Warhammer Panzer Battles

Or Warhammer 20C
(Or Warhammer 40K for World War Two)
Warhammer is a trademark of Games Workshop Limited. It is used without their permission, however no challenge to their status
is intended.As a long, long time Second World War wargamer, I’ve put together the following modifications to Games
Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 game. The impetus for this came from two sources, my wife and friends saying that Second
World War wargames were boring, and Jervis Johnson’s article on the philosophy behind Warhammer Ancient Battles (a game
produced by Warhammer Historical Wargames).
The goal was to produce a game that accurately modelled the outcome (but not necessarily the detail) of historical battles, was
fast to play, and above all, was fun! One of the first decisions was that the game would have no defined scales (in line with
Warhammer 40,000). This doesn’t mean that things are arbitrary, merely that the game works across a range of force sizes. If you
play with a platoon of infantry on each side with one model as one soldier, the game will work and work well. If you prefer to
command a bigger force, you could say that one model represents five soldiers and play with a company or battalion. I personally
like to play whole battles at once, so I use a scale of one model represents sixty soldiers and that works too.
The main reason it works is that all of the ranges are scaled to a tabletop. Rifle-armed soldiers can shoot 18”, allowing them room
to move on a tabletop. Tank guns shoot 24” to 30”, out distancing rifles, but still leaving room to move. Artillery shoots 60” to
90” and even that leaves room for counter battery tactics! Weird, but it works.
The other area that I felt Warhammer 40,000 needed a big tweak to get the result I wanted was in C3 (command, control and
communications). I have seen many different systems from the simple to the cumbersome. What I wanted was an invisible
system. Players wouldn’t even notice my ideal system! Thinking about what the game impact of C 3 really was, I decided that the
biggest impact was to speed up armies with good C3 and slow those with poor C3. The result is that two seemingly identical
models in different armies have quite different movement rates. Take infantry for example, a US GI might move 6” while a
German Landser moves 7”, a British squadie 5” and their Soviet comrade 4”. A Sherman tank in US service might move 12”, in
British service, it moves 10”, in Soviet service 8”, and a captured Sherman would move 14” in German service. What this does is
encourage a British player to use linear tactics, while making deep thrusts more attractive to a German player. The British player
knows that if something goes wrong it will be a while before they can do anything about it. The German player knows they can
react to anything very quickly. It makes a difference to how they play.
Obviously tactical mobility isn’t the whole story. The Soviet Army became very adept at operational manoeuvre. Their mobile
troops made deep, rapid thrusts through the enemy lines. In line with Warhammer’s general approach, the Soviets obviously need
some special rules to cover their strategic movement, which was much faster and more fluid than their tactical movement.
Warhammer’s Deep Strike and Infiltration provide some good opportunities to.
The final C3 issue is co-ordinating the various arms in battle. The ability of artillery to fire at targets the gunners can’t even see is
the biggest headache here. With the vast artillery resources available in the Second World War, unrestricted artillery fire is too
powerful. In these changes, barrage weapons must either see their target or be in communication with a character that can see the
target. This adds extra rules for communications, but does make those radio operators more useful.
As for models, there are two major scales that work well with the rules, and several minor ones. I personally prefer 20 mm (1/76
or 1/72 scale). There is a wide range of kits available and the models are large enough to allow a good degree of detail and
customisation. 15 mm (1/100 scale) would also be ideal with both models and vehicles being large enough to have good detail.
28 mm (1/67 scale) is less common in WWII models and much more expensive, and 1/87 scale is a rarity, but ideal.
Without more ado, here are the changes. You will need Warhammer 40,000 to make much sense of them.

Characteristics (Page 38)

Infantry move at different rates depending on the style of their training. Although all of the soldiers are much the same, some
forces maintain a faster pace of operations than others do.

Movement (Mvt)
Determines how fast a soldier can move across open ground. Soldiers with higher scores are trained to advance at a run and to
keep moving forward, even when the situation is unclear or confused. Those with lower scores are trained to advance at a walk at
the same pace as the rest of the battle line, tightly under the control of their officers. An ordinary soldier has a Movement of 6.
Armour Save
A steel helmet gives an armour save of 6+.

Movement Distance (Page 42)

Use the Movement characteristic to determine move distances rather than the flat 6” move.
Replace the first sentence.
Soldiers on foot move their Movement (Mvt) score in inches in the movement phase.

Moving Models in a Unit

Turning and Facing
The facing does matter in the case of a towed anti-tank gun or a tripod machine-gun.
Delete the last sentence.

The Shooting Phase (Page 45)

2. Check Range
Moving and Shooting
To encourage good deployment and provide vulnerable flanks, turning to face counts as movement.
Replace the last sentence.
Turning to face a new direction in the shooting phase counts as movement for shooting purposes.

5. Remove Casualties
Cover Saving Throws
Note that gun shields on anti-tank guns and artillery pieces give a 5+ cover save to the crew when shot at from the front.

Going to Ground
Infantry who hug the ground tend to find cover even in quite open areas. This is borrowed from Jervis’ Colonial adaptation.
Units may ‘go to ground’ instead of moving normally. A unit that goes to ground may only move D6”, but counts as being in
cover with a 5+ cover saving throw. A unit that goes to ground cannot shoot if it moves.

Weapons (Page 56)

Type
Weaponry in World War Two seems to have been more complicated than it will be in the 40 th Millennium. The biggest difference
below is the increased rate of fire for most weapons.

Rapid-fire Weapons
Rapid-fire weapons always have a rate of fire of 2 in the current rules. For the Second World War, we need Rapid-fire 3or 4 as
well.
If a model armed with a rapid-fire weapon moves, it may shoot one less time than normal at targets up to 12” away, or two shots
less than normal at targets over 12” away.
If a model armed with rapid-fire weapons remains stationary, it can shoot at its full rate at targets up to 12” away, or one shot less
than normal at targets over 12” away.

Barrage Weapons
With a lot more barrage weapons in use and a lot more soft transport hiding in rear areas, firing blind is just too powerful. On
the other hand, observers add a whole new dimension!
A barrage weapon must have a line of sight to its aiming point, or be in communication with a character that does have a line of
sight to the aiming point. Any character can call and observe fire from any number of barrage weapons that they are in
communication with (see box below). A character may not move or shoot in the turn that they observe for barrage weapons.
When barrage weapons fire under the control of an observer, guess the range from the observer’s position rather than from
individual weapons. All of the weapons under the observer’s control form a single salvo aimed at that point. Of course, each
weapon must still be within range of the aiming point, or they cannot fire.

Communication
Signallers
Signallers are soldiers equipped with radio or telephone equipment to help officers pass orders to their men.

Communication
 Any model can communicate with any other model within 2”.
 A signaller model can communicate with any other model within 12”.
 A signaller model can communicate with any other signaller model, regardless of distance.
Models may chain communications together, i.e. if two models can both communicate with a third model, then they can
communicate with each other via the third model.

Linked Barrage Weapons

Multiple rocket launchers are a form of linked barrage weapon.
Linked barrage weapons re-roll failed rolls to wound, since they do not have a roll to hit.

Multi-linked Weapons
Normally it is not possible to re-roll a re-roll. Multi-linked weapons, which include quadruple anti-aircraft weapons and salvo
rocket launchers, are the only exception to this.
Some weapons are multiple linked weapons. These are the same as linked weapons except that they may re-roll the re-roll if they
miss on the re-roll. These weapons are throwing out so much metal that they almost never miss.
Weapons Table
Name Range Str. AP Type
Pistol 6 2 - Pistol
Submachine-gun 6 2 - Assault 3
Assault rifle 12 2 - Assault 3
Rifle 18 3 6 Heavy 1
Semiautomatic rifle 18 3 6 Rapid-fire 2
Automatic rifle 18 3 6 Rapid-fire 4
Magazine light machine-gun 18 3 6 Heavy 4
Belt-fed light machine-gun 18 3 6 Heavy 5
Magazine-fed medium machine-gun 36 3 6 Heavy 6
Belt-fed medium machine-gun 36 3 6 Heavy 8
Heavy machine-gun 18 4 5 Heavy 4
Light mortar Guess 6-18 3 - Heavy 1/Blast
Medium mortar Guess 12-30 4 - Heavy 1/Blast
Heavy mortar Guess 24-54 6 - Heavy 1/Blast
Anti-tank rifle 18 5 4 Heavy 2
Anti-tank launcher 6 D6 + 6 - Heavy 1/One use
Anti-tank rocket or projector 12 D6 + 3 - Heavy 2
Flame-thrower Template 4 5 Assault 1
Infantry gun 18 4 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 42 4 - Heavy 1/Blast
20 mm anti-aircraft cannon 18 5 4 Heavy 4
37 mm gun firing High Explosive 24 2 - Heavy 2/Blast
 Or firing Armour Piercing 24 6 3 Heavy 2
50 mm gun firing High Explosive 24 3 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 24 7 2 Heavy 2
75 mm gun firing High Explosive 30 4 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 30 8 2 Heavy 2
76 mm gun firing High Explosive 30 4 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 30 9 2 Heavy 2
Or firing a barrage Guess 72 4 - Heavy 1/Blast
88 mm gun firing High Explosive 36 4 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 36 10 2 Heavy 2
100 mm gun firing High Explosive 42 5 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 42 11 2 Heavy 2
105 mm howitzer 36 5 - Heavy 2/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 72 5 - Heavy 1/Blast
Vehicles (Page 77)

Vehicle Characteristics
Movement (Mvt)
Like soldiers, a vehicle’s speed depends as much on how it’s used as on its specifications. Vehicles move at different rates
depending on their performance and the training of their crews.
Vehicles have a Movement characteristic that determines how fast they can move. The rate at which a vehicle moves has as much
to do with the way the crew is trained to operate it as it does with the theoretical speed of the vehicle.

Type
Six new types of vehicle are needed to reflect the complexities of the second millennium.
Vehicles come in nine types. These are wheeled, light, wide-tracked, fast, open-topped, tank, amphibious, fighter and bomber.
These types are not mutually exclusive. A vehicle could be a fast, light, open-topped, amphibious tank for instance.

War Machines of the Twentieth Century

Wheeled Vehicles
Aside from tanks, wheeled vehicles are the mainstay of any army. They are cheap to make and maintain, although they don’t
have the same cross-country performance as a tank.

Light Vehicles
Some tanks are too small and light to have good cross-country performance. Half-tracks usually fall into this category.

Wide-tracked Vehicles
Some tanks have very wide tracks for their size. These tanks usually have extremely good cross-country performance.

Amphibious Vehicles
Some tanks and other vehicles can swim or snorkel their way through water obstacles. Usually they require some preparation, but
some are ‘natural’ amphibians.

Fighter
Fighters are fast aircraft used for air superiority and ground attack from low altitudes.

Bomber
Bombers are heavy aircraft used to drop bombs on area targets from high altitudes.

Vehicle Movement Table

Army Name Mvt Type
British A22 Churchill 7 Wide-tracked
British A27 Cromwell 15 Fast
British M4 Sherman 10
German Panzer III/IV 14
German Panther 16 Wide-tracked
German Tiger I 13 Wide-tracked
Soviet T 70 9 Light
Soviet T 34 10 Fast,
wide-tracked
Soviet KV 1 7 Wide-tracked
US M3 Stuart 16 Fast
US M4 Sherman 13
US M18 Hellcat 21 Fast

Vehicle Movement
Use the Movement characteristic to determine move distances.
Vehicles move up to their Movement (Mvt) score in inches in the movement phase.
Add to the second paragraph: Although turns do not cost any of the vehicle’s movement, they are considered movement for the
purposes of shooting.

Fast Vehicles
With movement distances varying with between vehicle types, this section isn’t needed.
Delete this section

Fighter and Bomber Aircraft

Aircraft need to be handled differently from land vehicles. Firstly, they have trouble recognising their target. Secondly, they move
very fast. Special rules will cover using ground controllers to improve pilot’s ability to engage the correct target.
Aircraft must come onto the table the first turn that they are able. In the turn player brings an aircraft onto the table, they roll D6.
On a roll of 1, the pilot has mistaken the target and control of the aircraft passes to the opposing player. On a roll of 2-6, the
aircraft recognises the target and remains under the player’s control. The controlling player places the aircraft at any point on the
table during their movement phase. The aircraft shoots or drops its bombs in the controlling player’s shooting phase. In their next
movement phase, the aircraft is removed from the table, having flown back to base. Each aircraft may only fly over the table once
in a game.

Terrain Effects
Wheeled Vehicles
Wheeled vehicles have considerably more trouble crossing difficult ground than tanks.
A wheeled vehicle that moves into difficult terrain or starts its move in difficult terrain becomes immobilised on a roll of 1-3, and
can carry on moving on a roll of 4-6.

Light Vehicles
Light vehicles have less trouble crossing difficult ground than wheeled vehicles, but they still aren’t as good as heavier tanks.
A light vehicle that moves into difficult terrain or starts its move in difficult terrain becomes immobilised on a roll of 1-2, and can
carry on moving on a roll of 3-6.

Wide-tracked Vehicles
Wide-tracked vehicles find difficult ground easier than normal.
A wide-tracked vehicle that moves into difficult terrain or starts its move in difficult terrain may become immobilised on a roll of
1, and can carry on moving on a roll of 2-6. On a roll of 1, roll again. The vehicle becomes immobilised on a second roll of 1-3,
and can carry on moving on a roll of 4-6.

Amphibious Vehicles
Amphibious vehicles can cross otherwise impassable water obstacles.
An amphibious vehicle treats impassable water obstacles as difficult terrain. Most amphibious vehicles must spend an entire turn
preparing before they can cross.

Fighter and Bomber Aircraft

Aircraft fly over all terrain.
Aircraft are never affected by difficult terrain.

Carrying Troops
I want to stop silly things like embus, move, debus, thereby getting the vehicle’s movement but never being in the vehicle when
shot at.
A model may not both embark and disembark in the same turn.

Vehicle Shooting
Shooting Co-axial Weapons
Vehicles often have a co-axial machine-gun firing on the same axis as the main gun.
A vehicle may only fire co-axial weapons at the same target as the main weapon fired at.

Moving and Shooting

Rather than limit the number of weapons shooting, the rate of fire is reduced as with infantry moving.
If a vehicle does not move, it can shoot all of its weapons up to their maximum range. Rapid-fire weapons still shoot one less
time than normal at targets over 12” away. Heavy and assault weapons fire the number of times listed.
If a vehicle moves up to 6”, it shoots one less time than normal with each weapon. Vehicles that have moved over 6” do not shoot
at all.

Fast Vehicles
Fast vehicles are slightly different. They can halt to fire and accelerate again to move between shots more easily than other
vehicles.
Fast vehicles moving up to 6” can fire all of their weapons as if they were stationary.
Fast vehicles moving up to 12” shoot one less time than normal with each weapon. Vehicles that have moved over 12” do not
shoot at all.

Fighter and Bomber Aircraft

Fighter aircraft can fire all of their weapons at full rate, despite their movement. Bomber may only drop bombs. Bombs dropped
from high altitude double the normal scatter distance.

Turning to Face
To emphasise the difference between turreted tanks and turretless assault guns, turning to face is movement.
Delete the second sentence.
Ordnance Table
Weapon Range Str. AP Type
Heavy infantry gun 18 8 - Ordnance 1/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 54 8 - Ordnance 1/Blast
122 mm gun firing High Explosive 42 6 - Ordnance 1/Blast
Or firing Armour Piercing 42 10 2 Ordnance 1
122 mm howitzer 30 6 - Ordnance 1/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 78 6 - Ordnance 1/Blast
150 mm howitzer 30 8 Ordnance 1/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 84 8 - Ordnance 1/Blast
155 mm gun 42 8 2 Ordnance 1/Blast
Or firing a barrage Guess 114 8 - Ordnance 1/Blast
210 mm gun firing a barrage Guess 90 10 - Ordnance ½/Blast
82 mm rocket launcher Guess 24-48 3 - Multi-linked Ordnance 1/Blast
150 mm rocket launcher Guess 24-60 5 - Linked Ordnance 1/Blast
320 mm rocket launcher Guess 24-36 7 - Linked Ordnance/Blast/One use
Shooting At Vehicles
Choosing a Vehicle as a Target
Fighter Aircraft
You need rapid-fire anti-aircraft weapons to engage low-flying aircraft.
Only anti-aircraft weapons with a rate of fire of 3 or more and other fighter aircraft can fire at fighter aircraft.

Bomber Aircraft
On the other hand, you need long-range anti-aircraft weapons to engage high-flying bombers.
Only anti-aircraft weapons with a range of 30 or more and fighter aircraft can fire at bomber aircraft.

Armour Penetration
There are endless tales of lucky shots stopping tanks despite the fact that the weapon had no hope of penetrating.

Our Shots Are Just Bouncing Off!

Some vehicles are so heavily armoured that the weapon you are firing at them can’t penetrate! In this case, if you roll a 6 for your
armour penetration roll, you score a glancing hit anyway. However, when you roll on the glancing hit table, subtract the
following from your score before checking the table. Any roll that is modified to less than 1 has no effect.
You’ll see that the most likely result of a rifle firing at a tank is nothing at all, and, even if it does have an effect, all it’s likely to
do is stop the tank firing for a turn while the commander ducks inside!
Target Armour
Str 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -5 -5 -5
2 - 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -5 -5
3 - - 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -5
4 - - - 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5
5 - - - - 0 -1 -2 -3 -4
6 - - - - - 0 -1 -2 -3
7 - - - - - - 0 -1 -2
8 - - - - - - - 0 -1
9 - - - - - - - - 0
Effects of Hits
Vehicles that are not armed with or the towing vehicle for blast weapons do not explode catastrophically. Any result of 5 or 6 on
the penetrating hits table simple results in the total destruction of the vehicle.
Damage Rolls
Fighter and Bomber Aircraft
Moving aircraft are very hard to hit squarely and most shots are likely to wing them instead. To take account of this, any hits that
would penetrate an aircraft count as glancing hits instead.

Vehicles in an Assault
Infantry Assaulting Vehicles
Infantry need the option of throwing their fragmentation grenades into open topped vehicles (usually with a spectacular effect!).
The 20th Century equivalent of Krak grenades and Melta bombs are anti-tank and HEAT grenades respectively.

Open-topped Vehicles
Infantry equipped with fragmentation grenades assaulting open-topped vehicles always penetrate, regardless of the vehicles
armour.

Damage

HEAT (High Explosive Anti-tank) Charges

HEAT anti-tank grenades and engineer beehive charges count as Melta-bombs.

Anti-tank Grenades
Other anti-tank grenades count as Krak grenades.

Cavalry
Second World War cavalry operate more like infantry than like bikers!

Cavalry Movement
Cavalry move their Movement (Mvt) score in inches in the movement phase.
Cavalry may not assault into or through difficult going. But are otherwise affected by it as infantry.

Bikes
Bikes cover all the various motorcycle (and bicycle!) troops in use in the early part of the war.

Motorcycle Movement
Motorcycles are essentially fast, wheeled vehicles. They are much more vulnerable and less mobile than their 40K counterparts.
Motorcycles move their Movement (Mvt) score in inches in the movement phase.
Motorcyclists are affected by terrain like wheeled vehicles. If motorcyclists enter difficult terrain, roll a D6 for each model. On
a 4-6 the motorcyclist steers skilfully through the hazards, on a 1-3 the motorcyclist hits a rock or tree and is removed. No armour
saves are allowed.

Motorcyclists Shooting
Motorcyclists can fire machine-guns mounted on sidecars, or dismount and fire personal weapons.
Motorcyclists moving up to 6” can fire all of their vehicle-mounted weapons as if they were stationary or they may fire their
personal weapons as if they moved on foot.
Motorcyclists moving over 6” shoot one less time than normal with each vehicle-mounted weapon. They may not fire their
personal weapons at all.

Shooting at Motorcyclists
Unfortunately for their riders, motorcycles are not armoured.
Motorcyclists have the equivalent toughness and armour of the troops riding them.
Motorcyclists in the Assault
They aren’t armoured in an assault either.
Motorcyclists dismount to make an assault. They fight in close combat just like other troops, using the riders characteristics for
WS, S, A etc.