Panzer III Rules: Version 1.

3 5/13/2000

PANZER III
World War II Miniature Wargame Rules By David Ferris
ArmourSoft, May 2000
Contents: 1.0 Introduction 2.0 The Unit Data 3.0 Turn Sequence 4.0 Movement 5.0 AP (Armour Piercing) Combat 6.0 SA/HE (Small Arms/High Explosive) Combat 7.0 Special Rules 8.0 Designer Thoughts 9.0 Credits

Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 1.0 Introduction Like most games of this nature, this one was written because the designer wanted to play it. Consequently, its written to be exactly the sort of game I like and want, so it may or may not fit your tastes. I wanted a game that was somewhere between the really easy, really quick playing and the really detailed, really accurate ends of the design spectrum. Most of the other tank rules Ive tried were too close to one end or the other for my tastes, so this game represents my opinion of where the ideal balance point lies. These rules are intended to cover all of the Second World War, although they simulate the first few years of the war more accurately than the last few years. As a game, these rules work fine for the entire war period. Tank types from World War One and the inter-war period are included for the experimenters out there. 1.1 Things Youll Need in Order to Play Several regular six-sided dice, preferably three per player: two dice of one color and one of another color Measuring tapes or rulers A copy of the appropriate data chart page for each player Playing pieces for the units, which can be metal or plastic miniatures, cardboard counters, or even slips of paper Terrain (optional) A calculator (optional) Cardboard counters or some other small markers to indicate which units are on overwatch

The little-known US M6 Heavy Tank. About 40 of these were built in WWII. None were sent overseas, all were used in the US for testing purposes. 1.2 Dice Panzer III uses six-sided dice exclusively. Following the 25-year-old wargaming tradition, a roll of one die is abbreviated as 1d6. The abbreviation 2d6 means you roll two dice and add the results together. 1.3 Game Scale Each hex represents 33 and one-third meters. The game table is assumed to be about 60 inches long (2000 meters), which is assumed to be maximum visibility for game purposes. Each turn represents the amount of time it takes for one tank to engage another, which is not a fixed period of time but can be thought to be roughly a minute or three. Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 The time and distance scales are abstracted quite a bit to increase playability, so these rules should not be thought of as a strict simulation in that sense. Each vehicle unit represents a single vehicle. Each infantry stand represents a squad (or section, in British and German terminology), which was usually around ten to twelve soldiers when the squad was at full strength. Each weapons stand represents a crew-served weapon, usually with one to four men in the crew. Artillery barrages and air strikes are represented as abstract attack values. 2.0 The Unit Data Each nation is provided with a single sheet of charts containing most or all the information needed to play a game of Panzer III. Every player should have handy a copy of the chart for the country whose forces he or she will be controlling in the game. Unit Type Move Rate 1 2 3 SA/ HE 7 10 8 AP Max Rge 18 30 30 Armour/ De fen ce 4/3 13/6 14/12

Renault FT17 Char 2C Char B1

8 14 14

The unit data chart for each nation looks something like the example above. Tanks and tank destroyers are generally listed first, followed by self-propelled artillery, armoured cars, miscellaneous other vehicles, and infantry units. Heres a list of what the information on the chart means: Unit Type: the name of the unit Move Rate: the maximum distance the unit can move in a single turn if its on open ground SA/HE (Small Arms/High Explosive): the combat attack value for attacking infantry and unarmoured vehicles AP (Armour Piercing): the combat attack value for attacking armoured vehicles Max Rge (Maximum Range): the maximum distance the units weapons may fire Armour/Defence: the units protection value when hit by enemy fire, Armour for tanks and other armoured vehicles and Defence for infantry and other soft targets

French Somua S-35 Some vehicles, like the French Char B1 listed in the example chart above, were equipped with more than one main gun. These are indicated on the unit data charts with a secondary gun entry, with the Move Rate and Armour/Defence boxes greyed out on that line. Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000

3.0 Turn Sequence 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Roll for initiative Both sides declare opportunity fire Side without initiative moves all their units Side with initiative resolves opportunity fire Side with initiative moves all their units Side without initiative resolves opportunity fire Both sides resolve AP and SA/HE fire Each player complains that this ruleset is not as accurate as the game he or she is currently writing Im a big fan of simple, old-fashioned turn sequences. The turn sequence seems to be one of the things that gamers modify most frequently in their homebrew variants, so by all means feel free to modify my turn sequence to make as complex or as simple as you like. You may want to use a simple turn sequence for certain scenarios and a more complex sequence for other situations.

Each step of the Turn Sequence explained: 1. Roll for initiative: Both sides (or all sides, if more than two sides are involved in the game) roll 1d6 to determine initiative. Reroll in case of ties. The side with the highest roll has the initiative. 2. Both sides declare opportunity fire: Each side decides which units will be on overwatch. Those units will not move during the turn, but will be waiting to shoot at enemy units as they move. Mark units that are on overwatch by placing a counter or other marker next to them. You may place British Vickers Light Tank Mark VIB blank dummy markers next to units that are not on overwatch, to confuse the enemy. 3. Side without initiative moves all their units: The side that lost the iniative roll moves any or all of their units that were not marked as being on overwatch. 4. Side with initiative resolves all opportunity fire: The side that won the initiative roll may fire any units that were marked as being on overwatch at enemy units that moved during Phase 4. 5. Side with initiative moves all their units: The side that won the initiative roll moves any or all of their units that were not marked as being on overwatch. 6. Side without initiative resolves opportunity fire: The side that lost the initiative roll may fire any units that were marked as being on overwatch at enemy units that moved during Phase 5. 7. Both sides resolve AP and SA/HE fire: Both sides resolve all non-opportunity fire combat. All combat is considered to be simultaneous, so units that are destroyed during Phase 7 get to shoot anyway. 8. Each player complains: self-explanatory.

4.0 Movement This is meant to be a simple game, so movement in this game is very simple. Each unit may move up to the distance indicated on its entry in the unit data charts, modified by the terrain it is going over. Units are not required to move during a turn. A player may move some, none, or all of his or her units in a given turn. Units that are marked as being on overwatch may not move. facing 5.0 AP (Armour Piercing) Combat gun bearing/field of fire Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 units destroyed in movement phase by opportunity fire dont get to shoot in phase 7 6.0 SA/HE (Small Arms/Hight Explosive) Combat 7.0 Special Rules 7.1 German Units Panzerjager I, Marder I-II-III, Hetzer, StuG III and IV, Panzerjager IV, Nashorn, Jagdpanther, Elefant, Jagdtiger, Wespe, Hummel, StuH 43, Brummbaer, Sturmtiger, SdKfz 234/3, SdKfz 234/4: These vehicles had the main armament mounted in a fixed superstructure rather than a rotating turret. These units may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. NbFz PzKpfw VI: This tank was built in small numbers but never went into full production. Its main armament consists of a short-barreled low-velocity 75mm gun mounted coaxially with a 37mm high-velocity gun. Both guns can fire in a turn, but both guns must fire at the same target as they are fixed in the same gun mantlet. Maus: Only two or three of these huge tanks were built, and people are still debating over how complete they were and whether or not they saw combat. Its main armament consisted of a 128mm gun mounted coaxially with a 75mm gun. Both guns can fire in a turn, but both guns must fire at the same target as they are fixed in the same gun mantlet. 7.2 Soviet Units T35: This heavy tank had a total of five turrets: two turrets mounting machineguns, two turrets mounting 45mm high-velocity guns, and a central turret carrying a low-velocity 76.2mm gun. On the unit data charts, the main line indicates the 76.2mm gun, the two 45mm guns are indicated on the secondary gun line. The three guns may fire at three different targets during a turn. However, the two 45mm gun turrets are mounted on opposite corners of the hull, so they cannot bear on the same target at the same time. The 76.2mm gun can fire in any direction. One of the 45mm turrets is mounted in the front right corner of the superstructure and covers the front and right side of the tank, the other turret is mounted on the rear left corner of the superstructure and covers the rear and left side of the tank. SU76, SU85, SU100, SU122, SU152, JSU122, JSU152: These are self-propelled guns, with the main armament mounted in a fixed superstructure rather than a rotating turret. These units may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. 7.3 US Units M3 Lee: This tank had a 75mm gun mounted in a limited-traverse sponson in the front right corner of the superstructure, and a 37mm gun mounted in a fully rotating turret. The 75mm gun (listed as the main gun on the unit data chart) may only fire at enemy units straight ahead, but the 37mm (listed as the secondary gun) may fire in any direction. Both guns may fire in the same turn, and the two guns may fire at the same target during the same turn. M7 Priest, M12, M40, M3 Halftrack with 75mm: These are self-propelled guns with the main armament mounted in a fixed, open-topped superstructure rather than a rotating turret. They may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. M6 Heavy Tank: The main armament of this vehicle consisted of a 37mm gun mounted coaxially with a 75mm gun. Both guns may fire in the same turn, but they must both fire at the same target. T28 (later renamed the T95): The main gun of this tank was mounted in a fixed superstructure rather than a rotating turret. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 7.4 British Units Churchill Mk I: This mark (only!) of the Churchill had a 2-pounder gun mounted in a rotating turret and a 3-inch howitzer in a fixed mount protruding from the driver's plate in the hull. The 2-pounder (main line on the unit data chart) may fire in any direction, but the 3-inch howitzer (secondary gun) may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Both guns may fire in the same turn, and both guns may fire at the same target. M3 Grant: This tank had a 75mm gun mounted in a limited-traverse sponson in the front right corner of the superstructure, and a 37mm gun mounted in a fully rotating turret. The 75mm gun (listed as the main gun on the unit data chart) may only fire at enemy units straight ahead, but the 37mm (listed as the secondary gun) may fire in any direction. Both guns may fire in the same turn, and the two guns may fire at the same target during the same turn if the owning player so chooses. Archer: This tank destroyer had a 17-pounder gun mounted facing backwards in a fixed, open-topped superstructure. When travelling, this vehicle moves with the gun pointing towards the rear. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead (in this case, straight back from the rear of the vehicle). Bishop: This vehicle was armed with a 25-pounder gun mounted in a fixed box superstructure. It looks like it might be a rotating turret, but the gun can only traverse a few degrees in either direction. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Sexton: The 25-pounder on this vehicle was mounted in a fixed, open-topped superstructure. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Tortoise: The main gun of this tank was mounted in a fixed superstructure rather than a rotating turret. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Universal ("Bren") Carrier, Daimler Dingo scout car: These vehicles were armed only with a single Bren light machinegun, mounted in the front plate. The Bren Gun could be pulled out of its mounting and fired in any direction, but in normal use would only fire straight ahead. 7.5 Italian Units CV 3/33, CV 3/35: These were light machinegun carriers. Their armament consisted only of one or two 8mm machineguns in a fixed mounting on the hull. They may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Semovente: These self-propelled guns had their main armament mounted in fixed superstructures rather than rotating turrets. They may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. The Semovente 47 and 75 superstructures were fully enclosed, the Semovente 90 superstructure was open in the rear. 7.6 French Units Char B1: This tank had a 47mm gun in a rotating turret and a 75mm gun in a fixed mounting on the hull. The 47mm gun may fire in any direction, but the 75mm (secondary gun) may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. Both guns may fire during the same turn, and both guns may fire at the same target. 7.7 Japanese Units Type 1 Ho-Ni: This was a 75mm gun mounted in a fixed, open-topped, open-backed superstructure. It may only fire at enemy units that are straight ahead. 7.8 Polish Units

Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 TKS, TK3, TKS zKM 20mm: These were light machinegun carriers or "tankettes". The armament was mounted in fixed superstructures, and may only fire on enemy units that are straight ahead. 8.0 Designer Thoughts During the autumn of 1998, my local game group continued its quest for the ideal microarmour game by trying two old boardgames converted for use with miniatures. Both of these boardgames were micros from Metagaming, from the early 1980's: Rommel's Panzers, and Stalin's Tanks. The results were reasonably fun, very fast playing, and vaguely resembled actual WWII tank battles. We decided we'd like something that played as quickly and easily and was as fun, but had a bit more realism to it. These rules are the result of that project. Originally, I started out with the intention of just changing a few details here and there from the original boardgames, and adding data for the rest of the WWII tanks, as only about a dozen types were included in the original games. As usual whenever I do this sort of project, it got out of hand, and the results bear

Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go

practically no resemblance to Rommel's Panzers or Stalin's Tanks, aside from the fact that Russian infantry is still 6 points. I'll let you judge whether or not I was successful in that endeavour. 8.1 The Name Finding the right name for a project has always been a chore for me. I wanted a name that brought to mind the subject matter and was instantly recognizable by anyone interested in the topic. These rules are designed to cover all of WWII, but they're a more accurate simulation of the early part of the war. The German PzKpfw III was in use throughout WWII, was considered one of the best tank designs in the world at the beginning of the war, but was eclipsed by later vehicles as the war progressed. More importantly, the Panzer III is well known by wargamers world-wide and might be thought of as a symbol of the early war period. Italian Semovene 75/18 I thought about going with the name Fast Tanks, a term used by the Soviets for their BT series of medium tanks, since this ruleset was designed to play quickly. That was a bit lame, and vague, so I dropped it. I then decided to name the game after a tank type, for recognition purposes. I thought about names like BT-7, Somua, or A13, sticking with the early war theme. Frankly, I thought, many gamers wouldnt recognize those names right away. Originally I had wanted to avoid the German names simply because so many game items go that route. In the end I went with the title Panzer III as it fit the criteria, and it was the third set of tank rules I had in progress at the time. The first set is a rebirth of the on-again, off-again computer-assisted Tankbase project, on hold since 1995. The second set had the working title of Panzers in Peril but will probably be called something like Panzer IV when I'm finally finished with it. Panzers in Peril shares uses most of the same systems as Panzer III, but uses more detailed armour, armour penetration, and gunnery range models. Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 I also thought about naming it OGNASOTR (for "Oh God, Not Another Set Of Tank Rules") but everybody said that was too long. 8.2 Design Criteria The requirements for this system stem from one simple, over-riding concern: I needed a quick-playing, easy, fun set of rules covering tank combat in WWII. I needed it for my own recreational gaming, and figured other people might be interested in it as well. As any good project should, it began with a set of requirements, or design criteria. I decided that this set of rules should: Involve a minimum of paperwork. All the information needed for the game should be included on one side of one sheet of paper, although it's acceptable to have different sheets of paper for different players (nations). This approach works very well for several of my other game designs, Generic Legions and Red Chicken Rising. Play very quickly. Tank-to-tank fire should take only a minute or two to resolve at the most. It should be fun. No sense going to all this trouble if it's not going to be an enjoyable experience. It should have as much historical accuracy as will fit in the rest of the criteria (playability, fun, minimal paperwork). Although this is obviously a tank game, infantry should be represented in a reasonable fashion, rather than as "speed bumps" for the armour. Artillery and air support can be represented abstractly as secondary, off-board resources.

With these criteria in mind, it became clear that these rules would work fine as a game covering the entire war, but would be a more realistic simulation for the earlier war period than for the later years. From 1939 to 1941 or so, the armour plate tended to be thin and simple, guns were relatively weak and short-ranged, and anti-tank shots tended to involve only one type of ammunition (usually AP). As the war progressed, tanks' protection became thicker and more complex, longer and more powerful guns were introduced, and tanks carried three or more ammunition types to choose from during battle. That's the point where it gets hard to cover everything on one page of charts without having to use 4-point fonts. Under these restrictions, I could not include a few of the aspects of tank warfare that I had wanted to put in: the fact that a given round's armour penetration decreases over its flight path (depending on the type of gun firing and the type of ammunition), or that the effective thickness of a tank's armour might be very different between the turret side, hull side, turret rear, and hull rear, as opposed to a single value as often portrayed in games. These things are covered in Tankbase and in Panzers in Peril. I was, however, able to capture a few important aspects of tank combat in Panzer III. For instance, some tank guns outranged others by quite a large margin, a fact that plagued the British during the first two years of the North Africa campaign. There was one aspect of tank warfare that I definitely wanted to include, because it seems to be left out of most tank rules. A given type of round fired at a given range would not always penetrate the same thickness of armour. A round that should have penetrated occasionally didn't, and a round that shouldn't have gone through sometimes did, due to countless variables involving metallurgy, weather, weak or strong spots in the armour, or simply a bad (or good) batch of ammunition. When a reference source mentions that a given type of ammunition can penetrate a given thickness of armour at a given range, that usually means that 50% or more of the rounds fired under those conditions will penetrate, not that all of the rounds will penetrate. The AP system in Panzer III reflects this concept. If a shot would normally penetrate (the odds are 1:1), it stands a good chance of knocking out the tank. If the odds are 2:1 or greater, there is a very good chance the shot will kill the target tank. If, on the other hand, the round is too weak, it will never do damage. Shots that are almost strong enough (the odds are just 4 points (20 millimeters' worth of armour) short of 1:1) have a small chance of a kill.

Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 As an example, imagine a Panzer II (thin armour, small gun) is having a one-on-one gunfight with an M1 Abrams (thick armour, big gun). No matter what the range is, no matter where it hits or what angle, the Panzer II's tiny 20mm gun will *never* penetrate the M1's armour. On the other hand, if the 120mm gun on the Abrams hits almost anywhere on the Panzer II, chances are very high that the light tank will be destroyed. Now imagine an A13 and a PzKpfw III Ausf A dueling it out at long range, both tanks with thin armour, both tanks with relatively weak guns. Each round fired stands a fair chance of penetrating and a fair chance of bouncing off with no effect. The other thing I wanted this game to have was comprehensive coverage, at least of the armoured vehicles. One of my pet peeves in wargaming is the trend for rulesets to include data for only the most common vehicles. The rest of the tank types are included in future expansions that must be purchased separately, or are never included in the game at all. This is fine if you game only the late-war Germans, British, Americans, and Soviets, but if you are interested in the early war period or the Pacific Theatre, you're out of luck. I'm told that the Italians, Polish, French, and Japanese all had tanks too, but you would never know if from some of the rulesets out there. What's more, the Russians actually had tanks designs *before* the T-34! Who'd have thought. The AP damage chart assumes that some shots that penetrate will not "mission kill" the target, but will suppress the target or cause the crew to lose nerve and withdraw. The rules don't discern between mobility hits, weapon hits, or brewups. All are classified as "mission kills" for game purposes. My discussions with real tank crewman revealed that in "real life", once a tank was hit and couldn't move or couldn't fight, most of the time the crew bailed out for fear of Czech-built LT-35, used by the Germans as the PzKpfw 35(t) ammunition or fuel explosions. As one veteran told me, "Knocked-out tanks tend to become bullet magnets." Neither are bailed-out tank crews allowed to fight on bravely as dismounted infantry, as the vets I spoke with all thought that was something that only happened in movies and propaganda photos. Rate of fire is factored into the AP and SA/HE factors. Tanks in WWII were for the most part incapable of inaccurate fire while moving until the later period of the war when the American invention of gun stabilization was improved. Tanks tended to pause briefly while advancing, just long enough to lay the gun and fire a shot, then moved forward again. The die-roll modifiers for movement during AP combat reflect this behaviour. This is to encourage historical "fire and movement" or leapfrog tactics commonly used during the war, and to deal with the Doolittle Dilemma: "In most tank games, the side that advances will get shot to pieces by the side that sits in defensive positions and waits." 8.3 The Research By far the most frustrating aspect of doing a tank project is trying to find accurate, consistent data. Anyone who has researched the subject will find that the various sources disagree on nearly every piece of information. After a while the game designer can only throw up his hands and try to go with what sounds best. The data in Panzer III, as well as Panzers in Peril, was taken from the research I did between 1990 and 1995 for the various iterations of the Tankbase project. These sources will be gathered and posted online as part of The Book Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 of Tanks project. In brief, my sources consist primarily of the commonly-available tank reference books, Bellona and Profile booklets, and some photocopies of WWII-vintage firing range reports. I felt the most valuable information is that which I gathered myself, literally crawling over the real tanks at the museums at Aberdeen and Fort Knox, measuring thicknesses and angles. Jim O'Neil and Lorrin Bird also provided me with quite a lot of excellent data from various sources, including genuine WWII US Army ballistics documents and other material from the period. Many thanks to Jim, Lorrin, and all the other people who have been passing tank info to me over the years. That said, I cannot claim that the data presented here is the most accurate or reliable available. It is, however, the best I have. Feel free to modify as you see fit. Experienced tank gamers will no doubt know all about, or at least have access to information on all the units represented in the game. Newcomers on the other hand probably aren't going to know what an A11 is as opposed to an A10, for instance. I can't really provide a useful solution to this in the confines of this game, but it does reinforce the idea that I need to finish writing The Book of Tanks and post it online. This in itself is a pretty big project, so it will probably be posted one chapter (nation) at a time. 8.4 The Data In case you want to add new unit types or modify the existing data, here is how I formulated the values. Move Rate: this is the unit's "book value" for maximum road speed expressed in miles per hour, divided by five. If you do the math, this does not map out accurately to real-world cross-country speeds, but it works well for this type of game. If you go with actual scale speeds, you get units that either crawl along at small fractions of an inch each turn, or units that zip across the length of the game table in a single turn. SA/HE (Small Arms/High Explosive): this number falls into the "pulled out of thin air" category and represents relative capability, rather than hard data. AP (Armour Piercing): this is roughly the effective armour penetration at effective range, expressed in millimeters, divided by five, adjusted slightly for rate of fire, accuracy of the gun, and reliability. Sort of a cross between "hard data" and "fudge factor". Max Rge (Maximum Range): this is the gun's effective range in meters divided by 33 1/3. The effective range is often far less than the maximum range, and represents that range at which the gun stands a good chance of hitting what it wants to hit and the armour penetration is acceptable. The shell itself will often fly much farther than that, but the chances of hitting or penetrating are reduced to the point where the shot will miss for all practical purposes. For instance, the British 2-Pounder gun is usually listed as having a maximum range in excess of 1200 meters, but British tank crews in North Africa complained bitterly that they had difficulty engaging anything much farther than 300 or 400 meters. Armour/Defence: hard targets (tanks and other armoured vehicles) use the armour numbers, soft targets (infantry) use the defence number. Trucks and other unarmoured vehicles can use either number, depending on whether they're being shot at using AP or SA/HE. The Armour value represents the thickness of armour plate, expressed in millimeters, adjusted for angle, divided by five. The number to the left of the slash is the front armour value, the number to the right of the slash is the sides and rear value. On vehicles that had a significant disparity in armour thicknesses between the hull and turret, I went with the surface area that was most likely to be hit. The Defence value is another one of those "thin air" things. 8.5 The System Some may find it odd that I chose an odds-based Combat Results Table for AP (armour piercing) combat. Some may find it even more odd that I used a differential CRT for small arms and high explosive fire. After much thought, these are the systems I felt worked best for what I was trying to accomplish. Note that the AP CRT has a slight twist Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.

Panzer III Rules: Version 1.3 5/13/2000 from most odds-based systems: the (1:1)-4 column to simulate the "almost there" shots, the steady probabilities when the striking shell's potential was close to the target's protection, and the near-guaranteed mission kill when the shell is powerful enough to overwhelm the armour. The small arms system took a lot more thought. I wanted there to be a measurable difference between, say, an MG34 and a Bren Gun, but I didn't want the players to have to futz around with charts for 20 minutes to deal with that difference. A straight odds-based CRT didn't work because that meant a 7-point squad would have the same attack capability as a 6-point squad, thus losing any "flavour" between unit types. Note that gun ranges are often much less than what you see in many other places. That's because I went with effective ranges rather than "book value" maximum ranges. I came up with most of the effective range values myself, based on my own readings, and believe it or not I was being generous in quite a few cases. For instance, the machinegun main armament on the Panzer I reaches out to only 18 inches (600 meters). The guns themselves could easily reach out to 2 kilometers or more, but when mounted inside a cramped turret, the gunner couldn't see anywhere near that far. I've been told by veterans that coax and hull machineguns generally had an effective range of no more than 300 meters, simply because that's how far the gunner could see clearly. As this is a game and not a pure simulation, I was optimistic with many of these values. Similarly, the average WWII infantry rifle could hit out to 1000 meters. In actuality, the average engagement was at 300 to 400 meters or less, due to terrain, cover, weather, fatigue, and the fact that the average soldier can't see very well when he's busy dodging bullets.When I was a soldier on the M16 range, I could hit the targets just enough to qualify, but those 300 meter targets were always tiny vague green blobs at the very edge of my visibility. 9.0 Credits Game design, research, photography, and typesetting: David Ferris Game development: Development?! Pfffft!!! Additional research: Jim O'Neil Playtesting: Members of HOGS (the Hopatcong Organized Gaming Society): Bob Ross, Martin Connell, Chuck Rowan Title photo: PzKpfw III Ausf J All photos taken at the Aberdeen Tank Museum in Maryland, USA Photo retouching was done in Paint Shop Pro 5.0 in Windows 95 E-mail (as of May 2000): d.ferris@worldnet.att.net The ArmourSoft web page: http://home.att.net/~d.ferris

M3 Stuart Light Tank

Copyright 2000 ArmourSoft. Permission granted to copy & distribute freely.