Lanzerath Ridge is a solitaire wargame that takes place on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge December 16, 1944 during World War II. In the game, the player takes control of a small group of American soldiers who must defend against the attacks of German paratroopers and fusiliers. The goal is simple but very difficult as the player has to attempt to do as well or better than the historic defenders by holding the attackers from taking the town of Lanzerath, Belgium to delay the advance of an entire SS Panzer Division. With limited actions each round, the player has to utilize their limited resources to attack the advancing German forces while also trying to accomplish objectives such as denying the Germans their equipment and strategically withdrawing to live to fight another day. The game lasts four rounds and each round has its own Assault Deck from which enemy counters are drawn along with nasty surprises such as mortars and MG42’s.

In this post, I am sharing my 4-part playthrough video taking us through an entire game. Keep in mind, this was a video shot early on after receiving the game and I think that I made 2 mistakes at different times throughout the video. Those mistakes are as follows:

  1. During Adjust Fire Actions, where I would discard a loaded ammunition token for an MG and take shots at Enemy Counters, I failed to add the cumulative +1 to the targets Defense Value for each shot after the first.
  2. I took an Attack Action from a few positions that didn’t have Line of Sight to the targets position on the Assault Track. I think that I did this 3-4 times.

Other than that, the game was played correctly and I had a good time. I have since played the game another 15 times and really enjoy it and I hope you do as well.

Part 1 – Attack Period 1 and Intro (58:32)

Part 2 – Attack Period 2 (36:28)

Part 3 – Attack Period 3 (33:20)

Part 4 – Attack Period 4 and Final Comments (33:16)

Thanks for watching my playthrough and I hope that I was able to help you learn the game but also to get some insight into strategy and tactics needed to be successful.

-Grant