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WELCOME TO THE FRONT...

G 2
‘Ten Hut! Due to some sort of FUBAR at GHQ this issue of
Panzerfäuste G2 is late getting to the front, rather like the
blooming Light Elves, but it’s here now so stop your
bellyaching!

This issue looks at the stunty invasion of Tôrg Baraz, so learn

about the fierce resistance from the subterranean Troglodytes
and how the war fought under the mountains continues...

Pay attention soldier in case they post you there...

S a rge
The
ISSUE TWO CONTENTS:
BATTLELORDS OF THE NORTH 03
Get the gen on those tough mothers, the underground living Troglodytes in Panzerfäuste…

PANZERFÄUSTE VORWÄRTS! 05
It’s a kind of magick as you learn how it will impact the mass battle game…

TROGLODYTE PARTISANS! 07
If you can’t wait for reinforcements from Hysterical, here’s how to make your own…

SURVIVAL OF THE MIDGETS! 09

It’s a Dwarf versus Gnome bash in this Panzerfäuste Mass Battle after action report…

GOING UNDERGROUND 12
Learn how to make your own underground battlefield on the cheap…

BRINGING HOME THE BRATWURST! 03

Can you get the essential supplies through to the frontline in this Panzerfäuste Skirmish scenario?

ESPRIT DE CORPS 15
Learn all about the famous Troglodyte Black Brigade…

FROM THERE TO HERE 17

Rob compresses almost twenty years of Panzerfäuste “hystery” into three pages…

HERE COME THE TROGS! 20

Coming soon thanks to the Panzerfäuste Kickstarter…

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 Battlelords of the North
THE TROGLODYTES IN PANZERFÄUSTE BY STEVE BLEASE

Of all the races in Panzerfäuste, the

Troglodytes are the one that most people have
no idea about as they do not fit a standard
fantasy cliche like the Dwarves or Orcs (even
though we have embellished these with our
own unqiue twists). This has led to a couple of
people posting nonsense about how making
the “Poles” Troglodytes is “insulting to the
brave Polish people” etc (I think we’re going to
upset someone everywhere at some point so
if that’s you I apologise now).

So why are the “Poles” Troglodytes in

Panzerfäuste?

First off I was determined to ensure that the

“Poles” were included in the game. When I Tôrg Baraz - above ground
wrote the background for the first edition
eighteen odd years ago, it was practically
impossible to get French infantry let alone
of ingrained baggage in gaming terms (and I
Polish ones. You’d have thought the war was
really wanted to keep them for the ‘Japanese’
fought just by the British, Germans, Americans
in the planned Kami-Khazi supplement).
and Russians (what a shock it was when
Airfix released Italian infantry!)
Troglodytes sprung to mind as a relatively
undeveloped fantasy race that I could mould
Anyway, fascinated by the stories I’d read
how I wanted and not have people’s
about the Polish Home Army, Wojtek the
prejudices influencing things (or so I thought).
soldier bear and the mythical cavalry charges
against Panzers, I decided these guys had to
As a fantasy race Troglodytes feature in D&D
be in the game.
but look a little too lizardman for me, though I
liked the tails, so I decided to make them a
The question was what fantasy race to use?
kind of furry version.
The main ones had largely already been
allocated and I had the idea that, inspired by
So that was the why, but what are they like?
stories of partisan armies fighting in dense
forests, that the “Polish” country in
Well they are not stupid or sub-human (there
Panzerfäuste would be somewhere that they
are no humans in The Land so they can’t be
could continue their war - and nothing strikes
sub anything). They are a generally peaceful
me as more fantastic as an underground
race who make use of what nature provides
kingdom with tight tunnels, huge caverns, lava
and are great re-users of what other races
rivers and subterranean seas.
abandon (such as the ancient underground
Dwarf fortresses in the Tôrg Mountains). They
I considered making them Goblins, but I
live in underground city holds called nests,
wasn’t comfortable with that as they didn’t fit
something I will get around to explaining fully
my idea of a noble subterranean race who
one day, but it is an ancient term and should
were great recyclers, adapting ancient ruins
not be regarded literally.
for their own purposes and Goblins have a lot

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From a military point of view, as I said they are
a peaceful people, but will fight tenaciously to
hold onto what is theirs. Whilst they are not an
expansionist race like the Dwarves or Dark
Elves, if something is abandoned they will
claim it and then defend it to the death.
The Troglodyte military is relatively modern
compared to other races, being bordered by
two hostile empires to north and south it
needs to be.
Tôrg Baraz - below ground
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The army comprises of regular infantry,
National Defence Brigades formed of
reservists and volunteers, elite units like the
Gorale Highlanders and Black Brigade as well
as Ułani cavalry and the dreaded armoured
war-moles - the Kret Bitwa.
Despite appearing to be landlocked, Tôrg
Baraz has a navy that sails in the huge
underground lakes and seas beneath the
surface. Whilst not as large as the Royal Orc
Navy or Dwarf Kriegsmarine, it is relatively
well equipped and the Navy has two
regiments of Marines that can reinforce
regular ground troops in times of need.
The aerial force is by contrast very small and
weak and largely designed to act as a
reconnaissance and messenger unit.
The Dwarven conquest of Tôrg Baraz has not
ended the fighting in the kingdom and a
resistance force known as the Home Army has
been formed deep underground to continue
the fight against the occupation forces. Some
army and naval units have joined this rather
than surrender and others have gone into
exile joining their Gnomish allies to fight the
hated Dwarves in whatever theatre will hurt
the occupier most.
Just because Tôrg Baraz is under the iron
heeled jackboot of the Dwarves does not
mean the war is over...
 Panzerfäuste Vorwärts!
IAN HILL AND ROB TALK ABOUT HOW MAGICK WILL WORK
IN THE PANZERFÄUSTE MASS BATTLE RULEBOOK
INTRODUCTION
In my last article I talked about our design
concepts for Panzerfäuste mass battle rules.
Well since then we have been busily play-
testing things and, thanks to those clever
people I mentioned last time, working on a few
new ideas.
OK let's be honest Panzerfäuste comprises
orcs, gnomes, dwarves, troglodytes and
deathless in a mid-twentieth century setting, to
say it's a bizarre meeting of worlds would be
an under-statement. Historo-fantasy is my
passion but it also needs to be fun. Yes I want
the game to be tactically and strategically
challenging, that's what keeps us all coming
back for more games. On the other hand I
want too some twists and tricks in the game
that can shift the flow of the game subtly but
sufficiently to keep players guessing and
planning for the unexpected.
So in this article I really want to share thinking
on magick (no it's not a spelling mistake) and
event cards.
Mass Battle playtesting with Rob Alderman and Ant Evans...
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MAGICK
Well we all know about our definition of magic
in our world. Actually it's trickery, sleight of
hand and clever misdirection. Magick though
is something more. In Panzerfäuste magick is
like a miasma that covers every surface, every
being and pervades the very atmosphere.
Controlling it is a little like clutching at sand on
a beach. Sometimes you grab a lot,
sometimes a little, but if you’re not careful it
will always slip through your grasp eventually.
Each race has learnt to manipulate the
potential of magick in different ways. The
Dwarves, and now the Orcs, have learnt to
mechanically capture and project it,
sometimes with spectacular results but just as
likely with catastrophic consequences.
Gnomes are masters of illusion and their
magick works well up close and personal.
Troglodytes bend the earth and nature itself to
their whim whilst the Deathless, well let’s say
death is not the end when they’re around.
Mages and illusionists can’t easily predict
exactly what will happen when they begin their
 arcane machines or bizarre chanting. So
don’t think about them choosing spells more
like casting a net and seeing what they catch.
Each race has it’s own deck of 24 magick
cards comprising six different spells, in
different quantities, and a couple of surprises
too, not always good ones, but hey who
doesn’t like the sight of an Illusionist’s head
erupting with mushrooms!
Magick won't win you a game on its own, that
would be too easy. With a bit of luck, some
judicious tactical thinking and of course a
desire to watch your opponent destroyed in
innumerably horrible ways; magick can help
swing things in your favour.
EVENT CARDS
The Hysterical Towers boffins have been
giving a lot of thought to how event cards
work. What we wanted was something that
added a new layer to the game which could
subtly change the impact of key events.
Our thinking was that in any world at any
time, battle is governed as much by the fickle
hand of fate as the skill of the combatants.
Every general in history has at some point
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wrung their hands in disbelief as the winds of
war blow against them. If you transport that to
a world where the powers of magick crackle in
the air and where a half-crazed highland orc
lets swing with his four foot claymore,
oblivious to the arcane nature of his
surroundings, then you have a recipe for
carnage.
That is where the event deck comes into play.
Its cards can help heighten success or
exacerbate failure. Remember, though, just
because something has gone well doesn’t
mean the result will be favourable. Just
because a dwarf stromtrooper gets to gun
down three gnomes with spectacular accuracy
doesn’t mean they haven’t interfered with the
magick of the land or been seen by another
section who, jealous of success, choose to be
more belligerent than they otherwise might
have been.
So with those ideas in place and tested, if only
in our warped and twisted world, we are now
just about ready to share the rules with our
lovely Kickstarter backers. They have helped
build a real sense of community around our
mad world so we thought what better than to
get their views on the game, how it plays and
of course how we can make it better!
 Troglodyte Partisans!
MAKE YOUR OWN FOR PANZERFÄUSTE BY JOHN BELL

INTRODUCTION Before starting to sculpt, I chopped off parts of

the original models that could not be covered
up, or would get in the way of the sculpting
Years ago, I converted my own Troglodyte
process. I also drilled holes in the rear with a pin
partisan troop for Panzerfäuste to pit against the
vise for the tails, which are simply pieces of wire
Dwarves in underground action. The original
that will be covered with putty.
four I did were undead Trogs from Wizards of
The Coast's Chainmail game (the flashy one
The gist of the sculpting in most of this article
where all the minis came in boxes, which then
consists of kneading putty into a thin sheet,
got canned and replaced by the plastic D&D
wrapping it around the limb, and then shaping it
random minis line), with two Goblins of some
with sculpting tools, be it smoothing sections,
sort from the same range joining them a few
sharpening edges or making folds, tears and
years later.
holes.
I had planned on making more, and to give them
A day later, things were progressing rapidly.
a better variety of weapons, to complement the
Now with coats and faces! The faces, based off
full Dwarf section I had. I also wanted the new
of the new designs (of course!), did not need to
ones to have the look of the new concept art
be as refined as a human face. Ugly, Goblinish,
and miniature renderings, instead of being
and cartoony really works here. The weapons
undead reptilian creatures or little runts. They
are all Bolt Action Miniatures, so Warlord now
might be far bigger than Trogs are suppose to
I guess.
be (I believe they are somewhere in between
Gnomes and Dwarves), but that's all due to the
In the first edition, Tôrg Baraz, the land of the
original batch. So why radically alter that bit?
Troglodytes, was already occupied by the
The tiny ones might as well be teens for this
Dwarves. The Trogs were vaguely defined
portrayal.

John’s converted Trogs take on some original Wessex Dwarves

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 John’s conversions getting a paintjob

visually, and so I ran more with the Eastern
European partisan aspect. The partisan clothes
allowed me to mix and match, and do stuff like
sculpt babushka scarves. The one with the most
obvious mix and match, the leader with the
Molotov cocktail, sports British, I mean Orcish
trousers, a Dwarven coat and an old Trog officer
cap. The Molotov cocktail consists of a variety of
styrene tubes and sticks with a bit of putty to
smooth out the bottle and the cloth.
As of the writing of this article, the regular army
Troglodytes are not yet out. But they can be
converted into partisans. Some can be given
looser trousers, others given different jackets.
Trim as much detail as you want. Headwear
may be the biggest problem, as helmets and
partisans do not mix all the time. But you can
carefully chop off the helmet and sculpt the
headwear you want.

While painting the minis, I went over the older

conversions as well, giving them all that pinkish
hue seen in the concept art. Since there hasn't
been much info on hair colour, I sticked to
blacks and dark browns. Albino red eyes felt
perfect for cave dwellers. I didn't go for anything
complicated, just a few flat colours. The red
armband with the Tôrg Baraz hammer is meant
to recall the red-and-white armbands of the
Polish Free Army during the 1944 Warsaw
uprising. The Troglodyte resistance is split
between many factions, so hopefully we might
see many variations.

The Troglodyte resistance is finally all painted.

In the photo on the previous page they are
surrounding a pair of lost Dwarven
Eisenschutzen late in the war. You can also see
some Trog houses, meant to jut out of the cave
walls. They're 1/72 Airfix dioramas that I've
added some depth, but I think the small door
sizes fits well with cave dwellers. I also painted
Eastern European floral patterns and pasted
some of the upcoming posters to liven it up.

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 Survival of the Midgets!
PANZERFÄUSTE MASS BATTLE AAR BY ROB ALDERMAN
(Last year Rob ran a mass battle playtest game
which Anthony Phillips posted about on his blog.
Here is the view from the ‘other side of the hill’)
There was a slight drizzle on the air in
Leamington Spa, as myself and Allan Powell
awaited the presence of a belated Anthony
Evans; whom had hitherto been the most
reliable of folk to arrive on time.
Minutes turned to hours, hours turned to an hour
and twelve minutes, thirty-two seconds.
Ant was late. Balls. We’ve set up, he’s not got
my number and he’s late. Lo and behold, Ant
had managed to call up my darling fiancée, Han
(who at this stage was wondering whether Ant
was the reliable one with long hair or the brown
haired smiley bloke (it’s the latter one, for the
uninformed)), and finally worked out how to get
a hold of me and managed to get to the locale of
the Leamington Gaming Club (which has
moved, FYI!), behold – the beleaguered Ant! On
usual form, he quickly returned to the smiley,
happy bloke that I am used to; frantically
rubbing his hands together and getting excited
about all things Panzerfäuste!
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So, the board was set, my well thumbed set of
hastily printed playtest rules was ready and my
guinea pigs were ready to go. I quickly drew out
a Sections of Infantry, as well as a few
interesting Units to add some flavour to the
game. Ant, quite rightly, pointed out that I was
going a bit mad and, though we should explore
a bit of the flavour, we should probably test the
basic engine.
I agreed and we set the following units as our
armies. Keeping in mind, points costs were out
of the window at this stage!
Kleinblitzwergen Kampfgruppe
Leutnant Von Margen

Dwarf Grenadiers Section

Dwarf Grenadiers Section

Dwarf Fallschirmjaeger Section


Mon Grande Petit armee de la Dun-Argoet
Sargent-chef Pang

Gnome Legion Etranger Section

Gnome Voltigeurs Section

Gnome Voltigeurs Section

Gnome Ghul Brute

Both armies were to deploy, along the opposite
long table edges, starting with our Gnomish
Participant, Allan. Allan and Ant would alternate
the deployment of their units until each player
was fully deployed.
It’s worth pointing out that the turns in
Panzerfäuste Mass Battle are presented in an
IGUGO (I go, you go) format. The player with
initiative (decided by a dice off at the start of
each turn) chooses a Unit, performs actions
with said unit, then the opponent does the
same. Both players do this until all of their units
have been activated, then a new turn begins!
We also stopped and started a LOT, so my
notes are really sketchy, with a heavy focus on
changes to the rules, or discrepancies in the
rules...
For that reason, rather than a traditional Battle
Report, I’ll cover some key points in the game
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that really gave the feel I want to come across
in Panzerfäuste Mass Battle games!
First things first, the Gnomes dug in. Gnomes
are incredibly squishy, and the better trained
Gnomes are well aware of this! Gnomes are
also ‘Tiny’, so slightly harder to hit than other
races in Panzerfäuste. It makes up for their low
guts.
However, to get the most out of them, Allan
knew he had to dig in – so did that straight
away with his Voltiguers.
In response, Ant activated a unit of Grenadiers
and marched them forwards. He then opened
fire against the odds, keeping in mind that
shooting is a D20 test against the Ranged Skill,
requiring a result BELOW the Ranged Skill of
the Grenadiers. This is then modified by the
Gnomes being Tiny, that they are dug in and
any cover in the way. That resulted in Ant
requiring -8 to his tests, in some cases!
He still went for it and failed, well, everything.
Anyway, not all was lost.
At this time in the timeline of the Land, the
Dwarves are developing a new technique for
war, named ‘Trugenkampf’. Because of this,
Dwarf Grenadier Sections are ready and trained
in ‘Trugenkampf’ and therefore get to move a
little extra at the end of the turn. Ant used this to
push further forwards, but he could have also
chosen to move back and into cover.
It wasn’t long before the Dwarves were starting
to take heavy casualties. The Gnomes
outnumbered them and were holed up in cover.

However, Ant had not yet deployed the
Fallschirmjäger yet.
Come Ant’s activation, he chose to drop them
(using the paper plane deployment system!) into
a unit of unscathed Gnome Legion Etranger.
They dropped in on Kampfkondor, then opened
fire with their rifles, scattering the Gnomes left,
right and centre. In retaliation, Allan activated
his nearby Ghul Brute and smashed it into
melee with the Dwarves.
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Allan had limited success, due to some slightly
below average Dice rolls and, at this point, the
turn ended.
It was now the Guts Phase, where everyone
checks how their units are doing. Well, this is
where it got surprising.
The Gnome Legion Etranger got a Critical Fail
and scarpered immediately. The Gnome Ghul
Brute ALSO got a Critical Fail and was reduced
to a Guts value of just 3!
The Dwarf Fallschirmjäger, seemingly delighted
by this, got a Critical Success (shooting them up
to a massive Guts Value of 10!) regardless of
the fact that they were reduced to a mere 4
Dwarves.
It was actually at this point that we decided to
call it a day. We’d tested out the rules and ironed
out a few of the basic kinks to start with.
Mr Ian Hill now has the rules in his hands, fine
tuning a lot of the smaller points that I simply
had not considered. I hope he will be able to tell
you all about that soon!
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 Going Underground
SUBTERRANEAN WARGAMES TERRAIN BY STEVE BLEASE
The Troglodyte realm of Tôrg Baraz makes for a
challenging, but fascinating, place to set your
games of Panzerfäuste. A mountainous,
forested wilderness, the battlefields are a
daunting place for even the bravest of generals,
however, as the Dwarf army of Kaiser Alberich
found, defeating the Troglodyte army on the
surface, does not mean the end of the battle!
The mountain-nests and fortresses of the
Troglodytes are riddled with tunnels and
caverns and it is here that the defeated
Troglodyte army, and the citizens of the
Confederation, continue the war against the
Dwarves and their allies.
For wargamers the prospect of fighting battles
under the surface may seem a daunting
prospect, especially from a scenery perspective.
However, a bit of lateral thinking - and help from
eBay - makes it quite straight forward.
There are a number of scenic options available.
First off is the old role-playing staple of drawing
a map on paper and playing on that. Not the
most aesthetically pleasing, but functional and
ideal for one off scenario driven games. Of
course there are a lot of useful commercial
products available for role-players that we can
use, specifically card terrain like that produced
Battle Systems terrain...
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by Fat Dragon Games (their PDF line is
especially useful as you can print off as much
as you need).
The recently released Battle Systems Fantasy
terrain is the next step up from this and for
many and excellent balance between card
practicality and aesthetic appeal. For many
skirmishes in the underground nests of the
Trogs this product is just about perfect.
However, if you are looking for a bigger
underground battlefield to play larger games,
you will need to scratch build your own. That
said, there are some clever short cuts to make
this a simple job.
The tabletop: for most of us, our gaming
tabletop is green which is not much use. The
simplest way around this is to use a grey cloth,
you could even break up the mundane surface
with some spray cans or even tie-dying the
cloth.
A bespoke commercially produced terrain mat is
the perfect answer, but these tend to be a bit
pricey, a more reasonable compromise can be
found in the form of bathroom/kitchen vinyl floor
tiles. I picked up some packs of three one foot
square stone effect ones for just £1.89 a pack -
a three foot square tabletop for just over a fiver.
Terrain: the best terrain items are rock
formations which you place wherever you want
ton the tabletop and these can be easily made
using polystyrene and mod-roc (plaster
bandage). If you don’t fancy this option (and it
can be messy), various aquarium resin rock
formations can be found in Pet Shops and on
eBay or you can buy some of the useful
Battlefield in a Box items from GF9. They just
need a quick repaint to match your tabletop…
Other items you can add to your battlefield
include stalagmites, whether you make your
own or buy some from Reaper Miniatures or
GF9, crystal pieces (quartz is good though GF9
 used to do some acrylic ones in red, green and Useful items from Reaper...
purple) and fungi. You can even go all out and
have an underground lake and river (maybe
even a lava one!).

Buildings: millennia before the Troglodytes

invested the Tôrg mountains, they had been
occupied by the Dwarves in ancient times and
the ruins of their buildings have been adapted
by the Trogs to their own ends. With this in mind
any buildings, below or above ground, can be a
mixture of classical Dwarf (think Roman) and
contemporary Trog (think East European,
especially timber construction). For my
battlefield I picked up a Temple ruin from a pet
shop (those tropical fish are your friends!) and
some plastic wedding cake columns that can be
scattered about as evidence of the historical purchases of aquarium rock formations, temple,
Dwarf occupation of the mountains. columns and kitchen tiles came to under £50.
Not a huge outlay and many of the items will
Hopefully this has given you some ideas for also be used above ground in other battles and
creating an exciting underground battlefield for other games…
your Trogs to fight their enemies. All in all my

Rocks...

Underground terrain tile...

Here was dragons...

Tony Harwood’s Trog hovel - to be

released by Hysterical Games

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 Bringing Home the Bratwurst!
A PANZERFÄUSTE THE SKIRMISH SCENARIO
BY STEVE BLEASE

INTRODUCTION
Operation Unterberg, the Dwarven invasion of Tôrg
Baraz was going well, but the advance of
Heeresgruppe Válir on Tôrg-dom is in danger of
outstripping support elements and leaving units
without food and ammunition.

KampfKondors fly in supplies dropping them in forest

clearings for Schweinzug (pig trains) to collect and
carry them to the front line troops.

Unfortunately for the troops accompanying the

Schweinzug, the terrain they have to cross is not
only inhospitable but also crawling with Troglodyte
troops, cut off from their units, but still keen to
continue the war.
This scenario is based around the trials and
tribulations of one such Schweinzug and its guards.
The Trog player should randomly place five of ten
numbered tokens they have over the board
anywhere they wish face down (neither players
knows what numbers are placed). The Trog player
can flip and reveal any of these tokens at any point
during their turns.

If a Dwarf unit gets within 30 cm the figure nearest

TERRAIN the token should make a Guts roll.

For the most part the terrain is impregnable thick

forest on mountain slope, however a forest track Result Effect
runs the long length of the table meandering so not
to form a straight line, It crosses through a few rocky Critical Success Enemy unit spotted.
clearings, and across a ford at an icy stream. The Dwarves may fire first. +1
terrain within one foot either side of the track is a mix Guts to spotter
of scrub and fir trees, but only counts as woodland
for gaming purposes. Success Enemy unit spotted.

Failure Enemy unit not spotted.

THE DWARVES
The Dwarf Infantry section comprises of ten regular
troops, an NCO armed with an smg, one lmg team
and eight rifles. The NCO is Veteran, the lmg
Experienced as are two of the rilfes. The remainder
are Normal.
They escort ten supply pigs who are accompanied
by two Schweinehirten (Green regulars armed with
rifles). The Schweinehirten must remain within six
inches of the pigs otherwise they will run either up
the track the way they were going or back the other
way (flip a coin if this happens).
THE TROGLODYTES
The Troglodytes appear (or don’t appear) randomly
though out the game.
Critical Failure Enemy unit not spotted.
Feeling nervous. - 1 Guts.
If the unit is not spotted (and does not reveal itself),
the observation attempt is repeated at 20cm and
10cm adding +1 to Guts for the roll purposes each
time. The enemy unit is automatically revealed if
contact is made with an unturned token.
The tokens are:
1, 2, 3, 4 - no enemy unit
5 - Troglodyte regular army sniper
6 - Four Troglodyte Green Partisans with smgs
7 - Four Troglodyte Regular infantry with rifles
8 - Troglodyte Regular infantry automatic rifle team
9 - Troglodyte Regular infantry section
10 - Elite Black Brigade section with War-Mole

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 Esprit de Corps
FAMOUS UNITS IN THE WORLD OF PANZERFÄUSTE:
NO.2 TROGLODYTE BLACK BRIGADE BY STEVE BLEASE
The legendary Elven philosopher Brúnor is
reputed to have said “If thee strive for the
peace, thou must prepare for the war” and it
was this motto that the Troglodytes of Tôrg
Baraz followed being bordered by two larger
hostile races. Whilst small, the Troglodyte army
was well equipped and trained to exploit every
advantage provided by the terrain of their
underground kingdom.
Before the Great Dwarven War the Troglodyte
military kept a careful eye on military
developments throughout The Land. The
Dwarven development of Panzerkriegtiere
(armoured war-beasts) led to Tôrg Baraz
looking at what it could do to counter this threat.
The Troglodyte army had for many decades
used small indigenous moles as cavalry
mounts, but had decided that these beasts
larger cousins had no military application
beyond tunnelling duties with Sapper brigades.
However with the Dwarves, and subsequently
Orcs and Gnomes, raising units of armoured
war beasts, the Troglodytes converted a number
of the Sapper’s moles into Kret Bitwa -
armoured war-moles!
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Initial exercises with the war-moles proved
hugely successful, especially given their ability
to tunnel beneath an enemy and them burst out
the ground in the middle of a surprised foe.
However, studies of the deployment of Panzer
Bärs by the “volunteer” Geier Legion during the
Rat Civil War, showed that unsupported war-
beasts could potentially be isolated and
destroyed by infantry armed with anti-armour
weapons. Consequently it was decided that to
protect war-beasts from this threat, they needed
to have infantry in support to allow them to be
employed to best effect.
With this in mind the Troglodytes raised the X
Brygada Kret, an elite infantry force that would
follow the war-moles through the earth as they
tunnelled beneath the enemy, before bursting
through the surface to bring death and
destruction or their shocked foes!
It was soon appreciated that the amount of
detritus created by the tunnelling moles, soiled
the uniforms of the following troops so they
were issued with long black leather trench coats
to protect their tunics - because of this, the unit
soon earned the nickname the Black Brigade.
The Brigade first saw action at the Battle of
Fôrti-dza against the invading Dwarves of army
group Vöturn, helping delay the Dwarven
advance to a crawl. To help with infiltration
attacks and intimidate the enemy, the Brigade
started to equip its soldiers with captured Dwarf
helmets.
However this attack was a feint to draw
Troglodyte forces away from other nests and
the soon the Troglodytes were left reeling as
flanking attacks on the unprotected nests
elsewhere in the kingdom. The Black Brigade
fell back towards the capital nest Tôrg-dom and
led the Trog forces in the Battle of Krwawe Pola,
the largest most hard fought engagement of the
campaign.
 Black Brigade converted and painted by Steve Blease
Ultimately though, the hard fighting was futile as
the Dwarfs and their allies, swiftly captured the
major Troglodyte nests. However, many army
units retreated deep into the Kingdom’s
underground caverns and warrens to continue
the fight against the occupier alongside the
Partisans of the Armia Podziemna and amongst
these troops were the remnants of the Black
Brigade...
THE BLACK BRIGADE
IN PANZERFÄUSTE SKIRMISH
Sadly the Black Brigade Stretch Goal wasn’t
reached in the Kickstarter but I was not going to
allow that to stop me fielding such a unique
looking unit in my games.
Given the nature of the resin that Hysterical are
producing the figures in, the regular army Trogs,
when released, should be easy enough to
covert by changing the helmet to a “German”
one and adding the distinctive leather coat by
extending the uniform tunic with some Green
Stuff - or Rob could just bite the bullet and
release some!
Like John with his partisans, I am an impatient
little bugger and wanting my Black Brigade
yesterday I scratchbuilt a small section using
Warlord plastic Blitzkrieg Germans, some GW
Gnoblar heads and Green Stuff. They are not
brilliant but they will do until Rob commissions
some official ones (subtle hint there).
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From a skirmish gaming point of view you could
just treat them as an elite Troglodyte unit, apply
the appropriate modifiers and Piotr’s your Uncle
(as the Trogs say). But where would the fun be
in that?
To simulate their famed “strike from beneath”
attack, bursting out of the ground behind one of
the dreaded Krek Bitwa war-moles amongst
their enemy some form of random tabletop
appearance approach is needed, similar to the
Orc paras but not as potentially widely scattered
(after all they are bursting up from the ground
and charging forward not dropping hundreds of
feet from a dragon using a brolly).
From the point the the war-mole appears in the
ground role 2D6 and a scatter die. The 2D6
indicate the distance and the scatter die the
direction each Brigade soldier is placed. The
2D6 also act as a Guts role for each figure that
it must make as it appears. Consult the
following table for the effect.
Result Effect
Critical Success Surprise Dwarf! + 1 Guts.
Success Emerged Fine.
Failure Momentarily disorientated by
daylight. No action for one
turn.
Critical Failure Twisted ankle. Half
movement for the entire
scenario. - 1 Guts.
 From There to Here
ROB ALDERMAN TALKS PANZERFÄUSTE RESURRECTION

I’ve been a fan of Panzerfäuste for a number of
years. In fact, I first came across it on a Yahoo!
Group, dedicated to another historo-fantasy
game, Flintloque. Way back in 2005(ish) Steve
had posted a whole load of Panzerfäuste items
on eBay to clear his stock. This included some
rarities, like Orc Commandos, Dark Elves and
Rats – all of which were out of production. Now,
I’m a bit of a collector- maniac, so I simply had
to get them all; knowing they were somehow
linked to Flintloque.
Old Rat Paras painted by Nick Whittock
I set upon getting new artwork made and a
bunch of preliminary sculpts (some Dwarves, by
Irek, which had lots of editing done to them). I
knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have a
grand master plan. So far, all I knew was that I
was getting some stuff made, with the intention
of showing Steve and impressing him.
So, after 2 or 3 months, I had a few images of
Gnomes and Dwarves, as well as a bunch of
books I wanted to adopt the styles of and some
pictures of some 3D renders. I contacted Steve
about my idea to take Panzerfäuste to
Kickstarter, build up a small company and to
pay Wessex Games a licensing fee. He
suggested that he would be in Birmingham and
able to meet up for a drink and a chat.

I was late! Bloody hell, was I late. Steve waited

around for me like a trooper though. I eventually
turned up, we snubbed off the idea of Cafe
Nero and ended up in a pub in the Centre of
Birmingham. I quickly got my laptop out and
started showing Steve what we had done. He
seemed impressed. I’d had a spiel sorted and I
managed to muddle my way through that,
getting the points across I wanted. The key

Gregor’s first Dwarf sketch...

Over the years, I delved into the Panzerfäuste
setting, running demos at shows, making
fanboy content and even writing a set of rules
that would work with Mongoose Publishing’s
(now out of print) Battlefield Evolution rules.
Steve and I have been talking every so often for
quite some time, but then we sort of just
stopped. Yearly, Steve would mention
something sort of exciting regarding
Panzerfäuste, or the Land, but other than that,
little happened...

I’ve always had fond memories of

Panzerfäuste, but never quite felt like it had
been given a chance to grow. For some reason
it had been stifled, and I wanted to change that.

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 Gregor starts on the Orcs... of the footwork done and we are on Kickstarter.
The Kickstarter alone was a huge struggle to
set up. It took about a month just to get all the
graphics sorted and to work out our stretch
goals. We had no idea how well it would go or if
it would just flop. We were obviously concerned
because it is a ‘mash-up’ of things people might
not understand.

A few weeks into the Kickstarter, we had

developed an AMAZING community for the
game. People were really getting to grips with
this being a totally independent project entirely
in the realm of Hysterical Games. We had a
fantastic time. Then some pretty catastrophic
news hit! I had managed to double book myself.

here was that I wanted a small company that One of Irek’s first Dwarf T-poses...
would slowly build up the game whilst I worked
on other things. About 15 minutes into the
conversation, Steve suggested that I could
HAVE Panzerfäuste. I made it clear to him that
I wanted him involved, so we went away and
we set up Hysterical Games. I was safe in the
knowledge that I had what I needed to grow it
myself and Steve had what he needed so that
he could still add to the project and be involved.
I really didn’t want to write the fiction or decide
on timelines without Steve’s input. That is the
fanboy in me coming through.

Fast forward about 12 months. We’ve

assembled a team of sculptors, artists, rules
developers and painters, we’ve worked with a
company that shall not be named to get some

Gnome heads by Dominik...

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 The last day of the project was also happening
whilst I was in BELGIUM travelling back from
the Crisis Wargames show! We had planned to
visit the war-graves in Arnhem, as well as the
Airborne Museum on the way there (significant
detour!) and then, on the way back; Waterloo. I,
with huge trepidation, informed Steve of this
fact.

I expected to invoke his most primal of rages,

but in fact, did quite the opposite. He informed
me that I MUST take the opportunity to visit
these locations whenever the chance arises. He
told me he’d be disappointed if I did not visit
them, or take the time, so he gracefully told me
he’d look after the project in its closing hours.
Thus, Supreme Overlord Steve was born. From
the backseat of Lee Upton’s car, alongside
Anthony Evans, we checked the Kickstarter as
regularly as we could. Steve was cosy in
Blease Towers, as we were bombing our way
through France for the ferry, updating the
Kickstarter every 10 minutes and the pledges
went ape. As that Kickstarter drew to a close, Will’s early Troglodyte concept work...
the total just kept going up and up and up.
Steve did a great job getting to grips with the
it and I’ve never looked back. We’ve had an
awesome reaction from our backers and we will
ensure that continues until the end of our days.
Hysterical Games has an incredibly bright
future and that has all been because of the
struggle through Kickstarter. Now, we’ve
shipped Wave 1, WAY ahead of schedule and
we’re looking at attending at least 14 Trade
Fairs in 2016. We’ve got distributors signed up
for Germany, France and Italy, with more
getting interested every week. We’ve also
started getting artwork made for the next
Kickstarter project, which will hopefully begin in
the closing months of 2016, if not, early 2017.
The Skogtroll are our first ‘natural’ release,
entirely sculpted by hand by Alex Huntley of
Warploque Miniatures. So yes, we really do
Just all too much excitement for Rob on have a busy year ahead!
the return from Crisis...
Forest Trolls painted by Steve Blease
Kickstarter interface which, in all honesty, is a
bag of nails.

With the help of our backers, we raised almost

£32,000. This was enough to get us set up,
manufacturing ourselves and break away from
manufacturing partners. I decided to just go for

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 Here Come the Trogs!
COMING SOON THANKS TO THE PANZERFÄUSTE KICKSTARTER!

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 NEXT
ISSUE...
In issue three of Panzerfäuste
G2 we will be going entering No
Mans Land with our Gnome
invasion special.
Get caught up in the biggest
battles of the war so far as the
Dwarves try to conquer Dûn-
Nomin, and us brave Orcs join
the war in an effort to stop the
bloomin’ Kaiser’s forces (and
their nefarious allies).
We’ll also look some more at the
mass battle rules development
and detail another famous
Panzerfäuste unit...

S arge
The

HOW TO GET INVOLVED...

Ok, the first rule of soldiering may be NEVER VOLUNTEER, but if you are some kind of
hero, this is how you can get involved in Panzerfäuste...

First off check out the Hysterical Games Facebook page, it has all the intel on what’s
new and incoming for Panzerfäuste. Don’t forget to check ‘Get Notifications’ once
you’ve liked the page so you don’t miss anything, ok?

Vets of all races can get together and chew the fat in the Panzerfäuste fan Facebook
group. There are some old grognards here, but newbies are welcome...

We are looking for contributions to the e-zine. So if you have an interesting after action
report, some cool new rules to help beat the enemy, or something you’d like to share,
drop The Sarge an email.

Ok, soldier we’re signing off now, but keep your weapon clean and look out for snipers...

h e S arge
T
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