Summary
- Great for actions from high-level skirmish to fairly large battles - recommendations in the rules imply up to circa 200 AFVs per side in 1:300; although, this quantity could require maintenance of lots of records.
- Whilst not stated, the intended duration of each bound appears to be several minutes.
- Measurement for movement uses a unit called M, which may be defined by the players - great idea to simplify movement.
- Effects of small-arms determined with templates - rapid assessment of casualties.
- 'Large-arms' fire uses 5 range-sticks of different length, each divided into 6 'bands' - great idea.
- Well thought out (developed over 20 years of play); probably easy to learn so that only the 4 sides of play sheets (aide memoirs) should be required for a game.
- Beautifully presented.
- Appears to have been lots of research to generate the many army lists that can still be purchased separately.
Waffle
Note
Several reviews of Panzer Marsch! are available from Boardgamegeek.com; consequently, this review is intended to be the highlights from my perspective, rather than fully comprehensive.
Why I bought Panzer Marsch!
Circa 2010, when I dug out the Heroics and Ros 1:300 figures I'd purchased and painted 30+ years earlier, I realised the mix of figures was historically inaccurate. Through research on t'interwebrary, I became aware of and purchased some of the many army lists published by the North Hull Wargames Club (NHWC) that formed an important part of their Panzer Marsch! wargames rules.
 |
| Illustrative use of range sticks |
After the inspiration to re-visit WWII desert that, 3 months ago, I received from Peter from his Grid Based Wargaming blog, further research on t'interwebrary indicated Panzer Marsch! employed some great techniques; I was particularly attracted to the use of range-sticks. A couple of weeks ago, a very reasonably priced, used copy came up on eBay; it was purchased.
Size of typical force
- Force HQ
- One infantry company of:
- Company HQ
- Three infantry platoons of:
- Platoon HQ
- Three sections
- Four medium lorries to carry one infantry platoon
- One infantry support platoon of:
- Platoon HQ
- One Medium Machine Gun section
- One Mortar section
- One Anti-tank Gun section
- Armour
- HQ - one armoured car and 3 Honey light tanks
- Two troops of:
- One Sherman Firefly tank
- Three Sherman 75 tanks
This is a force of circa 150 infantry figures, 2 anti-tank guns and 20 vehicles. This appears to be quite a lot of individual figures to move about a battlefield and units for which to maintain records.
Army lists
 |
| Half of one of the many available army lists |
The permitted constituents of a force, their organisation and point values, are available in army lists. There are scores of army lists produced by NHWC to support Panzer Marsch!; they are still available via t'interwebrary. Also, the army lists are very useful in their own right, which is why I bought some circa one decade ago.
Activities addressed by Panzer Marsch!
Panzer Marsch! includes techniques to represent all types of military technology employed in the period. In addition to the standard fodder for rules, such as movement and 'normal' combat, Panzer Marsch! addresses: orders and how to change them over the radio-net; target identification; artillery and mortars; snipers; cavalry; engineer weapons and fieldworks; air superiority, ground-to-air, air-to-ground, paratroops and gliders; morale; and amphibious operations.
The rules really are very comprehensive yet appear as though they'd be easy to use after a little practice. There are minor variations recommended for 1:300 scale.
Timescale
Whilst not stated, the intended duration of each bound appears to be several minutes. Primarily, this has been determined by what is achievable on the radio-net in one bound.
Benefits of M
Movement and visibility ranges are measured in units of M; recommended to be 3" for 1:300 and 6" for other scales; however, players agree M prior to the start of a battle; although, the length of M clearly has to bear some relationship to the dimensions of the range-sticks, which are between 1 and 10 standard Ms in length. A firing vehicle may be visible up to 10M and an early WWII light tank may move up to circa 5M.
Attractive to me is the simplification of M compared to more complex rules with subtilely different movement distances for each vehicle. The use of M has some of the benefits of hexes, which are discussed here.
Benefits of templates and range-sticks
For similar reasons, the use of templates and range-sticks also appeals. Dimensions are provided in Panzer Marsch! for templates for: shot guns; flamethrowers; heavy machine guns; artillery; and to determine whether a hit is on side or rear armour.
As indicated in a previous illustration, range-sticks are a convenient way to determine the effectiveness of anti-armour and anti-aircraft weapons. There are 5 range-sticks, each subdivided into 6 'bands' of equal length; range-sticks are between 6 and 60 inches long (3 and 30 inches for 1:300). What range-stick to use and the armour penetration capability at each band is detailed in the army lists for each anti-tank weapon.
Benefits of play sheets
 |
| Half of one or the four play sheets |
The 50+ page Panzer Marsch! rule book exists to explain the rules and provide illustrative examples for clarification. The rules appear straight-forward and are summarised on 4 glossy sides of A4 play sheets.
Experienced players will require only the play sheets for battle and not the entire rule book. This is a great way to present an easily playable, table-top friendly set of rules.
Style of presentation
Panzer Marsch! is well presented. It is clearly laid out and printed in a glossy format so crumbs of battle-rations can be brushed off without leaving a mark. The photos of some of the battles from NHWC show scenery with the high quality of a model-railway - most impressive.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note that all comments are moderated so will not appear until after moderation.