THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 1941 - 45 MANUAL AND SCENARIO BOOKLET Copyright Vento Nuovo Games 2012 P 2 Copyright Vento Nuovo Games 2012 INDEX THE BASIC GAME p. 3 THE OPTIONAL RULES THE SCENARIOS p. 21 1.0 The game components p. 3 17.0 Mountais p. 16 2.0 Setup p. 3 18.0 Jericho trompete p. 16 3.0 Basic definitions p. 3 19.0 Panzers attack! p. 16 4.0 Supply p. 5 20.0 Air recon p. 16 5.0 The powers p. 6 21.0 Scorched earth p. 17 6.0 The units p. 7 22.0 New factories p. 17 7.0 Sequence of play p. 8 23.0 Partisans p. 17 8.0 The combat phase p. 10 24.0 Garrisons p. 17 9.0 The blitz phase p. 12 25.0 Axis first winter p. 18 10.0 Armor exploitation p. 13 26.0 Ekaterina bm13 p. 18 11.0 The victory phase p. 13 27.0 Gustav siege gun p. 18 28.0 Strategic bombing p. 18 29.0 Lend lease p. 19 30.0 Strategic warfare p. 19 31.0 Airborne assault p. 19 THE ADVANCED GAME p. 13 32.0 Amphibious assault p. 19 12.0 The weather p. 13 33.0 Naval movement p. 20 13.0 Elite units p. 14 34.0 Reserve units p. 20 14.0 Advanced production p. 14 35.0 Italy surrenders p. 20 15.0 Advanced supply p. 14 36.0 Iran joins axis p. 21 16.0 Movement & fuel p. 15 37.0 Mairbeck sheripov p. 21 38.0 Tech levels p. 21 credits The BLOCKS IN THE EAST’s basic concept was developed by Emanuele Santandrea starting from 2009, after over 30 years spent playing wargames. However, many other people have contributed in developing the final version of the game. Special Thanks go to: Silvia Grazioli . 45gradi Riccardo Gatti Andrea ‘’Fù Fù Scipione’’ Tadini Head of Brand Care Cover Art Alpha Tester Anna Castellano Davide ‘’White’’ Franchin Davide ‘’Zap’’ Zapparoli Business Strategist Product Development & Supplier Alpha Tester Marina Cattaneo . 45gradi Ben Curtis Emanuele Marchetti Head of Promotion Linguistic Consultant Alpha Tester Monica Achilli Marco ‘’Slayer’’ Sbarra Davide Rondini Game Development, Beta Tester Alpha Tester Alpha Tester and Cheerleader Niccolò ‘’Murdock’’ Villa Davide ‘’Ing.’’ Ferrario Elena “Tempest” Carrettoni Alpha Tester Alpha Tester Italian Translation Eastfront.org Antonio ‘’Tonino’’ Santandrea Teresa Piardi . 45gradi Quality Assurance Manager Graphic Layout Jordan Finley Artist Marcello ‘’Wave’’ Ruscio Game Development Fabio Loglisci and Head of Beta Testing Alpha tester Matteo ‘’Grayfox’’ Fiorino Alessandro Montel Game Development Business Consultant and Head of Alpha Testing P 3 Copyright Vento Nuovo Games 2012 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.0 SETUP On 22 June 1941, under the codeword BASIC GAME Dortmund, the German Wehrmacht Side Selection started the invasion of the Soviet 1.0 THE GAME COMPONENTS At the beginning of the game, players Union. The following components are used for choose randomly or by mutual agre- playing the game. ement who controls the Soviets and Some components (*) are not needed who the Axis. for playing the Basic Game. Game Setup • N° 2 86x62cm laminated map-boards Place the Turn Tracker Token on the • N° 1 24 Pages Manual “June 1941” box of the Turn Record • N° 148 wooden red blocks Chart. • N° 143 wooden black blocks • N° 6 wooden green blocks 3.0 BASIC DEFINITIONS • N° 7 wooden blocks The following rules are used many ti- • N° 304 laminated PVC stickers mes in several different Phases and • N° 60 wooden yellow cubes Steps of a Turn. They have been • N° 10 plastic white cylinders grouped here to avoid repetition. • N° 20 wooden red cubes * BLOCKS IN THE EAST recalls, in game • N° 20 wooden blue cubes * Controlling Player / Enemy form, the most decisive battles fought • N° 20 plastic black cylinders * A player always moves the units of his in the Eastern Front from the begin- • N° 20 Green Removable Stickers* side, and is, therefore, the “controlling ning of the invasion in Summer 1941, •• N° 20 Orange Removable Stickers* player” for his own units and territory. until the dramatic end in Berlin in • N° 10 Black Removable Stickers* Whenever the rules refer to units mo- Spring 1945. • N° 20 Red Removable Stickers* ving, this means that the controlling BLOCKS IN THE EAST is a game for • N° 20 Blue Removable Stickers * player is the one moving them. What two/four players, one/two control the • N° 1 Turn Tracker Token a player does not control is defined as Soviet Red Army and the other one/ • N° 7 dice the “enemy”. two control the Axis Powers. Although based on history, players in The Mapboard Phasing/non Phasing Player command of the two factions can mo- The map-board shows the area in The “phasing player” is the player cur- dify the evolution of World War 2 on which the Eastern Front campaign rently performing the phases (Axis or the Eastern Front. was fought. Soviet Phases) for his side. A hexagonal grid on the map regulates Thus, the Axis player is the phasing RULES INTRODUCTION movement and allows the precise po- player during the Axis Phases, and the The rules are divided into three major sitioning of the units. Individual hexa- Soviet player is the phasing player du- sections which can be learned one at gons are called “hexes”. ring the Soviet Phases. a time. Terrain is simplified and adapted to The player who is not the phasing play- The first section is the BASIC GAME conform to the hex grid. er is the “non-phasing” player RULES which introduces the basic In the upper right corner of the Mapbo- concepts and enables players to start ard, there’s the TURN RECORD CHART Cities, Production Centres playing the game without too many used to record the current Turn and and Factories Hex Control rules to remember. the weather. Once a ground unit enters and/or pas- Then the ADVANCED GAME RULES ses through a city, Production Centres provide more specific and detailed The Unit Counters or oilfield hex, that hex is immediately rules for an enhanced realism, such as 304 wooden blocks of contrasting conquered. Conquered enemy factori- the use of Fuel and the Advanced Pro- colors are provided for playing of the es are destroyed once captured. duction System. game. These are the game’s playing Finally, for those players who want to pieces and are called “units”. City get the best out of the game, OPTIO- Also 221 wooden cubes and plastic There are 6 types of cities. NAL RULES can be added as desired. cylinders are provided as a comple- The Optional Rules include Technology ment for the game. They are used for Research, Strategic warfare over Ger- production, supply status, technology man factories and U-Boot Campaign research… in the Atlantic Ocean, Amphibious In- vasions, Parachute Assaults… Fog Of War The game can be played with the Fog Scale of War on (wooden blocks are placed A hexagon is approximately 53 miles (70 on the map in such a way the oppo- Km) across. A turn is 1 month long. nent player can not see them) OR A full strength counter represents 300 with Fog of War OFF (all units are vi- planes, 300 Tanks, or 30,000 men, de- sible). pending on the type unit, equipment and nationality. P 4 Copyright Vento Nuovo Games 2012 • Capital City hex has a big red dot (i.e. Headquarters (HQ) Units Moscow) Each Power has its own Supreme • Fortress City hex has an orange bor- Leader. der and a Fortress Icon (i.e. Leningrad) • Victory City hex has a special icon (i.e. Moscow has the Kremlin). • Major City hex has a big orange dot (i.e. Kalinin) Armor, Air and Soviet Navy HQ are not • Minor City hex have a yellow dot (i.e. used in the BASIC GAME. Rubinsk) Stacking A maximum of 4 units may be sta- Historical Battle Locations have cked in the same hex. However, no a small black/yellow dot. These more than one air unit may use a city hexes (i.e. Demyansk/Uman) have as an airbase hex, and no more then 3 no special functions at all in the ground units can stack in the same hex, game. They have been added of which maximum 2 can be ground only for historical note. combat units. When attacking or defending, play- ers may use 1 more air unit to support Airbase combat (usually 1 fighter plus 1 bom- Planes must land in an airfield where ber). they can be re-fuelled, re-armed and eventually repaired. Steps Every unit has a combat strength de- Siberia and off Map Boxes pending on how many steps the unit There are 5 OFF-MAP BOXES in the has. When involved in combat, a unit game: Narvik, Tromso, Petsamo, Mur- rolls as many dice as steps they have. mansk and Siberia. These special areas are just too far Action Points from the playing area to be represen- HQs have special Steps called Action ted in the game as an hex, even if all Points which are repaired as steps are, the rules applied to hexes also apply to but, instead of rolling dice, they allow OFF-MAP BOXES. the HQ to perform as many actions as Action Points the HQ has. Murmansk is Forest Terrain and is rail and land connected to the map (Kan- Tech Level tahalati), while it is only land con- defines how much training, experience nected to Petsamo. and consequently firepower/ Move- An airfield is any controlled Fortress, ment Points/ Special Ability a unit has.