Hiya Forum,
Here is a video I have created on youtube of the set up of AnA Battle of the Bulge. I hope it come to some help for you to enjoy the game!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDpw486ui8k
Enjoy,
BH
FAQ 1.0 for Bulge
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A FAQ sheet with many questions and answers is being assembled and will be released within 1-2 weeks. It will officially address many of these ZOC/Truck rules that seem to be a problem for some.
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That is good to know. Our biggest question was whether the removing trucks not in ZOC was a “must do” or a “may do” but as soon as we realized it was in your best intrest to get them off the board whenever possible it became an “official answer not really relevant” question.
I did read the threads on the AH forum about trucks on the edge of the board and I am a little unsure of where that came from and where that is going. It seems like rather a big deal about nothing.
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Excellent, I’m looking forward to it.
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So where’s my FAQ :wink:
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I’ve been curious as to that myself. :-)
Although my usual opponent and I seem to have everything pretty much answered or decided to our satisfaction. We do like to be sure to be on the same page as the largest number of players so that we can integrate easily into a larger player pool or if we were to get a hankering to play a tourney.
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Its not done yet.
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Kreighunds first draft of FAQ for Bulge.
Errata
Page 11, Trucks - Special Abilities - Return: “At the beginning of the Movement & Reinforcement phase, before either player moves, return any of your Trucks that aren’t in the enemy zone of control and can trace a path on roads to a friendly edge of the board without passing through an enemy zone of control or enemy-controlled city to your off-board area.”Page 13, Anti-Aircraft Example: Only spaces that actually contain aircraft should be counted when applying hits. In the example, the “4” should be carried over to the first position (with the “1”) rather than be applied to the empty space.
Pages 18-19, Basic Movement Rules: “An empty Truck that begins movement in a hex on a friendly edge of the board with a road going off the board in that hex (even if that hex is in an enemy zone of control) may move off-board, in which case you return it to your off-board area.”
Combat
On page 12 of the Operations Manual, under Air Combat Initiative Roll, it states that “Each player rolls a die; high roller chooses who places Aircraft first.” Under Place Aircraft, it states “The player who won the Air Combat Initiative places all of his or her Aircraft in any hexes he or she chooses, and then the other player does the same.” Which is correct?
The player who won the initiative roll chooses who places Aircraft first.If multiple attacks are declared from a single hex, must all the attacks be resolved before passing initiative to the other player?
Yes.Who moves units retreated in the Air Combat and Ground Combat phases?
The player who owns the units moves them.Can two units that were retreated in the same battle retreat to different hexes?
Yes.Can a unit retreat “forward” across the front line, assuming that no enemy zones of control or terrain features prevent it? Can it even retreat into an enemy-held city?
Yes.Movement
On page 18 of the Operations Manual it states that “Whenever a ground unit enters or leaves a hex that falls within an enemy zone of control, its movement stops.” Does the condition of a unit starting its movement in an enemy zone of control prevent it from moving to an adjacent zone of control hex?
No, an activated unit may always move at least one hex. In this case, you have two conditions that stop movement, but they occur simultaneously as the unit crosses the border between the two enemy zone of control hexes.Trucks and Supplies
Can trucks load and unload in hexes inside an enemy zone of control?
Yes.If a German unit moves into a hex occupied by an Allied Truck, does the Truck get a chance to move away to avoid being commandeered, since it is not actually commandeered until the Board Upkeep phase?
No. Trucks are captured as soon as enemy combat units move into their hex, even though they are not commandeered until the Board Upkeep phase. When they are captured, they may no longer be used by their former owner. However, they also may not be used by their new owner until they are commandeered. This interrim period (the remainder of the Movement and Reinforcement phase) represents the time necessary to take prisoners and assign personnel to the newly captured Trucks.If Tanks move through a hex containing undefended enemy Trucks and/or Supplies and keep on moving, are they commandeered in the Board Upkeep phase even if no combat units remain in the hex to claim them?
The Trucks/Supplies will not be commandeered unless at least one combat unit remains in the hex to claim them.Can you waste Supplies with useless actions, say by paying two Supply tokens to move a Tank out of a hex, then blitz it right back into the hex? This would be an easy way for the Allies to keep supplies from falling into German hands.
Yes, destroying supplies before they fall into enemy hands is always possible (with limited results of course).I am a little confused about how Truck movement works. Could you explain it to me?
At the beginning of the Movement and Reinforcement phase, you may return any of your “free” Trucks that are on the board to your off-board area. Free Trucks are Trucks that either a) are not in an enemy zone of control and can trace a path on roads to a friendly edge of the board without passing through an enemy zone of control or enemy-controlled city, or b) are in a hex on a friendly edge of the board (even if that hex is in an enemy zone of control) with a road going off the board. This is the only time at which Trucks may leave the board.During the Movement part of the phase, each Truck that remained on-board can drive all over the board (but not off it), staying on roads, until the Truck either enters or leaves an enemy zone of control, enters an enemy-controlled city, or decides to stop. As the Truck moves it can load up to a total of six Supply tokens and/or activated units (Infantry and/or Artillery) that have not moved yet from the hexes it passes through, even if that hex is in an enemy zone of control. The Truck may not unload until its movement stops, at which point it unloads all of its cargo into the hex in which it stopped.
During the Reinforcement part of the phase, each off-board Truck (including this turn’s reinforcement Trucks) may load up to its capacity of six Supply tokens, Infantry units and/or Artillery units from the off-board area (including this turn’s reinforcements from any of the charts). Each of these Trucks may then enter the board in any valid reinforcement entry hex (see page 21), regardless of the reinforcement chart from which they or their cargo came. Each Truck may then move exactly as in the Movement part of the phase, filling any remaining empty cargo spaces as it moves.
Supply tokens may only be moved by Truck. No supply tokens need to be paid to move either Trucks or Supplies. Supply tokens must be paid to activate combat units to be moved by Truck, unless those units are reinforcements coming from off-board.
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Looks good IL. That covers the only muddy parts we’ve had in our games. I wonder if the Errata for pages 18-19 might be combined with the errata for page 11? But I think either way this should clear everything up nicely.
I like the change (or clarification cause we weren’t playing it that way) on the aircraft. We were pretty much swithing to odd numbers (the Allies were) of aircraft in a lot of hexes to give you the chance at a miss when you take AA fire or dogfight. I think this is better.
Good work. I poke my head in on the Avalon Hill boards once and a while and I know you guys have put a lot of effort into this. Again nicely done.
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Thank kreighund. I am not sure why he avoids this forum. its the largest axis and allies forum anywhere in terms of information exchange for AA.
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Unforntunately, for newly released games, it looks like the Avalon Hill boards have an edge up on this site. Plus, it looks like Larry is posting on AH and not here.
We even have better uptime than AH. I was down once for over a day and I recall AH being down at least twice in the same time period, one of those times was longetr than a day.
But in the end, when all of the hype around the new game dies down the posts will keep coming on this site. I’ve noticed that the older games on the AH site hardly get any traffic at all.
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@Imperious:
Thank kreighund. I am not sure why he avoids this forum. its the largest axis and allies forum anywhere in terms of information exchange for AA.
Well, a big Thank You to kreighund. I can see from his posts at AH that he is very knowledgable. He would be welcome here.
Unforntunately, for newly released games, it looks like the Avalon Hill boards have an edge up on this site. Plus, it looks like Larry is posting on AH and not here.
We even have better uptime than AH. I was down once for over a day and I recall AH being down at least twice in the same time period, one of those times was longetr than a day.
But in the end, when all of the hype around the new game dies down the posts will keep coming on this site. I’ve noticed that the older games on the AH site hardly get any traffic at all.
I think it is probably that their website addy is in the rule books that come with the game. :-)
I think that we get more of the “new guy” questions from players just coming into the games after they’ve been on the shelves for a while. Probably because there is more activity here.
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Question:
When doing combat how exactly is the defense conducted?
 According to the way I read the rules; The attacker roles and things that are hit enough times are destroyed all other remaing defending units are retreated?I must not be reading this correctly: example.
 if I attack with one infantry against 4 tanks; I role my die and hit ; nothing is destriyed but they must retreat?
Nothing in the rule book states anything about the defending player being able to roll for defnsive hits. The rules are only talking about the attacker hits; nothign else.
Another question
Say I attack in two different direction and this basically sarrounds enemy units. if I also attack the surrounded units in this same turn they have no place to retreat to, this essentially is an auto kill because the rules state if the unit can not retreat due to ZOC then that unit is removed from the game.
Again I must be miss reading the rules.
Thanks
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the defender does nothing. Each player alternates one combat action back and forth.
if they are in ZOC and they have to retreat they are destroyed yes.
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Let’s assume six or less units in the defending hex.
You pull down your combat strips corresponding to the defending units. You roll your attacking dice and (how I do it) pick up all the results over six. Now start putting the dice that are hits in the boxes. Top left going down and then moving over. 1 goes in the first box, 2 in the second etc. When all the dice are placed on the correct “address,” remove one INF, ART or ARM that has two or more dice in its box. Remove one supply token or truck piece for each die that ends up in the appropriate box. Each INF, ART or ARM that has one die in its box must retreat one hex. That hex must not be in an enemy zone of control. If no such hex exsists the unit is removed from the board. Any boxes that do not end up with a die in them represent units that stay in the defending hex.
Units only retreat if their “address” comes up on the combat strip. When there are more than six units you will have to take each die that scored a hit and re-roll them to determine the address.
This combat system is very different from the other A&A games. Primarily only the attacker rolls dice. However the two sides alternate choosing hexes to attack from. The game is very fluid in that respect.
Hope that helps. :-)
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Let’s assume six or less units in the defending hex.
Units only retreat if their “address” comes up on the combat strip. When there are more than six units you will have to take each die that scored a hit and re-roll them to determine the address.
This combat system is very different from the other A&A games. Primarily only the attacker rolls dice. However the two sides alternate choosing hexes to attack from. The game is very fluid in that respect.
Hope that helps. :-)
So to make sure I am understanding this fully.Â
Axis attacks with 3 tanksÂ
Allies have 6 inf
Axis rolls and only get a hit on 2 out of the 6 dice.
Allies Remove 2 of the 6 Inf ( if the dice rolled are not the same number )
Allies maintain control of that Hex
Axis retreat to the Hex they attacked from.Alternately
Axis attacks with 7 tanksÂ
Allies have 3 inf 2 tanks
Axis rolls and only get a hit on 4 out of the 14 dice. 2 inf 1 tank destroyed
Allies Remove 2 inf and 1 tank.
Allies try to retreat the remaing 1 inf and 1 tank but all adjacent Hexes are boarded by Axis controlled Hexes
Allied units are then destroyed.Basically the attacking force has to out number the defending force in order to make them retreat?
Sorry the rules just are very confusing on this point.
Thanks for the help. -
However the two sides alternate choosing hexes to attack from. The game is very fluid in that respect.
Hope that helps. :-)
So it is not that one side does all its attacks first but that if it is the first turn the Axis chooses a hex to attack from and to and that battle is resolved, then the allies choose a battle until niether side can or wants to attack anymore, then it moves to the next phase?
Thanks
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Logarth your example is completely wrong. I don’t have time to elaborate now but you are misunderstanding the combat system.
First thing to do is forget the A&A combat sytem from ALL other games when you play BOTB. :-)
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First off check this out:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20061110a
Now that is similar to the rule book.
We have a hex with 6 Allied INF in it (the most that can be in any one hex.) This hex will be attacked by 1 INF, 1 ARM and 1 ART.
We pull down the combat strip till we have boxes matching the number of our defending units (which for the INF is all the way out you can only have six.)
We figure the dice we will roll- 1 for the INF, 2 for the ARM and 3 for the ART for six total.
We roll our dice and each result of six or less is a hit. We get 1,2,3,4,5,6. We can think of these as addresses.
So we have six hits. Now we use the results to determine what units will be destoyed, retreat or hold their ground.
Starting in the top left and working our way down we put the dice in the combat strip. In this case each box will have one die. Any unit with one die in its box must retreat one hex. In this case all units must retreat.
Were the results 1,1,2,2,3,3. We would have three boxes with two dice each and 3 boxes with no dice. In this case 3 Units are destroyed and 3 units would remain in the hex. A unit must have at least two dice in order to be destroyed.
Were the results 1,1,1,1,1,1 only one unit would be destroyed. All the other hits go to waste and five units hold their ground.
In all cases the Axis units remain in the hex they attacked from until they are attacked and forced to retreat or moved in the movement phase.
edit: I corrected a minor error that might make folks thinka six didn’t hit. Six or less is a hit.
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First off check this out:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/article/ah20061110a
Now that is similar to the rule book.
We have a hex with 6 Allied INF in it (the most that can be in any one hex.) This hex will be attacked by 1 INF, 1 ARM and 1 ART.
We pull down the combat strip till we have boxes matching the number of our defending units (which for the INF is all the way out you can only have six.)
We figure the dice we will roll- 1 for the INF, 2 for the ARM and 3 for the ART for six total.
We roll our dice and each result of less than six is a hit. We get 1,2,3,4,5,6. We can think of these as addresses.
So we have six hits. Now we use the results to determine what units will be destoyed, retreat or hold their ground.
Starting in the top left and working our way down we put the dice in the combat strip. In this case each box will have one die. Any unit with one die in its box must retreat one hex. In this case all units must retreat.
Were the results 1,1,2,2,3,3. We would have three boxes with two dice each and 3 boxes with no dice. In this case 3 Units are destroyed and 3 units would remain in the hex. A unit must have at least two dice in order to be destroyed.
Were the results 1,1,1,1,1,1 only one unit would be destroyed. All the other hits go to waste and five units hold their ground.
In all cases the Axis units remain in the hex they attacked from until they are attacked and forced to retreat or moved in the movement phase.
OK that makes it much clearer then the book states it.
Thank you for your time in helping me understand this.
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Glad to help.
I was going to go thru it with 2 INF, 2 ARM, 2 ART defending.
With those units say we got the 1,1,1,1,1,1 an INF would be destroyed.
If instead we had 6,6,6,6,6,6 an ART would be destroyed.
The 1,1,2,2,3,3, would be 2 INF and 1 ARM destroyed. 3,3,4,4,5,5 would be 1 ARM, 2 ART.
When you have more than six units re-roll the dice that have hit and use those results to determine the “address.” Say 8 units defending and you had a re-roll for address come up 9 it would wrap around and go in the 1 “address.”
Keep in mind that each die that ends up on the Trucks or Supplies “address” destroys a truck or a supply.
Welcome to the site. :-)
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