Panzerblitz: Hill of Death
In the words of a Senior German Officer “He who holds Hill 112, holds Normandy”.
Join the epic battle for this key feature and the control of Normandy. Take command of Infantry and Armor to control key terrain features on Hill 112 and the surrounding countryside. This epic battle waged for over 4 weeks with the hill and surrounding objectives changing hands several times. Can you take and hold this vital piece of high ground the key to Normandy?
Panzerblitz: Hill of Death is based upon the timeless classics Panzerblitz and Panzer Leader. It has been thoroughly updated, though, to remove the known issues with the old games while adding a whole new artistic look.
Panzerblitz: Hill of Death uses a single 22"x32" mapsheet which is based upon historical maps of the period. The hex scale is 250 yards/hex. Beautifully detailed, yet totally functional for the game, the maps reflect the battlefield as it actually was - no generic terrain for these battles. 8 scenarios are included in the game, varying in size from small to large so that gamers will be able to enjoy Panzerblitz: Hill of Death whether they have a whole Saturday of gaming lined up or an hour before its time to put the kids down for the night.
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Summary:
This is not the PanzerBlitz from the 70’s, but more updated system which uses many of the core concepts of the older panzer blitz, this is what I gather from the advertising and talk among other war gamers and game review web sites. I’ve never owned the original PanzerBlitz so I can’t compare the old to the new.
What drew me to the game was not that it was a re-make, since it really wasn’t, but the map and counters photos were just stunning. The other part that drew me was it was a chit pull system for activating your units, something I hadn’t owned in my growing collection of war games. That thought of uncertainty what will come out of the cup. The price point for the game was excellent, so I figured I wouldn’t lose out.
So when I saw this up for pre-order many years ago, I was like I got to have it. So I placed my pre-order and waited, waited, and one night when I got home from work there was a package waiting for me. I was excited to open it up and devour what was inside the box…
Replay Value:
I’d say replay value is pretty high in this game. There are 8 scenarios and many ways to obtain victory. Scenarios are victory condition driven, but solving a way to meet them makes it for a somewhat challenging puzzle in a sense, and of course with luck and the chit pull system. The chit pull system makes this game shine, the game experience is more reactive and there is less chance for coordinated attacks/maneuvers, because your plans might get somewhat delayed if what’s pulled out of the cup is not you what you wanted…
Also it has a medium rating for solo play; the chit pull system helps here too.
The other things that makes the games replay value even higher is there was an expansion for this that can be gotten out of MMP operations 2 magazine. It adds new units. American troops, Mechanized Infantry, Tank Destroyers, mortars, and German Paratroopers and several new AA weapons. (I’ll do a review on it when it gets on the site)
So the replay value for PanzerBlitz in all aspect of face to face and solo play makes replay ability very high in my book.
Components:
1 22″x32″ map sheet, it’s a paper map and it is very well done and beautiful. I placed my in a poster frame. This makes it lay flat and I can then hang it on my wall. The map is also functional in that it has on it, the direct fire table, Terrain effects chart, Antiaircraft Fire table, direct dice roll modifiers, direct fire column modifiers and natural roll results, and last but least the direct fire table for range modifiers. So there is a lot of information right on the map.
The historical map depicts Hill 112 and the surrounding terrain.
It has depictions of town and cities, woods, streams, orchards; it also contains slope line to depict the hill slopes and different shade of green to indicate the height.
2 counter sheets, the counter are well done and very appealing. The game has over 300 counters all full color and very detailed. They contain pictures of the infantry, armor and ordnance instead of the NATO symbols. British counters are a light tan and the German are a light gray.
8 scenarios, I’ve only played scenario 8, 3 times solo. This particular scenario seems to be the one you want to start with first. Since it has a small unit density and map area that is in play very small. Now some of the scenarios have missing information, there is errata for the scenarios that are missing some of the information, but this did not make the scenarios unplayable. Scenarios range from 2 – 6 hours play time.
Don’t let this stop you, keep reading…
PanzerBlitz rules, this is a 16 page paper stock black and white rule book. Now there is a lot of talk about how bad it was, but overall most war gamers and using common sense you can figure it out. There is an errata too and neither did’nt make the game unplayable. I can tell you that if this worries you, a new version of the rule book can be down loaded from MMP website along wiht the errata.
Player Aid card, this is what it is a thick paper based double sided player aid, functional and useful. I wished that had put 2 in the box, one for each player.
Two dice, a red one and a white one. There is nothing special here.
Easy To Learn:
The game is easy to learn if you have some experience with war games of this nature. If you’re thinking about getting this as your first war game, since it has a lot of value for the buck, I suggest you down load the version 2 of the rules and the errata. The game is rated for medium complexity, but don’t let this stop you. Start off with a small scenario such as scenario 8 and follow the sequence of play and follow up with a read of the rules and take your time. After a few plays you’ll be a pro.
I found that this game is easy to teach once you get the rules down. And it’s always better face to face!
Overall, this game has the right size and complexity to make it playable in one sitting with perhaps even multiple games in one sitting.
Game on.