Hey guys,

I know there's an "axis vs allies balance" thread, but wanted to focus on a couple of questions:

- if a guy is not running zombies or apes, is he handicapping himself Axis-wise? I prefer the "Normal" types of troops.

- what are the best walkers, in your opinion, in each "weight" category for Axis?

- how do you guys deal with rocket troops? I really struggled vs Hammers and any other unit that could move 12 inches without a reaction triggered! It seemed very strong - rocket punches are also of course very strong, but for me it was the extreme maneuverability I was struggling with. My guys felt like they were swimming in molasses compared to the rocket troops of the Allies.

You can still be competitive you just need to invest those same points in a standard platoon with lots of panzer support. You can combat all that extra movement and melee power with the blitzkrieg order. Your goal should be to hit the enemy until they have a couple of suppression markers on them so that they are forced to lose an action in the following turn.

Also as Axis I find that I like having the imitative so choose powerful resilient models like medium/heavy walkers and five man infantry squads like battle grenadiers and either recon grenadiers or laser grenadiers. Then finish it up with a sniper squad and a powerful hero like Angela or Sigrid.

If you can keep it small and limit the line of sight to your forces while focusing your fire power on a small portion of your opponent then you can win reliably against Allied shenanigans. The apes and zombies just make for our shenanigans with no suppression fast troops. If you like more convention tactics you will have to go with suppression tactics to make the enemy only ever have one action available.

I agree with most of harliquine's points, especially suppress, suppress, suppress! I disagree with taking 5-man type two squads. They don't cost as much, meaning you're likely to have 1-2 more dice in initiative phase, and won't win as often, which you really need to do to keep the suppression on. Take high point cost stuff like Heavy lasers and heavy recon grenadiers, and heavy flak grenadiers. Put Lara with the lasers to give them silly anti-infantry to go with their silly anti-tank and wounds to get them into range of enemy tanks. Add Angela to a sniper team for guaranteed kills & suppression. Have the sniper shoot one unit, her the other. Great chance to suppress 2-4 units while killing 2-4 models on the first couple turns. Or have Angela focus on killing opponent medium Walkers. No armor save, good chance with a shot in Command Phase and a second in unit of killing it turn 1. If the enemy jump troops are suppressed, the recon and flak heavies will be tickled to see them jump in close with their one action. If they don't jump in, Angela's sniper team and your walkers will attrition them away in no time.

Now, for your second question, what Walker is best in what weight…

Light - Hans! Best 25 AP in the game. If you've got them, take two, add radio, giggle.

Medium - situational. If opponent has Walkers, Ludwig. Lothar is good, but for ten AP more, you could have two Hans' so I'm not sure it's worth it, although it is better at picking off Walkers from a completely concealed position. Luther is good solid all around, and with self repair, hard to kill. Loth is a very interesting Walker, especially vs heavy CC allies lists. Opponent has to weigh the risk of attacking it and not killing it, while quite possibly losing his attacking unit to a reaction. Aside from being a mêlée monster, Loth can repair itself and other vehicles. If their attempt to kill it fails, it's reactive attack will lower the dice available on future attacks by that unit if not destroy it outright, then it can take two heal actions, and dare them to attack it again, with much less firepower. However, it's pretty vulnerable to enemy Walkers at range. Makes a great little bodyguard for a Hans or Lothar hiding behind a building though.

Heavy - Easy choice, by asking the question, "What is the biggest threat my opponent has?" If the answer isn't Walkers, take the Sturmkonig. It's absolutely devastating to infantry and aircraft. If the answer is Walkers, take the Konigsluther. It kills tanks dead.