Plenty of Panzers
Willkommen friend! To celebrate the release of the Armies of Germany book for 3rd edition Bolt Action let’s have a look at some of Germany’s most infamous tanks of WW2 – The Panzers. In this article we’ll be going back to basics to explore how you can have some fun with these devious creations.
The Germans tried and tested a staggering amount of vehicles both on the range and in the field during WW2. For better or worse, Warlord Games have made most of these options playable in the new German army book – yay? I have neither the time nor the will to run through every single one of them because they are infinite. As a new player I was actually quite overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choice here, not to mention the impenetrable German vehicle names which appear to exist solely to spite dyslexics. To try and help those in a similar mindset, let’s bring it back to basics and review some solid options that you might want to get started with.
Before we get started here is your lore primer. Panzer translates to armoured vehicle. For those with trivia hungry brains then more specifically Panzer means “coat of mail”. Now they might have been the bad guys but that is pretty hecking cool for a tank name. Germany took some big strides in tank design in the late inter war period and had plenty of opportunity to test its toys in the Spanish civil war and invasion of Poland. The allies however had little recent experience of using tanks in the field and were still anticipating tanks would serve as infantry support vehicles. This difference in doctrine between the Germans and the allies was a major factor in Germany’s early war success and their honestly shocking performance of knocking France out of the war in just 6 weeks. Oof.
A is for Achtung, don’t get run over by that Panzer I
In service 1934-1945 The Panzer I is 70 points at regular for armour 7 and 2 MMGs. That is a lot of bang for your buck as with the Hitler’s Buzzsaw rule you are getting 8 shots off those double guns. That’s more than enough for early and mid war, and still great fun in late if used carefully. Just note it can’t be taken as veteran which isn’t a problem as there is little reason to take the vet upgrade on your vehicles this edition. Use these little lads to zip around and harass infantry and artillery crews while your bigger tank/s do the heavy lifting and hopefully draw your enemies fire.
B is for Blimey, is that a Panzer II?
In service 1936-1945 The Panzer II has a few variants to choose from but take my advise and skip to the Panzer II Ausf. L AKA the Luchs. This fella is cheeky. 1 light autocannon and co-axial MMG meets both the Recce and Fast special rules. For those still catching up with the new rules in 3rd edition, Fast is a tracked vehicle rule that ups the movement speed to 12/24 inches. I beg your pardon…. That is a serious problem suddenly being where your opponent doesn’t want it and certainly didn’t expect it at the worst possible time. Hilarious fun. 9/10 dentists recommend.
C is for Can’t get enough of those Panzer IIIs
In service 1939-45 In a word, the Panzer III is dependable. Loads of variants on this again but let’s dial in on the Ausf. J variant. This bad boy boasts armour 9 with a Medium antitank gun and a co-axial MMG, with another hull mounted MMG and all for 200 points at regular. What you get here is a machine that is both reliable and flexible. Armour 9 is tough enough to deal with and the anti tank gun is going to resolve most problems for you. Once the armour is off the boards that’s 8 MMG shots to start clearing up infantry.
D is for Don’t you just love the look of a Panzer IV?
In service 1939-45 I have a lot of time for the Panzer IV. Yet more variants here but it boils down to armour 9 with a hull mounted MMG with a Co-axial MMG and either a light howitzer (B, C, D, E & F variants) or a heavy anti-tank gun (G, H & J variants). The A variant is an early version of the B variant but with 8 armour. So putting this into normal speak you have a variant for deleting either infantry or tanks. I take one of these to just plonk it in some cover and let it draw fire whilst also being generally scary for my opponent. Even if I am whiffing on that single dice howitzer/anti-tank gun each round it usually makes up its points in just holding my opponents attention while I press in somewhere else.
E is for Everybody is terrified of the Panzer V
In service 1943-45
The Panzer V AKA the Panther is regarded by many to be the greatest tank design of the war. In this edition she stands with armour 9 with heavy anti-tank gun & co-axial MMG, and a hull mounted MMG. It also has a reinforced front hill and potential to upgrade to tank ace and add a pintle MMG on top. Heavy in points at 298 regular but honestly this is a vicious machine. I will quite happily plonk one in the midfield and challenge my opponent to deal with it. Again, a lovely distraction while the rest of my army does the work relatively unmolested. Not an every day pick on account of the points but if you’re looking to make a statement or keep losing your tanks to theirs then this an interesting way to up your threat.
F is for For heaven’s sake run! it’s a Tiger I
In service 1942-45 The Panzer VI, AKA the Tiger I was an infamous monstrosity in many of the theaters it appeared and here is why: Amour 10, super heavy anti-tank gun with co-axial MMG and hull mounted MMG. At 10 armour these things take some pounding to get rid of. For some extra dakka they can take a pintle MMG or even tank ace if you really want to make sure your opponent rethinks playing you a second time. At 330 points at regular though that is an awful lot of points. I would save these for games where you are likely to fight other big tanks ie. late war Russians. I have found that running these against infantry and artillery focused opponents usually ends up feeling like a massive overspend because that super heavy antitank gun is still only one shot a turn and is far less satisfying when you only have small tanks, armoured cars, and trucks to delete with it.
Debrief
So there you have it. The German Third Reich might have been one of the most evil entities of the last 1000 years but you have to admit they did a good tank or two. Now you’ve got the basics feel free to look up their weirder stuff to see how the Germans went full Skaven with their vehicle design. And now my work is done so it’s time to ride off into the sun in my Kugelpanzer. Farewell friends and happy tanking.
About the author:
Hasvik is as Hasvik does. Hasvik enjoys wargaming, TTRPGS, and board games, as well as Jaffa Cakes, frogs, and rolling my dice on the floor to intimidate my opponent. Hasvik has no socials and cannot be followed for he travels only the hidden paths.
