Battle of the Bulge: Allied Forces on the German Border, Sep 1944 - Feb 1945 (HC)

The Battle of the Bulge brings Flames Of War players into the hard-fought battles along the German border with Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, from the Lorraine campaign, to the Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge and German Operation Nordwind.

You can field the American forces that retook the Lorraine region and pushed the Germans back to their border, or the British that drove through northern France to liberate Belgium.

Fight the desperate battles to hold back the German Ardennes offensive, or engage in the Ardennes counter-offensive in the Battle of the Bulge.

This book contains British and American Intelligence Briefings and Warriors from the following Divisions, Battalions and Brigades:

US Forces
* 4th Armored Division
* 7th Armored Division
* 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion
* 761st Tank Battalion
* 29th Infantry Division
* 28th Infantry Division
* 99th Infantry Battalion
* 291st Engineer Combat Battalion
* 14th Cavalry Group
* 101st Airborne Division
* 2nd Ranger Battalion

British Forces
* 7th Armoured Division
* 29th Armoured Brigade
* 53rd Welsh Division & 51st Highland Division
* 6th Airborne Division

The Battle of the Bulge: Allied Forces on the German Border, Sep 1944 – Feb 1945 and The Ardennes Offensive: German Forces in Lorraine and the Ardennes, Sep 1944 – Feb 1945 are the two newest hardback compilations for Flames Of War.

They take the forces from Blood, Guts, and Glory, Devil’s Charge and Nuts, update them and compile them in two useful volumes. To this we have added new content, some of which is familiar from digital and PDF Briefings, while the rest in entirely new.

New Content in The Battle of the Bulge
In the Allied compilation, The Battle of the Bulge, we have added a US 29th Infantry Division Rifle Company submitted by Jonathan Baber, to cover the action of this famous division after Normandy, as they push up to the German border at the end of 1944.

The force covers their amphibious operations as they crossed the Roer River on their way to the Rhine. These troops can be carried in LVT-4 Amtrac APCs and can be supported by specialist troops such as Sherman Crab flail tanks and Sherman Crocodile flame-thrower tanks.

Another new unit is the US 2nd Ranger Battalion created by Alexander Constantino. You finally have the opportunity to field Fearless Veteran Rangers as they fought for Castle Hill during the battles for the Hürtgen Forest. As well as the elite Rangers, you can take a variety of support platoons from nearby infantry division, including tanks, artillery, infantry, anti-aircraft and air.

Michael McSwiney has created a pair of briefings to cover the US 761st Tank Battalion ‘Black Panthers’. The Black Panthers were the US Army’s first African-American Tank Battalion. They fought through France and Germany from November 1944. They supported a variety of infantry division, being attached as required by operational priority.

They come in two rating options for early and later actions (Fearless Trained or Fearless Veteran) and have options to field a variety of Sherman tanks in a Tank Company, or Stuart light tanks in a Light Tank Squadron. Their support reflects the variety of different divisions they fought alongside during their campaigns.

We have also added a British section to The Battle Of the Bulge. It covers the XXX Corps as they were redirected to halt the German thrust towards the Meuse River.

You can field an Armoured Squadron from the 11th Armoured Division’s 29th Armoured Brigade as they fight in their old Sherman V and Firefly VC tanks. They are accompanied into the Ardennes by their own Motor Battalion and you can field a Motor Company.

The corps also committed the 51st Highland Division, 53rd Welsh Division, and 6th Airborne Division to the fight. These divisions all fought a number of tough engagements against determined German panzer troops, in a holding action which eventually turned into a counterattack.

We have also included a section on the British 7th Armoured Division, covering their breakout from Normandy and advance through France, Belgium and the Netherlands and into Germany. You can field a Desert Rats Armoured Squadron armed with Cromwell IV cruiser tanks, Firefly 17pdr tanks, and Challenger 17pdr tanks. Even Chaffee light tanks have begun to make an appearance in the 7th Armoured Division as replacements for Stuarts. Support includes armoured divisional support such as armoured artillery, self-propelled anti-tank and even Commandos. You can also command a Desert Rats Motor Battalion, or a Desert Rats Rifle Company form the division’s infantry brigade.

Changes to Exisiting US Forces

Towed Tank Destroyers
Due to the nature of the fighting in the Ardennes, and to better reflect how they were deployed in blocking positions, we changed the Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon to be like other anti-tank gun platoons, with guns, transport and command.

This removed the US Tank Destroyer rules from them, but makes them cheaper in points. However, because they are Immobile guns, as an exception we allow them to Ambush within 16”/40cm (as they are not artillery).

Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr
Based on a lot of player feedback that Patton is considered over-powered, we decided to have a review of his rules. We made changes to change Foul Mouth to give 2+ Motivation for a platoon Patton joins (rather than 3+ for platoons within line of sight), and remove the Spearhead for platoons within line of sight. However, we have reduced his points to 75 points (from 100 points).

We also removed the Why We Fight special rule from the companies originally from Devil’s Charge. This rule was very circumstantial – it only came into effect when facing SS troops, so was only used occasionally.

Support Platoons
We have also clarified that your support platoons are the same symbol and related rating as your Company HQ when it is appropriate. There are of course still occasions when different rated troops fought together, and we have keep these where they seem flavourful. An example of where you may notice a difference is the US Rifle Company where Combat Platoons and Support Platoons should have the same symbol. This doesn’t affect platoons where your chosen divisional symbol isn’t given as an option; in this case you take whatever you want.

We have also updated the painting guides for the Colours Of War painting system. Inside both books you will also find terrain guides and optional weather rules.

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