Reply To: Poland 1939 – Preparing for 80th Anniversary of World War II

[oriskany 60771xp 1]

Thanks, @jamesevans140 – I completely agree that the games that come down to the wire are always the best ones and most memorable.  Not always an easy feat in terms of scenario design, where the historical armies are often so mismatched.

Risky move on using the armoured cars and some Pz-IIs to take that objective on the upper right flank (Hex 1016???) – Absolutely.  Hardly the best tools for the job when it comes to clearing wooded hilltops.  But I was counting on the radios and communication with indirect artillery.  Here I was hoping to use armored cars and PzIIs in their traditional “recon role” – rush out ahead, find the enemy, call in the firepower.  Then, shifting to more of a 19th Century cavalry role … take and hold the high ground and hopefully last until the main body arrives.

When it comes to games like this where I design the map and scenario, I’m always reviewing the game on two wavelengths … how I did as a player (certainly not the best, I win and lose in pretty much equal measure) and much more importantly, how I did as a scenario designer.  I always say I’d rather lose a game by one point than win by 10 points.  Of course, winning by one point is probably the best outcome.  😀

I love armoured cars, ACs. – I know what your mean.  Germans, of course, but also British in the Desert and even Americans with their M8s and later M20s.  I love ducking way behind what the opponent thought was the main line of contact and hiding armored cars in woods, spotting targets like artillery or command units for artillery or air strikes.

From memory this was [yavasa’s] first time with Panzer Leader. – This series of three games, yes.  Game 01 he won with the Poles, but this was more of a playtest and I didn’t give the Germans nearly enough support for a German assault.  Game 02 he had the Germans and took a legitimate 4-3 win in a meeting engagement.  Game 03, as we see, he game within two or three die rolls on the very last turn of the game of scoring three wins in a row and scoring another upset with the Polish.  His schützen assault on my hilltop on Turn 4 of Game Two was truly … and I’m not just saying this to be nice … well done.  I know people who have been playing Panzer Leader for ten years and don’t coordinate recon, infantry, and artillery units that well (and of course rolling four 1s in a roll doesn’t hurt!)

You get a victory award for pushing an old hand like @oriskany to the wires. – Agree 100%.  Hell, anyone who plays a Panzer Leader family game … on camera, no less, win or lose, is a gaming badass my my book.  This would include @brucelae , @damon , @rasmus and @stvitusdancern .

As for the amount of German smoking wrecks @oriskany your not that far off the historical mark.  – Yeah, a lot of those are armored cars and halftracks (the older SdKfz 8s, 9s and 10s).  I think there’s one platoon of actual PzKpfw IIs burning in there somewhere.

Most of your lost tanks will not be wrecks with less than 28% being total right offs after the battle. – Absolutely.  As with a lot of unit-based games, in Panzer Leader a “wrecked” platoon of any sort indicates “combat ineffective” – out of the 3-6 vehicles in the platoon (depending on OOB/ToE), some will be destroyed outright, others damaged, some damaged to the point of write-offs, some panicked / confused crews, etc.  Infantry platoons of 40 “eliminated” I usually imagine 8-10 KIA, 15-20 WIA to one degree or another.

I would like to see you guys do a series on the Russian invasion of Poland.  – This would be interesting.  I have the Barbarossa / Finland Soviet counters that could more or less fill the role.