Bastogne Campaign Module

for Command Decision

by Bill Rutherford

By Frank Chadwick et al, published by Game Designers' Workshop, P.O. Box 1646, Bloomington, IL, 48 pgs incl. maps and charts, $8.00.

BASTOGNE is a campaign module developed for use with GDW's COMMAND DECISON (CD) rule set, but may be used with whatever rule set the gamer wishes. It contains seven pages of campaign rules covering the various situations that would only occur in a campaign setting. Ammo resupply is covered for artillery - though not one of my favorite points, its inclusion makes sense, as both sides'artillery suffered shortages during the battle. Very basic (and effective) rules are given for vehicle repair and recovery, whereby each side hasa per-turn pointallowance forequipment repair. The game elegantly ties the fatigue caused by a unit's map movement to the unit's on-table morale level. Morale decreases as fatigue increases, at different rates for the attacker and the defender in a battle - basic fatigue recovery rules are also provided. Weather, visiblity, engineers, and air power are also dealt with effectively.

The actual campaign is addressed in an 11 page day-by-day history of the 47 Panzer Corps drive on Bastogne. Full orders of battle, including organization charts (in CD terms), of all of the protagonists in this campaign are included, as are vehicle and weapon statistics for all of the equipment used by either side. In addition to the full 11 day campaign game, 16 single day scenarios covering the various battles of the campaign in a roughly day-by-day sequence are provided for use with the popular GEO-HEX modular terrain system - this goes a long way towards providing standardized terrain placement; the microarmor purists may wonder about the utility of GEO-HEX for tactical gaming (what with its regular slopes, curves, etc.), but remember - in CD, a model represents a platoon, and exact placement of models on the game table isn't as critical as in, for example, a set of rules such as FIREFLY or PANZERWAR.

Many of my comments indicated that this campaign module is very basic in its subject treatment - it is, and that is its strong point. The object of BASTOGNE is to fight tactical battles. The campaign activities are designed to be played with a minimum of fuss, while making the player consider carefully the non-tactical issuesthat affecittactical battles. On the whole, this appears to be a well thought-out scenario pack that will prove very useful to the player of CD, as well as the WWII gamer in general.

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