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Victorious Germans advance on Liverpool
The Germans called their aggressive armored assaults blitzkrieg, or lightning war, and you will find fighting a lightning war is the key to victory in Panzer General 3D Assault, the latest entry in SSI's venerable line of General games.

While Panzer General 3D maintains the high level of abstraction found in its predecessors, it places much more emphasis on properly using leaders and integrating weapons types to achieve the game's sole objective of capturing cities. Altogether, the game provides players with eight weapon and leader classes (each with their own, unique attributes) which must be combined into a cohesive strike force. In the "rock, scissors, paper" world of combined arms combat, knowing the best tool for the job is essential.

Force composition
Upon launching Panzer General 3D, the first decision you will have to make is what to bring with you. En route to the headquarters screen, you'll have the opportunity to view the field of the coming battle. Although this gives a view of the terrain you'll be fighting over, it is of little value because the objectives can't be identified. Go to HQ instead and access the battlefield from there.

The Kampfgruppe at a glance
Generally, you'll want to bring some of everything, but studying the terrain can suggest some useful additional troop types. If there are mountains, bring some mountaineers, or if there is plenty of water, bring some units with bridging capabilities.

Whether you're starting a campaign or a scenario, the computer will usually have the majority of your force ready for you. Sometimes, you will find it best to disband the entire force and start from scratch. Not to worry, leaders and equipment go back into a pool and are ready for reassignment.

With even a basic understanding of the game mechanics, defeats are unthinkable in Panzer General 3D. The game's real challenge is to consistently achieve Major Victories. In campaigns, Major Victories give the added advantage of making more slots available in subsequent battles. But Major Victories have to be won in much less time than the full scenario. That's where the blitz part comes in.
Tanks mix it up in Sicily
When reviewing the battlefield, pay close attention to the locations of primary objectives and the quickest routes to reach them. On some battlefields, these may be along one route, allowing would-be Rommels to construct one battlegroup made up of all arms to charge straight ahead, taking one objective after another. On other battlefields, primary objectives may be scattered, so it will be necessary to create more than one battlegroup to take them all in a timely manner. If you must create more than one battlegroup, you'll have to assign a mix of unit types to each thrust.

American armor closes in for the kill
Plan your lines of advance and how many battlegroups you'll need before you fill out your order of battle. Unless they stand in the way or threaten lines of communication, ignore other scenario objectives. Once you've achieved a Major Victory in a campaign, you will have the option to mop them up later for extra points—an option you should choose unless your troops are severely mauled.

However, airfields are an important exception to the above rule. These should be taken whenever possible and at the earliest opportunity. As your troops advance, friendly airfields will be left well to the rear, meaning friendly aircraft will have a long flight before they can resupply or refit. But captured airfields can also be used for refit and resupply, which keeps your air support handy. Conversely, captured airfields deny support to the enemy, forcing him away from the battlezone. Airfields are also critical for staging paratrooper assaults and for landing air-mobile units. In some scenarios (particularly if you invade England), the enemy will have masses of potent fighters and bombers. These will be negated when all their airfields are overrun.

Germans drive the British into the sea at Dunkirk
Another thing to keep in mind during force selection is availability of reinforcements. Losses may mount as the advance continues and the deployment hexes for reinforcements will be left far behind. What good is another unit if it doesn't get to the front in time? It's usually a good idea to save some fast units for use as reinforcements. Paratroopers, air mobile, and aircraft can get where they're needed quickly once deployed and make excellent reinforcements.

Some final words about force selection: don't go tank happy. One or two tank units per battlegroup are plenty. The same can be said for infantry. On the other hand, you can never have enough artillery or bombers—these are the real killers in Panzer General 3D.

Getting the most out of your Leaders
Leaders are the big dilemma in the game. The more promotions they have, the more slots they (and their units) take up. Unit performance is largely tied to leader quality. Is it better to have a few high-quality units or a bunch of cannon fodder? Probably the best approach is to have a few elite commanders attached to your wonder weapons and mundane leaders running the more common units. Of course, the specific scenario should temper these choices. But once familiar with the game system, it is far more fun and challenging to just go with a few elites.

Selecting leaders at British headquarters
Leaders should be attached to the units they are trained to command, but this only really matters with the elite types. Otherwise a tank jockey is just as effective in a dive bomber unit. The important consideration is the influence of all those leader specials (medals) have on units—some of these can be quite handy.

Some leaders come already decorated. These should be promoted immediately up to the limit of their slot size. For example, a leader with five promotions takes up two slots. Bump him up to seven promotions and he'll still only take up two slots. Threes should be promoted to fours. Twos should be dismissed immediately unless you're short on leaders.

The British Army prepares to breach the Mareth Line
Promotions don't need to be handed out at the start of the game, but they should be used before the end because they can't be carried over to the next battle. If you have some spare promotions, save them for a while to promote a reinforcing leader. It's also a good idea to hold back some elite leaders for later use. A paratrooper leader with seven promotions and two medals can be a potent reinforcement.

Putting it all together
You've chosen your lines of advance, selected units, and assigned leaders. Now it's time to put them to work. This is the "rock, paper, scissors" part. Deploy your troops in the order they will advance. Ideally, you'll have a recon unit with tanks, infantry and anti-tank units in the first wave. Flak and artillery will support this force. If you brought a paratrooper, put it on your airfield. Air support will be close by.

Map view of the British advance on Mareth
Good reconnaissance is critical in Panzer General 3D, so an elite leader is useful here. Your first step should be to send out patrols because this order persists throughout the turn. Run your recon fearlessly to the first objective (it will probably contain dug-in infantry). With a good leader, there should be moves available to thoroughly scout the area for supporting flak, guns, or armor. Nothing is worse than attacking an objective only to get decimated by unforeseen support weapons.

Depending on the resistance, bring up artillery or bombers next to suppress the support. If there is flak, flatten it with artillery. If there are guns, dive-bomb them. If they have fighters, bring up your flak to suppress them, followed with friendly fighters for the kill. Depending on how much fire you've got available, work to some destroy units as well.

Map view of Kesselring's attack at Anzio
Now bring up infantry to clear out the town. With everyone suppressed, the infantry can mow down the defenders with impunity. When the defenders are almost destroyed, send in the tanks for a free overrun attack. The tanks and recon can now mop up the support weapons in the rear. Any anti-tank or spare infantry units can move ahead to ambush any counter-attackers.

Kesselring's deployment at Anzio
It is important whenever possible to destroy units outright rather than allow them to pull back and refit. Presumably the enemy has a limited number of units and leaders and also has distant deployment areas. Throughout the battle, endeavor to inflict losses without taking any yourself. Having the right weapons on hand will make it possible to do that. Sometimes, though, friendly units will get badly chewed up and need to refit. If they are adjacent to the enemy, destroy the unit. That way your troops won't have to spend a turn pulling back. They can refit in place.

Whatever you do, don't let your good units get destroyed. Refit them at once and provide plenty of support. With your units refit and resupplied and your objective secured, start the cycle again. Keeping these techniques in mind, winning Major Victories will just be a matter of timing

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Page Updated Mon Feb 28, 2000 8:25pm EST