Alternating Reality
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
January 2012

Though I've designed a number of alternate history titles, it's not really a major interest of mine. But fans like them very much, and they are a lot of fun to work on once you get into it.

I can't claim to that Grossdeutschland 1946 has a long history behind it. We have the unit its own color scheme in the 1940: The Fall of France game because the designer had included a special rule for the unit, and we had the extra space on a counter sheet to include them. A few weeks ago, some fans came by our new warehouse to help us unload a shipment from our old one, and got to see the components for 1940, which had not yet been released. They liked the color scheme very much, and one of our employees asked why it was so popular.

Grossdeutschland, I explained, was an elite formation and very famous among wargamers, but not part of the Waffen SS and thus not bearing the same filthy stigma — though it did, of course, fight to keep the same criminal regime in power. It piled up a spectacular war record, particularly the battles around Targul Frumos in 1944 as seen in our Panzer Lion and Army Group South Ukraine supplements. That made it popular with wargamers, and at the time we'd been planning a Grossdeutschland download similar to DeGaulle's Division and Texas Division.

But as I hefted cartons of Secret Weapons playing pieces, it occurred to me that we could give Grossdeutschland a similar treatment, melding the popularity of giant tanks and helicopters with the aura of an elite formation. And so Grossdeutschland 1946 came to be over the course of a week or so, and now it's ready for play. Here's a look at the toys contained within.

Foot Soldiers

The "Sturm" ("Assault") infantry fielded by Grossdeutschland represent full-sized German infantry platoons fully armed with StG44 assault rifles. The GREN infantry found in late-war Panzer Grenadier titles include troops with this weapon, usually a mixture of them and the Mauser Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifle. However, with manpower reserves drying up the Germans reduced the troop complement in their platoons, counting on the greater firepower of each soldier to make up for this shortage. The Grossdeutschland platoons are at full strength, with the new rifles, and thus rate a higher direct fire value.

Likewise, the HMG units of the standard game reflect MG34 weapons in the early war games, and a smaller number of MG42 weapons in later installments. The WFN ("weapon") units of Grossdeutschland 1946 are exclusively armed with the MG42, plus the ubiquitous light mortars also factired into machine gun units in the game series.

Just as the landsers have more modern light weapons, so do the engineers. The PIO ("Pioneer") units represent engineer platoons carrying the new rifles and machine guns as well as their usual assortment of unusual equipment.

Tanks

A variant like this one is all about the tanks, and the Grossdeutschland Division comes to play with a full allotment of them. Late-war German panzer divisions fielded two battalions of medium tanks — one equipped with Panther tanks, one with the less-capable but much cheaper Panzerkampfwagen IV. The Grossdeutschland Division operated with a slightly different organization, mixing the two types of tank in its battalions. It also sported a third tank battalion, equipped with Tiger tanks.

For the 1946 variant, we replaced all three categories with types planned but never put into full production, As the high-end medium tank, Grossdeutschland receives the Panther II, an up-gunned variant featuring a long-barreled 88mm gun, thick armor and reasonable speed for such a heavy vehicle - on paper at least. It's doubtful it would have been that fast in practice. This tank appears in German Army colors in our Secret Weapons supplement.

The Pz42t is the Skoda T25, the so-called "Skoda Panther." It's appeared in Austrian colors in Hopeless But Not Serious. This design was the loser in the competition for a tank to match the Soviet T-34, that Daimler-Benz won with its Panther. But Nazi Germany in no way represented a rational, efficient economic system — political influence counted for much, as in weapons procurement in some modern societies. Just because a design lost a competition - and there were accusations that Daimler used its own influence to win the day — did not mean that a project had no future. Skoda had fallen under control of Hermann Goering, who had responsibility for harnessing captured industrial capacity for the Nazi war effort. Skoda was one of the few success stories on his ledger, contributing LT38 (Pz38t) light tanks until 1942, Hetzer tank destroyers, and numerous other vehicles. A stronger push from Goering could have place the T25 into the mix.

The tank was smaller than the Daimler Panther, and Skoda touted it as cheaper to build (always a dubious claim during procurement competition). An enlarged version of the LT38, it featured a unique engine arrangement and an auto-loaded 75mm gun — either of which could have led to teething problems in service. But on paper — where all of Grossdeutschland's 1946 battles take place — it was a very capable replacement for the Panzer IV. I seriously thought of adding a special rule giving it an extra shot (a third one, since it already has armor efficiency) in anti-tank combat but decided that was too picayune a rule; feel free to add it if you like.

The Tiger III, last seen in Secret Weapons, equips the heavy tank battalion. This massive tank is very slow, though it is somewhat faster than its lumbering rival, the Maus. It bears a massive 150mm cannon and thick armor, and would have been a truly frightening adversary for any enemy foolish enough to come within range. But with the tank's lack of speed, that would not be a problem for careful Soviet or American tankers.

Other Vehicles

For most of the war, German panzer grenadiers rode into battle in half-tracked armored personnel carriers. There were never enough of these to go around, and the basic design of a half-track limited the armor protection they could offer and their cross-country mobility. Before the war ended, both the Germans and Americans were working on fully-tracked designs, while Commonwealth armies were converting obsolete or damaged tanks to fill the role.

Skoda actually delivered a prototype of its Kätzchen APC, a design based on the LT38 light tank (and thus very similar to the "Skoda Panther" or the Hetzer tank destroyer). The troop compartment was very similar to that of the Schützenpanzerwagen 251, and thus it was a personnel carrier and not a true infantry fighting vehicle — the troops did not fight from the carrier itself, but disembarked through a rear door before firing their weapons.

The Germans produced a bewildering array of halftrack variants, sporting anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank guns, rockets and other weapons. The Kätzchen probably would have been subjected to the same treatment, as the reconnaissance troops tried to avoid being rolled into the panzer branch by fielding their own unique vehicles (a phenomenon seen in modern armies as well). Grossdeutschland 1946 features a mortar-carrying variant, an analog to one of the most useful modified halftracks.

By 1945, the Germans had lost control of the air, and panzer formations in particular found it difficult to move during daylight hours. Dedicated anti-aircraft vehicles were supposed to address this problem, and Grossdeutschland is equipped with the Coelian anti-aircraft tank, a Panther hull with a ball turret bearing twin 37mm automatic cannon. It's also very effective against enemy infantry.

Helicopters

It's important to include helicopters in alternate-history game variants, because I like helicopters in games. I'm not sure why, as I'm actually sort of afraid of those whirling blades in real life. At any rate, Grossdeutschland's 1946 version includes an air-landing brigade equipped with helicopters — scout copters, anti-tank machines, and of course transports. All of these appeared in Secret Weapons, along with the special rules for their use and historical background on their development. All of these machines actually flew during the war, though not in the up-gunned variants seen here.

Grossdeutschland 1946 is available now — click here to order!