Spots on your Leopards

In years gone by I’ve tended to find myself using Soviets and typically found myself facing my regular opponent’s British. However, of late I’ve managed several games where I’ve used West Germans. It’s been an enjoyable change and as we have had the games in sequence it has allowed some evaluation of what’s worked and what hasn’t. Indeed, across the last three games the West Germans have found themselves conducting a hasty attack, advancing in an encounter, and last night facing a massive Soviet deliberate attack. This mix has offered plenty of variety in itself.

Further, both my opponent and I have been experimenting with very different force combinations. When conducting the hasty attack I opted for Leopard 2 as the armoured component, the first time in many years where I’ve used Leopard 2s. In the past I have found the Leopard II too restrictive in a three battalion list. This was especially so when facing enemy infantry where the the low anti-infantry factor of the Leopard 2 was particularly frustrating.

In the second game, above and below, I switched from my normal three battalions to just two battalions to face massed T-80s in a fascinating encounter game. Again using Leopard 2s both my opponent and I were struck by the power of these tanks, though possibly him more than I, which was pleasing.

In last night’s encounter I dropped back to Leopard 1s and effectively just two manoeuvre battalions. I was supported by a weak dismounted security battalion but they clung to the confines of a town desperately calling in artillery fires and dodging incoming artillery shells.

Anyway, this time the West Germans faced a massed Soviet deliberate attack, where my opponent selected an reinforcements (an Option B) and what seemed like half the Soviet armies heavy artillery assets. Thank goodness I had some Gepards to drive away of his Hinds and some Phantoms to give Ivan something to think about!

My opponent has likewise has used plenty of variety. First Naval Infantry without any armour. This was then followed by a T-80 Tank Regiment and more recently elements drawn from two understrength Motor Rifle Regiments.

All this has reminds me of how important changing you force structure is. If you have the opportunity, and some additional models, give it a try. Your games will have plenty of variety which has to be a good thing. In the meantime I’m going to continue to count spots on my Leopards, be they one or two, and perhaps seeing how many Jaguars I can use, among other things…