Bulge Ruminations

[Marquo]

I bought S'41 soon after it came out, and have been a Blitz member since 2001, and as such I have a historical view of the evolution of idea, concepts, etc. I remeber when B'44 came it. It sparked endless hours of debate about victory conditions, protection values, OOBs, etc. I think that these online discussions were a turning point in player-developer relations, and really exemplifies why HPS rocks and rules.

It became evident that anyone who played the CG more than once learned to sit on reinforcement entry hexes to stop the opponent from bringing on more troops; this really pissed some of us off (me, for example), and Glenn and Tiller listened to the tirades and protection hexes came to be.

Players jumped all over it and created really interesting fixes to several playabilty issues such as Larry who made the first OOB allowing the Axis IDs to breakdown, and a whole series of modified CGs followed to enhance historical accuracy.

One fatal flaw with the original CG is the ability of the Axis to send an entier ss PD north to flank Elsenborn ridge and descend on Monschau and help to cutoff the 99th and 2nd IDs. This gambit is a pain in the ass as it is completely unhistorical, and several of the modified player CGs address this. I am playing the original CG and sure enough my axis opponent has tried this. I escaped - barely.

For the first time I am playing Ed Williams' altCG (solo) to see how he addressed this issue. Frankly, his fix is brilliant :bow:. Given the way he redid the OOB and values, this gambit is no longer all but checkmate. He fixed a few other things, and voila, it really plays like a Bulge Campaign should play. The tension is in the middle of the map, not on the northern and southern shoulders. His fix causes the Axis to secure flanks and push more centrally. He has fixed the problem of the Axis being able to roll up the sides of the map in a bizarre manner, ignoring the masses of Allied units "just off the map."

Anyway, job well done Ed!

Thanks,

Marquo :)