Fire in the East/Scorched Earth take a long time to play. Even if players make a concerted effort to move in a reasonable length of time, moves can seem interminable. And just one deliberate player can really gum up the works, driving you away from the game and to the more immediate gratification of other pursuits.

One way to combat this is to implement strictly-enforced time limits for the movement, air, and exploitation phases. (the combat phase doesn't lend itself to a time limit, but usually moves along quite nicely without one). Note that the limits must be firmly enforced. This is vital! Someone from the opposing team must monitor the phasing team's time limits and insist that they be observed. As a courtesy, he should also announce periodically the time remaining.

Several caveats are in order if you decide to try time limits. First, I highly recommend that you also use the incremental odds option described in previous issues (see TEM # 26, Rule 34A of the "Objective Sweden" scenario). This stipulation will ease the angst of the attacking player who begins to run out of time and is forced to shove cardboard forward without checking his combat odds closely. Each team should also be allowed to accrue unused time for use in later phases (this should be done on a team, and not player, basis). For example, unused time in a movement phase can be saved for use as extra time in future movement, air, and exploitation phases. This further encourages gamers to move as quickly as possible, as each side strives to hoard some reserve time for a complicated future move.

The limits given here are the results of many years of experimentation and refinement among my local group. However, they may not be perfect, so feel free to tinker. I hope you try time limits; after a short adjustment period I think you will find that they add pace, excitement, and a realistic fog of war to combat on the Eastern Front.

Suggested Time Limits
Team Size	1 Player	2 Players	3 Players	4 Players
Movement Phase	2 Hr 30 Min	1 Hr 15 Min	50 Min	40 Min
Air Phase	30 Min	15 Min	10 Min	8 Min
Exploitation Phase	40 Min	20 Min	15 Min	10 Min