TANKS The Modern Age Battle At The Crashsite

After the last battles were lost by the NATO, their morale got low and some US troops deserted and tried to reach France, but the French army will not tolerate any deserters crossing their borders and prepare to fight against these foes.
While the Americans reached the crashsite of F-WTMD and destroyed a small East German reconissance platoon, the French are heading towards them...

We decided to build our platoons without knowing what the other player would use, what ended in 2 very different platoons, and in 2 NATO partners fighting each other.

On one side are the Americans, played by my mate Olli, choosing to play a rather small platoon equipped with a lot of useful upgrades. Just read his platoonlist (the M-109, Artillery Scout and Target Computer are custom cards):

Cobra Helicopter
- Improved TOW
M1A1 Abrams
- Artillery Scout / Randall Avery / Ressourceful Gunner / Silver Bullet
M-60 (coming next weekend)
- Joseph Ortelli / Robert Folk
M-109
- Target Computer

= 101 Points

On the other side are the French troops, which are a "quantity instead of quality" army, their strenght is the relatively low costs for average tanks that you get strenght in numbers. This time I took only tanks and howitzers, the "Rapid Fire (5)" ability of the AMX-30 tanks would be enough firepower against any enemy helicopter. The "Willie Petes" were useless, since they are only effective against units with a lower initiative.
Just take a look at my list:

AMX 30
- Willie Pete
AMX-30
- Willie Pete / Artillery Observer
AMX-30
- Henri Delacroux / Artillery Observer
AMX-30
- Andre Mareau
AMX-AUF1
- Ressourceful Gunner / Bomblet Bombardment
AMX-AUF1
- Ressourceful Gunner / Bomblet Bombardment

= 101 Points 

As you can see, 3 tanks and 1 helicopter are fighting against 6 tanks, who would win this battle?

After we placed the scenery and our units (except for the planewreck, all scenery pieces count as cover while the wrecked plane is a sightblocker), my mate Olli had the tactical advantage for the first round, and we were ready to start:

In the first round nothing happened, some units were moved but nothing else. The second round showed the strenght of the "Bomblet Bombardment", both AMX-AUF1 used it on the M-60, and with firesupport from an AMX-30, the Patton was shattered into pieces.
In that moment my mate Olli saw his troop already defeated while I was sure that I would win, but the game had not ended yet.

First Blood

In the third round the Cobra destroyed the first AMX-30 with missiles, the Abrams almost destroyed another AMX-30 in a single attack, while the French attacks did not do any harm to their enemy.

The fourth round included heavy firefights, a second AMX-30 was destroyed and the Cobra was turning its "Rapid Fire" on the very fragile howitzers, not destroying them.

Due to the "Ressourceful Gunner" both French AMX-AUF1 used the "Bomblet Bombardment" again on the Abrams hitting it a single time, while one of the two remaining AMX-30 made on its way to the M-109.

Round 5 and another AMX-30 got destroyed, but its "Final Fury" attack destroyed the M-109, now the Cobra and the Abrams were left over on the American side, while the French had a last AMX-30 and both slightly damaged howitzers.

The AMX-30 attacked the Abrams, scoring a critical hit. I tried my luck and attacked the Cobra with one of the howitzers (every tank has at least a D3 attack versus helicopters) and it got hit a single time.

The sixth round brought more casualities for the French, who lost their first howitzer, now it was two on two and I already had a rough foresight how the game would end.

The seventh (and final) round brought the defeat for the French. There was the (micro)minimal chance of getting a draw, according to the "Final Fury" rule, both destroyed tanks had a last attack, but they did not hit.

The American deserteurs have won the battle, but the US HQ already got informed about this and sends a platoon to hunt them down. After a future battle you will see, if 5 Humvees are strong enough to beat the leftover deserting units.


By the way, making the Americans deserters was done only for dramatic reasons and the lore of our campaign, those boys would never retreat.

This battle showed that "hightech" upgrades and air souvereignity play a big role in deciding the victory, more than having strenght in numbers. While the first rounds the French seemed overpowering the Americans, from the moment the helicopter went into battle, their luck changed.

The Fremch AMX-30 are well armed against helicopters, but having luck with the dice plays another important role, the first picture of the post shows my D5 attack versus a D3 defence, Olli had not even to roll his defence dice.
But in a usual fashion, this game made fun because it was unclear until the final rounds, who would win. We learned some more things on platoonbuilding, and, for a first game, the French fought hard. I will have to rework the US and Soviet custom artillery units and upgrades since I found some inconsistencies.

In the next days we are going to play a 4 player all vs all game, with slightly changed rules. I do not think the initiative rules to decide which tank to move would not work with 4 players fighting each other.