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I am thinking about Americans, Germans, or Russians. I'll probably do Russians if they're generally pretty easy to learn and they can have plenty of tanks and don't cost substantially more.

How are the armies in terms of flexibility in army types? Can the Russians be good with tanks, even though I heard that is the German specialty?

I haven't been playing too long, but I will try to offer some insight.

Each of the armies has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example, the German troops are generally well trained and have good equipment. The downside to this is that the armies cost more points wise, and so have less in them. Conversely the Russians have way more in the army as a whole. Again though, there is a downside as the Russians don't have as good training as the Germans, and don't have as much support (they completely lack smoke I believe) As far as armies being good at certain things, its all in playing to the unit's strengths. Russians can take the most tanks out of anyone, so you'd want to take advantage of that and run 7-8+ tanks/unit.

Inquisitor Ehrenstein wrote:I am thinking about Americans, Germans, or Russians. I'll probably do Russians if they're generally pretty easy to learn and they can have plenty of tanks and don't cost substantially more.

How are the armies in terms of flexibility in army types? Can the Russians be good with tanks, even though I heard that is the German specialty?

There really is no bad choice, but there are some things to keep in mind. Russians are usually either conscript or trained. There are no veteran lists that I am aware of.Yes, the Russians have good tanks. But they are expensive dollar wise to start. Since many of their lists uses hordes of infantry and tanks. But, the Russians do have great tanks, they can tank tons of them, and they get them cheap point wise. But there are certain rules like "Hen and Chickens" to balance them out. If any tank in a Russian tank company moves, their rate of fire is reduced. If they already had a ROF of 1 them opponent's roll to hit is higher. You need 6s to hit instead of 5+.

What army should I start?

Which ever one you will enjoy painting the most and holds the most interest for you.

Inquisitor Ehrenstein wrote:I am thinking about Americans, Germans, or Russians. I'll probably do Russians if they're generally pretty easy to learn and they can have plenty of tanks and don't cost substantially more.

How are the armies in terms of flexibility in army types? Can the Russians be good with tanks, even though I heard that is the German specialty?

In addition to which army to start, it would be best to decide which period you want to play before starting the army.

The best way to decide on period is whichever is the most played in your area. So I would suggest you find out if Mid War or Late War is played in your area once you decide on your army.

Germans are probably the easiest to start with, Grenadiers if you have a decent budget and Panzers if you want to do a list on the cheap.

Big P wrote:

What army should I start?

Which ever one you will enjoy painting the most and holds the most interest for you.

Agreed, collect whatever interests you the most.

I myself collect Panzer Lehr as they have probably the best selection of units outside the SS. I also enjoy the history/tragedy behind the kopmpany so therefore I find that a great excuse to collect them.

However, they don't have access to either Elefants or Jagdpanthers so I'm just going to buy them and paint them anyway. I'll figure out a list I can put them in at some point.

Cwen wrote:

However, they don't have access to either Elefants or Jagdpanthers so I'm just going to buy them and paint them anyway. I'll figure out a list I can put them in at some point.

Well technically, you could have jagdpanthers.

Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 559 was equipped with Jagdpanthers and attached to Panzer Lehr from December 1944 to the end of January 1945. It was an independant unit so did not carry Lehr markings but it fought as a divisional attachment.

Cwen wrote:

Big P wrote:

What army should I start?

Which ever one you will enjoy painting the most and holds the most interest for you.

Agreed, collect whatever interests you the most.

I myself collect Panzer Lehr as they have probably the best selection of units outside the SS. I also enjoy the history/tragedy behind the kopmpany so therefore I find that a great excuse to collect them.

However, they don't have access to either Elefants or Jagdpanthers so I'm just going to buy them and paint them anyway. I'll figure out a list I can put them in at some point.

Do you have to play an actual unit, rather than putting together an army with generally accurate units for the time period?

I suspect that is up to you.

Some player will build whatever they fancy, others may stick to a historical formation.

Thats the beauty of wargaming, you can do what you want to.

I dont play FOW but I tend to theme my forces to one particular force, but in a way that allows generic use.

You ccan build a list to represent a specifc unit but the army lists are usually stocked with sufficent options to cover the majority of 'average' units. From a gameplay persepctive specific units only get their own lists if there is something unique about them (or if they are famous).

One thing I have discovered as I have branched out into Soviets.

Those Russians didn't really go with the whole multitasking idea.

Take the basic tank. The German's have "protected ammo", shurzen, two machine guns and a decent anti tank gun on the basic Px IV H.

You get speed and MGs on the T-34 for the Russians, but if you want to bump up to the better AT gun, you end up loosing the speed advantage your T-34s had.

German assault guns generally have a MG on them to help against infantry...both assualting and being assualted.

Russian assault guns lack that MG. Without it, unless tanks are rolling in, they are pretty useless when being assaulted.

With Russians, you might be able to pound in that nail with a screwdriver, but its going to hurt alot and may not be completely successful. Germans typically have put a basic screwdriver on the end of thier hammer, but it ups the cost considerably.

Shotgun wrote:
With Russians, you might be able to pound in that nail with a screwdriver, but its going to hurt alot and may not be completely successful.

Welcome to the general soviet strategy for the majority of WWII: Throw enough bodies at the problem and the enemy will fall. Its hard to fight back when you're swimming in corpses.
Also, where do you think the idea for Commisars in the IG came from?

Anyone want a brush for those sweeping statements?

Big P wrote:

Well technically, you could have jagdpanthers.

Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 559 was equipped with Jagdpanthers and attached to Panzer Lehr from December 1944 to the end of January 1945. It was an independant unit so did not carry Lehr markings but it fought as a divisional attachment.

True, but this isn't in the Earth and Steel book (which is what I'm building my list from). I imagine they will be in the new Devil's Charge book which covers the battle of the bulge and Piper's push for Antwerp. If I collected that then my already painted Panzergrenadiers would be very cold given they're painted without winter clothing =)

Inquisitor Ehrenstein wrote:Do you have to play an actual unit, rather than putting together an army with generally accurate units for the time period?

You don't have to collect a historically acurate list if your not fussed about that. The forces book included in the v3 rulebook has a generic army list for the big 4 countries in the late period. So you will be able to put together lists of mixed units.

If I did that I could use an Elefant in my list =)