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I think I'm going to go with an Infantry army after reading several of the book (still trying to figure out which nation to play).

But I'm trying to figure out how to deal with tank heavy opponents if I'm running an infantry list.

Most armies have options for bazooka's or something similiar, but they have limited range.

AT guns seem to be good, but line of sight could be an issue.

Are artillery and rocket launchers usually the best way to deal with tanks? Or are infantry lists that face tanks usually better to just try and hold objectives instead of try to wipe out the enemy?

Do mortars hit against the top armor of a tank? If so, are they remotely effective against tanks?

What other options to most infantry lists have against tank heavy lists?

A AT gun is static and once fired its concealment is gone and every tank with LOS is going to try to take it out. A bazooka team has mobility and can "shoot and move".

It really depends what army you play.

For instance with my British para's

I have PIAT's in the infantry platoons to deal with tanks

6 pdrs just behind the infantry so they can add their shots to defensive fire if assaulted (remember it's resolved against side armour!) or they can shoot directly at the enemy if low armour - and as 'medium' guns are mobile

I can then have 17pdrs to shoot the enemy at long range

And have artillery ranging down on them to stop them staying still!

Or I could have my German Volksgrenadier where every infantry stand has a panzerfausts!

Infantry can look after themselves imho

 Lunar Eclipse wrote:
I think I'm going to go with an Infantry army after reading several of the book (still trying to figure out which nation to play).

But I'm trying to figure out how to deal with tank heavy opponents if I'm running an infantry list.

Most armies have options for bazooka's or something similiar, but they have limited range.

AT guns seem to be good, but line of sight could be an issue.

Are artillery and rocket launchers usually the best way to deal with tanks? Or are infantry lists that face tanks usually better to just try and hold objectives instead of try to wipe out the enemy?

Do mortars hit against the top armor of a tank? If so, are they remotely effective against tanks?

What other options to most infantry lists have against tank heavy lists?

From my limited experience, heavy artillery/aircraft are okay for tanking out heavy tanks when hitting their top armor if you're struggling to get flank shots in, but can be unreliable to hit the target. Lighter artillery can have troubles with Tigers since they have better top armor. Artillery can also become AT guns in a pinch. However, heavy tanks are expensive and can only put out so much damage against infantry en masse. You would probably be just as well leaving them be if possible and focus on their support.

hERE IS MY ANSWER 155 BATTERTY.

One of my favourite games was against a soviet heavy tank list, the game was mobile battle, so I elected to use the paras to night attack - when i could deploy my entire spearheading, artillery using army against 2 platoons of heavy tanks, I managed to attack, wipe them out before any reserves even arrived

Hevay tanks aren't really an issue for infantry, they don't have enough shots to seriously worry you and infantry AT weapons, even pioneers, are usually enough to deal with them in assaults.

The key with infantry is to keep gone to ground as long as possible, my infantry almost never fires except in defensive fire. Concealed veterans that have gone to ground will need 6s to hit which means that a full platoon of tanks can fire at a dug in infantry platoon and not cause a single casualty. If you have to attack you will need to use smoke and terrain to cover your approach but even so the average heavy tank platoon will have struggle to get enough hits on an infantry platoon in defensive fire to even pin a veteran infantry platoon.

You will need something to worry tanks at long range, artillery is a good choice as well as some kind of heavy AT guns. My ideal set up is 3 full platoons of infantry with integral AT weapons, a heavy mortar platoon, a medium mortar platoon, a platoon of medium AT guns and a self propelled heavy AT platoon.

What about rocket launchers? Are they much use against tanks?

yes and no!

As artillery they have AT3 usually and a 3/4+ Firepower, so not a great chance of a kill even it top armour is 1!

However the 15cm Nebelwerfer can drop a smoke bombardment, making it easier for infantry to assault

 Lunar Eclipse wrote:
What about rocket launchers? Are they much use against tanks?

No, their bombardment is weak against armour and mortars are cheaper for smoke bombardments. Artillery in general isn't that good against tanks with top armour 2 (except for heavy artillery and even then they aren't great), they are good from a psychological point of view though as people tend to spead out in the face of templates and anything with the ability to fire smoke is always useful.

dug in, gone to ground, veterans on an objective can all present nasty headaches for a tank player, especially one who isn't experienced at using them. In my experience, don't be afraid to hunker down and take the blow from time to time.

AT guns in ambush can be extremely deadly. Even more so if you are able to get side shots.

Don't dis artillery... My 155mm Howitzers have taken out more tanks than my tank destroyers have. FACT. Okay I have them in almost every list I ever take, but still...
Dropping an arty shell on a tank may seem like a cheap way of taking them out, but I find it's effective. Harass the tanks as they close in on you; whittling them down so your AT guns and tanks can mop up the rest

Hell, my Priests (AT 4, FP 4+) took out a Tiger on thursday!

Using artillery to take out tanks is something you do when the opportunity presents itself, but not a plan to rely on.

And here's why:

Heavy tanks means fewer tanks, due to their points costs. That also means your opponent is going to be more careful with them and have an easier time spreading the unit out as he doesn't have as many hulls to cram into the same area. So, it's very unlikely that you will ever catch more than one, maybe two, tanks under the template at any given time. Then you still have to range in, hit, he gets hiss save and then you have to roll firepower. Your opponent isn't going to sit there smiling letting you take your sweet time pummeling his tanks for 12 turns either. You might get a few bombardments off against them, and that's going to be it. End result: unless you get lucky you won't even kill enough heavy tanks to force a platoon check. Planning on getting lucky or your opponent making stupid mistakes is not a good plan.

Stay concealed and let them make a mistake. Like getting into assault range of you.

You either use any many portable AT weapons. Americans should have Bazookas coming out of your ears, my buddies 1500 point American list has 20 bazookas and he isn't even trying. And Pioneers are the next best thing. Germans can get Panzerfausts, Panzershreks, and Panzerknackers with just about every one.

Artillery is not a great idea to rely on for anti-tank. Its nice when it happens but at best you are probably looking at a bail. Tanks with top armor 1 are easily smoked by even basic infantry, so its only top armor 2 you care about. And most artillery is going to find it tough to crack.



Really, if you take a reasonable amount of bazookas/panzershreks/fausts/gammon bombs/etc... you'll be fine. Infantry lists > Heavy armor in my experience.

My meta for a while was very tank heavy. Everyone played armored companies. Then I started playing FJ. People learned to hate playing against infantry.

jamestheyank wrote:

Hell, my Priests (AT 4, FP 4+) took out a Tiger on thursday!

Now that was a lucky shot...I have had 3 T-26s take out 3 T-34s once but its not something that I would rely on happening very often....

WWPD.net made up an interesting table that showed the kill chance for each type of artillery against top armour 0/1/2 tanks and the odds were not good, light artillery (AT4, 4+ FP) had around a 10% of killing a TA 1 tank, medium mortars actually have a higher chance of a kill which is one of the reasons why I take them over regular artillery. My internet connection is hopeless at the moment so I can't find the link but it will be there somewhere.

I still swear by my 155 BAttery.GErman 15.5 or brit,5.5 Artilery ,the only bad side is gettng them hit roll.But also a AOP helps alot. 5s and 2 are pretty decent,My one time lucky shot was a 105 Howitzer taking out a KT.
Played last nite,My opponents 155 battery put the smack down on my Panzer iv platoons.We played a 2000 pt Veteran only Armor battle.