Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge

[KG_Panzerschreck]

Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge

The latest release in the new Axis & Allies series from Avalon Hill, Battle of the Bulge looks like it could be a very cool game. D-Day is a blast to play and im sure this new installment will be fun as well. The new units and rules variants sound interesting to say the least.

From Avalon Hill's Website - "German tanks thunder into the snow-covered Ardennes forest, opposed only by a few unsuspecting divisions of exhausted American troops. As Axis forces plunge into the countryside, Allied troops must struggle to hold the front line in order to repel the all-out offensive. Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge challenges you to control territory and contend with supply shortages, while directing infantry, artillery, tanks, and aircraft in one of the most decisive conflicts of World War II.

Scheduled for release in November, 2006, Axis & Allies Battle of the Bulge will feature detailed game components including a new truck piece, a hex-based game board with new original artwork, and original artwork commissioned exclusively for the Battle of the Bulge game box. Other elements of this new Axis & Allies variant include crucial elements that were key factors in the historical battle, such as supply shortages and late-battle air support, mechanics for overland vs. road movement and randomized casualties of war.

Axis & Allies depicts Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhein), the German code name for this counteroffensive that took place toward the end of World War II. The objective: to capture the port city of Antwerp. It was expected that the capture of Antwerp would cause a great disruption in the flow of Allied supplies, and also have the effect of breaking apart the great Anglo-American alliance.

One player controls Germany, whose massive build up of forces have gone undetected by the Allies and are poised to unleash all their fury on the Allies. The other player controls the forces of the United Kingdom and the United States and they must stem the tide of German armor and hold their positions until reinforcements arrive.

Axis & Allies Battle of the Bulge is designed for two players and can be played in three to four hours. Axis & Allies Battle of the Bulge is the fourth Axis & Allies variant, following the successful Axis & Allies D-Day, Axis & Allies Europe and Axis & Allies Pacific versions. Axis & Allies Battle of the Bulge is available on November 17th, 2006."

Here are a few pics -

[KG_Kharkov]

Wow, thanks Kent for posting that. I'm debating getting this or D-Day for my son for Christmas. We play the regular A&A so I figure he can play either of these two with a little help from Dad. Plus, these two seem to be a bit shorter than regular A&A.

[KG_Panzerschreck]

No problem John. I need to look more into this game to see if it sticks to a card system and a fixed number of turns based around the cards the way D-Day does. I highly reccomend D-Day, although i dont know a whole lot about BotB yet. I taught my 11 & 15 year old Nephews how to play D-Day in about a half an hour and technicly you could teach someone how to play while you are playing but there are a few rules they need to know beforehand.

Im looking forward to the upcomming Christmas vacation for the school kids. Axis & Allies D-Day and Carrier Strike battles are looming!

[KG_Panzerschreck]

After looking around the web, i have found out alot more about the game.

First of all if anyone is interested in this game, they should go here -
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/articles - which contains article archives at Avalon Hill on A&A:BotB. The guy who designed the game has done a weekly series of articles on the game and its design and how the whole game system and its mechanics work. It is chock full with details and pictures explaining his reasoning for doing this or that with the game. Just click on #1 and when done back up in your browser to the article archive and go to #2 ect.

Ill only mention 2 of the new major changes to the system and leave the rest to the designer.

Since the goal of the Germans is to take Antwerp, for all puposes an impossibility, the designer desided to go with a victory points system based on capturing towns. For the most part, the further west and the greater number of roads leading into a town, determines its amout of victory points, with the exception of a few key towns like Bastonge & St. Vith, both of which are worth 4 points, the maximum number of points a town can be worth. The pic below shows the area of the gaming board/map Germans captured in real life -



Basicly your job as the German player is to "do one better" than your historical counterparts and capture more territory/points. You have 2 months, or 8 turns in game time, to capture 24 victory points. If the German player can do that, He wins. There are no cards in this game like D-Day. After the initial turn, an initiative role is made each turn to see who goes first then one side moves his forces based on the supply system mentioned below then the other side goes.

Supply - You have to have a supply point, a token, to attack or move. On each turn the Americans/British get 11 pts., the Germans get 9 pts. To get the points to a unit to use them, each side has a specific amount of trucks. The amounts im not sure of. The neat thing is the each side has to designate a hex on the board as a supply dump for their points, and it can be captured! But im getting ahead of myself a bit here. The trucks can only move on roads, but they do have unlimited movent points. They can also move infantry and artillery around as well. When a truck unloads something weather its supplies or a unit, that ends its movement for that turn. Very interesting because they can then be attacked the next turn by an attacking force if it attacks the units it just supplied. Now to another neat new rule that concerns supply. Frontline Markers. At the end of everyturn, the front lines are established and units that are behind the frontlines and in enemy territory are considered "Cut Off" and out of supply and cannot be resupplied until the frontlines are brought back into contact with them. Any truck(s) not in a group of combat units & if the enemies supply depot are cut off they are captured and can be used by the side that captured them! This is a very cool and interesting new rule.

I read all the articles in the designers series tonight and this game looks like it will be every bit as fun if not even more fun than D-Day. This is now on my Christmas wish list.