must also be out of enemy LOS. The hidden units are taken off of the map and their new hex position is secretly written down. Unburdened Foot Units may hide as a Group Action (9.1.1).

You are now ready to play Firefight 3.

Section 3

In this section, you will learn how to deal with changes of elevation on Firefight maps. We also introduce Mortars, Artillery, and rules for using Smoke to protect your units.

11.0 Hills

Hills are contoured on the map and come in levels that abstractly represent the height of the hill. All non-hill open terrain is considered to be ground level 0 (L0). Level 1 (L1) hill hexes are designated by one ▲ symbol behind the hex number and level 2 (L2) hill hexes are designated by two ▲▲ symbols behind the hex number. A hill covering the center dot of a hex fills the entire hex, even if the artwork does not. A bare hill hex with no buildings or woods covering the center dot is considered open terrain.

Moving up a hill level incurs a +1AP movement cost penalty to the moving unit. Roads do not negate this penalty.

Ex: Fig 20. A Rifle moving from hex A to B pays 2APs (1AP for open terrain movement +1AP for moving up one level). If there were heavy woods in the higher level hex, the cost would be 3APs (2APs for moving into woods +1AP for moving up one level).

11.1 Steep Terrain

A two level change over a single hexside is considered Steep Terrain. Foot movement up steep terrain carries a +2AP movement cost penalty.

Vehicles may not move up or down steep terrain.

Ex: Fig 20. The Pioneers may move from hex F to hexes G or H for 3APs (1AP for moving into open terrain +2APs for moving up steep terrain).

11.2 Higher Elevation Bonuses

Units on a higher level receive a +1DM bonus when attacked by units on a lower level. Units on a higher level receive a +1AR bonus when attacking units on a lower lever.

11.3 Elevation and Line of Sight (LOS)

Blocking Terrain is any feature that blocks Line of Sight.

A unit has LOS to a higher level target if there is no intervening Blocking Terrain at the same or higher level than the target hex.

A unit has LOS to a lower level target if there is no intervening Blocking Terrain at the same or higher level than its hex.

11.4 Plateau Effect

A unit looking up a hill can see the first higher L1 or L2 hex, but no same level hexes beyond it.

Ex: Fig 21. HMG 19 is on ground level (L0) and does not have LOS to the shaded/yellow outlined hexes. The HMG can see hex B (L1), but not hex D (L1), because of the Plateau Effect. The HMG has LOS to the first L2 hill crest hexes H thru K, but nothing beyond them.

Ex: Fig 22. Here we see the Fig 21 HMG's LOS Plateau Effect from a side view. A can see B and H but not D or anything beyond H.

All Woods and Buildings act as L1 Blocking Terrain for LOS purposes. Ex: Woods or buildings on L0 hexes equate to L1 Blocking Terrain.

Woods and Buildings L1 height are added to Hill heights for LOS determination. Ex: Fig 21. Hex G is a L1 hill with woods, equating to L2 Blocking Terrain.

Hexes directly behind any Blocking Terrain are blind spots and out of LOS to units located on higher levels (and vice versa).

Ex: Fig 23. Hex 1 (L2) has a clear LOS into the green numbered hexes, but no LOS to red numbered hexes because of the L1 Blocking Terrain along the LOS path (woods 10 & 4 and buildings 6 & 8).

Designer's Note: Blind spots simulate units hugging a tree line or houses to stay out of the LOS of enemy units perched on hills.

Below is a side view of Fig 23's LOS from hexes 1 to 7.

Ex: A unit in hex 3 (L1) has LOS into hex 4, but nothing beyond, because the light woods acts as a L1 Blocking Terrain and thus is the same height as hex 3, creating a plateau effect. Anything beyond the woods is not visible.

An open terrain hill hex does not create a blind spot for attacks originating and ending along the same hill slope.

Ex: Fig 23. Hex 1 can see down to hexes 2, 3, and 4 and vice versa.

12.0 Mortar Units

Mortar units represent teams of 2-6 men that fire high explosive shells directly or indirectly. When a mortar can see its target, it attacks directly. Some mortars can attack indirectly over Blocking Terrain (11.3) at targets not in the mortar's LOS. These mortars have an Indirect AP Cost to Attack marked on the counter in parentheses.

Mortar counter anatomy: Cost to Attack Direct / Indirect (in parentheses); Cost to Move; HE Symbol; Attack Rating (AR) — red Bullets & HE, blue Armor-Piercing; Soft Defense Ratings (DR) — Flank Defense / Front Defense; Range.

Indirect Attack: To attack indirectly, the mortar unit must use a Spotting Hex. This is any hex with a clear LOS to and within 2 hexes of the mortar that is not enemy occupied. The mortar unit has LOS from the Spotting Hex for all purposes, but still checks for Range from its own hex.

Ex: Fig 25. The mortar can use any of the highlighted hexes as Spotting Hexes, even those outside of its Arc of Fire. The mortar's target, however, must be within its Arc of Fire and in a Spotting Hex's LOS.

Designer's Note: Mortar units sent spotter teams out to direct the attack for the mortars. These teams are simulated in the game by the spotting hex. The proximity between the spotting hex and the mortar team is necessary, since the spotters had to signal or call instructions to the mortar team. Very few platoon and company mortars had radios at this time. Some Firefights may alter this rule for larger mortars, since some company level mortars ran telephone Wires or had radio contact.

Mortars may attack from building and woods hexes.

Designer's Note: Mortars were often set up in yards, alleyways, or small wood clearings.

Mortars may not attack targets that are closer than their minimum range and must attack targets in their Arc of Fire.

Mortars may conduct Close Combat with a -2AR CC Penalty (7.7.3).

Mortars may not attack short range if their minimum range is 2 or more.

Attack elevation bonuses for mortars are determined by the height of the spotting hex when attacking indirectly.

12.1 Off-Board Artillery (OBA)

Off-Board Artillery is represented by Weapon Cards and each Firefight states if any are available. OBA has a 1 round delay. A player secretly writes down a target hex during the current Pre-Round Target Sequence and resolves that artillery strike during the next Pre-Round Resolution Sequence. The mechanics for resolving OBA are exactly like on-board mortar attacks, except that OBA attacks are resolved against multiple hexes, usually the target hex and the 6 hexes surrounding it. (The affected hexes are marked on each weapon card.) A separate attack is resolved against each of these 7 hexes. Of course, if there are multiple units in a hex, the OBA attack is resolved separately for each unit.

Free Artillery Planning Maps are available at AcademyGames.com.

Unless otherwise specified in the Firefight, OBA may be plotted anywhere on the map. A Firefight may specify that certain units act as OBA spotters. These spotters only need to have LOS when the hexes are targeted, not when the OBA is resolved. OBA spotters may be hidden and are not revealed when spotting.

Elevation attack bonuses do not apply to OBA and their spotters.

Designer's Note: Artillery was usually fired from kilometers away at pre-registered targets and was either called in by radio, field telephone, or pre-arranged signals such as flares. The pre-registered targets were marked on maps (or more likely, tissue overlays placed over the map) and were usually easily identifiable terrain features such as crossroads, developed areas, or high ground. The Soviets usually had indirect artillery support only when defending or attacking a fixed front line. On the move, most Soviet field guns fired only over open sights, providing direct heavy artillery attacks. The German Army could call in OBA on the move by radio from a command tank or APC using reference points on a map.

12.2 Artillery Resolution and Drift

To resolve Off-Board Artillery:

The attacker places a marker of any type on the targeted hex.
Artillery hits its target on a 1D6 result of 3-6. Players may modify their die roll with CAPs. If the player misses, the unmodified die result equals the number of hexes the artillery drifted from the target hex.
If the artillery drifts, roll another 1D6 to determine the direction in which the artillery drifted (using a clock/compass numbered 1-6 around North).

Ex: The German is resolving his Off-Board Artillery strike and places a marker on the target hex. He rolls 1D6 for a 2 and so misses the target by 2 hexes. He rolls 1D6 again for a 1, indicating that the artillery drifted 2 hexes north of the intended target hex.

12.3 High Explosive Attack Resolution

Mortar and Artillery units have a high explosive symbol next to their Attack Rating which denotes that their attacks are resolved against a target's flank DR (including Hidden Units). Targeted units still receive the benefit of all Terrain & Fortification DMs (exception - 12.4 Air Bursts).

12.4 Mortar and Artillery Air Bursts

Units with red colored flank DRs do not receive a heavy woods +2DM bonus when subjected to high explosive mortar or artillery attacks.

Designer's Note: Usually artillery exploded upon impact with the ground. But when artillery shells hit dense tree cover, the shells would burst in the air sending shell and tree fragments raining down upon units on the ground and in fox holes. The resulting damage was devastating.

13.0 Smoke

Smoke is used to create a screen to cover a unit's position and movement. When smoke is fired, a +2DM Smoke Counter is placed in the target hex. LOS may originate and end in a +2DM smoke hex, but does not pass through it. Target units receive a +2DM bonus for all attacks originating from or ending in a +2DM smoke hex.

Ex: A targeted unit in a +2DM smoke hex adds +2DM to its DR.

Ex: A unit attacking out of a +2DM smoke hex adds +2DM to its target's DR.

+2DM Smoke negates bonus movement for that hex (14.1).

At the beginning of every new round, all +2DM Smoke Counters are flipped to their +1DM side and all +1DM Smoke Counters are removed from the map.

+1DM smoke counters simulate smoke that has dissipated. These counters partially obscure LOS passing through the smoke, but do not block LOS. Units may see and attack through a +1DM smoke hex. Target units receive a +1DM bonus for all attacks originating, ending, or passing thru a +1DM smoke hex.

Smoke effects are cumulative. Two +1DM smoke counters in a hex act as a +2DM smoke screen and block all LOS through the hex. Two +2DM counters add +4DM for the hex, and so on. LOS passing through two hexes, each with a +1DM smoke counter, is blocked past the second +1DM smoke hex.

Each +1DM worth of smoke acts as a L1 LOS Blocking Terrain (11.3).

Ex: A +1DM Smoke counter acts as L1 Blocking Terrain, a +2DM Smoke counter acts as L2 Blocking Terrain, etc.

Smoke never damages units.

13.1 Unit Smoke Capability

Mortars that are 8cm (80mm) or larger, all Off-Board Artillery, and Pioneers may fire smoke unless disallowed by the Firefight. Other units may not fire smoke, unless permitted by the Firefight. Tanks and guns that can fire smoke rounds may target hexes within the same range as their normal attacks, including long range. Pioneer units may only place smoke counters in their own hex or 1 hex away (19.0).

A player must note that he is firing smoke when determining a target hex (12.1). Smoke strikes the same hex area as a normal artillery attack. But with smoke, no attack rolls are made, instead +2DM Smoke Counters are placed on every affected hex.

Unless otherwise specified, all smoke placed is +2DM.

You are now ready to play Firefights 4 and 5.

Section 4

In this section you will be introduced to vehicle movement, armored combat, and transportation rules.

14.0 Vehicle Movement

Vehicle Movement rules are identical to the Foot Movement rules (5.0). Below are additional rules that pertain only to vehicles. Vehicles are either tracked units (such as tanks) or wheeled units (such as trucks and cars). Tracked units have a blue movement cost and wheeled units have a green movement cost in the top right corner of their counters.

Vehicle Movement Costs (Additional AP Cost to Move into a Hex)

Terrain	Wheeled Vehicle	Tracked Vehicle
Open Terrain	+0 AP	+0 AP, Bonus per track symbol
Road / Bridge	+0 AP, Bonus per wheel symbol	+0 AP, Bonus per track symbol
Buildings-Stone	NA	+3! AP (no bonus move)
Buildings-Wood	NA	+2 AP (no bonus move)
Plowed Field	NA	+0 AP (no bonus move)
Road Block	NA	+1D6 AP
Wall	NA	+1 AP (no bonus move)
Water	NA	NA
Woods - Heavy	NA	+2 AP (no bonus move)
Woods - Light	+2 AP (no bonus move)	+1 AP (no bonus move)
Move Backwards	+1 AP (no bonus move)	+1 AP (no bonus move)
Move Uphill	+1 AP	+1 AP

Movement AP Costs listed above are cumulative.

! = Check for immobilization: 2D6 ≥ 6 is safe.
Track-bonus symbol = Bonus move an extra open or road hex.
Wheel-bonus symbol = Bonus move an extra road hex.
The "no bonus movement" icons mean no bonus movement is allowed into that hex.
NA = Not accessible.

14.1 Bonus Movement

Some vehicles receive bonus moves on open terrain and roads. Bonus movement capabilities are represented on a unit counter by track or by wheel symbols below the movement cost.

A unit with one or more bonus move symbols on its counter, that pays to move forward into open terrain or along a road hex, may immediately take one free bonus move into another open terrain hex or along another road hex for each symbol on its counter.

Ex: The truck shown has a green movement cost, so it is classified as "Wheeled Vehicle" on the Movement Table. The truck also has two wheel bonus move symbols. The Movement Table shows that wheeled vehicles get bonus moves on roads. If this truck pays to move along a road from one road hex to another road hex for 1AP, it may immediately move up to two additional road hexes at no additional cost on the same turn.

Ex: The Soviet T-34a tank shown has two track bonus symbols. Its movement cost is blue, so it is classified as a "Tracked Vehicle". Under the Tracked Movement column; open terrain and roads list a bonus move per track symbol. If the tank pays to move into open terrain or along a road, it may immediately move an additional two of any combination of these terrain hexes for free. For example, the T-34 could pay to move into an open terrain hex for 1AP and then take free bonus moves into a road hex and then an open terrain hex.

Ex: Fig 26. German Turn: The PzIIIe moves along the white arrow path paying 1AP to move into the first open terrain hex. It then bonus moves into the next open hex. Only after the bonus move does the German's turn end.

Next German Turn: The Panzer moves into the heavy woods hex for a total of 3APs (1AP movement cost, plus 2APs heavy woods movement penalty). Woods do not allow the tank a bonus move. His turn ends.

Ex: Fig 26. German Turn: The PzIIIe moves along the yellow arrow path paying 1AP to move into the open hex. The German's turn ends, since woods do not allow bonus moves.

Next German Turn: The Panzer moves into the heavy woods for 3APs. His turn ends.

A unit's movement action includes all bonus moves.

An entire multiple hex movement action must be completed before a player's turn ends. So in each of the previous examples, an opponent may not take his turn until the player unit's paid and bonus moves are fully completed.

Designer's Note: A unit's movement cost takes into account the time it took to give orders, study maps, set for sighting, and so on. The unit's movement allowance is an abstraction of these processes. Even though a truck full of men could reach 100 kph, seldom did it travel so fast over bumpy or muddy roads.

14.2 Roads

Roads negate hex restrictions and movement costs of terrain that covers the center of the hex. So a wheeled vehicle, which is usually restricted from entering a woods hex, can follow a road into woods paying the road movement cost only. Units must follow the roads from hex to hex to gain the road movement advantage.

Roads do not affect the DM of the hex.

Bridges function as roads over bodies of water.

Ex: Fig 26. The PzIIIe moves from the woods hex onto the road hex, paying another 3APs. Only on his next turn, when he begins his move on a road hex and moves to the adjacent road hex can he take advantage of the road movement costs and bonus moves through the woods.

Ex: Fig 27. The T-34 tank with two bonus symbols can move a total of 3 open terrain hexes up a hill. The T-34 moves 3 open hexes up a hill. The total cost is 3APs, 1AP for the first move and +1AP penalty for each uphill level traversed (11.0). The three hex move counts as one action and the opponent cannot react until the tank has reached the top of the hill.

Road Congestion - Vehicles may not make a wheeled bonus move into a road hex that contains other vehicles.

14.3 Enemy Occupied Hexes

Vehicles may move into and through hexes occupied by both friendly and/or enemy units. If vehicles move through a hex without stopping due to movement bonuses, they cannot be engaged in CC.

14.4 Reverse Movement

A unit may move backwards into any of its flank hexes for a +1AP movement penalty cost, which is added to the normal movement cost of the terrain.

Movement bonuses do not apply when moving in reverse.

14.5 Vehicle Immobilization

Vehicles can be immobilized when moving into stone building hexes. The stone building Cost to Move is followed by an "!" on the Vehicle Movement Table, indicating that the vehicle must check for immobilization. The player must roll 2D6 and score a 6 or higher to prevent his unit from being immobilized. He may modify this dice roll with CAPs.

Immobilized vehicles may not pivot, but turreted vehicles may still attack outside of their Arc of Fire (15.4).

Towing - Immobilized or stunned wheeled vehicles may be towed by wheeled or tracked vehicles. Tracked vehicles may be towed only by other tracked vehicles.

Towing vehicles receive no bonus moves.

Vehicles that were immobilized due to terrain and are towed out of the immobilizing terrain may move again. A vehicle immobilized by a hit marker always remains immobilized, but may still be towed.

15.0 Armored Attack and Defense Ratings

Until now we have only considered unarmored units such as infantry and various support teams. Unarmored units have red front and flank Defense Ratings (DR), which are attacked by bullets or high explosive (HE) munitions - represented by a unit's red Attack Rating (AR).

An armored unit's front and flank DR is marked in blue on its counter. Similarly, certain units have munitions such as armor-piercing rounds. The armor-piercing AR is marked in blue on their counters. Blue AR can only attack units with blue DRs.

Designer's Note: When developing the Conflict of Heroes tank AR and DR values, round penetration and armor thickness were not the only factors taken into account. These would have generated distorted values. Targeting equipment, crew training, tank maintenance, rate of attacks, armor slope, relative armor thickness, round "stick" factors, steel quality, radio access, movement speed, and more were considered for the system to yield historical combat results. On paper, the Soviet T-34 outclassed any German tank available in mid-1941. However a T-34 tank crew was ill-trained, often the tank commander had a very limited field of vision, many tanks had very few armor-piercing rounds on board, and often the transmissions broke down within days of rolling off the assembly line with no spare parts available. These and other factors gave the Germans their 7:1 tank kill ratio.

The ranges on the counters represent the distances at which the units historically attacked, not their true maximum ranges. For example, the Panzer IIIe had an attack range of over 1800m, but knocked out over 70% of its victims at less than 500m!

15.1 Multiple Target Types

A unit attacking a hex with multiple targets with different DR colors attacks against each target with its corresponding colored AR.

Ex: The T-34 tank, shown in 15.4, attacks a hex containing a tank and an infantry unit. Against the tank, the T-34 uses its blue 7AR. Against the infantry unit, it uses its red 5AR.

15.2 Vehicle Hits

Hits against vehicles are resolved in the same manner as hits against Foot Units (7.4 and 7.5).

Vehicle Hit Markers:

Destroyed (x1): Immediately remove the affected unit from the map.
Gun Damaged (x2) (No Rally): Either the Blue or Red AR ability is affected, depending on the symbol color.
Immobilized (x5) (No Rally): Unit may not move or pivot. Front DR decrease by 1, flank DR increase by 1.
Light Damage (x4): Unit mechanical stats are not affected, but the crew is rattled.
Panicked (x1): Unit may not attack. Front DR decreases by 4. 9 needed to rally.
Stunned (x2): Unit may not move, attack or take any action other than rally. 9 needed to rally.
Suppressed (x5): Costs +1AP to attack. AR decreases by 2 red and 3 blue. 8 needed to rally.
Back of Hit Markers: All vehicle hit markers have the same back art.

⊘ = The ability is lost. Black means all, blue or red is gun color specific.

Designer's Note: The 'No Rally' Hit Markers can not be rallied because much of their damage is of a physical nature that can not be readily repaired in the heat of battle. These Hit Markers may only rally with the 'Follow Me' Action Card.

15.3 Range Effects

Combat ranges for vehicles and their effect on AR are identical to that of Foot Units (7.7).

15.4 Turreted Vehicles

Some vehicles, such as tanks, have turreted guns which are designated with a white circle under their AP cost to attack. A turreted gun can rotate 360 degrees without the vehicle having to change its facing. Thus, vehicles with turreted guns are the only units that can attack targets outside their Arcs of Fire, which they may do for a +2AP Cost to Attack penalty. When attacking outside of its Arc of Fire, the tank's facing does not change and the attack does not constitute an additional action. Turreted vehicles attacking outside of their Arc of Fire with an Opportunity Action or the 'Command Action' Card 02 do not have to pay the +2AP penalty.

Designer's Note: Most tanks kept their turret firing action within the front 120 degree arc rotational. If a tank was threatened by an enemy, the crew would try to face the threat head on, thus offering the smallest target silhouette with the highest armored area while protecting the tank's vulnerable treads. Often tactical logic was overcome by the sheer psychological stress and panic of taking flank attacks.

15.5 Self Propelled Guns (SPGs)

Self-propelled Guns (SPGs) were field guns mounted onto a tank chassis. Having no turret, they had limited horizontal tracking ability and had to pivot the entire tank in order to follow a target. This made moving target acquisitions more difficult for them than for tanks. This combat occurrence is designed into the game mechanics, dispensing complicated turret rules. The rotation speed, crew training and reaction speed, command visibility, and targeting capabilities are calculated into the "AP Cost to Attack" for each unit type. The effect is that Self-propelled Guns have to expend a separate pivoting action in order to attack outside of their arcs.

15.6 Open Topped Vehicles

Open topped vehicles have a white box with red border under their blue flank DR. Ex: 13. This blue DR acts as a red DR when attacked by mortar and OBA with high explosive symbols or CC attacks by Foot Units. These attack open topped vehicles with their red AR.

Ex: The PzJg 35R has a red 13DR if attacked by a Soviet Rifle unit in CC. (Tank hunter units may still attack with their blue AR.)

Designer's Note: Many self-propelled guns had open tops and rear sections, which made them very vulnerable to hand grenades, artillery shrapnel, and other incoming flank attacks.

15.7 Vehicles as Cover

Vehicles offer +1DM cover bonus to all friendly non-transported unburdened Foot Units in the same hex. The Foot Units do not have to move cautiously when group moving with these vehicles.

Ex: A Rifle unit and a T-34 tank group move towards an enemy position. The Rifle is not being transported, so it is placed under the tank as they move forward and the Rifle receives a +1DM cover bonus from the T-34.

16.0 Trucks and Wagons

Trucks and wagons represent vehicles designed to move other units and supplies over roads. Trucks and wagons utilize green movement and receive road bonus moves (14.1).

Trucks have a -2/-2AR and a range of 0, so they may attempt feeble CC attacks. Designer's Note: A truck may get lucky crashing into an armored car or squad of men.

Wagons may never attack.

Trucks and wagons may not claim Control Markers (2.5.2).

Destroyed truck and wagon counters do not adjust the CAP Track, but do count for VP scoring.

16.1 Armored Personnel Carriers (APC)

APCs represent vehicles designed to transport and protect other units. All units transported by an APC with a +2 red shield receive a +2DM cover bonus. Towed guns and mortar units also receive this bonus, since the gun crew rides in the APC. All other transportation rules apply.

Incoming attacks are resolved simultaneously against the APC and any units being transported. Attacks are still rolled individually for each unit. If the APC is destroyed, transported units still receive the APC's +2DM cover bonus for that attack.

17.0 Loading, Transporting, and Unloading Units

All vehicles may transport either one Foot Unit or pull one gun. (Exception: Vehicles may transport both a German Rifle and an LMG, since these units historically comprised one squad.)

A vehicle must be in the same hex as a unit for it to load. The loading unit then pays its open terrain movement cost to load onto or limber to the truck with a Group Action. The loaded unit counter is placed on top of the vehicle counter, facing the same direction.

Transported units receive no vehicle cover from the vehicle transporting them (exception - 16.1 APCs). A vehicle and its transported unit take group movement actions to move and pay the vehicle's movement cost only. A vehicle does not suffer a movement penalty for moving while loaded and all movement bonuses apply.

A unit being transported may not attack.

To unload, a transported unit must pay its open terrain movement cost with a Group Action. The unloaded unit is now placed under the vehicle facing any direction.

Ex: Fig 28. German Turn: A 251 APC transporting (towing) a PaK38 gun group moves three open hexes for 1AP.

Next German Turn: The 251 moves forward only one hex for 1AP.

Next German Turn: The 251 unloads the PaK38 for 4APs.

Next German Turn: The 251 moves on to the west after which both the gun and the 251 are marked as spent.

New Ex: Fig 28. The 251 APC towed the PaK38 gun in the previous round, but ran out of APs before it could unload the gun. This round the German begins by unloading the PaK38 for 4CAPs. The PaK38 and the 251 APC remain fresh since they unloaded with a Command Action. On his next turn, the German activates the APC and begins to take actions with it. The PaK38 remains fresh and may still be activated later in the round.

Ex: Fig 29. A German 251 APC transporting a Rifle group moves next to a Soviet Rifle for 1AP.

Next German Turn: The APC attacks point blank for 2APs cost to attack, hitting the Soviet.

Next German Turn: The Rifle unloads for 1AP.

Next German Turn: For 2APs, the Germans group attack (9.1.2) the Soviet with a 7AV (3AR for the 251 APC + 1AR Rifle Support + 3AR Short Range Bonus (7.7.2)).

17.1 Attacking Transported Units

Incoming attacks are resolved simultaneously against a vehicle and the flank DRs of any transported units. Attacks are rolled individually against each unit. Both the vehicle and the transported unit receive the hex's terrain DM. If a transporting vehicle is destroyed, any surviving unit is placed on the map facing the same way the vehicle was facing when destroyed. Transported units do not receive extra damage if the vehicle is destroyed.

Ex: Fig 30. German Turn: The German 251 APC, transporting a Rifle unit, group moves from the south. The units have 6APs left in their shared activation (9.0).

Soviet Turn: The Soviet 45mm ATG activates and pays 3APs to simultaneously attack the 251 APC and Rifle. The ATG has a blue 6AR vs the APC's blue 13DV and so needs a 7 to hit (13DV-6AR) and an 11 to kill. It rolls an 11 and destroys the APC. The German player places the destroyed APC counter on its CAP Track. Next the ATG resolves its attack against the Rifle. The ATG has a red 3AR vs the Rifle's 13DV (11 flank DR + 2DM from the APC) and misses.

German Turn: Fig 31. The Rifle moves into the wooden building for 2APs.

Soviet Turn: The ATG attacks the PzIIIh for 3APs with a blue 6AR vs the tank's 17DV and misses. It has 1AP left on its AP Track.

German Turn: The Rifle moves into the hex occupied by the ATG using cautious movement for 2APs.

Soviet Turn: The ATG could attack the German infantry in CC, but its red AR is surrounded by a white box, which denotes its -2AR CC penalty. The adjacent Soviet SMG could attack into the hex, but it might hit the ATG as well. So the Soviet player decides to spend the ATG and activate the SMG, counting its track marker to 7APs. The SMG moves cautiously into the CC hex for 2APs.

German Turn: Fig 32. The German can now CC one (7.7.3) of the two Soviet units and decides to attack the SMG, since it poses a greater threat. He spends his last 2APs, plus 1CAP to attack. The German has a red 6AR vs the SMG's 11 flank DV. He needs ≥5 to hit and ≥9 to kill. He rolls a 6 and the Soviet draws a 'Suppression' Hit Marker and secretly places it face down under the SMG.

Soviet Turn: The SMG cannot rally when it is in the same hex as an enemy unit, so it decides to attack the German infantry with a red 6AR (4AR +4AR Close Combat Bonus -2AR Suppression Penalty) vs the German's 11 flank DV. The Soviet needs ≥5 to hit and ≥9 to kill. He will modify his die roll with 1CAP and now needs ≥4 to hit and ≥8 to kill. He scores a 9, the German Rifle is removed from the map, and is placed on the German player's CAP Track.

You are now ready to play Firefight 6.

Section 5

This section introduces Fortifications and Obstacles.

18.0 Fortifications and Obstacles

Fortifications include Trenches, Bunkers and Hasty Defenses. Obstacles include Barbed Wire, Road Blocks, and Land Mines. All are represented by counters placed on the map. No more than 1 of each type of Fortification or Obstacle may be in a hex, except for Hasty Defenses.

Fortifications and Obstacles do not block LOS.

18.1 Fortifications - Trenches, Bunkers & Hasty Defenses

Firefights begin with Trench and Bunker counters on the map. They may not be built during the course of a Firefight unless specified by the Firefight.

Units occupying a Fortification are placed under the counter and receive the cumulative benefit of the terrain DM and the Fortification DM bonuses. The Fortification's DM bonus is located on the right side of the Fortification counter.

18.1.1 Trenches

Trenches may be occupied by Unburdened Foot Units and all mortars, but not vehicles or guns. Wheeled vehicles are not allowed into Trench hexes. A Trench negates open terrain bonus movement for that hex.

Units in Trenches may face and attack in any direction and receive a black +2DM bonus from all directions. Black DMs are effective against both blue and red AR attacks. An unlimited number of units may be placed under a Trench counter.

18.1.2 Bunkers

Bunkers may be occupied by Unburdened Foot Units, anti-tank guns, and field guns. Mortars may not attack from inside of a Bunker. Bunkers have a red facing, so may not pivot during the Firefight. Units in a Bunker face the same direction as the Bunker.

Enemy units outside of a Bunker's Arc of Fire can attack units in the Bunker, but units in the Bunker cannot attack targets outside of the Bunker's Arc of Fire. An unlimited number of units may be placed in a Bunker.

Bunkers have black front and flank defense modifiers listed in the shield symbols. These black DMs are effective against both blue and red AR attacks. The smaller number represents the Bunker's flank DM against attacks originating from the Bunker's flank, artillery/mortar, and CC attacks.

Ex: The Soviet Rifle unit receives a +5DM Bunker cover bonus to its front 12DR for a total red 17DV against frontal attacks. If this Rifle were attacked from the Bunker's flank, it would have a red 14DV (11DR + 3DM flank Bunker cover bonus).

18.1.3 Hasty Defense

counters represent a hastily fortified position which may be placed in any terrain except water. A Hasty Defense may be prepared by any Foot Unit as an action by paying 7APs or by playing an Action Card. Ex: Cards 02 or 11.

A Hasty Defense counter is placed over the unit that prepared it and that unit receives a black +1DM cover bonus from all directions. A Hasty Defense counter may only be occupied by the unit that prepared it and is removed if that unit pivots, moves, or is destroyed.

Multiple Hasty Defenses may be prepared by multiple units in a hex, but only one Hasty Defense may be placed on each individual unit.

Players may prepare as many Hasty Defenses as there are counters available in the game.

18.2 Occupying and Exiting Trenches & Bunkers

Units may occupy empty or friendly Fortifications when moving into a hex at no additional cost. In CC, Fortifications benefit defending units only. Units may exit a Fortification at no additional cost if part of a movement action out of the hex. Units may exit a Fortification without leaving the hex by paying their normal movement cost for that hex. A unit in a hex that wishes to reenter a Fortification pays its normal movement cost for that hex.

Ex: A LMG in a Bunker is being outflanked. As its action, it pays 1AP to exit the Bunker facing any direction.

18.3 Obstacles - Barbed Wire, Road Blocks, & Mines

18.3.1 Barbed Wire

counters affect units that want to move into the hex from any direction. Wheeled vehicles may not enter a Wire hex. Wire negates tracked bonus moves in its hex.

Foot Units pay a random extra +1D6 movement penalty for moving into a Wire hex. To move into a Wire hex, Foot Units:

Announce their intent to move into the Wire hex.
Roll 1D6 to determine a movement penalty cost.
Add this movement penalty to the normal terrain movement cost for that hex.

If after rolling for the penalty cost an activated unit does not have enough APs to pay for the move into the Wire hex or if the player does not wish to pay the additional APs to move into the hex, the unit does not advance, loses all of its remaining APs, and is marked as spent. This attempt counts as an action. The unit may still take further CAP or Card Actions on later turns.

Ex: A German Rifle occupies a clear hex with a Wire counter on it. A Soviet Rifle wishes to move into the German hex in order to initiate close combat. The Soviet has 4APs and 2CAPs left. He states his intent, rolls 1D6 for a 4 and so must pay 5APs total to move into the Wire hex with the German (the 4 rolled + 1AP open terrain movement cost). The Soviet may either pay 4APs + 1CAP to move in, or not move and lose his remaining 4APs.

Wire counters are automatically destroyed and removed when a tracked unit moves into the hex or when attacked (18.4).

Wire may only be placed during the Firefight's setup.

Artillery and mortar attacks are resolved simultaneously against the Wire and any units in the hex.

18.3.2 Road Blocks

affect vehicle movement into the hex from any direction. Road blocks do not affect Foot Units. Wheeled green units may not enter a Road Block hex. Tracked vehicles that wish to move into a Road Block hex must:

Announce their intent to move into the Road Block hex.
Roll 1D6 to determine the Road Block movement penalty cost.
Add this penalty to the normal terrain movement cost.

If, after rolling for the penalty cost, an activated unit does not have enough APs to move into the Road Block hex or if the player does not wish to pay the additional APs to move into the hex, the unit does not advance, loses all of its remaining APs, and is marked as spent. This attempt counts as an action. The unit may still take further CAP and Card Actions on later turns.

Road Blocks may be placed only during setup, unless specified by the Firefight.

Road Blocks do not block LOS and give the +1DM cover bonus to all units.

18.3.3 Land Mines

may be placed on any hex, openly or hidden, as specified by the Firefight. If a unit moves onto a hidden mine, a mine counter is placed in that hex. Mines attack enemy or friendly units immediately after the units move into a mined hex or take any action other than attacking, rallying, or spotting. Units moving out of a mine hex are not affected by the mines. If a new unit moves into a mined hex with an existing unit in it, only the new unit is affected by the mine attack.

Mines included with this game have a black attack number, thus explode against all foot and vehicle units.

When a unit moves onto a mine, the mine owner rolls 2D6, which may be modified with CAPs. A modified 2D6 result equal to or greater than eight hits the unit.

Ex: On the Mine shown above, a modified 2D6 result of 8 or higher hits the unit.

Ex: The player moves one of his units onto his own mine. He decides to negatively modify the Mine attack dice roll with 2CAPs. He now needs to roll a 10 or higher to be hit.

Terrain and Fortification DMs do not affect mine attacks.

18.4 Fortification and Obstacle Destruction

Fortifications and Obstacles with a red number in the bottom right hand corner of their counters can be destroyed by mortar attacks, artillery attacks, red tank / armored car / field gun AR (no MG attack) or CC Foot Unit attacks. A Fortification's or Obstacle's DR is modified by any terrain DM, including woods, buildings and smoke. When a Fortification or Obstacle is hit, it is removed from the Firefight.

Attacks are resolved simultaneously (but rolled individually) against the target unit(s) and the Fortification or Obstacle. If a Fortification is destroyed, units inside it still receive the Fortification's DM bonus for that turn's attack.

Units in Fortifications defend with their flank defense against flank, artillery/mortar, and CC attacks as normal.

A player may attack an empty Fortification or Obstacle, in an attempt to destroy it.

Ex: Soviet artillery with a red 6AR attacks 2 Rifle units in a Bunker with a 16DV and a black 3 flank DM. The artillery rolls a 10 for a total 16AV and the Bunker counter is removed. The Soviet rolls a 13AV against the first Rifle's 14DV (11 flank DR +3DM from the Bunker) and misses. For the second Rifle unit, the Soviet rolls a 12AV and misses.

You are now ready to play Firefight 7.

Section 6

This section introduces special units, rules for playing with more than 2 players, and the Solo Expansion.

19.0 Pioneers

Pioneers were specially trained units outfitted to assault enemy positions. Pioneers behave exactly like other infantry units, except for the following abilities:

Pioneers reveal hidden mines when moved on and do not trigger an attack from them.
Pioneers can fire +2DM smoke up to 1 hex distance for 2APs.
Pioneers have flamethrower capabilities with a range of 1 (19.1).

19.1 Flamethrowers

Certain tanks and pioneers have Flamethrower capabilities and are marked with a Flame Symbol. These units may choose to attack with their normal AR capabilities and ranges, or they can choose to use their flamethrower. All flamethrowers attack with a red or blue 2AR and have a maximum range of 1 (no long range attack is allowed). Short Range and CC AR bonuses apply. Flamethrowers always attack against a defender's flank DR and all DM are ignored, including against Bunkers, Buildings, and Woods.

Hull mounted flamethrowers attack in their Arc of Fire only, turret mounted flamethrowers can attack outside of their Arc of Fire for a +2AP cost to fire penalty.

20.0 Three and Four Player Firefights

Some Firefights are designed for more than 2 players. Each player has his own track sheet and force to command. Players decide at the beginning of the Firefight if turn order alternates between sides (Ex: German 1, then Soviet 1, then German 2, then Soviet 2) or if all players from one side simultaneously take their turns (Ex: German 1 and 2, then Soviet 1 and 2).

Players roll for initiative individually at the beginning of a round with the high roller or high roller side taking the first action(s). Players may also decide to take turn order from highest to lowest initiative roll.

When all but 1 player pass consecutively, the round ends.

Ex: Soviet 1 passes, German 1 takes an action, Soviet 2 passes, German 2 passes. If Soviet 1 now passes, the round is over.

Cards, CAPs and units may not be traded between allies.

Victory conditions are awarded to the player that moves onto a Control Marker first, etc. Players may decide at the beginning of a Firefight to play for an individual win or a team win.

20.1 Two Players Playing a 3 or 4 Player Firefight

When two players play a Firefight designed for four, they may consolidate each side's forces into one. This includes consolidating all CAP's from both forces, minus one, onto one track sheet and drawing and combining the cards for both factions into one hand. The player controls all units of both forces and may activate the units in any order that he wishes.

Ex: A player controls two German forces. The first force receives 7CAPs and the second 6CAPs. The single player may consolidate 12 CAPs on a single track sheet and use them as he wishes. He also draws all cards for both forces, using them as he wishes.

If three players are playing a four player Firefight, we do not recommend that any of the forces be consolidated.

20.2 Solo Expansion

The Conflict of Heroes - Solo Boardgame Expansion revolutionizes solo tactical play. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) utilizes a unique Emergent Behavior and Agent Based Logic that evaluates each battlefield situation and implements the best course of action using available resources and unit assets. Even veteran CoH players will be challenged to hone and adapt their playing styles in order overcome this resourceful high-level AI.

Included are two full campaigns covering the German 1941 advance on Moscow. In the first campaign, you command elements of the 10th Pz Division. In the second campaign, you switch sides and command elements of the Soviet 32nd Army trying to undo your gains from the first campaign!

20.3 Firefight Generator

In the Awakening the Bear - Firefight Generator Expansion, players use strategy and cunning to manipulate the battlefield and available forces to create an engagement set to their advantage. To create a unique new Firefight, players alternate playing Generator Cards to choose their units, Victory Point conditions, weapons, weather conditions, and more. Players can bluff, outmaneuver, and thwart their opponents... all before the Firefight even begins! Successful commanders will make smart and strategic choices by allocating their limited resources to set themselves up for victory. This is a groundbreaking new system that is challenging and fun to play!

Create a Solo Mission or 2 - 4 player Firefight in under 10 minutes!

Card Descriptions

Action Cards

Action Cards must be played during a player's turn. Playing an Action Card constitutes an action. Cards paid for with APs must be played on the activated unit or group that paid for it. Cards with no cost or those that are paid with CAPs only may be played on any unit.

Command Action (x13) Card #02 — Any unit or group may take any one action at 0 cost.
Follow Me! (x3) Card #03 — Any unit or group may immediately rally. May even be used on Hit Markers with 'No Rally' conditions.
Rally Up! (x3) Card #04 — Any unit or group may roll to attempt to rally. Each attempt must be rolled separately.
Rapid Deployment (x2) Card #05 — Any unit or group, including hidden ones, may move up to 2 hexes at no cost. May not be used on immobilised, pinned, or stunned units. Intervening mines affect the moving unit. Unit may not move into prohibited hexes.
Battlefield Confusion (x2) Card #06 — Flip any one enemy unit to its spent side. The affected unit may no longer activate or use APs for the remainder of the round. It may use CAPs and cards. This card may not be played on a group or off-board units, but may be played on Hidden Units.
Experienced Sergeant (x2) Card #07 — An activated unit rolls 1D6 for additional APs to be added to the unit's AP Track. The AP total may now be temporarily higher than the number of APs the unit activated with.
Frontline Officer (x2) Card #08 — Roll 1D6 for additional CAPs and add them to the CAP Track. These CAPs are added one time only and the CAP total may now be temporarily higher than the number of CAPs the Firefight started with.
Seek Cover! (x2) Card #11 — A Hasty Defense counter(s) may be placed on any fresh, activated or spent unit or group (including vehicles). Hasty Defense may not be placed on a unit in CC.
Sniper Fire (x3) Card #13 — Opponent loses CAPs immediately for this round only: Roll 1 = 0CAPs; Roll 2-3 = 1CAP; Roll 4-5 = 2CAPs; Roll 6 = 3CAPs.
Bogged Down (x1) Card #20 — Immobilize any one fresh or spent enemy vehicle. The immobilization counter is removed at round's end. This Card may not be played on a group.
Scout Teams (x1) Card #30 — Choose any one of your units. Your opponent must reveal all Hidden Units that are within 2 hexes and within the LOS of the unit you chose.
Mine-Laying (x1) Card #40 — Any one fresh, activated or spent unburdened Foot Unit may lay an available mine on its own or adjacent hex, but not on an enemy occupied hex. The mine may be placed as hidden if out of enemy LOS. Cannot be placed by units in CC.
Obstacle-Clearing (x1) Card #41 — Any fresh, activated or spent unburdened Foot Unit may remove one Obstacle counter from its own hex. Obstacles include Barbed Wire, Road Blocks and Land Mines. Cannot be played if in CC or by a group.

Bonus Cards

Playing a Bonus Card does not constitute an action. Bonus Cards may be played in conjunction with another action or as described below.

Careful Aiming (x2) Card #09 — Playing this card increases a unit's AR by 2. Playing this card does not constitute an action. This card may also increase a group's attack by 2AR.
Swift Action (x2) Card #10 — A player may take two consecutive actions, skipping an opponent's turn. Playing this card does not constitute an action. A player must announce the use of this card before his first action is taken. This card may be used by a group.
Luck (x3) Card #12 — A player may play this card in an attempt to modify his own dice roll result. Playing this card does not constitute an action and may be played during a player's turn after a roll has been made.

Weapon Cards

Weapon Cards are played as an action or in support of a Group Action. Off-board artillery cards are played and resolved during the Pre-Round Sequence (2.0).

Grenades (x1) — German Foot Units may use this card to attack as an action at 0 cost. May be used at 1 range with a -2AR penalty (long range). No CC modifiers at 0 range. May support a group attack. Attacks a target's flank defense. Terrain modifiers apply.
Molotov Cocktail (x1) — Soviet Foot Units use this card to attack as an action at 0 cost. May be used at 1 range with a -2AR penalty (long range). No CC modifiers at 0 range. May support a group attack. Attacks a target's flank defense. Terrain modifiers apply.
Tellermine (x1) — German Foot Units use this card to attack vehicles as an action at a cost of 2AP/CAP. May only be used at 0 range. May not be part of a group attack. Attacks a target's flank defense. All DM and CC modifiers do not apply. Tellermines may also be placed as a Land Mine within one hex of a unit's position. The same rules apply as for the Mine Laying Card #40.
Off-Board Artillery (OBA) — OBA represent off-board resources available to the players as set by a Firefight. A player must note if he will use smoke when targeting in the Pre-Round Sequence. The affected target hex patterns are printed on each card. OBA attacks a target's flank defense. Terrain modifiers apply except for heavy woods (see Air Bursts 12.2/12.4).
- German Off-Board Artillery (x1) — 10.5cm leFH18 Light Howitzer
- Soviet Off-Board Artillery (x1) — 122mm m.38 Field Howitzer

Event Cards

Event Cards are played immediately when drawn at the beginning of a round. The player then draws a new card.

Score (x1) — A Firefight will dictate if the score card is mixed into the card deck. When pulled, follow the scoring instructions set by the Firefight. Pull a new card after the scoring is resolved.
Objective 1 - 4 (x4) — Objective cards are shuffled and one is drawn randomly. This card usually defines a player's secret objective for the Firefight. The card is revealed at Firefight's end.
Firefight Event (x1) — The event card is sometimes mixed into the card deck and when pulled triggers an event set by the Firefight. Draw a new card after the event is resolved.
Game Ends (x1) — This card is sometimes mixed into the card deck and when pulled ends the Firefight.

Unit Counters from Awakening the Bear 2nd Edition

Listed below are the unit names, number supplied in the game, years in active service and descriptions. Players that wish to create their own Firefights can download a unit point cost list from Academy Games' website.

Designer's Note: Unit stats and abilities were calculated based on how they performed historically relative to each other during a specific time period. Fans of the series will notice that a unit's (relative) stats in different games often change as the war progresses.

German Forces: Die Wehrmacht

Rifle '41 Unit x8, 39-45 — Seven men and officers armed with rifles and some sub-machine guns. A squad included a LMG 34 unit below.
LMG 34 - Belt Fed x7, 39-45 — With the 200 round belt-fed ammo, the LMG 34 became the classic infantry medium support weapon.
Pioneer Squad x3, 39-45 — Specially trained squads of 8-10 men that assaulted fortified positions, laid mines and set traps.
HMG 34 x2, 39-45 — A LMG 34 mounted on a tripod made the MG very lethal and accurate.
Mortar 5cm x2, 39-42 — The 5cm light mortar proved to be underpowered and was later supplanted by the 8cm mortar.
Mortar 8cm x2, 39-45 — Three man crews manned these mortars which could attack indirectly. They replaced the 5cm mortars.
Tank Hunters x1, 39-42 — Two man teams trained to assault tanks with bundled grenades (Geballte Ladung), mines and other improvized explosives.
7.5cm Inf Gun x2, 39-45 — The short barrel leIG 18 light infantry gun was used for close infantry support against soft targets and fired high-explosive shells.
PaK36 x2, 39-42 — The Germans were totally unprepared for the Soviet T-34 tank and the PaK36 3.7cm shells literally bounced off of its armor.
PaK38 x2, 41-45 — This 5cm AT gun was too weak against the heavily armed T-34 and KV tanks and was useful only at short ranges.
7.62cm FK 297 x1, 41-43 — To stop the T-34 and KV-1, the Germans used many captured soviet guns, here the un-modified F-22 USV M39 AT gun.
FlaK18 88mm x1, 39-45 — This anti-air gun was converted into one of the most effective anti-tank guns of the war. It could penetrate any armor.
Wagons x3, 39-45 — A majority of both armies were supplied by horse drawn wagons. Wagons outnumbered all other vehicles combined.
Truck/Opel x2, 39-45 — The German army was lucky to have trucks when available. Most supplies were still transported by wagons.
SdKfz 251/1 APC x2, 39-45 — Heavy duty armored troop transporter that could keep up with tanks. Armed with two mounted LMG 34s.
Protze PaK36 x1, 41-42 — Many Panzerjäger units mounted the Pak36 3.7cm AT gun directly on trucks, to increase its mobility.
SdKfz 232L x1, 39-45 — A heavy 8-wheel reconnaissance car armed with a 2cm L55 autocannon. This is the later version with spaced armor front shield.
DeMag D7 x1, 41-42 — A standard PaK38 5cm AT gun mounted on a light half-track chassis. Sometimes improvized armor was added to the front.
PzJg 35R x1, 41-44 — A disappointing replacement for the Panzerjäger I, this tank-destroyer was fitted with a Czech 47mm gun atop of a captured R35 French tank.
Panzer IIf x3, 40-43 — This reconnaissance tank was similar to the PzIIc, but had added armor.
Panzer 38t x1, 39-42 — This Czech tank with a 3.7cm L48 gun was slated to be a main battle tank, but proved to be vulnerable and underpowered.
Panzer IIIe x2, 39-41 — Intended to be the main German battle tank, the puny 3.7cm gun proved to be useless against most Soviet tanks.
Panzer IIIh x1, 41-42 — Pz IIIe tanks were retrofitted with 5cm guns and much thicker armor to protect against the T-34 tank.
Panzer IIIj x1, 42-43 — In an attempt to counter the devastating T-34, this upgraded tank was already obsolete when introduced.
Panzer IVe x2, 39-43 — An infantry support tank that sported a short 7.5cm L24 gun effective against soft targets.
Panzer IVf2 x1, 42-43 — Upgraded to a 7.5cm anti-tank gun, making it the new main battle tank for the Germans, replacing the aging PzIIIs.
S35(f) Somua Tank x1, 41-44 — A captured French medium tank with a 47mm L42 gun, fitted with radio and cupola. Fought with Army Group North as well as in Finland.
B2(f) Tank x1, 42-44 — A captured French heavy tank, with its hull-mounted gun replaced by a flamethrower.
T-34 Captured Tank x1, 41-42 — The Germans thrived on captured equipment. The captured T-34s were outfitted with radio communications.

Soviet Forces: The Red Army

Rifle '41 Squad x12, 39-41 — 10 men and officers armed with rifles. Though not as tactically trained as the Germans, they had greater firepower.
SMG/Rifle Squad x4, 41-42 — The Soviets began to supply more men with dreaded sub-machine guns. By war's end, 34% of all Soviet hand weapons were comprised of SMGs.
Maxim MMG Squad x3, 39-45 — The model 1910 Maxim was heavy and cumbersome, but rugged and reliable.
NKVD Squad x3, 39-45 — Security troops used for internal 'order', as well as anti-German fighting. Many fought ferociously during 1941.
Mortar 50mm x1, 39-42 — The 50mm light mortar proved to be too underpowered to have any great effect on the battlefield.
Mortar 82mm x2, 39-45 — Most heavily produced Soviet mortar. Some had wheels affixed to the base for easier movement. Could attack indirectly and fire smoke.
Inf Gun 76mm x1, 39-45 — The 76.2mm regimental gun M1927 was a soviet infantry support gun, and was issued to rifle and cavalry regiments.
Anti-Tank Gun 45mm x2, 39-45 — Upgraded from the German PaK36, the m37 19-K L43 was very versatile, firing armor-piercing and high-explosive ammo.
F22 m36 76mm x1, 39-45 — Designed as both an AA and AT gun, it had awkward sights and controls. It was disappointing in handling and performance.
Wagons x4, 39-45 — A majority of both armies were supplied by wagons. Wagons outnumbered all other vehicles combined.
GAZ Trucks x2, 39-43 — A Ford copy manufactured in Russia, the GAZ 2x4 wheel truck was the workhorse for the Soviets.
BA-10 Armored Car x2, 39-43 — Used mostly for reconnaissance, the BA-10 had light armor, good speed, a 45mm turreted main gun, and a MG. The most produced heavy armored car in the war.
OT-26 x1, 41-42 — The soviets mounted a flamethrower on a modified m31 T-26 light tank. Short range and light armor made the OT-26 vulnerable.
ZiS-30 Mobile Art. x1, 41-42 — Hastily designed tank destroyers made by fitting an 57mm gun to a Komsomolets tractor - not a good gun platform. The early 57mm gun had many defects.
T-26b Light Tank x4, 39-42 — Though obsolete by Operation Barbarossa, this was the most numerous tank in the Soviet army during the first years of the war.
BT-7 Light Tank x2, 39-43 — Lightly armored, the BT-7 was obsolete by 1941. Its design was a precursor of the T-34.
T-35 Heavy Tank x1, 39-41 — A heavy multi-turret tank, armed with 3 guns and 5 MGs. Prone to break down and poorly armored, it fought to extinction in 1941.
T-34a m40 Med Tank x4, 40-42 — Considered the most successful tank series of WWII, it sported well-shaped and thick armor, small size and great speed.
T-34b m41 Med Tank x2, 41-43 — The gun was upgraded from the T-34a and the overall design simplified to make manufacturing easier.
KV1a Heavy Tank x2, 40-42 — The most powerful serial-made tank at the beginning of the war, its thick armor was almost impenetrable.
KV2a Heavy Tank x1, 40-43 — The "Tank Buster" provided close support for the KV1a. Its main drawback was its slooow speed.

Abbreviations

Abbrev.	Meaning	Abbrev.	Meaning	Abbrev.	Meaning
1D6	1 Six-sided Die	CC	Close Combat	LMG	Light Machine Gun
2D6	2 Six-sided Dice	CoH	Conflict of Heroes	LOS	Line of Sight
AA	Anti-Air	DM	Defense Modifier	MG	Machine Gun
AoF	Arc of Fire	DR	Defense Rating	MMG	Medium Machine Gun
APs	Action Points	DV	Defense Value (DV = DR + DM)	NA	Not Accessible
APC	Armored Personnel Carrier	HE	High Explosive	OBA	Off-Board Artillery
AR	Attack Rating (Firepower)	HMG	Heavy Machine Gun	Pz	Panzer (German tank)
AT Gun	Anti-Tank Gun	KIA	Killed in Action	SMG	Sub-Machine Gun
AV	Attack Value (AV = AR + 2D6 + CAPs)	L1	Level 1 Hill	SPG	Self-Propelled Gun
CAPs	Command Action Points	L2	Level 2 Hill	VP	Victory Point

'Kampf im Osten' / 'War in the East'

Weit ist der Weg, reich und fruchtbar die Erde. Auf ihren Feldern hielt Ernte der Tod. Long is the Way, rich and fruitful the Earth. On her Fields Death held its Harvest.

— Unteroffizier Rolf Werner / Sergeant Rolf Werner, Im Felde, Russland Sept 1941 / On Campaign, Russia Sept 1941