with Adam Brooker
With the release of D-Day: German, which details the forces available to the Wehrmacht in Normandy 1944, the two Big Cats on the table are Tiger and the Panther. Now it may seem at first glance that the Tiger at 12 points a model, with the same FA (9) as the Panther and a better side armour is a no-brainer. the Panther has the same gun, is slightly faster and normally 1 point cheaper. When you start taking a few of them, the extra points add up and can allow you a few extra goodies. I don’t know about you, but I find in German lists I am always scraping for extra points, and the points you can save by taking Panthers instead of Tigers can buy you some extra Recce units, an interesting Command Card, or an upgrade for a infantry platoon.
Also it comes down to what you are using them for. Tigers are more of an assault tank, going forwards, taking the hits and assaulting a strong-point or objective. Panthers are better used at range, to reduce the risk of them being flanked, and using the excellent 40” range of their guns to knock out enemy armour at a distance. You should really only get close up with your Panthers when you are very sure there is little risk of being flanked, as the low side armour of 5 compared to 8 of the Tiger means that any decent tank or anti-tank gun that flanks you has a very good chance of taking you out. At long range, you are totally immune to Sherman 75mm guns (AT10), and the 76mm Shermans and 3” M10 guns (both AT12), only penetrate you on a roll of 1 for your armour save. Only the AT 14 of the British 17 pounder has an easy time penetrating you at range, or heaven forbid any German 8.8cm gun in a friendly fire incident.
Panthers were a significant portion of the German panzer strength available to the Wehrmacht in Normandy. Initially there were only two Panther equipped Panzer Regiments at the Western Front at the start of the Normandy D-Day campaign with 156 Panthers between them. From June through to August of 1944, an additional seven Panther Panzer regiments were sent to France, and they reached a maximum strength of 432 Panthers at one point on 30th July 1944. So they should be a common sight in German lists from the German D-Day book, and could represent Wehrmacht forces from Panzer Lehr Division, 2. Panzer Division, 9. Panzer Divison, and 116. Panzer Division. There was also some SS Panzer Divisions that had Panthers (1. SS, 2. SS,12. SS) but these will be represented in the upcoming German D-Day SS book.
The easiest way that you can include them in your force, is as a support option of 4 Panthers, at 44 points. This is an easy choice if your mission requires Reserves, and they are a significant threat to your opponent. Also as a large unit, you will need to have lost/bailed 3 Panthers before you need to worry about last stand checks, which you will pass on a 3+. This unit will definitely be a focus for your opponent when it arrives, and you can use this to distract him from other units in your list that may be a bigger threat to an objective.
The basic tactics you should be using to get the best out of your expensive felines, is the same you should be using for all your expensive German armour. Your high to hit of 4+, high skill or tactics of 3+, small platoon size and excellent 2+ cross value in the case of the Panther, give you all the tools you need to defeat your opponent. You should be using hills from a hull-down concealed position or short/long terrain at long range, which combined will make any return fire need a 6 to hit you. Also weaken your opponent, who will usually have a numerical advantage, using your excellent 40” range to either force them to advance towards you under fire, or weaken them enough that it is unlikely they can flank you. Importantly you should also be using your movement orders to give you the advantage, I mean, you are paying for the 3+ skill and the stormtrooper rule, so Blitz and Shoot and Scoot should be an integral part of your gameplay. Also as noted before, the FA of 9 can mean in a lot of cases, you are invulnerable at range from enemy fire of AT10 or less, so keep that in mind.
Fielding Panthers as a full Formation in a standard 100 point list will be very expensive, at a minimum 77 points for 7 Tanks, only leaving you 23 points for some support troops. It is not impossible to use and will do very well vs Allied armour lists, but it may struggle to defend two objectives and can easily be swamped by a more numerous opponent.Your best bet would be to try to break the enemy formation, and use your range, and movement orders to pick out enemy units and destroy them one by one. 
I would also make sure to invest in some AA, as the ‘Jabos’ are now very dangerous, and can easily make your Panthers kaput with their damn rockets and bombs! Even worse they seem to have gotten better at hitting things in 44.… For me I’m getting my hands on 4 Mobelwagens, and putting out 12 AT7, 4+ firepower shots should make them think twice. They also make mincemeat of light vehicles!
To round it out, I would take either 3 Wespe Self-Propelled Artillery vehicles or 3 Nebelwerfer rocket launchers. Both cost the same, but personally I like the ability of the Wespe to be able to reposition- but it does have a smaller template.
Lastly I would take some kind of scouting/spearhead unit, so some Sd Kfz 250 half tracks, or 2 Pumas/Sd Kfz 234 (2cm). To give you that little bit extra deployment forwards if you need it, and to stop your opponent doing the same thing in an area. I will take 2 x Sd Kfz 234 (2cm), and the Lucky Card. In this way you are not tempted to use the Puma as a tank, and I can use the Lucky card to re-roll my first failed Reserves roll. As you have a significant portion of your army in Reserves in a lot of missions, you want them on the table and earning their points back as soon as possible.
Now this may not be the most competitive list, but it is fun to play, quick to play (and paint up), and if you can do well with this list, you have gone a long way to mastering the use of terrain and movement orders to get the best from your Panzers! So give the Panthers a go, I know all the Fraulines love a Tiger Ace, but a real Barkmann knows how to get the best from a Panther!
The Normandy Campaign is well known for many battles and engagements in which the Wehrmacht was on both ends of the offensive onslaught that would mark the battle for northern France and the eventual breakout in late August. The early morning hours of 6 June 1944 would find the Germans mounting a determined resistance that would soon be forced back on it’s heels by the overwhelming material superiority that the Allied armies brought to bear.
2. Panzerdivision
Commanded by aristocratic Heinrich von Luttwitz, it was stationed at Amiens for refitting from January of 1944 as part of 15. Armee. On the eve of the invasion, the 2. Panzerdivision was several hundred men over strength and reported 94 operational Panzer IVs and 73 Panthers; a very strong division. In preparation for the invasion, the 2. Panzerdivision was put under direct command of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. Only four divisions (2., 21., 116. and 130. Panzer Lehr Panzer divisions) were given to Rommel who suggested that the key to counterattacking the invasion, no matter where it came, was to have Panzer divisions rolling onto the Allied positions before they could establish a strong beachhead.
Panzerjägerabteilung attached to the 2. Panzerdivision, described it as “a hurricane of fire” which “raged through the countryside, wrapping everything in grey smoke and dirt.” (Hargreaves, pg.81)
The Normandy campaign gave the Panzerwaffe little time to rest between engagements, between the constant press of the enemy and Hitler’s frantic attempts to stem the tide. Perhaps most famous of his costly counterattacks was Operation Luttich, or “Liege”, named for a battle in World War I. The operation was to feature a three pronged assault to open a ten mile wide thrust behind the American armoured spearhead during Cobra, effectively isolating the attacking elements from their supply depots, as well as aiming to have the German lines reach the sea at Avranches. The divisions involved were to be the 2. and 116. Panzer divisions, the 1. and 2. SS-Panzer divisions as well as the 17. SS-Panzergrenadierdivision on the southernmost flank of the attack.
Escaping through Falaise, it again had to rebuild and would later see action at Aachen and in the Ardennes campaign before it finally surrendered to the Allies in the Ruhr pocket.
The 116. Panzerdivision, the “Greyhound Division”, was formed in March of 1944 in France. It was comprised of the 16. Panzergrenadierdivision and the 179. Panzer Reserve Division and was sent to Pas de Calais, north of the Seine River, in preparation for the Allied invasion.
The Greyhound division changed to a defensive role along the Vire River to hold the key road junction at Pontfarcy until 3 August. Their counterattacks were all but ignored by the surging US 2nd Armored Division. The 116. Panzerdivision, which up until that point had seen little but defeat, got its chance on 7 August as part of the 3 pronged attack of Operation Luttich. Initially successful due to heavy ground fog, the 116. Panzerdivision found itself being sent back to its jump off position within two days. When ordered to remount the attack, aristocratic commanding officer Generaleutnant Graf von Schwerin refused to send his men and tanks into battle, well aware of the danger to the German army as the Allies began to encircle their positions. Corps commander Freiherr von Funck who accepted no excuses, even ones that made sense, sacked Von Schwerin.
By the end of the Normandy Campaign, the Wehrmacht’s panzer forces in the west had lost nearly all of their armoured units. Between the devastation of such places as Roncey, Falaise, the Seine River, as well as the Allied superiority in both the air as well as artillery, the Panzerwaffe suffered an insurmountable daily toll in the cost of both vehicles and men. The Germans were facing a materialschlact, a battle of attrition that cost the panzer divisions too much compared to their opponents. The Allies could afford to lose tanks as the massive material build up at the coast quickly replaced them, whereas the Germans felt every tank they lost and rarely received replacements. Instead vehicles were abandon in many cases when they could have been repaired if recovered. “The truth was that the Panzerwaffe, designed by its architects as a weapon of mobile strategic offence, was being steadily battered to pieces while performing a static tactical defence. Such counterattacks as it was able to make… were quickly halted and smashed up.” (Perrett, pg. 209). The cost would be astounding in both men and material.
Chris has already mentioned in his article how much of an exceptional resource Blake’s Tale of Two Tigers series of articles is.
There’s a lot to learn, so make sure you have the article bookmarked if you’re planning to put together your own Tiger-based list… Although there’s nothing to say you couldn’t transfer some of the skills to our 
This week we take a closer look at the D-Day: Global Campaign Battlefront and the crew over at OnTableTop are running later this year. We have done several campaigns with OnTableTop in the past for Team Yankee and those who played in those will recognize this campaign- even though there are a few key differences. The campaign itself will have players fighting their way through the battles of Normandy taking over Routes and securing Areas that will earn their side a bonus when fighting in that route during the next week.
Did I say edge? Well, here is a non-obvious segue way into talking about Tactical Edge cards! Those who are participating in the Hobby League you will earn Tactical Edge cards to use during this campaign. These cards give you a one use boost for any game you play during the campaign, giving you an “edge” in your games. If you didn’t take part in the Hobby League then you don’t have to worry about these cards, unless your opponent has, then be afraid! Be very afraid!
The best German infantry units based in France in 1944 were the regiments of the Fallschirmjägerdivisions or parachute divisions. Although they were actually Luftwaffe troops, these units were by this time in the war, tactically subordinated to Army command.
II. Fallschirm-Korps, commanded by General Eugen Meindl, was allocated by the Commander of the Western Theatre, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, to the Seventh Army, commanded by General Friedrich Dollmann, in Brittany. It would in May 1944 be made up of the following units:
2. Fallschirmjägerdivision and 5. Fallschirmjägerdivision were by comparison, poorly trained, undermanned and badly equipped. However, they too fought with the esprit-de-corps of all Fallschirmtruppen and helped forge a combat reputation respected by all Allied opponents.
6. Fallschirmjägerregiment was arranged as follows:
At first the advances made good time, but by midnight both battalions were in heavy contact just short of their objectives. 1. Bataillion found the US paratroopers at St. Marie-du-Mont had linked up with the 4th Infantry Division moving inland from Utah beach. Earlier in the evening and again before dawn on 7 June waves of American gliders and paratroopers began to drop across the entire combat area, and the two battalions, found themselves low on ammunition and increasingly cut-off from the Regimental rear areas.
On 8 June St. Come du Mont was defended by III. Bataillon, 1058. Regiment, 91. Luftlandedivisionand two companies from III. Bataillon, 6. Fallschirmjägerregiment. Against them the Americans launched the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 506th PIR, 3rd Battalion 501st PIR, 3rd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry, 8 light tanks and the 65th Armoured Field Artillery Battalion.
In the mid afternoon of 10 June men from the 3rd Battalion, 502nd PIR advanced in single file down the causeway. They soon came under heavy machine-gun fire from the Fallschirmjäger in a farmhouse and bocage which took a heavy toll on the US paratroopers. The fourth bridge was also blocked by a Belgian Gate, which meant, just one man could squeeze through at a time. The Americans were held at this point until past midnight, when they were able to filter men past the barricade.
At 0630 hours on 22 July after a heavy artillery barrage 358th Regiment of 90th Infantry Division breached the forward lines of III. Bataillon, 6. Fallschirmjägerregiment penetrating more than a 800 yards inside German lines. But here there was little cover for the advancing American troops and they came under a steady crossfire. Around midday, von der Heydte ordered his 16. Kompanie, commanded by Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant) Alexander Uhlig to counterattack the Americans, re-establish the German main line of defence, and if possible capture a couple of prisoners.
The first assault began around 0700 on 23 July, and it took two more attacks to break the Americans. Down to just one panzer by this time, the third assault broke through to the 1st Battalion’s command post and the men of that unit began to fall back in panic or surrender. Many of those that retreated were cut down by the two emplaced MG 42s who now opened fire.