Panzer Grenadier: Edelweiss
Extra Counters
April 2008

Edelweiss, the module adding German mountain troops to the Panzer Grenadier system, was an “extra” product designed to utilize counters left over when we published Dave Powell’s Chickamauga & Chattanooga.

There were not nearly as many available pieces as there were items I wanted to include, especially when I decided to add SS mountain troops to the mix. Certain fans wanted SS guys, but I find Nazis repulsive. But the opportunity to have Italian troops fight and defeat the SS appealed to me.

That cramped the number of pieces available for regular army mountain troops, and I removed their leaders to make way for the added units. As it stands, German regular army mountain troops simply use the leader counters provided in the games for standard German army units.

So, with this free download we’re restoring the German mountain leaders; use these in Edelweiss scenarios in place of the regular German leaders. All rules continue to apply (even the Kopal’s Legacy special rule allowing the German player to choose leaders). The mountain leaders are on average slightly better than the regular army officers, as befits an elite organization.

“Kopal,” incidentally, was a name carried by Salzburg units from the 1848 battle against the papal army at Vicenza in northern Italy. Maj. Ernst Kopal, commander of the 10th Feldjäger Battalion of the Austrian army, was killed leading an assault against the pope’s Swiss guards. His men went utterly berserk, storming a seemingly impregnable mountain stronghold called Madonna del Monte and wiping out the equally berserk Swiss defenders. The battle became legendary, and the name would be carried on by Salzburger units in the service of the First Republic, the German occupiers, and the current Bundesheer of the Second Republic.

We’ve also included replacements for the two H38 tank units from Edelweiss, which were printed with incorrect fire and armor factors.

Click here to download a FREE .pdf of the replacement counters!

This piece originally appeared in March 2005.