Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf has some great lists. I've been itching to play a Wiking army. I had a chance to play two games yesterday against a Russian armor list. The first one I had my chance to play a Wiking army. It was something like this:

HQ
2x PZiv

Platoon 1
4x PZiv + Kanone

Platoon 2
5x PZiv + Kanone

Platoon 3
3x Panther + Kanone

Some thoughts on the Wiking list:

- If you screw up your use of cover you will die in droves. If you bog you die. That's the nature of being trained. A shot outside 16" while you're in cover is a 5+, which is a 33% chance.
- I don't think Kanones are worth their points. The randomness is the main part of this deficiency. I can get 5 PZiv that are CV under the Panzerkompanie for 450, or 5 FT PZiv incl the Kanone under the Wiking list for 455.  You have a 33% chance of just getting the re-roll to skill tests, anything else you get that + the Kanones themselves get a bit better. That's great but they're still trained which means they are easy to hit, and with only a 6 front 3 side it's not so awesome. Panthers are a better choice for the higher armor, but you are dangerously close to having issues with being overwhelmed by targets.

I got steam-rolled by my opponent on the first game. Let's face it, I'm just not good enough to confidently run a FT armored list. My second game I played as the Panzerkompanie and pulled out a big win. 

I'm going to throw some Math of War at you. Let's say you have 5 PZiv with Kanones against 5 PZiv under the Panzerkompanie fighting each other at long range. No cover. We will be generous and say the Kanone rolled a 6 on their Kanone roll.

Wiking:
8 shots at 5+ = 2.667 hits
2 shots at 5+ re-rollable = .667+.444 =1.111 hits
= 3.778 hits
3.778 hits * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 2.519 chance of destroying (doesn't include bails)
2.519 chances * (2/3 chance to confirm kill) = 1.679 kills

Panzerkompanie:
10 shots at 4+= 5 hits
= 5 hits
5 hits * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 3.333 chance of destroying (doesn't include bails)
3.333 chances * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 2.222 kills

So Panzerkompanie holds their own with .543 more kills. How about at close range?

Wiking:
8 shots at 4+ = 4 hits
2 shots at 4+ re-rollable = .5 + .25 = .75 hits
= 4.75 hits
4.75 hits * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 3.167 chance of destroying (doesn't include bails)
3.167 chances * (2/3 chance to confirm kill) = 2.111 kills

Panzerkompanie:
10 shots at 3+= 6.667 hits
= 6.667 hits
6.667 hits * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 4.445 chance of destroying (doesn't include bails)

4.445 chances * (2/3 chance for destroying) = 2.963 kills

The Panzerkompanie is even better with  .852 more kills than the SS Wiking.

Let me know if I mathfailed on my calculations, but it looks like a Panzerkompanie is statistically superior to the Wiking company.

Now granted, this does not include any value added by the re-rolls the Kanones provide, which can get you out of trouble on a stormtrooper like nobody's business. However, that re-roll's value isn't quantifiable as every table's terrain set up is different.

-OvC out