Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge

During the bitter cold of winter just before Christmas, 1944, Nazi Germany launched their last major Western Front offensive of the Second World War, Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"). The goal was to break the Allied line and push to Antwerp, Belgium. This would cut off the Allied forces to the north and force the Allied commanders to consider peace terms, allowing Nazi Germany to concentrate on the war on the Eastern Front with the Soviet Union.

The offensive caught the Allied forces by surprise as they too were developing and in the stages of implementing their own offensive plans to break the German line. The Allies had to re-evaluate and re-deploy their armies from the north shoulder to counter the offensive without air-support initially as poor weather conditions grounded the air force until conditions improved a few days later. Once the Allied air force was operational the Allied counter-offensive overwhelmed the German supply-lines, crippling the offensive and ensuring a German retreat.

Command Ops: Battle from the Bulge is an operational Command level wargame played through a pausable real-time game engine that puts the player in the shoes of a Corps, Division and Brigade commander as you examine your intelligence and operational information, make your plans and deliver your orders to your subordinates.

The game stretches over twenty seven scenarios and maps that cover events and battles from the original German offensive right through to the Allied counter-offensive. The game allows for endless re-playability with a number of changeable scenario options including multiple random reinforcement schedules.

Players have the choice to micromanage their units or utilise the game's AI to macro-manage their armies as the game's AI can manage subordinate commanders and handle micromanagement for you. This sophistication enables you more time to strategies and assess your situation and to formulate the best plans going forward to achieve your objectives and claim ultimate victory over your enemy. However, if micromanagement is your thing you can still issue orders to individual battalions (units). Units have a number of can be adjustable parameters, including aggressiveness, rates of fire, loss tolerance, frontage and depth, as well as eight different adjustable formations, from road column to arrowhead attack.

The menu of commands a player has at their disposal is simple enough for a player to get right into the action: move, fire, bombard, seize bridge crossings and so on. Set the objective and the waypoints, and then sit back and watch the action as your plans are put through their paces. The AI will assemble and move troops according to historical (and sensible) doctrine for both the Allies and the Germans.[1]

Game functionality such as timing controls for coordinated tasks; realistic orders delay; automated bridge building; multiple re-supply priority settings; order of battle display; adjustable automated units and a whole lot more provides the player with an arsenal of tools and information to defeat your enemy on the battlefield, either the computer AI in single player mode or your mate in multiplayer head to head.

BFTB has received favourable reviews from online and print media publications as well as a number of awards:

Eurogamer.dk (3 June 2010) 9/10 – [Translated from Danish] ...a competent and flawless release that makes an already excellent war game even better.[2]

Cyberstratège (29 June 2010) 8/10 – [translated from French] ...it manages to be extremely innovative and has no real competition in its field with its innovative design choices.[3]

Gamers Hall (9 June 2010) 88% (Silver Award) – [Translated from German] "From The Bulge" is an intricate and comprehensive strategy... and a clear recommendation for hardcore gamers.[4]

PC Gamer (10 August 2010) 84% – Serious military strategy games don't come any better than this.[5]

PC4WAR magazine (August – September 2010, N°45 edition) 9.5/10 – [translated from French] ... Battles from the Bulge is the best wargame on the actual market![6]

Armchair General (27 September 2010) 97% – Many games have the various elements Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge has such as, detailed unit features, timed objectives, issuing orders in a queue to upper echelon entities. However, Panther Games integrates them in such a way that this game sets the standard for all World War II tactical games[7]

• Official Website
• BFTB' Official Game Profile at Matrix Games
• BFTB' Official Forum