Why can't combat/motorized units use admin. movement in War in the Desert?

War in the Desert was designed while admin. movement was still mostly untried. The rule is thus very cautious, to avoid introducing wide-ranging consequences before they were tested for other theaters. Subsequent Europa games showed that a more liberal admin. movement rule worked fine.

There's no reason why the fuller rule can't be retrofitted into WitD. Use the Scorched Earth rule (Rule 613). The general rule applies for weather zone E (admin. movement at double rate in clear terrain and on roads). In zone F, a unit may use admin. movement only when moving by road.

In War in the Desert, when the port capacity of a supply terminal is reduced to 0 (such as by bombing), why does it still remain a supply terminal?

When you establish a supply terminal at a port, the game system assumes the port is built up with supply dumps, stockpiles, and the like. Even when the port is knocked out, it's assumed that resources on hand can continue to provide general supply. (Also, even though the port is inoperative, in reality some supply can still get in: cargo ships can unload onto small craft, which carry the cargo to shore. This is inefficient, but does let some supplies through.)

Yes, but shouldn't supply terminals be restricted in WAD as isolated Spanish cities are in S&P? Otherwise the Axis can hole up in Benghazi or Tripoli, save up their reinforcements, and bring them in after a para-invasion elsewhere opens a new front.

If the port remains inoperative long enough, sure, the stockpiles would eventually run out. This situation so rarely occurs in actual play- especially if you're counting on a successful "para-invasion"--that it wasn't worth forcing players to memorize yet another rule to cover it. If you really think it matters, you can try a version of the Spanish rule (although I cannot vouch that it will work correctly for WitD and do not particularly recommend it):

A supply terminal at a port with 0 (or less) capacity may cease to be a general supply source. During the initial phase of each player turn, for each supply terminal in this condition, the owning player rolls a die and consults the supply terminal table. An S result means the terminal continues to provide general supply, as normal. An X result means the terminal is exhausted and does not provide general supply. Once exhausted, the terminal remains exhausted as long as the port remains at 0 (or less) capacity.

Supply Terminal Table
Die Roll	Turn 1	Turn 2	Turn 3	Turn 4+
1	S	S	S	S
2	S	S	S	X
3	S	S	X	X
4	S	S	X	X
5	S	X	X	X
6	S	X	X	X

Why does light AA have heavy equipment in WitD but not in Scorched Earth?

The light AA guns themselves don't rate as heavy equipment (i.e., they can fit into transport aircraft). Their means of ground transport, however, complicates the issue. All light AA sent to Africa was motorized, since other forms of transport for the AA were impractical. You could fly the guns themselves, but not the trucks-nor could you requisition other forms of transport at your destination, as there simply wasn't much around to requisition.

The situation in the Soviet Union was different, and light AA used a variety of forms of ground transport. Even if you couldn't fly alternate means of transport (such as horses), you have a good chance of requisitioning sufficient transport at your destination. Hence, Scorched Earth lets you fly the guns and assumes you can scare up transport at the destination. (If this bothers you--it bothers me, somewhat--then have all light AA have heavy equipment in FitE/SE and elsewhere, too.)

Why can air units land at 0-capacity airfields in WitD, while they can't in SE (Rule 17)?

In SE, 0-cap. airfields are assumed to be damaged in such a way that renders them inoperable: wreckage on the field, cratering of runways, etc. To get the field back to minimum working order, you need to repair it up to at least 1 cap.

This mechanic, by the way, helps prevent ahistoric tactics in the game. Testing has shown that players on the offensive, advancing rapidly with air superiority, will use 0-cap. fields to artificially advance their air power.

Here's how it goes: One side is falling back, using scorched earth tactics to deny the enemy as much as possible, including destroying all airfields likely to be captured. The advancing side captures the 0-cap airfields and lands air units there anyway. During the following enemy turn, nearby fighters fend off enemy air units from bombing the airfields. During the next friendly turn, engineers rush in and repair the airbases during the movement phase, so that the air units there can fly in the air phase. This technique is ingenious (a slick trick where it's legal) but fairly ahistoric, and hence the SE rules prevent it.

In the desert, however, you can't remember your name--I mean, things are different. The land is often open, flat, and smooth. Even if a 0-cap. airfield itself is obstructed, there are typically many nearby places where aircraft can easily land, and then move to the airfield once it is put back into operation.

In SE, Soviet artillery divisions seem awfully effective in protecting Soviet gains. Move an artillery division into a hex or advance it after combat, and the Germans have almost no chance of counterattacking the hex. This doesn't jive with what I've read of the war. The artillery divisions were very unwieldy.

I agree. I'm considering adding to SE Rule 14B3: A Soviet artillery division that moves in its movement phase or advances after combat in its combat phase has its defense strength halved in the following Axis player turn. (If necessary, place a marker on a halved artillery division to remind players of its status.)

However, there is another problem. An artillery division that advances after combat is not considered to have "moved" since the "movement" did not occur in the movement phase. Hence, an artillery division could move to a position on turn A (where it would be halved), attack on turn B (at full strength) across a major river, advance after combat (across said major river), and be in position to attack at full strength again on turn C since the advance did not count as movement. Thus, a Soviet artillery division can continue to attack turn after turn at full strength so long as its sole progress across the map consists of successive advances after combat. If this troubles you, try this: Soviet artillery/rocket divisions may not advance after combat.

Exception: Guards 15-3-8 rocket divisions may advance after combat.

These rules are only partially tested, but try 'em out to see which one works best.

(The development team prefers the latter treatment. -RG)

Similarly, the NKVD units are extraordinarily effective in Soviet breakthroughs. The mech corps race forward with the NKVD, and the Germans won't counterattack for fear of getting an EX in place of a DR. Yet, as dreadful as the Soviet breakthroughs were, the Germans were often able to counterattack, because the Soviets often became disorganized in the advance.

Again, I agree. I was overly concerned in FitE with the Soviets being able to air transport NKVD units. Since the NKVD was motorized to varying degrees, I made them combat/motorized and hence earthbound. I now think that it doesn't matter if you can air transport them. However, they do have a distorting effect late in the game due to their combination of special effects and c/m ability. I intend to make NKVD units non-motorized in the collector's editions of FitE/SE. If you want, you can retrofit this to your current game.

I hear you're considering changing the stacking rules. Is this true and, if so, how will the new rules work?

I'm experimenting with changing how the stacking of nondivisional units works: instead of being able to stack X non- divisional units in a hex, you can stack X REs of nondivisional units in a hex. Under this experiment, for example, regular stacking becomes 3 divisions plus 3 REs of nondivisional units plus 2 non-divisional artillery units (or I artillery division) in a hex.

Note the word "experimental." Try it out, but don't scream if it doesn't work right.

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