Module:Red Star Rising: The War in Russia, 1941-1944

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Red Star Rising - The War in Russia, 1941-1944

Masahiro Yamazaki has long been considered the East Front specialist in Japan. His games - including the excellent Stalingrad Pocket by the Gamers - have been enjoyed by English gamers since 1992. Now, for the first time, MMP is very proud to present his ultimate vision of the War in Russia. With over 10 years of development and expertise, Masashiro has culled all of his talents to give you the finest game on the entire Eastern Front of World War Two.

Using a variant of the popular Victory in the West chit pull system, but with some very novel twists, Masahiro presents the theater as never before. If the Soviet player can weather the Nazi storm, she will rise from the ashes and become the powerful enemy that defeated Germany. You will see the tables turn as in no wargame before.

Information about version 4.0.6 (released August 11th 2010).
Special thanks to Arnaud Leclerc for bringing up the issues.


 * Overstacking is now allowed as per rule 4.0.7. This is a BIG change, as players now have to be extra careful while moving units, instead of being guided by computer, but this also means some advanced maneuvers like replacing frontline units will be possible to execute.
 * Violation of Axis minor stacking and Soviet cavalry stacking will now be counted as overstacking and allowed in certain situations, as per rule 4.0.7. See notes above.
 * Soviet Infantry armies are able to breakdown and buildup using Mechanized corps in addition to Infantry and Marine corps, finally following rules 17.3 and 17.4. To change the type of desired breakdown (into two Infantry, Infantry and Mechanized, or two Mechanized) click the Breakdown button while holding ALT key, and the new breakdown mode will be displayed in the game log. Default mode is to use two Infantry corps, and is reset when you reload the game.
 * Soviet Tank armies are no longer be able to breakdown into Mechanized corps, because they can't build up again, just like Guard and Shock armies, as per rule 17.4 ("regular" means Infantry, as per rule 6.0).
 * Fixed multi-step strategic movement to prevent moving farther away than originally allowed.
 * Fixed supply calculation to prevent moving further during strategic movement than original supply network allowed.
 * Fixed overstack-on-retreat procedure to allow more than one unit retreat from given stack if necessary.
 * Unit info will be painted on counter while zoomed out to 50%.
 * Zoom out capability added to off-map windows.
 * Overstack warning at the moment of creating or modifying a stack that violates the rules.
 * Urban armor loss warning at the moment of creating or modifying a combat that violates the rules.

Information about version 4.0.5 (released May 5th 2010).

 * Due to wrong attribute name used, Soviet Strength markers were not returned to pools in case of "Soviet morale weakened!" effect.

Information about version 4.0.4 (released November 16th 2009).

 * Added ability to delay reinforcements arrival as per 15.2.1.
 * Reinforcements that cannot be placed in valid location, are delayed automatically (previously you would be unable to continue game unless entering debug mode to manually fix the problem).
 * Finnish and Romanian HQs can no longer be deployed if their respective capitals are controlled by Soviet Union (but not necessarily occupied).

Information about version 4.0.3 (released July 7th 2009).

 * Fixed 2-5 and 2-6 At-Start C Strength markers, "weak" side changed from 1-2 to 1-3.

Information about version 4.0.2 (released July 1st 2009).

 * Fixed problem with piece cache being not refreshed on undo, which blocked some legal moves until save-reload.
 * Breakdown and buildup is now not allowed in Finland or Romania on turn 1.

Information about version 4.0.1 (released June 30th 2009).

 * Fixed limit of advance for units that can advance 1 or 2 spaces (3 steps lost prevent those units from advancing, not 1 and 2 respectively).
 * Fixed supply network calculation, where supply is traced from units to supply sources, and not the opposite (influenced supply range where unit's space had different supply enter cost than supply source's).
 * Fixed LineTerrain$StylePrompt accessibility problem (to stop module editor from reporting errors).
 * Units that end movement with 0 movement points or fail overrun are shaded immediately instead on next unit move (because they would not move again anyway).
 * Fixed coast north of Constanta and south of Odessa (added some missing sea barriers).
 * Replaced Rumanian 1st Corps in space 1623 of scenario 4 with Rumanian 3rd Corps to prevent having two 1st Corps counters (no effect on gameplay).

Information about version 4.0 (released June 22nd 2009).
The module was created from scratch basing on existing graphics. The rules automation speeds the game a lot.

Since the map is very large I reccomend turning off High-quality scaling and increasing JVM maximum heap in Preferences. Otherwise you may not be able to open the Overview window.

What's new in 4.0?
 * Vassal 3.1.7 compatibility.
 * Added inventory window.
 * Implemented all game rules.

There are some minor differences between the rules in the rulebook and the game. One is that the computer will prevent you from overstacking (except during sea movement, when placing reinforcements and while retreating) instead of allowing you to overstack and then forcing you to remove units at the end of phase (the removal is still there in case you have failed to deal with overstacks caused by the actions listed above). The second is that Tank armies breakdown into or build up from Mechanized Corps only. Third is that you can't breakdown Guards and Shock armies into corps as per rule 17.3, because rule 17.4 will not let you build them up again. This comment no longer applies since version 4.0.6.

Please note that with the rules automation you have to finish one combat before moving to next. This makes the module great for solo, hot-seat and online play but a PBEM play will take a lot more file transfers due to many breaks and although possible may be not the best way to enjoy the module. One can't have everything :( Please note that one can turn on debug mode using invisible counter just below Phase Track that has a context menu which allows switching between debug and normal mode. While in debug mode one can freely move and delete units.

Example of play using version 4.0.6


This is how the game looks after loading scenario 6.



After you press Advance the game button... the game does a lot for you and when you have some manual things to do, you are informed what are the options. Blue highlight means you can move given unit, green that there is an action possible (right click on given unit), red that there is a mandatory action required (right click on given unit). To move units, drag them...



...like on this screen when I move the 1st Luftwaffe. Hexes in range are highlighted in blue, you can't drop a unit on a hex that is not highlighted.



So the airfleet has been moved, let's advance the game to movement phase.



The movement will begin with an overrun by 41st Panzerkorps. The target will be 10th Rifle Corps. The red square in top-right corner of 10th Rifle Corps means the unit is out of supply. Units in lack of supply have a half-red, half-yellow square while units in emergency supply have a yellow square. In bottom-right corner you can see number of movement points remaining for given unit during movement phases, while in botton-left corner is the unit current strength (if it is different from standard strength).



Battle was initiated, participants are highlighted (their counters are shaded with white). We can see that 1st Armeekorps will not take part in combat (it can't because it's of different type that the other unit - if you would select both unit for movement the hexes occupied by enemy would not be highlighted as the game selects those hexes to which all selected units can move).



When we press Advance the combat button, the combat and it's result are calculated. If there are optional losess or losses where you have to decide who takes them or where to retreat you have the option to intervene. If the combat is a simple affair the game will resolve it automatically.



After another overrun we get some space to move the 26th Armeekorps to the north. 41st Panzerkorps is shaded with black to note it has moved already in this phase.

And so it goes on and on until the game ends!

Players

 * b.easton@exemail.com.au@swampwallaby
 * rad_tech1958@yahoo.com@DRZ
 * morgand@seanet.com@morgand
 * DerDiplomat@gmx.net@DerDiplomat
 * harchunk@myway.com@harchunk
 * supersolid2@yahoo.com@supersolid
 * maxdfury@rogers.com@Noman
 * Paco.Alba@web.de@PacoHolliday
 * xrubio@gmail.com@xrubio
 * wargamerx@verizon.net@wargamerx
 * morvael@poczta.onet.pl@morvael
 * dodgydan@web.de@daxelos
 * fjt_us@yahoo.com@ftarzanin
 * firepigeon.ebay@gmail.com@Firepigeon70
 * julien.boulenger@gmail.com@Julien
 * danschulz@charter.net@Deno
 * gregorit@yahoo.com@gregorit
 * pfglenn@gmail.com@pfglenn
 * regray8@bellsouth.net@Preacher
 * bugdany@libertysurf.fr@BugDany
 * bluekingzog@yahoo.co.uk@Bluekingzog
 * pzlehr@bellsouth.net@pzlehr