Continued Tales of Woe - Getting the rules right for Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers

Over the last year I have played this force quite extensively, and have often fallen foul of misinterpretations of the rules concerning them, basically what they can and cant do.

I put the following to the Flames of War main Forum, but thought it a good idea to keep here too as a reference.

STATUS - this platoon is essentially an infantry platoon, with its own armoured transport teams (open topped armoured; 1,0,0).

The German special rule "mounted assault" means these transports may remain on the table even when empty and fire on the enemy with their hull mounted MG.

When the transports have passenger teams, things 'get interesting':

From the German special rule "Mounted Assault" in V3:

"When carrying passengers. a Mounted Assault Transport is treated as a Tank team for everything except Platoon Morale checks. If it is carrying two or more Passenger teams, it also has Tank Escorts"

MOVEMENT:
Infantry teams mount and dismount as per rules on v3 p46-7. I believe this is self explanatory.

But it should be noted that it is possible to Storm trooper out of and into transports as well. This can be useful when the transport becomes bailed or bogged down, circumstances permitting. Though see later for issues regarding 'Bailed', as there is normally something else that may then occur, such as auto remount, or halftracks Sent to Rear.

Calling half tracks forward 'from the rear' to mount troops is covered adequately in v3 p 48, but it should be noted that on the turn they are brought forward in this way, they may not shoot nor assault, though can storm trooper move.

Another point - half tracks are quick on roads; 18", but very slow through any slow going; 4", including steep hills, cornfields woods and the like. They can cross linear obstacles and require a bog check to do so.

COMMAND:
As a tank team, for veteran troops, this gives the platoon a command range of 8" between vehicles. (This gives the platoon plenty of room to spread out to avoid template weapons). However if the platoon is also comprising dismounted infantry, or empty transport teams, then any link to an infantry or empty transport team will be at the regular 6" range for veteran troops.

Any command 'tank' team that becomes bogged down, or bailed out, may at the end of the step, take over any other 'tank' team in the platoon in command range. Any Higher command tank team may take over any 'tank' team from the company. (v3 p105)


SHOOTING:
The vehicle is fitted with a hull mounted MG ROF 3.
With one passenger team, they may also fire the 'passenger fired' AA MG, giving a further die to shooting in addition to hull MG.

With two or more passenger teams (they can carry up to 5), they then count as having 'Tank Escorts'. This means they get a further die to shooting. If one of the passengers teams has a Panzerschrek (actual Panzerschrek team or Tank Hunter team from Lehr) then this weapon can fire as the Tank Escort team, at ROF 1, with no penalty for the vehicles moving, although the Tank Hunter team which is Normally ROF1, would be at a -1 to hit, if Halftrack moves. Panzerfaust teams still cannot shoot from halftrack if halftrack moves. [v3 p 200] - the summary box on p201 stating the vehicle can move no more than 6" if the tank escort is to fire is INCORRECT.

BEING SHOT AT: [v3 p101]
If the platoon is fired upon, it will be Pinned if it suffers Five or more hits as per normal rules

In addition, if it suffers a destroyed halftrack, any passengers teams get a 5+ passenger save, any survivors "dismount under fire" [again v3 p104], and the platoon becomes Pinned.

At the end of the shooting step - If the platoon suffers any Bailed or Destroyed half tracks, the platoon must take a Motivation test.

If it fails, all half tracks are immediately sent to the rear, with teams dismounting under fire as before.
If it passes, all bailed out half tracks immediately remount, ceasing to be Bailed out.

(Tactical tip - try and deal with enemy AT weapons before advancing your half tracks as although armoured, they will suffer greatly from anything but small arms fire. Or make sure you move so as to be out of line of sight of such weapons).

FACING ARTILLERY: [v3 p135]

The whole idea of armoured transports was getting troops 'safely' through enemy fire, as such they wont stop for artillery fire if they can still move. This is dealt with here:

Armoured transports roll saves as for normal armoured tank teams. However if they only suffer a Bailed out result - they automatically remount.
If a Transport is destroyed by artillery fire then the passengers get their 5+ passenger save and 'dismount under fire' [v3 p101], and the platoon becomes Pinned down.

(Tactical tip - this makes the platoon quite hardy to getting through light artillery fire, eg, mortars that are only FP6, especially when well spread out to minimise teams under the template. I would still be wary of heavier artillery fire - watch out for those medium/heavy artillery observers and AOPs )

BEING PINNED:
This issue has caused much confusion in our past games.

From pinned [v3 p104].

Warriors (eg CiC or 2iC) cannot be pinned down in themselves and are only pinned down when they have joined a platoon that is pinned down. However, as they leave the platoon at the end of the step, they then cease to be pinned down.

Movement
When the platoon is pinned, it should be noted that dismounted infantry teams are affected as regular infantry. They may not move closer to enemy teams in LOS and may not move into LOS of other enemy teams.
(What you may be able to do with them is move them so that they can mount up into halftracks from the same platoon, that are behind them, thus moving away from the enemy)
The half tracks themselves being armoured teams, whether empty or occupied, may move freely.

So this means if your platoon is all mounted up, it can ignore being pinned for movement purposes. If it contains dismounted infantry, these may be able to remount a nearby transport and continue with the rest of the mounted platoon (see mounting up v3 p46). Or the infantry teams may be left behind as the rest of the vehicles move on (so long as platoon commander is still mounted and is moving with more than half the platoon - see command and movement v3 p66-7)

Shooting
Armoured vehicles still fire at full effect whether pinned or not. There is no reduction in ROF. It is my opinion that passenger fired AA MG or Tank Escort fire would not be adversely affected by the vehicle being pinned either, as they are considered part of it (the vehicle) and not separate to it, whilst mounted.

Dismounted infantry teams would suffer adversely to their shooting for being pinned, though for MG teams (typical of panzergrenadiers) this is a drop from 3 to 2 shots per team.

(Tactical tip - even if the platoon is pinned, with a formation of half tracks and dismounted infantry, they can give out a huge volume of fire, normally sufficient to stop any infantry assault.)

ASSAULTS:

The key to understanding this next section, with an eye to the German special rule "Mounted Assault" - is that once the infantry teams have mounted their transports - they effectively cease to be infantry teams in transports - the two merge to become a 'tank' team.

Consequently, as a tank team they may make an assault move as other armoured teams can do.

Now, this is the only contentious ' issue' I can find, and that is regarding whether the platoon can make an assault if it is pinned.

If a platoon contains infantry teams and it is pinned, it may not make an assault.

However as noted above, if the infantry in the GPg platoon are ALL mounted up, then the platoon does not contain Infantry teams - only Tank teams. So it should be able to ignore being pinned, and assault. (That is my opinion and understanding)

But consequently, if even one infantry team is dismounted, the platoon then also contains infantry teams and if pinned, then the whole platoon, may not assault.

It should be noted, as mentioned in the German Mounted Assault special rule, that since the vehicles are classed as open topped armoured, the platoon will be forced back by defensive fire if the platoon takes 5 hits or suffers 2 or more bailed/destroyed vehicles.

Other points to note:

As a 'Tank' team, they cause tank terror

During a counter attack the passengers may counter attack out of the halftrack, or stay in them, at the players discretion, but if they leave the half track at this point, it is Sent to the Rear.

Having Tank Escort, means they get up to two attacks per half track with two or more teams on board. Also with Tank Escorts - they can assault into difficult terrain, without having to take a bog/skill check if only the Tank escort team attacks.

Also if a half track is bogged or bailed out, the tank escort may still attack teams within 2" during the assault/counter attack.

If the platoon is all mounted up, it may break off through the enemy platoon, like a tank platoon can do.

As a final point at the end of the Assault step, any Half tracks that are Bailed out that have no passenger teams on board are immediately sent to the rear. Whereas if they are bailed out with passengers onboard they automatically remount.

AIRCRAFT.
Aircraft can pose a threat to your GPgs. Whilst you can hide from AT guns you can't always hide from aircraft.

Remember since they are a template weapon staying spread out can minimize their impact.

The half tracks are fitted with a passenger fired AA MG so if mounted up, each half track can fire on aircraft. The MG in the AA role has a 24" range, and a single shot per vehicle requiring a skill check (3+ for veterans), and then a firepower test to destroy a plane - requiring a 6. So with a platoon of four vehicles, even with attached elements from the GPg HQ, don't expect to shoot down too many ground attack aircraft!

Remember AOPs can be targeted by AA fire by any platoon in range of it, not just the one receiving the AOPs attention! You might just get lucky here and knock it out of the game as they don't come back once shot down.

The aircraft's air strike, if they hit the platoon, are resolved much like an artillery strike. The GPg platoon can be pinned if any half-tracks or dismounted infantry teams are hit, and the effects of pinning on the platoon have been discussed as above.

PLATOON MORALE:
Remember the loss of the halftrack transports does not adversely affect the platoon, only the loss of infantry teams need be considered.

I hope the above proves useful, and if I have anything wrong or have missed any relevant points please shout up.

Hollow Wombat's Tales of Woe... Colonel Klink and the PanzerGrenadiers

After I enjoyed reading through Paul's great intro article on the main Nations involved in WWII, here , Paul and I got into a little emailed banter about me and my Germans... considering my past performances...

The 'shell of a man' picture of the German uniform put me in mind of the movie "Hollow Man". This, combined with Paul's ending comment in the article on the Germans requiring a player to be a "Cunning Weasel", made me comment to the effect that I was more like a "Confused Wombat"...

Paul clearly gave this some sage-like thought as his retort was to the affect that my Indian name would from now on be "Hollow Wombat".

So I will present to you the continuing saga of 'Hollow Wombat's Tales of Woe'...

In my last game, against Brett the other week (Commando Kelly), where I bemoaned my inability to unpin my Nebelwerfers, I decided to re-play the scenario, afterwards as a solo game, and put my Commandos in place of the Yanks.

The smoke from the Nebs, had it arrived could have given my Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers the cover of smoke through which to launch their assault against the dug in Yank infantry. I must admit I felt like Colonel Klink must have been in command of my forces that game!

Colonel Klink, pondering how best to attack dug in Americans

I wanted to test out what would have happened, if the Nebs had managed to unpin, giving me some smoke, and what would happen through the ensuing mounted assault.

Schultz the Nebelwerfer commander - " I know nothing"

The game was set up as before, with the GPgs poised within striking distance of the dug in commandos, just waiting for the smoke...

Sergeant Schultz final got his thumb out of his ass, spotted the commando green berets poking out the top of their foxholes, and sent over a salvo of smoke rockets... and in rolled the GPgs...

The GPgs can spit out a shit load of MG fire went mounted up, and this with additional fire from other nearby units ensured the commandos were pinned, and smoked too. All sounds good and peachy eh?

Well this was a frontal assault, against the widest point of the commandos deployment who were at full strength, and backed up by an HMG at the rear, which wasn't pinned. Plus the smoke was angled a bit so some teams could avoid firing through it... the result was predictable... despite needing 4's or 5's to hit, and with a relatively reduced number of shots from pinning, the commandos spat out enough fire to cause at least five hits, and/or with the PIATS joining in, some of the half-tracks brewed up nicely, invariable killing the occupants, who only get a 5+ passenger save.

Once the assault has been stopped, its then the commandos following turn, who typically unpin, and let loose, wrecking the remnants of the GPg platoon with Rifle/MG and PIAT fire.

I ran the dice a couple of times more but the result was much the same, and even when the PIAT missed, enough rifle fire hit, which hits half-track side armour 0, during defensive fire, and if you roll a 1 save against rifle AT2, that's a bailed half-track, unless the fire power comes up a 6, which it predictably did, and that's now a destroyed half track and my grenadiers dead...

It makes you think, a 1 followed by a 6 , is a 1 in 36 chance... long odds you'd think, but when things aren't working for you, it can all go to Hell in a handcart pretty quick. Plus I am sure the renowned author Terry Pratchett wrote in one of his Diskworld novels, "million to one chances, come up nine times out of ten!" - work that one out!

GPg Mounted assault against full strength dug in platoon, with a little 'back up'... this will not end well for the Germans!

OK so the frontal assault failed miserably...

So what are GPgs good at? Maneuver!

So I played through the scenario, again only this time mounting my GPgs up and heading off towards the end on the commando line, dodging 3" mortar fire as I went. Finally got into a better position, and wanting to get this action going before armoured reserves turned up for the commandos, pressed on again with the assault.

So same as before, pinned and smoked the commandos and hit from the end of the line. This time things went better initially, sure enough not enough effective hits to pin down the assault. So in went the assault.

The problem this time was that despite maneuvering, I could only get a couple of half-tracks into assault range this quickly, so they killed a couple of commando teams. The commandos then roll to counterattack, and being fearless pass easily needing a 3+. In they run, and being commandos, hit on 2+ in the assault, with PIATs and rifle/MG teams against half-track top armour 0, during the assault. Again it wasn't pretty, this time during the assault, a 1 rolled for armour save against rifle/MG AT2 is a destroyed half-track and all occupants auto killed. A save of a 2 means a bailed half-track, not so disastrous. Against the PIAT, yeah well...

I had expected in the second round to motivate, and counterattack out of the half-tracks to finish off the commandos. Well there wasn't much left of the GPgs, and a 50/50 chance to motivate being confident and it could either way. Even if I managed it, there was not going to be much of the GPg platoon left to actually hold onto the objective anyway...

So, a despairing realization dawned. My much vaunted, self-hyped GPg's were actually a bit of a damp squib! I had expected them to rock and roll over infantry, after all in a 'defensive mission', Mechanised attacks Infantry...

This idea in my mind I had fostered myself, from my early days of getting this force ready and seeing what they could do in combination with reading and understanding the rules... I would set myself up a simple test scenario... one platoon of commandos defending against one platoon of GPg's. Nothing else on the board. The GPgs would roll forward over a couple of turns, getting into optimal position firing as they went, while the commandos kept their heads down staying GTG. Sure enough I could roll in, and the majority of the time survive the defensive fire, and hit with the majority of attacking teams, and sweep the commandos in one go. It looked good and convinced me that this was the way to play them.

The last year of 'real games', has been a hard lesson to the fact that this rarely works out. Dodging enemy AT and Arty fire on the way, trying to co-ordinate smoke and getting enough hits to pin the defender IF I get near enough unmolested  to launch an assault, has been nigh on impossible.

I think I have only managed it a couple of times and then against either small (artillery) or weakened platoons, or platoons spread too thinly with buildings interspersed blocking the defenders lines of fire.

A much better proposition for a mounted assault - a weakened platoon.

Another good choice - a mortar platoon.

A week or so of reflection and pondering  has led me to the conclusion that the GPg's are not some 'Uber Force'. In reality, they are glorified foot sloggers, with a mobile bunch of MGs that half the time are a liability!

So what to do?

Well the answer is in part self evident; use them as infantry, not some 'pseudo-panzer' force... and if going in mounted up, then only do it against small, or weakened or poorly positioned forces.

So how do I handle the previously played scenario. Simply, I just sit tight with my infantry, hunkered down in their own foxholes, and pound the defenders with whatever I can throw at them; artillery with high FP, and any Tank fire or even high FP SPAA. It may take a few turns, but with enough high firepower weaponry deployed you will begin to knock off defending teams, and once the defending platoon has shrunk to manageable size, then and only then, mount up and roll in. At this point you will be facing less defensive fire, there will be fewer teams to have to kill in the assault and subsequently fewer still to counter attack against you.

So this is what I tried out, again, playing through the scenario solo. And I am pleased to say it worked. The reserves I was concerned about coming on, ended up mixing it up with my own reserves, and the main point of issue was left to get on with themselves.

It brought a wry little smile back to my face.

Now I am not saying I know it all and can win every game I play from now on, far from it, but I hope I wont be throwing away so many games, and will at least give my opponents a decent work out if nothing else!

Stay tuned for continued adventures of Colonel Klink and his Panzergrenadiers, brought to you by the Hollow Wombat!

Tales of Woe!

Many moons ago when I first started collecting a force for FoW, I picked a British Commando force - firstly through loyalty to my British roots, and secondly the Commandos were a small elite force that I thought would be good to get to learn the game with and not need to invest too much time and money in, buying and painting... but few games eventuated at that time.

Much later I decided that I might as well get some Germans to fight against the commandos, so I can learn the game myself at home, and with young son who was just getting interested in WWII. So I picked up a Festung infantry company boxed set as a starting point.

Since then I have added massively to my German forces! For starters it's always fun to play 'the bad guys', so I guess that was part of the appeal for me. Plus the Wehrmacht had so many iconic pieces of equipment and machinery of war, that I just about couldn't help myself.

When the Plastic Soldier Company released their excellent boxed set of 251 half tracks I was in seventh heaven as this was one of those iconic vehicles that had great appeal to me, little did I know what I was letting myself into...

So a Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier (GPg), armoured mechanised infantry, force was planned collected and painted up.

Now it must be said, that many FoW veterans would state, that a mechanised force is quite a difficult one to play right and get the best from. Its not an easy army to use! Yet that is the main army I have chosen to learn this game with.

They also come in various 'flavours' - Panzer Lehr with all their extra panzershreck tank hunter teams, and Waffen SS varieties. Each with slightly differing support platoon options.

I have played a great many games now with this force, with some success and a lot of defeat.

Like any force they have their pro's and con's.

PRO's They are a very mobile force and pack a lot of anti-infantry firepower. And with the German special rule (Mounted assault), they can fight directly from the half tracks in the assault phase, and if they dismount, the half tracks can stick around spitting out MG fire.

CON's The problem is, though they are 'armoured' that armour is pretty thin. Plus the fact that they are open topped means plunging artillery fire and aircraft can also make quite a mess of them, if caught in the open.

So, I spend a great deal of time mulling over how best to use my GPg force.

There are so many platoon support options it gives a dazzling and confusing array of ways to field them and fight with them. These options have lead to a constant state of collecting and painting up all these support options to try them out, hence my large Wehrmacht collection!

Some of the problems, and possible solutions I have are...

a) getting caught advancing mounted up, by artillery, and aircraft - Solution: advance quickly (ATD / storm trooper) to get past the 'kill zone'...

b) but it you ATD, you can run into a storm of fire from AT guns especially from ambush - Solution: push recce elements ahead to push back Ambushing forces and try and end move in cover...

c) trying to get mounted assault to work - needing to pin enemy and smoke them to ensure I don't suffer the 5 hits or two bailed that force back assault... not easy to pull off, and enemy can always get lucky with their dice roll; 5 hits on 8 dice needing 5+ can really get you down... and even infantry weapons can hurt through side armour 0, if you roll 1's for armour saves...

d) if mounted assault successful, try and make it unstoppable on first assault, as with confident troops there's only a 50/50 chance of fighting on in each subsequent turn (no British bulldog), so need the CO or attached Warrior Higher command character team near for re-roll to motivate, and use attached HQ elements and combat attachments from 'Heavy platoon' to bulk up size of platoon.

Things to think about

1) advancing infantry alongside/in front of half tracks, not in them... infantry saves of a 3+ are better odds of staying alive than a 5+ passenger save in a burning vehicle...

2) keeping half tracks off table and hiding infantry GTG, until main threats to halftracks have been eliminated... using Heavy tanks / Heavy AT guns ('88' Flak 36) and Heavy artillery to knock out threats - protect all with AA until ready to advance, pushing recce forward to remove GTG on any target platoons...

Its this last option I am working on at the moment... in a recent game against Paul, I got to try out Tigers for the first time and though I lost the game, it could have gone quite differently. It was also very interesting to see just two Tigers virtually dominating one flank of the table... so a pair of Tigers seem a likely future support choice for my GPgs.

The other thing I want to do is pound the enemy into submission, with some decent artillery... 

 

From some of the reports and tips I have read, if you are going to use artillery, then do it well!... I am considering a platoon of 4-6 Hummels, should be able to give me a fair bit of umph! With a bombardment range of 80" they can hit anywhere on board, with AT 5 and FP 2+ even tanks will get scared , and will dig out infantry and guns with ease, and with 6 elements firing that's a double wide template, or re-rolling misses... . Plus with a 24" direct fire range, they get AT 13, FP 1+ and 'bunker-buster' too  - not many things will want to get in front of that! Send some recce forward to find hiding targets, protect this battery and the dismounted GPgs and Tigers with decent SPAA, and hopefully once everything on other side of board is a squishy mesh, THEN mount up GPg's and roll forward....

So that's the 'next' plan, at least for LateWar. We'll see how it goes (I may have to proxy some of the stuff to try this out in the mean time, until I can get it ordered and painted up)... but of course it will always be tempered by the mission rolled for to play and the opposing force !

No plan survives contact with the enemy!

Cheers

Scott

www.scottswargaming.blogspot.com