Panzer Grenadier deluxe - British Advance in Northern Germany ww2

This is a set of rules that I had never heard of until my fellow umpire Ian said he had version 2. I went online and bought the Deluxe4 version thinking they would just be a prettier version of 2. Do my delight and Ian’s when I showed them to him, they were very different and I could then see where Mr Brown developed O Group from.

People will know I am a fan of O Group so these rules were a no brainer to try as an alternative to a lot of other lower level WW2 rules that are out there.

We made up a scenario very loosely based upon the British advance in Northern Germany. We apologise now if people don’t like the make up of the forces but it was our game so we did what we wanted. It was also the first play test outside of me and Ian. It is always good to play a game with others who have played the rules even if it was a while back.

To the game. Each British player had a company of infantry, One support platoon in an Half Track, two Churchill 6pdrs with each with 2 rounds of APDS, one Churchill 75mm and two Recce vehicles. There off board artillery was two stonks. Their mortars were supplied by their support platoon. A battalion asset of one Wasp flamethrower carrier was available.

Each of the German players had one Panzer IV, one PAK 40, two infantry company’s of two platoons and a support platoon.

The initial setup saw the Germans deploy their PAK 40’s into ambush while the rest of their troops were hidden behind the walls and in the buildings.

At the start of each turn initiative is decided. This is by a dice throw plus 1 for the British, but 0 for the Germans (the game was 1945). For HQ impetus add the number of company commanders. These now enable you to add to 5’s and 6’s to make up to 7 for activation of units. Throughout the game beware of double 1’s, they are nasty, and hope for Double 6’s, these have benefits.

The table was a 6’ x 4’ and the British were advancing the 6’ length. My mistake, took a while to advance, but on the good side for the Germans they were able to get off a few Mortar rounds on the British Recce before contact. As the British advanced it became increasingly obvious where the Germans were directing fire from. To my surprise and for the first time for a very long time, smoke was deployed from the British Mortars. It was used to blank off the suspected areas of the German observers. It worked, until they couldn’t activate the mortars for a couple of turns. The British had, as part of platoon make up a 2” mortar, this is not covered in the rules so we made an executive decision to have a decreased screen supplied by the mortars. House rules are starting to come into being.

As the advanced British units came into range the German platoons started to activate, or not, as the case maybe. Activation requires a throw of 7 or the use of HQ Impetus points on a 5 or 6 to make it up to 7.

Initial contacts went the Germans way with lots of various test having to be applied. To go into everything would take an essay not an AAR. However, the forward British units on their left flank suffered suppression and disengage (fall back 6” and suppressed).

On the right the British pushed forward with their Churchills and infantry, and under the cover of smoke started to close on the Germans. The PAK 40’s now started to fire from ambush but not very effectively. Not enough on the dice throw. Would have been enough for Shermans or Cromwells but not the more heavily armoured Churchills.

Generally the Germans were not strong enough in any department to stave off the British advance. The PzIV and PAK 40 75mm guns were just not good enough without really good dice scores against the Churchills. However, the British had the same problem, guns just not good enough.

Although both sides tried they could not get their off board artillery in, so the mortars were used all through the game and very effectively. The use of these, and HE from the Tanks guns, eventually overwhelmed the Germans.

The game ended and we retired to the pub, as all good gamers should.

Conclusion Over the years I have played a lot of rules for tactical WW2 games without being satisfied This set, for me, are the best I have played so far. I am informed that if I read PG Ver 2 and apply some of the things there as house rules it could be even better. WE WILL SEE. Without any house rules these, for the moment are my go to set for Tactical WW2, and David Browns’ O Group are my rules for Higher level games.

I would very much like to thank the players. British, Si and Bob and the Germans Ian and Mike. My fellow umpire Ian T without whose help my task would have been harder. I hope you enjoyed the game. Si and Bob also added to my knowledge of the rules by correcting (very politely) and pointing in the right direction when I cocked up.