Looking back from a Designer's view:

[JayTownsend]

Looking back for me as a Panzer Grenadier Game Designer, it started slowly and gradually. I remember when the first Panzer Grenadier game was first released, called of all things: Panzer Grenadier! After a couple of plays I was hooked and looked forward to every new product in the line-up. Sure I played other games or even similar game and I still do but I always return to my bread & butter game and always have a longing to play another scenario when it has been too long since my last game play. 

At some-point I always wanted more then was offered and Mike Bennighof, the owner of Avalanche Press, Ltd encouraged me to submit materials. At first I tried to push the Philippine in WWII idea around in around 2003 but decided it was way too large for me to handle and kind of gave up and got busy with life but in 2008 I return to the idea of contributing to PG again in a much smaller scale, adding an 11th scenario to the Alaska’s War called Kiska Evacuation and really enjoyed doing that and I think I was hooked after that. Mike encouraged me to do something larger, so I designed my first game supplement, call Nihon Silk in 2011 as I was fascinated by the fact that the Japanese ran airborne operations in WWII that most of us had never heard of. Avalanche Press published it and I wanted more!

At the time, I want more Pacific action and Mike I decided on the subject of Saipan 1944, as it had all types of actions and would add a ton of new unit types for both the Japanese and the Americans. Not only that but the maps Guy Riessen created from my original drawings were just outstanding and still my favorites of any game in print to this day, of any game company for that matter. With Saipan I was able to create actual amphibious landings, larger Japanese tank actions, flame-throwing units, rocket trucks and the idea of a cave counters, that is setup on the map, instead of a fixed location on the map, making each scenario gameplay variable and easy to adapt in future game products. As my first box game, Saipan is still my most cherished game, which was first published in 2012.

I knew the action around Saipan 1944 wasn’t done, as it was only one Island in the Marianas and there was still the battle of Tinian 1944 & Guam 1944 but I also want Guam 1941 in there, so I created a Game supplement called Marians 1944. This added two more gorgeous maps, more counters and many more scenarios. More game products would follow and draw components from Saipan and the Marianas including some by Mike, like: Ancient Armor, Armor of Saipan, Atlantic Marines, Afrika 1944 and eventually Leyte 1944. The Marianas 1944 was published in 2014.

After the Marianas 1944, I wanted more game design work and Mike directed me to the Korean War. I thought (Wow), this is still in line with WWII and can still fall nicely into the Panzer Grenadier realm, as the equipment is pretty much the same and everything can be handled in the scenario book special rules just like every game that comes out in the series with new unit types, new terrain types and few special rules. Saipan probably had the most to date so the Korean War shouldn’t be a big deal and it wasn’t. Now the size of the Korean War is just huge and I needed to read a ton of books on the subject but I found reading up on the subject to be just as enjoyable as creating scenarios. But the Korean War is too large for one game, so Mike originally said let’s make three games out of the war.  I was still kind of naïve to the amount of work and time the Korean War would take but alright lets start and before the Marianas was even published I started work on the first game in the Korean War series, call the Pusan Perimeter 1950. I found the desperate times of the (ROK) Republic of Korea or South Korea and the United States (UNC) United Nations Command trying to hold back the North Koreans (NKPA) or North Korean People’s Army just very fun gaming material, which I had known little about until reading about 20 books on the subject.

With the Pusan Perimeter completed, I wasn’t sure if I would continue of not as it just seemed so large of a task but after Pusan Perimeter was published in 2014, I was already on my way to charting the next game in the series called Counter-Attack which pushes back the North Koreans from the perimeter and has an amphibious landing in Inchon and adds ROK Marines, American Marines and a small amount of British forces and also an actual airborne paratroop drop, as I love games that have both amphibious landings and airborne drops, this game has both. I think Counter Attack offers a ton of unique and interesting scenarios and was finally published in 2017.

After Counter Attack, I had a third game in the series that covered most of the rest of the war but Mike felt it was too large, which it was, so things sat around for a few years. Mike decided to use the existing material and created a supplement called the Battles of Seoul which in turn motivated me again to return to the Korean War and Mike directed my focus to the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. It will be a supplement, adding 20 scenarios and only drawing materials from Counter Attack only but adding new Chinese of (PVA) People’s Volunteer Army counters, British Marine Commandos and 20 new scenarios broken down into three sections: Prelude to the Reservoir, Battles of the Reservoir and Withdrawal from the Reservoir, it will be an excellent package to look forward to.

Besides the Pacific WWII and the Korean War and had some other subjects that really interested me, including The Brazilian Expeditionary Force or call the Smoking Cobras, which means smoking snakes in English. My heart was really into to this game supplement and telling Brazil’s story in WWII, part of this being that my wife is originally from Brazil, so I have been there many times as well. Brazil minors America in many ways and has many of the same social and economic problems as we do but double that. The Brazilian arrived in Italy in 1944 and were a very much needed man-power, which had been drained from Italy via casualties and shifting forces to France. The Brazilians take on both the Fascist Italians and the German Armies in 20 scenarios and with two new maps, new counters and the works. I really can’t wait to see this in print. I owed it to my Brazil and my wife, who helped me with translation when needed! It is a really fun game.

Staying in the Mediterranean, kind of an odd subject but one I love, and read both Italian and Greek accounts, which can differ from each other a bit but Ochi: The Greek-Italian War 1940-41 had to be told, in six months of some of the most brutal struggle you will never read about in normal history books, as it is usually just glaze over and barley mentions the struggle, well in PG we won’t miss out on this and there is a great story to be told and it has 40 scenarios to be played out, new counters and this supplement with draw materials only from Conquest of Ethiopia & Parachutes over Crete to play. This was not a back-water conflict but an interesting part of WWII. The scenarios tell a troubling story that are enjoyable to game. 

Now after all these years I finally returned to the Philippines! First with Leyte 1944 which added 46 new scenarios, some new counters and used materials from Saipan & Marianas but adds both American and Japanese paratroopers to the Pacific and one little twisted, added to caves counter rules, if they are adjacent, they are connected, allowing movement between the two. I finally conquered part of the Philippines I had first tied back in 2003. This time however, it is and excellent product and Leyte 1944 was published back in 2020.

Now the next piece of the Philippines is The Fall of the Philippines 1941-42, which has counters for the Philippine Scouts, Philippine Army, American & Japanese Armies and draws on materials from Saipan & Marianas but will also have 77 scenarios of early war actions. This will be a fun game supplement in desperate early war action in the Philippines. 

In my design path, I also had a few that didn’t make it to publishing for various reason, like Strange & Unusual, it was just too scattered. Also Sicily, again, it was just too large, I even tried to scale it back and a few others. All designs required tons of time and research and once you are completed, they may take years to publish, but it’s the journey getting there that is half the fun or maybe not! After games are published, besides playing with the final components, I want gamers to enjoy my fruits of labor and love that is where I get a lot of joy, seeing my designs on other gamers playing tables. Also, it is good to mention, game production is team work, as after design, developers get the production going, and then artwork is done, production, marketing and finally distribution to name a few of many people involved in the game process. There are also many designers in the PG genre or history, where you can see different interests and styles in game design.  

If you want to learn more about or see more about my current designs being processed: Smoking Cobras, Ochi, Chosin Reservoir and The Fall of the Philippines, join Avalanche Press Gold Club for all the latest information of upcoming games, free gaming materials and game discounts. There is much to look forward to in the Panzer Grenadier Series!

[PzIVF2]

Jay: That was a marvelous write-up.  If I may ask, if it is not too complicated to explain - How do you turn an historical engagement into a balanced scenario, with proper victory conditions?  What are the considerations involved?

While new to the system (as you can see from my noob questions elsewhere) I am very impressed with the Panzer Grenadier leadership/morale combat mechanism.  Thus, as a former light Infantryman who served on active duty in the 80's, I would love to see the 1982 Falkland Islands campaign (not that Mike B. would necessarily be interested in my idea).  

I would appreciate any how-to recommendations for working up a small game. 

Regards,

Rick

[JayTownsend]

Hi Rick! In regards to making a balanced scenario, I can't claim all mine are but I try. First I read as much materials as I can, divide the battle into manageable scenarios, find what units participated, see what platoon level units I can create from this, then come up with some sort of homemade maps I can use. Then take on one scenario at a time. Obliviously one side won historically but maybe a scenario can be made, so each side has a chance to do better or the same as the actual outcome. Maybe one side has three times the units for example but can they take some objectives: towns, roads, hills and so now in a time frame or without losing a set amount of units. There are so many victory objectives you can set and sometimes you can just read about what actually happened and try to keep the victory for either side in that parameter, other times that might not work, so you can set victory levels for each side, based on many things, units lost, units exited, victory objectives conquered, time frame and so on. Play a scenario a few times and adjust the victory conditions if needed.

Now as far as the 1982 Falkland Islands, I think this would made and excellent 20 scenario game and because it is 1982 it would fit well in the Modern PG games section. I have always wanted this game in the PG games line up. If you can run it by Mike and see if he is interested.

[treadasaurusrex]

And it is way past time for a PG version of the Spanish Civil War 1936-39!

[goosebrown]

I agree!!! I want to work on one soon there. Have a small project with WAS first though.

Maybe something like Homage to Catalonia

[PzIVF2]

Jay: Thank you for the suggestions on adjusting scenarios to victory conditions.  All good food for thought.  Time to pull out the books and study the engagements.   And the modern rules, as well.

20 Scenarios seems like a lot for such a short campaign, but I suppose not if one separates out some micro-actions, that is, less than the battalion-on-battalion or battalion-on-company battles.

Time to make a list!

Rick

[PzIVF2]

Felipe, Matt:  Re: Spanish Civil War - Have either of you read Antony Beevor's "The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939"?  I read it recently and found it to be outstanding.  While it does not give one a tactical-level history of the war, it does give the political, ideological, strategic and operational view, and thus is an excellent starting point for building a list of important tactical engagements.

Do either of you have source recommendations at the tactical level?

Comparing the infantry fight for the Falklands, circa 1982, to the infantry fight of the Spanish Civil War would be night vs. day in terms of basic unit strength.  I expect that the Argentine and British infantry platoon in the Falklands would approximate DF of 8-3, if not 10-3 (due to all those FN-FAL's, plus a GPMG per section), as opposed to 30-ish riflemen, armed with various bolt-actions, in a Spanish Republican formation - on par with a 1940: Fall of France Reserve Platoon DF of 2-3?

Yet the nature of the fight would be very similar, I think.  And - for the Infantry fight, at least - I doubt the rules differences between PG and PG-Modern would be all that significant.

Thoughts?

Rick

[goosebrown]

I'm still figuring that out. I am in the middle of homage to Catalonia. It has some tactical reportage. But I don't think it's definitive in anyway. George Orwell though, is a really good writer politics aside. I have many factual reference books that seem to be designed for high school students. Nothing terribly good. The overall impression I have is that at least on the Catalan front, the Republican forces were only a step up from incompetence. At some points in Orwells recounting of the stories, they were simply firing blind over the trench edge. He states in several places he was more scared of being shot by his own side by accident then by the nationalists.

On the Aragon front, there's a lot more armored combat and higher quality units? I'm just getting a feel for the Spanish Civil War now I will try and dig better references up. Felipe recommended a game the name of which escapes me, which did have some scenarios that were interesting

I think the entire era is interesting because you had the Italians and Germans and by proxy the Russians testing out new theories in armor. Interestingly, the conclusions that they drew may have been erroneous in a lot of ways. The Nationalists had better success but neither side used infantry to support the tanks or fought with combined arms leading observers to believe that tanks could be employed without support which of course was a disaster in the second world war overall. 

I am learning how to code in VASSAL and I would like to try and do a Spanish Civil War module. But a small project has popped up that I think I want to work on first. If I get the time and my other project fails, I would like to do probably two modules. One of the Catalan front, and one on the Aragon front.

[goosebrown]

As for the Falklands, I think that would be pretty interesting too. Both sides were armed almost identically. In fact I believe that it was the only conflict in history where both sides were armed with the FN FAL. As a collector and shooter of FALs, I would love to play that game. I have to say though I think 8–3 is the appropriate strength for the units. FALs are notoriously in accurate on fully auto, and the L1A1s I Believe by that time had the happy switch removed.  Very inaccurate on full auto, and too high a rate of ammunition expenditure. Not to mention heavy. On the other hand the wide open spaces of the Falklands were ideal terrain for them.

I think there might be a slight edge in fire power over a WWII US Marine platoon, but not much. A modern platoon would have at least half again the firepower and survivability because they carry twice or more ammunition into the field. 

The differentiator in the game quite honestly would have to be morale and leadership. And I don't think you have to guess where the edge was in that regard. Although the only speakers I heard at the time were royal navy, there was not much talk about artillery or support weapons. Most discussions I heard at the time were of course about the exocet and air power even from them.

[goosebrown]

Also, though the terrain and fields of fire might be similar, there is no comparison between the pace of operations in the Falklands to the Civil War which was by most accounts a snooze fest with few really aggressive actions by either side most of the time. They were often content to snipe at each other and fire off a few rounds at night to ruin the sleep of the other side. Where the fighting was fierce it was close in and very bloody. I need good sources for tactical engagements and my Spanish is poor so I rely on secondary sources for the most part.