$2.50 The AVALON HILL July-August 1981 Volume 18, Number 2 3 A,--LJ;l.,,,, GE!Jco L!J~ &~~ 2~~ BRIDGE 8-1-2 4-2-3 4-4 4-6 10-4 5-4 This revision of a classic game you've long awaited is the culmination What's Inside . .. of five years of intensive research and playtest. The resuit. we 22" x 28" Fuli-color Mapboard of Ardennes Battlefield believe, will provide you pleasure for many years to come. Countersheet with 260 American, British and German Units For you historical buffs, BATTLE OF THE BULGE is the last word in countersheet of 117 Utility Markers accuracy. Official American and German documents, maps and Time Record Card actual battle reports (many very difficult to obtain) were consuited WI German Order of Appearance Card to ensure that both the order of battle and mapboard are correct Allied Order of Appearance Card to the last detail. Every fact was checked and double-checked. Rules Manual The reSUlt-you move the actual units over the same terrain that One Die their historical counterparts did in 1944. For the rest of you who are looking for a good, playable game, BATTLE OF THE BULGE is an operational recreation of the famous don't look any further. "BULGE" was designed to be FUN! This Ardennes battle of December, 1944-January, 1945. means a simple, streamlined playing system that gives you time to Each unit represents one of the regiments that actually make decisions instead of shuffling paper. The rules are short and participated (or might have participated) in the battle. clear-cut so you can get into play quickly and easily. Because n Each hex is approximately 2 miles across. important locations are clearly marked on the mapboard, set-up is f'lI Each turn covers twelve hours of real time. a snap. The Player Aid Cards are designed to handle all the detail n Playing time averages between 3 and 9 hours, work, so you have more time for play. depending upon the scenario being played. Just because the game mechanics are easy to learn and Recommended fOr anyone 12 years and up. remember, doesn't mean that "BULGE" is a simple game. Many special game features provide the color and that "feel" of reality Two Scenarios that makes this an exciting recreation of the actual battle. Fortunately, these have been carefully incorporated so as to t1 The Tournament Scenario covers the period of the . German advance. Average playing time is two to four I enhance the flow of play instead of bogging it down in detail. hours. Designed to be played at all official Avaion .Some of the Many Special Features: Hili tournaments. fl The CampGign Scenario extends the Tournament Tactical Air Strikes Scenario to include the Allied counterattacks. This is the Strategic Bombing Effects ENTIRE battle. Average playing time four to nine hours. German Airborne Drop II German Infiltration Launching the Fifteenth Army Bridge Demolition Artillery Bombardment BA TTLE OFTHEBULGE is available now for $ 16.00plus 10% postage II Special German Rocket (Nebelwerfer) units and liandling cnarges (20% for Canadians; 30% for overseas) from Avalon British Participation Hill, 4517 Harford Rd, Baltimore, MD 21214. Maryland residents please Several What It's Triggered by Battlefield Conditions add 5% state sales tax. Fuel Dumps 4 BlackSPll ~ardGame FOR SNEAKY 7 SP'l PLAYERS .. BLACK SPY is an in~riguing card game for the whole family. The object is to be the player with the lowestscore when one player goes out by getting 200 Points. You never know what will happen when you lead a trick in BLACK SPY. The BLACK SPY card deck is It's not like regular card games where composed of five suits, instead of the everyonejust follows suit. You may find regular four. Four ofthe suits haveo~ly a spy in your midst. Or you may wind up one spy. But the black suit has sf}{.spys. taking the, trick and leading againl Those are the guys youhave to look out The rules to the game are less than for. one page. You can be playing the game within five minutes. Each game should The rest of the cards are other types last no more than an hour. Several of sneaky and shady characters: variations are provided for those who the Informer, the Interrogator, the waQ,t a little more strategy. Infiltrator, the Sabotepr, the AssasSin, the Agent, the Double Agent, the Code Breaker, the Deputy DirectQ:(,and ute BLACK SPY includes a scorepad. card deck, and discard tray and is available from Avalon Hill, 4517 Harford Rd., Director. As with thespys, the black Baltimore,MD 21214 for $6.00 plUs 100/0 postage and hand­ suited guys are the ones to look outfor. ling (20% for Canadians, 30% overseas). MD. residents All the others are on your side. please add 5% state sales tax. ------------- 5 AIR FORCE ANALYSIS by David Bottger An Evaluation of the Planes of the New AIR FORCE AIR FORCE is Avalon Hill's tactical simula­ disadvantage. In essence this rule interjects sequen­ For example, under the old system a plane with tion of aerial combat in the European theater dur­ tial movement into the simultaneous movement five gunnery factors and a fire modifier of two on ing World War II. In its revision, Avalon Hill has system but it awards the advantage of moving the tail of an enemy aircraft with a silhouette preserved the best features of the original Battleline second to the player who has earned it, rather than modifier of two gained only three hit tables as a design while cleaning up the rules and adding arbitrarily. result. Under the new system, the benefit is a full six several significant new ones. This article will ex­ Two problems arise. First, as in standard se­ hit tables. However, at a range of four hexes the amine these changes and then analyze the game and quential movement games, the advantaged player attacker in this hypothetical situation starts with a the aircraft portrayed with an eye toward the for­ knows his opponent's final position before basic (before application of modifiers) hit table of mulation of successful tactics. performing any movement himself. He also knows one, while under th. old system he would start on the final position of all other disadvantaged air­ table three. The net result is a gain of only one hit THE "NEW" AIR FORCE craft, including those over which he does not hold table with the revised rules. For those unfamiliar with the game, Dr. an advantage. Bieksza's article "The View from the Cockpit" in Avalon. Hill has elegantly solved both of these Air Gunnery volume 17, number 3 of the GENERAL describes problems by a single rule requiring the advantaged Total the AIR FORCE system, Avalon Hill has retained aircraft to follow as closely as possible the move­ Gun Range in Hexes this basic system with modifications that contribute ment of the disadvantaged plane. This rule ex­ Factors 1 2 3 4 5 6 to realism or ease of play. cellently recreates the historical situation of a pilot 1-2 2 2 2 I I 0 The most common criticism of the Battleline pursuing the enemy as he moves, rather than simply 3-4 4 3 3 2 1 1 version centered, ironically, on the game's greatest flying toward his final position. It also prevents the 5-6 5 5 4 3 2 I strength, the simultaneous movement system. Since advantaged player from using his knowledge of the 7-8 7 6 5 4 2 1 movement for an entire turn must be plotted in ad­ movement of other disadvantaged aircraft. He 9-10 9 7 6 4 3 I vance, neither player can react to his opponent's may, of course, choose to pursue a different enemy 11-12 11 9 7 5 3 1 maneuvers until the following turn. The result has aircraft but must first waive his advantage. 13-15 12 10 8 6 4 2 been analogized to a pilot flying with his eyes closed In this regan\, the Sequence of Play states that 16-18 15 12 9 7 4 2 for ten seconds at a time. aircraft which are neither advantaged nor disadvan­ 19-22 16 13 10 7 5 2 Players soon discovered that there was virtually taged plot and execute their movement at the same 23-26 17 14 11 8 5 2 no advantage to being on the enemy's tail, since it time as disadvantaged aircraft and aircraft which 27+ 19 15 12 8 6 3 was almost impossible to stay there. This was do not take their advantage option of following the perceived as unrealistic, although my reading sug­ disadvantaged aircraft. gests that the tail position was less important than The next most significant rule change from the 2a Aircraft Gunnery Effectiveness commonly believed, particularly late in the war. Battleline version imposes a 100-foot altitude loss Total Sequential movement presents the same prob­ on aircraft which end movement in a non-level bank Gun Range in Hexes lem to the player moving first. The second player, without having performed a non-banking Factors 1 2 3 4 5 6 on the other hand, knows the final position of his maneuver that turn. The actual penalty may be 1-2 -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 opponent before performing any movement several hundred feet, counting the 200-300 feet 3-4 1 0 0 -1 -2 -2 himself. As a result, the first player keeps his blind­ which most fighters can climb without the loss of 5-6 2 2 1 1 0 -1 fold while the second receives an unwarranted speed points.