The following are a handful of optional rules (and a play tip or two, I guess) for the OCS and GB. With each, I'll introduce it with where it came from and why. These can be used to custom fit the game to a player's particular tastes. Send your suggested optionals tome and I'll get them into future issues and maybe other players will benefit from your insight. See you then!

Minor Cities

The Minor Cities rule addresses those urban areas between the village and major city categories which need some, but not all, of the effects of the latter. The need for this terrain type was discovered in the playtest map creation for Enemy at the Gates-some places just weren't big enough to qualify as major cities, but it didn't seem right to degrade them to mere village status.

The following "villages" on the GB maps need to be upgraded to Minor Cities Status: Kursk, Vyaz'ma, Roslavl, Yel'nya, Spas-Demansk, Kaluga, Mozhaysk, Serpukhov, and Podolsk.

The effects of a Minor City are as follows:

Special Modifiers: All types x 1, Close Terrain. Movement: All types xl/2.

The effects of this addition will be limited - except at a few key points and time when the location of a minor city aligns terrain and opposing forces to generate a bottleneck.

Recon Retreat Rule

This rule was suggested by Mike Denson in Texas. He was annoyed at the inability of the assorted recon units in the game (motorcycle and armored recon types) to screen and runto withdraw from combat when threatened. This rule can be used to alleviate that problem, if you see it as one.

Allow recon units (motorcycle and armored recon types, not Soviet Cavalry Divisions) to withdraw one hex before resolving a combat against them when it is announced. Only those units may withdraw (and may do so if stacked with other unit types, although those other units must stay and take their lumps). The recon units may not do this if. A) they must retreat into a hex adjacent to an enemy unit, B) in an over nin situation, C) when the attacker has surprise, or D) if the player decides to tough it out. The recon units may be "attacked" and retreat their one hex only once in a given phase. The retreat rule has no effect on air or artillery attacks.

Retreat into Combat?

Mike Denson also gives us this rule. This one takes on those annoying units which retreat from one combat and then add to the defense of another hex in the same phase.

A unit which retreats as a combat result in a combat in a given phase adds nothing to the defense of units in a hex it ends up stacked with which happen to be attacked later in the same phase. The unit is subject to any adverse combat result (such as a retreat), but adds nothing in terms of combat strength or action rating. Likewise, no combat supply is expended for that unit.

Selective Supply

This is more of a 'how to' note than an optional rule. Players sometimes wonder how they can, say, supply everyone in an area at low supply, yet keep a given Panzer division in full supply for counterattack purposes. With the Germans in GB, there are always a few unde rutilized Corps HQs running about. Team one of them up with another, more active, HQ. The active HQ continues to supply its empire with low supply and to handle throw operations for combat supply for all (since it is probably a long-range panzer-type HQ). The other HQ acts as a draw mechanism for the counterattack full-supply force.

Players can also by-pass the need for another HQ by having the full-supply types draw supply directly-the problem being that they must always hover within five hexes of their supply dumps, which limits their flexibility and makes them all too predictable.

I have heard of players who supply something like every-other unit in their front- line at full supply and the rest at low by using multiple HQs like the above. There is nothing in thegame to make this wrong (in real life, the crossing supply nets would drive rear services nuts-the work load almost does it to them normally, in this case ... ). Personally, I think such an operation would be too big a pain in the rear to keep track of (on the game map) and I never seem to have enough supply to pull off such a stunt, anyway.

Using those Panzers in DEFENSE

This is another 'how to' section-since the special modifiers are weighted against tanks in the defense, how does one use a Panzer Division to defend? The proper use of a mobile division in the defense is by judicious use of counterattacks. Once you've got that reserve division in full supply (above), in Reserve Mode, and properly protected, attack in the Reaction Phase wherever the enemy seems to be preparing a blow. I prefer to keep the division together than to making a bunch of smaller attacks. The best things to hit are logistical preparations, followed by artillery emplacements, key enemy stacks, and lastly rail communications. With luck, you will be able to keep him scrambling to keep his offensive force connected and un-DG'd, completely unable to allocate resources to the stopping of your counterattack force, and you'll free yourself from having to sit there an 'take it' when he wants to dish it out. The easiest way to make a Soviet player to break into tears is to vaporize his extensive artillery preparations and server his rail link to the east. Capturing his dumps would be good, but is a chancy affair and the dump may simply bounce to a better spot for him!

A DG on his best offensive stack will bring on much gnashing of teeth, right Owen?

Until next time!