The General Staff Archives

Europa Games and Military History

FAQ Topic: Second Front FAQ (Page 2 of 13)

Frequently asked questions about rules of the EUROPA-game Second Front

Rule 24: The Missing Garrison ploy

Question:
The problem with the Sudden Death ploy is that garrison units cannot appear at a city if an enemy air unit air dropped in the hex has gained onwership of the hex. This ploy can be used in many other ways: the Allied player could drop units on Bucharest, Budapest or Rome attempting to capture the governments of these countries. The Allied player could attempt to take any city, regardless of the size of its garrison.

Answer:
Note, however, that you activate the garrison immediately upon the entry of the first enemy unit in the region. Also, if the air-droppable unit was disrupted, garrison forces could appear in the same hex with them. Note also that the utility of this ploy was based upon the faulty rules interpretation that simply capturing a capital caused a nation to surrender; this is not so. None of the Axis nations that appear in Clash of Titans (nor Second Front for that matter) will surrender due to the loss of their capital unless other conditions have been fulfilled as well. Besides, having one battalion of on-map forces defending your capital is probably not too much to ask of a player, if it is at risk of being captures by such a daring raid.

Source:
TEM 74

 

Rule 24: The Para Invasion ploy

Question:
Why should the Allies ever bother to plan a conventional amphibious landing? Here is what you do: Plan an air drop for one para unit in a coastal hex. If the coastal hex is unoccupied, or only lightly defended at the beginning of your next turn, proceed with the operation. In this way the Allied player can plan a large number of invasions per turn using only one air droppable unit per invasion site and then choose which one to execute after seeing the exact positioning of Axis units.

Answer:
This is how it works. If the Axis leaves important areas underdefended, it pays the price. By the way, it pays to have fort counters in all minor ports, even ungarrisoned ones, just to get the extra -1 DRM on the Parachute Disruption table. It may be useful to point out here that even if the parachute battalion does grab the hex, it only owns the beach there in the following exploitation phase, not immediately. It only owns the port there for purposes of naval transport if the hex is still Allied-owned in the next Allied initial phase.

Source:
TEM 74

 

Rule 24: The Sudden Death ploy

Question:
The Allied player plans an invasion of the Berlin hex containing the German government. This invasion has about 20 percent chance of success each time the Allied player is willing to risk one 1-8 unit (4 VP). Disruption occurs on a die roll of 3 or less if using a glider. AA strength of 7, capture government on a die roll of 3 to 6. If the German government is captured, the Axis surrenders (Rule 38A2).

Answer:
This is incorrect! The Axis surrenders if “The Axis Player owns six or fewer major cities in 1939 Germany; andThe German government has been relocated outside Berlin or captured at any time in the game.” Note theand there, you must fulfill both conditions to force Axis surrender.

Source:
TEM 74

 

Rule 23J: May the Allied anti-shipping forces fly transfer missions?

Question:
May the Allied anti-shipping forces fly transfer missions?

Answer:
No, Rule 23J states explicitly that these air units “may only fly naval patrol bombing missions”, and transfer missions are not naval patrol bombing missions. Note that the naval units in port mission is not a naval patrol bombing mission, either.

Source:
TEM 74

 

Rule 23I: Can Air Units leave Garrison Boxes?

Question:
Rule 23I2 states that Allied air units may enter and leave garrison boxes. Rule 37E1 says that the Allied player “must maintain garrisons in certain districts or pay a penalty”. Does this mean that the Allied player can voluntarily exit air units (for instance, the 20 fighters from the Britain garrison) and then later return them to the garrison again? If yes, when is the penalty implemented?

Answer:
Yes, you can choose to have air units leave a garrison. They may do so during a friendly initial phase, simply move the air unit from the garrison box to the associated holding box. This occurs when you do replacement/reinforcement activities. Note that you check required garrisons before replacement and reinforcement activities. So, if you remove one or more air units from a garrison, you will be short that many air units from the garrison at the beginning of your next friendly initial phase. When you check required garrisons, you will be penalized one ARP per air unit missing from the harrison at that time. You will be unable to have any air units enter that garrison before the penalty is assessed, due to the sequence of play.

Source:
TEM 73

 

Rule 23I: How many Air units can fly Naval Patrol from a Reference City?

Question:
The issue arose whether an unlimited number of naval patrol units (the Allies have about 30 assigned) can fly from Bizerte, a reference city.

The Allies claim that any number of air units can fly from this airbase, even though it has a capacity of one and naval patrol units are not supposed to stage. They also claim that they can make an unlimited number of contact attempts against the same hex from this airbase, even though only one stack per airbase is allowed to make a contact attemp against the same hex. I gather from your ruling above that Bizerte, by being part of the holding box, does not have to abide by the usual restrictions on staging and airbases with regard to naval patrol missions.

Answer:
This is close, but not completely correct. The off-map holding box is considered an airbase, a single airbase; therefore the Allies may make one contact attempt from that single airbase. The fact that the holding box has an unlimited capacity doesn’t change the fact that is considered a single airbase, and only one naval patrol mission can be flown from any airbase.

So the Allies can make one contact attempt from the holding box, and have that mission, of as many air units as are available, initiate that mission from any valid airbase/hex of the holding box.

To make multiple contact attempts would not be allowed since the naval patrol rules are specific that only one mission can be initiated from any single airbase. The off-map holding box rules plainly state that the holding box is considered an airbase, not a bunch of airbases but a single, discrete airbase, albeit with unlimited capacity.

To allow the Allies to attempt multiple contacts from the holding box, which is considered the air unit’s airbase, goes against the naval patrol bombing limitations on initiating missions from s single airbase. Thet would be in direct contravention of the rules regarding naval patrol missions.

While the Allies do get a bonus from using the holding box, in that the number of air units on the naval patrol mission can be artificially above the normal maximum of 12, they can’t have their cake and eat it too. They can’t claim that more than one naval patrol can be initiated from this single airbase.

Source:
TEM 71

 

Rule 23I: Capacity of North Africa or Britain Holding Boxes

Question:
Can any number of air operations (with an unlimited number of air units) originate from the same airbase and/or all-land clear terrain hex in the North Africa or Britain holding boxes?

Answer:
Yes. airbase capacity does not affect the number of missions that may be initiated from an airbase. Since the entire off-map box is an unlimited capacity airbase, all air units therein become operative during initial phases; then they may fly missions from any hex that qualifies as being part of the off-map holding box, evenif, say, all units take off and return to the same single hex.

Source:
TEM 71

 

Rule 23H10: Aborting a Code X Air Unit

Question:
If I understand this rule correctly, then a code X air unit which suffers an “A” result in combat is considered aborted and not eliminated. Is that correct?

Answer:
The unit would suffer a “double abort” (once in combat and once per Rule 23H10), but in SF this still equates to an “abort” and not an “eliminated” as in some other Europa games.

Source:
Errata published at http://www.hmsgrd.com/Files/Europa/Second Front/Second Front.pdf

 

 

Rule 23G: Night Landing during Staging Missions

Question:
When making a night transport mission involving staging how many times does a transport roll for night landing? For the staging? For the mission hex? For the landing upon return?

Answer:
It rolls every time it lands at an airbase at night. Staging happens during the mission movement step of an air op, and you have to declare night or day at the START of an air op. If the air op is declared as night, then so is the mission movement step of that air op, which is when staging happens. Since one may not stage during day time if one is flying a night air mission, the air unit would roll for crash landing following its one leg transfer mission, again when it landed at the mission hex, and again when it landed at the airbase chosen during the air return step. cf SF 23.G which states that a day air unit “may crash land whenever it lands at an airbase…” “Whenever” means at any time that it lands at an airbase – and per 23.B a staging air unit lands at the staging airbase, per 20.A.

Source:
TEM 59/60

 

Rule 23G: Cargo Transport Aborted by Night Landing

Question:
What happens to the cargo of a transport aborted when making a night landing at the intended mission hex? Does it end up at the mission hex, mission origination hex, dead pile, or somewhere else?

Answer:
I assume you mean when the air transport is aborted for landing at night? In that case, the cargo is at the airbase where the air transport landed.

Abort results never eliminate cargo. The cargo could not be at the mission origination hex, since the air unit may not return there. Therefore, the cargo is at the destination hex. It is delivered before the roll for crash landing is made.

Source:
TEM 59/60

 

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 The General Staff Archives

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑