The following scenario is taken from ‘The Wargamer’ magazine number 50 (‘Knights of Justice’).

The Crunch

A new scenario for The Avalon Hill Game Co.’s ‘The Battle of the Bulge’.

By Ty Bomba

This is a mid-game/end-game scenario for ‘The Battle of the Bulge’, 1981 version, second edition. It has been
designed to be played at the “Advanced Game” level, along with optional rules 37, 38, 39 and 44.
When playing face-to-face, I also suggest using the revised turn sequence for commitment of artillery final
protective fire as presented on page 5 of volume 19, number 2 (July-August, 1982) of The General.
This scenario begins with the German December 22 am turn, and continues to the end of the Allied January 2
pm turn. The normal campaign game victory conditions are used, as presented in rule 46. The “Nationalist
Socialist Ardour” victory condition presented below is an additional victory condition for use by the German
in this scenario.
At the start of the scenario, the Germans have used up two bridges from their construction capacity of nine.
The bridges in TT31 and Y23 are blown. Both fuel dumps are out of play, uncaptured by the German. The 15th
Army Offensive has not yet been initiated (nor is it likely to be).
Place the following five American units in the Allied player’s dead-pile: 28/110, 106/423, 106/422, 9/CCR,
and the 14th armoured cavalry regiment. Place the following five units in the German dead-pile: the four
Einheit Steilau commando teams and the von der Heydte parachute battalion.
All the Allied reinforcements coded “J” and later are still on the reinforcement card.

German Set Up:

Set the following German units up on the board. Units are infantry unless otherwise noted.

326/752 – QQ4
388 artillery regiment, 4 NW brigade – RR5
9 NW brigade – SS6
326/751, 326/753 – QQ6
277/989, 277/990 – QQ7
3/8, 3/29 Panzer Grenadiers, 277/991 – QQ9
405 artillery regiment – QQ10
17 NW brigade – RR12
12/89 – PP9
12/27, 12/48 – OO10
12SS Panzer Division (all 3 regiments) – OO11
3/5, 3/9 parachute regiments – MM11
3/8 parachute regiment – LL10
150 Panzer Grenadier brigade – JJ10
9SS/9 Panzer regiment – JJ12
9SS/20 Panzer Grenadier regiment – JJ13
9SS/19 Panzer Grenadier regiment – II14
402 artillery regiment – OO14
18/294, 18/295 – NN14
18/293, Fuhrer Escort Brigade – MM14
62 infantry division (all 3 regiments) – NN16
16 NW brigade – OO17
1SS/2 Panzer Grenadier regiment – GG12
1SS/Peiper (isolated) – EE11
401 artillery regiment – LL20
7 NW brigade – KK20
2SS/3 Panzer Grenadier regiment – GG19
2SS/2 Panzer regiment, 2SS/4 Panzer Grenadier regiment – FF19
560/1130 – DD19
766 artillery regiment – GG23
15 NW brigade – CC25
116/16 Panzer regiment – T15
116/60 Panzer Grenadier regiment – V17
116/156 Panzer Grenadier regiment – W19
560/1128 – X18
560/1129 – Y19
2/3 Panzer regiment – V23
2/2 Panzer Grenadier regiment – U23
2/304 – Panzer grenadier regiment – T22
Lehr/903 – T26
Lehr/902 – U26
5/14 parachute – W29
5/13 parachute (in improved position) – X29
5/15 Panzer Grenadier regiment – BB31
26/139 – Y26
Lehr/901 – AA28
26/77 – BB26
26/78 – AA25
352/914 – JJ31
352/915 – LL31
8 NW brigade – MM30
408 artillery regiment – NN30
352/916 – NN31
276/986 – RR31
18 NW brigade – TT31
276/988 – TT32
212/423 – UU33
212/316 – VV33
406 artillery regiment – WW33
212/320 – XX33

Allied Set Up:

4/8 + 22 – WW34
4/12 – UU34
VIII/333 artillery – SS34
10/CCA – SS33
9/CCA – PP32
10/CCR – MM33
28/109 (in improved position) – JJ32
101/501 – AA27
10/CCB, 101/327 – Z26
101/502 – Z25
101/506 (in a fort) – AA26
The preceding four units are, of course, isolated
84/335 – M20
11/29 British armour – D16
XVIII corps artillery – E16
84/334 – P17
84/333 – R16
3/36 armoured infantry – T13
3/32 armour – Y5
82/325 – AA17
82/508 – EE16
7/CCR – GG15
82/505 – EE14
82/504 – DD11
30/119 – DD10
3/33 armour – EE10
30/117 – FF10
V/190 artillery – HH8
30/120 – JJ9
1/16 (in improved position) – LL9
1/18 – MM10
1/26 – N9
V/187 artillery – NN7
2/38 – OO9
99/393, 99/304 – PP8
99/395 (in improved position) – PP7
9/39 – PP6
9/47 – PP5
102 armoured cavalry (in a fort) – PP4
28/112 (in improved position) – LL18
106/424 (in improved position) – MM17
9/CCB – MM16
7/CCB, VIII/174 artillery, VIII/402 artillery – MM15
7/CCA – KK15

The Fortified Goose Egg:

The following seven American units make up the St. Vith “Fortified Goose Egg”:

28/112
106/424
9/CCB
7/CCB
7/CCA
VIII/174
VIII/402

Historically, on Field Marshal Montgomery’s orders, those units were evacuated from their precarious salient
at the last possible moment. This rule gives the Allied player the option to conduct a similar pull-out or
explore what could have happened if the troops around that vital crossroads town had been allowed to stand
fast as some American chain of command wanted.
After completing the set-up, but not before the German begins his first turn, the Allied player must announce
whether he will evacuate the Goose Egg. If he decides not to do so, nothing special is done and the German
starts his 22 am turn.
If, however, the Allied player decides to evacuate, he takes a special move with all seven of those units (only)
before the German starts the actual first turn of the scenario.
Evacuating the Goose Egg units may leave enemy zones of control at the start of the special evacuation move,
but may not enter them at any time during the rest of the evacuation. Further, the evacuated units may not end
their special move in any hex on or south of the diagonal hex file running GG17, HH16, II16, JJ15, etc.,
across the whole board.
The evacuation is an all or nothing proposition; either they all come out or they all stay in. And, of course, the
special restrictions described above are no longer applied to the evacuated units once their special move is
over.

National Socialist Ardour Victory:

In addition to the victory conditions presented in rule 46, the Germans may win a “National Socialist Ardour”
victory (the most marginal kind of victory) by fulfilling this condition.
If at any instant of the game, Bastogne and St. Vith and any one of the following eight cities are under
German control, play stops and an “ardour” victory is declared: Eupen, Liege, Huy, Andenne, Namur, Dinant,
Verviers or Givet. If Liege is the trigger city, only one hex of the place need be taken by the German in order
to count for the victory.
The supply state of the occupying German units has no bearing on the ardour victory.

Optional Rule:

The three units of the U.S. 10th armoured division and 106/424 regiment had received some rough handling by
this point in the battle and were operating at much reduced strengths. Though this isn’t within the spirit of a
unit-elimination-type game, such as Bulge is, players desiring the maximum realism should play this scenario
with the combat factors of those four units halved (the 7-4’s are considered 4-4’s).

Credits:

My primary sources for this scenario were Danny Parker’s Battles for the Ardennes game from SPI, and
Charles McDonald’s book, A Time for Trumpets. My thanks to Val Thomas, Dan Moll, Todd Deadman, and
Mat Hartley for their able playtesting.