Bitter Woods--Battle of the Bulge

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.

 

Bolt Action Tanks

These kits are both 28mm tanks from Warlord Games for Bolt Action. I have never used vehicles before in our Bolt Action games so I am looking forward to seeing how they do. The Japanese tank is a type 95 HA-GO and the Allied tank is the veritable M5A1 Stuart. Both tanks were primed with Army Builder black spray primer then painted using Vallejo acrylics. I then gave both an ink wash. They aren't going to win any awards, but their real life counterparts were fighting in some of the worse terrain in the world so they aren't supposed to be pretty.

Man-O-War Shocktroopers

I just finished these 5 Khador shocktroopers after a long painting delay. They are Privateer Press models for their excellent game Warmachine. These guys were primed with Army Builder Red spray primer then I just picked out the details with Vallejo colors. I finished them off with an ink wash and some dulcote.

I've never used them before but want to give them a try. Their biggest weakness is their 4 inch speed but once you get them where they are going they can cause some damage.

Next up is finishing the Khador Behemoth that has been sitting in my shed for over a year.

AAR: The Hunters First Play

 

I just finished my first game of Consimworld's The Hunters and had a great time. The game has a couple of unusual features-- the most notable of which it is designed to be played solitaire. Players take the role of U-boat commanders attempting to sink allied shipping. I chose to start at the earliest possible time--Sep, 1939 with a Type 7-A U-boat.

There is no map for this game. You play on a mat representing your boat, its crew, and your weapons. Below is a picture of the player mat for my sub,  the U-29.

 

 

You decide how to stow your torpedoes and then roll dice to determine what area you will patrol. My first 5 patrols were all rather short missions to the British Isles. Later in July 1940 my boat was sent to help fight the Battle of the Atlantic. In Sept, 1941 on my seventh Atlantic patrol I was sunk by convoy escorts. My final tally was 15 ships sunk including the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous and the 46,000 ton large freighter the Empress of Britannia. In all I destroyed 153,300 tons of shipping and winning the Knights Cross.

 

The Knight's Cross

 

 





 When your boat enters a transit box, you roll dice for that area. If a potential target is spotted it is placed on the battle mat. This was my first victim, the small freighter Torney (2400 tons)

 

 

 

 

As you can see I allotted 4 torpedoes to this target, a little overkill but it was my first game and wasn't sure what was needed. In the end it worked out because I did not see any other targets the rest of the patrol.

 

You track your patrols on a log sheet. This is my sheet after this first mission:

 

 

The first column is the location followed by the name of the ship. The game charts include the names and tonnage of actual ships sunk by U-boats

 

If you survive your patrol and make it back home there is a refit period to repair damage. As the game goes on and the longer you manage to survive, your crew gets better, you can be promoted, or you can be awarded the Knight's Cross all of which have in game benefits. This gives the game a role-playing feel.

 

The game ends in June 43 but that is assuming you are still alive. Every mission involves making risk and reward decisions and it becomes harder as the allies began getting better escorts, aircraft, and anti-sub technology. In my final mission I sunk two ships out of a convoy and then spotted another convoy. I took a chance on a night time surface attack on the second convoy sinking another large freighter and a tanker but was caught near the surface and depth charged.

 

I can't recommend the game highly enough if you are looking for a solitaire game and are interested in the U boat war.



 

SAGA AAR--Vikings vs Normans 6 point battle

I played this game of SAGA over the holidays against my friend Pete who was using his Viking army. I decided to use my Normans.

This game was based on scenario 1 "Clash of Warlords" with the victor being the one who is able to kill his opponent's warlord. If at the end of turn 6, both warlords are still alive, the winner was to be determined by victory points gained from destroying enemy models.

The Vikings consisted of a warlord, one unit of 8 hearthguard (hirdmen), 3 units of 8 warriors (bondi), and one unit of bow-armed levies (thralls).

My Norman force consisted of a mounted warlord, 2 units of 6 mounted knights (hearthguard), a unit of 8 crossbow armed warriors, a unit of 8 sergeants (warriors) and one 12 man unit of bow armed levies.

The set up is below, with the Vikings set to the left and Normans to the right. The Viking warlord was just right of center near his 8 man hearthguard with levies in the middle.

Vikings to the left with Normans on the right separated by a large swamp in the middle.

I placed my two groups of mounted knights to my left to go around the open edge of the board. My crossbowmen were placed directly in the middle near the large swampy area in the middle of the field with my levies placed to cover the open ground on the right.

During turns 1 and 2 the Viking thralls moved into the swamp to shoot at my dismounted sergeants while I took shots at the Viking warrior unit on my far right with my levies. The Vikings made good use of Asgard giving them an armor boost against my archers. However my crossbowmen were attacked by a group of Viking warriors who eliminated six models leaving my last two to die on the top of a small hill.

Last stand of the Norman crossbowmen

Turns 3 and 4 didn't go much better. I started moving the levies toward the center of the line while working my two units of mounted knights to the rear of the Vikings.

Norman knights trying to get around the Viking left flank.

My concern was avoiding the swamp with my mounted units but in the end I wasted the first half of the game trying to get them in position behind the Viking warlord. Worse the Viking bow men in the middle of the table turned around and managed to kill three knights from the first unit. The weakened knights were too much of an opportunity for the Viking hearthguard to pass up. They separated from the warlord in an effort to destroy the knights and cause me to lose a SAGA dice.

The lone surviving knight after they are caught by the Viking hirdmen.

At this point of the game I had lost a unit of six knights and 8 crossbowmen and my unit of dismounted sergeants were stuck in the swamp chasing the Viking bowmen.

Norman sergeants (warriors) chasing the Viking thralls through the swamp.

But the Viking hearthguard pulling back to attack my mounted knights left their warlord protected by only one unit of warriors which I then attacked with my mounted warlord and the other unit of 6 knights.
Using "Gallop" I rode around a small hill to attack the warriors in the rear.

Knights charging the Viking bondi protecting the warlord

The Vikings fought back eliminating all but one of the knights but in the end it was the Norman warlord and one knight against the lone Viking warlord who died valiantly ending the game on turn 5.

The Viking warlord departs for Valhalla.

In the end I felt badly outplayed after letting my crossbowmen get cut down without releasing a single bolt and losing a unit of knights to levies with bows then charged by the large block of Viking hearthguard. If they had stayed closer to their warlord there was no way I would have been able to get him in melee. If the game would have lasted to turn 6 the Vikings would have won on victory points. In the end Pete had only lost 12 or so warriors and 3 or 4 levies.

A couple of other thoughts:

I know the Viking battle board does not have any skills to enhance shooting, but this is the second game in a row where the bow armed thralls have done major damage. They are especially effective against mounted units thanks to the armor penalty. I lost three mounted knights and 4 warriors to them. That may not be much but any damage they do is bonus on top of the already great Viking melee ability.

The Norman crossbowmen can be effective if protected by another unit but are very fragile and since you are only allowed one unit of up to 8 once they are gone they are gone. I try to use a unit of levies to support them and to mass their fire on the crossbowmen's target but in this game they got separated form each other.

Being able to move 12 inches is great, but I passed up some early opportunities to land a nice cavalry charge by spending three turns riding around. I have found 6 knights to be about right for a unit. Four is not enough--once you lose 1 or 2 the unit is near worthless and 8 is too big to effectively maneuver unless you are playing in open terrain.

SAGA is a great game and hopefully this report will get more people to try it out.

Bolt Action Pictures

I finally started playing Bolt Action last month using some 25mm Japanese and British Battle Honors models I painted several years ago. I recently added a mortar to the British and an infantry gun to the Japanese and may use them the first time this week.
Below are some shots of my Commonwealth platoon.