Panzer Grenadier Battles on November 21st:
Desert Rats #16 - The Panzers Pull Back Desert Rats #19 - The Panzers Return
Desert Rats #17 - The Tomb Of Sidi Rezegh Jungle Fighting #7 - Line Of Departure
Desert Rats #18 - A Pibroch's Skirl South Africa's War #5 - Irish Eyes
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Tank Battle
Hopeless, But Not Serious #13
(Defender) Germany vs Austria (Attacker)
Formations Involved
Austria Fast Division
Germany 2nd "Vienna" Panzer Division
Display
Balance:



Overall balance chart for HbnS013
Total
Side 1 0
Draw 0
Side 2 1
Overall Rating, 1 vote
5
4
3
2
1
4
Scenario Rank: --- of 940
Parent Game Hopeless, But Not Serious
Historicity Alt-History
Date 1938-03-01
Start Time 10:00
Turn Count 16
Visibility Day
Counters 119
Net Morale 0
Net Initiative 0
Maps 2: 14, 9
Layout Dimensions 56 x 43 cm
22 x 17 in
Play Bounty 174
AAR Bounty 171
Total Plays 1
Total AARs 1
Battle Types
Road Control
Conditions
Off-board Artillery
Randomly-drawn Aircraft
Scenario Requirements & Playability
Battle of the Bulge Maps
Eastern Front Counters
Hopeless, But Not Serious Base Game
Road to Berlin Maps
White Eagles Counters
Introduction

Austrian doctrine called for the Fast Division to act as a mobile reserve, counter-attacking German breakthroughs in the Traun Line. Had the division received the Skoda S-II tanks desired by its officers (Kampfwagen35 in Austrian parlance) this might have resulted in the war's first tank battle.

Conclusion

The entire German Army had only 42 PzKw III and less than 30 PzKw IV tanks at the time of the Anschluss. Had Austria found the money to purchase the Skoda vehicles, Alfred Ritter von Hubicki's Fast Division would have held a decided edge over Heinz Guderian's 2nd Panzer Division and the "Panzer Leader" might have only been remembered as a historical footnote.

Additional Notes

White Eagles is required only for PzI and PzII counters. Counters from 1940: The Fall of France may be substituted.


Display Relevant AFV Rules

AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle
  • Vulnerable to results on the Assault Combat Chart (7.25, 7.63, ACC), and may be attacked by Anti-Tank fire (11.2, DFT). Anti-Tank fire only affects the individual unit fired upon (7.62, 11.0).
  • AFV's are activated by tank leaders (3.2, 3.3, 5.42, 6.8). They may also be activated as part of an initial activating stack, but if activated in this way would need a tank leader in order to carry out combat movement.
  • AFV's do not block Direct Fire (10.1).
  • Full-strength AFV's with "armor efficiency" may make two anti-tank (AT) fire attacks per turn (either in their action segment or during opportunity fire) if they have AT fire values of 0 or more (11.2).
  • Each unit with an AT fire value of 2 or more may fire at targets at a distance of between 100% and 150% of its printed AT range. It does so at half its AT fire value. (11.3)
  • Efficient and non-efficient AFV's may conduct two opportunity fires per turn if using direct fire (7.44, 7.64). Units with both Direct and AT Fire values may use either type of fire in the same turn as their opportunity fire, but not both (7.22, 13.0). Units which can take opportunity fire twice per turn do not have to target the same unit both times (13.0).
  • Demoralized AFV's are not required to flee from units that do not have AT fire values (14.3).
  • Place a Wreck marker when an AFV is eliminated in a bridge or town hex (16.3).
  • AFV's do not benefit from Entrenchments (16.42).
  • AFV's may Dig In (16.2).
  • Closed-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables. Do not take step losses from Direct or Bombardment Fire. If X or #X result on Fire Table, make M morale check instead (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT).
  • Closed-top AFV's: Provide the +1 modifier on the Assault Table when combined with infantry. (Modifier only applies to Germans in all scenarios; Soviet Guards in scenarios taking place after 1942; Polish, US and Commonwealth in scenarios taking place after 1943.) (ACC)
  • Tank: all are closed-top and provide the +1 Assault bonus, when applicable

Display Order of Battle

Austria Order of Battle
Army
  • Mechanized
  • Motorized
Germany Order of Battle
Heer
  • Motorized
  • Towed

Display Errata (2)

2 Errata Items
Overall balance chart for 20

The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France.

(plloyd1010 on 2015 Jul 31)
Overall balance chart for 486

The Pz IVe appearing in the original Panzer Grenadier game had an Anti tank value of 4-7. As of Afrika Korps (2002), continuing onward through the 3rd and 4th edition games, the anti tank value has been 4-4.

(plloyd1010 on 2016 Jul 25)

Display AARs (1)

Hopeless, But Not Serious, scenario #13: Tank Battle.
Author JayTownsend
Method Solo
Victor Austria
Play Date 2011-07-02
Language English
Scenario HbnS013

While setting this scenario up, I noticed there is one KW35 counters short so I had to use a KW38 counter sub! It seems like a pretty evenly matched scenario with forces and terrain victory objectives but I made kind of a strategic/tactical error early in the game. As the largest part of my German Armor finished their movement, the Austrians, in stead of shooting back with their armor, they moved the bulk of their armor adjacent to the German armor and hope for first activation on the next die roll, which worked out for them very well. They had most of their armor in kind of a hex clump that could all activate at about the same time. They shot up the German armor pretty well and even received in some cases, the adjacent armor modifier bonus. So the game felt over kind of early but I played on for a while.

Another strategy I used for both the German PzI’s & the Austrian KW33’s which have zero AT factor, was to assault other armor with these units. It sure evens the odds to assault with three weaker tanks units against stronger tanks if given the opportunity.

The out come was a Major Austrian victory, by points. The controlled hexes were pretty close with the Austrians holding a small advantage but in eliminated enemy units, they held a large advantage, even though the Germans have air-support . Large due to the earlier mishandling of the German armor or this would have been a closer battle for sure. I do like the start terrain better for the Austrians.

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