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Well after being very amused by the last Death korps vs Catachan thread, I was just thinking of the spinoff it inspired of what would happen if...

I own both steel legion and death korps (Enough men to make a 1500 vet list combined army anyway) and I kept thinking to myself who's got the better chance of a victory given these two excellent armies.

Mobile armored companies vs dug in ground troops and arty. I'm leaning to steel legion as that seems to be pretty much like modern battlefields but then again 6th edition is giving me so many good fights with good cover infantry numbers bolstered by high powered anti-tank fire capabilities which seems to be the mode of warfare that will be good at countering tank charges i.e. tanks really dislike fighting in urban dug in areas where infantry with anti-tank weapons are really deadly.

What do you guys think?

By way of logic, steel legion should win. IRL, blitzkrieg destroys trench warfare, and Steel Legion uses blitzkrieg tactics. Guess what sort of tactics DKoK uses?

Fluff wise or gamewise ?

I've just witnessed some really nasty FW DKoK lists in some threads. I'd throw my hat in favor of the Death Korps.

Fluff wise it would be a matter of opinion I think !
I see your point with the modern battlefields, but this is 40k, and things get grimdark real fast
But i'd also go for the DkoK.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Rabtorian wrote:
By way of logic, steel legion should win. IRL, blitzkrieg destroys trench warfare, and Steel Legion uses blitzkrieg tactics. Guess what sort of tactics DKoK uses?

That was true in WW2, but this is 40k.
What I mean is the nature of the actual wars are different, and there objectives vary. The whole reason why the Blitz was so effective, is down to the fact that they had different objectives like capturing cities and threatening civilians populations/politicians in power. Symbolism was important.
In the grimdark universe there is no point, most cities have walls as high as dams, and your main objective is the annihilation your opponent. The DkoK would never surrender, not giving a rats ass if you where sacking some towns. There here for you, to attack your army and not your nation.

Well, judging by how the imperium usually reacts to infighting...

I'd say the Minotaurs would win this one, boys.

As much as I love the DKoK, as often as I post in their favor, I actually went for a draw. At the moment I won't elaborate (might later on) but I sincerely think that the mobility of the Steel Legion and the peerless static defences of the DKoK would each cancel out the other. Both forces are highly dedicated to the Imperium, both are incredibly professional fighting forces and excel at fighting 'stand-up' battles. Whilst 'static defences' are just one part of warfare the DKoK excel at, they're more than capable of fighting brilliantly in open terrain - as they're focused on Great War troops & that conflict, there was a lot of fighting between 1914-1918 that didn't involve even a whiff of a trench.

Just to make a point, mobility/blitzkrieg tactics only work if your opponent lets them work. In May 1940 if the Allied forces had had decent distribution of radios to their units & communication between the BEF & ArFr had been better (as well as the French Generals being more motivated - they were mostly old men stuck in the mindset of the 1914-1918 war) then the course of the Battle of France would have been very different indeed. The panic as Panzer Divisions plunged deep behind enemy lines prevented the French Generals from plugging their lines & cutting off the Panzer Divisions from their logistical supply. No fuel, no food, no ammunition = ineffective tank division.

 Rabtorian wrote:
By way of logic, steel legion should win. IRL, blitzkrieg destroys trench warfare, and Steel Legion uses blitzkrieg tactics. Guess what sort of tactics DKoK uses?

Not exactly, it depends on the defenses and the combat plans/objectives.

The advantage of Blitzkrieg is that it can go around the hardest defended positions and concentrate against two points allowing them to isolate and effectivelly neutralizing the strongest fortifications. However this relies on them achieving a breakthrough in the first place.

The advantage of defense lines is that it causes critical damage to the enemy AND slows them down giving you time to react. Mine no man's land and shell the hell out of it before hand = tankers/APCs worst nightmare because they are slowed down so much. Slow Blitizkrieg = defeated Blitzkrieg

So in short, does Krieg have time to deploy defenses? If so Ill put my money on Krieg (conventional military doctrine is if you are assaulting a position, you need at LEAST 3 to 1 to even have a chance of succeeding.) If the Steel Legion can assault the Krieg lines before they are properly made, than Steel Legion will win by the ability to simply redeploy faster.


Blitzkrieg has never actually been tested on a trench network because that would feth up the plan greatly because at the very least, it would slow the force down enough for the defender to react.

DKOK would win, just because they're that sweet.

I forgot to add,

This is assuming Krieg doesnt say "feth it" and make a stronghold around the spaceport in which case they pretty much auto win as Blitizkrieg is worthless there.

Well I'm with the DKoK on this. Blitzkrieg is effective, but we have to take into count of the things we dont see on TT, Major AT implacments. If the DKok have a fully set up Defence Line the Steel legion will have a really hard time winning. Between Artiliry shields, large and small AT weapons I don't see the legion getting close. Of corse I can be wrong and the Steel legion could wipe the floor with them, But I don't see it happing.

I think the Steel Legion can win because I love mustard-yellow coats. They're seriously my favorite guard regiment because yellow is awesome.

As for the fight, depends on the circumstances. How much time to the DK have to fortify? What numbers does each side have? What supplies, weaponry, and vehicles does each side have? What terrain are they fighting in?

If we are taling about assulting a city DKoK wins hands down due to their skills at said task. same goes for defensive and prolonged campagins against a enemy.
If we are talking about a all out mechanized figth tehn it could go both ways really.