Steel Panthers World War II: Cursed by Success
Occasionally we’ll step back to play the Long Campaign in Steel Panthers , a game that has stood the test of time in its near-original form like no other. There is a free version available (WinSPWW2 – Camo Workshop). We play the CD version; in actual gameplay there is no difference. The CD version has some added features that are well worth the investment, besides the contribution to keep this fine game alive.
As you may know we like long realistically randomized, more open-ended, multiple scenario, non-scripted campaigns. WinSPWW2 has one of the best of those in its Long Campaign feature.
Unfortunately, success has kept us from using what little play time we have for looking at the newer games lined up for evaluation. We thought we’d play a few battles and get knocked out with a score in the 20s and so move on to other things, but for months now we have been campaigning right along. After about 14 years or so real time, we’re really starting to feel like we almost maybe know how to play the game.
With the battle frequency set around one per month we are now in July of ‘43, playing the Germans in the East. No big fan of the Germans of the period; we’ve played the Poles, the French and, of course, the US in Europe and the Pacific in the past. And surely no fan of the Nazis (or the Soviets ) but we wonder about it ourselves, and self-justify for these reasons:
- The Germans have the most interesting equipment overall, from start to finish during the period. Besides the infamous Tigers and Panthers there’s a dizzying variety of self -propelled artillery, including the incongruously-named Ferdinand. And along about 1943 there are helicopters, though they can’t do much else but observe.
- The robot computer opponent simulates USSR operational “modes ” quite well. The Russians just keep coming at you, have little concern for the loss of units, always seem to have reinforcements, are quick to rally and can sting you when you’re occupied elsewhere. And the T-34s – the tank that won the war – along with other tracked monstrosities just keep appearing, seemingly fresh off the factory floor. If you get overconfident the Red Army will make you regret it. At times you’ll be muttering to yourself, “Where’d’ those damn tanks come from?!” We don’ t remember which of these aspects of the robot opponent might apply to other nationalities but with the Soviets it all fits.
Flettner F-282
And so we, being afflicted with Completion Syndrome, must carry on, and soon hope to squeeze in some play of the other games we intend to review real soon now, mm hm, real soon now: Penumbra, East India Company, etc.
Since it’s about the half-way point game time-wise , and the next battle will be our 26th of the campaign, this is as good a time as any for a report.
All preferences are pretty much defaulted as found. With the faster modern computers we just slowed down the status messages a bit. Fog of war is on.
Campaign Score: 51
Decisive Defeats: 0
Marginal Defeats: 0
Draws: 2
Marginal Victories: 20
Decisive Victories: 3
So we’re one point over the Marginal Victory average. The bar for Decisive Victories is a high one. You must achieve an 8-1 advantage in Victory points. Our tendency to pursue and risk armor (i.e. expensive ) units may have made the difference between Marginal and Decisive in a handful of battles, and we’re sure that if we’d held back about two tanks in one battle we definitely would have improved that number.
We’re trying to practice more patience.
T-34/76c
Following are some tips that I’ve gathered that may or may not be hinted at or outlined in detail in the documentation, and an approach or two that we’ve found useful.
- Be patient.
- One remaining dead spot in our grasp of the game is in the formation organization above platoon. One item we can vouch for though is, as the documentation advises, that composing your core group of company-size units is an advantage to rallying up through the chain of command. But I’ve seen inconsistent behaviors. There may still be bugs in this thing. (See the artillery tip below.)
- Be careful with your HQ unit. If you lose it then, for you my friend, the campaign is over. But for the computer opponent the same is not true; you can capture or kill the enemy HQ and not win the campaign. This is the root of the longevity of this current campaign compared to others. My HQ has been under fire only once, and that by oversight, yet I’ve bagged the opposing HQ possibly 8-10 times..
- In forming your core, take into account your own style of play and your own level of patience with the mechanics of the system. You can order the core so that using the N (Next) andP (Previous) keys march you though the units in order. So if you want to lead with your tanks then frontload your core with armor, or vice versa. And then even if you want to change that up depending on a situation, you can still click once into the roster screen, and then again anywhere in the order and start your N-P march in the middle of your organization.
- Mud and snowdrifts. Scan the map in the deployment phase for these (and other) nasty hexes. Mud is a little easier to spot. In certain seasons there may be vast oceans of it on the Eurasian steppe, as is right. To be sure of snow drifts you’ll have to hover the mouse. The maps in the Long Campaign may be random in how they are chosen from battle to battle, but the maps themselves are premade. The designers have done a good job of making sure there are at least a few openings from left to right. Snow Drift and Mud are just two of the prominent terrain types in our current campaign. There are other types to watch for as well. Check the terrain table in the documentation.
- Deployment phase. Save some time in the deployment phase by using the G key. This will take you to the “zero” unit (HQ) of the next platoon. Put that unit down. Then click the Deploy Entire Formation button (no hotkey) to put the rest of the units down nearby. Adjust as needed.
- There are some commands and buttons that may be hard to see, or easy to miss. Some are mentioned in the docs, some not. For instance, the docs mention the Use Repair Points button but doesn’t say where you’ll see it. It will be on the Support Unit purchase screen before each battle, AFTER the Fix Unit screen. Any unused fix points can be converted to support points at the rate of 1000 to 750. Another example is is for the helicopter’s altitude, you have to right-click into the info screen to get the button that changes elevation.
- You have a high degree of control over opportunity fire but the location of the commands is a bit obscure. When you have a unit selected in deployment or during the battle, press the Y key, used to set unit range. On the right will be a FILTR button. Click that and you can control what types of units will be fired upon. and from how far away. In other words, if you don’t want your machine guns to waste ammo on tanks or give away their position too soon even when firing on infantry, this is where you’d set that up.
- There must be a bug in there because a squadron of SP Artillery we’ve had from the beginning always drops its first volley on friendly territory. Changing the unit doesn’t help. Watch out for this.
- In the Artillery/Airdrop screen, if you’ve dropped smoke and the Smoke button becomes unselected, you can switch to live ammo without losing turns. Just be sure to leave it in the same hex, then you can use the adjust button. Not sure what the timing is on when the smoke button deselects, but this gets live rounds on enemy units coming through your smoke hexes sooner.
- Use smoke. Use it not only as delivered by artillery to mask your attacks, but when moving individual squads, on the attack, perhaps, to hide themselves if they’ve found they’ve stepped out into the open in range of enemy guns. Along the same lines, units can drop smoke for each other.
- A tank’s crew will not always be able to fire all its weapons on the same shot that you have it fire the primary, which may not always be effective against infantry (more casualties when it hits but fewer hits.) By all means shoot with the big gun but if you have four shots, maybe take two and then spray with the 2nd gun using the W key and then the number 2. Once you’re down to zero shots on the primary weapon you can just use F or click to fire all the MGs that have shots left.
- Forcing surrender. Hold down the SHIFT key to move onto the same hex as any unit, friendly or enemy. An enemy doesn’t have to be routing or retreating but it helps. Fire at them in the same hex and there’s a chance the unit will surrender. Also if you’ve managed to encircle and they see their escape route is cut off there’s a chance. An advantage to forcing surrender on your turn is that the chance that routing units will get “extra” moves from running away is lower. Forcing surrender removes the unit from the map and avoids the need to chase them down over multiple turns. You can’t use W to choose a weapon when firing into the same hex but it seems like there’s a net ammunition savings in the long run.
- Since there’s an accuracy bonus on the second shot, just like laying the odds in craps, if you’re going to fire once and you have at least two shots left you might as well fire twice.
- Consider making a platoon of high quality tanks a “flying squad” to race down-map on one extreme flank or the other. Let some snipers go along for the ride. They will rarely be unopposed but some might get through to wreak havoc in the enemy artillery parks, as well as encircle to cut off retreat. And even if they meet with heavy opposition, which they sometimes will, they’ll take pressure off one of your flanks. You can rotate this duty among your veteran tank platoons. They’ll have fun.
- In Assault type missions, be prepared for mines and other obstacles, and pillboxes, yes, the damn pillboxes. In Defend battles you will have these available for purchase. You don’t have to worry about mines/obstacles/pillboxes in any of the other battle types.
- Visibility, weather and situational factors determine whether you will have much – or any- air support available on the Misc button of the Purchase Support Unit screen. Air units for ground support are expensive and fragile. Beware of massive anti-aircraft gun concentrations.
- The key you’ll be hitting the most is the R key to rally units. Seems like a no-brainer but this simple feature goes a long way to provide some suspense in the game. Will the squad of engineers rally in the face of a tank bearing down on them? Sometimes they don’t. Also, although you can keep rallying an individual unit as long as the morale checks are successful, as soon as you miss one check that unit can make no more attempts that turn; and if it misses, the next unit up the chain of command will roll a check whether you want it to or not. And if they fail then they cannot be used for other units later in the turn. So at times you’ll have to be judicious. Do I risk using up a company-level morale check on that elite crew that just had their tank blown away? And like that.
- Stay off the roads. Of course. Or at least try not to end your turn on a road too often. The enemy likes to shell them and air units love to strafe them.
- As part of your core use a few points to buy some on-map artillery of the larger calibers. Your core units gain experience and veteran/elite big guns can be quite effective breaking up an attack. Then for each unit get a mobile ammunition carrier if it doesn’t already come with one. They will resupply any individual unit – not just big guns – but are particularly useful for the arty. You can have one follow along your main attack groups too and as your units run out of ammo (which they will) you can send some back to reload. Careful that the ammo trucks don’t get too close to the front and that they don’t hang out in open fields or on roads. The computer opponent will target them.
- When assaulting use the support points to fashion the basis of multiple assault teams comprising mine sweeping tanks, engineer units, as well as regular tanks and infantry. And conversely, on defense don’t forget about mines and obstacles to funnel the attackers into good fields of fire. In meeting engagements heed the advice in the documentation, advance to good cover, sight your artillery well and let the enemy come to you.
- Be ready for enemy counterattacks when you start to take objective hexes.
- Have a plan. But as Wellington famously said: “No plan survives contact with the enemy.”
We offer these tips based on a huge jump in our success at the game in the current campaign, but just the other week we mentioned to the long-suffering Mrs. Shears how we’ve been playing the game since early the 90s when the original was first released and still we learn something new about it almost every day, whether it be about gameplay, units or history. She had her back to us at the time but we could tell she had that look on her face, the one that all wargamer widows likely have. If you’ve read this far down in the post then you know the one.
Tags: Steel Panthers, wargames
