Panzerblitz!

 For some odd reason I had a hankering to try Panzerblitz again, it is forty years since I last played it! After a rummage in the loft I discovered I had two copies, although I have no recollection of buying the second. My original copy came from the The Games Centre just off Oxford Street in the late 1970s.

tbh, some of the unit ratings set my teeth on edge as they are so eccentric. The most egregious examples to my mind are the under-rating of infantry mortars (which barely scrape together the firepower of a rifle platoon) and classifying all the Russian 76.2mm divisional artillery as anti-tank guns! Which makes them rather less useful against soft targets.

It was nice to get the old counters and map boards out again though, and I spent ages re-reading the designers notes and the expanded notes in 'The Wargamers Guide to Panzerblitz' which I'd bought at the same time.

Wargamers Guide to Panzerblitz. Some useful scenario and unit analysis, along with a rather random collection of articles from The General. It also includes loads of extra scenarios, although some verge on the very silly indeed (like Wehrmacht helicopter troops).

It does also include some additional sensible scenarios, and to re-start, I picked one of the simple single board ones. One board scenario #1 is 'Supply Convoy'.

The Germans have a supply column (the five trucks) which they need move from one end of Board 1 to the other end. They are escorted by a security company with a couple of Security platoons in halftracks and a platoon of light tanks (Lynx in this case, being the only German light tank counter in the box). 

The only wrinkle being that they have to get all five trucks off to win.

The other wrinkle is that the area is infested with Partisans. Four of the strange Russian 'recon' counters, a couple of weak 82mm mortar platoons and a fleet of horse carts. I can only assume the latter are supposed to represent partisan scouts on horses or something, they are only good for blocking and spotting. I have slightly different opinions on the effectiveness of mortars to Jim Dunnigan, so I treated them as if they were 'intensive firing' each and every turn, giving them an attack factor of 6 instead of a measly 2. 

PB veterans will recall Board 1 as being the one with all the swamps at one end. In this scenario they are treated as frozen open ground, but the gullies are still in effect. Very poor ground for offroad truck movement, and there is only one road which goes the whole length of the board.

The Partisans have free setup anywhere, and instantly analysis paralysis set in for me. This was a really good way to revise all the movement and LOS rules, as the Partisans have lousy tactical mobility compered to the entirely mechanised Germans, so they need to block the easy movement routes, and set up OPs to spot the Germans hiding in bushes to call in those (now more effective) mortars.  The terrain is really much more complex than our tabletop games.

I ended up setting up a defence in depth to allow for any German breakthroughs - a screen of wagons out to the east to block routes and spot, then four infantry stands arranged one up, two in the middle and one to the rear, while the mortars occupied the woods on the very commanding hill position right in the middle.

I could have gone for a dense linear defence, but there is a risk that the Germans will slip through and then it is game over for the immobile Russians. You need to be able to see into woods hexes with adjacent units to shoot into them as this is 'Panzerbush', units in cover can't be seen more than 250m away, even if they are firing. It certainly makes for a game which hurts your brain. 

The Germans proceeded to start picking the defence apart, but cunningly using just their combat elements to surround the first roadblock. The trucks lurked offtable. Those green woods hexsides are impassable to wagons, so the unfortunate Russians are trapped.

Even if they couldn't move they could spot, and an 82mm mortar barrage dispersed the Lynx platoon, while some Partisan infantry rushed up to close assault the disorganised tanks.

Fortunately the tanks survived, although it was a close run thing: a 1:2 attack but at -2 off the dice, when rolling low is good. That would have been game over on turn 1. The Germans wiped out the offending wagons with MG fire from the halftracks, the infantry stayed mounted.

The mortars laid down a real hail of fire on the tanks again, but missed, however the infantry dispersed them.

Time to clear the roadblock. The halfracks swung around the Partisans and the German infantry dismounted and close assaulted them in the infamous 'Panzerblitz' attack.  

That was enough to disperse the Russian infantry, freeing up the tanks.

The panzers went off hunting those pesky wagons. They are sitting on a ford over the gully in a woods hex, just the sort of place the trucks will need to go if they are to have any chance of motoring through as the movement penalty for trucks leaving gullies without a ford is horrific otherwise.

Time for the German trucks to come on. They nervously hide in the woods or on the reverse slope of the ridge east of the mortar position (as the crest line is closer to the trucks than the firer, they are hidden). The German infantry keep the Russians pinned down.

Now the Germans have committed the supply convoy, the other Russians close in a bit. I need to be super careful not to leave easy road routes free, there is no opportunity fire in these rules, and they are all the better for it. Panzer Leader slows to a grinding halt once people start counting movement points for opportunity fire.

Basically those two infantry units on the left have locked down the roads, which will force the trucks up on the slopes (at 4MP per hex). The other two wagons are moving up to both block easy movement routes but to provide some spotting in the hilly terrain.

It is all getting a bit unpleasant in the woods. Russian mortars suppress some of the German infantry, but the partisans are suppressed in turn and the Russians at the ford are destroyed. The German trucks edge in closer, hugging the terrain. They only have a defence value of 1, so almost any Russian unit can destroy them easily.

The Russian push in another wagon to block the road south, but a hail of German fire and infantry assaults pins all the Russians, preventing them calling in the mortars. The first two German truck platoons have  made it to that useful ford hex. That single truck at the bottom end of the wood is a bit stuck as it is surrounded by slope hexes, and if it tries to move, the mortars will spot it. 

Goodness, that is what happens when you have a gap in a defence line! Four truck platoons make a dash for the rear slope of the central hill through gap opened by the tanks, while the rest of the German force starts to disengage. The only problem is that trailing truck, which has to make its way around the blocking Russian wagon and hope the German infantry can suppress the Russians and stop the mortars obliterating it. The Lynx occupies the ford, planning to move forward and escort the trucks.

The Russian infantry unit at the top is a bit stuck. It could move adjacent to the truck using the road, but then can't close assault (no CA after a road move), and there is a real risk the Germans will just drive through the gap in the woods at the top.

The trailing truck is saved as the German security troops destroy the Russian wagons. Now it needs to get out of there before the Russian infantry move down to it.

Now the Russians need to trap the trucks. The infantry at the top block the gap in the woods, so no-one is going that way. The infantry at the bottom hold the road junction and can spot into the woods.

The last platoon deliberately sits in the middle of the road out in the open. This would be a really bad idea if the German tanks were closer, but they aren't, and it will force those trucks to move over the expensive slope hexes. They don't have quite enough movement to get onto the road and away out of close assault range.

Back on the road, the Russian infantry make a road move to get adjacent to the truck. It will need to move or be destroyed. One of the German security units gets back into its halftracks. 

Suddenly most of the German army is pushing west. It is those rapid changes in position and the impact of manouvre which is why I really enjoy this game. No plodding forwards at two hexes a turn here.

The tanks have occupied the hilltop woods hex and are now posing a serious overrun threat to the Russians in the open. The German trucks have started filtering through the woods and gullies, slowly. This isn't great terrain to move through, but the green hexsides block them getting to the road. This is a gamble as the Russian infantry can move next to them.  

The Russians assault the trucks, but only manage to suppress them. Phew.

And then the cunning plan! The German tanks go and park on the trucks to protect them from assault, while a platoon of infantry debus next to the Russians. How did we not win in 1941? 

The other trucks all continue their filtering. Once they get out of the gullies it will be onto the road and away.

Mmm. The Russians suppress the other security platoon. Ah well, omelettes, eggs and all that.

And of course I'd forgotten that the Russians have moved one of their mortar platoons to face in the opposite direction. Thanks to the esoteric Panzerblitz target priority rules, you attack the whole hex OR the weakest unit (I'm oversimplifying, but you get the idea). Guess which is the weakest unit in the hex? Yes, one of the trucks.

Cue a 6:1 mortar barrage on one of the unfortunate trucks. The Russians are hideously unlucky and just suppress it. Phew.

The Russian infantry then assault then stack at 1:3. The suppressed unit subject to a -2 modifier, despite the woods (-2 for CA, +1 for woods, -1 for being suppressed) and suffers the infamous DD result. Dispersed unit Destroyed.

Ah, blow. Despite my best efforts the Germans have lost a truck and lost the game.

They were so nearly there as well. The Germans destroy the Partisan unit which was the source of all the trouble, and the surviving trucks head off the table.

The last Germans mount up and head for home, leaving the Partisans to celebrate their victory.

I played these micro scenarios a fair bit back in the day, and this one is tough for the Germans. I suspect I dimly remembered that defence in depth is better for the Russians, although it is so tempting to build a single line right across the table.

I really enjoyed that, although it was scary how much I'd forgotten and the tactical choices were overwhelming as there was so much terrain and so few units. A far more complex situation than many of our tabletop games. It came back fairly quickly though, and I got back into it again, although I expect I made many mistakes.

I definitely want to try another one of these, and I've got some ideas on how to fix some of the unit values. The mortar thing seemed to work OK, and the Russian 76.2mm guns I'll treat them as H class with double the attack factors and range. That way they will be just as dangerous against tanks as they currently are, but more useful against infantry, but still less powerful than the German 105s or Russians 122s, which feels about right. I may alos make up some extar counters, I had a look in the box but could see any blanks. I'd like to field an entire Soviet Cavalry Division, which need an extra eight cavalry stands.

Not sure what to do scenario wise, I might see about converting one of my historical WW2 ones - I've got plenty of Command Decision, Rapid Fire and TAC scenarios, all pitched at the right level.