11. Weather
Adverse weather turns are marked on the Turn Track. There are three types of adverse weather: Mud, Storms, and Snow.
△ 11.1 Weather Areas
Weather affects the hexes of two different Weather Areas on the map: North and Desert.
North: All Land hexes outside Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and Trans-Jordan
Desert: All Land hexes inside Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and Trans-Jordan
Weather rules apply to Land hexes within a Weather Area and certain Naval Zones only on the Turns listed on the Turn Track.
Example: During the Apr-May turn, Mud is in effect in the North Weather Area and Storms are in effect in the Desert Weather Area.
Weather is tracked by Weather Areas. The Weather markers (14.41) are simply play-aid reminders; players don’t have to use them if they don’t want to.
Beachheads: Although All-Sea hexes are not normally part of a Weather Area, an All-Sea hex containing a Beachhead marker is considered to be part of the Weather Area that the Beachhead Hexside points to.
This is mostly to prevent attackers from claiming the ability to conduct Blitz combat against a Beachhead in bad weather.
11.2 Weather Effects on Combat
Reduce the Dr result against a defending hex affected by Mud, Storms, or Snow as follows:
- Dr3 becomes Dr2
- Dr2 becomes Dr1
- Dr1 becomes Ex.
Ex, Ad, and Attrition results are not affected.
11.3 Mud
A ground unit in a hex with Mud cannot move out of a hex containing an EZOC. No exceptions.
Friendly units do not negate EZOC for this purpose.
Here’s a tactical tip. To disengage in Mud, attack and try to get Ad and Ex results.
A ground unit cannot attack a hex with Mud in the Blitz Combat Segment.
When attacked in a hex with Mud, the defender receives a one-column shift to the left.
A ground unit cannot conduct Exploitation into a hex with Mud.
Mud does not affect Retreat, Advance After Combat, or a Failure (14.12).
Mud (and Storms and Snow) do affect the Retreat Result you receive during combat (11.2), but it doesn’t affect how you conduct Retreats.
An Air unit cannot be placed in a hex with Mud.
An Air unit does not provide an Air Unit shift in combat if the defending hex is a hex with Mud.
11.4 Storms
A ground unit in a hex with Storms must stop moving after moving into or out of a hex containing an EZOC in the Operational Movement Phase.
Friendly units do not negate EZOC for this purpose. A multi-step armor unit can ignore the EZOC of a unit it is overrunning in Storms.
A ground unit cannot attack a hex with Storms in the Blitz Combat Segment.
Storms do not affect Retreat, Advance after Combat, Exploitation, or a Failure (14.12).
An Air unit does not provide an Air Unit shift in combat if the defending hex is a hex with Storms, and the Air unit is adjacent to that hex.
An Air unit can provide an Air Unit shift in its hex during Storms (or Snow, for that matter).
11.5 Snow
A ground unit in a hex with Snow must stop moving after moving into or out of a hex containing an EZOC in the Operational Movement Phase.
Friendly units do not negate EZOC for this purpose. A multi-step armor unit can ignore the EZOC of a unit it is overrunning in Snow.
△ Only the following units can attack defending units in hexes with Snow during the Blitz Combat Segment, provided they are Blitz-enabled:
- German SS
- All German units stacked with or adjacent to SS units
- Finnish
- Russian
- Swedish
Snow does not affect Retreat, Advance after Combat, Exploitation, or a Failure (14.12).
An Air unit does not provide an Air Unit shift in combat if the defending hex is a hex with Snow, and the Air unit is adjacent to that hex.
During Turns in which the North Weather Area is experiencing Snow:
- An Ice hex cannot be considered a Naval Base or an Open Port.
- △ A support unit cannot be placed in any All-Sea hex of the Arctic Sea, North Sea, or Baltic Sea Naval Zones.
Support units can be placed in the Naval Zone Boxes of those Naval Zones during Snow.