Reading the different accounts of combat by members of the US Army from World War in Europe, it strikes one that the entire German Armored Force consisted of Jagdpanthers, Panthers, and King Tigers as one rarely if ever meets a Mark III or IV, though occasionally a Stg or two shows up. Likewise 5cm or 7.5cm Antitank Guns rarely appear, as every AT Gun must be a 88. This view of the average American soldier is difficult to duplicate on the table top, as players tend to quickly identify the opposing forces, and in many cases quickly decide in their minds whether or not the enemy force is a threat or not. After all, a force of Panthers and Tigers will cause problems, while a force of Marks IV's is not that much of a problem. Accordingly, I have set up several battalions of late war German Armor, a battalion each of King Tigers, Pathers, and Jagdpanthers. This vehicles have been numbered in the correct pattern for the German Army, and have special ID tags on their undersides. In a game against what I would rate as relatively inexperienced American troops during 1944/45, I use these vehicles in place of the actual German vehicles. The German commanders are told what they actually have, and know for example that Jagdpathers 101, 102, and 103 are actually Stg III's, and so will use the correct characteristics for movement and fire. They tend to use the vehicles as what they actually are, and end up not dashing madly about trying to panic the Americans. Our Americans face an entirely different problem. To them, those vehicles are Jagdpathers, and their actions will reflect that fact. It is interesting to watch an all out American drive slow down as soon as the German tanks are sighted. This rule is usually used only at Convention Games were I am working with a new group of players, for after all this is a rule best used in moderation and not on the same group of players over and over again. After all, players tend to catch on, and then react to the fact that what they see is not what is actually there. The most interesting result of this rule occurred in a game where a King Tiger was posing as a Mark IV, and as a result held up the advance of a company of American Armored Infantry. In an attempt to force a morale check, the American player fired a bazooka at the front hull of the Tiger, only to be informed that he had disabled it. He went into deep thought, and then his face cleared as he told he fellow Americans; "It's all right, we're just facing one of the preproduction King Tiger prototypes with the soft steel armor", and when on with the game. Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #1 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com