Movement question: does the Front Line Marker affect movement?

[Whackamatt]

See the attached photo. I am on the first Movement Phase. The two tanks in the photo are not in an enemy Zone of Control.

Since they start on a road, could they move along the road as far as they want past the Front Line Marker (FLM)? Then how do I update the FLM at the end? It seems wrong to have unlimited movement with a tank along the road, as they could go to the Western edge of the board on Round 1.

What am I missing in the rules that would prevent this?!

[Whackamatt]

Second question:

I assume trucks during the movement phase can’t cross the Front Line Marker? Is this true? Otherwise the same question above would apply to trucks loaded with reinforcements. Could it move to Verviers in the above photo as well, or does it have to stop movement at Monschou due to the FLM even though its not in an enemy Zone of Control?

[Whackamatt]

@Whackamatt

I believe I have answered my own question: Towns on the opposite side of the FLM stop movement when you move into it. Thus a tank that can move along a road must stop at the first town behind the FLM.

Phew. Game on!

[c82rcn]

@Whackamatt

Yep as you described they must stop at the first town behind the lines that they encounter. I played it wrong the first few times and ended up with stranded fleets if tanks deep behind the lines

[c82rcn]

@Whackamatt

Love Battle of the Bulge it was my first induction into axis and allies, moving into 1942 and 1940 - Shame it gets such a slating.

[frimmel]

@Whackamatt said in Movement question: does the Front Line Marker affect movement?:

Second question:

I assume trucks during the movement phase can’t cross the Front Line Marker? Is this true? Otherwise the same question above would apply to trucks loaded with reinforcements. Could it move to Verviers in the above photo as well, or does it have to stop movement at Monschou due to the FLM even though its not in an enemy Zone of Control?

A bit late to the thread but your trucks can move across the front line. You must stop moving when entering an enemy city (designated by being on the enemy side of the front line,) or an enemy zone of control. A tank may “blitz” which allows it to move one additional hex after it normally must stop.

Dealing with just the hexes in the photo the tanks in the hex with the five supply tokens have four potential hexes they can move into without needing a blitz and three (four counting the one primarily off screen next to the US tank and artillery if it is empty of enemy units) with a blitz.

[Whackamatt]

@c82rcn said in Movement question: does the Front Line Marker affect movement?:

@Whackamatt

Love Battle of the Bulge it was my first induction into axis and allies, moving into 1942 and 1940 - Shame it gets such a slating.

I love this game. I think the reasons for the slating are two fold.

1. It is radically different than the other A&A games, so if you’ve been playing them for awhile, it takes a LOT of time to “unlearn” how pieces move and act from all the prior games. Even strategic tendencies as the Allies have to be unlearned.

2. The rules were difficult to comprehend. Perhaps it was this way for me back when I first learned A&A 30+ years ago, but each variation of A&A since is only the addition of a couple of new pieces and a few new rules, so they were easier to unbox and play. That and some of the critical rules aren’t repeated where I feel they should be, such as the movement rule I had to discover about towns…it wasn’t mentioned again under the movement section where you think it should be.

I think those two combined have led to me playing the game incorrectly at least 5 times. I’ve only played it once where I think I played it correctly.

i still love to play it, I just hope I’ll reach a point where I remember all the rules. It certainly sucks to spend several hours setting up and playing the game only to find you’ve been doing it all wrong about truck movements, zone of control, blitzing, or movement stopping incorrectly, to name several of the “Oh, @#$%! We’ve been doing it wrong the whole game!”
moments.