The Battle of the Bulge (hard)

On this page I’ll try and explain how this hard mission can be won. Of course, I’m not victorious on every hard mission I play but I’m quite satisfied with my winning average on it

As I’ll try to be as complete as possible you’ll probably read some things you might already know. In that case just skip that specific part. If you have suggestions or questions please let me know.

To win this mission you’ll need to be victorious on the 4^th battle.
The first and the second battle are against the British army
The third and final battle will be against the American army
You’ll be playing the same German deck against all 4 battles.

 

Playing against the British army is quite different than playing against the American army. For this reason I’ll divide it into 2 separate sections. Another thing is that you need to understand the deck you’ll be playing with to get the most out of it.

 

The Deck

The German deck you’ll be playing in all 4 battles contains:

- 18 units (1 diamond, 3 legends, 12 epic elites and 2 epics)

- 1 structure (1 legend)

- 8 items (3 legends and 5 epic elites)

- 3 orders (1 legendary elite and 2 epic elites)

 

A bit more detailed look at your units, you’ve got:

- 3 “well equipped “ units: Panther (ep.el.), Grossdeutschland division (ep.el.) and Afrika Korsp (epic)

- 3 “power boosting “ units: Blohm & Voss (ep.el.), Hetzer (ep.el.) and Fallschrim division HG (ep.el.)

- 3”promoting “units: Grossdeutschland division (ep.el.), Panzer II (ep.el.) and Heinkel HE 219 (ep.el.)

- 3 “life gaining “units: Panzer III (diamond), Flieger Divsion (ep.el.) and Brandenburger (ep.el.)

- 3 “next-same-type-free “units: Panther (ep.el.), Waffen Grenadier (ep.el.) and Focke Wolf (ep.el.)

 

As you do not have unlimited time to kill off your opponent you’ll need to find a way to get the damage through on the time which has been given to you.
There are roughly 3 ways to get the job done:

1) Blitzkrieg: Panther (ep.el.) and the Reichsmarshall Baton

2) Brutality: Panzer III (diamond) Grossdeutschland division (ep.el.) and Tiger I (epic)

3) Planes: Erich Hartmann, Horten, B&V, Heinkel, Flettner and Focke-Wolf.
All other units can simply be blocked by opposing it with (just) antoher unit. Of course, the job can be done by a free shooting lane as well (if your opponent decides not to block a lane.

 

Efficiently playing
Since you only have a few action points to spend each turn, try and get the most out of it. In this part I’ll discuss a few issues about it.

1) Well equipped and MG 42

2) Next same-type-free units

3) Promoting units and wolf’s lair

4) Atlantic Wall

 

Well equipped units and MG 42
You’ve got 3 units with this ability so make use of it:

- Never equip the Panther with the Reichsmarshall Baton. You’ll want to use this item on other units.
- Your Afrika Korps needs to equipped with at least the Reichsmarshall Baton or the Stig-44 Vampire otherwise it’s just another unit.

- The MG 42 should be reserved for equipping units without the well equipped ability.

 

Next same-type-free units
Again 3 units with this ability. I’m not saying that you should always make use of it if the occasion shows up but you should at least consider it. Besides that, all of the 3 units have an ability to get damage through by the themselves:

The epic elite panther has blitzkireg;

The epic elite waffen grenadier has brutality;

The epic elite focke wolf has flying.

In other words: They are always worth considering playing (or not) even without the free next same type unit.

 

Promoting units and wolf’s lair
There are (again) 3 units who have the ability to promote another (same type of) unit when they come into play. The best ones are (to my opinion) the grossdeutschland division and the heinkel he 219.
- The panzer II promotes another panzer in play as well but that’s it. (it doesn’t have blitzkrieg, brutality or flight). So to make the panzer II usefull you could play a marshall baton on it if the occasion shows up.

- The Grossdeutschland division becomes a brutality unit at rank 2 and it has well equipped by itself.
- The heinkel he 219 has flight. It also stays in the support line. It can’t move either (non of your units can). So the trouble is (often) how to get a unit in front of the heinkel. On the other hand, if you’ve got a powerful unit in front of it you’re firing from 4 lanes (instead of 3) into your opponent.

 

The wolf’s lair is a structure. Being a structure is already a problem when playing it: You can put it anywhere you want (in the front -or in the support line). Put it in the front (where it’s vulnerable) and you’ll miss a firing lane (unless you get a heinkel behind it). Put it in the support line and you’ll get the same (heinel) trouble again (how to get a unit in front of it. It’ll be no surprise that I’m not that fond of this structure. In other words: I rarely play it.

 

Atlantic wall
Playing this order let’s you promote all your units in play. There’s a possible profit that can be made here: Promoting all your units individually will cost more action points.

As the Atlantic wall is a very specific German order it should only be played when the conditions are good!

 

1) If you have power boosting units in play (Blohm & Voss, Hetzer, Fallschirm Divsion HG) other units won’t benefit from their promotion unless their (already) at rank 3. This is because the promotion of all units happen at the same time.

2) Units, which have been boosted on your previous turn(s), will loose the boost they’ve gained by promoting them to their next level.

 

Keep this in mind before playing the Atlantic wall.

 

Power boosting

As we’ve seen above there are 3 units available which can boost the power of your other units in play. Two of them (the Hetzer and the Fallschirm Division HG) deliver a small boost. On their first promotion other units get +2/+2, on their second promotion other units get +4/+4. If you’re interested in massively power boosting then the epic elite Blohm & Voss is the card to hang on to.

 

The epic elite Blohm & Voss is (to me) the key-card of this mission and is responsible of winning about 95% of all of the missions I’ve won!

 

1. The more cards you have in play, the bigger the boost will be. So before promoting this plane fill the battlefield with other units. If you can put a next-time-free unit of the same type and another unit (of that of that type) in play you can witness the synergy this deck has to offer.

2. After this card gets its last promotion it’ll get stronger once it receives damage. So first your boosting your other units and finally this unit becomes a significant damage dealer itself.

3. If you promote this unit with the Heinkel you’ll see the Heinkel also gains the boost and becomes a plane (in your support line) which delivers a lot damage. 

4. If you'd promote it twice (in the same turn), than have the Heinkel do it's first promotion. By doing so the Heinkel will benefit twice of the boosting.

 

Gaining Life Points
Undoubtedly your best life gainer is the diamond Panzer III. It gains life when promoted, it gains life when its brutality damage is transferred to your opponent. The brandenburger and the flieger division only gain life when promoted.

Playing the diamond will automatically get your opponent’s attention: It’ll be their nr. 1 target!

 

I’d also like you to get familiar with LTK (which stands for Last Turn Kill).
This is a situation in which you know that you’ll be victorious but you’ve got one more turn to finish the battle. Of course, it is nice to finish the battle with a big blast but it is better to check if you’re able to get a few life points out of it while finishing your enemy off.

 

 

Another closer look at the deck you’re playing

As I’ve explained before a good knowledge of the possibilities the deck you’re playing is essential to get the best out of this mission. I’ve decided to specifically describe all the cards individually. You’ll find my comments next to the cards.