Panzer Battles 2 - The Official Teaser Thread

[wiggum]

Its Friday, new bone please ! 

[Xaver]

Sorry double post.

[Xaver]

And i think i was impatient... 

Well, if the lynch mob lit the torches and start the "we want it and we want it now" who i am to dont lit mine 

Looks like closer the release smaller the patience 

PD: nothing like a good mob to made things working better 

[Strela]

Its Friday, new bone please ! 

My god Wiggum, it wasn't Friday where you are when you posted and it was only 1am in my time zone!

Good things come to those that wait! 

David

[Strela]

Well it’s Friday and I feel like the rabid pack will track me down like paparazzi if I don't deliver soon. Targeting this update for when Europe wakes up should help a little as well...!
 
It's been a busy week on the game. Quite a few testing results came in and we have tweaked some scenarios accordingly. The longest scenario in the game had 26 turns removed from its overall total, so it’s that little bit shorter and hopefully more playable. I've been involved in this particular play test and it’s amazing the range of tactical situations that arise in some of the bigger battles. All in all it feels like you're really battling in the bocage.
 
There have been a few more adjustments to the map and a couple of significant tweaks to the order of battle. 
 
I am also working on another medium to large scenario that has some very unique features. Historically the Allies 'paused' for six hours with some of their key formations awaiting some follow on attacks. We will build this into the scenario and probably have a variant where the pause doesn't occur.
 
The other area that has had some additional work has been some nationality dependent vehicle graphics.
 

Here is what I mean - an example of different M7 self propelled artillery vehicles and markings. The nationalities shown here are US, British, Canadian & French;






There were also questions about how far into the campaign we model. Lets just say the French did not arrive in Normandy until late July and they are available to be used in scenarios. These are examples of the masters we use for creating the side graphics;






Lets get into the meat of this weeks update. Here are the scenarios that are covered in the first two weeks after D-Day. There are 9 scenarios in total between June 7th and June 22nd;






Juno D+1 covers the resumption of the Commonwealth drive to capture both Caen and the Carpiquet Airfield. This is a reasonably sized scenario and includes the first engagement of the Hitlerjugend Division which had marched for the last 24 hours from its reserve position (again you can view these images full size by right clicking or using a touch device);






Authie was authored by Kevin Hankins and covers the vicious counterattack the SS executed against the strung out Canadians. This engagement was so bloody that the Canadians and HJ had a pathological hate for each that transcended the campaign;






Le Mesnil is a small 8 turn scenario that covered the ambush of advancing Canadian forces;

 



Villers Bocage is the famous Michael Wittmann engagement where his Tiger company managed to stop 7th Armoured Division as it tried to flank Caen. This composite image shows some of the starting forces and Wittmann about to surprise the British who had 'stopped for a spot of tea';

 



Caumont covers Villers Bocage and the bigger events around Operation Perch. The bulk of 7th Armoured Division is available as is elements of Panzer Lehr, 2nd Panzer Division and the 101st SS Tiger Battalion.

 



Carentan on June 13th is a Rick Bancroft scenario and covers the fighting around Hill 30. The US Paratroopers were planning to continue their advance with support from 2nd Armored Division when the newly arrived 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division with 6th FJ Regiment launched their own attack in an attempt to capture Carentan;

 



Carentan Revisited is a hypothetical scenario based on the premise that the prior days German attack had been successful and Carentan had fallen. The Americans have to try and recapture this key town;






Cherbourg Landfront is the first monster scenario after 'The Longest Day'. Currently it runs for 88 turns or two+ days. This scenario is still in testing and may have the total number of turns reduced based upon the results we see. There is a dedicated parameter file so that night turn length and other items can be tweaked to cover this unique battle. This shot will give you an idea of the overall area of the battle at maximum zoom out;






Here is another shot from Cherbourg Landfront showing the US forces preparing to attack the German defenses. The 'Landfront' was extensive, but the delay in the Germans retreating into the fortifications coupled with their poor quality gave the US infantry a chance to breakthrough  through the fortified areas;






Cherbourg Right Flank is just that, a subset of Cherbourg Landfront - the attack of 4th Infantry Division to try and clear Theville airfield and then attack the city from the east;






The defenses around the airfield were built around the resident AA positions with scratch Luftwaffe 'Alarmheiten' or emergency militia to provide some backbone. There was significant flak at Cherbourg but there was a dearth of transport to move it around. This is represented in the scenario by making the bulk of the AA units static and the German defenses tended to gravitate to these positions;

 



That's it for this week. Hopefully this will start to give you a feel for the variety of scenarios that are included with the game.

Have a great weekend all!

David

[ComradeP]

Looks good.

Based on the experience with Franz' Excellent Adventure and the die-roll based loss system, I'm looking forward to trying Villers Bocage to see how it works in the new game.

Normandy PzC made Wittmann a super unit in a separate OOB for the scenario, but his defence is still "only" 32. That remains the problem with a system where everybody with a hard attack value has some chance of knocking out an enemy tank: tough tanks can regularly be knocked out through pure chance.

Without designated areas of operation or forcing units to follow a certain path, a 88 turn scenario might face the same problems as the longer ones in Kursk which favour picking the most efficient path instead of the historical approach, so it's a good thing testing is ongoing to make sure we get a balanced scenario at release.

[Xaver]

WOAAA with week reports like this who needs daily reports 

Very interesting scens, i know a pair of guys that are going to love them specially the Carentan scens (variant looks promising) hehehe.

In the french area... i understand that some scens cover the french fight in Normandy... the question is how many and how late are going to be these scens.

Nice point the balance in scens duration, maybe over remove the old version you allways can mantein both, one shorter to fight in PBEM (even if scen has AI) and leave the longer one to fight VS AI.

Ummm the Cherbourg scens look great, maybe i feel that one or two short scens to cover the initial allied assault over german defenses in the peninsula base... i refer covering the start in PzC Cherbourg scen, the fight around Montebourg... 12nd and 8th USA regiments attacking the village and with Valognes as objetive... but nothing critical to the game with the interesting diferent scen types.

A good point around Cherbourg scens is the AAA static units to create "defensive islands" i think that we can see this in other scens in the title no??? and night turns... you are going to made them shorter or longer???

And not a lot more to say apart thanks and keep reworkingart until the last day, sure visual OOB say thanks for this 

PD: Thanks a lot for the Luftwaffe units image, now waiting next update 

PD2: i never expect title in october but... november, late november, is a viable period or with holidays so close you prefer wait 2-3 weeks to close all???

[wiggum]

Awsome update !

[Xaver]

Well, i expect posting today i am not going to see Wiggum asking for bone before me 


If i am not wrong is friday somewhere... Kiritimati, Auckland ITS FRIDAY!!!! 

[Strela]

Well, i expect posting today i am not going to see Wiggum asking for bone before me 


If i am not wrong is friday somewhere... Kiritimati, Auckland ITS FRIDAY!!!! 

Be careful....

I may invoke the Saturday rule and wait till it's Saturday somewhere and declare Friday missed....

Never pressure the messenger...!

David