The time is: 0130 hrs., 23 June 1812

Napoleon rode upstream from Kovno to select a crossing place over the Niemen River. Removing his familiar colonel's coat he put on the jacket and black-silk kalpak of a Polish lancer. His companions who all advised against this invasion, Berthier, Davout, Caulaincourt, and the engineer Haxo-did the same. The Emperor was in a pensive, somber mood. Galloping back to headquarters, a startled hare got under his horse, causing him to fall.

This was an inauspicious portent and coupled with his associates' misgivings would have stopped a Roman general in his tracks. Agents brought news placing Bagration near Volkovisk and Barclay between Lida and Keidany, with reserves near Svenciany. From of Ney's Third Corps headquarters at Marianpole, came the report of a Jewish merchant who had just returned from Lithuania: the Russians were pulling their forces back, leaving a few Cossacks to keep an eye on the French. Alexander's generals were left guessing at just how great were the forces Napoleon had brought to their borders. The highest estimates, those of Barclay de Tolly and Phull, credited Napoleon with having close to 250,000 men. In reality, the Grande Armée was twice as massive, totalling 437,500 plus two corps in reserve.*
(*Curtis Cate, War of the Two Emperors)

Recent developments:

Forage values are assigned by province, and you don't have to be in or near a town. As in other games, Cossacks/Vedettes are unable to break the LOC. Cossacks go 90 miles in ten days; twice that on roads. These scouts are restricted from passing beyond 9 MPs of their own LOC. They will be subject to all the rules of attrition. Any vedette that's out of supply goes away at the beginning of the administrative segment of the player turn. That change made it more difficult for the Russian player to cut the French LOC.

Russian Depots are printed on the map. Either side can (capture or) build depot Wherever the Center of Operations ends its move.

The French player has all the administrative points in the world. But once they go beyond their LOC, they don't mean a thing. Once on the zero column your Administration could do nothing.

From Kovno across the first map section to Orsha is 32 hexes. A depot allows you to extend your LOC beyond the limit of 160 miles (16 hexes). For each depot in the LOC you can add 8 hexes to the overall length. Depots can be traced to just like a Center of Operations for Attrition but not for Movement Commands. As the campaign wears on the capacity to garner new Aps plummets.

If you have played Napoleon at Bay, 1807: The Eagles Turn East, or The Emperor Returns, you already know the Standard (Series 1X) Rules. The first in the Series 5X, there are significant changes on a familiar basis. A one-page index keyed to the paragraph numbers makes look-up easy.