Bastogne (SCS)

December 1944 The first thing you notice are soldiers. Parts of commands stationed to the east. Exhausted, some frightened, men who can give you little information on what is coming but they all agree it is coming fast. The German offensive started two days ago. Your men have been dispatched in three Task Forces to meet the offensive head-on.

Late at night, after your lead armor begins to engage the probing Germans, an elite and rested airborne division is screaming into your rear area aboard trucks from some town deep in France. The 101st Airborne Division. Hastily equipped, barely supplied. You will be placing the village of Bastogne into the history books.

Bastogne is a game covering the defense of the little crossroads town of Bastogne from 18 December to 26 December 1944. It is not a game about the whole Ardennes Offensive, but rather a close-up look at the actual perimeter battle to protect the town and the mechanized delaying actions leading into it. The map only extends as far east as Longvilly and north to Noville at 400m per hex. Each turn is a day, units are generally companies.

Bastogne comes with special rules for road marching, Team SNAFU, barrages, and air strikes - but is built around a quick-to-play, simple-to-learn framework. Bastogne has three scenarios: an introductory scenario covering the Battle for Noville, a medium-sized one covering the Battle for Longvilly, and the withdrawal of Team Cherry plus the counterattack by the 501st Airborne Regiment, and the campaign game itself covering the whole action in a jam-packed 10 turns. A number of variants have been provided so you can experience the game over and over looking at fresh insights.