Jerry Taylor  - Jan 2, 2005 7:05 pm (#8265 Total: 8275)  
Designer, "Hammer of the Scots" and (the upcoming) "Crusader Rex" 	 

On the table this afternoon - Victory Games' "Panzer Command." Because
it was the first time in 20 years that I had played this and my opponent
- Forrest Atterbury - had never played before, we duked it out over the
introductory scenario "The Battle for Point 161." It's a three turn game
with the Soviets outgunned but dug in on a hilltop with the Germans
charged with siezing two of the four highpoints on said hill. We used
the optional limitted intelligence rules, since they didn't require that
much effort and increased the fog of war (essentially, they keep your
command decisions hidden from the other player and hide the particulars
of each regimental and division HQ command ability). 

Forrest drew the Reds and proceeded to set up straightforwardly,
spreading out his meager band of commie brothers (three companies of
T-34s, five companies of infantry, and two companies of BA-64s) among
the four high-points in question. With only three turns to work with, I
decided to forego niceties and massed the bulk of my forces (a company
of Panzer IV long barrels, two companies of Panzer IV short barrels, two
companies of Panzer IIIs, five infantry companies, a couple of companies
of Panzerspahwagens, and a company of Marders) for a rather primative
charge straight toward my objectives with a small mobile force to flank
the hill on the right, hopefully preventing the Soviets from meeting me
with everything head-on. 

Well, it was a brutal affair. After failing to adequately defend the
most obvious and direct German approach to the hilltops, Forrest quickly
met my charge by lining up his troops behind the hill's crest. which ran
parrallel with my objective hexes. I burned command points early to
sieze the first of the two hilltops I needed to win before Forrest could
fully reform his defense, but once there, the Germans were hammered by
those infernal BA-64s (how can the equivalent of jeeps with pistols get
so lucky?) and my charge ground to a hault from the spirited Russian
defenders. Panzers were suppressed and shot-up left and right, but
rather than sit around and trade blows, I kept everybody moving and
charged through the lead to the second hilltop. After a bloody march
(stacking is a bitch in this game and Forrest's opportunity fires were
damn effective), I managed to snag the second hilltop while burning
commands before Forrest could reinforce the position. By the third turn,
all I had to do was hang on - which I did. The Soviets couldn't really
concentrate their attack on either of my two hilltops without closing in
and receiving some serious opportunity fire whoop-ass. Pot shots from
afar just couldn't do it. 

All in all, the game lasted only about 2 1/2 hours. I won, but I didn't
feel all that great about it. The Germans were chewed up and, despite
Forrest's phenominal dice, I still got lucky. Had the Soviets been a bit
more thoughtful about their initial deployment (Forrest was protecting
against flanking maneuvers that I just didn't have time to pull off even
had I wanted to), I probably was toast. I tried to bring too much
between too narrow an avenue of advance and the logjam that resulted was
nearly fatal. 

"Panzer Command" certainly demands forethought and advanced planning
regarding how you allocate you scarce command points. The chit-pull
system wonderfully achieves the desired effect of highlighting the chaos
on the battlefield. Despite the intimidating length of the rulebook (60
pages of small type), the game is really rather easy to play. The
systems are clean, straightforward, and well explained. The rules are
very easy to digest and helpful examples and commentary are everywhere
(together constituting about a third [!] of the printed rulebook). The
only complicating factor is that there are seemingly tons of modifiers
to determine success in combat which - although not particularly
complicated - can bog shootouts down a bit. Close assaults are also a
bit involved. Once we got used to the routine, however, we were breezing
through it relatively OK. 

I look forward to playing again in a week or two, when Forrest and I
will tackle the advanced rules (introducing motorized transport,
artillery, reinforcements, engineers, minefields, and airpower) and the
advanced introductory scenario "The Soviets Breakout." I've read through
those rules again to reacquaint myself (hey, it's been 20 years!), and
they are likewise clean, straightforward, and not particularly
complicated. I can't wait to see how Adam's adaptation of the system in
"Devil's Cauldron" turns out and I already have some good ideas for
streamlining things for a block version of said system. 

In short, we had a good time, the game was fun, and it's too bad so many
gamers have overlooked this one over the years. Perhaps a renaissance is
in the offing ....