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. This is part 2 of my look at the new West German book where I'll be looking at the units that support your main combat units such as artillery, anti-air, tank destroyers and aircraft. If you haven't seen part 1 going through the formations and their core units its probably worth checking it out first. Hopefully this will be helpful to get to know the West German's support whether you're looking to use it or are going to be facing it down.
First up are the artillery units, which come in gun based and rocket based artillery varieties. For gun based there are 3 options thought 2 are pretty much the same and 2 rocket artillery options. The lightest artillery unit is the M113 Panzermorser Zug, which is a M113 mounted mortar unit that brings a template with a anti-tank of 3 and firepower of 3+. This template is mostly good only for going after infantry where its only the firepower 3+ that really matters from its own stats. It can also fire a smoke bombardment and is pretty cheap so can help screen your small units from some incoming fire which will help you to engage on your terms more often.
The next 2 gun based options are the M109G and M109A3G Panzerartillerie Batterie units which are both the same vehicle with a slightly different gun. They both have a bombardment that has an anti-tank of 4 and 2+ firepower so can go after light vehicles reasonably well alongside infantry and represent a slight threat to tanks but quite a small one. They also have the bomblets rule they can drop their anti-tank to 3 and firepower to 6+ but get the salvo template for more area of effect if needed in a pinch but you're only going to threaten infantry with it. The M109A3G has a longer range than the M109G with 112" compared to 88" which kind of only matters in the largest games beyond the standard 6' x 4' table. The other difference between the two versions is in the direct fire option which puts out a single shot at anti-tank 12 for the M109G or 15 for the A3 upgrade with firepower 1+ combines with Brutal to make sure that if it gets through armour then its going to destroy it and even infantry need to worry about getting hit. The direct fire should be a last ditch option rather than their primary role as they're not armoured like a tank.
The West German rocket artillery options are the LARS raketenwerfer batterie and MARS raketenwerfer batterie. The LARS is an unarmored vehicle so has a 5+ save rather than an armour value which makes it more vulnerable to small arms but could help it against the heavier weapons (not that I'm suggesting it should be put in line of sight at all really). Weapon-wise it has a salvo bombardment with anti-tank 3 and firepower 4+ giving it an anti-infantry and light vehicle role. There is also the option to add the Minelets rule allowing it to fire a once per game minefield onto the board to help control the battle by encouraging enemy units away from certain areas and towards you're carefully setup ambushes.
The MARS is similar with its salvo dropping to firepower 5+ but gaining a range boost to 120" from 80" (which like with the M109 versions kind of doesn;t matter much in normal games) and more importantly the MLRS rule. This rule lets each model firing the bomardment count as 2 allowing it to mroe easily reach those bonuses for having lots of artillery vehicles firing together such as rerolls to hit. Like the LARS it also can upgrade to gain the Minelets rule for more battlefield control but with the MLRS rule you're more likely to be able to place even more minefields on the table!
For adding artillery to your force I'd think that the LARS is probably my first choice bringing a salvo template for suppressing infantry as well as the Minelet upgrade to better control the battlefield. Additionally if its available in my chosen formation the M113 Panzermorsers are useful for a cheap smoke template or infantry suppression too. You can also get a M113 Observer team to get a bonus on ranging in which is always a good buy if you bring artillery and have the point spare at the end of list building.
The West Germans have two anti-aircraft options in the Gepard and the Roland. The Gepard is available in most formations and coming in units of 2/3/4/6 can bring a serious amount of AA firepower to the table but as a gun based AA platform can do very well against infantry and light vehicles. Its guns fire 5/4 shots with anti-tank 11 and a firepower 4+ so its a very safe choice as if you're opponent doesn't bring any air assets then it can do work taking on the enemy IFVs and infantry though its low armour of 3/2/1 means it can't take much punishment in return so make sure to pick your battles with it.
The Roland is a specialist AA vehicle that is lightly armoured like the Gepard with armour of 3/1/1 and armed with AA missiles with rate of fire 3/0 and firepower 4+ giving it decent anti-air firepower but it has no flexibility if there is a lack of airborne targets.
There is an extra additional AA unit that you can take one of for each Gepard or Roland unit in the list, the Fliegerfaust Gruppe. These are infantry teams armed with Redeye missiles with a rate of fire of 3/0 that can threaten aircraft while being cheaper than the vehicles which can be especially useful for defensive play if you're worried about being overwhelmed by helicopter swarms that some of the nations can put on the table.
For anti-aircraft, the Gepards are probably the better choice as they are more flexible than the Roland as well as giving a greater volume of fire giving better odds of hitting and shooting down helicopters and fast movers. The Fliegerfaust Gruppe can be a good supplemental unit if you feel lacking in AA fire as they're cheaper than the vehicles.
The third set of support units are the Tank Destroyers, of which there are 3 different units for the West Germans. The first 2 are Jaguar 1 and Jaguar 2 which are both missile based tank destroyers. Their chassis are the same with armour 9/4 with the Jaguar 1 having top armour 1 while the Jaguar 2 gets 0 making it slightly less well protected. The Jaguar 1 mounts a HOT missile with anti-tank 23, firepower 3+ and HEAT while the Jaguar 2 uses an Improved TOW missile which drops its anti-tank down to 21 making it less useful against the latest tanks. Both version of Jaguar have a special Forward Defense rule which allows them to be deployed on the table if you have to use the Deep Reserve rule for the missions giving you more heavy armour to set up your defenses. The Jaguars both come in either 2s or 3s with the Jaguar 1 being slightly more expensive in points than the Jaguar 2.
The last option is the Kanonenjagdpanzer (which was the basis for the Jaguars that replaced it in the main army) that is a gun based tank destroyer given to the Jagers making it slightly worse in the soft stats than most West German units. Defense wise it has 6/3/1 making it still lightly armoured but proof against small arms while for offense it sports a 90mm gun with rate of fire 2/1, anti-tank of 16 and firepower 2+ with HEAT making it suitable for taking on light vehicles front the front and tanks from the side if they don't have ERA or Chobham special rules. It also gets the Forward Defense rule same as the Jaguars making them useful for a defensive player.
The tank destroyers are glass cannon units able to put out more firepower than they can take, making them a bit cheaper than the West German tanks if you just need some extra firepower. My top pic would probably be the Jaguar 2 as anti-tank 21 is usually the same as 23 really in most situations but it will come down to what formations you take and there is only a single point between similar units of the two Jaguar units. The Kanonenejagdpanzer can be useful to add more guns to a defense for taking down lighter units.
The final support choice is aircraft for which the West Germans get the PAH anti-tank helicopter and the Tornado strike aircraft. The PAH is a very focused anti-tank hunter killer mounting the anti-tank 23 HOT missiles which when combined with the mobility of a helicopter allows them to take on even the heaviest enemy armour by getting side shots from behind cover. They are not very resilient but like all West German units need to be played carefully and pick their fights carefully.
The Tornado is a strike aircraft so is not the most reliable unit which in an expensive army makes it less of an appealing choice but it does bring one of the best weapons for taking on the new big shiny tanks like the M1A1 and the T-80. This is its bomblets which use the salvo template with anti-tank 8 and firepower 3+ meaning that even the top amour 2 of the tanks will struggle to defend against. Additionally the Tornado comes with an autocannon with 3 anti-helicopter shots with anti-tank 7 and 5+ firepower for acting as impromptu AA though its an inefficient choice for that role.
Aircraft seem to be best used either all or nothing, if you want to bring them then you usually need to max out to overwhelm the AA of your opponent to get shots through or take none and make your opponent's AA less useful or in some cases useless. For the West Germans this can leave you with a very small ground force but backed up by considerable firepower that has excellent mobility that will need to be played very carefully. I would probably advocate in getting more ground units for your points to better play the missions.
These are all the supporting models that can be added to your formations to add additional firepower and utility to the combat power of your core units. West Germans play with small elite units that require skill to get the most out of them without being lost to the return fire by controlling where and when engagements happen and really paying attention to target priority to make sure the right units are destroyed to ensure the success of the mission and survival of your units.
I hope that this and part 1 have been useful for expanding your knowledge of what the West Germans can bring to the table, I know that writing these is helping me to understand more about the nations and what they can do on the table. When the next book comes out I will look to do the same again and there might be more of my own personal hobby posts for Team Yankee coming soon with the restrictions easing allowing gaming to happen again. If you're interested in seeing what I'm currently doing you can check out and follow my Instagram where I post pictures of whats on my painting table and from my games (when I remember rather than getting lost in the game). See you soon for more Team Yankee posts!
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