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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.

I am working my way through them.

Footnote(1): Board Game Geek reverence - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2238/panzerblitz

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

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10 comments:

  1. Martin Rapier13 June 2023 at 09:06

    Funnily enough, I also had a hankering to play PB again recently (I blame Russell). A couple of reports will appear on the blog in due course but in essence I think it needs an awful lot of work to bring it up to modern standards and there are some huge gaps in the counter mix. The game play is as exciting as ever, chess with tanks, but I obviously had a much larger mental capacity when I last played it in the 1980s as I found the larger scenarios overwhelming now. Partly it is familiarity though, as the terrain model is quite granular, I used to be able to identify the key positions and lines of sight at a glance, whereas now there is a lot of counting hexes and looking at the terrain effects chart.

    I do have two sets, so at least I've got enough transport counters to sensibly mount all the motorised units in trucks. As a game, I think it is more fun than Panzer Leader, although the latter is more "realistic" in places, although both games have a broken indirect fire model, only fixed in AiW. All the games suffer from trying to use a single number to represent firepower against both soft and armoured targets. Simply having seperate ratings would have simplified things a lot.



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  2. Gary13 June 2023 at 12:29

    Panzer Blitz is a great game. The Grandfather to all new armor board games.

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  3. Simon13 June 2023 at 20:34

    PanzerBlitz and PanzerLeader are classic games. Also in the Avalon Hill family of games is the superb Arab Israeli Wars. I have copies of all three and you can do no better hunting out copies of all three.

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  4. Geordie an Exiled FoG13 June 2023 at 23:34

    Thanks for the feedback Martin, Gary and Simon.
    I have Panzer Leader too, and the issue of the General that covered France 1940 which is fun (but the scenarios are more themed than well researched).

    There is a site that also expands into the Desert and other exotic theatres and vehicles

    I do want to get the Arab-Israeli War set (especially if they have sorted out the indirect fire rules) but won't pay silly eBay prices (OMG)

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  5. Geordie an Exiled FoG13 June 2023 at 23:42

    Added to original post and interesting PanzerBlitz "missing vehicle" counter site:

    http://gregpanzerblitz.com/19401943_north_africa.htm

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  6. Stu Rat14 June 2023 at 17:07

    The Pico Armor (yes, American spelling) site has a number of articles/posts on a 3D PanzerBlitz game they did. It might be of interest.

    picoarmor.com

    Scroll down on the Homepage.

    Stuart

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  7. Geordie an Exiled FoG17 June 2023 at 14:30

    Thanks Stu Rat the PanzerBlitz 3D looked really interesting

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  8. Red_Cardinal22 June 2023 at 22:24

    If you're thinking of doing Panzerblitz, you will definitely want to use the artillery rules from Panzer Leader. Plus Panzerblitz has a number of problems with its rules (e.g. see https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1167422/fixing-panzerblitz)

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  9. Geordie an Exiled FoG27 June 2023 at 18:36

    Many. many thanks Red Cardinel
    I was concentrating on the "Artillery" - but yes three Pz III does not one Tiger make

    Panzer Leader art is slightly better, but that averaging worries me
    I am certainly going to read the Board Game Geek article right now!

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  10. Geordie an Exiled FoG27 June 2023 at 19:06

    Wow Red Cardinal .. I thought it was one good post at the start .. but by god it turned out into a very interesting conversation .. then I noticed it went on for a good nine more pages .. wow

    I guess you have to decide what you want from a game in teh first place

    PanzerBlitz can be played for an entertaining game, but to win at PanzerBlitz it seems you go away from away from what it was supposed to do in the first place

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