Panzer Campaigns Home Page

Explicit Supply and the Evolution of Panzer Campaigns Supply Model

by Glenn Saunders

Panzer Campaigns I - In the beginning

The purpose of this article is to outline the evolution in the Panzer Campaigns Supply model and to discuss how the rules have evolved into the current new developments - Explicit Supply!

I wasn't involved when John Tiller and Greg "Sturmer" Smith made the initial game of the series, Smolensk '41. But my understanding is that it was decided in the early going that the game focus would be on ground combat. That is, players directing Tanks, Infantry and Artillery with Air being factored in using close support Air Missions only. Details, such as Supply, were handled in an abstract manner. The designers felt "Logistics" might be fun to some folks but adds a certain amount of complexity to the game and a reduction in playability for the return in realism.

Basic Supply

To understand where we are today with the Panzer Campaigns Supply model, I thought it might be useful to review supply starting with the initial supply rules from Smolensk '41 and following the changes through time.

In Smolensk '41, supply was controlled by a percentage based Supply Level with a value set for each side. Any unit need only trace a Line-of-Supply from the edge of the map free of enemy units and Zones-of-control(ZOC). Essentially, every edge hex was a supply source for both sides. Players only really had to be careful that units did not to become surrounded. And the Map was large enough that edge effects didn't really came into play. Supply Source Marker and Value

Some scenarios featured Supply Source markers. In these scenarios map edge hex were no longer considered to be a source of supply to either side. Units had to trace the Line-of-supply back to their own supply source that was usually on a map edge, but not exclusively so. Low Ammo Often, lower percentage Supply Sources can be closer to the action, as is the case with a Supply Source marker was used for airborne operations.

In this initial pass of the supply rules, supply problems were dealt with as a combat deficiency and units Low on Supply suffered from half of the normal attack and assault. Note, units never ran out of supply, only low.

Panzer Campaigns II - Normandy '44 added Low Fuel

In Normandy '44 Supply took another step forward with the introduction of the Low Fuel Supply rules.

Low Ammo\Fuel

The essences of adding this rule is brought out by the lessons learn by the British in the Western Desert. Here it was learned that in time of pursuit, fuel was critical element in low supply. But when pursuit ended and the shooting started, it was Ammo that was the critical element.

Therefore the thrust of this new twist to supply was to depict these two different supply elements - FUEL and AMMO, both with basically opposite effects. The previous Low Supply Rules became Low Ammo, and continued to affect Attack and Assault with Ammo checks for any unit that fired, on the turn immediately after the action occurred.

Unlike Low Ammo that affects combat (attack and assault), Low Fuel affected the other two game factors - Defense and Movement! Both of these are halved with Low Fuel. The Low Fuel checks occur only at midnight because most tank units went to lagger at night and that was when they were refueled. But once low in fuel, units can possibly be re-supplied on any turn and will have a better chance of recovering if they move closer to their HQ. The Low Fuel rules affect only non-Headquarters units other than Foot, Ski, Bicycle, Horse, Naval, and Rail.

Why half Defense you might ask? Clearly a tank has the same armor regardless whether is has gas or not.

The rationale behind low fuel is that a tank unit low on fuel that lacks infantry support is really a sitting duck. Therefore, they have a lower defense due to their reduced maneuvering ability. This also discourages the "gamey tactic" of running tanks deep into "Indian Country" unsupported using their mobility and then sitting in place where their high armor defense acts like a fort. Such tanks would in fact be very vulnerable in reality. Thus the rule makes them vulnerable.

Panzer Campaigns III - Kharkov '42 and the addition of Virtual Supply Trucks

Local Supply Values

With the release of Kharkov '42, the Panzer Campaigns took the next step in the Supply evolution and introduced Virtual Supply Trucks. Here for the first time, distance from the supply source now became a critical factor. Virtual Supply Trucks (VST) is an Optional Rule where the local supply value for each unit on the map is calculated at the start of the turn, based on the shortest path to the supply source.

This supply path is calculated as .02 of the Motorized Movement cost. Of course, consideration is given for hexsides blocked by Rivers thus forcing the supply path to follow the road network. Special consideration is given to swamp and marsh hexes where Motorized Transport is normally prohibited.

To really see much impact of the VST Optional Rules, you need to play one of the larger scenarios where there is a longer distance from the Supply Source at the edged of the map to the areas where fighting is taking place. Of course the VST rules requires Supply Source markers in scenario, but in Kharkov, Supply Sources are pretty much standard.

It is worth noting that despite the implied Supply Dump symbol on the Supply Source marker, the marker is not really meant to depict a supply dump. Rather, it is more a path from which supply may extend from an off map depot. For this reason, even in a small scenario like Kharkov '42 #12, there are four Axis Supply Sources. The Germans never had four known Supply Dumps in these locations. Just that the German Army could really draw supply from many places along the edge of the map behind their own lines, back to a more central Supply Dump off the smaller scenario Map.

But all these new Supply Rules were only Phase One of a two phased approach to logistics reform. We knew that people still wanted more. They wanted Supply Counters, even though it was not part of the initial vision of a game, which was to focus on ground combat with Supply being an abstract element. So for Panzer Campaigns IV, John Tiller took the next step and added Explicit Supply to the Game Engine.

Panzer Campaigns IV - Tobruk '41 and Explicit Supply.

3D Supply Marker

Explicit Supply is yet another optional rule - Phase Two - where resupply is determined by actual Supply Counters that are part of certain scenarios. A Supply Unit is a unit defined as part of the Order of Battle as other units are and needs to be included in certain scenarios to support this optional rule.

2D Supply Marker

The Explicit Supply Rules are part of the program for the Tobruk '41 v1.0 release, and like all changes and enhancements to the Panzer Campaigns Series, they will be part of the next round of updates for the other games:

...these updates will be available in due course after they have passed our Quality Assure testing.

When a scenario does not contain Supply Units, then this optional rule does not apply and the normal supply rules will be used. When this optional rule is not invoked, then any Supply Units that are part of the scenario are automatically removed at the beginning of the scenario. Therefore, in summary, the net effect is:

Explicit Supply Markers

A Supply Unit has three important attributes:

There are two types of Supply counters in Tobruk. Supply Depots that are stationary (movement = 0) and Mobile Supply Markers that are Trucks in the Tobruk game. The other games in the Series will have slow moving horse drawn Supply Wagons available too.

In order to resupply a unit of the corresponding side, the Supply Unit must be able to trace a path no longer than its range from its location to the location of the unit needing supply. This path cannot go through enemy units or hexes under their Zone of Control other than those containing friendly units. When the Supply Counter resupplies a unit, either one that is Low on Ammo or one that is Low on Fuel, then the strength of the Supply Unit is decreased according to the strength of the unit needing supply according to this formula:

Now the game engine handles all the math and actual administration of giving supply to the various units, so you don't have to worry about doing these resupply details yourself. But I have to present the details for those guys how like to understand this sort of detail.

When the strength of a Supply Unit drops to 0, it is automatically removed from the map.

Supply Units may be captured if enemy forces successfully assault the hex they are located in. When a Supply Unit is captured, its strength is automatically reduced by half. The original side can of course recapture a captured Supply Unit.

So there you have it - this is the nuts and bolts of Explicit Supply.

So, you want to be a Panzer Campaigns Logistics Officer eh!

Have you even designed a scenario, or tried to design one?

You can find maps showing detailed unit positions, you can read reference about the quality of the troops to set levels such as morale\quality of one side vs. the other, but nowhere in your research will you see something that says: "The Axis had 75% supply in this battle while the Allies were far better at 90%". It just doesn't happen. This is where a designer must use GUT FEEL to capture the supply aspect of the battle.

And it hasn't really changed much with Explicit Supply either. Those maps you may find in your research showing units and positions don't give you details such as tonnage and location of supply points. So the designer is once again on his own to capture the feel of the battle and that is easier said than done.

Because of this, Explicit Supply counters have been added to only 3 of the Scenarios in the Tobruk '41 game.

You will note that the Scenarios containing Explicit Supply unit counters are designated by the small *s* after the number. This will help you find a scenario where you can try the rules because remember, using the Optional Rule on a scenario where there are no counters will have no effect.

The rules again are designed more for larger scenarios, but we have included Explicit Supply in the Mersa Brega scenario to give you a feel for the rules before you try them in a larger battle.

You are of course welcome to add your own Explicit Supply to any other scenarios you wish and to aid you in doing so, I will provide these guidelines. But as you will see, it is not a exact science. Put too many Supply units in the scenario and you will in effect create a 100% resupply situation where supply is no longer important. Go too far the other way and you may cause more grief to one or both sides in the scenario.

Keep in mind that the goal is to cause the player SOME pain, but not too much pain. However, pain levels are different for different players and so it is virtually impossible to get it exactly right for everyone.

In any case, here is a basic rule-of-thumb that you will find useful for adding Explicit Supply to scenarios - again, sorry for the math, but it is necessary here.

Suppose a given side has a default Supply Value of X%. This means the probability that a unit which fires during a turn will require resupply is 100 - X%. For example, if X = 80%, then there is a 20% chance that a unit will require resupply after firing. We will base the rule of thumb on a 10,000 man force and a 100 vehicle Supply Unit. The Supply Unit carries supplies enough for 100 x 100 = 10,000 men. So if 100 - X% are requiring supply each turn assuming continuous action, then the Supply Unit will provide supply for: 100 / (100 - X%) turns.

Example, if you have a 100 vehicle Supply Unit providing supply for a 10,000 man force with a Supply Value for that side of 80% and assuming that the force is under constant fighting, then the Supply Unit will last 100 / (100 - 80) = 5 turns. Assuming that only half the force is fighting on any particular turn would mean that the Supply Unit will last 10 turns and so on.

So far so good!

Another example: assume that you want to keep a 40,000 man force in supply and that you assume the force will be fighting 1/4 of the turns (or that 1/4 of the force will be fighting each turn). Assume 80% Supply Value for that side. Then you need to have a 100 vehicle Supply Unit arriving every: 100 / 20 = 5 turns, or about 2 Supply Units a day to maintain supply for this force.

Are we having fun yet?

Here is what I suggest. For a scenario that you want to provide Explicit Supply for, allocate about one 100 vehicle Supply Unit for each division. Depending on the division size, this will keep it in supply for about a day. Allocate another 100 vehicle Supply Unit for each Corps and this will provide some reserve. Make an assumption about the rate of fighting such as 1/4 or 1/8. Apply that to the total manpower of the side to determine the Supply needs for that side in terms of number of Supply Units per day. Schedule that many Supply Units to arrive on the midnight turn of each day or some other convenient time.

You will note that in the Order-of-Battle (OOB) that Supply counters, Depots, Trucks, and in some cases Wagons have been added. These units are different from combat units in terms of the Game Editors. A combat unit in the OOB is a single entity and once added to a Scenario, it is removed from view so that you can't added it more than one. But Supply units are generic and you can place the same unit in a scenario as many times as you like and then schedule them to occur as reinforcements for longer scenarios.

Our feeling is that when adding Explicit Supply to your favourite Scenario, it is better to err on the side of excess so that people will not completely run out of supply. However, this may be a very good limitation of certain scenarios. It could even be a limiting factor in the Allies advance in Normandy where they had lots of supplies in England and aboard ship in the Channel. Just not exactly what was needed ashore - Like ammo to support Collins drive to cut the Cotentin AND Middletons drive on Cherbourg at the same time.

So there you have it - Explicit Supply capability for all the Panzer Campaigns - and with that, the ability to add "Hands On" S3 to any scenario, once the newest level of Game Updates are released sometime likely in June of 2001.
[Home || Games || Tobruk '41 Page || Tobruk Screen Shots || Articles]






















counter