An Informal History of Panzerblitz

AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF T H E DEVELOPMENT OF PANZER BLITZ B Y ALAN R. ARVOL D he following article is a mored fighting vehicles. Indeed, it he used pz ivhs, Panthers, Tigers history of the development had been something he had wanted (both is and iis), Nashorns, sg iiigs, of the game PanzerBlitz, to do for a few years but, at that and halftracks. For the Russians he Tstarting back in the late 1960s. My time, collecting hard data on afvs used t-34cs, t-34/85s, su-76s, su- source material stems from many and their guns was a difficult thing 85s, jsu-122s, js-iis, and Lend-Lease period gaming magazines from the to do. Hard data just was not very Shermans and halftracks. Each late Sixties to the early Seventies. available and he had to rely on in- counter contained a top view of the A few, like The General Vol. 7, No. 3 formation gleaned from the various vehicle in question, its name or des- and Strategy & Tactics No. 22, have armor miniature rules that were in ignation, the Movement Factor on offered great designer’s notes and existence at the time, such as Schw- the upper area of the counter, and D-Elim Vol. 2, No. 11 even printed erpunkt and the recently released three numbers along the side, giv- a genealogy of the successive game Angriff. ing the maximum armor thickness designs that led to PanzerBlitz. From these he devised a sim- of the front, side ,and rear of the Many others only offered little tid- ple little game which he eventu- vehicle. There was no infantry or ar- bits of information, usually in their ally called Highway 61. Here, each tillery, just afvs, at first. respective gaming news sections player was provided with a number Play was simple. There was no which, when taken individually, say of large 1 by 2 inch counters of dif- board. Highway 61 was played on very little, but when taken all to- ferent types of afvs. The time period the floor or a very large table, just gether, really round out the infor- was 1944, using the available tanks like Jutland. The game turn had two mation supplied by the other major of the time. As the setting was the phases: movement and fire. During articles. Eastern Front, these afvs were Ger- the movement phase the players man and Russian. For the Germans would first write down the planned HIG H WAY 61 movement of their counters on a piece of paper and then all players It is generally agreed that the would move their units simultane- first design that led to PanzerBlitz ously, following the directions of was a test game called Highway their orders. The mf number on the 61. In early 1968, James Dunnigan counter was the number of inches was riding high on the popular- it could move in a turn. It cost one ity of his Jutland game that had inch of movement to turn up to 90 been released the year before by degrees and two inches of move- Avalon Hill. In that game he suc- ment to turn from 91 to 180 de- cessfully converted naval miniatures grees. Physically, the counters were to a semi-boardgame state. Having moved using a straightedge ruler. done that, he decided to see if he Movement was voluntary; a player could do it again, this time with ar- could move some, all, or none of his Imaginative Strategist 2 History of PanzerBlitz chine guns on which could not pen- etrate any tank: they thus became mere targets. Dunnigan solved that problem by giving them anti-tank guns to transport. The guns were on one inch square counters with a top view of the gun in question and the gun caliber printed in millime- ters. The Russians got the 76.2mm gun and the Germans received the 75mm and a few 88mm guns as well. Simple rules for transporting and loading/unloading were devised. The anti-tank guns fired in the same direction as the assault guns with the 88mm being able to fire in all directions by virtue of its anti-aircraft mounting. In this state, the game proved to be so popular that Dunnigan started to devise a version of it for the North African theatre, but no hard copy was ever counters as he pleased. In the fir- players would first roll to see if they made for play testing. ing phase, players would determine hit the target vehicles. Those that the range between their counters did would go to penetration col- STATE FARM 69 and their intended targets using a umn to see if they pierced the target yard stick or a tape measure. Ve- vehicle’s armor or not, depending In the early summer of 1968 one hicles with turrets could fire in any on where it was hit (front, side, or of the playtesters, Edi Birsan, made direction, while vehicles with hull- rear). If the tank was penetrated, it a boardgame version of Highway 61. mounted guns could only fire in was flipped over to its other side to He presented it to James Dunnigan the forward arc radiating from the signify that it was a wreck. Other- who, as was his wont, polished it up front side of the counter. Players wise the tank was still in the game. a bit and gave it a new title: State would then consult the firing tables Line of sight/fire was very simple as Farm 69. Because the game was provided in the game. Each table there was no terrain; vehicles and played on a hexboard, terrain could was for a certain type of gun carried wrecks were the only things that now be fully added, which entailed by the afvs, thus more than one ve- could block los/lof. Visibility was the formulation of new sighting hicle could use the same table. They unlimited; the guns could all reach rules. The counters were shrunk were divided into four columns: the the maximum ranges on their re- down to one-half inch size with the first was for the range in inches be- spective firing charts. same pictures and values on them tween the firing unit and the target; The game proved popular among as previously. The firing charts were the second was the dice roll to see the playtest crowd at Poultron Press; easy to convert by merely changing if the firing unit hit without having in fact, several of them brought the distance in inches to hexes. The moved in the previous movement woods and buildings from regular movement factors on the counters phase; the third was the dice roll miniatures tables in an effort to in- did not change but now became to see if the firing unit hit and had troduce terrain into the system, but movement points with each type of moved in the previous movement all they proved to be were places to terrain hex requiring a certain num- phase; and fourth was the armor hide behind. One early complaint ber of them to enter. As playtesting penetration at the given range. The concerned the halftracks, the ma- continued through the summer, Imaginative Strategist 3 History of PanzerBlitz It is interesting to note that sev- dius of the round in question (each eral aspects of State Farm 69 had a artillery unit would fire one round lasting effect in the future designs per attack) and the odds of the said of tactical games in the series. For unit being within that radius. The example, units that were in cover- area in the hexes was quite small ing terrain, or out of the los if in and only one unit - be it vehicle, open terrain, were not placed on gun, or infantry squad - could be the board until they were spotted. in a hex at a time (there was no In open terrain that was easy: if stacking). The combat results in the the unit was within the maximum game were still either “no effect” or sighting distance it was automati- “destroyed.” Even armored vehicles cally seen and placed on the board. could be killed, based on the prem- Units in covering terrain (woods ise that a round that either scored a and buildings) had to be spotted. direct hit (a rarity) or that landed Spotting occurred either if you had nearby (most likely), would damage a friendly unit in a hex adjacent to the tank enough to get a mobility the hidden unit, or if the hidden kill and thus take it out of the game. unit fired. Spotting was automatic Of course artillery of a lesser caliber when adjacent, whereas spotting a (mostly the on-board artillery units) more features were added to the firing unit was based on the results had less of a chance of scoring a kill. game. Infantry appeared in squads from a spotting table: the farther All this would have a profound ef- and, of course, a whole set of new away the spotting units were, the fect when Dunnigan would figure rules and firing tables to accompany less chance they had of seeing the out the attack factors of the big ar- them. By the fall artillery was intro- firing unit by its muzzle flashes. The tillery units in PanzerBlitz that we duced, first as on-board counters chances of spotting were based on a now know so well. with more anti-tank guns, infantry sliding scale and by the time you got Yet another interesting feature guns, and mortars, then later in the out to a real life distance of 500 me- was Dunnigan’s attempt at Com- form of off-board units for the bigger ters, the chances were already less mand and Control.

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