by Oberst Gregor Novak, OKW
There are a number of rule additions and changes that were used in the playtest game, but left out of the final rules by oversight. These include the following: CAPTURED ENEMY WEAPONS: Captured Russian/German weapons may be added to the inventory of the capturing side and used in action at the start of the second day following capture. Gun crews must be raised or provided from the replacement pool to man captured guns, while tank crews must be provided for any capture tanks. Stands must spend one full day training with their new weapon to keep their experience rating. Damaged captured tanks maybe repaired at double cost in repair points, so that a damaged tank costs 2 repair points, and a disabled tank costs 6 repair points. GERMAN LIGHT VEHICLE PRODUCTION: The German player may build in lieu of a Vehicle Point any six of the following: Limber, Wagon, Kubelwagen, Motorcycle, Light Truck. A quick way to increase the number of trucks for Motor Transport Companies is to build limbers for your infantry guns, and send the trucks back for service elsewhere. REPLACEMENTS: The rules for replacements refer mainly to the new stands raised and used as replacements, and do not address the primary problem that will be facing the German player, that is, the need to cannibalize units to keep other units up to strength. The Security Battalions will end up providing most of the manpower for this, as it will be the German Infantry Stands that take the casualties and need to be replaced. It is suggested that you use the 15th Infantry Regiment as a Replacement Training Center, and send up to the front half of the stands in it each turn as Veteran replacements, and break up the Security Battalions and fuel their manpower into the 15th to be retrained as veterans. The advantage of this system is that it allows the replacements to arrive at the front as soon as possible as veterans, rather than wait four hours into the turn. The other alternative is to use the 3rd Battalion of each regiment as a replacement pool for the 1st and 2nd Battalions, and attach the security troops to those battalions to be retrained. At the end of each battle send up stands from the 3rd Battalion to the 1st and 2nd Battalions, and fill up the vacancies in the 3rd Battalion from the security troops. No matter what happens, you WILL be short of German Infantry by the end of the game - but you need to prolong that moment for as long as possible. Any attempt to use the security units as front line troops in their present organization and experience level will give the Russian players places to counterattack. The Security Battalions are the only units that the Russians can pick on (other than the Rumanians) with any degree of success. LAST AND MOST IMPORTANTDECIDE WHAT YOUR PLAN WILL BE - AND FOLLOW IT: If you want to capture Russian cities, fine. If you want to destroy the Russian Army, fine. But don't switch plans in midstream. You do not have the manpower to carry out two or three different plans of action. Decide what you need to do to win, and do it. And then - I'll see you in Red Square. Command Decision's Barbarossa 25 WWII Campaign Notes Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VIII No. 5 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles covering military history and related topics are available at http://www.magweb.com |