Bitter Woods
The Battle of the Bulge 16 Dec 1944
Even though Bitter Woods was released by Avalon Hill in 1998, it is still the definitive game of the Battle of the Bulge to me. Since I haven't played it in over ten years I decided to dust it off and play a solitaire game.
And what a quick game it was! The Germans pushed through the center and southern half of the board and were able to cross the Meuse River in two different places. The first crossing by the Panzer Lehr division was stopped by US reinforcements just in time, but that left the crossing in the Southwest corner of the map unguarded allowing the Germans to exit 6 mechanized units off the western edge on 21 December before the Allies receive the bulk of their reinforcements.
Here are a couple of pictures from the first two days of fighting
Night of Dec 16--North half of the map
I start sliding the Germans south to avoid the rough terrain around Elsenhorn. Even though the Germans have the size advantage, the forests and bridge crossings are easily defended by the US especially with the American armor sitting in Malmedy.
Southern Half
Here the Germans have more space. There are only two stacks of units available to support the weak regiment in Bastogne.
Night of 17 December--Northern area
The US succeeds in blowing up two bridges near Malmedy and occupy Trois Pontes with armor. Pieper and company stake the path of least resistance and slide south bypassing units of the US 2nd Infantry Division.
Southern Area--night of 17 Dec
American armor reinforcements arrive in Bastogne but lead elements of Panzer Lehr bypass the town and are headed west to the Meuse River. I didn't realize it at the time but this was the turning point of the battle. The Americans had to race west to stop this unit, leaving Bastogne relatively undefended. This stack of Panzer Lehr armor and panzer grenadiers successfully crossed the Meuse but was destroyed just a couple of hexes away from the west map edge by the 101st and 82nd Airborne with the help of some armor. However they were not able to block all the crossings and enough Germans got through for the win.
Bitter Woods is simple old school hex and counter wargaming at its best. It is also a great game to serve as an introduction to others who have not played war games before.
