WDBS#2 Free Nations Infantry ANZAC & Canadians

WDBS - What Does Bear Say is a Soviet centric perspective on all things Team Yankee and Flames of War. 

The first installment which covered the Dutch and the French can be found here: WDBS#1

Free Nations Canadian Infantry

The Canucks are here. Ever polite and always considerate, they have brought the Best of their American and colonial roots. Their infantry combines some of the best and they are one of the toughest around.

1.1 Firepower

The Canadians seem to be a little shorter range in terms of threat, they have a 16" threat range. so generally speaking they can't threaten much. They do have 3 Gustavs and a GPMG which largely follows the British meaning they are exceptionally geared towards absorbing a charge whether by vehicles or Infantry.

1.2 Canadian Size and holding power

The Canadians platoons are 8 stands strong! the smaller version is 6 stand strong. Regardless of pinned status, they can lay down a withering level of fire. They have no guided weapons so everyone fires in Defensive fire. If pinned, they can lay down an average of 7.28 hits on Soviet Infantry (3+ for the Mgs and 4+ for the Slowfiring weapons). This means, not to even bother charging without pinning.

Their 3 Carl Gustavs mean that they can certainly smash the enemy Armour if they attempt to overrun them. do not charge with your MBTs into this. its not worth the risk. The only real chance you have on this is to take out the GPMG before attempting the charge and to get 12 stands in on the charge or be forced back.

1.3 Assaults

The Canadians seem to follow most of the NATO forces not on the front line Their morale. rally and counter attack are all a coin flip at 4+. Their assault is 4+ so assaulting is risky venture, but Carl gustavs benefit from being a medium stand and don't go to assault 5 the same way Dragons or Milans would. This means that a full unit of these guys in an assault would do 3.66 hits per assault phase. compare that with the average of 3.33 of all 10 stands of Soviet infantry AK getting into combat. 

1.4 What Does Bear Say

These infantry are going to be almost as hard as British infantry. They are cheaper and have better transports. An often overlooked thing is that M113s are miles better than FV432 because their armour can stand up against our BTRs and the 0.5Cal could even kill them. This makes clearer the Canucks out a much harder proposition. You would need to clear out the M113s to ensure your vehicles are safe but otherwise i reccomend circumventing these guys since their threat range is relatively short at 16". Considering their average hits is just under the 8 needed to pin a large soviet force, they could rally and spray you down with a withering 17 shots to the face which would decimate a motor rifle platoon.

Free nations Infantry ANZAC

The boys from down under have finally arrived. They are a fierce lot and have had decorated careers in about every major conflict the world has seen. Lets continue to the Australians

 1.1 Firepower

The Australians seem to have a specific role to fulfill on the battlefield. Area denial. They dont have any ATGMS that can threaten anything out of 16" which is a pretty big problem from a defensive standpoint. While they are fairly standard short range infantry defense. They do get an increased rating on Firepower because of their transports. Most transports are either MG or 0.50 Cal. This variant of a turreted 0.50 Cal means it gets 4 shots stationary and 3 shots on the move even with an AT 4 to back up two of those shots. Do bear in mind that while the turret does nothing for your "Top armour" it actually takes away the AA at the start of the MG, which means it cant be elevated to fire at strike aircraft or helicopters. The only think holding this unit back is their inability to threaten part of the board outside of 16".

1.2 Size and holding power

The Australians benefit from a 7 strong platoon that can lay down 15 shots and 11 when pinned. 11 shots means it is than capable of forcing back a Large unit in defensive fire although not likely since statistically it should do just 6.28 hits (8 X4/6 + 3 X 3/6).  Its size while seemingly mediocre at 7 stands are right in the middle of the size spectrum but certainly not as bad as the others in category.

1.3 Assaults

Its an interesting twist that Australians have a good Counterattack rating. possibly because of the rough reputation Australians have had over the past conflicts they have participated in and gained a reputation as steadfast. They are all medium bases and so that means in a melee, they all fight equally and without penalty. They do an average of 3.5 Melee hits going in and are more likely to stay in the fight than not. This means a ton of good fighting awaits.