Defiant Russia: Barbarossa Options
By William Sariego
July 2009

Designing Defiant Russia was a lot of fun, and this opportunity to expand the game cannot be passed up. Counter-mix constraints and the desire to produce a simple game limited my natural love of variants to a sane level, as witnessed by only two optional rules being included in the game.

Such constraints are hereby lifted by Divine Decree (or is that Dr. Bennighof’s Tolerance?) for the following. If players of Defiant Russia would like to try and add a little twist to their games, here is your chance. Each player rolls a die before setting up and consults their own table below.

Axis Variants

1. Airborne Unit: The German airborne corps is not totally wrecked at Crete and is further augmented by the Italian Folgore division. Add a 2-3 (1-3 depleted value) Axis airborne unit which must be deployed in Warsaw during set up. It functions in a similar fashion to the Soviet airborne unit included in the game except as follows: It can be dropped within five hexes (not four) of a friendly city, and can only be dropped in a Clear turn. If eliminated from the game it cannot be brought back and is worth 3 casualty points.

2. New Leader: Add Von Manstein at the start of the game. He must be deployed as part of Army Group North’s forces. He must always be stacked with a unit belonging to that army group and can never be stacked with Guderian. He adds +1 to the attack value of a stack and +1 to the defense value. He does not have Guderian’s special Light Mud exploit ability and is eliminated in a like manner, being worth three casualty points.

3. Armor Attack Bonus: German panzer units can qualify for an attack bonus on turn one under some strict guidelines. If attacking a stack that contains only Soviet infantry in clear terrain, and not across a river, panzer units hit on a 5 or 6 on turn one. If using 12.1 this does NOT apply to the Exploitation Combat Phase.

4. Bulgarian Participation: Hitler exerts greater pressure on his most reluctant ally to provide troops for the Eastern Front. Add the Bulgarian Mobile Corps as a turn two reinforcement. It appears at Bucharest and is valued 2-4 (1-4). It cannot receive replacements and is worth one casualty point if eliminated.

5. Rommel in Romania: Germany does not get involved in North Africa, so Mussolini is depressed and Franco is not impressed by the lack of Axis solidarity. The Italian and Spanish units never enter play. Instead, deploy Panzer Armee Romania as a 5-6 armored unit at start (in Romania of course).

6. German Total War Preparedness: Begin German replacements on turn two, rather than turn three. Also, instead of halving German attack factors in Snow turns simply subtract one. For example: A 6-6 Panzer would normally roll only three dice in a Snow turn; under this rule it rolls five.

Soviet Variants

1. New Leader: Add Timoshenko as a turn 2 reinforcement. He adds +1 to both attack and defense values of his stack. He moves in the same manner, and is eliminated in a like manner to the Zhukov leader. He does not share Zhukov’s ability to project his bonus and can never stack with Zhukov. He is worth two casualty points if killed.

2. Worker’s Militia: The local NKVD rallies civilian combatants in a city under attack. If the Axis attack a city with only one Soviet defender, roll one die. On a 6 if it is a minor city, or a 4-6 if it is a major city, deploy a Worker Militia unit 1-0 (-). It is considered a corps-sized unit for stacking purposes and only has one step. Two such units may be in play at one time and the Soviet player can voluntarily disband such units during his Organizational Phase.

3. No Industry Transfer: This option cancels 10.41 where it says from October to December only one armor unit may receive replacements. Two such units can do so throughout the entire game now. However, if Tula is captured, decrease Soviet replacements by one.

4. Partisan Unit: In addition to the effects of 11.2, the Soviet player can field an actual partisan unit. Starting on turn five the Soviet player can expend one replacement point to recruit a 1-3 (-) Partisan. The partisan unit can be recruited anywhere in the Soviet Union in a forest or marsh hex not in Axis ZoC. It is a one step unit that ignores Axis Zones of Control for movement, and only pays one movement point for each hex entered. It can never leave the Soviet Union and exerts a ZoC only in the hex it occupies. It is not counted for casualty points and can be recruited again if eliminated.

5. Cossacks: Nazi propagandists and their Cold War echoes make much ado about the Cossacks who fought for the Axis. The truth is the vast majority of the Warriors of the Steppe remained true to their Motherland. Assume an early and more effective mobilization of them in 1941. The Soviet player receives a 3-4 (1-4) cavalry unit on the October turn. It enters play as a reinforcement, but can enter on a Minor City hex south of hex row 25xx if the Soviet player wishes.

6. Active Baltic Fleet: Treat the Baltic Fleet as a mobile unit (with two steps) with similar rules as its cousin in the Black Sea. If at sea, however, it must be moved to Leningrad in the Soviet Organizational Phase of October (when the Baltic begins to ice over) from where it cannot move for the duration of the game.

The Ultimate Player Fantasy . . .

1. One Thousand Year Reich coming up. Would you like fries with that?

Allow the Axis player to use all the variants listed above PLUS 12.1 from the rulebook. To offset this advantage, the Axis player must win by a 7-4 margin or greater. A 6-5 "win" is considered a Soviet victory.

2. The triumph of socialism is inevitable; the August Coup of 1991 is a myth!

Allow the Soviet player to use all the above variants PLUS 12.2 from the rulebook. To offset this advantage, the Soviet player must win by a 7-4 margin or better. A 6-5 "win" is considered an Axis victory.

Or play with all the above just for the gore of it all. Standard victory conditions apply.

• Download a printable Barbarossa Options countersheet.
• Learn more about Defiant Russia.
• Buy Defiant Russia now!

This piece originally appeared in December 2005.