It's railroad engineer time again! Back in issue #7, I tweaked that bugbear of Fire in the East/Scorched Earth/The Urals, railroad regauging. In the game, German railroad regauging was hobbled because their railroad engineers appeared at regimental level. With six regiments trying to account for 22 railroad engineer battalions, the German regauging efforts simply proceeded too slowly. My original solution was to show the German railroad engineers at battalion level, adding 27 0-strength units to the game (five reinforcing battalions joining the 22 initial ones over the course of the campaign).

When you tweak a bugbear, I guess it tweaks back. Having 27 battalions is certainly inelegant. Worse, it gave the Germans too much flexibility and regauging ability. So, it's time to tweak the bugbear again.

The new system dispenses with the battalions once again. Instead, the three German railroad engineer brigades, which appeared 1942-44, are backdated to the start of the campaign to account for the battalions. In essence, a brigade counts as two regiments, having on the order of four battalions to the regiment's two. This cuts the battalion clutter, stops the rules abuses, and--I hope!-- tweaks the bugbear into submission once and for all!

I want to thank Victor Hauser and Rick Gayler for writing the first draft of the following rules. I had told Rick my solution to the battalion situation and promised him a write-up "eventually." Rick and Victor turned "eventually" into "now" through their painstaking efforts. Thanks, guys.

For Fire in the East, Scorched Earth, and The Urals
Rule 14A4. Railroad Engineers. (Modification)

A railroad engineer may:

• Regauge a rail line, changing the gauge from broad to standard (or vice versa). A broken rail line must be repaired before it can be regauged.
• Repair a rail line, in the same manner as a construction engineer. A railroad engineer has no other construction abilities.

A railroad engineer regauges a rail line as follows:

• It must be in supply.
• It must spend 1 MP (2 MP in poor weather) in the rail hex for regauging.
• It may use quick construction, which halves the MP cost. Two railroad engineer regiments may use quick construction if both are in the rail hex; both units pay half the standard regauging cost. A railroad engineer brigade is the equivalent of two railroad engineer regiments and thus may use quick construction by itself.

Note: Construction engineers may not regauge rail lines. Construction engineers and Soviet workers may not be used for quick construction when regauging.

Example: The following chart illustrates the MP costs to regauge a rail hex in clear weather. In poor weather, the listed MP costs are doubled.

Unit	MP Cost per Unit	Note
1x RR Eng III	1	Standard Case
2x RR Eng III	1/2	Quick Construction
1x RR Eng X	1/2	Quick Construction

Rule 38C2. Upgrading. (Modification)

Many roads shown on the map are actually lowcapacity railroads, and these may be upgraded to full railroad status. Any road hex may be upgraded to railroad status, except for a road hex in the Arctic or in a mountain hex.

A railroad engineer unit may upgrade a road to a railroad as follows:

• It must be in supply. It costs one resource point to upgrade a road hex. The railroad engineer must trace an overland supply line to the resource point when it starts to upgrade the road hex, and the resource point is spent (removed from play) at that time.
• It must spend 8 MPs (16 MPs in poor weather) in the road hex for upgrading.
• It may use quick construction, which halves the MP cost. Two railroad engineer regiments may use quick construction if both are in the rail hex; both units pay half the standard upgrading cost. A railroad engineer brigade is the equivalent of two railroad engineer regiments and thus may use quick construction by itself.

Notes:

1) Construction engineers may not upgrade roads. Construction engineers and Soviet workers may not be used for quick construction when upgrading roads.

2) A hex containing both a road and a railroad must be upgraded in order for the road in the hex to become a railroad.

Example: The following chart illustrates the MP costs to upgrade a road hex in clear weather. In poor weather, the listed MP costs are doubled.

Unit	MP Cost per Unit	Note
1x RR Eng III	8	Standard Case
2x RR Eng III	4	Quick Construction
1x RR Eng X	4	Quick Construction

Rule 39D5. German Railroad Engineers.

This rule is unchanged.

Rule 391-3. Rail Construction. (Optional Rules; New Case)

In addition to the regular rules for regauging railroads, a railroad engineer may regauge a rail line only if it can trace an uninterrupted line of friendlyowned, connected rail hexes from the rail hex being regauged to a friendly, functioning rail marshalling yard. (Rail marshalling yards are defined in Rule 20F1d.) It must regauge the rail line to the gauge of the rail marshalling yard.

In addition to the regular rules for upgrading a road to a railroad, a railroad engineer may upgrade a road to a railroad only if it can trace an uninterrupted line of friendly- owned, connected road and rail hexes from the road hex being upgraded to a friendly, functioning rail marshalling yard. It must upgrade the road to a railroad of the gauge of the rail marshalling yard.

Orders of Battle: Axis and Soviet