Thinking of Buying

By ClanNatioy2, in Tide of Iron

I'm interested in this game but I would like to know what are the differences of the Germans and the Americans in the base set?

Do their soldiers, machine guns, and mortars have the same stats and same special abilities? and if they do what makes these two different armies feel like their historical counterpart and play differently in the game?

TheKingOfBlades said:

I'm interested in this game but I would like to know what are the differences of the Germans and the Americans in the base set?

Do their soldiers, machine guns, and mortars have the same stats and same special abilities? and if they do what makes these two different armies feel like their historical counterpart and play differently in the game?

Mostly the same. German MG is slightly more effective against infantry, though (4 dice as opposed to 3) and the tanks are also different, at least as far as anti-vehicle firepower is concerned. The Panzer IV rolls 10 dice whereas the sherman rolls 8, off the top of my head.

Especially operations cards ( e.g. giving attack bonuses or minuses, additional defense, veteran troops vs rookies etc.) and to a lesser extent perhaps, tactics cards and scenario special rules often provide the historical flavor you're referring to.

Kingtiger said:

Mostly the same. German MG is slightly more effective against infantry, though (4 dice as opposed to 3) and the tanks are also different, at least as far as anti-vehicle firepower is concerned. The Panzer IV rolls 10 dice whereas the sherman rolls 8, off the top of my head.

Especially operations cards ( e.g. giving attack bonuses or minuses, additional defense, veteran troops vs rookies etc.) and to a lesser extent perhaps, tactics cards and scenario special rules often provide the historical flavor you're referring to.

Could you give me a few examples of American and German operations cards? What are the veteran troops vs rookies you mention? are they upgrades you give your squads through the cards?

Firstly, the game is scenario based. When playing good scenarios, the game is fantastic. Since its scenario based, the starting forces is differently for the different sides. Often one side is attacking an another is defending.

Operation cards are given to one or both players depending on the scenario. Quit a few of them describes troops moral for example. Like one says that units never rout. Others gives you bonuses versus suprisive fire, while other gives you penelties. In some cases the german moral may be excelent, in other it may be poor. So it depends on the scenario.

Further, the main difference between the US/german troops is the tanks. The panzer IV is not that different from the sherman, but it has an improved firepower and range versus vehicles. The big thing is however the Tiger I, which is a beast. Thus usually in battles with lots of tanks, the US gets more tanks than the german.