Recently, I've been wrestling with a particularly sticky question concerning Scorched Earth Rule 38C2, upgrading roads to railroads. The question goes like this: Since 38C2 lets construction units upgrade roads to railroads (at the owners favorite gauge) and since every railroad hex is assumed to have a road, can a construction engineer upgrade the assumed road to a railroad? (This would, in effect, let construction units regauge railroads, although slowly and at a cost of one resource point per hex.) Ben Knight got stuck with this rules question and consulted me on it. Although it was far outside my intentions when I wrote the rule, it sounded logical given the way the rules were written. Also I figured the slow speed and the resource point cost would dampen rules abuses, so I agreed to this interpretation. Oops!

Such a ruling simply allows too many abuses. Also, it significantly gets the construction units into the railroad business, which is a major distortion of their function. Historically, construction forces had a full-time job building and maintaining facilities and roads, with no time left over for other things such as railroads. (A lot of this, particularly road maintenance, is built into the background of Europa: the existence of construction units is enough to assume the roads are being kept up, without needing complex rules here. However, if you could use these units for nonhistorical tasks, then we'd need to account for road maintenance - no thanks!) Also, the construction units lacked the training and particularly the equipment to function effectively as railroad engineers. So, it is time to fix up this mess.

I got into this morass in the first place through stinginess: I kept the railroad engineers at a high level regiments and brigades - to keep the counter count down. However, this caused a problem when I wrote Rule 38C2, as the six.German railroad engineer regiments simply didn't give the Germans enough flexibility to both regauge railroad and upgrade roads in 1941/42. My quick fix to conserve counters was to let the construction units upgrade roads. The correct fix is to get the construction units out of the picture, add in the railroad engineer battalions to give the proper flexibility, and amend the rules accordingly. Here goes:

14A4. Railroad Engineers. (Change)

A railroad engineer may repair a rail line in the same manner as a construction engineer. In addition, a railroad engineer may regauge a rail line, changing the gauge from broad to standard (or vice versa). If a rail line is broken, it must be repaired before it can be converted. A railroad engineer must be in supply to regauge a rail hex. It costs a railroad engineer regiment 1 MP (2 MPs in poor weather) to regauge a rail hex. This cost is doubled (2 MPs regular, 4 MPs in poor weather) for a railroad engineer battalion. The cost is halved (1/2 MP regular, 1 MP in poor weather) for a railroad engineer brigade. Quick construction, which halves the MP cost, may be used in regauging. Only additional railroad engineer units may be used for this quick construction; construction units and Soviet workers may not be used. The quick construction requirements are:

RR Eng II: another RR Eng II
RR Eng III: another RR Eng III or two RR Eng II
RR Eng X: another RR Eng X, two RR Eng III, four RR Eng II, or one RR Eng III and two RR Eng II

For example, a railroad engineer regiment must have one additional railroad engineer regiment or two railroad engineer battalions present to qualify for quick construction.

A railroad engineer unit has no other construction ability, unless Advanced Rule 38C2 is used.

15E. Railroad Engineer Breakdowns. (New)

A German railroad engineer regiment may break down into two railroad engineer battalions. Two German railroad engineer battalions may assemble into one railroad engineer regiment. A German railroad engineer brigade may break down into four railroad engineer battalions. Four German railroad engineer battalions may assemble into one railroad engineer brigade. A Soviet railroad engineer brigade may break down into two railroad engineer regiments. Two Soviet railroad engineer regiments may assemble into one railroad engineer brigade. The orders of battle list the units available for breakdown or assembly.

38C2. Upgrading. (Change)

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

A railroad engineer unit may upgrade a road to a railroad. It costs the unit four times the regauging MP cost to upgrade a road hex. For example, a railroad engineer regiment would spend 4 MPs (four times 1 MP) to upgrade a road hex to a railroad during clear weather. It also 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.

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

Only railroad engineer units may upgrade roads to railroads. Construction units and Soviet workers cannot upgrade roads or participate in quick construction for an upgrade.

When a player upgrades a road hex to a railroad, he may upgrade it to either broad gauge or standard gauge, at his option.

Axis Order of Battle

Initial Forces, Jun II 41

Finnish Railroad Engineers.
Anywhere in Finland.
1 x 0-6 RR Eng III Comp

German Railroad Engineers.
Anywhere in Greater Germany.
6 x 0-6 RR Eng III 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
10 x 0-6 RR Eng II 15, 83, 106, 111, 139, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515
Available Breakdowns:
12 x 0-6 RR Eng III I/1, II/1, I/2, II/2, I/3, II/3, I/4, II/4, I/5, II/5, I/6, II/6

Note: Ignore the listings for the railroad engineer regiments in Army Groups North, Center, and South on the Scorched Earth OB.

Reinforcements

Apr I 42
German:
East:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng II 404

Jun I 42
German:
East:
2 x 0-6 RR Eng II 2, 408

Jul I 42
German:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng II 9 zbV

Dec I 42
German:
Available for Assembly: 1 x 0-6 RR Eng X 1
Withdraw: 1 x 0-6 RR Eng II 9 zbV

May I 43 German: Arctic:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng III 3

Oct I 43
German:
Available for Assembly:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng X 3

Jan I 44 German: Available for
Assembly: 1 x 0-6 RR Eng X 2
Replacement Pool:
Remove: 1 x 0-6 RR Eng III 3

Apr I 44
German:
Withdraw:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng III 6
3 x 0-6 RR Eng II 2,15,83

New Units

German:

27 x 0-6 RR Eng II I/1, II/1, I/2, II/2, I/3, II/3, I/4, II/4, I/5, II/5, I/6, II/6, 2, 9 zbV, 13, 15, 83, 106, 111, 139, 404, 408, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515

3 x 0-6 RR Eng X 1,2,3

Finnish:
1 x 0-6 RR Eng III Comp

Soviet Order Of Battle

Follow the existing Soviet order of battle for Soviet railroad engineers. However, for each brigade that starts the game or is received during play, two railroad engineer regiments become available for breakdown purposes.

New Units to be created:

20 x 0-6 RR Eng III 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Rails Through Russias Regauged [EU 19].