The Sharp End Gaming

Merry Christmas! These new scenarios are for the readers of this blog who own the free, Panzer Battles Demo. If you do not own the demo, but want to try this scenario, please download the demo from JTS/WDS here . My first Tarawa scenario is called “Operation Galvanic - The First Day.” It is 18 turns long, and pits 3,000+ men of the US 2nd Marine Division against approximately 2,500 Japanese defenders of the 3rd Special Base Force and the 7th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). My second Tarawa scenario is called “Operation Galvanic - The First Day - Variable Points” It is 18 turns long, and pits 3,000+ men of the US 2nd Marine Division against approximately 2,500 Japanese defenders of the 3rd Special Base Force and the 7th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF). It uses a variable point scoring system for a handful of objectives, which forces the American side player to be more aggressive along the edge of the island and/or seize one of the airfield objectives on the fi...

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Plus “Nobody wins at Komarovka” an AAR Good news! Wargame Design Studio  is publishing very soon an update to their FREE DEMO, that includes: Five new scenarios covering the actions in the Perekop area in the Crimea in 1941 Two new scenarios covering actions in Narva Estonia in 1944 One new scenario covering an action at Cassino Italy in 1944 There are now twenty-five (including variants) scenarios in total. I am excited to say that I designed these new scenarios and David Freer polished them up for the demo. The demo update will also include: New graphics for all theatres New sounds Also, some code changes and scenario updates Here is a look at the briefings for two of my favorite scenarios: “Cassino Station” Cassino, Italy: February 17, 1944:  The 2nd New Zealand division headquarters has assigned the 28 Maori Bn with a night-time mission of seizing the train station south of Cassino.  Behind the Maoris, engineers with Bailey b...

Scenario Briefing : Corinth Canal, Peloponnesus, Greece: April 26th, 1941. (Scenario Size: Regiment Head to Head or Human vs Allied AI) With the surrender of the Greek 2nd Army on April 20th, it was clear that Greece could not be saved and the Allied expeditionary force (W Force) would have to be evacuated quickly or annihilated. To that end, General Wilson, ordered the embarkation of as many troops as possible from southern Greek ports. The Germans realising this decided to capture the single bridge over Corinth Canal in the hope of trapping any units that had not crossed already into the Peloponnesus.   Generalleutnant Karl Student proposed his Fallschirmjäger could take the bridge quickly and once agreed that Oberst Alfred Sturm's Fallschirmjäger-Regt 2 lead the assault. Defending the canal was Isthmus Force a motley collection of Allied units, expecting an assault from the land, not the air.  Length: 10 turns AAR: I've jumped onto friendlier ground.  Op...

There is a lot of desert to get through as the Allied Commander.   If at the end of this digital battle I had a chance to meet the AI commander, I'd walk up to him, punch him in the face and then begrudgingly shake his hand.  The Italians are the most frustrating army you will ever face, there are a damn lot of them and they sure know how to lay out a defensive perimeter or at least this scenario designer sure does. THIS IS YOUR WARNING: DO NOT REPEAT MY PLAN BELOW.   Fun Fact: I was hoodwinked into complacency by the historical result .    Scenario Briefing: Sidi Barrani, Egypt: December 10th, 1940. (Scenario Size: Corps-. Head to Head possible but recommended for Allied Human vs Axis AI. This scenario uses variable objective victory points) The first day of the Compass 'raid' had exceeded the British expectations. The Italians had been routed from Nibeiwa & Tummar camps and the roads between Buq Buq and Sidi Barrani had been ...

Pioneers lead the way into the minefields and obstacles of the Allied defensive line around Point 209. Scenario Briefing: Tobruk, Eastern Cyrenaica, Libya: April 30th, 1941. (Scenario Size: Regiment. Axis Human vs Allied AI or Head to Head. This scenario uses variable objective victory points) Rommel decided to try and capture Tobruk for the fourth time as his new unit, 15. Panzer Division arrived to the west of the fortress. The Deutsches Afrika-Korps, now spent the time to prepare and reconnoitre the Allied defences around the high ground at Point 209. Deciding to launch a night attack, kampfgruppe were to attack either side of the high ground and then to converge and clear it. Newly arrived pioniers were to clear the defences and help breach the Allied positions. Facing the Axis, the Australian 2/24th Battalion had just replaced 2/48th Battalion that had moved back into reserve. The 2/24th were immediately under pressure, the attack occurring on only the 2nd night after they ha...

A Panzer Battles scenario I am working on. Korsun operation. I have been spending some time with the AI orders system for Panzer Battles trying to improve the AI attack, with careful timed sequences. I have been using these two sources for German defensive operations: https://20thcenturywargaming.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/german-infantry-tactics-1932-1945/ https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Germany/HB/HB-4.html I've labeled lines of resistance, outposts and rally positions on the map and tried to place them in positions the actual historical commanders might have chosen. At Korsun, German positions were more spread out when the Soviets attacked.  Historically, the Smila fighting was a holding action and the main Soviet axis of attack was further south. This scenario isn't available for download yet, but it has been fun to think about. Chris

Game:  Panzer Battles Normandy by  Wargame Design Studio Scenario designer:   David Freer Turn 13 zoomed out shot of 90% of the battlefield.  You can see the Canadian para battalion (lighter brown battalion) is fighting to secure the Merville battery. To read my Part I AAR click here . A German counterattack is underway as the 21st Panzer Division moves forward towards my drop zones. After posting my first AAR, I received a great tip from David Freer the scenario designer and Wargame Design Studio chief to start combining my platoons into companies to gain the benefits of fatigue recovery.  That's quite a challenge given the scattered drops of the division.  I have managed in places to do so and I am benefitting from the cohesiveness of my 13th Para Bn around Herouvillette as the 21st Panzer counterattacks there.  I would also add that my knocking off the Merville battery closer to the beaches was due in large part to having a well organiz...