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8 NO RETREAT 3: THE French Front May-JUNE 1940 v2.4Hex has a Fort unit in it, this result is NoEffect.*Thus, your Player Turn could begin withsome enemy Counterblow markers alreadyin place, meaning that either:A) You must attack those enemy units ifyour friendly units remain adjacent to themduring your Combat Phase; orB) You will have to move your friendly unitsaway during your Movement Phase to avoidthose battles (at which point theCounterblow marker has no effect).This can be a big decision![10.7.1] Step Losses: Certain results causea step loss to either the defender’s (DD) orboth sides’ units (EX). When these occur,a full-strength, two-step unit is reduced(flipped over) to its reduced-strength, onestepside OR a unit with only one step iseliminated (but see rule 14.9, CadreUnits).• When there is a choice, the owningplayer determines which of his units inthat battle suffer any step loss.Most Eliminated units are placed in theDestroyed Units Box or, if that unit hadan Unsupplied marker on it atthe time of its elimination, it isplaced in the SurrenderedUnits Box instead.• Exception: place German and FrenchCadre units on the Turn Track wheneliminated (see 14.9).[10.7.2] Counterattacks: A CA resultmeans the defender must decide to either:treat that battle’s outcome as No Effectand end it there, OR to conduct animmediate counterattack.If the defender counterattacks, removeany Support marker and discard playedcards for that battle. Go back to Step 1 inthe Battle Procedure and start a brand newbattle, repeating all of the Steps.This new battle must include the exactsame units that participated in the initialBattle, only this time: 1) the Counterattackingplayer is the attacker (and theother player is the defender), and 2) noterrain shift modifiers are applied to thisbattle (although other terrain effects thatnegate armor shifts and multi-hex advancestill apply).• Unengaged Units: It could happen incounterattack battles that some units in ahex are being (counter) attacked, butother units in that hex are not; this isallowed. Only participating units areaffected by any step loss and CAresults; stacked, unengaged units mustsuffer any Retreat results.• A counterattack can lead to anothercounterattack, and so on until someother outcome takes place. Thesecounterattacks, too, are conducted as perthis Rule.[10.7.3] Counterblows (InvoluntaryCounterattacks): A Non-Phasing player’sCounterblow (10.1.2) mandatesthe Phasing player’s involuntarycounterattack in response. This isperformed similarly to a regularcounterattack in that the defender (i.e., theNon-Phasing player) receives no terrainshift modifiers, but:• The Phasing player is the attacker andthe Target Hex is the one denoted by aCounterblow marker (see 10.1.2).• Disorganized and white strength unitscan participate in these Counterblows,but can never Advance After Combat(10.8) if victorious.• Remember that a Counterblow calledfor by the Combat Result Table (CB) isresolved during the next Player Turn.Simply flip the Target marker to itsCounterblow side and place it on oneof the Phasing player’s Attacking hexes(of the Phasing player’s choice, if thereis more than one such hex); even when aCB result occurs during a Counterattack(CA).You need to visualize this:Counterblows placed through discardingInitiative markers during the opponent’sturn are diversions made by the defender toforce the Phasing player to commit somestrength to attack those harassing units.Counterblows placed by a CB combat result(and thus resolved on the following PlayerTurn) are partial advances made by theattacker that forces the opponent to eithercede the hexes adjacent to that Counterblowmarker during the next turn, or to deal withthe threat directly by attacking it.[10.7.4] Forts: When the Target Hexcontains a hexagon-shapedFortified (a.k.a. “Fort”)unit, these outcomes arechanged:• A DR or DW becomes aNo Effect (‘–’).• A DS becomes an EX.• Ignore the Retreat part of a DD resultfor all units in the Target Hex.• No Initiative or VP markers are gainedfrom that battle.• Ignore the Hedgehog Defense rule(10.7.5).[10.7.5] Hedgehog Defense Units: Whenthe Target Hex contains a unit with theSystems Development by Alan EmrichHedgehog Defense symbolbetween its Combat Strengthand Movement Allowance,and no counterblow markers,change the combat result as follows:Hedgehog Defense units (and the unitsstacked with them) suffer the next higherCombat Result listed on the tables whenthey are defending (only). The hierarchyof Combat Results (which get progresssivelybetter for the defender) are: DD DS DR or DW EX CB CA E/. An initial “E/-” stays as is.For Example: A combat result of DS becomes aDR result, which is better for the defender (thanksto their Hedgehog Defenses). A DS becomes aDW on the Attrition Tables (as there is no DRresult on these Combat Results Tables).[10.7.6] Retreats: When required toRetreat, the defender must first move hisunits one to four hexes (depending on thespecific Combat Result) further awayfrom the battle (i.e., they cannot zig-zagso as to end up fewer hexes further away),toward a friendly supply source ifpossible, within the following restrictions:• Units cannot Retreat into hexescontaining an enemy unit, acrossProhibited hexsides or off the map.• Exception: Allied units can Retreat offthe map through a French (blue) mapedge; place these units in the SouthernFrance Box (see 8.11).• Most units cannot Retreat into hexes inan Enemy ZOC unless there is also afriendly unit in that hex (i.e., friendlyunits negate EZOCs for Retreatpurposes.) See the exception below:• Red-Movement Allowance (i.e., mobile)units can Retreat into hexes that areexclusively in Enemy Black-MovementAllowance (i.e., non-mobile) units’ZOCs, but only if they can Retreatwhile moving towards their own linesand Supply sources (i.e., you cannotadvance through enemy lines whileRetreating!).Thus, regular infantry units cannot easilysurround elusive mobile units!• Units can pass through and end theirRetreat stacked with friendly units, butif an overstacking situation occurs at theend of a Retreat, it must be resolved(see 8.4.3).• Retreating expends no MovementPoints; you just count hexes.Remember, Forts and units stacked withthem never retreat; they ignore the Retreatpart of DR and DD results.If a unit is prohibited from Retreating, it iseliminated instead (see 10.7.1).