Battle of the Russian Bulge Campaign

Perhaps I'm mixing my metaphors here. But this week I was excited to receive from Enterprise Games (great place to acquire used wargames):

Battle of the Bulge, 1981 edition, from Avalon Hill

I have Ardenne '44. But I was looking for something a little more streamlined and less chromey so I could get the game setup and played before Christmas.

There are advanced and optional rules that I can tell from the onset would make for a better game...but I'm going to stick to my guns and play the basic game to stick with my original goal.

It was in great shape and even had stories from old General Magazines - very cool. Also, most of the chits were unpunched.

Here are a couple other pics of the game:

 Here's the unboxing video:

And, now to The Russian Campaign

I owned this a few years ago and never put it on the table. However, my tastes have changed to be in favor of my strategic games and like with the Bulge, heard this one was pretty straightforward, so wanted to give it a go.

With just 6 pages of rules, this one should be even easier than Bulge. The game came with the 3ed rules, which I believe were the last ones until L2 did their deluxe box.  I would like to have that one, but alas, it's about $140 in places, so it can wait.

This one was mostly punched but in great shape. Oh, I like this concept of this one because it's the entire war covered in a fairly small footprint. I see there's another all East Front, all war game out called The Dark Valley from GMT just being released this month. I may have to give it a look after it gets some reviews. Here's my unboxing video: