From: "See below." Subject: Game Review - Pacific Rim's _Bastogne_ Game Review Bastogne: Crossroads of Death Pacific Rim / Just Plain Wargames Bastogne is a battalion-level simulation of the fighting around the Belgium town of Bastogne during the battle of the Bulge. It is broken up into two 9 turn scenarios: the initial German onslaught, and Patton's attempt to relieve the position. These scenarios can also be combined into a longer game. Bastogne is mostly a desktop-publishing (DTP) game, with 8 pages of rules, a 4 color 11"x17" map, charts, and a 100 counter sheet in an envelope. However, the counters are diecut cardboard, with good quality color and printing. This is very important to me, because the typical DTP game requires that you cut out and mount its counters. That can amount to hours and hours of my time. I would much rather pay a few dollars more for a game and get the diecut counters. The rules use a clever move-fight-move system. Only mechanized and armored units can move in the first movement phase. Foot units have to wait until the second movement phase, when everyone moves. They can only fight if they start the turn in contact. Terrain effects are standard, as is the combat results table (CRT). There are no Engages, Contacts, or split results. Every result is DE, DR, EX, AR, AE. Units in Bastogne ignore DR results. Units have just one level, and have just two factors, attack and movement. Artillery also have a range number, and a special defense number when attacked directly. Artillery is ranged, from 4 to 9 hexes. The US gets air power points in the second scenario. Both sides get points for controlling Bastogne. The German also needs to get elements of Panzer Lehr off the west edge of the board. Zones of Control are rigid. Combat is voluntary and selective. The typical unit is 4 points. Airborne is 3, good armor is 5 or 6. Except for a special rule concerning a US supply depot, there are no supply rules, so surrounded units can last for the whole game. The best US plan seems to be to form a large ring around Bastogne, to prevent individual units from being encircled and eliminated, and to protect the artillery. Your first impulse might be to form a line, or a salient, particularly if you are trying to block Panzer Lehr units, but eventually you are overwhelmed, and the line is turned or broken. But make the ring large, so that you have some room to contract, and block as many roads for as long as possible. One German trick is to "extract" units from Bastogne, using a 2:1 attack instead of 3:1 or better. 2:1 has the greatest chance of an exchange result, which will remove the US unit (unlike a DR result), and will allow a surviving unit to occupy the town hex (there are two). The German must reduce Bastogne before Patton's combat commands appear in the south, otherwise he is fighting a two front battle, with not enough to win on either front. I was a little disappointed that even though I ordered the game directly from the publisher, they did not include a slip of paper with the errata on it. I can check the Internet, but all players need to know some basics, such as: there is no stacking and there is no defensive artillery fire. (This leads the US player to make selective counterattacks to straighten out his line, since going on the offensive is the only time he can bring his artillery to bear.) With many wargames selling for $40, this game is an good value at $10. It has some replay value, and good counters and mechanics. If you want to focus in on the heroic stand of the 101st Airborne, buy this game. - Chris Salander