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I'm considering doing a Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie from Fortress Italy and plan on taking two full units of Panzer III M's (don't worry, I'm taking a full unit of Panzer IVs as well ). I have the option for -5 points to upgrade half of the Panzer IIIs in each platoon to N's. This drops the rate of fire from 3 to 2, but gives the gun smoke. Taking into consideration that I'll have a platoon of three Nebs for a smoke bombardment, would you recommend upgrading two, one or none of the tanks to the Panzer III Ausf. N variant?

Keep in mind you if you move at all, your one shot is now FP3+ instead of 4+ by going to N models

Having a back up smoke unit is good if your rocket battery gets Smoke Trail'd and is pinned.

Do the tanks get smoke or smoke bombardment? The two are very different. The former puts down a square of line of sight blocking, while the latter adds a small circle that provides a concealment modifier for anyone that shoots into, out of, or through it.

The latter can be extremely useful against armies that have to decide whether to move or shoot. Against armies that don't care *cough*US Armor*cough*, it's not such a big deal.

It is direct fire smoke like the Sherman has.

Direct smoke drops two 2" smoke markers in front of the target, not just one.

Using DF smoke lets you choose the target model and since it is now concealed the other vehicles in the platoon will have to have hits allocated first. This would let you bypass the Jumbo rule for instance.