Question re activation

[Tony M]

While rearranging shelves in my attic I noticed that I have the original PG as well as Eastern Front. I played both years ago and was intrigued by the system. But RL intervened. I'm retired now, and decided to give PG a try again.

I'm currently solo playing Scenario #61, "Odessa: Hill 101," from Eastern Front. Being an infantry-only scenario it seems simple enough. But I may be over-thinking the activation rules.

If all of my Romanian units begin in side-by-side stacks, and each stack has a leader, can every stack take an action one after the other, with each leader activating his own stack and the stack next to him? If so, that means all of the Romanians can close with the Soviet line during the first action phase of Turn 1, before the Soviets are able to do anything but take opportunity fire.

I don't play wargames much anymore, but a couple years ago I had a pleasant email exchange with Dr. Bennighof re Black Panthers. If I ever begin buying wargames again, I will have to buy Eisenborn Ridge and Black Panthers.

[plloyd1010]

Firstly, I think the Romanians are seriously screwed in this one. That said, to the important stuff.

If all of my Romanian units begin in side-by-side stacks, and each stack has a leader, can every stack take an action one after the other, with each leader activating his own stack and the stack next to him? If so, that means all of the Romanians can close with the Soviet line during the first action phase of Turn 1, before the Soviets are able to do anything but take opportunity fire.

Working through the concept incrementally, only the units and leaders in one hex may activate at the outset. If there is a leader activating, they may activate the units in their hex and in any adjacent hexes, and may activate leaders of subordinate ranks in those hexes. Those leaders may then activate units and subordinate leaders in their hexes and adjacent hexes. So if your maior has the captain in adjacent hex, then locotenents on either side, and the plutonier on one end, you could activate a line 7 hexes long (plus other hexes adjacent to most of the line).

Now since the objective is hill control, I see a hedgehog around that hill, which the Romanians are unlikely to break.
 

I don't play wargames much anymore, but a couple years ago I had a pleasant email exchange with Dr. Bennighof re Black Panthers. If I ever begin buying wargames again, I will have to buy Eisenborn Ridge and Black Panthers.

Elsenborn Ridge is almost a must. It is probably the best started game in the series. With Black Panthers, consider the social statement that it brings. I don't disagree with the social posture of the book, and the story should be told, just keep in mind what you would be getting. BtW: The scenarios are pretty good. Most of the book's articles can be found on the APL website.

If there a few to no live opponents around, consider Vassal play.

[Tony M]

First, let me apologize for asking my question in this part of the forum instead of in the "Panzer Grenadier Rules" section. I didn't notice that there is a part of the forum specifically intended for rules questions. What can I say? I'm old, and these old eyes don't work as well as they used to.

Thank you very much for your reply. 

I don't mind that the Romanians are at a disadvantage in this scenario. I never played wargames for the competitive value of this or that game or scenario. For me it was always about the gaming experience. I hoped the game would teach me a little bit about the battle. I was primarily interested in the story each game was telling, and I had no problem with using my imagination to supplement the pushing of cardboard counters across a map. So, "unbalanced" games are just fine. I was almost exclusively a solitaire player anyway.

As an African-American I am very aware of the social statement that accompanies Black Panthers. I have read all of the related articles on the Avalanche website. Over the last 50 years I have seen wargame after wargame after wargame featuring the German armed forces and specifically the Waffen SS and the Grossdeutschland Division. There have been a number of games focused on the GD. I think a game like Black Panthers is long overdue.

[Grognard Gunny]

Welcome to the "old folks" here on PGHQ, you will find that "plloyd1010" is an excellent source for rules interpretations. I have exactly the same "attitude" toward "the game" as you.  

GG

[Tony M]

Yes, GG. I think plloyd1010 is very helpful. And I have read a lot of your own posts, and agree that you and I view this game pretty much the same way.

[goosebrown]

"I think a game like Black Panthers is long overdue"

I agree. I was a bit aghast that the distributers would not take the time to research at all. Seems like a pretty well thought and respectful game commemorating real heroes who fought a two front war wherever they were.

I hear you on the eyesight. That is why I play on VASSAL. I can zoom in as much as I like. I am working on modules for all the naval games if you ever feel like that. 

[plloyd1010]

As an African-American I am very aware of the social statement that accompanies Black Panthers. I have read all of the related articles on the Avalanche website. Over the last 50 years I have seen wargame after wargame after wargame featuring the German armed forces and specifically the Waffen SS and the Grossdeutschland Division. There have been a number of games focused on the GD. I think a game like Black Panthers is long overdue.

This is a refreshing outlook. I recall when Dr. Mike announced Black Panthers, and for quite a while afterward, he got a lot of angry blow-back about hijacking black history and heritage. I still don't understand how an honest telling of the story can be considered wrong. Go for Broke, The Ballad of Francis Wai and the bayonet charge of the 65th Infantry didn't generate the anger that Black Panthers did.

I also don't understand the heritage argument. I am Irish-Welsh. Every year I see Latin and African-American families where those bright green derbies for St. Patrick's Day. I always wonder what they understood or they thought. It's a weird world.

[Grognard Gunny]

One of the problems with the Internet is that ANYONE with an opinion can post to his/her heart's content AND will find (somewhere) another like-thinking mind (?) who will agree. To further this are those Companies who read into this and believe that it reflects a large proportion of customers/potential customers and thereby avoid at all costs anything controversial or appears to be controversial. Hence, the backlash AP got when they put out Black Panthers. Taken further, the "Truth" is often avoided in order to NOT get criticized/chastised/drubbed/"cancelled", etc. Such is life in the "Good old" USA.

GG

[cjsiam]

Only if we put up with it....
Speaking your mind clearly is both a Right and a Responsibility.....Tomorrow is listening...

[Tony M]

I'll just say that my frustration with (so many of) the people who play wargames and (so many of) the companies that publish wargames has been growing for a *very* long time. Read the second paragraph of Doc B's article "Dishonor Before Death: Those Black SS Pieces." There was a similar article in S&T way back in the mid-1970s. 

A few years ago I wrote about my frustration a lot on CSW and BGG, and as expected, received a lot of blowback, some of it pretty hostile. Whatever. I have not visited CSW since mid-2020. I spent 5 decades in this hobby smiling and "going along to get along," and I've just had it. I don't feel like repeating here the things I wrote on those other forums. I don't want to get into any arguments with anybody about anything. I am not here to try to change anybody's mind about anything. I'm too old and too tired to care.

But thanks to that darned Doc B, I now have to tell my wonderful wife, "Sweetie, I know I told you in 2018 that I was not going to buy any more of these stupid games, but there's this one company that has published a game on an African-American US Army unit during World War II, and also a game on a Nisei unit during World War II...  Could I spend a couple hundred dollars to buy these games?"

Seriously, guys, how could *anyone* who claims to be interested in wargaming and military history NOT want to command such brave bad***ed American troops? I don't mind commanding German or Soviet troops on a game map, but the Black Panthers? The 442nd RCT? Sign me up, dude. As Randy "The Macho Man" Savage used to say, "Oooohhh yeah!!!!"