Description

From the Avalanche Press website:

No intelligence reports had prepared the German Army for the new Soviet T-34/76 medium tank: a well-balanced vehicle with much better firepower, armor protection and mobility than anything in the German arsenal or even on German drawing boards. In December 1941, the Germany Army’s Weapons Bureau ordered two firms, MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg) and Daimler-Benz, to produce designs for a new medium tank to out-perform the Soviet T34/76. A third firm, Skoda, was not invited to participate but submitted a design anyway.

After initially selecting the Daimler-Benz tank and bestowing the name “Panther” on it, German leader Adolf Hitler later backtracked and ordered the MAN tank into production instead. The Daimler-Benz prototype, known as the VK3002, was shunted aside as was Skoda’s T25. The MAN Panther eventually became a formidable weapon, but initial production models suffered mechanical problems thanks to its rushed development. Either of the other two tanks would likely have been available sooner.

Variant Panthers lets you try out these rejected tanks on the battlefields of Kursk, in South Flank and Burning Tigers. The Groundhog Day 2016 Golden Journal includes 24 new laser-cut, mounted pieces depicting these two tanks in both German Army and Waffen SS livery. It’s a good-looking set. Plus you get scenarios for their use.