So the axis almost pulled it off. Lost Verviers last turn. Allies just stayed in the other 2 stacks. Could roll them out to see if they get control for the heck of it.
981ECCEB-02CB-43B3-9D60-682D27540488.jpeg
Battle of the Bulge Strategy
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Alright let me work them up a little more formally. The Allied strategy wasn’t meant to be that long. I think I can clean it up a bit. The same goes for the Axis strategy post. I’ll give them a once or twice over and pass them on to you as two separate pieces. I would like to add an intro to each if they are going up on the main page. I’ll e-mail them to you as either word or pdf or plain text. Do you have a preference?
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I have the Allied portion completed with intro. It is ready for review and posting. The Axis version is going to need a bit more editing. I think I can have it completed by Sunday.
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Well, actually, if you want to save me a bunch of time, do it in HTML. :-D
Otherwise a PDF is fine. If you limit the amount of formatting that you use to font size and font weight (bold, etc.) then that will be a time saver too.
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I could probably manage the HTML. PDF is certainly no problem. I did not use any bold or italics in anticipation of it not being easy to translate. Where do you want me to send the files?
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Enough about articles for the minute.
I wanted to look at the map and the only one I had on this computer was IL’s from his BOTB variant ruleset. I found it very amusing to find a city with a road going thru it in a hex I advocate the Allies fighting for. The OOB map has nothing there. Unsure what conclusions can be made from that but it seemed worthy of note.
I guess we don’t have a lot of BOTB players yet? This discussion has been a trifle one-sided.
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I don’t get much of an opportunity to play.
IL, do you have the original scans from which your maps was made? It would be nice to have a digital version of the standard BotB map. If we have that, we can number the hexes. The sooner we have one map out there, numbered, and promoted then the less likelihood of there being multiple of these circulated.
Frimmel, send your articles to david.jensen at axisandallies.org
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I can easily tailor my expansion map for Bulge and remove the extra stuff and number the hexes. It will take time to do this …probably no earlier than sunday. Ill email it when its done.
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Dear Frimmel,
I appreciate the time you took to elaborate on the Allies strategy. I have used it to good effect. Thanks for your thoughtful plan. -
Has it gotten you any wins or simply not got you slaughtered?
edit:
What has Germany been doing to counter? -
Dear Frimmel,
In response to your query,Yes, I had one win so far with this strategy. Germany only needed one good die to win by eliminating the last unit in the town just west of Bastogne. But it was not to be. I think if I was Germany, I would have concentrated my forces more. With the loss of initiative that Germany suffered in this last game, they seemed confused as to whether or not to attack north or south. This divided effort I think led to their defeat. It was close. A real squeaker for the allies. It helps to blitz the allied tanks off the reinforcement boards to penetrate the ZOC thrown up by German penetration. Thanks for asking. -
What was Germany’s supply situation? Also was Germany doing a bunch of blitzing of their own? Did the game go the whole eight turns or did Germany get stuck without being able to re-supply and “lost?” Did you kill a lot of German trucks?
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Dear Frimmel,
The Germans lost on turn 8 because time ran out. They were also down to one available truck to bring in fresh supply as two others were stuck in ZOC. All others were destroyed by air power. That was fun! It might have been possible for Germany to win on turn 9 as supply could stilll be brought to the front, however allies were blitzing towards Malmedy from Eupen in an attempt to reduce the Victory points. In all my other games as the allies the battle was over by turn 4 or 5 and so this was much more interesting. -
Just a thought as a strategy opportunity:
Since aircraft combat precedes ground combat and since the allies have an overwhelming superiority in airpower - it seems that it would be advantageous for the allies to tank blitz to form an unreatreatable ZOC especially at the end of turn 4 and following. In this way, they start turn 5 with the offensive against any German hex with ZOC issues. Before the German ground forces can attack the allied hex causing the ZOC problem, the allies are saying “bombs away!” Even though the German player may counter with their own airforce, it is stilll 12 planes against 3 planes and the remaining allied units get to pummel the German ground forces. -
Over on the Avalon Hill boards there is discussion of Allies blitzing. I would think that as long as it has the payoff of cutting off Axis retreat it is a good idea. We haven’t had a lot of oppurtunities for Allied blitzing so far in our games but getting behind the enemy is usually a sound strategy.
I don’t think you would want to do that if it might create a gap in the line or reduce a stack in a VC too far. Just like Germany the Allies can’t stick their nose out to far without getting punched in the face. Overextended units are vulnerable. But I think the risk is probably worth it if it cuts off retreat and re-supply.
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Just saw your article on Axis strategy posted by djensen. I agree with you 100% on the need to take towns and not worry about piececount. Thanks for all your work on the article!
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I’m not advocating reckless use of your forces but this game requires player’s to take more risks than other A&A games. I think that Revised lends itself more to a “What will I lose” thinking while BOTB needs to be “What will I gain” thinking. I’ll admit that is a very subtle difference and perhaps simply one of semantics.
In BOTB things don’t have a cost measured in IPCs so a unit’s value or expendability becomes much more situational. You are buying things (ground and time) with the units and you must know when to pay the price and not be afraid to do so.
Put another way, be more concerened with the sure paths to defeat than the uncertain paths to victory. Playing in ways that only preserve your forces is more a sure path to defeat in BOTB than it is in Revised, Pacific and Europe.
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