Panzer Battles 2 - The Official Teaser Thread

[Xaver]

In the alternative options i like the Firefly one and a little less the panther one.

In my case more than prefer is that i dislike the use of 3D images, for me is or use real images (or like the firefly image "paint" a real image to have an effect of aquarelle) or something like the tiger option.

My favourite PzC covers are Budapest45, France40, Kharkov42/43 and Mius43 and the cover i like less Minsk44.

But is a question of taste and in variety is the good point.

PD: a little question Strela, i have a friend that i managed to attract to the "dark side" and is interested in know what is the time limit in the title... if only cover first weeks or cover until the Falaise actions, could be posible you can talk about this point in the next weekend report??? thanks.

[mariandavid]

I think I prefer the Firefly - it typifies Normandy in a way that the Tiger does not.

[Xaver]

Ummm depend of the side... Firefly is iconic in the allied side like Tiger I is iconic in german side... but the true is that were normal Shermans and PzIV/StugIII the true battle horses, maybe in future for the serie and being a "panzer" title we can see covers covering the tanks from both sides... i think if we see a north Africa title, covering... lets see... Crusader   see in cover a PzIII+M13/40+88s  VS Crusader+Honey+Matilda 

But well, is not a critical feature.

Friday... one week more, this was specially slow for me, what week, the only good thing i can say about it is that finally finished... now i am going to have a worst afternoon   

Lets see how is the leaking this month, next month is going to be the countdown month or expect this hehehe.

[Strela]

Yes, it's Friday and though very busy with work this week, I have managed to pull together another (quick) update for you all.

As promised I said I would show the actual scenarios covering D-Day.

There are 12 in total for June 6th, 1944;



The 12 are a mix of individual situations and combinations of the smaller scenarios (2 are AI versions).

The Getting Started at Pegasus Bridge was covered last week.

East of the Orne covers the landing of the complete 6th Airborne Division, it's relief by the Special Service Brigade and the counterattack by elements of 21st Panzer Division.

Gold, Juno and Sword Beach cover each of the Commonwealth landings.

Calvados Coast combines all of the British sector scenarios.

Utah Beach starts after the 101st Airborne Division landings and as the 4th Infantry Division comes ashore.

Cotentin Peninsula includes all the US Airborne landings (82nd & 101st) followed by the landings at Utah beach as well as the German counterattacks led by 6th FJ Regiment

Omaha Beach covers that ill-fated landing.

The Longest Day combines all of the D-Day scenarios and will allow players to have a mega 40 turn scenario.



Here are a few screen shots;

Landings and losses after two turns at Omaha (you should be able to view full size in a new tab or using a touch device);





Utah Beach with the 101st already (scattered) on the ground and the 4th Infantry landing





British Funnies landing at Gold Beach (showing losses after two turns). The British led with their armour, unlike the Americans






Calvados Coast at maximum zoom out with jump map. This scenario covers all three Commonwealth beach landings as well as the 6th Airborne's operation. The German counterattack by 21st Panzer Division which briefly saw some units reach the coast is also included here;






Here is Cotentin Peninsula before the US Airborne start landing. This is again at maximum zoom out and with the jump map so you know how much of the map is visible;






The mother of them all - The Longest Day. This shows all the landings and runs for 40 turns;






Finally, like Kursk we have included a reference scenario that lays out the German positions in Normandy at midnight of June 5th/6th 1944. This really is a huge map - just look at how little the jump map is covering;






Till next week,


David

[Ricky B]

And having spent a lot of time on the landings I have to say each is different from the others and I think captures the essence of that beach. Blood and mayhem on Omaha. Utah's fairly restrained fighting. The fighting on Sword.

[Compass Rose]

More great stuff; thanks for sharing!

[Strela]

And having spent a lot of time on the landings I have to say each is different from the others and I think captures the essence of that beach. Blood and mayhem on Omaha. Utah's fairly restrained fighting. The fighting on Sword.

And remiss of me to not mention that Rick authored all of these scenarios with the exception of Juno which was a Glenn Saunders original (subsequently bought up to the same standard as Rick's originals). 

As Rick says, no landing is the same....

David

[Xaver]

Thanks for the leak!!! i like how you feed us with double cheesePicBurgers 

Interesting scens, looks like the D-day is well covered.

A pair of questions:

1-Obstacles on the water!! NA NA NA NA NA NAAAAA hehehe looks like are 2 diferent ones... at least images, they are the same or we have "mines" and "obstacles" like in land???

2-Units can enter in water now??? looks like there are 2 kind of water hexes... and you can place depots in the shallower water.

And well, another loooong week starts again today, weekends are not looking the same for me since your week leaks, saturday is the new monday!!! 

PD: well, with leaks like this i need more time to do my usual post in other forum 

[jimcrowley]

The whole of D-Day at the platoon/company level? Wow! That is impressive.

Given the double entries for Utah and Omaha, are they playable from either side?

And just how many scenarios in total are we looking at compared to Kursks' 60?

Obstacles and units in water. The new feature? Somehow I don't think so. Not huge potential for them in Normandy going forward or NW Europe but might be for Pacific battles (although hardly enough armour action to justify the 'Panzer' title in that theatre)

The nature of the new feature is what is intriguing me but I'm not expecting that reveal until near release time, whenever that may be.

Cheers

Jim

[Strela]

The whole of D-Day at the platoon/company level? Wow! That is impressive.

Given the double entries for Utah and Omaha, are they playable from either side?

And just how many scenarios in total are we looking at compared to Kursks' 60?

Obstacles and units in water. The new feature? Somehow I don't think so. Not huge potential for them in Normandy going forward or NW Europe but might be for Pacific battles (although hardly enough armour action to justify the 'Panzer' title in that theatre)

The nature of the new feature is what is intriguing me but I'm not expecting that reveal until near release time, whenever that may be.

Cheers

Jim

I told you all this was the biggest title we had worked on....

The Omaha/Utah AI versions are optimised for Allied human play. These scenarios are shorter and/or require more points to win. Obviously the Axis side can be played in any of these scenarios but if you want Allied AI it's better to give it the longer HTH scenario.

One scenario that is a lot of fun to play as Axis is the Cotentin Coast. Nothing like running a Georgian Ost Battalion as U.S. Paratroopers fall all around you! Counter attacking with obsolete French tanks just adds flavour. I expect some team play games of the larger scenarios and we've been pleased how well the game system has modelled the landings. Each beach has its own quirks.

As far as the number of scenarios, we should at least match Kursk's number I expect.

For water obstacles, yes these are the equivalent to mines and obstacles. Not a lot of fun when you run a fully laden landing craft onto one under the barrel of an 88. Like on land mines and obstacles these are hidden until found.

As far as units in water, yes there are two types; ocean and shallow water. Non amphibious units can move through shallow water but not ocean. The reason you see land units in the ocean at Omaha is because there is a random scatter on arrival. This is the only beach we use this at to represent the chaos that occured. There are some spare landing craft available to 'rescue' these marooned men, but that just adds to the time and confusion.

Finally, the new feature has nothing to do with water and what's in it! 

David