[Andi]

Thank you very much for sharing your inside information.

Trousers will be Luftwaffe blue. 🙂

[Andi]

Thank you very much for your response.

Indeed, the lack of proper supply during the later periods of the war, which is mentioned here an there, made me think of the possibility that there were some FJ that simply only had their Luftwaffe trousers.

Also all ground stationed FJ, who did not jump into action but were on the ground when action came to their position, might just put on the camo Knochensack over their blue trousers, might be a possible explanation.

But as I stated above, I was not able to find any evidence to prove these ideas right.

As for the last mentioned, e.g. the unit in and around Carentan, I could only find information having them wearing the grey M38 jump trousers.

 

You mention units KTB’s to be a good source, Invisible Officer.

Do you have a link or anything to find these on the internet?

It is not, that I would not believe you. It is more my curiousness which asks for a good read on topic to get more information on how things really have been instead of all the information you can find easily but which mostly focuses on how things should have been.

 

[Andi]

Thank you very much. We already tended to play it that way. But as the rules book is not clear on this, where is it stated clearly? Is this tournament rule or did it get faqed and we missed it in the FAQ?

[Andi]

Thank you.
The weapon swap is described in the armies book and clear for your example,swaping the SMG for the rifle. The question for the Panzerfaust had aroused as this is not the main weapon but an additional one.
In case NCO’s are never allowed to carry a Panzerfaust, this is a second rule to prevent them having one after the former NCO has been hit and is then beeing replaced.
So the Faust is dropped when the holder becomes the new NCO.

But what is it with the LMG loaders? Can a loader become new NCO and still serve as a loader? Or are NCO’s doing nothing but NCO things?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Andi.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Andi.

[Andi]

Thank you very much, Master Chief. The bold text from the cited paragraph is the information we were looking for.

[Andi]

Thank you, but the question is regarding the other way.
The gun is the target.

[Andi]

Just to get this clear:
Regular flamer on Range 1 to 3: 2 to hit
and
Regular flamer on Range 3 to 6: 3 to hit

Is this correct?

[Andi]

Thank you very much. Sounds all reasonable. I will check out the mentioned units and get them on the table.

[Andi]

Thank you again for providing useful suggestions.

If your tanks keep getting shut down – stop taking them and take more men. That means all those points he’s spent on AT are wasted.

I will give this a try. Even though it sounds most obvious, I had not thought that direction up to now. The reason here is, I dislike the idea of building a counter army. When I startet playing Bolt Action it was like, hey, every nation can put on the same stuff. Rifles are identical on every side. The same goes for at guns and so on. That was the point I got hooked. This was what I liked about Bolt Action.
Now that I know, I need to build my list and can not field what I like to, but instead have to build an anti soviet list, I am kind of disappointed.

BA-20 Flamethrower is a big threat – if it hits. But it’s flimsy your AT plan should be able to cope with a 7+ armored target with relative ease.

Here I got a problem now. When refering to the first cited paragraph and relying more on infantry, the brits are kind of limited when it comes to dealing with vehicles. I can put in one PIAT squad per platoon. If the soviet gets the first die, which he most likely will, as the soviets are constantly playing 50% more dice then every other nation in our group, then the PIAT is pretty much useless.
An AT gun is a stationary weapon. The BA-20 will never get into sight of that AT gun. So spending 75 points on this thing is a complete waste.
Is giving AT grens to every infantry section the solution here?

Big dice counts – get an artillery obsever or multiple launcher and splatter them.

As I am playing the Brits, I have an arty observer for free, every game. Every now an then, the british arty gets off some very nice shoots… every now an then… It is just not reliable. Most of the time the result is some pins.
Multiple launchers are not available to the brits unfortunately.
The only US multi launcher ist he calliope, as far as I know. Our US player likes to field a cheap and fast M3 instead. Is the cost of the calliope worth it?

Make sure you play a variety of missions too – foce them to attack or defend something. Vastly changes the dynamics.

Dont feel that you have to play Kill Points (order dice scoring) or just stick to the missions in the books… write your own :p

We are playing scenarios all the time. So far, the only scenario where I can see a chance to get a draw at least is scenario 8 from the core rule book where the attacker has to melee down the enemy officer.
Scenarios 1,2 and 11 are deathmatch. Not an option.
Scenario 3 where you have to capture as much mission targets as possible favours the soviet strength in numbers. Very hard to beat the soviets here.
Scenario 4 and 7 where you get points for getting units into the set up zone of the opponent are also quite easy for the soviet player as he has the most units on the table.
Scenario 5 where you have to pick up the mission objective from the centre of the table and get it to your own deployment zone is also more easy if you have more units on the table. You can shield the bearing unit easily and also pass on the mission objective to other units and therefore get it moved like 24 inches during one turn. The more units the faster and more easy the movement of the objective.
Scenario 6 where you have to destroy the enemy base… Ok. There seems to be a chance of getting a draw here as well. Winning? Not against 50% more units on the the table.
Scenarios 9 and 10. Holding mission objectives again…
Pretty much every scenario is more easy the more dice you have in the bag and so units on the table.

The main thing that shows that Soviets aren’t over powered is they don’t win every tournament – there is a fair split of nations usually.

Thats exactly why I am not saying but asking whether the soviets are overpowered or not. 🙂
As I have never attended a tournament I have never seen a Soviet player losing a game, besides one game from our local group.
From the latest impressions I got from playing against the soviets, I am quite curious on how this could be possible. I might therefor sign up to an event. I am expecting to see some errors the soviet players have to do. Otherwise I can not think of how it should be possible to lose a game as the soviet player when playing at least decent.

Sovets have a nice big choice of stuff which allows them to tailor their force extremely well for any occasion – if you are playing similar forces every time it’s easy for him to create a force that will decimate your forces.

Our soviet player is bashing together new lists on a weekly base. He is not going for specific counter lists against know forces. He is trying to play all the models he got. Which I think of as a very nice habbit. Having fun playing all the models you got is wonderful and as it should be, from my point of view.
Unfortunately I can not do this when playing against the soviets as it seems you have to create specific anti-soviet-lists.

Personally I feel the game is written to be played at 1000* points a side…

Yeah, I learned this now and will never play less then 1000 points against the soviets.

One thing came to my mind during the last days: As it is not intended to play western allies against the soviets, but germans instead: do the western allies simply do not have the tools to deal with the soviets properly and this is intended by game design?
Or should pretty much every nation be able to deal with every other one?

[Andi]

Thank you very much for replying and please excuse my late response. I was reading your replies but did not had the chance to answer.

On the topic:

puzzled though why you are looking at the British and US to compete with them.

Thats because from our local group no one is playing the germans.

1, TTHs (tough Tank Hunters) they are still a two man unit that has a max of ONE pzf, SMGs still kill them quickly.

That is true. But there are possibly three of them and my lists do not have 3 SMG squads that often. Going all SMG squads is pricey and you lose efficiency in long range combat. Unless one or even two of these TTH squads are taken care of they are covering a large area on the table and prevent vehicle movement which is nearly identical to having a vehicle killed.
And then besides these there is still other AT thread on the table. It is not possible to get your vehicles out of cover. If you do, they get penetrated by at least 1 Panzerfaust, 1 tank based AT gun, an armored car based AT gun and possibly a stationary AT gun. Thats 6 possible weapons that can kill your own tank covering the table completely when setup wisely. Even if you get one down, there are 5 others that prevent your own vehicles from moving.

2, BA6… its a 7+ armoured car… a PIAT will kill it…also it doesnt ignore the movement penalty when shooting so if hes using the speed hes at least a 4+ to hit, 5s in cover

BA-10/6 nice little thing 2 LMGs and a gun. Hardly broken jsut handy. And at 7+ a stiff breeze will see it off. If in doubt assault it – even without AT grenades (assuming you pass tnak fear tests) you can kill it.

The problem is not the car alone. The problem is the car in combination with the vast amount of dice the soviets are getting. And even in case you get the first die, the BA6 has recce. You won’t kill it. And if the soviet player gets the first die, the PIAT team is roasted.
This gets even worse, when you think of the above mentioned TTH and generall AT potential of the soviets. You can not accompany the PIAT by vehicles as they are getting roasted by the Soviet AT forces.

With 1 Panzerfaust they aren’t much of a threat to tanks. Just keep out the way of them.

That is the problem, as described above. You have to stay away from them and that renders your vehicles useless. TTH do not even have to shoot to disable enemy vehicles. Combined with other Soviet vehicles they leave just one option to enemy player: that is run.

Its either a truck in which case small arms can kill it – you only need a single 6!** … or its the US M3 halftrack in which case its open topped… either way it takes up a TANK slot.

That is the only down side I can see for that truck. But in a 500 points match, there is nothing comparable. I would take this one over every tank, the Brits or the US can bring in. Especially when considering how cheap that truck is.
And again. The Soviets are playing tons of dice. Most of the time, the Soviet Player has the first die and securely select a target for the truck, which gets annihilated and therefore will never get to fire back. If played wisely the truck will not get shoot that often. Especially in matches with low point cost.

Regarding the mentioned rock/paper/scisors, that is exactly where I see the problem with the soviets. They are completely disabling enemy rocks (vehicles).
If that 20 dice truck or the BA20 flamer is on the table they are doing the same to enemy infantry. You can not charge them without getting roasted and most of the time, the Soviets are having the advantage of more dice which gets them better chances to attack first or wait until the enemy has moved everything and then just picks easy targets.
So the problem with the Soviets, I see, is the combination of cheap units what gets them a lot of dice and then these cheap but very powerfull units which shut down enemy movement almost completely due to having that many dice.
And then there are the meatshields, either in number or in sturdyness.

The combination of these things is what makes the Soviets unique and quite powerfull.
When played wisely, I do not see a weak point, which I have identified in the british as well as in the army of the US. Neither of them has the power to shut down enemy movement the way the Soviets are capable of for cheap.

So, how do you kill 3 Panzerfaust Squads in one or two turns using infantry only when those squads are shielded by either a 12 man squad which throws 12 dice in close quarters and/or shielded by 6+ armored vets, which against you will lose close quarters in almost every scenarion, and/or shielded by recce flamer cars and/or shielded by 20 dice trucks?

And even if you kill those 3 Panzerfaust squads to get your vevicles to move, then and only then, you still have to face enemy armor. So to even out armored forces, you have to kill 3 small teams first.
Which other army does have a gamechanging if not gamewinning benefit like this?

[Author]

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