no retreat! the russian front - scenarios feb 2012

7/31/2019 No Retreat! The Russian Front - Scenarios feb 2012

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No Retreat!SCENARIO BOOKLET2nd Edition, Feb. 2012

2011 GMT Games, LLC 2011 GMT Games, LLC P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 www.GMTGames.com

T h e R u s s i a n F r o n t : 1 9 4 1 - 1 9 4 5

S C E N A R I OB O O K L E T

L i v i n g R u l e s O c t . 2 0 1 1

2 n d E d i t i o n , F e b . 2 0 1 2


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[3.0] SCENARIOSEach of the six Scenarios and Campaign Game includesa setup map and ending Game Turn. When the indicatedending Game Turn is completed, that scenarios listedVictory Conditions are checked and the winner is deter-mined.

Important: A scenario cannot end in a tie; if the player withthe Initiative (.9) does not win, the other player does.

Campaign Games: Alternately, each scenario can be usedas the starting point for a Campaign Game played to theend of Game Turn using the standard Victory Conditions(.0; including Objectives and Sudden Death not used inthe scenarios).

Joker (Event) Card: If used, the Axis player has possessionof the Joker card in the Campaign Game and Scenarios A,B, D; the Soviet player in Scenarios C, E, F.

Optional Units and Markers: If used, both players canhave the Optional units available as the start of the sce-narios, but they are not set-up on the map, unless agreedupon by both sides: if so, then the German player alwayssets his Optional units up rst, followed by the Sovietplayer, as per the specic rule for each Optional unit.

A. BARBAROSSA & THE CAMPAIGN GAMESet Up Procedure1. Place the round markers in the Unused Markers Hold-ing Box.

2. Place the round Game Turn marker in the box of theGame Turn Track on its Axis side, and the square VictoryPoints marker in the box of the Victory Point Trackon its Drang Nach Osten (Drive to the East) side and theround VP marker in the 0 box of the VP Track.

3. Each player takes his remaining square units and turnsthem face-up. Those with a Reinforcement Number areplaced in the corresponding turn box on the Game TurnTrack (e.g., the Russian Steppe Front unit is placed inthe 3 box). As a memory aid for the rst winter shockbonus (0.6.) put a Soviet control marker on the Mapsturn track on Turn 4.

4. Both players take their remaining square units and placethem on the map as shown in this scenarios setup illustra-tion on their indicated sides.

5. Starting Axis Hand: The Axis player shufes the deckof cards, minus the 3 cards with the Green-circled 45and the Joker card (the green-circled 45 cards are usedin 945 only), and places them face-down next to the mapforming the Draw Pile. He then drawssix cards from thetop of the Draw Pile, Discards two, and takes the rest intohis hand.

DESIGN NOTE: The Soviet player begins with no cards tosimulate the German surprise attack of June 22, 1941.

Special First Turn Restrictions: In addition to the ineq-uitable distribution of cards during setup, the followingspecial restrictions apply to the Axis players forces on

Game Turn (only): N units can only attack the Russian Northwest Front

unit. C units can only attack the Russian West Front unit. S units can only attack the Russian Southwest Front

unit. R units cannot move or Advance after Combat on Game

Turn (they may attack).

[3.0] SCENARIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A. Barbarossa & the Campaign Game . . . . . . . .

B. Fall Blau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

C. Operation Saturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

D. Citadel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

E. Operation Bagration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

F. Na Berlin! (On To Berlin!) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

G. Tournament Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

[7.0] DESIGNERS NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

[8.0] PLAYERS NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[9.0] EXTRA EXAMPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CARD MANIFEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

COUNTER SCANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3


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6. Players must note the Game Turn Effects. These in-clude:

Weather: It is Clear weather. Drang Nach Osten: The Axis side has the Initiative

through Game Turn , affecting the ability to play certainEvent cards (as per 5.3.3) and how Victory Points arescored (Rule .0).

Blitz! markers: The Axis player begins the game withthree Blitz! markers available.

Rail Disruption: During Game Turns and , RailMovement capacity is limited (see 3.5 case -).

No Axis Replacements: During Game Turns 4, theAxis player cannot discard cards in order to Improve(7.) or Replace (7.9) units. Only certain Event cards can

be used by the Axis player for these purposes during thefirst four Game Turns.

7.After completing these steps and noting the above special

rules, the Axis player commences Game Turn with hisPhase 4: Movement.

8. Game End & Victory Conditions:

A. Barbarossa Scenario: At the end of Game Turn 5, theAxis player wins if his nal score is 23 or more VictoryPoints - OR - he controls Moscow and at least one otherAxis Objective Hex. Otherwise, the Soviet player wins.

B. Campaign Game (all 28 Turns): The entirety of rule.0 fully applies.


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B. FALL BLAU

Set Up Procedure1. Place the round markers in the Unused Markers Hold-ing Box.

2. Place the round Game Turn marker in the 7 box of theGame Turn Track on its Axis side, and the square VP marker

in the box of the Victory Point Track (with Midwayalready taken into account) on its Drang Nach Osten side,and the round VP marker in the box of the VP Track,Axis side up.

3. Reinforcements: Each player takes his combat units andturns them face-up. Those with a Reinforcement Numbergreater than 6 are placed in the corresponding turn box onthe Game Turn Track.

4. Setup: Both players take their remaining square unitsand place them on the map as shown in this scenariossetup illustration on their indicated sides.

Not Shown: The 8th Italian Army starts in the Rail Move-ment Box. The Soviet Central Front starts in the De-stroyed Units Box.

5. Starting Axis Hand: The Axis player shufes the deck ofcards, minus the 3 cards with the Green-circled 45 andthe Joker card, and places them face-down next to the mapforming the Draw Pile. He then draws seven cards from thetop of the Draw Pile and takes them into his hand, examinesthem, and then discards two of those cards, face-up, intoa Discard Pile.

6. Starting Soviet Hand:Next, the Soviet play-er receives his startingcards, drawing three anddiscardingone.

7. Weather: It is Clearweather.

8. After completing thesesteps, the Axis playercommences Game Turn 7with his Phase 4: Move-ment.

9. Scenario End & Vic-tory Conditions: At theend of Game Turn 0,the Axis player wins ifhis final score is 6 ormore Victory Points - OR- he controls 3 or moreAxis Objective Hexes.Otherwise, the Sovietplayer wins.


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C. OPERATION SATURN

Set Up Procedure1. Place the round markers in the Unused MarkersHolding Box.

2. Place the round Game Turn marker in the 0 box ofthe Game Turn Track on its Soviet side, and the square

Victory Points marker in the 5 box of the Victory PointTrack (with El Alamein already taken into account) onits Drang Nach Osten side, and the round VP marker inthe 0 box of the VP Track.

3. Reinforcements: Each player takes his combat unitsand turns them face-up. Those with a ReinforcementNumber greater than 9 are placed in the correspondingturn box on the Game Turn Track.

4. Setup: Both players take their remaining square unitsand place them on the map as shown in this scenariossetup illustration on their indicated sides.

5. Starting Axis Hand: The Axis player shufes thedeck of cards, minus the 3 cards with the Green-cir-cled 45, and places them face-down next to the mapforming the Draw Pile. He then draws two cards fromthe top of the Draw Pile and takes them into his hand,examines them, and then discards one of those cards,face-up, into a Discard Pile next to the Draw Pile.

6. Starting Soviet Hand: Next, the Soviet player re-ceives his starting cards, drawing six and discardingtwo. He also receives the Joker card.

7. Weather: It is Snow weather.

8. Soviets Move First: After completing these steps, theSoviet player commences with his half of Game Turn0 with his Phase 3: Organization. The setup situationshows the end of the Axis Player Turn; the Axis Blitz!marker is already spent for this turn.

9. [12.9 change] Shifting the Initiative: During theVictory Phase of Game Turn , the Soviet player re-ceives VP for each City or Oil Field they control; plusany Russian (red) VPs OR minus any Axis (grey) VPsas indicated by the round VP marker. Flip the squareVP marker to its Soviet side and adjust it to reect theabove-determined Russian VP total.

10. Scenario End & Victory Conditions: At the endof Game Turn 13, the Soviet player wins if his nalscore is 6 or more Victory Points. Otherwise, the Axisplayer wins.


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D. CITADEL

Set Up Procedure1. Place the round markers in theUnused Markers Holding Box nearthe northwest corner of the map.

2. Place the round Game Turn marker

in the 4 box of the Game Turn Trackon its Axis side, and the square VPsmarker in the 5 box of the VictoryPoint Track (with Italy Invaded al-ready taken into account) on its NaBerlin! (On To Berlin!) side, theround VP marker in the 3 box ofthe VP Track, Soviet side up, and thesquare Axis High Tide marker in the4 box of the VP Track.

3. Both players take their square unitsand place them on the map as shown

in this scenarios setup illustration ontheir indicated sides.

4. Look through the Event cards andnd the Soviets Hitler Orders At-tack (#9). The Soviet player placesit in his card hand.

5. Starting German Hand: Then theAxis player shufes the remainingdeck of cards, minus the 3 cards withthe Green-circled 45 and the Jokercard, and places them face-downnext to the map forming the Draw

Pile. He then draws six cards fromthe top of the Draw Pile and takesthem into his hand, examines them,and then discards two of those cards,face-up, into a Discard Pile.

6. Starting Soviet Hand: Next, theSoviet player draws four cards anddiscards zero, adding these cards tohis Hitler Orders Attack card fora total of ve cards in his startinghand.

7. Weather: It is Clear weather.8. After completing these steps, theAxis player commences Game Turn4 with his Phase 3: Organization.

9. Scenario End & Victory Condi-tions: At the end of Game Turn 9,the Soviet player wins if his nalscore is 22 or more Victory Points.Otherwise, the Axis player wins.


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6. Starting Soviet Hand: Next, the Soviet player draws sixcards and discards one. He also receives the Joker card.

7. Weather: It is Clear weather.

8. Who Moves First: After completing these steps, theSoviet player commences with his half of Game Turn 9with his Phase 3: Organization. (The setup situation showsthe end of the Axis Player Turn.)

9. Scenario End & Victory Conditions: At the end of GameTurn 22, the Soviet player wins if his nal score is 30 ormore Victory Points. Otherwise, the Axis player wins.

E. OPERATION BAGRATION


2. Place the round Game Turn marker in the 9 box of theGame Turn Track on its Soviet side (the Axis Game Turn 9

is already completed), and the square VP marker in the 3box of the Victory Point Track (with D-Day already takeninto account) on its Na Berlin! side, the round VP marker inthe 3 box of the VP Track, Soviet side up, and the squareAxis High Tide marker in the 4 box of the VP Track.

3. Both players take their square units and place them onthe map as shown in this scenarios setup illustration ontheir indicated sides.

Errata: The Soviet 4th Tank Army next to Kiev is in factthe 6th Tank Army. (Note that the Moscow Regional Unitis not used in this scenario).

4. Reinforcements: Each player takes his remaining squareunits and, those with a Reinforcement Number greater than9 are placed in the corresponding turn box on the GameTurn Track. Those with an Event Designation (e.g., Oil)are set aside near the Na Berlin! Game Turn Track.

5. Starting Axis Hand: The Axis player shufes the deckof cards, minus the 3 cards with the Green-circled 45,and places them face-down next to the map forming theDraw Pile. He then draws three cards from the top of theDraw Pile, examines them, and then discards one, face-up,into a Discard Pile.


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F. NA BERLIN! (ON TO BERLIN!)


2. Place the round Game Turn marker in the 3 box of theTurn Track on its Soviet side (the Axis Game Turn 3 is

already completed), and the square VP marker in the6box of the Victory Point Track on its Na Berlin! side, theround VP marker in the box of the VP Track, German

side up, and the square Axis High Tide marker is set aside(it is not used after Turn ).

Note that the Soviets have 4 VPs on the eligible portion ofthe map (Lublin, Belgrade, Bucharest, and the RumanianOil Fields), and have an extra VP from the round VPMarker.

3. Both players take their square units and place them onthe map as shown in this scenarios setup illustration ontheir indicated sides.


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Errata: The Soviet 3rd Tank Army next to Warsaw in factthe nd Tank Army. (Note that Moscow Regional Unit isnot used in this scenario).

4. The Soviet player takes his remaining square Polish unitwith an Event Designation (Warsaw) and sets it asidenear the Na Berlin! Game Turn Track.

5. Starting Axis Hand: The Axis player shufes the deckof cards, minus the 3 cards with the Red-Barred 45, (theRed-barred 45 cards are not used in 945) and placesthem face-down next to the map forming the Draw Pile.He then draws two cards from the top of the Draw Pile,examines them, and then discards one of those cards, face-up, into a Discard Pile.

6. Starting Soviet Hand: Next, the Soviet player drawsseven cards and discards one. He also receives the Jokercard.

7. Weather: It is Snow weather.

8. Who Moves First: After completing these steps, theSoviet player commences with his half of Game Turn with his Phase 3: Organization. The setup situation showsthe end of the Axis player Turn.

9. Scenario End & Victory Conditions: At the end of GameTurn 8, apply the Na Berlin! Victory Conditions (.0). TheSoviet player wins by either: Sudden Death, capturing threeAxis Objective Hexes, or killing Hitler (.5)otherwisethe Axis player wins.

G. TOURNAMENT SCENARIO

Set Up Procedure and Rules1. Use the same setup as for Barbarossa (Scenario A).

2. The Optional Rules and Counters (those with an asteriskturn of entry) are not used.

3. The Cadre units (those with an underlined turn of entry)are not used, disregard rule 4..

4. The Objectives Victory are in use, but the Soviets needonly to control one of the four Russian Objectives to win,not three (.). The Sudden Death Victory Conditions arein use (.).

5. Scenario End & Victory Conditions: If the game doesnt

end in Sudden Death (.), then at the end of 944, GameTurn , check for a German Operational Victory (.4):The Soviet player will win if the Na Berlin! VP markeris higher than the Axis High Tide VP marker. Otherwisethe Axis player wins.

The Tournament Scenario game is close to the original ba-sic Victory Point Games edition, and plays faster than theregular Campaign Game. Without the Cadre units play ofthe late portion of the game will be far less forgiving.

[17.0] DESIGNERS NOTESFirst, I would like to gratefully acknowledge Alan Em-rich and Victory Point Games. Thanks to them, and nowto GMT, youre holding the Deluxe version of my rstwargame. Wow! Ever since I bought Avalon Hills The Rus-sian Campaign, as a teenager in the late 970s, the EasternFront of WW never ceased to fascinate me. For years, my

quest for the perfect Eastern Front game was on, andnow I am making deluxe No Retreat! my contribution tothat quest.

This is my own designers take of the struggle betweenthe Soviets and Nazis in WW. After reading the VPG website, their offer to help aspiring game designers and theirsmall format publishing model it made this an irresistiblechallenge for me. I wanted to make a reasonably accurategame with only 40 counters, a small map, and 8 pages ofbasic rules. Looking back at the hundreds of hours Iveenjoyed working on this project, the effort was far greaterthat I ever anticipatedbut what a great learning experi-

ence it has been. Now this version includes the two latermodules (Na Berlin! and No Surrender!), and a few moretweaks. The number of counters is still a very manageable80 pieces, with less than 0 pages of basic rules.

While doing research for this game, many of my preconcep-tions about this war in Russia were thrown to the wind.For example, I learned that, right up to the end of 944, theGermans were still able to eld a very large army despitehaving taken staggering losses. I also discovered that theSoviets never had much over a : advantage in soldiersalong the entire front (around 6 million Russians to about3 million Axis). I found it fascinating that, during each year

of this war, the Soviet army suffered casualties amountingto more than their total front line strength (that is 30 timesmore casualties than the US Army suffered in the war), yetthe Russians never gave up. Also, that Allied Lend-Leaseto Russia supplied around 5% of all Russian war materiel.Make no mistake, WW was won on the Eastern Front;although victory was an Allied effort, it was largely paidfor in Russian blood. It was a war of manoeuvre yes, butalso a terrible war of attrition.

I hope that No Retreat! will entice you to learn more aboutthis decisive military campaign, show how close a ghtit was, explain the whys of the strategies used by both

sides, and give you many hours of enjoyable challengesand gaming fun.

I also encourage you to go to the Victory Point Games orthe GMT Web sites, and inspect the No Retreat! page foradditional game material (like Vassal and Zun Tsu Com-puter Game boxes).

The very rst thing I tried to make work in No Retreat! isto simulate as closely as possible, without any articialrules and gimmicks, the historical German capabilities andadvance rate in 94. With a little experience, players willbe able, barring extremely bad luck, to achieve historical


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success with the Wehrmacht in the early game. There iseven a fair chance of Moscow falling in 94 if the Axisgo all-out, but the anks of their advance will probablybe very tenuous; this is certainly a high risk/high rewardstrategy.

The Soviet Order of Battle

For a relatively simple wargame, a large amount ofhistorical research was involved. I studied the actualperformance and locations of all the armies and Frontsof this campaign, and this in two-month steps (one gameturn) from 94 to 944. Within the 40-counter limitation,a simulation engine of the relative strengths and weak-nesses of the two sides in presence was created. In case ofthe Soviets this was doubly difcult because of the gradualupgrade of their forces: most of the time, I was able to usethe actual historical names, and time frames of improve-ment, for the Fronts, using the early units that were notupgraded (but disappeared) for the making of the TankArmies. And these Tank counters do represent more than

the actual Armies, they also include supporting/attachedtroops! You should be able to represent most historicalsituations with a reasonable degree of accuracy using thegame pieces included despite the minor fudging thathad to be done.

The Combat Results TablesThe Combat Results Tables are a bit unusual; as an attacker,even at lower odds, you do not suffer many losses (savefor the occasional EX result), but you could get a CAresult, and that opens some interesting possibilities. Itgives your opponent the option of counterattacking andpossibly upsetting your positionthus making it easier forthem to charge at you during your opponents upcomingPlayer Turn, or your opponent might simply pass theopportunity to counterattack and opt to simply play it safeand stay on the defensive. The Combat Results Tables arealso tailored for the Counterblow rule. Upon study ofthe two different CRTs, you will notice subtle differencesbetween them that have a substantial impact on how toplay each side.

CounterblowsWhat does the Counterblow rule represent?

We wanted players to have some say in when it is theiropponents turn and to reward the careful managementof precious Event cards. Players need to envision counter-blows as local spoiling counterattacks launched in reactionto the enemy offensives. We did not go as far as to allow an

actual attack by the defender (this is what players shoulddo on their own turns), but its close. And because yourtroops are leaving their positions to engage the enemy,they lose their defensive terrain benetsthus, some riskis involved in launching a counterblow.

It is a good idea to use this rule to quickly wipe out pock-ets of surrounded enemy units, and to allow your units achance to advance during your opponents turn (if a CAresult is rolled, and followed up with a successful coun-terattack of your own). You can also use it to put pressureon unsupported fortied cities, lowering their defensiveadvantages, or even as an end-run advance. In the new

GMT version this result can also happen by a CRT result,to be resolved next turn, representing a drawn-out en-gagement. There are myriad possibilities for a well-timedcounterblow, but alas all of this fancy footwork has a costin precious Event cards, and you never have enough ofthose.

Event CardsThe very heart of the game is the Event card engine; play-ers simply never know what surprise their opponent canspring upon you with a sneaky card play. Consequently,perfect planning of moves or attacks is never entirely pos-

sible. For example, can you afford to temporarily leave ahole in your line, or will your adversary be able to play acard allowing him to move a unit there during your ownturn, thus creating an unexpected breakthrough?

Those cards are an excellent indicator of the resources aside still has at his disposal: if you start your turn with afull hand of 6 cards, and your opponent has none, thenthings are potentially very good for you! The cards you

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Game Turn

Evolution of the Soviet Army

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

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have in reserve represent energy you can spend: to replacetroops, for rail moves, for Counterblows, etc. With a lowcard count, your options are limited; sure, a player can stillget by holding only a card or two, but the games initiativeis probably being held by the opponent who is holdingve or six cards!

In the early years, for example, the Soviets can probably

replace most of their losses easily, but this will leave themwith precious few cards, if any, to react and try to take backcontrol of the on-map situation. In fact, if both sides engagein an orgy of low odds attacks, and bleed themselves todeath, theyll probably have to use so many of their cardsto replace losses that few decisive moves will be possiblesince there will not be many Event cards left to use forthese endeavors.

Victory ConditionsSpeaking of initiative, you really have to carefully readand make sure that you understand the rule .0, How toWin . While the scenarios have their own, dened separatevictory conditions, the last page of the rules tells you howto win the Campaign Game. There are many ways to winthe Campaign Game, and they are all important.

The Objectives Victory is straight forward and works asmost traditional wargamers might expect: capture keycities and you win the game. In fact, to play a simpler ver-sion of No Retreat!, use only that victory condition. Thegame will still play just ne and a good time will be hadby both sides.

The Sudden Death Victory Condition is very intriguingand keeps player paying attention to the current Victory

Point (VP) score. Here is how it works: every three GameTurns, this victory condition is checked against a sum ofVPs that the Initiative Player (the Axis during the rst halfof the game, the Soviets during the latter half; and bothsides on Game Turn ) has. If the Initiative Player hassufcient VPs at that moment, the game is over and thatplayer wins outright.

A sufcient sum of VPs are not that easy to get, but notimpossibly hard to obtain either. This fact will stop youropponent from becoming complacent (i.e., from knowingin advance what the historical outcome of the war was; e.g.,Bah, I can just withdraw and lose Kiev without a ght!

The Axis never got farther than Stalingrad anyway andIll get tons of new units in 944.). Also, because only theside with the Initiative can win by Sudden Death, neitherside can afford do lose too much ground too quickly, evenif this is tactically a good idea on the map, hence the gametitle: No Retreat!

If you want a very short game, try to get a lot of your unitskilled while being Out of Supply, never do the same toyour opponent, and never fulll the Hitler/Stalin OrdersAttack Event cards played by your opponent; that is a sureroad to ruin!

Finally, there is the German Operational Victory Condi-tion. If things go that far without an Objectives or SuddenDeath winner, then the more territory the Axis player hascaptured by Game Turn (i.e., when they place their HighTide marker on the Victory Point Track), the better the Axischances of salvaging a victory out of a bad situation. Ifthe Axis player was timid and didnt advance boldly intoRussia, chances are he will not win via this, and the game

will continue on to the bitter end in 945. Or perhaps not, ifthe Soviet player is equally timid. One thing is certain: theAxis player has to keep as many German units in Russiaas possible for a cautious advance approach toward win-ning to work. The tricky part is that the entire Axis frontcan crumble surprisingly fast in 944!

If the game continues past December of 944, then theSoviets have the opportunity to bring the war right up toHitlers doorstep. Yes, this means that the Russians can-not win using rule .4: its just a stepping-stone on theirroad toward victory! To represent the increased tempo ofoperations and the race to Berlin, the turns are only one

month long instead of two.

FinlandWhats the deal with the strange way Finland is treated?

Given that Finland pretty much kept to its own agendafor the duration of the war (the re-conquest of lost Finnishterritory only) and never made any serious penetrationsinto Russia after this was achieved, I decided to representthem by a simple Fort unitit doesnt move or attack byitself, and it has no ZOC to inuence Soviet units beyondthe Finnish border.

The Fort counter also represents the easy defensible andrugged Finnish country and the erce ghting qualitiesof the Finnish army when attacked by the Russians. Asimilar rationale applies to the Balkans Yugoslav Parti-san areas.

Axis AlliesWhy are there no restrictions on the placement of the otherMinor Axis nationalities?

Besides not being able to move into Finland (the Finnswouldnt be too keen on that), I decided not to add an extrarule limiting the use of the Rumanians, Hungarians and

Italians to the southern part of the map (as about half thelarger size wargames on this subject do). I found no solidhistorical reason to do so other than the fact that they didntdo so in the real war. In addition, I wanted to keep thegame as simple as possible to t in the small format rules.I mean, there were Spanish (and others) troops operatingin the Leningrad area, and if Hitler had asked, I dont seewhy those nationalities would not have been moved upnorth. If this bothers you, then by all means create yourown House Rule articially restricting Minor Axis unitsfrom entering the upper half of the map.


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Zones of ControlWhy are you allowed to move through one Enemy Zoneof Control, and then stop if the destination hex contains afriendly unit? Not every wargame allows that.

This one is easy to answer. Given the very large scale ofthe map (00km per hex), the Zones of Control mainlyrepresent a unit taking up some space in adjacent hexes,

and not actual repower controlling that adjoining hex. Abit of reaction movement is also being simulated by thisrulethat is, where you displace some sub-units there tostop an enemy from advancing. All these occurrences arepartially negated by the presence of a friendly unit that ishelping you getting out of trouble, keeping open a pathof retreat.

ConclusionI hope you have fun playing Deluxe No Retreat! and thatthis intense little game gives you some insight on whatwent on during this cataclysmic and tragic campaign.

Following these notes are some more basic tips for bothplayers. Also, I am looking forward for your comments,suggestions and replays on the games discussion folder atwww.consimworld.com and www.boardgamegeek.com.

[18.0] PLAYERS NOTESHere are a few very rough guidelines on how to play thegame. It is not a difcult game to learn, but it can taketime to master, especially when you are on the defensivestrategically.

German OKH Directives (AvoidingGtterdmmerung): Concentrate your troops and attack at high odds, thus

limiting the losses youll take, especially in 94 whenyou get almost no replacements.

Counterblow Attacks are your friend, especially earlyin the game when you want to advance faster: if you havea stack of units next to a Soviet city, this could be a veryeffective way of gaining some ground in the opponentsturn if he decides to stand and fight unsupported.

At every opportunity, surround Soviets and let them dieOut of Supply, this will save German blood, and giveyou the precious VPs that you need to achieve a Sud-den Death victory. Plus makes the enemy pay doubleto replace the lost armies.

Have a goal, dont just run away chasing after Soviets toblast them frontally. You can be sure that they will rebuiltthose troops, and fast, while you suffer hard-to-replacelosses.

Always keep some units in the Rail Movement Box toreinforce areas where you are making progress.

Your Army will almost inevitably dwindle in quality(as it costs double to flip units to full strength). So knowwhen to cut your losses and switch to the defensive ifoutright victory seems out of sight.

When everything crumbles away in 944, do rememberthat at the end of Turn you can still win an Opera-tional Victory if you hold enough Victory Point hexes.

So there is still hope for German arms. For example,pockets of troops along the Baltic coast are in supply (bysea), and can be useful to that purpose, diverting Sovietresources, and can hold out indefinitely (as historicallyhappened).

The German War Years in review:1941: You are the unstoppable Ger-manic Monster Blitzkrieg Army, allfear and tremble before you! So, youcan go everywhere you wish, BUTyou cannot be everywhere at once.What is an aspiring world conquer-or to do? An interesting option is theinitial historical OKH plan: Goingfull tilt for Leningrad and Moscow,coupled with a steady advance inthe south, aimed at capturing Kiev,Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk. But beware of the difcultnorthern terrain; your Panzers might very well end upbogged-down in the woods and swamps. You dont wantanother war of attrition, right?

1942: If you have weathered the Soviet winter counter-offensive and hold two Objectives, now is the time to tryto nish them off before their army starts improving toomuch. If you dont have the Objectives, then your best betis probably going south, trying to grab as many cities aspossible, surrounding troops on the way, to get the biggestHigh Tide VP score before the VP ip on Turn 11. Dowatch your losses, they can pile up very fast when you areghting an ever-improving Russian army, and of coursewatch your anks, and those unreliable Axis Allies.

1943: If the game is still on, the Tide of War is probablystarting to turn against you. Gone is Drang Nach Osten!(Drive towards the East!) Its Na Berlin! (On to Berlin!)time now. You will lose a lot of your nice attack Event cards,in exchange getting mostly lame defensive cards. Gone is

the possibility of a Sudden Death victory, but make nomistake, your army is still powerful, and you get the usefulElite Panzer unit to spearhead those last big offensives. Sodont be afraid to counter-attack over-extended Soviets,but be ever watchful of being attritioned to death! Mudweather is a good time to dress up your line and replacesome losses. If you are still in a good map position, anObjective Victory might even be a possibility!

1944: Well, the writing is on the wall (the Berlin walls!).Now youre probably facing a huge, angry, and danger-ous Red Army; very capable of inicting the disastrous


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reverses you made it suffer in 94/4. Try not to getyour units surrounded (this could be difcult to do), holdKnigsberg at all costs, and keep as many German troopsas possible in USSR proper until the end. If things reallywent bad south and you lost Rumania, and a lot of troops,then its maybe time to look for a nice farm in Argentinawhere to retire...

1945: You must try to hold the line almost everywhereas long as possible, as now you can lose the game to aSudden Death victory easily if you abandon Yugoslaviaand Budapest to concentrate too much on the defense ofBerlin. So consider the implications in the rules and cardscarefully!

Soviet STAVKA Directives (Winning the GreatPatriotic War): Most of the time you will be able to build back your army

every turn, just dont get units killed while Out of Sup-ply or over-extend yourself making too many attackstoo early in the game, as you initially have barely enoughto cover the whole front. Leningrad with a fortress is avery good anchoring point, dont lose it!

Clear terrain is almost impossible to defend with regularinfantry against a competent Axis player, so be awarethat youll most certainly get your line breached.

You have to start wearing down the Germans as soonas possible. The EX combat result is your friend. Butdont overdo it and create holes in your lines! Small-scalecounter-attacks are the name of the game early on.

Counterblow Attacks can be very effective in the firstwinter, where you have lots of Shock markers to use;plus lost troops will be rebuilt right away in your turn!

ALWAYS, if possible, keep a minimum of one unit in theRail Movement Box if you intend to attack in your turn,so to plug any holes created by EX results.

Attrition up north, maneuver down south. If you everhave the possibility of killing Out of Supply Germanunits: go for it! This will help final victory immensely.

Go after lone enemy infantry, especially the Axis Allies.

Starting in late 943 you probably can pretty much do asyou wish strategically, so start doing some serious killingand advancing, be aggressive, now is payback time! NaBerlin!

The Soviet War Years inreview:1941: Oh boy, I bet you dearly regretdoing all those army purges now! Yourforces start weak and badly deployed.You will indeed take quite a licking inthis awful year. But dont despair, withall the reinforcements and replace-ments youll get, the huge Red Armywill keep on ticking. You must striveto eld all of your troops each and

every turn, if counters stay in theDestroyed Units Box, things arenot good! And get those Fortressesdeployed in Leningrad and Sev-astopol ASAP. If you ever get thechance, even before winter, coun-ter-attack some, and let the Nazisbleed for a change. Remember that

they cant buy replacements before94, and that they will strive notto lose many when they are on theoffensive, so you have to do the killing. If everything doesgo bad, try not to lose Leningrad and Moscow.

1942: This is another dangerous year: You probably do nothave that much ground to give up; your army is improving,but not yet able to ght the Germans on even terms. Docontinue to attrition them; make them pay for each Cityhex taken! Not a Step Back! At the end of the year, whenwinter comes, you can now mount bigger attacks againstweak parts of the German line. You must now have half

dozen improved units: You did remember to have a coupleof Tank Armies and a Shock Front built in that lot, right?

1943: Now at last the tide starts turning. Payback time,Soviet style. You get a lot of strong attack-oriented Eventcards: use them! Late in the year youll have the capabilityof making impressive territorial gains, a lot of the Germanswill be at half-strength by now, dont let them recover!Make at least two attacks per turn, four at lower oddsare better for you than a few high-odds attacks, unlessof course you have the possibility of a big encirclementhappening. But always be aware that taking unnecessarylosses will divert those precious Event cards for replace-

ments purposes instead of the victorious offensives youwant to start making.

1944: Put the Soviet steamroller into high gear! Your unitshave two steps now. This is a blessing (more staying power)but also a curse (you can only ip them using cards, nomore free improvements), so try not to lose too many eachturn: indeed, your huge troop reserves are becoming ex-hausted. Oh yes, kick the Finns out of the war for an easy VP. Remember that if the German High Tide point totalis high, you might have to evict most of the Huns outof the USSR, so be prepared for a savage ght up north. Ifthe total is less impressive, you could have the luxury of

concentrating your attention in the south, capturing Ruma-nia; and thus really start putting some nails (lend-leased ofcourse!) on Hitlers cofn. If all goes well, start polishingthose medals for the big victory parade in Berlin!

1945: The Soviet player must not be too complacent; theenemy can still spring some nasty surprises on him de-spite the overwhelming superiority of the Red Army. So,comrade, dont let the western bourgeois beat you to thenish line! Attack, attack, attack! Na Berlin!

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[19.0] EXTRA EXAMPLES

Army Group Center GambitHere is the situation after the Axis Turn MovementPhase.

A note for the Germans: If your opponent is known fortaking kamikaze-like risks, and you suspect he might justtry to save the West Front (and there is a very small chancehe might succeed with the right mix of cards). Then makesure, before doing this, that you still have three cards andone Blitz! marker left in your hand. This combination theSoviets will not be able to defeat!

Soviet Turn 1 DefenceIllustration #3 shows an example of a Soviet Turn de-fense. The Germans decided to try the CounterblowGambit against the West Front on Turn to get an easy VP and just surrounded the unit (they will use two cardsfor Counterblows in the Soviet Combat Phase). The posi-tion shown is at the start of the Soviet turn. The Central

and Northwest Front were destroyed, but the South Frontheld its own against Army Group Rumania. What can theSoviets do to minimize the German gains? Lets supposethe Russians will use two cards to replace the lost units,and keep the last two for future turns (it is always a goodidea to save some cards if possible).

The surrounded West Front is almost surely a lost cause; solets not waste any more resources in trying to save it.

The Reserve Front is too far away from the action, letsput it in the Rail Move Box (remember that for the rst

2

Nothing very extraordinary here. Each German armygroup (N, C, and S) can only attack their opposing SovietFronts (NW, West and South). Ill show you an interestingtwist to this, if the Axis player feels bold, and has cards tospare (usually he has, as he starts the game with six cardsto the Soviet who has none).

See illustration # for the situation at the end of the turn.Yes indeed, the German Army Group Center has not at-tacked the Soviet West Front, but merely surrounded it,putting it Out of Supply.

During the Soviet Turn the Axis will put two Counterblow

counters on both stacks adjacent to the surrounded unit.Since the odds will be lower than -3, it will be an automaticCA (at odds of 6-). This will guarantee the elimination ofthe West Front (and Out of Supply to boot!), and VPfor the Axis player!

The only way the Soviets can try to save this unit is tohave a replacement arrive in Minsk (the city to the East),and move to break the encirclement. But this will probablynot delay the Germans very much, and will most certainlyend up with not one, but TWO Soviet Fronts dying Outof Supply!

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two turns you cannot move more than one unit per rail).It will be able to react to the German advance after theCounterblow is resolved.

We bring the two rebuilt units as shown (A & B in the illus-tration below). Note that the Central Front (B) can indeedappear in Kiev even if the City is in an enemy ZOC. It wasput near the City to stop the German player trying another

Counterblow here too: a remote possibility, but it could bedisastrous if it worked, so better play safe!

Note also that I try to put the regular infantry units in non-clear terrain to cancel the German Armor Bonus. The situ-ation at the end of the turn is shown in illustration #5.

Things are not rosy, but major encirclements shall now beavoided next turn. You are missing one unit (the out of

supply West Front), so the line is pretty thin, but next turnyoull get two new units.

The area West of Smolensk is a bit weak but there is nothingyou can do about it, you dont want to weaken the Southmore the two 5 SP units there form a good defense group(one can Counterblow in support if the other is attackedalone). The Leningrad Front could be moved one or twohexes in front of the City if you think that the Germansmight have a card giving them some extra movementpoints. Hey, its rough being the Soviets in 94!

Soviet South Defense QuizSee illustration #6. This is the Soviet Turn of the game, be-cause of having to replace heavy losses this turn, you haveonly one card left in your hand now, but a good one: card#8 (Operational Reserves/ Conicting Hitler Directives).

The Germans still have three cards, and for the sake ofthe problem lets assume they could be any other card inthe deck.

You have one unit that can be used as reinforcements (theSouthwest Front, shown on the map with a disruptionmarker); and Stalin, in his wisdom, has allotted you one

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Rail move to use as you wish. Since things are going badlyup North, you fear that there is a great possibility that theGermans will commit their nd Army here in the Southnext turn.

Stalin expects you to guarantee that the Germans do notcapture all three cities on the board by the end of next turn.You were also promised to get the Caucasian Front on Turn, coming from Sevastopol. How do you BEST defend, andwhat are your actions, Comrade Marshal?

Here is a way to do it, remember, you have to make surehere that the three Cities do not fall by the end of Turn .

You know that the Germans will not be able to move dur-ing your own turn (as you have card #8, which includes

the German event Operational Reserves). Plus with it youcan cancel any other card the Germans can throw at you(like General Staff).

You HAVE to give up Odessa and Kiev right away, as thereis the danger that the Germans could Counterblow you,and if you lose one of your units because of bad luck, yourfront line will be wide open and disaster will ensue next

turn.You have your Southwest infantry unit appear in Kiev,move it away safely behind the Dnepr River. The CentralFront will hold the main front in clear terrain (it will giveno Armor Bonus to the Germans because it is a Mechanizedunit). You use your precious Rail move to withdraw theSouth Front to Dnepropetrovsk, to ensure than a GermanAdvance After Combat will not occupy it. See illustration#7.

If the Germans are extra-lucky during their turn, they couldperhaps Counterblow against the City next turn, but youwill be able to use the reinforcing Caucasus Front unit to

help hold the line. So lets see what will happen for real,and play the situation!

German AGS Turn 2 at Start:Illustration #8 shows the position at the start of Turn .The OKH puts three cards at the disposal of the AGS com-mander, and one Blitz! marker:

#06 Luftwaffe Support

#07 Heinz Guderian

#9 Roving Cauldron (Not usable for the event becauseit is a Red Star card) The Soviets still have card #8 in

hand (Conflicting Hitler Directives).

Attack #1The Germans decide to do a high risk strategy, trying toget all three cities (which would give them a good chanceof getting a Sudden Death victory at the start of Turn 3because of events elsewhere on the map). So they use mostof their troops to strike south towards Dnepropetrovsk,

and will keep their pre-cious Guderian cardin reserve for the Sovietturn, hoping to be ableto do a Counterblow

on the City.

The f irst a t tack isagainst the SouthwestFront, at 4: Odds (:, for the River, +Tanks vs Infantry inClear, + Blitz!, + forthe Luftwaffe card). Thedie roll is a 6! DEFEND-ER DESTROYED.

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The Germans victori-ously advance East,and surround theCentral Front withtheir ZOC. Thingsare looking good forthe Nazis!

German AGSTurn 2 Attack #2Now comes the biggamble: The Axisplayer attacks theCentral Front atstraight 3: odds.they have a /3chance of success, the combat would be a guaranteed suc-cess using the Guderiancard (a : or better attackis an automatic DR); but

he keeps the card for later.Result: a 5! DEFENDERSHATTERED! The combatresult becomes DefenderDestroyed, as the Sovietplayer cannot retreat. Hereis the nal position after theGerman advance:

Things are bad for the So-viets.

Soviet Turn 2

But help is coming. Stavka will not give you any more newcards but for #8 you had last turn. The Southwest Front isbuilt again and will defend Kharkov, The Caucasus Frontappears in Sevastopol and moves south of Dnepropetrovsk.No attacks are declared by the Soviets.

So with some glee the Axis player discards his card #9Roving Cauldron, to put a Counterblow marker on hisstack as shown. The Soviets will have to attack back at :3,a 4/6 chance of a CA; and the Germans will be able to usetheir Guderian card in the Counter-attack, guaranteeingsuccess!

Soviet Turn 2 (End):Then the Soviets play their own Ace in the hole: Theirs iscard #8 Conicting Hitler Directives, which cancels theplay of the German card.

Cursing, his op-ponent the Axisplayer now has noother choice butto discard his #07Guderian card,to put back theCounterblow

marker on theirstack. Now thingsare a b it moreeven!

The Soviet SouthFront must attackthe two Germanarmies at :3 odds.The die roll is : COUNTERATTACK! The Gods of War arereally not kind for the Communists. NOW the Germans getto attack back. And since its a battle occurring because ofa CA result, the City does not help the defense. The Attack

is at 3: odds.

The die roll is : EXCHANGE! The South Front is elimi-nated, and one German army is reduced. No advances. So,against all odds, the City holds (but barely)!

Note that if the Soviets had one unit in the Rail MovementBox, it could be redeployed in the City at the very end ofthe turn.

Alas, there is now a huge hole in the line, a hole that theGermans will surely exploit, but at least Turn 3 is a Mudturn, and their Sudden Death victory was denied! Andwinter is approaching fast...

Situation at the end of the German attacks.


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Save Smolensk and the Bryansk Front!It is the SovietTurn MovementPhase. The situ-ation is criticalbecause of verybad re sults onthe southern partof the front, theAxis are but ONEpoint away froma Sudden Deathvictory at the start of next turn (Turn 3)! Two welcomedreinforcements have just arrived in Moscow and Tula (theWest and Northwest Fronts). Innite thanks, ComradeStalin!

The rest of the frontline is safe, but for here, around Smo-lensk.

The Soviets have one card left (Conicting Hitler Directives),

the rest were used to replace our huge losses. The Germansstill have three cards left in their hand (and it can be anycard but the Soviet one), plus one Blitz! marker.

How can you move your patriotic troops (and do yourbattles, if need be) to make 00% sure that you do not lose VP (and the game) before the start of next turn? If pos-sible it would be nice if Moscow does not fall to the Naziinvaders on Axis Turn 3; unless, of course, you want to goon a sightseeing tour of Siberias lead mines. Only the partof the map shown is playable.

Hint: Your soldiers are expendable (they are all heroes).

SOLUTION:This looks like a trick question: I believe it is impos-sible.

Your lack of patriotic faith is disturbing, comrade!

There is a way of making sure the Soviets do not lose VP(and the game). Remember my hint, that the Russian troopswere expendable? In this case, the Northwest Front in Tulawill sacrice itself for the sake of the Motherland!

The rst pictureshows how you

move your units.You rst place theNorthwest Frontnext to Smolensk,thus allowing theBryansk Front toslip out of the en-circlement. Readthis rule:

[8.5.3] No Inltration: Units cannot move directly from onehex in an EZOC to another, unless the hex being entered

is also occupied by a friendly unit.

Of course, the hex is now overstacked. So the NorthwestFront is eliminated to the Shattered holding box. But theirsacrice was not in vain, as the Bryansk Front is now safe(remember, you lose VP when an Out of Supply unitdies). The invaders will not be able to Counterblow andtake Smolensk either.

Another important move: The Reserve Front is placed nextto the two German infantry armies, to absorb any possibleCounterblow. You do not want the Out of Supply Bry-ansk Front to be forced to attack!

The West Fronttakes a defensiveposition in frontof Moscow in theWoods/Fortiedline (the Woodshex also simu-lates the Soviet

late 1941 fortica-tions built there),there is an excel-lent chance of keeping your Capital (especially if you keepthe Conicting Hitlers Directives card in your hand), atleast in the Axis Turn 3; and most probably your own turn,too (with the help of some reinforcements). But after thisvictorious defense, chances are the German Panzers willmove south in search of an easier prey.

DO NOT set up next to the enemy armor: your infantrycould be Counterblown in clear terrain: not a good thing,as the Panzers could exploit right into Tula, or Smolensk

Protect Moscow at all costs!!You are at the startof the Turn 3 RussianMovement Phase, andthe German AGC ispoised to make a tryat capturing Moscownext turn. Becauseof heavy losses to bereplaced from Turn, you dont have

any cards left in yourhand. The Germansstill have two cards,but OKH and Gen-eral Staff are (for now) in the Discard Pile.

How do you defend Moscow, Kalinin and Tula with thethree Soviet Fronts available on the map?

I believe it is critical that Moscow has to be in supply andthus is able to have a unit placed in it next turn.

Exactly! Besides stopping the German advance in put-


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ting your unitsin Woods hexesand NOT occu-pying Moscow,the importantfactor is to in-sure that a sup-ply line will be

kept open to theCity so that yourTurn 4 reinforce-ments (aka. theVolkov Front) can be deployed in the city even if the hexesoccupied by the West and Kalinin Fronts are taken by theGermans. Tula is a lost cause for now, of course (He whowants to defend everything, defends nothing Frederickthe Great). But youll have two turns of Snow weather totake it back.

DO NOT set-up next to the large German stacks (unlessyou feel very lucky), as the chances for a Counterblow

disaster are much too high. And in Jan/Feb 4 the Germanshave a CRT shift for their attacks because of the weather:good luck to them in taking Moscow with that modier!

The capital is saved, well done, Comrade!

How to crack open a Fortified City?Here is a classic situation in Late 4/Early 4. Von Mansteinwith the German th Army and the Rumanians are poisedat the Gates of Sevastopol. This is the start of the GermanTurn. Sadly, you dont have Siege Artillery in your handto reduce the Fortications.

What are the prospects of victory if you attack the SovietFort without this card? The maximum you can get is 8 SPvs 3 SP, so - odds. This goes down two columns becauseof the terrain (City plus Objective). Final odds: -

Even a Blitz! marker will not help here, as 3- odds arenot better.

The prospects are not very good: DR results do not affectForts, so the best you can hope is an EX result; and youcan bet the Soviet player will probably spend a card to ip

back the unit to its Fort side in his Organization Phase! Sothere is a zero chance of taking the City.

Whats a German commander to do?

Well... here is anidea: You dontattack the Cityduring your turnright away! YouCounterblow itrst during the op-ponent turn, hop-ing to cause somelosses, THEN youattack it duringyour turnin aseries of one-twopunches. So asyou can see, Isolated Fortresses are far more vulnerablethan supported ones. You need to have other troops nearby

to absorb those Counterblow attacks. Historically, theSoviets strived to do exactly thatattacks from the KerchStraits to support Sevastopol, and south of Lake Ladogato help Leningrad survive.

Look at what a worldof difference it wouldbe if the CaucasusFront was adjacent toSevastopol, insteadof the 4th RumanianArmy being there!

So lets suppose that

the Germans wereable to CA at 3- andgot an EX result (50%chance of that hap-pening). In the Ex-change the Fort was

ipped to its weak infantry side, and the 3rd Rum Armyis eliminated. The Soviets also attacked the 4th Rum Armywith the Caucasus Front and got a lucky DR result, too.

Well, things are not as rosy for the Germans now. Evenwith good cards and a Blitz! marker. Why? Because theSoviets can pull the same exact stunt the Germans did last

turn, and put a Counterblow marker on their CaucasusFront if the Germans attack Sevastopolnow both unitsmust be attacked!

Of course, all those sneaky maneuvers cost Event cards;and you never have enough of these. But you did keepsome in reserve this turn, right comrade? RIGHT? Stalinis not very forgiving of major mistakes like these youknow...


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1. 45 Erich von Manstein: During your Combat Phase, double the

strength of one supplied German unit OR, during the RussianCombat Phase, you may declare up to two Counterblow Target

Hexes that are within two hexes of each other.

STAVKA: Place the top card of the Discard Pile into your hand.

2. 45 Gott Mit Uns: You may perform (but not repeat) the Axis Event

on the card currently residing at the top of the Discard Pile (if the

timing is appropriate) regardless of the cards Initiative symbol.

+Manpower Reserves: Move up to two units from any of theShattered, Destroyed or Surrendered Boxes to the Rail Movement

Box.

3.45 + Troop Transfer: Play during your Organization Phase to re-ceive one replacement step (even while prohibited during 1941, or

one that normally costs two cards).

Black Sea Fleet: Play before rolling the die in any combat to get

one column shift in Attack or Defense for any one Battle in a Black

Sea Coast Hex.

4. 45 Elastic Defense: Play before one Soviet attack is rolled. Its result

is automatically a DR (Defender Retreat).

Maskirovka: Play right after the German or Soviet Voluntary At-

tack Step to Detrain (9.2) a Soviet unit in a friendly hex with an

Overland Supply Path that is adjacent to a Target Hex (it may par-

ticipate in a Battle or Counterblow).

5. 45 Expert Leaders: Play before rolling the die in any one Battle: Roll

two dice, and chose any one to use for the Combat Result.

Cavalry Raid: Play at the Start of the German Organization Phase

to put an Out Of Supply marker on any one enemy unit.

6. 45 + Luftwaffe Support: Play to receive (an additional) one column

shift benet in a single attack OR play during any Removals Phase

to not remove unsupplied Axis units in a single hex that Player

Turn.

Partisans: Play during your Organization Step: The Axis player

must eliminate one step from a unit on the map.

7. 45 Production Problems: Play anytime to cancel one just performed

Soviet unit Improvement or Replacement.

+ Scorched Earth: Play in the German Card Phase to put a

Scorched marker on a Soviet-Controlled City: it is now consid-

ered a Marsh hex for ALL purposes (including supply) until the

Player Turn after capture, or if the Soviet player removes it; in the

Marker Removal Phase.

8. 45 New Tank Design: In a Battle, you may receive the Armor Bonus

in one attack regardless of the presence of Soviet armor or mecha-

nized infantry (but not if prohibited by terrain or weather), OR

negate the Soviets Armor Bonus in one of their attacks.

Allied Lend-Lease: Play during your Organization Phase (begin-

ning on Game Turn 6 and thereafter) to draw two cards OR to

upgrade one additional Soviet unit (7.2).

9. 45 + Siege Artillery: If it is designated as a Target Hex, you may

reduce (ip) a Fort unit to its Regional infantry unit side at the start

of the German Combat Phase.

Red Orchestra: Play at any time to examine the German card

hand and discard any one card from it.

10. 45 +Kesselschlacht: Play at the end of either players Supply Check

Phase to immediately eliminate one Soviet unit that is under an

Out of Supply marker.

Strategic Surprise: Play during either players Card Phase to in-

stantly Entrain and Detrain (9.0) up to two Soviet units for free.

11. 45 Fickle Weather: Play this card immediately and then draw a new

one. If this turn has variable weather, then ip its Weather marker.

+No Mercy! Play before any combat die roll is made to cause one

extra step loss to both sides forces at that Battle (applied after that

Battle has been completely resolved).

12. 45 Fedor von Bock: If this card is discarded to receive a replacement,

then draw a new card.

General Mud: Play this card immediately and then draw a new

one. If next turn has variable weather, then ip its Weather marker

to Mud.

13. 45 Summer Campaign: Play in your Discard Phase, in Clear weather

only, to draw three cards. You must declare at least three Attacks

next Combat Phase or lose 1 VP.

General Winter: Play this card immediately and then draw a new

one. If next turn has variable weather, then ip its Weather marker

to Snow, if available.

14. + Inexperienced Soviet Ofcers: Cancel the just-played (or dis-

carded for a specic purpose) Soviet card.

HPrepared Offensive: In up to three adjacent hexes this turn, you

may stack one extra unit per hex. If they are still stacked together

at the end of your Combat Phase, you must retreat one of them out

of that hex.

15. HSoviet Logistics Problems: Play at any time during the SovietCombat Phase. All Soviet attacks suffer a 1 odds shift penalty for

the remainder of that Phase.

Conicting Hitler Directives: Cancel the just-played (or discard-

ed for a specic purpose) German card.

16. Knights Cross Wearers: You may make either player reroll any

one die roll.

+NKVD: Play before one German Attack: Both players roll a die:

loser takes one step loss, no advances or retreats allowed. In case

of a tie, then reroll the Combat normally on the CRT.

17. +General Staff: Play during your Movement Phase to add 2 MPs

to a stack of supplied units OR play to add one hex to all victori-

ous units Multi-Hex Advance after Combat in one Battle. Terrain

/ Weather will stop the Advance.

HInltration Tactics: The units in one Axis stack can be attacked

separately. No Advance After Combat is allowed until the 2nd unit

in the hex is defeated.

18. Operational Reserves: After the Soviet Movement Phase, prior

to the Soviet Combat Phase, you may move one supplied (check

now) unit, not in EZOC or under a Counterblow marker, up to half

its Movement Points (rounded up).

+ Not a Step Back! Play at any time during the German Combat

Phase. All DR results are treated as EX results for the remainder of

that Phase.

CARD MANIFEST

Key:

+ = Axis Initiative Event H= Soviet Initiative Event

45 = Remove in 1945 NB = Na Berlin! cards


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29. Walter Model: Play after one Soviet attack is rolled to double the

defense strength of one participating, supplied German unit.

HWave Assault: Play after the Soviet Combat Phase to declare

one new attack; you can use units that have already attacked this

turn.

30. HLast Reserves: Play during either players Card Phase to im-

mediately receive and place up to two Axis replacements and lose

1 VP.

Andrei Yeremenko: Play after one Axis attack is rolled in a Battle

to shift that attack one column to the left.

31. Stalins Interference: Cancel the just-played (or discarded for a

specic purpose other than receiving Soviet replacements) Soviet

card and place it in your own card hand.

HAllied Strategic Bombing: Cancel one just-received German

replacement step (even one that cost him two cards).

32. Counteroffensive: Play during a Soviet attack prior to the die roll.

The result becomes CA that must be mandatorily conducted.

Russian Courage: Play during your Counterblows Step of the

German Players Combat Phase to count as two discards instead

of one.

33. Unseasonal Weather: Play this card immediately and then draw a

new one. If this turn and/or next turn has variable weather, then ip

their respective Weather markers.

HIndustrial Surge: Play at any time during your Player Turn to

draw two cards and immediately receive and place one replace-

ment.

34. Backhand Blow: Play at the end of any Axis Commitment Step to

remove up to two Counterblow markers from Soviet units.

+ Russian Tenacity: Play before rolling the die in one German

Combat against a City: The Combat Result is an Automatic EX.

35. HSoviet Manpower Crisis: Starting Jan/Feb 44, play during your

Organization Phase to make the Soviet eliminate two steps from

among his supplied on-map non-Cadre units.

+ Rasputitsa: Play during German Advance After Combat. No

Multi-Hex Advance After Combat (10.81) is allowed from that

Battle.

36. + Surprise Attack: Play after the Soviet Movement Phase, to

move normally one German stack up to two hexes, ending next to

an enemy unit(s), and put a Counterblow marker on the German

stack.

Hitlers Interference: Cancel the just-played (or discarded for

a specic purpose) German card and place it in your own card

hand.

37. + Heinz Guderian: Play before one Axis attack at 3-2 or better

odds is rolled. Its result is automatically a DR.

H Western Allied Offensive: If available, the German player

must discard two cards of his choice from his hand OR discard one

card and lose one step from a German or Axis unit

38. Hedgehogs: Play before one Soviet attack: Both players roll a die:

loser takes one step loss, in case of a tie, both take a step loss and

roll again. No advances or retreats allowed.

+ New Conscripts: Play anytime to replace an on map Ostatky

counter by an eliminated or surrendered unit.

19. HRoving Cauldron: You may retreat all the units in one Battle,

regardless of their supply status, through Enemy Zones of Control

without any penalty.

Hitler Orders Attack! Play at the start of the Axis Player Turn.

The Axis player must initiate at least three voluntary attacks during

his Combat Phase or lose 1 VP.

20. Anti-Bolshevik Crusade: You must play this card immediately

upon drawing it. Reshufe the deck and Discard Pile to form a new

Draw Pile.

Major Offensive: Discard with another card in your Discard

Phase, in Clear or Snow weather only, to draw four cards. You

must declare at least four Attacks next Combat Phase or lose 2

VPs.

21. + OKH: You may examine the Discard Pile and place one card

from it into your hand. Reminder: the same Event cannot occur

twice in a single Player Turn.

HRussian Steam Roller: For this turn only, each Soviet Shock

marker provides two shifts (instead of the usual 1).

22. HAlbert Speer Reorganizes Economy: Play at any time to draw

three cards into your hand, and then discard any one card from

your hand.

Georgy Zhukov: You may either use the German CRT for up to

two Soviet attacks (within two hexes of each other) OR force the

German player to use the Soviet CRT Table for one Axis attack.

23. Stalin Orders Attack! Play at the start of the Soviet Player Turn.

The Soviet player must initiate at least three voluntary attacks dur-

ing his Combat Phase or lose 1 VP.

HSturmoviks! Add 4 SPs to a single supplied Soviet attack in

1943, and 6 SPs from 1944 on.

24. Hold at All Costs! Play at any time during the Soviet Combat

Phase. All DR results are treated as EX results for the remainder of

that Soviet Combat Phase.

+ Strategic Reserves: Play at the conclusion of either Players

Combat Phase to return to the map one supplied, just-eliminatedSoviet unit via Rail Movement.

25. HErsatz Units: Play during your Organization Phase to bring

as special reinforcements up to two Kampfgruppe units from the

Cadre Holding Box.

+ Za Rodinu! Cancel the next Step C Sudden Death Victory

Check OR play at any time to draw two cards.

26. Mobile Defense: Play during your Counterblows Step of the Soviet

Players Combat Phase to count as two discards instead of one.

HNa Berlin! You may perform (but not repeat) the Soviet Event

on the card at the top of the Discard Pile (if the timing and the

cards Initiative symbol are both appropriate).

27. River Crossing: Play before rolling the die in a Combat to cancel

a defenders River terrain defense shift, and reroll a - (No Effect)

result.

HIvan Konev: Play before rolling the die. One supplied Soviet

attack made at 2-1 or better odds is an automatic DR result.

28. Soviet SNAFU: Play at any time during the Russian Combat

Phase before the die is rolled in a Battle to shift that Soviet attack

one column to the left.

HKatyushas: Shift a supplied Soviet attack one column to the

right in 1943 or two columns to the right from 1944 on.


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2011 GMT Games, LLC

39. Operational Moves: Play at the end of the Russian Movement

Phase to move normally any numbers of units not in Enemy ZOCs

or under Counterblows, but only 1 MP each.

HBridgehead: Play before rolling the die in a Combat to cancel

a defenders River terrain defense shift and a result of - (No Ef-

fect) now becomes an EX.

40. HDas Vaterland: Cancel the next Step C Sudden Death Victory

Check OR play at any time to draw two cards.

Great Patriotic War: You must play this card immediately upondrawing it. Reshufe the deck and Discard Pile together to form a

new Draw Pile. You do not receive a replacement card for this.

41. HDefense Works: Play in your Organization Phase to put a De-

fense Works marker in a German-occupied hex: it will give one

Combat Defense Shift to the left until the Russians Control the

hex.

Central Command: Play at the end of the German Movement

Phase to move up to four units not in Enemy ZOCs or under Coun-

terblows, but only one hex each.

42. + Soviet Industrial Relocation: Play at any time to pick one card

at random from the Russian players hand and discard it.

Seymon Timoshenko: Play during an Axis attack prior to the dieroll. The Combat Result is automatically a CA result that must

be mandatorily conducted right away.

43. + Panzerblitz! Play at the end of the Russian Movement Phase,

in Clear weather only, to move all your Supplied (check now)

Panzers, not in an EZOC or under a Counterblow marker, up to 2

MPs.

Heroes of the Soviet Union! You may make either player reroll

any one die roll.

44. + Paul von Kleist: You may force the re-roll of any (i.e., No

Effect) Battle result caused by either player.

Axis Allies Waiver: Play after the German Card Phase. If there is

an Axis Ally unit on the map, the German player must discard one

card of his choice from his hand. After Turn 10 he must insteadeliminate one Axis Allied unit on the map (if available).

45. NB Desperate Offensive: You may take up to two (additional) Blitz

markers this turn, at a cost of 1 VP.

Last Fascist Ally: You must play this card immediately upon

drawing it. If Budapest is Soviet-Controlled, gain 1 VP; if not, lose

1 VP. Then draw one card.

46. NB Fhrers Bunker: You must play this card immediately upon

drawing it. If the Berlin Garrison unit is located in Berlin, gain 1

VP and draw two cards.

Konstantin Rokossovsky: Shift a supplied Soviet attack com-

posed of at least one armor and one infantry type unit one column

to the right.

47. NB Lebensraum: You must play this card immediately upon drawing

it. If there is at least one German unit in the USSR, gain 1 VP, if

not, lose 1 VP. Then draw one card.

Heavy Artillery: Play before one Attack is rolled to cancel the

combat effects of any Fort and/or Volkssturm.

48. NB Festung Deutschland: Play during your Organization Phase to

rebuild one permanently eliminated German Fortication unit.

War in Finland: You must play this card immediately upon draw-

ing it. If Finland is Soviet-Controlled, gain 1 VP; if not, lose 1

VP.

49. NB Volkssturm Levies: Play during your Organization Phase to re-build up to three eliminated Volkssturm units.

Balkan Politics: You must play this card immediately upon draw-

ing it. If a Russian unit occupies Bucharest, gain 1 VP; if not, lose

1 VP.

50. NB Sacred East Prussia: You must play this card immediately upon

drawing it. If Knigsberg is German-Controlled, gain 1 VP and

draw two cards; if not, lose 1 VP and draw one card.

Hurrah! Shift a Soviet attack against a City in Greater Germany

one column to the right.

51. NB Wacht am Rhein: You must play this card immediately upon

drawing it. You can permanently remove from the game one Ger-

man non-Volkssturm/Cadre/Garrison unit and then gain 1 VP. If

not removed, you lose 1 VP.

One Last Push! After an EX Combat result is applied, resolve a

second combat, using the same units.

52. NB Gotthard Heinrici: Play after a Soviet Battle die roll to convert

any result into a CA result that must be mandatorily conducted

right away.

Josip Broz Tito: You must play this card immediately upon draw-

ing it. If both of the Balkan areas and Belgrade are Soviet-Con-

trolled, gain 1 VP; if not, lose 1 VP. Then draw one card.

53. NB Volksgrenadiers: Play during your Organization Phase to count as

two discards instead of one.

Soviet Revenge: You must play this card immediately upon draw-

ing it. Reshufe the deck and Discard Pile together to form a newDraw Pile. Afterward, draw a replacement card for this one.

54. NB Gtterdmmerung! You must play this card immediately upon

drawing it. Reshufe the deck and Discard Pile together to form a

new Draw Pile. Afterward, draw a replacement card for this one.

Stalin Tanks: Shift a Soviet attack with the Armor Bonus two col-

umns to the right instead of one.

55. (German Joker) Hitlers War: Give this card immediately to

your Opponent if played. Play at the end of your Card Phase to

discard and redraw (once) any cards in your hand, or anytime as a

Normal Discard.

55. (Russian Joker) Stalins War: Give this card immediately to your

Opponent if played. Play at the end of your Card Phase to discardand redraw (once) any cards in your hand, or to get one free Re-

placement.


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Rule ClarificationsOct. 2011

TURN OF ENTRY

Some units have an asterisked (*) Turn of entry number:it indicates that they are Optional Units.

Some units have an underlined turn of entry number: it

means they are Cadre units and go to the Cadre Holdingbox when entering the game.

AFV SILOUETTES

The Panzer/Tank counters in the game are offered in twostyles: NATO Icons or AFV silhouettes. Use only one setin the game that suits your preferences.

COUNTERBLOWS

You always place counterblow markers of the colour/ownership of the stack it is put on (look at the example ofplay on Page 3).

Soviet (Red) Counterblows are always placed on Soviet

units. Axis (Gray) counterblows are always placed on Axis

units.

On the combat table, Phasing Player for Counterblowplacement on a CB result means the players whoseturns it is, at all times. Ex: During the Soviet player-turnyou will ALWAYS put the Counterblow markers createdfrom a combat result on the Soviet units involved in thecombat, even if they are defending from a CA (Coun-terattack), never on the Axis units!

TERRAIN COMBAT BONUSES

In a multi-hex battle the defender will chose a single de-fending hex to use for the combat terrain modiers.

SOVIET IMPROVEMENTS

Do not forget that as per rule 7. you can only improve bycard discards:

Regional Units to Fortresses: starting on Turn 3.

All other Soviet units: starting on Turn 7 (before thisthey can only be flipped using free upgrades (7.)).

GMT Games, LLC

P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308

www.GMTGames.com

Solitaire Module Victory Points

A. Price of Failure:

1 VP (only 1 per turn maximum) if you cannot fulll anyor all of the Opposing Sides Action Plans.

B. Stalin:

VP each Sudden Death victory checks.

C. Fuhrer Directive:

VP each Sudden Death victory checks.

Card Clarifications

#04 Maskirovka: Consider that a friendly hex in this caseis any hex, OVERLAND SUPPLIED, that a unit could haveregularly moved into (give unlimited movement points tothe unit), obeying all the movement rules, from one of yoursupply sources (the board edge or a city).

no retreat! the russian front - scenarios feb 2012

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