The movement rules form the core of the EFS system. There are various kinds of movement, and there are different phases in which movement can occur.
Ground units are typically either non-motorized (foot or horse drawn) or motorized.
But color coding on the movement factors of the counters can specify finer distinctions within these two types.
These are the movement phases in EFS:
Movement phases
Regular Movement - All (practically all) units get to move.
Motorized Movement - Only motorized units (non-orange movement factor) units move. The Soviets can sometimes get a non-motorized unit to move here.
Reaction Movement - Motorized units that are not in ZOC (and for the Soviets - in range of an operating HQ) can respond to and join nearby combats.
and the specific movement types in EFS:
Movement rate color codes:
Non-boxed white movement factor - Non-motorized.
Red box around movement factor - Motorized.
Green movement factor - Super Heavy artillery.
Yellow movement factor - Infiltration capable.
Gray movement factor - Rail movement only.
Orange movement factor - Motorized but only moves in Regular Movement phase.
Blue movement factor - Naval movement only.
NON-MOTORIZED
Movement factor is non-boxed and white
MOTORIZED
Movement factor in red box
INFILTRATION
Movement factor is yellow
MOTORIZED - MOVEMENT PHASE
Movement factor is orange
RAIL
Movement factor is gray
NAVAL
Movement factor is blue
Due to the asymmetric nature of the Sequence of Play, the way the Axis player moves during a turn is different than how the Soviet moves during a turn.
The order of phases for the Axis player is:
Regular Movement
Combat
Motorized Movement
The order of phases for the Soviet player is:
Motorized Movement
Combat
Regular Movement
As you can see, the Soviets are at a disadvantage. The Axis player gets to move all his units to set up combats, but the Soviet
player can only move motorized units before combat. However, the Soviet player does have a limited ability to move
some non-motorized units during the Soviet Motorized Movement Phase by having a headquarters "Activate" a non-motorized unit. This will be
discussed in the section under "Headquarters". In 1941 the Soviets had big problems in coordinating armor with infantry, and it seems
that sometimes commanders on the ground did not even try to coordinate them, and just sent the armor charging ahead, willy nilly, into combat unsupported.
The Terrain Effects Chart will need to be referred to constantly, as it is extensive, and has many different costs
for different kinds, and combinations, of terrain. There are different columns for "Dry" weather, "Mud", "Frost",
and "Arctic". There are some subtleties in the movement rules -
Super-heavy artillery
Super-heavy artillery (marked by unit symbol and green movement rate) are very restricted in how they can move:
They can be transported by railroad movement. They must be in "move" mode before getting on a train.
They can move along connected Main Road or Motorway hexes at the rate of 1 mp per hex, under all weather conditions.
They can also move along connected Minor Roads at the rate of 1 mp per hex during Dry Weather with no Lingering Mud.
They can utilize strategic movement along a Motorway or Main Road. They cannot do strategic movement on a Minor Road.
If a super-heavy artillery is on a Minor Road when Mud occurs - it is stuck until totally dry weather returns.
If a super-heavy gets a retreat result on it, it can only retreat if it is on its mobile side. If it is on
its firing side it is destroyed. If its on its mobile side, it can only retreat along Main Road or Motorway hexes
(or along a Minor Road if the weather is Dry with no Lingering Mud), otherwise it is destroyed.
Super-heavy artillery can only change mode during the Engineering Phase. It can only change to its "firing" side
if it did not move that turn. You might want to mark the super-heavy with some marker at the beginning of your
movement phase so that you'll know not to move it so it can qualify to flip to firing mode.
Note that super-heavy artillery that is OOS may not be able to move at all, since the -2 MP effect of being
OOS may bring its movement rate down to 0.
Soviet cavalry
Soviet cavalry units can move during both Motorized and Regular Movement Phases. They can always move 1/2 their movement during the
Soviet Motorized Movement Phase, and then full movement during the Regular Movement Phase. They do not suffer
from the -2 MP penalty for being OOS. They do not have the "retreat before combat option" capability that you see in some
other games.
Exiting a Road
EFS is strict as to when you can benefit from road movement. You can only benefit from road movement
if you enter a hex on a road, and stay on that road (or to a different road that connects to the road you were using) as you exit it.
If you enter, say, hex "A" along a road, but then move a hex "b" that the road does not connect to (from "A" to "B"),
then you cannot claim the road benefit when you initially went into hex "A". You would have to pay normal costs to enter "A"
as if the road didn't even go there. This kind of rule is unusual in a wargame, but it makes logical sense. If you "leave" the road
inside a hex, then you are getting off the road "in that hex" and going right into the terrain that hex has. However, roads will provide a bridge
to get across rivers, even if once after getting on the hex across the river you leave that road.
This rule has a little wiggle room. You could "end" your movement in a phase in a hex with a road and claim the road benefit.
Then in the next movement phase you can leave that road and not worry about "paying back" for the previous
movement phase. Using this method you could extract units that were otherwise "trapped" on a road going through
otherwise prohibited terrain and "escape" into a non-prohibited hex that is next to it.
Minor Roads in Mud
Minor Roads are considered to all but disappear in Mud turns. Motorized units must pay cost for the other terrain in the
hex when moving along a Minor Road during Mud. The exception is Woods - do not add Woods cost while traveling along a Minor Road through Woods in Mud.
Units can still do Strategic Movement along Minor Roads in Mud, though it doesn't change the cost of entering the hexes.
Minsk-Smolensk-Moscow Motorway
The Motorway in Army Group Center has special restrictions on its use. The Motorway was so important for the movement
of supplies and critical reinforcements to the drive on Smolensk and Moscow that the Germans strictly controlled
who and want could utilize this very important highway.
Only Axis motorized, Orange MA, and Green MA units may benefit from the road rate on the Motorway. Super-Heavy artillery is still, though, restricted to one hex per MP.
For all other units, they can move along the Motorway but they have to pay the costs of other terrain in the hex,
as if the Motorway wasn't even there.
Soviet forces can use the beneficial Motorway rates without these restrictions.
How Railroads are sometimes treated like a road
When moving along a railroad (not using rail movement) in woods, subtract 1 from the movement cost to enter that hex.
When moving along a railroad over a River or Major River hexside, the unit ignores the cost of crossing that river or Major River hexside.
Artillery units can cross a Major River along a railroad.
Motorized units (and those with Orange MAs) may enter a swamp hex moving along a railroad. The cost is 3 MP per hex in any weather condition.
During mud turns, motorized units extend their ZOCs into surrounding hexes only if it is along a road or railroad.
A railroad can allow a LOC to go through a swamp hex during Dry or Mud turns.
Bridges
Players may get some bridge units, depending on the scenario. These bridge units allow movement across a river or major river without having to pay the
river crossing costs. Bridge units cannot be destroyed or captured. If an enemy unit enters the hex with the bridge unit, it is removed from the map
and returned to the owning player, who may place it again during the next turn. Roads (major and minor) and railroads that go across rivers are assumed to have bridges there.
Those bridges also never get destroyed, and are always available to both sides.
There has been a change to the bridge placement rules: In the first version of the system, players
were able to freely move bridge units during the movement phase and place them where they wanted (once a movement phase). Now the rule has been changed: bridge
units are placed during the supply determination phase with their "under construction" side up. If the river being bridged is a regular river (not major) then
it is flipped over to its operating bridge side at the beginning of your regular (not motorized) movement phase. If its a major river, then you have to wait until the engineering phase
to turn them over.
One Hex Movement
Units may be able to move one hex even if the costs involved are higher than the unit's movement rating.
One Hex Movement may occur in any movement phase.
One Hex Movement cannot be performed on Mud turns, or in Woods during lingering Mud turns.
One Hex Movement can not be performed from a hex in enemy ZOC to an adjacent hex in enemy ZOC (though it may be able by using INFILTRATION movement).
One Hex Movement can only occur across a unbridged Major River in the Regular Movement Phase (yes this includes Soviet Motorized units also). This may be into a hex
on the other side of the Major River that is in enemy ZOC, as long as the unit didn't start in enemy ZOC.
Motorized units cannot perform One Hex Movement in the Reaction Phase if it bears an OOS marker.
Infiltration Movement
Motorized units with yellow movement factors can do something similar to 1-Hex Movement called Infiltration Movement. It allows
them to move directly from enemy ZOC to adjacent enemy ZOC. This movement of 1 hex uses up all the MPs of the
motorized unit or stack of motorized units.
Axis Infiltration Movement can only occur during the Axis Regular Movement Phase.
Soviet Infiltration Movement can only occur during the Soviet Motorized Movement Phase.
Infiltration movement cannot be performed on Mud turns, or in Woods during lingering Mud turns.
Infiltration movement cannot happen across non-destroyed enemy fortified lines or into enemy Strongpoints.
Infiltration movement cannot happen across unbridged Major River hexsides.
Infiltration movement cannot occur into or out of major city hexes.
Air Transport
Players may get air transport points allocated to them in a scenario. All airborne type units, all MSUs, and
Soviet HQ's can move by air transport. Air transported units must start and end on a friendly town, city, major city
hex, or from the Air Ready box. Towns cannot be used for air transport during Mud unless an engineer is also
present in the hex. There is no range restriction, and air transport cannot be opposed by enemy air units or AA Fire.
Units cannot start or end their air transport in a hex next to any enemy unit. Air transport cannot start or end
in an enemy Zone of Interdiction. Although the rules aren't specific - common sense dictates that "friendly"
means hexes on "your" side of the front, or hexes that are cut off by the enemy, but still have friendly
units in them. Air transport is useful for saving your valuable HQ's.
Overrun
Although similar to combat, overruns are considered part of movement.
During Motorized Movement or regular Movement phases, a motorized unit, or stack of motorized units that start the movement phase stacked together,
may attempt to overrun an enemy occupied hex.
To do so they must meet the minimum odds, and then roll on the overrun table. Attack Supply is not used,
and no artillery can participate. Defending artillery units only defend with their defence factor. No air units can participate. The overrunning units must remain stacked.
The hex adjacent to the target of the overrun cannot be in the ZOC of other enemy units, other than the units
that are being overrun. None of the overrunning units can be Out of Supply. Overruns cannot take place if the units
are using One Hex Movement. The overrunning units must be able to pay all normal movement costs, plus the cost of
entering the enemy occupied hex (minus the cost of entering another enemy ZOC), plus 1 MP.
The following restrictions also apply:
Overruns can only occur in Dry or Frost weather.
Overruns cannot be done across Major Rivers.
Overruns cannot be done across inland sea/lake hexsides.
Overruns into swamp hexes can only occur during Frost weather.
Overruns against a city, major city, or strongpoints or across fortified lines require the presence
of a motorized engineer.
See the overrun chart for minimum odds requirements and DRMs. If the overrun fails, the overrunning units are
considered to have exhausted all their movement points. If the overrun is successful, the overrunning stack
can continue moving if it has MPs left. If the defending units get retreated, then the overrunning player
retreats them 2 hexes. Overrun units get an overrun marker put on them. While they have the overrun marker on them,
they do not project a ZOC, cannot provide artillery support (if it is an artillery unit), and is not eligible for
reaction movement. HQs that get overrun get flipped to their non-op side. Units that got overrun, or that resisted
an overrun attempt, may be the target of another overrun attempt in the same movement phase.
Some other Movement rules
Enemy ZOCs cost an additional +1 movement point to enter (exception: Reaction Movement).
Snow turns Rivers into NE terrain. Snow turns Major Rivers into a +1 cost hexside
terrain.
When Lingering Mud is in effect (always lasts 1 turn after weather turns from Mud back to Dry) all hexes
with woods in them are considered to be in "Mud" weather. If you are tracing a LOC, it would be 7 hexes in
Dry weather, but if trace through a Woods hex when its Lingering Mud, then that LOC gets cut down to 5 hexes.
City and Major City hexes are always assumed to be also extensions of
any road or railroad that goes into them. Plus they are always 1/2 MP to enter during all weather conditions.
Fortified hexlines costs +1 MP to cross, and Strongpoint hexes costs +1 MP to enter, but a combination Fortified hexline
and Strongpoint hex only costs +1 to cross and enter, not +2.
Footnote (a), when it is present for a cost, creates a +1 MP penalty for all motorized units except for Soviet Armor.
Soviet Armor had wider tracks than any other vehicles and could negotiate muddy or marshy ground better.
Walking (or driving) along a Railroad gives a benefit of -1 MP cost when moving through a hex with Woods in it.
Movement Costs Example
East Front Series, EFS, Barbarossa Army Group North, Barbarossa Army Group Center, and Barbarossa Army Group South are Trademarks of GMT Games, Hanford, CA.
