Stand at Mortain
Stand at Mortain Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Set-Up
Place all US units (light green) except CCA/B/R units anywhere but the eastern hexrow. CCA/B/R units may enter play on Turn 2 or later along the west mapedge when the US player chooses to Activate them.
Place all German units (black and dark green) along the east mapedge. These enter play on Turn 1 or later when the German player chooses to Activate them.
Up to 2 friendly ground units may stack in a hex. The Tiger unit 102 stacks and activates free with any other German units. German and US ground units cannot stack together.
Turn Begins
Players shuffle a card deck (include 1 joker card).
The German player draws a card. If the card is black, he can "Pass" or Activate units (including previously Activated units) equal to 1/2 the number on the card (round up). Aces equal "1." Black "face" cards allow 1 unit, or 1 stack of units, to Activate.
If a red card is drawn, the US player can Pass or Activate the same way.
Activated ground units can:
- a) Move 1 hex OR
- b) Not move, and instead Fire.
The game has no Zones of Control.
The turn ends when the Joker is drawn (in Activation or in Combat) or when all cards are drawn, whichever comes first. Ignore a Joker if it is drawn before both players can Activate at least once.
Combat
Combat is voluntary. All ground units can fire up to 2 hexes, or if on a hill fire 3 hexes. Units may fire into but not through village, city, hills, and forests.
Use the unit's Anti-Tank (AT) number vs. Tanks, and its Anti-Infantry (AI) number vs. Guns and/or Infantry.
Indicate any number of firing unit(s) and a single target unit.
The firing player draws a card (any suit/color can be used by both players to resolve combat).
- -1 to the card's number if all firing units and the target are adjacent.
- -1 if the Tiger 102 unit is making an AT attack.
- Add the terrain modifier.
If the card drawn plus the total of all modifiers is less than or equal to the sum of all firing unit's printed AT or AI numbers, flip the target unit over. Otherwise it's a miss. Already flipped units are eliminated.
Redraw face cards or treat as a miss (firing player's option).
After resolving a combat, return to drawing cards to Activate units.
Note: the English rules do not print the values of the terrain modifiers. The official Spanish edition of the same rules (a companion translation, cross-checked against this English text) prints them on its terrain chart as: village +1, city +2, hill +1, forest +1. These values are given here for reference only and are not part of the English text.
US Air and Off-Board Artillery (OBA) Markers
One of these (either/or) US markers is available once per turn.
- Drawing a red odd number or Jack means the Air marker may be used instead of Activating ground units.
- Any other red card drawn means the OBA marker may be used instead of Activating ground units.
Air and OBA markers can target any one enemy unit or stack.
- The OBA marker can conduct an AT or AI attack with a strength of 3.
- The Air marker can either:
- a) make an AT or AI attack with a strength of 4 OR
- b) impose a +1 Combat modifier on all enemy units in the target hex, and all adjacent hexes, for the rest of the turn.
Game Length
The game lasts 6 turns (card deck shuffles).
Who Wins
The German player wins if, by the end of Turn 6, five of his units exit the west edge of the map, or no US units are left in the game. Otherwise the US player wins.
Errata and Clarifications
The following entries are from the consolidated Pocket Battle Games addenda published by Against the Odds (ATO), "Consolidated Addenda as of June 1st, 2026", transcribed from the section headed "#1 Stand at Mortain (first printing)" and the Stand at Mortain items printed alongside it. They are official clarifications that apply to this game and supersede the printed text where they differ.
General series clarification (applies to Stand at Mortain as an exception): Unless a specific game's rules state otherwise (like Stand at Mortain below), a unit may only Activate once per a specific Card Draw (CD). The same unit may Activate more than once in a turn, however, using different CDs over the course of the turn.
Activation
Reiteration: Previously Activated units may be selected to be Activated again. So if the CD was an 8, a player could activate the same unit four times, and move it one hex per Activation.
Example: German draws a black 8 card allowing 4 Activations. He has two units in H and two units in I. He could attack a single Polish unit in K twice, using any combination of two units from his own in H or I, or just Activate one unit 4 times and attack each time (or any combo thereof). But no more than two ground units can join together and fire at a single target.
Movement
Clarification (stacking): Both sides may stack their own units together, up to two to a hex (plus the German Tiger unit may stack freely with other German units). US and German units may never be in the same hex.
Clarification (entry): No Germans start on the map. On their first activation of Turn 1, they may enter a hex along the east edge of the map as their move. The same is true of US reinforcements along the west edge, starting on Turn 2.
Combat
Clarification (interdiction): When using the Allied air unit to "impose a +1 Combat modifier on all German units in a hex, and all adjacent hexes, for the remainder of the turn," it means those hexes are "interdicted" by the attack. The penalty is imposed on any German units in those hexes when they make an attack (even if they weren't originally present when the air attack was made).
US Air and Off-Board Artillery (OBA) Markers
Clarification (choice of activation): When Activating either the OBA or the Air unit, the choice is "Activate either the OBA or the Air Unit, OR some ground units" and NOT that "the OBA or Air Unit counts as one of the units Activated."
Clarification (terrain): Air and OBA strikes are not affected by an area's terrain modifier. Variant Rule: Air and Artillery Strikes are not affected by an area's terrain modifier only if there is a German unit adjacent to the targeted area; otherwise the area's terrain modifier does apply.
Who Wins
Change: Alter the last sentence "Germans win if by the last turn…" to say "Germans win if at the end of any turn…"