Misplaced Pages

#688311

68-471: PanzerBlitz simulates clashes between Soviet and German forces at the level of company-sized infantry for Russian units, and platoon-sized infantry for German units, as well as individual mechanized or motorized vehicles. This scale of simulation was new to wargaming, since previous wargames had focused on larger units such as brigades, regiments, and divisions. Much of the strategy in PanzerBlitz derives from

136-568: A Star Falls by Graeme Morris; UK5 Eye of the Serpent by Graeme Morris; UK6 All That Glitters... by Jim Bambra ; UK7 Dark Clouds Gather by Jim Bambra and Phil Gallagher . Some of these modules had their origins as the "GamesFair" tournament adventures. Don Turnbull was also the publisher of the UK based RPG magazine Imagine . TSR UK Ltd. was compromised by the management problems faced by its American parent company . In February 1987, Turnbull

204-419: A balanced mixture of such units are combined into an effective higher-echelon unit, whether formally in a table of organization or informally in an ad hoc solution to a battlefield problem. For example, an armoured division , the modern paragon of combined arms doctrine, consists of a mixture of infantry, tank , artillery , reconnaissance , and helicopter units, all of which are co-ordinated and directed by

272-624: A battle would have lasted months with many hundreds of thousands of casualties. Co-ordination and planning were the key elements, and the use of combined arms tactics in the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918 allowed the Allied forces to exploit breakthroughs in the enemy trenches, forcing the surrender of the Central Powers . In World War II combined arms was a fundamental part of some operational doctrines like Heinz Guderian 's Blitzkrieg , or

340-488: A combination of these skilled and unskilled forces to win battles. An army that has multiple skills available can engage a larger force that incorporates mainly one or two types of troops. Each type of military formation – infantry, archers, cavalry, or peasants – has certain advantages that the other does not have. Infantry allows a force to hold ground and in the event of overwhelming enemy forces withdraw into terrain that mounted troops cannot maneuver as easily, thus negating

408-573: A combined arms approach, seldom operating without supporting infantry. The French army of the Valois kings, composed of heavily armoured gendarmes (professional versions of the medieval knight ), Swiss and Landsknecht mercenary pikemen , and heavy cannons took form during the transition from the medieval way of war to the early modern period . The late 15th century saw the development of combined pike and shot formations in Europe, starting with

476-462: A game developer was the use of correspondence to run board games. In July 1969 he published the first issue of Albion magazine, one of the first European zines, supporting correspondence play of the board game Diplomacy . Although it only had a few subscribers, Albion was influential and ran to fifty issues. In 1974 it won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Amateur Wargaming Magazine . It

544-422: A manner that the actions he must take to defend himself from one make him more vulnerable to another. In contrast, supporting arms is hitting the enemy with two or more arms in sequence, or if simultaneously, then in such combination that the actions the enemy must take to defend himself from one also defends himself from the other(s). Though the lower- echelon units of a combined arms team may be of similar types,

612-411: A personal favourite and one which is most suitable for a newcomer to the hobby." Turnbull noted that the game "has variety, flexibility, realism, playability and considerable entertainment value." After a lengthy examination of the game mechanics, Turnbull concluded, "I recommend PanzerBlitz highly to anyone aspiring to become a board wargamer. [...] This game probably represents the best combination of

680-403: A quarter century after its publication, PanzerBlitz had sold 275,000 copies. Computer Gaming World columnist Terry Coleman claimed that these figures made it the second-best-selling board wargame ever, behind Axis & Allies . In his 2000 book Wargames Handbook: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames , PanzerBlitz designer Jim Dunnigan stated that the game had sold

748-466: A realistic "feel" for armored combat rather than a completely accurate simulation. Although the abstract simplicity of PanzerBlitz attracted a wide following, certain unrealistic aspects were heavily criticized. In 1969, Avalon Hill dominated the wargame market, producing on average, one game per year with well-produced but expensive components. At the new wargame publisher Poultron Press , co-founder Jim Dunnigan and his design team decided to go in

SECTION 10

#1733084845689

816-516: A simple form of combined arms, with a combination of dismounted knights forming a foundation for formations of English longbowmen . The lightly protected longbowmen could down their French opponents at a distance, whilst the armoured men-at-arms could deal with any Frenchmen who made it to the English lines. This is the crux of combined arms: to allow a combination of forces to achieve what would be impossible for its constituent elements to do alone. During

884-512: A small cavalry unit. The legion was sometimes also incorporated into a higher-echelon combined arms unit – e.g., in one period it was customary for a general to command two legions plus two similarly sized units of auxiliaries, lighter units useful as screens or for combat in rough terrain. Later during the Roman Empire, auxiliary soldiers outnumbered the core legionary troops. The army of the Han dynasty

952-626: A tank company to an infantry battalion. Combined arms operations date back to antiquity, where armies would usually field a screen of skirmishers to protect their spearmen during the approach to contact. Especially in the case of the Greek hoplites , however, the focus of military thinking lay almost exclusively on the heavy infantry. In more elaborate situations armies of various nationalities fielded different combinations of light, medium, or heavy infantry, cavalry, chariotry, camelry, elephantry, and artillery (mechanical weapons). Combined arms in this context

1020-432: A unified command structure . Also, most modern military units can, if the situation requires it, call on yet more branches of the military, such as infantry requesting bombing or shelling by military aircraft or naval forces to augment their ground offensive or protect their land forces. The mixing of arms is sometimes pushed down below the level at which homogeneity ordinarily prevails, such as by temporarily attaching

1088-426: A wide following. Quite simply, PanzerBlitz was incredibly popular when it first came out, a fact which encouraged the development of other tactical games and ultimately led to the most successful of the tactical systems, Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader ." SimCity designer Will Wright cited PanzerBlitz as one of his influences in designing his later works. Combined arms Combined arms

1156-408: Is also a very good game that is fluid in play, exciting, and colorful." He did admit there were problems with the spotting rules that allowed units "to skulk from woods without being fired on — a pattern known as the 'panzerbush syndrome'", as well as with the effectiveness of indirect high explosive artillery. Despite these issues, he gave the game an Overall Evaluation of "Very Good". By August 1996,

1224-465: Is also an example, fielding mêlée infantry (equipped with a variety of different weapons ranging from swords to pikes to halberd-like weapons), archers, crossbowmen, and cavalry (ranging from horse archers to heavy lancers). One recorded tactical formation during the Han dynasty included three ranks of halberds, swordsmen, and spearmen, supported by crossbows, and with cavalry on the flanks. Civilizations such as

1292-447: Is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects—for example, using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other. According to the strategist William S. Lind , combined arms can be distinguished from the concept of "supporting arms" as follows: Combined arms hits the enemy with two or more arms simultaneously in such

1360-425: Is complex; it's got a lot of rules and is definitely not the first wargame a novice should tackle. But it's challenging and a whole lot of fun, and that's what games are all about, isn't it?" In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming , Nicholas Palmer called it "Perhaps the most frequently played wargame ever produced." He noted PanzerBlitz was "the first to bring a wealth of tactical detail to

1428-469: Is supplemented by satellite photos and passive reception of enemy radio emissions, forward observers with digital target designation, specialized scouting aircraft, anti-artillery radars and gun-laying software for artillery. Based on this doctrine, many US ground vehicles moved across the landscape alone. If they encountered an enemy troop or vehicle concentration, they would assume a defensive posture, lay down as much covering fire as they could, designate

SECTION 20

#1733084845689

1496-418: Is the best-selling wargame ever published. Its popular features include a nifty mapboard that fits together in 12 different configurations, and rules that allow players to invent battle situations beyond the 12 provided." In the 1980 book The Complete Book of Wargames , game designer Jon Freeman called PanzerBlitz "a watershed design. It was the first to simulate World War II events at the tactical level,

1564-418: Is usually given as a major contributing factor in the failure. It is an example of why generals needed to use combined arms to overcome the tactics used by enemy officers to frustrate an attack by a single arm of an army. In contrast the 27th (Inniskilling) suffered 478 casualties from an initial strength of 750 because of their exposure to attack by French combined arms. They were located near

1632-531: The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1980). The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh was elected the 27th greatest D&D adventure of all time by the official D&D magazine Dragon . TSR UK Ltd. also produced the "UK" series of modules: UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave by Dave Brown , Tom Kirby, and Graeme Morris ; UK2 The Sentinel by Graeme Morris; UK3 The Gauntlet by Graeme Morris; UK4 When

1700-627: The Carthaginians and Sassanids also were known to have fielded a combination of infantry supported by powerful cavalry. At the Battle of Hastings (1066) English infantry fighting from behind a shield wall were defeated by a Norman army consisting of archers, foot soldiers (infantry), and mounted knights (cavalry). One of the tactics used by the Normans was to tempt the English to leave the shield wall to attack retreating Norman infantry only to destroy them in

1768-595: The Napoleonic Wars . After 25 years of near continuous warfare, the armies that met at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 were organized in a similar manner – into corps which contained infantry, cavalry and artillery (see Order of battle of the Waterloo Campaign ), and used similar combined arms tactics. Within each corps were divisions of infantry or cavalry made up of brigades and an artillery unit. An army would usually also have reserves of all three arms under

1836-722: The colunelas of the Spanish general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba , evolving into the tercios of Hapsburg Spain and the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century . In Japan, at the battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い) in 1575, forces of the Oda clan successfully employed combined arms against the Takeda clan , which heavily relied on cavalry. The Oda army erected palisades to protect their ashigaru musketeers that shot down

1904-457: The "extraordinary sales figure" of 320,000 units over 25 years, making it the most successful board wargame in the history of the hobby. In a retrospective review in Issue 28 of Simulacrum , Heinz von Sieben commented, "The abstract simplicity of PanzerBlitz combined with its elegant physical presentation and its release at a most opportune moment in the growth of interest in board wargames attracted

1972-540: The Middle Ages military forces used combined arms as a method of winning battles and furthering a war leader or king's long-term goals. Some historians claim that during the Middle Ages there was no strategic or tactical art to military combat. Kelly DeVries uses the Merriam-Webster definition of combat "as a general military engagement". In the pursuit of a leader's goals and self-interest tactical and strategic thinking

2040-671: The Second World War East Front, and met a delighted reception from the hobby when it came out in 1970." Palmer highlighted some frailties of the aging game design, particularly "somewhat unbalanced scenarios and the 'Panzerbush' syndrome, in which units popping from wood to wood cannot be attacked by non-adjacent units, which is a flaw in realism." He concluded on an upbeat note, saying, "Exciting, high skill level, very complex." Games magazine included PanzerBlitz in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", saying, "Simulating World War Il combat between small units of Germans and Russians, this

2108-604: The Soviet deep battle doctrine, which was based on combining tanks, mobile units (mechanised infantry or cavalry) and infantry, while supported by artillery. In 1963 the United States Marine Corps formalized the concept of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force , which combined Marine aviation and Marine ground units for expeditionary missions. The Vietnam War had a profound influence on the development of

PanzerBlitz - Misplaced Pages Continue

2176-463: The Takeda cavalry while their samurai cut down any enemies who managed to approach melee range. The 17th century saw increasing use of combined arms at lower (regimental) level. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was the proponent of the idea. For fire support he attached teams of "commanded musketeers" to cavalry units and fielded light 3-pounder guns to provide infantry units with organic artillery. In

2244-499: The UK. His first contribution to White Dwarf was the "Monstermark" system, a way of assessing the relative strength of monsters that might be encountered in a role-playing world. He quickly became a regular reviewer and by issue six was the editor of a regular feature, "The Fiend Factory", which presented descriptions of monsters that readers had created for themselves. In these early issues he published sections from his own "Greenlands" dungeon. After his work for Games Workshop , Don

2312-544: The US Army in Vietnam also learned to combine helicopter operations and airmobile infantry with the armoured and artillery units operating from fire support bases as well as the US brown-water navy and USAF close air support units supporting them. AirLand Battle was the overall conceptual framework that formed the basis of the US Army's European warfighting doctrine from 1982 into

2380-476: The US Army's combined arms doctrine. Due to the very difficult terrain that prevented access to the enemy-held areas of operation , troops were often deployed by air assault . For this reason, US troops in Vietnam saw six times more combat than in preceding wars, due to less time spent on logistic delays. The result: an infantry unit increased in effectiveness by a factor of four for its size, when supported with helicopter-delivered ammunition, food and fuel. In time

2448-467: The Western Front, fighting descended into stagnant trench warfare . Generals on both sides applied conventional military thinking to the new weapons and situations that they faced. In these early stages, tactics typically consisted of heavy artillery barrages followed by massed frontal assaults against well entrenched enemies. These tactics were largely unsuccessful and resulted in large loss of life. As

2516-429: The advantage of the horse. Archers provide standoff with their bows or crossbows. Cavalry can maneuver faster and provide fast attack before the enemy has had time to prepare defenses. Peasants are more numerous and cheaper on the royal coffers. Over the long term the army can cross-train and learn the skills of the specialties to increase combat effectiveness . This is known as a combat multiplier today. The combination of

2584-565: The battles - which were tactical fights - featured the detailed organizations of fairly small units, all the way from mortar teams to the trucks and wagons needed to give the units strategic flexibility. Much of this information had never been published before, outside of Army field manuals and partially classified intelligence reports. It also pioneered concepts such as isomorphic mapboards and open-ended design, in which multiple unit counters are provided from which players can fashion their own free-form combat situations rather than simply replaying

2652-541: The centre of Wellington's line, but unlike most of the rest of Wellington's infantry were in a declivity on the exposed side of the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment . Exposed as they were, they were forced to stand in square for most of the day for fear of cavalry attack and so made an easy dense target for Napoleon's massed artillery. The development of modern combined arms tactics began in the First World War . Early in

2720-403: The different skills help provide a commander the flexibility to minimize risk when it comes to engagements. The overall objective of any military force is to fight and win, while also preserving the largest number of combatants to carry on the larger strategic aims of the king. This can be seen in some of the engagements during the Middle Ages. Generally the savanna cavalries of West Africa used

2788-402: The direct command of the army commander which could be sent in support of any corps or division of a corps to increase any arm which the army general considered necessary. The great French cavalry charge commanded by Marshal Ney during the battle failed to break Wellington's squares of infantry and Ney's failure to supplement his cavalry with sufficient horse artillery to break the squares open

PanzerBlitz - Misplaced Pages Continue

2856-418: The eighteenth century, the concept of the legion was revived. Legions now consisted of musketeers , light infantry , dragoons and artillery in a brigade sized force. These legions often combined professional military personnel with militia . Perhaps the most notable example is the use of light cavalry , light infantry and light horse artillery in advance detachments by France's La Grande Armée during

2924-513: The features of board wargaming." Several issues later, Turnbull added, "At the risk of repeating myself, one of the most flexible and enjoyable games currently available." In A Player's Guide to Table Games , John Jackson noted the "Panzerbush syndrome", pointing out that "units skulk from woods hex to woods hex, from ravine to protecting slope, without incurring the enemy fire which, in reality, they would have drawn when they exposed themselves on open ground." However, Jackson concluded, " PanzerBlitz

2992-421: The first to treat the differences between armor and infantry as more than a distinction in attack or movement factors, and the first to develop a real sequence of play, with different events occurring at different stages." He called it "an enormously important game — really the first to break out of the 'classic' Avalon Hill mode." In addition to its historical significance in the hobby, Freeman also noted that "It

3060-655: The ground assault phase, tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles supported by attack aircraft swept over remaining forces. The front line moved forward at upwards of 40–50 km/h at the upper limit of the Army's tracked vehicles. In 2000, the US Army began developing a new set of doctrines intended to use information superiority to wage warfare. Six pieces of equipment were crucial for this: AWACS (for Airborne early warning and control ), JSTARS (for Airborne ground surveillance ), GPS , VHF SINCGARS (for ground and airborne communications), and ruggedized computers . The mix

3128-423: The heavy cavalry could smash and break the enemy line by achieving local superiority. The early Republic Roman Legion was a combined arms force and consisted of five classes of troops. Lightly equipped velites acted as skirmishers armed with light javelins. The hastati and principes formed the main attacking strength of the legion with swords and pila , whilst the triarii formed the defensive backbone of

3196-485: The internal consistency and realism of the game system. Multi-Man Publishing acquired the rights to the game, and released PanzerBlitz: Hill of Death in 2009. PanzerBlitz designer Jim Dunnigan created several PanzerBlitz -style games for his own company (which had evolved from Poultron Press to Simulations Publications Inc. ): Combat Command , Panzer '44 , and MechWar '77 . However, as critic Heinz von Sieben noted, "The major disappointment with PanzerBlitz

3264-431: The late 1990s. AirLand Battle emphasized close coordination between land forces acting as an aggressively maneuvering defense, and air forces attacking rear-echelon forces feeding those front line enemy forces. In the 1991 Gulf War , General Schwarzkopf used a mix of strikes by fixed-wing aircraft including carpet bombing and precision bombing in combination with large numbers of strikes by attack helicopters . During

3332-463: The legion fighting as spearmen (initially as a denser Greek phalanx and later as a looser spear wall formation) with long spears and large shields. The fifth class of troops were the equites (the cavalry), which were used for scouting, pursuit and to guard the flanks. The Legion then became notionally a unit of heavy infantrymen armed with just sword and pilum, and fielded with a small attached auxiliary skirmishers and missile troops, and incorporated

3400-524: The open with cavalry. Likewise Scottish sheltrons – which had been developed to counter the charges by English heavy cavalry, and had been used successfully against English cavalry at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297) – were destroyed at the Battle of Falkirk (1298) by English archers acting in concert with mounted knights. Both Hastings and Falkirk showed how combined arms could be used to defeat enemies relying on only one arm. The English victories of Crécy , Poitiers and Agincourt were examples of

3468-420: The opposite direction, marketing a number of very cheaply made "Test Series" games to see if producing many games a year could also be a viable business model. These test games featured typewritten pages with hand-drawn maps and graphics and thin paper counter sheets, packaged in a plain manila envelope. Tactical Game 3 , also titled Test Series Game 3 , designed by Dunnigan, was sent to playtesters in 1969. Later

SECTION 50

#1733084845689

3536-467: The publication of a range of titles, including his own "Underwater" modules in conjunction with Dave J. Browne : The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh , Danger at Dunwater , and The Final Enemy . These have been described as having "Probably one of the best storylines of any module series." These early TSR UK adventures U1–U3 (1981–1983) were incorporated into the Greyhawk setting after the publication of

3604-461: The published scenarios. The game board hexes represent 250 meters, a turn is 6 minutes, the playing pieces represent companies and platoons. PanzerBlitz introduced a number of innovations to board wargames: In spite of the heavy technical payload, the basic system is quite simple, an expression of Avalon Hill's design philosophy in that playability and design elegance were prized above exactitude. The game mechanics are abstract and aimed at giving

3672-458: The rule allowing units to shoot or move, but not both, in a single turn. Additionally, the difficulty of outright destruction of units encourages players to use combined arms rather than a simple concentration of one unit type to defeat the opponent. The game includes technical information on the weight, speed, gun size, and crew complement of every major tank used on the Russian front. Additionally

3740-474: The same year, a second printing was included as a free pull-out game in Issue 22 of Poultron Press's house magazine Strategy & Tactics , becoming the first tactical wargame in the history of modern board wargaming . In 1970, Dunnigan sold the rights to Tactical Game 3 — retaining royalty rights — to Avalon Hill, who republished the game as PanzerBlitz , with professionally designed components and twelve combat scenarios. From 1970 to 1980, PanzerBlitz

3808-438: The subscribers of Albion to get their business. After pioneering work with Diplomacy , Don began to write for the magazine Games & Puzzles , before becoming involved with the new role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons . Turnbull was a contributor to Owl and Weasel and one of the founding contributors to the magazine White Dwarf . This influential magazine did much to develop role-playing games in

3876-465: The targets for requested air and artillery assets. Within a few minutes, on station aircraft would direct their missions to cover the ground vehicle. Within a half-hour heavy attack forces would concentrate to relieve the isolated vehicle. In an hour and a half the relieved vehicle would be resupplied. In 2020, the Israel Defense Forces established a dedicated combined arms battalion to test

3944-403: The viability of full integration of infantry, armor, and aircraft into a single battalion command structure. The unit fields Merkava Mk.4 main battle tanks, F-16D multirole fighters, Heron and Hermes 450 drones, and AH-64 Apache helicopters. Don Turnbull (game designer) Don Turnbull was a journalist, editor, games designer, and an accomplished piano and pinball player. He

4012-518: The war progressed new combined arms tactics were developed, often described then as the "all arms battle". These included direct close artillery fire support for attacking soldiers (the creeping barrage ), air support and mutual support of tanks and infantry. One of the first instances of combined arms was the Battle of Cambrai , in which the British used tanks, artillery, infantry, small arms and air power to break through enemy lines. Previously such

4080-445: Was an informal publication that provided games reviews and gave an account of ongoing games. In October 1970, Turnbull started another zine, Courier , which was used to discuss the active correspondence games, with Albion turning into a review magazine, covering a range of board and war games. After Albion ended in 1975, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone of Games Workshop sent copies of their first issue of Owl and Weasel to

4148-568: Was brought on as the new CEO of New Infinities Productions . He spent a number of years in the US working for Gary Gygax , and then subsequently as a freelance journalist and occasional restaurant chef. As gaming changed, with the new-found popularity of collectible card games , Turnbull returned to the UK and started a new career as a computer programmer, first in Cambridge and then in a village in Lancashire. He remained an active player of both

SECTION 60

#1733084845689

4216-485: Was hired by Gary Gygax to manage the UK operations of TSR, Inc. TSR hired Turnbull to edit a second book of monsters, which he named the Fiend Folio , after "The Fiend Factory" monster column from White Dwarf , where many of the book's monsters first appeared. Games Workshop negotiated a deal with TSR in 1979 to put this book together by compiling content from the "Fiend Factory" and other British publications. It

4284-423: Was how to best use the cooperating units, variously armed with side-arms, spears, or missile weapons in order to coordinate an attack to disrupt and then destroy the enemy. Philip II of Macedon greatly improved upon the limited combined arms tactics of the Greek city-states and combined the newly created Macedonian phalanx with heavy cavalry and other forces. The phalanx would hold the opposing line in place, until

4352-419: Was particularly instrumental in introducing Dungeons & Dragons into the UK, both as the managing director of TSR UK Ltd and as the editor of the Fiend Folio . In his early career Turnbull was as a high-school teacher of mathematics in the north of England. However, he was an early and enthusiastic follower of wargaming, subsequently winning awards as a designer. A feature which assisted his work as

4420-626: Was published in 1981 by TSR UK Ltd. Like its companion volume the Monster Manual , the Fiend Folio provided a listing of creatures that player characters could encounter as part of the first edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game system. It was the pages of the Fiend Folio that introduced a wider audience to the githyanki, the grell and many others. TSR founded TSR UK in 1980, and Turmbull led this new undertaking. In his role as managing director of TSR UK Ltd. he oversaw

4488-422: Was the sequential nature of the mechanism, and Dunnigan’s mechanism of simultaneous movement for subsequent tactical games such as KampfPanzer and Desert War solved one problem, only to introduce a different problem of playability and bookkeeping." In Issue 5 of the UK magazine Games & Puzzles , (September 1972), game designer Don Turnbull commented, " PanzerBlitz is the game which I would isolate as

4556-818: Was the top-selling board wargame in North America. Avalon Hill followed PanzerBlitz with two companion games: Panzer Leader , which focused on the Western Front ; and The Arab-Israeli Wars , which covered the 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars in the Middle East. The numerical values used by counters in The Arab-Israeli Wars conformed to the same scales as the World War II sister games, so that players who wanted to create fanciful scenarios involving modern equipment facing World War II equipment could do so while maintaining

4624-409: Was used along with taking advantage of the terrain and weather in choosing when and where to give battle. The simplest example is the combination of different specialties such as archers, infantry, cavalry (knights or shock mounted troops), and even peasant militia. At times, each force fought on its own and won or lost depending on the opposing military competence. During the Middle Ages leaders utilized

#688311