Fury, The Panzer Game Reenactment

Yesterday's Fury reenactment was a lot of fun, so much fun that I'm going to do it again. This time I'll use GMT's seminal tactical armor game, Panzer. I have a long history with the Panzer family. I played Armor (those thick counters were so awesome) way back in the 80's. I nearly played MBT to death in the early 90's, placing second in the Avaloncon tournament once, Rob Schoenen beat me after we had played to a tie in the semi-finals.

I recently bought Panzer Expansion #3. It's the first time that I've played this iteration of the game.

For the reenactment I'm using Map A. The combatants start 5 hexes, or 500 meters apart. The Americans have two M4A3 75 Shermans and one Easy Eight. The Germans have a Tiger I. The Americans will advance directly toward the Tiger, using Short Halt  commands, until one of the Shermans is destroyed. Then the remaining two will split and attempt to flank the Tiger. The Tiger has the initiative. All vehicles are spotted. I use the basic game rules.

The beginning.

Turn One. The Tiger has a Fire order, the Americans have Short Halt. The Tiger fires at the Sherman in 2212.  The range is Short, there is no vehicle size modifier, the target is moving (-2), the target is in no cover, nor are there any other modifiers. The to hit number is 56 (this is a percentage of 100 for you non-players). The Tiger rolls 23, a hit against the M4A3's front armor. The Sherman's front armor is 18, the Tiger's penetration is 24, so the shot penetrates. Now we move on to the basic game damage.  Since the penetration is greater than the armor by 6, the tank is Knocked Out.

The Americans want some payback. The M4A3 to the left of Wardaddy (the Easy Eight on the hill) fires. He is at Short Range, and gets a +1 modifier for the huge Tiger, but the Tiger gets a -1 cover modifier, because I'm counting the Woods as light, and it was hull down in the movie (sorta). Additionally, there is a -4 modifier for Short Halt fire. The to hit is 42. The Sherman rolls a 68 and misses the Tiger. Next up is Wardaddy. His to hit is also 42.  Wardaddy hits with a 40. The Easy Eight's penetration is 21, matching the Tiger's front armor, and the Tiger is damaged, but not Knocked Out.

Now Wardaddy and the short-barreled Sherman move. The second image shows their  new positions.

The end of turn one.

Turn Two.  Again the Shermans will Short Halt, although the better game move for Wardaddy would be a Fire command, because if Wardaddy gets another damage result, the Tiger is eliminated. The Tiger fires at the remaining short-barreled Sherman. The range is Point Blank, and the to hit number is 45. It's worse than the previous turn because the Tiger is damaged. The Tiger misses with a 49.

Wardaddy fires at Point Blank range. His to hit number is 54. He rolls a 10, hitting the Tiger.  At this range, Wardaddy's penetration (25) exceeds the Tiger's armor (21), by 4. The Tiger is Knocked Out.

Interesting. The result is exactly the same as the Lock 'n Load result. Granted, in both games, if the Tiger had been allowed to take out Wardady first, it might have been able to destroy all three Shermans. What do you guys and girls think?

Be sure to check out NIGHT OF MAN, a science-fiction, card-driven, board and counter, tactical battle game, designed by Mark H. Walker and published by Flying Pig Games. It is on Kickstarter until December 31st. You can view the Kickstarter page and place a pledge right here. 

Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver, he is the designer of the Lock 'n Load, World at War, and Nations at War series of games in addition to many others. Sign up for his newsletter to get design insights, game updates, and stuff.

Sign Up for Mark's Newsletter