The most significant battle the United States fought in World War II (at least in the ETO) was the Battle of the Bulge. It was the only battle that the United States could claim sole credit for (allied troops participated in insignificant numbers only). It proved that American troops were not reliant on air support for their victories. It demonstrated the best and worst of the American Army, the best being the 5th and 28th Infantry and the airborne divisions; the worst being the replacement policy which created the debacle of the 106th Infantry division. It proved that the Americans were better masters of mobile warfare than the Germans. Most importantly, the battle bled the last decent troops the Germans had left dry, destroying the last strategic reserves Hitler was able to muster and hastening the end of the war.

I have long wanted to refight the Battle of the Bulge in miniature, but there were several things which prevented it. The first and most critical was the lack of a set of rules capable of handling the whole battle in miniature. Even with the recent upscaling of tactical battles from 1:1 to 1:5 (starting with Command Decision), a battle consisting of even one division is difficult to fit on a table. For the last three years I have been developing a set of rules with the premise that each player would act as a corps commander. These rules have progressed sufficiently to allow Bulge to be fought. The ground scale is 1" to the mile, and the unit scale 1,000 men or 20 pieces of equipment per stand. Each player commands about 70 stands, and things like strategic reserves become significant.

The rules do require a mental gear shift: during a recent game some inexperienced players could not understand why they couldn't shoot AT battalions at tanks more than 20" (miles) away. Army command is represented, but is played on a part time basis by corps commanders.

The second hold back was acquiring figures. A couple fortunate purchases at Cold Wars allowed me to acquire the 100+ microarmor AFV's need to complete the orders of battle (incidentally, if anyone knows where I can find US 8" howitzers or German 325mm mortars, please drop me a line). The third problem was finding a dozen players dedicated enough to fight the battle. That is the reason for this article.

The Plan

The plan is to fight the actual battle over a weekend in September or October in the vicinity of Dulles Airport (probably at Game Parlor, although I haven't asked the owner yet). Actual dates will be determined once some players get assembled. The German onslaught will start on Friday, with only the two hapless US corps commanders, whose corps get slaughtered by the cream of the German Army present (a depressing thought, I know, but the performance of these two corps will determine whether the remainder of the battle is a victorious American advance or a desperate last-ditch defense; also, these two players are guaranteed to play the whole weekend).

Five of the six Scumbag Nazi commanders will be present. Saturday and Sunday all players will be present, with the remaining corps commanders being fed in (hopefully) Saturday morning. Over the summer I plan on providing all players with copies of the rules and conducting orientation games. A couple of months before the battle, commands will be assigned and players with units on the board will be required to provide a map showing their setup (I plan on taking Friday off work and having the battlefield ready for the first turn at 7:00 pm sharp). With experienced players and two game masters cracking the whip over them, we should be able to get 10 game days done over the weekend.

The orders of battle will be followed as closely as possible (in accordance with my few sources). Each of the six American players will command a corps of 3-5 divisions, although many will have them fed piecemeal into the battle. Two players will double as Army commanders. The German OB is much more diverse and interesting.

• The German 7th army will be commanded by one player. It consisted of two two-division corps, and one corps with three battalions. I've deleted the regimentsized corps, making the battalions army assets. The army was smaller than one US corps, and will be easily handled by one player. The only cool thing this army has is a Fallshirmjager division. As the southern flank of the German assault, the 7th Army can be guaranteed of a critical part in the battle fending off Patton.
• The 5th Panzer Army will be commanded by two players. One will command the 47th Panzer corps, consisting of two panzer divisions and one infantry division (with the 1941 organization, meaning 1.5 times the infantry strength of the rest of the infantry divisions). The other player will command two infantry corps consisting of three infantry and the 116th Panzer division. The 5th Panzer Army divisions are generally understrength, and it is interesting that they made further progress than the more powerful SS formation. One of the two corps commanders will also act as army commander.
• The 6th SS Panzer army will be commanded by three players, one for each corps. The 1st SS Panzer Corps was huge, with 2 infantry, 1 Fallshirmjager and 2 SS Panzer divisions, as well as the support elements of both SS corps. The 2nd SS Panzer Corps consisted of only two SS Panzer divisions, and did not start the baffle, but was used to reinforce the assumed advance of the remainder of the army. It shows the inflexibility of the plan and the loss of skill in the German command structure that this corps did not reinforce better progress of the 5th Panzer Army instead of being committed to the failed breakthrough of its sister corps. The 67th Infantry corps will be commanded by one player, who will also command the Army. Reserves will be made available to either side if the battle ends up being too one sided, but these reserves were available (or at least in existent) during the actual battle and thus the historical accuracy of the battle is not compromised. Air power is abstracted in the rules, and thus will be subject to "doctoring", in order to keep the game interesting. Supply is also abstract, but it is easier to match the historical conditions and will be kept as accurate as possible.

One possibility that I am seriously considering is to have two overall commanders, who will be committed for the whole weekend, but not present at the game. I have two ideas, one is for the two commanders to be offsite playing something else, with reports and orders being phoned in every game day. The other alternative is for us to find two players on the internet, and to modem in the daily reports and orders.

These players will give the army commanders objectives, and pass out reinforcements. I realize that neither side had a single officer in command of the overall battle, but it will make the game more interesting and realistic with the overall commanders making decisions based on limited intelligence. On a higher level, if the commanders feel like they really need help, they can beg me (playing the part of Eisenhower) or Steve Anderson (playing the part of that scumbag Adolph Hitler) for more troops, planes or supplies. Some kind of table will be devised based on the strategic situation which will determine whether the request is filled.

That is the plan to refight the Battle of the Bulge.