• this new A&a game will be a blast.  the specific battle A&A games are in my opinion a bit more fun.  what do you all think.


  • Well I have allways thought of AA as a grand scale game so the indiviual battles aren’t as appealing to me.  But then I have never played any of them either.


  • The senarios are IMO the best part of the minis game.


  • I’ll reserve judgment till it comes out, but I have high hopes; I’ve always been most interested in the BOTB, and if it’s at least as well done as D-Day, it’ll be worth the money :D.


  • I think these small theater games are designed to get players into other Avalon Hill games.  I believe Battle of the Bulge will be similar to D-Day.  The Germans and Allies will have their reinforcement cards to predetermine what units you get.  The Allies are the only ones to get airpower, but they won’t be able to use it immediately to allow the Germans the head start (historically, the Allies could not use their airpower until 8 days after the offensive started).

    The Germans will need to capture 3 or 4 key cities to win before 10 turns (or so) expire.

    Just like D-Day but the Germans are the ones who need to play aggressive.

    Because the Germans will most likely not get any airpower, I was hoping for 2 kinds of tanks to simulate regular tanks (like the Panzer IV playing at a 3,3) and heavy tanks (like the Panzer VI playing at a 4,3 but get very few).  The stronger tank units will allow a specific spearhead (schwerpunkt) to exist if the map has good granularity.  It is funny that the pieces for the German tanks are really Panzer V’s.


  • Larry has stated recently that the Germans will get a new tank mold, but its unclear if its a replacement for the “skinny” revised tank or a tiger tank ( heavy tank). In my version these tanks take 2 hits to destroy (step loss model), while in some cards if played allow them to attack twice per turn. I have them at 5/5, while german tanks are at 4/3 and american are at 3/3, However they move about 1/3 the speed of the regular german tanks.

    The game was stated that the reinforcement track ends at dec 25th.


  • Hmm,

    I think a 5/5 units is way too strong.  I think Allied and Western Tanks should be either 3/3 or 3/2, then the super tanks would be 4/3.

    If there is a unit limitation per space (like D-Day) the 4/3 unit would be devastating.  I don’t think you would need to go to a 5/5 unit to make that happen.

    As for reinforcements, perhaps the Germans get no reinforcements at all and only get the starting setup.  Allied airpower comes into play after the first couple of turns

    The old game Fortress America was similar.


  • That would not be realistic for two reasons:

    1. in the actual campaign hitler released additional forces to effect a further result from his initial sucess of the period of dec 16-21
    2. If the Germans ever crossed the Meuse in force the campaign would have been much more credible in Hitlers eyes and he would have surely commited additional forces to finish the job… even stripping forces from other fronts.

    On the other point you have to realize that these “tiger” tanks were very uncommon and the game has over 300 pieces. A few 5/5 is not gonna break the game. These tanks were much better against Shermans. If you play AAM youll see how and why. basically they were invincible to any other tank on a 1/1 basis. That cannot be represented with just a “4/3” vs. “3/3” . A 5/5 is fully correct if your using a d6 system. I am not sure where larry will place them, but even the basic german panther was better than a sherman so that should be 4/3.


  • Whether 5/5 is realistic or not, I agree that it’d be a game-breaker. Even given three-hundred pieces, a 5/5 piece is going to be the mother of all tanks. A few of those together, keeping Infantry to provide cannon fodder, would be well-nigh unstoppable.


  • Well what then are those like 30 allied bombers each turn after dec 22 are gonna do? They will be devastating as well. The German player will have no answer for it. Thats why the SS gets the heavy tanks, or i presume as much.Otherwise theres no point the Germans have to play offensive with no air support facing them is a initially small allied force, but gets real big in a hurry. That Allied force once it gets assembled will destroy all hope of German victory.


  • this argument is not valid, the 101st at Bastogne will just repulse any nazis who decide to attack  :-D
    but yeah I completley agree with Imperious Leader, the germans absolutley need heavy tanks, with the complete air superiority allies had once the weather cleared up, give the germans to make some huge gains early on (just like real life)


  • you know what i hope they do after Battle of the Bulge, i really think they should do a battle game of Stalingrad. Wouldnt that be awesome?!?!?! I think so….
      The victory conditions would be complicated and you’d (as with every game because history is unchangable) maybe have to twist and bend some realistic scenarios to make German victory possible. Or maybe like Iwo Jima scenario, or Kursk, those battles just sound like they would be so insanely cool.

    " There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity… and im not sure about the first," Albert Einstein.

    Reporter: Mr. Churchill, how do you think history will look upon you?
        Churchill: I think history will look upon me very well, for i intend to write it.


  • Seems like a Tiger should be 4/4 or even 3/4, not 4/3…  While they were crushing offensively, they were most effective when used in defense.  Shortly after D-Day, I seem to recall that a single Tiger ambushed the lead element of the British 7th Armoured and stopped the division for a whole day.  They were just too slow to be true offensive weapons.

    As for a follow-up… I think Kursk would be incredible.  The battle would be a good scale for A&A, and you could really have some mixed forces–the Germans with a few Tigers, the Russians with defensive blockhouses, and both with air support–and the game has a natural countdown (Germans have to take Kursk before the Allies get a strong foothold in Italy).


  • Yes i want to see a Kursk and an operational level wargame for the Italian campaign ala AH “Anzio” with the herman goering division


  • Not sure where if this shouldn’t be a reply here it should go.

    Anyway Imperious Leader’s post brings up something we were discussing the other day, and something I get a little confused about. Is there a good resource for finding wargames based on their scope I guess. The A&A minis game while intresting often seems a bit “small” and A&A can seem a bit “big.” Any recommendations for something in the middle? A little more detailed than A&A D-day or Battle of the Bulge will likely be but not Memoir 44. Where you have to have good tactics as well as a broader strategic concept and must manage and plan for future resources.

    And any elaboration on the tactical, operational level aspects of wargaming would be appreciated. Is there a good guide to this sort of thing somewhere?


  • you need to goto boardgamegeek.com and search by topic of game mechanic called “area movement”. That will pull up all the games made that include the similiar concept that is found in AA. Of course you can just head over to ww2 games and look at many different types of treatments of operational level wargames which is what your looking for.


  • Thanks, I never really looked at the stuff on that site. It is pretty cool. Next time I’ll Google before I hit reply.


  • Yes i want to see a Kursk and an operational level wargame for the Italian campaign ala AH “Anzio” with the herman goering division

    kursk would be entertaining, but i wonder if he will expand into Pacific tactical battles….like Midway…or Battle for the Philipines…

    however i would enjoy more europe battles even more :D


  • He was to release a Guadalcanal game (boardgame) thru matrix games but that didn’t materialize. In any case its allready done so he may submit it to AH for publication.


  • guadacanal…thinks checks wikipedia

    oh cool! the americans switching from defense to offense in the pacific theatre. That could be fun :D

    unfortunately i don’t know much about hte pacific theatre :P

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