Bulge Revised

[Aolain]

I just concluded a PBEM campaign of Brian Jennings' exellent Bulge mod "Bulge Revised." Luckly, my opponent was the designer, and I had a great time with this exellent campaign game.

I have a couple of observations about this modification based upon my perspective as the German player:

1) Early on, it seemed to me that the Allied AT units were too strong, too difficult to destroy. On the other hand, the Americans did make a number of stubborn last stands in the early days of the actual offensive, so I am not so sure that "weakening" the defense of the AT units is called for. In addition, once the game got rolling, I did quite well, so, considering AT guns, no harm no foul. In other words, the Americans were able to make multiple "last stands" that did, indeed, slow up my offensive. Some of these pockets took a concerted effort to rub out.

2) The game is daunting early on, daunting in the way Avalon Hill's "The Longest Day" was daunting. Like that game, however, once one gets over the initial shock, things move very quickly. I prefer this level of detail to the normal scale of HPS games. One must really think about how one is going to manuver each of his individual divisions. No pushing battalions forward here, to get a push going, the player must coordinate his infantry, armor, and indirect fire assets carefully.

3) If one gets a thrill from manuvering and fighting divisions as a combined arms team, this game is a jewel!

4) Of all the PBEM campaigns I have fought, this one took the most thought and was the most fun! Again, there is a great deal of detail here, and the early turns for the Germans can be a bit tedious, but once you begin to roll, the "mechanics" of moving your army forward becomes easier.

5) No movement-restricting zones-of-control in this one. This give the German the ability to really pull-off a "Peiper" and push mobile combat groups through weakly-held American lines.

Overall, I highly recommend this mod for those who like a high level of detail in their games.

Tim