Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin

Battalion OperationsWelcome to the second Ostfront Commander’s Bulletin, Colonel. This time we’re going to go on about a different campaign format. It represents a clash of two battalions, providing a framework for a bigger game than usual, without falling into a full-scale campaign.

Setting Up Your ForcesYou’ll need to write up multiple lists. Your force will be divided into a Battalion HQ, 3 Companies and 2 Divisional Attachments. You can spend up to 250 points on each. Each Company has an additional 100 points for its Company HQ.

Every unit on the list is persistent across the Operation. This means that if it’s taken out on the tabletop, it’s stricken off your lists. If you have units alive in your Battalion HQ, you are allowed to replace up to 100 points total inyour Companies after a battle if you lose more than two units in the Companies, representing replacements provided by your army. Company HQs cannot be replenished this way. If you’ve lost all of your Battalion HQ, you can no longerreplenish losses at all.

These replacements cannot exceed the Company point limits, however, and must be in place of lost units (so no trading two lost Panzer IVs for a Tiger). Furthermore, you can’t replace any units in your HQ and Divisional Attachments.

There’s another restriction on your Companies: each must have at least 15 units in it, representing the 3 platoons in a company.

Operation MapThe Operation is played out on a simple map with variants. You can build your own Operation, but it’s best to limit the amount of zones. You also need to set up Operation objectives.

In general, every map turn represents a significant part of the operation. The map is divided into zones. Each zone is under control of one side or another, and they are connected. In the strategy phase, each player declares the forces they commit to each zone they control. The HQ has to be commited every turn. A Division can be commited freely, but Divisional Attachments have a cooldown of one turn – a Divisional Attachment cannot be commited two turns in a row.

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Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin

Once the forces are deployed that way, the operation’s next step unfolds. If there are opposing forces in adjacent zones, a regular Ostfront battle is playedout using the lists for commited forces. The victor takes the enemy’s Zone. In case of a draw, zones don’t change hands. Casualties and reinforcements are applied afterwards. If there are two bordering zones, but only one has forces commited, these forces immediately take the other zone from the enemy.

ScenariosWith this basic framework, we can move onto the basic scenarios: The Offensive scenario revolves around an attack or a counter-attack by one side. The Tug of War scenario represents a part of a larger fight.

OffensiveIn this simple scenario, one side is on the offensive or performs a counter-attack. This scenario covers three zones, connected linearly.

The attackers start in the Staging Zone, while the defenders start controlling the Front Line and the Defender's Camp. The Operation lasts for four turns.

Victory Conditions: OffensiveThese are evaluated at the end of turn 4.

To win a total victory, a side has to take all the zones or eliminate all enemy units.

A victory occurs if a side controls at least two Zones and hasn’t lost all of its Battalion HQ.

A draw occurs if a side controls at least two Zones but has lost all of its Battalion HQ.

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Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin

Tug of WarIn this simple scenario, two battalions are fighting for control. This scenario covers five zones, connected linearly. Two sides are marked as Red and Blue. Each controls their respective Camp and Zone initially.

This scenario takes 4 turns.

Victory Conditions: Tug of WarThese are evaluated at the end of turn 4.

To win a total victory, a side has to take all the zones or eliminate all enemy units.

A victory occurs if a side controls at least four Zones.

A draw occurs if a side controls less than four Zones.

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Ostfront – Commander’s Bulletin

OverlordThis is a more complex scenario. It represents landing operations similar to Operation Overlord, with paradrop support.

The Attacker deploys in the Air and Sea zones. All the rest is under Defender control. The Defenders cannot replenish losses of a Company if they do not control all the Zones between the area a Company is commited to and the Town. The Attacker’s forces, when deployed in the Air zone, get 1 free Air Support per100 points’ worth of units. Their forces deployed in the Sea zone get 1 free Off-Map Artillery per 100 points’ worth of units.

Victory Conditions: OverlordThese are evaluated at the end of turn 5.

To win a total victory, a player has to take all the zones.

The winner is the side that controls the Village and Crossroads and hasn’t lost their Battalion HQ.

The game is a draw otherwise.

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