First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.

On the 2nd day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…

2 Barrages Exploding

Ardennes II is a part of the Standard Combat Series and is a reissuing of the award-winning game Ardennes from 1994. The new edition uses the additional research available from BCS Last Blitzkrieg, which was published in 2016, and also changes some basic concepts from the SCS system.

In addition to spotlighting the better OOB and map research first used in Last Blitzkrieg, the game has some differences from the first printing mainly in the area of how artillery works and and as well as giving units the opportunity to withdraw before an enemy attack. The game also removed some major focus on chrome rules which caused more playing issues than they were worth. But there are still really familiar and solid mechanics here from the Standard Combat Series and the game is a joy to play and look at as the graphics are significantly better in every possible way. 

There are several differences in the way Barrage is carried out in SCS Ardennes II from other games in the Standard Combat Series. The first difference is that a Barrage will typically inflict step losses to units targeted or at a minimum place a DG or Disorganized Marker on those units which stop them from being able to activate until they are recovered. This is the first of the major changes found here in the 2nd Edition of Ardennes II as the different Barrage Markers used in the process of artillery attacks will effect the units Attack, Defense and Movement values. If one Barrage Marker is placed, it will effectively halve those values and if a 2nd is placed it will compound the effect and quarter those values. This was a nice change as I liked how the artillery felt like it was softening up the enemy before attacks and forcing them to take cover rather than reducing them. The overall effect here is that the units under the Barrage Marker will be less effective in combat and the attacker can take advantage of this to inflict heavy losses with a greater combat odds ratio and more favorable column on the Combat Results Table.

Barrage also has a modifier to the roll including a benefit for Barraging into a hex with multiple units as you add a +1 Dice Roll Modifier (DRM) to the total for each unit above the first unit in a hex. So if a stack has two units, the Barrage attack would get a +1 DRM. The Barrage attack will hit on a modified 5-6 on a d6 and a Barrage Marker is placed. On a 3 or 4, a 1/2 Barrage Marker is placed and then later in the turn a d6 is rolled to determine if it becomes a full Barrage on a roll of 4-6. If there are 2 1/2 Barrage Markers, they will convert to a full Barrage without the need for a roll.

Here is our video review of SCS Ardennes II:

I wrote a fairly detailed and in-depth First Impression post for Ardennes II and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/11/07/first-impressions-scs-ardennes-ii-from-multi-man-publishing/

If you are interested in SCS Ardennes II, you can purchase a copy for $80.00 from the Multi-Man Publishing website at the following link: https://mmpgamers.com/ardennes-ii-p-377

You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:

A Patriot Militia Caught in the Open – Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection from GMT Games

-Grant