Post by Tiger505 on Feb 20, 2009 5:08:23 GMT -5
Tigers are one of the hardest units in the game to deal with but for all their strengths they are brittle. When you’re building a Tiger list you should be aware that there are options beyond the Villiers Boscage book. You can find a PDF with more options located in the hobby section of the Battle Front website. You also now have the Heer list released in Hammer & Sickle. The key difference I see between Heer Tigers and SS Tigers is the CV rating. The CV rating requires you to be a tad more careful in assaults where you may need to last several rounds. The next major difference is in the amount and type of support you can field in the lists. Heer Tigers feel like more of a firepower army where the fearless SS Tigers are more suited to the close assault.
Now it doesn’t mater how you finish your company it will start with the same 5 models. 1 HQ Tiger and 2 platoons of 2 Tigers each. You will win or lose every game based on how well you use these 5 tanks. I seriously recommend that everyone uses the 2IC tank. This Tiger has proven time and again to be one of the most useful tools in the kompaine for me. The biggest threat to your army will be posed by the terrain, the second biggest threat will be template weapons, third will be flame throwers and the last major threat is posed by direct fire AT weapons. The additional support in the Heer list and SS PDF makes it allot easier to get my recommended 6 Tigers but you should be very careful. If you pick the shiny toys you may end up with a lemon. The new Soviet lists combined with the Cobra US lists have truly turned a Tiger Kompanie into a force that will find it self defending a good bit. My post is a guide to picking the tools to peel the enemy down. It is also a guide to picking versatile troops able to handle a defensive and offensive roll.
Terrain is the one thing you can not control. Every time you sit down at the table you should be highly aware of the mission’s deployment rules and victory conditions. You can’t control terrain but you can with time and practice learn to manipulate it to your advantage. Let’s say you’re on a table and it’s up to you to pick what side you will attack from. You have a choice between a side with open fields and sparse trees or a side with medium to heavy woods and a river about 7 inches onto the board edge cutting the entire side. Where would you want to place your Tigers? If you set them up in the open fields you avoid bog checks and open up the chance to double time. The draw back is when you are going to try to dig your enemy out. If you place your Tigers in the woods you risk bogging but you force him to defend in the open. Remember a Tiger has wide tracks. Misjudging your deployment can make a game allot harder than it has to be. The biggest terrain danger occurs when you let someone defend very difficult going or hand them the chance to ambush behind you as you advance. It is always better to start on the terrain than to try to take it away from your enemy. When you are defending you should be aware of your enemy’s ability to approach your objectives, your lines of fire between objectives, and any significant feature which may split your force. The key to defending terrain is making the best use of your 40 inch range to let the Tigers support each other and the units guarding your objectives. Features which will split your Tigers ability to give interlocking fire or ability to maneuver freely are the death kneels of your Kompanie. You should always be aware of these factors when picking where to deploy your objectives.
Template weapons come in two basic types, Air based and Artillery based. Artillery weapons can be classed into 3 groups light, medium, and heavy. Light weapons while not able to actually harm a Tiger can provide smoke and possibly harm supporting units. I consider any weapon with an AT value of 3 or less a light weapon. Medium weapons are the most common and mostly pose a minimal risk. Medium artillery can typical call on its nation’s special rules to give it a bit better chance of harming a Tiger and should be treated with respect. I consider medium guns to be anything with an AT of 4. Heavy guns are the real killers of the artillery family. Anything with an AT of 5 or better should never get more than 1 Tiger under its footprint or you deserve what you get. Aircraft tend to have a medium to heavy AT rating and the ability to hit you anywhere. Trees and being inside of 10 inches of your enemy will render most airstrikes mote. Just remember that being inside of 10 inches will open you to be flanked by other AFV`s and into infantry assault range. A good trick to remember is to put your Tiger on the board edge and keep an enemy unit within 16 inches of your position. This will force him to move to call in his air and thus open him to your MG fire.
Flame throwers come in two types, infantry and vehicle mounted. The largest threat is in the form of infantry flamethrower teams in dense terrain. The thing you MUST remember is the ten inch threat range. You need to duck into MG range blast them and ST out if your lucky enough to have a 2+ unit If not you need to screen the Tigers with something such as infantry or AA tracks and cut them buggers up.
Now the last thing to deal with is direct fire AT weapons. You have two basic advantages to remember. First you are veteran which means your base to hit is a 4/5 at close to long range. When you factor in your wide tracks you should almost always push this to a 5/6 to hit depending on range and proper use of cover. The second thing to remember your armor is 9 frontal and 8 sides. What this means is you can be very disrespectful to very many types of weapons. When fighting at range your armor becomes 10/9 and you are now immune to all Allied weapons but the 17lber, US 3inch, US 76mm, SU 85mm, SU 122mm , and SU 152mm. So out of the entire game there is only 6 weapons you really should be worried about at long range. When you get to close range then AT 10 weapons start to pose a problem from the flank. The trick to always remember is run the math in your head before you make the choice to fight. Let’s say you have a unit of 3 IS-II tanks on your left and a unit of 5 T-34 85 tanks on your right. You are going to be flanked there is no question about it at all. All you can do is pick which unit flanks you and at what range. Do you A turn your front armor to the AT 15 IS II tanks or do you B present front to the AT 12 T-34 85 tanks. In this case I would slide myself at max speed away from the IS II tanks while turning my thicker armor to the T-34s. The reason I would is based on the fact a 16% difference isn’t going to make a huge difference when I will be saving on a 6. A difference between a 3+ save and a 4+ save against the AT 12 shots just might mater. Also I may be able to open the range to long with that 8 inch. Choices like this may not seem to reflect what a real crew would do, but remember this is a GAME.
Now that we have covered the major threats you will face lets look at how to use the support options to make your Tigers more effective. There are a couple of things Tigers just are not meant to do assault infantry in buildings or any type of very difficult going, stop aircraft weather they have bombs or just spot for artillery, and kill tanks bigger than them. Tigers are also not suited to defending long frontage because of their small platoon count. Units that you pick to support your Tigers should be multi role. Your force will never be large so it is important to not waste your points on highly specialized kit that will only work one game in ten.
Now infantry dug into very difficult going will be painful to remove. You have a couple of choices assault with the Tigers, have your own infantry, and or flatten with artillery. If you plan to use Tigers remember to take as many turns as possible just firing into the position to soften it before you launch the assault. Preferably you will have a platoon with Clever Hans to run the offending unit over with. If you have your own infantry remember again to spend as many rounds as you can shelling the position before the PBI goes in. There are many different choices when it comes to what type of infantry you can buy. The things to remember are unit size, moral rating, and what you want the unit to do. The last option comes in the form of artillery. Another problem is large amounts of infantry stalking your tanks. This is where high ROF support comes in handy such as AA tracks, MG infantry, and lighter armor. The trick here is to avoid the terrain that lets him hide from your fire and keep moving! Your engine is a weapon. If you can drag him out of position and bypass him or draw him into an area to focus all your tanks on the offending infantry then you can grind them down. The problem is you’re tied to an objective when defending. This is the very reason you don’t want the Tigers as your primary objective guards unless your army has nothing else suited to the role. The SS list often has this problem. The Heer list should not.
There is only one way to handle aircraft, Anti-Air units. You really only have a few choices here. Both lists have access to various sp and towed AA guns. Air of your own is only available to the Heer list. When you pick remember to try to make the unit useful for more than one thing. This is not easy to do with AA units but if you pay for armored then you can survive small arms fire at 16 inches and put allot of dice onto an infantry unit. The light AA tracks are defiantly the best beat for a high ROF unit to cut up infantry but I would always opt to take 3.7cm over the 2cm if the option is available. If you’re more worried about the AOP or some of the new AT12 medium tank hordes the Flak 36 with LW crew isn’t a bad option. I find a Flak 36 unit with JU87 support is quiet nice in a Heer list. The JU87G is more than able to knock out any tank in the game and gives you some air cover to stave off the Allied rockets.
I consider tanks bigger than you to include anything with FA and AT ratings above your own. Crocs, IS-2s, King Tigers, and Panthers all fall into this group. You have two basic options to handle this type of threat. Out maneuver it or template it. In the case of a Croc unit you can stay outside 16 inches and maneuver all day long using your superior numbers to force them back or expose a vulnerable flank. Against the other AFVs that fall into this group you need terrain to work with in order to get those critical flank shots. The template option is really on viable if you have purchased Hummels or air. You can also invest in some flamethrowers of your own but this is not quiet a direct solution. Tacitly you must remember to use your veteran status with range and cover to avoid giving them shots. If you’re defending then be willing to sit concealed and GTG. This gives your templates time to work or forces them to get close enough that you get off the first effective volley. By effective volley I mean the first shot at something other than a 6 and at full ROF. You can also invest in Panzerjaeger units. The SS list has a very hard time finding points to spend on the FE1 choices but it has a nice option in swapping its 2IC for Barkman in the Cobra book. The Heer list can obtain the Hornisse or Veteran Tank Hunters to support them. The thing to remember is that such units tend to be very specialized and not very well suited to killing anything but armor.
With all this being said you should attempt to build to the strength of your personal playing style. If you feel that finesse is where you excel then build to maximize the number of tactical tricks you have up your sleeve. If you think brute force is the answer then build yourself a hammer and smash your target. The important thing is that the army FEELS right when you deploy it onto the board. The down side to a Tiger Kompanie is you can’t be strong against everything. There simply are not enough points to buy a unit to counter all the threats you face. So pick the threat you are most comfortable risking and then find the tactics you need to handle it with the tools you have.
The three basic steps to winning with Tigers are.
1. Pick your ground wisely.
2. Isolate and kill the things that can harm you.
3. Work on breaking the army as he’s dyeing you are taking the objective, or he is not taking yours.
When you attack, do so methodically peeling his force one layer at a time from the most dangerous to the least. When you defend ensure you preserve the Tigers mobility allowing for an aggressive but not wasteful use of your cats.
Now it doesn’t mater how you finish your company it will start with the same 5 models. 1 HQ Tiger and 2 platoons of 2 Tigers each. You will win or lose every game based on how well you use these 5 tanks. I seriously recommend that everyone uses the 2IC tank. This Tiger has proven time and again to be one of the most useful tools in the kompaine for me. The biggest threat to your army will be posed by the terrain, the second biggest threat will be template weapons, third will be flame throwers and the last major threat is posed by direct fire AT weapons. The additional support in the Heer list and SS PDF makes it allot easier to get my recommended 6 Tigers but you should be very careful. If you pick the shiny toys you may end up with a lemon. The new Soviet lists combined with the Cobra US lists have truly turned a Tiger Kompanie into a force that will find it self defending a good bit. My post is a guide to picking the tools to peel the enemy down. It is also a guide to picking versatile troops able to handle a defensive and offensive roll.
Terrain is the one thing you can not control. Every time you sit down at the table you should be highly aware of the mission’s deployment rules and victory conditions. You can’t control terrain but you can with time and practice learn to manipulate it to your advantage. Let’s say you’re on a table and it’s up to you to pick what side you will attack from. You have a choice between a side with open fields and sparse trees or a side with medium to heavy woods and a river about 7 inches onto the board edge cutting the entire side. Where would you want to place your Tigers? If you set them up in the open fields you avoid bog checks and open up the chance to double time. The draw back is when you are going to try to dig your enemy out. If you place your Tigers in the woods you risk bogging but you force him to defend in the open. Remember a Tiger has wide tracks. Misjudging your deployment can make a game allot harder than it has to be. The biggest terrain danger occurs when you let someone defend very difficult going or hand them the chance to ambush behind you as you advance. It is always better to start on the terrain than to try to take it away from your enemy. When you are defending you should be aware of your enemy’s ability to approach your objectives, your lines of fire between objectives, and any significant feature which may split your force. The key to defending terrain is making the best use of your 40 inch range to let the Tigers support each other and the units guarding your objectives. Features which will split your Tigers ability to give interlocking fire or ability to maneuver freely are the death kneels of your Kompanie. You should always be aware of these factors when picking where to deploy your objectives.
Template weapons come in two basic types, Air based and Artillery based. Artillery weapons can be classed into 3 groups light, medium, and heavy. Light weapons while not able to actually harm a Tiger can provide smoke and possibly harm supporting units. I consider any weapon with an AT value of 3 or less a light weapon. Medium weapons are the most common and mostly pose a minimal risk. Medium artillery can typical call on its nation’s special rules to give it a bit better chance of harming a Tiger and should be treated with respect. I consider medium guns to be anything with an AT of 4. Heavy guns are the real killers of the artillery family. Anything with an AT of 5 or better should never get more than 1 Tiger under its footprint or you deserve what you get. Aircraft tend to have a medium to heavy AT rating and the ability to hit you anywhere. Trees and being inside of 10 inches of your enemy will render most airstrikes mote. Just remember that being inside of 10 inches will open you to be flanked by other AFV`s and into infantry assault range. A good trick to remember is to put your Tiger on the board edge and keep an enemy unit within 16 inches of your position. This will force him to move to call in his air and thus open him to your MG fire.
Flame throwers come in two types, infantry and vehicle mounted. The largest threat is in the form of infantry flamethrower teams in dense terrain. The thing you MUST remember is the ten inch threat range. You need to duck into MG range blast them and ST out if your lucky enough to have a 2+ unit If not you need to screen the Tigers with something such as infantry or AA tracks and cut them buggers up.
Now the last thing to deal with is direct fire AT weapons. You have two basic advantages to remember. First you are veteran which means your base to hit is a 4/5 at close to long range. When you factor in your wide tracks you should almost always push this to a 5/6 to hit depending on range and proper use of cover. The second thing to remember your armor is 9 frontal and 8 sides. What this means is you can be very disrespectful to very many types of weapons. When fighting at range your armor becomes 10/9 and you are now immune to all Allied weapons but the 17lber, US 3inch, US 76mm, SU 85mm, SU 122mm , and SU 152mm. So out of the entire game there is only 6 weapons you really should be worried about at long range. When you get to close range then AT 10 weapons start to pose a problem from the flank. The trick to always remember is run the math in your head before you make the choice to fight. Let’s say you have a unit of 3 IS-II tanks on your left and a unit of 5 T-34 85 tanks on your right. You are going to be flanked there is no question about it at all. All you can do is pick which unit flanks you and at what range. Do you A turn your front armor to the AT 15 IS II tanks or do you B present front to the AT 12 T-34 85 tanks. In this case I would slide myself at max speed away from the IS II tanks while turning my thicker armor to the T-34s. The reason I would is based on the fact a 16% difference isn’t going to make a huge difference when I will be saving on a 6. A difference between a 3+ save and a 4+ save against the AT 12 shots just might mater. Also I may be able to open the range to long with that 8 inch. Choices like this may not seem to reflect what a real crew would do, but remember this is a GAME.
Now that we have covered the major threats you will face lets look at how to use the support options to make your Tigers more effective. There are a couple of things Tigers just are not meant to do assault infantry in buildings or any type of very difficult going, stop aircraft weather they have bombs or just spot for artillery, and kill tanks bigger than them. Tigers are also not suited to defending long frontage because of their small platoon count. Units that you pick to support your Tigers should be multi role. Your force will never be large so it is important to not waste your points on highly specialized kit that will only work one game in ten.
Now infantry dug into very difficult going will be painful to remove. You have a couple of choices assault with the Tigers, have your own infantry, and or flatten with artillery. If you plan to use Tigers remember to take as many turns as possible just firing into the position to soften it before you launch the assault. Preferably you will have a platoon with Clever Hans to run the offending unit over with. If you have your own infantry remember again to spend as many rounds as you can shelling the position before the PBI goes in. There are many different choices when it comes to what type of infantry you can buy. The things to remember are unit size, moral rating, and what you want the unit to do. The last option comes in the form of artillery. Another problem is large amounts of infantry stalking your tanks. This is where high ROF support comes in handy such as AA tracks, MG infantry, and lighter armor. The trick here is to avoid the terrain that lets him hide from your fire and keep moving! Your engine is a weapon. If you can drag him out of position and bypass him or draw him into an area to focus all your tanks on the offending infantry then you can grind them down. The problem is you’re tied to an objective when defending. This is the very reason you don’t want the Tigers as your primary objective guards unless your army has nothing else suited to the role. The SS list often has this problem. The Heer list should not.
There is only one way to handle aircraft, Anti-Air units. You really only have a few choices here. Both lists have access to various sp and towed AA guns. Air of your own is only available to the Heer list. When you pick remember to try to make the unit useful for more than one thing. This is not easy to do with AA units but if you pay for armored then you can survive small arms fire at 16 inches and put allot of dice onto an infantry unit. The light AA tracks are defiantly the best beat for a high ROF unit to cut up infantry but I would always opt to take 3.7cm over the 2cm if the option is available. If you’re more worried about the AOP or some of the new AT12 medium tank hordes the Flak 36 with LW crew isn’t a bad option. I find a Flak 36 unit with JU87 support is quiet nice in a Heer list. The JU87G is more than able to knock out any tank in the game and gives you some air cover to stave off the Allied rockets.
I consider tanks bigger than you to include anything with FA and AT ratings above your own. Crocs, IS-2s, King Tigers, and Panthers all fall into this group. You have two basic options to handle this type of threat. Out maneuver it or template it. In the case of a Croc unit you can stay outside 16 inches and maneuver all day long using your superior numbers to force them back or expose a vulnerable flank. Against the other AFVs that fall into this group you need terrain to work with in order to get those critical flank shots. The template option is really on viable if you have purchased Hummels or air. You can also invest in some flamethrowers of your own but this is not quiet a direct solution. Tacitly you must remember to use your veteran status with range and cover to avoid giving them shots. If you’re defending then be willing to sit concealed and GTG. This gives your templates time to work or forces them to get close enough that you get off the first effective volley. By effective volley I mean the first shot at something other than a 6 and at full ROF. You can also invest in Panzerjaeger units. The SS list has a very hard time finding points to spend on the FE1 choices but it has a nice option in swapping its 2IC for Barkman in the Cobra book. The Heer list can obtain the Hornisse or Veteran Tank Hunters to support them. The thing to remember is that such units tend to be very specialized and not very well suited to killing anything but armor.
With all this being said you should attempt to build to the strength of your personal playing style. If you feel that finesse is where you excel then build to maximize the number of tactical tricks you have up your sleeve. If you think brute force is the answer then build yourself a hammer and smash your target. The important thing is that the army FEELS right when you deploy it onto the board. The down side to a Tiger Kompanie is you can’t be strong against everything. There simply are not enough points to buy a unit to counter all the threats you face. So pick the threat you are most comfortable risking and then find the tactics you need to handle it with the tools you have.
The three basic steps to winning with Tigers are.
1. Pick your ground wisely.
2. Isolate and kill the things that can harm you.
3. Work on breaking the army as he’s dyeing you are taking the objective, or he is not taking yours.
When you attack, do so methodically peeling his force one layer at a time from the most dangerous to the least. When you defend ensure you preserve the Tigers mobility allowing for an aggressive but not wasteful use of your cats.