Panzer Grenadier:
Under the Hood, Part 1
By Matt Foster
June 2008

One of the keys to grasping the Panzer Grenadier game system, and thus to enjoying the game, is understanding what it is and what it isn’t. As simple as that might sound, it can be a subject of great confusion to many veteran wargamers. They approach what is perceived as a “tactical level” game with a mix of preconceptions that can limit their enjoyment of the system.

Speed, or more accurately pace, is the first preconception “wall” that many veteran players can hit. Most of the familiar tactical-level games engage in some degree of time compression, with “scale” turns that represent one or two minutes. Scenarios generally range from six to 15 turns in length, with the average probably in the eight to 12 turn range. Now, anyone who has even a passing familiarity with “real” military operations should probably recognize that events in those games proceed at an unrealistically fast pace. It often makes for a tense, enjoyable game, but asking an infantry company to clear 400 or 500 meters of urban terrain of enemy forces in 10 minutes is hardly a “realistic” mission. World War II artillery fire missions that are called and resolved in 90 seconds exceed any forward observer’s wildest fantasies. You only need to look at a few slices of those games (all of which are quite enjoyable) to understand that they tremendously compress the scale of time represented.

That degree of time compression is absent from the Panzer Grenadier system. One of the first things you should note when flipping through one of the PG scenario books is the length of the scenarios. Measured strictly in “turns,” PG scenarios are generally longer than scenarios in other tactical system. The scenario highlighted for discussion in this piece is Scenario 3 from East Front Deluxe: "Fontana Alba." It’s 30 turns in length. That’s 7.5 hours of “scale” time, which is a fairly typical game length in the PG system.

More than one veteran gamer has had a rough go at wrapping his head around the concept of a tactical game in which patience is often a virtue. You don’t necessarily have all day to fiddle around in PG, but you generally have the time you need to execute a fairly realistically-paced battle plan. Time enough to do some maneuvering. Time enough to let your supporting arms (if you have them) do some softening up work.

Panzer Grenadier is not a game system that generally rewards a rushed style of play. Players who charge toward the enemy, pause to fire off maybe one or two turns of direct fire and then try to close for assault combat will, more often than not, get handed their heads.

Taking Ground

On the Direct Fire results table, casualty rates are going to be pretty low as long as you’re taking shots on the “11” column and anything lower. If you’re accustomed to playing tactical games where troops tend to evaporate rapidly under fire, direct fire in PG can come as a bit of a shock. Sometimes you can stand off and blast away all day and generate hardly any casualties.

The game’s direct fire model is morale-based, not casualty-based. For the most part it’s intended to reflect the disorganizing effects of fire on a unit’s capabilities. Direct Fire (and Bombardment, for that matter) is best used to disorder an enemy position (inflict Disrupted and Demoralized results) before you send your guys in for assault combat.

Assault combat is what takes the ground and generates the higher casualty rates. In most PG scenarios, you have to figure out how to make assault work for you if you’re going to capture contested victory locations and win the game. The Assault CRT is shorter and bloodier.

But there’s another catch that can trip up the unwary gamer with expectations carried over from other game systems. In PG, assault is not a one-turn, win-or-run knife fight. Be prepared to conduct and support your assaults over a span of several turns. Frequently, assault combats don’t resolve to a conclusion in a single activation. Keep key leaders handy to support critical assaults, and keep reserve platoons nearby (if you have them) to reinforce assaults and keep the pressure on when you have to pull out reduced, disrupted and demoralized platoons.

Assault is, perhaps, the key mechanism players need to master in order to get the most out of their Panzer Grenadier play. Getting your attacking units into assault combat with an enemy force is a crtical skill you have to develop to win at PG. Organizing to support and manage your assaults once your troops have gotten “stuck in” is equally important. As I mentioned above, running into direct fire range of the enemy, popping off a few shots and then trying to get stuck into an assault hex seldom succeeds.

If you haven’t softened up the enemy position by inflicting some disruptions and demoralizations before you go charging in, your guys can get cut to ribbons by defending fire. Assault is a “Fire” action that (except in the case of cavalry) can only be initiated from an adjacent hex. That means your assault force can get hit by opportunity fire on the turn they move adjacent; and, on the following turn, if you lose the initiative you’ll get hit by the defenders’ direct fire before you activate for the assault.

In both cases, you’re taking fire with some very nasty column shifts on the CRT. Opportunity fire is +1 column, and you’ll suffer a +2 additional shift for being adjacent to the firing unit. Even a single, lowly rifle platoon can inflict formidable punishment with the maximum +3 column shift in its favor. It gets even worse if the position you want to assault contains multiple enemy units, or heavier assets like machine gun platoons. If it’s a multi-hex defending position with a good leader at hand, you may also be facing the coordinated opportunity fire of multiple stacks of units.

Fontana Alba

For a quick example of this, try the opening turns of Fontana Alba with the Romanians in “impatient mode.” They’re cavalry, right? Just charge right on in there. Pause a few hexes short of the city to spend a couple of turns dropping 12-strength artillery attacks on them. Then just sweep on into the town for some assault combat. If you can.

Chances are, the Romanian assault won’t do so well. Below is a photo of a Soviet defense of the town. The two western-most hexes each contain a rifle platoon (4-2) and a machine-gun platoon (7-4). The northern hex is two rifle platoons. The remaining hex is the leader (in this case, a rather good captain) and a reserve of three rifle platoons.

The proper placement and use of leaders is another big key to enjoying Panzer Grenadier. In this case, the captain is situated to provide useful support to every hex in the defense. His +1 morale bonus can be used by every unit in town. He could activate all of the units in town at once if he desired. And any Romanians daffy enough to attack from the south face the likelihood of the captain acting to combine the fire of four rifle platoons and a machine-gun platoon.

In this particular setup, the Soviets obviously benefit from the luck of the draw. The captain (randomly selected before play) commanding the defense is one of the best leaders in the EFD countermix. The Soviets’ inferior morale (7 vs. 8 for the Romanians) will stand against them in assault combat — but with the 10-morale captain coordinating activations and providing morale support with his bonus, they stand a much better chance of inflicting some pain on the Romanians as they attempt to close for assault.

The Romanian task in this scenario is very difficult. They have to capture the town and hold it against a late-game counter-attack to win the game. In order to do that, they have to exploit a couple of razor-thin advantages.

First, they receive two 12-strength off-board artillery attacks each turn. They must show a little bit of patience and use their off-board artillery—along with their smattering of on-board heavy weapons (two machine-gun platoons and a 60mm mortar platoon) — to hit the defenders with some disruptions (and maybe even demoralizations) before they assault the town.

The excellent Soviet leader hunkered down in the town makes disorganizing the defense a tough chore. All Soviet morale checks get a +1 boost, as do all recovery attempts. In fact, it’s not a stretch to wonder if having such a good leader in charge of things might just make the Romanians’ mission close to impossible.

We’ll find out in Part 2. Stay tuned!

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