From the Front - Smoke

[Dog Soldier]

From the Front is a discussion of Tactics and mechanics of the Panzer Battles Game series.

Today I will be discussing the use of smoke in PzB Battles of Kursk - Southern Front.

Smoke in PzB is a bit tricky to get used to as smoke use in other games people have experienced can be different. That knowledge carry over can make for unexpected results.

There are many uses for smoke. Covering your advance, covering your retreat, moving that important gun that has to limber to a new position, or just to annoy your opponent.
And many, many more...

Here is an example.
This is the situation before the Russian turn. Panzers appeared over the ridge and are staring at your positions.


Smoke is only useful in PzB if it is placed between the units to block LOS. In the image below smoke was placed in the panzers hexes. This will not change the LOS for the panzers.


The best way to block the panzers in their turn is to place smoke as shown below. all Soviet units are now hidden from the panzers.


Many times a commander must be economical with their use of smoke. There is never enough smoke.
Here is an example of using three smoke rounds. There are many different ways to accomplish this effect. Some of the benefits of the demonstrated method are:

1. The three more powerful panzer units on the right of the German line are now screened from firing on the Soviet artillery.
   
2. The smaller HQ Panzer is the only unit with a LOS to the Soviet artillery positions. It is restricted to just one of the two forward gun positions.
   
3. The panzers have to decide to move up close and risk point blank artillery fire or hope the Soviet guns on the right are limbering so they can catch them.
   
4. The Soviet armored car can easily move away after spotting the panzers for artillery barrages.
   

The down side considerations of this placement for the Soviet are:

1. The HQ panzer unit on the left can spot for an artillery or air strike on the left Soviet gun position.
   
2. The panzers can send one unit, the PzII (second tank from the left), into a smoke hex and then attempt to use the recon spotting action to acquire the Soviet right hand gun position again. In this example the PzII is a recon designated unit.
   

Here is the same situation using only two smoke rounds. Only the two panzer units on the right are blocked from seeing the Soviet guns. This may be the best one can do when the smoke allotment is running out or needs to be conserved.


Now the Soviet player will try to make the best of only one smoke round. Note in the following series of images how the different panzers individual unit LOS has been affected. The panzer unit highlighted with the red square around it is the active unit in each image. The light colored hexes are the LOS seen for that unit.






Here is another example using a tank encounter.


The Soviet use of smoke does hide the T-34s from being shot from the panzer current locations in the image below. However this use of smoke has several bad side effects.

1. The T-34s are more blind than the panzers. If the panzers rush the T-34s in the next Axis turn, the Soviets will be in unable to take opportunity shots until the panzers are right on top of them.
   
2. The panzers are free to maneuver as the Soviet units are the ones more affected by the smoke screen that the panzers.
   

A better placement of smoke shown below, blocks the panzers LOS to the T-34's. The panzers will be vulnerable to closer range fire if the panzers try to maneuver around or go through the smoke screen. Entering the smoke hex provides the panzers with no protection. The T-34s will be free to shoot at the panzer with defensive fire if the panzers advance into any of the smoke hexes.


There are many more ways to use smoke. Post your favorite smoke use in this thread.

Add comments or ask questions about specific situations encountered in the use of smoke in this thread. We are all learning the way the Panzer Battles game system works. There is much more depth to the mechanics. The subtleties of good tactics can be discovered by the more one plays with the game.

Dog Soldier

[ComradeP]

Interesting post.

You can completely block LOS to the artillery units by placing two smoke rounds south of them (as in, 1 in each hex 1 hex below their positions). The central hex in between them is also forested, so it blocks LOS.

The artillery units in your example are hidden until they fire due to the terrain they are in (they would also be hidden if they switch to T mode, provided they're not spotted whilst doing so). Screening them with smoke is primarily useful for allowing them to switch to T mode and either move out of their hex in the same turn or the next.

It's important to keep in mind that LOS is a cone of sorts, so units can see around "corners" in the sense that their LOS is not limited to straight or diagonal lines from their hexrow. That makes placing smoke further away from the units you want to screen/blind less efficient.

In some cases, units in clear terrain that have not moved are also hidden (up to a certain distance it seems). I'm not entirely sure how that rule works yet. In the Ozerovskii scenario, the same one as in the first example, the Soviet light tanks that function as triggers for their tank brigades spot my units before I can spot them, even though the light tank units are also in clear terrain. A special visibility rule might apply to Fixed units in clear terrain, I might've missed it.

[Dog Soldier]

Interesting post.

You can completely block LOS to the artillery units by placing two smoke rounds south of them (as in, 1 in each hex 1 hex below their positions). The central hex in between them is also forested, so it blocks LOS.

Yes, this will work too. There are many variations for the use of smoke. The downside for the Soviet units in this action is the smoke is being placed directly next to the Soviet guns, blinding them. This a big advantage to the panzers who will be able to rush the Soviet positions without any fear of defensive fire until they are point blank with the Soviet guns (adjacent hexes). While the artillery pieces might get off a shot when the panzers appear right on top of them, the fire from the panzers in their turn will be most destructive. Better to place the smoke out a small ways so that supporting units to the gun position would be able to open up on the advancing panzers.

A neat tactic is to place a defensive unit then have hidden units nearby to fire on approaching enemy attackers who only some of your force. The possibilities are enormous. These types of tactics were used historically by the Soviets at Kursk. Panzer commander to Commad HQ: "It looks like we have broken through and can roll straight over the few disorganized defenders fleeing in front of us." Loud explosions are heard. The radio connection goes to static back at command HQ. Hello? Hello?

The artillery units in your example are hidden until they fire due to the terrain they are in (they would also be hidden if they switch to T mode, provided they're not spotted whilst doing so). Screening them with smoke is primarily useful for allowing them to switch to T mode and either move out of their hex in the same turn or the next.

It is implicitly assumed for the purpose of this demonstration that the forward guns were spotted when the panzers cleared the ridge. There is a recon unit in the panzer line. I did not explicitly call this one out. Sorry if that confuses some people. There are several other ways to have spotted these guns by the time the panzers reach this area if you wish to confine your thinking to recognizing where I took the screen shot from. I am speaking more broadly about concepts and general tactics. I did mention in my post "the panzers are staring at the your positions".?

It's important to keep in mind that LOS is a cone of sorts, so units can see around "corners" in the sense that their LOS is not limited to straight or diagonal lines from their hexrow. That makes placing smoke further away from the units you want to screen/blind less efficient.

Not necessarily....OS follows the center of the hexes or the side of the hexes. LOS is not so block like as you describe.
When the visibility shoots up on a warm July day in 1943 over the open Steppes, you can see for four to five Km. To be dogmatic in doctrine and always place smoke adjacent to the enemy can then protect the enemy from your defensive fire. One has to weigh the merits of placement based on the situation. Consider LOS with other units who can direct artillery fire, direct fire opportunities from long range guns etc.

As an example, one might want to screen a stack of panzers from seeing a movement of T-34s moving from one dead ground position to another. Placing smoke, (if the guns firing the smoke have enough range) directly next to the panzers may ruin the chance to direct fire on those same panzers later in the turn by other forces. Such close proximity of smoke rounds to the enemy units throws away the point you make above about 'a cone of visibility'. The smoke rounds create their own shadow cones too. I recommend people open a game file, push some units around to create a contrived but possible situation then experiment with dropping smoke in different places to see the LOS effects. Or you can get a pad, pencil and straight edge and do the geometry off line. But that is not as much fun.

In some cases, units in clear terrain that have not moved are also hidden (up to a certain distance it seems). I'm not entirely sure how that rule works yet. In the Ozerovskii scenario, the same one as in the first example, the Soviet light tanks that function as triggers for their tank brigades spot my units before I can spot them, even though the light tank units are also in clear terrain. A special visibility rule might apply to Fixed units in clear terrain, I might've missed it.

No there is no special visibility rule. This works the same as it does in Squad Battles. The rational is the same.

The ability of a phasing unit to immediately have enemy units in LOS visible at the end of the unit's movement in PzC is not used at the Panzer Battles scale. The PzC visibility is based on two factors.

1. A PzC daylight turn is two hours long. Plenty of time to identify enemy units.
   
2. Units in PzC are huge when compared to single small T-70s or armored cars sitting quietly observing the terrain in front of them as in Panzer Battles. In PzC a full battalion or company can be seen regardless of terrain it is in. At the PzB scale this had to be altered to reflect the distances and size of the units.
   

The point made here is use historical tactics of the period. Recon units in the Panzer Battles games are very valuable assets, not just secondary units to run around 'bumping' into the enemy as they are used in PzC by some players. The recon units should proceed the main force when marching over long distances that are in some of the scenarios like the Ozerovskii scenario. This might mean they are out there, on their own, a full turn or half turn ahead of the main force. Such is the risk of being in the recon business in 1943 Russia.
March blindly without using recon units provided and see the results of that command decision.

I hope this post expands the discussion in this thread.

Dog Soldier

[Landser34]

Thanks for the tips im sure they will help out I know they did me im used to the smoke of squad battles.

[ComradeP]

A neat tactic is to place a defensive unit then have hidden units nearby to fire on approaching enemy attackers who only some of your force.

This tactic can be very efficient indeed, but it can also backfire rather quickly as you can't set the actual engagement ranges for the hidden units. That makes coordinating fire between units with a different range difficult. Worst case scenario, some of your units open fire at a range where they are not very effective ("short" can still mean 4 or so hexes) and get hammered by artillery in the next enemy turn, whilst the rest of your units doesn't fire.

Playing against myself, the shorter ranges of Soviet units made the tactic more practical than the varied ranges of German units which make it difficult to determine which units will fire when.

One has to weigh the merits of placement based on the situation.

My experience thus far is that for the Soviets I prefer smoke to be as close as possible, even though it might make it obvious where my units are (but in most cases, that's fairly obvious to begin with as most maps have bottlenecks or areas that can be more easily defended than other parts of the map) as if the Germans spot something, it's likely to die.

For the Germans, I prefer using smoke to blind the Soviets so they can't call in artillery, but that smoke is not necessarily adjacent to their units. However, placing smoke adjacent to Soviet units can also be an excellent way to make a counterattack more risky, as the Soviets risk attracting opportunity fire as they move into the smoke hex before they can fire.

No there is no special visibility rule. This works the same as it does in Squad Battles. The rational is the same.

Never having played Squad Battles, that means the rule is new for me.

I fully agree with the rationale, I just didn't know the rule worked that way. I thought being within LOS of an enemy unit still meant a unit was automatically spotted if it was not hidden.

[Tide1]

Good stuff DS

[Xaver]

Interesting, maybe as in other hex wargames smoke has the limit of where use it... you cant use it over your units or enemy units to "reduce" on hex units firepower/performance... i never understand why wargames dont cover smoke as an "offensive weapon" for example smoke in an hex with an unit on it the unit suffer a % reduction in firepower BUT units that shoot it have same problem to... i think in many books where the counter tactic to smoke screens was shoot blind over smoke... i remember read how in some situations soldiers prefer dont use smoke to cover advance because MG-42 simple fire over it and they cant counter MGs.