Pancerni

**Key Features** | »PTSR-40 anti-tank rifle»Warhorse (Dutch Draft breed)»Horse-fitting armor (light)»Body armor (medium)»Simargl scrap (per Simargl downed)

## Tactical Analysis

* **Charge of the Medium Brigade:** The Home Army's answer to enemy armor, the Pancerni prefers striking at tank columns from unexpected positions with their own anti-tank rifles for massive damage.

* **Skeet Shooting:** The Pancerni can prove itself to be a threat against low-flying helicopters by ordering their horses to stand in place while they take shots at these flying machines.

* **Run to the Hills:** Due to their specialized weapons, the Pancerni deals less damage to enemy soldiers than they normally do to vehicles. Also, you might as well forget about taking aircraft other than helicopters.

* **Achtung Pancerni:** Pancerni riders who stay in the field for enough time learn how to aim for the weak spots of vehicles, increasing their chances of landing critical shots at them, dealing double damage. Also, they now learn to target high-flying aircraft such as planes.

## Tactical Analysis

Soviet armor. Every Allied commander knows to retreat when lines of them start outnumbering the Guardians and Mirage tanks they have, and Imperial shoguns call for Chopper-VX backup while hiding behind their tankbuster squadrons. From the humble Pincer to the mighty Apocalypse, these metallic beasts acted as mobile destruction machines beholden to the Premier's will in past wars. Nothing short of heavy anti-tank weaponry, or a superweapon, can stop them when they've rolled out; even when an entire division is destroyed, the USSR can manufacture ten more to fight in their place.

Learning from their parent organization, the Ostplan Division and Public Security Directorate apply these tactics when they battle the Home Army Faction. Thanks to their armored divisions (and sophisticated intelligence network), East Germany remains a tough not to crack for the rebels. In Neubrandenburg, Stasi agents managed to uncover and rout an entire HAF ambush when they baited several cells into attacking the supposedly-undefended city. When the rebels sprung the trap, PSD and Ostplan walkers destroyed the ambushing force, trampling on infantryman and cavalry alike while Buratinos razed the survivors. In the aftermath of the failed ambush, many dissidents were arrested and the rest retreated eastward to Szczecin to regroup. The after-action report revealed that the cavalry force had insufficient anti-armor firepower, and the *"Schütze"* fighters had little time to fire back at the walkers.

When survivors broke the news at HAF rebel command in Szczecin, Col. Edmund Wozniak immediately called for his battalion of *"Schütze"* anti-tank fighters. Handpicking rebels for a new anti-armor cavalry division, he chose who had the best accuracy and can destroy an Arctodus or a Hammer within a few shots. After months of searching, he briefed the newly-christened "**Pancerni**" cavalry (named for armored companions) on their first mission: destroy a Ostplan convoy located near the East Germany-Poland border to assist rebel movements in the region. When the opportune time arrived, the pancerni struck at the convoy, shooting down tank after tank, walker after walker with unmatched precision. The Ostplan major called for Simargl backup, and while the HAF cavalry was about to retreat, some stayed behind, stood still, and fired at the helicopter cockpits, causing four of them to crash down.

Going back to Szczecin, a pancerni said that he'd been hunting pigeons when he was younger, and that enemy helicopters were just "pigeons with an annoying tendency to shoot back". Nowadays, these dangerous cavalrymen accompany their fellows into raids at the East Germany-Poland border, hoping to break through the Ostplan/PSD lines. Impressed by their performance, other HAF cells reach out to pancerni members to train them in the ways of destroying tanks, something they are gracious enough to do so. On the other hand, Ostplan officials took notice of more and more of their vehicle being destroyed, in fears of having their mystique shattered by a bunch of horse-riding pigeon hunters.