Posts made by Der Leiter

Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood
And evry British seaman, he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismark, the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees

:wink:

**AXIS

GERMANY

Bismarck #35/64**
The Bismarck is a very nice battleship for Germany in the early/mid war period, and while not quite as impressive (or expensive) as the Iowa, she still gets the job done. Her secondary gunnery has a decent number of dice and a good range as well; allowing her to pick off destroyers and damage cruisers from range. Her tertiary gun is more of an afterthought but can sometimes come in handy if she is outnumbered. Defencively the Bismarck benefits from a good AA value and Torpedo Defence 1; there is nothing more annoying than having your expensive battleship sunk by a lucky hit. As Johnny Horton reminds us, while impressive the Bismarck isn’t invincible.

**ALLIES

AUSTRALIA

HMAS Canberra #1/64**
Between her main gunnery and torpedo attacks, this heavy cruiser packs a reasonable amount of firepower for her cost. However, this firepower is offset by armour relatively low for a cruiser and weak AA defence. She tends not to last long, especially if harassed by aircraft, so the best tactic is usually to throw her into the thick of things. Thus far keeping her at range has proven to be ineffective; while her vital armour is about average, the low armour will is easy prey for cruisers and some destroyers.

**UNITED STATES

USS Enterprise (CV 6) #25/64**
Perhaps the best Allied Carriers in WAS, the Enterprise will likely form the basis of many fleets. To get the best use out of the carrier, be sure to include several dive-bombers in the hopes that the numbers overwhelm your target’s defences and you get to use the Expert Bomber 2 ability. It’s generally nice to have at least one fighter around to protect her or the bombers if necessary, and make use of the Expert Dogfighter.

Being a carrier, you don’t want the Enterprise to close to the action; keep it behind islands whenever possible but don’t let yourself be cornered. With it’s Survivor ability the Enterprise has a chance to shake off some of the harder hits, but depending on the situation it could just be delaying the inevitable or buying time for your aircraft.

I find it likely the Enterprise will be part of many competitive Allied builds due to its Survivor ability, and the versatility of the aircraft you can base on it

USS Iowa (BB 61) #27/64

Like AAM’s King Tiger, the Iowa has many benefits and drawbacks. Her main gunnery is formidable, enough to make even other battleships reconsider engaging her. It’s extended range of five is an ability which, unlike AAM, can come into play often. Her AA is impressive, though still easily overwhelmed. Her flagship rating is good, and allows you to take full advantage of her range. Finally, Torpedo Defence 1 greatly reduces the impact of torpedoes; halving the damage most do.

The downside is at 68 points you cannot afford as much of an escort for her as you can other ships; while the Iowa will do fine against surface ships, aircraft and submarines are a threat. Be sure to have at least a few destroyers escorting her.

Right now I’m having to proxying US Mortars for the UK ones… sad really.

It’s still on - pieces should be set up tonight in preperation for tomorrow.

SWM or SSB?

Here’s the version of the Ardennes Offensive my group did: http://boards.avalonhill.com/showthread.php?t=14880&highlight=battle+bulge

Unfortunately no actual pics of the game, but it has the OOB and notes on it.

They look pretty good, but apart from Der Leiter all my models are unpainted.

The game starts this thursday.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/aam/ah20070119c

Not sure if this is necessary since any soldier can already attempt to move through a cliff (bluff). The Rangers’ Lead the Way SA can re-roll it if they fail, giving them a greater chance of making it.

Obstacles count against the unit limit of 15

@M4A1:

This has probably been talked about before, but their seems to be no answer to it:  Why are some important units left out?

Like for the US:
What happened to the .30cal mg?  or the M10 Wolverine?  or the Howitzer?  and many many more units like these were left out.  Why???

I can only assume that it’s in part to keep the demand up for future sets. If they had already released everything you needed then why would we buy any more? There’s also the issue of only being able to make a certain number of units per set. Not everyone is going to like every unit in a set and what someone hates others may like.

Barbed wire covers two hex sides. The hexes are six sided so it would only require three of them to cover one.

First map of Stalingrad was drawn on black sheets; this is the second copy done up with tiles.

[attachment deleted by admin]

As with the Russian Tank Corps list, not all of these units exist in AAM yet. Where possible I’ve listed alternatives.

German Panzer Division

• Division HQ
• Regimental HQ
• Two Panzer Battalions
• Two Panzergrenadier Regiments
• Artillery Regiment
• Pioneer Battalion
• Recon Battalion
• Anti-Tank Battalion
• Anti-Aircraft Battalion (4 to 6  88mm Guns, Motorized)

Panzer Battalion

• Battalion HQ
• Company HQ
• Light Panzer Platoon (8 Panzer II Cs)
• Anti-Aircraft Platoon
• Pioneer Platoon  (3 Squads, LMG, motorized, 4 motorcycles)
• Four Panzer Companies (Each of Tigers, Panthers, of Panzer III/IVs)

Tiger or Panther Company

• Company HQ (2 Panzers)
• 3 to 4 Panzer Platoons (5 Panzers each)
  (The Company will be all Tigers or all Panthers; these tanks were not put in mixed units)

Panzer Platoon (III/IV)

• Company HQ (2 Panzer IVs)
• 2 Panzer IV Platoons (5 Panzer IVs each)
• 2 Panzer III Platoons (5 Panzer IIIs each)

Panzergrenadier Regiment

• Regimental HQ
• Two Panzergrenadier Battalions
• Infantry Gun Company
• Pioneer Company

Artillery Regiment

• Two Light Battalions
• One Medium Battalion

Recon Battalion

• 1 Motorcycle Company
• 18 Light Armoured Cars (Sd Kfz 222)
• 6 Heavy Armoured Cars (Sd Kfz 234/2)
• 1 Mechanized (Halftrack) Company
• 1 Light Halftrack Company
• 6 Heavy Mortars (Motorized)
• 6 Pak 40s (Motorized)

Not a simple question to answer, especially for the Russians. The number of tanks in their formations varies between various tanks types; for example a Tank Platoon could be 4, 3, or 2 tanks for light, medium, and heavy tanks respectively. T-70s would be your Light Tanks, and KV-1s are treated as heavies. Most of the rest, Lend-Lease included, are treated as mediums. At this point in the war Russia no longer fielded full Tank Battalions, but they were included in ‘Mixed’ Battalions.

A Russian Tank Corps consists of:

• Corps HQ
• Three Tank Brigades

Each Tank Brigade consists of:

• Three Tank Battalions
• One Mechanized Infantry Battalions
• Anti-Aircraft Battalion (3 37mm AA Guns)
• One Field Battalion (3 batteries of 4 76mm guns)
• Mortar Battery (including 12 82mm Mortars)
• Reconnaissance Company (3 infantry and 1 armoured car platoon)
• Reconnaissance Battlalion (20 armoured cards)
• Rocket Launcher Battalion (8 Katyushas)

A Medium Tank Battalion consists of:

• Battalion HQ (1 Tank)
• Three Medium Tank Companies.

A Medium Tank Company consists of:

• Company HQ (1 Tank)
• Three Medium Tank Platoons of 3 Tanks each.

A Heavy Tank Battalion consists of:

• Battalion HQ (1 Tank)
• 4 Heavy Tank Companies.

A Heavy Tank Company consists of:

• 1 Company HQ
• 2 Tank Platoons of 2 Tanks each.

A Mixed Tank Battalion consists of:

• Light Tank Company
• Medium Tank Company (See above)
• Heavy Tank Company (See above)

A Light Tank Company consists of:

• 2 Platoon HQs of 1 Tank each.
• 2 Tank Platoons, of 4 Tanks each.

While the Panzer III Fs aren’t too effective at range in Kursk, they can still threaten things up close. Not great, but not a total loss. However they’re still very good for their Smoke Screen SA which can your units, the Tiger especially.

I have a … few… minis.

I’m just finishing up the Stalingrad scenario, after that I can start doing the scenarios up; most of them need to be updated with Reserves units.

Red Army Order of Battle:

Red Army Rifle Battalion
1 Company HQ
1 Anti-Tank Platoon
1 Anti-Tank Rifle Platoon
1 MG Company
1 Mortar Platoon
3 Rifle Companies
1 SMG Company

Guards Company