Secret Weapons Scenario Preview II
November 2013

These scenarios introduce the huge German tanks that were meant to stop the Allied advances, push the invaders out of the Fatherland and launch new German offensives. It’s highly unlikely that these weapons could have accomplished the grand goals set out for them, even if they had entered service long before the war was over. But for Soviet and American combat commanders, the sudden appearance of these behemoths on the battlefield would have been a major shock that could have disrupted Allied offensives and given the Germans more time to develop even more secret weapons.

Scenario Ten
Under the River
July 1945

While the Maus might have made a powerful mobile fortress, it had been designed as an offensive weapon — thus the effort placed into its river-fording ability. No other tank of its era could cross water like the Maus, but whether this would have made up for the giant tank's many other failings is hard to determine. That's why we try out concepts in wargames.

Note: This scenario uses maps and pieces from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Patton's Nightmare. Only use leaders from Battle of the Bulge.

Conclusion

The Maus had to be capable of fording rivers for one simple reason: Very few bridges could have held its great weight. As things stood the Royal Tiger gave the Germans great troubles in this regard, and a number of vehicles were lost when bridges collapsed under them. It would have been even worse for the Maus. But the capability did give the big tank an unusual assault tactic had the Germans chosen to use it in this manner.

Notes

Here the Americans get dropped smack into a monster movie. They’re holding a strong position behind a major river when German “Tanks from Hell” come lumbering out of the woods, make a slow-motion dash toward the river line, plunge into the river, move along the bottom and then come erupting out of the water like Godzilla. The Maus has an armor value of 9, so even the powerful American M36 tank destroyers and 90mm AT guns will have a hard time stopping them. The Americans have to hope that their artillery and HMG units can keep the German infantry at bay on the other side of the river so that when the Maus tanks arrive on the near bank the U.S. infantry can assault them and take them out.

Scenario Eleven
Mirror, Mirror
August 1945

Had it ever been issued to combat units, the Maus tank probably would have
been concentrated in special heavy tank battalions just like its predecessors, the Tiger I and Tiger II. And like those tanks, its major task would have been to spearhead attacks. Just how it was to do so with its painfully slow top speed would never be answered, but such trifles did not concern Germany's supreme leader.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge, and pieces
from Patton's Nightmare and Battle of the Bulge. Only use leader pieces from Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion

Designed to combat the rumored German super-heavy tanks, the T28 (which
would have been known as the M28 in actual service) shared most of the same
design parameters as the Maus. The German tank had a much more powerful gun armament, but both vehicles could have been caught by running infantrymen
bearing Molotov cocktails.

Notes

This is another slow-motion advance, with the Maus units caught in the quandary of having to supply much of the German firepower while still trying to keep up with the other, much faster German forces. All the Germans have to do is cross one board and get units off the south edge, but that’s not going to be easy for the Maus. Still, the Maus units will have plenty to do since the American M28 tanks have an AT firepower of 9 that equals the Maus’ armor. So even if they do get left behind they’ll likely spend much of the game in duels with the M28s.

Scenario Twelve
Panzer Maus
August 1945

The lumbering Maus would not have made much of an impact in a renewed
German blitzkrieg — but such fresh offensives only lay in the mad dreams of
Germany's supreme leader. Having to maneuver against the "hordes of Russian
tanks" would have put the Maus at an extreme disadvantage.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin, and pieces
from Hammer&Sickle.

Conclusion

Soviet superiority in tank production would be difficult to overcome with very good new tank designs, let alone an engineering abomination like the Maus. Where the Soviets looked to the battlefield as the source of their inspiration, German designers understood that the real battlefield lay in the realm of bureaucracy and purchasing. From that standpoint, the Maus project was an enormous success.

Notes

Here’s another slow-motion Maus attack, this time against swarms of Soviet JS-3 and T34/85 tanks. All the Germans have to do is cross one and a half boards via the short axis and get off the east edge, and they do have the advantage of higher morale. But superior Soviet numbers and firepower means that all German hopes rest on the four Maus units. Without them, the Panzergrenadiers will be overwhelmed by Soviet combined-arms assaults. So the Mice will have to find a way to reach good firing positions where they can blast away at lots of Soviet tanks, thus giving the other German units enough cover to get off the east edge.

Scenario Thirteen
Waves of Steel
August 1945

Far more useful to the German cause than the ungainly Maus would have been
the other, smaller designs melding speed, protection and the awesome "long"
88mm gun. German industry did not fully mobilize for war until the odds had
firmly tilted against the Axis, and the capacity to build these tanks in the same numbers as American and Soviet factories never existed. But on the tactical level, the tanks would have made a serious difference.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin, boards from
Eastern Front, and pieces from Hammer&Sickle.

Conclusion

The Panther II was designed to "regain" German superiority on the armored
battlefield — though in truth, outside of North Africa the Germans never really had much of an edge in tank quality at any time during the war. The Panther II was a much better medium tank than the T44, but could never have been built in numbers approaching those of a Soviet vehicle.

Notes

Here the Germans finally get a super-tank worthy of the name. Possessing all the firepower and nearly the same armor as the King Tiger, the Panther II is just as fast as most of the tanks the Soviets can throw at them while outgunning and out-ranging all of them. The saving grace for the Soviets in this scenario is that their tanks have numerical superiority and a big board to work with, so they’ll be able to spread out and maneuver into crossfire positions on the Panther IIs.

Scenario Fourteen
Maus Hunt
July 1945

The slow speed of the gigantic Maus tank would have made it difficult to fight enemy tanks in any role other than as a slightly mobile but heavily-armored anti-tank gun. But on the defensive, it might have actually been useful. Not in any proportion to the resources expended, of course.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge and Battle of the Bulge, and pieces from Hammer&Sickle. Only use leaders from Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion

Georges Clemenceau's observation that war is too important to be left to the generals has a great deal of truth behind it, but there are certainly times and places for dilettantes to step aside — including the design of weapons and vehicles. The Maus would have been a very expensive, though admittedly powerful, mobile anti-tank gun.

Notes

Here some Volksgrenadiers holding a line of hills against the advancing U.S. 2nd Armored Division get some welcome support from a company of Maus tanks plus some X7 anti-tank missile units. This is a situation where the Maus can actually do the Germans some serious good. Its AT firepower and range are far beyond anything the Americans can throw at them, while its armor of 9 will make it nearly invulnerable to American AT fire if it occupies any kind of defensible terrain. The Americans will likely have to lead with their infantry, and hope that their one-per-turn air unit draw gives them the AT-capable P47 at least a few times during the game.

Scenario Fifteen
Tank Battles
July 1947

Adolf Hitler saw the Maus tank overrunning his enemies with its sheer weight and firepower, as a main battle tank. While the lumbering giant would have had a hard time overrunning a foot soldier marching quick-time, the test model did have astounding armor protection and powerful armament. Would speed be any defense against it?

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Road to Berlin and Eastern Front, boards from Elsenborn Ridge and pieces from Hammer&Sickle. Only use leaders from Road to Berlin.

Conclusion

Most armies designed and built tanks displaying effective combinations of speed, armor and firepower: the American M26 Pershing, the Soviet T44 and the German Panther II. Maus might have been intended by some of the even more insane among the Nazi leadership as a main battle tank, but in action that would have been a difficult role to fulfill.

Notes

Here’s a quick and bloody slugfest where German and Soviet tank divisions emerge from woods and hills on opposite sides of the board and duke it out for control of the intervening roads. The Maus and Tiger III tanks will wreak havoc on any Soviet tanks that show themselves, and if Soviet armor remains in cover the Germans can always send in their AT-capable Fl.282P attack helicopters. But the Soviets have 30 tank units to the Germans’ 18, plus lots of Guards infantry armed with AK-47s. So, both sides will have to be really careful not to leave any of their units exposed or unsupported, or they will get ground up by the enemy war machine very fast.

Scenario Sixteen
A Quality All Its Own
July 1945

As Germany reeled toward her inevitable defeat, some Germans clung to the hope that the new wonder weapons being designed or built could stem the tide of Allied armor. But as Josef Stalin noted, "Quantity has a quality all its own."
 
Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Battle of the Bulge and Patton's Nightmare. Only use leaders from Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion

American tankers figured out that their vehicles were inferior to those of the Germans within a few hours of their first contact with the enemy. By the time American divisions forced their way into Germany, the Americans had worked out tactics to overcome the weakness of their tanks compared to German machines. And as the war went on, American skill increased thanks to experience while German ability declined due to mounting casualties and a declining replacement pool.

Notes

Here a brigade from U.S. 4th Armored Division throws its upgunned Shermans (half of which aren’t even upgunned) against a battalion of Panther IIs. It is well that the Americans have superior numbers plus lots of roads and limiting terrain to work with. They’ve got to do plenty of maneuvering to get into crossfire positions or they won’t have a chance against the Panther II’s armor. On the other hand, any shot from a Panther II will likely obliterate an entire M4 unit.

Scenario Seventeen
Futile Empire
August 1945

As a feudal state in which the Nazi barons competed for the favor of their leader, it's doubtful that Hitler's Reich could have stood for long no matter what the outcome of the Second World War. Had Adolf Hitler fallen victim to one of the many plots against his life, rather than ending with his cowardly suicide in the ruins of his capital, his followers' rivalry might well have been decided by force of arms.
 
Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Elsenborn Ridge and Road to Berlin, boards from Battle of the Bulge and Eastern Front and SPW 250 pieces from Sinister Forces. Only use leaders from Elsenborn Ridge.

Conclusion

Most fantasies of Germany performing better in the Second World War thanks to rational choices fall apart under close inspection due to one fatal flaw: The Nazi regime was not a rational organization. Plotters involved in the July 1944 attempt to kill Hitler discussed the possibility of civil war against the Waffen SS, but that outcome does not seem likely. Despite protestations of honor, the regular army was a willing co-conspirator in Nazism's boundless crimes.

Notes

Here’s a truly therapeutic scenario in which Nazi Germany implodes in civil war, with the Wehrmacht and SS fighting it out for post-Hitler supremacy. It’s also a fascinating study of how Germany’s secret weapons (the excellent Panther II and the flawed Tiger III) would have stacked up against her weapons that were tried and true in combat (the Panther and the Tiger II).

Scenario Eighteen
Through the Desert
October 1946

Nazi economic theory demanded that Germany achieve autarky: complete control of all sources of raw materials. A modern industrial economy, at least until very recently, meant massive consumption of petroleum. In the mid-1940s, Iraq's oil fields showed enormous reserves, so great that their production would easily pay the costs of an invasion many times over.

Note: This scenario uses pieces from Road to Berlin, Beyond Normandy, Battle of the Bulge and Elsenborn Ridge and Patton's Nightmare, and maps and hill markers from Afrika Korps. Only use German leaders from Road to Berlin and American leaders from Battle of the Bulge.

Conclusion

While few outcomes of historical events can be labeled outright "impossible," a German drive back into the Middle East after fighting off the Americans, Commonwealth and Soviets marching on Berlin probably comes close. But Twentieth Century economies ran on oil, and no nation could retain great power status without the precious fluid.

Notes

Here the most elite tank force the Germans could ever hope to field (Panthers, Panther IIs and JadgPanther tank destroyers) goes up against an equally-elite force from the U.S. 3rd Armored Division (including M26 and M45 tanks plus M36 tank destroyers). And they have a huge expanse of desert to work with, so the speedy tanks on each side will get a big tactical workout maneuvering into crossfire positions on their well-armored enemies.

That’s all for the German super-tanks. Next time we’ll look at the scenarios that focus on German X7 anti-tank missiles and the British super tanks like the Tortoise, Black Prince and Centurion I.

Get your hands on these and many other Secret Weapons—order now!