DARKEST CRUSADE MINIGAME RULES - A4 Landscape with minimal margins - Copyright © 2014 Louis R. Coatney - Revised, 12Feb17
  Dedication:  THE DARKEST CRUSADE is dedicated as a token of remembrance and respect to the Polish, Russian, Jewish and other Eastern European peoples who suffered, endured, and contributed so much to Allied Victory over Nazi Germany and its Axis partners.

DARKEST CRUSADE GROUND COMBAT RESULTS TABLE - Louis R. Coatney - New CRT, 1.5x old Dark Crusade CRT
Die Roll	Strengths
A	B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25

1	6	1	2	3	3	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	11	12	12	13	13	14	14
2	5	1	2	2	3	3	4	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	11	12	12	13	13
3	4	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	11	12	12	13
4	3	-	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	11	12	12
5	2	-	-	1	1	2	2	2	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	11	12
6	1	-	-	-	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	

(Lotsa Dice:  For those who prefer throwing (more/wildly varying) dice instead of just 1 die using this table, use 1 die for every strength point.  Best preferred 3 numbers for Full Strength, or lowered to best 2 numbers because of Mud and for Germans in Snow - also lowered a(nother) number (as well) because of unsupplied status.)
																							
Hex-Side Operational Attack Capacity per Attack Wave - there may be more than 1 wave by different units in a phase - is any 3 units for the Russians and 3 units for the Axis of which no more than 2 may be armies or panzergruppe and of those no more than 1 may be a panzergruppe.  Other, unused or just-moved attacker's units in the hex may be added as replacements during the battle - 2 battle rounds before movement or after initial movement - 1 battle round for Blitzkrieging Germans.
  A single attacking unit may not attack through more than 1 hex-side at a time.
  Undisrupted German army in hexes - or panzergruppe units in clear terrain hexes - adjacent to both attacking Russian units and an Axis-occupied hex the Russian units are attacking  must also be attacked by at least 1 Russian unit.
	A unit having a single combat factor fires with that on both offense and defense and also uses that number for taking hits.  For a unit with 2 factors, the first is for firing on attack, the largest of them is for defense, and the second is for taking hits. 

Disruption:  A unit can absorb the number of hits equal to its (second) factor and be Disrupted.  (Face the unit toward the opponent.  Note that with its 0 second factor, a Russian 22Jun41 mechanized korps would be eliminated by a single hit.)  A unit with a (second) factor of 2 or 3 can absorb that number of hits without being destroyed and is Disrupted, but it is still Disrupted if it absorbs even one.  A further, additional hit would then eliminate it.  The owning player decides how received hits will be absorbed/apportioned.  Disrupted units may not themselves move or fire at all - although they can still receive any defensive firing power bonus from terrain - and (again) if kept in battle, can be eliminated by another, single hit.  A Disrupted unit may not continue to support an attack.  Disrupted German and red-marked Russian units are recovered from Disruption at the end of their owning player's player-turn.  Disrupted Russian and Rumanian units are recovered at the end of the opponent's last combat phase, unless not re-Disrupted.  If an attacking unit is Disrupted in a first battle round, another Undisrupted attacker's unit in the same hex may be used in a second battle round.

Attacks before Operational Ground Movement:  At the start of his player-turn, a player may make pre-movement attacks.  Units so used may not attack again.
German Pressed Attack:  In any battle round, the German player may use this.  He moves the firing column up as many columns as he likes but no greater than his attacking factor for his die roll's best 3 numbers, but accepts the risk of instead having to use the column an equal number of columns below, if he rolls one of the worst 3 numbers.
Operational Movement and Attack for Undisrupted Units which have not yet attacked:
Russian mechanized and shock and German panzer units may operationally move up to 2 hexagonal areas - hexes - and attack a third adjacent hex, although in Mud German panzer units may only move 1 hex and attack.  Infantry/rifle/shock/Guards units move 1 hex and attack.   Hungarian and Rumanian units may not be in the same hex.  There is an Operational Movement Bonus (OMB) of 2 additional hexes if the unit is not going to not attack..
  Note:  A Russian unit must stop movement upon entering a hex adjacent to an UnDisrupted German army or a clear terrain hex adjacent to an UnDisrupted Panzergruppe, and it may not move from one such hex directly to another of the same German unit.  (Adjacent hexes - zones of control - of any other units do NOT stop movement.)
Blitzkrieg!:  UnDisrupted, eligible German units still not moved or used to attack may now fully move - still with the 2 hex bonus for not attacking - and may attack but only for 1 battle round.

Advances and Retreats after Combat:  If a hex is cleared of all defenders, UnDisrupted attackers equal to the unmodified firepowers of the defenders must advance into it, if possible.  (Defenders never advance after combat.)  After initial, unmoved attacks German panzer units may advance an additional friendly or unoccupied hex to attack in non-Mud turns, and Russian tank units may always do so starting in Nov42.  Retreat of defending units after the first round of combat is entirely voluntary - and so then is an attacker's advance into the hex - but a retreated unit is automatically Disrupted.  It may not be retreated into a hex adjacent and accessible to a hex it was attacked from, unless that hex has friendly units not under an as-yet unresolved attack by attacking units at least equal in strength to the defenders there.  Disrupted attacking units stay in the hex from which they attacked.  German armies, non-Finn Axis ally infantry units, and (except for Rokossovsky's 16. Army) non-shock and non-Guaerds Russian rifle armies are Disrupted by tactically advancing.

Terrain Effects on Combat - cumulative:
Only 2 units may attack into or out of swamp or mountains, and only one of those may be panzer or tank.  Across Kerch Straits or against Kronshtat only 1 non-tank/panzer unit may attack.	
In mountains, hills, forest, and unfrozen swamp 1 infantry or shock unit can receive 1 additional defensive firing strength point, even if it is Disrupted.
Units defending against cross-river attacks receive 1 additional firing strength point per river hex-side, as long as each bonus is matched by units in the hex- but none, if more than half the attacking units are not attacking cross-river.
Minsk-Moscow Highway:  Panzer and tank units can move 2 of these highway hexes per movement factor.  Other units may move 1 extra highway hex.

Fortresses, Fortifications, Stalin Line, Major Cities, and Victory Cities:
Fortresses, fortifications, and cities can absorb hits.  For the Russians, Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad can absorb up to 2 hits per battle round and any other major city or fortress can absorb 1 hit per battle round before hits must be taken by defending units.    (Any excess hits not able to be absorbed by defending units eliminates the fortress, unless no attacking units are left UnDisrupted to advance into it.)  Each Stalin Line hex-side can absorb a maximum of 1 hit.  Furthermore, any victory city or fortress has an UnDisruptible defensive firing factor of 1 - Sevastopol has 2.  A German infantry army's fortification status can absorb 1 hit but is then destroyed, and the unit is flipped back right-side-up - UnDisrupted, unless it has had to absorb another hit.
  An UnDisrupted German army unit doing nothing else can fortify at the start of the Axis player-turn.  A fortified unit which attacks loses its fortified status.

Supply:
A group of units which cannot trace a supply line - a line of areas closer to friendly units or cities than to enemy units all the way back to the owning player's mapboard edge(s) - has its firepower halved with fractions rounded down on offense and rounded up on defense (or hits on its die roll reduced by 1).  An unoccupied hex adjacent and accessible to a German army - or adjacent to a German panzergruppe, if it is a clear terrain hex - can be used as a German supply line, even if the hex is adjacent to a Russian unit.  Supply can also be provided through a friendly-controlled sea.  The Axis loss of Rumania reduces panzer operational movement and OMB to 1 hex each.  The Russian loss of Grozny similarly reduces tank operational movement to 1 hex.
  Disrupted unsupplied/isolated units are eliminated, unless on a sustaining city or fortress.  Any 1 unit can survive indefinitely if it is on a fortress or major city.  2 units can survive indefinitely on a friendly victory city, and 3 Russian units can survive indefinitely on Leningrad or Moscow.  Supply can be traced across hex-sides B7/B8, B8/C8, and O5/O6.

Weather:  In October, the best 2 numbers are Good weather and the rest Mud.  If Oct was Mud, November is Good.  If Oct was Good, Nov is SNOW.
The freezing of swamps, rivers, and lakes in Snow eliminates their defensive bonus.  In Mud, all units' (and in Snow for Axis units in the first, 1941/42 winter) attacks are reduced 2 combat results columns - or by one on a die roll - unless they are defending in any city or town.

Replacements, Production, Reinforcements, and Siberian Reserve Gamble:
Replacements:  The Axis receive no replacements.
  Every turn including the first, the Russians receive 1 Disrupted infantry factor per and/or on each infantry replacement center in supply and 1 UnDisrupted mechanized korps on each tank factory in supply.  An infantry unit's replacement factor value is its largest combat factor.  Unused tank factory factors may be accumulated, and the Russians start the game with an additional, off-map reserve of 4 tank factors.  Siberian units are irreplaceable, as is 16. A, if it is eliminated while out of supply.  (To avert that, the Russian 16. A may be removed from the map ... at the cost of coming back into the game like any other replacement army ... and may be replaced with any 0-1 army, by the Russian player at the start of his player-turn ... if it is surrounded, for example.)
Factory Evacuation:  On the first turn the Russian player chooses, the UnDisrupted factory becomes non-productive and is flipped upside down on its city.  On the second turn, it is moved to the calendar, where it will become productive again two turns after that one.
Reinforcements - UnDisrupted:    On gameturn 2, the German 2. Army enters the game on Warsaw, and on gameturn 3, the German 40. PanzerKorps enters there.
Siberian Reserve Gamble and Shock Army Emplacement:  There are 3 consecutive turns of (white) UnDisrupted Siberian Reserve reinforcements drawn from new shock armies and lost units.  1st turn of arrival: 1. Guards Korps and 1. and 3. Shock Armies.  2nd turn:  4. Shock Army.  3rd turn:  2. Shock Army.  The Siberians can be brought in safely in Dec41 or at a 1/6 chance of losing the game for every month the Russian player has brought them in sooner.  They may be brought in from the eastern edge of the mapboard or on or adjacent to any other Russian unit in supply, or on any Russian city or town in supply.  The Shock Armies may be on their stronger side on their hex of entry.  UnDisrupted Shock Armies in supply may be flipped to their stronger side at the start of the Russian player-turn, but they are flipped back if they move or are Disrupted. 
Movement by sea:  Units up to 2 replacement factors may move by sea from any coastal hex to a friendly-controlled port.  If the sea is under friendly control, there is only a 1/6 chance of a unit being sunk.  If it is under enemy control, there is a 3/6s chance.  (The player controlling Koenigsberg controls the Baltic Sea, the player controlling Sevastopol controls the Black Sea, and the player controlling both sides of the Kerch Straits controls the Sea of Azov.)

Victory Conditions:  The Axis Player wins if during any of his Victory Determination Phases in 1941 he has, in supply, 8 victory point cities (including Warsaw, Helsinki, and all of Romania) - note that Moscow counts as 2 - including one or more of the following cities:  Leningrad, Moscow, or Stalingrad.  The 1941 game is a draw (unless it is to be continued into the second year), if he has only 7 victory point cities without L, M, or S.  The Russian player wins if the Axis has 6 or less in Feb42.  He also can win a Strategic, Smashing Victory worth 2 games, if he takes and holds in supply in the German VDP Warsaw or hex M1.

Setup - marked on the map - Special 1st Turn Rules and Duration of the game:  On the first turn, the Germans may ignore 1 river hex-side.  Russian units may not attack Axis units in Rumania, until they are attacked from it.  The Axis may not attack from Rumania until after the first turn - or may never attack, as the Axis player chooses.  The game lasts in monthly turns from June 1941 to the end of February 1942 - 9 turns - unless the Axis have achieved victory sooner.
Secret, Nonhistorical Russian Setup:  If the Russian player so chooses - at the cost of shifting the Victory Conditions 2 cities to the Germans' favor - he may set up his units secretly/upside down anywhere he wishes, as long as he places 1 real unit in each hex bordering Germany and Rumania.  The German player then deploys his units and allocates his initial attacks.  (The 1. Gds K and factory units may be used as dummies, but are then relocated/removed to where they should be, after the German player has deployed.)  The units are revealed, when they are attacked.  Replacement brown/22Jun41 armies may re-enter the game hidden. 

Game-turn Sequence:	
•	A. Axis Player-Turn
•	1. German Replacements, Reinforcements, Army Fortification, and Sea Movement
•	2. Operational Phases:
•	a. Attacks - 2 rounds - and Tactical Advances before operational movement
•	b. German ground unit Operational Movement, Air and Ground Attack Allocations, and Independent Bombing - with Russian Interception possible.
•	c. Recovery from Disruption of Russian units not being attacked
•	d. German Ground Combat Resolution - 1 battle rounds - and Immediate Tactical Advances after Combat and Recovery from Disruption of previously Disrupted Russian units not re-Disrupted.
•	e. Blitzkrieg! movement and 1-round attacks for German units not yet used.
•	f. Recovery from Disruption of German units.
•	3. Axis Supply Status Determination
•	4.  Russian Victory Determination in Game Turn 9
•	B. Russian Player-Turn
•	1. Russian Replacements, Reinforcements, Shock Army Emplacement, and Sea Movement
•	2. Operational Phases:
•	a. Attacks - 2 rounds - and Tactical Advances before operational movement.
•	b. Russian ground unit Operational Movement, and Ground Attack Allocations
•	c. Recovery from Disruption of Rumaninan units not being attacked
•	d. Russian Ground Combat Resolution - 1 battle round - and Immediate Tactical Advances after Combat - and Recovery from Disruption of previously Disrupted Rumanian units not re-Disrupted.
•	3. Russian Supply Status Determination
•	4. Recovery from Disruption of Red-Marked Russian Units
•	5. German Victory Determination
Note:
A unit may be operationally moved only once per operational phase by the owning player.  A unit may additionally be tactically moved more than once- advanced after a successful attack it has participated in or retreated in defense during the opponent's combat resolution phase.