Quality of Quantity in 1985

Hello all, Stuart, the resident American on staff back with a new look at the East Germans out of Volksarmee.

After playing a handful of games with Soviets, and then a few more with their East German pals, I noticed one glaring fact. They are simply outgunned. Plainly put, their NATO opponents can chew through platoons of your tanks with relative ease. Typically surpassing your armour without a roll, having two shots per vehicle (often while on the move) and then 2+ FP to boot, NATO tanks crush Warsaw tanks with impunity.

Well, less impunity.  More like 120mm APDSFS…

So, what is one to do?

There are two courses of action that I have seen thus far:

1. Take a massive army of tanks in large platoons built to absorb the initial impact of the NATO players shooting.
2. Go infantry. Warsaw infantry platoons are enormous and come with the option for a variety of transports with missiles, whom are also in large numbers. Swarm the field with little gribblies and your opponents tanks can’t handle the masses.

However, I propose a third course of action: MSU. For those not familiar, MSU is shorthand for “Multiple Small Units”. Typically a tactic seen in other games, (Space Elves and Orks) it’s used for a variety of reasons; the ability to grab multiple objectives at the same time, spam a certain powerful unit or weapon, fill compulsory slots in a list or (and the reason that will be the focus here) TARGET SATURATION. *Disclaimer: You will bleed VP.

Of course, there’s multiple and there’s *multiple*

Target Saturation, while a dangerous game, is an extremely viable tactic for any armies sporting models that are relatively easy to kill. Why? You can’t as easily focus them down because instead of 3 large units, there are 10 small ones. Yes, the platoons themselves will be that much easier to get rid of, naturally, as they will take casualties at much of the same rate as before while starting the countdown to breaking at a lower number. But War is Hell, things die.

Pictured – things dying…

Team Yankee only exposes that further with its high AT ratings and failure proof 2+ FP across the board. Things are going to get killed, because the dice said so. By embracing this fact and using it, I think we can take an army that is just outclassed and make it a viable option, not just against tanks, but as a list that can compete across the board for wins (but not the 6-1 variety, unless you’re just that much better than I am).

As I am focusing mainly on East Germans, they will be the center point of this article, although I will dabble with the Soviets as well with the impending arrival of Red Thunder and the accompanying T-64 in a later article. As we already know that you can run hordes o’ infantry, this will also be an example of tank heavy forces. As with anything, flavor to taste.

List 1: T-72 base.

The T-72M, as good as it gets for the Volksarmee

Volksarmee (100 points)

Formation 1:

• HQ: T-72 3pts
• 5x T-72 15pts
• 5x T-72 15pts
• 4x T-72 11pts
• Medium BMP-2 Infantry w/ Gremlin 20pts
• 4x Shilka 4pts
• 3x BM-21 5pts
• BMP-1 OP 1pt

Subtotal: 74pts

Formation 2:

• HQ: T-55 1pt
• 5x T-55 6pts
• 5x T-55 6pts
• 5x T-55 6 pts
• Subtotal: 19pts (93pts)
• Divisional Support:
• 2x Frogfoots 7 pts

Total 100pts

This is the first list that came to mind, with some tweaking because I, like so many others, wanted to make use of all of those T-72 models we’ve owned since the beginning of the game. Additionally the T-72, at the time was the only thing with even a remote chance of penetrating the front of NATO tanks. 6 platoons of tanks, a still decent sized infantry force accompanied by 9x BMP-2 with AT21 guns, and Frogfoots are more than enough to handle most NATO tank lists. Being split up in this way, ideally, you should get something to the flanks and start causing some damage. Against infantry heavy lists, should you see them, you can attack a number of way. Use your big guns against their light vehicles, and your multiple MG’s against any infantry that is de-horsed. Deep reserves does kinda hurt this list, because your tank heavy but have no fear, your infantry platoon, artillery and Shilkas should be able to hold down the fort for a turn or two.

List 2: T-55 base

Volksarmee (100 points)

Formation 1:

• HQ: 1x T-55 1pt
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts
• Medium BMP-1 infantry platoon 14pts
• 4x Shilka 4pts
• 3x Carnation Battery 6pts
• BMP-1 OP 1pt
• Subtotal: 50 points

Formation 2:

• HQ:1x T-55 1pt
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts
• Subtotal: 25 points (75 points)

Formation 3:

• HQ: 1x T-55 1pt
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts
• 6x T-55 8pts

Total: 100 points

My favorite rendition of the list. So many targets, you can’t possibly kill them all at once, nor can you afford to shoot at too many because at 6 tanks per platoon, you’re forced to focus them down to get them checking morale or you’ll still have platoons of tanks everywhere. Tactic: BLITZKREIG!! Dash these boys forward in mass, using cover as best you can, then get as many as you can on flanks and try and pop those pesky Westerners. You still have decent AA coverage with the Shilkas, can hold objectives with the BMP boys, and even some artillery to spice up your opponents static backfield. **Here’s that disclaimer again: You WILL bleed VP’s!

There was some thought to dropping 4 points somewhere for additional Shilkas to help with AA and Anti-infantry, but I like having at least one template in the list. Aside from the cost of the models, the T-55 list feels superior to me in that, while it doesn’t kill quite as well as the T-72, the numbers alone make it difficult to clear them away. I’ve also seen the T-55 run in big blocks of 10 but again, I think the trick to making this work is finding that sweet spot of too many platoons to focus down, but platoons just big enough you have to still focus to get them to run. 6-7 tanks feels like that sweet spot to me.

As always, mix it up and try what you like, but MSU has many advantages that, to me, give it the edge as the way forward with Soviet/East German tank lists (And aren’t tanks the big draw to TY anyways?). Be on the lookout for a similar article on Red Thunder based Soviets and even an Afgansty list perhaps! Until next time..