OK, I'm the one who did it. It was me. Put away that noose. Let me explain..

Last issue in my article "Putting on the Hun," in Rule number 7 (about the 90 unit mark), I alluded to what I thought to be the system of evaluating German losses in the game. The original conception was that the 90 unit mark was supposed to be for the Massive German Victory level only and that the lesser victory clauses were to contain greater loss numbers. In some sort of computer replicating nightmare, I managed to repeat the condition of 90 units throughout the SP victory conditions. The natural reaction of players to my statement that the 90 unit mark did not mean all was indignation and several called. My natural reaction was "huh?" and then terror as I read what was in the rules. The pity of it is I have no one to blame but myself. The playtesters used the correct numbers. The proofreaders didn't know any better. I managed to slip it past all of them.

So, let me rectify the whole thing, as well as add a couple of other conditions which repeated play has brought home (to roost?) at this point.

Here is the background on all but the numbers matter (which besides the above has also been found to be too harsh on the Germans). The Soviet victory shifts are OK for what they are, but it has been found that players can strip that flank of all but a handful of units and still get the award. The original thoughts on those shifts were that the Soviets have created the prerequisites for furthering their gains deep behind the Germans possibly as far as Rostov. The new exiting requirement will make the Soviet player expend more resources to obtain the shifts and conform to the original conception behind the shifts.

The added Soviet Loss Shift is an addition to the original thinking. The reason Soviet losses were ignored at first was that we felt the Soviet Army could sustain reasonable losses without affecting their war effort one wit. The problem was that at the high end of Soviet losses which game players could rack up were losses that can only be termed "unreasonable." The shift for Soviet losses addresses this magnitude of butcher's bill.

So without further ado, here are the revised Stalingrad Pocket victory conditions:

Massive German victory If the German player has lost fewer than 90 units, and occupies two or more hexes of Stalingrad, he is given the next higher order of the Knight's Cross, promoted to Field Marshal and enjoys the rest of the war. (Probably, you'll get shot later for some other trivial reason, but that is not in the scope of this game.)

Major German Victory If the German player has lost between 90 and 110 units, and occupies two or more hexes of Stalingrad, he is given the next higher order of the Knight's Cross, but is not promoted to Field Marshal. (Same limited fife expectancy as in the above Massive conditions.)

Minor German Victory If the German player has lost between 90 and 110 units, but does not occupy at least 2 hexes of Stalingrad, he is summoned to Berlin and retired in disgrace. He lives out the war and writes memoirs blaming Hitler for everything that went wrong in the German war effort.

Minor Soviet Victory If the German player holds two or more hexes of Stalingrad and between 110 and 120 Axis units are lost, congratulations--you have duplicated the historical result! You will be promoted to field marshal in hopes that you will commit suicide. If you do so, you will be made a hero of the Reich. If not, you will be disgraced, spend 10-20 years in a Soviet work camp, and after repatriation, you can still write the book mentioned above.

Major Soviet Victory The German player does not hold 2 hexes of Stalingrad and German losses are greater than 110, or German losses are 121 or more (but not both, see below)

Massive Soviet Victory If the German player does not occupy at least 2 Stalingrad hexes and at least 121 German losses, the Fuhrer summons you to Berlin where you will be shot by the Gestapo as a traitor. Your family will get a two and a half year tour of the latest in concentration camp technology.

Victory Shifts Shift one level of victory in the Soviet favor if the Soviet Player occupies all hexes of entry area G and exits 15 units through any G hex.

Shift one additional level of victory in the Soviet favor if the Soviet Player occupies all hexes of entry area F and exits a further 10 units through any F hex, In addition to the conditions of the above shift.

Shift one level of victory in the German favor if Soviet losses (actual dead units, don't count out of supply, fired rocket artillery, or the above exited ones) are 100 to 120.

Shift an additional level of victory in the German favor if Soviet losses (actual dead units, don't count out of supply, fired rocket artillery, or the above exited ones) are 121 or more.

Just think, we spent most of the playtesting time trying to make sure the victory conditions worked well.