PanzerBlitz (1970)

A groundbreaking board game of armored warfare on the Eastern Front in World War II.

The game is tactical scale (company/platoon sized units) with geomorphic map boards. The counters are 1/2' and 5/8' and were very striking for their time.

A stand-alone follow up game, Panzer Leader, was set on the Western Front. Although it introduced a revised rules system, Panzer Leader used geomorphic map boards that were compatible with those used in Panzerblitz.

The second direct descendant of Panzerblitz was 'Arab-Israeli Wars', which involved modern armored combat in the Middle East.

Panzerblitz: Hill of Death was released in 2009. It is only related to the original Panzerblitz by way of name, scale (tactical), and general topic (World War II armored warfare, albeit on the Western Front). PB:HOD is not a redesign or expansion of the original game.

Avalon Hill Complexity Rating for Panzerblitz: 6

From "The Avalon Hill General Index and Company History, 1952-1980"

Panzerblitz (1970) Revised 1971
Designed by Jim Dunnigan
Development by Redmond Simonsen

PANZERBLITZ was actually designed and packaged lock, stock and barrel by SPI as a complete package to AH on a royalty basis. Game actually evolved from an earlier experimental game by SPI called Tactical Game 3. The revisions to Panzerblitz was limited to slight changes to the scenario cards in the second printing. The revision notice can be found in red on the LOS example card.

250 meters per hex, 6 minutes per turn. Units represent platoons and companies.

Armored Combat Game microbadges:

Wargamer microbadges:

Magazine References:

The GENERAL Index Article List:

• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.2
  • Series Replay - PanzerBlitz Robert Livermore, Richard J. Plock, Roy Easton
  • Design Analysis – “The Fallacy of Panzerbush” PanzerBlitz
• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.3
  • PanzerBlitz – “Mathematical LOS Determination” (Player Aid) Andrew C. Katsampes
• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.6
  • PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader – “Weather or Not?” (Variant) Roy Easton, Norman Kluksdahl
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.4
  • PanzerBlitz – “Increasing Infantry Firepower” (Variant) Norman Beveridge Jr.
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.5
  • PanzerBlitz / Panzer Leader – “Battles in Germany, 1948” (Variant) Mick (Mike) Uhl
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.6
  • Series Replay - PanzerBlitz Robert Chiang, Robert Bolar
  • PanzerBlitz – “Panzerblitz Mit Das Wetter” (Variant) Dr. Joe Connolly
• The GENERAL Vol.14,No.3
  • PanzerBlitz – “1941 PanzerBlitz” (Scenario) William A. Farone
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.1
  • Series Replay - PanzerBlitz Part 1, Richard Plock, Robert Livermore, Robert Chiang
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.2
  • Series Replay - PanzerBlitz Part 2, Richard Plock, Robert Livermore, Robert Chiang
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.5
  • PanzerBlitz/Panzer Leader – “More Bangs Per Buck - Unit Effectiveness Ratings For PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader” (Commentary) Gene Boggess
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.6
  • PanzerBlitz – “Two is Better than One - Probability Tables For Two Successful Attacks in PanzerBlitz” (Strategy) Andrew Katsampes
• The GENERAL Vol.18,No.1
  • PanzerBlitz – “Mobile Panzer Defence - Or How to Be Both German and Happy in Situation Six” (Strategy) David K. Rod
• The GENERAL Vol.25,No.3
  • PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader, The Arab-Israeli Wars – “The King of Battle- Artillery in the PanzerBlitz series” (Variant) Carl Schwamberger
• The GENERAL Vol.28,No.3
  • PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader– “Panzer Hunters- Tactical air support rules for PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader” (Variant Discussion) Carl Schwamberger
  • PanzerBlitz – “New expressions for a familiar face- More scenarios and units for PanzerBlitz” (Scenarios) Alan R.Arvold

Panzerfaust Article List:

• Number 53 May-Jun '72
  • PanzerBlitz - "Western Panzerblitz Revisited" (Variant), Paul Mills
  • PanzerBlitz - "Assorted Comments on Western Panzerblitz" (Variant), Roy Easton
  • PanzerBlitz - "More Western Panzerblitz" (Variant), Roy Easton
• Number 55 Sep-Oct '72
  • PanzerBlitz / Combat Command - "Panzerblitz & Combat Command: Incompatible Brothers?" (Review), Paul Mills
• Number 56 Nov-Dec '72
  • PanzerBlitz - "Panzerblitz Defenses Part II" (Strategy), Vance von Borries
• Number 61
  • PanzerBlitz - "The Tactics of Panzerblitz" (Strategy), Roy Easton
  • PanzerBlitz - "Panzerblitz Potpourri" (Review), Tom Oleson
• Number 63
  • PanzerBlitz - "Incremental Panzerblitz" (Variant), Andy Lavis, Tom Olson, Jim Snellen

Panzerfaust and Campaign Article List:

• Number 72 Mar-Apr 1976
  • PanzerBlitz - "Solitaire PanzerBlitz" (Variant / Session), Herschel M. Sarnoff