Blind PzBlitz

[taphilo]

Has anyone else ever modered a blind Pz Blitz game? I did this a few times in the early 80s. I moderated a game where both sides wrote all orders down and had to make decisions as they occured. Really changes the face of the game since now recon units are actually useful, you only see enemies as they appear etc etc etc. I also used the incremental PzBlitz movement rules so all units moved at the same time -- which meant you could end up with a blocked crossroads or road if too many units tried to go through it at same time.
Any PzBlitz players in the Portland (Oregon) area?

[Keith Heitmann]

Hi, Tom. I moved your topic over to this catagory, in case you were wondering.

Have you checked the Avalon Hill forum?

I have Panzerblitz and Panzerleader, but never got past playing them solo myself. That was ages ago.

[taphilo]

Hi Keith, No I have not checked the AH forum at all.

I played PzBlitz and PzLeader many many times. Likely a few hundred times. The most I did was have 6 people playing a moderated simultaneous game. Real interesting when that happens!

[Keith Heitmann]

My problem was no one ever wanted to spend the time reading through the rules so I always ended up playing the games solo. A common problem with most AH games.

By the time I met more people that had these games I had already moved on to computer games and stopped buying board games.

[yjamesy]

I have played quite a few double blind Panzerblitz/Panzerleader games as well as other AH games like MBT.  I even umpired a couple.  But I have since moved on to solely computer based games like Steel Panthers and its variants which take much less time to play.  I recall one PB/PL blind game which took almost 2 years to finish....and this was a real exception.  Most blind PBM games I was involved in ended when somebody lost interest, moved with no forwarding address, or simply stopped playing.  Not that this doesn't happen during PBeM games tho but when PBeM games are generally shorter in duration.  Plus computer games help out with all the rules sorting and thumbing (my copy of the PB rules is very tattered from being folded and read all the time) and reducing the all seeing opponent.  I still have a contact who might be involved in umpiring PBM games.

[taphilo]

Yes, via mail it takes a long long time. I did mine FTF so that it would be over in a few hours. I found the excitment a lot more interesting watching the players try to figure out what is going on.  I had two maps set up, 1 for each player and then did the moves for each one at a time.

Another varient I did was make them write down their moves at the same time and then did all moves (course I kept the unit count to down around 40 units to keep it manageable and fast).

FTF is definately the way to go for board games, i've done PBM and most of mine went away after playing  a game for 3 years. Having to keep a board set up constantly is tough too. Lots of room.

[ShotMagnet]

I played referreed PanzerBlitz a couple of times. It was, as noted, a lot different than FTF. The ref had gone to the trouble of guesstimating what a unit would see at various ranges, whether one unit could spot another as more than a tank, say, and had made up generic counters that said 'Tank', or 'Infantry', and so on. Lots of fun, combat was mediated so that neither player knew for certain what kind of damage he'd done to his target. I spent the balance of one scenario shooting up a unit that had died the first time I had fired on it, only because I didn't know I'd killed it.
Does anyone play Advanced Squad Leader?

Shot

[oldjarhead]

I found some good blind rules by Brian McCue and have been working on adapting them somewhat and combining them with a "Situation 13" system for generating new scenarios based partly on stuff from Tom Oleson and Steve Winter from the Wargamer's Guide to Panzerblitz and on an article from Avalon Hill's The General Vol 22 #3 by Rex Jones titled "Panzer Leader Situation X." Haven't had a chance to play-test it yet but I'm trying to strike a good balance between playability and realism. I came up with rules for sighting different types of units at different distances, and also tried to make the air component a bit better developed than in Panzer Leader using pieces from Luftwaffe.
Since I'm setting it up to call for players to submit their moves/attacks/etc. in writing, it should work for PBEM, and the referee could use the Vassal system to send info back to the players on what enemy units they have spotted.
Anyone interested in taking a look at this once I get as many bugs as I can spot worked out? The feedback would be a big help.

[zzjolawr]

After playing PB/PL many times I went into miniatures and am back with PB/PL as a base for my miniatures. I have come up with an Observation Chart with sighting distance in metres and hexes similar to that used for miniatures. We have used this in conjunction with the TET for PL 1940 and it gives a different more accurate feel to the games.

[valimar]

I used to have 2 friends that played. We would set up three boards, one for each player that were hidden from each other and a another board for units spotted. players would move their pieces and if they moved 1/4 of their movement in LOS of an opposing piece they were allowed an attack.

Any hex in LOS could be fired on, direct or indirect, but unspotted units in those hexes could only be affected by a precentage using a d10. Inderect fire could be fired on unspotted hexes, d10 1-2 hit hex, 4-8 adjoining hex, 9-10 no affect, d10 still rolled for percentage.

25 pts of Ind Fire could place a smoke hex. 50 pts could place a inderdict hex, which requires a roll against minefield to move in or through hex and 6 adjoining hex.

Many more rules now forgotten, but it was a great time. Feints, diversions, end rounds and ambushes were all possible. I miss those games.

I am now reduced to playing one tank in World of Tanks, instead of being a divisional/corps commander.