Late-War Leviathans: Post-War Soviets for FOW
By Richard Steer
Late-War Leviathans first came to Flames of War in May 2024 via a free “Early Release” PDF of tanks from Gale Force 9’s alt-history game Clash of Steel. This stretched Flames of War’s timeline into the early years of the Cold War, while also adding tanks that were only prototypes, or in some cases never made it off the drawing board. That early release has now been expanded into a full book, with additional units and new formations.
I liked the Soviet Early Release Leviathans. The ability to add the IS-3, T-44, T-54-1, and ISU-130 as Wildcard units to other Soviet Late-War lists provided some nice options for upgrading existing FOW forces. The new Leviathans book provides even more options, so let’s take a look at what the Soviets get from it.
The Force Chart
The Soviet list includes seven new formations. The Support tree is similar to Berlin: Soviet, with a few minor changes in combinations. There are no Command Cards for the book.
The one new unit added to the Support tree is the 3M6 Shmel. This gives us our first indication of how far the FOW timeline has been stretched in this book. The 3M6 (called the AT-1 Snapper by NATO) was an anti-tank guided missile that entered service in 1960.
It packs a solid punch with Anti-tank 16, Guided, and HEAT, but the platform is an Aggressive unarmoured tank team with a 5+ save. Back-blast prevents it from being Concealed in the turn it fires. I can imagine it being an effective ambush unit, sitting back and making the most of its 36″ range, but I wouldn’t expect it to get too many turns of shooting before either being destroyed, or its potential targets moving inside its minimum range of 16″.
The 3M6 is directly competing with the 100mm anti-tank gun, sharing the same unit slots and being about the same price. It has a slight edge in Anti-tank and is much more mobile, but its lack of survivability and only being Firepower 4+ means I would probably favor the 100mm.
The Heavy Tanks
There are three Heavy Tank Regiments and a Heavy SP Regiment to choose from, covering the IS-3, IS-7, T-10, and ISU-130. These formations all have a similar structure: an HQ of a single tank, two compulsory tank units, two optional tank units, and an optional SMG Company.
The stand-out unit here is the IS-7. This gives the Soviets a tank that is equivalent to the German Maus, with Armour 19/13/2, and a ROF 2/1 Anti-tank 18 gun.
The T-10 isn’t quite as powerful as the IS-7, but it is still very heavily armored and should pose significant problems for opponents.
The heavy tanks will be competing with the IS-2 for a place in my lists. Points-wise, it’s almost a direct swap of four Late IS-2 for four IS-3s, three T-10s, or two IS-7s. For me, the IS-2 is the unit that will cross the table and assault an objective, with Veteran skill and Bedspring Armour making it superb at that role. All three alternatives can do this, but I don’t think the IS-3 is quite as good. The T-10 has Side 12, Cross 2+, and Counterattack 3+, which is a potent combination in an assault tank. The IS-7’s Turret Rear MG helps make up for its lack of numbers, and it can also act as a heavy anti-tank unit. It’s a tough choice.
The Tank Battalions
We saw both the T-54-1 and T-44 in the Early Release PDF, so there are no big surprises here. Their formations are similar to the T-34s from Bagration, but without an in-formation Mortar Company.
The T-44 is effectively a heavily armored T-34/85, with a 10/7/2 armor profile at about 1.5x the cost. Most good Soviet builds include a decent amount of mobile Anti-tank 12, so it would be a choice of whether to take the T-44 for the extra armor, or to stay with the T-34/85 for the additional hulls.
The T-54-1 is in an odd spot: it sits between the medium tanks and the heavies, but in trying to do everything it doesn’t compare well to either. It’s better armored and slightly cheaper than an IS-2 but lacks the skill and motivation to have an Assaulting role. Its ROF is too low to be considered as a good upgrade to the medium tanks, and at Anti-tank 15 it’s not really any better in the heavy anti-tank role than the SU-100 or the ISU-122.
The other new unit in the Tank Battalions is the 82mm B-10 Recoilless Gun. This is a unit of cheap Anti-tank 11 on medium bases, and the role I see for this is providing defensive fire for infantry holding an objective.
The Infantry
The Hero BTR Motor Rifle Company is a big change from previous Soviet motor rifle units, with BTR-152 armored transports and separate RPG-1 anti-tank teams. It looks a lot like a US Armored Rifle Platoon, but with significantly better Assault stats. I’m not sure it’ll be better than the Berlin Hero Guards Motor Rifle Company, but it’ll certainly be a very different way to play Soviet infantry.
Building a List
The Leviathan units are expensive, and it’s hard to fit them into a well-rounded force at the usual points level for Late-War games. I’ve put together a few sample 100‑pt forces to show what you get for your points.
T-10 Guards Heavy Tank Regiment
1 x T-10 HQ
3 x T-10
3 x T-10
3 x ISU-130
3 x BA-64
Total: 100 points
The T-10 Regiment is a difficult build. The compulsory units are expensive, with their small numbers compounded by their ROF 1. The approach to the game with this list would be simple, fast, and brutal: Attack stance, BA-64 spearhead, with the T-10s driving quickly to bully the opponent off the objectives in as few turns as possible, while the ISU-130s sit back and provide long-range heavy AT support. A normal Late-War force without its own Leviathan units will struggle to stop seven tanks with Armour 16/12/2, but this list has so few teams that it may struggle to kill things fast enough to be able to win a game.
T-54-1 Tank Battalion
1 x T-54-1 HQ
4 x T-54-1
6 x T-44
Hero BTR Motor Rifle Company
4 x SU-76
3 x BA-64
Total: 100 points
The T-54-1 Battalion also struggles with small numbers and low ROF, and I haven’t yet found any builds I’m truly happy with. I’ve downgraded one tank unit to T-44s to get more dice on the table, while the SU-76s can provide more light AT or fire as artillery if needed. Depending on the mission, the infantry can either lock down an objective or advance to capture one.
Hero BTR Motor Rifle Battalion
Hero BTR Motor Rifle Battalion HQ
Hero BTR Motor Rifle Company
Hero BTR Motor Rifle Company
6 x 82mm Mortar
3 x 120mm Mortar
4 x T-44
5 x BA-64
2 x IS-7
Total: 100 points
This is my favorite of the three builds, providing a different spin on a very effective style of list from Bagration and Berlin. I have chosen IS-7s as my heavy tank option, to serve double duty as an assault unit and heavy anti-tank support. It still feels like the list doesn’t have enough anti-tank, so would benefit from playing larger games.
That final comment about needing larger games is just as true for the other Soviet lists. The Soviet Leviathan formations, while powerful, don’t feel like they can fit all the tools that are needed in the current Late-War meta. I think that would be a great outcome for a fantasy expansion to a historical game: extra variety for those that it interests, without breaking the underlying game. Instead, it is the “Big Games” mode, with its higher points limits and a minimum spend on Leviathan units, that will really allow these monsters to shine.
Those Soviet heavy tanks seem drastically underpriced in the greater context of Late War, especially given their high side armor making them invulnerable to much of the non-leviathan lineup. Have you played any games with them to develop an opinion on that?
I have a few thoughts on this.
Perhaps a controversial opinion, but I think underpricing of heavy tanks has way less impact on the game than it does for light and medium tanks. Let’s say the IS-7 is underpriced by 20%. That’s only an extra 6 points for a unit of two. It’s usually easy enough to free up that many points in a list if there’s something that you really want to include. They would still appear on the table, and they would still be Side 13.
With them statted the way they are, the only thing you can do with the points is increase them until it’s impossible to build a force around them.
Yes, the IS-7 is tough, but you’re dropping 1/3 of your points on two ROF 2/1 Slow Firing tanks. A lot of non-leviathan lists can still include things that can kill them.
That being said, you don’t have to kill things to win a game of FOW. In my experience, the answer to “how am I going to achieve the victory conditions of this mission?” is unlikely to be “I have to destroy this particular enemy unit.” I haven’t yet played against IS-7s with a non-leviathan force, but I’d be happy to do so and would back myself to make a good game of it.