Wargame: AirLand Battle

Wargame: AirLand Battle

Not enough ratings
Support Deck building plus gen tips!
By Coffee_Zombie
So I've been thinking about players building support decks. This gets a lot of flack because it is generally a point donation force (ie: bomber deck) or near useless arty decks. Here is my wisdom for people to want to build just a support deck... Don't. You can build support heavy decks thou. As a team player you need to be able to take and hold land period no excuses, you need to be able to do this. This is remarkably easy thou for very little cmd/deck points.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Support Deck Philosophy
So I've been thinking about players building support decks. This gets a lot of flack because it is generally a point donation force (ie: bomber deck) or near useless arty decks. Here is my wisdom for people to want to build just a support deck... Don't. You can build support heavy decks thou. As a team player you need to be able to take and hold land period no excuses, you need to be able to do this. This is remarkably easy thou for very little cmd/deck points.
Tips
Tip 1. Infantry is freaking great and cheap use it. Stick them in buildings leave them a supply truck. Break up the atgm and manpads into groups of two, regular troops keep in 4 packs. This gives them enough offensive capability to ward off any wayward tank/plane attacks and makes them have to deal with you in numbers, dont forget the supply truck.

Tip 2. Good AA and AAA stick these behind hard points like tank groups and infantry occupied buildings. Basic order of closest to the enemy is aa first then aaa in the back, and dont forget to supply supply supply. Also never group that way single strikes can't take out your air defense system. this way none of those pesky planes/heli's are going to get at your artillery.

Tip 3. Recon. Cheap spec op recon 10-15 pts tops run them to some hedges and leave them there. Spec op recon is super hard to spot and fast. A good recon helicopter is also recommended but sit this at the rear away from enemy air defense. This allows you to see your targets.

Tip 4. For the bomber forces choose your targets wisely a few AA and AAA can ruin your day. Recon the out of your targets then go in one big wave choosing targets (air defence first, fast planes work better) for the slowest planes first that way they still arrive mostly at the same time. The one giant wave gives you the best chance of survival but be wary that is a lot of points in the air and you don't want to give your enemy the advantage.

Tip 5. Arty decks. Read my mortar guide link at the bottom. Don't group your arty!!!!!!

Tip 6. Don't give it away. Make them pay more for each centimeter of land they take from you if you are getting over ran redeploy on another land.

tip 7. Hit those soft targets like grouped supply trucks for easy points.

tip 8. Defensive tanking. You will need two types of tanks. First you will need your fodder tank, this is your cheap 10-15 pt tank. I recommend for Nato the Centurion Mk.5 or IKV 103(vehicle section) with some Amx-13 Harpoons behind them and for Pact the t-34/85MI or Desants and the KPz T-55A. Next you will need your high end tank stopper. You are looking for tanks with high armor/Acc/AP/Range, stabalizers are not required. For Nato I recommend the STRV 103B it is a monster at 60 points and it's small size makes it freaking hard to hit with enough bang for it's buck to rape anything on the move.. For Pact I recommend the T-64A and the T-62M-I both are good for the points. So bury these in forest and hedges (so they are hard to snipe) with fodder up front and the big guys in the back and don't forget to toss a supply truck in there for ammo/repairs. When tanks are on the move they are crap at hitting stuff so use this to your advantage and stay still.

Tip 8b. When you are out gunned just reverse out of the situation and let them eat arty/bombs.

Tip 9. Supplies. Supplies are a defensive players biggest ally because it allows you to heal while your enemy can't and lets you get more bang for your buck for each unit.
Closing Thoughts
Remember the point of these decks are to just hold the land and smash your opponents into dust with artillery shells and bombs giving you a higher kills to casualty ratio. If you aren't doing that redesign your deck so it does. This should help you make an effective support heavy deck that your teammates will love. I know you are saying but coffee zombie I just want to make a pure artillery/plane deck, this is discourteous to your teammates who are depending on you to at least take one zone, and you will find people get very angry if you don't. So happy hunting out there commander.
15 Comments
tacoshy 7 Jan, 2016 @ 4:02am 
yes a many victories are tho no proof that you 100% right. What I saying is that support decks in general are not a good idea espacially for new palyers, but the work great if you know your teammates and the teammates know you.
Besides the mainproblems about your guides is that they where written befor the mother of all patches andtherfor game experienced changed alot. Also you have a total differnt player base with experience now which also change the gameplay and therefor change the general rules of how things work.
Coffee_Zombie  [author] 6 Jan, 2016 @ 4:16pm 
@tacoshy It's great that you dug up my old guides. I appreciate your input but I disagree with it. If you are going to say that I am wrong please feel free to read the comments before hand becaue I had adressed most of your concerns. This style of play made me a very competitive player(We would routinely win against top 50 ranked players, before RD) for the game if it doesn't work for you that is fine but this style of play has lead me to many of a victory.
tacoshy 6 Jan, 2016 @ 9:20am 
oh btw a common arty support deck is cat-c deck with 4-8 FOB's and 8 Bkan. Those tear apart even T-80's while with 8 FOB's allowing you to fire at whole map constantly for around 70 minutes.
And even you always stake the different, to drop arty on heavily armored units is one main purpose of arty. it wont kill those units but stun them and set them into panic. so they become easy targets for your attack force. it's better then to smoke them and hide them from you.
tacoshy 6 Jan, 2016 @ 9:17am 
as with your other gudies you kinda wrong. Every professional player has a certain deck for a certain map and all the professional palyers know each other and mostly team up. so they often even have a certain deck for certain teammates.

Those SUpport Decks I usally play in 4v4 and only rarely in 3v3. Important in support decks is just that you back up your teammates whereever it is required. by making the job easier for your teammate e.g. sending AA, CV and supplies, they can play way more effectivly and can even overstrech their lines.

But this requires communication and trust.
Coffee_Zombie  [author] 18 Mar, 2014 @ 4:26pm 
I would also say a pure support deck is a hinderance.
DaPowerTaylor 18 Mar, 2014 @ 4:16pm 
Some good points :) i would however say theat 'pure' support decks can be more of a hinderance than a help in smaller games, save your supporting decks for games larger than 4v4.
George H.W. Bush 29 Jan, 2014 @ 5:02am 
I have one tiny tip for anyone that reads this is if you play with freinds a very good option if theres more then 2 of you is to play pre 75 if you are going to run a supply deck as you can do very heavy resupplys as both nato and pact while still being able to bring more aged but effective firepower to the battle.
Coffee_Zombie  [author] 23 Jan, 2014 @ 4:44pm 
Thank you for your compliment.
George H.W. Bush 23 Jan, 2014 @ 12:15pm 
Very nice guide me and a few friends always select a person to play support so they will resupply our units and give us arty cover while the other 3 keep up the offensive on enemies and this guide shows the best way to run a support deck.
Coffee_Zombie  [author] 11 Jul, 2013 @ 9:40am 
Thats more general play this is mainly towards support decks.