Whilst playing a recent game of Enemy at the Gates, we became aware that the German Army was missing some of the flexibility that was a trademark of its operations. This was in the form of "kampfgruppen" or battle groups: the practice of forming a specialized unit composed of ad hoc elements drawn from existing formations. Whilst you may split divisions and move them essentially wherever you wish, the supply costs become enormous if the component parts become widely separated. History is replete with examples of the German Army following this practice, which they surely would not have done had the consequences been as they are in the game. We provide some excerpts from the book Battle Groups by James Lucas to illustrate our point.

Battle groups can be defined as the bringing together of miscellaneous, and often disparate, military units to undertake a specific and local operation. It was usual, but not always the case, that once the mission had been completed the battle group was broken up and its components returned to their parent formations.

In a politico-military sense battle groups were an essential element in German strategy.

The groups range in size from a small detachment of bicycle-riding SS tank-busters who, in 1945, fought Russian armour at close quarters, up to the miscellany of units which in the autumn of 1944 were flung across northern Belgium and southern Holland to halt the Allied advance.

The essence of the Kampfgruppe was an ad hoc collection of men and units from divisions engaged in the particular campaign, drawn together in the field, placed under the command of an aggressive leader and sent into action as "shock troops" to breach enemy lines, hold important objectives or take stubborn defenses-to achieve specific objectives. The battle group was a key aspect of the victories in the early years of the war and continued to be a valid and important tactic through to the fall of Berlin, testimony to the flexibility that made the German army such a formidable fighting force.

These examples lead us to propose the following optional rule. This rule requires some blank counters, which you should mark as necessary (for our purposes we have called them KG 1 to KG 10). You will also need some form of off-map record of which marker represents which unit. We have designed and printed a sheet of offmap boxes for each Panzer Division that currently exists along with providing holding boxes for units forming the battle groups. We decided to do this after it became confusing having all those little piles of counters round the edge of the board! The new counters should also have two sides as Divisional markers do at present, with the flip side of the counter showing the unit in its fueled state. The rules for the provision of battle groups follow.

1) The German player can form battle groups that consist of units drawn either from existing formations and/or any non-divisionals as desired. These units form a stack, which you place off map and replace with one of the generic battle group counters.

2) Any units may join this battle group to the existing stacking limit of 10 REs. All counters represented must be in the offmap display for that group-any remaining on the map will not benefit from the reduced supply cost gained by the group. As in the standard rules, trucks and SPs, etc., do not count toward this limit. Infantry divisions may not join a battle group; this is the only exception to the above. Non-divisional units are free to join a group if they do not exceed the stacking limit. A given division's organic trucks may join a battle group only if a combat unit from that division is part of the group. Also, there may be no more than 1 organic truck in a battle group for every 5 REs (or fraction thereof) of combat units. This provides a maximum of 2 organic trucks per group. We must also reiterate that, unlike a normal division, every counter in a battle group must stack in the hex with all other members of that group.

3) While a battle group counter is on the map, treat it the same as Divisional markers are at present. This applies to enemy examination of the contents of the hex.

4) Players may form a battle group at the end of any movement phase in which the necessary units forming the group are stacked together. There must be at least two units to form the group. You may add other elements in the same fashion, if they are stacked in the same hex as the battle group at end of the movement phase. Units must decide whether they wish to remain in the group before the group moves-any unit wishing to leave must depart the off-map holding box and return to the map, where it may move independently or remain behind as desired. Once a unit leaves, it is no longer eligible for the reduced supply costs (see 6) and must begin paying supply costs as normal,

5) Once units join a battle group, they may not leave that group until the next standard movement phase of their player turn. Thus, units may not form a battle group at the end of movement to use cheaper supply costs and break up straight away in the following exploitation or reaction movement phases. Forming a battle group commits it to that formation for the space of at least one full turn.

6) Battle groups have the following supply costs:

i) If there are 5 REs or less, it costs 1 SP to fuel the unit, and 2 tokens for subsistence supply if an off-map trace route is not available.
ii) If there are more than 5 REs, the costs are double: 2 SP to fuel the unit, and I SP for subsistence supply.
iii) Battle groups do not alter Combat Supply costs in any way

As we see it, this is the primary purpose for forming battle groups. These rules give the Axis player the ability to put together a specialized unit, tailored to a specific purpose, without costing the earth in supply For instance, now it is possible to put recon units from different divisions into a battle group for use as a highly mobile "deep strike" force, add a couple of trucks with some SPs loaded, and away you go. Kampfgruppen also allow you to put together all those remnants from destroyed divisions you are likely to find in and around Stalingrad while keeping supply costs down in realistic fashion.

[Ed. note: These supply costs make a "small" kampfgruppe (up to 5 REs) consume as much fuel as an average full-strength panzer division, and that seems correct.]

7) To prevent abuse of this rule, we propose a maximum limit on the number of groups allowed. Ten is about right for Enemy at the Gates, with five the limit for Guderian's Blitzkrieg. We hope this will mean that you do not form battle groups willy-nilly but with a purpose to their existence.

8) There is also evidence that both the British and American armies used a similar doctrine. However, as there are not yet any games available using these nationalities, it is difficult to provide figures for them (roll on Tunisia)! The Soviet Army may not form battle groups under any circumstances; they simply were not flexible enough.

[Ed. note: Absent any solid historical examples, I would not allow Axis allies into battle groups. The point, I believe, is to simulate a capability that stems from the German army's philosophy of leadership and flexibility.

This rules variant deserves some serious attention. Say you were designing a Sicily game for the OCS [[publisher's note: Now who might being doing that, Dave???]] and had to deal with Kampfgruppe Schmalz. This unit, including the 115th PzG regiment, most of the available elements of the Ist Fallschrimjager division, and some fortress battalions, acted as an independent command. Schmalz adapted to the changing situation both in terms of Allied activity and the arrival of German reinforcements. So letting the Axis player build and rebuild the kampfgruppe has solid historical justification.]