In the last article, we explored the Event and Action cards. This time, we’ll dive straight into Combat.

The revolution must either prevail or perish, Russia would either survive or cease to be. Each side, in effect, imagined itself leading a crusade against the apocalypse. We are pure, our cause is just. Our enemy is evil incarnate. To defeat him is not enough. He must be destroyed as well. – Willard Sunderland

Commanders

As mentioned last time, some of each faction’s Action cards are Commanders. Each faction has three Commander cards, except the Anarchists who have only two. In addition, each faction has a Bluff card, which is used to feign a Commander but in fact does nothing, as we’ll see below.

Commanders are used to initiate an Attack on your turn, or to Support Combat on another faction’s turn. Each Commander has a Strength bonus in the top-right of their card (from 0 to +2) and a special ability which may or may not apply to the specific Combat situation. Commander cards are always played face-down to the table so the other factions don’t know which Commander (or Bluff) you are playing until the Combat resolves. Playing a Commander allows you to move any number of troops from one of your territories into an adjacent territory, which is the Combat territory. Doing so on your turn makes you the Attacker and whichever faction has troops in the Combat territory is designated as the Defender.

Once the Attack is declared, each faction with troops adjacent to the Combat territory, and the Defender with troops in the Combat territory, must decide whether to play a Support Commander. Usually this is done to bring troops from an adjacent territory into the Combat, but if the Defender doesn’t have adjacent troops they could also use a Support Commander simply to buff their troops already in the Combat territory. Each faction can play one Support Commander, including the Attacker if they have a second territory adjacent to the Combat territory (in addition to where the Attack Commander is bringing troops from).

The main reason not to play a Support Commander is because after the Combat, all Support Commanders are Exhausted. Being Exhausted means the Commander will not be available to be played again for the remainder of the current Season AND the following Season. Because the faction is playing a card out of the normal turn sequence, the cost of this is to lose access to that card for a Season. With only two or three Commanders total, losing one for a Season is actually a steep price.

In this example, the Bolsheviks play a Commander (face-down) to attack Don Republic with six troops from Tambov. Because Don Republic is adjacent to other Bolshevik territories, another White territory (Kuban), an Anarchist territory (Huliaipole), and a New Nations territory (Astrakhan), all four factions must decide whether to Support. All four factions choose a Support Commander (which is potentially a Bluff card) and move troops from an adjacent territory to the border to show their Support (note: A meeple indicates five troops; these are prototype components). At this point, the Bolshevik Attacker is showing a total of nine troops and a Claim, along with the declared Support of three Anarchist troops, for a combat strength of 13. The White Defender is showing a total of 10 troops, along with the declared Support of one New Nations troop, for a total combat strength of 11. As we’ll see, some of these factions may be Bluffing.

Blind Bidding for Casualties

Each faction involved in a Combat bids a secret amount of Firepower from behind their faction screen, and the Bolsheviks may bid Armored Trains as well. Once all involved factions hold out a closed fist containing their bid, the bid commences. Each Firepower bid removes one troop on the opposing side of the Combat. The Armored Train has an upgradeable power, which is a combination of removing enemy troops and blocking enemy Firepower.

When players reveal their weapons, they also reveal their Commanders – the Attack Commander and all Support Commanders. Some of these will have abilities which affect the number of casualties. If a Bluff card is revealed at this point the corresponding troops are returned to their original location and will not take part in the combat, and any Firepower revealed by that player is also returned to their own supply (it is not spent). Once it is determined how many casualties both sides in the Combat receive, it is the responsibility of the Attacker and the Defender to apportion their own side’s casualties. Tip: determining how many of your ally’s troops to remove as casualties is a great starting point for friendly negotiations!

Continuing our example Combat, the Bolsheviks reveal Kamenev as their Attack Commander, and a Bluff for their Support Commander, so the three Support troops must return to Kharkiv. They also reveal one Firepower and a Level 2 Armored Train, so cause a total of two enemy casualties. The Anarchist player reveals Makhno as their Support Commander, but bids no Firepower. The White player reveals Wrangel as the Support Commander, and four Firepower that causes four enemy casualties. Wrangel’s special ability adds one White troop to Kuban, and they assign their two casualties to the Kuban troops; they now have a total of nine troops in the Combat. The New Nations player was Bluffing, so cannot bid Firepower as they are not actually in the Combat, and their committed troops are returned to Astrakhan. The Bolshevik player divides their side’s total of four casualties – one goes to the Anarchists (two troops remaining) and the Bolsheviks absorb three (three troops remaining).

At this point the total strength of the Attacking and Defending sides is compared. In our example, the Attackers have a total of five remaining troops, +1 from the Bolshevik Claim, +2 from Kamenev, and +2 from Makhno for a total of 10 strength. The Defender has a total of 9 strength from nine remaining troops, +0 from Wrangel. As a result, the Attackers win the Combat, and the Bolsheviks conquer Don Republic.

Outcome

Troops on the losing side of Combat must retreat to an adjacent territory if possible, either their own or a vacant territory. In our example Combat, the troops from Don Republic must retreat to Kuban, the only adjacent White territory. If Kuban had been controlled by a different faction, all the White troops in Don Republic would be captured and removed from the board. However, in the above example, Makhno’s Commander ability causes one retreating White troop to convert to an Anarchist troop and join Makhno’s troops returning to Huliaipole. Surviving Support troops always return to their original territories at the end of Combat. The other Commander ability from this example, that of Kamenev, allows the conquering Bolsheviks to steal one Food from the White Army player. The two Support Commanders, Makhno and Wrangel, become Exhausted, meaning they will be unavailable to their factions next Season.

When a Hammer or Sickle territory is conquered, the Defender must give the corresponding Hammer or Sickle tokens to the victorious Attacker. In the example, the White player gives one Sickle, representing Don Republic’s productive capacity, to the Bolshevik player.

Finally, the VP tracker is adjusted when a territory switches from the Revolutionary alliance to the Counter-Revolutionary alliance, or vice versa. In the example, the VP tracker moves one space to the left (towards Revolution). The Bolshevik player also needs to move their Claim from Don Republic to another territory required by their Objective card; or if they completed their Objective they would announce it at the end of their turn and score the associated VP.

Next time, we’ll see why those Hammer territories and Sickle territories are so important when we explore Production, and the Russian Winter’s effect on the looming threat of starvation.

---

Previous Articles:

The Four Factions of Hammer and Sickle

How to Win Hammer and Sickle

Events and Actions in Hammer and Sickle