1. Three phases per turn
Choose Axis or Soviet command on the home screen. You control the selected side; the opposite side responds automatically. Axis counters represent corps-equivalent formations; Soviet counters represent armies or explicitly labelled reserve aggregates. Strength numbers are calibrated game ratings, not personnel totals.
Each turn proceeds through Reinforcements, Movement and Combat. During Reinforcements, choose a scheduled formation from Available formations, then tap a highlighted controlled city name or marker and press Deploy on the map. Find city centres an eligible destination. Cities must be empty, connected to supply, outside enemy contact and in that formation’s entry region. Scheduled arrivals cost no logistics and can move later in the same turn. If no city is eligible, the formation stays in the waiting pool. There is no unlimited formation production. Refit, rest and repair still use that formation’s action for the turn. Press Begin movement when ready. During Movement, tap a formation and then a gold hex to move. Pan the map with one finger or a mouse drag. Pinch with two fingers to zoom; desktop trackpad pinches and Ctrl-wheel zoom around the pointer. Plus, minus and Fit remain available. Friendly formations can be passed through behind the front, but only one formation may end in a hex. Enemy zones of control stop movement. Water and blocked sea crossings cannot be traversed.
Press Begin combat when movement is finished. Click your attacking counters, then an adjacent enemy. Odds and selected formations appear on the map. The compact attack controls start below the map. Move them using their arrow handle and minimise or expand details with −/+. Attack, Advance and Cancel/Stay put remain available when minimised. Press Attack to resolve it. There is no separate battle screen. Moving into contact can leave 0 MP while preserving the combat action.
2. Concentrate deliberately
Select any eligible formations adjacent to the same enemy for one combined attack. All selected formations contribute their full modified strength. One formation per hex means up to six can surround a target. After the enemy hex clears, the strongest surviving eligible participant is offered the advance. Click a selected counter again to remove it, or use Cancel to clear the attack without spending actions. All selected attackers must be adjacent to the chosen enemy. A formation can join with 0 MP if its combat action remains. All participants spend their action and gain fatigue; total attacking losses are shared among them.
Combat uses whole odds from 1:5 to 5:1. After supply, fatigue, terrain, river and convergence modifiers, odds round in the defender’s favour: 2.7:1 becomes 2:1 and 0.65:1 becomes 1:2. The shown odds are the odds used to resolve combat. Attacks from separated hexsides gain 15% convergence. Each formation crossing a mapped river attacks at 85% strength. Defenders gain 40% in cities, 25% in hills, 55% in mountains and 15% per entrenchment level. A forced retreat with no legal route can cause additional losses. If the enemy hex is cleared, choose Advance or Stay put for the strongest surviving eligible attacker. Advance does not grant a second attack. Finish this choice before continuing the Combat phase.
3. Watch readiness
Fatigue runs from 0 to 3. A long march can make a fresh formation Worn, but marching alone cannot raise it above 1. Fighting adds fatigue. Levels 1, 2 and 3 reduce combat strength by 5%, 10% and 15%; only level 3 reduces movement. A connected formation recovers 1 fatigue after a turn without fighting, even if it moved. Counter pips and the formation panel show it. Strength is surviving HP; effective strength also includes supply and fatigue. A lighter counter face and ½ badge mark effective strength at or below half the formation’s full rating. The underlying HP is still shown, so repairable casualties and temporary readiness reductions remain distinct. Defenders become fatigued when attacked repeatedly.
Each side receives 3 replacement points per turn; unused points do not carry over. Repair strength costs 1 point, restores up to 2 strength and reduces fatigue by 1. Rail depot repair costs 2 points. Arriving formations have their own finite schedule and cost no replacement points.
Rest removes up to 2 fatigue without spending replacement points. Repair strength restores up to 2 strength and 1 fatigue for 1 replacement point. Both require a supplied formation outside enemy contact, an unused action and at least 1 MP. Tap a friendly formation in a city and use Repair unit for the same one-point repair; it does not grant another action. Counter colours identify nationality: Germany blue, Hungary cool green, Romania yellow-gold, Italy teal and the Soviet Union crimson. Two-letter country tabs remain visible, while A in a square means Axis and S in a circle means Soviet. Assignment to another country’s army does not change a formation’s nationality. City markers always show ownership: a blue square is Axis, a red circle is Soviet. Names become more detailed as you zoom in. Dig in adds protection, up to two levels.
4. Protect the route behind you
Supply travels through friendly territory from eligible rear entries and connected rail depots. Enemy control, enemy formations and unguarded enemy zones can cut routes, including the source itself. Newly captured depots take two turns to reopen, or cost 2 logistics to repair with an occupying formation.
Ready units fight normally. A long connected supply route gives a 15% strength penalty and one less movement point, with no attrition. Only a cut route is isolated: strength falls by 35% and movement by two. The first isolated turn has no attrition; later turns lose one strength. A depleted formation can surrender from the fourth isolated turn. Both fronts use the same supply rules; there is no hidden main-effort bonus.
5. A twenty-turn campaign
The scenario begins on 28 June. Completing your Combat phase runs the opposing AI’s phases and advances the calendar once. Each enemy order is shown on the map: normal speed holds moves for 0.8 seconds and battles for 1.2 seconds. Pause to inspect, choose Fast, or Skip to the already-resolved result using the command panel. On phones, the existing bottom buttons become Pause/Continue and Skip during the enemy response. The game resolves the turn once; replay controls never reroll combat. Saving becomes available when the response completes. Each turn covers five days; the twentieth ends on 5 October. Dated reinforcements, releases, withdrawals and redesignations follow the campaign. Every deployed Axis formation can move from the opening turn. Later reserves appear when they arrive; they do not sit on the map as locked starting formations in a new campaign. This simplifies the historical staggered opening for play. Redesignations preserve surviving strength rather than duplicating a formation.
Axis VP is the sum of scoring towns and cities currently controlled by the Axis. Casualties and supply connections do not add or remove VP. Losing a city removes its points; recapturing restores the same value without a bonus. At the end of turn 20, Axis wins with at least 32 city VP and Stalingrad, Maykop or Grozny. Otherwise 18 or more city VP is a draw, and below 18 is a Soviet win. Eliminating all Axis formations gives an immediate Soviet victory. As Soviet commander, keep Axis progress below those conditions. Capturing cities requires actual occupation. Oilfields are strategic objectives and do not create instant fuel.
Historical scope
The opening hierarchy and dated changes use period orders of battle and the US Army campaign account. Exact strengths, hex placements, transport corridors and five-day activation boundaries are game abstractions. The terrain is generalized geographic cartography, not a surveyed 1942 atlas. The Soviet AI has full map information.
The southern boundary covers the Terek and Grozny approaches. Baku and Operation Uranus lie outside this campaign. Army headquarters reorganizations do not imply a full fresh army arriving on the same date.
Your earlier campaign
Use Save and Load for up to five named games. Each slot records your side, turn, campaign date and save time. Overwriting a slot requires confirmation. Saves stay in this browser on this device and are not cloud-synced. Your earlier full-offensive single save is copied into an empty slot without deleting the original. This map uses separate storage from the July prototype. Your v0.3–0.5 save remains available in the July prototype. Saves cannot be moved between different maps or browser origins. This game does not modify Eastern Front.
