Why do so many people play s the Germans?

[Fabio Prado]

I think it is the equipment. Nobody developed such cool "tools" as the Germans in WW2. There is also the troop quality factor, but I still think that the German equipment is what makes playing the German side so attractive.

Fab.

[Belisarius]

Heh, another posting out of subject:

When it comes to the French debate and rating armies, an army is never better than its current performance. That it had an excellent army in the 18th (and 19th) century doesn't matter.

The Swedish army employed far better battlefield tactics in the 17th century than most countries, and developed a superior artillery. But I wouldn't dare to judge the Swedish Army today based on that.

[sven]

Originally posted by Belisarius:
Heh, another posting out of subject:

When it comes to the French debate and rating armies, an army is never better than its current performance. That it had an excellent army in the 18th (and 19th) century doesn't matter.

The Swedish army employed far better battlefield tactics in the 17th century than most countries, and developed a superior artillery. But I wouldn't dare to judge the Swedish Army today based on that.

Good point Belisarius respect has a short half-life. Every army has to fight every day to maintain its foes respect.(and friends)

The German's may have had 'the neatest' tanks but many feel that is what did them in. They should have stuck to at least a few designs and gone with them. They diversified their eqpt. way too much and suffered a logistical nightmare because of it,

regards,
sven

[toundra]

Take a look at the French roster in 1940.
same problem with airplanes.

[JTGEN]

Belisarius:

The Swedish army employed far better battlefield tactics in the 17th century than most countries, and developed a superior artillery. But I wouldn't dare to judge the Swedish Army today based on that.

Well, you are also missing from the empire the part that provided half the army and the most feared cavalry of the time

[AmmoSgt]

I like playing the Americans because so Much of their Equipment is Named After Real Generals that Had Long Track Records of Winning.. Not many Countries have Lots Of Winning Generals and Long History unbroken Wins In War ..German name stuff after cats ..I don't like cats Maybe if the named stuff after dogs like the US did I would play them..Go Greyhounds ....

[DataKing]

I have been reading this forum for the past couple of weeks, and decided it was time to throw in my two cents worth.

The biggest reason why I enjoy playing the Germans is the variety of opponents that they get to face. The Germans fought against Poland, Norway, The Low Countries, France, England, America, Russia, and the Balkan countries. No other option gives you such a wide array of opponents.

I have only recently discovered SPWAW, thanks to a good friend of mine, and all I can say now is that I am hooked I have begun the WW2 Campaign as the Germans, but I fully intend to play through with all 6 possibilities eventually (if I live long enough)

I love the detail level of this game, and just want to say thanks to the Matrix staff for all of their hard work.

[RockinHarry]

As 35 years old guy from germany living in 2001 AND playing a game, I don´t have problems to play any nation against any nation.
Playing german stuff is always cool cause of the nice toys and also experience/morale advantage througout the war.
A friend (SPWAW opponent) of mine who has less experience with SPWAW chooses most of the time the german stuff cause he thinks that´s the stuff to win with! ...Ok,..
I take the Russians then or US or Commonwealth stuff and teach him some lessons.
It´s also fun for me toasting german paratroopers with Crocodiles as it is with battling hordes of T-34 on the Eastern front just with PZ-IIIh! Every nation in SPWAW has its advantages and disadvantages to deal with and just playing with one side is missing 90% of the game.

_________
Harry

[Belisarius]

Originally posted by JTGEN:
Belisarius:

The Swedish army employed far better battlefield tactics in the 17th century than most countries, and developed a superior artillery. But I wouldn't dare to judge the Swedish Army today based on that.

---

Well, you are also missing from the empire the part that provided half the army and the most feared cavalry of the time

So true JTGEN, I see your point
Acknowledged; Finland provided more than it's fair share of troops to the Royal Army. (And almost all their horses..) And they performed admirably.

Especially the Hakkapeliitas (sp?).

Heh, seeing how Finnish sisu can displace mountains, I guess we're happy to be on the same side.

[JTGEN]

Eeyp, the hakkapeliitat.

Name comes from hakka päälle, a battle shout which is now mostly in use at

Sweden vs Finland sports events, the closest thing to war around here for some time

[MarkFroio]

..German name stuff after cats ..I don't like cats Maybe if the named stuff after dogs like the US did I would play them..Go Greyhounds ....[/QB][/QUOTE]


I like cats, but I was wondering why there was no "Lion" tank? The lion is the king of beasts, after all.

[Belisarius]

Originally posted by Max VonLoben:

I like cats, but I was wondering why there was no "Lion" tank? The lion is the king of beasts, after all.

Funny you should ask...

Panzer VII Löwe

King of beasts, alright

And JTGEN, doesn't "hakka päälle" literally mean "whack head" ??

[Igor]

Brief thread retread:

Regarding the poor French; the 20th Century wasn't their high water mark. Still, the only war they screwed up on purpose was WW I.

Back in the late 1800s/early 1900s the French general staff had a political problem. They had been shown to be without honor by the Dreyfuss affair, and the civilian government was using popular revulsion against the army as a lever to remake said army (and deal the generals out of any political or social power).

The politico's aim was to turn the army into little more than a school for reservists, relying on an armee en masse again for national defence. In this scheme, the role of (and need for) a standing army and it's officer corps was slight; all they had to do was buy a week or two for the real army to mobilise in case France was somehow surprised; until that time they were nothing but teachers.

The Generals, not surprisingly, didn't like this idea. The only way to counter it, though, was to push a national strategy that reservists weren't suited for. The only option that fit the bill was immediate, all out offense at the outbreak of war, and a steady campaign of lies and (self)deception regarding the quality and capabilities of the German reservists.

Not too surprisingly, any honest officer who commented on this styled it lunacy (just before they were cashiered). Equally unsurprisingly, it didn't work. It was the oft reviled reservists who had to save France while the regular army was busy immolating itself to the south.

WW II was an honest mistake, at least. The key problem was that there could be no Battle of the Marne; the pace of battle was now too quick. Mechanized troops were at the gates of Paris long before another army could be thrown together to stop them. Better luck next war.

Ahem. Why the Germans, you ask? For the challenge of keeping your command more or less intact through 6 years of war. If you can reach April 1945 with your companies still more or less company sized, you've obviously got something on the ball.

[Atila_Boss]

I do not understand why almost everyone who talks about Germans came with Tiger. I think that the best German tank is Stug-III since they've got long 75s. This assault gun has no match in oposite forces, it is so cheap, with moderate armour protection, great gun and so small, that it is a really good stuff. I always hate them when playing against.
My favourite nation after Germany is U.S. Yeah, they have pathetic tanks, but their artillery is something special. Especially in long battles is enemy infantry something which can be forgotten. One guy before me likes French legionaires. I remember one battle, it was a landing from sea against French in North Africa. I think that French had some legionaires, because my personal Oracle (not DB) told me that legionaires are retreating (lots of them), but I had seen no one. It must be my personal Oracle who told me that, because who else can know about retreating French after artillery barage ?
It is strange because I never heard about Oracles been equipped for US officers in WWII, but it is really satisfactory to see messages about lots of enemy soldiers retreating, especially if you don't even seen them.

[Tom Terror]

Originally posted by AmmoSgt:
I like playing the Americans because so Much of their Equipment is Named After Real Generals that Had Long Track Records of Winning.. Not many Countries have Lots Of Winning Generals and Long History unbroken Wins In War ..German name stuff after cats ..I don't like cats Maybe if the named stuff after dogs like the US did I would play them..Go Greyhounds ....

I´m no historian but if I remember correctly the "long history" (looking at not even 200 years it is nearly ridiculous to use that term) of "unbroken wins" in US wars wasn´t that unbroken. But that´s maybe just the non-hollywood-no-cool-european-point-of-view.

I apologize for probably offending someone but it´s just that I feel that the US-american view on history comes often with an holier-than-thou-attitude.

This is just a reply on a post. No general accusation. I really appreciate the work of the Matrix-team and the struggle for more and more realistic display of history of warfare regardles of nationalities and without propagandistic glossing over the facts.

Thanks

Tom

[panda124c]

Originally posted by Tom Terror:


I´m no historian but if I remember correctly the "long history" (looking at not even 200 years it is nearly ridiculous to use that term) of "unbroken wins" in US wars wasn´t that unbroken. But that´s maybe just the non-hollywood-no-cool-european-point-of-view.

I apologize for probably offending someone but it´s just that I feel that the US-american view on history comes often with an holier-than-thou-attitude.

This is just a reply on a post. No general accusation. I really appreciate the work of the Matrix-team and the struggle for more and more realistic display of history of warfare regardles of nationalities and without propagandistic glossing over the facts.

Thanks

Tom

How dare you cloud the issue with facts. :rolleyes:

Oh yea half the US tanks were named after Southeren Generals, who never lost a battle but lost the war.

Give me a Wolverine any day. I like them dogs too. :rolleyes:

[Tom Terror]

Said nothing against dogs!
I go for the pack most of the time myself.

Tom

[JTGEN]

My own Finnish seems to suck too and I forgot aletter. It is Hakkaa päälle and the translation would be(other finns correct me if neede) of this old Finnish. Hakkaa is like command to whack or beat something and päälle is on top or maybe as it is so old it means just heads so whack the heads or whack on top.

Oh those glory days when Finnish(Swedish) military units were occuping parts of suothern Germany(or what now is Germany)

And the cats are great, they are real predators unlike so many dogs like puudels. But greyhounds are my favorite US vehickle

[Tom Terror]

So finally I post something related to the topic.
I play germans ´cause I am one. And contrary to the general opinion not every german soldier was a Nazi. (just think of the officers that tried to kill Hitler by bomb)
However, I also like to play US. Especially their infantry is really something. The Russians never really got my interest, though they have impressive tools I don´t like to send my men to the slaughter in human waves.

I don´t care that much about cats and dogs anyway.

BTW I think Churchill quoted once from Mark Twain: "It´s not the size of the dog in a fight, it´s the size of the fight in the dog"

So much for the cats...


Tom

[Larry Holt]

Originally posted by RickJ:
It's the equipment!

And the tactics. The Germans perfected the basis for modern combined arms tactics. While the Brits had Liddle-Hart, the French DeGaulle and the Americans Patton, these were voices crying in the wilderness while the Germans embraced combined arms whole heartedly.