Gepard Flakpanzer Batterie

Gepard is German for Cheetah. *Tweet!*

The Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard (or Flakpanzer Gepard for those who don't have all day to say one word) is a SPAAG used by West Germany and later just Germany. Built on a stretched Leopard 1 hull and armed with a pair of 35,L/90 Guns, the Gepard is one of the definitive AA Platforms of the Cold War.

In Team Yankee

West German

Die Stats

The Gepard used to be the gold standard for all SPAAGs (Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun) and is still widely considered one of the best units in the game.

First off, the Twin 35mm L/90 Gun is just beastly. With AT 11 and a 4+ FP, the Gepard can tear apart BMPs, BTRs, Recon vehicles, and artillery and even tanks (from the side) out to a range of 28 inches, and with its halted ROF 5 (4 on the move), enemy infantry melt away in its fury.

The Gepard can also deal with airborne threats (if you're into that sort of thing). Like all SPAAGs, the Gepard gets the Dedicated AA and Radar Rules, which basically mean that you can use your full ROF against air targets (rather than just rolling one dice) and ignore the penalties for shooting at long range. Oh, and your bubble of AA coverage is extended to 40 inches. Basically, if you have a Gepard Batterie in a corner of the map, that corner is covered.

As for defence, the Gepard is as well armoured as an M113, so you should be okay against things like Machine guns and small arms fire, but the moment someone points something serious at you, you should probably endeavour to be somewhere else. Notable is that the roof is covered so, unlike the M163 VADS, the vehicle stands slightly more of a chance vs. enemy fire.

Most importantly, you're not going to leave this unit off the board even when your opponent doesn't bring in aircraft: this is the main thing which turns the Gepard from an excellent unit to one of the most cost-efficient AA pieces for NATO. Unlike the Blowpipe, the Gepard is a unit you will want to bring for dealing with ground units. The only real competition to the Gepard is the ADATS, which is still specialized for dealing with expensive units: aircraft and tanks. In the current meta of BMP and infantry parades, the Gepard is the better choice. Note that Gepards CAN destroy modern tanks from the side thanks to its monstrously high AT (for an autocannon) if your opponent is derpy enough to charge your death machines.

One of the best units in the game, and an auto-include in virtually all lists thanks to its firepower and versatility. A pair of Gepards will cost you five points. West German armies my take these things in platoons of 2, 4, or 6 (which will cost you 5, 10, or 15 points respectively). The Gepard comes second to the Marksman only in front armour and points.

Netherlands

De stats, mensen.

The PRTL (Pantser, Rups, Tegen Luchtdoelen, or Tank, Tracked, Anti-Air) is the premier Dutch anti-air vehicle that fills the air defence role very admirably while punching through most vehicles you will face in the game.

Nearly identical to the West German variant (which makes sense, as the PRTL is literally just a Gepard with a Dutch Radar set), the PRTL drops the morale and skill stat to a 4+, reducing the chances for blitz or ‘shoot and scoot’ orders. That aside, Gepards are not units which should be taking casualties for the most part. As support units, their first job is to stay in cover and knock enemy flyers out of the skies.

In the Dutch list, the PRTL counters many of the same targets that your IFVs do. This does NOT mean they’re redundant, just that you shouldn’t be using them as offensive vehicles like a West German list might.

IRL

DAKADAKADAKADAKADAKADAKADAKADAKADAKA

This is what every SPAAG in the Western world and most of South East Asia has taken its inspiration from. The Germans already had experience with using the body of a tank as base for SPAAGs, but those early models suffered from the drawback that target tracking had to be done by human eyes (and sometimes by hand on the lightest gun mounts), which severely limited their use against the ever faster flying CAS aircraft. The Gepard solved this problem with the elegant solution of using two radars: the tracking radar is located between the guns and keeps them on target while the search radar is located at the back of the turret and keeps track of the larger battle. The downside of this is that such advanced tracking systems leave little room for ammunition. The Gepard configuration has become the "rule of thumb" design for all modern systems, even if these days not many users of this vehicle remain and only Japan and South Korea are making improvements on this proven design. Hell, when General Dynamics entered the "DIVAD" air defence contract, their proposition was basically to take an A-10's GAU-8 cannon, mount it next to the tracking radar of the Gepard and put the whole in a turret to unleash some "BRAAAAAAAP" level Dakka at any aircraft suicidal enough to come close.

While increasingly obsolete in a world of 5th generation stealth fighters, they remain a deadly foe against helicopters without stealth capability and typically accompany Division air defence artillery battalions alongside more advanced hardware to protect against close air assault, and of course god help you if you're an infantryman anywhere near this thing.