USA vs Germany

[Ninja3030]

More often than not, the debate over which Axis and Allies country is the most powerful comes up during any given match. Both the US and Germany have excellent units, no doubt, but I am convinced that Germany is the superior country. When all factors are combined, I believe that Germany is superior to the US in gaming terms. Germany has a wider range of useful units from which to choose, has better early year units and has much better infantry. It’s for these reasons that I believe Germany has the better force.

Now, some people believe that the US is stacked and that all of its units are better than any other nation in the game. Aside from the obvious super mortar, I believe that this sort of thinking is also bunk. The US has great units, but it certainly does not hold a corner on the best-units-market in this great game. Listed below are some of the unit categories in the game. I will compare some US units with some German units to demonstrate that US units are not universally better than any other units and that in many instances the Germans have better combat units.

Tanks- The US has one of the coolest medium tanks in the game, the Sherman. It is cheap, its fast and it packs a punch against medium tanks and any infantry. The Sherman's best feature is its many varieties that it comes in. Rhinos are great for cutting brush, Chaffees are good for scouting (spotting), Calliopes are great for killing infantry and the 105 is a great bombardment weapon. Still, compared with the Germans, the Sherman family seems sub-par. Brumbars are cheaper and far better defended than its 105 counterpart, despite throwing two fewer attack dice. German medium tanks such as the Panther Ausf. D offers much better defense than any Sherman type tank and also offers extended range and pack a better punch versus vehicles.
When it comes to tank destroyers, the US has the game's highest attack value unit, the M36 MGC. This tank destroyer is also the most heavily armored tank destroyers, boasting a forward armor of 5. It also moves at a lightning speed of 4 which is great for tank hunters. Still, this is all the US has in terms of specialized tank hunters. Not much in terms of variety. It is expensive too- 36 points. The Germans, on the other hand, have a wide variety of units that make appearances starting as early as 1942. Marders are more than twice as cheap as the M36 MGC and almost as effective in terms of punching power. Hetzers and Nashorns offer a wide variety of choices for tank destroyers that give the German army options where none exist in the US.
Heavy Tanks- Is there any contest? Tigers and Elefants will mop up a Pershing any day... and for less points.
Light tanks are one of the US's decided weaknesses. They do not have any. The Germans, on the other hand, have a wide array of light tanks with many different special abilities that come immediately into play in 1939. Stugs, Flamingos and Elite Panzer 4s are all great units that are consistently cheap and effective vs. infantry and light vehicles.
What the US lacks in light tanks it almost makes up for in half tracks...almost.
Fighting platforms and transport are options that are available to the US, but these abilities are also open to the Germans, and at cheaper costs. The one half track that the US has that is better than anything that the Germans have is the M16 Halftrack. There is no denying that this unit (especially with the new overwatch and grazing fire rules) is awesome compared to contemporary German half tracks or armored cars. Still, the M16 is pretty expensive for an armored car.
Another contest in the light vehicle arena would pit the German Puma against the US Greyhound. The Greyhound is much cheaper, has a better strike and fade and poses a serious threat to the German sniper. The Puma, however, hits much harder, is better armored and moves faster. This area is a toss up between the US and Germany. Both units are great.
Commanders- The German Hammy is a 7 point commander that offers a +3 to initiative and gives the very useful Exert Will ability. This commander seems more useful than the Red Devil Captain, although the RDC is much better in combat than the Hammy. The American Screaming Eagle Captain is also a good commander but it is expensive and is only available in 1944. Furthermore, the Screaming Eagle Captain only gives other paratroopers benefits and only gives an initiative bonus once he is on the board. The German Oberteutnant is also expensive, but offers his Angriff ability to all other infantry rather than just a certain few.
US infantry in general are a versatile group of soldiers. They literally can do a little of everything. In fact, the US have the BAR gunner which provides covering fire, a special ability that German infantry do not have. Despite the completeness of the US infantry forces, I believe that the German elite ground troopers are much better. Their panzershreks are better than bazookas, their SS panzer grenadiers and SS Stormtroopers are better than Rangers (this is of course my subjective opinion) and German machine guns are better, too. The Americans have one option for a machine gun, the Quad 50. This is a good weapon, but the Germans have two choices of machine gun which have better attack values and are not crippled by the relocate option. The Quad 50 does, however, boast anti air and a new grazing-fire overwatch option.
When it comes to Snipers and Heroes, the Germans are clearly the winners in both categories, no questions asked.
Aircraft- American aircraft are great, but still pale in comparison to the versatile German air force. The ME262 dances around the mustang while the Stuka puts the corsair to shame (in ground attacks). The only slight advantage that American aircraft hold over German planes is the P38's ability to strafe targets. This ability is admittedly awesome for the Americans.
Mortars- American mortars offer a huge advantage that no other country is privy to. The improved indirect fire is something that the Germans cannot come close to reproducing. Indeed, the Americans clearly have the advantage here, but I believe that this advantage is not a game deciding point. I believe that the Germans have plenty of good options to eliminate the threat of American mortars in every match. This, however, is a topic for some other night.

So are the Americans a powerhouse that overshadows all other units in this game? Are they the biggest, baddest most over privileged army in this minis game? I don’t think so. They are tough, no doubt, but I do find them any tougher than the Germans. If anything, the Germans are a more resourceful army that has a wider array of units that give more options for victory.

Any thoughts?

[Jason]

Everyday I am surprised I am not reading this in German.

[Uncle_Joe]

Good luck with this one. I tend to share your opinion but you'll be hard-pressed to make a dent in most of the die-hard 'WotC is Ami-biased' crowd. They are still largely living in Set II where the Sherman and the SE Paras were fairly dominant.

My personal opinion is that while the US has many great units, Germany tend to get some entire capabilities that the US lacks. The US units are good at what they do, but they cant do the same things that the Germans can. About the only real capability that the US that German lacks is the 81mm Mortar (which I'll happily agree is utterly broken and stupid).

In the end, you can do so much more with Germany than with the US. The US can do a few things very well, but they lack the variety and 'change-up' ability of the Germans and that means that in the long run, Germany is superior IMO.

[Grenzewolf]

Point of order. The Chaffee is not a member of the Sherman family, and is a light Recon Tank. Historicaly, in my opionion probably the best light tank of the war. I am biased on this as I worked with an operational one in my Cav Unit while stationed in Germany.

[PvtFirefly]

I agree 100% with the Germans being superior to the Americans in game. Their tanks are better, their infantry are better, bar none. The main reason, IMO, Germany is able to conquer the US in scenarios is the points system. Quantity versus quality is hard to represent in the miniatures game. At least that has been my problem.

[Rognar65]

I have to disagree with the majority here. Germany has a bewildering array of options when it comes to destroying tanks, but infantry rules in this game and the Yanks have better infantry. You want to go up close? The Marine flamethrowers are cheap and deadly, even against 5/5 infantry. You want long-range, the US has those dreaded mortars. You want to bring those impressive German snipers, the Americans can counter with Greyhounds

[oddfellow]

I think that if you rated all units in the game, Germany would hold many(most?) of the top ten slots, but 10-30 would be dominated by American units. German has the greatest number of "Excellent" units, but US has more "Really Good" units... if that makes sense.

[UncaBret]

Originally Posted by Grenzewolf

The Chaffee is not a member of the Sherman family, and is a light Recon Tank. Historicaly, in my opionion probably the best light tank of the war.

You're not alone. Even my 'pro-German' friends admit that!

The Panther is better than the Sherman. It should be, it weighs twice as much! Any other country would have considered it a heavy.
In my opinion, the Sherman should be compared to the PzIII and PzIV as they where the most common German tanks. The Sherman was superior to the PzIII and kept pace with the PzIV.

[Harold76]

Vet Tiger. 'nuff said.

[Rognar65]

Originally Posted by Harold76

Vet Tiger. 'nuff said.

I'll put my all-infantry American build up against your Vet Tiger any day.