Company Megatest - Panzer Grenadier Deluxe

 

Time to get David Brown's Panzer Grenadier Deluxe on the table. I've always thought his General de Brigade a solid set of rules, and I'm keen to try O Group, so be interesting to see what this older set is like.

Presentation

242pp hardback book with lots of model pictures and historic photos. 4pp QRS at the back, a 1pp play aid and 1pp or markers/templates. Pretty logical layout but pretty chatty and possibly broken up into too many chapters.

Set-Up

Same as for the Crossfire test. Germans Coy+ deployed ahead of and behind the river and bridge (top of photo above), and British with 2 Coy+ advancing from the bottom.

Finally clearing the R field

How It Played

The Cromwells did a bit better this time, not only taking out the PIV on the ridge line but also chasing the Pak back from the fiver, and then taking out the second PIV, all for one damaged but not KO'd Cromwell. With the ridge clear B Coy made better time down the L flank, but 1 Coy caught it badly both in trying to get to the field in front of the bridge, and to the one between the wood and the stream, but both positions were eventually taken by 1 Pl and 2 Pl of  A Coy were fairly spent.. Both sides made repeated attempts to bring in fire support, the Germans nicely catching 1 Pl as they consolidated on the LH field. As the Brits went firm just before the river they finally managed to bring the fire support in, and winning the firefight on both flank. Finally the river was crossed with key German units suppressed or forced back and it was game over.

The dismounted Carrier Platoon moves through the marsh

Rules Impression

I really liked these. The C&C mechanic was just about right, variable CP but you only spend them on the "harder" stuff. The different levels of "morale" test rather than specific damage also worked nicely, and it gave a good "company" feel as you weren't too concerned about whether units had taken x% losses, but more just were they in the fight. Likewise fire was at the # of "section equivalents" level. Fire support worked well too, although all the gunners were shooting accurately - luck of the dice. The "Battlegroup" breakpoint test for ENDEX was also nice, and a 75% first threshold meant a relatively early finish on a bad dice roll. The whole thing just hung together well.

Crossing the river

Conclusion

A few minor things I might tweak but otherwise a nice set of rules and probably better than any of the Modern ones I played. If they are still scoring high by the end of the test then I'll certainly do a Modern version. Overall 8/10, maybe even 9/10.

The Final Assault

Basing

In playing Crossfire something just didn't seem right, and PG confirmed it - my basing was hideous. In an attempt to be "flexible" and save cost I'd sabot mounted my 1p soldiers into 3 or 4 figure sabots to represent each section - but they took up way too much space. So before I do the next game I'm rebasing them (but leaving enough on 1p pieces for Pl sized games) with 3-4 figures per 4cm x 3cm rounded oblong base. Looks way better.