I managed to pry myself away from Fields of Fire (I really am in love with it) and I opened this up
WWII Commander : Battle of the BulgeAt first - I wasn't sure. It seemed pretty easy - not an awful lot really going on - but now I'm a handful of turns in, it's turning out to be a wee cracker.
Things you have to consider
- There's only 10 turns per day (13 days) - and each player only gets 5 of them - so basically activating 5 "sectors" a day
- The initiative changes part way through the campaign
- You have to keep those supply lines open
- Different sectors have different "save" values and so you need extra punch
- Where to attack and with what - risk armour (your best units) or send in infantry
- Punching through heavily defended terrain (hit save values on terrain)
- You have the initiative but that changes to the US from the 23rd
- Attacking across rivers has a penalty - send your weaker troops over to bridge the area and remove the penalty?
- From 21st the Americans get to mark 3 units out of fuel and the Germans can remove 2 of those
- From 26th the Americans get to mark 3 units out of fuel and the Germans can only remove 1 of those
- From the 23rd the Allies get +1 to their attack rolls
There's lots more. The game and the rules on the face of it seem very limited and that's true when it comes to modifiers (there's literally 6 modifiers for the attacker and 3 for the defender) - but the choices you have to make - what sector to activate, where to attack, with what, keeping supply open, risk a river crossing attack etc, etc...the game is deceptively deep.
Very much enjoying this first outing. I don't know how much replay it'll have with one player though - that's the only thing. Lots of things happen at set times (no randomisation there) and the only real difference in each game would be the outcome of conflict.