Panzer Leader 1: Situation 20 Remagen Bridge

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I've had Panzer Leader for years. I had intended on playing through all the scenarios in 2015, after I finished all the scenarios in PanzerBlitz. Since I never finished all the scenarios in PanzerBlitz (still haven't), this never got played.

But it's played now!

I chose the first play to be the last scenario, Situation #20, Remagen Bridge. It has a very few counter, and plays on half of one map board, very convenient for a fast solo game.

And the situation is a cute little puzzle. I didn't see any way for the Germans to win it, as it seemed clear that the Allied would just park on the bridge and clear the block.

But it didn't turn out that way.

For the armor to fire into the town, it needs to be on a forward slope, hence amenable to fire from the mortar and howitzer unit. The German defenders also need to be spotted, which requires Allied infantry to park on the bridge. But that leaves them vulnerable to CAT, and successful CAT means those units can't spot for the armor.

I didn't think until later in the game to use direct fire on the Allied infantry to try and pick them off one by one. The idea would be to concentrate fire on, say, an Allied engineer unit to disperse it, then the followup CAT from the Germans to hopefully get a DD result and eliminate it.

I ended the game at the top of Turn 6 (of 8) when the Germans dispersed the Allied engineers again. This turns out to have been a mistake, dispersing an engineer unit halts the 3 turn clock. The engineers have to be eliminated to reset it.

So I called this one a German win, but I think it would have been an Allied win had the block removal been played correctly.

I'll play this one again for sure, cool puzzle and plays fast.

Panzer Leader 1

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.