Ancient Rules Ambiguity: When does "play" begin?

[triangular_cube]

I ended up playing with the information "hidden" for both players. In the end none of this really mattered. The main Soviet force is ski capable and can set up fairly close to the board edge. They pretty much can just walk off the board no matter what the Axis does to oppose it. Hopefully the rewrite for Edelweiss Expanded proves to be more interesting, as the concept behind the scenario is unique, albeit poorly executed.