Battle of the Bulge Campaign, Turn 1

[Lord Hanaur]

Jessop was on the line again. "...We smoked those AT guns, but lost a tank doing it. We're back on track to flank those Stugs!..."

 

"...We're almost in position to support you, I can't see them in this brush! See if you..." The CO's message was abruptly cut off.

 

"Company, this is London, the commander is hit, his tank is brewing up. No survivors..."

 

"...God, dammit!..." That was the 2nd Platoon commander. All tanks rendezvous at 229 to flank those Stugs. The command post is just on the other side of those trees. I'm leaving the infantry to cover the copse...."

 

"...Michaelson, Adams. See if you can get that track back on. We need to get this tank moving again. Richard, stay on the gun and watch for that enemy infantry..." His tank commander was overly optimistic, Richard thought, feeling the cold blast of air as the radioman and loader opened their hatches and went to repair the tank.

 

Richard saw the American doughs looking across the small meadow from the copse to the edge of the far forest to where the Germans had retreated. The hatch opened again. "...We're not moving for a while. We lost a road wheel and a return roller from that arty. We'll need a TRV just to get the track back on...."

 

"....Alright, grab your stuff. Let's get back to 229 and see if we can catch a ride...."

 

Jessop was on the radio, again. "...We put about 7 rounds into each one of those Stugs, but it took London coming up to finish 'em off. They sure are tough sonsofbitches. Recon's out, the Assault guns pulled out with them. Command post is taking there sweet time getting packed up..."

 

Just then, automatic fire erupted across the meadow from the far tree line, tearing through the lines of friendly troops. He saw dozens of casualties fall to the snow. The rest of the troops hit the ground, returning fire as best they could. Several squads of German troops emerged from the trees, firing in precise bursts from the hip. More and more enemy infantry filled the meadow, advancing on the copse. Richard poured fire from his .30 into the nearest group, but there was too many. The doughs were getting cut to pieces. They wouldn't last long under that kind of firepower. London pulled up beside their tank.

Ruh roh.  Surrounded on all sides!

[lazarus]

no what happens to the unit in the actual board game dose not effect it destruction as a firestorm unit.

[barca]

Are the German Victories in all caps symbolic while American victories are in standard font? Do we need to win bigger to get all caps?

No. My bad. Just lazy typing.

BTW, one of the Ami victories was a 6-1. Tell me how you can do better and I will use that in the next tournament!

[barca]

I have a question on the rules for the fog. Noland and I have been using the rules in the Ardennes book treating fog as night fighting but in the campaign packet it seems the fog only affects aircraft. So have we been doing that wrong or do I just really suck at fighting in the dark?

In this Firestorm, fog only affects the Mapboard/Operational battle for the Generals (air support).

 

One reason I went down that road is that my observation is that tactical weather is a local phenomenon, and it changes more quickly than the broader and larger weather pattern.

Local weather is very much affected by, but not always the same as, a broader weather pattern. The "Operational Weather", being a larger weather system, changes more slowly.

So, to be logical, I should have or create a local vs. regional weather table, on which the tactical commander could have a column for the operational weather, and roll for local weather. I might do that later, but not for turn 2.

 

Another reason that I did not intend for Fog to be played on the tabletop is that, If we were to use limited visibility rules for fog on the tabletop, we would have to use a combination of night and smoke rules, because fog is partly like either one of those, but not exactly like either.

I have been on the ground in military operations in most weather conditions, so I could write up simple rules for visibility in fog. Even so, I would play-test whatever we came up with (for fog effects) before turning it over to a group of people.

Same thing goes for heavy precipitation (snowfall, heavy rain, etc.).

 

I am approaching this Firestorm as an incremental development process. Although it might not be obvious, most of my design decisions are not arbitrary, but are based upon the scope of the project, input from you guys, my limited historical knowledge, and my personal military and gaming experience.

[barca]

no what happens to the unit in the actual board game dose not effect it destruction as a firestorm unit.

I second what laz said.

In the next edition of the Firestorm: Ardennes document,  I will add a section that makes it clearer how various events and actions on Tactical/Tabletop affect the Operational/Mapboard level, and vice versa.

Although various Firestorm documents address this to varying degrees of detail, there are still grey areas.