1. A Time For Trumpets (live playthrough)

A Time for Trumpets
Designer: Bruno Sinigaglio
Publisher: GMT Games, 2020
#Bulge #Ardennes #GMT #1944

[@EricBerinson]

Very much appreciate your traction with 2 touted Bulge Battalion Games almost simultaneously. You are enabling comparisons via the strengths and weaknesses in both, and potential room for improvement. Thank You… Kudos and keep it up!

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Greta picture, sound, and you do a great job keeping the game going .

[@WiseGuyHistory]

Thanks Todd!

[@palibrae]

Excellent action by action playthrough--potential buyers greatly appreciate your efforts! One thing I noticed: Compare the extreme left of the German start line in this game (it's on the Sauer east of Dickweiler) with the deployment in The Last Blitzkrieg. Here you have combat units at the same moment in time and in the same place but the Germans in TLB deploy a Penal battalion from 212 VG while TFT has two infantry battalions and 88s from LIII Corps. TFT goes into a deeper level of detail overall but to find an OOB discrepancy like this is rare.

[@MrProsat]

There is another annoying one. In LB, the 101st starts the 18th turn on the map around bastogne. ATFT has it right, they cant reach bastogne until the 19th pre dawn turn. There are other differences in how the game plays in similar scenarios....rather interesting.

[@johnfriesen2074]

Great rules videos and enjoying the playthrough so far Nathan! I picked this up a month or so ago and still have to punch and clip it. These videos are making me want to jump right on it. John

[@WiseGuyHistory]

Thanks John, there's a good vassal module too if you want to test it out...

[@bigbossyboss1]

What did you use to cover the map? It’s good idea for the creases alone

[@WiseGuyHistory]

I just use a thin sheet of plexiglass/perspex. I picked up 3 sheets at my local hardware store and they thankfully fitted perfectly on my table.

[@bigbossyboss1]

@@WiseGuyHistory nice one thanks. This is my first foray into this type of game, your videos have been super helpful!

[@glassjaw328]

Great video. I'm seriously considering grabbing this at my local shop for my first "monster" game. I noticed the 3d printed chit trays you're using. I'm almost certain I'm using the same ones for my copies of Last Hundred Yards and Panzer, and I love them. I'm curious, how many do you have to store this game, and do they fit back into the original box? Thanks!

[@WiseGuyHistory]

Most of the counters fit into four trays [each half the size of the box base, so I can fit two in the base, then two more above that]. Then I have a few extra counters in small bags. It's a snug fit with all the books and maps, but it works.

[@glassjaw328]

@@WiseGuyHistory Thanks! 4 trays is way less than I would have guessed for a 2000+ counter game! A little "lid lift" is fine by me, I don't store my games vertically. Again, thank you for your videos on this. I watched your videos on this vs Last Blitzkrieg and I know you like the latter more but your neutrality and dedication to learning both games is top notch.

[@AdamH75]

It’s early going and not easy to nail rules perfectly in first go but still curious - what are your initial thoughts on playability, game flow and the overall fun factor with these first few moves done?

[@WiseGuyHistory]

The rules are lengthy, but it's easy to grasp the basics. So grasping the general flow of the game is not too complex. It's made difficult, and the game flow is slow, mainly because in the early stages of the game there's a lot of checking for unit specific rules and restrictions [you have to check if each individual unit is released or not, and there may be more detailed restrictions]. As a result, everything moves slowly, there's a LOT of constant rules-checks and chart-checks, and that detracts from the fun factor. I spend WAY more time checking charts than I do thinking about strategy and tactics, and that's not a lot of fun...

[@AdamH75]

@@WiseGuyHistory Nathan, my guess (when I get around to playing this) is that ATFT will secure it’s place in history as an ultimate companion piece/game/physical map to reading Ardennes campaign books than anything else. Subconsciously I believe that is why I p500’d this and still warrants playing it for that reason alone. Based on what I’ve seen, if this is the only game one owned (which means memorizing every rule and exception) you could purely be thinking about strategy and tactics. Enjoying the playthroughs, top quality as usual!

[@WiseGuyHistory]

@@AdamH75 Yeah I think you're spot on. There are lots of small, focused scenarios, and even they take a long time to play. It's definitely a 'study'...