Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Game Components
3.0 Set Up & Hex Control
4.0 How to Win
5.0 The Turn Sequence
6.0 Stacking
7.0 Zones of Control
8.0 Supply
9.0 Reinforcements & Replacements
10.0 Movement
11.0 Weather
12.0 Combat
13.0 Charts & Tables
14.0 Designer's Notes
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Alternative Time Line
Operation Kremlin: An Alternative History Campaign for Moscow, 1942 ("Op K" for short) is a two-player, low-to-intermediate complexity, strategic-level simulation of a campaign that might-have-been had Hitler decided to try again for Moscow during the summer of 1942 rather than plunging into the the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The German player is therefore primarily on the offensive, seeking to win by controlling a certain minimum number of city hexes. The Soviet player, though mostly defending, must watch for opportunities to deliver counterattacks against the Germans while trying to hold onto as many city hexes as possible.
1.2 Orders of Battle
The orders of battle are extrapolated from both sides' historic organizational charts of mid- to late 1942. That is, the Germans could reasonably have been expected to throw everything mechanized they had in the east into this, minus only a few small units detached to support the infantry deployed on the rest of the off map front. The main portion of the German OB is therefore made up of the corps historically part of Army Group Center on 28 June 1942, along with all the panzer corps, and Manstein's 11th Army coming in as reinforcement once they've taken Sevastopol.
We can also safely assume that the Axis satellite armies, though usually restricted in most east front games to areas not shown on the Op K map, would have been included in this all-out effort. The Germans would have needed them, as flank units if nothing else, and their own governments would likely have wanted to be able to claim participation in this "final and decisive" campaign in Russia.
The Soviet order of battle is based on what they had on this front historically on 28 June, along with all their operational and strategic reserves, plus just about everything they generated in the way of replacements and reinforcements during the time period of the historic Stalingrad campaign.
1.3 Game Scales
Each hexagon on the map represents approximately 10 miles (16.2 kilometers) from side to opposite side. The Soviet units of maneuver are almost all armies, along with a few specialist corps, while all German units are corps, and their satellite puppet forces are again armies. Air power is represented abstractly, with two counters representing the effects of one side or the other having local air superiority. Each full game turn represents one week.
1.4 Halving
The general rule concerning the halving of numbers in the game is: when such a division takes place all remainders are rounded down. Thus, for example, "half" of three is one, and "half" of two is one, while "half" of one is zero. There are, however, two exceptions to this general rule of halving.
The first exception: when halving a combat factor, half of one is one, provided only one unit is being halved. That is, no single unit's combat factor is ever reduced below one for any reason. If, however, there were two or more units in the same battle and both or all were to be halved, then all the involved units' combat factors are first added together and then only one division and rounding is made.
The second exception has to do with "DE" combat results scored against German defenders: see rule 12.29 for details.
1.5 North
The compass rose printed on the map shows its relationship to magnetic north. For all play purposes, though, whenever a map direction is referenced in these rules, it should be understood the north side of the map is composed of the hexes 1000 to 1032, inclusive. The east side of the map is composed of the hexes 1000 to 3600, inclusive. The south side is 3600 to 3632, inclusive, and the west is 1032 to 3632, inclusive. The corner hexes are therefore each part of two map sides.
1.6 No "Stand Fast!" Rules
Neither side suffers under the stricture of any kind of "no retreat" order during play. I decided on that approach when my research reminded me both sides historically did have such orders in place during this period. Stalin issued his famous "Not A Step Back!" directive (Stavka order number 227) on 28 July 1942, while Hitler came out with his "Führer Defense Order" on 8 September.
With that in mind, it seemed simplest-and also historically accurate-to assume both players are cast in the roles of their side's supreme commander. Therefore, if you don't want your troops to give ground, simply don't move them back. (The CRT-required retreat-after-combat results which the players can't escape making, see 12.25, take place within tactical and operational period too small for supreme headquarters to intervene.)
2.0 Game Components
2.1 The components to a complete game of Op K include these rules, the map sheet, 176 die-cut counters (also referred to as "units" and "unit counters") and a standard six-sided die.
2.2 The Game Map
The game map illustrates the militarily significant terrain found around Moscow in 1942. A hexagonal ("hex") grid is printed over the map to regulate the placement and movement of units across it, much like in Chess and Checkers. A unit is considered to be in only one hex at any one time.
Each hex contains natural or manmade terrain that can affect the movement of units and combat between units. The various terrain on the map havs been altered slightly in order to make it coincide with the hex-grid, but the relationship among the terrain from hex to hex is accurate to the degree necessary to present players with the same space and time problems that would have been faced by their historic counterparts had this hypothesized campaign taken place.
Note also every hex on the map has a unique four-digit identification number. It is provided to help find each exact location more quickly and to allow for the recording of unit positions if a match has to be taken down before it can be completed. For example, the city of Vyazma in hex 2530.
2.3 Counters
There are 176 unit counters in the game, most of which represent combat formations. Others are also provided as informational markers and memory aids. After reading these rules at least once, carefully punch out the counters. Trimming off the "dog ears" from their corners with a fingernail clipper will facilitate easier handling and stacking during play and enhances their appearance.
2.4 Sample Combat Unit
Each combat unit counter displays several pieces of information: nationality (and therefore the "side" each unit is on), specific historical identification, unit type and size, combat and step strengths, movement allowance and reinforcement or other special status.
2.5 Nationality
A unit's nationality and general status within its army is shown by its color scheme.
The German Side
Mechanized units: white on black
Non-mechanized units: black on gray
Axis satellite armies: black on yellow
The Soviet Side
Rifle armies: white on red
Guards, Shock and Tank ("Elite") Armies: red on white
Specialist units: black on red
2.6 Historical Identification
All units are identified by the numbers used historically to designate those same formations during this period. The following letter-abbreviations are used:
G: Guards
GE: Group Esebeck
GvS: Group von Schackendorf
H: Hungarian
I: Italian
R: Romanian
2.7 Unit Sizes
Units' historical organizational sizes are shown by the following symbols:
XXXX-armyXXX-corpsXX-division
If a unit's size symbol is bracketed, it is an ad hoc unit that wasn't part of its army's regular order of battle.
2.8 Unit Types
All ground units in the game belong to two basic categories: mechanized ("Mech") or non-mechanized ("Non-Mech"). Mechanized units are those whose primary means of moving across the battlefield is by wheeled and tracked vehicles. Non-mechanized units are those whose primary means of locomotion is provided by legs, human and animal. This distinction is important for paying the costs involved for entering enemy zones of control (see section 7.0).
Note the symbol commonly used to identify "mechanized infantry" or "panzer grenadiers," has a somewhat different meaning here. That is, on the Soviet side the symbol represents Guards armies. Those formations were not fully mechanized but were given the lion's share, after the tank armies, of what was available, particularly in the form of supporting and attached units. On the German side, the "panzer grenadier" corps historically retained their infantry designation, but each had one or two panzer or motorized infantry divisions assigned to them to give them at least partial blitz-warfare capabilities. (Players will find the idea was really an inefficient solution.)
Also note the three Soviet cavalry units in the game are shown with "mechanized cavalry" symbols. That is done to indicate the elite status these three particular corps had within the Red Army during this time. They in fact contained units (horse and moto-mechanized) and leaders who were probably more skilled at mobile warfare than any others under Stalin's command during this period. For an excellent discussion of this see: Glantz, David M. and Jonathan House, When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University of Kansas, 1995, p. 86.
Mechanized Unit Types
German Panzer or Soviet Tank
Soviet Cavalry Corps
Combined Arms Mechanized
Non-Mechanized Unit Types
German Infantry or Soviet Rifle
Soviet Shock
Combat Engineers
Soviet artillery concentration markers (see 12.20)
2.9 Combat Factors
Attack and defense factors are the measures of each unit's ability to conduct those types of combat operations. Their uses are explained in section 12.0.
2.10 Movement Factor
This number is a measure of a unit's ability to move across the hex grid printed over the map. A unit pays varied movement costs to enter different hexes, depending on the terrain in each, the weather (see section 11.0), the moving unit's type (see section 10.0), and the presence of enemy zones of control (see section 7.0).
2.11 Step Strength
All ground units in the game have one, two, or-on the German side-several "strength steps," which are also simply called "steps." That's an arbitrary term used to express the ability of a unit to absorb a certain amount of combat losses before ceasing to be an effective formation (a measure of its "robustness" in current US Army jargon). Those units with combat factors printed on only one side of one counter are "one-step" units; those with printing on both sides of a single counter are "two-step" units.
Units containing more than two strength steps are represented by two or more unit counters, only one of which may ever be in play on the map at any one time. The second or third unit for those formations are called "substitute counters," and can be easily identified by the large dot (black or white) printed in their upper-left corners.
When units are eliminated in play, it doesn't mean every individual within them has been killed. It means enough casualties and equipment losses have been suffered to render them useless for further operations. If a two-step unit suffers a one-step loss, it is flipped over so its reduced side shows. If a one-step unit, or a two-stepper that has already been "reduced," suffers a step loss, it is removed from the map ("eliminated") and placed into a "dead pile" off to the side of the map.
The reduction-then-elimination process is the same with multi-step units, but is repeated until the steps on all the formation's substitute counters have been worked through. For more details, see section 12.0.
2.12 Soviet Two-Step Elite Units
There are 10 Soviet two-step units in the game: 1st through 5th Tank, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd Guards, and 2nd and 5th Shock Armies. They are printed red-on-white to make them easily distinguishable from all the white-on-red one-step rifle army units. These two-step Soviet units are collectively known as "elite" units.
When a Soviet two-stepper has been reduced to one-step strength, its combat factors are always "1-1;" however, when at full, two-step strength their combat values are always unknown until they enter combat, and they are determined anew each time they do enter combat. That is, a die is rolled by the Soviet player for each involved two-stepper at the time the combat odds calculation process is begun. That result (one through six) is then altered by the appropriate combat factor modifier number printed on the counter, which finally determines the combat factor for that one unit for that one battle.
For example, if a Soviet tank army (all with combat modifier numbers of "+2" on attack and "0" on defense) were going into an attack and the Soviet player rolled a "3," that "3" would be added to the "+2" attack modifier to give the unit an attack factor, for that one battle, of "5." In this game all Soviet elite unit combat modifier numbers are all either zero or positive. There are no negative modifiers.
2.13 Soviet Untried Rifle Units
Note the white-on-red Soviet rifle armies in the game each contain only one strength step. Their reverse sides show only question marks ("?"), a unit-type box and a movement factor. All such Soviet units begin the game with their untried side showing and neither player knowing exactly what is on the reverse sides. They are not flipped over, thus revealing their exact combat strengths, until the first time they enter combat attacking or defending. Once revealed, untried units are never flipped back to their untried side while they remain in play. For more details see 3.2 and 9.3.
2.14 Reinforcement & Starting Units
Units that enter play after the game has begun, rather than starting play already set up on the map, are called "reinforcements." Reinforcements can be distinguished from starting units by the fact they-the reinforcement units-have only a one- or two-digit number, "3" or "19," etc., printed in their upper-left corners. Those numbers refer to their earliest possible game turns of entry into play; see section 9.0.
Note also that four Soviet units-three untried rifle armies and the 2nd Shock Army-begin the game in the dead pile (see 3.2 & 9.3)
2.15 Other Counters
The uses of the following counters are explained at appropriate points throughout the rest of the rules:
• Hex Control Markers (see 3.4)
• German Victory Point markers (see 4.1)
• Game Turn indicator (see section 5.0)
German Aerial Supply marker (see 8.7)
Weather indicators
(see section 11.0)
Ground Support Aircraft markers (see 12.18)
3.0 Set Up & Hex Control
3.1 Players should first decide which side each will control. After that they should take their own side's units and sort them onto and around the map according to the instructions given below.
3.2 Soviet Set Up
The Soviet player sets up first. He places one rifle unit in each hex in, or generally east of, his own front line entrenchments that contain the rifle symbol. All rifle units are placed with their untried sides showing, with neither player knowing their real strengths. For example, hexes 3206, 1531, 3530, etc. He should place the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps in hex 2125, 3rd Tank Army in hex 3209, and 5th Tank Army in hex 3407 (both tank armies start at their reduced, one-step strength).
Three untried rifle armies start the game in the dead pile, from which they are eligible for replacement (see section 9.0), along with 2nd Shock Army. That unit is marked with a "D" (for dead pile) in its upper-left corners, and it is also eligible for replacement (again, see section 9.0).
All other Soviet units are reinforcements and should be placed on the Turn Record Track (TRT) according to the game turn numbers printed in their upper-left corners. For example, 1st Guards Cavalry Corps should be placed in the Game Turn 1 box on the TRT.
Note no Soviet rifle units are marked as reinforcements on either side of their counters, which is in keeping with the untried unit system governing their use in the game. Even so, four rifle armies are received as reinforcements on Game Turn 1, another comes into play that way on Game Turn 4, another on Game Turn 6, and a final one on Game Turn 18. Those units should also be placed on the TRT, chosen anonymously as described in the first paragraph of this rule, and with neither player yet knowing their true strengths. See 2.13 and 9.3 for more details on these units.
3.3 German Set Up
Once the Soviet player has finished setting up that side's units, the German player places all his available units, excluding only his reinforcements, anywhere in or generally west of his front line fortifications. Within that stricture, German units may begin play set up Soviet zones of control (see section 7.0) and all units begin at their full step strength. He must observe stacking limits during initial placement (see section 6.0).