Bagration: Soviet Command Card Review

By Preston Jacob

Komerades! The long-awaited Soviet entrance to late war is finally here! With the upcoming release of the Bagration Soviet book. Soviet players are finally getting their first late-war book outside of Fortress Europe.

This covers the campaign in the east during 1944 as the Soviet army pushed the Germans back towards the west, taking back the land and territories claimed by the Wehrmacht from 1941 to 1943. As everyone knows, there was a serious big gun arms race between Germany and the Soviet Union, and we finally get to see some of the big guns seen in the Eastern front make their debut in this book, along with some command cards to upgrade them!

I’m sure players are excited for all the units and formations in the book, but I know I always look forward to the command cards as they open up more options for units and lists. Without further adieu, let’s get started!

Standard Command Cards
We all know the standard cards that are in every command card pack, with one being the lucky card which I see more people take than any other command card. Well, now there’s one the Soviets have that is very similar to Lucky. Now it isn’t groundbreaking, but it did catch my attention. 

The Make Your Own Luck card is similar to the tried and true lucky card where you discard to use it. Once per game, you can discard this card and instead of rolling a die, you automatically get a roll of a 4. This can be useful when needing to take a last stand check, movement order, counterattack, or bail back in. Instead of relying on a chance die roll, you can just use this as your roll. I can see this being almost an auto take in most competitive lists along with the Lucky card.

One thing I have always found that has hindered Soviet infantry is their lack of anti-tank capabilities outside of the molotov cocktail card. In late war, PTRD anti-tank rifles just don’t have the punching power needed for the heavier tanks that take the place of lightly armored vehicles in mid-war. Well, that changes now with the RPG-6 Anti-Tank Grenades card!

This gives Soviet infantry a real threat against armored vehicles in assault. You can equip this card to an infantry unit, and in assaults with tank teams, two stands of infantry can swing against the enemy tanks with an anti-tank 10 and firepower 5+ weapon. With this, it gives Soviet troops a similar capability to the American Bazooka and the German Panzerschreck.

One thing I think players will like are all of the rules that show the contribution of the Partisans during the campaign. These cards will drive your opponent crazy.

Don’t worry tank commanders, there’s an auto take card for you as well! The Unditching Logs card I can see as a standard take with all tank formations. By discarding this card, it allows you to re-roll all failed cross checks for your tanks when going through rough terrain. This may not seem like a big deal but I see this card being especially helpful for assaulting infantry in woods near an objective, as it will ensure all your tanks get in to push the German Swine back to the Rhineland! It can be given to any tank unit and you can take multiples which makes it very useful when making an aggressive push or mobile defense to ensure none of your tanks get stuck on cross checks.

Formation Cards
Just like in the British D-Day book, Polish troops make their entrance in the Soviet Bagration command cards but this time you can take them as either an infantry or tank formation! “1st Polish Army: Fate of a Nation” allows players to field a Rifle formation as Polish troops. They get a rating of Confident Green but rally on a 3+ and have a last stand of a 3+. Each rifle platoon you take will be -2 points per platoon except for the command platoon which stays the same points wise. This formation card gives options to play the Polish allies in the east and opens up more opportunities to field historical lists.

You can also take the 1st Polish Army Fate of a Nation card for tanks as well! The card allows you to field it in either the standard T-34 or a T-34/85 Formation. It gives the tanks a rating of Confident with a 3+ last stand and a 3+ remount and rally. This card adds three points to each tank company in the formation. This adds a flavor to Soviet tanks other than the Guards formations of the past.

Unit Leaders
No army is complete without a great commander. Vasily Storozhenko card is for a Tank formation which allows the player to designate a T-34/85 platoon to have the spearhead rule prior to deployment. This means that the already fast T-34 tanks can push up even further with a spearhead, along with any other spearhead units you may take in a list. The card allows for an aggressive armored push from the start of the game, and can assure victory for the Motherland!

I mentioned the big guns in the beginning of this article, now we get to take a look at a command card for them! Nikolay Shishkin is a unit warrior commander card for the ISU-152 SP battery. With this card, the unit can re-roll the first failed to range in an attempt for an artillery bombardment when the unit is spotting for itself. We all know in the past soviet artillery has never had the best ratings with ranging in, but now with a trained rating, possible getting four rolls to range in gives an added bonus to an already deadly artillery bombardment. The card also allows the unit leader to ignore the slow firing rule associated with the ISU-152, allowing your heavy hitters to have an even better chance at destroying enemy teams!

Now the Germans have their tank aces in Michael Wittman and Kurt Knispel. Well, the Soviets have their own tank aces as well! With the Vasily Krysov command card, it adds more punching power to your tank destroyers. With this card it allows the unit leader of a SU-85 or SU-85M unit to fire it’s halted rate of fire if it moved less than six inches in the moving step. This allows you to essentially have a six-inch blitz order without having to chance it on a roll! Now if you didn’t move the unit leader, you get to reroll any missed shots in the shooting step making it similar to the old Cat Killer rule from Version 3.

But wait….there’s more!

The Soviets had never had a smoke bombardment in any previous version of Flames of War but now they do.  The “Under the Cover of Smoke” Command Card can upgrade a 76mm or 122mm artillery unit to allow it to lay in a preparatory smokescreen that lasts through the first two turns.  

These are just a few of the great command cards to be expected from the new Soviet book. I could spend hours spoiling all the goods available to Soviet players who have waited patiently for their introduction into late war, but I assure you Komrades, the wait is worth it! I know like myself, all Soviet players will be foaming at the mouth over all the lists and command cards available to them in this upcoming book bundle!