Second Front Now! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• 1.0 Introduction
  • 1.1 In General
  • 1.2 Game Scale
• 2.0 Game Components
  • 2.1 In General
  • 2.2 Decimal Die
  • 2.3 The Game Map
  • 2.4 Counters
  • 2.5 A Sample Combat Unit
  • 2.6 Unit Types
  • 2.7 Unit Nationality
  • 2.8 Historical Identification
  • 2.9 Markers
  • 2.10 Anti-Armor & Anti-Infantry Factors
  • 2.11 Movement Factor
  • 2.12 Steps
• 3.0 Setting Up
  • 3.1 Set Up
  • 3.2 Allied Set Up
  • 3.3 One Invasion Area
  • 3.4 German Set Up
  • 3.5 Allied Dieppe Casualties
  • 3.6 German Reinforcements
• 4.0 How To Win
  • 4.1 In General
  • 4.2 VP Hexes
  • 4.3 Allied Beachhead Hexes
  • 4.4 Commonwealth Replacement VP
  • 4.5 Commonwealth Excessive Losses
  • 4.6 Winning
  • 4.7 The Riga-Odessa Option
  • 4.8 Zeroing Out
  • 4.9 German Automatic Win
• 5.0 Sequence of Play
  • 5.1 In General
  • 5.2 The Turn Sequence
  • 5.3 Ending a Game Turn
• 6.0 Commands
  • 6.1 In General
  • 6.2 Move Commands
  • 6.3 Attack Commands
  • 6.4 CP Restrictions
  • 6.5 Sequencing
  • 6.6 Additional German CP
• 7.0 Reinforcements
  • 7.1 German Reinforcements
  • 7.2 US & Commonwealth Reinforcements
  • 7.3 Box-to-Map Entry
  • 7.4 German Units From Italy
  • 7.6 The Riga-Odessa Option
• 8.0 Replacements
  • 8.1 In General
  • 8.2 Eliminated Units
  • 8.3 Restrictions
  • 8.4 OOS Elimination
  • 8.5 US Untried to Blooded Conversions
  • 8.6 French Replacement Limits
• 9.0 Supply
  • 9.1 In General
  • 9.2 When to Check Supply
  • 9.3 German Supply Sources
  • 9.3 Allied Supply Sources
• 10.0 Stacking
  • 10.1 In General
  • 10.2 Inter-Allied Stacking
  • 10.3 Stacking & Movement
  • 10.4 Over Stacking
  • 10.5 Markers
  • 10.6 Fog of War
• 11.0 Zones of Control
  • 11.1 In General
  • 11.2 ZOC Limits
  • 11.3 Effects on Supply
  • 11.4 Effects on Movement
  • 11.5 Effect on Retreat-after-Combat
  • 11.6 Hex Control
• 12.0 Movement
  • 12.1 Movement Points
  • 12.2 Stack Movement
  • 12.3 Restrictions
  • 12.4 Major Rivers
  • 12.5 Strategic Movement
• 13.0 Combat
  • 13.1 Combat Sequence
  • 13.2 Firing Procedures
  • 13.3 Instantaneous Hits
  • 13.4 Combat Values
  • 13.5 Artillery
  • 13.6 Retreat
  • 13.7 Extra Hits
  • 13.8 German Garrisons
• 14.0 Fire Modifiers
  • 14.1 In General
  • 14.2 Terrain
  • 14.3 Supply
• 15.0 Optional Rules
  • 15.1 Allied Naval (Gun Support) Task Force
  • 15.2 Great Storms
  • 15.3 Tactical Air Power
  • 15.4 Allied Strategic Air Forces (SAF)
  • 15.5 Allied Airborne Withdrawal
  • 15.6 Allied Airdrops
  • 15.7 Operation Blue Point
  • 15.8 Allied Aerial Supply
  • 15.9 British 79th Armored
  • 15.10 Six-Sided Dice
• Turn Record Sheet

Contents

1.0 Introduction 2.0 Game Components 3.0 Setting Up 4.0 How to Win 5.0 Sequence of Play 6.0 Commands 7.0 Reinforcements 8.0 Replacements 9.0 Supply 10.0 Stacking 11.0 Zones of Control 12.0 Movement 13.0 Combat 14.0 Fire Modifiers 15.0 Optional Rules

1.0 Introduction

1.1 In General

Second Front Now is a wargame simulating a hypothetical Allied invasion of France in September 1943. The design combines factual historical detail with educated guesswork to produce an alternative history simulation covering the period from D-Day +1 to D-Day +80. One player acts as the commander-in-chief of the Allied armies; the other as that of the German forces in the west. The burden of attack is generally on the Allied player, but both players attempt to win by controlling territory and destroying opposing forces. A complete game of SFN takes from four to six hours to play, and is suitable for solitaire play.

1.2 Game Scale

Each hex on the map represents 9.4 miles (15 km) from side to opposite side. Each game turn represents one day. Every ground unit represents a division or division-equivalent of 8,000 to 21,000 men and/or 50 to 350 armored fighting vehicles.

2.0 Game Components

2.1 In General

The components to a complete Second Front Now game include these rules, the mapsheet and 352 die-cut counters.

2.2 Decimal Die

To resolve combat, players must provide a decimal (10-sided) die. These may be purchased inexpensively in most game and hobby stores. (When using a decimal die, read the "0" as "10.") Alternatively, place the numbered markers provided on the counter sheet in a large-mouth, opaque container, such as a mug and, without looking, draw one each time a die roll is called for. Don't forget to replace the drawn chit, and remix all the chits, before drawing the next. As another alternative, if you don't have any 10-sided dice handy but do have the six-sided kind, see optional rule 15.10 for a way to use those to get decimal results.

Beginners Note. Dice (or the numbered chits) have nothing directly to do with moving units. Dice are used to resolve the uncertainties inherent in even the best planned battles. See section 13.0.

2.3 The Game Map

The map shows the militarily significant terrain in and around the Pas de Calais area of France in 1943. The hexagonal ("hex") grid printed over the map regulates the placement and movement of units. A unit is considered to be in only one hex at any one time. Each hex contains natural and/or manmade terrain features that may affect movement and combat.

The natural terrain and manmade structures on the map have had their boundaries altered slightly to fit within the hex-grid, but the relationships between the terrain from hex to hex are accurate to the degree necessary for presenting players with the same space/time dilemmas that would have been faced by their historic counterparts in command had this campaign actually been waged.

Each hex on the map has a unique, four-digit identification number. They are provided to help you find places (for example, the city of Amiens is in hex 2412), and to allow you to record unit positions if a match has to be interrupted and taken down before it can be completed.

2.4 Counters

Most of the counters (also called "units" and "unit counters") represent the ground formations that would have been available for this campaign. Additional counters are provided as informational markers or memory aids. After reading through these rules, punch out the counters. Trimming the "dog ears" off their corners with a fingernail clipper will greatly facilitate handling and stacking.

Each combat unit counter displays several pieces of information: nationality, step strength, historical identification, unit type, combat strengths, movement allowance and set-up or entry codes.

2.5 A Sample Combat Unit

This unit is the 10th SS Panzer Division. It is an armored ("Panzer") unit with two "strength steps." It has, when at "full strength" as shown, anti-armor and anti-infantry values of "6," and a movement allowance of "3." The 10th starts the game off the map, placed in the "South" holding box at one step strength (indicated by the asterisk), and may potentially enter play as soon as Game Turn 1 (see section 8.0).

2.6 Unit Types

All ground combat units belong to one of three basic categories: Armor ("Panzer" for the German), Infantry, or Corps Support (artillery). This distinction is important during battle (see 13.0).

Counter unit-type symbols, in order: Armor/Panzer; Regular Infantry; Mechanized Infantry; Paratroop Infantry; Garrison Infantry; Corps Support.

Old Hands Note. The distinction of "mech/non-mech," usually so critical to our play of games of this era and scale, does not apply in SFN. This is a different kind of system; we are concerned here with how each unit engages its forward edge in combat. That is, is its combat power primarily projected by tanks or infantrymen. Before recoiling in horror with shouts of "Blasphemer!" and "Heretic!" we urge you to read on — it works. When playing this game, think only in terms of tank/infantry/artillery; otherwise you'll confuse yourself.

Beginners Note. Don't worry about the distinctions among the various types of infantry units — just think of them generally as all being riflemen.

2.7 Unit Nationality

A unit's nationality, and therefore the side it's on during play, is shown by the background color on its counter (and sometimes by a letter abbreviation).

The German Side:

• German Panzer — black
• German Infantry — field gray

The Allied Side:

• US "Blooded" Armor — light green
• US "Blooded" Infantry — dark green
• US Untried (both Armor and Infantry types) — green on white
• Commonwealth Armor — light brown
• Commonwealth Infantry — dark brown

Beginners Note. "Commonwealth" is short for "Forces of the British Commonwealth of Nations and Associated Powers" (or you can just say "British").

2.8 Historical Identification

Individual units are identified by numbers and/or letter abbreviations. The abbreviations refer to the historical name of the unit (for those that had them), or to a sub-nationality within the two major Allied army groupings, or to the location where units enter play.

Allied Abbreviations:

• AB — Airborne Corps
• B/N — Belgian/Netherlands Composite Unit
• C — Canadian
• F — Free French
• FA — French Algerian
• FC — French Colonial
• FM — French Moroccan
• G — Gold Beach
• GD — Guards
• J — Juno Beach
• O — Omaha Beach
• P — Polish
• S — Sword Beach
• U — Utah Beach

German Abbreviations:

• BO — Boulogne Garrison
• CA — Calais Garrison
• DU — Dunkirk Garrison
• GD — Gross Deutschland
• HG — Hermann Goering Panzer Division
• IT — Italy Holding Box
• L — Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
• LW — Luftwaffe (German air force ground troops)
• LH — Le Havre
• N — Northern Holding Box
• PC — Parachute Corps
• R — Das Reich
• RUS — Russian Front Holding Box
• S — Southern Holding Box
• SS — Schutzstaffel: elite Nazi troops
• T — Totenkopf
• W — Wiking
• 20/30 — Combined 20th and 30th Fast (Schnell) Brigades

Design Note. Treat Canadian, Polish and Belgian-Netherlands units as British for all game purposes; treat the Free French as US units.

2.9 Markers

The counter mix includes the following markers. Their use is explained in appropriate sections of the rules.

Markers (labels as printed on the counter sheet):

• Decimal Chit (2.2)
• German VP Indicator (4.1)
• German Army HQ (6.6)
• Replacement Indicator (8.0)
• Out of Supply (9.2)
• Attack Designator (13.1)
• Allied Naval Gun Support Task Force (15.1)
• German Local Air Superiority (15.3)
• Allied Strategic Air Force Ground Attack (15.4)
• Allied Aerial Supply (15.6)

Beginners Note. Set aside the markers above and all "Corps Support" units (see 2.6). You won't use them in your play; ignore all references to them in the rules.

2.10 Anti-Armor & Anti-Infantry Factors

These numbers (or "combat factors") are separate measures of a unit's ability to engage enemy armor and infantry units in combat. Their specific uses are explained in 13.0.

2.11 Movement Factor

This is a measure of a unit's ability to move across the hex grid printed on the map; see section 12.0 for details.

2.12 Steps

All ground units in the game are either "one-step" or "two-step" units. Those with combat and movement factors printed on only one side of their counter are "one-step units;" those with combat and movement factors printed on both sides are "two-step units."

Steps are the measure of a unit's ability to absorb losses ("hits") before being eliminated. When a unit is "eliminated" in play, it doesn't mean every man has been killed. It means enough casualties and equipment losses have been suffered by them to render them useless for further operations.

If a two-step unit "takes a step loss" (or "takes a hit"), it is flipped over to its reduced side shows (with the step value of "1" in the small circle, and usually with a lesser movement allowance). If a one-step unit (or a two-step unit that had already been "reduced") takes a step loss, it is removed from the map ("eliminated") and placed in the one of the "Destroyed Units" holding boxes ("dead piles").

2.13 US Untried & Blooded Units

The assumption in the game is the US high command doesn't shut down all the war's other ground theaters in order to maximally reinforce the armies going into this invasion. That would have been strategically dicey and politically impossible. We have made the reasonable assumption, however, the commitment schedules of those US divisions that were committed to Europe historically have been accelerated through their organization and training cycles as much as possible. Thus a great many US outfits that historically were granted a relatively leisurely 12 to 24 months to pull themselves together before going into combat are denied the lengthy teething period here.

All the light- and dark-green background-colored US divisions that have their I.D. numbers printed within a box (for example, the US 4th Armored Division) fall within this category. All such divisions have a counterpart one-step unit, printed with a white background for both armor and infantry, included in the mix. It's those units' white, one-step versions that first enter play via the England Holding Box (see 3.2 and 8.5).

3.0 Setting Up

3.1 Set Up

After deciding who will control which side, each player should sort the units under his command according to the following instructions and the set-up codes printed on them.

3.2 Allied Set Up

The Allied player announces which of the two possible invasion areas he's chosen as his landing site: either the Calais area (hexes 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 1910), or the Dieppe area (hexes 1310, 1411, 1510, 1611 and 1710). Then he places the eight starting US and Commonwealth units indicated with a beachhead codes directly on those specified hexes on the map.

Place all the untried US units (white background color) in the England Holding Box on the map. Place their blooded division counterpart units in the US Blooded Replacement Divisions (all those US units with their division I.D. numbers printed inside boxes on their counters). Place the other ground units, of all Allied nationalities, that have blank upper-left corners in the England box also. Lastly, place the Strategic Air Force, Aerial Supply and Naval Gun Support Task Force markers off to the side for now (see section 15.0).

Historical Note. The Allied units we've selected for the initial landing force are those divisions that went ashore historically at this time in southern Italy. The rationale is, since the game posits an unaltered time stream through the end of August 1943, those divisions, chosen by their high command as most suitable for a landing in the Mediterranean at this time, most likely would've kept that status under these altered circumstances.

3.3 One Invasion Area

Only one set of beachhead hexes will be active in any one match. That is, for example, if the Allied player chooses to come ashore in the Dieppe area beaches (1310-1710), then the Calais area beaches lose all special significance for the rest of that game. Nor can the Allied player choose to land some units at beaches in one area and some other units at beaches in the other area — only one area is utilized for beachheads per game.

Also note that Juno beach switches locales slightly between the two areas. That's done because we figure in any invasion in the Dieppe area the Canadians would have insisted on a rematch for that town.

3.4 German Set Up

Place the German units labeled "N," "S," "It" and "Rus" in the corresponding holding boxes on the map sheet. Place the German units with four-digit hex locations printed in their upper-left corners directly in, or in any hex adjacent to, those hexes. For example, the LXXXI Corps sets up in hex 1414. That unit could therefore be placed by the German player in that particular hex or 1313, 1314, 1413, 1415, 1513 or 1514. The German Divisions marked with their set up hexes followed by an asterisk begin play already reduced to one-step strength. Important: no German unit may begin play in any of the active Allied Beachhead hexes. If the Allies invade the Dieppe area, the German unit deployed in the town of Dieppe (1510) retreats to (sets up in) hex 1511.

3.5 Allied Dieppe Casualties

If the Allied player chooses to come ashore in the Dieppe area, there's a good chance the 1st Canadian Division, which lands in that town hex (now called "Juno Beach," in 1510) will suffer casualties. Roll one die; an even result means the unit lands at full strength; an odd result means it's reduced to one step. All other Allied units always come ashore at full strength.

Historical Note. One of the arguments for a landing in 1943 was the fact the vaunted "Atlantic Wall" was far from complete that year. Only in port towns and cities were the German coastal defenses anywhere near what they would be across a much greater area the following summer. Dieppe is one such place, so the Allied player runs the risk of a harder time if he lands in that area.

3.6 German Reinforcements

German units with a two-digit number printed in their upper-left corners are reinforcements. Those numbers represent the first game turn of availability for each reinforcement unit. German units with "N," "S," "It" or "Rus" printed in their upper-left corners are also potential reinforcements that may be brought to this front from other theaters or sectors. The abbreviations refer to the holding boxes on the map sheet. Place them in the appropriate boxes until their times of entry (see section 7.0).

4.0 How To Win

4.1 In General

The winner is determined at the end of Game Turn 80 (20 November 1943). Victory is based on the number of Victory Points (VP) the German player has at that time. (Only the German player earns VPs, never the Allied player.) [The scanned copy shows this parenthetical struck through in pen; it is transcribed as printed.] The VP number is largely determined by the number of VP hexes the German controls, and whether he captured any active Allied beachhead hexes during play. Of course, play may end at any time by concession if either player feels his situation has become hopeless.

4.2 VP Hexes

VP hexes on the map represent areas of political and/or strategic significance. There are 50 points of them, total, and the German player controls them all at the start of play. (Exception: if the Allied player chose to land at the Dieppe beaches, the German starting VP total is decreased one, to 49, for the loss of that town.) The German player "loses control" of a VP hex when an Allied unit occupies it or projects an uncontested zone of control into the hex (see 11.6). The German may recapture previously lost VP hex(es) and thus regain those points for his end-of-game total.

Design Note. Use the two German VP markers provided to keep a running total during play. Set the starting total at either 49 or 50, as explained above.

4.3 Allied Beachhead Hexes

Beachhead hexes are each worth three VP to the German player if at any point during the game he captures any. [The scanned copy shows this sentence struck through in pen; it is transcribed as printed.] That is, if the German succeeds in gaining even temporary control of any beachhead hex, he gains three VPs for having done so, even if the Allied player takes back that hex. No single beachhead hex, however, will ever award the German more than three VP during the course of any one game. For example, if Sword Beach (hex 1710 or 2006) changed hands three times during play, the German would still get only one award of three VP for having taken it the first time.

Design Note. German capture of a beachhead hex is a momentous game event, and is therefore pretty easy to remember. If you can't trust your memory, make note of it on a piece of scrap paper for reference.

4.4 Commonwealth Replacement VP

Each time the Allied player commits a Commonwealth replacement point (see section 8.0) to a unit, the German is granted one VP.

4.5 Commonwealth Excessive Losses

Each time a Commonwealth unit is completely eliminated in combat (supply state doesn't matter) the German is awarded one VP.

Historical Note. The greatest resistance to the earlier invasion of the continent came from British society, Parliament and high command. Though the Americans could have dragooned London into going along with the idea, there would have been real political costs for Churchill's coalition government and the whole alliance structure.

4.6 Winning

At the end of Game Turn 80, reckon the final number of German VPs from all the situations described above. If that total is 11 or more, the German player is declared the winner. If the total is 10 or less, the Allied player is declared the winner. No draws are possible.

Design Note. Since this is hypothetical game, victory can't be measured against any factual outcome. Thus, victory determination is more subjective than in historically-based simulations. The Allied objective should be to expand beyond the breakout line, capture several key cities and inflict serious losses on the Germans, so as to create a strong base for the next and final step: advance to the Ruhr. The German objective is to attempt to delay expansion of the Allied bridgehead, thereby thwarting any lunge toward the Ruhr, for long as possible.

4.7 The Riga-Odessa Option

If the German chooses to exercise the Riga-Odessa Line option in Russia (see 7.6), victory reckoning procedures remain the same except that he must now finish with 31 or more points to be declared the winner. If the game ends with a total of 30 or fewer German VP, the Allied player is declared the winner. Again, no ties are possible.

4.8 Zeroing Out

If at any point during play the German VP total reaches zero or less, the game is stopped immediately and the Allied player is declared the winner.

4.9 German Automatic Win

If at any point during play the German VP total reaches 98 or more, the game is stopped immediately and the German player is declared the winner.

5.0 Sequence of Play

5.1 In General

Every "Game Turn" of SFN is divided into two "Player Turns," each of which is divided into a series of strictly sequenced steps (or "phases"). Every action taken by a player must be carried out in the appropriate phase of the turn sequence as explained below. Once a player has finished a particular action within a phase, or an entire phase, he may not go back to perform some forgotten action or redo a poorly executed one unless his opponent graciously permits it.

Beginners Note. This is war. Don't feel compelled to be gracious.

5.2 The Turn Sequence

The Turn Sequence is given below. The rest of these rules are organized, as much as possible, to present rules in the order they are encountered as you progress through each player turn. Every game turn consists of a German player turn followed by an Allied player turn. The German player turn is always the first in every game turn.

I. German Player Turn

A. German Administrative Phase

1. Check for the approach or arrival of a great storm if it's an appropriate game turn (see 15.2).
2. The German declares whether his air force will seek to contest Allied air superiority if it's an appropriate game turn (see 15.3).
3. Place any arriving German reinforcements in holding boxes as appropriate (see section 7.0).
4. The German player may use replacements to rebuild units (see section 8.0).
5. Check the supply status of all units of both sides on the map. Remove the OOS markers from any unit previously unsupplied if it is now supplied. Place an OOS marker on any unit that has become unsupplied. The Allied player may place his aerial supply markers. See section 9.0 and 15.8.

B. German Command & Action Phase The German player may issue Move and/or Attack Commands, one at a time, and perform the appropriate actions for them in any order he desires (see 6.0).

II. The Allied Player Turn

A. Allied Administrative Phase

1. Plot SAF ground attack support if it's an appropriate game turn (see 15.4). [In the scan, "SAF" is circled in pen; transcribed as printed.]
2. Make any airborne withdrawals (see 15.5).
3. Plot Allied Airborne drops if it's an appropriate game turn (see 15.6).
4. Place any arriving Allied reinforcements in the England Holding Box (see section 7.0).
5. The Allied player may use replacements to rebuild units (see section 8.0).
6. Check the supply status of all units of both sides on the map. Remove the OOS markers from any unit previously unsupplied if it is now supplied. Place an OOS marker on any unit that has become unsupplied. The Allied player may place his aerial supply markers. See section 9.0 and 15.8.

B. Allied Command & Action Phase The Allied player may issue Move and/or Attack Commands, one at a time, and perform the appropriate actions for them in any order he desires (see section 6.0).

5.3 Ending a Game Turn

When the Allied turn is finished, mark off one day (one game turn) on the Turn Record Sheet.

6.0 Commands

6.1 In General

Players must "activate" their units to perform various missions by issuing Move and Attack Commands to them expressed in "Command Points" (CP). CP represent the capabilities of army staffs and the material resources available to carry out their plans, such as ammunition and fuel.

The German player starts the game receiving three CP every game turn. That number may increase to four, five or six CP per turn if he decides to exercise the Riga-Odessa Line Option in Russia (see 7.6) and bring in 10th Army headquarters from Italy (see 7.5).

The Allied player starts with two CP per game turn, and may increase that to a maximum of five per game turn. He receives a third CP if he controls any two of the seven population centers located inside the breakout line perimeter at the start of his player turn and can trace supply paths from them to an active beachhead hex. He receives a fourth CP if he similarly controls any three population centers inside the breakout line. He receives the fifth CP if he has a supplied unit across the breakout line at the start of his player turn (representing the activation of additional Army commands).

The Allies need not earn the three extra CP in the order described above. For instance, they could break out before capturing three population centers inside the breakout line.

The Allies lose CP on any turns in which the criteria described above aren't met. For example, if all Allied units fall back behind the breakout line, they lose one CP on every turn until they recross it.

Design Note. "Population center" is simply a convenient term for all the towns (such as Fecamp in 1211), cities (such as Rouen in 1414) and fortress/ports (such as Boulogne in hex 2005) on the map in one category.

An Allied unit is "within" the breakout line perimeter if it is in a hex to the north or west of it. For instance, an Allied unit in 1912 is said to be still within the breakout line perimeter; a unit in 2013 is said to have crossed the breakout line perimeter. A unit in 2404 is still within the perimeter; one anywhere in the 25xx hexrow has crossed it, etc.

6.2 Move Commands

Move Commands cost one CP each. A Move command will activate one unit or one stack of units in the same hex (see section 10.0) for movement that player turn. If a stack is activated, the individual units within it may move together, or split up and move off in different directions, or some might move while others stay put.

Units in holding boxes are considered unstacked. A player must expend one CP to bring a single off-map unit from its holding box onto the map, and conduct any movement desired. (That's one CP, total, to bring it out of the box and move it on the map that same player turn.) A moved unit may not attack during the same player turn it moves.

6.3 Attack Commands

Attack Commands cost two CP. An Attack command permits one unit or one stack of units to attack one adjacent enemy occupied hex that player turn. Attacking units may never divide their attack against more than one hex.

If a stack is activated for an attack, the attacking player may withhold some of the units within it from participating in the attack at his option. For example, if an activated German stack contained a panzer division, an infantry division and an artillery unit, the German player might decide to attack with just the panzer division and the artillery unit. The advantage would be the left-behind infantry division would not be subject to enemy return fire (see section 13.0).

6.4 CP Restrictions

No single unit or stack may ever perform more than one action per player turn. For example, no unit or stack may move twice, attack twice or attack and move during the same player turn.

Units that receive replacements may perform no other actions that player turn, though the act of receiving replacements does not require a CP expenditure (see 8.3). CP may not be accumulated.

Neither player, no matter how many CP he has available, may ever attack the same hex more than once during the same player turn. If he issues two attack commands, they must be against two different hexes.

6.5 Sequencing

Commands and their resultant actions may be performed in any order the issuing player desires, but one must be completely executed before the next is begun. For example, you could command one stack to attack, then, after resolving it, you could command another stack to move.

Design Note. There is no secrecy or writing involved in "issuing" CP. Both players should simply announce each expenditure as he starts to make it.

6.6 Additional German CP

The German may receive a fourth, fifth and sixth CP every game turn, depending on whether he adopts the Riga-Odessa Line strategy on the eastern front (see 7.6) and/or brings in 10th Army headquarters from Italy. That is, the arrival of each of those three army headquarters units brings with it another CP.

When the HQ units are pulled from the Russia box/cup or brought in through the South Holding Box from Italy, don't actually place them on the map; put them in the German CP record box printed on the mapsheet.

A headquarters unit does not begin generating its extra CP until a game turn starts with it already in the CP box. Thus, for example, if the German transferred the 10th Army HQ from the Italy box into his South Holding Box on Game Turn 5 (6 September), he'd then have to wait until the next game turn and pay one CP to move it from the South box into the CP holding box. Then, at the start of Game Turn 7 the 10th Army HQ would begin generating its extra CP for the German side.

7.0 Reinforcements

7.1 German Reinforcements

German reinforcements may appear every fifth game turn in the North and/or South Holding Boxes. They represent newly created or arriving units available to be released for active operations on this front. The three German newly organized reinforcement units (those with a two-digit game-turn of entry code printed in their upper-left corners: 17th SS Panzer Grenadier, 179 Reserve Panzer Division and the 349 Infantry Division) go directly into the North holding box during the German Administrative Phase of the game turn indicated on their counters. For example, the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division is placed in the North Holding Box during Game Turn 60 (31 October).

Further German reinforcements come into the North/South Holding Boxes by being released into them from the Italy and Russia Holding Boxes according to the procedures given below in 7.5 and 7.6. But no reinforcements ever enter play on the map directly from the Italy or Russia boxes; they must first go into and through the North/South boxes. Units from the Italy box always move from there into the South box; units from the Russia box always move from there into the North Box. (The "strategic movement" of units between the North and South Holding Boxes is possible, see 12.5.)

No German unit may ever move from the Italy or Russia boxes into the North or South boxes and then onto the map all in the same game turn. It is allowed for German units to move into the North or South boxes from the Italy or Russia boxes while other units that were already in the North/South boxes at the start of that game turn move from there onto the map. It costs no CP to move units from the Italy or Russia boxes into the North or South boxes — such moves are performed according to 7.5 and 7.6 — it does, though, cost one CP to move any unit from the North or South box into play on the map.

7.2 US & Commonwealth Reinforcements

There are no U.S. and Commonwealth reinforcements as such. That is, all the forces the Allied player has available to wage the first 80 days of this campaign are already available to him, set up in the various holding boxes according to the strictures given in section 3.0, from the very start of each game.

7.3 Box-to-Map Entry

Allied units in the England box, and German units in the North or South boxes, must receive a Move command during their side's Command & Action Phase to enter play on the map (see 6.2). The hex in which they enter the map does count as their first hex of movement (see section 12.0).

US and Free French units in the England Holding Box may move onto the map only via Utah and Omaha beaches. Commonwealth units in the England Holding Box may move onto the map only via Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

German units in the North Holding Box may enter via any board edge hex from 3100 to 2828, inclusive. German units in the South Holding Box may enter via any board edge hex from 4013 to 3421, inclusive. There is an overlap for the two boxes between hexes 2828 and 3421.

No units of either side may enter the map directly into an enemy-occupied hex, but they may enter through enemy-controlled hexes and/or into enemy zones of control (see 11.0) as long as the hex is empty of enemy ground units.

It never costs CP to move a unit into a holding box; it does cost CP to move them out. Note that though newly arriving German reinforcements only appear in the North/South boxes every fifth game turn, unit entry from those boxes into play on the map can take place every game turn, depending only on whether the German decides to expend the CP to bring them out.

7.4 German Units From Italy

Starting on Game Turn 5, any one German unit that began the game set up in the Italy Holding Box (those labeled "It" in their upper-left corners, see 3.4), may be transferred into the South Holding Box every fifth game turn during that side's Administrative Phase. The appropriate game turns are noted with "It" on the Turn Record Track. Such Italy-to-South box transfers never cost CP, and the German always has his choice of which unit to bring into it from Italy every fifth turn. All German units coming from Italy do so at their full, two-step strength.

Design Note. In this alternative history the Salerno landings have not taken place, since that effort and those Allied forces would of necessity had to have been consolidated into this larger, more crucial attack on the Channel coast. Thus, though Fascist Italy has here still been effectively knocked out of the war by the earlier Sicily landings, the Italian peninsula itself now remains a relatively quiet garrison area for the Germans. Hence the German always has his choice of how to schedule his transfers from there.

Optionally, those wanting more administrative reality in their play should require the German to schedule his Italy transfers five days in advance. That is, for example, on Game Turn 1 the German selects (temporarily sets aside from the Italy box) the "It" unit he wants to receive into his South Holding Box on Game Turn 5. That will more accurately represent the amount of time such transferred units would spend night-moving by rail from Italy to get into the battle area.

Editor's note. The printed rules contain no separate heading for section 7.5, although 6.1 and 7.1 cross-reference it. The Italy transfer procedure above is the text that follows 7.4 and is transcribed as printed; no heading has been supplied.

7.6 The Riga-Odessa Option

Though numerous German units begin the game in the Russia Holding Box (all those labeled "RUS" in their upper-left corners) none of them may ever move from there into the North Holding Box, and from there eventually into play on the map, unless the German declares he is putting into effect the Riga-Odessa Line strategy on the eastern front. The earliest that declaration can be made is the German Administrative Phase of Game Turn 5 (6 September), or at the start of every fifth game turn thereafter. The German is never forced to declare that east front strategy, but once he does so it can never after be rescinded.

If he declares the Riga-Odessa Line Strategy is in effect, the German should take an opaque wide-mouthed container, such as a coffee mug, and place within it all the units from the Russia Holding Box. Then, every fifth game turn starting 15 game turns after the strategy declaration, he pulls, without looking, five units from the cup and immediately places them into the North Holding Box (where he may, of course, now look at them). No CP costs are involved in doing that each time. All units arriving in the North box from Russia do so at their full, two-step strength.

Thus, for example, if the German declares the Riga-Odessa Line strategy to be in effect on Game Turn 5, his earliest opportunity to do so, the first five units from the Russia box are transferred into the North box on Game Turn 20 (21 September). After that, a new batch of five units arrive every five game turns until all have been transferred into the North box and/or the game map.

Design Note. Because the Russian front is militarily active, the German does not get to purposefully order his reinforcements from there as he does from Italy. That is, since withdrawing from active combat is far more difficult than from a quiet sector, the vagaries inherent in such disengagements (represented here by the luck of the draw) dictate the specific order of arrival of German units coming from Russia.

Historical Note. Some may balk at the fact the German transfers from Russia come into play at their full, two-step strength in the same way as those from quiet Italy. While it's true few if any of the units would have left the Russian front at anything near full strength, during this period historically the Germans had seven infantry, five panzer grenadier, two panzer and one mountain division undergoing organization and training in the interior of the Reich. Further, they also had 31 "replacement divisions" (training and replacement cadre) available.

Our feeling is, once having decided to go all-out to achieve a victory in the west, Hitler would not (indeed, could not) have done so halfheartedly. That is, we're assuming as the east front transfers are moving across Germany they are having added to them as whole-cloth reinforcements the battalions from those newly organizing and training units. Though self-cannibalizing and final, this is the same barrel-scraping technique the Germans used so effectively historically to rebuild their forces in the late summer and autumn of 1944. There's no reason they'd have held back from it in this altered situation; in fact, they would have had really nothing in the way of an alternative approach.

The great attraction of an earlier Allied landing in France on the Channel coast was that if it succeeded it would have placed a decisive force one campaign-gallop away from the vital German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. And, without doubt, the garrison forces the Germans had on hand there in 1943 were weaker than those appearing there by the following year. But the writers who argue an invasion should therefore have been made in the earlier year seem to recommend such a move believing Hitler could nevertheless still have been depended on to stick to the historic script.

But the potentially quick decisiveness of a Channel coast landing is also its strategic liability. That is, the German command could not possibly be fooled into thinking a Pas de Calais landing was intended as a ruse to draw forces away from some other theater in order to facilitate later landings in those then denuded places. No, if the Allies appeared in force on the Channel coast it would have been but for one purpose: to drive from there as quickly as possible to the Ruhr, thus causing German economic collapse and ending the war.

Since Hitler's strategic goal during the latter half of the war was — to put it as simply as possible — to extend his life as long as possible, it's therefore easy to anticipate in such altered circumstances he would have readily abandoned the historic hold-at-all-costs strategy in the east, because he'd suddenly have to be holding-at-all-costs in the west. By invading in 1943 the Allies would have changed the war's strategic balance, moving the greatest threat to Hitler's survival from the east to the west.

Others may complain the game doesn't offer any chance to examine the possibility of a 1943 invasion conducted in France farther west than the Channel coast, perhaps in Normandy or Brittany. We left that option out for two reasons. First, in our research into all the historic discussion given to 1943 landing options, the invasion site considered was virtually always the Pas de Calais. And that was because the idea of a 1943 invasion would have been to land and get to the Ruhr in one campaign. To have landed farther west would really have been nothing more, in the strategic sense, than to cling to the "Mediterranean" (indirect approach) strategy from another direction. Even in 1944 the Allies couldn't get from Normandy to the Ruhr in one charge; they certainly would not have been able to do so a year earlier.

8.0 Replacements

Beginners Note. Skip this section.

8.1 In General

Replacement Points (RP) appear every fifth game turn as shown on the Turn Record Sheet. They represent levies of new troops and equipment used to rebuild destroyed units from the dead pile or replenish reduced units still on the map. Generally, it takes one RP to rebuild an eliminated unit to reduced strength, and two to rebuild it to full strength. It takes one RP to flip a reduced unit back over to its full strength side. The only exception to the above is that it takes two RP to replace an artillery unit (all of which have only one step). Unused RP may not be accumulated. Once used, a replacement step may not be recalled or transferred to another unit. Committing an RP into a unit does not require expenditure of any CP.

8.2 Eliminated Units

Place a German unit rebuilt from the dead pile in the North Holding Box, from where it may enter play as a reinforcement according to the rules for such entries. Place an Allied unit rebuilt from the dead pile on any of the invasion beaches (except any that happen to be German-controlled).

8.3 Restrictions

To receive replacements a unit must be able to trace a supply path to a beach (Allied), or a board edge supply source hex (German). German units drawing only fortress supply don't count as supplied for purposes of receiving replacements.

A unit that receives replacements may not move or attack that player turn; it defends normally.

Allied RP come in two nationalities: US and Commonwealth. The two may not be mixed or traded. Minor nationality units within each group may use their group's replacements. For example, the Free French 2nd Armored Division may receive US replacements.

8.4 OOS Elimination

No unit that was completely eliminated (gave up its final step) while OOS (see 9.1) may ever be recreated with replacements. German units eliminated while drawing fortress supply may not be recreated. Allied units eliminated while drawing coastal or aerial supply may not be recreated. Place all such units in the OOS dead pile holding boxes provided on the map sheet.

Design Note. Five replacement counters have been provided to remind players which units have just taken replacements, and therefore can't move or attack.

8.5 US Untried to Blooded Conversions

Each time one or more untried US units goes into battle in supply (aerial, coastal or regular overland) and survives, immediately at the end of that fight (after all step losses, advances and/or retreats have been made) check to see if it is converted to its blooded version.

Roll one die for each such involved unit: a roll of 6 through 10 means the blooding process has been a success; a roll of 1 through 5 means the unit remains untried. Add one to the die roll of the unit(s) just participated in an advance after combat. Add one to the die roll if all the German defenders in the battle were eliminated. Subtract two from the die roll if the unit just participated in a retreat after combat.

Conversions take place immediately in the untried unit's hex; no CP or RP expenditures are involved. The blooded division appears at two-step strength. Once blooded, no division is ever demoted back to untried status.

If an untried US unit is eliminated in combat in supply it may be replaced normally any number of times (see 8.3); but it always comes back in its untried form until it survives combat and passes the conversion die roll check.

8.6 French Replacement Limits

Of the Free French units in the game, only the armor divisions may receive replacements (from US allocations at the Allied player's discretion). Those armor units replace just like blooded American divisions.

Historical Note. We've assumed this earlier invasion strategy would have led Allied leaders to accelerate Free French rearmament as much as possible, but in 1943 the process would have had limits more severe than in 1944.

Design Note. See 4.4-4.5 on the importance of Commonwealth losses and replacements in determining victory.

9.0 Supply

Beginners Note. Skip this section.

9.1 In General

Units require supply to operate at their full, printed-on-the-counter, movement and combat values or to receive replacements. A unit is either supplied or unsupplied (also called "out of supply" and "OOS"). Unsupplied units are penalized in combat (see 14.3) and have their movement factors reduced to one. These penalties last through every player turn a given unit remains unsupplied, but no unit is ever eliminated solely for being OOS. Supplied units may move into hexes where they will or may become unsupplied.

9.2 When to Check Supply

Check the supply status of all units of both sides during step A.5 of the German player turn and step A.6 of the Allied. The supply status determined for each unit at those times lasts until the next player turn's supply check step. OOS markers are provided in the counter mix to place atop unsupplied units as a reminder of their status.

9.3 German Supply Sources

German supply comes from any and all map edge land hexes from 1013 to 3100, inclusive. To be in supply, a German unit traces a path, hex by hex and of any length, to a German supply source hex. This path may not pass through a hex occupied by an enemy unit or into an enemy zone of control unless a friendly unit is in that zone of control hex to nullify it for supply tracing purposes. Any single German board edge supply hex may supply any number of German units. A board edge German supply hex that's occupied by an Allied unit or an un-nullified zone of control loses its supply providing capacity until such time as the Allied unit is removed or the zone of control nullified or removed. German units in fortresses are always supplied, but German units outside fortresses may not trace a supply path into them, even if adjacent. Once a fortress is captured by the Allies it loses its supply capacity for the rest of the game, even if the German recaptures it.

German units in holding boxes are always supplied while there.

9.3 Allied Supply Sources

Allied supply comes from any of the five beachhead hexes active in the particular match being played. To be in supply, an Allied unit traces a path, hex by hex and of any length, to an active beachhead. This path may not pass through an enemy-occupied hex or an enemy zone of control unless a friendly unit is in that zone of control hex to nullify it for supply tracing purposes. A single Allied beach supply hex may supply any number of Allied units, no matter what their nationalities. An Allied beach hex that's occupied by a German unit or an un-nullified German zone of control loses its supply projecting capacity until such time as the Allied unit is removed or the zone of control nullified or removed.

Allied units in coastal hexes — whether or not such hexes also contain active beachheads — are always supplied while in those hexes, but Allied units outside such non-beachhead coastal hexes may not trace a supply path into them, even if adjacent. Allied units in the England Holding Box are always supplied while there.

10.0 Stacking

10.1 In General

Stacking is the term used to describe the piling of more than one unit in the same hex at the same time. Units may never stack with enemy units. A maximum of four friendly units may stack in the same hex, but only one of them may be artillery and no more than three may be non-artillery. In other words, you may never stack two artillery units together, nor may you stack four divisions together.

All units in holding boxes are considered to be unstacked, but there are no holding limits in those boxes.

Any unit always counts as "one unit" whether it is at one- or two-step strength.

10.2 Inter-Allied Stacking

US and Commonwealth units may not stack together. The minor nationality units within each group may stack within their group as if they were all the same nationality. For example, the Free French 2nd Armored Division stacks as if it were a US unit.

10.3 Stacking & Movement

Stacking rules are in effect at all times throughout the game turn, but within the limits given above, there is no limit to the number of units that may pass through a given hex during a given player turn. Within the overall stacking limit described in 10.1, Allied units of both major nationality groups may move freely through each others' hexes, provided only they don't end their movement improperly stacked.

10.4 Over Stacking

If any hex is over stacked at the end of any movement command or battle, the opposing player is allowed to remove the minimum number of units of his choice necessary to bring that hex back within stacking limits.

Beginners Note. Skip rules 10.5 and 10.6 below. In your play, both players are allowed to examine the composition of enemy stacks and holding boxes at all times.

10.5 Markers

OOS, Attack, Aerial Supply, SAF, LGAS and NTF markers have no stacking value and may be added to any stacks according to the rules for their use.

10.6 Fog of War

The Allied player may use a piece of paper or a note card to conceal his units in the England holding box. The Allied player may examine the composition of German stacks and holding boxes at any and all times.

The German player may never examine the composition of any Allied stack unless he has declared an attack against it; and once that examination has been made, the attack may not be called off. Otherwise, the German player may not examine Allied stacks except as he watches that player do so; the Allied player is prohibited from removing his own stacks from the map to examine them "in secret."

Design Note. As in Normandy in 1944, ULTRA is here considered to be keeping most of the fog of war away from Allied eyes.

11.0 Zones of Control

Beginners Note. Zones of Control are an abstraction of a unit's ability to project its power, through fire and maneuver, into areas immediately around it. Don't confuse zone of control with control of VP hexes (see 4.3 and 11.6).

11.1 In General

Every combat ground unit on the map exerts a "Zone of Control" (ZOC) into the six hexes adjacent to its hex. ZOCs impede enemy movement, retreat-after-combat, and supply paths. An uncontested ZOC can cause the control status of a hex to switch from one side to the other.

11.2 ZOC Limits

Units never exert ZOC across all-sea hexsides. For example, a unit in hex 2009 does not exert a ZOC into hex 1909. No other kind of terrain has any inhibiting effect on ZOC projection.

There is no qualitative difference between a hex containing a ZOC exerted there by one unit and a hex containing ZOC exerted there by several units. A stack of units has the same ZOC as a single unit. The ZOC of units of both sides may be simultaneously exerted into the same hex.

Beginners Note. Skip rule 11.3 below.

11.3 Effects on Supply

You may not trace a supply path through an enemy ZOC (EZOC); however, friendly units negate EZOC for supply tracing purposes.

11.4 Effects on Movement

A moving unit must end its move for that command point when it first enters an EZOC. A unit that begins its move already in an EZOC may freely leave that hex, but it must stop as soon as it enters another hex with an EZOC. Thus units may move directly from EZOC to EZOC in one movement command, but may then go no farther that phase. Friendly units don't negate EZOCs for movement purposes.

Units that use strategic movement may neither begin their move in an EZOC nor enter an EZOC during or at the end of their move (see 12.5).

11.5 Effect on Retreat-after-Combat

A unit may not retreat-after-combat into an EZOC; however, friendly units negate EZOCs in their hexes for retreat purposes (see 13.6).

11.6 Hex Control

A unit may "capture" an unoccupied enemy victory point hex (cause the control of it to switch from one side to the other) with its ZOC if it is not contested by an EZOC. For example, if no German units are in or adjacent to Orleans (1525), an Allied unit could "capture" that city just by moving adjacent to it. However, if a German unit were also adjacent to Orleans, that German unit's ZOC on the city would "contest" the Allied ZOC. In that case, the Allied unit would have to move into Orleans to capture it, or wait for the contesting German unit to move off.

12.0 Movement

12.1 Movement Points

Units move from hex to adjacent hex; no "skipping" of hexes is allowed. A unit spends one movement point (also referred to as "MP," "Movement Factors," and "MF") to move one hex. The printed movement factor on a unit represents its movement ability if activated to move that player turn.

When units are flipped to reduced strength, their movement values usually decrease. This reflects fatigue, loss of transport and the disorganization caused by combat.

A unit does not have to use all its movement value when activated, but it may not accumulate MPs for a later turn, nor may MPs be loaned from one unit to another.

Both players are allowed to move their units into hexes where they will or may become unsupplied.

12.2 Stack Movement

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

12.3 Restrictions

A unit may never enter an enemy occupied hex or cross an all-sea hexside. For example, moving directly from hex 1012 to hex 1013 is prohibited. A unit may never end its move in violation of stacking. No unit once in play on the map may ever move off a map edge.

12.4 Major Rivers

It costs one MP "extra" to cross a major river hexside. For example, it costs two MPs to move from Rouen (1414) to 1415. That's one MP to enter 1415, and one "extra" to move across the Seine River. Rivers run between hexes, along the hexsides, while all other terrain exists in-hex.

Units with a printed movement factor of "1" and OOS units (which thereby also have a movement value of 1) may cross a major river hexside if they start adjacent to it. In other words, units are guaranteed the ability to move one hex by expending all their available MPs at the very start of their move, even if that expenditure wouldn't normally be enough to pay all the movement costs involved in the move.

Design Note. Because of the excellent road net, the real inhibitor to movement is not terrain but enemy units.

12.5 Strategic Movement

Strategic Movement allows a unit to move at double its printed movement value if it is in regular overland supply, does not start its move in an EZOC, does not enter an EZOC at any point during its move, and does not end the move in an EZOC. In effect, the unit spends more time on the road and less time deploying to meet the enemy.

Though strategic movement allows eligible units to move twice as fast, it doesn't require the expenditure of double CP. One CP expended for strategic movement will activate one unit or all the units in one stack, just as with regular movement. But note that units in holding boxes are considered to be unstacked while there, so one CP can only move one unit out of a holding box, no matter if using regular or strategic movement. Also note that no Allied unit is allowed to use strategic movement during the same player turn it lands on a beachhead hex.

The German player may move one unit per game turn between (either direction) his North and South Holding Boxes by expending one CP for that strategic movement.

Allied units drawing aerial supply, and German units drawing fortress supply, may not use strategic movement.

Strategic Movement Example. The German player activates a panzer grenadier division in the South box. It has a strategic movement value of 6 (two times its printed movement factor of "3"). It enters at 1828, paying one MP to do so, and then moves five more hexes to 1823.

13.0 Combat

13.1 Combat Sequence

Combat occurs when a player issues an Attack command. The attacking unit or stack can attack one adjacent hex containing an enemy unit or stack (hereafter called defenders). Units may never attack across an all-sea hexside. Follow this sequence for each combat.

1. Combat Deployment. The attacking player removes his attacking units from the map and places the attack marker in their hex, with the arrow pointing toward the defenders' hex. (This marks the scene of battle so you'll quickly know where to relocate units afterward.) The defender then removes his unit or stack from the map. Unlike the attackers, all defending units in an attacked hex must participate; none may be withheld from combat. Both players deploy their units on the Battle Board printed on the map sheet. Place non-artillery units nearest the "frontline" and artillery units behind them. You do not have to fill every position, but always keep artillery in the rear position.

2. Preparatory Barrage. Artillery of the attacking side, if present, fires (see 13.5). The defender may not retreat after the barrage, nor will a later retreat cancel out any losses incurred during the barrage.

3. Defensive Fire. All surviving defenders, both artillery and non-artillery, fire one at a time. Two-step units each take two shots (see 13.2).

4. Attack Break Off. At this point (only!) the attacker may decide to cancel his attack. Such a declaration immediately works to reduce the total casualties he just suffered from defensive fire by one step. When an attack is cancelled, skip to step 7; otherwise, continue to step 5. The attacker may not break off the attack if he has suffered no casualties.

5. Offensive Fire. Surviving non-artillery attackers now fire one at a time.

6. Defender Retreat Declaration. At this point (only!) the defending player may announce a retreat. This will reduce the total casualties his force just received from offensive fire by one step. (Losses from any earlier preparatory barrage are never reduced.) The defender may not retreat if he has suffered no casualties.

7. Redeployment. Return all surviving units of both sides to their appropriate map hexes and remove the attack marker. Place any eliminated units in their side's dead pile, and be careful to maintain the current, possibly reduced, step-strength status of all units as you place them back on the map.

Design Note. When the attacker retreats, his units stay in their original hex but sacrifice their opportunity fire; when the defender retreats, he fires but sacrifices ground.

9. Attacker Advance-after-Combat. Any or all of the attacking units may, but are not required to, advance into the defenders' hex if the defending force retreated or was entirely eliminated in combat. This is a free movement resulting from combat; the attacker does not expend any CP or MP. Defenders never advance, even if all attackers are destroyed. A unit that was located in the hex where the attack was originally activated, but that was left behind (see 6.3), can still advance.

13.2 Firing Procedures

During combat a two-step unit fires two shots (roll two ten-sided dice for it or pull two chits), and a reduced strength (one-step) unit fires one shot (roll one ten-sided die for it or pull one chit).

To shoot, the firing player announces which unit is firing and which unit is its target. He rolls one die and compares the result to the firing unit's appropriate combat value. If the result is less than or equal to that value, the firing unit has hit its target; if the die roll result is greater than the firing unit's fire value, the shot misses. If the struck target is at full strength, flip it to its reduced side. If the struck target is already reduced or at one-step strength, it is eliminated.

Players fire one shot at a time. A two-step unit may fire at two different targets, if so desired. The targets do not have to be directly opposite the firing unit in the battle box; they may be any enemy unit in the combat box (important exception: see 13.5). Neither player need declare all his shots before making them; declare and resolve them one at a time.

13.3 Instantaneous Hits

All hits take effect immediately.

13.4 Combat Values

Every unit has an anti-armor and anti-infantry fire value. Units use their anti-armor value when firing at armored/panzer targets. They use their anti-infantry value when firing at all other types of target, including corps support artillery.

13.5 Artillery

A firing unit, whether artillery or non-artillery, may not select an enemy artillery unit as its target unless there are no non-artillery targets in the "frontline" positions (either they have been destroyed or none were present from the beginning of the battle). An artillery unit may never attack alone; to receive an attack command, it must go into combat with at least one non-artillery unit.

13.6 Retreat

Retreat-after-combat allows a player to cancel one hit from one of his units from the total hits scored against his force in the previous step of that combat sequence.

When the attacker retreats, he forfeits the opportunity for his non-artillery units to fire, and all involved units are placed back in the hex from which they launched the attack.

When the defender retreats, all surviving units must vacate the hex. Retreating defending units must be moved to an adjacent hex by the owning player according to these strictures:

1. Retreating units may not cross an all-sea hexside, exit the map, or enter an enemy-occupied hex.
2. Retreating units may not enter an EZOC unless a friendly unit not involved in the combat is already in that hex.
3. Retreating units may not enter a friendly-occupied hex in excess of the stacking limit.
4. Retreating units may not enter a friendly-occupied hex, even within normal stacking limits, if an entirely empty hex not in an EZOC is available.
5. Retreating stacks may retreat as a stack or be split up to retreat into different hexes within the strictures given above.
6. No single unit may ever retreat to more than one hex.
7. Any unit that can't retreat within the above restrictions is eliminated in place.
8. Retreating does not count against a unit's movement/combat abilities for the coming player turn, nor does it cost MP or CP.
9. If a defending unit retreats from one attack and finds itself in a hex that comes under subsequent attack that same player turn, it participates normally in the second combat.

13.7 Extra Hits

If all enemy units are destroyed before the firing player has finished firing all his units, he may continue firing at any of the already destroyed targets in the hope of gaining an "extra" hit. If he scores the extra hit, the enemy player may not call a retreat in order to retrieve one of his steps. In effect, the extra hit represents overwhelming fire from which the target units cannot escape.

13.8 German Garrisons

German garrison infantry units represent naval grenadier battalions, flak units, security troops and stragglers thrown together to defend the fortress ports. Garrison units may never attack or advance, and they are automatically eliminated in a retreat.

14.0 Fire Modifiers

14.1 In General

The printed combat values of a unit may be modified during battle by terrain and supply status. Modifiers are given as negative or positive numbers that are added or subtracted to the firing unit's combat value. All applicable modifiers are cumulative in their effect in any given situation. For example, a unit attacking across a river into a city hex would have two modifiers applied against its fire. A unit whose combat value is modified to zero (0) or less cannot hit anything.

14.2 Terrain

Attacking units have their combat values modified by the terrain of the defenders' hex and any intervening river or major river hexside (see the Terrain Key on the map sheet). Defensive fire is never modified by terrain.

Non-armored units attacking across a river hexside, or into a city, forest, or hill hex have their combat values modified by -1 for each of those that pertain. (Exception: artillery fire is not modified for river hexsides.) Armored/panzer units have theirs modified by -2.

Non-armored units attacking across a major river hexside, or into a marsh or fortress hex, have their combat values modified by -2 for each of those that pertain. (Exception: artillery fire is not modified for major river hexsides.) Armored/panzer units have their combat values modified by -3.

Terrain modifiers are summarized on the Terrain Key printed on the mapsheet.

Design Note. Armor/Panzer units in the attack were more hampered by difficult terrain than other units, thus the higher penalties for terrain than non-armored units.

Beginners Note. Skip rule 14.3.

14.3 Supply

OOS Units modify their combat values by -1. Supplied units firing at unsupplied targets modify their values by +1. These modifications apply whether defending or attacking.

Combat Example. The Allied player has spent two CP to activate a Commonwealth stack in hex 2109. This stack includes the full strength Guards Armored (4-4-4), 2nd Canadian Infantry (3-4-3), 51st Infantry (3-4-3), and I Corps artillery (one-step 5-6-3). He announces an attack on Abbeville. The German defenders in the hex are the reduced 9th SS Panzer (6-6-2) and the reduced 276th Infantry (2-3-1). Both players deploy their units in the combat box.

The British artillery fires first. The Allied player selects 9th SS Panzer as the target. The artillery unit uses its anti-tank value of 5, modified by -1 because the defenders are in a city hex. A roll of 4 or less will hit, but the Allied player rolls a 7.

The defenders now fire. The German player fires 9th SS Panzer at the 2nd Canadian. There are no modifiers, so a 6 or less will hit. He rolls a 4. The 2nd is flipped to its reduced status. The 276th fires at the 51st, needing a 3 or less, but misses with a 5.

The Allied player chooses to continue his attack rather than retreat. The Guards unit fires twice at 9th SS Panzer, looking for ones or twos to hit (its value of 4 is reduced by two for firing into a city). Both rolls miss. The 51st takes a shot at 9th SS Panzer (value 3, with a -1 for city) and rolls a 1, so 9th SS Panzer is destroyed. The 51st then fires its other shot at the 176th (value 4, with a -1 for a city) and rolls a 3, so the 176th is also destroyed. The reduced 2nd takes its one shot at the 276th, trying to score an extra hit. The Allied player rolls a 4, which misses.

The German player announces a retreat. He puts the 276th in the destroyed box and cancels the hit on 9th SS Panzer. British units are located in hexes 2109, 2110 and 2209. German units are in 2211 and 2309. 9th SS Panzer retreats to 2310, and the victorious British stack may advance into Abbeville.

15.0 Optional Rules

Beginners Note. Skip this section.

Old Hands Note. Experienced players should use all of these options.

15.1 Allied Naval (Gun Support) Task Force

The Allied Naval Task Force (NTF) marker provides a fire modifier of +2 to all Allied units defending in a coastal hex. It provides a +1 modifier (see reverse side of unit) to all Allied units attacking a German-occupied coastal hex. The Allied player may use the NTF once per game turn starting with the very first.

The NTF cannot provide support to Allied units attacking inland from the coast; it may only be used for attacks into coast hexes. The NTF is of mixed Allied nationality and may therefore be used to support Commonwealth and/or US units. German units can't fire at the NTF. No CP expenditure or pre-planning is involved in using the NTF; it is simply brought into play once per game turn by a declaration from the Allied player at the time of use. It may not appear during game turns when a great storm is raging.

15.2 Great Storms

The French coastline facing the English Channel is vulnerable to the kind of violent storms that affected the Normandy campaign in June, 1944. Similar storms might have interrupted any earlier invasion.

During his administrative phase of Game Turn 10 (11 September), and every fifth game turn thereafter, the German checks for the approach of a great storm. (The appropriate turns are noted on the Turn Record Track with the word "Storm.") To do so he rolls a 10-sided die. A result of 10 means a storm is approaching.

If a storm is determined to be approaching, during the administrative phase of the very next game turn the German makes another die roll check. The storm is considered to arrive that game turn on a result of 1 or 2. If it doesn't arrive that day, make a check again the very next game turn, when it arrives on a result of 1, 2, 3 or 4. If not then, it arrives on the third day on a result of 1 through 6, or the day after that on a 1 through 8. If it doesn't arrive with the 1 through 8 check, it's considered to have changed course out of the area.

If a great storm is determined to have arrived, make an additional check for its departure at the very end of every game turn. At the end of the first game turn of its arrival, it's considered to have dissipated or moved on with a die roll result of 1 or 2; the next day it goes with a 1 through 4 result, then a 1 through 6, and a 1 through 8. (Automatically ending at the end of its fifth day if not before.)

If a new great storm check day arrives while one is currently raging on the map, simply skip that check.

During a storm the Allied player may not move units from England to France, take replacements, use his NTF or SAF, or make airdrops or airborne withdrawals. Likewise, there is no chance for Local German Air Superiority. Within the strictures given above, there is no limit on the number of storms that may blow in during any one match.

15.3 Tactical Air Power

During his administrative phase of Game Turn 5 (6 September) and every fifth game turn thereafter, the German player declares whether he will use his Reich Air Defense fighter force to contest Allied air superiority over the battlefield during the next five days. If he says he will contest Allied air superiority, he must immediately reduce his VP total by one point. If he does not contest, there is no possible Luftwaffe effect on play until the next declaration game turn (all noted with the word "Air" on the Turn Record Track).

If the German does contest Allied air superiority, then at the start of every battle during that and the next four game turns after, he rolls a die. On a result of 1 through 3, the Luftwaffe has achieved temporary air superiority above that battlefield hex. Place the LGAS (Local German Air Superiority) counter in the battle board as a reminder. The effect of LGAS is to give all firing German units in such battles a +1 modifier and give all firing Allied units a -1.

Make a separate die roll check for each battle waged during a contested period. LGAS is never checked for while a great storm is raging, even if it is during a declared contested period. LGAS is never checked for in any battle in which the Allied player has plotted SAF participation (we're assuming enough Allied escort fighters would be assigned to the mission to make sure the bombers get over the battlefield). The German should check for the approach of a great storm before making his contest declaration.

15.4 Allied Strategic Air Forces (SAF)

During his administrative phase of Game Turn 5 (6 September) and every fifth game turn thereafter (all noted with the word "Air" on the Turn Record Track), the Allied player should secretly write down his proposed date and target hex for his next SAF strike. The date may be no sooner than two game turns away and no more than seven. Fold the slip of paper and place it in view of the German player.

You may never change a plan once written, though you may cancel a mission. You may delay writing a plan, but you must always plan at least two game turns in advance. You may never plan more than one SAF strike for a given day. The German player may unfold the paper after the strike to check your honesty.

When the proposed day and ground attack arrives, the Allied player rolls a die and consults the following table immediately after all forces have been placed in the battle board:

• 1 — The SAF attack is a fiasco. The ground attack is cancelled, the CP expended for are it lost, and the involved Allied ground units may not attack or move in any other way that turn. No other Allied attack may bedirected into the hex that turn. The German scores one VP.
• 2-3 — The SAF, for one reason or another, fails to show up or shows up but drops its bombs way wide of the target area. The Allied player may still choose to go ahead with the ground attack, or he may cancel it, but either way the CP expended for that ground attack are considered to have been used and, in the case of cancelation, the involved Allied ground units may not attack or move in any other way that turn. No other Allied attack may be directed into the hex that turn..
• 4-6 — The Allied ground attack goes in with a die roll modifier of +1 for all attacking units.
• 7-9 — The Allied ground attack goes in with a die roll modifier of +2 for all attacking units.
• 10 — The Allied ground attack goes in with a die roll modifier of +3 for all attacking units.

If for any reason the Allied player does not attack the plotted hex on that day (because, for instance, the German player has already vacated it), the strike is forfeit. He may not redirect it to another hex, or save it for use on another day. German units may not fire at the SAF.

15.5 Allied Airborne Withdrawal

The US 82 and 101st Airborne Divisions were withdrawn early in the historic Normandy campaign in order to rest and prepare for further airdrops. A similar strategy might have been pursued with some or all Allied airborne units during a 1943 invasion. The Allied player may decide to withdraw one, some or all of his airborne units from the continent starting with his administrative phase of Game Turn 25 (26 September). To be eligible for withdrawal an airborne unit must be in regular supply somewhere on the map (only the US 82nd and 101st, along with the Commonwealth 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions are eligible for withdrawal). The Allied player simply removes it/them from the map to the England holding box; no CP expenditure is involved.

A withdrawn airborne division must spend at least 30 days resting in England before it can be used again (see 15.6 below). For example, if the 101st is withdrawn on D+26, it must rest in the England holding box until at least D+56. Resting alone does not replenish a reduced unit; the Allied player must expend an RP for that.

15.6 Allied Airdrops

The Allied player may airdrop his airborne units from the England Holding Box (only) onto the map. Drops may not be made into Marsh, City or Fortress hexes. Only the British 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions and US 82nd and US 101st Divisions are eligible for this.

To perform a drop, the Allied player secretly writes down the proposed date and landing hex for the unit at least two game turns in advance (just like SAF strikes). He may not change a drop plan once written, but they may be cancelled. No more than three divisions may be plotted to drop on any one day, though they may be dropped into the same or separate hexes. When the drop day arrives, the Allied player may spend one CP per division to activate the unit(s) and place it (them) on the drop hex(es). If for any reason he does not drop the unit(s) according to plan (for instance, because a German unit occupies the hex), the airborne unit remains in England; he may not write a new plan for it for that day (but he doesn't need to spend the CP either).

Airborne units may not drop onto German units. However, the Allied player may plan a drop into a German-occupied hex, hoping the Germans will move away in time.

If an airborne unit drops in a German ZOC, the German player rolls one die; on a 1-5 the airborne unit is hit (reduce the unit if it's at full strength; destroy it if it's already reduced). On a 6-10 the airborne unit lands without casualties. Roll just one die per airborne unit dropping into EZOCs, no matter how many German units are projecting ZOCs into the drop hex. If the unit lands outside German ZOCs, it lands without casualties.

An air dropped airborne unit is always considered supplied throughout the game turn of its drop; such units may not, however, move (retreat after combat OK) or attack during that entire game turn.

A dropped airborne unit may not be withdrawn for rest and refit again until it's spent another period of at least 25 days on the continent. The Allied player may choose to abort the refit of any of his units in the England box and instead bring them back into play via over-the-beach landings. Such a move does require normal CP expenditure.

The British 6th Airborne Division begins play in the England box, where it is considered to be ready for an air drop; the Allied player may plot for it (two days in advance, of course) as soon as Game Turn 1.

No air drops may be made during turns a great storm is raging. The Luftwaffe can never abort an Allied air drop. German paratroopers only air drop according to the strictures for Operation Bluepoint, given below.

15.7 Operation Blue Point

Early in 1943 the German air force high command developed a bold counter-invasion plan for thwarting Allied landings in France. The idea was simple: as early as possible after an invasion, the infantry elements of the 1st and 2nd Parachute Divisions would be sent on a suicidal night drop directly into the Allied beachhead perimeter. In so sacrificing themselves, it was hoped the paratroopers would generate sufficient confusion among the just-landed Allied forces to stall them on the beaches for other German ground troops to move up, form a solid perimeter, and finally smash them with a follow-on conventional attack.

To simulate this, at the very start of Game Turn 1 the German player announces whether he will activate Blue Point (a once and done decision). If he launches it, remove the two parachute divisions from the South Holding Box and place them permanently in the OOS deadpile. Roll a 10-sided die and halve the result, rounding any remainder down.

If the result is a zero, the Blue Point operation is a fiasco. The two German divisions remain OOS eliminated and there is no effect on the Allies.

If the result is one (1), during Game Turn 1, referred to as "Bluepoint chaos day," Allied units may not use regular or strategic movement, may not land at any beachhead hex, and may not attack. Allied units do defend normally.

If the halved and rounded die roll result is a number greater than one, the Blue Point chaos day takes place on Game Turn 1 as described above. Though those severe penalties end for the Allied player at the end of Game Turn 1, during the game turns following (their exact number equalling the rounded Bluepoint die roll result), Allied per-game-turn CP availability is reduced by one.

For example, if the German rolled a nine (divided in half and rounded down to four), the Allied player would be paralyzed on Game Turn 1 and have his CP availability reduced by one CP during each of Game Turns 2, 3 and 4.

15.8 Allied Aerial Supply

During any supply check step the Allied player may provide aerial supply to any one, two or three units anywhere on the map that would otherwise be OOS. Place the markers atop the selected units; those units' supply status is now normal until the next supply check.

No aerial supply is available during turns great storms are raging or an airborne drop has been made. The Luftwaffe cannot in anyway abort Allied aerial supply.

15.9 British 79th Armored

The British 79th Armored Division was equipped with tanks specially adapted to overcome various defensive and terrain modifiers. Whenever it fires on the attack, all applicable terrain modifiers are decreased by one for it (but not for any other units attacking with it).

15.10 Six-Sided Dice

If you don't have decimal dice and also don't like the chit-pulling, here's a way to get decimalized results using two standard six-sided dice.

Roll both dice and cross-index them on the table below. Notice that the order of the rolls is important. Different colored dice may be used to distinguish first and second rolls, or roll a single die twice.

Second die roll \ First die roll	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	0	0	0	1	1	1
2	2	2	2	3	3	3
3	4	4	4	5	5	5
4	6	6	6

Editor's note. The "D-Elim" strategy article by Ted S. Raicer that follows section 15.10 on the printed page (titled "Second Front Now!") is strategy commentary by a playtester, not rules text, and is not transcribed here.

Turn Record Sheet

Transcribed from the printed "Second Front Now — Turn Record Sheet, D-Day, 1 September 1943." Columns: date, Game Turn (D+), replacements for the Germans (Ger), the US (US) and the Commonwealth (Cmn), and the notes printed for that turn, as printed.

Date	Game Turn (D+)	Ger	US	Cmn	Notes
2 Sep	1	0	0	0	Bluepoint
3 Sep	2	0	0	0	-
4 Sep	3	0	0	0	-
5 Sep	4	0	0	0	-
6 Sep