Tanks Unboxing: Tiger 1 Tank Expansion
March 24, 2017 by dignity
We take a look at an expansion for your German force,whether its North Africa or the Eastern Front in Gale Force Nine's World War II skirmish game Tanks. The Tiger 1 Heavy Tank.
Included in this expansion along with a Crew Card and two Upgrade Cards are a pair of Hero Cards for your army in the form of Otto Carius and Kurt Knipsel.
This leads John and Justin into a discussion regarding who really was the best Panzer ace of the second World War?
Who do you think was the best Panzer ace of World War II?
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Carius, Knispel and Wittman shared one characteristic – they were more wary of anti-tank guns than tanks or tank hunters because the A/T guns were harder to spot and you could blunder into what the Soviets called a kill-sack where there were guns concealed to strike attackers from almost every direction.
Best panzer commander? Harder to judge than you think because each of them served in different units so you have to allow for the competence of their comrades and the scale of the threat they faced. You also need to weight the fact that for large parts of their careers these and other panzer ‘aces’ were in one of the most formidable tanks available so they were not exactly fighting on a level playing field. The other item worth remembering it that StuGs destroyed more enemy tanks than any other German armoured vehicle (there were more StuGs manufactured than any other assault gun, tank or tank hunter.)
The other grim part to bear in mind is that killing a tank often kills the entire crew; many of those who survive such an incident are maimed for life.
Another great unboxing! So many highlights, I’ll have to resist the urge to just quote the whole video.
First favorite bit: @johnlyons at 00:45 – “It does what it says on the box. It’s a Tiger I . It Tigers things . . .”
“Danke schöne Rommel for putting the 88 in the Tiger.” I’d certainly agree Rommel was the first to use 88s against tanks in France – Battle of Arras, 1940(at least in WW2, I’ve heard something about someone doing this in Spain during the civil war, but I don’t know for sure). And while Rommel didn’t have anything to do with tank design or manufacture, I would agree the results at Arras and his use of 88s in North Africa and the 88s’ use against KV-1s and T-34s in early Barbarossa were the prime motivations for the Germans to try and figure out a way to put an 88 in a tank. Hence the Tiger.
And while the 88 in the FlaK 36s used at Arras (that we got at the boot camp) and the KwK 36/L56 88s in the Tiger 1 are the same caliber weapon, they’re not really the same design. First clue, the big muzzle brake at the end of the Tiger’s gun. Look at the 88 artillery from the boot camp, that muzzle brake isn’t there. 😀
Tiny difference, I know, and I am certainly not trying to “correct” anyone. I just wanted to mention there are many types of 88. This becomes huge when you see the long-barreled 88s as in the PaK 43, the Jagdpanther, and the King Tiger. Still 88s, but most games given them an incredibly increased tank-killing power even over the original 88s you see in the AA role and the Tiger 1.
A lot of wargamers just say “this has the 88” as if “88” was a single type of equipment with just one set of capabilities.
I agree.
STANDING OVATION for the idea that German armaments production shouldn’t have messed around with Tigers, King Tigers, and the like. This point was subtly dropped in the Lloyodslavia history of all things. David Fletcher, everyone’s favorite British tank historian has suggested the point that “if the Germans had concentrated on manufacture of Mark IVs and not messed about with Panthers and Tigers . . . they would have done much better.”
I don’t know if I’d agree with all that, which is why I think John nails it with “focus on Panther, forget the Tiger and all its demented bastard children.” The Panther was a fantastic design WHEN IT WAS WORKING, which is what made its horrible debut (10th Panther Brigade, Cherkasskoye Village, supporting Grossdeutschland Panzer Division / XLVIII Panzer Corps on the south shoulder of Kursk) so terribly disappointing. Not perfect, even on its best days maintenance on a Panther was tough, but it’s 75mm gun actually had better tank-killing power than the Tiger’s original 88mm.
So yeah, fully replacing the Mark IV with the Panther as the main German divisional battle tank, and bulking up the ranks with lots of StGs and jagdpanzers, like the StG-IIIG, StG-IV, JagdpanzerIV/70 (Guderian’s Duck), and maybe some independent heavy Jadgpanther brigades assigned at corps or army level, to deal with IS-2s, Sherman Jumbos, Fireflies, Churchills, and the like.
This was the policy advocated by Heinz Guderian starting march 1 1943 when he became Inspector-General of all German panzer forces, and the guy most directly responsible for the discussion being advocated in the comments – what would you have done if YOU were in charge of German tank forces and production in the latter half of WW2? Guderian had the right idea, but he was hampered by limits of German industry (and the bombing to which it was being subjected), and of course Hitler’s meddling with the mad scientist, Ferdinand Porsche.
I for one am glad that Hitler was more than a little crazy which meant that his commanders couldn’t do the ‘smart’ thing …
While it may be easy to say “they shouldn’t have done X” and blame Hitler you’ve got to consider that once a project is started it is becomes increasingly harder to halt development, because the goal appears to be so close and the thing becomes too big to fail.
“Just a few more days and it’s done”
or as us gamers would say : “Just one more turn … ”
You’d need one heck of a leader to not get distracted with such things.
20th century industrial warfare demanded 20 critical resources (not counting people): Germany had access to only 3 within its own territory and about 4 others by conquest/alliance nearby. They had to go further afield, hence the push towards the oilfields in and beyond the southern Soviet Union. Megalomaniacal projects like the Bismarck/Tirpitz/Graf Zeppelin absorbed hundreds of thousands of tons of steel that could have been more effectively used as U-boats, tanks, artillery and so on. Maus was a sideshow by comparison.
Tiger 1 was the result of something that began with a pre-war heavy tank project – remember, Hitler had told his commanders that he wanted them ready for war in 1943 – it was the weak response to his moves in the Sudetenland and elsewhere that precipitated the invasion of Poland in 1939. The Flak 18 was used in anti-tank and ground artillery roles in the Spanish Civil War – it terrified those on the receiving end, not least because of the rate of fire the guns could achieve in addition to their accuracy and devastating impact.
Panther 2 would have been the way to go. Panther lacked the protected ammo stowage and that was a weakness.
You could argue tank this/tank that all day long. The truth is folks, sheer weight of metal and explosives was what won it. That means having lots of people and a massive logistical and manufacturing capability. All the tanks on the lanet will win you damn all if they have no fuel, no spares, no ammo etc etc.
I agree… but not with everything. Panther II was not really better than the normal Panther which showed the rejection of the Panther II project by improving the Panther A to the Panther G.
But you’re very right… the best tank does nothing without consumeables.
Kelly was showing this video to a certain “Odd” character and all he had to say was…
“Its a wasted trip baby, nobody said nothin about lockin horns with no Tigers.”
“…woof-woof.”
a great well detailed model.
as to the tiger issue Adolf was a nut he wanted super tanks & super ships (bigger than the Yamato) if he wasn’t the leader Germany would probably never have went to war. His messing about probably helped us win the war more than anything else.
I wouldn’t ave ignored the Tiger, however I wouldn’t have developed anything further down that line than the Tiger I Ausf. E. I would have used the Tiger as a supplement to the Panzer IVs against the heavier tanks in the eastern front and have it be there in order to get enough time to fully develop the Panther. The Panther would than replace both the Panzer IVs and the Tigers as my main battle tank.
I would love to see more Tanks content !
I noticed the card that mentioned 30 “unconfirmed” kills. Were kills confirmed for tank aces the same way as for fighter aces; there had to be eye witnesses to verify the claim? It has amazed me that in a confused knife fight between aircraft or tanks that kills could be confirmed with any accuracy.