Tag: Soviet

The Red Tide: A look at Soviet Infantry in Bagration

With Joe Saunders

The country of Russia is vast, and to go with it comes an equally vast army with manpower and a staggering variety of unit types. This gives the Flames Of War player a lot of choice when customizing the infantry in their army to suit their play style, or complement their other unit choices.

Despite this, infantry tends to be overlooked. At first this is understandable because of the amazing selection of tanks and artillery available to the Late War Soviet player, but when you consider that historically the humble ground pounding foot soldier was the backbone of the Red Army, it bears repeating that the Soviet infantry in its many and varied forms, deserves a closer look. With that in mind let’s go over the details about the basic infantry choices in the awesome new Bagration: Soviet book. (Please note that the Engineer-Sapper Company, being very specialized, are explored in their own separate article.)

Rifle Company

This is the classic choice for the Soviets. The Rifle Company is characterized by fairly mediocre troops. They have a Skill of 5+ with a 4+ Assault and have a worse save value than most infantry at 4+. They have a 1 die rate of fire for being Halted or Moving and all of the regular options for equipment upgrades (including machine guns, PTRDs and flame throwers). This may not seem very impressive, and on the whole it is a little sub-par for other armies in Flames Of War …then you see the unit size! The Rifle Company comes in units of 15 stands plus a Kommissar, or 22 stands plus a Kommissar and all of these only costs 0.8 points per stand (before Upgrades)! Moreover, as long as the Kommissar is alive, the unit has a motivation of 3+ making them effectively Fearless. So, though this unit is not stellar at any one role, it is not going to be easy to dispatch with a round or two of regular shooting, artillery or assaults. If you are looking for a cheap way to tie up your opponent while you maneuver your more specialized units to seize an objective, the Rifle Company is a good option. Additionally, if you want to play the defensive game you could not have it much better than a 3+ Motivation, 23 stand unit that is dug in and gone to ground. Even with the 4+ save, your opponent is likely to run out of bullets before they can shift the unit off the objective!

Penal Company

If swamping your opponent beneath a tidal wave of assaulting infantry sounds like fun to you, then the Penal Company is the unit for you. This unit is similar to the Rifle Company in stats, being fairly mediocre, but with an improved assault of 3+ and an amazing motivation of 2+ (while the Kommissar is alive). This specializes the unit for assaults where the 2+ Motivation rating will keep you in the fight (while making Counterattack rolls) and the 3+ rating will let you go toe to toe with most enemies. The Penal Company comes armed with submachine guns, so this unit does not want to be used for defense, and combined with the Redemption rule will be able to make a free move towards their opponents (victims!) before the first round of the game. Lastly, with the Urrah special rule, the Penal Company can charge 6 inches instead of the regular 4 inches of almost every other unit in the game. If you want to get in close to tie up enemy units or overwhelm the defenders on an objective, the Penal Company is what you want. Just remember that due to the Redemption rule they can’t take objectives (but can contest them) and they can never claim bullet proof cover.

Hero Shock Rifle Company

The Hero Shock Rifle Company is a well-rounded infantry choice that splits the difference of quantity with quality. Though not elite compared to other armies, they have very good stats with a motivation of 4+ (3+ with the Kommissar) and Veteran Skill of 3+. They also come in a decent unit size of up to 14 stands and have the whole range of machine guns, PTRDs and flame throwers to choose from for a reasonable point cost of 11 points (before upgrades). This adds up to make the Hero Shock Rifle Company a great choice if you want infantry that is adaptable. They should be solid in both defense and attack.

Storm Group

The Storm Group is a choice in the Hero Shock Rifle Battalion Formation, and complements the Hero Shock Rifle Company with a close combat punch. With small unit sizes and a wide range of weapons options, this unit can be tailored to any mission and are more resilient being one of the few Soviet units hit on a 4+ with a 3+ Fearless Motivation. But what really sets them apart is that they have the best assault in the game, hitting on a 2+! Though this unit does not have the numbers to swamp your opponent like a Penal or Rifle Company, they can make surgical attacks and fight in close combat against the most determined opponents. If you want to use a small elite force, the Storm Group is an awesome option. Plus, unlike a lot of the other Soviet infantry choices, the Storm Group can be quite maneuverable on the battlefield as the small numbers of moving troops are much less likely to restrict your avenues of attack and block friendly lines of sight.

SMG Company

The SMG Company comes in 2 versions Hero and “Regular”. Effectively both versions fill the same role. Both have submachine guns (lots of them) and the option to add flame throwers. The difference is the “Regular” SMG Company uses large numbers (of up to 23 Stands) to make up for their mediocre stats. (They have an Assault of 3+ otherwise they are same as the Rifle Company.) While the Hero SMG Company stresses quality over quantity with stats on par with the Hero Motor Rifle Company (including the 2+ Assault value and Motivation of 3+ due to the Kommissar in the unit) and a unit size of up to 8 stands. In terms of battlefield roles, both types of SMG company provide decent assault troops. Most Formation options allow you to add an SMG Company whether they are infantry or tank based. This makes SMG Companies handy for increasing your Formation break point when you have smaller numbers of tanks in the same Formation and can stay close to your armour providing support against other tank hunting infantry. They are also really useful for assaulting the odd isolated or bailed out tank to finish it off, allowing you to avoid redirecting your precious higher AT weapons off of more pressing threats.

Motor Rifle Company

Like the SMG Company, the Motor Rifle Company comes in “Regular” and ‘Hero” varieties. They also compare in that the Hero version is more elite with better stats and a 2+ assault rating compared to the “Regular” version of the Motor Rifle Company. Also like the SMG Companies the Hero version has a smaller number of stands relying on quality over quantity while the “Regular” version definitely goes with the quantity route having a unit size of up to 29 stands! In terms of battlefield roles, the Motor Rifle Company is an excellent ranged fighting option (though the hero 2+ assault makes them more flexible). This is because the unit has 2 dice of shooting either Moving or Halted in addition to being able to take PTRDs and heavy machine guns for upgrades. If you want to throw a mountain of dice in the shooting step, the Motor Rifle Companies are a wonderful option. If you want to be defensive sit a platoon of 29 stands of infantry around your objective and dig them in…. chances are they won’t be pushed off the objective by even the most determined attacker.

Reconnaissance Platoon

The Reconnaissance Platoon is a very specialized Infantry option. Their stats are the same as hero SMG teams, making them good at assaults, but they can come mounted in a halftrack with accompanying machineguns (. 50cal or regular) and they all have the spearhead rule. (The non-armoured kind also has the Scout rule too.). To make up for these specialized abilities unit sizes are very small with the largest armoured Reconnaissance Platoon coming in at only 6 stands and 3 vehicles total, while the foot slogging version maxing out at only 5 stands! This means these troops though powerful, need to maximize the use of their good stats along with their special rules and transports to attack aggressively and get close enough to do any damage. However, armed with plenty of SMGs, a 2+ Assault and the odd flame thrower this rather specialized unit should be able to hit quite hard and is the ideal choice for creeping up on objectives held by artillery, AT guns or other small units and capturing them with a decisive assault.

Time to Put Your Infantry on The Game Table

In this brief overview of the staggering number of infantry options in Bagration: Soviet it should be obvious that there is an infantry choice for every tactical challenge you can face. If you want to outnumber your opponents (and enjoy painting troops) then you should consider the Rifle Company, Penal Company or Motor Rifle Companies. On the other hand, if you want an elite or aggressive force, the Reconnaissance Platoon, SMG Companies or Storm Group offers options that can fight in close with almost any enemy. Lastly, if you want a generalist choice that can do some of everything, then you can’t go wrong with the Hero Motor Rifle Company.

Beyond these great options, remember that you can always further refine your choices for your army with Command Cards. By adding these to your force composition you can create an almost limitless variety of refinements from these basic infantry choices. Use your imagination and see what interesting combinations you can create, then go out and show you opponents the true might of the Red Army!

~Joe

Building a Medium SP Artillery Regiment

With John Lee

I have eagerly been waiting for the launch of Bagration: Soviet for some time as one of my favourite organisations is the Soviet Medium SP Artillery Regiment.  I played this formation in V3 with some considerable success and my opponents tended to underestimate how well it played.  With V4 there have been some changes to the how this medium assault gun plays out in the game.

The biggest change for all three assault gun variants (SU-85, SU-85M, SU-100) is that they are now Fearless Veteran Careful.  This is one of the few careful units in the Soviet army.  Now they are harder to hit on 4+.  Veteran skill means you have a better chance of pulling off tactics such as Blitz or Shoot and Scoot.  Fearless makes it easier to remount when bailed out and for last stand checks.  The other change for SU-85M and SU-100 is they lose FA9 down to FA7.  FA7 is still better than FA5 in the SU-85 but with being careful now means they should have a better chance to take less hits anyway.  The SU-85 and SU-85M have a 4+ cross check and the SU-100 has a 5+ cross check – so watch out trying to ambush from the woods!  Fortunately, there is a new command card called “Unditching Logs” that for 1pt allows you to reroll failed cross checks for that unit until the end of the turn.  This will help improve your chances of moving in or out of woods.  Now if we look at firepower now, the SU-85 and SU-85M have ROF 2 AT12 with a range of 28” and the SU-100 have ROF 1 AT15 with a range of 32” but also the slow firing rule.

Let us have a look at the formation:

  • 1 Medium SP Artillery Regiment HQ
  • 2-4 SU-85 Tank-Killer Battery or SU-85M Tank-Killer Battery or SU-100 Tank-Killer Battery
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company

As you can see, we can have mixed assault gun batteries in the same formation along with an intrinsic infantry unit as well to help balance the formation and make it more robust.  The HQ is a single T-34 but it is also Fearless Veteran Careful – very useful to have.

So, in my mind there are two ways to build this list – have a mixed regiment of SU-85M and SU-100 or just either SU-85 or SU-85M and get you high end AT from other units such as IS-2, ISU-122, 100mm AT guns or using the “Decoy Tank Company” command card.  The decisions will normally come down to what points you will be playing and your playstyle.  For the purpose of this article, we will use the standard 100pts list.

First, we will look at the mixed battery option:

The formation comes in at 71 pts leaving us 29 pts to add some support options to bolster your force.  I like to run a balanced force so I would want to add some artillery options – ideally two if I can plus some recon.  Equipping your infantry with the “RPG-6 Anti-tank grenades” command card gives them some intrinsic AT capability – especially for assaults where the Hero SMG company assaults on 2+!

So far, the formation has high end AT with the SU-100 battery and decent ROF2 AT12 for everything else.  I like to have five in the SU-85M battery if possible as it gives me 10 stationary AT12 shots.

We have a range of artillery options for the Soviets.  We can take a SU-76 light SP battery in formation support plus we have the options from support to take up to SIX units of artillery ranging from 76mm, 122mm, 152mm batteries and the mighty Katyusha! Not only that, but we also now get an option to take an observer as well.  One other multi-purpose unit we could also consider is the Flying Tank, the IL-2 Shturmovik which has a AT5 against top armour template to take care of  everything, from infantry and guns to the heavy tanks such as the Tiger and Elephant.

With recon we have three options available to us. Armoured Reconnaissance Platoon or Reconnaissance Infantry Platoon as formation support from the Reconnaissance Company formation, BA-64 Armoured Car platoon from support, and “Decoy Tank Company” command card.

So, lets add a couple units of artillery, air support and some recon to round out the force:

Adding in these options gives you the ability to have 3 templates plus a secondary AT option with the Shturmoviks, an OP to range in everything and recon to spearhead you in those missions that allow it to get into a great attack position.

Now our second option is to look at taking just SU-85Ms and getting our support options to provide the high-end AT, artillery and recon.  The “Decoy Tank Company” command card provides us with the ability to have some captured German tanks with spearhead.  This company replaces the BA-64 slot in support or in the Reconnaissance Company.  A maximum of three tanks and you can select from a single Tiger and up to three of Panther, StuG and Panzer IV in whatever mix you like, and adds some flavour to your force and a change from soviet green!

So, you get Spearhead with the Decoy Tank Company and pulls doubles duty as your high end AT along with some heavy artillery to defend an objective with AT12 and FP 2+ in bombardment to dig out enemy guns and infantry teams.  With 35pts left over in support you could also swap out the heavy artillery, decoy tank company with 3 x IS-2s for 22 pts, 122mm artillery battery for 8pts, observer BA-64 for 1pt and BA-64 armoured car platoon with 7 for 4 pts.  Another option is to use the 100mm Tank Killer Company for your high-end AT.  Fearless Veteran Careful with AT15 for 11 pts.  This opens the options to take two artillery batteries for 16 pts (you choose your combo), Shturmoviks for 7 pts and an observer.  Lots of mixing and matching support options with this formation.

I have 10 SU-85Ms and 5 SU-100s that are ready to be dusted off the shelf now that Bagration: Soviet has been launched that I plan to terrorise my opponents with.  Happy list building!
~John

Tiger Tiger, Burning Bright

With Casey

I, like most people, love the idea of fielding captured equipment as evidenced by my Das Reich T-34 Beute Panzerkompanie.

The tide has now turned back to the Soviets. Back when they first appeared in Version 3 in Hammer & Sickle a pair of captured Panthers were a mainstay of any tank army that I built as it was one of the cheapest and easiest ways of getting some anti-tank 14 into my army.

Fast forward a few years and captured tanks are back, and better than ever!

The Captured Tank Command Card allows you to field a Captured Tank Platoon in place of a BA-64 Scout Platoon. I plan on painting up a platoon of Captured tanks because they look cool.

I’m planning on painting a platoon that consists of 2 Panthers and one Tiger. To fit in with my Winter-wash paint scheme I’ve chosen to paint a Mid war Tiger I and 2 late Panther G tanks mainly because they don’t have zimmerit and are easier to paint in my version of whitewash.

I started with the Tiger I as a test piece as the colours and process are slightly different to my white washed green.

I have always liked solid yellow on Tigers, so I have kept the basecoat plain and just added green squares and red stars where the original German markings were. I stole an idea off Victor and also removed the tow cable on the side to add more flat panels for whitewash and make it look more used. I have assembled my Panthers, but these will get a 3-colour camo treatment before getting their whitewash.

Captured tanks in the game

On the card you get options for Panzer IVs, StuGs, Tigers, and Panthers. I’m not really going to talk about Panzer IVs or StuGs here though.

The obvious comparison to the captured tanks are IS-2s. Three IS-2 tanks come in at 22 points, while three captured Panthers come in at 21 points (22 points if you replace one Panther with a Tiger, but for the ease of comparison I’ll stick with Panthers).

Looking at the main stats, the IS-2 has Anti-tank 14, ROF 1, Firepower 2+ with Brutal, as well as Front Armour 10, Side Armour 8 and Top Armour 2.

Panthers on the other hand have Anti-tank 14, ROF 2, Firepower 3+, but only have Front Armour 9, Side Armour 5 and Top Armour 1.

You are essentially trading the better armour of the IS-2 for slightly better mobility and the higher ROF and longer-range gun. You are also giving up your recon slot by taking the captured tanks as well, but your captured tanks do have Spearhead.

Another note to make is that the captured tanks are also Green, so won’t really be able to pull off many tricky movement orders.

I don’t think a captured tank platoon is an automatic choice, as they do slightly different jobs. IS-2s have a slight advantage because they are now cheap enough to take a whole formation of them now and have them count towards morale.

Where captured tanks really shine in a Rota Razvedki, or Reconnaissance Company. Here they can replace your BA-64 platoon and give you a tough tank platoon inside your formation. The added bonus here is that they will now count towards morale, and you can still take a divisional support platoon of BA-64s for a second Spearhead option.

Funnily enough, a Rota Razvedki is a list that I have always wanted to make, more on this later…

~Casey

Army Building With The Heavy Assault Group Starter Box

With John Lee

With the launch of the Bagration: Soviet release, I thought I would look at both new starter boxes to see what sort of force you can put on the table.  This article covers the Heavy Assault Group starter box.  This box is ideal for someone either starting out or for the veteran player who needs to add some additional firepower to their existing force.  For the new player, it opens the door to playing Flames Of War without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value starter set (Heavy Assault Group), that will help decide what Formation(s) to run.  The starter set contains the following:

  • Complete A5 Rulebook
  • Soviet “Start Here” guide
  • 4 x IS-2 or IS-85 Tanks
  • 4 x ISU-122 or ISU-152 Assault Guns
  • 4 x SU-76 Assault Guns
  • 3 x BA-64 Armoured Cars
  • 4 x 57mm or 76mm Guns
  • 1 x Hero Shock Rifle Company
  • 2 x Decal Sheets
  • 12 x Unit Cards

The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away.  Now if we look at what Formations are in the Bagration: Soviet book, we can see what we can maximize from what we get in the starter box.  The best Formation to maximize this straight out of the box is the Heavy SP Regiment.  Let us look at what units comprise this Formation:

  • 1 Heavy SP Artillery Regiment HQ
  • 2-4 ISU-122 Guards Heavy SP Battery or ISU-152 Guards Heavy SP Battery
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company or Engineer-Sapper Company

Looking at the Formation and what we get in the starter box, we can use all the Heavy Assault Guns in the Formation plus one IS-2.  To maximize our investment, we can add an IS-2 or IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Company in Formation support along with a SU-76 Light Artillery Battery and a Hero Shock Rifle Company. We can also add the following support options; 57mm or 76mm Gun Battery and an Armoured Car Platoon.  This means we can use everything in the box for our list!  So how does this look from a list building perspective:

This is a fragile build with only three units in the Formation, but the ISU’s have FA9 SA8 TA2 and the IS-2s are even better with FA10!  So, if handled with care, they will still be deadly.  The other benefit with this list is that it has three artillery templates.  That is right – three!  The ISUs pull double duty, they can bombard and have high AT.  The IS-2 is a beast with AT-14 but nearly impervious in assaults.  You can assault with the IS-2s and infantry after pinning the enemy down with your three templates.  There are Fearless Careful 57mm AT11 guns for defending your objective or rolling up the guns to help the assault.  Shturmoviks (Flying tanks) to provide ability to either take on enemy heavy armour with rockets AT5 against TA2 such as Tigers and Elephants or drop a fourth template on some hapless infantry and gun teams.  Armoured Cars to provide spearhead in those missions where it can be used to get your army into a better attack position.

To buy this army you need to only purchase the following for $155:

1 x SUAB13 Soviet LW “Heavy Assault Group” Army Deal $100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book $20
1 x SBX77 IL-2 Shturmovik Assault Company $35
TOTAL $155

Now if we look at expanding this starter set with another couple of boxes, we can fortify the above Formation and look at the Guards Heavy Tank Formations.

So, adding a box of five ISUs will allow us to have a stronger Formation with four or five units and we can use the infantry in the box to become a Hero SMG Company to become part of the Formation.  This is how it could look with two batteries of four ISU:

Costing:

1 x SUAB13 Soviet LW “Heavy Assault Group” Army Deal $100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book $20
1 x SBX63 ISU Heavy SP Battery $45
TOTAL $165

Or with three batteries instead:

Costing:

1 x SUAB13 Soviet LW “Heavy Assault Group” Army Deal   100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book     20
1 x SBX63 ISU Heavy SP Battery     45
1 x SB76 BA-64 Armoured Car Platoon     18
TOTAL $183

Now we can add a box IS-2 tanks to create a Guards Heavy Tank company, we can use most of the starter box.  The IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Regiment which is made up of:

  • 1 IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Regiment HQ
  • 1-3 IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Company
  • 1 IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Company or IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Company
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company or Engineer-Sapper Company

Running a mix of IS-2 and IS-85 gives you flexibility around ROF and AT.  We can also change out the ISU-152 battery with the SU-76s and the 57mm Tank-Killer Battery for the same points which are part of the starter box.  Armoured Cars to spearhead your assault tanks into position.  This will cost:

1 x SUAB13 Soviet LW “Heavy Assault Group” Army Deal   100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book     20
1 x SBX62 IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Company     45
TOTAL $165

There is also the IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Regiment which is made up of:

  • 1 IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Regiment HQ
  • 2-4 IS-85 Guards Heavy Tank Company
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company or Engineer-Sapper Company

IS-85 has ROF 2 with AT-12 so you will need the ISU-122s for the AT14.  This is still a hard-hitting force – needs a bit of finesse to run it.  You can always change out the Hero SMG Company for Shturmoviks if you want that extra AT hitting power.

There are so many more options you could run with this box – get the book or hop online to forces website to see what you can out together for under $200 that suits your playstyle.

Even if you run other tank or infantry Formations, adding this box provides you a range of support options to go with them – great value for $100!

~John

Painting Winter Whitewash

Over the past year you may, or may not have been following the Big Four Of Late War, otherwise known as Chris, Casey, Wayne and Victor as they head down the Late War Journey, building completely new armies.

Casey, as our resident Soviet-o-phile decided to paint Soviets (as you would expect) but came up with a very unique winter scheme.

If you would like to check out his full step-by-step guide you can check out the article here…

T-34s, The Hammer

With Casey

I have finally finished my Big Four Of Late War T-34 company. Its only taken a year but it was worth it, and just in time as Soviet T-34s get a massive upgrade in Bagration: Soviet!

Under Fortress Europe Soviet players were limited in the number of T-34 (85mm) tanks that they could take, however now there are no limits and the cost to upgrade them got cheaper. Let’s compare the Hero T-34 lists to see how much bang for buck you get.

In the Hero T-34 (85mm) Tank Company it only costs 6 points to upgrade all of the T-34 (76mm) to T-34 (85mm) tanks, which to me is a no-brainer! I’ll get slightly less support, but the core of the formation will be much more useful.

I’m still happy that I painted up all of the 76mm turrets though, as it means that the army can still be used in Mid-war.

To pad out the Hero T-34 (85mm) list I’m going to add most of the in Formation support options from the list, and add an extra ZSU M17 platoon, BA-64 armoured cars, and a platoon of IS-2s to give me some high anti-tanks and a strong assault platoon.

Most of these extras are already painted, although I’ve just started the IS-2s and I’m still waiting to get my hands on some ZSUs…

~Casey

Army Building With The T-34 Starter Box

With John Lee

With the launch of the Bagration: Soviet release, I thought I would look at both new starter boxes to see what sort of force you can put on the table.  This article covers the T-34 starter box.  This box is ideal for someone either starting out or for the veteran player who needs to add some iconic tanks to their existing force.  For the new player, it opens the door to playing Flames Of War without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value starter set (T-34), that will help decide what Formation(s) to run.  The starter set contains the following:

  • Complete A5 Rulebook
  • 21 x T-34 or T-34/85 Tanks
  • 2 x Decal Sheets
  • 10 x Unit Cards

The bonus here is that the rulebook is included in the box – so the new player makes a saving right away.  The benefit of the T-34 sprue is you can make both the 76mm and 85mm variants as both turrets are on the sprues – just swap out the turrets when you need.  Now if we look at what T-34 Formations are in the Bagration: Soviet book, we can see what we can maximize from what we get in the starter box.  The best Formations to maximize this straight out of the box is the T-34 Tank Battalion and T-34 (85mm) Tank Battalion.  Let us look at what units comprise the T-34 Tank Battalion Formation first:

  • 1 T-34 Tank Battalion HQ
  • 1-2 T-34 Company
  • 1 T-34 Tank Company or 1 T-70 Tank Company or 1 Valentine Tank Company
  • 0-1 ZSU M17 Anti-Aircraft Platoon
  • 0-1 82mm Mortar Company
  • 0-1 45mm Anti-Tank Company or 57mm Anti-Tank Company or 76mm Anti-Tank Company
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company

Looking at the Formation and what we get in the starter box, we can use all the T-34s!  This means we can use everything in the box for our list.  Now we need to look at what else we need to round out the Formation.  Some infantry and intrinsic mortars would be useful.  So how does this look from a list building perspective:

So, a relatively strong Formation with 21 tanks and infantry and mortars.  Heavy tanks for high end AT and assault monsters!  BA-64s to get the Spearhead to gain an attack platform for your horde of tanks to be attacking and assaulting on turn 1 or 2- the T-34 is a fast beast and can move through terrain on 2+!  Make Your Own Luck Command Card to round it out – use it for a Last Stand Test at the crucial moment in the game.  NB: You can also take a few less T-34s by upgrading some of them to T-34 (85mm) for 2pts each up to half the company.  Play round with the numbers based on your preferences.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for under $300:

1 x SUAB12 Soviet T-34 Tank Battalion Army Deal $100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book $20
1 x FW266C Bagration: Soviet Command Cards $10
2 x SU781 82mm and 120mm Mortar Company (Plastic) $27
1 x SBX80 SMG Company (Plastic) $54
1 x SBX62 IS-2 Guards Heavy Tank Company (Plastic) $45
1 x SBX76 BA-64 Armoured Car Platoon (Plastic) $18
TOTAL $274

Now if we make a few tweaks here to the list, we can get more value for our choices.  If we look at purchasing the other starter box (Heavy Assault Group) we get a lot of support options that we can swap in and out for what list we might want to run and save money at the same time!  Getting this starter set gives us the IS-2s, BA-64s, 57mm or 76mm guns and infantry straight out of the box for less than the cost of buying the individual boxes and you get ISUs and SU-76s on top of that too.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $220:

1 x SUAB12 Soviet T-34 Tank Battalion Army Deal $100
1 x FW266 Bagration: Soviet Book $20
1 x SUAB13 Soviet LW “Heavy Assault Group” Army Deal $100
TOTAL $220

Let us look at the T-34 (85mm) Tank Battalion Formation:

  • 1 T-34 (85mm) Tank Battalion HQ
  • 2 T-34 (85mm) Company
  • 0-1 ZSU M17 Anti-Aircraft Platoon
  • 0-1 82mm Mortar Company
  • 0-1 45mm Anti-Tank Company or 57mm Anti-Tank Company or 76mm Anti-Tank Company
  • 0-1 SMG Company or Hero SMG Company

We can use most of our T-34s and if we utilize the other starter box (Heavy Assault Group) we can provide flexibility with our lists.  Here is an example of what we can take:

This Formation has more firepower with the T-34 (85mm) having AT12 and no longer has the overworked rule that the 76mm version has.  The ISU-122s pull double duty of high-end anti-tank duty of AT14 and provides an additional artillery bombardment giving you options.  You can play around with providing different support options and with how many T-34s you want on the table!

There are also two other T-34 Formations in the book – the Hero equivalent of the above.   These Formations tend to be smaller and get the crafty tactics rating making them 3+ for tactics skill checks such as Blitz.  The Formations themselves are like their regular equivalents except the tank companies comprise of 3-4 tanks instead of up to 10 tanks.  Cost ranges from 9pts for 3 x T-34 (76mm) to 18pts for 4 x T-34 (85mm) – so still gives you some flexibility but due to their size, you need to be more careful with them.

There you have it.  For as little as $220 you can field four different T-34 Formations that allows you to get into Flames Of War, that is great on the budget and gives you the most bang for your buck starting a new force and the foundation to expand upon your Soviet force.

~John

Bagration: Soviet Community Previews

Breakthrough Assault No Dice, No Glory Blitz and Peaces
 Going Forward with the Forward Detachment…
 Have You Seen the Carnage? – Buidling lists in Soviet Bagration… FoW Bagration: The Liberation of Minsk…
Using the Heavy Assault Group Army Deal… Bagration Preview…
Unbagging “Bragration Soviet”… Bagration: Soviet Command Card Review…
Bagration: Soviet – Sapper Engineer Battalion…

Race To Minsk: Ace Campaign

Contains ten Story Episode Mission Cards, eight Story Epilogue Cards, ten Side Mission Cards, 16 Ace Cards, 20 Reward Cards and one Ace Campaign Rule booklet.

What Is Race to Minsk?
Race to Minsk is the second in a series of Ace Campaigns, a narrative-driven system of Flames Of War battles. Ace Campaigns are extremely flexible in allowing players to tailor their campaign to fit their playgroups needs. There are three different modes that you can play the campaign in: Story Mode, Extended Mode, and Aces Mode. Story mode is your shortest campaign that only uses the Story and Reward cards, while Extended allows you to play longer campaigns by adding in side missions. The Aces mode can be used with Story Mode or Extended Mode and allows players to create their own unique commander with special abilities that will give them an edge during the course of the campaign.

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Story Mission Cards
The first thing to do is to play the current mission. In the first turn, Episode 1: Storming Forward. Read the narrative text to give you and your opponent context for your battle. Then follow the instructions on the mission card to set up your game. Once everything is ready, play your game!

Once the mission has been resolved, locate the next mission indicated on the Story Mission you just completed. That will be your next Story Mission. Then discard all other Story Mission Cards with that same Episode number as the new mission.

In this Example if the Allies win the Storming Forward mission, then the next mission will be Smash the Defences. If the Axis win, then the next mission would be A Strong Position.

Side Mission Cards
Side Missions are used in the Extended Play mode, for those who want a longer campaign. In the extended mode, more missions and rewards are added to the mix. Side missions are played between the story missions and all missions grant players rewards that they can use in future games. This mode is ideal if you want to spend a little more time playing games and earning rewards.

Side Missions are bonus games that you can play after the main Story Missions. They give you an opportunity to try out new Ace abilities (while playing Aces Mode) and earn valuable rewards. Once a side mission has been played, set it aside and do not shuffle it back into the deck, this means that you never play the same Side Mission twice in a campaign.

Reward Cards
Completing missions will earn you rewards that you can use in subsequent missions. Rewards are sorted into tiers, one for each phase of the game following a Story Mission. The higher the tier level, the more powerful the effect the reward will have.

Once used, reward cards are shuffled back into their respective tier decks.

Ace Choosing an Ace
Before playing their first game, players choose an Ace set to use throughout the campaign. This set includes two Infantry Ace sets and two Tank Ace sets. These Aces will have abilities better suited to their type, so for example, a tank ace is better off leading a tank force.When a player chooses an Ace, one of that player’s formation commanders becomes the Ace for the campaign. Any abilities and special effects granted by the Ace are limited to Units in that Ace’s Formation.

Ace Abilities
Completing missions will earn you rewards that you can use in subsequent missions. Rewards are sorted into tiers, one for each phase of the game following a Story Mission. The higher the tier level, the more powerful the effect the reward will have.

Once used, reward cards are shuffled back into their respective tier decks.

Flexible Campaign System
The Ace Campaign system is meant to be flexible, and fit your group’s needs making even easier for you and your friends to set up and play in a campaign, or to set up a story driven Tournament, the set can do that too.

The system can grow as well, as more and more sets come out you will gain more and more cards to add to your Ace Campaign sets, giving you even more Aces to choose form, new story missions, more side missions and even more Reward cards.