Panzer Battles 2 - The Official Teaser Thread

[Strela]

It lives...!


Data has been decrypted and recovered..... and Normandy has all the latest changes....

Back to work! (literally - my day job now has a massive backlog!)

David

[ComradeP]

Excellent news David, good to hear.

By the way: my compliments on the Bokhino scenario for Moscow '42, it's very entertaining, chaotic for both sides and can go either way. That's a good example on what smaller scenarios can be like with good balancing.

[Xaver]

Congratulations, the rescue mission was a complete success expect with not friendly casualties hehehe

Well, Bokhino is small but offer room to adapt to the game situation... i think in small scens when are around... 12 turns or less.

Now return to work hard or Santa´s is going to punish you if game is not ready.

[phoenix]

Phew! I'm relieved. I'm a writer, and I've had that experience where an error erased, yes, an entire book that it took me a year to write. Then a lot of fussing around to recover what I could from back-ups and then all that f****** work again to get back, roughly, to where I was. It's awful. I'm so glad you got it all back.

Peter

[Strela]

Hi All,

After the data loss scare of last week, we're back to normal programming...!

A surprising amount has been done post game recovery. Here are some examples;

• All the unit & counter graphics have been completed (I'll do a count soon - I'm certain it's in the thousands!)
  
• Further updates to the French names on the master map - this has been a passion of DaveMic who has tirelessly reviewed the whole map. I'm greeted every day with emails full of additions and corrections!
  
• The final scenarios (?) have been received. Most of these need testing and that will be the big focus now.
  
• The documentation is nearly all done. There is work left to do on the map pack, user and getting started documentation. Most of these required all the scenarios to be completed.
  

Talking about documentation, these will be as good, if not batter than the quality released with Kursk. Like Kursk, they will be available for free for those considering buying the game. I'm working on the Getting Started document currently and there is a lot to do here as there is so many more things players can do in Normandy compared to Kursk.

For our first shot this week, here is the draft cover from the Getting Started manual;






This week we will cover the final seven scenarios in the game.

They pick up from the last preview which included Mortain and moves back to the fighting around Caen.

Operation Totalize has been a labour of love for me. Glenn Saunders had started the original version that had languished until a few months ago. I finally got around to looking at it and after reading two books on the battle, thought I was ready to tackle this fascinating battle. My original intention was to cover both days of the battle, but realised that this didn't work as the Allied player essentially had the equivalent of three Armoured and two Infantry Divisions versus a German Infanterie Division and an SS Regiment/Brigade. It was a cakewalk for the Allies and hard to emulate the 'caution' the Canadians showed. 

I then considered breaking the battle down into phases and that provided a more satisfactory (and playable) solution.
 
The first scenario based on the battle is #0808_03 Operation Totalize - Phase One. This scenario covers the initial Canadian night time assault through to the counterattack by Kampfgruppe Waldmuller. General Guy Simonds had been appalled by the infantry losses in Operation Spring and resolved to both attack at night and put his infantry into armoured troop carriers. These were in the main, Priest tracked artillery with the gun removed and affectionately dubbed Kangaroos for the 'pouch' that carried the infantry. The second innovation Simonds tried was a column march to quickly breach the German lines. He created seven columns that were six vehicles wide and over two hundred vehicles long (including Kangaroos) that were to penetrate the German defences and drive on to their objectives. These columns were to be guided by navigators, radio direction finding and even Bofors AA guns firing tracer to indicate the direction to go. Preceded by heavy bombing attacks, the advance march was surprisingly successful with most columns reaching their objectives quickly. This was despite zero visibility in the dark due to the effects of the bombing and the clouds of dust attributable to so many vehicles. Attacking in column like this during the day would have been suicide.

The scenario is (currently) 24 turns long and has the unique issue that Canadians might halt their advance anytime from 7 am (15% chance). This reflects the halt Simonds called once he realised his forces were on their objectives and would have to wait until a second round of heavy bombing occurred at midday. From a scenario perspective only units not in contact will be fixed. The Canadian halt gave the Germans a chance to reset their defences and launch their initial counterattacks.

Here is a section of the map showing the German front line and the Allied columns in the jump map;






Here is some closer detail of the Allied 'armoured' columns, ready to move off. The highlighted units are fixed and are the follow on forces that were to clear the German flank defences once the columns had moved on. The columns were built with navigators in the front, Flails next, Sherman squadrons following and then the Kangaroos. There are some frightening recollections of flail tanks lost in the night time 'smog' and running amok through columns ;






#0808_04 Gaumesnil - Wittmann's Last Ride (8 turns) covers the initial German counterattack launched by Meyer's Hitlerjugend Division. This attack was accelerated when it became apparent that the Allies were about to launch another bombing raid (the same raid the Canadians had halted for). Meyer could see that the Allies had stopped but were bringing up two fresh Armoured Divisions (4th Canadian & 1st Polish) and if they were not 'put off balance' the German line would never be reformed in time. Despite Wittmann's death (with four other Tiger tanks) the German attack was generally successful;






With both the Allied bombing and the German counterattack over, Simonds committed his two Armored Divisions at 2 pm. It was the first time in battle for both formations and the Polish were particularly keen to be in action. Polish Major General Mazcek pushed forward with little deployed artillery or support assets and ran straight into Kampfgruppe Waldmuller. 

#0808_05 Cauvicourt - Blooding the Polish (7 turns) covers this first time engagement for the Poles. Of note the Japgpanzer IV company present was to fight tenaciously during Operation Totalize with two vehicles alone claiming over 40 Shermans knocked out.






For the second day of Operation Totalize, Jeff Conner created the 25 turn #0809_01 Worthington Force - Sacrifice on Point 140.

This scenario covers the almost incomprehensible 'loss' of two Canadian armoured and infantry regiments. Colonel Worthington was ordered to move South West and take Point 195. Leaving in the dark he headed South East and sighting higher ground assumed he was at his objective. Unfortunately he had arrived at Point 140, which just happened to be the rally position for Kampfgruppe Waldmuller. When the Germans discovered the lost Canadians deep within their lines, they commenced furious attacks to destroy them. The Canadians took almost all day to find their lost regiments and by then it was too late;






For the 11th August, we move back into the American sector. With the Mortain counterattack stopped, the Americans were moving behind the German lines with little opposition. General Patton wanted to drive onto the Seine while the more cautious senior Allied Generals wanted to pocket the Germans before they could retreat.

Rick Bancroft has authored the 36 turn #0811_01: Barenton - V Corps Strikes. This was a first attempt to trap the German Panzer forces that had attacked at Mortain and at the very least cut their supply roads. Both the US 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions feature. You can see the overall map here and the significant height differences;






This screen shows the US Armor around Barenton in more detail;






The French like the Polish were only committed late in the battle of Normandy. After arriving very late in July, they had chased the retreating Germans but had had very few engagements.

#0812_01 Forêt d'Ecouves - The Crossroads is an 8 turn 'mini' battle that covers a close range engagement in the Forêt d'Ecouves;




And finally.....

Jeff Conner has been working on #0820_01 Falaise - The Battle of Five Armies (29 turns) for quite a while. This scenario was literally delivered this morning and will go straight into the testing queue. This looks like a very innovative scenario and will have both sides desperately attacking & defending. I can't wait to give it a try.

This shot covers the overall map. The Canadian and Poles have come from the North and the Americans and French from the South. The Poles had to hold the 'Mace' (a hilltop position) against attacks from inside and outside of the pocket and were cut off for the best part of two days;






Here is a closer view of the Mace position, significant German forces from Das Reich will arrive on the eastern map edge and attempt to push the Poles back;






Here is another zoomed shot of the German forces trying to cross the Dives River and open a wide enough gap in the Allied lines. Chambois was a particular focus and the Poles were under extreme pressure here and at the Mace position;






Well that's the update for this week.

With these latest seven scenarios, we think we have covered them all, though there maybe a few more 'vs the AI' ones.

We now have to get stuck into finishing our testing and proof reading the documentation.

Till next week,

David

[phoenix]

Very pleased and excited that the St.Lambert/Chambois 'closing the pocket' battle is in there. It looks great. This was one of my first interests when I started getting into military history and I've been to 'La couloir de la mort' several times. The Polish fight near Mt Ormel was epic. Can't wait to try this. Well done, Jeff!!

Peter

[ComradeP]

Those look like some great scenarios.

If you need additional proof readers, I'm more than willing to help.

[wiggum]

Hi !

If you need someone to proof-read german text i would be glad to help you.

[Xaver]

Thanks a lot for the update, expect you dont find problems in last tests, i cant comment more, only thanks again and good luck, waiting december HO HO HO.

[Compass Rose]

Great looking stuff!

Thanks for sharing.