Doug Edwards - 10:37pm Apr 29, 2002 PST (#1655 of 1672) MMP (AH) Bitter Woods post game(s) solo wrap-up. In spite of what you may read elsewhere, perfect moves vanish after turn 1. After that, it’s all up in the air. Individual units or combats don’t decide the game. US units are very sparse early in the game and must use terrain to hold a flank. The US should avoid the temptation to kill stray German units early in the game unless it can be done without loss. Such attempts can lead your attacking forces to become the enveloped and killed. Losing 2 or 3 additional units unnecessarily in the first few turns can spell defeat for the US. (I once took the opportunity as the US player to punch a hole and surround 4 German mech rgmts. Lost 1 US rgmt, but made the Germans waste a turn to recover). US forces must defend roads that move in an east-west direction, and use woods and rough terrain to act as defensive buffers to fill in holes in the line (which he is working feverishly to build). German infantry and rocket artillery (Nebelwerfer) units move through woods and rough at 1 hex per turn. Rivers stop their movement cold in a given turn. The woods in the Bastogne - Heiderscheid – Martelange area are an example. It only takes 1 or 2 US infantry rgmts to delay the Germans for several turns in this area. The German player has an interesting dilemma in the use of his strong mech forces. Commit them to attack and lose their ability to exploit. Put them in reserve to exploit and you lose their strength (they’re the strongest units in the game) to punch a hole in US defenses. Putting 1 German mech rgmt in reserve behind an anticipated breakthrough isn’t enough. The German player wants to advance deeply and in strength, so we’re talking about a division equivalent to race to the Meuse or surround and kill several American units to achieve a wide breakthrough. The German player does have a ‘secret weapon’ of sorts. The Nebelwerfers. 2 of them with a mediocre infantry division can muster 4-1 odds against a US rgmt (early in the game, the US player can only dream of stacks) which is almost guarantees a US rgmt will retreat. Trouble for the German is that unless the attack uncovers some juicy roads, he can’t advance very far, since a unit can’t advance farther than his normal MA permits. So the Germans must use (drum roll please…) combined arms! Include at least one mech unit to exploit those D3/D4 results. If the road network is dense, use only mech forces to envelop nearby US units. German corps (normal) artillery units move really slowly and can only assist attacks, move or defend. Once the US forces start to pull back, I kept them moving along the intended German main assault lines. They spent many turns unused, trying to catch up to the retreating Americans. But once the line stabilized, they were there to support attacks or defense (or bug out). US forces that try to hold a fixed MLR early in the game are going to take a lot of losses. I learned the weakness of German infantry and Nebelwerfers is that they can only advance 1 hex per turn through woods and rough, so I started timed US withdrawls to cut US losses by staying out of reach of the Nebelwerfer - infantry stacks (US units can withdraw faster through bad terrain than the Germans can advance). This technique puts new demands on the German player – should German mech units go chasing US units through bad terrain or stick to the roads? There’s a lot of bad terrain and not too many E-W roads. If the German player sticks to the roads, he can’t bring all his units into the fray. It allows the US player to concentrate the few units he has on critical roads. Tough decisions. German assaults directly west into the Elsenborn Ridge are painful. Send the German forces to the south of that area (taking care to stay within army boundaries) and attack it from the south. Forces the US back big time. Facing that kind of attack, the US held a line that went SW approximately from the woods below Eupen, through Spa, Stoumont, Werbomont, to the river at Ouffet. As the US player I had a hard time justifying holding the southern flank. My US MLR at peak German penetration was in the shape of the Meuse but 6-12 hexes south/east of the river. Once US forces can form a continuous line, they should continue to avoid Nebelwerfer enhanced attacks and force the Germans to use mech forces as their primary assault force. As additional US artillery arrives, spread it behind the MLR where Germans threaten to give defensive support to as many units as possible. Eventually, it can be massed to give a strong offensive punch, as well as cover most of the MLR. It’s helpful for the US to have an MLR in the north that allows reinforcements from the north fill in the front line the turn they arrive. Unfortunately for the US, German efforts often help achieve this result. In mid game, I found that once the Germans had made the bulge or ‘big dent’, their mech forces (but not their infantry, Nebelwerfers or arty.) could race from the bottom of the bulge to the top of the bulge (even with blown bridges) with their high MA and attack. Gave the US fits. (German armor and mech units are the strongest and fastest in the game. Until the last third of the game when the US has most of their artillery in play and major air support, the Germans can pretty much force the issue wherever they want). But US forces can move around the bulge quickly to contain these attacks. Last third of the game has substantial US reinforcements (with lots of arty) that put a big dent in any German thrusts and started hammering the Germans back by moving around the outer extremes of the bulge, exploiting weak points. (US artillery is gold. It can turn a modest attack into a major breakthrough or defuse the strongest German attack into a modest retreat.) Then the US player gets substantial air support. There’s a river that runs from Durbuy (in the north) down to St. Hubert (in the south) in the shape of a ‘V’ pointing eastward. If the US player interdicts the bridge crossing hexes (if they weren’t already blown), the German units in this area are effectively immobilized for a few turns. They can’t help their friends to the north or south and can’t get help from outside quickly. If the German player concentrates his offensive forces in center and north (towards the Meuse), and the US counterattacks in the south, the German has a real problem. He must pull units away from the north to protect Bastogne or see his southern defenses crumble. Even if the US doesn’t get to Bastogne, it will have draws pressure away from any northern and western German assaults. I read that Patton wanted to drive NE toward Prüm in early January because there wasn’t anything there to oppose the US. I didn’t have the cajones to try that here. Though I abandoned the south as the US player and screened the south with weak inf. as the Germans, I saw a knife like thrust getting chopped off at the base like Lorena whatshername did to John Wayne Bobbitt…. It’s not the Holy Grail, but it’s a great game. Both sides have advantages and disadvantages that they must learn to exploit (or protect). Randy Heller deserves high marks for this game. You’ll spend your time fighting your opponent, not the rules with this one. The game rules are a tool for solving your problems and not a problem to be solved. The BW folder has lots of info and Randy is very approachable with ideas and questions.