One of the pleasures of getting into a new game is learning to play it. I don't mean getting the rules right or "cracking the system," but exploiting the tactical capabilities inherent in the system. In their first playing of the "Drive on Bastogne" scenario, Doug Mann and David Carpenter had a few of these learning experiences.

Doug implies that the temptation to get those panzers into action right away discourages reserve movement. Actually, the coordinated use of reserves can speed up your units and increase the overall tempo of your operations. With units in Reserve Mode handy, you can attack an extra time before your opponent can react. The possibilities for powerful combinations are numerous, but let's look at one from the very beginning of the scenario discussed here. I will focus on the "Bloody 110" area, where the Germans' first-turn goal is to roll over the lonely 1-110 battalion, take Clervaux, and be ready to sweep down the road to Bastogne.

Note that the German player may set up his engineers with any of his units, but the bridges may not begin the game emplaced. The best the German can do is to set up bridges next to the Our River and spend the first movement phase emplacing them. The 2 Pz Division can either spend 8 extra MPs slopping across the river, or they can set up in reserve mode and wait for the bridge.

The forest (gray shading here) and traffic-jam hexes (omitted in my diagram for better legibility) make the movement point costs high enough to keep the panzers from getting into action in their first Combat Phase. However, these units do have enough MPs to cross a bridge emplaced in the hex shown and overrun the American battalion. With some good shooting, the Amis might already be DG, and the overruns) will have better odds. But even at poor odds, the sweeping away the US speed bump might be worth a step or two of panzers.

Consider Bulge history. Peiper (operating on Map A) didn't kill his prisoners merely because he was a cruel Nazi SOB, though he certainly was that. But most importantly, he didn't want to slow down-not for prisoners, not for minefields-not for anything. One way you can strive for this kind of blitzkrieg speed is by using Reserve Mode. Remember, they also serve who only stand and wait, provided they are waiting for their chance to run like scalded cats toward their objective.