Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 10, 2006 - Part 2 (Day 1)

By Rick Thornquist
August 10, 2006

After posting part one of today’s report it was time to head back to the convention center.  I ran into a few gaming celebrities and took some of their pictures (to be posted later).  One of the celebrities I ran into was Erik Arneson of About Board / Card Games.  Erik was pleased as punch that he was able to scoop me on some details he got about the upcoming ‘Bigfoot Game’ from Days of Wonder.  Never again, Erik! :)

By the way, for those looking for details about that game… I tried to pry some information out of Mark Kaufmann from Days of Wonder but he wouldn’t budge.  I guess we are just going to have to wait a bit longer to find out with the ‘Bigfoot Game’ is all about.

The game is for two players and lasts 3-4 hours.  The setting is, of course, The Battle of the Bulge.  The board shows the area that the battle took place and is divided into hexes.  Many of the usual Axis & Allies units are here, but there will be some new ones including trucks, ME-109s to represent German fighters, and Panthers to represent German tanks.

In the game, the Germans are on the offensive and are out to capture objective cities.  Each city is worth a number of victory points.  The front line is indicated on the map by markers and if the Germans are able to get 24 victory points behind their front line they win the game.  The game goes for eight turns and if the Germans don’t achieve their victory by the end of the eighth turn, the Allies win.

Though this game is similar in style and complexity to Axis& Allies: D-Day, there are some distinct differences.  Supply is a major factor in this game - you will have supply depots and you will need to use up supplies to move and attack.  If you don’t have any supplies for your units close at hand, you won’t be able to do much!  If you play well, though, you can capture the other player’s supplies and use them.

Another big difference is the combat system.  There is no battle board in this version of the game - the combat system uses a series of strips that go under the game board (see the picture below).  When a hex is attacked, the strips are pulled out to reveal the number of units of each type that are in the target hex (for example, if there are two infantry and one tank in the target hex, the infantry strip is pulled out to reveal two units and the tank strip pulled out to reveal one).  The attacker then rolls a number of twelve-sided dice depending on the units attacking - 1 die for infantry, 2 for tanks, 3 for artillery.  Six or less is a hit and the dice are allocated on the strip depending what numbers are rolled (the ones go on the first unit of the first strip and so on).  One die on a unit is a retreat and two or more is a kill.  I found the combat system quite innovative, though I’ll need to see how it works out in practice.

There are a few other small changes, but the game is very much Axis & Allies - a light wargame that gives you the flavor of the battle.  I hope to give it a try in the next few days, otherwise we’ll have to wait until it comes out in November of this year.

Stay tuned for part three of today’s report!

Pictures - Click the picture for a larger version
	Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge (note that these pictures are of a prototype - the graphics may change)
	The board
	A close-up of the board
	The strips used for combat
	Designer Larry Harris

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