Codename: Panzers – Phase One

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|21 May 2006|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
Template:Current-GCOTW Codename: Panzers is a popular World War II computer game created by Hungarian game developer Stormregion. It launched in 2004 to generally favorable reviews but was not a hit with customers. The series entered its second iteration in July 2005 with Codename: Panzers Phase II. A Codename: Panzers Phase III was originally planned, but no longer appears on the official website.

The Concept

Codename: Panzers was intended from the start to be a three-part series dealing with nearly every major (or minor) conflict of the Second World War.

The first game (Phase I) focused on three campaigns: German, Russian, and Western Allied. The German campaign begins with the Blitzkrieg of Poland, France and then the invasion of the USSR, with the final campaign mission at Stalingrad. The Russian campaign begins with the turn at Stalingrad and ends with the Battle of Berlin and the Reichstag. The Western Allied campaign begins with Operation Overlord and the Normandy landings, and includes battles such as Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.

The second game (Phase II) focused on three campaigns: Axis, Western Allied, and Yugoslavian Partisans. The Axis campaign follows the Afrika Corps through the North African Campaign to the First Battle of El Alamein. The Western Allied campaign begins at the Second Battle of El Alamein, and includes Operation Torch, the Battle for Tobruk, and the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, then finishes with the Allied invasion of Italy, including Anzio and the Battle of Monte Cassino. The Yugoslav partisan campagin focus on combat in the Balkans (with Russian assistance).

Gameplay

Like Soldiers, Heroes of World War II and, to a lesser extent, Blitzkrieg, Codename: Panzers focuses on managing groups of troops, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery and destroying the enemy or capturing objectives. The game abstracts concepts such as supply, repair, and air support without doing away with them entirely, and belongs to the real-time tactics genre more than the traditional wargame/simulation genre.

Units gain experience throughout the single-player campaigns and can be bought/upgraded between missions and added to the player's personal 'army' that travels with him from scenario to scenario. Also, the player is most often responsible for keeping alive a single 'hero' unit. Units include a variety of infantry, armor, and artillery used by each nations' armed forces in World War II.

Units

Infantry

Riflemen - A squad of 1 to 5 infantry carrying rifles. Riflemen are useful for manning towed artillery pieces, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns.
Submachine Gunners - A squad of 1 to 5 infantry carrying short range submachine guns. Submachine gunners are useful for manning towed artillery pieces, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft guns. Can be deployed as paratroopers in some missions.
Machine Gunners - Up to 2 infantry equipped with machine guns. Useful against other infantry. Machine gunners must lie prone to fire their weapons.
Medics - Up to 2 infantry equipped with rifles that can heal friendly troops in combat. Invaluable for keeping friendly troops alive.
Anti-Tank Riflemen - Up to 2 infantry carrying anti-tank rifles, available to German, Russian, and Italian armies only. These soldiers do relatively low damage to tanks, however. Anti-tank soldiers must lie prone to fire their weapons.
Snipers - Up to 2 soldiers carrying sniper rifles, which are extremely effective against enemy personnel. Long ranged, but with a slow rate-of-fire.
Mortars - Up to 2 infantry carrying mortars, which can be used to bombard enemy positions from afar. Mortarmen must fire from crouched or prone positions.
Flamethrowers - Up to 2 infantry carrying flamethrowers. Can be used to heat up enemy tanks and force their crews to abandon the vehicle. Abandoned vehicles can be captured by friendly tank crews and used in combat.
Rocket Soldiers - Up to 2 infantry carrying bazookas/PIAT/Panzerfaust or similar anti-tank weaponry. Very useful against tanks, but are relatively vulnerable to machine gun fire.
Tank crew - A squad of 1 to 4 soldiers that can operate friendly vehicles or capture abandoned enemy vehicles. The squad includes a driver, gunner, and 2 crew members to operate the machine guns. A crew of 1 man will only be able to drive a vehicle, for example. Tank crews retain their experience when driving vehicles.

Infantry squads can also be equipped with grenades, anti-tank mines, molotov cocktails, explosives, inflatable rafts, binoculars, and mine detectors.

German Units

Tanks

Panzer I - The Panzerkampfwagen I is a light tank equipped with two MG-34 machine guns. It has no main gun and is relatively weak.
Panzer II - The Panzerkampfwagen II is the first light tank in the german campaign armed with a 20mm main gun.
Panzer III - The Panzerkampfwagen III is another german light tank with a 37mm gun for version A and a 50 mm gun for later versions.
Panzer IV - The Panzerkampfwagen IV is a german medium tank. The D variant and more powerful F2 variant are available.
Panther - The Panther is a german medium tank. Its main gun is a more powerful 75mm gun, and has heavier armor.
Tiger - The Tiger is the signature heavy german tank. Its main gun is very powerful, and has approximately 50 percent more armor than the Panther.
King Tiger - The massive King Tiger is a german heavy tank. The main gun is equal to the Tiger, but has the heaviest armor of any tank in Phase I. The ammo supply for the tank is somewhat limited, however.

Tank Destroyers and Self-Propelled Artillery

Hetzer - The Hetzer is a tank destroyer with a fixed forward firing gun. It only has a single mounted machine gun and may be vulernable to infantry.
Marder II - The Marder II is a relatively weak tank destroyer with a fixed forward firing gun. It has light armor and no machine guns. It is extremely vulnerable to infantry.
Stug III - The Stug III is a tank destroyer with a fixed forward firing gun. Its armor is superior to the Panzer IV, however its lack of machine guns is a liability.
Jagdpanther - The Jagdpanther is a tank destroyer with a fixed forward firing gun. It only has a single mounted machine gun and may be vulernable to infantry. Its armor and main gun are superior to the other german anti-tank guns available.
Wespe - The Wespe is a self-propelled artillery unit. It is effective against infantry, buildings, and tanks at long ranges. It carries no machine guns, however.
Bison I - The Bison I is a self-propelled artillery unit. It is effective against infantry, buildings, and tanks at long ranges. Its gun is more powerful than the Wespe, but has less armor. Like the Wespe, it carries no machine guns.
Bison II - The Bison II is a larger self-propelled artillery piece than the Bison I. It has a very limited ammo supply, but carries a machine gun. It is only available in Phase II.
Sturmtiger - The massive Sturmtiger is a self-propelled assault gun. It has very heavy armor and fires a massive short-ranged mortar. The Sturmtiger can destroy many enemy tanks in 2 shots or less and is absolutely devastating to infantry and buildings. However, the ammo capacity and manoverability are low, and it only has a single machine gun as defense.
Elefant - The heavy Elefant is a self-propelled gun. It has heavy armor and a heavy gun. It is only available in Phase II.
Panzerwerfer - The Panzerwerfer is a mobile rocket artillery unit. The Panzerwerfer does massive amounts of damage across a wide area. However, it is limited by its small ammo capacity, and can also be destroyed by a single airstrike. The Panzerwerfer also has a very distinctive sound when firing.

Towed Guns

Towed guns include anti-tank guns and artillery. All towed guns must be manned by infantry in order to operate. In most cases, infantry can also push a gun into position, albeit slowly. Infantry manning a towed gun often have very little protection and are vulnerable to sniper fire, particularly from the sides and rear.

PaK 36 - The PaK 36 is a light towed anti-tank gun. It requires a crew of 2 to operate properly. Its anti-tank ability is very poor.
PaK 38 - The Pak 38 is a medium towed anti-tank gun. It requires a crew of 2 to operate properly. Its anti-tank ability is fairly poor.
Flak 88 - The Flak 88 is a towed anti-tank/anti-aircraft gun. It requires a crew of 4 to operate properly and must be towed into position. In a defensive position, this unit is especially effective against tanks and aircraft.
LeFH 18 - The leFH 18 is a towed artillery piece. It requires a crew of 2 to operate properly. It does the same amount of damage as the Wespe.
sIG 33 - The sIG 33 is a towed artillery piece. It requires a crew of 2 to operate properly. It does the same amount of damage as the Bison I.

Miscellaneous Units

Kubelwagen - The Kübelwagen is a small car capable of carrying a squad of infantry. It has no armaments and is easily destroyed, but is very fast.
SdKfz 223 - The SdKfz 223 is a light armored scout car. It requires a tank crew to operate and has a single machine gun turret. It has a high top speed for scouting out terrain and enemy units.
SdKfz 10/4 - The SdKfz 10/4 is a variant of the SdKfz 233 with an anti-aircraft gun.
SdKfz 10 - The SdKfz 10 is a truck with light armor and can carry 2 squads of infantry. It comes with a driver and is resistant to small arms fire. It can tow artillery and self-propelled guns.
SdKfz 250/1 - The SdKfz 250/1 is an armored half-track and can carry a squad of infantry. It comes with a driver and a machine gun (must be manned by the infantry squad, however) and is resistant to small arms fire. It can tow artillery and self-propelled guns.
Krupp - The Krupp is a transport truck. It can carry 2 squads of infantry and tow guns.
Repair and Supply Trucks - The trucks can repair and resupply friendly vehicles on the battlefield. Their use is absolutely essential in combat and vital for mission success.

American Units