It's been a while since I've updated but since my last post I've played a decent amount of games. Some of my assumptions have proven legitimate but others, I was totally off base.
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| This was a proxy game, those Marders are actually Semoventes |
The Sherman is disappointing for its cost. In the games I've used them they have never been close to cost effective. The best they've done is kill a crusader troop. In other games they were ambushed by Semovente's, destroyed by artillery (after rolling 4 1's), or just hid from Marders. It's anecdotal as hell but so far they've been nothing but 8 point bullet magnets that can't actually take that heat. Even in tank vs tank match ups the American Sherman's still need mass. I'm sure the Sherman works fine if you're committed to them but as support to an infantry list they are simply too expensive. Instead I'm planning on using Lee's going forward. In 100 point lists the Sherman will probably be the better pick but 71 points is what I'll be playing in the immediate future.
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| A bunch of Crusaders mulching my infantry |
For 5 points a tank, you lose one front armour, 4 inches of range on the main gun and one less AT. You also get the Stuart's gun strapped to the top giving you 3 shots total. So for 25 points worth of Lees you get 15 shots (10 75mm and 5 37mm) versus just 6 shots from 24 points worth of Shermans. Since the biggest threat to my big blobs of dough boys is being assaulted/machine gunned by lots of little tanks the lee is the better counter. Stuarts have been great at this but obviously can't tangle with more serious tanks like the lee can with it's AT 9 or 10. Again, I haven't done the hard math on this; I suspect there's some point on a curve where Shermans are more cost efficient versus certain things but I don't think 24 points of Shermans is really justifiable in a 71 point game.
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From that proxy game, they're just Italians. those ATG's and M14/41's
reduced the Stuarts to one active tanks and were wiped out in assault. |
On the tactical front, I've learned that everything in American lists can't go unsupported. You really need to hedge your bets; the yanks are just going to take a lot of hits. When I lost those Shermans to some Semoventes on their flank, it could have been prevented with infantry hugging them. I've lost my Stuarts because I've neglected to fire covering smoke, and had my infantry decimated in repeated crusader assaults for want of AT support.
To be clear, the Shermans killed just a troop, not a squadron.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, silly British nomenclature.
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