German Difficulties??

[gerwin88]

I am a seasoned Axis & Allies Player [Revised, Europe, D-Day, Pacific], but Battle of the Bulge is baffling me.  Recently online I have noticed players remarking that the Germans win easily in 5-6 turns.  My last 3 games the German player has only achieved minor victory point gains [8,0,9 in 8 turns].  What are the German’s doing wrong?  Any help is really appreciated.

[frimmel]

Well without any details of your games the first thing I would say is your aren’t managing your supplies correctly. The second thing is that your are playing a very skilled Allied player. However, even against a good player Germany should be managing to get into the teens point wise.

I would ask that you post some more details about your games. I would also suggest that you check that you are following the rules correctly. The game with O(zero) points for Germany suggests there is something wrong with your understanding of the system. There are at least six points that the Allies shouldn’t ever be able to hold onto. St. Vith, Malmedy, Clervaux and Diekirch have not fallen to Germany in a single game I’ve played so far.

Tell us some more about your games.

[gerwin88]

Thank you for your response. I know I must be reading some aspect of the rules incorrectly.  Each game supplies have not been a complete disaster. The front line Germans have always had enough supplies to aleast mount an attack.  In my most recent game the Germans ended up with Eupen, Malmedy, St Vith, and Clervaux for a total of 9 pts.  Numerous times the Germans had far superior forces [4 Armour, 1 Artillery, and 2 Infantry] and during the “2. Ground Combat” phase could not roll a single “1” to even force his 1 Infantry to retreat.

After reading the FAQ Battle of Bulge questions posted by Krieghund, I was wondering if we were doing the attacking incorrectly. For example he writes -

After an attack that clears all enemy units from a hex, can the attacking units immediately move into the hex?
No. The only movement that occurs during combat is retreating. All other movement happens during the Movement and Reinforcement phase.

So my question is, does that hex remain empty until the “3.Movement and Reinforcement” phase, and if so since the German player “Move On-Board Units” first, can the Germans just walk into the now vacant hex. If so that would certainly make a huge difference in the results of my game, because the Allies would lose some of their counter acts on my forces that just moved into a captured hex.

I guess my bggest questions are- how can 1 Infantry withstand the attack of entire army; no matter how bad the dice rolled and when do the game pieces [Axis or Allies] actually move into territory that is emptied out during an attack?

[frimmel]

It sounds like you are misunderstanding the combat system. You do not need a 1 die result to hit one INF. Against 1 INF all of your results of six or less will go in the INF unit’s address. All you need are two results of 6 or less to destroy. Any result of 6 or less will force the INF to retreat.

If you have been playing that one INF only gets hit on a one there is the German difficulty. If you have say 2 INF and 2 ARM defending a hex the INF will take hits on results of 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 because of wrap around. The tanks get hit on 3 and 4.

Germany moves first and will be able to move into a vacant hex during phase three. Units off the reinforcement chart can be moved into those hexes as well if they are on a road. Tanks may blitz from the chart into them if they are “off road.”

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=8246.0 At the end I give an alternate explanation of the combat system.

Try the game where you don’t needs a 1 to kill 1 INF. That will change your perspective.

[gerwin88]

Thanks for the correction. I am looking forward to giving it another go!!

[frimmel]

Let us know how it goes and welcome to the site.  :-)