Panzergruppe first saw the light of day back around 2000 when I wrote a simple operational game to fight the entire Six Day War in Sinai with brigade sized elements and and day long turns. It has been through numerous iterations since then and I played a few remote games during lockdown (Operation Goodwood, Battle of the Jarama and Kasserine Pass) but I've not summoned the enthusiasm to put on any face to face games although I have a half worked up Arnhem scenario.
Based on recent games of Megablitz and NQM I've been ruminated over some changes, some more fundamental than others and I thought the best way to do that was play around with an existing scenario. which stretches some of the mechanisms a bit.
This is the Battle of Zoltsy in July 1941. Lake Ilmen is in the bottom right, Novgorod is off the eastern table edge. Zoltsy is the on the crossroads in the middle, Dno to the southwest, Porti in the far west and Luga is the T junction at the top. The River Mchanga runs rather erratically down into Lake Ilman and the entire region is heavily forested and very difficult terrain, indicated by the scattered trees. These are 10km hexes as Russia is BIG.
56th Panzer Corps commanded by Erich von Manstein is busy driving northeast in the direction of Leningrad, and opposing them is 27th Army under Morozov.
The general situation. Manstein is advancing along the axis Porti-Zoltsy-Novgorod and has just captured Zoltsy with 8th Panzer Division while 3rd Motorised Division secures the rollbahn. Somewhere north is a German infantry division advancing on Luga, but the Russians have a couple of rather battered Rifle Corps holding a sketchy front line.
Unknown to Manstein, Morozov has laid a trap and large forces are preparing to counterattack and encircle the over extended Germans who are all rather battered. irl 8th Panzer Division was surrounded for four days before being relieved.
While the combat in this scenario is fairly straightforward (excellent but battered Germans vs lousy 1941 Russians), it stretches the supply system to the limit as there are so few usable roads and cross country movement is difficult.
I'm using Regimental bases for the Germans. Here are 8th Panzer Division at Zoltsy with a panzer Regiment (Pz 38), two Schutzen Regiments, a combined HQ/Support stand (the Jagdpanzer 1) with all the AT, engineer, recce etc stuff and the divisional artillery. Stacking limit is two, but three if units of the same division. All the German units have taken a hit, indicated by those ugly hit markers. I'll swap them for more discrete ones.
Thought no. 1. I used to use hidden Megablitz style SP markers, but I just couldn't be bothered to put them on the units this time. For the remote games I used sticky colour dots for each formation and just wrote the SP on each one. For some reason I've got a bit tired of hidden strengths, just because it is a bit fiddly to manipulate the counters.
Thought 2. I really like the treatment of HQs in NQM, so I'll try and bolt that on to an extent. Each formation has a support/HQ stand (they always have had), but higher formations now also have dedicated Command stands. I gave 56th Pz Corps a staff stand in a radio truck and a tac HQ stand in the form of von Manstein, who can just be seen with 8th Pz arty and HQ.
3rd Motorised Division back down the road. As these guys are motorised, not mechanised (ie they dont have integral tactical transport) I've done the infantry regiments as leg infantry stands but added a lorry to indicate the general mode of divisional transport. Along with its two infantry regiments, 3rd Mot has an HQ/support stand (the infantry gun) and an artillery regiment.
Thought 3. I was thinking of changing the way supply works to make more use of NQM style LOG units, but having set all the units up I realised it wasn't going to work and reverted to my standard system. Supply can be traced from a controlled road back to a supply source on a unit by unit basis at the disengaged (ie non tactical) movement rate. Motorised units have a disengaged movement allowance of 5 hexes, but bad going counts double, so effectively they have to stay within two hexes of the road in the forests. Up to twice the movement distance away, they operate at 'low supply' which reduces movement and attack effectiveness.
Riding to the rescue we have SS Totenkopf in Corps reserve, they will only get released if the situation warrants it. Totenkopf is similar to 3rd Mot, except it has three regiments not two. There are also a couple of wings of Stukas, but like the other units, they are each carrying a hit. The Germans have partial air superiority which reduces Russian mechanised march movement by 1 point.
56th PzKps Corps staff is at Porti, as is a single motorised logistic column. This functions as a mobile supply source, but has to trace supply back to supply head via a road in the usual manner.
The Russian front line consists of six Rifle Divisions, a pair of Corps artillery regiments and an independent Tank Brigade. It is July 1941 so the Rifle 'Divisions' just have a single stand as at this time they averaged around 4,000 effectives. I've rolled the divisional artillery up into the Corps artillery units as 1941 Soviet Rifle Corps only effectively had single large battalion of Corps artillery. They are deployed along the Luga Road, but the capture of Zoltsy has cut their supply route back to Novgorod. These units are also all reduced (carrying one hit).
The forests aren't bad going for leg and horse drawn units, so effectively leg and motorised units have comparable mobility in the dense terrain.
Lurking in the forests is 27th Army, surprise! A Rifle Corps, a Tank Division and a Mechanised Division. 22nd Rifle Corps has three Rifle Divisions, an HQ/Support unit (the 45mm AT guns) and a Gun Artillery Brigade.
The armour is 21st Mechanised Corps with 3rd Tank Div and 220 Mechanised Div. 3 TD has two tank Regiments, one of which is a command T28. 220 Mech has two Motor Rifle Regiments and a light Tank Regiment. There is also a corps Motorcycle Regiment which I assign to 3 TD as 1941 TDs only have a battalion equivalent of motorised infantry. The Corps is very short of motor transport so its logistic train is horse drawn, although in the wooded terrain that matters less.
There is also the Army HQ (a dedicated HQ) and a motorised transport regiment which functions the same as the German one. In the wooded terrain northeast of the Mchanga this unit will be vital, although the Russians can draw supply from the north and south table edges as well as the road, it doesnt reach far in the wooded terrain. Finally there is a weak Soviet air Regiment for ground support.
Thought 4. I'm going to use the command units in a similar manner to NQM - units need to be in command to attack, call in support fire and reorganise. The Russians have relatively fewer command units than the Germans, which should be interesting.
In the south we have the other arm of the pincer. 52nd Rifle Corps with three Rifle Divisions, HQ/Support (another 45m AT gun) and the Corps transport is horse drawn (which affects unit mobility and supply range). Atttached to the Corps is 21st Tank Division from 21st Mech Corps, with two Tank Regiments, one of which is a command T28.
Before the game the Russian counterattack force moves up east of the river. The Rifle Corps will secure the road to Novgorod and ideally retake Zoltsy.
The armoured units will try and outflank the Germans from the north to encircle them. The supply column can extend supply from the Novgorod road to keep them in supply and then perhaps draw supply from the board edge east of Luga (the Luga road cant be used as a supply source as the Germans have cut it).
Having positioned the units I've updated their supply status. Those yellow markers show all the Russian units on low supply as the road via Zoltsy has been cut.
Thought 5. I used to have a complex system of unit endurance where depending on their integral supply levels units could survive for a few days even isolated. I used to find it confusing and so did the players. Instead I'm going to use the system in Unconditional Surrender - units out of supply go to low supply first, then if at low supply, become isolated next turn. I'll keep the complexity of full supply sources and low supply sources though as it works well for airborne operations, deep armoured operations and for situations where the logistic network can only sustain low (or defensive) supply. I came across the concept of offensive and defensive supply in an old computer game on Market Garden and thought it was so brilliant I've used it ever since.
Finally we have the date (15th July) recorded on my knitting counter, and the weather. Bad, overcast and clear. Air sorties are doubled in good weather, standard in overcast and not allowed in bad weather. I'll roll for the weather each turn but it starts clear.
22nd Rifle Corps rolls westwards while the front line units get out of the way. A couple of divisions and an artillery brigade form an enclave next to Lake Ilman and one division digs in. These are now isolated from the rest of the their formation so 27th Army HQ moves into contact to keep them in command.
22 RC doesn't have enough movement to move up and assault today, so it just moves into position next to Zoltsy.
In the north 3 TD and 220 MD cross the Machanga and take Luga, they can only advance a couple of hexes in the bad terrain - motorised units have 5 MP but each forest hex costs two, and German air interdiction takes another point off. The rifle divisions form up facing 3rd Mot Div, but take no offensive action.
Critically the LOG column crosses the river and can draw supply from the hex northeast of Luga. This now functions as a mobile supply source for the entire northern flank.
Thought 6. I need to carefully differentiate between the division transport and the Army level LOG as they look very similar. NQM rides to the rescue with the concept of Transport stands vs LOG stands. The transport stands in the case of Panzergruppe just show the internal mobility of the formation, and dont really even need a physical presence on the table. But they look nice.
52nd Rifle Corps comes piling on and takes Dno. This is important as the Russians can draw supply from the southern table edge, and that road will extend the supply network north. Supply range for the elements of this Corps is three hexes as it is horse drawn. The Rifle Divisions and Tank Regiments fan out to bottle up 8th Panzer, but the tanks are very obviously pointing at Porti deep in the German rear!
In the absence of any reliable intel on what is happening on the flanks, 56th Panzer Corps effectively forms a hedgehog with the rifle regiments and combat support units digging in. 8th Panzer Regiment motors back down the road to maintain a rear link with 3rd Mot, and for now the supplies are still flowing up the road from Porti.
Thought 6. I need to figure out a better way of presenting the various movements rates for different mobility types, particularly with the added complication of air interdicton. Fitting all the rules on one side of A4 is very admirable, but....
The 16th is a decisive turn. 21st Tank Div crashes through the forest and puts a ZOC over the road leading east from Porti. The Germans still control the road but you cant trace supply through a ZOC. The Russian tanks have also moved beyond their basic supply range so will go to 'low supply' at the end of the turn. Low supply range is twice basic supply, but this will reduce their movement and halves their attack strength. Worth it to cut the road from Porti.
220 MD marches SW from Luga through the forest and makes contact with 3rd Mot Divs artillery and transport! It doesn't have enough movement to assault this turn however.
3rd Tank Div marches straight down the road from Luga, shrugging off German air attacks. Roads can only accommodate one unit per hex, so the Corps becomes strung out in a long column. The leading Regiment puts a ZOC over Porti and the German supply source. 56th Panzer Corps is cut off, while the Russian tankers can draw supply down the road to Luga.
Thought 7. I really must clarify the way ZOCs work as well as march movement into enemy territory. I've been through various iterations and the one I'd drafted (which involved dicing for each enemy controlled hex entered to see if there was an ambush) was just too silly. Latest plan is that units in march mode can choose to enter an enemy ZOC, but may be subject to an ambush if they do. I'm thinking ahead about how to model Frosts march to Arnhem Bridge.
Back at Zoltsy, 22nd Rifle Corps puts in an assault, supported by the other rifle divisions in the area. Both sides throw in their airforces. The weather is overcast today, so air is at base strength. The Russians also make an attack on the isolated 8th Panzer Regiment with infantry troops. Tank units are normally doubled in value, but not in a forest.... I did it that way rather than giving tanks more SP as OR shows that tank units suffer disproportionate losses in combat compared to their combat power, and recover it much faster than infantry units too.
Both Russian assaults are repelled with difficulty, the German take some losses and all the Russians take a step loss. The combat system is based on Dupuy (and, it turns out, the Soviet staff wargames manual!) where force ratios determine the combat outcome and percentage losses, but those percentages are applied to ALL participating units. So if you make massed attacks with poor quality units, you suffer far high actual losses than attacking with a couple of good units with masses of support assets.
Thought 8. I had been going to experiment with a standard 4 levels of combat effectiveness (1,2,3 hits then dead on 4) rather like NQM or the German 'Kampfstarke' rating. But in the end I just coudn't be bothered, even though my current system of taking hits off unit SP runs the risk of what Neil Thomas called 'double counting'. I may come back to it in future when I've ironed a few other things out.
At the end of the 16th both 3rd Mot and 8th Panzer are cut off from their supply source and become 'low supply'. They can still defend at full strength, but have restricted mobility and half attack strength. 21st Tank Div also goes to low supply as it has outrun its supply line from Dno.
The threat to Porti has brought 3rd SS Totenkopf onto the table. This is a tough division, but all they can do at the moment is pack Porti and and the hex south of the town.
The Russians at Zoltsy bide their time and either dig in or try to recover their losses from the previous attack. In proximity to the enemy this is more difficult. 8th Panzer Regt withdrew back into the town, so one Rifle Division cuts the road west.
Thought 9. I had been going to change the reorg mechanism to be deterministic, but in the end I kept the current random system - you need to throw over the current SP remaining to recover 1SP, so as units recover strength, they become progressively harder to recover. The only change I made was that units need to be both in supply and command to reorganise, thank you NQM.
Back at Porti the two Tank Divisions formed up to block Totenkopf. 21st TD even motored onto the road.
Further up the road the Russians made a mass assault on 3rd Mot Division, concentrating on the northernmost regiment.
The attack succeeded! The Germans fell back to their artillery positions and 3rd Mot was compressed into two hexes. Russian infantry occupied the vacated positions, 220 Mech Div had to stay where it was as it needed to reorganise and was currently out of contact which makes it easier.
SS Totenkopf showed how it was done and attacked up the road. They inflicted a heavy defeat on 21st Tank Division which fell back with heavy losses (total operational strength 1SP!) , two German regiments followed up. German losses were light due to the structure of the combat system (for a tactical victory only one third of participating victorious unit take a hit). The SS would have to both open up the road and guard their flanks. 21st Tank Div still had a ZOC over the road though.
Still out of supply, 3rd Mot and 8th Panzer now became 'isolated', those big red counters. That is bad as they cant attack and defend at half strength. Good job the infantry and combat support have all dug in.
The Russians make a big attack on Zoltsy from all directions to take advantage of the German supply situation.
The Russians also make a spoiling attack on Porti with 3rd Tank Div (which fails) and a spoiling attack on 3rd Mot (which also fails). 21st Tank Division manages to recover some strength.
Disaster at Zoltsy though as the town is overrun, 8th Panzer Regiment, a rifle regiment and the divisional artillery are destroyed. Manstein survives however and the division is reduced to one rifle regiment and its combat support elements, badly damaged.
The Russians have a bloody repulse by 3rd Mot, at some cost to the Germans though.
SS Totenkopf continues to expand its attack, 21st Tank Division is driven back and partly destroyed, 220 Mech Division retreats. The advancing SS soldiers make contact with the very battered 3rd Motorised Division.
8th Panzer contracts into a small pocket due west of Zoltsy, but now the SS have opened the road, both 8th Panzer and 3rd Mot are back in supply. 56th Panzer Corps is saved!
A Russian division is still sitting on the road two hexes west of Zoltsy, so 8th Panzer and half of 3rd Mot have to draw supply cross country, exceeding their basic supply range so go to low supply. That is still better than isolated as now they defend at full strength.
The Russians make one last big effort to finish off 8th Panzer, but by now the Luftwaffe has rearmed and the sun is shining.
The attack fails bloodily but the tank regiment from 220 Mech Div cuts the road further west.
The Germans are having none of that and an SS counterattack drives the Russian tanks back, leaving blazing wrecks across the battlefield. The road is now firmly in German hands and all the German divisions are now in full supply.
On the 20th, the Russians realise they no longer have to strength to defeat the Germans and switch to a defensive posture. The Germans are very battered but will no doubt be able drive off the weakened Russian units in the immediate vicinity but it will take a week to rebuild 8th Panzer Regiment, so an operational pause is in order.
That was actually a very useful session and I've ended up largely leaving things as they are. The combat system produces the desired effects as better quality units have a very disproportionate effect on combat outcomes, more so than indicated by the raw SP values. All things being equal, three units of 4SP will be more than enough to defeat twelve units of 1SP in fairly short order despite the apparent equality of combat values as even if the larger force won a battle at 1:1, it would suffer casualties twice the rate of the weaker force and if it lost, it would suffer them at eight times the rate! That is completely in line with Dupuy, and why it worked so well for the 1967 Arab Israeli War.
I've also had some useful thoughts about how to streamline the treatment of ZOC and the management of command and suppplies. At some point I may come back to the Kampfstarke model of combat effectiveness - 1 = full effectiveness, 2 = limited offensive, 3 = defensive only, 4 = limited defensive, but not now.