Panzer Battles 3 - March 2018 Update

[Vasili.I.Chuikov]

You could put the option to zoom in and zoom out when the artillery menu is displayed. In Battles Normandy there is no such option.

[Xaver]

Thanks for the reply, looks like now blog is up.

Damn, cant wait to buy PzB3-NA41, the problem i see is the delay to have it hehehe.

PD: is WDS to behind "Armored battles" or is another studio??? PzB is doing it fine but AB is MIA.

[Xaver]

Something i was thinking... is possible port to PzB the FWW (and in near future present to in PzC) "fragile nation" rule???

I think this could work fine in Africa title with italians, even is possible made it diferent, like made disrupted units with D or worst base quality (a B unit burned to D status is not affected by fragile nation rule) could be overrun in assaults even when they have space to retreat... or at least use the rule without change from FWW.

Other thing is if you plan test somekind of casualty recover for units, specially in armored units, maybe in night turns controled by a PDT value.

In armored combat i have the impresion that engine is going to work much better with less armored vehicles but lets see AT guns specially 88s.

Well, waiting the next game status update.

[Strela]

Something i was thinking... is possible port to PzB the FWW (and in near future present to in PzC) "fragile nation" rule???

I think this could work fine in Africa title with italians, even is possible made it diferent, like made disrupted units with D or worst base quality (a B unit burned to D status is not affected by fragile nation rule) could be overrun in assaults even when they have space to retreat... or at least use the rule without change from FWW.

Other thing is if you plan test somekind of casualty recover for units, specially in armored units, maybe in night turns controled by a PDT value.

In armored combat i have the impresion that engine is going to work much better with less armored vehicles but lets see AT guns specially 88s.

Well, waiting the next game status update.

Hi Xaver,

I'm currently working on Operation Compass and think I have a way to show Italian brittleness without porting the fragile nation rule. Testing will tell us if we have it right.

The reason I'm avoiding bringing it across is that it is either on or off for a nationality. The Italians in Compass do surrender enmasse but in later operations, not so much so.

The issues the Italians had, was less about individual bravery but poor leadership and logistics. These can all be modeled in game without needing the fragile nation rule. The other thing to note is I believe that rule is more applicable to an operational scale game where turns are longer and it shouldn't take a full day for a mass surrender. That is less an issue in Panzer Battles with 4x the turns in the same time.

As far as casualty recovery, not included/needed yet. We only have a few day+ scenarios and in most cases battles are within a day. There will be exceptions, but in the desert in particular there was little if any replacements and if a unit suffered breakdowns, it struggled to repair & reintegrate them in the time of the scenario. We will consider it if we see a need.

As far as the way the game is playing - it's the amount of terrain, unit density and ability to maneuver that are making a big difference - this is not Kursk or Normandy...!

David

[Xaver]

Thanks for the reply.

Well, is true that the "italian myth" is strong, the problem was the 1940 defeat (horrible bad command, horrible bad plan and horrible bad army... a mobile front with not a mobile units, pure foot infantry VS an agile enemy that attack where wants and defenders could be destroyed one by one) and that in 41-42-43 germans usually put all problems in the "italian basket" when for me was the use of italian units what made them suffer what they suffer (easy destroy units in desert with no transport and germans survive using them to earn time to scape... they simple sacrifice italians in many actions) and have in mind the water problem... you can survive days without food but not without water, only if you can cut oxygen supply a combat unit can surrender faster.

But in general i feel that PzB made assaults the last option because if you dont have time problems destroy by fire is better, you need the perfect combo (disrupted, isolated, low ammo) to launch one, this or have a lot reserves to rotate units.

Curious about that solution to simulate the overrun in 40 battles... in PzC in Compass add-on low quality in Lybian divisions worked fine but italian units manage very well to burn attackers and win the siege battles... maybe we can see a 1940 OOB with even lower quality units in italian army???.

For example i create a game in PzB Normandy with Luftwaffe infantry divisions infantry (E quality) heavy entrenched VS Canadian (C quality) units and only the german arty mantein them alive (with no arty canadians could suffer under 50% casualties) i imagine that in desert with terrain not offering defensive value, oposite, sand terrain increase effect of fire over it, even D infantry could have problems to stand.

Maybe one option could be add the fragile nation rule as optional rule and use it based in the scen you play... you can play 40 scens with stronger italians, or do like in MC Middle east, if i dont remember bad some scens have arabs with better quality.

Recover casulties for me is important because expand game options... you can have long battles, for example in PzB3 in a single scen have battleaxe or brevity using night turns to recover casualties... maybe instead use the recover system from PzC use the "reserve" system, you can create in the OOB a reserve with the number of vehicles-soldiers you could recover in night turns day by day (a mix of units recovered from battlefield and reserves in 2nd line).

Well, i expect North Africa not be Kursk or Normandy, specially Kursk, some movement is wellcome... until we enter in boxes and minefield lines hehehe.

I am waiting Compass battles, they are rare times covered in wargames as stock scens.

Good luck in your test, expect we can know about it soon.

[Mr Grumpy]

All looks great, this may be my first PzB purchase! 

The new VP possibility's brings a whole new aspect to JT games.

[dukemat]

I wonder when this game will ever release.

seems like they have been talking about it for years.

[Compass Rose]

I wonder when this game will ever release.

seems like they have been talking about it for years.

Good things come to those who wait

[dukemat]

I wonder when this game will ever release.

seems like they have been talking about it for years.

Good things come to those who wait

so they say...........lol

[Strela]

I wonder when this game will ever release.

seems like they have been talking about it for years.

Yes, we have been talking about it for years...

Unlike the prior titles, since we announced that we started on it, we have;

• Setup Wargame Design Studios, including web pages and regular blog articles
  
• Welcomed Berto our programmer and his requirements and needs to operate efficiently
  
• Created the Panzer Battles Demo, not with one scenario, but thirteen - for free
  
• Updated both Panzer Battles Kursk and Normandy with new user interface and a raft of other changes
  
• Released eleven Panzer Campaign Gold updates for all released Eastern Front games, including new rules, scenarios and graphics
  
• Worked on the updates for all the Western Front/Mediterranean Panzer Campaign games to the Gold standard
  
• Released Civil War Battles Campaign Petersburg
  
• Worked on updates for all the released Civil War Battle games to bring them up to Petersburg standard, including new maps, unit graphics, rules and user interfaces
  
• Setup development tools and web forums so we can manage the applicable deliverables
  
• Run two user surveys on hopes and wishes for Civil War Battles and Panzer Battles
  
• A lot more that I can’t say in this post as I’ll be called out for talking things up too far ahead of time!
  

Between Kursk and Normandy, we worked on..... Normandy!

So a lot has ended up happening since we announced this title and beneficial changes such as the new VP calculation just add to the cycle, as we have to review the scenarios already completed and decide whether to include them as an option. 

Like all things, new projects and new features add complexity and we're trying to do our best to manage it all, while being transparent. I now understand why John Tiller never pre-announced releases!!!

David