The Return of the King – The Big Cats of Bulge: German

By Richard Steer

Flames of War began its Late-War Journey in June 2019 with the publication of Fortress Europe, bringing V4 into the 1944-45 era. Subsequent releases have seen Late-War develop with books covering the Normandy and Bagration campaigns, and most recently the Ardennes.

Throughout the last three years, however, there has been something missing. You can argue about their historical significance. You can make jokes about them breaking down, running out of fuel, and being unable to cross bridges. But one thing is certain: in the Tiger II, Jagdtiger, and Jagdpanther, Bulge: German contains some of the most anticipated additions to V4.

Do they live up to expectations? Let’s take a closer look at how these vehicles have been represented in the game.

The Tiger II

There are two versions of the Tiger II in the book, and there is nothing surprising about their stats. The first version is Careful Confident Veteran with excellent Remount and Last Stand ratings. A unit of two costs the same as three Tiger Is.

The second version is an SS unit that is Aggressive Trained with a flat 2+ motivation. This comes in a couple of points cheaper per tank than the Veteran one.

There are no easy ways to build a Tiger II Formation. The minimum unit size is two tanks, so the smallest possible Formation is five tanks that will burn through 80-90% of your points for a standard game. The only flexibility that you have is the option of using your second black box for Tiger Is or SS Panthers instead.

The Jagdtiger

Costing about the same as a Tiger II, the Jagdtiger has even more armor and firepower than its turreted sibling. It is AT18, Firepower 2+ and Brutal, ROF 2 when halted, but is Slow Firing so it incurs a +1 To Hit penalty if it fires on the move.

It is not possible to take a unit with a single Jagdtiger, however running a Formation of Jagdtigers is made slightly easier due to the second black box having the option of being Panzer IVs or StuGs.

Another variant of the Jagdtiger in the Command Cards provides a Reluctant Trained option for a small discount. I can imagine this card attracting a bit of interest.

The Jagdpanther

The Jagdpanther has a great balance of mobility, firepower, and armor. For about the cost of a Tiger, you get a ROF 2 gun that can easily destroy any Allied tank in the game. It seems strange to say that something is “only Front 9”, and there is a lot of Anti-tank 14 in the game. The fact remains that the Jagdpanther’s armor is high enough that countering it requires the focused attention of high-end anti-tank units.

Running a Jagdpanther formation appears to be viable, as the second black box contains the option of fielding Hornisse, Panzer IV/70, or StuG platoons instead of more Jagdpanthers. This adds some cheaper tanks to the formation, freeing up points for bulking out the first black box platoon and adding support. I’m excited to try this list because one of my favorite Late-War German forces from V3 was the Jagdpanther/StuG/Wirbelwind combination from Bridge by Bridge.

The Sturmtiger

The Sturmtiger is available as a Support unit of one or two tanks. It fires as an artillery bombardment, modified by a couple of special rules. Bunker Killer allows the bombardment to hit Bunkers and Nests. Rocket Howitzer limits the unit to one attempt to Range In per vehicle firing but also means they do not have to reroll successful hits.

The Panther

While the Panther is not new to V4, you wouldn’t realize it from how rarely they’re seen on the table. Bulge: German adds more ways to play the Panther with three new formations.

The first two are updates of existing formations: the Panther (Late) Tank Company, and the Panther (Late) SS Tank Company. These have the same Skill, Motivation, and Hit On ratings as in the D-Day books, but have Front 10 and cost just under 1-pt extra per tank compared to the earlier versions. There is nothing special about the formations themselves, as unlike the Panther Company from Bagration there are no easy options to help them fit into a standard tournament-sized force.

The third formation is the most interesting. The Brigade Panther Platoon is Aggressive Reluctant Trained. It only comes in units of three, but that unit costs less than two standard Confident Veteran Panthers. If Reluctant tanks aren’t your thing, there’s also the Courageous Tanks command card that boosts them to Confident. Are these additional options enough to make the Panther relevant again?

The Tiger

The Tiger is the other older cat that deserves a special mention. Buried in the Command Cards is Kampfgruppe Hummel, which creates a formation of Aggressive Trained Tigers at a 33% discount to their normal price. Note however that they have a shorter move and a worse Cross rating than normal Tigers.

Reflections

The impact of the Tiger II and Jagdtiger on the meta is difficult to predict. Objectively they do not offer anything significantly different from the Elefant. I cannot speak to other regions, but locally the Elefant hasn’t been common, so our players can’t be seeing anything special about their combination of price, AT, and armor. What we don’t know yet is the extent to which the big cats may prove to be popular simply because of what they are.

They could a good option as Formation Support, particularly to be a one-die reserve, but they will be challenging to run in their own Formations. Their shooting is powerful, but there just isn’t that much of it. Their front armor can’t be touched, but when your opponent can field four tanks with AT 12+ for about the same price as each one of yours, Side 8 becomes a problem.

Bulge: German has added many new options for Late-War German list building, including some alternative builds for existing models such as the Panther. While we might not see too many Tiger II companies gracing our tables at standard game sizes, we are likely to soon be encountering far more Front 16+ and mobile Anti-tank 17 than we are used to. It will be fascinating to see how players adapt.