Fascinating details on the desert war, a theme is developing here. Fascinating to note that he had a great respect for Wavell as an opponent and daunted at how Patton conducted mobile warfare. The last chapter on his death was quite tragic and poignant. Yes it has already got me shifting through board games and models ;)
The ongoing adventures of a boy who never grew out of making and playing with plastic model kits (and even some metal ones too). Also a wargamer in search of the perfect set of wargaming rules for WWII Land and 20th Century Naval campaigns.
Saturday, 17 June 2023
Dangerous Books for Men of a Certain Age: Rommel
Fascinating details on the desert war, a theme is developing here. Fascinating to note that he had a great respect for Wavell as an opponent and daunted at how Patton conducted mobile warfare. The last chapter on his death was quite tragic and poignant. Yes it has already got me shifting through board games and models ;)
Tuesday, 13 June 2023
Could (the old) PanzerBlitz actually be the ONE?
One from the dusty alcoves of the loft. Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz is "as old as the hills" (my edition says published in 1970, so that at time of writing this post PanzerBlitz is 53 years old - but it still plays as a complete coherent system. PanzerBlitz stands as a potent influencer on many of the newer board games in the 2000+ era (even if it is as a marmite love-hate relationship, to stimulate a different approach than PanzerBlitz). PanzerBlitz can be seen as answering the same tactical questions still asked by newer games, even crossing into the post 1945 to the modern era. Consciously or unconsciously it has a palpable [direct or lingering trace effect] on modern game mechanisms. PanzerBlitz still has a basic intrinsic value and there is good merit in playing it. PanzerBlitz a recreational game, but one that bears more than a passing reference to tactical WWII scenarios that gives historical results. So could the "old one", be "the one"? I have a wargaming friend who would like to test this thesis out with me (see below, the iconic logo of a platoon of JagdPanthers, not good news if you are in a T-34):
For a guide to play PanzerBlitz, take a look at the following informative videos from Legendary Tactics.
- How to play PanzerBlitz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNs1M3CB4po&t=1184s
- PanzerBlitz units (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1tFRVI5VZE&t=95s
- PanzerBlitz units (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPz7aeOWw8w
- Situation #1 Play Through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YfdNgWWoo
- Strategy for Situation #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3XqGAE5M_k&t=3s
- Situation #2 Play Through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aJukxkSJeE
- Strategy for Situation #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEPif_y6x6Y
- Situation #3 Play Through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPoiYnZdZ5E
- Strategy for Situation #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7qQVY1q99k&t=1s
Footnote(2): Extension Counter Site - http://gregpanzerblitz.com/19401943_north_africa.htm
Footnote(3): Pico Armour - PanzerBlitz 3D - https://picoarmor.com/
Footnote(4): Fixing PanzerBlitz: - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1167422/fixing-panzerblitz
Saturday, 3 June 2023
Can Interactive-Dynamic Influence Diagrams (I-DID) be helpful for Clarifying Rules?
- http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~parsons/events/gtdt/gtdt06/polich.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/
science/article/pii/ S0888613X1400173X - https://www.ai.uga.edu/sites/
default/files/inline-files/ Chandrasekaran_Muthukumaran. pdf - https://www.ijcai.org/
Proceedings/15/Papers/013.pdf - https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/
fulltext/u2/a230752.pdf
Friday, 2 June 2023
More Spearhead Resources (Video)
Courtesy of the Armchair Dragoons introducing me to Jim Owczarski I came across some more learning videos. Seeing people getting rules wrong is almost as good (or maybe even better) as a narrative of what the rules do. "To err is human, but to forgive is divine!"
Fumbling About with Spearhead:
Scenario 1: "Attack This"
Scenario 2: "A Roaring Start" Videos
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjk10KBrmIY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAklQxtcwfk&t=86s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAklQxtcwfk&t=81s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5li-XdUlQr4
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTcuGyj5qb8
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntb1CkcG1tI
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAklQxtcwfk&t=35s