David Bolt - 09:12pm Sep 17, 1997 PST (#9 of 10)
             Currently playing HBtLF and Rossiya 1917

For the others DOE players, I took the liberty of cross-posting a set of
rules questions to this board as well. If you have DOE questions, you
can contact me directly at HBtLF@aol.com.

Joaquin, 

I wanted to answer your questions. Thanks for your interest in the game.
I was pleased to see the "Death of Empires" board open up on VWDB. I’ll
try to participate more than my schedule has allowed to date. At any
rate, here are your answers: "Do unpaved roads cross river hexsides?"

Yes, but remember the movement point penalties for road mode can
sometimes outweigh the advantages. The cost to enter road mode for a
stack containing more than 1BE is 1 MP when entering road mode on an
unpaved road (Standard Rule 8.23.A). This Road Mode Procedure rule
(8.23.A) in the final sentence levies a 1/2MP per hex movement point
penalty cost for taking road mode through hexes occupied by friendly
units. So taking road mode short distances over dirt roads makes sense,
but not if done so through multiple hexes occupied by friendly units.
Dirt roads, as the Exclusive Rules point out, pretty much went from any
hex to any hex in this part of Western Europe in 1914. This rule
reflects the congestion and confusion that occurs when one body of
troops tries to march through other bodies of troops, some of whom want
to occupy the same roads.

"Does not say the same excl. rule 11.81 and stand. rule 3.13D?" 

The Exclusive Rules, which always take precedence over the Standard
Rules, give the ability to German Army units (i.e., army artillery and
engineer units) to "be treated as if they were part of that" formation
when stacked with a Headquarters Class unit of a formation attached to
their army. In other words, these units could attack and defend as if
they were one formation. The Standard Rules only allow them to stack for
free, but not to act is if "they were part of that formation."

"Regarding the German detachments at the first scenario: expending 1 AP
allows the arty. dettachments to fire in differents or just in one
barrage attack? I mean, do they have to barage attack the same target if
Det A command track only expends 1 AP?"

When German Army Detachment A expends an ammunition point, all
formations attached to that Army Detachment with command counters on the
Independent Formations command track of that Army Detachment’s Chart can
use the full strength Barrage Factors of any artillery unit in the
current combat segment (only). The detachments with Army Detachment A
are similarly effected. Note that there are potentially four combat
segments per impulse that a unit could participate in (the initial and
final combat segments in both mutual combat phases). Thus, the
expenditure of an ammo point in the first three combat segments of an
impulse would leave Army Detachment A without an ammo point in the final
combat segment of the second combat phase in an impulse. What’s more, if
this happened in a situation where the Allied player had the initiative
in the next impulse, the German player might have to go through another
combat segment before a friendly Supply and Command Segment would come
around again to allow the replenishing of ammo points. Now admittedly,
this won’t really be a problem for Army Detachment A in beiseiging
Liege, but it might be if the Belgian player retained the division
garrisoning Liege for a local counter-attack or two.

"Do air units automatically move with the HQ of the formation they are
attached to?" 

Yes. In addition, air units should be able to move independently from
the headquarters they are attached to, as long as they remain within the
Command Control Radius (CCR) of their formation’s Headquarters Class
unit. the air units were mounted on relatively lightwieght structures
and hauled around by fairly good horses. In that sense, they should be
allowed to move by land with a mobility rating of "H." Moving by land
would avoid the potential for a failed maintenance rating check which
occurs after an air transfer operation (Standard Rule 8.34).

"In page 58, excl. rules, Turn Three German Reinforcements: shouldn´t
ILW Corps read IILW Corps instead?" 

You caught a typo there, thank you. It should be the IILW Corps (not the
I LW Corps). 

"11.82 excl. rule says initial german detachments are treated as OHL
units (do not count against stacking). But the NOTE in Scenario 1,
German unit locations, says they do count against stacking. Which rule
is correct?"

Exclusive Rule 11.82 specifically addresses the "mobilization covering
troops" that both sides deployed to screen the mobilization of their
respective armies. Those units are represented by the fourteen strength
points from fourteen divisions in the Sixth and Seventh Armies. These
units are described in detail on page 54 under German Unit Locations
section for Scenario Seven. This rule would not apply to any detachment
with Army Detachment A – these were not mobilization covering troops,
but rather, a force specially formed to assault Liege at the outset of
the campaign.

"Excl. rule 11.81, third paragraph, says German Combat Class Army units
can be reassigned from one Army to another. Can the French do this?"

Yes, Exclusive Rule 12.91 allows for this. In addition, the French do
not have to wait for the abandonment of their strategic plan to cross
attach units between armies as the Germans do.

"About stand. rule 2.81: where are the rules regarding "cross
attachments" of Army or Supreme Command units?" 

The rules that Standard Rule 2.81 refers to are Exclusive Rules 11.81
and 12.91. 

"After reading stand. rule 13.22: is it compulsory to put an intensive
combat marker on top of units entering an enemy fortress class hex? Is
not "Combat Marker Removal as a Result of Combat" allowed in this case?"

No, a regular combat marker could be placed instead of an intensive
combat marker, but a combat marker must be placed on a friendly unit
entering an enemy fortress unit’s hex. You are right that "Combat Marker
Removal as a Result of Combat" is allowed in this case.

"If an attack against a fortress unit int the same hex fails, can the
attacking units remain in that hex?" 

Attacking units cannot remain in the hex if the attack fails, they must
leave that hex and enter a hex that does not contain an enemy unit. If a
friendly unit was in the same hex with an enemy fortress unit, and that
fortress unit was next to an enemy city hex empty of enemy units, the
friendly unit could retire into the city (but it would also result in
that unit being cutoff if all six hexes were still occupied by enemy
forts. Ludendorf entered an empty Liege hex after the Belgian garrison
division pulled out.

"Is it necessary to point combat markers agains an enemy hex? Is it not
allowed to change attack directions?" 

Combat Markers should point through one of the three frontal hexsides of
a unit, or stack of units. When resolving combats, the attacker must
designate a hex at the moment of combat: it must be any enemy hex
adjacent to a frontal hexside.

"What happens to an intensive combat marked unit if it can not attack in
the first combat segment because of its target being barrage attacked
from a different hex? "

The combat marker is flipped over automatically. 

"BTW, I think it would be a great bonus including an original Schlieffen
Plan "what if" scenario in Clash of Arms "The Art Of War", or in the
upcoming "The Cossacks are coming". Your suggestion is a good one. On
level, its fairly simple – Leave the Eastern Front Reinforcements on
map, give the erstaz divisions to the armies of the right wing (and form
an army detachment with them to besiege Paris with the heavy artillery).
Do not allow the Sixth or Seventh armies to leave Germany. In fact, pull
back the Sixth army deep into Western Germany in response to Plan 17 and
draw the French in Lorraine far away from Paris. Take two formations
from the Sixth and Fifth armies and give th

David Bolt - 10:02pm Sep 17, 1997 PST (#10 of 10)
             Currently playing HBtLF and Rossiya 1917

This is a response that I sent to a group that has played several HBtLF
scenarios and is currently playing The Cossacks Are Coming! before going
on to a campaign game of HBtLF:

Rian, 

I wanted to answer your questions in the same numeric order that you
posed them.Good to hear from you. I hope all is well. I am glad you got
a chance to play scenario 4. Here are the answers to your questions.

"1. In the previous questions you gave the clarification that units of
an army in Advance mission cannot use the call off attack option. The
same question relates to the probe option (especially against units that
are already face-up) and whether they may choose to withdraw to fulfill
a loss. We found that if you do not allow such options attrition goes
very rapidly in favour of the Germans."

Yes, I agree with you, making a probe attack should be allowed for a
unit that belongs to a formation attached to an army on the Advance
Mission Order. You should also be able to withdraw to fulfill a loss, as
you indicate.

"2. The configuration of the fortresses around nacy is awkward with hex
E4919 left open. Is this intentional or has there been some displacement
like Liege and Namur?"

This arrangement of fortress units is as it should be. There was not a
full circle of fortresses around Nancy. There is, however, a fort in
5019 astride the rail line leading from Nancy (Fort Vincent).

"3. The set-up instruction give that the Ersatz division artillery with
BF of 5 should start as cadre. There is no such artillery, is the R
Corps artillery meant."

The July 1, 1997 errata put out by Clash of Arms (you can reach them at
clashofarm@aol.com or here at the VWDB) if you don’t have the latest
errata) corrects Exclusive Rule 13.75 in regards to the artillery of the
ersatz division. In the German 6th and 7th Army set-up notes, the German
ersatz division have artillery regiments with 2 Strength Points (SP) and
a Barrage Factor of 3. These artillery units should start as cadres with
0 SPs. If the German player(s) wants to use his limited artillery
replacements to build up these artillery units (as opposed to replacing
losses in regular units), he is free to do so. The I Ersatz corps
artillery also enters the game as a reinforcement at cadre strength. The
reference to a Barrage Factor of "5" should read "3" instead.

"4. If a unit in an Army with an Advance mission has the choice to
infiltrate from ZOC to ZOC (of the same units) but cannot than place 2
attack markers can he advance or should he attack or is the choice
free."

The choice is the attacker’s to make. 

"5. The Bav cavalry starts in an awkward position (behind the French
lines)what should be its starting position?" 

I'm sorry but I setup the units and I don't see how the bavarian cavalry
division in E:4215 is behind enemy lines. I think you meant the 7th
cavalry division, which should be in 4118, not 4418.

"We are now planning to play some Cossack are coming as a prelude to a
full campaign scenario of HBTLF. I will keep you informed" Glad to see
your group is playing The Cossacks Are Coming! in preparation for a
campaign game of HBtLF. I’m taking the liberty of posting this to the
Virtual Wargamer Discussion Board, where there is both a Death of
Empires folder, a WWI folder and a Clash of Arms folder.

David Bolt