Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill (AH) in 1965 that simulates the World War II battle of the same name. General Anthony McAuliffe (ret.), who had been commanding officer at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, was a consultant during the game's development. The game proved popular and sold more than 120,000 copies, but was dogged by criticisms of historical inaccuracies, and was finally replaced by a completely new edition in 1981. A third edition in 1991 was released as part of the Smithsonian American History Series. Background In December 1944, Allied intelligence believed that German forces were close to collapse and were incapable of mounting an attack. However, German forces surprised the Allies with a major offensive through the Ardennes that had the combined objectives of splitting the Allied forces in two, preventing the use of the port of Antwerp, and forcing the Allies to sue for peace. German forces managed to create a large salient in Allied lines (the "Bulge") before the attack was blunted and stopped, the Germans' objectives left unfulfilled. During the attack, German forces encircled the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne and delivered an ultimatum to surrender. Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe famously replied with a one-word refusal: "Nuts!" Description Battle of the Bulge is a two-player game in which the German player must attack aggressively in order to attempt to change Germany's historical defeat into victory, while the American player must be able to transition from delaying tactics in the early game to assaults once force superiority is gained in the late game in order to replicate the historical Allied victory. Components