German Turn 3 – Searching for the breakthrough.

Card draws are the same on Turn 3 as on Turn 2. The Germans get a lot of fuel to power their advance, particularly for 5^th Panzer Army (yellow), whilst 6^th Panzer Army get a valuable Force March. Importantly, the US gets another Garrison, 2 Replacements, and 2 Engineers.

More US units stream onto the battlefield, including three Elite 3-strength formations (20^th Infantry, 82^nd Airborne, and 101^st Airborne. There won’t be any US reinforcements next turn, however, so these will need to be positioned wisely.

The Germans kick things off this Turn with a draw of 5 cards, as the US get nothing!

The US then play a Reinforcements card to build up the 1^st Infantry which are coming in as reinforcements from Zone A. Another step will see them become a powerful Elite 3-strength unit, so it’s worth investing this in them rather than holding back to repair a different unit later.

German Turn 2 – Schwerpunkt.

The turn begins with cards being drawn. The Germans maintain a strong advantage here through much of the game, starting with a draw of 9 cards. The US draws 7 to begin with, but the hap will be larger during their own Admin phase.

Neither side knows what the other has drawn. The Germans have a decent mix of combat cards and echelons (colors corresponding to the different Armies), but few Engineers. However, they do have the Engineer that really matters – 6^th Panzer (yellow), which will allow them to repair the bridge into Marnach, and thus can strike over the river into Lullange this turn if they want to.

U.S. Turn 1 — Hold the line!

The US player has very little to do on the first turn, but there is one big decision they need to make. Will they continue to stand and fight in Marnach, or pull back? The advantage of staying is that it means the Germans will be unable to supply combat operations to the south. If the Elite 26^th Infantry were to cross the Clerf River to attack Wiltz, they would automatically go Out of Supply (OOS) and lose a “step” (strength point) at the end of the turn, because there’s no way for the Germans to trace supply past Holzthurm. Supply in this game is traced simply through a chain of friendly-controlled spaces (and note controlled – they can be contested). Without a bridge, though, you can only trace supply over a river border into the single space adjacent to that river.

German Turn 1 – Here Comes the Panzer Attack

The game starts at the beginning of the combat phase of the first German turn. As they are on the strategic offensive, the Germans have access to a re-roll marker for the first half of the game, allowing them to force any one die to be rolled again every turn. They will have this advantage until the marker gets handed over to the Allied player at the half-way point. So they can deploy this ability to their best advantage, the Germans therefore choose to open with their most important combat and work their way down the list of priorities.