From: "C. HENDRIX" Subject: Hot stuff! Below is a replay of BOB I just received from a gentleman who had misunderstood the Exchange results on the CRT and had a question. After I replied I asked him for a recap of his game and below is what I received. His observations are right on (except I can't imagine what he was attacking with that he decided to exchange a 10-8-6 armored unit! That what the little puke guys are for!). Thought you might like to read it and pass it along. BTW- have you played YOUR copy of BOB this week? Your Buddy, Chester -------------------------- Subject:Re: Fwd: Bastogne or Bust Questions Date:Mon, 17 Jun 1996 10:04:33 -0700 From:salander@cadence.com (Christopher Salander) To:chendrix@manznet.com Hi. In answer to your question - I've only played BoB once, and in the end the Germans won, but I suspect this was because I decided on my own to limit the DX2 exchanges, which probably threw off the game results. ---[I guarantee it!- Chester]-------- For a long time, it looked as though the Germans would lose. They failed to seize any supply dumps, and were advancing only very slowly. They did take Zone H, after a huge diversion of resources (Fuhrer Escort, Gross Deutschland, 1 Panzer div, and 1 inf div), to be able to envoke the 15th Army rule -- but could not take any other zones for most of the game. ** Observation: There is a one turn gap around Dec 24 in the schedule of events related to the 15th Army rules, when the German can wait until then to invoke the rule, so that he gets a large set of reinforcements that would have NOT arrived if 15th Army = YES; then he still has one turn left to launch the 15th Army and get the benefits for the rest of the game. (This is not necessarily unfair, just an example of an "optimum" decision point on a range of choices.) ----------[and one that the Allied player will not allow to happen in future replays if possible! Chester]--------- However, the Allies fed their units in piecemeal, and did not plan ahead to fortify the line of the Ourthe River, their best position for the later part of the game. Engineering units often had to be thrown in to plug a hole, when they should have been in the back, building. So, even though the Allies managed to maintain a continuous line of units, ZOC, and rivers for most of the game, preventing a German breakthrough, huge numbers of units were dying. (This was quite an adjustment from other systems, but you warned us about this in the Designer Notes.) ** Observation: The Allied player often suffered his most serious losses while counterattacking. He would get a nice, juicy armored division as reinforcement, and send it in to kill an exposed German unit. However, many of the combat results under the "desirable" odds -- 3:1 thru 6:1 -- result in an exchange. Sure, the German unit would die, but the Americans would have to give up a 10-8-6, which they could not afford to lose! This conditioned the Allied player to not counter attack. ----------[What was he attacking with? ALWAYS have a weak unit available to exchange with when attacking with big units unless you are willing to risk the big losses. Chester]----------- The supply, movement, and air rules worked quite well. They recreated the "traffic" problems I have read about, and made the German player's life unpredictable. He discovered too late that he had used too many AA units for exchanges, and could not cover all the important road intersections. Anyway, the Germans pried open the Ourthe River line, but were kept from exploiting it for many turns by Strategic Bombing. Finally, when the bombing stopped, it was all over for the Allies. They had been pushed to the more open western half of the map, and they simply had too few units to hold a line. The Allied player simply withdrew everything into the Zones, then resigned. (about Dec. 28). The Germans had lost many units too, but I had modified the DX2 rule, and that had probably made the difference. The next game should be much closer. - Chris Salander -----------[I want to hear all about it! Thanks for the detailed after action report. You don't know how much I appreciate it. Your Buddy, Chester]--------