Me and a friend just got this and are about halfway through the campaign book. We are both newcomers and had never played before and have an extension strategy game past.

That said, it seems a lot harder for the Germans to win than the Americans, who have yet to lose a scenario. The closest was the "take the bunker on the hill" one (Charge the guns?), where the Americans took the bunker just as German reinforcements showed up (would have been close if it went another turn).

So far it seems like the American attackers always have the advantage, at least with first time players. The attacker can afford to simply grind his way forward with superior numbers, while the defender has to know what they're doing with their setup.

Some of them I don't even know how the Germans are supposed to win. Take crossroads. Sure the Tiger is a nasty tank, but no way can one of them and 3 PzIVs take on 12 shermans, even on defense with op fire. Even being VERY generous saying that each PzIV takes out 2 shermans, and the Tiger takes out 2 before they get into range, that's still 4 shermans against the Tiger. Toast.

Maybe with experienced players there's some sort of overlapping LOS fire the defender could set up, maximizing his range? I dunno, but with 2 new players the defending Germans really seem at a disadvantage.

You can always tweak the scenario for the next game.

Well, yeah.

Are they balanced though to experienced players? Is it just the defender has to be savvy in order to stand a chance?

Take the old Fortress America game. At first glance to new players, it's impossible for the U.S. to win. But then once you learn the strategies, it's heavily in their favor.

It just seems the Germans cannot win. Crossroads is just the most blatant example where the Germans were steamrolled to the loss of only half the Shermans (4 destroyed, 2 heavily damaged, 1 light damage). I could see it being balanced if tanks couldn't do support fire, but since they can it really doesn't matter how good your armor is; it counts a lot less than numbers.

Crossroads is my favorite scenario in the base game. The reason is that, unlike other scenarios, it gives the defender a lot to do. Although I think it's weighted, possibly heavily, toward the US, I think it's winnable for the Germans. It sounds like you had a particularly abysmal result.

Did you set up the German tanks in the woods? I think if you drop the Tiger in the 6A woods, on the road where it can sweep one half of the board but not the other, it's virtually unkillable.

Both times I've played this, once as each side, the US has knocked out 2-3 of the Panzers, given up on trying to kill the Tiger, and rushed a couple Shermans either through the 10A woods or the corridor in between the woods, to take the victory spots.

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Anyway, to the general question, the base game scenarios virtually all suck. But I don't think it's entirely US. Stavelot Express is almost comically unwinnable for the US, I mean seriously. And Silence the Guns probably requires a lucky break. Once the Germans get their reinforcement tank and roll it into the victory square, the US has two turns to both completely destroy it AND take the space. Good luck with that...

postscript: When I say the scenarios suck, I mean, for balance purposes. Most of them are still a lot of fun.

If you feel stuff is imbalanced, decide with your opponent how to fix the scenario to balance it out a bit. THEN decide who plays which side.

BuddhaBob74 said:

Ok. Just wanted to see if experienced players thought they were unbalanced too.

The Tiger was not in the woods, but I don't think it would have mattered. I just bum rushed it and 5 shermans opened up with supporting fire: 24 dice, 8 hits.

I got to the bunker on Silence the Guns just as the German reinforcements showed up, so I didn't get to see what difference the panzer could make.

P.S. So there isn't any special rule about tanks not being able to climb hills? We were kind of wondering about that.

We played Crossroads today and I agree it is unwinable by the germans. I managed to eliminate 4 of the shermans and heavily damaged 4 others.

Yeah, I know. Maybe you could modify the scenarios a bit so that either a. the Germans get more troops and such, or b. the Americans get less. Or have you tried with expansions? I heard that helps on BGG. I wouldn't know though, because I only have the base set.

Cyscott1 said:

I've played that before with my Dad. He was the Germans and I was the Americans. I won the first one, but, a day later, we tried again, this time, giving the Americans a different starting zone. I forget where, though. It actually was kinda close. But of course, in the American player's favor (Me!).