Hi all it's Neil here with some more WW3 Team Yankee as there's been some NATO reinforcements with the release of the new West German book. As in my previous factions focuses I'll start my looking at the formations in this post then part 2 will look at the units you can bring to support them. I'm still a new player so I wouldn't be going into much in the way of competitiveness or list building in these but I am planning on doing some in the future after I get to play a bit more. My hope is that these faction focuses will help new players like myself in picking a faction in the game to play as well as getting a bit of an overview of what you might be facing from the others too. So lets get to it now and have a look at the West German formations.
West German soft stats are a Courage of 4+ and a Skill of 3+ usually with good Morale due to it being their homes that are at risk if they fall back and are hit on the 4+ like most NATO forces. In general the West German units can be quite pricey in points making them a very elite faction that needs some careful play as they will be outnumbered even by other NATO factions relying on their skill to use orders to try and hit then fade and their good morale to try and stick around if their small units suffer some casualties (but this will more be delaying their inevitable retreat unless you can roll 3+s for days).
First up are the tank formations which there are 3 of, Leopard 1, Leopard 2 and Leopard 2A5 Panzer Kompanies. The formations are built similarly with a HQ of 1-2 tanks, a tank unit of 2-4 tansk then a choice of a tank unit again or an infantry unit in IFVs or APCs for the compulsory units. The options in the formations are anther tank unit, a Jaguar 1 Jagdpanzer unit (ATGM tank hunters), a Gepard unit (gun based AA vehicle), upto 2 units of Luchs (scouting vehicles) and M109G/M109A3G artillery unit.
The Leopard 1 formation is built around the older Leopard 1 tanks, which while carrying a decent gun with 2 shots at anti-tank 19 it suffers from having low armour for a tank with 9/5/1 for front/side/top respectively so if another tank hits it, it is probably dead. This leads it to be a glass cannon thats looking for side shots on newer tanks but bringing a decent number of shots for combating IFVs due to their lower points. They need to be kept safe using their movement potential, orders and target selection to be able to use their firepower without melting in their opponents next turn. The Leopard 1 formation lets you bring a Marder 1 or M113 mounted infantry unit which can help with a bit of staying power but due to the low cost of Leopard 1s, these aren't needed as much to keep the cost down as with the tank that replaced the Leopard 1.
This is the Leopard 2, a great modern tank with an excellent 2 shot anti-tank 22 gun, which is enough to deal with all comers except for the M1A1HC, Challenger 1 and T-80 (and its upgraded self Leopard 2A5). It pairs this great gun with good armour too with 18/7/2 with Chobham armour for side armour 16 against HEAT weapons too, making it a tough nut to crack. The Leopard 2 is a bit of a costly tank because of these great stats, which means that the infantry option for the second compulsory unit is worth considering to keep the cost of the formation down with options for Marder 1 or Marder 2 mounted infantry. The second compulsory tank/infantry choice can be a Leopard 2A5 unit but this is an even more expensive option making it a hard sell.
Talking of the Leopard 2A5, this latest tank is a new addition to this version of the West German book, it bring the same gun as the Leopard 2 but boosts its protection to 22/13/2 making it the best protected tank in the game but it also pump the points cost up about 50% over the base Leopard 2. This points cost probably makes it hard to justify taking a formation of these due to the cost, though taking minimal Leopard 2A5s in the units could bring this down but leave you vulnerable to breaking after taking a single casualty. This is a formation that does really benefit from the option to replace the second compulsory tank unit with an IFV mounted infantry one with the same options as the Leopard 2 formation.
From these three formations my view would be that the Leopard 2 one is probably the most suitable for a newer player though can get expensive quick while the Leopard 1 offers a lot of cheaper tanks but need to be played craftily to make up for the lack of armour. The Leopard 2A5 formation is unfortunately looking too pricey to be useful in the normal 100-ish point range for games and events but at higher points could be a fun option.
Next up are the 3 Panzergrenadier formations, which are IFV/APC mounted infantry formations. These formations all follow the same pattern with a HQ of 1-2 infantry teams with 1-2 transports with the combat units being a single mounted infantry unit and a second slot being a choice between a second infantry unit and a unit of Leopards of any variety (except for the M113 who can only take the Leopard 1s). These compulsory units can be supplemented by a further infantry unit, a choice of a Jaguar 1 or 2 Jagdpazer unit, a M113 Panzermorser unit (M113 mortars), upto 2 Luchs units, a Gepard unit and a M109G/M109A3G artillery unit round it out.
The M113 Panzergrenadiers are the cheapest option of the mounted infantry but also bring the largest units to the table with a maximum of 6 infantry stands split between MG3 teams who are mainly anti infantry focused and Milan teams who are the real strength of the infantry units able to take on all bu the heaviest tanks and any enemy IFVs with ease due to their anti-tank 21 missiles. The M113 transport is nothing to write home about with its job really only to move the infantry around if needed, bringing only a single machine gun.
The Marder 1 mounted Panzergrenadiers are where your firepower starts to really increase, though the units themselves drop in size to 5 teams compared to the M113 units making them more fragile but the Marder 1 brings a 3/2 shot anti-tank 7 autocannon to supplement what the panzergrenadiers bring to the table. The Marder 1 and M113 are the same cost for the similar sized units so the choice between comes most down to that extra Milan team against IFVs with autocannons (plus the option to bring a unit of Leopard 2/Leopard 2A5s in formation), which will be influenced on whether you want to be defensive or more mobile.
The Marder 2 is a bit of a step up from the Marder 1, the infantry are identical but the Marder 2 is basically a light tank with transport capacity. The Marder 2 comes with amour 6/4/1 to keep your infantry safe against machine guns and autocannons as well as coming with Chobham armour giving it armour 16 against HEAT weapons making it pretty survivable against a good number of the usual anti IFV weapons that are around. For its own firepower it brings with a 3 shot gun with anti-tank 11 or for a nominal fee (1 point per unit) it can swap this for one with anti-tank 13 allowing it to easily take on other IFVs. It does may a points premium for these stats but could well be worth it to outclass all other IFVs in a gunfight. The formation itself can't take the Leopard 1 option but a Marder 2 is pretty close to a Leopard 1 so they're a bit redundant in this formation anyway.
I like the Marder 2 formation myself here as you basically get a bunch of light tanks as well as infantry units that can hold objectives but if you're looking to bring more of the infatry side for the missiles then the M113 formation is the cheaper choice. Unfortunately the Marder 1 formation kind of lacks a role that the others don't cover better, not being as good defensively as the M113 while not being as offensively good as the Marder 2s.
The next trio of formations are the Panzeraufklarungs (armoured reconnaissance battalion) which get a bit of a split between the Leopard 2 and Leopard 1 Panzeraufklarungs kompanie which are based around armoured vehicles and the Fuchs Panzeraufklarungs kompanie which is infantry based.
The Leopard 1 Panzeraufklarungs formation pairs the Leopard 1 with the Luchs as its main combat strength with the compulsory part being a single Leopard 1 HQ with two units of 2 Luchs and a single unit of 2-4 Leopard 1s with options for another 2 Luchs units and another Leopard 1 unit plus a Fuch Panzeraufklarungs unit (a light infantry unit) and a Gepard unit to round out the formation a bit more. The Luchs is a fairly normal scout with low armour of 2/2/0 armed with a 3/2 shot autocannon with anti-tank 7 which allows it to have a go at other light scouts and transports but shouldn't expose themselves to much return fire from these or go near enemy tanks. The Luchs brings the spearhead rule allow you to deploy further up the field which can be extremely useful when either using the Attack or Manouvre stance for the mission matrix but can still allow for further forward defensive positions if Defending is your goal.
The Leopard 2 Panzeraufklarungs is similar to the Leopard 1 version but swaps out the Luchs units for units of 2 Marder 2 scouts which is a serious upgrade especially if you pay that little bit extra for the bigger gun as I talked about earlier. The Leopard 1s also get swapped out for your choice of either Leopard 2 or Leopard 2A5 both as the HQ tank and the units in the formation. This makes this a more expensive version of the tank based Panzeraufklarungs formations but it has more teeth due to the better vehicles and might be a cheaper way to bring a formation with Leopard 2s of either flavour than the full tank formation.
The Fuchs Panzeraufklarungs is an infantry formation rather than being an armour formation. The formation contains a core of a HQ with a single infantry team in a Fuchs with a Fuchs mounted infantry unit and either a second one of those units or a unit of Leopard 1s. The optional units are another Fuchs infantry unit, 2 Luchs units and a Gepard unit. The Fuchs Panzeraufklarungs unit are lighter infantry with only a single Milan stand with either 2 or 3 infantry stands mounted up in the Fuchs which is a light transport with armour 2/2/0 and a single machine gun so like the M113 are just to moving the infantry to where they want to stand rather than being aggressive.
Of these three formations, I'm not to sure on them as they seem quite brittle compared to the Tank or Panzergrenadier formations while not bringing much extra. I could see the ease of building the Leopard 2 Panzeraufklarungs formations as a newer player from a couple of plastic boxes to get playing quickly but a single infantry blister gets you the normal Leopard 2 formation which seems more useful. I'd probably avoid these as a new player unless your group is doing something like an all vehicle low points league or similar then the Leopard based ones could be useful.
The last 3 formations available to the West Germans are all infantry formations but aren't (at least by default) mounted in ground transports with the helicopter mounted Fallschirmjager, the Gebirgsjager mountain infantry and the territorial infantry of the Jager formation.
The Fallschirmjager are the airbourne infantry of the West Germans who are mounted in the UH-1 Huey helicopters for mobility. The formation has a single HQ infantry stand with 2 Fallschimjager units with options for a third and one unit of Wiesels with TOW missiles and one unit of Wiesels with FK 20mm autocannons. The Fallschirmjager units come with 5 infantry teams with machine guns and a single Milan missile team giving them good anti-infantry ability with a little bit of anti-vehicle fire power. The unit can also be upgraded to be given a pair of Huey helicopters if you're wanting to move them around faster than legs can carry them but helicopter transport can be hard to pull of on a normal 6x4 board so it might not be worth the extra points.
The Wiesel is a support unit that is only available in this formation so I'll go over it here rather than in Part 2. The Wiesel is a very light vehicle designed to be transported by helicopter or aircraft for deploying with the airborne infantry to support them. In game is has armour 0/0/0 making it vulnerable to all weapons but as it is technically armoured it can't be pinned which is a slight bonus. The two Wiesel units are divided by the weapon on the hull with the first armed with the TOW missile which with its anti-tank 21 comes in 2,3 or 4 vehicles units. They can take on heavier vehicles but it does lack something like hammerhead so it very vulnerable to return fire after it gives its position away. The other Wiesel unit comes with either 3 or 6 in a unit and their main gun is a 3/2 shot autocannon with anti-tank 7 like the Marder 1 and the Luchs giving them some anti light vehicle firepower as well as the anti-helicopter rule allowing them to take on enemy helicopters too at a pinch. These vehicles are extremely fragile but can add some extra utility to the formation for a reasonably low number of points.
The Gebirgjager are the mountain infantry of the West Germans and bring the largest infantry units but no transport options other than feet. The formation get a single infantry HQ stand and then 2 compulsory Gebirgsjager units plus options for another two of these units, a Leopard 1 unit (which can take upto 5 rather than the usual 4), a M113 Panzermorser unit, 2 units of Luchs and a Gepard unit. The Gebirgsjager units come either with 5 MG infantry teams and 1 Milan team or 7 MG infantry teams and 2 Milan team so good bulky units (for West Germans) suited for holding objectives. They're nothing special really but large infantry units are hard to find elsewhere in this book so have a place if you're wanting to play defensive style games for holding your objectives without sacrificing their stats.
The last formation is the Jager formation, these are the territorial forces of West Germany so rather than being active military personnel, they are called up reservists to help defend rear sections and reinforce some of the front lines if the area is particularly important. To reflect this their soft stats are lower than the standard West German with a reduced Skill of 4+ rather than 3+ making them less reliable when trying to pull off tactics and importantly they are hit of a 3+. The formation has a pair of infantry teams as the HQ with an optional M113 transport and a pair of Jager units as the compulsory choices with options for a second Jager unit, a M113 Jager Panzermorser unit and either a Leopard 1 unit with the lower soft stats or a Kanonenjagdpanzer unit. The Jager units come with a single Milan team and either 5 or 7 MG infantry teams for a low points level compared to the other infantry units, and can buy some M113 transports for a single point extra for some mobility. This formation can be a cheap way to add extra infantry to your force but they lack the equipment to do much heavy lifting so need some support from the regulars to face down modern tanks in any number.
These are all the formations in the new West German book with the ones that stand out to me being the Marder 2 Panzergrenadiers and Leopard 2 Panzer formation for their firepower as well as the Gebirgjager and Jager infantry formations for a more supporting role to add extra infantry for defensive games. Hopefully this look at the formations has been useful and I'll see you in part 2 to look at the support units like the artillery, anti-tank and anti-air vehicles as well as aircraft available to support your troops. If you're interesting what is on my hobby table currently you can check out my Instagram where I post up pictures of my current project. See you again soon for Part 2!
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