US Bulge V3 vs V4 Compared.

By Howard West

This is the 5th review that the No Dice No Glory Team has done on the new from . You can find the previous reviews via the following links:

• Tanks for the Memories – American Armor lists in Bulge American for Flames of War

I was asked to do a comparison of the Flames of War V3 vs the new Bulge American Book.

When Battle Front announced the progression of new books for V4 FOW(Flames of War) some in our local gaming group where not happy that we would have to wait several years for the new Bulge Books. Both the American and German books provided many of our members some of their favorite FOW lists. But like good wine, sometimes it is worth the wait.

Since 2015 we have had an annual bulge tournament here in Western PA and will be doing so again this year and the new American Bulge book will be center stage. So for those of you that have been waiting to play V4 FOW because the Bulge Books where not ready, start dusting off your old models and figures and get those old lists out and re create them with this new book. If you are a new player this is a great place to start playing Americans in V4 FOW. Yes I know the Scrap Yard Tank Platoon is not in the new book, but a lot of other good stuff is.

In V3 of FOW to play Americans in North West Europe you needed four books(Overlord, Market Garden, Bulge and Remagen), in V4 you only need D-Day Americans and Bulge Americans. This book covers the American Forces from the breakout in Normandy to the end of the war.

 

The approach I took for this review was to use the Table of Contents from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book as my outline and write a short blurb on each of the formations that came with the V3 book and how you can create them in the V4 Bulge American Book.

Roosevelt’s Butchers, US 4th Armored Division(Veteran Formation)

The major difference between the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book and the new V4 Bulge American Book is that Veteran Sherman formation you can replace a M4 Sherman Platoon with a M26 Platoon, you can also replace the M4 Assault Sherman Platoon with a M4 Sherman Calliope and you can purchase 1 T26 Super Pershing. You can still field all of the various M4 Sherman’s that you did in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book. The only missing item is integral Recon Platoon that was in the V3 Formation.

The Lucky Seventh, US 7th Armored Division(Trained Formation)

The major difference  is that Trained Sherman formation can replace the M4 Assault Sherman Platoon with a M4 Sherman Calliope. You can still field all of the various M4 Sherman’s that you did in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book. The only missing item is integral Recon Platoon that was in the V3 Formation.

Also in both the Veteran and Trained Sherman Formations you can get the appropriate Stuart and Chaffee platoons. And you can also build a Chaffee Company.

Armored Riffles

In the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book both the 7th and 4th Armored Divisions allowed you to build either a Veteran or Trained Armored Riffle Company. You can build either of these by using either the Veteran or Trained Armored Riffle Companies from the V4 D-Day American Book.

In the new V4 Bulge American Book you can build a Battle Weary Armored Riffle Company, the Battle Weary Formation contains the same units as both the Veteran or Trained Armored Riffle Companies from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book. Except for that it is missing the internal Recon Platoon.

644th Tank Destroyer Battalion (M10)

In the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book it came with a M10 Tank Destroyer Formation. To build this same formation in new V4 Bulge American Book, you would use the D-Day American M10 Formation but will not be able to use any of the new V4 Bulge American Command Cards with it. If you want it to have Veteran Skill you could use the Desert Veterans Card from the US D-Day American Book. In the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book TD formations you could replace a Recon Patrol with a Pioneer Platoon, between the new V4 Bulge American Book or the D-Day American Book you can field a support Pioneer/Engineer platoon to recreate this unit via command cards.

704th Tank Destroyer Battalion (M18)

In the new V4 Bulge American Book you can build the same M-18 formation that was in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge book.  If you want it to have a trained M18 Company you can use the Fresh Tank Destroyers command card for a -1 per unit. In the V3 The Battle of the Bulge TD formations you could replace a Recon Patrol with a Pioneer Platoon, between the new V4 Bulge American Book and the D-Day American Book you can field a support Pioneer/Engineer platoon to recreate this unit via command cards.

To get the M10 or M18 TD’s with AT = 13 like you had with the V3 The Battle of the Bulge book,  you can use the card below for +1 point per two tanks. You can also use the Improvised Turret Top Armor card that you had the option for in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge book for your M10s and M36s to have TA = 1

899th Tank Destroyer Battalion (M36) (New for V4 Bulge)

In the new V4 American Bulge Book, you can field a combo M-36/M-10 Tank Destroyer Company or you can purchase a M-36 TD platoon in support. In the V3 The Battle of the Bulge you could only purchase a M-36 TD Support Platoon.

US 761st Tank Battalion

To build the equivalent 761st Tank Battalion from the V3 Allied The Battle of the Bulge Book in the V4 American Bulge Book. You start with either a Veteran M4 Sherman Tank Company or a Veteran M24 Chaffee Tank Company and us the following cards.

29th Infantry Division

From Brittany to the Roer River Crossing the US 29th Infantry Division had a varying assortment of Tanks and Transports attached to it. To build the equivalent US 29 Infantry Division formations from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book in V4 American Bulge Book. You start with a Battle Weary Infantry Company and then you will need to use any of the following cards.

The Bloody Bucket, US 28th Infantry Division

To build the equivalent US 28th Infantry Division formations from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book in V4 American Bulge Book. You start with a Battle Weary Infantry Company and then you will need to use either of the following 2 cards. To get the Roadblocks and Barbed Wire that was in the Perimeter Outpost Company in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book in V4 American Bulge Book you will need to also use the Dammed Engineers Card Combat Engineer and then the Roadblock and Bobby Trap Cards. More details on the Engineer formation is listed below.

Indianhead’s, US 2nd Infantry Division

To build the equivalent US 2nd Infantry Division formations from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book in V4 American Bulge Book. You start with a Battle Weary Infantry Company and then you will need to use either of the following 2 cards.

The Battle Babies, US 99th Infantry Division and The Viking Battalion, US 99th Infantry Division

To build the equivalent US 99th Infantry Division formations from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book in V4 American Bulge Book. You start with a Battle Weary Infantry Company and then you will need to use either of the following 2 cards.

Note on all of the Infantry Division Formations:

To build the equivalent Infantry Division formations from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book the Ammunition & Pioneer Platoons and the Intelligence & Recon Platoons are not included in the V4 Bulge American Book. To build an Ammunition & Pioneer Platoons you can use the Combat Engineer platoon card in the V4 Bulge American Book or you bring over a infantry platoon with the Demolition Specialist card from the V4 D-Day American Book . Intelligence & Recon Platoons cannot be recreated in the new book.

The Dammed Engineers US 291st, Combat Engineer Battalion

To build the V3 equivalent Combat Engineer Battalion formation in V4, you will need to use the following 2 cards. The Engineer formation in the  V4 Bugle American Book differs from the Engineer formation from the D-Day American book buy now providing you a more complete formation. The stats for the individual platoons will come from the American Glider Infantry Company such as the card listed below. Starting with the card below and adding in the stats for being pioneers, plus an the extra Bazooka teams and the two HMG teams you have a pretty rugged American Infantry Platoon 14 points. But it is expensive. Also included are command cards to add Roadblocks, Barbed Wire and Booby Traps like you had with your V3 Outpost or Engineer formation.

 

 

 

Minding the Gap, US 2nd and 14th Cavalry Groups

 

In the V3 Bugle book it contained 3 different Cavalry formations, a Cavalry Recon Troop, a Cavalry Stuart Tank Company and a Cavalry Chaffee Tank Company. All 3 can be created by using the following cards.

The M-8 Cavalry Recon Patrol is common to all three formations and all of the units in these three formations come with Veteran Skill and Careful to Hit. Between the various support and black box units you can complete your V3 The Battle of the Bulge formations in the V4 Bulge American book. As of today you cannot build a Trained version of these Cavalry Formations like you could in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge.

Screaming Eagles US 101st, Airborne Division

To build the equivalent US Parachute Rifle Company from the V3 Allied Battle of the Bulge Book, you would start with the Bastogne Rifle Company from the V4 Bulge American Book. Actually the new Bastogne Rifle Company has many of the support platoons and batteries options that US Parachute Rifle Company had in the V3 Allied Battle of the Bulge Book are now in its core formation and can provide you with a much more robust formation.

To build the equivalent US Glider Rifle Company from the V3 Allied Battle of the Bulge Book, you would start with the Bastogne Glider Rifle Company from the V4 Bulge American Book. The new Bastogne Glider Rifle Company from the V4 Bulge American Book, is pretty much the same as the US Glider Rifle Company from the V3 Allied Battle of the Bulge Book except that the Glider Weapons Platoon teams are already assigned to the Glider Riffle Platoons and you have an Artillery option that is now part of the core formation.

US 2nd Ranger Battalion

To build the equivalent US 2nd Ranger Battalion from the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book, you would start with the Ranger Company from the V4 D-Day American Book and use the the card below.

US Support

The support section of the new V4 Bulge American Book, you can create most of the support units that you had in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book. To build the various provisional artillery units that existed in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book, use the following cards below:

Unfortunately not all of the support options can be recreated in this book, especially the Scrap Yard Tank Platoon a fan favorite here in Western PA.

Hero’s and Warriors

In the V4 American Bulge Book you can recreate many of the Hero’s and Warriors that you had available in the V3 The Battle of the Bulge Book.

British 21st Army Group

Battlefront will have a separate book for the Bulge British will cover the British Forces from Normandy to the Rhine crossing. No Dice No Glory will also be covering that book.

Summary

Overall I think the V4 Bulge American Book is a fine replacement for its V3 Predecessor, for those of you have waited to move to V4 because you could not use your Bulge American Forces. It is time to get them out and dusted off. Good Luck with the you’re Bugle Americans.