One of the endearing things about the wargame hobby for me and for those that are truly wargaming or dare I say in these ‘charged times’ actual wargamers is not just the history. I think we all get that. Its more than that, it’s the fantastic rabbit holes we can go down and when we do, we find out about folks who write books for instance on ALL the camo types or helmet types in a given era or even a unit! The evolution of field kit for soldiers over the course of a campaign!

The evolution of a weapons platform, the development of tactics to counter new threats, new technologies etc etc. We find cool people who devote hours of their time to blog about the esoteric of our hobby. Stuff that you know a few thousand of us will read and nod sagely, muttering ‘yes, yes, good data, I will use this in my next ASL tourney’ Or, ‘ahh that’s why the Finns performed so well in the winter ’39!’
This chap writes well about the Finnish organization in 1939 : https://tacticalnotebook.substack.com/p/winter-is-coming-iii

Now don’t get me wrong, decent CDG strategy games like Fire in the Lake or whatever may also inspire some reading of course, we all, if we care get a kick out of what we play, and it usually inspires further exploration. Of course, the reverse is true too, great books and articles send us to CSW and BGG’s database to find titles at 3 different scales on a topic we just read about. Why ’cause wargamers gunna wargame.

LOVE THAT!!

Figure 1 Scenario

So why the long preamble? Well Jim Day’s Panzer set this time in North Africa. Last night while setting up what should have been a small scenario in under 10 minutes, tore out and became an Odessey of “what did this vehicle do, oh wow look at that variant, how cool.”
The battle of Gazala was on deadly affair, I suggest reading up on it or catching the designer notes from your favorite game. This scenario deals with 21^st Panzers slashing looping attack on elements of First Armoured Division.

Figure 2 The arrow 2nd to the left of 1200 is 21st Panzers approach

Figure 3 Leaders, Note also tanks are flipped, these are Crusader II’s

Then like I always do I love to organize my forces into logical elements, putting platoon sized forces together, allocate attached units. Then of course the assessment of the map along with the victory conditions. I swear this is half of the fun.

Figure 4 Defenses and two platoons with mortar support

Panzer brings another level of interest also. With a wide variety of motorized platforms and distinct characteristics for each one down to armor thickness from front, side, rear, hull and turret an appreciate of how best to use these assets along with your other toys is key. I love looking at and comparing the penetration rates at various ranges, and developing a sense in my mind how the battle might, could play out. Then usually [sigh] watch it be totally different as I bungle up the assault or defense!

Figure 5 so much kit!

A stark battlefield with objectives that will drive kinetic warfare to deadly heights. While the Khamsim [dust storms] will play havocs with visibility, and ranging for shots it will give the defenders some time to get reinforcements on the board and the attacker a chance to close to fight the entrenched Brits.

The key however are the two ‘hillocks’ for want of a better term. They are worth serious VPs as is exiting AFVs intact. The rest of the VPs come the old fashioned wargamer way; Unit kills. So how will each side prepare? Tune in for the next blog post or video to see what each sides strategy will be.

I love this shit!