From: "Gary J. Robinson" Subject: Empires of Apocalypse Q&A ----- MORSECODE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS Q. Please give an example of how British convoys to the map edge work. A. * Move 1: The transport enters the Atlantic sea zone from Liverpool. Note the first sea zone costs 1 move regardless of whether the ship starts the turn at sea or in port. The port is considered to be part of the sea zone. * Move 2&3: It moves off the map completely into the Western Map Edge seazone. This costs two moves because the Western Map Edge is a "double sea zone." The transport is removed from the map. It loads up some resources off-map from the 12 that are available there. * Move 4: It moves back onto the map somewhere in the Atlantic Sea Zone, and drops off its cargo at a port in this sea zone, such as Liverpool. Q: The rules of the conquest of france by the axis are clear but i donīt know what happens when the ally liberate france? A: Then France is reactivated. The French RPs become available for the production of French units. Q: When you make a carpet bombing and the anti air roll of the objeCtive hex is succesful, it reduces the total air factor or the modified air factors? A: It reduces the effective air factors. A die roll that rejects 3 "carpet bombing" factors rejects 15 air factors. Q: Can the BE make free frances units and how many? A: That depends on how many units became available during the installation of the Vichy government or later. Anyway you can rebuild eliminated Vichy forces as Free French. COLD DAYS IN HELL SPECIFIC QUESTIONS: Q: What I meant to ask was: "In CDiH, is it the case that orange unit losses must be rebuilt in order to continue to build red units?" So, if you have all the orange units on the map, start building red units, but then orange units die, you must rebuild those dead orange units before you can go back to producing red units? I think that what you've just said is that the answer is "yes." My opponents report that they've got about 4 months' worth of production of orange units in their deadpile, and assert that if they had to rebuild those whenever they die before they were permitted to build red units, a german-player policy of hunting down and destroying orange tanks and air would prevent the soviets from ever being able to build red infantry. A: The USSR has to build all orange printed units and re-built losses suffered in wars against neutrals for example. Once all orange printed units have been built the Soviet player gains freedom to produce what he wants. Please nobody misunderstand my statement here that the orange unit rule requires any engineers to be built because they are printed in orange. [As a practical matter, I think the best way to handle this is to have two force pools for the Soviets; one for orange units that have never been built or else have been killed in wars with neutrals; and another for all other units, including orange ones killed once at war with Germany. No red units can be built until the first pool is empty.] Q: Baltics Conquered? Are the baltic states considered to be conquered countries when occupied by the axis, or are they occupied parts of the USSR, or something else? Our primary reasons for asking are partisans and the construction of 1 waffen unit per conquered country via diplomacy points. A: The Baltic States favor the Axis and are considered "freed" when the Axis occupies a Baltic capital. Yes, the Axis can buy 1 W-SS unit for diplomatic points in the Baltic states (for all 3 of them not 1 single W-SS unit for each). Q: First Winter special rule for axis minors says that they have an attrition check if they're "caught in soviet ZOC." When do you perform this attrition check? A: At once after the soviet player has rolled for the weather every Axis unit in question is checked for. GENERAL SERIES QUESTIONS: 2.1 THE MAP Q: Are the parts of the map in the Atlantic Ocean with the terrain keys or the UGG logo (if I remember well) playable? A: You can use the are covered by the terrain effects chart. That was introduced into Morsecode without seeing its consequences for combining with the other games. Q: The lighter colored ocean - I am assuming these are coastal hexes that river transports can use? It's not mentioned in the rules that I can find. A: In Morsecode this is just looking "cool". We are thinking about a rule for easier search for subs in that areas. Q: The board games maps have several coast line hexes which is 99% sea and only a tiny fraction clear terrain. A few examples (all taken from the Morsecode map): Hex SW of Waterford in Ireland. Hex NE of northern port in Denmark (port not named, but is Fredrikshavn) Hex 2xNE+N of Scapa Flow (part of Shetland) Hex SW of Liverpool Hex 2xSE of Copenhagen Hex SW of Gothenburg. As you can see there are almost no terrain in the hex except sea. Is it allowed to put land units in these hexes or should they be treated as sea? Other hexes can create some confusion. Take a look at the hex SW+S of Cherbourg. This hex obviously has a land connection to the hexes to the S and SE, but has it land connection to the hex to the SW? A: Coastal hexes in EoA: Even if there is only a small land portion in the otherwise all sea hex this is always coastal hex. Connections: The hex you mentioned has no connection to the doubted direction. There is a small unpreciseness when printing a map. If connection is that small that it only can by seen if you enlarge it there is no connection. Usually we tried to avoid uncertainities about what is in a hex by always filling the hexes with the current terrain type. Q: For some cities, the anchor symbol for the port is not in the same hex as the city, such as Glasgow and Tunis. Does this mean the port is considered to be in a separate hex from the city? A: No, map error, all ports are considered to be in the city. 3.7 THE NATIONAL POOLS Q: When a city that is a supply source is cut of from the national grid, a new supply pool is established for that city. What isn't clear is whether that new grid starts out empty or whether, at the moment of creation, the player whose pool it is can put whatever stuff they want from the national pool into it. A: Rule 3.7 on page 6 regulates if and when something can be moved between the National pools. This rule forbids the non active player to do any such transfers. In other words: if the enemy cuts off a part of your forces the supply that is already in the pocket (cities, airfields, HQs) will be there and looses its connection to the national pool. You cannot negate being "out of supply" when you see the enemy has cut off part of your forces and then you move some supply points into the pocket from the national pool. 4.4.1 EFFECTS OF AIR ZOC Q: If an airborne drop is being attempted, and the air units doing the drop move through an air ZOC on the way to the target but the target hex is outside of the ZOC, can the air units exerting the ZOC search for and intercept the airdropping units on their way to the target? A: Yes Q: Or are searches only conducted at the target hex (in this case making the airdrop immune to interception)? A: No [This seems to have large implications for interceptions of a variety of air missions "en route" instead of just in the hex where the battle vector is placed, and could prevent strategic bombers from "flying past" fighters to hit targets far in the rear. The impression I got from Udo was that such interceptions "en route" could only be for one round, and then the active aircraft could continue unmolested to their target hex.] Q: So if, say, a fighter (or even a bomber?) on an airbase makes its search roll for its air ZOC and detects enemy bombers flying through the area, fighters from that airbase can scramble and intercept for one round of air combat. Can they call in other fighters on other airbases who either blew their search roll, or else were more than 4 hexes away (outside of air ZOC) from the path the bombers took? A: Airzoc interceptions are ad hoc actions and do not allow "calling in" other fighters from airbases that have to cross a larger distance than 4 hexes. The major reason why UGG put in the air zoc concept is that long range strat. bombers could otherwise avoid enemy fighters by attacking mission hexes that are out of range for the enemy fighters. Q: I am trying to figure out what air ZOCs are for. Most air missions result in the placement of a battle vector, or the planes joining a battle vector created by a naval mission or ground attack. I presume for these battles, no searching is necessary for both sides to join the battle, they can just fly there (except for when one side is Surprised in an interception naval battle). So as far as I can see, air ZOCs of non-naval aircraft (and radar ZOCs vs air units) are used only for: - sending fighters to attack patrolling naval aircraft at sea , since they place no battle vector- intercepting strategic bombers and paratroop missions whose target hex is beyond the range of the fighter with the ZOC, but whose flight path goes through its ZOC- sending fighters to attack low flying aircraft, which need to be searched for in order to attack them, since they place no battle vector. Is that right? Any other reason for there to be an air search for air units? A: I think you got them. Q: Airbase attacks can be intercepted using search rules once they enter Air ZOC, right? (We've not yet done any searches, so I'm actually not all that familiar with search rules, but it seems that the ability to intercept airbase attacks makes them relatively ineffective at tying up enemy air) A: The airbase attack rule states that air base attacks supercede air Zocs. First all air base attacks are done. Only airports that are not subject to air base attacks may try to abort other enemy aircraft by an Air ZOC search roll. As a beginner you could choose not to use the air Zoc rules and only allow non- active player air moves to battle hexes the phasing player causes. The air ZOC rule was imposed to hinder for example strategic bombers to sneak past enemy fighter bases and conduct a mission outside the defending fighter's range. 6.1 REINFORCEMENT PLACEMENTS Q: Cities not under their owner's control are not eligible for replacements to be taken there, right? (The soviets can't take replacement units in Kiev if the germans have conquered it, correct?) A: YES 6.2.1 WEATHER EFFECTS Q: When tracing supply through multiple weather zones, how do you determine maximum supply trace length? By where the unit is, by the worst-case, or some other method? A: Worst case, sorry. 6.3 INITIATIVE Q: What phase do you spend supply points to increase your Strategic Initiative bonus? A: In the initiative phase before rolling who gets the initiative. 7.1.2 SUPPLY CHECK Q: Supply sources are home country cities that are not isolated. Does this include, for example, Tunis and Bastia? A: Yes for Bastia, it is part of the French home country. No for Tunis, it is in a non-European colony. [Presumably Cagliari counts as Italian home country. Bastia barely makes the cut as "non-isolated" since it has (barely) six hexes on Corsica it can trace to. Presumably cities in non-European colonies can qualify as "minor supply sources" under 7.1.2.3. Personally, I would not use the six-hexes rule in Russia, or else you cannot get large pockets. If you need a justification for that, Western Europe was much more densely populated and had more urban areas and better road nets.] Q: Say out-of-supply (flipped) French troops in Calais are picked up by a convoy and placed in Brest, which is in supply. Do they immediately regain their supplied status and un-flip, so they can move and attack at full strength that turn? Or do they remain flipped (and weak) until the post-combat supply check? A: OUT of supply is checked twice per turn, between those checks no status change is possible. 7.1.2.2 USE OF A SUPPLY MARKER Q: How do you move supply counters? A: Supply can get anywhere your supply net ranges in from your national pool. STORING supply COUNTERS is only allowed in the listed locations. [I take this to mean, anywhere you can get unlimited supply, you can plop down a supply counter, as long as it is a city hex, airfield, or there is an HQ there. It need not be a hex on a railway. Note it can only occur during a friendly movement or exploitation phase however, 3.7. As a result you should be able to pick up and put down these counters more or less at will within your supply net during these phases, so long as they end up in one of the three legal locations or back in the pool. You do not "move" them like regular ground units, they just "teleport." I guess an exception would be if you were striking out into the unknown, I.e. more than 5 hexes from a road or railway, in which case the HQ could carry them. Of course ships can carry them across water, and planes can also carry them - bombers 1 point, and strategic bombers 2 points. And of course any supply counter you place on the map must come from your national pool.] 7.2.1.a.1 PATROL MISSIONS WITH SHIPS Q: What happens if a friendly naval force, in an attempt to deflect an enemy naval patrol, sails to its hex, conducts a Search, and fails to detect the enemy patrol? A: Nothing. Both forces remain in the same hex and there is no combat (unless the enemy forces succeeds in its Search and wants to initiate combat of course). Q: Assume the Germans send some ships from Antwerp out first as a patrol. Then they sail some more ships out as an invasion force. A British patrol searches for the invasion force and finds it. Can the German patrol now counter intercept the British patrol before it gets to the German invasion force? A: No. However, it is possible the German patrol may be able to join the fight. If the German invasion force fails its search roll it is surprised and must fight alone. If the German invasion force's search roll succeeds the German patrol and other Axis ships within their speed rate and aircraft within their range can join in the battle to protect the invasion force. [Note that the best way to "counter-intercept" the British patrol under these circumstances is for the German patrol to do a pre-emptive search for the British patrol as soon as the German patrol sails into range, and try to engage the British patrol before the German invasion force even sails.] 7.2 NAVAL PHASE Q: Say British Task Force A is on patrol at sea at the start of the turn, where it was last turn. Task Force B goes from port to a coastal hex to start an evacuation. Realizing they are vulnerable to air attack, the British want to change Task Force A's mission this turn from patrol to evacuation, and send it to the evacuation hex to join Task Force B and provide anti aircraft protection, thus combining them into one large task force whose mission is evacuation. Is this allowed? A: If TF A was sent there last turn, yes if this turn, no. 7.2.1.a.2.2: RADAR STATION SEARCHES Q. If a radar station detects an enemy naval force, exactly which friendly forces may be sent to attack it? A. Any friendly ships in SPEED range, and any friendly aircraft, including fighters, who would normally be in range to fly to that hex. 7.2.1.a.3: PATROL MISSIONS WITH AIRCRAFT Q: Can any bomber fly a Patrol Mission to search for ships, or only those with air-to-sea factors? A: Only those with air-to-sea factors. [It appears that any aircraft, even fighters, can search for ships within their air ZOC if the plane is sitting on its airbase.] Q: Say a plane on patrol searches for an enemy force, detects it, and moves to its hex to attack it. A round of battle is fought. If the enemy force keeps moving, does the plane get to search again from the battle hex? A: Yes. Q: If so, does it have to subtract the enemy speed rating from its search number, as a pursuer? A: Yes. Also you must consider from what airbase the aircraft came from and if the new position of the fleet is in range counted from that airbase. 7.2.1.b CONVOY MOVEMENT Q: Can troops which were convoyed during the naval phase, move during the following ground movement phase? A: Yes. 7.2.1.f EVACUATIONS Q: Just to be clear, in an evacuation, are the troops embarked before or after the Naval Combat Segment? A: After. They cannot be sunk as a result of naval combat, just stranded. 7.2.1.j INVASIONS Q: In an invasion, are the troops landed before or after the Naval Combat Segment (7.4.3)? A: Unloading is executed before Naval combat. That's why it makes sense to slip past enemy patrols. The enemy still can react, but you have landed your troops. 7.2.1.1 NON-ACTIVE SIDE AIR/SEA REACTION Q: If an evacuation battle vector is placed on the coast, and a German surface ship within the ten hex reaction radius reacts to join the battle, can it be intercepted on the way by a British patrol at sea? A: You can always be intercepted when moving ships for whatever reason. Q: Can a sub within ten hexes join the battle at the Evacuation battle vector? A: No, subs are too slow. 7.2.2.b: MULTIPLE BATTLE ROUNDS Q: A naval force is searched for and detected. Can a bomber sitting on its base 12 hexes away (maximum range for the bomber) fly to and participate in the battle? A: Yes. Q: What happens if the battle continues in the same hex? Are search rolls still made? Is it possible to evade while staying in the same hex? A: It is not possible to evade without fleeing from the hex. If both sides stay in the hex, combat automatically continues. Search rolls are still made however each round for purposes of Surprise (7.2.2.7). Note this is different from naval combat during segment 7.4.3, which is always only one round. Q: There is a battle between a German naval force and a British naval force. After one round the German force tries to flee. How far can it move before the pursuing British can attempt to Search for it again and intercept it? A: A number of hexes equal to its SPEED rating. [This is a huge clarification that definitely belongs in the next edition of the rules. It seems to say that once a fleet has fought one round of combat, of any kind, it can sail its full range of SPEED hexes before it has to worry about being molested again by the enemy. For fast ships, i.e. those with more than a SPEED of six, this will automatically put them outside of the search zone of whatever they were fighting, and guarantee escape.] Q: The fleeing German naval force begins to move toward another British naval force. After moving it is now in search range of both the first pursuing British force and a new, second one. What is the search situation? A: Both British forces can search. The first one is making a Pursuit search and must subtract the enemy SPEED rating as usual from its search number. The second force makes a normal search. If either one succeeds, it can call in all friendly units in SPEED range as usual, so it is possible for a search by the new force to allow the pursuers to join the fight, even if they blew their Pursuit search attempt. 7.2.2.1 SUBMARINES Q: Say a group of German subs is sitting in a hex near Liverpool. The British want to take care of them before sending out their convoys. Can they send a naval bomber or surface task force out on patrol to search for the subs, and if the search is successful, immediately attack all of the subs with several more naval bombers/ships? In other words, if the subs are not moving, can they be detected during the British turn by British patrols and then all of the subs be attacked by the British? A: Yes, but only one search roll is allowed within a 6 hex zone. A better tactic would be to give your convoys strong escorts. Q: Imagine two convoys out of Liverpool, one goes to the West Edge and picks up 12 resources and then returns to Liverpool, while the other convoy drops off some RPs in Brest and then returns to Liverpool. A wolfpack of subs is lurking off Liverpool. In theory the sub could attack each convoy on the way out and then attack them again on the way back in, assuming its searches found them, correct? It thus could get four interception battles, two against each convoy, one coming, one going, through its search zone. A: Yes, ALWAYS when a moving group passes the search zone of a patrol or subs it can be searched for and if detected involved into combat. Q: What happens if a transport carrying a plane suffers a "2" result from a submarine attack? A: Then the plane is "D". Q: It appears from the Search table that a patrol can search for a sub as the sub sails through the Patrol's ZOC. Is it true that planes and patrols can search for and attack subs? A: Yes. Q: If the patrol makes the search roll, it looks like the patrol moves to the sub's hex and then engages in combat with the sub using the same tables as if the sub had spotted and attacked the patrol. A: Yes. Q: Does the sub make a search roll to see if it is surprised? A: No Q: Can the CV make an air-naval attack on the sub? A: No. Q: The sub has no printed armor or anti-aircraft strength so I am not sure how this would be carried out. Would you just use the "CV vs Sub" row on the sub combat table as if the CV were defending itself against a sub attack? A: Yes. Q: In this case, would the sub get to fire back? A: Only if the CV is in its hex. Q: Ideally the carrier force would like to just spot the sub with the CV, make an air-naval attack on the sub using the carrier, and not allow the sub to fire back. Could the CV do this by launching an air attack from a distance (six hexes) instead of the patrol entering the sub's hex? A: Yes. Q: Can a sub spot and intercept another sub? A: No. Q: Do damaged subs have to reach the nearest port in order to disappear for repairs? A: The "nearest port rule" is true only for aborted ships. Q: Do they have to start again from Germany after such repairs? A: For damaged ships we abstract the process by simply ignoring the way they get back to port. You pay the costs and they reappear in any port in your home country. I am aware that this procedure is not 100% accurate but it is simple. Q: May intercepting subs call in the battle naval aircraft that was not able to intercept by themselves? A: NO! because otherwise the search system would be turned to nonsense by subs. 7.2.2.3 AIR-TO-SEA COMBAT Q: Using the example: Two Stukas attack the BC Reknown. Say the British missed all their anti-aircraft shots this time. Could the two Stukas attack the Reknown with a combined strength of 10 (2+2 for the air to sea factors, with a +3 bonus for each = 10 total strength) or would they have to make two separate attacks at 5 strength each? A: Here both is allowed, owning players choice 7.2.2.4 SURFACE COMBAT Q: In a surface combat, could three destroyers with 2 strength each combine for one 6 strength attack against a BC, or would they have to make three strength 2 attacks? A: In case of surface battles no combination is allowed, fire must be executed separately. Reason: This rule is to illustrate the need of strong calibers in order to destroy a strong armor in surface combat. 7.2.2.5 NAVAL AIR OR SURFACE Q: If an task force with a CV finds another task force, can the CV launch an air attack from 6 hexes away without moving its task force any closer, and just have an air-naval battle? A: That depends on the outcome of the search roll and is not regulated by your will but by the outcome of the search roll. See Naval air or Surface. IF you surprise your enemy you can do as you want. [This seems to imply that if the enemy is not surprised and rolls low enough for a surface ship search to succeed, that he can force a surface combat in his own hex, in effect sucking the patrol into his hex whether it wants to engage in surface combat or not.] 7.2.2.3 AIR-TO-SEA COMBAT Q: Let's say a bomber with a naval attack strength of 1 is attacking a ship. The ship's anti-aircraft fire does 1 damage to the plane. Does this mean the plane cannot attack? A: Yes Q: Or is it really a 4 bomber due to the +3 air vs naval bonus, so the AA fire just knocked it down to a 3? A: No, you cannot receive a bonus when you do not get at least one factor through. 7.3 LAND MOVEMENT Q: I have been unable to find an explanation for that straits symbol connecting Copenhagen with Sweden with regard to railways. Can ground units use rail movement to cross the Copenhagen strait? A: No. [I still am not clear about straits. There is a -5 attack modifier listed for a strait, but no movement cost listed for it. ] Q: What happens if a ground unit enters a hex containing nothing but an enemy air or ship unit? And does it matter if that enemy unit is already "A" ? A: In this case the air unit/ship has to rebase immediately to the nearest base. There it becomes "A". If it was already "A" it is now "D" and is placed into the repair pool. 7.3.2.d BLOCKS Q: Here is a blocking question: say a German unit moves into a hex with a French one, placing a battle vector. An adjacent French unit could block by joining the battle, but decides not to do so. Now a second German unit enters the battle by the same route. Does the French unit get the decision to block again and enter the battle? Or must it make that decision when the first German moves into the hex and starts the battle? A: Because all phasing moves are considered to happen at the same time, the defender "has the right to know" what is going on and may wait till the active move is finished. The decision to block or not must only be made at once if the block provoking active unit could just continue moving (if not blocked). 7.3.4 RESERVES Q: Must all be reaction reserves be comitted to battles during the Reaction phase? A: Yes. Q: or can some be saved and committed to reinforce defenders in pursuit tank battles that occur as a result of earlier tank battles? The example seems to say reserves can be committed to new tank battles as they arise and need not be all committed A: I see that the example is misleading here. We are thinking about an optional rule allowing reserves and defensive air support during pursuit. In the standard version this is not allowed. I am aware that the rules not a clarification here. 7.3.5 AIR MOVEMENT Q: When counting penalties to air units (terrain, weather, special First Winter In the USSR penalties for the germans, etc), what order are they applied in? Since some are minuses and and some are fractions, you can get different results depending on the order in which you perform the operations. A: Terrain, than weather, thereafter any specials 7.3.5.b & c TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC BOMBARDMENTS Q: When there's a tac bombardment or strat bombardment of a port, do the ships in that harbor get their anti-air attacks? A: YES it is in addition to the local anti-air defenses in the port. 7.3.5.d AIRBASE ATTACK Note airbase attacks negate air ZOCs of planes on those airbases before any searching can be done, so the airbase attacks cannot be intercepted en route by planes on an airbase under attack. See questions under Air ZOCs, 4.4.1, above. 7.3.5.g PARATROOPER MISSIONS Q: The rules state that a battle marker must always be placed for a paradrop, so that reserves can be sent there. However, air operations, which include paradrops, happen after reserves. Does this mean that out-of-sequence reserve movement is possible, or that you must place a battle marker before the reserve segment where you might want to drop paratroopers? (and, if so, are you forced to perform the paradrop in that location once you've placed the battle marker?) A: Good point! In this case an out of sequence reserve movement is allowed for paradrop missions happen only rarely. 7.4.4.6 COUNTER ATTACKS Q: Does it cost supply to start a counterattack against a retreating unit? A: Yes, just like any attack, but we are thinking about to change that in EoA 2.0 7.4.4.7 TANK BATTLES Q: A question arose regarding the interaction of tank battles and counterattacks. Say Stack A starts a tank battle against Defender B. Defender B retreats from the tank battle after one round. In doing so it enters the ZOC of Stack C. There are two possibilities here: either Stack C can initiate a counterattack against Defender B, or else Stack A can follow and initiate a new tank battle against Defender B. Are both of these options allowed? A: Yes. [Presumably after this counterattack has resulted in the placing of a battle vector, the original tank battle force can then go on its merry way.] Q: Can tanks in fact move anywhere they want using those movement points, or are they required to create a battle if they use them at all? A: Tanks in EoA have the ability to "save" movement points for later use in the combat phase by marking them with a tank battle marker. After the resolution of the first tank battle the remaining MPs can be converted into either movement or new battles. Q: Is the non-phasing player permitted to block this movement? A: Yes. Q: If blocking is permitted, what happens to phasing units that lack the additional movement point that creating a tank battle requires? A: If this happens the resulting battles are "normal" battles and no tank battle marker can be placed. Q: Even if the tank has plenty of movement points left? The case I'm thinking of is if you, say, have a tank with four movement points after a battle that is dragging along an infantry that only has one left. They move a hex, that move is blocked. The tank would have two movement points left, but the infantry would have -1. Does the presence of the infantry make the tank incapable of producing another tank battle? A: NOW I see the source of your question. First of all a block is just the same as if the blocking units have already been in the hex they made their block move into and are now attacked normally. In tank battles where the attacker has units with different MPs left this is marked. In the example above if you do not switch to a unit with less MPs or an INF as fighting unit the tanks ( and accompanying INF) with sufficient MPs left can continue their path after the battle is over. Units that do not have enough MPs are left behind after battle. Q: Ok, blocks are permitted. So, another situation: tank battle is the location of a massive air battle. Defender retreats. Tanks move on, are blocked by the retreated forces. Is the defender required to bring all the air that was in the last battle into the new battle? A: NO, but the attacker is the one who decides for he can choose to attack again and then all defensive air unit in the hex must be committed. Q: Can they elect to leave some behind? A: YES, but this would put them in a situation where they are possibly outnumbered. Q: What if they don't react all the units that retreated? A: In this case the units not taking part in the battle are not involved. Don't forget if you have more than one tank left in the tank battle you can choose to split forces up, some attack the retreating units and the others can continue their path without being blocked by that stack. 7.3.2.c STRATEGIC MOVEMENT Q: Can you mix strategic and normal movement in a single movement phase? A: Yes Q: Can you spend a movement point to get onto a railroad, then two to move four hexes down it strategically, then a fourth movement point to move into enemy zoc? A: Yes. [This last answer is my interpretation of a confusing conversation in which "rail movement" (7.1.4) and "strategic movement along a rail" (7.3.2.c) were confused. I see this as very similar to the "1/2 an MP to move along a road" rule in most wargames.] 10.2 LOOT Q: "If the country does not have any of some item, this item is ignored whenever chosen." What does this mean? The Netherlands has only two supplies points, no material, and no replacements. The Germans loot Amsterdam and get a 2 result on the Loot table. Do they get both supply points? A: Yes Q: Or can the Netherlands pick the nonexistent Materials as the second thing to get, so the Germans get nothing for their second pick? A: No the non existing things cannot be chosen. Q: Does the conquest of ex-Polish or Baltic cities, now Russian, give the right to loot? A: YES. Q: May the USSR avoid the looting of her goodies by storing two RPs in the cities far to the east? A: Nobody can avoid being looted by storing somewhere else. As long you "have" something, no matter where, the looter gets it. 12.0 PRODUCTION [This game seems to assume some familiarity with WiF. The rules do not spell it out, but resources can travel 5 hexes overland just like a trace supply line from a resource hex to get to a railway or port, from which they can get to factories either by rail or by ship/rail. ] 12.10 THE STORAGE SHEETS Q: It is possible to store supplies, material and RPs. Can resources be stored? A: No. 14. LAND SURPRISE Q: The Surprise rules say that a "6" Tank Battle marker may be placed for the first battle a tank engages in. Is that true even if the tank moved through a hex or two to get to the battle? A: NO, only if no MPs have been spent before engagement. Q: In other words if the Belgians and Netherlanders all defend one hex back from the border, the tank has to spend two movement points just to get to them and thus can only place a "4" marker right? A: That depends on the MP costs a hex causes. A special ability of the surprise feature is that the first hex entered by tank battle is not counted, so you can place with "5" on top if the first hex you moved through was a clear hex. This is true even if the battle hex itself is a forest hex.