| Golden Journal No. 37: Heavy Metal
Scenario Preview
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
May 2021
 Our Golden Journal is sort of a game designer’s playground, or at least my own personal playground (it’s open to outside designers, but no one’s ever asked to join the fun). Since we used 49 pieces from an old book (Panzer Grenadier: Secret Weapons) in Golden Journal No. 37: Heavy Metal, I decided to match them with a set of totally new scenarios.
Heavy Metal is filled with giant tanks, and I figured that they needed to fight each other. The action is set in our Long War alternative-history story arc (the one with Afrika 1944), but since I made it up, I could craft situations for maximum armored action. In broad terms the scenarios are influenced by Britain’s Battle of the Bulge; similarly, the British are coming to stop the Germans. And they do. Let’s have a look at the hot metal action:
Heavy Metal in the Ardennes
December 1946
 Britain entered what became known as the Long War (to distinguish it from the Great War) in August 1942. The war became a naval struggle for control of the North Atlantic, but when the United States entered the conflict in December 1943 the tide began to turn in favor of the Allies. American and British troops came ashore in France in June 1946 and drove across north-west Europe to be halted at the German border.
With their supply lines shortened, the Germans unleashed their carefully-conserved reserves of armor and aircraft against the enemy spearheads in the rugged Ardennes forest. The Ardennes Offensive pushed back the weak American forces covering what was thought to be a secondary front, and reinforcements rushed to the area to stem the iron tide.
Among those, the British XXX Corps met the German 57th Panzer Corps’ Panzer Lehr and 2nd Panzer Divisions in and around the town of Celles near the Meuse River at Dinant, the site of heavy fighting in the 1942 campaign. The epic clash of very heavy tanks would decide the outcome of this final German cast of the iron dice of war.
Note: This chapter takes place in our Long War alternative-history setting, the same as that of Panzer Grenadier: Afrika 1944 and our Plan Z and The Emperor’s Sword expansions for Second World War at Sea.
Scenario One
Panthers in the Mist
December 1946
 The German armored forces had fallen behind the Navy in resource priorities, but following the Allied landings in Normandy the Army began to receive new tanks and other vehicles in greater quantities. The new Panther II medium tank was considered more than a match for anything the Allies could offer, but the British Army had a new tank of its own.
Conclusion
The Panther II packed more firepower than the Centurion, and could knock out the new British tank at long range. But the shiny new tanks were just as vulnerable as the old panzers once committed to urban combat, where the British Paras could hunt them down with their American-supplied bazooka anti-tank rockets. The Germans managed to secure the villages, but at a terrible cost.
Notes
It’s a meeting engagement, with the British Paras backed by Centurion tanks, which should be a potent combination, except that the Germans have the Panther II, which can knock out the Centurion.
Scenario Two
Maus Attack
December 1946
 Germany’s Supreme Leader had ordered his weapons makers to create the ultimate breakthrough tank, and the minions had obediently complied. Panzer Maus was huge, armored like a battleship with a main gun better suited to a small cruiser. The British had somehow held back the new-model tanks deployed against them, but surely they could not stop Panzer Maus.
Conclusion
The slow, lumbering heavy tanks proved easy targets for the British tank destroyers, but hitting them was not enough. Multiple shots were needed to inflict fatal damage, but the British crews could use their speed to obtain flanking shots against the armored monsters while the Paras could actually run them down on foot and attack with grenades and explosives. The German attack failed miserably.
Notes
Panzer Maus attacks the Paras, who have 17-pounders, both towed and mobile, which might not be enough. On the other hand, the Paras can run faster than Panzer Maus, so they can go hunting them on their own which probably will be enough. The German player will have to protect the Mäuse with infantry even as he or she is trying to move forward.
Scenario Three
Black Princes
December 1946
 On the left flank of the British airborne division, the 51st “Highland” Infantry Division advanced to meet the German infantry supporting the advance of 57th Panzer Corps. The Scots had ample tank support; the Germans had only a handful of aged assault guns but their commanders hoped they wouldn’t need anything more.
Conclusion
The German missileers packed a significant punch, enough to knock out even a Black Prince tank, and the ability to filter through the woods seeking flank shots against the British armor. The British pushed forward anyway thank to sheer firepower and numbers, but the number of losses suffered shocked every level of command.
Notes
Now the Brits are on the attack, with Scottish infantry backed by heavy tank support. But those dastardly Germans have a secret weapon, the Little Red Riding Hood anti-tank missile. This time it’s the British infantry tasked with guarding the tanks even as they try to advance.
Scenario Four
Shielded Toads
December 1946
 Unwilling to trade lives and steel for real estate, the Scots returned to the attack with stronger tank support and more infantry and artillery to clear the way for them. Little Red Riding Hood had not yet changed the nature of armored warfare, but she had certainly made an impression. Tankers had already adjusted to the panzerfaust rocket-propelled grenade; now they faced a weapon with greater range and explosive force.
Conclusion
Even the thickly-armored Tortoise proved vulnerable to the new German missiles, but the Scots had brought enough infantry to keep the new-fangled weapons at a distance. The slow and methodical advance eventually crushed the German positions, but only after the missiles and huge anti-tank guns had claimed several dozen British tanks.
Notes
Now the Brits deploy their own secret weapon, the Tortoise assault tank. It’s sort of a less-stupid version of Panzer Maus, not quite so slow with a gun not quite so huge. It’s still vulnerable to Little Red Riding Hood, but it’s also not likely to outpace its infantry escort.
Scenario Five
The Tortoise and the Mouse
December 1946
 Germany and Britain designed their massive, thickly-armored assault tanks to break through enemy fortified positions. They were never really meant to battle enemy tanks, but battlefield conditions rarely respect the whims of weapons designers. They sported thick armor and heavy guns, but their painfully slow speed would limit their participation in a mass tank battle, at least one against most enemy tanks.
Conclusion
The slight advantage in speed was not enough for the Tortoise to overcome the much more powerful gun of the Mouse. The British tanks were forced to withdraw and call for infantry support; they could then run down the lumbering Mice on foot and finish them off with crowbars and explosives.
Notes
We had to do it: Panzer Maus meets the Tortoise. It’s a straight-up contest of strength against, well, not exactly speed. Strength against a little less slowness.
Scenario Six
Stop the Steel
December 1946
 With the German offensive decisively blunted by Britain’s XXX Corps, the German Fifth Panzer Army deployed its reserve, the pampered 1st SS Life Guard Division. Equipped with plenty of heavy tanks and backed by lavish artillery support, the fanatic party militia were determined to give their lives for their leader. The British Guardsmen were willing to accommodate them.
Conclusion
The militia had firepower on their side, but the British had morality and mobility on theirs. The bloody fight continued all day, and only ended in mutual exhaustion. Guards Armoured had halted the German advance, but could not turn it back. That would require even more brute force, and perhaps need to await clearing skies and the appearance of air support.
Notes
Tank Battle! The Germans have three stripes of Tiger tank, the Brits bring their Black Princes and their Tortoises, and the infantry tries to keep out from underfoot. I couldn’t resist the title.
Scenario Seven
Main Battle Tanks
December 1946
 Despite the Allied advance across German-occupied France in 1946, the Germans still retained a great deal of fighting power. With no front in the East to drain off reserves, the panzer divisions could be carefully conserved and equipped with the latest new armor. When finally unleashed, they met the British Guards Armoured Division in a massive tank battle in eastern Belgium
Conclusion
The Germans did not have as many tanks, but they did have much bigger guns on most of them. The new-model Panther II could be destroyed by the 17-pounder carried by the Centurion and the Firefly, but the Shermans were fantastically vulnerable to its long-barreled 88mm cannon. The hard-fighting British infantry helped salvage a stalemate, as the Germans could not eject them from their positions in hastily-fortified buildings.
Notes
Bigger Tank Battle! Centurions and Shermans and Fireflies face off with two flavors of Panther plus some other tanks. This time we fight on the wide-open plains of Belgium. It’s a big tank-heavy scenario, and that’s always fun.
And that’s the scenario set for Heavy Metal.
Golden Journal No. 37 is available only to Gold Club members.
Click here to join the Gold Club
Sign up for our newsletter right here. Your info will never be sold or transferred; we'll just use it to update you on new games and new offers.
Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published vast numbers of books, games and articles on historical subjects.
He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his dog, Leopold. Leopold actually wrote most of those.
|
