Reichswehr & Freikorps: If the Red Army Invaded Germany, 1920 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1.0 Introduction
  • 1.1 Reichswehr & Freikorps
  • 1.2 Game Scales
  • 1.3 Counterfactual Background
  • 1.4 Opposing Forces
• 2.0 Game Components
  • 2.1 Components List
  • 2.2 Game Map
  • 2.3 Counters
  • 2.4 Sample Combat Unit
  • 2.5 Sides
  • 2.6 Unit Identifications
  • 2.7 Unit Types
  • 2.8 Unit Sizes
  • 2.9 Combat Factor
  • 2.10 Movement Factors
  • 2.11 Other Markers & Counters
• 3.0 Set Up & Hex Control
  • 3.1 Getting Started
  • 3.2 Red Army Set Up
  • 3.3 German Set Up
  • 3.4 Initial Marker Placement
  • 3.5 Hex Control
• 4.0 How to Win & Red Army Morale
  • 4.1 On to Berlin
  • 4.2 City & Town Hex Control
  • 4.3 Red Army Southern Front Reinforcements
  • 4.4 Winning & Losing on Victory Points
  • 4.5 German Sudden Death Victory: Warsaw
  • 4.6 Red Army Sudden Death Victory: Berlin
  • 4.7 Red Army Morale
  • 4.8 RAM Collapse
• 5.0 The Turn Sequence
  • 5.1 Player Turns
  • 5.2 Game Turn & Player Turn Procedures
  • 5.3 Game Turn Sequence
  • 5.4 The Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase
  • 5.5 Red Army Active Front
• 6.0 German Replacements & Red Army Reinforcements
  • 6.1 Reinforcements
  • 6.2 Red Army Reinforcements
  • 6.3 German Replacements
• 7.0 Supply & German Railroad Movement
  • 7.1 Supply Line Tracing
  • 7.2 Supply States
  • 7.3 Which Units Are In Supply
  • 7.4 Tracing Supply Lines
  • 7.5 Gaining & Losing Intermediate Railhead Supply Source Hexes
  • 7.6 Effects of Being OOS
  • 7.7 When to Check Supply
  • 7.8 Deliberate OOS
  • 7.9 Appropriate Supply Sources
  • 7.10 German Rail Movement
  • 7.11 German Railroad Movement Variability
• 8.0 Stacking
  • 8.1 Stacking Definition
  • 8.2 Stacking & Movement
  • 8.3 Fog of War
  • 8.4 German Stacking Limit
  • 8.5 Red Army Stacking Limit
  • 8.6 Free Stacking Units
• 9.0 Movement
  • 9.1 Movement Factors
  • 9.2 Movement Strictures
  • 9.3 Minimum Movement Capability
  • 9.4 Stack Movement
  • 9.5 Splitting Stacks
  • 9.6 Stack MF
  • 9.7 Enemy Units
  • 9.8 Terrain
  • 9.9 Natural Terrain
  • 9.10 Clear
  • 9.11 Forest
  • 9.12 Rough
• 10.0 Combat
  • 10.1 Attacker & Defender
  • 10.2 Procedure
  • 10.3 Attack & Defense Limits
  • 10.4 Multi-Unit & Multi-Hex Combat
  • 10.5 Defender Commitment & Integrity
  • 10.6 Combat Strength Unity
  • 10.7 Terrain Effects on Combat
  • 10.8 Retreat After Combat
  • 10.9 Advance After Combat
  • 10.10 Odds Limits & Odds Reductions
  • 10.11 Attacker Eliminated (AE) Result

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Reichswehr & Freikorps

Reichswehr & Freikorps: If the Red Army Invaded Germany, 1920 (RWFK for short), is a low-complexity, strategic-level, alternative history wargame of the conflict that likely would've resulted had the Poles been defeated by the invading Red Army late in the summer of 1920. The game is intended for two players, one commanding the Red Army, and the other the German forces, though it can also easily be played solitaire by a person willing to command both sides. Players new to wargames should examine all the components of RWFK before reading any farther in these rules. Look over the charts and tables, the playing pieces and the map. Then punch out the counters and place them on the map to get the feel for how the game looks and works.

1.2 Game Scales

Each hex on the map equals 15 miles (24.3 km.) from side to opposite side. Each game turn represents one week. Playing pieces represent divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions of infantry, cavalry and armored cars: formations containing about 500 to 6,000 men.

1.3 Counterfactual Background

In keeping with the practices of good alternative history, we've kept to a minimum the changes we believe would've been necessary to the historic timeline in order to have brought about the situation depicted at the start of play. That is, the single counterfactual assumption underlying the game is that Polish nationalist leader (and defacto dictator) Jozef Pilsudski declined to sign the Protocol of Spa, to which he agreed historically on 10 July 1920, and by which he accepted Allied-drawn boundaries for his country.

Prior to his acceptance of that protocol, Pilsudski had been leading his nation's forces in an attempt to carve out an area of dominance coterminous with the borders of 1772. In essence, he wanted to recreate "Greater Poland," which would've included Lithuania, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The Allies feared those territorial ambitions would only lead to broader and prolonged war across eastern Europe. Thus, in return for abandoning the idea of Greater Poland, the regime in Warsaw was rewarded with large amounts of materiel to resupply its exhausted armies, along with advisors to help organize and train their many green troops. After those developments, the Poles were able to finally and fully defeat the Red Army at the gates of their capital.

Had Pilsudski stuck to his original goal, and thereby not gotten any Allied aid, there seems little doubt the Red Army would've triumphed at Warsaw. Such a resounding defeat would likely have brought on the destruction of the nascent Polish state and its armed forces. Thus the late summer of 1920 would've seen a regrouped Red Army (or rather, its "Western Strategic Direction") poised to move toward Lenin's next goal: the invasion of Germany, with the aim of capturing Berlin and establishing a new government there, thus introducing revolutionary bolshevism to the West.

1.4 Opposing Forces

The Red Army order of battle in the game is taken from what was historically deployed in front of Warsaw in mid-August 1920. We've made no changes to the command predicament under which those forces had to operate historically. That is, the invaders suffered under the leadership of men who distrusted and disliked one another, as well as an overall commander, in the person of Joseph Stalin, who lacked both the military talent necessary to master such a situation on his own and the managerial skills he otherwise could've brought to bear to smooth relations among his subordinates. Those conditions are simulated by the Red Army movement and stacking rules given in sections 5.0 and 8.0.

In opposition would've stood the seven infantry and three cavalry divisions of the Reichswehr, the recently established successor force to the massive armies deployed by the Germans during World War I. Under command of the able Gen. Hans von Seeckt, that entire army numbered only 100,000 — but those men represented the pick of the millions who'd served in the war. In addition, von Seeckt would doubtless have also been able to call on the services of the 100,000 or so volunteers who filled the ranks of the ad hoc Freikorps (free corps). Those formations had spontaneously come into being to resist the social and political upheaval that swept defeated Germany in 1918 and 1919.

Two other groups have been purposely omitted from the orders of battle. First, there are no communist insurgent forces operating inside Germany. That's because the German left-revolutionaries had by this time all been soundly defeated, their political organizations wrecked and leaders executed. A Red Army invading Germany in 1920 would've been a year too late to have been able to take advantage of such local allies. From March 1920 on, with the abortive "Kapp Putsch," the threats to the Weimar Republic came from the far right, not the far left.

There are also no British, French or US divisions on hand. Historically those nations worked to achieve two goals in central Europe during 1919-1920. That is, they wanted to block communist expansion westward by propping up the new regimes of the Baltic republics and Poland. Above all, they hoped to avoid having to actively ally themselves with the Germans to achieve that objective. At a time when the British and French still sought to collect large war indemnities from Berlin, and the latter also still entertained hopes of splitting off the Rhineland from Germany proper, such an alliance would've been political poison.

If the Germans had once been able to put their national army into the field in direct and active cooperation with the Western Allies, the government in Berlin could then have presented that situation as one demanding the abandonment of the punitive portions of the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, with Poland overrun, we can easily imagine the Allies would've been willing (indeed, eager) to logistically support the Germans, but would also still have been loath to go further. A war directly involving those nations' armed forces would only have begun with the return of good campaigning weather in 1921, assuming the Red Army was successful in this war.

2.0 Game Components

2.1 Components List

The components to a complete game of RWFK include these rules, the mapsheet and 176 die-cut counters (also called "units" and "unit counters"). Players must provide themselves with a standard six-sided die to resolve combat and other probabilistic events that occur during play.

2.2 Game Map

The game map represents the militarily significant terrain found across the German-Polish border region in 1920 when portrayed at this scale. A hexagonal ("hex") grid is printed over it to regulate unit placement and movement similar to the way squares are used in Chess and Checkers. A unit is always in only one hex at any one instant. Each hex contains natural and/or manmade terrain features that may affect movement and combat. The map's terrain representations have been altered slightly from their exact real-world configurations in order to make them conform to the hex-grid, but the terrain relationships from hex to hex are accurate to the degree necessary to present players with the same space/time dilemmas that would've been faced by their real-world counterparts in this war had it actually been waged. Each hex on the map has a unique four-digit number printed in it. They're provided to help you find specific locations referred to in the rules (for example, Danzig is in hex 2418), and to allow you to record unit positions if a match has to be interrupted and taken down before it can be completed.

2.3 Counters

There are 176 counters in the game, most of which represent combat units; others are provided as memory aids and informational markers. Carefully punch out the counters. Trimming the "dog ears" from their corners with a fingernail clipper greatly facilitates handling and stacking during play and enhances their appearance. Each combat unit-counter displays several pieces of information: nationality, type, combat strength, set-up status, historic identification and higher organizational affiliation.

2.4 Sample Combat Unit

This unit is the Red Army 53rd Rifle Division. It has a combat factor of "3," and belongs to the 4th Army, which is in turn part of the Western Front. "Front" affiliation ("army group" in Western military jargon) is shown by background color.

2.5 Sides

A unit's nationality, and therefore its "side," is indicated by its color scheme.

The German Side

• Freikorps – white on black
• Reichswehr – black on gray

The Red Army Side

• Red Army Southwest Front units – black on orange
• Red Army Southern Front units – black on sky blue
• Red Army Western Front units – white on red

2.6 Unit Identifications

Each combat unit is identified by the number or abbreviated name of its real-world historic counterpart. Those abbreviations are as follows.

German Units

• AB – Assault Battalion Baden
• ABR – Assault Battalion Rossbach
• AC – Armored Car
• BPA – Baden People's Army
• Br – Reichswehr Infantry Division Berlin
• Dd – Reichswehr Infantry Division Dresden
• E – Naval Infantry Brigade Erhardt
• EVLC – East Prussian Volunteer Light Infantry Corps
• FHTW – Freikorps Hesse-Thuringia-Waldekischen
• FK – Freikorps Konigsberg
• FL – Freikorps Landsberg
• FO – Freikorps Oberland
• FVE – Freikorps von Epp
• GCR – Guards Cavalry Rifle Division
• GRD – German Rifle Division
• Kb – Reichswehr Infantry Division Konigsberg
• Mn – Reichswehr Infantry Division Munster
• Mu – Reichswehr Infantry Division Munich
• RRLV – Rifle Regiment Lettow Vorbeck
• SBR – Saxon Border Rifle Brigade
• Sg – Reichswehr Infantry Division Stuttgart
• St – Reichswehr Infantry Division Stettin
• UVRC – Upper Silesian Volunteer Rifle Corps
• VDH – Volunteer Detachment Haas
• VL – Naval Infantry Brigade Von Lowenfeld
• VNLC – Volunteer National Light Infantry Corps

Red Army Units

• Bsh – Bashkir
• C – Cavalry
• D – Don
• FD – Fedotov's Detachment
• FR – Front Reserve
• FS – Fiery Shock
• I – International
• If – Ioffe's Division
• Ktv – Kotovski
• Lt – Latvian
• ME – Marine Expeditionary
• MG – Mozyr Group
• SB – Student Brigade
• SP – Special Purpose

2.7 Unit Types

Units are also distinguished by the major combat-arms-type contained within them.

• Infantry
• Naval Infantry
• Cavalry
• Armored Cars

2.8 Unit Sizes

Units' organizational sizes are indicated by the symbols atop their unit-type boxes. From largest to smallest they are: XX – division, X – brigade, III – regiment, and II – battalion. If a unit's size-symbol has a bracket atop it, that indicates it was an ad hoc formation not part of the normal organizational structure of its army. Also note the size-symbols on some ad hoc units don't match up with their names. For example, the German Freikorps unit Rifle Regiment Lettow Vorbeck (RRLV) has a brigade symbol (X) on it, rather than that of a regiment. That's because the RRLV was in actuality a brigade-sized unit, despite its name.

2.9 Combat Factor

This number is a measure of each unit's relative ability to attack and defend (see section 10.0).

2.10 Movement Factors

Unlike most wargames, the movement factors of the units aren't printed on their counters. That number, which is a measure of each unit's ability to move across the hex-field printed on the map, is determined by each unit's type and the game turn presently being played. At the start of play, Game Turn 1 (September I), the movement factor of all infantry units in the game is six (but also see 4.7). Similarly, the movement factor of all cavalry units in the game, as well as the single German armored car unit, is eight (but also see 4.7). At the start of Game Turn 5 (October I), the movement factors of all infantry units decline to five, while that of cavalry and the armored cars drops to seven. On Game Turn 9 (November I), those same two numbers suffer a further decrease to four and six, respectively. The movement rates are summarized on the Movement Rates Table printed on the mapsheet. Also note that units pay different movement costs to enter or cross the different types of terrain in and around the hexes into which they're moving (see section 9.0).

2.11 Other Markers & Counters

The following counters are also included in the game as information markers and memory aids. Their functions are explained in the relevant portions of the rules that follow.

• Red Army Active Front Markers (see 5.5)
• Southern Front Reinforcement Chits (see 6.2)
• Victory Point Markers (see 3.2, 3.3 & 4.0)
• Red Army Morale Marker (see 4.7)
• Railhead Markers (see 5.4 & section 7.0)
• Allied Logistical Support Markers (see 10.18)
• Control Markers (see 3.5 & 5.4)

3.0 Set Up & Hex Control

3.1 Getting Started

After the players have decided who will control which side, both should sort through and separate all the units belonging to his own side according to the instructions below.

3.2 Red Army Set Up

The Red Army player sets up his units first. All Red Army units belonging to that side's Western and Southwestern Fronts (see 2.5) start the game already in play on the map, set up in any hexes in and/or generally to the east of the Red Army Set Up Area line printed on the map. For example, the Red Army player could set up in hex 1421, 1521, 1424, etc., but not in 1223, 2024, 1719, etc. When setting up, the Red Army player must take into account all the stacking restrictions that affect his side's units, armies and fronts (see section 8.0). He should also place railhead markers, red side up, in hexes 1323 and 1424. The Red Army player should take all the units of his Southern Front (see 2.5), including the four reinforcement chits (see 2.11), and temporarily set them off to the side but within easy reach. Those units may later enter play as reinforcements (see 6.2).

3.3 German Set Up

After the Red Army player has completed his side's set up, the German player performs his own side's set up. All German units in the counter-mix, both Reichswehr and Freikorps, begin the game already in play on the map. In general, they may be set up in any hexes of Germany proper, Danzig (2418/2318) and/or East Prussia. The only restrictions are: 1) only Freikorps units may be set up in Danzig; and 2) the German player must set up the three units marked with dots in their upper-left corners (Kb, FK & VNRC) in East Prussia. Other German units, both Reichswehr and Freikorps, may also be set up in East Prussia, but those three units must be set up there. In addition to the strictures above, the German player must also take into account all normal stacking rules when making his set up (see section 8.0). The German player should also place railhead markers, black side up, in every city and town hex on the map other than 1323 and 1424.

3.4 Initial Marker Placement

After all units have been sorted and placed as described above, one or another of the players should place the following markers (see 2.11) as described below.

• Place the "Game Turn" marker in the Game Turn 1 box on the Game Turn Record Track printed on the mapsheet.
• Place the "Red Army Morale Marker" in the "20" box of the Red Army Morale Track printed on the mapsheet.
• Place an "Allied Logistical Support Marker," one each, in the Game Turn Record Track boxes for Game Turns 3 through 12, inclusive.
• Place the "Red Army VPx1" marker in the "4" box of the Red Army Victory Points Track printed on the mapsheet. Place the "Red Army VPx10" marker in the zero (0) box of that same track.
• Place the "German VPx1" marker in the "0" box of the German Victory Points Track printed on the map sheet. Place the "German VPx10" marker in the "3" box of that same track.

3.5 Hex Control

Hex control is the term used to describe which side is "in control" of important hexes at different times during play. Hex control is only important when considering city and town hexes (see sections 4.0 & 7.0). At the start of play, the German player controls all hexes on map that don't lie in or inside the Red Army Set Up Area line printed on the map, while the Red Army player controls all hexes in and inside that perimeter. The control status of a hex changes the instant a ground unit of the other side enters it. The control status of each hex may change any number of times during a game as units of the two sides enter and reenter various parts of the map.

4.0 How to Win & Red Army Morale

4.1 On to Berlin

The Red Army player is generally on the offensive during the game, attempting to run a campaign that will, ideally, culminate with his force's entry into Berlin. The German player maneuvers his forces to try to thwart that goal.

4.2 City & Town Hex Control

Each time the Red Army player gains control (see 3.5) of a city hex that was formerly under German control, he should instantly adjust upward the Red Army victory point (VP) total by two points on the Victory Point Track printed on the mapsheet. At the same time, the German player should decrease by two points the VP total recorded on his side's Victory Point Track. Each time the Red Army player gains control (see 3.5) of a town hex formerly under German control, he should instantly adjust upward the VP total by one point on his side's Victory Point Track printed on the mapsheet. At the same time, the German player should decrease by one point the VP total recorded on his side's Victory Point Track. Note the same VP may be exchanged for the same hexes, up and down, any number of times during the play of a single game. VP changes are made instantly each time they occur. Also note the supply status of a hex has no bearing on this process.

4.3 Red Army Southern Front Reinforcements

Each time the Red Army player decides to enter a reinforcement army from his side's Southern Front (see 6.2), he should immediately roll a die and halve that result, rounding down any remainder. That rounded result (from zero to three) is then immediately deducted from his VP total. Note, though, no corresponding VP addition is made to the German player's VP total.

There are four armies within the Red Army's Southern Front: 2nd Cavalry Army (2C), 6th Army (6), 13th Army (13), and the Front Reserve (FR). Only one die roll is made for each of those forces at the instant of its initial entry into play on the map, for a total of four such die rolls possibly being made throughout the course of any one match.

Historical Note: The forces of the Red Army's Southern Front, which officially came into existence in mid-September, were actually used to fight the Whites then operating in and around the Crimea. Given the greater importance of our alternative history campaign in Lenin's overall strategy, he almost certainly would've been willing to have seen the Southern Front, in whole or part, deflected westward had Stalin asked for it. The potential Red Army VP debit for each such Southern Front army transfer reflects the setbacks the weakened effort in the south Ukraine might then have suffered had such transfers been made.

4.4 Winning & Losing on Victory Points

In general, the player who has managed to accumulate the greatest number of victory points, as described above, at the end of Game Turn 12 (November IV) is declared the winner of the game. If both players have exactly the same number of victory points at that time, that match is a draw.

4.5 German Sudden Death Victory: Warsaw

In addition to the VP method described above, the German player may also win a "sudden death" victory by gaining control of either hex of Warsaw (1323 or 1424). If that occurs, play stops instantly and the German player is declared the winner. (Also see 4.8 below.)

4.6 Red Army Sudden Death Victory: Berlin

In addition to the VP method described above, the Red Army player may also win a "sudden death" victory by gaining control of any hex of Berlin (1702, 1802 or 1803). If that occurs, play stops instantly and the Red Army player is declared the winner.

4.7 Red Army Morale

At the start of play, Red Army Morale (RAM) is recorded at "20," its highest possible level, on the track of that name printed on the mapsheet. When RAM is at any level between 20 and 16, inclusive, it's considered to be "high." When RAM is at any level between five and one, inclusive, it's considered to be "low." The advantage for the Red Army player in having high morale comes from the fact that, while in that state, all his combats, offensive and defensive, gain a one-column odds shift in his favor (see section 10.0), and all Soviet units' movement factors are increased by one over what's shown on the Movement Factors Table.

The disadvantage for the Red Army player in having low morale comes from the fact that, while in that state, all his side's combats, both offensive and defensive, suffer a one column odds shift in favor of his opponent (see section 10.0), and all Soviet units' movement factors are decreased by one from what's shown on the Movement Factors Table. While RAM is at any levels between 15 and six, inclusive, it has no effect on play. Instantly adjust the RAM index up or down whenever one of the events listed below that track takes place. The RAM level may never go above 20; don't keep track of any surplus points that would otherwise drive it above that level.

4.8 RAM Collapse

If RAM ever drops below one, Red Army morale is said to have "collapsed." In that case, play stops and the German player is declared to have won.

5.0 The Turn Sequence

5.1 Player Turns

Every game turn of RWFK is divided into two "player turns," one Red Army and one German, along with a mutual-participation "Railhead Adjustment Phase," which takes place at the very start of each game turn. That complete sequence makes up one "game turn," of which there are a maximum of 12 in an entire game. At the very end of every completed game turn, move forward the Game Turn marker one box on the Game Turn Record Track.

It's critical to understand the German Player Turn doesn't actually take place discreet from the Red Army Player Turn. That is, though in the outline below the German Player Turn is shown taking place after the Red Army Player Turn, in reality that's not the case. That linear presentation is only made due to the limitations inherent in presenting text on paper. The way it works in reality is described below in 5.2.

5.2 Game Turn & Player Turn Procedures

After the conclusion of each game turn's Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase (see 5.3), the Red Army player begins his player turn by taking a Reinforcement and Movement Phase. At any time during that phase, however, the German player may simply say "Halt! I will now conduct my side's Rail Movement Phase (or Regular Movement Phase, or Combat Phase)."

With that, the Red Army player should complete whatever operation (reinforcement placement, stack or unit movement, or an individual battle's combat resolution) he was conducting at the instant of the German player's declaration. He then sits back in order to allow the German player to conduct the phase he just declared he wanted to perform.

The German player is free to make those three phase-interrupting declarations in any order he desires, decided on a turn-by-turn basis by that player. Every German unit in play on the map is generally eligible to participate in all three German Player Turn phases during each game turn. That is, for example, making a rail move doesn't prohibit a given German unit from also making a regular move and/or attacking during that same game turn.

When the German player has completed all the activities he cares to carry out in a given phase, he indicates that fact and play passes back to the Red Army player. The Red Army player resumes his own player turn's activities at exactly the place in the overall sequence at which he had to stop when the German made his interrupting declaration. That is, if the recent German interruption was made during a Red Army Movement Phase, the Red Army player resumes his movement. If made during a Red Army Combat Phase, the Red Army player resumes resolving his attacks. Note, though, Red Army units that completed their activity prior to a German interruption aren't allowed to redo or in anyway extend that activity after it.

In order to help keep track of which Red Army units are eligible to resume their activities, movement or combat, after each German interruption, it's suggested the Red Army player maintain a common facing among all his units on the map. Each time a unit or stack finishes its movement for a turn, rotate it 180 degrees. Similarly, during the Red Army Combat Phase, each time a Red Army attack is resolved, also rotate those involved units 180 degrees. The Red Army player should make a quick check at the end of each Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase to see that all his units share a common facing at that time.

Note: No single Red Army action may be interrupted while actually in process. That is, for example, if the Red Army player had in his hand a Southern Front reinforcement army (see 6.2) and was entering it onto the map at the time of a German interruption declaration, the Soviet player would finish that placement, and only then would the declared German interruption take place. Similarly, if the Red Army player were moving a stack of units when the German player made an interruption declaration, the Red Army player would be allowed to finish the movement of that stack (including any split offs from among the units within it) before the German interruption actually took place.

Also note the German player may never make an interruption declaration for more than one phase at a time. The Red Army player is always allowed to carry out at least one discreet activity (movement or single battle resolution) before another German interruption declaration may be made.

If the end of a given Red Army Player Turn is reached and the German player still hasn't carried out one or more of his phases, he carries them out at that time in any order he desires; then a new game turn is begun.

Once a player has finished a particular activity, he may not go back to perform some forgotten action or redo a poorly executed one unless his opponent graciously permits it.

5.3 Game Turn Sequence

The game turn sequence is given below in outline, but read carefully rule 5.2 above. The rest of the rules are organized, as much as possible, to explain things in the order they're encountered as you go through each game turn's sequence.

1. Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase
2. Red Army Player Turn
   • A. Red Army Reinforcement & Movement Phase
   • B. Red Army Combat Phase
3. German Player Turn
   • A. German Railroad Movement or Regular Movement or Combat Phase
   • B. German Railroad Movement or Regular Movement or Combat Phase
   • C. German Railroad Movement or Regular Movement or Combat Phase

5.4 The Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase

During any portion of the game turn your units gain control of a town or city hex containing an enemy railhead marker (black are German; red are Red Army; see 3.2 and 3.3), immediately remove that marker and temporarily set it aside off the map within easy reach. Replace it with a control marker of your own side's color at the same time.

The Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase is skipped during Game Turn 1, but at the start of each such phase in all subsequent game turns both players should examine the map. They're then both entitled to place one of their own side's railhead markers in any one city or town presently under their control that doesn't already have such a marker in it. There's never more than one such marker in any one town or city hex at any one time. Also note it doesn't matter which of the two players places his railhead marker first.

A further stricture on placement of a new railhead marker is as follows: the town or city hex receiving the marker must be within eight hexes of another town or city hex that already has such a marker in it. Even further, that other town or city must in turn be within eight hexes of another already established railhead town or city. In order for new construction to take place at its forward tip, that chain of railhead hexes must extend back to your side's ultimate supply source hex: 1424 for the Red Army; any west map edge hex from 1001 to 2500, inclusive, for the Germans. At the same time a new railhead marker is placed in a hex, remove the control marker from it. (The railhead markers not only indicate your supply net; they also indicate your control there.)

When counting "eight hexes," count rearward from the town or city hex in question to the next railhead hex farther back toward your side's ultimate supply source hex. Count the starting hex in such a line, but not the final hex. For example, if the Red Army player wanted to place a new railhead marker in the city of Poznan (1513), and his nearest already placed railhead marker was in the town of Grudziadz (1919), the distance between those two places is eight hexes; so the placement in Poznan would be allowed. You must also note that, when counting such hex paths, you aren't allowed to trace into or through any hex occupied by an enemy unit or any enemy controlled city or town hex (even if there are no actual enemy units in such places at that moment).

Designer's Note: For more detail on railheads and supply, and their importance for both sides in the game, see section 7.0.

5.5 Red Army Active Front

At the start of each game the Red Army player has forces deployed on the map belonging to two different fronts ("army groups" in Western military parlance): Western Front units and Southwest Front units. The general rule concerning that distinction is, during the Red Army Movement Phase of every game turn, the movement of one front's units must be completed before that of the other front's units is begun. Further, the Red Army player doesn't choose which of the two fronts will move first. That's determined anew at the start of each of his movement phases by his random pick (without first looking) of one of the two Active Front markers (see 2.11) from some convenient opaque container (such as a coffee mug).

Starting with Game Turn 3, it's possible there will be Red Army reinforcement units deployed onto the map from a third front, the Southern (see 6.2). Once that situation has come into effect, the Red Army player should place all three Active Front markers into the coffee mug before picking the first. Units from different Red Army fronts may never be moved into or through each other's hexes.

Similar to what's above, in each Red Army Combat Phase that player should go through the same chit-pull procedure. All the battles of one front must be resolved before those of another are begun. Units from different Red Army fronts may never participate together in the same attacks. For more details on this aspect of Red Army operations, see 8.5.

For both movement and combat, when a given front's activating chit is pulled from the mug, remove it until it's time for the next phase's new chit pull. That is, no given Red Army front is ever activated more than once for movement during the same movement phase, nor is any given Red Army front ever activated more than once for combat during the same combat phase. Conversely, no Red Army Player Turn is ended before that player has had the opportunity to activate each one of his fronts for both movement and combat.

6.0 German Replacements & Red Army Reinforcements

6.1 Reinforcements

Reinforcements are new units that arrive in play for the first time only after the game has already begun. Only the Red Army player receives reinforcements. Replacements are units retrieved from the "dead pile" (where they were put because they were previously eliminated in combat), which are then reentered into play. Only the German player receives replacements.

6.2 Red Army Reinforcements

The only reinforcements in the game are drawn from among the Red Army's Southern Front (see 2.5). Those armies first become available for entry into play by the Red Army commander at the very start of his movement phase on Game Turn 3, with the remainder being eligible for entry, no more than one army per game turn, during subsequent Red Army Player Turns.

When that time is reached in an eligible Red Army Player Turn, that commander should state his intention to enter (or not enter) a Southern Front army. He should then put all of the Southern Front Reinforcement Chits (see 2.11) into a handy opaque container (such as a coffee mug) and, without first looking, draw out one of them. All the units of that particular Southern Front army (2nd Cavalry, 6th, 13th or the Front Reserve) are then immediately placed by that player in either hex of Warsaw (1323 or 1423). All stacking rules must be observed during that placement. From there, such reinforcements are eligible to participate in Red Army movement and combat that same player turn using normal procedures (see 5.5).

Southern Front armies may be entered using those procedures, one army per turn, until such time as there are no more uncommitted armies remaining or the Red Army commander decides he doesn't want to take any more (decided by him on a turn by turn basis). Entering one Southern Front reinforcement army doesn't commit a player to bringing in more of them. Similarly, though Game Turn 3 is the first possible turn of entry, a Red Army player may decide to start bringing them in later, again decided by him on a turn by turn basis. Note, though, once a chit for a given army is pulled, it may not be returned to the cup for a new try. A reinforcement once pulled into the game is entered into play immediately and for good. Also note the stacking situation in Warsaw may work to prohibit reinforcement entry during a given Red Army Player Turn due to stacking restrictions; see 8.5. Finally here, also remember that each reinforcing army's entry carries with it the possibility of a Red Army VP debit (see 4.3) and the certainty of a Red Army morale increase. (See the notes below the RAM Track printed on the mapsheet.)

Transcriber note: the source gives the Warsaw entry hexes in this section as "1323 or 1423"; section 3.2 and section 4.5 give Warsaw as 1323 and 1424. Printed as-is; 1424 is the likely intended hex.

6.3 German Replacements

Whenever any German unit, Reichswehr or Freikorps, is eliminated in combat, that player should immediately roll a die for it. That result, from one to six, is the number of game turns later it may reenter play. For example, if a German unit eliminated during Game Turn 3 received a replacement die roll result of four, that unit would reenter play during the German Regular Movement Phase of Game Turn 7. Units to be reclaimed should be stacked in the appropriate boxes of the Turn Record Track until the moment for their reentry.

If the die roll for a reclaimed German unit would have it reentering play on some turn after Game Turn 12, that unit is permanently lost. Further, if a German unit is out of supply when eliminated (see section 7.0), add one to its reclamation die roll result. Even further, if a German unit is eliminated as the result of a Red Army concentric attack (see 10.19), add one to its die roll result. So a unit that was eliminated while being both out of supply and concentrically attacked would have a total of two added to its die roll.

German replacement units are placed on the map at the very start of any German Player Turn Regular or Railroad Movement Phase, decided by that player on a phase-by-phase and unit-by-unit basis. Replacements arriving at the start of the Railroad Movement Phase do qualify to use rail movement that same phase.

Normal stacking rules must be observed during placement. Such units may reenter play via any up and running German railhead hexes and/or any west map edge German supply source hexes (see section 7.0). The entry of replacement units may not be delayed beyond the game turn of their scheduled arrivals. Also note the only replacement units that may reenter play through locales in East Prussia are the ones that must be originally set up there (see 3.3).

7.0 Supply & German Railroad Movement

7.1 Supply Line Tracing

Units of both sides need supply to operate at their full movement and combat potentials. There are no counters representing the actual materiel consumed; instead, that process is represented by "supply line tracing" to intermediate railhead supply source hexes and, finally, to "ultimate" supply source hexes.

7.2 Supply States

There are two supply states for units of both sides in the game, and each unit of both sides always exists in one of them: 1) in supply, which is also referred to as "being supplied"; 2) out of supply, which is also referred to as being "OOS" or "unsupplied."

Transcriber note: the source's section 7.2 sentence is printed as "...referred to as 'being supplied' and ;" with a dangling conjunction; transcribed as printed, with a semicolon added to close the list.

7.3 Which Units Are In Supply

A unit is in supply if it can trace a path no longer than eight contiguous hexes, unblocked by enemy units, from its location hex to an appropriate intermediate railhead supply source hex, and from that intermediate railhead supply source hex, in supply line lengths to other intermediate supply point hexes, each no longer than eight hexes, back to an ultimate supply source hex.

German ultimate supply source hexes are the hexes along the map's west edge, from 1001 through 2500, inclusive. German intermediate railhead supply source hexes are any cities or towns that have been made part of that side's supply network. At the start of play, all cities and towns on the map other than Warsaw are considered part of the German supply network (a fact shown by locating a black ink railhead marker in each such hex).

The single Red Army ultimate supply source hex is the eastern-most hex of Warsaw (1424). Red Army intermediate railhead supply source hexes are any cities or towns that have been made part of that side's supply network. At the start of play, only the two hexes of Warsaw are considered part of the Red Army supply network (a fact shown by locating a red railhead marker in both those hexes).

Units within eight hexes of an ultimate supply source hex of their side need not trace their supply line through any intermediate railhead supply source hexes; they may trace directly to that ultimate supply source hex. Units with supply have their full movement and combat factors available for use.

7.4 Tracing Supply Lines

A supply line (or "supply path") consists of an uninterrupted chain of hexes, no longer than eight hexes, traced from the unit or stack in question back to a valid supply source. Such paths may enter and cross all kinds of playable terrain, but they may not across all-lake or all-sea hexes or hexsides. Supply lines may not enter hexes occupied by enemy units, nor may they enter enemy controlled town or city hexes even if those hexes are otherwise empty of actual enemy units.

When a unit's supply line reaches its first intermediate railhead supply source hex, it doesn't automatically mean that unit is thereby in supply. That initial hook up to the supply network must in turn be connected, via more supply lines, each no longer than eight hexes, from that first intermediate railhead supply source hex to another intermediate railhead supply source hex, etc., until an appropriate ultimate supply source hex is reached.

When counting eight hexes, don't count the hex of the unit or intermediate supply hex from which you're starting; do count the hex of the intermediate or ultimate supply hex to which you're counting. For example, Breslau, in 1111, is "within eight hexes of" (or is "eight hexes away from") Lodz in 1019. As another example, a Red Army unit in Breslau (1111) and tracing from there to Lodz, could then, from that latter place, connect its supply line to the Red Army ultimate supply source hex in 1424.

A supply line need not have more than one intermediate railhead supply source hex; the number of such junctions needed depends on the overall distance from a tracing unit to its ultimate supply source.

7.5 Gaining & Losing Intermediate Railhead Supply Source Hexes

For both sides, a supply source hex, intermediate or ultimate, loses its supply providing capacity while it's enemy controlled. That capacity is regained, though, when the supply source hex is brought back into the friendly supply network. That loss/gain process may potentially go on any number of times for each such hex (however, both players should take note of 4.5 and 4.6).

Each player has the ability to add one (and only one) intermediate railhead supply source hex to his network during each game turn's Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase. To qualify to be added to your network, a town or city hex must be in friendly control and have a path of contiguous hexes, free of enemy units, no longer than eight hexes and not running into or through prohibited terrain or across prohibited hexsides, to an appropriate ultimate supply source hex or to another intermediate supply source hex that in turn connects with a supply path to an ultimate supply source hex or to another such intermediate supply source hex, etc.

The chaining of intermediate railhead supply sources may potentially be infinite, as long as each length of that supply chain meets all the requirements for functionality given above. To show a town or city's addition to your net, mark it with a railhead marker of your side's color.

A given town or city hex need not be added to a supply network during the turn immediately after the one in which it was first brought under friendly control. Within the one per turn limit, an otherwise eligible intermediate railhead supply source hex may be added to your supply network during any Mutual Railhead Adjustment Phase in any game turn after its capture.

7.6 Effects of Being OOS

Units are never eliminated simply for being OOS; units may exist indefinitely in the OOS state. OOS units have their movement and combat factors halved (round down all remainders).

7.7 When to Check Supply

Check the supply status of each of your units and stacks at the start of its rail movement, regular movement, and again at the start of each individual battle in which you have forces involved on offense or defense. Units found to be OOS at the start of their regular movement have their movement factors halved for that phase. German units found to be OOS at the start of their rail movement may not use rail movement that turn (see below, 7.10). Units found to be OOS at the start of any battle in which they're participating, either on offense or defense, have their combat factor halved.

7.8 Deliberate OOS

It's permitted for both players to deliberately move their units into hexes wherein they will or may become OOS.

7.9 Appropriate Supply Sources

The supply source hexes in the game only work for the units of the proper side as described in the rules above. If, for example, the Red Army player captured a German ultimate supply source hex, it wouldn't become an ultimate supply source for the Red Army, though he might plug it into his side's network as an intermediate supply source hex in the case of Dresden (1201).

7.10 German Rail Movement

German units, both Reichswehr and Freikorps, may make use of rail movement during that side's phase of the same name. To be eligible to use such movement, a German unit must start that phase already located in an up-and-running intermediate railhead supply source hex belonging to its side. From there it may potentially move to any other such hex anywhere on the map.

Though such a move is potentially infinite in length across the map, it's not made via teleportation. That is, a German unit or stack using rail movement must be able to trace a path of contiguous hexes from its starting hex to its ending hex, and that path may not include any hexes containing Red Army units, nor may it go into or through any Red Army controlled city or town hexes (even if such hexes are at that moment empty of any actual Red Army units), nor may it cross any all-lake or all-sea hex sides. Further, though it's allowable within the strictures above for both the start and end hexes of a German unit's or stack's railroad move to have Red Army units immediately adjacent to them, it's not permitted for any other hexes in the railroad move's path to pass directly adjacent to enemy units.

7.11 German Railroad Movement Variability

German railroad movement is further limited by the fact that player is never sure exactly how many units he'll be allowed to move in that fashion each turn. That is, at the very start of each of his Railroad Movement Phases, the German player should roll a die. That number, one through six, represents the number of units he may potentially move by rail that turn. Within each turn's overall die roll limit for railroad movement, not all German railroad movement need begin or end in the same hexes. That player may parcel out each of his turn's overall railroad moves to any number of eligible hexes as he sees fit.

7.12 German Port Supply

German units, both Freikorps and Reichswehr, are always in supply in Stettin, Danzig and Koenigsberg. Further, Allied Logistical Support markers (see 10.18) may be used to support German stacks in those cities even though they have no regular overland supply line open to them. German replacements (see 6.3) may not, however, be brought onto the map in those locales unless they have a regular overland supply route open to them.

Designer's Note: There's no Red Army railroad movement or port supply during any turn.

8.0 Stacking

8.1 Stacking Definition

"Stacking" is the word used to describe the piling of more than one friendly unit into a hex at the same time. Opposing units never stack together.

8.2 Stacking & Movement

The stacking rules are in effect at all times throughout each game turn. That means players must pay attention to the sequence in which they move their units, or they risk having early moves block units moved later in a phase or player turn. Note, though, there's no limit on the number of units that may enter and pass through a given hex over the course of a phase, player turn or game turn, as long as the stacking restrictions are never violated in any hex at any one instant.

Units beginning a movement phase stacked together need not remain together simply because of that fact; they may be moved off individually or in smaller groups.

Watch for stacking restriction violations all through play, and make certain to check all stacks of both players at the end of every phase and the end of the resolution of every individual combat. Whenever any hexes are found over-stacked at those times, the owning player must immediately eliminate the excess units of his choice.

8.3 Fog of War

The Red Army player may not examine the units beneath the top unit of any of his opponent's stacks until the resolution process begins for it when it's involved in combat. An attack may not be called off after such a stack-check has been made. The German player is always free to examine the composition of Red Army stacks.

8.4 German Stacking Limit

In general, the German player may stack up to seven divisions of his side's units in any hexes. For stacking purposes, all units of brigade, regiment and battalion sizes are each considered equal to half a division. It is permitted for Reichswehr and Freikorps units to stack together in any combination within the overall seven-division limit.

8.5 Red Army Stacking Limit

In general, the Red Army player may stack all the units belonging to the same army in any hexes. The army affiliation of all Red Army units is indicated by a numeral or abbreviation on the left side of their unit-type boxes (see 2.4). Note that the "Mozyr Group" and the "Front Reserve" are each considered full-fledged separate armies for all purposes.

Units from different Red Army armies, even if they belong to the same front organization (see 2.5 and 5.5), may never enter or pass through one another's hexes.

Units from different armies, but that also belong to the same front, may participate together in the same attacks; though they'll be doing so from different hexes, army by army. Similarly, units in different armies within the same front may move through one another's hexes, etc., as long as stacking restrictions are met at the end of every phase and the end of every battle's combat resolution.

8.6 Free Stacking Units

None of the units illustrated in rule 2.11 have any stacking value or properties; they may be added to any stack(s) as needed according to the particular rules governing their uses.

Designer's Note: For more on the mechanics of stack movement, see rules 9.4, 9.5 & 9.6.

9.0 Movement

9.1 Movement Factors

Every unit in the game has a "movement factor" (MF) as described in rule 2.10. That movement factor is the number of "movement points" (MP) available to the unit to use in moving across the map during its side's Regular Movement Phase every game turn.

9.2 Movement Strictures

MP may not be accumulated from turn to turn or phase to phase, nor may they be given or loaned from one unit to another. A player may move all, some, or none of his eligible units in each of his Regular Movement Phases throughout the game at his own discretion. Units that move aren't required to expend all their MP before stopping. The movement of each individual unit or stack must be completed before that of another is begun. A player may only change the position of an already moved unit or stack if his opponent agrees to allow it. Units move from hex to adjacent hex — no "skipping" of hexes is allowed — paying varied movement costs to do so, depending on the terrain in the hex being entered and along its hex sides. In general, the movement of your units takes place only during your own player turn; no enemy movement takes place during your player turn (exception: rules 10.10 and 10.11).

9.3 Minimum Movement Capability

Every unit is guaranteed the ability to move one hex during each of its side's Regular Movement Phases throughout the game by expending all of its MF to do so at the very start of its move, no matter the terrain costs otherwise involved. That guarantee doesn't, however, give units the ability to make moves that are otherwise against the rules, such as moving across an all-lake hexside.

9.4 Stack Movement

To move together as a stack, units must begin their side's Regular Movement Phase already stacked together. Units aren't required to move as a stack simply because they started the phase in the same hex. In such situations, those units might be moved together, individually, or in smaller sub-stacks.

9.5 Splitting Stacks

When moving a stack you may halt it temporarily to allow a unit or sub-stack to split off and move away on a separate course. The units left behind in the original (or "parent") stack may then resume their own movement, even splitting off more sub-stacks and lone units if desired. Once you begin moving an entirely different parent stack, however, you may then no longer resume the movement of earlier stacks without your opponent's permission.

9.6 Stack MF

If units with different MF are moving together in a stack, the stack must use the MF of the slowest unit within it. Of course, as the slower units exhaust their MF, you may leave them behind and continue with the faster units.

9.7 Enemy Units

It's not permitted for your units to enter hexes occupied by enemy combat units.

9.8 Terrain

There are two general classes of terrain on the map: natural and manmade. Each class is further divided into several different types (see below). There is never more than one type of natural terrain in any one hex, but more than one type of manmade terrain may exist in one hex along with the natural stuff.

9.9 Natural Terrain

There are three types of natural terrain: clear, forest, and rough, along with the hydrographic features of river and lake hexsides. The effects those various terrains and water bodies have on the movement of units are described below and are also summarized on the Terrain Effects Chart printed on the mapsheet.

9.10 Clear

Clear terrain is the "base" terrain of the game, and it is just that — clear. That is, hexes with only clear natural terrain in them represent areas devoid of any natural features that would enhance defense or slow movement. Each clear hex costs all units one MP to enter. All cities and towns are considered to exist in clear terrain hexes. For a hex to be considered clear terrain, that must be the only kind of natural terrain shown within it. Hexes containing a natural terrain type in addition to clear are identified as being that other terrain type for all purposes.

9.11 Forest

Cavalry units pay one MP to enter each forest hex. All other units pay two MP per forest hex.

9.12 Rough

Cavalry units pay two MP to enter each rough hex. All other units pay three MP per rough hex.

9.13 Water Hexsides

Unlike the terrain features described above, rivers run between hexes, along hexsides, rather than lying in-hex. Units crossing rivers pay one extra MP for doing so. "Extra" means in addition to the cost for the terrain in the hex being moved into. No unit of either side may cross any all-lake or all-sea hexsides in any way.

9.14 Manmade Terrain

Manmade terrain exists in two types: towns and cities.

9.15 Cities & Towns

All units entering towns and cities during their side's Regular Movement Phases do so at a cost of one MP per such hex.

9.16 No Off-Map Moves

No unit once in play on the map may be moved off it in any way. Units forced to move off the map are eliminated.

9.17 No Out of Bounds Territory

Though there are some territorially based set up restrictions (see section 3.0), once play begins there are no land hexes on the map that are out of play for the units of either side.

10.0 Combat

10.1 Attacker & Defender

Combat takes place during both sides' Combat Phases. Attacking is always voluntary; the mere presence of adjacent enemy units or stacks doesn't obligate either player to attack them. The player whose player turn it is, is termed the "attacker," and the other player is the "defender," no matter the general situation across the map.

10.2 Procedure

The attacker totals the combat strength of all the units attacking a given hex and compares that total to the total combat strengths of the defending units in the hex under attack. The comparison is expressed as a ratio between attacking and defending strength points (attacking strength points divided by defending strength points), and is simplified by rounding down to one of the odds ratios listed across the top of the Combat Results Table (CRT) printed on the mapsheet. For example, if 13 strength points were attacking four strength points, the combat odds ratio would be 3.25 to 1, rounded off (always in favor of the defender) to three to one (3:1).

The odds obtained in the calculations described above may be modified ("shifted") by the terrain in the defender's hex and around its perimeter, as well as other factors described below. All applicable combat modifiers are cumulative in their effect. That is, in every battle all applicable modifiers are determined and their effects taken into account before the "final odds" are determined and the die is rolled to get a combat result.

Having determined the final combat odds, the attacker rolls a die. The result indicates the line on the CRT that's cross-indexed with the column representing the combat odds. The intersection of line and column yields a combat result. That should be immediately applied to the involved units before going on to resolve any other combat. Separate combats may generally be resolved in any order desired by the attacking player (but see 5.5).

10.3 Attack & Defense Limits

No unit may attack more than once per friendly Combat Phase, and no enemy unit may be attacked more than once per friendly Combat Phase.

10.4 Multi-Unit & Multi-Hex Combat

All units in a single hex must attack and defend as a single force; the strength of all the units in one hex is always totaled. A single attack may involve any number of attacking or defending units from different hexes; however, no single attack may have as its objective more than one enemy occupied hex. If more than one attacking unit is in a given hex, those units must be used as an integral combat strength; they may not be used in different combats, nor may any of them simply sit out the attack. Friendly units in two or more hexes may generally combine their attack strengths and attack a single hex of defenders as long as that defender hex is adjacent to all attackers (but also see 8.5).

10.5 Defender Commitment & Integrity

The defending player may not withhold from combat a unit or stack in a hex under attack. The attacker must attack together all the units in a defending stack. Different units in the same hex may not be attacked separately.

10.6 Combat Strength Unity

A given unit's combat strength is always unitary. It may not be divided among different combats either on attack or defense.

10.7 Terrain Effects on Combat

Defending units in certain types of terrain have their combat strength enhanced or diminished. See the "Combat Effects" column of the Terrain Effects Chart printed on the mapsheet. For example, a unit being attacked in a town hex would have its combat odds shifted one column left due to that fact.

All units attacking through river hexsides have their combat factors halved (round down) for doing so.

In addition, when a DR result is obtained against a defender in a city hex, that die is rerolled until a non-DR result is obtained. When a DL1 result (see 10.16) is obtained against a defender in a city hex, the defender is required to lose a unit, but no retreat or advance after combat takes place, unless that single unit loss worked to empty the defending hex.

10.8 Retreat After Combat

When a combat result requires a player's units be retreated after combat, the owning player must immediately move the affected units one hex toward their nearest source of supply. If more than one path meeting that criterion is available, the player owning the retreating unit or stack may choose which route(s) to follow. If no hex is open into which to retreat, the blocked unit or stack is eliminated in place. Stacked units in the same hex may be retreated into different hexes at the owning player's discretion and within normal stacking limits. Stacking limits may not be violated when making retreats. A retreating unit or stack may not retreat into a prohibited hex or across a prohibited hexside.

Within the strictures above, a retreating unit may, at the owning player's discretion, retreat into a vacant hex or it may stack with some other friendly unit(s) within normal stacking limits. If a unit is retreated onto another friendly unit or stack, which is subsequently attacked that same phase, the retreated-in unit doesn't contribute its combat strength to the new defense, but it does share in the result of the attack made into its new hex.

10.9 Advance After Combat

Whenever a defended hex is vacated as a result of combat, at least one involved victorious attacking unit must be advanced into that vacated hex. More than one involved attacking unit may advance, at the advancing player's discretion, as long as stacking strictures are observed in the seized hex. Exactly which involved unit(s) conduct(s) the advance-after-combat is up to the owning player. Advances after combat must be performed immediately as they occur, before any other combats are resolved.

Only one unit may ever advance after combat more than one hex, the German armored car unit.

The procedure is, when the armored car unit has advanced into the vacated defender hex (either alone or as part of an advancing stack), it may then (though only alone) advance into any other adjacent vacant hex. That second hex of advance is not mandatory, but the decision to make it must also be made immediately before the resolution of any other battle is begun.

10.10 Odds Limits & Odds Reductions

Attacks made at final odds greater than 6:1 are resolved as if they were 6:1 attacks. Attacks made at final odds less than 1:5 are resolved as if they were 1:5 attacks. Prior to the die roll resolution of a battle, the attacker may announce he's voluntarily lowering the odds of that combat (most likely to avoid the possibility of receiving an "BB" result). He incurs no penalty for doing that, but he may not change his mind subsequent to the die roll.

Transcriber note: the source prints "BB" in this sentence, which in context refers to the Bloodbath result (10.17); printed as-is.

10.11 Attacker Eliminated (AE) Result

All involved attacking units are eliminated and removed from the map.

10.12 Attack Stalled (AS) Result

All involved attacking units stay in place; no losses are incurred, nor are any retreats made by the involved forces of either side.

10.13 Attacker Lose One (AL1) Result

One involved unit of the attacking player's choice must be eliminated and removed from the map. The surviving attacking units (if any) stay in place.

10.14 Defender Eliminated (DE) Result

All involved defending units are eliminated and removed from the map.

10.15 Defender Retreat (DR) Result

All involved defending units must retreat after combat as described above in rule 10.8.

10.16 Defender Lose One (DL1) Result

One involved unit of the defending player's choice must be eliminated and removed from the map. The surviving defending units, if any, must generally also usually make a retreat after combat as described in rules 10.8, but see 10.7 for the exception.

10.17 Bloodbath (BB) Result

All involved defending units are eliminated and removed from the map. The attacking player must then remove the minimum number of involved attacking units necessary to match the printed combat strengths of the eliminated defenders. For example, if the eliminated defending force contained a total of six printed combat factors, the attacking units removed would have to total at least that same number of combat factors.

10.18 Allied Logistical Support Markers (ALS)

Starting on Game Turn 3, the German player receives one ALS marker at the start of each game turn. Those markers aren't actual units, and they're not deployed onto the map as such. They simply serve as convenient markers denoting the application of a measure of Allied logistical support. The German player may accumulate any number of markers off-map, holding them until such times as he decides to use them. He may commit one ALS to any of his supplied combats, attack or defense. The effect of an ALS marker so committed is to double the combat strength off all the German units, Freikorps and Reichswehr, in that hex. No given hex may ever be more than doubled in any one supported combat.

On the defense, the German player declares his ALS commitment for a battle immediately after his opponent declares that attack. ALS commitment doesn't allow the Red Army player to cancel the attack.

Once an ALS marker has been committed, it's considered to have been permanently used up, and that particular counter is then removed from play for the rest of that game. The Soviet player is always allowed to see how many ALS markers the German player has in his possession.

Historical Note: There was a considerable Bolshevik element among the rail and transport workers across Europe at the time; so the Reds would've gotten good intelligence on the arrival of the supply shipments.

10.19 Concentric Attack

If a unit or stack is defending against attackers coming in from opposite hexes, or against attacking units coming in from three hexes with one hex between each and the next, or against attacking units from coming in from more than three hexes, that attack gains a two column rightward (2R) odds shift if German (Freikorps and/or Reichswehr), and a one column shift if Soviet. This bonus is never available to units attacking into a city hex.

Transcriber note: the source refers to an accompanying diagram of the concentric assault (defending unit in the center). The diagram is not in the plain-text rules file and is not reproduced here.

End of the rules text as supplied. The source file ends at section 10.19. The Mapsheet charts (Combat Results Table, Terrain Effects Chart, Movement Rates Table, Red Army Morale Track, Victory Point Tracks) are printed on the map and are not part of the rules text.