Bagration Preview: Why I Hate This Book

By Mitch Reed

For those of you who have felt that we here at NDNG were fanboys for , this article will show you how wrong you are. I hate this book and I plan to tell you why in detail. Something to keep in mind as you read on, I do not play Soviets in , but I have played against them for over a decade now.

Over the last year, as Late War was being upgraded to V4 standards, I  did not think very much about the Soviet lists I may face, since everything was based on D-Day or models from your Mid War collection. Now the Soviet Bagration book is here and I plead with the Soviet readers to skip this book. Why the hate? Because I have to play against these guys and they are very good, maybe too good. Some of the books that Battlefront has produced have become instant classics; Oil War, Desperate Measures, Fortress Italy, and Road to Rome come to my mind. They were books that really brought the flavor of the period they covered in a way that just set them above other books and I feel the Soviet Bagration book may be put on the list of classics.

What are we getting in this new book? Nine killer tank lists and six infantry/mechanized lists that come with all of the Soviet “horde-ness” that a German player such as myself just hate.
Looking at the special rules, I can tell you already I will not be a fan of the “Urrah” rule which lets you assault at 6” vice 4”. The special rules for the Sappers and Penal formations will also cause headaches for many players.

Tanks for Nothing Battlefront
From the moment you read the Soviet special rules for tanks, you will go out and fill your painting table with hordes of green sprues ready to be turned into some deadly tanks.

I will just hate the IS-2 tank unit. These guys have great protection and pack an AT 14 punch. They are also Confident/Veteran, yes you read that right. Thank goodness they are hit on a 3+ and are Slow Firing or the 7-point cost per model would be way too low. If that does not disgust you then check out the IS-85 tank company, these cost more (8 points per model) and only have an AT value of 12.

The next group of beasts is the Heavy SP Artillery units. You can have a mix of IS-152s or IS-122s and they have an IS-2 as a command tank. For those who played against these brutes in V3 you may recall that they had some rules that made them manageable to play against. In V4 those shackles are off and I expect to see a lot of these guys in future games much to my chagrin.

The Medium SP Artillery features the SU-100 and SU-85 SP guns. Like many of you I hated these “Cat Killers” and the new version has the SU-100 with an AT of 15 and the SU-85 at a “meager” AT 12, still no reason for joy, both of these tanks can kill you quickly.

The Light SP Artillery will have the SU-76 which I never saw much of in V3 and with all the great options in this book we may not see this under-appreciated unit a lot in V4. The fact they are now in plastic and are a cheap option I think many players will take a unit of SU-76s or run the whole battalion.

For those with a huge collection of T-34 tanks, you get both the 76mm and the 85mm versions in regular or Hero formations. With the 76mm version, you can take T-70s and Valentine tanks in your formation.

Mechanized
The popular recce company is back and now you can take captured German Sd Kfz 251 to mount your troops in. Players will still love this force and all the units get the Spearhead special rule and I expect to see them facing off against me over the next few months.

Infantry; In Mass and a Pain in my ….

We have given an overview of Battlefronts version of tank-porn, so what about the infantry which takes an average player 30-minutes or more to move? They are back and just as big as before. You can pick from Hero Shock Rifles, Hero Motor Rifles, Regular Rifle and Motor Rifles and the Sappers.

The regular rifles have huge platoons and can have up to 29 stands in your unit with all the upgrades such as flamethrowers, HMGs, and PTRDs. This unit also has the option to take a Penal Company which you have to kill to a man, to destroy. Units in this formation all save at a 4+ so Battlefront decided to give us a break here.

Hero units are more sensibly sized but they are still very good units and some of them hit on a 2+ in assault.

The last unit I want to detail is Sappers. I so hated these guys in V3! They get a ton of special rules and are huge platoons that will just dish out pain to their opponents and if that was not enough, they get the option to take Panzerfausts that will make their tank-killing ability very good. Maybe too good?

The rest of this mess

For support, you get a lot of choices when it comes to artillery, flame tanks, AT guns and that airplane that flies like a tank that I just cannot mention here. As expected, these options are pretty good and give you the chance to balance out your force with a great backline.

Bagration Summation

Did I mention that I really hate this book and that you should just skip it? I know this is the book that Soviet players have been waiting for and their dreams have been fulfilled. This book gives you so many options and allows you to field so many deadly units that will just cause others to quit the game or collect a Soviet force. While most units get hit on a 3+, their other stats and unit size will make up for that and this book is just something players like me will just have to deal with.

My only real complaint here is “what is next”? We know that there will be another Soviet book for Berlin in the future and I wonder what is really left for them to include in that book. Can the Soviets get even better? I sure hope not.

I won’t even get into the Command Cards and the Missions in this book because we will cover them in later articles and I have to go see how many cans of Tankovy Green spray paint I have left in my shed because I may just have to collect a Soviet force.