Object of Axis and Allies: Battle of the Bulge

[UKcommander]

The strategic object of the Ardennes Offensive was to push the Allies all the way back to the key port of Antwerp creating with what in all likelyhood would be a second Dunkirk.  Will that be the lone objective of the game, or will other key objectives be involved, such as the siege of Bastogne.  I know there has been a little chatter on this subject but I don't believe the question was ever fully answered.

[AgentOrange]

As far as I can guess, I'm thinking it will be kinda like A&A D-day, y'know, where the aggressor has to control X amount of objectives by the end of round Y.  So maybe it will be kinda the same thing, only with Germany as the aggressor, obviously...

[Imperious Leader]

This is what the Germans had planned, but in many versions of this game the map does not cover this much area.. except in my version.

So i firmly believe this is one of those "reach the Meuse" objectives and thus the map is frammed like this. Unfortunate because it does not allow much of a different outcome.

[UKcommander]

It would be nice if weather was incorporated into the game, but this time as a bigger factor than it was in D-Day.  For instance, one of the keys to the Allies' success was the weather breaking after a prayer by General Patton that allowed the Allies air superiority.  Armor and infantry could be hampered by horrendous snowfall and some of the men might suffer weather related injuries. 

[AlliedFront]

   I hope the objective for the Germans will be that of either A) capturing Antwerp or B) like someone mentioned earlier reaching the Meuse River by an allottted time. Anything else and i dont know if i'd get the game

[TemporaryLizard]

Weather is sort of figured in. Planes do not come in at first because the weather does not allow for instance.

[Imperious Leader]

Can you please explain that better? I have no idea what you said. Also, can you comment on the following:

how trucks were attacked?
How do they bring up supplies?
How many supplies does germany start with?
Why do artillery get to roll 3 dice and tanks only roll 2?
How SS panzers work?
What are those weird white plastic borders for?
Do the German trucks look like the american trucks?
I didnt see british... are their any?
In your estimation how many additional pieces do the germans and allies get?... as in reinforcements..

Lastly, was Larry any good as a player? who won?

[TemporaryLizard]

He told us thew reason there is no air in the first few turns was because the weather did not permit it early on. He did not mention if it had other affects on the game.
Sorry man, we played a paired down version. There was a line of people wanting to meet him and play a round and they only had one table set up.
You bascially attack everything in a square. So if trucks, planes etc are in the square then you might hit any one of them. Casualties are decided seperate from attacks. When you score for the sake of arguement 5 hits aginst 10 units, you use a randomized method to determine what comes off. His reasoning was, in war what dies is random. You should not get to attack a specific target in a battle this big.
I did not get to see the bits, just a pic. We where playing on a pre production set. The bits came in later, but I never made it back over when he was there with the real bits.
No idea on starting setup. We started using a preset board with an engagement set up.
We did not do a supply phase. He did not want to get into that. Sorry. I wanted to know as well. All he said was the trucks are the only thing that can move supply. No air drops for instance.
I am not sure which white boarder thing you mean. If it's the thing on the board, it shows the moving front as the Germans take territory. Looks cool IMO. The little cards sticking out the side of the board are the battle boards kinda. You pull them out to show what all is in the battle. Then you use them to determine hits by counting out the number rolled.
We did not use SS. Not sure how that works. We did not use air either.
No Brits that where mentioned.
Did not see the bits. Sorry man.
Larry did not play. He taught us how to play. I am betting he would be good though. Nice enough but no nonsese sort. Had a good command of the rules.

[Imperious Leader]

Well thanks for what you did answer! A picture is slowly emerging... and it will be a major section of house rules for Bulge coming up! I think many people will want to make it more like d-day and the other games. That is not a knock on the game.. only a perception.

[squirecam]

I won the Gencon D-day tournament and thus played the game (5 rounds) with Larry and the D-Day 2nd place finisher.

I will write up more on the AH site in the near future.

Squirecam

[Imperious Leader]

Forget the AH site! They don't support Axis and Allies over there. They have done nothing to promote the new bulge game. I think they just want axis and allies to fail. If it ain't some stupid kiddy game made by some drip that once worked on some hot selling fantasy card game, they are simply not interested. The entire employee roster is made up of post D & D yeahoos who have no concept of historical simulations. Only a small core remains guided by the original mark left by Larry Harris and his Axis and Allies concept. Those people will run AH into the gutter.Of course they will never admit that Axis and Allies is the only thing that is keeping the company afloat. Just look at what eagle games is going thru. Once they started to make non- historical games they are finding themselves in financial trouble.

[Imperious Leader]

I was chatting to a poster named Frog from another site. Here is some info:

Are the german trucks the same m old as the Allied trucks? Yes, different colors.

Does the new tanks really look that different? German yes, Allied are the same. and Me 109's not Studkas.

Where is the british pieces? Good question. I saw them in the box but we never used them. We only played three rounds and air force doesn't come into use until till four, so maybe the British were comming in on round 4 or later.?? Don't know really.

How does the SS Panzers work ? We didn't use them?

Why are those white fences used for control instead of control markers? To symbolize the front. There are limitation of what you can do in a hex that borders an enemy hex. Movement for example. Behind your lines tanks, trucks, etc., have unlimited movement.

Isnt it a chore to keep changing them as the germans move up? Maybe. I guess that is a opinion. You could probably get away with not using them. Like aircraft movement markers.

What is the goal of the game? for Germany to collect 25 points before 8 rounds are played. Allies-stop them from getting 25 points in 8 turns.

How do you decide to allocate loses? how is this ramdomized? Kind of hard to explain with out visuals. Casulaties are determined by what the dice rolls are. It takes two rolls (hits) to kill any unit. one hit marks a retreat. I could probably write a whole thread just on how to score hits and combat, it's not anything like any other A&A combat system.

[frimmel]

Forget the AH site! They don't support Axis and Allies over there. They have done nothing to promote the new bulge game. I think they just want axis and allies to fail. If it ain't some stupid kiddy game made by some drip that once worked on some hot selling fantasy card game, they are simply not interested. The entire employee roster is made up of post D & D yeahoos who have no concept of historical simulations. Only a small core remains guided by the original mark left by Larry Harris and his Axis and Allies concept. Those people will run AH into the gutter.Of course they will never admit that Axis and Allies is the only thing that is keeping the company afloat. Just look at what eagle games is going thru. Once they started to make non- historical games they are finding themselves in financial trouble.

Not a big fan of Mr. Garfield IL?

Also I wouldn't panic on the no promotion for Battle of the Bulge. I'm sure the marketing experts think it is a bit early. Release is still three months away and the artwork isn't final yet so to me it seems a bit early to say they aren't promoting it. If by say the end of the first week of October there is no news on the AH site then I will join with you and say they aren't promoting it.

They are promoting the A&A minis game. Tons of stuff on that over at the AH site. But then that is "collectible." As compared to selling one $45 dollar set every two years. Hundreds of dollars every what 4 months or so?

[frimmel]

Why are those white fences used for control instead of control markers? To symbolize the front. There are limitation of what you can do in a hex that borders an enemy hex. Movement for example. Behind your lines tanks, trucks, etc., have unlimited movement.

Isnt it a chore to keep changing them as the germans move up? Maybe. I guess that is a opinion. You could probably get away with not using them. Like aircraft movement markers.

Those will probably be easily not used after a game or two. Or even somewhere during your first game. At least for players who can keep "adjacent to an enemy hex" straight.

[TemporaryLizard]

Yeah, I agree. The marker is probablly superfolous, but it does look neat IMO.