Rules Review

Panzer Marsch!

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I have been a Second World wargamer for over 20 years and I, like many others, have developed My own set of rules that I believe to be the best in the World, so although I have seen  the North Hull group's Panzer Marsch rules in action in a number of particularly impressive wargames displays I have not previously used them.

The rules themselves are very well, and professionally produced, in a 54 page, glossy A4 book, which is as they say profusley illustrated with some top class photographs of games underway.The first thing that struck me on reading the rules through was that they do seem pretty comprehensive covering everything from grenades to naval bombardments. However it became clear that prior to starting a game there was a whole stack of preparation work to be undertaken with artillery and HMG grids, kill sheets, ammo records, recorded radio nets all to be prepared. Admittedly once made these can be used again and again, but even so it was daunting at first sight.

The game system is pretty standard, and if you have used other rules such as Rapid Fire you will pick it up fairly quickly. But the system itself is pretty quirky. I could not find anything in the rules that allowed suppressive fire to support an assault, which seems very strange. While HMGs are interesting weapons, because apparently (unless I was reading the rules wrong) they are as effective against targets they cannot see, as targets they can, within the HMG template.

Armour damage is rather strange to me with three levels, light, heavy and destroyed, but with no quantative reduction in effectiveness as the hits mount up. If you want a hint when using these rules....keep an eye on your ammo, it is limited for every unit. This can create a nightmare in record keeping, but am interesting facet to the game as units have to withdraw from the line to resupply.

There is a whole series of sections of special rules covering aircraft, street fighting, cavalry, naval bombardments, airdrops etc etc and so the rules are very comprehensive. Nut I have to say that I would need to rewrite and simplify some sections if I was expected to use them on a regular basis. The price is £10, which I think is a fair price, and is worth the investment to give Panzer Marsch a trial at your club.

Paul Lord

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