Although judges have been used in reenactments in the past, the role of referees in Combat Simulations is closer to the work done by military evaluators who watch units of the armed forces train--writing down what they observe, good and bad, for later review.

Referees will act as judges, in that they can rule whether a particular action was successful or if a certain target was knocked out. The referees are also much like the referees in a football game--they will watch the action, and assess penalties for violations of the rules. They can also declare an engagement "dead" if troops become too intermingled, if there is excessive hand-to-hand combat or if there is a safety problem.

What the referees will not do is try to judge whether shots fired by various riflemen are inflicting casualties. They will not tell a individual private that he should take a hit--they will only record a penalty if the soldier doesn't take a hit.

The referees will be primarily looking at the specialty troops--snipers, sappers, crews of heavy weapons. They will also look at how units act as a whole--whether they respond to fire or avoid minefields. They will closely watch actions and individuals around vehicles and ammo dumps, as these are some of the crucial, high scoring components of scenarios.

A referee may rule that certain snipers, sappers or heavy weapons crews are casualties. This could be by the referee that is accompanying such troops, or by referees watching from the other side of the field through binoculars. Even though referees may be wearing a Soviet or German uniform or items of clothing to "blend-in," they are neutral in terms of their job on the field and can assess points or penalties to either side.

There will be several referees posted to each combatant force. There will be a referee inside each strongpoint at all times; the rest will accompany patrols, sapper/Pionier detachments and sniper teams. Since sappers or Pioniers cannot remove large minefields, nor can snipers score "kill" points unless a referee is present, they are in effect an asset for a commander to be used judiciously--a commander should plan the deployment of special troops according to the referees available.