i.e. a Panther Co. should be able to fire up to four or five hexes. Also what differentiates tank quality, say a Stuart from a Tiger?
Well, of
COURSE you just happened to have brought up one of those never-ending-controversial elements to any war-game when it comes to ranges. Rule-of-thumb, is your maximum ranges for direct fire is going to be 3 hexes. If you want to use in-direct, you can hit 24 hexes, or actually 9999 hexes depending on what the designer chose for his limits. Or hell, just use offboard support and have an infinite range.
That being said.... lets get back to the ranges of Direct Fire. Yes, I know clear well that a Tiger with an 88 should be able to give lethal damage at a larger distance than a Sherman. That is however, assuming you don't have things in the way, and other such things working for you.
You also wanted to know what distinguishes one tank from another IIRC. A lot is up to the scenario designer. There are actual tables for armour rating values to use as a guide, and after a few calculations, each scenario designer does a simple bit of math and pics values that he feels is the most REALISTIC for that design of a tank. You also determine what firepower your individual tank companies have, including their movement range, etc. You can even specify as to how many HITS they can take, which generally correlates to the group size.
I will try to follow up on this soon with more specifics for you.
