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kris gorham
United States
albuquerque
New Mexico
I wasn't born ! I sprang from the forhead of God , as he contemplated a particularly vile joke !
I wasn't born , I was hatched in the deepest darkest part of the ocean , and raised by sharks !
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PANZER KAMPFLAUFER II-T “FRITZ”
So many years , so many lives lost . This war has drug on for so very long , and none of the sides involved can afford to give an inch or show any weakness .
Lessons learned have come at the cost of millions of lives lost .
Up until now , military advances have followed hand in hand with the limiting factors of a battle field , planned out in advance by the generals of all the great powers involved . Until now , most advances were really just improvements in how to deal with the same problems that the world powers had dealt with in the last 500 years of imperialism using the new options that technology has brought about .
Up until this war , battles had little long lasting effect on the populace at large .
But this is a new war , with new technologies , new weapons , and a new threat from beyond our world .
With the war stretching on so long , and the vindictiveness of the generals on all sides ; this war has left ravaged burnt cities , reduced to rubble by bombing and bombardment , with millions of displaced civilians left to fend for them selves in the ruins .
Ironically , even with so many cities reduced to worthless scars on the landscape , the major powers have still fought bloody campaigns to take and hold what they cant afford to rebuild , even after they have advanced far beyond .
Within the cluttered pockmarked streets of Stalingrad , the limitations of walkers becomes apparent . The uneven ground , the crumbling buildings , and enemy infantry crawling every where to set up ambushes ; the Ludwigs and Lathers were just too hard to maneuver to where they were needed , their fire power was wasted , and lives were lost .
A new solution had to be found for fighting in the wrecked cities that now dot the world with ever increasing frequency .
Enter the PANZER KAMPFLAUFER II-M “FRITZ” . the Fritz fires twin 88’s , like the Ludwig , but with substantially shorter specially made barrels , allowing it to maneuver into places many other walkers cant . This added maneuverability comes at a substantial loss of range , but in the close confines of a ruined city , that’s just fine .
While it may seem like an easy transition from piloting a Ludwig to piloting a Fritz , Fritz pilots are chosen from among the best of the best . Each pilot is chosen just as much for their mental attributes as for the piloting skills . Each candidate must be able to keep his concentration when stalking an enemy walker , and keep his nerve when he has to charge an enemy emplacement . And in the thick of it all , Fritz pilots are trained to get the most out of their walkers performance .
Piloting a Fritz appeals to Europeans romanticism with the ideas of big game hunting , and deadly duels , and as such Fritz pilots become well know amongst the military and civilian populace alike , so there is no shortage of volunteers to join the program .
Because of the specialized role the Fritz , and the stringent guidelines for selecting pilots , each company will normally have only 2 or 3 , though their maneuverability is making them somewhat popular with units fighting in dense jungle terrain , where their compact shape helps them maneuver through the jungle vegetation .
Another unit I built with the units I traded from the comic store .
I built it because as I sat there and contemplated adding yet another Ludwig/Luther to my forces , I wanted something a little different , and since no one else seems to have done this one , I thought I would .
Its so simple , and yet there are so many examples of snub nosed tanks , that I couldn’t resist . Once it was put together , it just fit so perfectly , and IMHO looked so awesome !
I have seen a lot of people wanting to add fast to some units , especially light German walkers , but to me that destroys the flavor of the German units , and should be reserved for special exceptions to the rule .
To make it more maneuverable , as the fluff implies , I added agile , which in confined areas really doesn’t do anything , since it doesn’t help it cut corners . So agile becomes more of a fluff ability .
To give just a tiny bit of UMPH to the design , to make up for its greatly decreased range AND to fall in line with the idea of the specialized training , I added in medal of honor , so it can re-roll one die per shot .
To represent its charging enemy positions and such , I gave it single use assault . While not terribly wonderful , over the course of play testing it , it did let me pull off a couple of moves that put my opponent in a tough spot as it arrived in the nick of time to support other units .
While these 3 abilities may seem like a lot of beat stick , its really didn’t play out that way . With so many fast units with fast , or speed 2 and jump , its very vulnerable in small board environments where they can attack it early on in the game . In larger boards , it played much better as a deterrent than an attacking unit because other units with range U were just to ready to step up and blast it at range .
Initially , my opponents were alarmed at the number of abilities it had , but that’s why we play test units . As many times as we do . I always ask for input by my opponents when I play test , by the end of play testing this walker , everyone agreed that it wasn’t the beat stick they thought it would be .
And I added “ I’ll make you famous 6” to give my opponent a little incentive to come get it !
While a 6 range may not seem that short to some , keep in mind that we generally play on MUCH larger battle fields than most other people do .
Special ability
"I'll Make You Famous # " : this unit is a high priority target , thus if it is destroyed , the unit counts as "#" points for deciding victory points conditions .
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