Marder II Zug

Zug Zug

The Marder II was an IFV concept from the 1980s and 1990s that was slated to enter service at the end of the 90s, but fell victim to the peace dividend after the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany. The krauts have put a unique spin on the IFV concept, mounting the largest autocannons yet and slabbing it up with thick armor and great stabilization traits that are being adopted on IFVs today. Compared to the tank hunting Bradley and the cheap Warrior, the Marder II is a fast, hard hitting gunslinger, with its autocannon scaring the shit out of anything short of an MBT and its armor and mobility keeping it safe from anything short of heavy, dedicated AT.

In Team Yankee

Loktar!

The Marder II is a particularly interesting IFV in the Team Yankee setting, hosting several potent strengths and a few important weaknesses compared to its counterparts in the US, British, and Soviet militaries.

Armament wise, the Marder is a unique beast, mounting a 35mm or 50mm autocannon with an advanced stabilizer and RoF 3/3. Both are absolutely terrifying weapons, with the 35mm taking the AT11 firepower 4+ goodness the Gepard is so feared for and mounting it on a 14" move and the 50mm cranking it up to eleven with AT13 and a 36" range for +1 point per platoon. These cannons will do serious work on BMPs and other light support vehicles, slicing through them like a hot knife through butter. This is counterbalanced by the lack of a real AT option. With the upgraded cannon, hunting most MBTs from the side is feasible (Side armor 10 on a T-80? They can crack that with AT 13, especially with 3 shots each with an advanced stabilizer, and killing one or two of those is a nice trade for some transports, especially if the only things alive to shoot at them are missiles they have a save against), but leaves you vulnerable and should only really be considered once all your other options are expended; the lack of ATGM means that even a T55AM2 could pose a serious threat to your murder machines. As such, your anti tank work should be left to the infantry that come with these guys, while your IFVs use their speed and armor to get to the enemy back lines and wreak havoc on their light vehicles and other supporting units, freeing up all your dedicated AT to do their job. Interestingly though, both cannons lack the Anti-Helicopter rule that every other IFV seems to have.

Armor is the next place this IFV really shines, with the heaviest IFV armor in the game and CHOBHAM ARMOR. The FA of 6 and side armor of 4 will go a long way to protect you from mid-range autocannons and even the heavier autocannons of the warrior and BMP-2/3, especially if you keep your distance. The Chobham is the real kicker here though: this takes your IFV from a relatively well-protected and hard hitting support asset and makes it invulnerable to 90% of infantry weapons as well as giving it solid protection from many of the lower end ATGMs. Thus the Marder II can double as an assault tank in a pinch, punching through defensive rocket launcher fire and shoving into enemy infantry positions. This armor protection once again reinforces its role as light AFV hunter, giving it good protection from the IFVs it's supposed to hunt while its cannons completely ignore their protection in turn.

In terms of mobility, the Marder is the only IFV with an advanced stabilizer, giving it a 14" tactical move. This gives it a great level of tactical flexibility, letting it keep up with and support the tanks and making it even better at beating the shit out of enemy light vehicles even faster. Past that, it's relatively average, with a 3+ cross check that will leave one of your vehicles hung up on a tree every time and dash speeds slightly slower than the leopard 2s it's designed to work with.

The biggest weakness of the Marder II at this point is the classic German Achilles heel of small unit sizes. The Bradley can be taken in units of 4, the Warrior can go up to 5, and the BMP-3 can go up to units of 14, but the Marder can only go up to units of 3, maxed out. The Spah Trupps suffer from a similar weakness as Bradley Cav lists, with units of 2 for 3 points base. This means that, while your units are cheaper than those IFV options, they will generally end up outnumbered, in classic West German tradition. This does give you more space in you lists for the dedicated AT that these things lack, however, and the higher German morale and tougher protection these things have will help keep your units around for longer.

Initial assessments in the current infantry heavy meta are quite positive. Chobham armor makes it a tough nut to crack for opposing infantry, and make it an excellent choice for assaults; while autocannons can still be a threat you have a good chance at saving against everything excepting other Marder IIs. ROF 3, 14″ move, skill 3+, combine to allow for excellent firepower on the move while making you difficult to engage in return. Competitive play is ever-evolving, but for the moment you should expect to see some of these at any serious event.

In Real Life

Dabbo

As with the M247 Sergeant York, the Marder II belongs to the realm of alternate history.

An experimental German IFV, it was developed in the late 1980s to replace the ageing [[Marder IFV. Aside from the name it has little in common with it's predecessor with almost no interchangeable components. The initial goal was to produce 1000 of these new IFVs between 1997 and 2001. The first prototype was finished by 1991 and shown to the Bundeswehr on September 17 of the same year. It featured thicker armor than its predecessor, a new turret and a brand-new Rheinmetall dual-caliber autocannon that could fire both 35mm and 50mm rounds. Three-man crews gave it a driver, gunner, and commander. Space was provided for 7 (some sources say 6) passenger troops who could exit via rear-facing doors or overhead hatches; unlike its predecessor firing ports were not included. Significantly larger and more heavily armored than most IFVs it weighed in at 43 metric tons (more than a T-72!) and for that reason was occasionally termed a heavy IFV.

Despite its excellent qualities, the vehicle was never accepted for service both due to its high unit cost and because it was no longer needed because of the fall of the Soviet Union. A single surviving prototype can be found today in the Koblenz military collection.