07.2023 Wacht Am Rhein: Hitler’s Last Gamble in the West, Volume 3

Publisher/Date:
Lone Canuck Publishing (2023)

Product Type:
Scenario Pack

Country of Origin:
Canada

Contents:
9 scenarios on cardstock, 1 page rules

Commentary:

Way back in 2002, George Kelln released a large scenario pack featuring actions from the Battle of the Bulge.  In recent years, Kelln–now as Lone Canuck Publishing–significantly revised the scenarios, split them into half, and re-released them separately as Wacht Am Rhein and Wacht Am Rhein, Volume 2.  In 2023, Lone Canuck released 9 more scenarios in a third Wacht Am Rhein pack, turning it into a series.

What neither the Lone Canuck website nor the packaging on WAR3 explain is that five of the scenarios–more than half the pack–require counters that appear only in the revised/second edition of the first Wacht Am Rhein pack. This means that this pack requires the purchase of the older pack to play, unless players are prepared to use substitute counters.

The scenarios all feature American vs. German actions, except for WaR19 (Montgomery Attacks), which features a British counterattack against the tip of the German spearhead in the southwest.  The scenarios are overwhelmingly large in size: 8 of the actions are large-sized and one is medium-sized. There are no small scenarios.  The scenarios are also fairly vehicle-heavy; every scenario has at least some AFVs, with WaR17 (A Great Deal of Blood) featuring 25 total AFVs, all American (15 halftracks and 10 tanks).  No scenarios use Night or Air Support rules, but 5 scenarios use OBA.

Many of the scenarios feature attacks on fortified positions (six of the scenarios, for example, feature Minefields).  To play all the scenarios in the pack, players need the following geoboards: 2, 3, 4, 17z, 39, 42, 49, 53, 56, 57, 84, 10a, and ASLSK board u. The scenarios are pretty large in map-size compared to typical ASL scenarios released these days; basically, all the scenarios are the equivalent of 2-3 full boards in size (one is slightly smaller than that). As is common with Lone Canuck scenarios, the OBs are jam-packed with support weapons, typically providing them at a ratio greater than 1 SW to 2 squads. Every scenario has at least one HMG in it; on several scenarios a single side may even have 2 HMG (leaving aside any additional MG that may be in halftracks).

In short, it’s a pretty typical Lone Canuck pack.

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