Kickstart the Week: Battle of the Bulge: the simulation game for the iPad by Eric Lee Smith

Just this past week I was given the position of Kickstarter Curator for the International Game Developers Association of Philadelphia. In my new role, I will be searching out the Kickstarter game projects from the Greater Philadelphia area, which is similar to what I do in this column, except I will be doing it more often, and applying the region to my Kickstarter searches.

There have been some huge projects coming out of Philly in the past few years, and just recently we saw Velociraptor Cannibalism close with over 1000% of it's funding goal, and Auditorium 2: Duet receive over $71,000 in pledges. So in both celebration and anticipation of this new role... let's look at a Philly game project!

Battle of the Bulge is a classic gaming situation, with a surprise attack, desperate defense, and bold counterattack. The Germans rush to exploit their initial strength, while the Allies struggle to hold on and then counterattack. The game play is quick and the strategy deep.

Battle of the Bulge is an iPad game with the feel of a classic tabletop strategy game. In fact, it was designed by an award-winning tabletop game designer, John Butterfield, who is known for the war games Ambush! and D-Day at Omaha Beach.

The artwork is really crisp, and perfectly sets the tone of the theme. The iconography is also very well done, with simple reference icons that really pop. Along from great art and design, the programmers really pulled their weight and loaded the game with features. You can play as Germans or Allies, pass and play, asynchronous play ("Wars With Friends"), there's Game Center integration and much more. There is even a tabletop version at some of the higher reward levels, and a print and play version at the lower levels.

Backers will get Battle of the Bulge for a pledge of $10 and up. If you spend $20 you will also get the sequel, El Alamein, and if you spend $150 you will get a full copy of the board game version (plus much more).

Check out Battle of the Bulge on Kickstarter!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2102739237/battle-of-the-bulge-the-simulation-game-for-the-ip