Battle of the Bulge - August 2024

Because I am weak, biddable and easily distracted, I 've had these pictures sitting around for ages and didn't do anything with them.  We played three Battle of the Bulge scenario's using our own (slightly adapted) version of the Memor '44 overlord rules for team games. 

Due to having a few more players than I was anticipating we set up a second board, so that another eight players could get a game in.  We used one set up with five inch hexes and 1/72 kit and another using the original board game pieces. 

The game plays a little faster on the smaller board. 

And we were blessed that I had brought the board game kit along because it would have a bit of swizz if the lads who came along looking for a game didn't get one because of a shortage of gear. 

This if memory serves was the village of Neffe and the battle around it was very tough.  The Germans used their entrenched artillery to good effect and only a costly series of infantry assault by the Americans managed to clear the town. 

General Von Carpenter examining his troops.  We had had some problems representing road before, but a pal with a laser cutter ran up some pre cut MDF sections and they worked perfectly.  These are MDF with a printed texture (sourced from a model railway website) glued to them.  I could probably give them a little extra dirt and shading, but they did the job. 

Who was that masked man?  It was Anto. Anto was the masked man. 

Anto took on the job of keeping score which was tricky in a scenario that had a couple of quite complex win conditions.  His cartoons added a lot of fun to proceedings. 

German Von Casey reflecting that maybe declaring a war on an industrial super power was perhaps not the greatest idea ever. The buildings are 19th European building from Peter Dennis's paper soldiers terrain book, given a light dusting with a white spray and with some snow added to the eaves with modge podge. 

One of the benefits of the larger board is that roads really come into their own.  The players had to consider how to make best use of the mobility they offered, while also managing the traffic jams this created. 

We had some new players along as well, which is always a pleasure. 

The frozen hell of the Ardennes requires proper lubrication of all essential elements to ensure the military machine functions properly. 

Anto's illustrations got more lurid as the game ran on. 

Several of the players at this game were veteran Memoir '44 players, but hadn't played on a big board before.  It definitely shifts the feel of the game from "boardgame" to "proper wargame".  

I can't define a proper wargame, but I know it when I see it. 

As the German offensive slowed, the American counter attack began to gain momentum.  Though the German players extracted a heavy price for every foot of lost ground. 

We used lines of kitty litter to indicate where each board section ended.   They worked, but I've since switched to using some small fences that I based on lolly pop sticks, which I think work (in that they clearly indicate which section of the board is which), but despite being much bigger blend better into the board.  I must run up some snow covered ones. 

Mr E and Mr T sizing each other up while General Savage contemplates how he's going to get his drinks cabinet ten yards closer to Berlin.

The Germans used a lot of heavy armour in these games and they were powerful.  However they often failed to get where they needed to be and had difficulty dealing with entrenched American infantry and artillery.  Extremely dangerous, but not panacea. 

Though they are very scary when you are on the receiving end!

The last game was the American counter attack to relieve Bastogne.  The 6th Armoured got rolling towards Longvilly and the result was a big armoured clash, which was a change from the infantry and artillery heavy battles in woods that we'd been playing in the morning. 

A lonely Sherman bravely faces a pair of Kraut big cats. 

All in all, a good days gaming.  I only regret that it took me over a year to write it up.  The Germans squeaked a marginal win over the three days, but it was hard earned and I don't think anyone felt hard done by.  We all retired to the bar upstairs and got a few pints in and then fell to planning the next one.