Played PanzerBlitz Scenario 2, featuring a Russian infantry heavy force trying to advance, mostly on foot, against a mobile German defense with tanks. After 10 turns we fought to a tactical level draw as I destroyed 10 Russians while the Brian was able to advance 10 hexes, coming up only one hex short of 12 needed for a substantive win. Because the Russians are forced sooner or later to advance over open ground I got in some overruns and a few CAT attacks as well though my main killing power was a heavy mortar on a hilltop with good long range fields of fire.
Great fun, with my brain picking back up surprisingly quickly on the game rules after so many years of not playing it. I am motivated to try this game system in a double blind format or even perhaps try another Macro Panzer Leader match like we did a few years back.
Here is my opponent's AAR:
"Today Ryan Schultze and I played _Panzerblitz_; neither of us had played the game in many years, though we (and others) did play a "monster" six-board scenario of _Panzerleader_ several years ago.
We used straight PB rules with no retrofits from PL.
In scenario 2, the three boards are side-by-side; the Russians enter from the North ends of the boards and the Germans are already present. Each side's deployment is by board, so they are rather spread-out. As the Russian, I had the Plateau Board on my left, the Swamp Board on my right, and the Clear board in the middle. The victory conditions are asymmetric in that the Russians are trying to take territory and the Germans are trying to kill Russian units.
I couldn't recall having played the scenario before, and in truth I might never have done so: the later scenarios with plenty of tanks on both sides have always seemed more enticing.
I was the Russians. I had only one armored vehicle (an SU-76), a couple of howitzers and some mortars, and quite a bit of infantry, to include Guards. Only the artillery had any transport. The German force was Panzer Grenadiers, so they had halftracks and tanks as well as some infantry, but not much in the way of artillery.
My idea was to use my transport to place my artillery pieces in good spots that were somewhat forward, and then catch up with the infantry. This plan had mixed success--the howitzer got placed too far forward (on the smaller hill of the Plateau Board), where it was disrupted by a Close Assault and then unable to defend itself against the follow-on attack. My 120mm mortar, placed less ambitiously on the Swamp Board, did much better. As the Germans closed in, my infantry charged--Recon and SM got the benefits of what cover there was, while the Guards and the regular infantry trusted mainly in their high defense values and the fact that the available Germans could not shoot all of them at once.
It was a close-fought battle, resulting in a tie as each side barely reached its Marginal victory level. Once again I thank Ryan for having hosted a good day of gaming."
Ryan
Great fun, with my brain picking back up surprisingly quickly on the game rules after so many years of not playing it. I am motivated to try this game system in a double blind format or even perhaps try another Macro Panzer Leader match like we did a few years back.
Here is my opponent's AAR:
"Today Ryan Schultze and I played _Panzerblitz_; neither of us had played the game in many years, though we (and others) did play a "monster" six-board scenario of _Panzerleader_ several years ago.
We used straight PB rules with no retrofits from PL.
In scenario 2, the three boards are side-by-side; the Russians enter from the North ends of the boards and the Germans are already present. Each side's deployment is by board, so they are rather spread-out. As the Russian, I had the Plateau Board on my left, the Swamp Board on my right, and the Clear board in the middle. The victory conditions are asymmetric in that the Russians are trying to take territory and the Germans are trying to kill Russian units.
I couldn't recall having played the scenario before, and in truth I might never have done so: the later scenarios with plenty of tanks on both sides have always seemed more enticing.
I was the Russians. I had only one armored vehicle (an SU-76), a couple of howitzers and some mortars, and quite a bit of infantry, to include Guards. Only the artillery had any transport. The German force was Panzer Grenadiers, so they had halftracks and tanks as well as some infantry, but not much in the way of artillery.
My idea was to use my transport to place my artillery pieces in good spots that were somewhat forward, and then catch up with the infantry. This plan had mixed success--the howitzer got placed too far forward (on the smaller hill of the Plateau Board), where it was disrupted by a Close Assault and then unable to defend itself against the follow-on attack. My 120mm mortar, placed less ambitiously on the Swamp Board, did much better. As the Germans closed in, my infantry charged--Recon and SM got the benefits of what cover there was, while the Guards and the regular infantry trusted mainly in their high defense values and the fact that the available Germans could not shoot all of them at once.
It was a close-fought battle, resulting in a tie as each side barely reached its Marginal victory level. Once again I thank Ryan for having hosted a good day of gaming."
Ryan
