Wargame SITREP 231220 N3 Ops – Target acquired in SCOPE: Panzer (Draco Ideas, 2023)

Several weeks ago, Draco Ideas from Madrid, Spain delivered on their Gamefound campaign for SCOPE: Trilogy. This three-game set includes SCOPE: Stalingrad (2021-2023), SCOPE: U-boot (2022), and SCOPE: Panzer (2023). SCOPE: Panzer is the “green box” game in the series. All three Trilogy titles are card wargames using 60 cards and each comes in a similarly sized 6.25″ x 4.25″ x 1.5″ box. The total cost for the trilogy was less than $45—an incredible bargain for three high quality card wargames.

Each game in the SCOPE: Trilogy has a unique theme taken from World War II. In SCOPE: Stalingrad it is the battle of snipers. In SCOPE: U-boot it is submarine versus escorts in the cold North Atlantic. In SCOPE: Panzer the theme is tank battles on the western front, in many ways not unlike those shown in the movie Fury (2014).

SCOPE-ing Panzer

Like every SCOPE game, SCOPE: Panzer starts out with the Basic Game. The battlefield size depends on our scenario; a smaller Skirmish is played on a 6×4 grid while a Great Battle is fought on a 5×6 grid. Each scenario also assigns a point limit for purchasing units.

Once the Basic Game scenario of SCOPE: Panzer is selected and the battlefield deployed (with units of both sides hidden) the game can begin. Each turn a player will select a single action. The action choices in the Basic Game are Movement in a fully controlled quadrant, Exploration in a partially controlled quadrant, and Search for Target (and Fire if desired). A quadrant is a 2×2 section of battlefield cards (some of which may be hidden units); if a player controls all four they can pick up the cards and replace them in any new arrangement desired using the Movement action. If the quadrant is shared control (friendly and enemy battlefield cards) then the Exploration action is used to search for enemy units and potentially move friendly units by taking control of enemy areas. Finally, players can Search for Target and, if an enemy unit is revealed (or was previously revealed and has not returned to a hidden condition) the unit can be fired upon.

Fire combat in SCOPE: Panzer is resolved with cards. The firing player constructs a firing deck seeding it with one Miss (Range) card for every range of distance (maximum firing range is 2). The armor value of the target unit adds that many Miss (Armor) cards. Finally, the firepower of the firing unit adds that many Hit cards. The deck is shuffled and the targeted player picks a card for the combat result. In the example shown below the M4 Sherman (Firepower 2) shoots at at Panzer IV (Armor 2) at a range of two areas. The firing deck is seeded with 2x Miss (Range), 2x Miss (Armor), and 2x Hit cards. The deck was shuffled and the draw is…Hit! The Panzer IV is destroyed and awarded to the American player for 4 victory points.

Victory in the Basic Game of SCOPE: Panzer is when either all enemy units are destroyed or when all the forest cards on the enemy deployment row are controlled.

Like other SCOPE: Trilogy games, there are Advanced Rules that add detail (chrome?) that makes play seem more realistic. Fortunately, the Advanced Rules are easy to add to the game and don’t add complicating complexity in the rules. Most of the Advanced Rules revolve around tactics (Firing Correction, Flank Attack, or Rear Attack) or classes of tanks (Light, Medium, and Heavy). Other rules cover Superior Armor or tank-specific features for the STUG III, M26 Pershing, and the open turret M18 Hellcat and M36 Jackson. If both players agree, Terrain Cards can also be used to introduce Meadows, Hills, Lakes, and Mountains to the battlefield area. Beware though; with Terrain Cards comes Line of Sight rules and High Ground Bonuses! Finally, there is a game variant rule for Ambushes that makes it more difficult to advance through enemy areas. Like every SCOPE wargame, if you want to play the game using all the Advanced Rules or variants you will almost certainly exceed the 10-15 minute play time rating…but not by more than 10-15 minutes extra time.

Panzer under the microSCOPE

SCOPE: Panzer is perhaps the most refined game system in the SCOPE: Trilogy. The first game, SCOPE: Stalingrad, set the standard with a simple Basic Game and some added complexity in the Advanced Rules. SCOPE: U-boot, which is the only game to use tokens, has a slightly more complex Basic Game but adds fleet combat in the Advanced Rules that perhaps over-complicates the game. SCOPE: Panzer, with the demand to build a firing deck, adds some complexity in the Basic Game as compared to Stalingrad but is less complex than U-boot. The Advanced Rules in SCOPE: Panzer add thematically appropriate flavor in the same way Stalingrad does without overdoing it like U-boot.

SCOPE: Panzer makes for an excellent lite filler or family wargame. I often use filler games on weeknights either before or after dinner to connect with RockyMountainNavy T as we wind down from our busy days. SCOPE: Panzer, like each game of the SCOPE: Trilogy, can be set up, played, and put away in less than 30 minutes. Indeed, the appeal of the SCOPE: Trilogy series generally, and SCOPE: Panzer in particular, is that the game is thematically interesting but easy to learn and play using even the Advanced Rules. A winning combination for sure!

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Feature image courtesy RMN

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