A while back Rod Miller circulated an email to several of us asking our opinions about combat results against singleton units. He suggested a house rule that made sense when I first read it and plenty of sense once I sat down with the OCS combat results table and a calculator. Optional rules work the same way: gamers who play OCS together evaluate the options and agree on what makes sense to them.

Roll-your-own house rules aside, you can find "official" OCS optionals in several places: embedded in the series rules (e.g. 15.3, 20.0f), appended to the end of the 2.0i rules, and new series optionals appended to the DAK game-specific rules. From among these optionals, Rod has summarized which ones are used and which ones omitted during play in his circle of OCS opponents (including Dean and the guys we usually play OCS with at HomerCon when we're not playing Air Combat Maneuver). In a few places Rod recommends changing or removing a non-optional rule. Here they are, along with some summaries and comments from either Rod or Dave, as marked. The rule paraphrases here are intended only to remind you of each rule. In case you see a contradiction between these reminders and the rules, you should of course follow the rule book.

Each rule falls into one of three categories:

Must These are must-use rules, highly recommended.
Yes We play with these, but are willing to drop them.
No We don't use these.

Changes & Options in the Main Rules

Singletons (9.10b) (attacking or defending side consists of only one single-step unit): No. Delete the part of rule 9.10b that reads: "if either side is destroyed before taking its option, the other side is exempt from its option."

Rod's comments: This represents a non-trivial change in the way we do business in the OCS, but would seem to put the singleton back at a level that is pretty close to the 2+ unit hex (given that it has fewer steps, less combat strength, etc.), as one thinks through the possible situations.

Under the suggested change, Ao1/DL1o1 kills the singleton, but forces the attacker to take his option result. In a regular combat he'll retreat if the hex isn't important, or he'll take the loss to occupy it if it is important. In an overrun, this forces the attacker to retreat and stop his movement, and either be DG if adjacent to an enemy, or not even be adjacent to an enemy and so unable to attack in the Combat Phase. To avoid those outcomes, the overrunning attacker takes a loss to keep moving.

Recon By Force (6.5) By paying the off-road movement cost plus 3 MP, a moving unit can "recon" an enemy stack, allowing the moving player to examine the stack and remove its Reserve marker, if any. If the highest AR unit making the recon fails to roll less than or equal to it AR (on one die), the stack losing its reserve marker can attack it immediately with barrage and regular combat. No, we eliminate this! Dave kinda likes the recon rule but recognizes how it can slow play and be abused.

Divisional Markers (12.7) Units of a division with a marker may move into the marker and be held off map. Qualified No: usually we don't use these. If they are used, they must have the entire division in the marker, and the units must be splayed out to the side or off map. Dave says: The idea here is to avoid stupid deception tricks, like hiding an entire panzer division under an alert battalion, or having a single motorcycle running around in a divisional marker pretending to be the entire GrossDeutchland. And if you eliminate the recon rule (6.5), it's important to neutralize divisional markers as hiding holes.

Air Base Cards (15.3) Keep air units at a base on an off-map display, as shown on the back page of the 2.0i series rules. No. We put the air units adjacent to the air base and splayed out, orienting the nose to indicate status, e.g. nose north is active, nose south is inactive. Dave finds that having air units and elements of a multi-unit division spread out in available space eases play: no more picking through stacks. Unless you play against guys who abuse this sort of glasnost, it works very well.

Rail Transport (13.0d) Leg units pay 2T (rather than the standard 1 SP) per RE for rail transport. Yes, if we remember.

Rail Repair Costs (12.3f) RR units pay 2T per repaired rail hex. No. Don't require this expenditure

Breakdown Regiments (20.f) When a division with breakdown regiments deployed dies, replace one of the breakdowns with the division unit. Yes, if we remember.

Series Rules 2.0i Optionals

Opt. 1 Combined Arms Defending armor, mech, and antitank units can decrease the combat strength of attacking armor and mech attacking in Open terrain. Must, and we multiply by 1.5 (although Dean likes the 1.0 multiplier too). Dave points out that this is a key rule for getting no-hassle detail out of the combat system. Reducing the multiplier to 1.0 seems a bit harsh, and using 1.5 and rounding feels quite easy. Remember also that Tunisia, Hube's, and DAK, which have a fair number of AT units in the mix, were developed with this rule in mind.

Opt. 2 Hard Targets Other and then Mech units die before Armor if a barrage attack inflicts step losses. Some aircraft get "tank-buster" benefits. Move-mode units as targets suffer a shift on the barrage table. No.

Opt. 3 Recon Screens Recon-type units (cavalry, armored cavalry, motorcycle, and recon) can opt to retreat before combat when defending against overruns or regular combat. They also enjoy a -1 die-roll modifier when executing recon by force (6.5) No.

Opt. 4 Destroying Hogs Units must begin the phase in a hog to destroy it and can destroy only one level per turn (two levels if engineer-capable). Yes.

Opt. 5 Hex Destroyed by Barrage A player who destroys all units in a target hex with a barrage attack can "resurrect" one defending step in order to attack it in the combat phase (and probably gain an exploit result). No. Dave finds this rule pretty cheesy, the sort of thing that appeals to players who think they somehow deserve to have their attacks always work out as planned.

Opt. 6 Air Optionals This substantial set of changes eliminates "put up or shut up," introduces DG air units and Serious Interdiction, and places limits on how many aircraft can stack, move, or intercept together. Must. Dave strongly agrees, saying: I was one of the people who thought that the "spinning vortex of destruction" effect of the Put Up or Shut Up rule (introduced as 14.21 in the original 2.0 series rules) would not be a problem very often because most players just didn't adopt that style of play. Rather, they tended to use air power for local strike missions. I was wrong. A player who could muster a local fighter superiority could build a big fighter stack in the Movement Phase and declare "put up or shut up." The other player could either be sucked into the hex and shot up, or he could go inactive at an air base. If the non-phasing player chose the second option, the player who built the big stack could then use the Exploitation Phase to fly unescorted strike aircraft through the bullseye of denied airspace and bomb the bases with the now-inactive enemy aircraft (depending on the relative positions of enemy bases and the take-down stack). Running a vortex of death like this a couple times could seriously skew the balance of air forces. More importantly, this trick permitted ahistorical and unrealistically well-coordinated air operations. Pulling off this sort of operation even in the age of AWACS is none too likely.

Opt. 7 Internals Replenishment for Battalions Replenishing internal stocks costs 2T per RE or unit, whichever is greater. Must. Dean wrote that letting battalions escape the extra cost of using internals "drives Rod Miller nuts." It is a loophole to the benefit of battalions. Dave says: I seldom have a problem with this effect in practice, as I typically burn internals when defending with units that look like they're going to get blown away before they ever see another Supply Phase. That approach in itself is rather gamey, I admit.

Opt. 8 Anti-Ship Barrage Rod asks, "Huh?" Dean credits Dave with reminding him about the need for this rule because of some thoughts about handling ship units in Sicily.

Opt. 9 Initiative Each player gets a fixed supply of points to use as positive dice roll modifiers on any initiative roll he chooses. No. Dave: This is way too much work just to satisfy those players who think "buying" back-to-back turns at the critical moment is the essence of the operational art. Initiative and agility are already represented in the Action Ratings and the number of Reserve markers a player can use in a scenario. Why goof with the initiative roll?

DAK Optionals

1 Small Unit Screening A single-step defender (but not the last step of a multi-step unit) can roll against its Action Rating to convert a loss to an option. No, but note that the rule change for singletons on the defense (above) reduces any need for this rule.

2 Revised Barrage Table Density Modifiers. Use the table from volume 1 of the DAK game rules (see below). Must.

3 Hedgehogs Half of the options inflicted on defenders in a hog must be taken as step losses. Only artillery can be in Reserve in a hog. Construction costs are now 2 SP per level. Must. Dave: Now the decision of whether to build and occupy hogs takes a bit more thinking.

4 Artillery Supply Pay artillery barrage supply costs by total points firing, according to tables on the back page of the DAK game rules, volume 1 (see tables below). Must. Dave: This change does away with the "bang for the buck" disparity between same-size artillery units with different strengths.

5 Air Unit Refit Pay 1T for each 2 air units rolling for refit (or 1T for the last, odd air unit). Do not pay SPs to supply air bases. Yes, and we are willing to modify it to 1T per roll (for older games).

6 Inactive Air Unit Arrival Air units that enter as reinforcements arrive inactive. Yes.

7 Air/Artillery Coordination for Barrages Air and artillery units cannot combine their points into a single barrage attack. Yes.

8 Spotters and Artillery Barrages Reserve-mode spotters yield two shifts to the left for barrage, while DG and non-attack-capable spotters yield one shift left. Yes. Dave: These units are not in optimal posture for enemy contact, so they shouldn't spot as well as units in Combat or Move Mode.

Barrage Table
Column	Cost
1 or less, 2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-11:	1T
12-16:	2T
17-24:	3T
25-40:	4T
41-68:	6T
69-116:	8T
117+:	12T
GS & Barrage vs. Facility
Column	Cost
1-4, 5-10:	1T
11-20:	2T
21-40	4T
41-80:	6T
81+:	8T
GS & Barrage vs. Dump/Truck
Column	Cost
1, 2-4, 5-8:	1T
9-12:	2T
13-24:	3T
25-48:	4T
49-62:	6T
63+:	8T