8 replies to this topic

[Peter M. Skaar]

Yesterday was the 79th anniversary of the start of The Battle of the Bulge.  Back in 2016 we did a Mein Panzer Battle of the Bulge game featuring the 2nd Panzer Division assault on the town of Marnach on December 16th.  The town was defended by a Company plus from the 28th Infantry Division.

This was a long game with about 6 players initially but attrition knocked us down about 3 or 4 players after a few weeks of play so the game was called.  Overall it was an interesting scenario but Marnach proved to be a tough nut to crack, even with the addition of 2 Sturmtigers to the German forces.  We did use the Mein Panzer rules for both direct and indirect HE fire, building destruction, infantry, transport, and a few other goodies in addition to, of course, the armor rules.  Overall it was an interesting game and quite a spectacle especially from the German positions.

Here are a few pictures from that game.

 

[Thomas J Fitzgerald]

I'm impressed the Germans were thoughtful enough to bring holiday cards.

[healey36]

I'm impressed the Germans were thoughtful enough to bring holiday cards.

Hey...the game table is multi-use. Mine frequently has Diet-Coke silos sitting all over it .

Very sharp, Peter. The terrain looks terrific, albeit snowless.

We kicked off The Gamers’ Ardennes game on Saturday and quickly realized how terribly flawed the first version is. Have to admit, we’d been warned. By mid-day Sunday, we bagged it. The unrealistically well-supplied Wehrmacht was rolling...likely would have reached the outskirts of Paris by mid-January. Disheartened, we spent a couple hours in post-mortem coming up with some appropriate house supply rules.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Thanks very much, Thomas and Healey!

Thomas, I think the holiday card boxes were being used as dice trays if I recall.  Season's greetings from the Fuhrer!

Healey, I have had and still have several board games on The Battle of the Bulge.  I still have but have not played Ardennes by the gamers.  I do have Ardennes 44 from GMT which has had good reviews and also the Compass edition of Bitter Woods.  I have not played either one yet.

The ground at the start of the Bulge was not covered in snow.  The snow came later in the battle.  I know the trees still have their foliage which would have been dropped by the middle of December.  I used what I had but I may go back and tweak a few things if I had to do it all over again.  For this game we used what we had - terrain, buildings, and minis including 2 Sturmtigers that were probably not there but hey, we wanted to see what their effect would be.

Here are a few more pictures showing an overview of the layout plus a few more from the American side.  I am in the last picture in the light green shirt in the lower corner with two of my gaming buddies.

 

 

[Kenny Noe]

Really nice setup!   Thanks for the pics.

[healey36]

Peter, the snow comment was tongue-in-cheek. Having never modeled snow for a game, I could hardly be critical. Despite having seen numerous photographs of the opening stages of the battle, I had never latched onto the notion/fact that the ground was not covered by snow. Interesting stuff.

And you’re right, the game is by The Gamers, not Multi-Man. I always get those guys mixed up.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Thanks very much, Kenny! 

Healey, The Gamers was actually bought by Multi-Man Publishing a few years ago.  It is easy to mix up the two due to that relationship. Back when I was traveling a lot, I used to swing by Homer, Illinois, and see Dean Essig over at his facility and even stayed over at his house.  Those were the days.  These days I don't leave the environs of greater Phoenix very often.

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

Here are a few pictures of Marnach.  The town only has a population of around 585 so is not very big at all.

 

[healey36]

Contemporary photographs are always appreciated, Peter; it helps to get things into a topographic perspective, not to mention any relevant landmarks. Thanks!!!