Book IV Operational rules decks and aviation

The strategic board represents independent formations with finite strength, location, readiness, supply and orders. Engagements commit actual available forces. Their surviving identities return to that same operational ledger.

Movement supply and engagement

Terrain, roads, control and hostile positions affect movement and access. The front emerges from deployment, screening and reserves. A gap can expose artillery or logistics; no invisible protective battalion is added when support is attacked. Tactical assistance requires a valid assignment and eligibility, not merely a common division badge.

The current Helmstedt implementation has movement points, readiness, supply paths, contacts, requisitions, autoresolution and tactical handoff. Exact implementation tuning is not universal canon for larger boards. Current source constants include 6 maximum movement AP, 4 ordinary regeneration, 2 cut-off regeneration and 2 assault AP; any revised board must validate scale and pacing rather than copy those figures blindly.

Requisition activates an authorised listed reserve or replaces losses within capacity. Replacement, recovery, training and equipment purchases preserve casualty history and existing veterans. An old save keeps its original finite stock; migration cannot mint new equipment or repeat an income grant.

Skirmish decks

The source-inspected armory uses 45 activation points, increasing category-slot prices, at most two cards per base unit across variants, one required engineer card and at most one wonder. A/B/C eligibility, resources, facilities and population remain separate deployment constraints. These are current tuning, not historical claims or permanent balance guarantees.

Named decklists are stored locally and exported/imported as JSON. Invalid imports or failed writes must preserve the previous selection. Campaign formations cannot be replaced with an arbitrary skirmish deck.

Vehicle-owned passenger packages pay for the vehicle and configured squad. Each available vehicle brings its configured passenger, who becomes a separate unit on dismounting. A second infantry deck card is not consumed and an extra free squad is not created. Gun cards can carry a compatible tractor choice. Preserve national identity and loadout compatibility.

Campaign establishment and refit

Campaign cards represent finite authorised inventory, not the skirmish availability tradeoff. Veterancy does not create or remove real tanks or soldiers. Queuing reserves stock; cancellation returns it; a phase change does not replenish losses. Each battle’s arrival schedule is derived from the committed surviving inventory.

Political Points represent command authorisation and influence, separate from tactical manpower, fuel and munitions. Current source values are 100 starting PP and 40 per new operational turn. They are a refit economy, not campaign victory points. Training, authored equipment changes, replacement and survivor recovery retain original capacity, identities and veterans. Procurement must save atomically, quote eligibility before spending and avoid income replay. Detailed current formulas remain in the runtime implementation and their archived evidence, not competing balance tables.

Full independent loadout lanes, arbitrary hull swaps and unrestricted campaign passenger refits are not implied by the existing curated preset editor. Supported content and pending expansion must remain visible.

Air command and squadrons

Squadrons belong to a campaign air command, with wings/groups above them. They are not organic property of a tank battalion. Each squadron has aircraft, pilots/crews, serviceability, losses, replacements, a base and operational availability.

Allocate finite strength to air superiority, ground support, interdiction, reconnaissance or reserve for a defined sector and time. Committed aircraft cannot participate in simultaneous incompatible missions. Return, refuelling, rearming, damage and relocation affect subsequent readiness. Interceptions can be resolved operationally; a separate playable dogfight is not required for every encounter.

A battalion deck may remember a preferred request, but that request does not own the aircraft or guarantee availability. On-map airfields have fuel, servicing and security dependencies and can be overrun, disrupted or evacuated. Off-map bases still obey range and turnaround limits. Exact squadron identities, dates, strength, basing, range and mission-resolution rules remain open.

Dedicated Air tab

The Air tab continues to mean aircraft callable in this battle. Fighters, strike aircraft and reconnaissance roles remain distinguishable. A shared standalone team air pool is a possible later option, not the default. These multiplayer contracts are design direction, not proof that netcode or campaign multiplayer is implemented.

Acceptance invariants

Every committed asset has one owner and one current assignment. Parent and child inventories reconcile. Lost units remain lost; replacements have new identities and costs. Deck variants share finite stock. An unsupported artillery unit can be attacked on its own. A squadron covering two battalions is one allocation, not two copies. Save failure cannot spend resources or adopt a partial world state.