Since the March release of Ardennes, we have had some people suggest that the game leans toward one side or the other. This makes us feet good since there does not seem to be a consensus on one side more than another. To help, we decided to print some strategy tips. These come from the many playtest games we spent huddled around the map and most from a combination of sweat and painful application.

The Americans

The Americans have an advantage: the Germans must come to them to win. The Germans must also overrun and hold a good share of the map to win. The game will generally progress in three phases, if you are successful: 1) The initial breakout and subsequent large German gains 2) The halting of the Germans and 3) The counterattack.

The Breakout

During this phase of the game, the Germans attempt to break through at numerous points and gain access to your rear areas. If the Germans press hard enough, they can do it. The tough part is slowing the Germans down enough to throw their plan off-track and having any breakthrough occur where YOU want it.

Place your initial supply dumps with care. For example, the forward trio of dumps (Bullingen, St. Vith, and Bastogne) is an interesting case. Placing the dummy in St. Vith or Bullingen is generally not best. Bullingen and St. Vith are close to the German lines and within early range of a supply unit. Placing a real one in either of these towns might help the Germans short term, but does not aid their drive materially in the long run. On the other hand, the dummy in Bastogne will hinder the Germans more by forcing them to cart supply units not only to continue their advance, but to protect the road junction if they take it. Look at your dump sites and ask yourself where the German would most appreciate a real dump.

Except on Elsenborn Ridge, you do not have enough units to do everything necessary. You must pick roadblocks and speed bumps with care, since those are your units. Examine the road net carefully. The Germans have power to blow through somewhere, but are often like electricity; they take the path of least resistance. You must insure that path is as useless to the Germans as possible. Blow bridges in areas where it will box them in, or in front of their main force if possible. Few, if any, Germans will keep an engineer close enough to the front to be of immediate use. A bridge blown at the right moment can earn you more time than the sacrifice of a unit. Use reserve mode, if necessary, so your units can take advantage of knowing which bridges were blown and which failed. Choose the best possible terrain for blocking the German advance: woods are good and woods-villages are even better. Where possible, use multiple step units to reduce the likelihood of being destroyed in a single combat. If the Germans are near, garrison bridges you do not want crossed; even a tiny force can hold the Germans up. In short, make the Germans work for their gains.

There are areas you will want to hold more firmly than others. Elsenborn Ridge is one by default; there are units already there and most of your earl reinforcements enter behind them. St. Vith is good to hold with a regiment or two of the 106th ID, if you can spare them. Clervaux is also a good place to get units to. It has a bridge the German Player needs for quick movement to Bastogne. Deeper behind your lines, Trois Pouts, Vielsalm, Houffalize, and Bastogne are all potentially useful to garrison, at least minimally. Of these, Bastogne is the most important. Have units moving toward it and prepared to enter on turn two. Have multiple units ready, even if they are just artillery. The German likely has a Greif team there; do not be afraid of it. Actively seek to enter Bastogne. Even if some of your units get redirected, chances are the Greifers will blow their roll soon. Remember, a good blocking unit such as the 9th Armored Combat Command and the Divarty can slow the Germans down quite a bit, allowing reinforcements to arrive first.

The German Special Ops get much attention they probably do not deserve. Do not let the Greifers scare you away from where you want to go. The Greif teams survivability is not very good. If they disappear in the first couple of turns, they will never bother you again. In short, treat them as the nuisance they are.

Use your artillery to DG as many German stacks as you can. Before long, the German will loathe the sight of American artillery units. It is too early in the game to really mass the guns (except on Elsenborn Ridge). However, you are probably better off getting DG results and not worrying about causing step losses.

At first, do not worry too much about where the Germans are going. Some will go for the gusto and actively pursue a Massive Victory. Others will simply try to occupy as many VPs as possible. Those goals are not mutually exclusive. Do not expect the Germans to telegraph where they are going. Eventually, there will be enough clues to piece it together. Cover all of your bases as well as possible.

DON'T PANIC! This is the period of the game where you have to bite down and play tough. Reinforcements are on the way, and after Turn 5 they flow like water from a tap. Turns 5, 6, and 7 will likely see the Germans reach their most threatening-although not necessarily their furthest position. It is easy to despair; do not give into it. This part of the game will be an exercise in crisis management. Your ability to manage it well will directly influence the next phase of the game.

Halting the Germans

This is the middle and probably shortest of the three phases. Usually starting around Turn 7, it features the American defense coalescing and forcing the Germans to deploy off-road to attack if they want to continue forward. Alternate roads have been blocked and sufficient units are coming forward to allow counter-attacks if desired. Things to note:

You still are not strong everywhere. However, you are strong enough to force the Germans to deploy in strength off-road if they wish to continue moving forward. Enough reinforcements are arriving to thicken the line and lengthen it if needed. Prepare to shift forces in front of Germans still moving forward.

Do not let the Germans force you behind "natural" terrain barriers that will be difficult to cross later. Allowing the Germans secure lines now makes your job ahead more difficult. If you have a good or useful position, fight to maintain it.

Look to the future and where you will need forces to retake objectives. Now is the time to make your plans; if you wait until Turn 14 to shift your forces, you simply will not have time. Begin assembling artillery concentrations to plow under German positions you want to attack. It is much easier to do if they are DG and maybe down a step.

The Germans are still dangerous. They probably have not taken enormous casualties yet. Help push them over during this phase. They will consolidate; pursue them and keep the pressure on.

The Counter-Attack

You have stopped the Hun in his tracks ... now what? It is time to counter-attack and regain areas lost that mean the difference between defeat and victory, or a greater victory if you have done well. There are several tools to use:

Unlike in Afrika, all the Germans are unlikely to disappear after a few turns of rough fighting. Pick cities you need and devote resources to taking them. Kill Germans when it furthers your goals, but do not make it a goal in and of itself.

By now, you hope the skies have cleared and you are receiving good air support. There are no limits to how many air points you may use in an attack, so do not be afraid to use them liberally. This can be very useful when attacking German units in a city.

Use your artillery in large amounts to DG and kill steps. Artillery will pave the way to success.

Make sure the Germans can not sneak into your rear and take away VPs at this late stage.

I tried to keep these pointers general. Each game develops differently, and it is better to have general guidelines than a firm plan that is difficult to change when circumstances warrant itcircumstances always seem to warrant it! Roll with the punches and set the Germans up for a pummeling they will remember.

The Germans

As the Germans, you have a near impossible task if you set out to win a Massive Victory. This said, you should probably play as if you can get to the Meuse (or Paris or Liege). The reason is that many of the victory point cities you need are far from your start line. It is relatively easy to substitute the capture of cities after the failure of your strategic drive. The play of the game, like that for the Americans above, divides into three phases. First, let's examine your choices for a Massive Victory.

The Meuse

The historical option is reachable by a straightforward drive through the center of the map. Its advantages are that it is reachable in a fairly easy manner by all the German mobile formations and, if you can break out of the forest, and the ground is fairly open. Be sure you bring along bridging trains and have them near the front in case you need them. The disadvantage is that it is extremely far to go. Your northern and southern forces run the risk of becoming entangled with American reinforcements. This can be useful; if enough Americans are busy, they will lack forces to throw in front of your troops.

Paris

While not being on-map like Liege, it is not as far to go as the Meuse. This is its advantage. On the down side, there are not many good roads and most lead through the woods. The Americans also receive many reinforcements on the south map edge. Your southern Panzers are not strong enough by themselves to gain this victory-even without any losses. The delay it would take to shift additional forces to this area probably precludes any chance of success here.

Liege

Well, it is on-map. It does provide supply. If you do get there and manage to take it, it is hard for the Americans to kick you out again. However ... most of the American reinforcements stream on from the northern edge of the map and many of them go through Liege. You will have to fox your way past them or blow them up to get to Liege. If you have to fight your way in against an American division or two, you might as well forget it.

The Breakout

This phase will see your greatest gains-although probably never quite as great as you hope them to be. Prolonging this phase is desirable; it keeps the American reacting to your moves, rather than narrowing your options. If you are really lucky, you might even get to your strategic objective.

Having made your strategic choice, forget it for a couple of turns. Your immediate concern is the rupturing of the American front in numerous points. Your armor, much of which should be in reserve on Turn 1, will need to get as far as it can to establish itself for further exploitation on Turn 2. Your biggest question, perhaps, will be what to do with the 12 SS Pz Div. You can use its units to attack Americans, or keep it in reserve.

You can use your infantry and artillery to good effect on the first turn. However, the force you need to destroy American roadblocks is your panzers. This will entail loss, but an open road is worth a few steps. The American wants to slow you down; if you destroy the roadblock units, they will be unavailable on future turns. You must take chances and use relatively low-odds overruns to make speedy headway.

Retain flexibility of thought and action. You will not always breakthrough where you want or need to. Do not be afraid to shift forces to areas with more promise. By threatening the Americans at many points, you will force him to make hard choices. This pressure can lead to mistakes advantageous to you.

You need to get sizable forces to the main N-S highway quickly. Control of portions of this road will make transfer of your forces from area to area simpler. Control of Bastogne, Houffalize, Manhay, and Werbomont is crucial. It should be possible to keep the American in doubt about your objective until this point; control of this road will make it difficult for the American to react when you tip your hand.

Race forces forward to seize important points; even out of supply, the Americans will be hard pressed to take them back early. Some of those points will have supply dumps. Securing these will allow continued advance when your main force arrives.

Your Greif teams can be extremely useful. However, do not count on them being alive for long. They are more useful remaining hidden and seizing bridges-and preventing the Americans from blowing them. While it is tempting to have them try to redirect long American reinforcement columns, they are more likely to die before doing anything really useful. If you want them to redirect, concentrate them on a specific task where few American units are available to flood the area-such as making it difficult for the Americans to set up a roadblock over a desired route of advance. Drop the Von der Heydte group to seize an important point, such as a dump or bridge, or to help block American reinforcements.

The Final Push

The arrival of more Americans than you thought could possibly be in Europe heralds this phase. It is still possible to squeak forward, but not very much. Consolidate your gains and prepare for the American counterattack.

If there are Victory Points near your units, grab them. While you might not hold them, they provide a focus for American attacks a little further away from your main holdings.

Try to expand to a natural defensive line, such as a river. This will slow the Americans down as they try to figure out a way across.

Attack where you can and keep the Americans offbalance; the longer this phase goes on, the shorter the pounding you will receive.

The American Revenge

This is when you try to hold on to the goodies you have seized. Do what you can to slow the Americans down.

Put supply units in important VP hexes to ensure your garrisons do not go out of supply. Garrison these places well; they will slow down the Americans.

You can hope your artillery has caught up to the rest of your forces by now. While not as effective as the American guns, they can still make the American job a little tougher.

Don't give up! Remember how tough it was for you crack into those little American-held towns? Well, he will have more to take and he is working on a tight schedule. Keep your mobile forces busy threatening to retake areas to keep the Americans on the alert and to spread out the forces available.

These are general things to keep in mind. I hesitate to offer specific advice: to me, half the fun (at least) is making the operational decisions. The best advice I can give is: be aggressive and be flexible.

I hope these thoughts on Ardennes are useful. If you have any questions or need advice, contact me at The Gamers. Good Luck and Good Gaming!