Sounds like things are going good, glad the heavy didn't ruin your event.

next game playing. I'm playing the axis force from the first game, Lee the allies replacing the punisher with the fireball.
200ap game - Assassinate, advancing lines, no conditions
axis list -

sturmpioneer command

2 laser grens

2 zombie units

1 ludwig

grenadeer x

totemmeister



allied list -

assult command

recon rangers

british paratroopers

fireball

heavy weapon ranger squad

With those lists and that mission, if the Allied player is smart and puts his command into the Fireball at the first sign trouble, my money's all over the Allies.

That Sturmpioneer squad isn't going to have a lot of places to hide, and I've seen the Fireball to horrendous things to charging zombies . . .

well guessed craig, its what happened.

a 5 turn game with only 3 miniatures killed in total. A total draw.

zzZZzz

I was afraid of that. Couldn't have been a TOTAL draw, though, could it? I mean, in the event of a tie you go to APs . . . not that 3 models killed would be a satisfying win under any circumstances.

Still, there must have been SOME drama? A stalwart Axis defence of the sturmpioneers? A desperate charge of the zombies into the RIDICULOUS weight of metal the walker's machine guns can throw?

Out of curiousity, which 3 models were killed?

It was a unit of lazer grenadiers. Not very exciting.

I really would have expected the Zombies to do amazing things in that game especially with Grenadier X, Heavy walkers VS Panzerfist = dead walkers and a disembarked HQ in assault range.

Denied said:

I'm sure this will change over time, but I find there's a certain intimidation factor with heavy walkers - nobody wants to go near them, even when you have the right units to take them out.

I would have expected a heavy allied victory, what he use the paratroopers for.

well 7-8 saves is quite a bit of damage prevention, so even a solid hit can just sctratch the paint with even an ok save. If you can avoid it you might as well

Dakkon426 said:

They can certainly be tough, though. All I'm saying is that sometimes people stay away more from intimidation than anything else. Another thing to remember is that with the exception of the one small machine gun on the allied heavy walkers, the guns are not turretted and cannot fire in 3/4 of the directions. So go at its flanks and you have a chance of taking it out.

didnt realize that the 2 MGs wernt turrets. Thanx

Dakkon426 said:

Crap, I didn't think they are, but just looked it up and they are indeed turrets.

So, um, never mind. :-)

Attacking the rear is still good to avoid armor saves though.

another report gents and general comments on the metagame.

allied list

1 ranger command

2 recon rangers

1 british para

1 weapon ranger squad

1 mickey

1 steel rain

1 observation team

axis list

sturmpioneer squad

1 laser grenadier

2 axis zombies

1 hans light walker

1 ludwig medium walker

grenadier x

totemmeister

this was a close one. With 24 inch deployment from corners, no conditions, but a kill point based objective game, it was close. With the allies turtling in their corner both zombie assults were wiped out by turn 3 due to a combination of ugl reactions and light machine gun fire. The steel rain unfortunately proved to be rather ineffective due to awful dice rolled by yours truely. The 3 points scored by the axis player were the death of the paras who were wiped out in a single sustained attack performed by the lazer grenadiers (anyone claiming lasers are under powered in comparison to recon grenadiers clearly do not sustained attack enough).

the two tanks on the allied side were wiped out due to the ludwig shelling repeatedly, coupled with the hans (now known as the light walker that could). Scouting onto the board, it managed to frag the steel rain in a single sustained combat performed on the 5th and final turn.

allied command thoughts on this list: -

what can i say? the steel rain performed poorly, yet the gem of the command squad can be astoundingly useful. Sure, the platoon wide ability to shell 2 units within 6 of each other with the long tom is very useful, but direct fire of the long tom allows the unit to fire said weapon during a sustained action, really giving it punch when the zombies approached.

axis comments -

all hail the almighty axis! On reflection the laser grenadiers, alough they performed well this fight, they marry poorly with zombies. Their amazing sustained attack vs british paras work well, but sustained requires them to be used as a defensive unit, whereas zombies are clearly an assult unit. This results in breaking of lines. The hans scout ability should not be underestimated, as it was clearly the walker of the match, winning the game. When taking zombies it becomes difficult to know when to take action and when to take a risk when within charge range. For once again, both my zombie units absorbed a huge amount of fire, however because of failed initiative they could not forfill their goal. This makes any army fielding or wanting to field zombies critical on having either less units then your opponent, or have serious terrain advantage, making them a remarkably rewarding yet challanging unit to field.

the ludwig is an amazing force taken with any type of role depite its lack of infantary punch. Its long range allows it to support both in offensive and defensive stratergies. Worth every penny.

So you guys are ruling that the Long Toms can be used as a regular weapon in the normal unit phase? That's interesting. We went back and forth with it and decided that only represented the artillery available in their command phase.

Also, I believe firing any Artillery as Artillery takes a full action . . . and since the weapon isn't on the board . . . it would always be indirect . . . ? That's the kind of circular logic that led us to believe it was only intended to be fired in the command phase with the special platoon rule.

But there's definitely room for both interpretations. However . . . giving that as a standard weapon . . . really makes their point value look broken compared to the Sturmgrenadier squad and THEIR weapon options, at the same cost . . .

The rules are quite clear that "Fire for Effect" is an order given by the command section during the Command phase. You can't "Fire for Effect" during the Unit Phase.

im with craig - read as written you could, but clearly this is unintentional. We have ruled as such from now on.

Technically though, its legal. The unit has it as a weapon, and may fire all its weapons.

yeah, this is the go around we were on for awhile locally, but thankfully things came down on my side, which happens to coincide with Felkor, and sit beside Caecitas . . . this just can't have been meant to be used that way . . . fire it twice in command and then again in the unit phase . . . for no discernible points cost . . .

Personally I'd treat it as an artillery weapon that can only be fired indirectly. Either the command squad uses it full turn to fire it indirectly or they use it as an order and does other funky command squad stuff during their activation with the other action (the stronger choice I think, but I guess depends on the situation).

-jay

caecitas said:

The game is WYSIWYG and only if the model is armed with a weapon can it be fired, no model is armed with a Long Tom. It's no different to any other squad weapon, if you unit has both MG and bazooka and you lose a model and remove the bazooka, that squad can no longer fire it..

Major Mishap said:

Agreed, this is one of those things that I think the intention is clear. The Kommandotruppe and the Boss cost the exact same APs - would this really be the case if one unit got a powerful artillery attack on top of everything else and the other unit didn't? The weapon line is a reminder of the Long Tom's stats, but it isn't free reign to use it however you'd wish - there is only one description in the book of how the Long Tom works, and there it says you fire it in the Command Phase.

I'm with the majority crowd. We had a discussion on this, and concluded that the Long Tom is off the table, so it's always firing indirect. Unless you can make a convincing case that one of the minis is carrying it around with them? Insert deep pocket joke here.

Grim6 said:

CSMason26 said:

Well that is why they call him Long Tom. (Sorry I couldn't resist.)

I would have if you didn't.

Major Mishap said:

last i checked recon boys have 4 UGL's, yet only 2 modeled.