Armored assault special rule.(German special rule)

Ive used it a couple of times and it blows. In both cases I was slaughtered.
Pro's
1)you get the armor protection(side armor in assault) from your half track.

Con"s
1)Vehicle side armor(AV-0) is hit by defensive fire in assault. Most infantry teams are AT 2 with shooting.
2)Only one stand per halftrack can assault initially. This mean 4 stands.
3)You can still be pinned even in your halftracks.
4)If the halftrack is bailed your stands are pinned and exposed.
5)if they are destroyed your troops inside get a 5+ passenger save as opposed to their 3+ infantry save.

Comments?

It is pretty useless, only in very specific situations would it prove useful and even then... not so much. Never really seen the benefit of it unless you were going up against some real shitty infantry who happen to have somehow low AT.

It's actually much better then you think, but let me reread the rule before I comment further.

Please do. Ive read it several times...it sucks.

Kyle wrote:It is pretty useless, only in very specific situations would it prove useful and even then... not so much. Never really seen the benefit of it unless you were going up against some real shitty infantry who happen to have somehow low AT.

Exactly Kyle. REALLY SHITTY INFANTRY. Perhaps Russian infantry? Of course a unit of them contain 18 or so stands...the Germans would get 4 attacks for armored assault leaving at best 14 counter attacks,not to mention the 30000 defensive fire shots that can pin your half tracks. GARBAGE. Its better to prepare for a normal assault(artillery,pinning fire,flame thrower) and get your 6 attacks and cover fire from the half tracks.

Speed of assault is one thing, you can cover more distance, but you got to pick your targets more carefully as well when using it.

You can move further and die?

It's a very dependent rule, very situational so it's not that great of an ability of course. Outside of the speed thing, you also can attack weak spots without having to dismount your infantry.... like perhaps assaulting a unit of artillery from a flank or so. Attack, kill stuff, and hopefully not have to get out and be able to move on to another target.

I would rarely use it and think it's a pretty lame ability that is very narrowly focused.

Good point Kyle, it could be used to assault smaller infantry platoons or gun teams that aren't turnable ( no defensive fire). But as you found out, it's not that great a rule.

Ok, I reread the rules. I'm going to post something on the FOW forums about this to see if I'm right or not, but here is how I read it.


The Mounted Assault rule works best if you have the full platoon mounted up in half-tracks. If you do, then you have to remember this rule (and this is how it gets nasty):

"In the first Assault Combat Round, one infantry team carried as a passenger in each Transport team may fight as if it were a tank team"

If you have everyone in a half track, that means the whole platoon counts as tank teams. This means that even if your opponent gets 5 hits, you can continue your assault because your tank teams (remember, tanks don't care about being pinned).

If you have any infantry that our out in the open, then yes, if you take 5 hits then your boned, cause then your pinned (they don't count as tank teams).

Basically, the mounted assault rule works great for this reason. You go in, the first round you lay the smack with 4 or 5 veteran teams. Your opponent has to roll motivation to assault you (your still tank teams until the counter assault) and then you get to dismounted. Against MOST infantry your only needing to pass a 2+ to be free (if they bail the crew you just dismount).

So anyways, I think they are pretty useful, but like any National Special Rule, require a certain skill to use effectively. I will double-check the rules though.

From what I read you could still be pinned. Ill have to reread it.

rokassan wrote:From what I read you could still be pinned. Ill have to reread it.

Yeah, the rule assumes not every team in the platoon will be able to have its own half-track. I'd like to see if it works any differently when the entire platoon has a 1:1/Team:Transport ratio.

Does it also work if any non-half-tracked teams are well out of range of the assault, as an isolated group?

If a team is treated as a tank team for the assault, I would assume they simply ignore the pinned status temporarily, but again that is limited to only that one team basically.

That's not right. Transports can never assualt. The Rule basically makes them tank teams for assualting purposes. But because they are open topped (NOT fully armored) they can still be pinned. It's the same for the Universal Carriers. They are Tank Teams but can be pinned by defensive fire because they are not fully armored tank teams.

Here's the definition.

Tank teams with a top armour of 1 or more can assault, and ignore pinning

Tank teams with top armour of 0, can assault, but can be pinned and will be forced back by 5 hits in defensive fire (this includes Marders, M10, Priests, Sextons etc...)

anything with top armour '-' cannot assault and will have to fall back.

The 1/2 tracks, as tank teams, should still cause the target of the assault to take the motivation test to assault you.

So, it's great against crappy troops, but gets worse as troops up in status

In conclusion...it sucks like I said. Shit troops usually are in large formations. I dont see the point. Hey I can "armored assault" a broken unit of conscipts. Real useful.

If you've pinned your enemy before hand with MG fire and you come in at the right angle (to reduce the number of shots in) then it becomes useful. I think the biggest benefit is that you can drive up, unload your passenger fired MG dice, and then assault.

But then again, it's the way it is I guess.

I still think it really only is useful for performing quick assaults on weak units like gun teams that can't do much else, and the speed will help you easily flank them. Outside of that it's very much not all that useful unless to perhaps mop up an already weakened opponent when you want to hit and run without having to deal with dismounting and remounting infantry.

It's not something a person would use often and not a big benefit, just a little extra option some german units can do.

scurrdi wrote:If you've pinned your enemy before hand with MG fire and you come in at the right angle (to reduce the number of shots in) then it becomes useful. I think the biggest benefit is that you can drive up, unload your passenger fired MG dice, and then assault.

But then again, it's the way it is I guess.

You can still use your MG's from the halftracks and not be mounted. Then if a half track is destroyed your men arent in it. Rufus was blasting my Halftracks with PIAT's and AT2 MG's on Armor 0 and pinning them with defensive fire. When I did manage to pin them I was only allotted 4 attacks because the rest of my guys are inside the vehicles. If my Half Tracks were destroyed I was getting 5+ passenger saves and not my 3+. Ive used this rule several times.I do consider myself an above average player and the rule doesnt work. Have any of you used the rule? Try it and see what you think(beyond just reading the rule).

I got run down by it first round of recon. Then again, we were playing Encounter and I failed my dig-in roll. He pinned me and assaulted and knocked the platoon silly. I was playing American Infantry.

Then again, I was much un-wise back then.

You must have rolled horrid. He was lucky.

What the hell were you doing trying a mounted assault against PIATs and MG's?

That's asking for it...