Advanced Battle of the Bulge game

@Eisenhower said in Easy game?:

Re: Axis & Allies Battle of the Bulge FAQ

i heard that axis and allies d day is the easist game. Is battle of the bulge also a very easy game for beginners?

Well it will be easier in the sense of not having rules baggage from other Axis and Allies games to foul up the reading of the rules. It is not easier if you have no wargame experience as it uses several concepts from more traditional hex and chit games.

The Allies have a non-traditional objective in this game in that they are managing a retreat instead of trying to take and conquer ground. This has always seemed to be difficult for players to get their heads around.

It is a very good game though and hits a nice middle ground between beer & pretzels sorts of things and the previously mentioned hex and chit games.

ok so it got here today. I’m re-reading the rule book and things are looking good. I’m answering my own questions at this point. Things I could never figure out I’m finding the answer to and understanding the rules. I think my hang up before was the title Axis and Allies and the combat system is nothing like it.

@PhilFromIT:

I just pick this up last week and after about 5 games I can say yes. I would warn them however that playing the Allies takes a lot of tactics and maneuvering!

-Phil

There definitely is a learning curve for the allies.

Well…worry not. I will be buying 'em all  :-P

Try to maintain a continuous line. If you create ‘hardspots’ where the Axis can get ZOC on the hexes your units need for retreating you’ll find your tactical retreat hasn’t preserved anything.

Well, thank you all for the comments and I appreciate the good feedback. I have been looking into it more and will certainly be picking it up. Also, the fact that it is a two person game will be easier to find another available player. I am especially interested in the idea of supply tokens and only a set number of available reinforcements. It appears that Battle of the Bulge will certainly take a different skill set and ingenuity to play through than other A&A expansions. Thanks again.

You can but it has not been playtested with the map. The ideas have been playtested and they work very well in other games. I am working on changes on the air power thing because its not historical. Both sides had limited air power for each day of the campaign and i plan on spreading out the pain of allied 3/9 planes for the last 4 turns of the game , while i feel many games will progress with the statement " if the germans dont get far by turn 4 they should resign" I want to take the same number of air allocations but spread them out over all the turns ( except no allied air allocations on turn one).

So what im saying it go ahead and post but let me email a better version first  to you with these new changes. Ill have it by tomorrow.

So having read the rules it looks like this game will be pretty unpredictable. Even putting a lot of dice on the table it will be up in the air what will get killed and what will have to retreat. Lots of things to manage. Can’t crowd the line too much and not give your troops room to back up can’t get any group too far from the supplies. The key will be when to blitz, and to keep moving before the Allies start pounding the snot out of your trucks with all those aircraft.

Looks like it will be fast paced with lots of action. That twelve sided dice system will take some getting used to. Quite a departure.

Can’t wait for my set to arrive.