Panzer Campaigns 8: Sicily '43

[Fritz]

Another title in the fantastic PzC series from John Tiller/HPS Simulations.

This extraordinary effort covers the 1943 battle for Sicily in tremendous detail. This IgoUgo hex based operational wargame plays at the company/battalion level. Each hex represents 1km.

The campaign game is 350 turns long, and I have just played 4 of them, so I will hold off on any impressions for a while.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Interested. Have you played other games in the series? I don't know that much about them, but seem to remember reading something a long time ago that the AI was marginal, but the games were very well put together. Then again, that must have been when the series was only on its 3rd or 4th game. Are they challenging?

[Fritz]

I have all of the games in PzC and Modern Combat series. Like most wargames, the ai is not the strongest part of the game. In the shorter scenarios, the ai functions better, but longer scenarios are problematic because the scripting breaks down.

I enjoy playing the game solo, but also play them vs other people via the PBEM feature. This feature is strong and the people I have faced are quite good.

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I have played through about a day an a half (14 turns). My parachute forces were widely scattered. Only a few groups were strong than a platoon. Some dropped into the sea. The American paratroops are completely useless as anything but speedbumps, so I moved them near roads and ordered the to dig in. The Brit Airborne was a little more intact and able to do some light combat work.

The amphibious landing have been rough. The Americans seem to land in company sized forces, scattered, and in a disrupted state. Until they can be reformed into battalion and put in good order they are of little use. After a day and a half you have some force, but not enough to cover the massive front. The Germans have some heavy armor, and my infantry have almost no way to stop it. Again, the brits come on in greater force and in better order.

Other than a lack of agressiveness, this first day and a half have been enjoyable.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Fritz: Thanks. I checked out the website. Looks like they have some interesting games. Do the games get better in terms of interface and graphics and playability as you move along in the series? I looked at one of the earlier games, and it looked older and simpler compared to Sicily and Kursk.

[Fritz]

There are 3 developers who publish through HPS. The guy with the largest body of work is John Tiller. Almost all of hig games have the same of similar interface, the primary difference being a few graphics files. So the interface from one game to the next are about the same.

But the games evolve a little at a time, and the older games are retrofitted with the changes. For instance, up until PzC 7: Kursk '43 all battle results were in a popup box. For large battles these popups resulted in a crapload of button clicking. For seven they added "on-map" results, which provide less information but eliminate the pop-ups. This addition was then retrofitted to all the previous games.

The point is that the older Tiller games (published by HPS) are pretty much like the newer games. There are some graphic packs to make the game graphics a little nicer, but not by super polished standards of the wider commecial market.

If a kick ass UI is part of what you need, stay away.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Fritz: Thanks again. That's great that they update the older games. I'm not a graphics junkie, and as long as the UI works well enough, I'd be happy.

I played some of the V for Victory (I think that's what they were called) series a few years ago, and have been looking for something similar ever since those games stopped working on my computer.

How's the invasion going?

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
Fritz: Thanks again. That's great that they update the older games. I'm not a graphics junkie, and as long as the UI works well enough, I'd be happy.

I played some of the V for Victory (I think that's what they were called) series a few years ago, and have been looking for something similar ever since those games stopped working on my computer.

How's the invasion going?

First - V for Victory was a kick ass system. PzC is similar, but without the nifty "path" tool.

Some things to know about the PzC games: There is no map editor. The map you get is the map you use. You can make your own scenarios on portions of the main map, but these games are not wargame construction sets like TOAW. The units and OOB are something you can futz with.

Just added to the system are strategic decisions. This feature triggers certain deployment options. In the case of Sicily you may or may not call off the Airborne drop of the 504th (-) PIR on the second night.

Added to the system a while ago are a few different supply rules. The default rule is "direct path" which means if you can trace a path to a supply source then you (probably) have supply.

Later the "Virtual Supply Trucks" option was added. VSTs trace the movement cost from a supply source to a unit. The greater the movement cost the fewer supplies. The last option is explicit supply where you have supply depots and trucks that are consumed by units.

If you get one of the games let me know and we can get a PBEM game going.

The invasion is slow. I am only a few days into the game, and the forces are trickling in. If I move inland to secure the interior, then I will not have enough forces to push on Messina. If I push on Messina then my flanks are bare. I can break my battalions down into companies to cover more ground, but they will get into trouble if they bump into good German units. what to do what to do....

[Godzilla Blitz]

Fritz,

Thanks for all the info and links! I think I am going to try and pick one of these up, once I get through part of the backlog of games I have. I would like this series.

I've never played a PBEM game, but I it'd be fun to try. I'll let you know when I get one of the games.

GB

[Fritz]

4 or 5 game days in....

The invasion is going slowly.

On the eastern shores I was able to capture Syracuse with one British Division augmented by part of an armored brigard. This division has been blocked by a mixed forced of Itallian and Germans. I was able to destroy some counter attacking forces, but weakened my own forces enough to halt forward progress.

My forces in the south east encountered two multi brigade groups, and have enough strenth to contain them, but not to both eliminate the threat and shield vs other (unseen) forces. This is holding up 4 of my Brigades. Two other brigades have been moving inland.

My forces in the vital south central region are too weak to move inland more than 10 or 15 km. My hope is pressue in other areas will reduce the commitment of enemy forces.

In the South West the US 3rd Division and some armor are having a slow fight. Again, I have enough strength to form a pocket around a bridgehead, but not enough to exploit the area.

In the North West around Palermo elements of two divisions have just started an opposed landing. Perhaps this will be what it takes to get things going.

In all, the game ballance has been quite good. I wish the enemy AI were more agressive, but the holding tactic has been reasonably effective thus far.

To date I have suffered about 8500 casualties to the enemy 16000. My losses are all fronline types and much of the 16000 are second rate defenders.

[WSUCougar]

I might be up for a PBEM at some point, if you don't mind relatively slow turnaround times.

[Calis]

I'd love to hear about a PBEM at some point.

I'm too inept to play one myself, but love reading about them.

Keep us updated, the one game I bought of the series is Rzhev '42, and it seemed to be great but I barely scratched the surface of it.

[Icy]

I took a look at them a month ago when i was addicted to SP:WAW but didn't buy them, how do you compare them with Matrix games like korsun pocket and the new Normandy one? I preffer tactical games like SP (company level) but a startegic one could be fun too.

[WSUCougar]

This is an operational-level game/series, and I think it's certainly worth a look. I do not have Korsun Pocket, so I can't compare the two, but the HPS Tiller series is well-regarded.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

I might be up for a PBEM at some point, if you don't mind relatively slow turnaround times.

No, I love them. I did PBEM of these games via the Blitz for a while, but I was slow and uneven with my turnaround time. Like you are seeing with Battlesport, I go in pulses.

(pulses - get it?)

we can PBEM any of the WW2 or Modern Titles, anytime. I prefer the ones that involve some mobility, but are not complete open spaces. For instance, I do not like Tobruk.

[WSUCougar]

All I have is Sicily in HPS, which has always been a cool game setting to me. Let's discuss the scenario and then start one up in a few days.

[Cydney]

Ospreys, that's cool....assuming I'm correct in attributing the reference of course. Anyways...

First, just wanted to comment that the next iteration of the series, France 40, is now available for purchase.

Second, a couple questions for you who are better versed in wargamers than I. 1 - how does one become involved in pbem games, are there sites for hookups and such? Is it easy to do? 2 - and more importantly, do you know of any really good reference sources where I can learn more about what the various abbreviations in HPS games mean? I'm referring primarily to things like Hptm (which I've got btw), zug/pi, StuG, etc. Obviously I'm fairly new to wargames, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Fritz]

Cydney - go to www.theblitz.org