Soviet LW List Ideas

[LLpolishplayer]

Hello fellow Soviet Players,

Right now I am really enjoying playing around with Polish 1st Army and having a lot.
Just wanting to get a general ball rolling and wonder what lists do you like playing and what do you think some key units are?

Gl,hf!

[NDNG_Iron_Tom]

I like the T-34/85 Battalion list. I want to try to pair it with Romanian allies.

[Sotahullu]

Soviet Hero Motor Rifle Battalion is never a bad choice personally. It has full roster of units, hits like a truck in assault and it is cheap enough that you can sneak in some heavier stuff (IS-2, ISU-152)

[Straight Leg]

My favorite is the Hero Shock Rifle Battalion, with the Storm Groups to get some Careful 4+ soviets who enjoy a 2+ Assault. They are indeed costly but dude . . . Some heavy artillery to soften up the objective, plenty of AT Grenades, of course Under the Cover of Smoke, and you can have a blast. The fact that you can throw in a Tiger and a few Panthers just makes it so much fun. And don't forget to Reconnasance by Combat. You need to be pounding the objective with the 152's immediately and make the germans poop themselves.

As mentioned, the Motor Rifles are solid if you just want to play it safe. Organic tanks with an infantry formation is always awesome and most of the rest of their formation kit is great. Can't really go wrong here. Try the non-Hero and bring in 40pts of tanks with a single Reserves roll and watch the germans cry. Gotta do that at least once.

Personally, I do not like the T-34 Horde much. I own it, I play it, and it works sometimes but it is a blunt instrument. Not enough depth for my taste but against tank lists, the T-34/85 causes serious problems for expensive tanks. Don't get me wrong, there are variations of style and compositions, and it still takes skill to win consistently, but its a fairly predictable play-style and the last thing I want it to be predictable.

I also play the Sappers, my second favorite list. They can be good but have serious weaknesses, probably because I always insist on taking Ivan and the ISU-152's or IS-2's with them and that compounds the sheer expense for a small number of units. But they are really fun. Their special rules are what make me love them so much and when they work it's pretty satisfying.

I've also own both an IS-2 and IS-85 formation. The IS-2's are hard to make work because they are terrible if they have to move. A good opponent will make them move. And they can still be knocked out by plenty of things so they are best as a support option but not so good as their own formation. The IS-85's are fantastic. However, they suffer from being very few and expensive units in a formation but I still recommend playing them. At least they can move all around the board and still hit targets while bouncing many shots.

Key Units:

Definitely artillery and Under the Cover of Smoke. This Command Card is an equalizer and can open up the viability of aggressive attacking infantry if used well. My preference is the 122mm arty because of 3+ FP and it is cheap. It is so cheap in fact that it is hard to want to pay for the 152mm but these are really great for pounding down infantry on an objective, or on the other side of a river crossing, and that AT12 Auto FP is nice for tanks that wander into range. The 76mm arty is my least favorite but I'm probably gonna be unpopular for saying that. My reasoning is that I use arty for arty and I need better FP checks to clear the objectives of dug-in infantry so my assaults will succeed. To that end, any 4+ FP arty is second rate in my book, even with the Devastating Template. And take an observer!

T34/85 units are superb.

IS-85 units are superb as support. 5 cost 40pts. Do it.

ISU-152's are my favorite artillery in-game. I own German and American collections, have tried lots of their respective arty, and always compare them to these babies. The next best arty is the American 155mm's but that's because BF screwed up their costs badly and way under-pointed them. The ISU-152's win out because their armor is awesome to boot and they are fairly costed.

My favorite infantry is the Storm Groups. No competent general will run their tanks anywhere near these guys if properly equipped and when you can chase tanks off, it's pretty satisfying. Second favorite infantry is the Sappers. I like aggressively played soviets and both these units fit the bill. With that said, I don't really want to say they are the best, just that I like them the most and get the most satisfaction out of playing them.

[LLpolishplayer]

One list I conceived on the weekend is (IMO) to be a pretty historically accurate list. It’s using the Polish 1st Army Command to try and create an army during the Warsaw Uprising. It goes like this:

100 Point Soviet LW
Theme: Warsaw Uprising

Rifle Battalion:

Rifle Battalion HQ
2x PPSh SMG team - 2

Rifle Company
22x DP MG & M1891 rifle team
1x Komissar team
Add up to two Flame-thrower teams for +2 points each. (2 Selected) - 22

Rifle Company
15x DP MG & M1891 rifle team
1x Komissar team 12
Add up to two Flame-thrower teams for +2 points each. (2 selected) - 16

Rifle Company
15x DP MG & M1891 rifle team
1x Komissar team 12
Add up to two Flame-thrower teams for +2 points each. (2 selected) - 16

Maksim Machine-gun Company
6x Maksim HMG - 4

82mm Mortar Company
6x 82mm mortar - 4

To be accurate of the real Polish Armii Krajowej or Home Army, In place of the Scout Platoon we take a Decoy Tank Company consisting of 2x Panthers and a Tiger just as the Home Army had done.

So…

Decoy Tank Company
up to 3 Panther (LG104) for +7 points each. (2 selected)
up to 1 Tiger (LG102) for +8 points. (1 Selected) - 22

Support Platoons

Heavy Tank-killer Company
2x 57mm gun - 6

Armoured Reconnaissance Platoon
4x PPSh SMG team
2x Sd Kfz 251 (MG) (LS136) - 6

Then to round things out with some command cards for fluff:

Command Cards:
Lucky - 1
Make Your Own Luck - 1
Command Card Make Your Own Luck 1
RPG-6 Anti-tank Grenades (x3) - 3
Partisan Guides - 1
Reconnaissance by Combat - 2

And of course we must do this:

1st Polish Army Fate of the Nation (x3 Units) - minus 6

Total Points - 100

The thing I think would be really cool is to use the rules for the 57mm and proxy a Pak40 just to make it thematic and say they captured them as well. I understand the list is very low in terms of Anti tank but I think it would be fun to knock around with and keep with the theme

[Novaknight]

This is the list I've had some good games with
1 IS2 HQ
6 ISU 122s
3 ISU 152s
Engineer Sapper Batt HQ
2 8 stand Engineer Sapper Company Stands with 2 Flamethrowers in each
3 IS2 Guards tank company
And a Flight of Il-2 37mms
So that's 2 Formations for me 1 Engineer Sapper Battalion and 1 Heavy SP Arty Regiment

[NDNG_Iron_Tom]

Is that two units of 3 ISU-22s each?