Tutorial · version 1.3.1
Smolensk, July 1941. This page walks you through a first game as the German player. The full rules are in the manual (docs/manual.pdf).
Launch the game. The opening screen asks four things: Command (German, Soviet, Hotseat for two players, or Watch the computer play both sides), Scenario (The Battle of Smolensk, 12 turns, or The Smolensk Gate, 6 turns), Handicap (Lenient, Historical, Severe; it moves only the victory levels) and Intelligence (open map or fog of war). For a first game choose German, the short scenario and Historical, then press Begin.
The left sidebar holds information — turn record, victory points, the selected units, the hex under the pointer and the war diary. The right sidebar holds the controls.
The Battlefield overview in the left sidebar shows the whole map. Click or tap it to pan; the white rectangle marks your current view. It shows identified formations only. Focus it with Tab and use arrow keys to pan or Enter to fit the map.
Expand Objectives to see city ownership and victory values. Click a city to center and zoom the battlefield. Vitebsk and Lepel are starting cities, excluded from German capture points. Hover over a railhead city's button for its railhead timing.
The command briefing below Orders shows what to do in the current phase, available movement or attackable hexes, storms and supply trouble. Find supply trouble cycles through your affected units, beginning with isolated formations. Supply status reflects the start of your side's turn.
Next unit cycles between stacks with movement left. The title screen's Resume battle returns to the current game without resetting it.
| Action | Mouse | Touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select a stack | click it | tap it | number keys move the cursor, Space or 5 |
| Move | click a lit hex | tap a lit hex | cursor to the hex, Space |
| Single out one unit of a stack | click the stack again | tap again | Space again |
| Pan / zoom | drag / wheel | drag / pinch | arrows / + - 0 |
| End the phase | End button (right sidebar) | Enter | |
| Undo a move | Undo button | U | |
| Attack | Attack button | A | |
| Pause the computer | Pause button | P | |
The cursor keys follow the numeric keypad as a compass: 8 north, 2 south, 7/9 north-west and north-east, 1/3 south-west and south-east.
Each turn is two days and has five phases: German Movement, German Combat, German Mechanized Movement, Soviet Movement, Soviet Combat. The phase is shown under the turn record, with a weather chip beside the date. Reinforcements arrive at the start of their side's turn; the small numbers on the turn track show how many.
Click one of your stacks: every hex it can reach lights up and the hex panel shows the cost. Clear and towns cost 1, forest 2, swamp 2 (3 for panzer and motorized units), a road ½ along the road, and crossing a river off the road +1. Entering an enemy zone of control — the six hexes around an enemy unit — ends the move. Two divisions may share a hex. In German Mechanized Movement the panzer and motorized divisions move again at half allowance. A panzer stack with 2 MP left may overrun an adjacent enemy hex in open country: such hexes are ringed in orange with the chance shown.
If you press End while some units have not moved at all, the button asks you to confirm.
In your combat phase every enemy hex you can attack is outlined in red with the staff's estimate of the odds. Click one: all adjacent eligible units are added to the attack (untick any you want to hold back), choose 0–2 air sorties, and press Attack. The combat slip turns over any untried Soviet chits, works out the odds and column shifts, rolls the die and applies the result. Victors may advance into an emptied hex.
Scoring: German victory points = value of Soviet towns taken (the number after each town's name) + 1 per Soviet division destroyed − 2 per German step lost.
At the end of the last turn the German VP total decides the result. The Battle of Smolensk: German Decisive Victory (80 or more); German Marginal Victory (66 or more); Draw (52 or more); Soviet Marginal Victory (38 or more); Soviet Decisive Victory (below 38). The Smolensk Gate: German Decisive Victory (54 or more); German Marginal Victory (44 or more); Draw (33 or more); Soviet Marginal Victory (23 or more); Soviet Decisive Victory (below 23). A German player wins with a German victory; a Soviet player wins with a Soviet victory.
You lose when the result at the end is a victory for the other side. There is no sudden death: a battered army can still recover cities in the last turns. Units cut off from supply are halved; units isolated with no line home at all lose a step each turn after three turns.
The game autosaves after each phase and after moves, resolved combat, undo, refits and advance decisions; Continue saved on the opening screen resumes it. Save and Load keep one further game in this browser; Export and Import move a game to a file and back. New game returns to the opening screen at any time. Valid saves from earlier versions of the game still load. Invalid imports leave your current battle and saves intact. Escape from Rules opened through the title screen returns to that title screen; choose Resume battle to continue.