Fortress Europe Germans

By Chris Jackson

The question on everyone’s lips on the interwebs these days, at least in the forums I frequent, is what’s coming for Late War? has given me a sneak peek at the new book Fortress Europe and I think they have done a good job with it.

A lot of thought was put into how to roll out the new era, and it seems to me a lot of the complaints we as a gaming community have made since V4 was released have been addressed. Now I’m not saying the new v4 is perfect, nor that I don’t have some issues with it, but I think, on the whole, BF has done a good job, particularly with the concept behind this book.

Fortress Europe is designed primarily to get existing FOW players into Late War with a minimum of muss and fuss. Almost every unit in the book (and for the Germans, EVERY unit in this book) is already produced. The units are simply repointed to Late War levels.

My focus for this article will be the German Forces in Fortress Europe.

As mentioned above, the German forces you already own can be used to build forces in Fortress Europe.  You will lose the ability to field Panzer II platoons except for the Luchs variant, Lorraine Schleppers are no longer available, nor are Panzer III models A-J, only L, M,and N variants were still available in frontline service and so are the only variants available in the game.  Panzer IVG and H stats now match what we were used to in V1-3.

Infantry units gain panzerfausts and panzerschrecks.  All can have fausts, and grenadiers can add up to two Panzerschreck stands.  The squeezebore sPzb41 is also still available, so Grenadier and Panzergrenadier platoons are just a little scarier.

Panzerfaust stats remain unchanged from before, however, they can now move and shoot.  I really like how Battlefront has worked this version of Panzerfausts. Previously, they couldn’t move and shoot, and in the V3.5, if you lost the command stand, the capability was lost. Now, the player can move and shoot one stand as a panzerfaust. All stands have the capability, but only one may execute per turn.  This creates the feel of a limited supply without the additional records keeping requirement and removes the threat of a lucky shot removing the capability, which was also a little unrealistic.

While I am sure we will soon see new late war infantry platoons with panzerfaust armed figures, you really don’t need them to play them since every stand has the ability.  The panzerschreck stands are modeled the same way American bazooka stands are, with two figures on a small base, or for those who have been playing a minute, think the old Panzer Lehr Schreck teams.  No change to their stats as well, although they do suffer from the small stand “to hit” penalty in assaults.

One thing I have noticed on the forums and Facebook and everywhere I see people discussing this issue is how (insert point changed unit here) will break the game.  I’m looking at all the points and all the changes and I’m not seeing it.

What I’m seeing is a lot of units being reduced in price because they are no longer top of the line, they are the common thing and whatever the new top of the line thing is, will destroy them just as easily as what used to be top of the line would destroy the old common thing.

Think Pak 38 vs Crusader or Sherman vs PzIIIJ, with PzIVGs and Shermans in the respective roles.  The one outlier to this is the increase in the cost of Marder IIs by .25 points.  We’ve been complaining as a community about how cheap they are in mid-war, and BF has listened.  Whether they make a future change to MW points or not, I do believe a kudos is in order for that.  They are no longer the auto-include option they used to be.

I think that’s enough of my opinion.  Let’s take a look at some facts.  The attached chart compares two identical forces, a Panzer company, and a Panzergrenadier company.

I have pointed them at v3 levels, to show how they compare to previous versions of the game, and to the current V4.  The chart clearly shows how the changes are consistent across the eras and versions.  The point drops for some units are significant, as those units are no longer the dominating presence they used to be, while for others the cost only changes marginally if at all, as their ability to kill and be killed is relatively unchanged.

In some cases, I fudged as equal equipment was not available across all periods and versions.  Four cannon half-track platoons are not an option in Midwar, but I took the cost of two and doubled it.

Similarly, you can’t buy the squeeze bores as integral parts of the panzergrenadier platoons, but you can buy one in the HQ, I simply priced two and added it to the cost of the HQ.  In any case, you can see where the great changes across the units were most pronounced.

A 69 point change in the panzer company is hardly comparable to the 9 point change in the mech company.  However you see just as dramatic a difference from v3 mid to late as you do for v4, so I don’t see it as an issue, but a considered and consistent view that certain elements of armies are equally effective regardless of era.

Infantry and non-anti-tank support units are almost unchanged, while tanks see a drastic reduction in price, over half for PzIVs and over a third for Panthers.  This is attributable to the vast improvements in anti-tank guns and the historical seesaw battles between gun penetration and armor protection.

I have already covered the Marder as the one major outlier.  There are others, but no one is going to lose their mind about the 231 armored cars increasing in price.  I’m curious about why, but don’t see it as a major issue.  Not gonna worry my pretty little head about it.  I’m going to run my Panzer Brigade 150 at v3.5 rules for one last hurrah at the end of June, then I’m gonna go looking for trouble with something out of here.  See you on the high ground…