Panzer platoon

Using "flat" version of my tanks in scale 1:100 I decided to use platoon formation for German and Alliance tanks.

Each platoon has Command Tank (CT) and two tanks from 1st section (1st) and 2nd section (2nd).  Summary - 5 tanks per platoon plus one SPG (STUG.III/IV) and Hellcat as platoon support. 

They are controlled with 6c dice where each selection allow to control all tanks or only 1st or 2nd section. 

Options are:

One:

Command tank - CT - player can move all tanks within Line Of Sight range. Those who are not in commander range, can move with Initiative option. Command tank can move w/o any limitation. Each side will be have maximum 15 Initiative tokens, which can be used by tank who is out of command range. That IT (Initiative Token) can be lost when player throw dice and result will be less than four or three (depend from scenario).

Two:

1ST section tanks only - 1ST - that include support tank (SPG or Hellcat).

Three:

2 ND section tanks only.

Four:

Initiative - IT2 - pick maximum two tanks from any squad.

Five:

Initiative - IT3 - pick maximum 3 tanks from any squad. 

Six:

1/2 - maximum two tanks from each section. No initiative.

Location of that events will be printed on dice.

One command dice is per platoon, so player can expand game with another dice. All is based on table space and scenario..

In 1944 where famous tank commander Wittman lost his live while he commanded so called "6th Panzer Army" against Canadian and British tanks... Ironically..because only 6 German tanks were operational that day...

I am going to build game scenario based on that event.

Terrain is made from Google Earth pictures, formatted to 1:100 scale. That allow to play on 80x150cm table.

Terrain has roads, hedgehog, farmer land, some houses. 

He we play? 

Game has three phases: Movement phase /Aim -Target Selection phase and Firing phase where player fight between tanks in round (one vs. one is one round).

Movement Phase

Tanks move per their technical specifications with small ruler (triangle shape on stick).

Sample: Sherman can move two tank length on road and one on terrain. Reverse - one length.

Panther tank - 2.5 length, 1.5 length on terrain and one reverse. Tiger tank one and half length on road and one on terrain. Reverse is one length. 

Both player throw dices and move the same time. That create surprise effect. Some player move tank in his order and second player will be have time to counter react on opponent move. 

6 corner dice has options who can move during his round. After selection who starts player throw that dice:

CT - player can command any his platoon tank to move (they must be in Line Of Sight range). 

1st - only 1st section tanks can move

2nd - only 2nd section tanks can move.

I am still working on that movement selection which allow also use Initiative token if some tanks will be not visible by command tank.

Each tank has name token (to which section he belong and which tank is Commander tank). Also armor points. 

Second phase is Aim/target selection where player measure distance and pick targets. Fire muzzle help to create order who shoot first on his round.

Fire muzzle has round number so during firing round each round started with dice to pick which tank fires first. It is like duel between tanks per each round.

I added to each tank Armor Points, depend from tank type. 14 points is the strongest tank (Tiger), 12 - Panther and Cromwell, 10 - Panzer IV and Sherman. 

That part is still under construction.

In Aim / Target selection round player pick targets and market them with round number. Below you can see Panther Aim his one target and two Sherman tanks aim enemy tank.

Firing round starts with Initiative selection. That initiative is done before each round. 

 Panther tank fire in round one - Sherman's have two rounds. Who shot first ? Throw dice - 1/3/5 - German, 2/4/6 - Alliance. 

Command tank can move during each Movement Round. Dice with platoon selection pick only which section of his platoon he can move.

Simple version use damage tokens with all types of hit result, starts from tank destroyed, armor hit, turret hit, etc...

Damage tokens are packed in small box and each time when player fire he pick one from top. After use hide at the end of that tokens box.

When firing player pick first token from box. After use - place him at the end. Tokens wit US Army symbol are used by German.

When moved each tank has two small tokens with section designation and about of Armor points. 

Stug IV firing round. Number one mean that he will be first to shoot across road.

Yellow I token (Initiative) is used when player want to move any tank who is not in CT tank Line Of Sight range. I created special rule to use Initiative Token. Because one Sherman tank is behind house he can't move without Initiative token. Player have some amount of that token and to use them they must place token near tank and throw dice. If result is above 3 (4/5/6) for German and above 4 (5/6) - then tank can move and that token return to player. With dice result below that numbers - tank can't move and player lost his token. Initiative value will be different per game scenario. 

Range of fire. StugIV has range 70cm, placed fire muzzle with round -1-. So that tank fire first if will be selected by dice. If enemy doesn't have any opportunities to fire dice is not needed. Simple pick damage token from small box and read firing result. 

Range - on beginning I used 20 cm each ruler.. but using a standard tape measures will also apply. Longest shoot is from 88 mm Tiger - 100 cm. Sherman has only 50 cm range except Firefly - who got same range as Panther - 80cm. That force player to use tactics vs. Frontal attack.

Each tank has three dots on each side. Red is tank center - allow to turn tank. On front and back has Black dots used to move forward or backward. We move tank with small triangle shape reference stick.

Here we can see damage after hit by Sherman. If enemy tank is hit and has damage he also losing his opportunity to fire back. His round -2- muzzle must be removed and that tank can't fire. Each Armor hit removes firing muzzle.

Tiger tank destroyed. Result -4- mean - Sherman tank is firing first. 1/3/5 - German.

Terrain is critical.for firing range. Tanks can move between terrain elements and hide to minimize range to enemy with long range canon. 

Sherman move two length on road and 1.5 on terrain. Reverse is one length. Platoon has Firefly tanks to add more effective firing range vs. Standard tanks.

Game is still under tests, because it can use more than platoon. One dice is for one platoon - if we are planning to use Company size - we need to add three more dices (company commander dice and three platoons). 

Each platoon has reinforcement tank (STUG on German side and US SPG M10 tank). They belong to 1st section. If all tanks from first section will.be destroyed - 2nd section). 

Even with flat cardboard tank I added possiblity to rotate turret. And I am going to add special rule about how fast he can rotate turret in desired location. 

Sets of damage tokens in box (randomly placed)

Damage token - hit, two points of Armor lost and can't move during next movement phase.

Each tank has two tokens assigned. One is Armor points, second - which section in his platoon he represent. 

Distance measurement can me made by 20 cm line ruler or simple measurement tape. 

Triangle movement reference stick used when player moves his tank. They have different speed values per type and terrain. 

Terrain - hedgehog create natural barrier for tank to see other and also drive through.

My idea is to minimize amount of tokens on table during play. Each tank had Armor points from 14 to 0, and that required 7 two side tokens..

Instead of that I am thinking about two tokens. Each side has 4 points. Number pointed to rear side of tank represent his Armor points as sample..

It'shand made now and will be done with colors. By rotating token numbers are pointed to back side of tank or any side based on location on table..

Here you can see Tiger tank with Armor 13,  selected as Command Tank and Panther tank with Armor 8 selected as 1st Team. Edges of tank has half red sides, that will be used to move tank. 

Firing round One (I) 

I added also elevation on my table, small Hills where you can see elevation level (Hills protect tanks from direct hit). Each tank will be have Elevation factor for crossing Hills and speed. When tank will be driving up or down he can't fire. 

Sample of Panzer platoon. Tiger I as CT - command tank, armor -14, 1st Team Panther tank, Armor 14 and STUG.III, armor 10, second Team (2nd), two Panzer IV with 75mm canon..Armor 12. 

Units - each platoon will be have own Command Dice and different colors on Tank designators. That allow to create scenarios with more platoons. 

US platoon has two Sherman Firefly, armor, two Sherman's 76mm and one Cromwell tank. Will be hard to survive so I am thinking about one more Sherman for US...

And one more 76mm Easy Eight... Armor of Sherman is 12 points..

Funny.. my old Tiger painted by my son...In 1:76 scale..same rules apply...

Scale 1:150...  flat version. Can save a lot of space.

Small idea how to use small 6mm magnet and flat washer...magnet is glued between two layer of cardboard and allow to stick turret, rotate - no drill required. 

100 of them cost about 7 USD..and has a lot of magnetic field to hold turret.

From flat Panzer..to 2D..scale 1:150..

Mangets connection between tank hull and turret looks good. 

Still tanks will be mounted on additionally cardboard stand with movement markers.

Previous tanks had turret with wooden stick and drilled cardboard..not complicated to make, but mangnets looks much simple to build.