Rattenkrieg: Assault on the Tracktor Factory
Rattenkrieg: Assault on the Tracktor Factory Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Set-Up
This solitaire game (player is the Germans) requires 5 six-sided dice to begin.
Shuffle all 9 Soviet counters red side-down. Place 1 Soviet counter in each map Area with a RED shield. Set the rest aside red side-down in a "pool." Set up all 10 German counters in the 4 Areas with arrows and set the Air Strike Track (AST) marker on space "4." Start with a Strategy Phase (below).
Soviets: Soviets always start red side-down. Soviets never move and there may only be 1 in an Area at all times.
Germans: Infantry and Armor start full-strength (white-side up) and weaken in combat when flipped to depleted status (green-side). Generals start in competent status (white-side up) and can be promoted (flip) to a stronger veteran status (green-side). Up to 2 German counters plus 1 General may stack in any 1 Area during set-up, and after their move ends. Generals must stack with at least 1 non-General counter.
Strategy Phase (Steps 1-3)
(1) Soviet Infiltration. Roll 2 dice, adding results. Randomly pick 1 Soviet counter from the pool. Place it red side-down in the numbered Area equal to the dice roll. Skip this step if pool is empty, or if the Area rolled for is already occupied by either side's counter(s).
(2) German Movement. May move 1 or 2 adjacent Areas as per their Movement Allowance. The armor counter with a "+" sign may carry 1 Infantry counter up to 2 Areas. Germans must stop upon entering a Soviet-occupied Area at any point. A German counter ending its move in a Soviet-occupied Area creates a "Contested Area." German counters may exit Contested Areas at the start of their move. Generals must exit Soviet-occupied Areas if no other friendly counters are present.
(3) Deadly Surprise. After all German moves are done, flip over any red side-down Soviet counter in a Contested Area. If it is a Sniper, or a counter with an Ambush Symbol printed on it, resolve it now.
Sniper. Remove any General in the Area from play (Generals can only be killed by Snipers), else no effect. Always then remove the Sniper.
Ambush Symbol. Deplete (flip over) any 1 German Armor or Infantry (player's choice, eliminate if suffering 2nd depletion) in the Area. Each Soviet counter may play its Ambush once, then ignore it rest of game. Keep the counter in play however.
Combat Phase (Steps 4-7)
Do Steps 4-7 for each Contested Area.
(4) Dice Determination. Count up the Stars printed on the Soviet counter, plus any printed on the shield in the Contested Area it is in. Count up all the Iron Crosses printed on all German counters as well. Compare the number of Iron Crosses to Stars: The Player will roll 2 dice for the Germans vs. 1 die for the Soviets if there are more Iron Crosses. The Player will roll 2 dice for the Soviets vs. 1 die for the Germans if there are more Stars. The Player will roll 2 dice for each side if the numbers are equal.
(5) Air Strike. Before rolling any dice, the Player may choose to add a max of 1 Air Strike into a Contested Area's combat. Move the AST marker down 1 space on the track. Add 1 die to the German's total available. No Air Strikes remain when the marker is on the "0" space.
(6) Hellish Combat. Now roll the dice for each side. The single highest die roll, OR the most number of high dice wins. Soviets win all ties unless a General is in the Area, if so the Germans win ties.
Example A: German roll is a 4 vs. Soviet rolls of a 2 and 3 - a German victory (for single highest die roll).
Example B: German rolls are a 4 and 5 vs. Soviet rolls of a 5 and 5 - a Soviet victory (for most number of high dice).
Example C: German rolls are a 6, 5 and 4 vs. a Soviet roll of 6 - a tie, becomes a Soviet Victory if no General in Area.
(7) Bloody Aftermath. If a German win, eliminate Soviet counter from play. If a Soviet Victory, the Soviet counter stays in the Area. Either way, promote (flip) any General present and ALWAYS deplete (flip) 1 German Armor or Infantry (player's choice, eliminate if suffering 2nd depletion) in the Area. Start next turn when all combats finish.
Victory Conditions
The Player wins the instant no Soviet counters remain on the map but loses the instant there are more Soviet than German counters on the map. Otherwise, the "Rattenkrieg" (War of the Rats) at Stalingrad continues another turn!
Components
The postcard's counter art is labelled as follows. The printed values (Stars, Iron Crosses, Movement Allowance, Combat Bonus) are on the counters themselves.
German counters (10): 14/108 III, 14/36 III, 60/160 X, 6 II, 41 II, 14/103 III, 60/120 III, 60/92 III, 14/BAESS (General), 60/KOHL (General).
Soviet counters (9): 6 BDE, 18 GD RGT, 26 GD RGT, MANEN, 133 BDE, 241 BDE, 254 BDE, 292 BDE, ZIKAN.
Key (printed on the postcard): Movement Allowance (example "+2"), General, Armor, Infantry, Combat Bonus (example "26 GUARD").