''Panzer Strike'' is a 1988

tactical wargame Tactical wargames are a type of wargaming, wargame that models military conflict at a tactical level, i.e. units range from individual vehicles and squads to platoons or company (military unit), companies. These units are rated based on types an ...

that simulates small unit actions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was made for

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and Commodore 64 and was released by Strategic Simulations. ''Panzer Strike'' spawned the follow-up titles '' Typhoon of Steel'' and '' Overrun!'', which reuse the game's [

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

and mechanics. In 1995, Grigsby released '' Steel Panthers'' to revisit design concepts from his earlier titles like ''Panzer Strike''.

Gameplay

''Panzer Strike'' is a

computer wargame A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use ...

that simulates combat scenarios during

, ranging from the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and Eastern fronts to the

North African campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

. It takes place at a small scale: one counter is used to represent one vehicle, and turns represent single minutes. The game included an editor as well as over 250 weapon types; single scenarios can last up to two hours. The game comes on two double-sided diskettes, and includes a campaign editor along with scenarios of three fronts of the war: East, West and North Africa.

Development

''Panzer Strike'' was designed by Gary Grigsby and was released in 1988, the same year he debuted '' Typhoon of Steel''.

Reception

In his 1989 computer wargame survey, J. L. Miller of ''Computer Play'' offered ''Panzer Strike'' a positive score and wrote, "Historically accurate and design-your-own scenarios offer a lesson in World War II tactics." A review in ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' compared the game favorably to

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...

's ''

Squad Leader ''Squad Leader'' is a tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of the most complex war games of its time, ''Squ ...

'' game, noting both as small unit combat games with interesting detail and variety. The scenario editor was described as able to quickly create maps to play. Additionally, carrying over units from scenario to scenario in the Campaign mode was described as the best part of the game. Complaints were directed at the lack of US units and the sometimes unintelligible terrain icons. The magazine would later award it "Strategy Game of the Year" for 1988. A 1993 survey in the magazine of wargames gave the game two stars out of five, criticizing the slow play and lack of a battlefield view.

Legacy

Gary Grigsby modified and reused ''Panzer Strike''s

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

and mechanics for his later titles '' Typhoon of Steel'' (1988) and '' Overrun!'' (1989). According to Terry Coleman of ''

'', Grigsby later conceived his game '' Steel Panthers'' as a way to revisit and update earlier wargame designs such as ''Panzer Strike''. In 1992, Grigsby had publicly discussed his plan to make another tactical wargame "similar in scope to ''Panzer Strike''", which dealt with ground-based conflicts in Europe during World War II. He told ''

Electronic Games ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

'' at the time that he was "waiting on a new graphics system from SSI" before he began.

References

External links

* * {{Gary Grigsby 1988 video games Apple II games Commodore 64 games Computer wargames Strategic Simulations games Turn-based tactics video games Video games developed in the United States World War II video games