So my friend Sean and I are a little late starting, sorry life got in the way. We are both a bit rusty, him more than me, and we both wanted to see how the new Soviet T-64 handled vs the Leopard 2. We did 77 pt lists each and I had 7 Leopard 2 while he had 14 T-64s.
We played the standard mission, pitched battle, we both set up and Soviets had the “honour” of going first. AS an aside, I find that whoever wins the roll off should choose, not get to go first, in many cases you do not want to go first. But that’s just a little criticism I have of Flames, one of my few.
Soviets got first turn, the T-64 on the right flank with attached HQ moved up behind the cover of the forest, hoping to get closer to the larger Leo II platoon without attracting fire. The 2nd T-64 platoon, with songsters, successfully pulled off a blitz to get into cover in the field to try to move up vs the smaller Leo 2 platoon.
So I saw in the first turn how great the 40" range is on the Leo 2. The smaller platoon did a blitz ( I don't know why I didn't need to, as I still have ROF 2 if I move....), and it felt good to only need a 3+, and trained all guns at the T-64s in the field. The larger Leo II platoon with HQ could move near the forest and still just hit a few on the T-64s in the field. With such a long range they can really surprise your opponent, like they did here......
After all the fire, which was fairly average, there was 6 hits, which resulted in 2 brewed up T-64s, and one which was bailed twice, but passed his morale. Still a decent round of shooting
The Bailed tank on the left flank bravely got back in, and the right flank moved up, getting a few shots in the rear of the larger Leo 2 platoon. Unfortunately only 1 hit on the rear and with a 1 for firepower, it only bailed the Leo 2. They were hoping for better!
So this WG Turn really highlights how devastating the Leopard 2 can be. They killed 2 on the right flank and successfully passed a scoot and shoot to drop back and not be engaged in the next round. The 3 on the other flank against the 7 T-64s, hit 6 times, blew up 5 and bailed the other. Now this was with great rolls and poor armour saves from the T-64s, but I moved within 16" to make sure I got the best penetration possible.
So things went from bad to worse, the bailed T-64 on the flank, did not get back in, which mean they needed to do a good spirits check, which they failed twice.... So they ran off leaving their Captain to fight the 3 Leo 2 by himself, surely with the power of Marxism he will prevail...????
The smaller T-64 platoon decided to go forward and close the distance to try to negate the advantage of the Leo 2, they passed a successful blitz to be able to move on the hill and get a shot on them. Which they preceded to fail miserably, all they needed was a 4......
Well thats not good
So the WG HQ moved up to ask for the surrender of the Soviet commander, it was surely hopeless, he can have a good life in the West. He refused and moved his turrent to fire, so regrettably we had to destroy him. So sad these soviets, brainwashed.....
On the right, they were overconfident and missed all their shots.....
So with no HQ and only 1 platoon they should have automatically failed good spirits, but we decided to keep going, to teach the lazy Leo 2 platoon a lesson. The T-64s flanked the Leo 2s, who had not even moved, so confident they would have wiped them out. The T-64s showed typical soviet accuracy, but still killed one. That is a costly lesson that hopefully they will learn, the most dangerous enemy is the one with nothing to lose, and their over confidence cost them a Panzer. They will not forget this lesson.
They proceeded to kill all 3 T-64s, finishing the action, and had successfully stalled the Soviet push, but only for today. Tomorrow they will return, but in greater numbers......
So I still think tank on tank the Leo 2 is king, but it will always be a costly battle, and they cant take the loses. I was lucky in this battle and with just Tank on Tanks, the extra range, skill value,ROF and AP of the Leo 2 outclasses almost everything except maybe for the new M1AI ( i think thats it?).
I think the T-64 is a great tank, the adv stabilizers and AP really help it, as does the longer range of the songster. In our next battle you will see how it is useful to engage tanks that were previously just out of range in the T-72.
This was reasonably quick so we had another battle. Will put it up later. But we swapped sides to see how the terrain affected it
Id like to hear your thoughts below.
Fine AAR jagd, and a win at that.
its always a treat, to see Leopards being used well.
Interesting point HMS Belfast, didn’t think about taking multiple small platoons.
+++
These are interesting games, we ran a series last Firestorm with MBT only, the Soviets lost most battles, but that was T-72 only. The T-64 is just a little bit more expensive but has better armor and mobility. We might take a re-run this week. It gives a very good feel for the MBT-s and this is where the Leo 2 excels, in a target rich environment where his superiority is very useful.
Nice write up.
Courageous formation you took there 🙂
Good AAR and we need the successes!
6 more like these please 🙂
In a tank-on-tank engagement, clever use of 3-strong T64s will mean the Germans are outmatched on every front.
You can have 3×3 units in the formation + 1 as a divisional asset getting 1+12 T64 for a mere 6+(13×4) 58 points and there is no way the Leopard IIs can contend with this.
Of course you will bleed platoons like mad, but hoping for 6-1 wins in the nuclear age is wishful thinking.
Good to see you take the field, freund. And a win for a Leo 2 company too.
Quite the turkey shoot, nice to see some Leopard 2s in action!
but it would have been the same result
Lol, nope, played it wrong, oh well, too much V4
Hey Oberst, I think I played it right, you test for Good spirits at the start of the turn, after you remount, not at the end of the phase. and the HQ was not chosen to be with the platoon for that roll, for the reason, if he failed he would go as well. Your HQ i think still gives you the re roll for morale/remount ( i think, i have been playing alot of V4 MW recently).
So the T-64 guy rolled to get back in, failed, then the platoon failed its good spirits, re roll with HQ within 6″, failed again then ran. But I used the platoon morale value, not the HQ value. AS if I had joined him like you said, and failed twice. everyone would have ran.
Ill check the rules, i think I did it right?
80 points I think is pretty much the sweet spot for this game, nice report.
Glad to have you back Kommandant!
Nice video !
Well Done Commander!
Well done on this battle. The dice were rolling in your favor. Just a couple questions? How did the T64 platoon fail their motivation twice? If the commander jumped in to help with his roll and failed, I believe he runs with them. Second question is on the morale test. You test morale after shooting and then try and remount. Is that what you did?
Keep on winning boss.
Agree Bayankhan, I think that it work if probability works, and usually it does, but what does Han Solo say, never tell me the odds!!!
Yes I thought it was going to be more even, the dice helped, good for me and bad for him, but the Leo 2 is just a monster. But I think against T-55s for lots of BMPs they just cant kill enough. I sort of expected it to turn into more of a knife fight
I put my money on T64s. In point of fact, I have done exactly that. Remember the T64 and Leo II are also prey of attack helicopters, artillery barrages, ATGM. You burn one of my T64s with a missile, I’m down 4.33 points. I burn one of yours with a Spandrel, you are down 11. I survive intact 1/3 of the time and you survive intact 1/2 the time. I think the math speaks for itself.
As for tank on tank comparisons, I have to give it to the T-64 for mobility and price. 2-1 is hard odds to beat.
Congrats Herr General, and and an interesting test of our forces. You had me pulling my mustache there for a bit, but all’s well that ends well!
Please let me know what you think RE the T-64 and Leo 2