Panzer Grenadier Assault Variant
Tactical Assault Advantage
By David Murray
February 2013

Panzer Grenadier battles of the last 200 meters are represented by assault combat within a single hex. The fighting involved in a single hex covers a lot of ground, attacks, feints, repulses, flanking attempts etc. This is elegantly simulated in the system by a range of column modifiers and resolved with each player rolling a single die. The actions represented by the assault combat in Panzer Grenadier are based in historical reality and so each of the turns represented contains a large amount of non-combat time, after all in most combat situations the soldiers spent only a small part of their time actually firing bullets or even rarer in hand to hand combat, most of the time was spent in whatever cover they could find, manoeuvring carefully seeking a tactical advantage and intermittent small arms fire.

The following optional rule allows the player to simulate some of the nuances of the fighting within the hex. It does not add any complexity to the system but creates a more detailed picture of the combat and the actions that are taking place.

17.7 Tactical Assault Advantage

Conduct the first round of an assault as normal. At the end of that assault phase the player who scored the highest result on the Assault Combat Chart, regardless of the later outcome of morale checks or step losses, gains a tactical assault advantage.

Hierarchy of results are from lowest to highest: No effect, M, M1, M2, 1, 2, and 3.

Example: Player A gains an M check and Player B gains a M1 check – as Player B had the ‘higher’ result they gain a tactical assault advantage. If both players have the same result on the Assault Combat Chart then no advantage is gained by either.

Tactical assault advantages are represented by markers, either +1 or +2. Use the following track to identify what tactical advantage has been gained:

When an assault is first started the tactical advantage is at 0.

Example: The Axis player has a +1 advantage but in the next assault phase the Allied player gains an advantage. Moving along the track one from Axis +1 towards Allied Advantage the result is 0. The marker is removed and any tactical advantage that the Axis player had has been lost.

If an assaulting player gains a +2 tactical assault advantage against a dug-in enemy the enemy is assumed to have been driven out of their original positions and they lose the dug-in first fire advantage. Dug-in status is removed and cannot be regained.

During the next assault phase add the tactical advantage to the owning side. At the end of this and every subsequent assault phase repeat the process from step 1.

As long as the original assault continues, regardless of units entering and exiting the assault the marker remains in place. Only when one side is solely present in the assault hex is the marker removed. Removed markers have no further effect on play even if that hex is subsequently assaulted again.

You can download the Assault markers here.

Rule Rationale:
The purpose of using tactical assault advantage is to reflect the progress of terrain captured and flanking effects within the 200-meter hex. Take for instance a Soviet assault into a German-occupied town hex. All standard modifiers apply, at the end of the assault phase if the Soviets gained a better result on the assault combat table regardless of the actual losses they suffered they would gain a +1 marker, representing maybe the capture of a significant building. If the Germans gained a better result on the table therefore gaining a +1 this represents the initial Soviet assault not gaining the ground necessary and maybe being driven into less defensible buildings of the town hex. If the Soviet assault continues to go badly and they lose on the next result on the table they will see the German defenders with a +2 counter – time to withdraw as the assault has been a disaster. The Soviets should look to withdraw and then send in fresh troops are even return in a following turn. As soon as all the Soviets withdraw the assault advantage is lost and its counter, if any, removed. Soviets that enter from then on are assumed to be trying a different route or approach and the previous advantage/disadvantage for both sides is lost. This system can have a significant effect on town combat as players rush to reinforce areas of the town where they have an advantage and withdraw from others.

This optional system rewards good play – a well prepared attack will quickly gain tactical advantage while those that are not will suffer proportionally. Tactical assault advantage will reward good preparation and planning for both sides.

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