What are the most effective units?

[Montys_ego]

Hello all,

Just started playing and so far have only played a couple of games with allies. I have found the machine gun figs very effective anti infantry (go figure) shooting twice a phase. Also found the Humber and Stuart to be nice fast anti infantry units that can keep your opponents guessing

So what units have you guys (gals?) had success with?

What packs the most punch for the points?

[Guest]

Shermans! At 21 points horrendously cost effective (four of them in a 100 point army! I haven’t tried it…yet…) as long as there is enough cover to stalk the one big German tank you’re probably facing.

Might not work on the Tiger Heaven map, tho.

[homer3dfx]

shermans for sure there good allround and have ok amor. Then can do a good job at killing infantry too

[Guest]

SS Panzergrenadier is pretty darn good. 5 Defense and good anti-soldier rolls. Tough boys those.

[Guest]

The most succesful units for me are the panzerIV ,SS panzergrenadier and the mg42

[djensen]

SS Panzergrenadier is indeed one of the best pieces in the game.

[Psycho Ward]

Hello all.
I just read a bunch of comments on troop/armor favorites. I pretty much agree with everything that everyone said about the favorites they have. I have used many of the same with excellent results. The machine gun teams on both sides rock and the Shermans are great for the points. The American flamethrowers are excellent if you can keep them alive long enough to get them in the right spot and do the damage they can dish out. I haven’t had any luck with the Bazooka dudes at all though. I have played five times now and never got a single one into position to do any damage to any vehicles and they suck against infantry. I give them a thumbs down at this point. The best tanks I have used so far are the Russian T-34 and the English Churchill Crocodile (both rares). For the points, they pack a hell of a punch and have the better armor so they are worth it hands down (so far). Has anyone else started using larger point armies? I am sure there have been a lot of people, but I haven’t seen much talk about it. We started using larger point armies after our second game and it became a lot more interesting. There was a lot more to keep track of and we were able to implement some of the units that we never would have considered fielding before because of the cost. It made it a lot more fun and didn’t add too much time to the game. I had to download a program to print out my own two inch hex paper so we could make our own maps since me and the gang want to take this to the next level. Have fun with it!

[jbsuns32]

as i found out, really the only way a unit is truly effective is if it has proper support. ex= t34 and shermans work well for points and still able to use somewhat of a decent infantry support. best tank vs tank unit is the tiger but without its support its good as dead. just my opinion

[djensen]

Use the bazooka with a Jeep to drop the unit onto a disrupted German tank’s flank armor.

[Montys_ego]

anybody had any luck using the jeep to transport Royal Engineers to take out tanks. Close assault 16 in the same hex is nice, but I never seem to make it there.

[djensen]

The best use for the engineer is to sit on or nearby the objective near the end of the game and wait for the tanks to come to you.

[Montys_ego]

good point

[Northern_Rommel]

@Monty’s_ego:

good point

Better point.

5 6 prdrs
3 Humbers
1 Sherman
1 Inspiring Lt

Worth if just to see the worried look on the German
players face lol. :D

The Humbers are great at flanking and keeping the enemy infantry
at bay. In a pinch they run for the objective. Followed by the big
gun cluster.

The Sherman is just your floating Ace. But if you loose it does not
matter if you can get in position first. Can be used with the Humbers
to annoy and slow down the opponent, as well as take out his
lighter vehicles.

The LT allows the AT guns to move +1 as a battery. 5 shots versus
1 or 2 from the average attacking force. Not a good outcome for
the German. Get all 5 in a woods (2 per hex) with a good view of
the objective.

[DFlynSqrl]

I tried the transporting the Bazooka with the Jeep tonight.  Worked really well.  I just wish the Jeep had an attack to go along with that .50 Cal sitting on the back of it.  :)

[djensen]

@Northern_Rommel:

@Monty’s_ego:

good point

Better point.

5  6 prdrs
3  Humbers
1  Sherman
1  Inspiring Lt

If you play against this with axis, just a few Panzergrenadiers make short order of the 6 pounders. You maneuver around the remaining 6 pounders. Against heavy tanks you will be hard pressed to make any impact at medium and short range. If using Allies against this team, you can use a KV-1 to work on this units.

But this is a very intriguing idea, the problem is that the 6pounder cannot maneuver very easily at 9pts each. For 2 of those you’d almost be better off spending 3 more for a Sherman or even 4 less for a Stuart.

[Otto_Skorzeny]

My best units are the SS panzergrenadier, for they are truly worth the 5 points that they cost and, of course, the Churchill Crocodile which for 35 points I think is more than valuable. I have found my Churchill much more useful in games than the Tiger (but this is only my opinion) because of it’s low cost.
Also, the Sherman is pretty good and I think the KV-1 with his extra hits is definitly worth too.

Anyways, I think the game is pretty balanced so you can find a good utility to everyone of those units, even that stupid Royal Engineer.

[Staff Sgt. Barnes]

@DFlynSqrl:

I tried the transporting the Bazooka with the Jeep tonight.  Worked really well.  I just wish the Jeep had an attack to go along with that .50 Cal sitting on the back of it.  :)

its a .30 cal machine gun. i have added some house rules to that little jeep, it can now fire, but with a low dice roll, basically you if roll perfect you can take one infrantry solider out
YES! the KV-1 is great, i had two of them go up against two tigers and an SS panther, the KV-1’s rained supreme!!
the Mortar M2’S and the Type 89 Mortar’s are great too for their shrapnel very effective against soliders and armor alike.
got to love that “hulking mass”!!!

[djensen]

In case anybody is curious. This is the team that won the GenCon SoCal 100pt constructed tournament.

M4A1 Sherman x2
Churchill Crocodile
M5 Stuart
“Red Devil” Captain

The top 3-4 armies each had the Crocodile.

[argarus]

I personally like to get a few jeeps, load up a engineer and a couple flame throwers.  Wait a few turns and by then you should be able to make your way around the board and sneak up on a jagpanther or the sspanther with the engineer.  And move around with the flamethrowers to sneak up on machine gun teams.

But the final thought is no matter what you use, it all comes down to the luck of a roll.  I had a 6 pounder hit with all 8 dice against a sspanther.  damageing it instantly.  Can’t say that the sspanther had a chance after that

[dREc]

panzerfaust is a good unit too.  10/6 vs units is pretty good.  two of these guys charging a vehicle is scary, with their close assault 11 ability.

considering a 150pt army

• tiger I and the ss hauptsturmführer ( 70 pts )
• panzer IV ( 30 pts )
• 3 ss-panzergrenadiers and 2 panzerfausts ( 25 pts )
• 5 mausers ( 15 pts )
• 1 mg42 ( 10pts )

i think its an army that can play well both defensively and offensively. sometimes we have our armies picked before the terrain, so its tough to know how you’re going to need to play.  there could even be slight modifications to the list above, like 5 grenadiers or less infantry overall for another tank or whatever.  the key is grenadiers defending your tanks.  no one is going to run up to a tiger if there’s a ss-panzergrenadier in the same zone as it.  neither would a us bazooka run up for a short attack on a panzer iv.

or you could keep your tanks back, since they both have extended ranges (10 and 12) and let the infantry makes a charge on the objective.  the ss-panzergrenadier rolls better than an m1 (even with stars and stripes) and the cost is more than justified by the unit’s defense of 5.

i can’t think of a 1942 allied/us army that’s better (well, rather i won’t….anyone?)
the russian’s could be different.  but i’m just starting to play them, so i’ll have to get back to you on what i think the most effective combo is.  gotta love their cheap tanks…