American Bulge: Command Cards

By Preston Jacob

The newest book for , Bulge: American, brings Momma America’s Mean Green Killing Machine fully into the late war era!

After the Germans have produced their last ditch heavy tanks and sent them to the front, the United States had to answer with heavier armor of their own, with plenty of well equipped infantry troops to help.

The new book has a ton of options to flush out you American army lists, but the command cards open up even more options! Once I show you everything the command cards have to offer, you too will be ready to push the German war machine back across the Rhine!The first thing I’m most excited for in this book are the late war tank destroyers we’ve all been waiting for. With the introduction of the M36 and M18 tank destroyers into late war, Americans will finally have plenty of high anti-tank assets to deal with the heavy cats that they face. These tanks will be a huge asset and the command cars that come with them improve an already great unit to being even better.

The M36B1 command card allows you to upgrade the armor on your M36’s for +2 Points per tank. It seems kind of expensive but once you look at it, I believe the card is worth it. Your M36’s will be upgraded to Front Armor 7, Side Armor 3 and Top Armor 0. The thing I have always found about American tank destroyers in late war is they were glass cannons. Anything that hit them with an anti-tank round previously would go straight through but with this upgrade, your glass cannons now have a real chance of standing up to German medium, and even some heavier tanks.

In the previous D-Day books, American Rifle Companies were able to take British Crocodile Churchill Flame Tanks with the British Command Card pack. Though a nice touch of flavor to American lists, it limited its use since it could only be taken with a Rifle Company.

With the command card, Americans get Crocodile Flame Tanks of their own in the form of Sherman’s. The Sherman Crocodile Flame Tank Platoon command card allows you to upgrade your M4 Sherman (late) tank platoon to have flame throwers. The card is Limited and can be taken in a platoon of 3 or 4 Shermans, and gives the tanks a flame thrower with a 6 Inch Range, Rate of Fire 6, Anti-Tank 2 with an Auto Firepower.

Your Sherman’s become Confident (4+) Trained (4+), with a Counterattack 6+ and Assault rating 6+. This card gives American players a real threat against dug in infantry and having a 6 inch range allows players to pin infantry from a further distance and dig out the enemy. At +1 points per tank it’s a bargain price and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of Sherman Crocodiles in the coming months.

Towards the end of the war, even the US was using captured German equipment, and the 8.8 Provisional Field Artillery card reflects just that. If you take this command card, you can field a captured German 8.8 AA guns for 5 points per two guns or 10 Points per four guns instead of a 105mm artillery platoon. This switches the stats on a 105mm battery to an artillery bombardment with a range of 88 Inches and Anti-Tank 2 with a 4+ Firepower.

Now this seems like a downgrade from a normal 105mm artillery battery but the real advantage comes from its direct fire capability. It has a 40 Inch Range with Rate of Fire 1, Anti-Tank 12 with a 3+ Firepower. Essentially giving your force a dual purpose gun team that can threaten heavy tanks along with your static 3-Inch Anti Tank guns. This adds a flavor to Americans and shows the desperation of the armies in late 1944 to 1945, and can help boost your defensive game.

In the previous D-Day books, the allies were able to take French Resistance command cards that would not count towards reserves. They were not the best troops in the game but they had their place. Well now you are able to take better French troops in your force with the 1re Division Blindee Zouaves Portee Command Card.

For +1 Point per unit in a Battle Weary Armored Rifle Company, you now get Confident Trained troops that Counterattack on a 3+, Assault on a 3+ and are hit Aggressive on a 3+. However, this card doesn’t allow you to field a French unit that doesn’t count towards your reserves like previously, but this unit has the capability of doing much more than in the previous D-Day book.

This card improves your forces and reflects the elite Zouave units that were fielded by the French military after the liberation of France earlier in 1944. At +1 Point per unit, Americans Armored Rifles get a big time upgrade and a real threat in assaults.

What is the one command card that every German player was taking for months on end and created a meta like list? Anyone? Well if you guessed Pak Front you would be correct. The Pak Front card created a meta within German list building and caused headaches for anyone playing against them. Well I have good news friends, Germans are no longer the only ones with that type of capability.

The Outpost Guns command card gives Americans the same type of capability. At +4 Points per platoon, this card can be applied to any 57mm Anti-Tank platoon or 3-Inch Tank Destroyer Platoon. It makes your gun teams now Independent Teams and makes them Nests. The guns can rotate a full 360 degrees, and your opponent must reroll successful firepower to destroy it. So now Germans are not the only nation that can field such units.

Lastly, how can we talk about a Bulge book without mentioning one of the most famous American generals to ever step foot on a battlefield; General George S. Patton. This command card is 4 Points and is applied to your formation commander.

With this card, any team that is within 8 Inches of your formation commander pass their Rally and Remounts on a 2+ roll, meaning that like in real life, Patton will push to keep his troops in the fight. The other capability this card opens up is you are able to re-roll one failed die each turn to receive reserves, so just as Patton did during the Battle of the Bulge, you’ll be able to push your units onto the board and get them in the fight as quick as possible.

There are plenty more exciting command cards available in the new Bulge: American book, but I wanted to discuss some of the best and most exciting ones I could find. So get those tank destroyers, Easy Eights, and Jumbos ready, the push toward the Rhine begins now!