Thanks very much for the replies! It's good to know it's not just me being dense about the inexplicable elevation rules...
It's strange that this one rule section is so bizarrely incoherent, as the rest of the rules seem to be fairly carefully written and edited.
I tried out the first scenario (solo) yesterday and enjoyed it (pretty much using the elevation rules T88.3 Hills & LOS from Combat Commander...). Things mostly went smoothly, some forgotten rules of course. (It was Scenario 1 from Elsenborn Ridge, ending in a draw. Took roughly 4 hours.)
I'd read about how the game often starts off with chain reactions of leader activations so very big long activations happen, and then as things get shot up, the activations become short and simple; indeed this proved true...! Interesting effect.
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I hit upon a few things I wasn't sure of (in case anyone can answer these easily)...
1. Can you simply order off-board artillery strikes during ANY of your activations as desired, in addition to whatever on-board activation you do? Or is it instead of doing a "normal" unit activation?
(PS: I do see now the additional info that "Only three offboard artillery factors or fire values may be used per activation segment." in the online annotated rules - that is useful to know! I didn't know it during my first solo play yesterday so the Germans did some very heavy barrages early on...)
2. Do I understand correctly that when you activate multiple units:
If any of them are demoralized, then you MUST do the recovery check for them (instead of move or fire).
If any of them are disrupted, then you MAY CHOOSE to do a recovery check for them or to do normal movement or firing with them.
Is all that right?
3. 14.42 was a bit confusing:
Quote:14.42 Required Recovery
Every demoralized unit must attempt recovery at some point during the course of a turn (owning player chooses when). Thus, a player may not "pass" if he has demoralized units that haven't activated this turn - they must try to recover.
I THINK it means merely that IF you activate a demoralized unit, THEN you must try to recover it, BUT it's possible and legal that you don't activate it (because you run out of activations) and therefore don't try to recover it... right? The essential point of the rule is simply that IF you have any demoralized units, then you're not allowed to pass... right? But you're not FORCED to activate specifically demoralized units if you have a choice... or are you?
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Are there any highly recommended rule summaries / charts / cheat sheets to download? E.g. concisely listing all the various effects of morale / disrupted / demoralized in different rule sections, or concisely listing all the ways a leader might be eliminated, etc? That sort of summary could be helpful.